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host: a u.s. appeals court judge yesterday put a temporary halt to the implementation of a federal vaccination mandate for much of the u.s. workforce. that going into effect january 4 would impact american businesses with 100 or more employees and be one of the most significant and wide reaching workforce regulations in decades. good morning. it is sunday, november 7, 2021. welcome to washington journal. the opening question is about the vaccine rule and requirement. you support or oppose it? we will get details momentarily. if you support the new osha regulation, the line is (202)-748-8000. if you oppose, (202)-748-8001. we want to send -- if you want to send us a text, you can do that at (202)-748-8003 and tell us your name and where you are texting from.

on facebook it is facebook.com/c-span and we welcome your tweet @c-spanwj. i wonder if we can bring up the information about this rule from the occupational safety rule. the main points of this proposed regulation the administration announced on friday would be for businesses with 100 or more employees. it would require vaccinations by january 4. it would require businesses pay those employees to take time off to get vaccinated and those who remain unvaccinated at work must produce negative tests weekly and wear masks. yesterday a federal court put a halt to that temporarily. here is the headline from the wall street journal, federal appeals court temporarily blocked the administration

vaccine rules for private employers. a federal appeals court judge saturday temporarily blocked the biden administration's new rules that require many employers to ensure employees are vaccinated or tested weekly. a three-judge panel granted an emergency stay, prohibiting enforcement of the rules saying they raise grave statutory and constitutional issues. in this article in the wall street journal the administration responded. a quote from the labor department top legal advisor saying, the administration was confident in its authority to issue the standard and was fully prepared to defend it in court. do you support or oppose the new regulation on vaccinations in the workforce of employers with 100 or more employees? (202)-748-8000 if you support

the numeral, (202)-748-8001. the president talked about the new rule at the white house. here's what he had to say [video clip] >> yesterday the occupational safety administration ensured each of the work is for leave fully vaccinated or test negative weekly. medicare and medicaid said all workers that participated our fully vaccinated. two thirds of all workers in the united states are covered by vaccination requirements. these requirements have broad public support and they work. already we have seen organizations that adopted requirements increase their vaccination rates by more than

20 percentage point. often as high as over 90%. this is good for the workers, for their colleagues, for their loved ones and their communities. host: that is the president on friday on the new osha regulation which is set to go into effect january 4. some republican reaction. congressman from kentucky tweeting, anyone who believes a u.s. president can unilaterally impose medical treatment on all americans as a condition of employment is constitutionally illiterate and morally bankrupt. republican from ohio, no one has the constitutional authority to mandate what joe biden is attempting. if we had a king, this would be done. this is a direct assault on our system of government and way of life. that regulation set to go into effect january 4. the opening question for you, do you support or oppose? (202)-748-8000 if you support,

(202)-748-8001 if you oppose. let's go to danny in arizona opposing the rule. good morning. caller: good morning, john. how are you today? host: fine, sir. caller: i want to make this clear, i am not opposed to the vaccine. i got the vaccine. my dad got the vax. what i am opposed to is the government and osha telling me what i can and cannot do with my body. if we start here, this snowballs down for more and more mandate and whatnot. explain what they are trying to do to us? host: how far do you think osha can go in implementing any kind of vaccine regulations, covid regulations, in a workforce? that is the department's job. they provide regulations to u.s.

workforce is. what should they do in this case? caller: john, you know something? there are people other than me who can figure that out but another point i have to make is why 100 employees the maximum? why not 50 or 75 or 10? why is 100 the max number? host: danny in arizona. let's go to mike in panama city. good morning. panama city, florida, mike, you are on the air. caller: is that me? host: yes, sir. caller: my name is mike. is that who you are talking to? host: yes. go ahead. caller: i am against it. why? this is all about control and this is about compliance. this is a forced issue like the

bible calls the 666. build back better joe is trying to ruin the country. host: celine in new york city who supports the regulation. we lost new york city. (202)-748-8000 if you support the regulation, (202)-748-8001. it is not only proposed it would go into effect january 4 but there was a court challenge. we will read about that momentarily. this is from npr and a deeper dive into the regulation. biden's vaccine rules are here. the deadline is january 4. first rule issued by the occupational safety and health administration covers companies with 100 or more employees and applies to an estimated 84 million workers. companies must ensure workers are fully vaccinated against covid-19 by january 4 or that

they tested negative for the virus at least once a week. workers must get paid time off to get vaccinated. under the osha rule they must pay workers for the time it takes to get vaccinated and provide sick leave for workers to recover from any side effect. employers do not need to pay for testing. in a move that appears to be designed to push workers to choose vaccination over testing the rule does not require employers to pay for or provide testing to workers who declined the vaccine. however, collective bargaining agreements or other circumstances may dictate otherwise. in florida, dave opposes the regulation. good morning, dave. caller: good morning, c-span. host: tell us why you oppose the rule. caller: well, i support the vaccine. in fact, in my area i was probably one of the early ones

