technology reporter rebecca kern talks about combating online disinformation. "washington journal" is next. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] host: good morning. it's the "washington journal" for march 26. president biden held his first rest conference since his inauguration, in which he dealt with immigration, the filibuster, the senate voting rights, foreign affairs. in the next hour and a half, we will show you portions of the conference. you can comment on it as well. here's how you can let us know your thoughts on yesterday. for democrats, call us at 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002.

you can also post on twitter @ c-spanwj. politico takes a look at the news conference yesterday by the numbers, as they call it. here are some of the highlights. the number of questions that the president took yesterday on his thoughts for 2024. two quoting bill clinton's former white house press secretary saying the number of questions about the covid-19 pandemic -- zero. the length of the press conference, 62 minute, slightly longer than president obama's first press conference, but shorter than president trump's first solo press conference, which went on for an hour and 17 minutes. it also highlights the fact that during the 62 minutes that the president called on seven women during that time, five of them

-- from pbs news, from the washington post, from abc news, nbc news, and univision, were women of color. for comparison, six of the reporters obama called on during his first press conference were women. you can comment on it if you want and give us a call on the phone lines. you can post on twitter and on facebook. a number of themes being addressed yesterday, but one of the ones that came up frequently during yesterday's press conference was that of immigration. here is the president from yesterday talking about the migrant surge at the border. [video clip] >> you have said over and over that immigrants should not come to this country and that messages not being perceived. instead, the perception of you that got you elected as a moral, decent man, that immigrants are trusting you in dealing with

unaccompanied minors. how are you resolving that tension, and how are you determining which families can stay and which have to go? is there a timeline for when we will not be seeing these overcrowded facilities run by cpb when it comes to unaccompanied minors? pres. biden: i best site -- i guess i should be flattered that people are coming because i am a nice guy, that i am a decent man, how that is phrased, that they are coming because biden is a good guy. the truth of the matter is that nothing has changed. as many people came -- 28% increase of children at the border in my administration, 31% last year before the pandemic in the trump administration. it happens every single solitary year. it is a significant increase, the number of people coming to the border, in the winter months

of january, february, march. it happens every year. in addition to that, there is a -- and by the way, has anybody suggested that there was a 31% increase under trump because he was a nice guy and he was doing good things at the border he echo that is not true -- at the border? that is nothing reason they are coming. the reason they are coming is because that is the time they can travel with the least likelihood of dying because of the heat in the desert. number two, the circumstances in country -- in country -- the way to deal with this problem, and i started to deal with it when i was a senator, vice president, putting together a bipartisan plan of over $700 million to do the root causes of why people are leaving. what did trump do? he eliminated that funding. he didn't use it, he didn't do it. in addition to that, he

dismantled all the elements that exist to deal with what had been a problem and has been continuing to be a problem for a long time. in fact, he shut down the number of beds available. he did not fund hhs to get people to get children out of the border patrol facilities where they should not be. they are not supposed to be there for more than a few days, a little while. he dismantled all of that. what we are doing now is attempting to rebuild, rebuild the system that can accommodate what is happening today. [end video clip] host: the new york times offering a fact-check to some of those claims about immigration, and it says, "i started doing it back when i was a u.s. senator -- i meant vice president --

but that president obama did not use it." the new york times saying that is not truthful to that 700 million -- $750 million -- mr. trump requested steep cuts in his budget. he did not eliminate that entirely. the new york times offering their back check -- there fact-check from the press conference. we will show you more of that as the morning goes along, but we will start with joe in texas on the democrats line. what did you think? caller: he did a good job. in order -- voting rights. they are trying to make it harder for black people, hispanic people to vote.

and gun control, social security, medicaid, medicare, because of republicans. you heard what he said, you just plead the video. host: what do you think about the statements he made about immigration at the border? caller: well, ok, it is debatable. [indiscernible] he gave $1.5 million. on immigration, we can debate. host: ok, that is joe in texas. let's go to dan, from cleveland,

ohio, republican line. caller: good morning, how are you doing today? host: i'm well, thanks. caller: good. i'm just doubtful. i am at home and dealing with a wife who has alzheimer's, dementia, dealing with this for about four or five years now. all she likes to do is talk about things in the past. this is what it seems like. everything in the future, everything current, they have to write stuff down for him to read, to stay where he is at. he goes off on these tangents about the past and blaming everybody. i mean, this is not a president. this is not what a president does. he gives examples of cures and things. this guy is blaming everybody, blaming everything. host: such as what, give an example. caller: well, with the border.

we had it under control somewhat. now it is totally out of control. he started with this thing of catch and release, and what's the other one? i can't remember right now. but it is just -- this guy has got no clue. i'm sorry to say. i feel sorry he is old and the whole bit. when obama was president, i never made fun of obama, i dealt with it, not like some of these other people. this guy has no business being our president. host: let's go to steve from new jersey, democrats line. caller: first of all, regarding the press conference -- with trumps up a news conference, somebody asked him, why did you like -- with trump's news conference, somebody asked him, why did you like to the american people? he said they have no shame. this can can -- the second point

i want to make, i wish the democrats and biden would just say i am for open borders, we did not care about anything else. host: what did you think of the things the president addressed yesterday in the press conference? caller: well, i only caught part of it, but i know what his position is on immigration. i want to give you a quote from a movie. host: before you do that, what do you think about what the president said about immigration issues and how he addressed that issue? caller: well, he's just blaming trump. i know trump asked congress for more money for beds and housing for the immigrants, and also he asked to the congress, the senate to change the predicate for catch and release so that people coming across the border could only be held for 20 days, and congress doesn't want to change it. host: john is next up, john in

wilmington, illinois. independent line. caller: how are you doing, guys? i watched you guys yesterday after the press conference, and i am just kind of amazed that it seems that we all have short-term memories. you know, back in 2014 when marco rubio put forth his immigration plan, and president obama said that, hey, i like this plan. then what happened? no, i don't like that now. now that the president liked it, we don't like it. they seem to forget that all donald trump did for four years was blame the democrats. host: how does that exactly relate to yesterday? caller: i'm just going by what the people are saying. the people are saying that, you

know, he is blaming donald trump for the situation at the border. in my opinion, there are two things i was really disappointed that joe biden didn't address. the first one is the opioid crisis, and the second one being how we can tackle immigration from a business point of view. we currently utilize asset forfeiture laws against people suspected of drug crimes, when we could utilize this great tool against those businesses who knowingly, willingly tried to take over or hire an illegal alien. host: that's john in illinois giving comments about yesterday, particularly when it comes to topics on immigration. former president donald trump making statements about president biden's statements on immigration. he did that on fox news

yesterday, especially in response to the claim that mr. biden made that when an unaccompanied child crosses the border we will not let a child starve on the mexican side of the border. president trump said it is just the opposite of what he said, that by the time people were finished on the border, very few people came up because they knew they were not going to get through. he went on to say the biggest thing we had with mexico policy, that means we would allow people to wait in our country until they were totally checked out. then they would go back to their own country. fox news provides this story. if you are interested in reading the comments from former president donald trump on claims made by the current president, joe biden, yesterday. let's hear from david in st. petersburg, florida, republican line. caller: how's it going today?

i am just baffled, and i cannot believe that people believe they were that man says. everything that he said about the border, the claims that he made about most young people on the border our young men. 13%, not 70%. everything that he said yesterday in blaming trump -- i mean, four years of just bashing donald trump, stagnant government, that they would not let that man govern, and now they want to complain that the republicans don't want to get rid of the filibuster. to me it is just the biggest -- it is the craziest thing.

i am 56 years old. when i was a young man, i would have never, ever believed that this was going on in this country, what is happening with these democrats and what they are doing to this country. host: ok. david in st. petersburg, republican line. we will hear from steven in ohio, democrats line. caller: yes, my name is steve. listen, nothing against the people trying to get across the border. i have nothing personally against them at all. but what they are doing is getting in front of everybody playing by the rules. people have waited here for 10, 15 years just trying to get to this country, and they are playing by the rules. these people are getting ahead of them, and then being rewarded by breaking the law. and i feel that is very unfair. host: how do you think president biden handled that topic yesterday? caller: i don't think he handled it good at all.

the bottom line is that those people -- not those people, i did not mean to say it that way. host: when you said he did not handle it at all, what do you mean by that? caller: you don't just let people come to the country and try to be here permanently and claim citizenship down the line. i cannot buy that. you have people all over the world trying to get here and they are playing by the rules. host: let's hear from bob, arlington, texas, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. i just watched that thing yesterday, and i am surprised the hypocrisy that biden has full-time he has a two-year-old granddaughter down in arkansas that he will not even acknowledge. host: aside from that, the comments from the press conference, what do you think about some of the things that he discussed? caller: the news media did not ask him the right questions. he's got 10 years worth of tax returns hidden somewhere.

i don't know where they are. he is absolutely having to read the notes. i'm sorry, but he is just out of it. he is gone and should be forgotten. but he is going to hang around, the media is going to let him hang around, the fbi is going to let him hang around, and they are never going to look at his past and the things he has done. he said i have never taken a penny from a foreign country. did he take money from china through his son? host: the president's first press conference, the topic we are spending time on this morning. if you want to comment on that, 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. for independents, 202-748-8002. texas, if you wish, 202-748-8003 . the president yesterday discussed the rate of vaccinations going on and efforts by the federal government and the united states, announcing a plan for

increases of that. here are some of those comments from yesterday. [video clip] pres. biden: on december 8, i indicated i hope to get one mint hundred million shots -- to get 100 million shots into people's arms and my first 100 days. we met that goal by 58, 42 days ahead of schedule. now my second goal, by my 100th day in office we will have administered 200 million shots into people's arms. that's right, 200 million shots in 100 days. i know it is ambitious, twice our original goal. but no other country in the world has even come close, not even close to what we are doing. i believe we can do it. today we made a historic investment in reaching the hardest hit and the most vulnerable communities, the highest risk communities as a consequence of the virus.

