rance gainer discusses the u.s. capitol security. jessica mendoza and samantha laine will then discuss the pandemic impact on women. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to washington journal. americans are not feeling good about the future of our democracy. claims of disputed elections and restrictions being put on the ballot box polls are showing concern about our election and government workings in the protests like the ones scheduled today at the capital mall. how do you feel about the state of the country? that is our question to you.

are you like the people in this poll who feel u.s. democracy is under attack? we open regular lines which means democrats, we want to hear from you at (202)-748-8000. republicans, your line is (202)-748-8001. independents, you can call (202)-748-8002. keep in mind you can always text us at (202)-748-8003 and we are always reading on social media on facebook at facebook.com/c-span on twitter @c-spanwj and always on instagram @c-spanwj. let's set the scene with the poll that came from cnn this week where they are asking americans how they feel about democracy in the united states and this poll was surprising to

many people. we have this information. most americans feel democracy is under attack in this country with 56% saying they feel like democracy is under attack. let's go straight to the poll. 51% say it is likely elected officials will successfully overturn the result of a future election because their party did not win. nearly all americans feel democracy in the u.s. is at least being tested. 93% say democracy is under attack or being tested -- but not under attack. 6% say american democracy is in

no danger. republicans are far more likely than democrats to say democracy is under attack as that is prevalent among those who support former president trump. 75% of republicans say democracy is under attack compared with 46% of democrats. among republican leading eden independent, those who support trump are more likely to say democracy is under attack. 70%. do you think democracy is under attack? do you think democracy is at least being tested? all of this comes as we understand a protest for the people who participated in the

january 6 riot will happen at the national mall today around noon. we are already seeing the fencing around the u.s. capitol back up as they prepare for today's rally. not just the u.s. capitol but also now around the supreme court. is our democracy under attack? we start with john calling from bridgewater, new jersey on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i'm good. caller: this is democracy under attack on both sides as everyone is going off the rails. this country is so strong. the bedrock of our institution

is so strong. as far as democracy, that is an expansive term but that means basically our way of life. we have individuals on both sides who are a little, you know, extreme. this country is unbelievably strong. [laughs] i don't worry about that. i will make one comment about the protest today. nothing is going to happen unless they are provoked by the opposition which obviously wants to provoke them. but where is the commentary on antifa and blm when they were burning down cities last year? nothing. that should be probed. that was inspired, that was pushed by god knows who.

that was a threat to democracy. thank you. host: paul calling from hunting town, maryland on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i keep thinking about how americans really showed up in record numbers in 2022 in spite of a pandemic with expanded access to voting. with the reaction has been in states like georgia and texas and florida, it has made it harder to vote. host: let's go to rick calling from baldwin, missouri on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you for having me on this morning. good positions already from both

sides. i have had to select a candidate from a major party from several elections now. what i think is under attack is bedrock rights to the people themselves, particularly the right to bear arms. i think there is a push from the left on that. i believe that january 6 the people showed up was there to protest mostly what they thought was inconsistencies in the election. i would like to dispute the gentleman who just spoke that there was record turnout at this election. i do not know the statistics but you have to look at how many voted in person versus by mail and that is where they were claiming the fraud. there were issues with ballots not cast by somebody walking into a polling place. host: do you think mail-in

voting should be eliminated which would eliminate overseas trips? caller: not at all. i think it is right to have mail-in voting but with proper control. host: how do you control it and make it equal to everyone? caller: good question. i think you have somebody requesting ballots and have them mailed to them so they can submit it. host: do you think that could be done for the military? that military people have to request a ballot to be able to vote? caller: not sure if they have to today. i would imagine in their situation they are part of the branch of our democracy that should be supported in that manner. they are disenfranchised to a certain extent because their votes do not get counted right

away. there are ballots that come in after the polls close. you look back however many years, four, eight decades ago, those ballots were not necessarily counted on election night. host: how do we get more confidence in our democracy? caller: good question. i was watching live on january 6 and i was in the office working. i watched the house of representatives but decided to turn on the senate instead. disappointed that yes, there was this movement into the capitol that disrupted proceedings. i had my doubts about the election. i voted for donald trump but the senate had a well thought out

discussion and debate to help us people understand what happens, what are the controls in place when there are states that have a dispute over election proceedings and states that dispute another state's proceedings. texas disputing pennsylvania with the changes in the laws they made. i think we missed an opportunity january 6 not by storming the gates but by allowing the senate to proceed with well thought out debate which is what was the foundation of this country 250 years ago. we elected the senators to bring intellectual debate. once they continued the discussion i believe the wind was taken out of the sails to further dig into the intricacies.

host: david calling from south carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i think it was more like a cancer. the symbol i remember is president kennedy's words asking ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. it has done a 180. it is as not what you can do for your country but demand with the country must do. it has been a steady erosion of that. it reminds me of, i don't know if it was kruschev, they will hang themselves. i went to bed watching the election results where the polls

closed around 1:00 a.m. eastern. trump had enough of a lead that i said, there is no way he will lose in those states and yet, i wake up to find the remaining votes were overwhelmingly for biden. it really made me wonder and about the voting id thing, my whole life -- you probably have not either -- but use of a photo id was racist. i never heard of legislation prior to the election were picture ids -- legislation to ban them because they were racist. host: for years, if i remember correctly, there were people who never got drivers licenses in large cities because they did

not have to drive. they are not common across the united states and never have been. caller: not licenses but the dmv's issue photo ids for those who do not drive. my kids have one, i think i had one. in order to receive snap benefits or medicaid photo ids are necessary. given the disproportionate number of people of color who have those benefits, well, maybe it is discriminatory people of non-color. host: just to be specific there are more white americans who receive snap benefits than black americans. caller: on a per capita basis but i do not want to talk about that. photo ids are routine, they have never been challenged as racist

until the election. given what happened after the -- my concern is the erosion of the american will to work and be independent. that is what make this country great and that is why so many people are getting in, they want to work and keep with a work instead having a corrupt government take everything they have. host: bill calling from new york on the independent line. good morning. caller: hi, jesse. i feel u.s. democracy is under attack on the blame is on the republican party for voter suppression. the january 6 insurrection, it is a violent party. they will declare an election illegal because they did not win it. in the recall in california,

before that the recall election was over trump issued the corrupt bargain, it was an illegal election. if they do not win the election, they will cry foul and try to overturn it which is what the purpose of the insurrection was, to prevent that election from going through. host: well, let's talk about what is going to happen with the protest on the national mall today. let's talk to chris marquette with cq roll call and is their ethics and accountability reporter. good morning. guest: good morning. host: tell us about today's rally. what are you hearing? how many people are going to be there? guest: the rally is organized by a former trump campaign employee, matt brainard, who

runs this organization called "lookahead america." i asked yesterday, currently it is requesting 700 participants. he said yesterday, the capitol police chief, he does not know exactly what number he is expecting but the permits for 700. it could be less, it could be more, but matt brainard is basically pushing his narrative that these pro-trump insurrectionists who stormed the capitol who are currently in prison are persecuted and he is demanding justice for what he deems political prisoners and for ashli babbitt, the qanon follower who was shot and killed

by a capitol police officer as she was attempting to breach the speaker's lobby. the demonstration is expected to be in union square right in front of the capitol reflecting pool. the chief major and capitol police are not taking -- they are taking this seriously. there is a security perimeter fence that went up and completed toward the end of the week. they are not taking chances. chief major also said if any protesters or counterprotesters attempt to attack law enforcement or try to scale that fencing that is protecting the capitol, he said we will be ready. in addition to that, there is

around 100 local and state law enforcement and federal law enforcement agencies on hand to assist. montgomery county police department is sending officers, arlington county and virginia sending officers, i saw baltimore officers talking with capitol police yesterday when i was walking around in the house office building. they are definitely prepared. also on friday, the defense secretary lloyd austin approved capitol police request for around 100 national guard, d.c. national guard troops to be on hand in case they are needed, but that is a last resort scenario. the chief major address to this

yesterday in his press briefing. basically the guard troops will be unarmed and stationed in the d.c. armory and it ready if needed, but chief major said the protesters are demonstrating in union square and the protest is expected to end early afternoon. if they have issues getting those demonstrators out of the area, or if it goes longer than expected, that is the time they would enlist. host: chris, you brought up to ask you about. one, capitol police chief tom manger and the counterprotesters not the only one happening.

are the capitol police attempting to keep these groups separate? are the police monitoring both groups? guest: absolutely. that is one thing that was a point of focus yesterday. d.c. police chief contee was on hand for the briefing and the chief major said the d.c. police and capitol police are working and focused on counterprotesters as well. they said the biggest concern right now is those two groups clashing. he noted chief contee is focused on keeping them separate and they are definitely taking all the steps necessary to plan accordingly. host: we have seen former

president trump express support for the demonstration going on today. do we expect to see former president donald trump or any lawmakers present today on the national mall with protesters? guest: yes, that is a good point. we do not expect to see the former president on hand. lawmakers were invited, including representative paul gosar, matt gaetz, madison cawthorn, mike lee of utah, ted cruz, tommy tuberville. as of yesterday chief manger said he does not expect lawmakers to attend and several who i have named have said they are not planning on attending. however, there are some

candidates for office, congressional office who are planning to attend. host: we heard over the news the last few days the department of homeland security talking about a small number of online threats they have been monitoring leading up to this protest. we have even heard of other online discussions encouraging violence the day before the rally, meeting yesterday. can you tell us what they are hearing online and elaborate a little bit on what the people who are preparing for this are saying online? guest: we got hold of a couple of internal intelligence investments the capitol police have worked on with law enforcement partners and this is one thing that has changed. the department is now sharing this information intelligence with the department.