who got the moderna vaccine. i am 75 years old. it is a health issue. it is more of a personal choice. i do support the people getting the vaccine but i don't think the government should be dictating and making it mandatory. host: in a hearing in the senate on thursday mitt romney, republican of utah, asked dr. anthony fauci about the effectiveness of federal vaccine mandates. [video clip] >> if we do have a mandate, and i am thinking the mandate for private company, if we do have a mandate, will it save lives and is there an estimate of the number of lives that might be saved by virtue of having our private companies that have over 100 employees either having employees receive a vaccination or get a weekly test? if that occurs, will it save lives and do you have an estimate of how many lives it might save? >> i have a very firm and

confident answer to your first question and i don't have one for your second. but let me explain briefly. we know that vaccines absolutely save lives and we know that mandates work. if you look at, for example, the percentage of people in united airlines for the houston medical association or others that have mandated, it works 99% plus. if you take the factor that mandates work and vaccine absolutely save lives, the answer to your question is yes, it does save lives. what that number is you have to do modeling. i don't have that in front of me right now to determine when people get vaccinated in a certain area what is the chance of having gotten infected, and given underlying conditions, what is the chances of having died or not? that information can likely be modeled by don't have that right now.

host: our opening question is about the federal vaccine and testing requirements set to go into effect generally fourth. this is the headline from cnbc, big business groups are not happy with the vaccine mandate. the director -- executive director karen harnett with this comment, small business owners continue to face numerous challenges to operate, stay open and pay employees. today's occupational safety and health administration temporary standard makes that more difficult and troublesome. we remain opposed to this rule. it imposes unwarranted virgins on small businesses that further threaten the small business recovery. brenda is in rodeo, california and supports the requirement. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you?

host: i am doing fine. make sure you meet your volume and go ahead with your comment. caller: ok. what i would like to say -- host: just go ahead and knew the volume. caller: hold on. let me see. host: are you there? we hope you call back. we go to portland, maine and hear from michael. caller: yes. dr. fauci -- bill gates wants to be a world health organization advisor and does not qualify. a steroid user in russia does not qualify to be a world health organization advisor. russia cannot go -- the prime

minister of canada said canada is going to stay out. russia has got to stay out, china is going to fall out for the safety of athletes. they are coming out of the swimming pool with a punch in the mouth. dr. fauci, you are a pharmaceutical company owner. host: focusing on the question this morning about the new regulation from osha. michael in new york city supports it. good morning. caller: good morning. what i see is this, let's stop politicizing whether we support getting vaccinated or not. i lost two friends of mine to covid. this stuff is real. it is killing people. my question to everybody in this world, what are we to do about it if we don't get vaccinated? how are we going to fix losing

those people? biden has come up with the best solution. you have to have vaccination rate up. how do you get that up? you have to vaccinate. it is cut and dry folks. stop politicizing this. you congressman that are trying to beat down the plan, stop hurting us. that is what you are doing. enough said. let's get vaccinated and get this behind us so we can all return to prior to when covid attacked. host: and send us a tweet at c-spanwj and on instagram. michael says this, it is where it should be. an extraordinary use skirting having a serious discussion in congress no matter what the fifth court of appeals decides. the other will expedite supreme court review. steve says, i support the mandate. this is a public health crisis.

public safety trumps individual freedom. we already need five or six vaccines to go to school. on that court decision yesterday here's the headline from the new york times, a federal appeals court panel on saturday temporarily blocked a new vaccine mandate from large businesses and assign the biden administration may face an uphill battle in its biggest effort yet to combat the virus among the american workforce. this day issued by a three dodge -- the stay issued by a three-judge panel does not have a major impact. the new deadline is december 5 companies of 100 employees requiring unvaccinated employees to wear masks indoors. businesses have until january 4 two mandate the vaccine or start weekly testing. the move provided momentum for a wide coalition of opponents of

the rule who argued it is unconstitutional. . a group of businesses, religious groups, advocacy organizations in several states, including louisiana and texas, have filed a petition on friday with the court arguing the administration has overstepped its authority. let's hear from marilyn in crest hill, illinois. caller: good morning. i have to say first of all i love c-span. it always gets right to the point. number one, i do support what biden is doing 100%. if there is a cult, i do carry the card for joe biden. he does have the heart and mind of the people. when i went to school you could not go unless you show you got vaccinated for measles, polio.

when polio struck the united states nobody complained about getting a shot. and then this other person who said, well, i don't want anybody telling me what to do with my body, what is texas doing? what is florida doing? what are these estates doing about abortion? it is my body. there is no constitutional basis but there is a constitutional protection that says i can get an abortion if i need or want one. but they are taking away my constitutional right. so they are hypocrites. all of them and i'm going to say it, the republican party, they are hypocritical hypocrites. host: duane in north carolina who opposes the regulation. caller: i oppose the regulation

because they are saying this is an osha regulation they are following but they are not following the regulation because the administration is letting 500,000 postal workers get by without being vaccinated required by osha. and the lady that said all republicans are hypocrites need to look in the mirror. we are not hypocrites, we are american citizens. we are just as entitled to our opinion as she is to hers. i have been vaccinated. i don't have a problem with that. but if osha says everybody has to be vaccinated, 500,000 postal workers need to be vaccinated too and that is my opinion. host: pueblo, colorado supporting the new rule.