investing in additional 10 billion dollars in reaching them. i also set a goal before i took office of getting a majority of schools, k-8, fully open in the first 100 days. now, thanks to the enormous amount of work done by our administration, educators, parents, local, state education officials and leaders, recent department of education survey shows that nearly half of the k-8 schools are open now full-time, five days a week, for in person learning. not yet a majority, but we are really close, and i believe in 35 days left to go we will meet that goal as well. host: the washington post provides a chart on the rate of vaccinations in the united states. it says the headline -- the subhead reading, to reach that goal the country has to administer fewer than 1.9 million doses per day, less than

the current average of 2.5 million per day. highlighting on the fact of the first day of joe biden's presidency, reaching a high of -- charting the 100 day goal that he talked about yesterday, up 200 million. abbey in west springfield, nasa juices, -- west springfield, massachusetts, democrats line. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i watched the entire thing yesterday, and it is nice to see a gentleman. i was taught that you can respect the office but you don't have to respect the man. but i have respect for both. for yesterday. as far as immigration, what's wrong with the american people that they fail to realize this country was based on immigrants? they are throwing darts, and the

darts are falling short. host: how did you think the president addressed the topic yesterday on immigration? caller: i was all right with it. i know there is a lot of work to be done, and i just wish that people would give this president time. it has been a little more than two months he has been in office. he has had to undo things, but he also has plans to do future things. and as far as restructuring and everything, i think it's wonderful that he is thinking about these bills to go through. i'm sorry, these towns and cities are hurting. with bridges and roads in repairs need. host: he reported $3 trillion bill -- the reported $3 trillion bill for infrastructure, the

president highlighted that yesterday, saying that next friday there would be some kind of unveiling for a proposal. janice is in indiana, republican line. go ahead. caller: hello, pedro, how are you this morning. host: fine, thank you. caller: i just wanted to say that there are a lot of questions that did not get asked about the immigration system, what he plans on doing. are we just going to put people in military posts? i mean, if they keep on coming up here, what are we going to do about all the vaccinations? what are we going to do about all the -- you know, he only had certain people asking questions, and he already had them written

down because he kept going back to his notes. even when he had notes, he kept going back to his -- he would still get stumped. it was kind of pitiful. i mean, he is the leader of the free world. i mean, he really should have let -- he only had, what, 10 people that got to ask questions? i really think that he needs to let the press go down there to the border. we need to be able to ask him questions, serious questions, and i don't think that is being -- somebody in the background is saying, oh, no, don't ask him this, don't let that person ask this. host: you had 10 reporters ask him questions directly yesterday, with follow-ups as well. caller: yeah, but you only had those 10.

he had -- he didn't have nobody from one american news, he didn't have nobody from fox, he didn't have nobody from newsmax. there is more than just cbs, nbc, and abc, npr out there. there are millions of people in this country. there is not just california and new york. host: that is janice in indiana. newsweek highlights the details of the press conference, particularly the use of notes, saying that photos of the press conference, that president biden used a cheat sheet that included names of reporters. newsweek adding that a second note card provided details on infrastructure data. they also had the use of notes -- they also said that the use of notes when giving a press

conference is not unprecedented. the story adding that president biden's cheat sheet ignited comment on social media, as contrasting takes were offered on the president separate performance. some said it was a professional decision, while others argued it was a mark of decline. roger glenn off of facebook saying it was painfully obvious that he knew the questions were coming. losing track midsentence, you cannot think he did a good job. this is from michigan, saying that the president -- no date given, adding that the president did push back. disappointed. gary says he came in prepared, gave rational answers, did not try to claim he was the greatest president ever, and he did not try to belittle reporters.

then saying it means that the cult of the orange idiot hated it. you can make comments on twitter if you wish. you can call us on the lines, too. from redwood city, california, democrats line. you are up next. good morning. caller: good morning, pedro. i just wanted to say that joe biden did so much better than trump ever did. he did not do as good as obama. obama is the high bar and trump is the lobar. biden was calm, cohesive -- trump is the low bar. biden was calm, cohesive. he did not speak in gibberish. oh, my gosh, he was prepared with notes. the american media failed us yesterday. they were awful. i could not believe how long their questions were.

sometimes the questions were longer than the answers. i just thought that there russians were irrelevant. my mother still hasn't gotten her stimulus check. why isn't anyone asking about that? where are those stimulus checks? there are a lot of things, and i thought joe biden did great. host: what did you specifically learn from the conference yesterday? caller: that my husband is going to get a shot soon. that's what i learned from this thing. i have been trying to get online, right after joe biden said everybody is going to get a shot soon. i am so happy about that. i cannot tell you. so my whole family is soon going to be protected from covid because of that news conference yesterday. so, yes, i am just happy as can be because of that news conference and because that was announced. host: let's hear from fred and

marilyn, independent line. you are up next. -- from maryland, independent line. you're up next. caller: pedro, are we going to ask the whole of south america to come up? when does it stop? host: meaning what? caller: will we have the whole of south america come up? 20 years, afghanistan, we compass nothing that we cannot get down to south america to straighten them countries out? what the hell is wrong? host: ok, harold is in point to beach -- point verde beach, florida, republican line. caller: he was not prepared, he knew the questions. when he answered the questions. -- when he entered the questions, you could tell the questions were diagrammed, point

for point. this was the fake asked news conference i have ever heard of. prepared answers for prepared questions. host: the reporters had chances to ask follow-ups as well. caller: you know, that's nice to say, but their career is on the line, and if they ask anything obnoxiously or a little bit too hard, they are punished. you know, this is just crazy that he is in this situation. i am just a citizen, and i am certainly not in his favor, but i would like to pray for him because this is just ridiculous. the second point i would like to make is that he is not sure there will be a republican party. look, the republican party was formed to stop slavery. it stop slavery. slavery was a democratic institution, and the owners were all democrats. the republican party fought in the war and died to stop slavery. when people talk about it is a

bad party full of deplorable's, what are they, crazy? the democrats in the south -- they did things that you cannot even talk about. and now they are just doing the same thing host: that is harold in florida. he mentioned the president's statements about the republican party. that came up in context of questions about reelection. here is some of that exchange. [video clip] >> you mentioned you will run for reelection. pres. biden: that is my expectation. >> is that a yes? pres. biden: i don't know where you come from, i'm a big respecter of date -- of fate. i have never been able to plan for years ahead. >> will vice president harris the on your ticket if you do run? pres. biden: i expect so, she is

a great partner. >> de think you will be running against former president trump? pres. biden: i have no idea. i have no idea if there will even be a republican party, do you? the way i view things, i have become a great respecter of fate. i sent a goal in front of me to get done for the people i care most about which are hard-working american people. i want to change the paradigm. we start to reward work not just wealth. didn't you find it interesting my republican friends were worried about the cost in dealing with the act we just

passed which puts money in people's pockets? did you hear them complain when they pass close to $2 trillion in trump's tax cut, much of which went to the top 1%? did you hear them complain? i love this idea about the concern of the federal budget. it is kind of amazing. when the federal budget is sitting people's lives, they don't think it is such a good idea. host: that is another portion from yesterday's press conference for president biden, the first since his inauguration. find it at c-span.org. you can comment on it for the next hour if you wish. you can text us if you want. that is what the topic is. we will get your comments for the next hour. the wall street journal has a story taking a look at democrats

on capitol hill making the case to reverse those saying that senator ron white and the chairman of the senate finance committee say he and senator brown will soon release a framework on how multinational corporations should be taxed. bernie sanders released a plan thursday that would raise $1 trillion over a decade. elizabeth warren says she was writing legislation to test to impose a minimum tax over profitable companies. those ideas are expected to appear in the text incentive president biden will unveil next week. congress is poised to act on it this year. an announcement on that coming from president biden next week. you can find that conference on c-span.org. we will hear from donna from knoxville, tennessee. your next up. independent line.

caller: for everybody saying we are a country of immigrants, it is true. we also have a process of how to come in. you can continue to blame the previous administration, but it is his crisis. we have many americans who are homeless, including children. where are their home -- where are their hotel rooms? as for the press conference, he was given the questions ahead of time. only one reporter actually give him a hard russian about the nine-year-old oil -- about the nine-year-old boy. he called on no conservative outlets to ask questions because i think they don't want the hard questions. it is obvious without his notes he loses his train of not -- his train of thought. it is sad to watch and -- it is

sad to watch him. the look in his eyes, he looks like he is lost. host: sioux falls, south dakota. democrat line. caller: i'm calling about the immigration situation and trying my best to not demonize based on our political leanings. the immigration problem has been here for a couple of generations and through different administrations. this is nothing new. we have not done the hard work to get these things under control. what i would say is that we are not a nuanced in our thinking about the situation at the border and the american people need to know there is a difference between illegal people coming in and asylum-seekers.

host: how does that apply to yesterday, particularly with the president's comments? caller: there is a problem. i think there needs to be more transparency. but i don't think this is a new problem and at some point we need to all figure out what we need to do. we have all failed and all administrations have failed on that account. i hope in the future we will see some improvement that both parties can work together. host: let's hear from chris from ohio, republican line. caller: good morning. i had a couple of comments about the hard-working american people

the government is trying to back. they have all these people on unemployment. those people are getting an extra $300 a week. what about the hard-working americans? i have been an essential worker since day one. i have not gotten compensation for that. host: to the president's news conference which is what we are addressing, what did you think of it? caller: he talks about building the infrastructure, that is great and all. he talks about the hard-working american people and creating new jobs. what about the people that are working? he never said anything about those. host: paul is up next from keller, texas. independent line. caller: hi.

i wanted to comment couple of things. i would like to say that joe biden did a fantastic job. i appreciated his honesty, especially given the fact that our previous president completely lied about the pandemic issue. the second went i would like to make is the fact that in 2016 mexico probably for the second deadliest place in the whole world as far as murders. the question about why all the people are coming up here, it was worse in 2016. mexico had 28,000 murders. host: to the president's news conference, you commented on the fact that he was honest. what things did you think he was honest about? caller: i think he was being

forthright about the conditions in central america and the problems that existed on the desk exist down there -- exist down there. he was not given an opportunity in the transition. we know president trump had completely disallowed is transition team from even being briefed on important issues. this is one of them, as far as immigration status and as far as the status as homeland security. host: that is paul in texas. alexandria, virginia, cecil you

are up next. caller: two major points left out of this discussion --joe biden with what he has available in resources and not being briefed talking -- not being briefed by the previous president. we'll talk about the united states's role in those countries to destabilize those countries where the businesses that hire immigrants and go unpunished. host: but about which the president did say about immigration-related matters, what did you think about those? caller: i thought he was very candid after only having 60 something days of president. he was not properly vetted by the previous president.

he struggled, but he has an extraordinary task just being able to get his administration in place to address the issue at hand. host: this is wilhelmina from georgia saying that president biden did a good job in his first conference. "he is being criticized for reading from notes, that is what a professional does. not like making up stories like our former president did on a daily basis." another person is saying "he is obviously having problems when he gives a press conference. he is going to need less exposure from the media and that is his administration's goal."

if you want to text, that is 202-748-8003. in georgia, a change in voter law signed by the governor, this is a bit from the atlanta journal-constitution saying "opponents of the bill said it would create obstacles for voting, especially in runoffs. absentee voters would have to submit their drivers license in a new process of checking identity. over 200,000 torture voters like a driver's license or state id number meaning they would have to provide additional proof of their identities. there would be one week of early voting before the runoff. runoffs will be held for weeks after the general election. -- the general election."