the officers are being briefed on this information so that they can better prepare for it. some chatter they are hearing, they mentioned in the investments, that online violent chatter is ramping up, particularly one of the sites was a far-right groups. it had some anti-semitic language and also talked about targeting liberal churches and while law enforcement is otherwise occupied. there was another comment that talked about bringing, i believe it was in ar-15 to the rally, and also you know, disparaging terms for democrats. there has been talk from the far right extremist groups, proud

boys and oathkeepers, but whether they attend has yet to be seen. in addition, some counterprotesters groups like the d.c. liberation front have encouraged online supporters to come out and combat this protest for the imprisoned insurrectionists. there has been chatter among counterprotesters who are in opposition to this cause and also chatter from far right extremist groups which has concerned the capitol police and law enforcement partners. that is why you are seeing a lot of those security measures in place. host: just to wrap up, is there

anything we need to know about what is going to happen on the national mall today? guest: i think just, you know, william marker who is the general and current house sergeant and arms cautioned staff of congress to stay away. i think it is in everyone's best interest if they kind of steer clear of the capitol complex today and just allow law enforcement to kind of do their jobs. host: we would like to thank chris marquette who works for cq roll call and telling us about what is going to happen at the national mall today. thank you so much. guest: thank you for having me. host: our question for you this

morning is about whether you feel democracy is under attack in the united states. speaking in philadelphia in july president biden warned about threats to american democracy in the electoral process and we want to bring to you what president biden said back then. [video clip] >> hear me clearly, there is an unfolding assault taking place in america today in an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections. assault on democracy, assault on liberty, an assault on who we are, who we are as americans. make no mistake, bullies and peddlers of lies are threatening the foundation of our country. it gives me no pleasure to say

this. i never thought my entire career i would have to say it. but i swore an oath to you, to god to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and that forms a sacred trust to defend threats both foreign and domestic. [applause] the assault on free and fair elections is just such a threat, literally, i have said it before. we are facing the most significant test of our democracy since the civil war. that is not hyperbole, since the civil war. the confederates back then never breached the capitol as insurrectionists did on january 6. i am not saying this to alarm you. i am saying this because you

should be alarmed. i am also saying this -- there is good news -- it does not have to be this way. it does not have to be, for real. we have the means we just need the will. the will to strengthen our democracy. we did in 2020. the battle for the soul of america and in that battle the people voted. democracy prevailed. our constitution held. we have to do it again. host: let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about the poll that says americans think democracy is under attack in the united states. here's a tweet that says, yes democracy is under attack. trumps big lie in the january 6 the riot proves it. another tweet that says, to get democracy back we would have to get rid of the electoral college

of filibuster. all added on since the conception of the constitution. we have a few freedoms left. voting rights and women's rights to choose our crumbling. another tweet says, democrats and the liberal media have tried to tear the country down for years. they are the true enemy of the nation not grandma or granted in the launchers protesting the rise of socialist takeover. another says, it is under attack because of party affiliated media. i doubt any democrats know that france pulled its abbasid or out of the u.s. yesterday. another says integrity is under attack and affects the democratic process. i believe the republicans are making an all-out effort to undermine confidence in

elections about a system that was not broken. you can see the numbers on the screen. we want to hear from you. let's start with jim calling from tucker, georgia on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. thank you for having such a great program. the whole conversation about our democracy being under attack is misleading because we do not live in a democracy. we live in a constitutional republic. for people to say -- and president biden even to say the democracy is under attack is a misnomer for me. i think our republic is under attack and our rights to vote are under attack, especially in places like georgia where the

governor is saying, oh, you cannot vote remotely or we are going to shut down polling places in the midst of a pandemic where people do not want to go into a polling place. those kinds of limitations are absolutely an attack on our rights to vote. that is what biden said and i applaud him for that. but to say, democracy is under attack, that is the first thing i have a problem with. the second thing is this has been -- this is not anything new. if you look at the laws congress has passed over the years, which have gotten better since the 1960's where there are civil rights now, but before that when all of these laws were passed that blacks cannot vote and people cannot vote, that has

changed for the better. i will applaud my neighbor from south carolina on earlier who said a lot of people -- it is not, what can i do for my country it is more like, what can my country do for me? it really is coming to that and that is so disappointing. but the last thing i want to point out is that i am very pleased with my fellow georgians and that we flipped our senate delegation from republican to democrat. that is just fantastic. host: would go to nathaniel calling from st. petersburg, florida on the republican line. good morning. caller: mr. president, tear down this wall. that's when i heard and guess what? the wall came down. mr. president, tear down the barriers. if they want to fight, let's fight. we are willing to go around the

world for democracy. we are willing to lose thousands of soldiers because there are 30 people who fly a plane into our country and destroy our beautiful, beautiful buildings. we know who our enemy was. we know who our enemy is now. do the same thing. do not run away from them, do not put up barriers. let them know this is not acceptable. stop giving the misdemeanors so they can continue on their aspirations by voting and etc. let them be the criminals they are. host: let's go to joseph calling from boston, massachusetts on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. how are you doing? host: just fine. go ahead.

caller: i will tell you why democracy is under attack. we just got pulled out of the longest war in afghanistan. [indiscernible] do you remember the billy crystal, the richard pearl, they backed this war. what was the chance of success? zero. we do not hold people accountable. host: lou calling from highland park, illinois on the democrat line. caller:caller: good morning. good morning. i truly believe our country is under attack in every corner of our country. i feel intimidated when i drive on the roads and see these huge

pickup trucks coming up behind me with flags waving. it seems people on the right have stolen the american flag as one of their symbols and i just do not feel safe anymore in our country. i do not know what the answer is and it is beyond an attack. i believe we are engaged in wars right now. some of the states are passing laws that you can buy a gun without training and without a permit, like texas. there is an imminent war or we are in a war right now and i am terrified. i have a granddaughter at the university of michigan and i know michigan is full of people who hate our country, who loves guns, and i cannot tolerate this fear. i do not know what the solution is. host: dan calling from spokane,

washington on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to request all training americans for our nation for civility and reason to rule the day. all ascendant cultures and nations reach a point where they start to implode and decline because of their own lack of moral character and decency and honesty. they never realize they are in decline until it is too late and i feel america has been in decline for quite some time. it is going to take prayer and it is going to take people to stand up and tell the truth and not get involved in this bitterness and anger and hatred which is tearing us apart. we have more in common, all

people. i just pray to god that we come to our senses and not go the route of all nations that have gone to the level of ascendancy we have gone to. host: let's go to carol calling from massachusetts on the republican line. good morning. caller: am i on? host: you are on. good morning, carol. caller: thank you. i think we are under attack. we have met the enemy and the enemy is us. the whole voting issue -- and i'm not going to go into it -- when there is that much controversy, where there is smoke there is fire and it has to be looked at thoroughly. i think the democrats did use covid to change our voting laws. there is questions about mail-in

ballots and things like that and it is causing such controversy that i think it needs an overhaul or at least a standard met for every state. the other thing is it seems that the people who are coming to america now are not assimilating and integrating. we are not becoming a peoples of all shapes and countries and sizes and religions and whatnot. we are separating ourselves. also, our elected officials do nothing but fight and argue. the republicans say the democrats are too far left, the democrats say the republicans are too far-right. they constantly fight over everything. i do think all this business of spending is going to lead us to trouble. there is going to be some financial crisis if they do not

stop spending money. and there was one gentleman -- which is coming out of our taxes -- when they say they are going to tax the rich and corporations, guess what? they're just going to raise prices and the middle-class will have to pay if not taxes, more money for what they get. i just think when they talk about this protest in washington today it is almost like they are hoping something happens. it is like the media is blowing it up. what it symbolizes is people are angry. host: speaking of the protest today, yesterday on washington journal the organizer for today's justice for j6 rally, matt brainard, discussed how his group is working with capitol police to hopefully keep today's rally peaceful and the security

effort his own group is taking. here is what he said yesterday. [video clip] >> we are going to do everything to keep our people safe. we have been working on a daily basis with capitol police, park police, metropolitan police. metropolitan police have worked with us many times as we put on rallies in the district without incident. we have a large diplomatic security force. the same people that provide security for the media people you work with on a daily basis. we have plans to keep everyone safe. host: is that a security force you hired? caller: yes but they are looped in with the capitol police department and are many of them ex-cops. host: are these people armed? caller: not to my knowledge. but when you have your colleagues go out and do remote they need security and want to keep all people safe. if you show up, i believe it is

my responsibility to give every one of our attendees a safe and to do that we are asking when people leap to leave in large groups. if you see anything suspicious, we have all got television studios in the pocket. with it out and start recording. we have our eyes open and i think the capitol police have done a good job coordinating with us. despite the political leadership i know they are doing their best to keep this a peaceful, safe rally. there is no intent for violence on our side. our whole purpose is to show people the first still matters, you can still protest, that community organizing can be done successfully. you do not have to resort to apathy or violence. host: let's go back to the phone lines and talk to bernie calling from howard beach, new york. . on the democrat line good morning. caller: good morning.

thank goodness for washington journal. as long as c-span is on it is a major barrier to destruction. democracy, as i understand it, everyone gets the chance to vote. as opposed to an autocracy where a select few, usually the dictator, get the chance to vote. right now, anyone trying to limit the vote is trying to limit -- and if you go to an extreme -- from limit to destroy, it can happen. what is going on with some of these states to constrain how we are voted, i believe there is a

clear strike at our democracy. when people start talking about fake news, that comes right out of hitler's germany and mussolini and everything. they want to control the news and when that moron trump pointed to fake news then you know. he is just afraid of the truth. host: you just heard matt brainard who is organizing today's justice for j6 rally talk about how his group was working with the capitol police. the capitol police held a news conference ahead of today's demonstration as well and the u.s. capitol police tom manger responded to a question about those remarks on washington

journal, asserting his organization is working with the capitol police. here is what tom manger had to say. [video clip] >> the organizer of the rally matt brainard said this morning his organization had security working with the capitol police. is that true? >> our folks have been in touch with the organizers and we are aware of the fact they have security folks. as far as the communication it has just been cursory. we are aware they are there. host: let's go back to the phone lines and start with jason calling from texas on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? your question about our republic or however you want to refer to it -- it really is a republic -- there are certain issues with the federal government trying to

consolidate power at the top. state's rights are being violated. i saw something on tons of people gathering at the border like it is a kumbaya event and our border has been erased. federal law enforcement being adjudicated at the top or even in the state itself. everybody is avoiding the issue and pretending this illegal invasion does not exist. arming our enemies is not an appropriate way to leave afghanistan. we should have left it better off then we did. i would say this nation is in trouble because there is no root value. we need to get back to our roots. host: dave calling from lee, massachusetts on the republican line.

caller: thank you. i am curious what is going to be done about the 2016 to 2021 seditionists. host: who are those? caller: those who spent the last five years fighting the duly elected president and pretending it was somehow foreign intervention. rather than an actual election. host: let's go to mike calling from new york on the independent line. good morning. caller: hey. i wanted to voice my own opinion. i heard somebody from new york talk about somebody being a fascist or dictator.