caller: good morning, america. my name is bronson. i am a disabled veteran that served in the vietnam war. i'm a graduate of san diego state university from the school of social work. when i am on the streets i like to give people advice. host: bronson, what is the advice you are giving in terms of the vaccination? caller: well, i already took my three shots. i took my booster shot and i encourage them to go to school, look for scholarships, and whatever. i remember when i was eight years old my mother called the nurse to the house and i

remember them chasing me around the building, around the house so i could get vaccinated. i liken these people, these procrastinators, these hypocrites that don't want to get vaccinated, i liken them to the eight-year-old. host: more on the lawsuits that face this regulation. yahoo! news report, lawsuits over workplace rules focus on state's rights saying more than two dozen republican states filed lawsuits friday challenging joe biden's vexing requirement for private companies setting up a showdown pitting federal authorities against state's rights. the requirement issued thursday by the federal occupational safety and health at administration applied to businesses of over 100 employees. employees must be vaccinated by january 4 or face mask requirements and weekly

tests. the lawsuit asked courts to decide whether the administration effort to curtail the pandemic represents a federal power grab and usurps the authority of states to set health policy. on this program monday we were joined by liberty justice center managing attorney daniel sir who talked about his organization's plan to sue over the rule. [video clip] >> as soon as that is published we will see the biden administration get court. it is illegal, it is unconstitutional. the osha act is meant to protect people in their workplace against toxic substances and these emergency rules are only for the greatest of dangers. with the osha act is not for his regulating our entire society when it comes to something like a pandemic. that is an authority for state. there is a reason we have seen all these borders come from governors rather than the white house.

public health is a court state responsibility and what the biden administration is pushing is infringement on the prerogative to be the responsible authority for public health. they tried this once before with the cdc and eviction mandate. the cdc is not the nation's landlord any more than osha is the regulation landlord. i expect the courts will strike down this illegal moratorium from osha. host: do you support or oppose that regulation for employers? if you support, (202)-748-8000. oppose it, (202)-748-8001. robert, greenville, kentucky, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to make clear that i have taken the vaccine and i have

encouraged my friends to take it, which they have. what i opposes being told by the government what i should do with my health. i think people should have the right to choose for themselves. host: do you see this as an workplace safety issue and therefore the purview of the federal government? caller: i work in an industry -- i work in the poultry industry and set a processing plant. at the height of the pandemic we took steps, we put dividers between workers, everybody was masked. when you walked into the building you had to walk by a machine that took your temperature. you know, they were doing all they could to regulate who came in, who didn't. they actually got us the vaccines and those who wanted it

took it. but the thing is where does it stop? will they come out next year and say, we have done our research and we find all of the fast food joints are causing diabetes and they want to regulate this to an extent where you can only go to a fast food joint once a week? just as a scenario. but i believe it should be everybody's personal choice whether you get this vaccine or not. to bash one person for their idea against it or another person's idea for it is not right. everyone in america should have the right to choose for themselves. host: appreciate you weighing in. maryland, abdul who supports the regulation. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i just have a few things

to say. first of all, we are all americans and people die, republicans, and democrats, independents, everybody dies and the duty of the government is to protect the people. it looks like there are some people that don't want to do the right thing and put other people's lives in danger. we have vaccine mandates for kids going to school in most of the states. you do not go to school if you don't have certain vaccines and people accept that. but that when it comes to covid people politicize it. they say, it is my body. trust me, it is not about their

body it is about the political opposition. this has nothing to do with politics. people are dying. people are dying because if you go to work you are not vaccinated and you pick up this virus and take it home, you kill other people, you get other people infected. take the vaccine. you have a choice. people say, i am not giving up the choice. you do have a choice. get vaccinated and go to work or stay home because we want to go to work. we want to live our lives. we don't want to be locked up in houses, masking up 24 hours, we want this to finish. this thing should not have been what it is right now if everybody followed simple rules. host: want to go back to the npr story we showed you earlier. the headline of which, bidens vaccine rules for 100 million

workers are here. these are the details and deeper they write, the federal government is largely relying on companies to self enforce the rule. in the case of the osha rule enforcement will fall to the companies themselves with only a couple thousand state and federal osha inspectors nationwide there is no mechanism for checking up on every workplace to see whether it is keeping vaccination and testing records. rather osha vectors will likely respond to employee complaints and add coronavirus related inspections to their to do list when they are already on site. employers that violate the rule can base fine -- face fines up to $13,653 per violation or 10 times that for repeated violations. dawn in pennsylvania opposes the regulation. dawn, you are on the air.