here's brian kemp talking about the criticism he has received over the fill. [video clip] >> you may have heard inside and outside this gold dome -- the fact is that this will expand voting access. every county in georgia will have two mandatory saturdays of early voting and the option of two sundays of early voting. georgians will soon be overwhelmed with fancy tv ads and mailers and radio spots attacking this common sense reform measure. in fact, left-wing groups funded by out-of-state dinners are already doing -- out-of-state will be in heirs are already -- out-of-state billionaires are doing that already. they are threatening to boycott georgia businesses in the middle of a pandemic because they

oppose election integrity. according to them, if you support voter id for absentee ballots -- you are a racist. if you believe in protecting the security and sanctity of the ballot box, you are "jim crow in a suit and tie." i thought these activists to keep our elections secure, accessible, and fair. like before, i am sure they will written, boycott, demonize, and team up with friends to call me everything in the book. fighting for free and fair elections is worth all of that and more. host: the senator from georgia, jon ossoff commenting on the situation saying he stands with park henan who was arrested and charged with a felony for

knocking on the governor's door as she tried to observe the closed-door signing ceremony for the voter suppression law. that is jon ossoff. -- let's hear from john on the president's first news conference. he is from fort dodge, iowa. caller: good morning. i enjoy your programming and i like hearing from all three aspects of the people call in. i think it is important. i watched joe biden. i think people are missing this important fact about coronavirus. he is taking credit for the number of vaccines that have

been administered. i saw a news report that said it took 60 to 80 days to manufacture each one of those doses which means everything that has an administered was made back in december before he took office. also, i watched this reporter from cbs asking about reelection. it has to be the worst piece of questioning or news coverage i have seen any report or do. with everything we have going on, coronavirus, the border, she asks him about something that is four years down the road and has nothing to do with what is going on in america? host: does it surprise you that no questions were asked about

coronavirus? caller: that is part of what i have seen in my lifetime. if there is anybody out there in this world who can script and put together a program, it has been the democratic program. they did it with cavanaugh, they did it yesterday, it is all scripted. it is like a reality tv show. it turns my stomach to see this kind of covering of things so it keeps them looking like they are the second coming of a saint. they are not. host: john from iowa whether. this is bobby from minnesota. caller: i watched the news conference. if you are on the left he hit it out of the art, if you are on

the right thought it was lacking. when he is in a news conference, he will take russian and go on and on. i like -- he will take a question and go on and on. you know jim acosta from cnn, he would attack trump any there was a news conference. i don't see anyone -- not that you should go into a gotcha situation -- but pushback. if he gets a little pushback, he gets a little rattled. it is like "come on, man." the thing that bothers me the most is that you have to take some ownership. it can't always be trump. he dismantled the entire immigration policy. his secretary was on all the talk shows. it was because of trump.

we had to start from scratch. host: did you learn anything or gain anything from the news conference? caller: not really. this probably sounds negative, but it seems to me like he wanted to get in and get out. it was a slow pace it obviously with president trump you had all kinds of questions on helicopter pads. it was just kind of like, let's go real slow and put one hour and 15 minutes in and let's get out. come on, take more questions. take any questions that pushback a little bit. host: that is bobby in minnesota. 62 minutes was the length of the

news conference yesterday. it is available at c-span.com -- c-span.org. president trump's former chief of staff, mark meadows also commenting saying on twitter "biden is blaming trump for the migrant crisis when we have immigrants saying they came to the border because of joe biden's policies." that is some of the reactions you can find from the conference yesterday. debbie from flint, michigan, democrats like. -- democrats line. caller: one thing he did not do is he did not lie to us. we were lied to for four years straight. all of his complaints about his delivery and carrying a note at, -- carrying a notepad, i think it is much ado about nothing. trump was trying to say that the

rioters from january 6 are being persecuted. isn't that incitement? it sounds like incitement. host: you said he didn't like, what convinces you of that? caller: i don't believe joe is a liar. i have agreed with everything he has done. when trump gave the gas companies leases on land, i was livid. the whole thing on the keystone pipe, there have been indian tribes fighting that for 15 years. trump comes in and rips it up and he hires these people to go do it. he did not respect any of those people. they don't want that pipeline running throughout breadbasket. i don't think that ep and exxon mobil have a good track record. -- bp and exxon mobil have a

good track record. this is nothing to play with. host: let's hear from james from kentucky, republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. it is evident biden has all of congress. -- has his alzheimer's. i doubt he will even make it a year before he is bedridden. host: what is your assessment of that? caller: you can just tell. i have lived with two people who have alzheimer's. i watched them from when they did not have it until they passed. host: okay, we will go to steve in the louisiana. caller: i love your show.

i watch it every morning. i really appreciate you and the job you do. and all of the calls coming in. just a couple of things and then i will get off. a lady two calls ago -- here it is, all of the vaccinations, all of the vaccines, that all started when trump was in office. without him starting that, joe biden would not have any vaccinations going on. the next thing, when he said he would open up fort bliss, the white sands missile range facility, i fell out of my chair. i am a 40 year military veteran.

it my mind -- it blew my mind that the military has to start taking care of the people he is ringing in -- he is ringing into the country that he is bringing into the country. host: that is steve calling on our independent line. when it comes to matters of the vaccine outside of the press conference, pfizer has begun testing is covid-19 vaccine in children under 12, adding that step in turning back the pandemic. a pair of nine-year-old twin girls were immunized at duke university. moderna is also beginning a trial of its vaccine in six months -- in children six months to 12 years. find near -- find more on the website for new york times.

caller: i was disappointed no reporter asked him about the pandemic, especially relating to the immigrants that are spreading it throughout our country. he blames this all on trump, but he is the one who withdrew from these agreements we had with mexico during the pandemic. now we find they are spreading. the other thing he said that was not the truth is that trump cuts back on bed space. he increased the bed space by 5000. that was a lie. i don't know why the media is not calling him out. the reason these people are coming is not because they are hearing persecution. the asylum claims only 70% of the people show up for work hearings. -- for court hearings. out of those, only 1000 people

are granted asylum. it is a fraud and we keep perpetrating the same fraud. we are allowing migration for illegal migrants. they come over and then -- host: you voted for him in despite of those policies? caller: no i did not for for him. host: are you a democrat? caller: yeah. host: okay. finisher thought. -- finish your thought. caller: he is doing all of these things and he was supposed to fix the immigration problem. he was creating more of a problem. -- he is creating more of a problem. the children have to go to school someplace. taxpayers have to pay for these schools. host: that is marked in pennsylvania. he highlighted the fact that the number of beds being made

available, if you go to the fact check section of the new york times, the claim that he -- the new york times is offering that this is an exaggerated claim that when the obama administration faced an influx of migrant children, the increased the capacity in 2015 from about 2000 in 2011. under the trump administration, bed capacity fell to less than 7000. it grew to 16,000 i december 2018 -- by december 18. -- by december 2018. from north carolina, bobby, go ahead. caller: i like what the man said about the migrants coming over here. every one of them -- i watched

biden on on tv -- on tv tell them to come on and that they are welcome. trump more lifeboats and gave more opportunity to the black people at hispanic people. host: when it comes to the president's conference yesterday , what did you think about that? caller: he is telling a story about immigration. the only reason he is letting them over here is because the black people and the hispanics are voting more republican now so he is going to need these groups of people coming over here.

host: from brad in north beach, maryland. democratic line. caller: the more things change, the more they stay the same. i feel like we went back five or six years. gas prices are up again and we have the border crisis. the president won't acknowledge that. in reference to the press conference, i felt it was kind of sad. you don't need to be an expert to see someone has a deteriorating cognitive ability. i don't see him making all four years. his message coming on was unity, bringing us back together and uniting americans. during his press conference he alludes that the republican party may not be there anymore. that is not community, that is division. host: that is brad in maryland

giving his assessment. finishing off the first hour of your comments on the president's first formal press conference. we will do this for another half-hour. you are invited to call us. 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8002 for independents. you can text us at 202-748-8003. he talked about when it comes to passing legislation known as the filibuster, he was asked about if changes were needed. here is a portion from this from yesterday. [video clip] pres. biden: with regard to the filibuster, i believe we should go back to the position that existed when i came to the senate. it used to be required for the

filibuster. i was going to give you statistics, but you probably know them. it used to be between 1917 and 1971 the filibuster existed. there were 58 motions to break the filibuster. last year alone, there were five times that many. it is being abused in a gigantic way. it used to be you had to stand there and talk and talk until you collapsed. people got tired of talking and collapsing. filibusters broke down and we were able to get a vote. i strongly support moving in that direction. in addition to having an open mind about dealing with certain angst that are just elemental to the function of our democracy, like the right to vote.

we have amended the filibuster in the past. here is the deal, as you observed, i am practical guide. -- find practical guide -- a practical guy. i want to get things done consistent with what we promised the american people. in order to do that, we have to get to the place where i get 50 votes so the vice president can break the tie or get 51 votes without her. i'm going to say something outrageous. i have never been poor at calculating how to get things done in the senate. the best way to get the thing done, if you hold it dear to you -- anyway. we need to get a lot done and if

we have to, if there is a complete lockdown because of the filibuster, we will have to go beyond what i am talking about. host: chuck grassley of iowa sending out a tweet in response to the resident saying -- to the president saying "he is wrong saying you had to collapse to get the final vote. he has confused with mr. smith goes to washington. josie from pennsylvania, democrats line. hello. caller: i think what many of your callers are forgetting is the lack of information of the previous president's news conferences. there would be a lack of information and a hostility. i believe yesterday was clear and concise. he did look at his briefing book which was refreshing. in the past, the president

proceeded him did not do that. i think we have to give the man a chance. he is moving forward. we are looking at his cognitive abilities. i will remind people that there was great question about arnold reagan in the first administration about his cognitive ability and whether or not he was suffering from alzheimer's. host: from want the president said, what did you gain from that information? caller: i gained the fact that immigration has been a problem for a long time. we can go back several administration. -- several administrations. the measures have not worked. it is not south america sending illegal immigrants here, it is central america where there is political chaos and up people -- and political up people -- uphe

aval. host: did he address it yesterday in your mind? caller: it is not for me to judge completely because i think he did as best as he could. putting vice president harris in charge of looking at the situation is a move in the right direction. having her coordinate -- i believe there will be a plan. we have to understand that congress has not come to the table with any type of immigration reform. none. they have proposed it but it has been shuts down. to the filibuster. it has been used numerous times to stop civil rights actions. i believe that is what the republicans are hanging onto for this reason. they are hanging onto it so that

the john lewis voting act cannot be passed. host: that is josie in pennsylvania. yorktown, virginia, jan is next. caller: i totally agree with the caller that just spoke. it was so wonderful to hear joe biden in a competent and calm manner versus the chaos we observed the past four years. we have got to get the pandemic under control. that is number one. mask up, get your shots. host: how do you think the president addressed matters of coronavirus yesterday. -- addressed matters of coronavirus yesterday? were you surprised there were no questions about it? caller: i was surprised. we have a huge pandemic we have not turned the tide on. he is trying to get this under control. people need to come down and

they need to pull together and we need to be americans together to get this health crisis under control. everything else will go into place. host: let's hear from vincent in maryland, republican line. caller: the last two calls -- host: are you a republican or not? caller: republican. host: go ahead. caller: the last caller who agreed, joe biden is a liar. yes he has problem's, i pray he gets better -- he has problems, i pray he gets better. president trump, your kids and

your grandma have a shot in their arm because of what he did. won't somebody give trump credit for that? he has these vaccines out there in record time. no one is talking about that. all president biden had to do was pick up the baton. if you love the country, you don't want to take the blame for yourself. all of you, especially the last two colors have been so misinformed. host: let's go to sage in california, democrat line. caller: i am a new spec in a sea of red a blue -- a blue spec in a sea of red.