i would say mandating vaccinations kind of reminds me of fascism. that's all i have to say. host: let's go to george calling from los angeles, california on the republican line. good morning. caller: of course we are under attack. this last election all we could come up with was the world's ugliest old man versus the senile fool. it is pathetic. one more comment. in terms of voter id, when i go to pick up my medication at my local drugstore i show my picture id. when i get on a plane i show picture id. if you talk to average black members of the community, not the elitists who host these kinds of shows, but the average black person and asked if they

were having trouble given picture id they would laugh at you. host: martin calling from georgia on the democrat line. good morning. caller: hello? host: are you there? caller: i am here. democracy is under attack because republicans choose to believe the biggest liar in the history of america. he is a reality tv star. how appropriate is that? thank you. host: on tuesday former president trump was interviewed on spicer and company. he talks about alleged 2020 election fraud, is 2024 election plans and the upcoming 2022 and 2024 elections and the california recall. here is what former president trump had to say [video clip] >> our country has gone really

downhill in the last eight months like nobody has ever seen before. you go to these elections coming up in 2022 and 2024, we are not going to have a country left. the election is rate and we are not going to have a country in three years. >> you have been generous with your time. before you go, you said you made up your mind about whether you are running again and your supporters will be happy. when you plan on letting us know what that decision is? >> i will probably not comment on that but i think you will be happy. i think you and a lot of others will be happy. i can make it soon but that gets complicated. you are going to be extremely happy in this country is going to come back again. we are a laughingstock all over the world. what happened if as guest in, what happened at the border, millions of people are coming

in. it is a disgrace. what is happening to our country and they are to rig another election today. california, what's the result. it is a disgrace what is going on with mail-in ballots in the country is not the same. we are going to bring it back. host: we talked to jay calling from virginia on the republican line. good morning. caller: yes, hi. i'll tell you something, since this president got in he messed everything up. donald trump trump is the man to bring it back again and they should have never opened the border. i'm sorry but i think donald trump was a lot better. host: let's go to michael calling from new jersey on the independent line. good morning. caller: i wanted to call to correct the person a couple of calls before that said the

definition of democracy was that everyone gets the vote. that is not right. it is citizens get to vote. that is the definition of democracy. not just anyone who comes to the united states and that is the problem with our society today. everyone things everybody should bow, even illegal immigrants pouring into the country. that is one of the problems we have beside the open border. you have the debacle in afghanistan and this country has gone down the last six months. that is all i've got to say. host: jerry calling from sewall, new jersey on the democrat line. caller: good morning. i have a question and statement. i am wondering if everyone is as concerned as the groups who might come down to oppose this rally.

does everybody consider they have more rights than the people coming out to rally today? because if they cause any problems, is there going to be enough done about that. i will be curious to see how that goes. somebody called in and called president trump a moron. let me tell you something, i don't know how anybody can watch the president we have now who stumbles, who cannot get a sentence out. you are to call president trump a moron? they posted a warning for the constitution on some website. you are talking a moron trump? host: tom calling from fresno,

california on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, america. i think american democracy is under attack. 9/11, the islamic people came out and wanted to celebrate those people who ran into our buildings. america would be upset. america invaded their own capitol and i find upper cuyler year they are celebrating -- find that peculiar they are celebrating their own attack. that is all i have to say. host: let's talk to kevin calling from baltimore, maryland on the independent line. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. the reason i want to talk about the voting situation, they

tested the vote in detroit, and philadelphia and in phoenix, arizona. what is the problem with those places? black and brown people. did they test the vote in nebraska? did they test the vote in iowa? did they test the vote in idaho? guess what? a lot of white people. no problems there. this is the problem with america. when you tell black people we cannot vote, we show up and you get elected out of office. thank you for taking my call. host: dale calling from columbus, ohio democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am amazed so many people are getting behind donald trump. we know this attack is because of what he said. he said, everyone be there on

january 6. if he had all this information and said in the beginning, it is rigged, it is just amazing. we saw him support putin. he said, i agree with putin while the intelligence said russia had informants in the election. he agrees with that. when he said putin had bounty on american lives and then through that under the bus and saying, i did not hear that. he said, this is a democratic hoax. and then he did not want people to wear masks around his cabinet. all of a sudden you look up and all the people in his cabinet were catching the virus. i am amazed at these republicans. these generals have been there for years and have had a lot of soldiers been in the war. but donald trump says, i know

more than them. host: let's go to john calling from long island city, new york on the republican line. good morning. caller: how are you doing? my name is john larson and i am a republican. [indiscernible] you got 15 marines killed and he killed the oil line. he messed everything up. that is all i got to say. host: let's talk to nancy calling from cleveland, ohio on the independent line. nancy, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my

call. just a different angle on this. i think there is going to be increased conflict with climate change and there is going to be so many disputes over resources. i think the corporations that have so much power -- and i am not somebody who follows corporations by any means -- but i think people like the coke brothers are fighting against having anything done-- koch brothers are fighting against having anything done. they run campaigns fighting us against each other instead of people taking back the power. i grew up republican in indiana. i try to see various sides of things. i am just extremely worried and i think donald trump personified all of the ways people feel they

are powerless and not being recognized and don't have the power of the vote anymore. i think what we do to limit the power of corporations and fight climate change will ultimately benefit our country and democracy. host: let's talk to darren calling from california on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a democrat. i believe america will be just fine. i believe there is enough good people in our country that democracy will be preserved. i believe there is an alternate reality we are living in right now. i think the truth is under attack. i believe the border is open, it was open after slavery. i believe basically people are lazy, don't want to do their own

work. if they were to close the border, half of these white owned businesses on the board would be closed. they are not asking for id. they are paying them nothing. they do not cut their own grass, wash their own cars, all they do is complain. thank you. host: coming up next, former u.s. capitol police chief terrance gainer will be here to discuss with us u.s. capitol security ahead of today's justice for j6 rally in support of those who rioted at the u.s. capitol january sixth. later, christian science monitor's jessica mendoza and jessica lane perfas look at the impact of the pandemic on women. stick with us. ♪

>> weekends bring you the best in american history and nonfiction books on lectures in history, a discussion on a new african-american history museum being built in charleston, south carolina with joseph riley. smithsonian secretary, monty fudge and kerry taylor from the citadel military college. "the presidency", we will take a look at camp david with a man who served as the commander under bill clinton and george w. bush and is the author of " inside camp david." and then we share a book "three days in camp david," which looks at president nixon's decision to end the value of the u.s. dollar based on the gold standard. watch every weekend and find a full schedule or watch online

any tam -- any time at c-span.org/history. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. sen. we are back with -- host: we are back with former u.s. capitol police chief who is with us to discuss capital security again on justice for the j six

rally on those who rioted. good morning. chief gaynor, today the capital and law enforcement around washington, d.c. face their first large-scale security test since the january 6 attack. do you think they are ready? chief, unmute your microphone for us. perfect, we can hear you. guest: sorry about that. i think they are ready and there are so many lessons learned from the sixth and so much preparation began after january 6 with some of the work that was done with the task force. that the then acting chief worked very hard to begin the process and the new chief has kept that up along with two new sergeant at arms. i think they are well

coordinated and prepared for the worst. host: that brings us to the next obvious questions, what lessons were learned? guest: problem number one was getting the correct information from a variety of sources and how to interpret it. everyone who gathers intelligence looks at it through their own lens and they looks at that decide how that impacts. better operational intelligence, communicating that to the officers, having enough officers deployed with the right equipment and radio frequencies so that they can be directed as things change, and then a command center linked with the metropolitan police department and perhaps the u.s. secret service because of the relationship to the white house. to pass that information onto each other and maintain situational awareness. host: like you just mentioned

there are so many different police forces that operate in washington, d.c.. the washington, d.c., the metropolitan police force. the capitol police, the senate sergeant at arms and the house sergeant, all operating with different personnel. how do you coordinate all of these different agencies when something like what happened on january 6 happens? guest: you are going to see that perfect coordination today and at future events. the and others have done very well for preplanned events, gigantic preplanned events. between the metropolitan police department and capitol police they do very well at spontaneous events and managing of crowds that are out for legitimate protest and try to respond to those who are not. so, it is not unusual that a chief of police, no matter where

he or she is at reports to someone else -- somewhere else. the chief of police on the capital reports to a police board, the house and senate sergeant of arms and the architect of the capital. in the last 30 years they have had strong military or police backgrounds. they are in a good position. one of the things i have mentioned, there has been so much hubbub about the national guard. they are not normally the first responder for law enforcement situations. we have used them to bolster what we are doing, and the whole conversation after the sixth that somehow because the national guard was not there it went to hell in a hand basket. more national guard armed or unarmed what have been helpful, but the key first responders to armed violence or violence that could turn to deadly force is

police departments. the metropolitan police department and capitol police department are well rehearsed, they have reinforced that since the sixth and they are working together. chief torme or is experienced who has led departments is -- in fairfax and montgomery county. we will cooperate well. host: if you were in charge of capitol police today, what would be your biggest concern on the national mall? guest: less about a violent attack, i think what anybody would worry about our loan actors and people stirring up -- are lone actors, and with all of these physical coordination. one in two people -- one or two

people can create havoc, so you worry about people who have been stirred up, not the people who generally protest loud, but safely and within their constitutional rights, but you worry about the loan -- lone actors who get so worked up about something is wrong with america, the election, and government so you have the incidents like the past month like someone who professes to have an explosive device, those are the things we worry about. host: you spent years as capitol police chief and senate sergeant at arms. tell us what you are thinking as you were watching january 6. guest: i was shocked because i never thought that would happen. but i also know that i bear some responsibility. i had not been in those positions in about seven years before that.

i just need to tell you as both the chief of the capitol police and later seven years as the senate sergeant at arms, we did not practice or anticipate that u.s. citizens and the numbers of hundreds of thousands what attack the capital, some armed and all of the other weapons they brought, we did not practice that, we did not practice shootouts in the hallway. i was not thoughtful enough to know that things would get so bad that our own citizens would do that. we were more worried about the typical things the closer you were to 9/11, airplane attacks, improvised explosive devices that people would bring up, cars that travel up and down the avenue. we were watching those things. what should have been happening in the last five or maybe two years before 9/11 -- before the sixth of january is what was going on in the united states.

where, internal extremists were becoming problems at different capitals across the united states. that should have been the process and had i been sitting there i hope i would have been smart enough to talk to my own staff and federal intelligence agencies to see what is going on with splinter groups, the white -- ethnic insurrectionists, all of those that have a better sense of what i needed to be prepared for. host: let me remind our viewers that they can call in for this segment. we will open up regular lines meaning that democrats at 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. keep in mind that you can always text 202-748-8003 at. and we are always reading on social media, twitter and c-span

-- and facebook. like i said, you also served as senate sergeant arms, what do you think -- sergeant at arms, what do you think the message of the justice for j6 rally that says those that participated and those being prosecuted for being inside the u.s. capitol are political prisoners? guest: i think that they are misinformed, but i get that everybody can have their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts. anyone watching on january 6 or all the tape and video that has been shared and the investigative journalism that has been going on and what c-span has been done -- what c-span has done, the facts belie the fact that people who were using bear spray, clubs, and

beat officers and 1000 aggravated batteries against police officers. 500 people have been charged. i do not think that is fake news. everybody could at -- can have disagreements about policies and procedures, but not necessarily about the facts. i think they are misinformed and they open their minds and hearts to see both sides of the issue. host: one of the things that we have seen over the last couple of days is security fencing going up around the u.s. capitol and supreme court. do you think this type of fencing should be permanent? and what type of advantage and disadvantage that having this fencing up do for our country? guest: that is almost a third rail of talking about anything in washington. i believe this. i firmly believe as i did as the senate sergeant of arms that we ought to have a better gateway to the larger capitol complex,

meaning that you would have a tasteful way to get in, a fence. but the fence would screen everybody so that in a multiple entrances around the square, and you realize, people who know washington first avenue, independence, and constitution, one can be concerned about people coming up to the capital -- the capitol and doing things like planting a device that we would not want. if you had 24 hour access to that whole ground, 24 hours a day, all you would do is have a pass-through on one of the screening points and then you could lounge -- lounge on the grass and you would have picnics and we would not be popping it up and down. the advantage of a barricade like there is now, a fence is time and distance. you give authorities an opportunity to respond to

someone, but what i wanted and size, i am not saying a fence that keeps people out, i am suggesting a very tasteful, decorative, welcoming to barricade to let you comment through a checkpoint. i do not think that is unreasonable. i think that it is frustrating to think that we are always going to be able to pop this fence up and it is functional, not very handsome. it is not very welcoming and i think there are better ways to do that. but i realize that so many people including members do not want to hear about that, but one of the jobs on security officials like i was as an advisor now you do have to think about what is going on now and what is the worst case scenario. i support a gateway to the capital complex that screens you in 24 hours, seven days a week, rain or set -- rain or shine, and things will be safer.