don in sebastian, florida. sorry. caller: thought you were looking for somebody in pa. host: i was. go ahead. caller: i have never had a vaccination in his life. i was not allowed to be vaccinated even for school for smallpox, tv or anything else. sort of like aaron rodgers who is allergic to it due to the ingredients. my standards are different than most. host: tell us a little about it. caller: i have never been vaccinated even as a kid because of my allergies and my asthma and different health situations. host: how do you get through when you have a requirement at work or to travel to show proof of -- do you have to test

regularly i guess is my question in absence of being vaccinated? caller:guest: no -- caller: no. at 60 years old, i am finding it difficult to find other employment. people ask me if i have been vaccinated and i said no and i never heard back from them after that. host: don mentioned the green bay packers quarterback. aaron rodgers. this is a tweet from the hill. the story from the hilt newspaper says wisconsin based health care organization and the packers quarterback, announced they are terminating their partnership. prevea and rogers said their partnership will into -- end effective this saturday.

prevea remains deeply committed to protecting its patients, staff and communities amid the covid-19 pandemic. the announcement comes after rogers sparked -- rodgers sparked controversy when he tested positive for covid-19 months after he said he was immunized from the virus. this is rich. hello. caller: i'm calling because nobody wants mandates. nobody wants to be told what to do. but, you have so many ignorant people in this country who just refuse for reasons i think our political. but, whatever. the vaccine, it is proven. it is a proven fact that it saves lives. you see these people who don't get the shot, when they do get the covid and they end up in the icu, they are crying and they

wish they had gotten the shot. i don't know what is so wrong with people. i don't think they have the brain that god gave them. just because they don't -- it's a shot. it's not just for you. it's for everybody around you. it is common sense. i just don't get it. i just have one thing to say. i'm not political at all. but, it just seems to me, all these problems in this country started when the cancer of a previous president started. god forbid if he ever gets back in. host: from jacksonville north carolina, next up, who opposes the regulation. caller: i'm quite confused because i thought that osha was created to protect workers from harmful processes by their employer.

[indiscernible] i do agree with them setting standards for separation of employees, wearing masks at work, taking temperatures. that's all good. that is being part of protecting the employees. [indiscernible] host: we will let you go there and go to yuri, calling from south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. i support the mandate. i just think that all of this is

just comical. i believe that by taking this vaccine -- [indiscernible] you go to the emergency room and you are sick and you need help, you go and you take your medication. you don't look it up, you don't worry about being mandated. i think it will become common sense, take the vaccine and let's get out of this. it is horrible, the way that we are politicizing it. let's get out of this, people. host: this is congressman fred keller after the president announced the regulation. fred keller on the house floor on friday, with his opposition to the proposed regulation. >> i've talked with job creators

and the hard-working pennsylvanians who go to work every day. you know what they are saying? they are saying i don't need government telling me what's best for me and my family. just yesterday, president biden released details for his vaccine mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees. president biden's go it alone approach of running america has left him tone deaf. vaccine mandates are un-american period. that is why i have partnered with senator braun to introduce a resolution under the congressional review act to strike down this unconstitutional overreach of government. every member of the education and labor committee is on board with this bill. and with growing interest throughout the republican conference. right before the holidays, americans facing a supply chain crisis, rising costs on everything from gas to groceries and president biden, who is not listening to the people for whom he works. our resolution sends a message

to president biden, loudly and clearly. americans are fed up with mandates and government control. host: on our opening question this morning, some comments on twitter. this one says it's only my body, my choice. you want to murder your unborn baby and rip it out of your womb , bodily autonomy does not apply to getting government forced experimental injections. this one says if you don't get vaccinated, do not show up at the steps of a hospital if you contract covid. -- i oppose the regulation because this is better than a vaccine? think, people. next up, tamera opposes the regulation. go ahead. caller: yes. for years, i have been a medical lab tech and now i am no longer one because i lost my job for refusing to take the covid shot.

the reason i refused is because it has been a proven fact, many well-known physicians have come forward with this information that the covid shot is causing escape and's -- escapance in the body, which means it is causing multiple different variants that are coming from the shot. these variants are going to be more powerful. the covid shot is not accurate. the recipe is still not accurate and we are going to see a lot more data with people who have even received the shot. i am telling people this, not as a hypocrite, not taking a political side.

but, evidently, people are not doing their research on the medical side and hearing the truth about this covid shot. that is why i oppose it. and people need to wake up. this shot is not effectively saving lives. host: to dana, next up, in circleville, ohio, who also opposes the regulation. caller: good morning. how are you? host: fine, thanks. caller: there are so many reasons for opposing this mandate. it should be a personal choice. the media is a huge culprit in vast misconceptions over what is going on here. if you look on the night h websites, it lists all of the different treatments that are acceptable for covid -- treating

covid symptoms. if you look at the list of multiple treatments, they went with remdesivir, which has a huge list of adverse side effects, including death. ivermectin is also on the nih website as an approved treatment. there are virtually zero side effects from it. it has been proven to be the safest drug on the market. yet, they have made it nearly impossible for regular citizens to gain access to ivermectin, which has been a long-term fda approved drug. so, you can't tell me that pushing a vaccine that is an mrna vaccine nonetheless has no -- they can't tell you long-term side effects because they don't know. because it has not been used long enough to know this. host: let's go to ravel in southaven, mississippi, who supports the regulation.