i was surprised with the press conference. i am 74 years old. i did not really want joe biden as the president because i felt as though he was too old and too mired in the old days when things were different. for white people it was great, for everybody else, not so great. i thought she was very articulate. i am a former until health professional. -- former mental health professional. i think he held together well. i always respect somebody who comes right out and says "i don't know." host: what gained your attention

as far as things he addressed? caller: the filibuster, for one. i think that has to be strongly changed or nothing will get done. i also learned more about the immigration thing then i was previously aware of, if the statistics he cited were correct. nobody is right all of the time, but he needs to be clear about the statistics. i learned more about the question from the press. i thought they could have an harder -- could have been harder. as far as him using notes,

professors to teach the same material every day for several classes year after year use notes. host: you said he needed to be harder, on what topic? what questions should they have asked? caller: they should have dealt more into the filibuster, a little more specific in terms of what he is really saying. host: talking about the filibuster, that portion of the news conference made the front page of the wisconsin state journal. this is their front page saying the filibuster door is open and talking about man's to run again -- about plans to run again. the dallas morning news talking about what he has done in office. "i make no apologies" is one of those quotes from yesterday.

the president is offering equips into post-covid-19 challenges. the buddha still be -- the modesto bee talking about eligibility expanding in california, talking about 20 million americans -- 200 million americans is the plan for vaccination. those were a lot of topics addressed yesterday in the press conference. you can find that at c-span.org. one of those foreign policy topics that did not come up yesterday was talk about afghanistan and the plan for withdrawal. here is the president. [video clip] pres. biden: it will be hard to meet the may 1 deadline in terms of tactical reasons. it is hard to get those troops out. what i have in doing and what secretary blinken has been doing is we have been meeting with our

allies. those nations who are nato allies who have troops in afghanistan as well. if we leave, we will do so in a safe and orderly way. the question is how do we meet that agreement made by president trump to beef under a deal -- to leave under a deal that seems like it is not getting worked out. how does that work? we don't know but we will leave. >> do you believe it is possible we could have troops there next year? pres. biden: i can't picture that being the case. host: stephen is up next. vero beach, florida.

caller: i like that you try to make everyone stout topic about yesterday. -- about -- everyone stay on topic about yesterday. drew thomason has said that joe biden has had a lot of tragedy and personal experience but we are not hiring for the personal stories, we are hiring or pop policy -- hiring for policy. watching the conference yesterday, i thought about that and thought that was spot on. everyone feels bad for joe biden, but where is the policy? you cannot go back and say it was this person or that person, it is your job now. host: you're talking about the comments he made about immigration? or other things? caller: yes, about immigration and anything he could stick on

-- he said we have not had much of a transition into. -- transition period. trump had people wiretapping all the way before he was in office so in my opinion mr. biden has had an easier road then mr. trump. people feel sorry for him. he looks like a father or grandfather at christmas. host: beverly in wisconsin. caller: i am a retired nurse and stir joe biden has dementia. he is never talking about immigration or anything. host: he spoke about immigration quite a bit. caller: he is not talking about covid. they are letting immigrants come

in and american people are being exposed. america needs to wake up. we are headed for communism. host: carla is next in maryland, democrat line. hello? caller: yes, thank you very much. i watched the news conference yesterday. i feel the democrats have the house, the white house, and the senate. i feel the president has the media, big tech, and a majority of americans in his corner. the ball is in the president's hand. host: how does that relate to yesterday? caller: it showed me that he is trying but the media is soft.

my point is he has the ball in his court now. host: the press conference yesterday which is what we are addressing, you set the media was soft. how so? caller: i am just looking at the facts of what i see and understand. i am 74 years old. i love my country. i feel in my lifetime this is the first president i have ever seen where the media, big tech, and the majority of americans are with him. i going to let him do the best he can do, but i honestly feel trump has caused this country to wake up. host: you said the media was soft on president biden but you said the media was with him.

how does that square? caller: yes, they are with him. the challenge is not there from the media. maybe i am comparing it to how they treated trump. the ball is in his court. we will see how he delivered. it is too early for me to tell. host: let's go to greenville, texas. independent line. caller: the last three months, this has been some of the most relaxing time i have had in the last five years. it has been wonderful that we have not been in chaos. i watched the press conference yesterday, it is soothing to watch someone answer questions directly, give us the truth. as best he can come obviously. he went over the issues, he was

not confrontational. it was soothing for this country. we need some tender loving care. host: when you say he gave the truth as best he can, what do you mean by that? caller: there are certain things you can promise and certain things you can't. i think he has always in somebody -- he is a practical man. he knows there are limitations to how much you can get done. i think he shoots straight and tells you the truth. it is like afghanistan thing yesterday -- will you be out in a month? and he said no. it was there, he said it may take a year. i don't know. that is refreshing, to be given the truth after the last four

years. host: a couple of stories related to actions by the biden administration. when it comes to the stimulus payments, 127 million payments have gone out. this story by jessica saying the checks were primarily to eligible taxpayers who provided direct deposit information on their tax return. that includes people who provided their information to the irs. if you go a little down, it says the second batch of payments with a total value of more than $38. they begin -- need to million dollars. 38 -- 38 million dollars.

-- $38 billion. the application filing for that extended saying the senate voted to approve the measure sending it to the president's desk saying it is clear that small businesses need access to ppe on march 31 so it is vital they keep the program open. more than a .2 million loans have an approved totaling more than 718 alien -- 718 billion. the washington times with that story. dennis in oregon, republican line. caller: i am bewildered. i sit here and i watch him --

[indiscernible] biden is a liar. he stood there on tv and the news let light and say trump dismantled it. he did not, biden dismantled it. biden sent all these people in to vote. he is returning all the kids -- no, he is ringing the kids with the moms in. this is horrible. the news let him live, everything he said was a lie. this guy has got a problem. he talks in circles. he has got dementia. host: we will go to sean in illinois, democrat line. caller: i think comprehensive immigration reform is all about diplomacy. i don't think the solution the

trump administration was trying to put forward was setup to work at all. it was more of nationalism. we are going to build a wall and you pay for it. i think biden did a great job yesterday. host: how so, particularly on immigration? caller: i did not catch that first part. host: how did he do yesterday, specifically on immigration? caller: they are very focused on efforts to identify who it is that is coming into the country. he was very clear about the fact that there are younger populations -- it is a very small number of children that are coming across by themselves.

that was an exaggeration that was deliberately made to make it look like the kind of crisis you would have only seen in the trump administration. host: an exaggeration made by whom? caller: by right wing pundits pushing this ideology that it is anchor babies who will come into the country and change the dynamic and change what they are familiar with. host: this is aiden -- this is from north carolina and this is marsha. caller: thank you for having me.

i listened to the conference yesterday. the thing that hit me is immigration. they do not know who is coming in. they have shipped people out all over the country with covid. there are 3000 children that have come across that order -- that border and they do separates them because the adults are using the children to come across. you can see them coming across on boats. they are bringing drugs into our country. it is terrible. it is terrible. this is the biden administration. this is not the trump administration. they can't let trump go. everything is "trump trump

trump." i was very discouraged with the media. they did not ask any questions about what they have been saying about pelosi -- had said trump stopped the money from going to south america. all of these people are from everywhere. japan, haiti -- they are not just coming in from a certain place. host: that is marsha in north carolina. from tallahassee, claudia. good morning. caller: good morning. i thought biden's press conference yesterday was thoughtful. he was candid in his presentation. i thought his step step response regarding his plans for the country were detailed. host: specifically how?

what was a plan he talked about you thought was detailed? caller: he talked about infrastructure, he talked about immigration, he talked about the filibuster. he talked about vaccinations and how well we have performed. he talked about the economy. i think what happens is with republican callers, they are not to solve -- used to problem solvers. there used two people giving them short answers -- there used to people giving them short answers and repeating slogans, making them feel superior to other people. i think they want to hear somebody say something like

"kung flu" rather than getting a mask. host: some of our callers on the republican side lady issue at the border on the biden administration. you do not agree with that? caller: i do not agree with that. most people have been coming since biden was vice president. obama was called "the departure in chief -- "the deporter in chief." biden is taking more of a humanitarian approach. he is older, more seasoned. he is letting children come in with their parents. the other children, they are not turning them away they way they had been turned away -- away the

way they had been turned away. host: next is charles from maryland. caller: i have been a democrat for years and i changed over to trump. he was doing a lot more for the country then biden was doing. obama put this so far in the whole. trump is trying to stop us from going to war. host: in regards to the press conference yesterday? caller: i don't believe what the man is saying. host: why do not believe what he is saying? caller: once you start something you should finish it. you should finish the border and then let them do the paperwork to come in. the wall was already paid for, they should have finished it. they should have done the pipeline and helped with the

jobs in the country. host: charlie is in north carolina, independent line. caller: hi, there. yesterday was an embarrassment to watch for the whole country. this is our highest leader, the top, it does not get any higher and people watch this with dementia, trail off. host: i do not know where your qualifications are for that assessment, but as far as what he died yesterday, what you think of that? -- what he said yesterday, what do you think of that? what you think about the information that he gave? host: he did not give any answers, he walked out the stage and circled back, he does not even know where he is at the time. i do have a question, where did all of the illegals get the

biden t-shirts and they look totally -- they walked their trash, miles and miles, they have brand-new sneakers and teachers coming in. a student that is charlie in north carolina. connecticut, democrats line. caller: good morning, i am listening in and i am thinking, wow, a lot of people are playing into the fake news media and they are not even bringing backs to the table. -- burnin -- bringing facts to the table. there was a press conference where he was good at answering questions. as far as immigration, it is a problem that we have to deal with as america because that is what our country was built on and we have become at it with compassion and discipline. when you take over a new administration, you are -- he

has that trifecta of issues that he had to encounter when he came into office. as far as some of these callers talking about him being a liar and having dementia, that is crazy talk. host: as far as immigration and what he said, what did you learn about the biden administration's approach to it? caller: i learned that he is turning people away, he said that to us in the news conference, he is not letting everybody in, it is not an open door, let all the criminals into the country, which i do not think immigrants are criminals per se, but that is what they are being labeled as, you had ted cruz on the news that night saying -- that the drug lords are screaming at me over the border. come on, it is just crazy. you know what? you need to have some compassion because i heard about a 9-year-old who made a track to the -- a trek to the border from