host: what do you think it will take to get something like that done? it is almost the third rail of talking about securing the u.s. capitol. this has been going on since september 11 and even before that. what will it take to get back type of increased security at the u.s. capitol and around other buildings? guest: i would like to think intelligence can -- intelligent conversation would go along way so we would have to educate people who think we are cutting off access to members of congress by putting up a safe way to get in and out of the building. it is no different, i don't think, than having a lock on the door or certain doors you have to go in and out of. the issue, which i get, you need access to the members of congress. the members of congress except when they are in session are not in the building, the leadership is. you would still have a way to go through normal screaming like --

screening capitol visitor center like the way you get into the buildings, which is clumsy. you're plenty of access to your members but make it safer. it would still mean the capital is -- the capitol is a beacon on a hill, we have set up a way to do it safely. host: one of our social media followers has a question revolving around the counterprotesters. "sometimes it is not the protesters that capitol police have to deal with it is people protesting the protesters. so our media follower wants to know what steps would be taken to keep anti-protesters from causing another conflict like they have done in places like charlottesville? how do you deal with two different groups on opposite sides may be in the same place? guest: that is why you have a lot of police officers, but it starts earlier.

hopefully when you have contact with people who are going to demonstrate or protest, pro or con something, and you talk to the leadership so that when they get a permit, if you request them, talk about what their intention is and lay out some ground rules. they might have coordinators who will deal with leadership on the police department just to help them keep calm. in most demonstrations, who do not mean to cause harm, will have some type of coordinator, judge, or guides to try to keep everybody calm. now, and the district of columbia, today and other days, when you are mixing between jurisdictions of the metropolitan police department, the capitol police, and metro transit police, there are coordinated efforts to manage the crowds. if things get out of hand, then

the leadership in either department depending on where this is happening will take any action. crowd management is the forte of law enforcement. the metropolitan police department, they are very well-trained and very well disciplined to do that, and today they will be very well coordinated between the capitol police, metropolitan police and the metro police because of people moving. it will be well rehearsed and worked out. host: i want to show you something going on right now. here's a tweet from jamie who says "looks like the capitol police chief is addressing officers before dealing with today's rally for those who attacked the capital." we have the photograph. what do you think the chief is telling the officers right now? guest: he is refreshing their

memory about the current intelligence and reminding them is -- that their job is to allow for peaceful protests, even if you agree or do not agree, even if they are loud and boisterous, they are permitted to do them. -- do that. he would remind them of the training and discipline and that their duty is to serve and protect. i imagine he is giving a little bit of a pep rally to say we did take a liking on january 6 but you are successful because the process continued. it was not sweet and easy and it caused injury, but on the end, the u.s. capitol police along with great processor -- partners let the process continue. he is letting them know he is in charge and with them and he has their back. host: we sometimes forget that on the end of the day the political process continued.

you are right, the capitol police to do their job. everyone from u.s. congress was safe in the political process continued. guest: it did. host: let us let our viewers take part. we will start with tom from ohio on the republican line. tom, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to find out if they arrested all of these people for the -- for being there, how they got there and who paid for the buses to get them there? guest: thank you for the question, are you referring to today caller: or january 6? caller:january 6. guest: part of that investigation is still going on. i think the fbi and others worked hard to figure out who was there committing offenses. as i recall 600 have been

indicted or charged. but there is a lot that we do not know about whether there was some greater or larger group push going on. we see from some of the splinter groups that they were a little bit more well organized whether it was the proud boys and others and they have been charged. i think the detail of who was responsible is unclear, except we know this. i think anybody who continues to spread hate and discontent, and violence contributes to what we saw on january 6. when people get together in crowds who know enough about crowd behavior that people lose their sensibilities and do things they would not do. host: which brings up a great question. how far does the capitol police's jurisdiction go?

do they go out and investigate? they handle security for members of congress. what the capitol police go out to investigate how this all started outside of the capitol grounds? guest: not as a rule. what they will do is that they have a large dignitary protection division which has been increased, part of the recommendation out of january 6 because the capitol police are responsible for members and their families no matter where they are at. they work in cooperation, so if a member is threatened in ohio, the capitol police investigative function would begin a polemic area investigation and then, as necessary to turn the information to the fbi, and the local fbi office will pick that up, and/or reach out to the local sheriff or chief of

police. the capital police enemy -- the capitol police in the meantime would decide what threat is against the member and who they need to assign protection two. it is assigned where under federal law the secret service has some responsibilities. the fbi has responsibilities, and the capitol police has increased the intelligence division that would help coordinate what they know and the threats that members are getting into their office and share that with local, state, and federal law enforcement. host: let us talk to a caller from toledo, ohio. good morning. caller: i was there january 6 standing by the capitol building where they had the gates. i was out there the whole weekend and i was talking to police officers and they were told to stand down on january 6.

i witnessed it, they opened the little gate thing and let the first 40 people come in, told them what the yellow robes were and them 40 started up the building, way before the rally was over with. then when they let the rally go, what do you think the rest of the people did when you see the first 40 people going up the building that the officers let in. guest: i understand your perspective i watched hundreds of hours of the tapes and one of the things you are talking about is the bicycle fence. it is no more defending against people moving than tape across it. it is like if you're walking on the street and it says the sidewalk is closed, crossed to the other side. the hope is that everybody is voluntarily compliant.

when you saw some of those pictures, as i did of police in some areas, and right where it was on the east steps on the senate side. i think there was substantially more than 40 people. maybe you were at a different spot at a different moment that i did not see, so i will not doubt what you saw. it did not surprise me that when three or four officers confronted with 40, 400 or 1000 that they are not in a position to fight or use deadly force, nor should they. there were some decisions to try and buy time to get help to move the bicycle fence. we learned that because we did not have the proper intelligence or it was not interpreted properly, we do not have enough officers on duty to reinforce. there was not coordination with other law enforcement agencies that the calvary could not come.

i understand completely how two or three officers would say i am going to move this and let them know we are having a problem, but they were not in a position to flight out. there are other pictures that you will see where officers were standing by the door when people were coming in, very rapidly where an individual officer was saying you are not allowed to come in here, but that officer or two officers were not in a position to do anything to try and hold those people back. they use their judgment. as we do more into -- investigation and some officers have been charged with conduct unbecoming or failure to obey. if officers laid down on the job they will be held accountable. but i daresay that the hundreds and hundreds of officers up

there did their best to hold people back under terrible circumstances. host: yesterday, we had a " washington journal" the organizer of the rally. he talked about how he is working with capitol police. i want to play what he said and ask you a question. here he is from yesterday. [video clip] >> we will do everything to keep our people safe. we have been working with the capitol police, park police and metropolitan police. we have worked with them to put on two successful rallies without any incident. we will continue that. we have a large diplomatic security force also there, the same people that provide security for many of the media people that you work with on a daily basis. we have plans to keep everybody safe. >> is that a security force that they have hired?

>> they are looped in with the interpol 10 police. >> are they armed? >> not to my knowledge. when you have your colleagues do remotes they need security. and we want to keep all of our people safe. i believe it is my responsibility to do everything i can do to keep attendees safe. we are asking when people leave to leave in large groups, and if you see anything suspicious, someone acting oddly, we have television studios, start recording. so, we have our eyes open. the capitol police has done a good job coordinating us. despite the political leadership the capital is doing its best to keep this a safe rally and protect the people, because there is no intent for violence. our whole purpose is to show people that the first amendment

matters and you can still peacefully protest. the community organizing can be done successfully and you do not have to resort to apathy or violence. [end video clip] host: does the capitol police work and coordinate with rally organizers? what does it look like if they do? guest: it is not just the capitol police, what we learn about crowd management is to work with the people having the event. capitol police is good at that and so is the metropolitan police. he is laying out some smart things and the capitol police, metropolitan police, and the park police, i left them out inadvertently. they own a big chunk of the greenery. they would work to understand how many people would be there in the department would indicate that. what type of broadcast systems.

and what type of security. he referred to diplomatic security, but he is not talking about it as part of the state department, but if you go to a baseball game or football game there will be people in yellow jackets that say security. and that generally is the people under the employment of either the venue or in this place -- this case, the march. he has people who are marshals, and they sometimes have aclu or other attorneys acting as referees to keep everybody calm and interact with police, if things are going bad. or, if the law enforcement think that there are some things that have to change because what is going on, you would want to go to the leadership or these marshals or security people and

say, ok, we had an agreement to do this, but for instance the weather is getting bad in a storm is coming in, we need to do something else or there is a part of your group that seems to not to want to stay within the confines of the rules, whether they are supposed to remain on the sidewalk and street and they work through that, that is a good thing, basic crowd management 101. who is going to be there, what is their intent, and who is it i can talk to to make sure that we play fair. host: one of the things we saw after january 6 were people bringing weapons into the district of columbia and weapons down to the national mall. can you remind us what the law is about bringing weapons into washington, d.c.? guest: i'm going to show my ignorance because i am not there anymore, i am operating out of chicago and today i am in arkansas. under the law you cannot bring a weapon within 1000 feet, i think

it is, of a sanctioned event. it gets a low bit more confusing about the current state of affairs in washington about concealed carry and how your concealed carry law from another city or state applies. i do not want to give bum information, but i know on the capitol hill complex, no one may bring a weapon except for law enforcement officers and even a law enforcement officer has rules and regulations. i am fairly competent -- confident that that 1000 foot rule applies for a demonstration in any sort, even if you are permitted under someone's law to have a weapon that is a prohibited area, the same way it is not prohibited to have a firearm within a certain distance of a school, or smoke within a certain distance. i would have to talk to a

current officer. host: you are right next to my friends in fayetteville, so i would like to give a shot my friend -- a shout at my friends from fayetteville. let us talk to amanda from little rock, arkansas on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, i just want to ask him about on the sixth, did you all have a different kind of rule for different kinds of people? now, white people could show up in the capital with guns and arms to the teeth, but when lack people show up, with a sign, i mean, what is wrong with this picture? why do you all give white people who think that they are lily white and will not cause