go-ahead. caller: yeah. you know, it's kind of funny that -- hearing people talk about what the government can and can't do as far as mandating. the government mandated 18-year-olds to be prepped to go fight a war that their lives had nothing to do with. but anything like this, the government can mandate companies. people they are talking about now, these corporations, with the defense production act, to make war machines. this notion that somehow this is craziness or illegal is just crazy. the government has been doing this all the time. all you have to do is look in the mirror. no one asked me back then. what are they talking about? these people oppose certain

people. these are political issues that -- most of these people call me doctor. but they get on the air and say no, we don't agree with that. you agreed with it when the draft came out. some didn't, some did. but most did. and the ones that didn't, guess what they had to do? they had to get out of the country, almost. flee, run, hide. host: the u.s. border is being opened once again. it is open to vaccinated canadian travel. historic prescriptions that -- description -- restrictions that limited travel are set to -- monday. china, india and brazil can reunite with family after many months, look for shopping deals and attend some red wings and

lions games. this is richard who opposes the reginald -- regulation. good morning. caller: actually, it's ronald. host: i misread. it is ronald. go ahead. caller: all right. i just want to mention that c-span is very objective, as far as politics are concerned. however, you are not all that objective in regards to medical issues. now, the previous woman who called in from -- women who called in from south carolina, the other who called in from ohio, they are quite correct that these vaccines, mrna, have not at all been cleared to be safe. it is possible that long-term side effects can be very detrimental. and there are very many

distinguished doctors and scientists, some nobel prize renters -- winners throughout the world who have very serious concerns, health concerns, about these vaccines. and you really should have some of them or all of them on the program on some occasion, giving their point of view of what they believe -- why they believe the vaccine is not safe. host: arthur is next up in new brighton, pennsylvania, who supports the rule. caller: i would challenge americans, what new source are they using? all these people getting misinformation off of social media, what is the last book anybody actually read? and do you know your history? if you go to a third world country, measles, mumps, rubella, still running rampant in other countries.

part of our greatness is based on our vaccination program. we have eradicated or nearly eradicated major disease in this country. i'm sorry, people. but, you can have a bad side effect from taking a baby aspirin. it's time to pull up the big boy pants, get in line and get your shot. host: marcia, thanks for your call. this is the regulation now blocked by the federal court. a federal court in louisiana has blocked the biden administration mandate that millions of workers get vaccinated against covid-19 or be tested weekly. a ruling filed by several states , because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate, the mandate is hereby stated, pending further action by this court.

the rule, the occupational safety and health administration rule would do a couple of things. it would apply to businesses with 100 or more employees. it would imply that employees -- require that employees be vaccinated by january 4. unvaccinated employees must produce a negative test weekly and it would pay employees for time off to get vaccinated. the employers would not be required to provide or pay for the tests for those that are not vaccinated. we are asking you if you support or oppose that. (202) 748-8000 is the support line. (202) 748-8001 is the oppose line. dale is next. caller: good morning. i do oppose the vaccine mandates.

because, we are we the people. we have a right to make our own decisions about this stuff. personally, i've been vaccinated. but, it's wrong to come out here -- and for joe biden to stand up there and go to dictating people taking this stuff when he won't even test the millions of people that are coming across our border illegally, it just disseminates the united states. loads them on planes in the middle of the night, delivering them to small cities. then they raped and they pillage. host: ruth is in rocky mount, north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. host: you are on the air again.

new your volume and proceed with your question -- mute your volume and proceed with your question. caller: ok. i think everyone should take -- host: make sure you mute the volume and go ahead with your comment. caller: all this is about the democrats and the republicans. this is about our life. everyone takes the flu shot. so, when it comes down to your life, why would you not take the shot? host: let's hear from olga in silver spring, maryland, on the oppose line. caller: hi, how are you doing? host: good. caller: my husband is coming

from iraq. he has brain damage. he put -- thank you to god, everything is going ok. i think president biden is doing a very good job. he does the best. these people who do not choose the shot, they have to protect the other people. protect the children. protect the neighbors. protect friends and everyone. so, they suffer. they are nasty and impolite with other people. they need to take the shots to protect the other people, ok? host: this is from the washington post on the passage friday of the infrastructure bill. the headline, victory in hand,

democrats brace for a fight over to trillion dollar spending bill with a roughly $1.2 trillion bill to improve the nation's infrastructure behind them. democrats must prepare and turn to their next, perhaps tougher task. the successful vote late in the house on friday night -- still another roughly $2 trillion in new tax and spending investments are waiting -- awaiting action in the house and senate. where party lawmakers harbor grand ambitions to overhaul the nation's health care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws. >> folks, yesterday, i don't think it is an exaggeration to

suggest we took a monumental step forward as a nation. we learned that our economy created 5.6 million jobs since we took office in january 20. the recent unemployment rate of 4.6%, two full years earlier than the vast majority of congress projected that would happen. we are just getting started. we did something that is long overdue. that long has been talked about in washington but never actually been done. the house of representatives passed an infrastructure investment and jobs act. that is a fancy way of saying a bipartisan infrastructure bill. a once in a generation investment that will create millions of jobs, modernizing infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, broadband, a whole range of things, to turn the climate crisis into an opportunity. it puts us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st century that we face with china and other large countries, and