guatemala. why do you think his family will let him do that? because the conditions where he was was not acceptable and we need to have compassion. host: that is in connecticut. plus on the president's conference yesterday, later on in the conference, we will have the -- give you a chance to respond. one of the things that took place on capitol hill yesterday, the head of the three of the largest tech companies were on capitol hill via zoom talking about issues of misinformation and coming up, we will talk with rebecca kern, she will talk about that hearing, some of the exchanges that the tech companies had with members of conference -- congress and the online disinformation. we will have that conversation went washington journal continues. >> sunday night on q&a, journalist elizabeth becker, author of "you do not belong

here." talks about female or correspondence when it was a male dominated profession. >> there was no embedding like we have now. there was no military censorship per se. it was probably the first and last uncensored american war. it was for women, a gift because it was only because of this lack of codification, this openness, that women could get through what had been the biggest barrier that you are not allowed on the field. >> journalist elizabeth becker sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to it as a podcast where you get your podcast. >> c-span3 is your unfiltered

view of government, created by america's cable television company. today, brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span3 to viewers as a public service. >> washington journal continues. host: rebecca kern reports on technology policy for bloomberg government and joined us about the hearing that took place on capitol hill featuring the heads of major technology companies. good morning to you. guest: good morning. host: can you tell us why these heads were appearing in who appeared before congress? guest: yesterday, we had the ceo of facebook, mark zuckerberg, the ceo of twitter, jack dorsey, and the ceo of google, -- alphabets google, they were all brought before the house energy and commerce to join subcommittees to discuss the growing amount of misinformation and disinformation being spread

on their platforms and contributing to the violent attack on the capitol on january 6th. host: what were members of congress hoping to learn from these heads? guest: they wanted to get them to admit some culpability in the spread of this misinformation about the november 2020 election. that a lot of individuals, pro-trump supporters believed and were spurred to go to the capitol to basically stop the final confirmation of the election results. they asked a lot of yes or no questions, whether zuckerberg, dorsey, agreed that they played a role. each ceo did not want to answer just yes or no. the one that went the furthest

in taking some accountability for the stop the steal group that claimed the election was stolen, a lot of that propaganda being spread, the one ceo was jack dorsey, who said that that was bright on his platform, he took some response ability for that being there although he did say it was a broader issue and that they were labeling this as misinformation on their platform . i do not know if the lawmakers -- yes we played a direct role answer they were seeking. host: let's watch a bit of the exchange as chairman mike doyle of pennsylvania asking to heads of the companies about the january six nomadic attack and the role social media played. here are some of the exchange. >> i want to ask all three of you if your platform bear some

responsibility for disseminating information related to the election and the stop the steal a movement that led to the capitol. just a yes or no answer. mr. zuckerberg. >> our response ability is to build systems -- >> i want a yes or no answer. do you bear some responsibility for what happened? >> our response ability is to make sure that we build effective systems -- >> mr. butch i, yes or no? >> i think we worked hard, this election effort was one of our most expensive efforts. >> is that a yes or no? >> it is a complex question. >> ok, we will move on. mr. dorsey. >> yes, but you have to take into consideration a broader ecosystem. it is not the technology platforms only. >> thank you. i agree with that.

host: rebecca kern on all three fronts, they wanted to go beyond the yes or no and all talking about bigger issues at play when it comes to -- elaborate from there. guest: there are a lot of issues at play here and what we did see was like i was mentioning, they are labeling these tweets going into the election as misinformation and providing links to elections -- election centers for accurate information and news websites to redirect, to correct factual information, but facebook and twitter actively did that. they are dealing with billions of posts a day on their platforms and that gets through and it gets viewed widely even before they even label it and then we had former president trump who was spreading the information from his account directly and they labeled it,

but they did not remove a good deal of his tweets, they were still up there. his followers took that as truth and we really did not see the platforms act to take trump down, remove his platform on facebook, twitter, and youtube until after the january six -- six nomadic riot and they claimed they had the authority to do that because of fear of further incitement of violence. in these lawmakers eyes, it rang too late. too late to take response ability until after this horrific event that day. but, he is still suspended from all three accounts. host: our guest to talk about this topic of social media, disinformation, in light of the hearing which you can see on c-span and if you want to ask questions about it, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202)

748-8001 for republicans and independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text the questions, (202) 748-8003 is how you do that. you can post the question on twitter, facebook as well. one of the things that has been part of this discussion, rebecca kern, is something called section 230 of the communications decency act. show our viewers about what it says, it says, no provider or user of an interactive computer service should be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information divided by the -- by another information content provider. that is the technical law. talk about it in the context of what they were talking about yesterday. guest: yesterday, it is a 25-year-old law and it basically -- a lot of people referred to it as tech companies immunities shield. a liabilities shield. they are not held accountable and cannot be sued for that majority of third-party content

on their platform. -- for that majority of third-party content on their platform. this is what lawmakers have bipartisan agreement on. this law is outdated and we have not updated it in decades and we need to change it there and republicans and democrats. where there is not agreement is how to change it. and do so without hurting small startup companies who do not have a large, legal department. many do not have any legal departments when you're starting out and it can run them out of business, or if you take away their shield, they will not want to remove content so the internet will become a pretty terrible place and so, the shield also gives them the sword. it gives them the shield and a sword is the phrase. the sword allows them to remove

content if they find it violates their terms and conditions. and so they do remove hate speech and violent speech and other content, extremist content, it just is not all get through all the time, it is not all get removed. lawmakers want to peel back that law. we have seen a few proposal, mainly from democrats, basically holding them accountable for violating state civil rights laws and international terrorist laws if they do so on the platform that if content violates that, they have to remove it or be held liable for that continent. edit -- for that content. republicans tend to -- we have not seen any detailed proposals. they mainly complained that when content is removed, it goes after conservatives, so they claim there is conservative bias, conservative censorship of speech.

we saw them than former president trump, rudy giuliani, individuals from the previous administration. we have not seen a lot of detailed proposals on how they want to change the law yet. host: and concern for new regulation coming to the tech companies, have they made an effort to sell the police themselves despite -- have they expanded on that? guest: of the three ceos yesterday, the one who came out at the start was mark zuckerberg saying that he is open to changing section 230. if you go on any website, you will hear advertisements, they are printing that narrative right now. the one recommendation that he would say is that he thinks tech companies should be providing the transparency reports.

facebook already does that, quarterly of their takedown, the content they takedown, they categorize it, how much of certain types of speech they remove that violates their terms and conditions. they want to see it as an industry standard and all of their competitors do that good beyond that, -- that. beyond that, we did not see him say much more about how he wants the law to be changed. if content gets by that is inappropriate speech and they do not want to have be held liable. he claimed that they cannot always remove everything. they are not perfect. that was the common refrain. we did not hear jack dorsey agree to space thicker changes either. -- specific changes either. host: l.a. in ohio, democrats line, you are on -- ellie in

ohio, democrats line. caller: i was calling to say that in my opinion, all three of them are -- their bottom line is money, now the content of the hate speech or anything else that their company let's fly on the internet. -- lets fly on the internet. all three of their platforms are there to make money. not to worry about what is being said on the platforms. it is just about money, the almighty dollar. the fact that they do not take this crop down -- crap down before stuff hits the fan is the bottom line. host: that is ellie in ohio. guest: that was a common refrain among democrats and republicans yesterday, that the only care

about making money and a lot of this incendiary speech and content gets shared widely, a lot of people use the refrain that a light travels faster than truth and that is true on these platforms and like i said, even if misinformation gets caught out there by some content moderators at the platforms, it already has been shared thousands or millions of times. so, it is difficult to control the speech, but i agree with what the caller was saying, there is a lot of contempt for these platforms that they do not take more response ability, that they do just care about their bottom line and more incendiary content drives more viewers and subscribers even though it is free. these platforms take a lot of your data and it is used and nothing is free per se.

so, i think that is a real concern i think -- and i think it will be a quandary on how these lawmakers look to change the law and how the companies react to the feedback yesterday and there was a lot of yelling. but, i do not know what more will happen after it. host: carla, wayne city, illinois, republican line. caller: yes, i have two questions. the first one is, i agree that the platforms on social media, they censor a lot, but i noticed they do not censor near as much on the blm, but they censor more people that are speaking their mind about how they feel. and not focusing on other things besides donald trump or things like that. but then my second question is,

is what is the difference between social media and the regular news media, not giving the full truth and not being responsible for their actions. guest: those are good questions. i think it is interesting, i do not know if you watched yesterday, a lot of the complaints and -- in previous hearings, they were on capitol hill before the election, were about moving conservative leaning speech and censorship. the platforms claim not to be biased and to remove conservative leaning speech. i do not have the stats myself as to the right down there, but that is certainly a perception shared by republicans on capitol hill. i do think also that it is going

to be interacting -- interesting to see where the platforms go from here. remind me, what was the second question? host: i apologize, i did not jotted down. i apologize. let's hear from robert, new jersey, democrats line. caller: hi, how are you doing? this is coming from a progressive point of view. i hate the former president. but, i am not comfortable in living in a society where a source of information for billions of people is being censored the way it is and i guess it is a private company and they have their own terms and conditions, but you are still taking information away, information that they want to hear from millions of people. i would like to hear your thoughts on that. guest: it is a good question and a position that they are put in

where they are controlling speech and what information people receive. i do not know if you saw bernie sanders and the interview this week raising the same concerns -- in the interview this week raising the same concerns. a big company can takedown a former president, who said they cannot take on other world leaders or progressive leaders or democrats. if they are very powerful in the moves they take and they are private companies and they are not subject of first amendment requirements, -- subject to first amendment requirements. they can do what they want on their platforms, but they are still widely read around the world, so one action -- what we did hear when it comes to world leaders on the platforms as jack dorsey from twitter said, they are doing a survey in hundreds

of languages around the world on their platform to determine whether to change their world leader policy. the supreme leader of iran, other world leaders who do share pretty incendiary content on their twitter feed, sometimes they do remain. so, they are looking at how to approach this issue, how to evenly, or fairly, as fair as you can do it, moderate speech from world leaders and it is a question they are having to address and i really think it is what the platforms will have to do because as we have seen, congress cannot act fast enough to really punish or moderate these companies right now until they come to some agreement, so we willie -- really have to rely on self-regulation from companies at the time. host: here is a bit of that exchange with the ceo of twitter, jack dorsey, he was going back and forth with the health minority leader steve scalise talking about bias when

it talks about censoring speech. this is the new york -- >> this is the new york post, founded by alexander hamilton, and for weeks, this source article before an election about hunter biden was banned by twitter and when you contrast that, you have this washington post article that was designed to mis-portray a conversation between president trump and the georgia's secretary of state since been -- parts of this has been debugged -- debunked and this article can still be tweeted out. i want to ask mr. dorsey, do you recognize that there is a real concern that if there is an anti-conservative bias on twitter's to help, do you recognize that this has to stop? this -- twitter will be viewed by both sides as a place where everyone will get fair treatment.