problems, but when black people show up with signs it seems like that makes you all upset and want to kill us or something? guest: thank you for the question and that is a complicated one when you get into the race discussion, let us be real clear upfront, there are not different rules, and so i know even after january 6, the conversation began about seeing all of those white insurrectionists got a break and did not get locked up and it had been a black lives matter group then we would've handled it differently, and i think that the basis of that question is incorrect. a law enforcement officer, the capitol police or anywhere are supposed to serve everybody equally, and to the extent that any time we do not do that then we need to be held responsible. now the question -- one of the

questions that i think you are going at that i have heard a lot about is why warrant mass arrests made on january 6? it would have eliminated the issue i am seeing that a lot about people were allowed to walk home. and mass arrest is a complicated process that you have to prepare for. and that was not properly prepared for on january 6. and so, the decision was made, there were arrests made both on the mall area by the metropolitan police, and there were some made up on the capitol, but a mass arrest requires a lot more people, a lot of time and preplanning that was not done so that you could do that on january 6. even if you had three times the amount of officers up there, perhaps ultimately 1000 four

instead of 1000 4000 and 5000. every time when someone arrests one individual, you do not gather the crowd and push them onto a bus, you have to individually search and manage that person, have the proper gender with the person so you can do the searches. they have to be numbered so you are taking one officer off duty per arrest to get them into the system and to get them where there will be processed. that is a lot more detail then you probably you you want. one of our goals is not to have arrests and echoes back to crowd management and as even the organizer was saying, let us keep it peaceful and understand the rules and if there are rule breakers, people who wants to shoot mace or throw objects or pick up a rock then we need to do something about that. we have a collective responsibility, maybe a duty to intervene when someone is around

you doing something wrong. host: donald from charlotte, north carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: hello. ok. first of all c-span, do you have a program from the protesters' side of the issue? host: we had the organizer of the protest going on on washington journal yesterday. you can go to c-span.org and hear what he had to say about the event going on from yesterday. caller: i am not talking about that. you just had a snippet, but from a program, an entire program as

you have given to the people from the protesters' side. you are giving all of this to the democratic side, not the republican side. host: we gave a whole hour to him yesterday, so if you want to see what he said you can go to c-span.org and pull up yesterday's edition and see an entire segment dedicated to him and what he had to say about the event. caller: no one was charged with sedition. and, someone referred to the aclu, that is a leftist

organization. also, i would like to bring up the issue of the antifa. someone that i know was there and said that they had a bus. and, that they mangled in with the rally or, as you call it, the insurrection. and, when -- they blended in. no one has, you know, nancy pelosi -- nadler says that antifa is a myth. so, and anti-if and blm -- an

tifa and blm, they have killed, and burned, and looted. but the left wants to keep that -- host: go ahead and respond. guest: i am not sure where to begin except that there is no evidence that i am aware of that people on the left infiltrated and were some of the provocateurs on the sixth. all the evidence that i have seen would not support that theory. i think i hear donald's question

and that has to be fully investigated. but, i think by and large i do not know what else you can call january 6 but a group of insurrectionists and people were surprised when they saw themselves on tv and got caught up in that. i am not saying that the 10,000 plus down at the original rally that the president had were all insurrectionists. but, unfortunately many people got caught up in a very bad set of circumstances. i have seen people saying yes i did go in there, i did not break anything i just followed the crowd. and while they did violate the law they aren't some of the 500 that have been identified or charged. i am not sure where to go with that. i do not think there is a lot of people on the left involved in

the attacking of the capital. host: one of the things donald has brought up is that no one has been charged with sedition that there are other charges brought against some of the people inside the capital. do you think they have been charged correctly when it comes to prosecuting the people who were taking part in the insurrection? guest: i have respect from the judge -- for the justice department and fbi meaning that career prosecutors and agents along with departments of capitol police mpd have been working through this and i am comfortable that they are involved in the correct charges. so, i do not have a problem with that but i also have great respect for the process that they will go to court and the prosecutors can prove it or they cannot prove it. so, the whole sedition question becomes interesting because it becomes a part of what use of

force capitol police officers will use. there were conversations after january 6, why didn't the police officers open fire when so many people were rushing up the steps, why didn't the police mode them down, but that is not the way we want our police department to do. we wanted to use less than lethal de andescalate -- descalate and so that is a long answer to say i am comfortable with the charging and we will let the court system play out. host: roberto from washington state on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling from washington state. i have two comments. january 6 is an insurrection. am i good? host: go ahead. caller: i was watching the news

on tv in el salvador. when i saw donald trump and say stand back, and standby. ok. and then, the night of january sixth, he was watching with his family, daughters, and sons, watching and laughing when everything was happening inside of the capital. i saw that on tv. i hope you guys investigate and look into that. he was watching and laughing about what was happening. that is not fair, ok. he is responsible for everything that happened just by saying stand back and standby. host: where were this -- where will this investigation go? how far can it go?

that is to you. guest: we have not had a good solid investigation. clearly, again, the fbi is the lead along with the other agencies and we have been looking at this tape and giving information and we are still working on that. i do not know if we have had the last indictment. we have seen the attempt to have a bipartisan 9/11 type commission was rejected, if i recall on the senate side and no republicans on the house side. so the speaker did, i guess, the next best thing, informed a select committee with republicans and democrats. i watch that like you and others did, they are having hearings and issuing subpoenas. and i think we will learn about who is responsible. but, i am going to tell you, i do not need a commission to know that what i saw and what i heard

is -- i watched the rally that was happening where members of congress or the former mayor of new york got up and had words that would incite people who are vulnerable to that, who do not have all of the facts when they were yelling and screaming and rallying the crowd. we have to take back the government and get back and fight. i do not think those were good signals coming to people who were in the crowd who had been listening to all of this fake news and were not taking the time to listen to both sides. and they got caught up in the rhetoric of an instigator. and so, all the people who did the instigation ought to be held responsible under what the appropriate law would be. host: art from hamilton, ohio on the independent line.

good morning. caller: i just wanted to ask his comments on reports that capitol police might have been providing information to the rioters that day and is there a chance they could be indicted for providing such information such as where the congressmen and senators were located. that is all i wanted to ask? guest: if that occurred they should be held accountable, i just do not mean a couple of days off, they would not be the type of people who i would want on my department, i would want them fired. if they compromise the rules and laws, they should go to a penitentiary. i do know that there was in rough numbers, 24 or 25 investigations opened up against capitol police officers where they are looking into various things. i think those were reported two weeks ago or a week ago today where the capitol police

indicated that six officers had been charged within the capitol police for either dereliction of duty or conduct unbecoming, or failure to follow orders. i do not know the specifics. there will be hearings and the appropriate action will be taken. in my heart having hired and promoted some of those people, knowing them very well, i do not think that they rolled over to let this happen. i think they were overwhelmed, underequipped, and a lot of bad things happened all at once. i also wanted to say, again, at the end of the day, they with the help of others did prevail so that the process could continue. some people took the ultimate fall. the chief left, a very good man who i knew well and both sergeant of arms who were career 30 years from the secret service , both good men, they are the

leadership, and that is where the responsibility began and i said on january 7 and eighth had i had been the sergeant at arms or the chief on that day, it would not have surprised meet for someone to say i have lost confidence in you and we are making a change. those people have worked hard and probably should not be remembered for that leadership on that day which turned out to be their worst dairy of -- the worst day of their careers. all of us need to be held responsible when we use bad judgment or there are other failures about how we lead and take charge. host: we would like to thank former police chief terrance gainer for being with us and lending us his expertise as we prepare for the justice for j6 rally in washington, d.c.. it is great to see you and thank you so much. coming up, we will take more of

your calls and comments in our open forum segment. you see the numbers on screen. let us know what you want to talk about. later on, christian science monitor's jessica mendoza and samantha laine perfas will discuss their podcast series entitled stronger looking at the impact of the pandemic on women. ♪ >> coming up next week, homeland security secretary and the fbi director, and national counterterrorism director up here before congress on threats to the homeland 20 years after 9/11. we will have lifetime of -- live coverage of their testimony on tuesday at 9:30 a.m. eastern. and, the house homeland security

committee at 9:00 a.m. eastern. at 2:30 p.m. eastern jerome powell holds a press conference. watch next week or listen on the radio app. head over to c-span.org for scheduling information or to stream video live or on-demand. >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. get cozy for cooler weather with the c-span for small sale. browse to see what is new and save 30% on our logo apparel shirts and hoodies, fleece blankets, mugs, and glasses. there is something for every c-span fan. shop the sale through september 21st. it will support our nonprofit operations. go to c-spanshop.org.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: we will open up our phone lines for our forum segment. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents -- independents, 202-748-8002. tell us your most important political issue. as we start we want to talk about some news going on. we will start with the drone strike in afghanistan. we will start with the story that is out this morning. "aus drone strike killed 10 civilians in afghanistan including seven children, rather

than the islamic state extremists that the biden administration claimed it targeted. u.s. central command said at the time that officials knew that the drone strike disrupted an eminence isis-k threat to kabul airport and they were confident that we successfully hit the target. an investigation found that the strike killed an aid worker along with nine members of his family." general mckenzie came out and took questions from reporters on the drone strike. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> can you explain how this possibly could have happened? >> this particulars strike was a mistake and we regret that. it is very clear that we take full responsibility. at the same time we were carrying out a number of complex

operations to defend ourselves. we constructed -- we conducted a strike that was successful and other operations across the states to defend ourselves during that very difficult 48 hour period with many threats. i agree that this did not come up to our standards and i regret it. i would not qualify the entire operation in those terms. >> will anybody be held responsible? >> we are continuing that line of investigation. i do not have anything because that involves personnel issues. [end video clip] host: this comes as a u.s. central command as they say they inadvertently killed an aid make -- aid worker and nine members of his family instead of the isis-k threat. we want to know what you want to talk about. let us start with scindia from

san carlos, california on the republican line. cynthia, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for your program. i had wanted to speak with mr. gainor. my concerns where i felt that the capital and -- the capitol, park police, fbi, and secret service had a chance to find out that their intelligence was a bit off when i think it was mr. pompeo came down and had asked for the walls to be put up because the national guard, secret service, metropolitan police were all being bombarded during black lives matter protests, and many people were hurt during those.

and, there was a debacle about getting better protection for the white house, and i think even president trump was taken down to the bunker as the protesters were getting close. and, they had difficulty getting the walls up during that time. so i felt that that was a precursor to what was happening around the country, as well as what was happening, then what happened on january 6. i felt, for my friends who did attend the rally, they said they went there to peacefully protest. they did not even realize what was going on with the people who did enter the building. and, then there was another caller who called in and was having a little bit of trouble speaking. i think what he meant to say was that c-span has not had any of the people who were attending the rally, and letting them

speak about their experience. host: our phone lines are open every day, so if someone attended the rally wanted to call and speak about it they can always call in on any of our lines. sharon from beaverton, oregon on the democrat line. good morning. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. what i was concerned about is, as i watched it that day, i was overwhelmed about what i saw. hours went by, and i totally understand the police people in the capitol police people being overwhelmed, they could not stop that sea of people. as hours went by there was no

backup and no one came into hell. i heard on the news that there were agencies who had people on the ready to go but did not get authorized by the federal government to go, because they would have to cross over from maryland. i could not believe it. that day has played on and on for hours, and those men were left by themselves. host: timmy from aberdeen, south dakota on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a couple of comments. it all pertains basically to trusting the government and what is put out. i believe that the congressman in the senate and whenever they have an investigation anybody that our senators and

congressmen need to be held accountable for telling the truth. and then, kind of going back to the capitol riot, i wish i could have gotten in when the speaker was on. during that riot there was one person killed, that was ashli babbitt. at the time she was shot she did not endanger anybody's life. i want to know what weapons were found, what they are calling weapons, and make a comment that the fbi determined that it was not a planned insurrection. host: went to the fbi determined that? caller: i could not tell you exactly. i am guessing a couple of weeks ago? host: well, yesterday, u.s.