the rest of the world. it will create more jobs, good paying jobs, union jobs, that can't be outsourced. and it will transform our transportation system with the most significant investments. passenger rail, the most ignition investment in 50 years. roads and bridges, the most significant investment in 70 years. more investment in public transit than we have ever made, period. it will modernize our airports. i will go to some of our ports next week. and the freight rail, increasing that. we are doing so much with this legislation. it's going to make it easier for companies to get goods to the market more quickly and reduce supply chains, bottlenecks. and now, and for decades to come. according to economists, this will be easing inflationary pressures, by lowering costs for working families.

it will create jobs, replacing lead water pipes. so every american and every child can drink clean water, improving their health, and putting plumbers and pipers to work. how long have we been talking about that? it's a gigantic issue. jobs making high-speed internet affordable everywhere in america. host: president joe biden at the white house on friday. an update on the tragedy in houston, following the astral world event. -- astro world event. people are dying. the reporting of rolling stone says man screams for help, made police to stop the show at travis scott's astro world. 150,000 people were in attendance at the sold out -- an estimated 50,000 people were in attendance at the sold-out event at houston's in r.g. park. -- nrg park.

a number of witnesses said they sought help from police, security guards or others working at the festival as things started to turn more dangerous. those pleas were met with apathy. our opening question about the osha rules set to go in effect on january 4, some comments on twitter. one says it's my thoughts, those who choose not to take a jab have a surcharge on health insurance. $200 plus, private or public. what is going on? right-wing media and an incompetent president understood the salience of anti-sentiment. they decided to promote it for political gain, regard us of the hundreds of thousands of deaths it would cause. caller: i support it. host: ok. caller: i think that if somebody really doesn't want the vaccine,

they should just inject bleach. and that, when people are given a choice, either you get the vaccine or you get fired. that is a false dichotomy. they should be given another choice. you should be given the choice of injecting the vaccine or injecting bleach. idiots who reject the vaccine claim that trump won. host: let's hear from natalia in arizona. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am a supporter. i'm a moderate. i am way conservative on some issues and i'm democratic on some other issues. i think the point that a lot of people are missing is that we need to go back in history and look to john f. kennedy, when he said to a nation, ask not what your nation can do for you but

what you can do for your country. and this is our responsibility now to save our nation. if we truly believe this is the greatest country on the planet, this is our time now, as individuals, to save it. because, covid is absolutely very real. people are dying. and the mandate is not for taking away people's rights. it's for protecting our economy. for keeping businesses open. so that people can still be able to go to work and provide for their families. and, when we want to live and an organized society, sometimes you have to give up some personal freedoms. that's what comes with living in the greatest country. because, it gives us protections. it will not be china or russia that gets us. it's going to be covid if we don't protect this great nation. host: ok. this is one view from the manufacturing sectors, the ceo of the national association of manufacturing. jay timmons with a statement

after the rule was posted, saying that manufacturers continue to be committed to promoting vaccination and keeping our teams, customers and communities safe and healthy. federal vaccine requirements should be flexible enough to ensure we can achieve those goals and we appreciate osha taking many of our inputs into consideration. we are still reviewing the rule but we will continue to share manufacturers perspectives and experiences with the administration to mixer our members are not faced with undue cost burdens and other potential disruptions. in columbus, ohio, this is bill, up next. caller: yes. i was calling because i totally oppose it. it's not even a true vaccine. you have the polio vaccine, the tb vaccine. you get the covert shot, you still get the covid -- you get the covert shot, -- covid shot, you still get the covid. it's like a flu shot.

host: gregory in california. he's not on the line. that's my fault. there you are, it's my fault. go ahead. caller: i support the mandates because it is saving lives. it is crazy that we are making it a political issue. too many people are dying. many of the people who have opposed are right wing talk show hosts and they have died. we need to have everybody vaccinated so we can save lives. host: this is robert up next, who opposes it, robert in louisville, kentucky. caller: hi, thank you for taking the call. i wanted to talk about the mandate itself. not whether it is a vaccine or not a vaccine. why would you have a mandate and

tailor it to where you don't pay for the testing? if you want to look at all of us as equal, there are some people who choose not to take the vaccine. but, i understand. we don't want to spread the virus, right? why not pay for the testing or why not make the chesty -- testing just as easy, and different forms of testing? saliva testing as opposed to nasal testing? things like that. there seems to be an obvious bias in the mandate. host: so, on the one hand, the administrati says to employers, you should pay for time off. on the other hand, the government says you don't have to pay for a test. you see that as unfair. caller: correct. and i see it as on equitable in the sense that, hey, if we really care about all of us in the society, why weaponize of this? also, it's the same thing. it seems like it makes it very hard to be unvaccinated, to