>> we made a mistake with the new york press, we corrected that within 24 hours. it had to do with the -- we do not write policy according to any particular political leaning. if we find any of it, we write it out. we will make mistakes and our goal is to correct them as quickly as possible and in that case, we did. >> to the larger issue of the topic of when these tech companies involve themselves and content and what to let through and what is not, is this done by people with eyeballs, is it done by algorithms, is it a combination of both, how does it work? guest: they are not very transparent with all of that. they do have content moderators for sure. facebook says that there are 80 around the world that look at this content. it definitely goes through

algorithms, computer models before and i am sure they tag keywords that are not allowed on their platform to stop these posts before they are widely spread and then they have the human element and they did share some stats between october and december of last year, they removed 1.3 billion, this is facebook, fake accounts. so, they also have to deal with that as well. fraud on the platforms. it is a really highly evolved problem and coming at them from all directions i think every ceo uses the phrase whack a mole. they are just trying to cap -- keep up. it is hard. if it was an easy solution on content moderation, i think we would have a change in the law and we would not see this as a problem. it is a really multifaceted, difficult problem.

host: robert in new jersey, democrats line, you are on with our guest, rebecca kern. caller: i asked a question, i do not have any more questions. host: thank you for letting us know that. florida, independence line, hi. -- independents line, hi. caller: is she familiar with the election integrity partnership report on how social media was used to influence the narrative of a stolen election? and if you think this report, which was quite detailed, will be brought up during the hearings. guest: i am not as familiar with that, i do not know who put that report out. you are saying that they spread

information that it was not stolen? host: if i may interrupt, the color, who put out the report -- the caller, who put out the report? see to it was an election integrity partnership of stanford university, university of stanford and the university of washington, plus many partners, i'd have to guess -- some of the takeaways were that misleading and false claim narratives coalesce into a made a narrative -- meta-narrative into a stolen election which led to the insurrection. guest: that is certainly an issue that was brought up. that is why they were brought to capitol hill, to interrogate them on their role of the misinformation, on their platforms. as i mentioned at the top, they

were pretty contrite -- dorsey want the furthest in saying that he had some responsibility in the widely spread, stop the steal messaging on the platform although i would say facebook had a lot of that on their platform too. and a lot of groups that were formed related to the stop the steal movement. he put a lot of the individuals and donald trump and therefore, we saw them stop donald trump. you have to the question, what platform were they using to spread that information? it was their platform. i would say there is more there that i do not know what just happened -- what will happen next, if it is a lawsuit against the company, but coming back to the issue we talked about earlier, section 230 wherein they cannot get sued for third-party content on their platforms. it is a real problem.

it is really a problem congress created through that law as well. host: the website for the report that the caller brought up, it is stanford.edu if you want to reference that report on taking a look at january six nomadic. -- january 6th. guest: i wish they did that at the top of the hearing. misinformation is spreading false information. without the intent of malice. maybe you did not realize it was now true and you reach we did it anyways. disinformation is the intent, malicious intent, of spreading false information. i would go as far as saying after the november election and we had an accurate count of the

outcome and now president biden was the winner, trump was spreading disinformation saying he had won the election. it would be an example of disinformation. knowing it is not sure even if you do not want to agree with that, but that was false information and it was spread as if it was truth. i do have to give the company's credit that they labeled these tweets, but they did not take them down because of their world leader policy, which i mentioned dorsey is reevaluating, but they keep on tweets from world leaders because they are newsworthy. at the end they take tweets down because we had the final election count and they were just wrong. host: can i ask, how prepared do you think the legislators themselves were asking these types of questions when it comes to technology positive --

positive -- policy? guest: i had a lot of frustration that they cannot pronounce the franchise name. the lack of education was disappointing. he has been on capitol hill multiple times. he is the ceo of a major company. it was an annoyance and frustration. they were pretty well educated, obviously the younger members understood the platforms better. it happens all the time. i think we had new narratives coming from -- we have a new republican leader of the health energy committee, the first female in that role. she is a mother of three and she really took the narrative -- all the republicans were talking

about the impact that social media has on mental health and the well-being of children. it was really compelling, the arguments she was making about massive increases in suicide rates, especially in her state of washington alone, she was citing increases due to a lot of loneliness and self judgment and negativity that teens know that young people face when they look on these platforms continuously all the time and compare themselves to others. also talked about the growth of child predators on these platforms and it is a really serious problem and facebook and twitter and google are well aware of it. they do report this to the national center for exploiting

of children. they tracked these individuals down, but as i said, it is hard to catch everything. -- they did not have any answers on taking accountability for the impact, the mental health impact on children. i do not think she prepared them for those kind of questions. she came on strong, so i think they were really unified in that messaging and if we see legislation to hold these count -- companies accountable, for these mental health issues, maybe that will be the outcome of this hearing. we will have to wait and see. host: cleveland, tennessee, democrats line. caller: i was just wondering, he promised that we would get $1300

more per month. is he going to do something about it because -- host: i will stop you there because this goes to the previous segment, which is not our topic. david, grand rapids, michigan, last call. caller: i cannot stand when skill easy comes up there and throws the lies. i want the internet to tell the truth -- when scalise comes up there and throws the lies. i want the internet to tell the truth. fox to a certain extent, the thing about fox, they do not tell the whole truth, they do not tell the whole story. at least with msnbc and cnn, they are willing to say things that fox says is wrong whereas fox flat out says we are right and you are wrong. my thing is, the internet -- the

mainstream media is not allowed to lie to you, i do not care what anyone says, they are not allowed to lie to you. we can do that by passing the correct laws. host: let's leave it there and let our guests respond to that. guest: i think that is fair. i think media, mass media, like a lot of these publications and tv sites you are talking about are held to different standards, they are held liable and conveys definition -- and conveys defamation lawsuits. that is the crux of the issue they were talking about yesterday. this morning, fox did get sued by dominion voting system because of the lies they spread about their systems being faulty and not counting up all the votes. they are reliable and can get

sued. i sent first -- i sense frustration from the listener and from lawmakers but here's the thing, they have the power to change the law. maybe this growing public anger from their constituents will push them to act, but the thing is, we are in -- we are not in a divided congress, we have democrat-controlled boats -- votes, but we need democrats and republicans to join together in the senate to pass any bill, and to pass any bill, you need 60 votes unless you change the filibuster. you'll need democrats and republicans to work together to pass any change. you could technically get a bill through the house without any republicans, but you will need more republicans in the senate. host: you hear from many different sectors and reporting on this when it comes to the internet, people are concerned about a chilling effect, especially when you put in more recordation, that is a major push back as far as pushing more laws in.

guest: i do not know what will happen. i do think this law is outdated, i think 25 years ago, the internet was a very different place. i do think you can put forward some narrowly focused reforms that can tackle some of the real, serious, terrible content on these platforms. we did see it happen, in 2018, congress jointly passed a law that basically made it illegal for sex workers to be -- any of that content to be shared on those platforms because there was a lot of sex trafficking happening and they took out -- they made an exemption in section 230 saying that you are held liable in any content related to sex trafficking occurs on your platform, so they can get sued. that was bipartisan. i do have some hope that if the

issue gets bad enough, you can get both republicans and democrats to agree on a narrow provision to take some accountability, and have them be liable for certain content on the platforms, they make it narrowly focused. there is one bipartisan bill to date in the senate it is the pact act, republicans from south dakota and they are trying to update section 230, narrowly reform it and they will require these transparency reports that facebook is calling for that would report how much of this speech is taking online and they would also have to remove content within 4 days of a court order if a court of use that it is illegal content. it would put more response

ability on the tech platforms. host: republic out rebecca covers -- you can see her work at bgov.com. thank you for talking to us today. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will finish off the program the way we started, we will get your thoughts on president biden's first news conference since his inauguration, the scenes that came out of it, your perception of what took place yesterday and here is you can let us know. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us, do that at (202) 748-8003. facebook is available at facebook.com/c-span. one of the things that came out was issues of immigration. the president talked about the short-term approach on what is going on at the border and working with congress on a longer-term solution.

>> we are realistic you and physically keeping these families from coming to the u.s. when things will not get better in their country right away. >> i cannot guarantee that. i know that old thing, the journey of 1000 miles starts with a first step you know as well as i do, -- it is not like someone is sitting in a table in guatemala somewhere in mexico or in waterloo bay saying, i have a great idea, let's sell everything we have, give it to a coyote, have them take our kids into the desert where they do not speak the language, won't that be fun? let's go. that is not how it happens. people do not want to leave good -- believe. when my great-grandfather got into a ship on the irish sea, the expectation was whether they

would live long enough to get to that united states of america but they left because of what the british were doing. there were in real trouble. they did not want to leave. they had no choice. i cannot guarantee that we will solve everything. but i can guarantee that we can make everything better. we can make it better. we can changed the lives of so many people and the other thing i want to point out to you and i hope you point out, i realize that it is much more heart wrenching and it is to deal with a five-year-old, six-year-old, and seven-year-old. he saw the vast majority of these children, 70% are 16 years old, 17 years old, and mostly males. it does not make it good, better, or different, but the idea that we had tens of thousands of kids in these god-awful facilities that are really little babies crying all night and for some, that is true.

yesterday, i asked my team, both the director of the two agencies as well as others, i asked them, what would they in fact, and i asked their opinion because they are the experts, but i said, focus on the most vulnerable immediately. but there is no reason why in the next month as people cross the border, that phone call cannot be made in the first 48 hours. >> may i ask last what that's one less question? have you ever had any talks with senate republicans who are threatening this administration without considering the immigration legislation passed in the house until the situation at the house has been resolved? pres. biden: i know they had to posture for a while. they had to get it out of their system. i am ready to work with any republican who wants to help solve the problem.

host: again, that was from yesterday, to president's first formal news conference, you can find that all that c-span.org and watch it in its entirety if you wish. we will show you more portions before our portion finishes at 10:00. we'll get your comments on the content and related issues for the time up until 10:00, (202) 748-8000 four democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and for independents, (202) 748-8002. when it comes to that media coverage, some of the comments from the feed this money, poindexter says that other networks should have been able to participate, including newsmax, should have been included for broadcasting. that is actually from the last ingrid i thought he was well and she adds that if only the reporters participated more, that is some of the things that came out yesterday aside from what the president had to say.