capitol police chief tom manger was asked about the credibility of reports about possible violence associated with today's justice for j6 rally. the former president's comments and counter demonstrations. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> it is tough to say if they are credible or not. what we do know is that the chatter that we have heard prior to january 6, it obviously turned out to be many of those threats turned out to be -- we are not taking any chances. >> what specific types of threats of violence are you seeing? are you factoring in the former president donald trump's rhetoric into your security planning? >> so far, the former president has not -- i know that he put

out a statement of support for the folks who were arrested on january 6. i don't know there was a specific mention of this rally. your first question was -- what we are concerned about more than anything is the possibility of counter demonstrators making it to this demonstration and there being violence between those two groups. that is where chief contee and the police department are going to ensure that does not happen and they don't end up getting together. in my opinion, that is the most likely scenario for violence. we are also planning, just in case, any denim the tray she -- demonstration, the one at union

square or counter demonstrators, if they want to breach the fence , if they want to decide to attack law enforcement, we will be ready for those kinds of violence. the biggest concern many of us have our the counter demonstrators and making sure things stay safe with them as well. host: let's talk to dominique, who is calling from staten island, new york, on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking me. i really appreciate that. i listened quite a few times to your program. you know what's funny? i believe the whole summer there was a tremendous amount of demonstrations and burning. one of our elector -- electorate officials, in the beginning, she was saying do this and do that. how can that person get away with that? because you are talking about

the giuliani inciting. how can that person get away with that and they jump on giuliani? the whole summer was burning up. you know? and i can't believe the focus that some people have or lack of focus is the way i feel, anyway. host: let's go to lindel, who is calling from lawrenceville, georgia, on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm disappointed that these insurrectionists can come back and continue this ridiculous behavior. -- continue this behavior. it is ridiculous. it is an attack on democracy. a lot of it has to do with race

and it is sad. donald trump is behind it, all the way. and that's all i have to say. host: let's talk to anthony, who is calling from south river new jersey, on the independent line. anthony, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a question about programming and also, i would like to make a comment about the state of the union. so, here is my question for you about programming. for what reason is the white house briefings not being carried by c-span anymore? host: i can't tell you whether the white house briefings are being carried by c-span or not. i believe they are. i can't tell you what the day-to-day program decisions on whether the white house briefing is being carried live or not. caller: for my comment on the

state of the union, i can tell you, because i watch the station. i guess you don't watch the station when you are not working. i don't blame you. for at least a month if not more, ever since jen psaki said we had misinformation coming from facebook and everything like that, we have maybe seen one or two, because i watch every day, white house briefings. they are running stuff from five years ago and all this other stuff, repeating washington journal. that seems to be -- i like to get the information straight from the source. host: let me stop you there. i'm looking at the c-span website and you can see a list of the daily briefings being carried by c-span, just about every day. so, i don't know which day you were watching for you did not see it. caller: is that on the tv or online? host: you can check out our website and see when the daily

briefings were being broadcast and you can actually watch a copy of a broadcast of the daily briefing. go to c-span.org and you can search for white house daily briefings and you can find them there. what's your second,? -- comment? caller: when was the last broadcast -- host: you can check the website and see when everything was broadcast. you said you had a second common. -- comment. caller: i'm not computer savvy. i'm an old white guy. i like to watch it on tv. i'm telling you it's not on this. here is my thing on the state of the union. i hope i don't get cut off. they were talking about the riot on january 6, a terrible thing. ok. but misinformation, totally.

i think that was a comment on the congress. usually the congress approval rating is between 10% and 20%. it really showed a lack of preparedness and a good management system, just like when we sent over hundreds of thousands of machine guns and helicopters to the taliban. that's not good gun control. host: let's go to vincent, calling from gaithersburg, maryland, on the republican line. caller: good morning. very quickly, i wish the people who -- president trump, who did so much for this country, that was not told, just educate yourselves. read his last speech. there is nothing in it to

insight what happened. nothing. but, you must read the speech. they don't emphasize the fact that he did nothing. why would a man who loves this country want to try to destroy it with an insurrection? when will mayor bowser and pelosi, when will they be investigated? why did you hold back the extra national guard and whatever else was needed, while all of this was going on? that's all i have to say to everybody in america. have a blessed day, every day. let's all try to get along. host: let's talk to mike, who is calling from marion iowa -- marion, iowa on the democratic line. good morning. caller: hello. i want to go back a little.

terry branstad was elected the governor of iowa and then i think it was the 17th, donald trump sent them to china. by the time they got to it, then shortly after that, there was the insurrection. all of a sudden, kim reynolds wanted her $21 million back. and she wanted it. she wanted computers. there needs to be an investigation into that. because, after they jumped on

that, then she went and she stopped -- tried to recall everybody's unemployment and just stop it. i received a letter that i owed over $5,000 to iowa. so, i think there is something dirty going on there. not everybody needs $21 million or transfers $21 million on the nose, every day. except for maybe donald trump himself. host: speaking of former president trump, i want to remind all of our viewers that you can always go to c-span.org to find previous programming that has been shown on c-span. for example, our caller earlier said people should go back and watch former president trump's speech on january 6.

you can find exactly what president trump said in that speech, on c-span.org. we have all of those videos, everything that has been broadcast on c-span, available to you at all times, 24 hours a day, on c-span.org. so, let's talk to christopher, who is calling from morgantown, north carolina, on the independent line. christopher, good morning. caller: thank you for having me on. i want to say, united we stand and divided we fall. we have to get together. this is unreal and unprecedented. they are doing horrible things. if we had a common understanding, this is horrible, you guys. come on, this is america. what happened?

this whole thing with trump, you know what you're doing. host: let's go to billy who is calling from long, new york, on the republican line. good morning. caller: what's up? i want to say something. to all of these people who are saying the protesters from january 6 are insurrectionists, that is alive. nobody has been charged with treason or insurrection. what about the people who are still being held in jail from that incident who are being denied bail and being divide -- denied bond hearings? where is the sympathy for these people? the people who damaged property, they deserve to be held to justice. but the people who just walked in because there were motions

and did not damage anything, they don't deserve to be charged with these crimes. you want to talk about insurrection? how about pelosi? discussing taking the nuclear football away from donald trump because they don't trust him? what about the general? that's treason. that is insurrection. where is the outrage, we have 12,000 profs -- plus migrants under a bridge right now. host: let's talk to terrence. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i may have missed this in all the coverage of this justice for j6 rally or riot number two. but, i'm concerned about the decision-making behind allowing any kind of protest or rally to

go forward, near the capital -- u.s. capitol less than one year after this horrible riot and it was an insurrection in the making, basically a riot. i would like to know how that decision gets made. because, it is unconscionable when people are still being investigated, rests are being made and trials are still occurring, that people are being allowed to demonstrate near the u.s. capitol. host: are you suggesting that constitutional rights of protesting should be illuminated around the u.s. capitol? caller: what i am saying is this is still an extreme situation with people who tried to subvert our democracy. these are people who were supporting the people who were

arrested for doing the same thing. this is an extreme circumstance, where we had to have the national guard. we had to have additional security from several jurisdictions. we are basically using taxpayer dollars. this is something that i believe should never have been allowed to go forward. people have the right to say what they want to say. but we also have the right to do it in a way and a means that does not cause undue concern to the rest of the population. host: let's go to jim, who is calling from georgia on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question for you. canteen for, am i wrong or does

that -- antifa, am i wrong or does that mean anti-fascist? host: i believe that is the common term for antifa. caller: [indiscernible] hitler's. we fought -- we fought hitler's. we fought the nazis. i guess you will have to call me antifa because i am against fascism. host: let's talk to bart. good morning. caller: good morning. i am an embarrassed republican. i think the republican party

needs to start focusing on politics instead of hate. by and large, i would like to see -- say that biden is doing a banged up job with -- bang up job with what he was left with from trump. it is not the party that freed the slaves or allowed women to vote. they seem to want people not to vote. it is ridiculous. thank you. host: coming up next, jessica mendoza and samantha will be here to discuss their podcast series entitled the stronger, looking at the impact of the pandemic on women. stick with us. we will be back in one moment. ♪

>> weekends bring you the best in american history and nonfiction books. mark sanford reflects on his political career and discusses the future of the republican party in his book two roads diverged. he is interviewed by a pennsylvania congressman. -- argues that america is not a nation founded by foreign immigrants but a product of long nihilism and slavery. watch book tv and find the full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org. ♪ >> sunday night on q and day, wall street journal columnist -- you and -- q and a, jason riley on his book, maverick.