participate in our society, when , as the previous caller said, i think calling it a vaccine is untrue. polio, measles, vaccine, one time. this is like the flu shot. take it or leave it. host: more ahead here on washington journal. up next, we will be joined by brad raffensperger, with us to talk about his confrontation with president trump during the election over election fraud claims and he is talking about that and writing about that in his new book, titled "integrity counts." we will turn our attention to last tuesday's elections and former president trump's role in 2022 and beyond. that conversation with matt schlapp. ♪ >> craig fairman calls the

autobiography of calvin coolidge the forgotten classic of presidential writing. the new authorized, expanded, and annotated edition of the calvin coolidge autobiography has been published by isi books. matt denhardt quote coolidge -- quoted coolidge as saying it is a great advantage to a president and a major source of safety to the country for him to know that he is not a great man. we ask amity sleigh to give us some background about the released coolidge biography, which was published in may of 1929, 92 years ago. >> chair of the calvin coolidge foundation is on this episodes of book notes plus. notes plus is available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts.

>> tonight on q and a. >> most people care about community. but, how long does a community support journalism? because, now people want to get their news for free. and people are saying oh well, that's not worth a dollar. and that's not how you sustain a democracy. >> we will discuss storm lake. the film details a small town family-run newspaper in iowa and its efforts to stay afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic. >> there was a dramatic spike which was unbelievable. we are continuing to employ as best we can. >> storm lake is the hottest spot in the country.

>> we are losing money and there isn't a thing you can do about it. >> our ads fell off a click. >> it doesn't make sense to go borrow money when we could walk away from it now. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q and a. you can listen to q and day and all of our -- q&a and all of our pots guests -- podcasts on the c-span app. >> amy walter will be part of a political conversation on the 2021 election results and the biden agenda. the brookings institution posts -- hosts the event live at 2 p.m. eastern on mond >> washington journal continues. host: joining us from atlanta this morning is georgia, brad raffensperger.

he has held that position since 2019. welcome to washington journal. guest: good morning. host: let me start with your background. you are a businessman, a structural engineer by trade. you own your own businesses. what first got you into georgia state politics? guest: i ran for city council. i could do that part-time and run my business. i was there for 3.5 years and i ran for an open seat in the statehouse and i served for two terms. host: are there issues in the state level that were important to you in those early races for you? guest: i saw what was going on nationally and was not pleased at the time. i thought what could i do and what can i do to give back? being on the city council, roads, widening streets, things like that. make sure we have strong, public safety. things like that. and then the statehouse, which

we do for all georgians. and as secretary of state, bringing in the paper ballot system and getting rid of the electronic system, which we did in record time. we had, last year, voting in a pandemic. at the end of the day, we had a fair and honest election last year. the paper ballot out everyone understand that the count was accurate. host: what were the challenges? you came into brian kim's administration -- brian kemp's ministration. what were the challenges in the balloting system? guest: we had two main issues. the federal judge came down with the ruling that you can't use the electronic machines ever again. you have to have a verifiable paper ballot. also, we finished up the race, stacey abrams lost the race by nearly 55,000 votes.

our office had nine blue suits from fair fight, fair count and all sorts of allied organizations with this narrative of a stolen election and voter suppression. fast-forward two years, we were prepared. we were not expecting them about voter fraud. we have been pushing back on both of them. host: you are joining us this morning, talking about your new book, integrity counts. why did you write the book? guest: to set the record straight. it is a very important story that has tremendous implications for american democracy. host: part of that book, in the book you wrote this. people have heard you say this a number of times about president trump. i voted for president trump. i am a lifelong conservative or publican with a proven voting record to match. but, i could not do what he asked because the numbers just went there. my job as secretary of state is to oversee fair and honest

elections for everyone. was i disappointed in the outcome? yes. could i change the outcome? no. what has been the ripple effect of you maintaining that position in the party, both there in georgia, and nationally? guest: i stood on the truth, i stood on the facts. and some people had a problem with that. many did not. what i am grateful for is all of the republicans that support me. it was a difficult and hard loss for us on our side of the aisle. they understand that you always believe in the rule of law and fight hard to protect the constitution. they understand. when i talked to some people these day, i hear from people who were so aligned with president trump and they wanted me to fudge the number and i just couldn't do that. host: what is your office doing to prepare for the 2022 elections? guest: this past session, we

passed the election act of 2021. we moved away from signature balloting and we moved to driver's license numbers. it is an objective. signature matching is subjective. we moved toward the driver's license number. it took three years for the general assembly to do that. now, we have taken that off the table. this is something they had been using in minnesota for over 10 years. they are going through the same process because it is a safe and secure way of having an objective measure for identifying your absentee ballot voters. host: is your anticipation that the turnout will be equal to or greater than the 2020 election, based on the changes made in the 2021 georgia law? what is your thinking on that? guest: i don't think it will