new jersey, democrat line, linda, your first up. caller: hello, good morning. i just wish that some of the reporters would remember that president biden was not afforded a smooth transition by the trump administration, and certainly not trump. and so, he is operating as president of the united states and transitioning, and dealing with all of these issues and i think he is doing a pretty good job. host: what was the standout from yesterday in your mind? see to standout was when he said that what they are trying to -- caller: the standout is when he said that what is happening as sick and what happened last night as sick. and i think -- is sick. i think he should do a presidential order, that

election day should be a day off for everybody. we cannot stand by and allow states to exclude people from voting. the silent majority has got to get up and vote and make sure these people, these republicans, do not get into the house, do not get elected again. it host: that is linda in new jersey. she is reference -- referencing the bill signed changing voting roles. you can find the publications about those changes. judy, springfield, vermont. caller: i am really disturbed by mr. biden's election because i do not think he can remember things and he puts down mr. trump, who did a lot for america. and he has so people -- so many

people worried about communism, i hear this all the time. you know. it is not mr. trump's fault if they want -- if they do these things good host: -- things. host: what was concerning you as far as what president biden talked about. caller: my concern is that you are bringing people over here from mexico or wherever and not even all of our people are vaccinated. they do not know where they are going to get the vaccinations for these people. so, what are you going to do with them? you're going to let them run loose and everyone takes their chances? this is not a good president. host: that is judy there, denise in california, independents line. caller: the president looked

very sharp. what he said had a lot of substance to it. i am glad that he is speaking on the voter suppression that they are trying to do and he looked really sharp in his suit. that is the kind of president we should have, not that clown that was in there last year. host: why does that stand out in mind? caller: i cannot believe that they would actually try to do this when everyone can see that they are trying to stop black people from voting because black people put biden in office and we are happy with him and they want to stop that, they want to stop people from being able to vote. they do not care about democracy at all, they have no shame. host: it was part of the -- that voting rights came up as a topic that the president talked about. you can buy the whole speech at c-span, here is a portion. >> republican legislatures across the country are working to pass bills that would

restrict voting, particularly democrats in here impacting minority voters and young people, the people who help to get you elected in november. are you worried that if you do not manage to pass voting rights legislation, that your party is going to lose seats and possibly lose control of the house and senate in 2022? pres. biden: what i am worried about is how un-american this whole initiative is, it is sick good it is sick -- sick. you cannot bring water to people standing in line, waiting to vote? deciding that you are going to end voting at a 5:00 when people are just getting off of work, deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances, is all designed, and i will spend my time doing three things.

one, trying to figure out how to pass legislation passed by the house, number one. number two, educating the american public, the republican voters i know find this despicable. republican boulders -- voters. folks outside this white house, i am not talking about the elected officials, i am talking about voters, voters. and so i am convinced that we will be able to stop this because it is the most pernicious thing, this makes jim crow it looks like jim people. -- jim eagle. i will do everything in my power along with my friends in the house and senate to keep that from becoming the law. >> is there anything else you can do about it beside passing legislation? pres. biden: the answer is yes,

but i will not lay out a strategy in front of the whole world and here now. host: washington, democrats 900 -- democrats line. caller: i enjoyed his speech yesterday and how well choreographed it was and i was hoping that maybe one of your viewers was capable of zooming in on the -- the pad that he was reading from and it is not so much the things that he did say, it is the things he did not say. i want to remind the viewers for a brief moment that his notebook was raised and you might be able to film that and decipher anti--- and see exactly what was on his notes. i am saying what he thought what was so well choreographed. host: you talk about things he

did not say. what topic does that pertain to? caller: what about what is he going to run in 1924 for presidency. host: glenn in lancaster, california. republican line. caller: good morning, pedro. here is one thing that is not being discussed. he is colluding with the drug cartels. he is finishing their job for them. if you want to open up the military bases to house all the homeless people in the u.s., that would be great. but through the covid bill, you put migrant status on people invading our country. with biden t-shirts on, or did they get the biden t-shirts? -- where did they get the biden t-shirts? host: regarding the colluding

with the drug cartels -- caller: for the last four months and you put me on, i am supposed to be the next caller on and you have taken away my freedom of speech. you do that by cutting me off. i know it is not just because of the phone lines going bad. host: i am just asking as far as colluding with the drug cartels where you base that off of? caller: you cannot see it? he is moving in people in. 13 to is being sent back. -- 13% is being sent back. he is putting 87% all over the united states with covid, which could shut down our industries everywhere, we have to wear masks. host: you said he is colluding with the drug cartels, would you base that assertion on specifically? caller: what do i base it on? every one of these people that are migrating here are

supposedly migrating here have to pay cartels off or their families are being killed or they are being enslaved, like the 25 people that were packed into a ford excursion here. host: when it comes to actions by the biden administration -- the wife of west virginia senator -- according to the announcement, she worked in marion county schools, served in the faculty of fairmont university, she previously served as a first lady and a chair of the board of reconnecting, she inc. and aft initiatives serving rural west virginia. it goes on from there. that is as far as her qualifications. the nomination by the president by his team to serve on this

commission, that announcement coming today. in mississippi, this is john in welland, mississippi. caller: i want american note -- i want americans to know that the world is watching. the truth of the matter is this, the fbi, -- they think a black messiah is the worst thing that can happen. they killed martin luther king, they killed malcolm x. host: how does this relate to the yesterday as far as the news conference? caller: how it relates is this, for a democratic and republican party, it is all about votes. they are all about disenfranchising black people. they do not come there initially. what they do, they take our jobs, they take our

opportunities, our positions in schools, our businesses, -- host: how does this reference yesterday's news conference? caller: it does in the sense that he does not understand how we have already been behind. the cia is putting drugs in our community. we are a stimulus to the world because our $2 trillion goes to communities -- they send their money back home and our jobs, dishwashing jobs, fast food jobs, jobs that our youth used to have, their first job, that has been taken by immigrants. in my hometown, chicago, you cannot even get an application unless you speak spanish. host: what would you like president biden to do about immigration policy?

caller: what he should change as the fact that it is unfair. send these people back. they are breaking the rules, -- they come to the black community, they depend on our $2 trillion to support this u.s. economy. 90% of us -- host: that is john in mississippi. democrats nine, chicago, illinois. caller: how are you doing sir, -- doing, sir? he has only been office for two months. it is through things that he needs to concentrate on. three things to me. the speech was wonderful yesterday.

that virus, the economy, and then voting to make sure democrats -- and then immigration, four things, and then we go to guns. my goodness. the man has only been in office for two months. you have a wonderful show. host: we will leave it there. bob in chicago. craig reporting in a twitter feed, congress is on for a spring recess saying that the majority leader in the senate, chuck schumer, is sending a letter to senate democrats on his plan for the senate floor agenda after they returned from the recess, quote voting rights and civil rights, economic recovery and jobs with an emphasis on climate change, building back better and held in

gun safety among those topics. also adding that senator schumer is saying that we will try to work with our republican colleagues on a bipartisan basis when and where we can. we must make progress nonetheless. failure is not an option. craig kaplan reports for us as our capitol hill producer. follow his twitter feed if you want to stay close with what is going on in capitol hill. the president is making a news conference yesterday. we are asking you about the teams that came from it, republican line, new jersey. caller: my issue is, it has to do with adoption, which is not republican or democrat. when the president mentioned that some of these children will be put up for adoption, i think that is very unrealistic. in ocean county, have 500,000

children in foster care right now. not only is our immigration program broken in the country, but our adoption program is broken too. i hope that the news media attracts some of these children and finds out, or any of them going to be adopted at all? -- are any of them going to be adopted at all? host: are you saying they should not go to the adoption broker -- process? caller: in ocean county, we have children now waiting to be adopted in foster care. it is a good opportunity for the newspeople to look at the adoption system, which is also not working in this country. agitated get is not realistic. host: have you adopted foster children? caller: no but i work with a

special advocate working with foster children. on the inside, there is a lot in the system that could be corrected. the birthmother can always go back and take the child back. this is why a lot of people adopt from overseas because the laws are different. to say that these children will be adopted, who will organize that question mike usually the state does that. texas, arizona, new mexico are they going to take on this boarding -- on this burden? host: from dorothy in arkansas, independent line. caller: i think the president did a good job answering questions. it is important to get working on the voting rights act. they are trying to make it

difficult for black people to vote and difficult for black people to do absentee voting. i am glad the president put kamala harris in charge of organizing immigration. i am thinking she will do a good job. the news conference went well. we need to work on the gun legislation and voting rights act. host: that is dorothy in pine bluff. one of the things about yesterday that was discussed by the president was the topic of vaccinations, school real things. [video clip] pres. biden: i indicated i hoped to get 100 million shots into people's arms in my first 100 days. we met tactical last week by day 58. 42 days ahead of schedule. i am setting a second goal, that

is we will buy my 100 taken office administered 200 million shots. -- by my 100th day in office administered 200 million shots. i know it is ambitious, but no other country has come close to what we are doing. i believe we can. tonight we made a historic investment in reaching the hardest hit and most vulnerable communities. by investing an additional $10 million in being able to reach them. i also set a goal before i took office of getting the majority of schools in k-8 for the open in the first 100 days. thanks to the enormous amount of work done by our administration, educators, parents, local, state

education officials and leaders, recent department of education surveys show that nearly half of the k-8 schools are open full-time, five days per week. not yet a majority but we are close. i believe in the 35 days left to go, we will meet that goal. host: the fact checking section of the washington post talks about that last statement, adding that he is referring to a survey released wednesday. surveyed schools in january, so the numbers do not reflect anything that has happened on his watch, moreover, he overstated what the survey found. the national survey found that -- serving fifth-grade and eighth-grade students were open for in-person learning but only 30% of fourth grade schools and 28% of a great schools were open full-time, five days a week.

17% of fourth grade and 20% of eighth-grade offered hybrid. the white house has says it regards 51% as a majority. there is more of this analysis piece you can read for yourself in the paper when it comes to the statements the president made. merriam in texas, democrat line. caller: what i took from yesterday is that president biden is going to be for the people. the republicans have woken up a sleeping giant. i cannot believe that georgia is putting all of these restrictions on voting. i am mexican, i have empathy towards african-americans. if we have to boycott the companies supporting these laws, i am going to boycott any company that deals with that. i am ashamed of our country.

i cannot believe that small states can send their senators, louisiana, alabama, all of these racist states, to have people over their faces. texas has a lot to people, california has a lot of people, why are these small states dictating the rights for every american to vote? how is that happening? host: you would endorse a flat federal policy? caller: we are going to override what georgia did, take it to the federal level, where it gives authority to every citizen, that was born here in the united states. you were born here, you have the right to vote. there are multiple ways of showing that you are an american citizen or that you were born here.

you do not have to have an id, there are a lot of minorities who lose their id. my mom would always lose their id, because of that you lose your right, born right to vote? seriously? host: that is merriam in texas on voting. in florida, republican line, you are next when it comes to the news conference. caller: i thought he did better job than i expected. i was disappointed in the information he gave. i thought it was off the mark. it was to incite people and make people think things such as elections and immigration at the border are different than what they are. he has not been to the border. nor has any of his people until recently. how are they able to give a good

, accurate information? when we are seeing videos of how bad it was. i feel like he has a chance to make a good forward motion, instead all he did was make more division. that is not the price -- that is not what we are paying him to do. i am disappointed in that respect. i get very upset with the way things are going and how divided -- i am of mexican descent, though it was talking about how in just -- injust it is for people of mexican descent. i am a republican now because of what is going on in the democratic party. i think they are misleading people. people who stay focused on one thing, they do not bother to step outside of the box and research -- are being misled.