-- have inspired conservatives and libertarians for a half-century. >> i don't think he is as well-known as he should be. i think it is quite unfortunate, if not tragic, the individuals like nicole hannah jones and cornell west are better known than thomas sowell. i think he quite frankly has written circles around those individuals. they be all of them combined together. the range and the depth and the rigor of his thinking is something that i don't think they come close to matching. so, one of the reasons i wrote the book is to raise awareness to the younger generation. >> jason riley with his book, maverick, state -- sunday night

at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. >> washington journal continues. host: we are back and we are joined by jessica mendoza and samantha laine perfas, who are the host and producers of the podcast "stronger." they are here with us this morning to talk to us about how the pandemic has affected women. good morning to both of you. guest: good morning. thank you for having us. guest: hi. host: i will start with you, jessica. tell us what prompted it and what the stronger podcast is all about? . guest: by the time 2021 rolled around, it became clear that the pandemic was having a disproportionate impact on

women, especially women in the workforce. we felt like it was a story that we could not ignore. we also wanted to focus on stories of women specifically and the monitor has been trying to push forward our audio storytelling efforts. this felt like the kind of story that would really benefit from hearing women's voices and putting them in people's ears. that is sort of the beginning of this podcast. we started reporting it in early 2020 one, sometime in february. we spent a few months putting the podcast together. host: samantha, the pandemic has affected everyone. what made you decide to focus on women? guest: i think when you look at the job numbers, especially, it was really striking to see how many women were forced to drop out of the labor force. actually at the beginning of 2020, we were celebrating huge gains with women and employment. for the first time, more than

50% of the labor force was women. as we know, the pandemic hit a few months after that. in some ways, we lost a generation of progress. by 2021, more than 11 million women dropped out of the workforce. i think those numbers were just so striking. we really wanted to focus on not just why that was happening. i think the headlines spoke to a lot of the numbers and a lot of the dramatic losses and how quickly we saw them. we wanted to focus on women to put a face to those numbers. so, we wanted to really get to know these women, find a diverse group of women that could represent a lot of different experiences and we felt that focusing on their stories would help people understand not just the statistics behind what was happening but the individual people who were affected by the pandemic. host: jessica, how do you find

people to focus on for this? how are you making your choice of whether we want to talk to this posting -- person as opposed to that one? what were your goals? guest: one of the things we wanted to focus on was to make sure we got a variety of women from a variety of different industries. places in life, age, you know. we wanted to make sure that we were intentional about giving a voice to a diverse set of women. that was one thing that we kept in mind. we looked back at the numbers. we wanted to see which industries were actually the most affected. we found that hospitality, including the performing arts, service industry workers, were a big part of that health care and health services and education. combining those different factors and finding women who could speak to the experiences of other women who were working

in those sectors as well. we wanted to make sure we got women of different ages, mothers , different socioeconomic statuses. we wanted to make sure we gave voice to as many of them as possible and in as authentic away as possible as well. -- a way as possible as well. host: stronger is part of a wider project at christian science monitor that focuses on resilience. tell us what that focus is about. guest: when you look at news coverage of challenging events, like the pandemic, this is an unprecedented challenge across the world. it can be easy to focus on the challenges and the barriers and all the difficult things that are happening. but, especially in stronger, when you talk to the people about the challenges they are facing, yes, that is a big part of the story. women really opened up about just how difficult this past

year plus has been. at the same time, almost unprompted, these women really leaned into the ways they felt this year has helped them grow. how they feel like they are stronger. how this year has brought their families closer together. how they have learned. and we felt that resilience was really important, not just for these individuals as women but for us as a country, as we think about how to navigate this time. stronger actually, once we published the series and the theme of resilience shined through, the monitors started an effort around resigns. we have a new series called finding resilience and it focuses on stories around the world where resilience is shining through in a way that is really important to some of society's biggest challenges at this time. host: the podcast focuses on six

women in las vegas. out of everywhere in the country, why las vegas? it is a great vacation town but why las vegas for this project? guest: that is probably the question we get asked the most when people discover that is where we set the podcast. we wanted to find a city that was really affected by the pandemic. las vegas, because of its reliance on tourism and gaming, it really felt the effects of this pandemic. in february of 2020, the unemployment rate in nevada was pretty average for the country. but, by april of that year, it was something like 28% or 30%, which was the highest ethical -- highest in the country at the time. we wanted to capture what it was like for the folks who were there. it is easy to imagine las vegas as the casinos and the strip.

a lot of the income generated in the city trickles out to other industries. a lot of people who live in las vegas and across the state, las vegas alone is something like 640,000 people. a lot of those folks really feel it when the rest of the city or the casinos and the strip are affected in that way. that is why we wound up focusing on las vegas. we actually -- one of the people that we spoke to, the nurse, she works for a county hospital. when we were talking to her, she mentioned how shocking it was for the city to see those casinos closed and to see them closed for as long as they did. her work at the county hospital was affected. she said she could feel the effects of the resources. the drain on the resources when there are not any tourists coming in. we felt that that was a good way to capture those stories from the pandemic. host: you focused specifically on las vegas.

i want to point out that cnbc reported, of the 235,000 jobs added, only 11.9% went to women, marking a sharp decline in women's job growth from july. there has been a concerning drop in the number of women working or actively seeking employment, with the women's labor force petition patient rate decreasing from 67.4% to 57.5 percent in july. it has not dropped that low since 1988. we are seeing the pandemic have a huge effect on women. when you talk to -- talked to the women, you talked to women from all different industries, different ages and races. what was the commonality of what you heard from them about how the pandemic affected them? guest: one huge thing across the board, regardless of how old you were or if you had a family, was

just the level of multitasking and pressure that women faced. for many of these women who did lose their jobs, they wanted to be working great so, the stress of that, of losing your job and wanting to work and you can't was really challenging. so then, they are hustling, trying to make it work and all of these different ways. and then you have the women who are working because they have to. it is not a choice. even if it, perhaps, puts their family at risk. i think in the news, we have talked a lot about the caregiving crisis of women who have always been predominantly the ones at home, providing care. now, having to do that on top of trying to support their families financially. whether that is having young children at home who are not at school and could not go to daycare, if that was through remote learning or having older relatives that were, perhaps, more at risk and needed more

care at home, while trying to work. we just mentioned the nurse that we interviewed. her story showed the pressure that women were facing when they are trying to do it all. i think we think about women's work as being extra. in her case, and in many women across the country, they are the primary breadwinners in their family. they don't have the choice of stepping out of the workforce in a way that i think sometimes we don't think about. her story in particular did a really great job of highlighting the pressure and the expectations of multitasking and trying to do it all and hold it together. host: thank you for that perfect segue. i want to bring part of your interview with her, who was a front-line health care worker and mother of two who became the primary breadwinner during the

pandemic. here is a portion of that interview. [video clip] >> she had just quit her part-time job at the hospital. it felt like the right decision. a couple of weeks after she quit, her husband injured his right hand. his dominant hand, at work. >> leo is a carpenter and the not only was that a second unexpected cut for the family, but now he had to run the household alone. >> [indiscernible] >> this is our last conversation before we went to see her. >> unemployment was very stressful. i did not say anything. i felt that i could bring stress

to the household. >> did you ever regret quitting the other job? >> i always try to live positive. it was meant to be. i was supposed to quit so i could take care of my husband at home. host: was that experience common among the women you talked to? juggling everything going on in their lives? guest: we spoke to six women, and their experience varied. i think she did a very good job of talking about the commonalities. in terms of being the breadwinner, they were both working prior to the pandemic and providing for their families. for her, it was really this --

all of these different factors coming together. they coalesced to create a stressful situation. listening to her talk and getting to know her was really inspiring, because you can see just how determined she was, and we saw determination in all of the women, godless of the challenges they were facing. host: you can take part in this conversation. use our regional lines. if you are in the eastern or central time zones, you can call in at (202) 748-8000. if you aren't about 10 or pacific time zones, you can call in at (202) 748-8001. you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. and we are always reading on twitter, facebook at facebook.com/c-span.

you talk to a bunch of different women from different social environments and ages. different ethnicities. what were the differences in what they went through because of their different ages, there ethnicities? did you see any differences based on those lines? guest: absolutely. every person that we interviewed , by design, we try to find people in different demographics. the biggest we were struck by was the economic status. some of the women lost their jobs. their jobs were pretty well-paying, and they had savings. they were able to support their families during unemployment and come out unscathed. we will wait this out, even if

this means we have to use our vacation fund to pay some of the bills, we are going to be ok. however, other families and other women did not have that luxury. they have no savings. they were making less money. for them, their experience was totally different. in some ways, one of survival. it was about having to make it work anyway they could, whether that was going on government assistance, whether that was receiving food aid from local food pantries. really, it was about taking any job they could get. it was super low-paying just to try to make ends meet every month. i think the stress level that women experience was largely affected by how much they had to fall back on. whether or not they had financial stability in their situation that they had to focus their time and energy on, or they could be like, you know what?

this is hard, but i can focus on something else like my family. a new job, or things like that. host: a lot of focus during the pandemic was on mothers. you also spoke to a lot of young women -- a couple of young women for this podcast who are being called to pitch in, as far as supporting the family. talk to us about that. guest: this relates to a lot of what was being talked about. the focus on mothers and working moms is absolutely necessary and important. we didn't want to tell those stories as well. we met these two young women, they were sisters, jennifer and ashley were 21. her sister jaelyn is 17. they live with their family in las vegas, they live in an apartment with their two parents, two younger siblings,

and there grandparents, all sharing this one apartment. they need to step up and worked throughout this pandemic because the dad lost his job early on. that was a big deal for them. these are girls -- women really, who are working at school, trying to get ahead. they come from a family where money had never been not an issue for them. they had to spend their time and go to work physically during the time which was an incredible stress. it was an important story to tell because, as much as this is something we are all dealing with this as a society, young people in particular are feeling this. it is going to affect so much of their lives, moving forward. we felt that that was a story that needed to be -- we needed to highlight, to be sure. host: we will give you a portion

of that interview, but first let's let some of our viewers during this conversation. we will start with clarence, who is joining us from charlotte, north carolina. the morning. caller: i wanted to share a story with everyone. my mother's raised her boys in the 1950's, and i am the youngest of the boys. my father died when i was two years old. she never complained. in those days, the only job she could get was housekeeping. she made sure she supported it. we always had a roof over our head, but one day, we all had to work at it. i was younger. we all had to help out. a lot of people are going through things. work hard, and you have to get ahead. if you are going through

something, things change. if you can get ahead, things will work out. [indiscernible] they have their own home, but they always told us to work hard and things would work out. we always have. we know what you are going through now. god bless you. host: do either one of you want to respond? guest: that is such an inspiring story. that was the theme of a lot of the women we spoke to as well. they wanted to persevere and set good examples for their children. in the case of the two young sisters, they wanted to help contribute to their families as well. for all of the hardship, they did not shy from talking about those challenges. what we really took away from all of these women was there -- their insistence for their

families. host: we are starting to see some of our social media followers tell the same stories. i will read you this tweet from our social media followers, and i want you to respond. if you are eight single mother, the pandemic has turns you into a super person. i know so many who had to quit their jobs to become their child's daycare and school teachers while they were in line at food pantries, just trying to not get covid. is that the type of thing you found in your podcast? guest: i think that it is really amazing to see how incredible women are. they are superheroes. they have worked through this. the one thing you want to remember is that, in many ways, they should not have to. not to this extent. i think the hope, as we continue to reflect on the pandemic, is

that we as a society and a community in neighborhoods, we really look at the work that we are willing to put into to make family successful. we make sure that we provide. make sure they have every need they can possibly have. how do we, as a community support that effort? how do we lift them up? how do we recognize that strength and that incredible resilience? i would love to see our community step up to support them as well. host: let's go back to our phones. lois is calling from silver spring, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i always enjoy your show. i wanted to ask a question. i know that you mentioned that the women are stepping up, which is wonderful. a lot of the men in their lives are injured or have lost their

jobs. what are some of the other reasons why men are not able to assist in these situations? a lot of times, we do not hear so much from that particular perspective on that. make you so much. i will hang up to listen to your answer. guest: thank you. i think, for us, it was not that the men in their lives were not stepping up, although that is probably something that happens in some cases. i think, for a lot of people, the women happen to be, for example, she lost her job and her husband could not step up at the time. one thing we did hear from all of these people we talked to was that it was valuable to have the family to support them, even if that support meant serpent --

providing it in a different way. two young sisters with a father looking for work and having a difficult time doing that, the father became the one to shuttle the people in the family. he became the defective driver, getting them to the job they need to get to with only one car. this is true in a variety of waves. -- ways. there is support happening behind the scenes. it is to the point, that there is a community aspect that we want to focus on. hopefully we can reflect on this pandemic and try to understand all of the different reasons that things are not working. where support caps are. host: let's go back to our phone lines and talk to bruce who is calling from laurel, maryland. bruce, good morning. caller: i think the male role in covid has been ignored.