host: that is kathy in florida, this is kevin in san diego. independent line. caller: thanks for c-span. i watched the press conference on c-span. fortunately because you put it up on the website, i was able to watch portions a couple of times. i thought it was confusing. some of the messages, i could not figure out what he was talking about. on immigration he went from saying it was all trump's fault too it was a cyclical thing that happens every year. he was a we have to help children, we are not going to leave them starting on the river but then he was saying, if you go down there, it is not a lot of children, it is 16 and 17 euros. ---year-olds. we are going to ramp up efforts to find their contacts and

family members and send them back, but he is in the process of sending these minors across the country to live in military bases. in san diego they are removing people from the convention center to house unaccompanied minors. on china, he was extremely confusing. he was talking about this being a battle of democracy versus autocracy, saying china without spending us on infrastructure. he was saying that we need to do but china is doing but more. what is the difference? he is sending all of these mixed messages out into the world. you can see this manifesting in a crisis at the border. a bigger concern is strong

leaders in iran, north korea, china are licking their chops because they are going to run over us with such a weak and confused leader. host: kevin in san diego giving thoughts on the first news conference. you can watch it at c-span.org. we will continue on, taking your calls until 10:00 this morning. getting your input and comments. even as we are talking about this first news conference, we are talking about matters of elections in 2024. it may be early, but we are starting to talk about it. joining us to give us the why is fox news political reporter, national political report, also for the concorde monitor, mr. steinhauser good morning. guest: great to join you. it is never too early,

specifically why today? today we have the first in person visit to one of these early voting states, iowa, new hampshire, nevada on the presidential nominating calendar. that person is mike pompeo, he went on to be cia director and see -- and secretary of state, he is in iowa today and the first person who has national aspirations in 2024. host: what was he doing? caller: he was speaking to a conservative group just outside of des moines. he is also going to be teaming up with some republican members of congress while he is out there as well as the former governor of iowa. but also beyond. part of this is to help republicans in the 2022 midterm

election, he discussed that also to make friends that might pay dividends down the road when they real race for the white house gets underway. host: when you were looking at him, aside from this trip what other indicators might you see for his interest? caller: -- guest: he has been one of the few who have been open about his possible aspirations, he joked about this in recent fox news appearances. he had a tweet the other day, he tweeted a number of days until the next presidential election. you do not do that unless you are thinking about running, he went on to talk about the potential contenders who spoke at cpac. that was held last month in orlando, his speech got a good reception. host: from what he talks about

when he makes these visits and the one today. what emerges as far as what he is interested in engaging with? guest: he likes to talk about his accomplishments as secretary of state. the abraham accords which the emmys states honcho -- which the united states honchoed between israel and other states. it was a big international statement towards middle east peace. that plays well in a state like iowa the republicans are very socially conservative and have a lot of strong support for israel. that is something he likes to talk about. he likes being bring up social issues and take aim at democrats. he has a message if he decides to run for the white house would be receptive to republicans. host: is he the first to emerge?

or are there others in the loop? guest: he is the first two in person visit one of the states, because of the pandemic, in person campaigning visits have been tamped over the last year. there is more to come. next week, rick scott the senator from florida, also the chair of the national republican senatorial campaign is heading to iowa. iowa is going to have a key senate race in 2022, but he also has possible designs on the white house. two weeks after that, tim scott, the republican senator from south carolina will be in iowa to help out friends. they are there to help republicans in 2022, but there is a military live -- an ulterior motive to make friends

out there that could help down the road when he considered caucuses -- down the road with the iowa caucuses. host: you know that present buying came in fourth in iowa and fifth in new hampshire, do the states matter? guest: the republican race is a different story. democrats -- the party has become much more diverse. iowa, new hampshire which continues to lead author or much more caucasian states -- lead off are much more caucasian. iowa, they are an important factor, new hampshire -- so is south carolina which is in the calendar for the republicans. we are going to see a lot of these visits later this year, especially as we ease out with the pandemic. host: you heard the guests

reference the trip of mike pompeo, you can see that on network network. you can see his comments at 8:00 this evening, eastern standard time on c-span and c-span.org, the radio at is available -- app is avialable. thank you for giving us your time. guest: thank you. host: back to your calls, john in california, democrats line, thank you for waiting period caller: hello. i was calling about what president but it was talking about, where people were getting water with these new pieces of legislation out of georgia. if anybody takes the time and i think journalists are to take a look at this, the 24th amendment that dealt with the poll tax. if you look at the language in

that amendment, it refers to pay any poll tax or other tax. if you look up the definition of a tax, it can be a source of government revenue but also a burden. when you look through all of this thought georgia put on the backs of the citizens -- all of this that georgia put on the backs of the citizens, these are burdens to minimize the ability of people to vote. journalists need to look at this because they're not talking about the fact that the 24th amendment is being violated by states putting restrictions on the ability of people to vote. host: since we are talking about the president from yesterday, do you think there is a role for his administration or congress to tackle the situation? caller: if you look at the

constitution, the president's most powerful ability is his ability to protect, defend and preserve the constitution, he has to give that oath before he becomes president. the legislature, congress and the courts, you have to go to article six, and the relationship to the constitution is of support. they have no authority to defend. if you go back to the president's relationship within the constitution, he has the authority to tell a state government that it cannot violate the constitution. what has happened in georgia is a violation of the 24th amendment. host: okay, we will leave it there. let's go to antonia from clearwater, florida, republican line. caller: good morning. i feel that we should have voter

id. people are welcome to be here in this country legally -- not illegally. if the image states need to help people out in different countries, why not accept mothers with children who are single, taking care of these children and letting them have a chance here? if it is a man where the mother has abandoned her children, why not allow that man? but to say that all of these people can come in, because all of the democrats say that they want to vote that is really unfair. i was born in a different country. i am a voter, i am a taxpayer. i do not mind helping people. i am a christian. and being a christian makes me

feel empathy for people who are going through the same things that people are going through in my country. it is not about illegal it is about legal -- coming in illegally. and governments helping those that need it. host: both of those previous calls talking about the issue of voting. talking about the events that took place in georgia yesterday, with the legislation from the governor, brian kemp on new voting laws. we showed you this earlier. here is some of his response to the criticism. [video clip] >> contrary to the hyper-partisan rhetoric you may have heard inside and outside this gold dome, this lot will expand voting access. every county in georgia will now have two mandatory saturdays of early voting and the option of

two sundays of early voting. georgians will be overwhelmed with fancy television ads, mailers and radio spots attacking this election reform measure. left-wing groups founded by out-of-state billionaires are doing that now. they are using outrages, false rhetoric to scary up and put millions of dollars in their pockets. they are threatening to boycott georgia businesses in the middle of the pandemic because they opposed election integrity. according to them, if you support voter id for absentee ballots, you are a racist. according to them, if you believe in protecting the security and sanctity of the ballot box from you are a jim crow in a suit and tie. i have thought these activists tooth and nail for over 10 years to keep election secure, accessible and fair.

like before, i am sure they will threaten, boycott, suit, demonize and team up with their friends in the national media to collect everything in the book. but fighting for free and fair elections is worth that and more. host: some of you are talking about these issues particularly in light of georgia's actions. diane from georgia texting is that we were having voting from his last election, unsolicited mail in ballots, i find calling that jim crow embarrassing. a law passed yesterday in georgia we saw early voting, absentee ballots and no signature required. everyone can get a picture id from georgia dmv, when you get a drivers license, you are registered to vote. chelsea from connecticut says republican voting restrictions are unconstitutional, it is a constitutional right, quieted

easier to purchase a gun thing vote? the bite administration needs to push back. -- biden administration is to push back. caller: thanks for taking my call. i did not watch the press conference. i watch you guys and get the real deal. on the right or left, all they talk about is what he did or did not do. politicians are all full of bull. thank you. host: james from st. petersburg, florida, independent line. caller: good morning. i have one concern. i think the people who are b uying ballots should be regarded tell people who they are purchasing from how they will be voting. host: mary from woodbury, new jersey, republican line. caller: i felt it was a good

conference by the president. i am concerned about our immigration law. i do not understand why people -- why people are allowed to being coming in other than legally. they are taking a gentleman from the west coast speaking earlier about how they are taking the entry level jobs from our own people. i have to agree. i am concerned that nobody at the top seems to care about making it legal. if it is not legal, you should not be coming in. i acquitted to be like on eight lifeboat, you cannot take everyone or the boat will sink. host: what did you think about how the president addressed immigration? caller: i do not understand why

he is allowing people to come in, he invited them to come in. these are not legal people. they are going to be put in hotels and things of that nature. i heard they are taking them out of some convention center -- homeless people to make room for these people. to me that is not correct. you take care of the people here first. then you see what is available. i am open to immigration, long ago the process was -- and the fact people do not have to run -- learn english any longer, the firm has seven or eight languages on it. i understand that people have to be educated, there are classes that help them. some of the parents never learn.

host: that is made in new jersey. next in indiana, independent line. . candy -- caller: can you hear me? host: yes. caller: i think the tires are turning for present biting, i think they're going to let kemal in there. his mental dysfunctions, more people can see it, -- host: what do you mean? caller: they want her in there. i believe covid was created because of the vaccine. i believe they created the covid so they can push people into the vaccine. host: how did you come to that conclusion? caller: research. host: where? caller: the vaccines from children, when i was a child, i am in my 60's, they had 200 more vaccines per year for children now.

there is a vaccine for everything. they say go get your vaccine. and they try to push you into it, we do not have enough. host: you said research specifically, where? caller: everywhere. host: okay let's go to hubert in indiantown, florida, good morning, you are next democrat line. caller: thanks for taking michael. -- my call. immigration is essential for this country's diverse workforce. what republicans do not want is for us to have immigration and top. because they keep losing elections. that is the point. that is what they have this thing in georgia. they keep changing the rules. host: democrats control congress and the white house, how do you think congress -- the president is doing? caller: he is doing okay, we

have to get rid of the filibuster, it is a jim crow -- host: how does that change immigration policy? caller: they can start making policies without having 60 votes in the senate. in this constitution, the majority rules. host: how will that be used to change immigration? what would you want to see change? caller: agree that people who come here should learn english, we go to mexico, we have to learn their language. they should have a path to citizenship. they should have that option. taking the options off of the table is unfair. they did not tell the italians this, iris this. -- irish this. host: we will hear from robert,

tampa, florida, republican line. caller: thank you for taking michael. -- my call. immigrants who come in now take these -- host: you will have to stop listening to the television, if you're doing that, finish on the phone. caller: i wanted to say the people who are coming into the country should do it legally, and stop taking away the entry-level jobs from the people who need them. i have to say that the gentleman from new jersey about the foster home situation, i was in a foster home in florida. at age 18, uhf. you leave and you are on your own. we are letting all of these children come in here, they need to go to foster homes and every state and see for themselves how

the kids are in foster homes. they want to dump the thousand of in california. i do not know where they are going to put them? when i was in a foster home in the 80's, we had 60 people in a foster home. host: that is robert, he'll be the last call for the segment. we appreciate all of you calling and participating. another addition of washington journal tomorrow morning at 7:00 tomorrow morning. -- at 7:00 tomorrow. ♪ >> today on c-span in 15 minutes

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