if you really look at the industry and the highest risk work, it is mostly men. it is far as unemployment, more men are seeking work. i am sorry. [indiscernible] it is less than a 1% difference to focus on. there are a lot of people. we do not talk about men enough. it divides us. host: do want to view want to respond to that? -- do want -- do one if you want to respond to that? guest: this is something we have

been talking about as we pitch the story. the numbers have been surprising . what i want to make clear is that, just because we focus on women for the series in particular, that does not mean men do not have faith in unemployment, or that they do not matter. men face an incredibly challenging time over the past year. in looking for work, our entire labor force has in many ways has been really difficult. regardless of gender. i think, as we are seeing some jobs early in the summer, and then now, things are starting to decrease again, and that is really difficult. i think that your point is right. it is important to talk about those challenges. for the purposes of the story, and from where we were coming

from, we wanted to elevate the voices of women. host: let's talk to james, who is calling from connecticut. good morning. caller: thank you very much. i would like to ask you if, in your study, there was a discussion of whether different communities, ethnic or otherwise, are more helpful to each other? my mother and my father, irish catholic, all lived within 35 miles of each other their entire lives. if anyone fell back, there was always a helping hand. i see now, simply speaking as a caucasian, you cannot get someone to come over for thanksgiving, much less get someone to help you with your car. have you found that there are some at the communities, like koreans, vietnamese, or black

communities, or white communities, a different level of support for women that doesn't exist because of the breakdown of cultural relationships? the christian science monitor used to be one of the greatest newspapers ever, and i don't see it anymore, and we desperately need good news reporting, so can you make a comment about what happened to it? does even exist anymore? i would love the answer. thank you so much for your courtesy and reply. guest: we could take the monitor question. we have the village monitor.com. we do work for them. we have a free magazine you can subscribe to as well. we are no longer a daily paper. we do exist. with regards to the other question about communities, i think -- i do not think we saw specific groups supporting each

other more or less than others. i think, it gives us more academic credibility then we have. certainly, during our reporting, we found that it really depends on the circumstances of each family. we spoke to women who were immigrants, and a large chunk of the family may not be in the same state or country, and that became difficult, because it was difficult to find community. but others had developed relationships in their communities as well. there is a strong community in las vegas, and that is something she was able to rely upon. but it also crosses races. one of the women we interviewed, christine, she is an artist. she and her husband -- her

family is in texas. it was not an option to rely upon family members near her. like everything else, it depended upon their particular situation. host: go ahead and jump in. i wanted to add something about support. even for people who did not find support from their ethnic community, they did find it through community. we had a utility porter at a casino. she found incredible support, which was predominantly people of color. without union support, such as physical means, or job training, but really the community lifted her up during the time that she would otherwise have been very isolated. the young sisters we talked about were very involved in a program that helped

first-generation college students. the older sister was in the program when she was in high school and she worked there. then her younger sister was part of the program herself. that provided incredible support for them with a lot of people who were in a similar situation to them, being first generation college student. i think they find that support. different women we talk to find support through different groups, and it really shows how important that support was, wherever you could get it. host: let's talk to kathy from gainesville, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i was wondering, because i know a couple of women who have decided, after both parents were working, that they wanted to go back, not to full-time work, or to work away from home. they wanted to work away from

their children. they are finding diminishing returns. travel, expenses like that. some are rethinking what they want from their lives. what is important to me? i wonder if you found anything like that. thank you. host: i will let either one of you take that. guest: i think we found those sorts of ideas coming up as well in our conversations with women. it so happens that the women we spoke to all wanted to be working. they've had one career or another. the questions of what is important to me, what i'm doing, moving forward, how do i build relationships with my family, and find works and life that is meaningful to me. that came up quite a bit. one of the women we spoke to is a teacher. she definitely fell in love with it. because of the stresses of the pandemic, she ask yourself over and over if this was a career

that she wanted to continue to pursue, or if she would be better doing something else with her life. whether that was staying at home, with family, or trying a different career. these are hefty questions. they are tough to be asking. at the same time, that is an option. for women who are breadwinners or primary income earners in their families, they just cannot opt out of working. they need to be able to provide for children for in-laws. for families. it depends on the situation. but the question came up all of the time. host: speaking of hefty questions, i have one for both of you. we talked a lot about the economic impact of the pandemic. what about the psychological impact on these women that the pandemic caused?

i want you to talk a little bit about the psychological impact you found that the sin -- pandemic is having a women. guest: that is a very hefty question because i think, many of us have found ourselves in survival mode. we taken a day at a time, and we are pushing through for whatever situation looks like. it is true of all the women we talk to. in some ways, we begin asking questions about wives and what they are doing. for some of the women, it is the first time they ever stepped back and thought about their situations, and it definitely lead to some emotional responses for some of the women. it was the first time they ever really thought about how hard this time has been. how exhausted they are. how much they feel like they are barely keeping it together.

from the outside, they look like a superhero. i think that emotional toll and psychological impact of this past year has really affected people in deep and profound ways. in some ways, we are going through it, and it is not over, many women are finding themselves still in the survival mode, and once things get a little stable and how things are affecting them spiritually and mentally as well. host: do you agree? guest: definitely. we joke a little bit. we cried, and they cried. it was very real, and i think women talk about it. the example of talking about

this is the sisters because we got to interview jennifer ashley and jaelyn. their mother was failing -- very , she had a lot of emotions that she had not process. what kind of parent am i to be relying on my children in this way? also, she was very proud that her kids are willing to chip into the family and beatty's pillars for the rest of the family. also, these are all things they have talked about with each other until they started asking questions. it was a very private moment that we felt privileged to be sharing with them. it was really something that they talk to us about afterwards and said, i am glad i got the chance to process some of this. hopefully, it will be something that people will continue to be in conversation with each other. this is a really difficult time for so many. host: let's talk to linda, who

is calling in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i really like c-span. i am calling, chiming in a little bit with the previous caller who talked about men. since the last three minutes have passed, the conversation i thought to bring up his psychology. -- is psychology. maybe, how a person who is not employed, they may appear to be doing well. psychologically, it is very difficult for them, especially if they are the main wage earner. i think at some point there should be a conversation specifically about men. because men's needs are not being addressed. at times, they have a stronger,

in a sense, a stronger commitment to doing well. they suffer in silence. supper -- some of the men suffer in silence. i want to bring attention to reach out to the men as well as the women. they are unique, each to each other. iq. thank you. host: do either of you want to respond? guest: do you want to take it? guest: yes. it is important to embrace each other as a total community. women have struggled, men have struggled, kids of struggle. -- kids have struggled. this is a challenging time. it is a good point. even when it looks like people are not holding it together and they are doing an ok job or a great job, internally, the weight of that burden is there.

it is affecting them in profound ways. i think taking time to really think about each other's experiences, to have empathy, and to acknowledge it for some people, whether it is a cultural norm or a gender norm, you may be do not feel safe to talk about how challenging it is and how you are struggling, we can play that role in each other's lives. just listening to each other's stories and listening to where we are truly at and then being there to support one another. whatever that looks like. i think it is a really good point. even though we may not see that struggle, it is there. as a society, it is an example to all to step into that space, just so we can be there for one another. host: let's talk to derek from minnesota. derek, good morning. caller: good morning.

good morning america. i have one quick question and then a comment. i understand the christian science monitor is a journalist organization. is that true? what is your background? what were your degrees? guest: do you want to go first? i had a bachelors in communications and a masters in journalism. i have worked at the monitor for about seven years. i was in broadcasting prior to that. guest: one note on the monitor, we are a nonprofit news publication. we have been around for over 100 years, and our focus is really on solution oriented journalism. we want to highlight conversations that really promote progress, and they do not fall into biases, and we

lift up humanity in our reporting. that is a little about who we are and what we do. my background, i am a minnesota native. i heard you are from there. i got my undergraduate degree in english and writing and my masters in journalism. caller: great. here is my comment, and thank you for that. due respect to the christian science monitor, i want to make the comment that, once you look back at this interview, and you are being a guest in it. c-span, listen to how many times you say um. that is my biggest pet peeve. people begin or end a sentence with um. that is not a part of the english-language. host: what policy changes are you seeing, now that you have

talked on this podcast? i will let either of you answer. guest: [laughter] sure. for policy changes, we did not want to focus too much on that. i think the take away that we had was that there is definitely a lot more conversation on how we can structurally build a society better, moving forward in a world where the pandemic is maybe not something that is just in the past. it is something we will have to live with. we have to figure out what those structures should look like. how we can reorient ourselves so that we are giving enough space for people to talk about the issues that we are facing, and a variety of different ways. we also need to create

structures of support for women and men. especially in the caregiving space, because that is where a lot of these points are coming up. host: final word, samantha? guest: i would disagree with what jeff said. one of the women we interviewed in the introduction episode, which gives a higher level look, from the institute of women's policy and research, she talked about how, previously, a lot of these conversations were happening in private. they have now been brought to the public and they are happening on a societal level. that is a huge -- important thing that needs to happen, so we can talk about policy solutions. leaning into those conversations and making sure that they continue to happen at a high level is very important or figuring out -- for figuring out

how to help women and what they do. host: we would like to thank jessica and samantha for being with us this morning. , talking about their podcast that is looking at the impact of the pandemic on women. take you for being with us this morning. guest: thank you so much. host: we would like to thank all of you for watching and participating online or calling into c-span, washington journal. everyone have a great saturday. continue to wash her hands, and stay safe. -- continue to wash your hands and stay safe. ♪

>> e spanish or unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies, including comcast. >> the book, a biography on thomas soul, whose writings on politics have been inspiring conservatives and limited aliens -- libertarians for a half-century.

at he is not as well-known as he should be. i think it is tragic that individuals like tonic easy coats and cornell west are better known than thomas soul. he is quite frankly as deserve it is all of those individuals put together. is going move work is not unmatched. he has a range and depth and rigor that is something i do not think they come close to matching. one of the reason i wanted to write the book and the documentary is to raise awareness about soul, particularly for the younger generation. jason riley, with his book, maverick, at 8:00 on c-span q and a. you can also listen on the podcast wherever you get your podcast. ♪

host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal." americans are not feeling good about the future of our democracy. claims of disputed elections and restrictions being put on the ballot box polls are showing concern about our election and government workings in the protests like the ones scheduled today at the capital mall. how do you feel about the state of the country? that is our question to you. are you like the people in this poll who feel u.s. democracy is under attack? we open regular lines which means democrats, we want to hear from you at (202)-748-8000. republicans, your line is (202)-748-8001.