have any change on that. when i was on the ballot with governor kemp, -- 2020, we had 5 million. we will probably have somewhere between 4 million and 5 million. we have population growth. we will have strong turnout. sb 202 does not increase the ability for anyone to vote. now, we have 17 days of early voting, which is far more than they have in new york, new jersey and delaware. host: you have been a political representative on the local, and state. guest: my goal is getting my message out and working on reelection. that is why i wrote integrity counts. it explains to everyone this is exactly what happened. all these allegations that were made, we responded with press conference after press

conference. when someone has 80 million twitter followers and things get put out there, it is tough to fight that battle. it was whack a mole on a daily basis read here is a fact-based book. i included my 10 page letter that i sent to congress. congress can look at me and ask is this right? is this right? is this right? everything i said in january is correct. i said there were two dead people who voted. i believe we found two more, we are up to four. we never saw 5000 dead people. less than five. host: part of the book "integrity counts," the ninth chapter is called "the call." it is the transcript with the call from president trump, mark meadows and people from your staff in georgia. you make annotations. what was your purpose in getting the entire call into that

chapter? getting that entire transcript published? guest: i think it is important that, right there, you can read the entire conversation we had for one hour and 10 minutes. when i respond to president trump, president trump had several people. we don't know who else was on the call. they spoke into that. everyone's comments. it's out there, you can go ahead and go to the internet and ask to hear the audio. you can hear what was said and come to your own conclusions. host: brad raffensperger is our guest. we open -- we welcome your calls. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and for independents and all others, (202) 748-8002. if you are a georgia resident, that line is (202) 748-8003. i wanted to read just a bit from that ninth chapter, the call.

president trump in that call says we have at least two or three, anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 ballots that were dropped mysteriously. much of that had to do with fulton county. he also said another tremendous number, we will have an accurate number over the next few days with certified accountants. an accurate number will be given and it is in the 50's of thousands. that is people who went to vote and told they can't vote and told they can't go because they already voted. it is a very sad thing, said president trump read they walked out complaining. the numbers large, we will have it for you. but it is much more than the number of 11,779. brad, i think you agree with that, right? that's something i think everyone -- at least that's a number everyone agrees on. you noted in your observation on this, the secretary of states office never received a report from certified accounts. that thousands had been turned

away from the pole, -- if thousands have been turned away from the polls as trump described, surely one of them would have contacted our office. caller: we heard allegations but no one submitted data to that point. if people were turned away, we would have heard about it. the press would have heard about it. nothing was ever said about that. everyone that wanted to vote had the opportunity to vote. that is supported by the facts. host: what do you think it is about that phone call that most people get wrong? guest: i don't know. you have to ask people that actually listened to it. i received it. that's lack of the transcript in there. that's why you can listen to the audio. people need to come to their own conclusions. what i would say is, in america, we need intellectual honesty. to get intellectual honesty, you

have to have intellectual curiosity. do your own homework. my dad said don't believe everything in the paper. the numbers never lie. host: let's go to callers from brad raffensperger. we will hear from matthew in north carolina. go ahead. you are on the air. caller: how are you doing today? guest: good morning. caller: i like the last thing you said, that numbers never lie. and you like the facts. i was really interested in the conversation piece that you are putting in on how the election machines changed and they went from signature verification to, you said identification numbers on the drivers license? guest: with sp 202, in this upcoming year, instead of using signature match on your absentee ballot application, we actually ask for your drivers license number, which connect you back

to photo id. the reason that is so powerful, we know those are two unique identifiers. we know who you are. also, the department of drivers services is a robust assistantship -- citizenship check so that we can verify that you are a georgia resident. that is a big change going forward. there was a lot of questions about signature match. we did a signature match study. we have been sued by both democrats and republicans. it took three years for the general assembly to follow my advice. i'm glad they did. host: we will go to greg in midlothian, virginia, on the independent line. caller: i wanted to say that i have lived in foreign countries for the past 20 something years and i have seen what happens when you don't have election integrity. so, i tell my students, i teach history, and i tell my students

that election integrity is probably the most important right and responsibility that we have as americans. because, without that, you don't have a democracy. you don't have a republic. that has to be cherished and protected. my question for the guest is do you think that we are going to have election integrity in 2022 and 2024? because i'm concerned, very concerned, about that. thank you. guest: in georgia, we had election integrity. unfortunately, this was not our first rodeo. this is when i start losing audiences on the left side. they don't want to talk about stacey abrams but she set the table for 2020. she lost in 2018 by 55,000 votes. talk about that. -- i talk about that. she lost by the 5000 votes and

she said were it not for voters set -- suppression. we had record turnout. people have plenty of opportunities to vote. they had, at that time, 16 days plus sunday voting in all of the major metropolitan areas. wendy of opportunities to vote and also election day. roll that forward to 2020 and we heard the other narrative about voter fraud. neither of them were supported by the facts. we pushed back on lawsuits from stacey abrams and we pushed back on trump. judges look for facts. they don't look for allegations that are not supported by facts. host: i want to ask you about the criminal prosecution that might be possibly coming in georgia, the headline from the new york times saying a grand jury in georgia looms in trump inquiry as the house committee investigates the january 6 capital riots -- capitol riots.

an atlanta district attorney is moving toward convening a special grand jury in her investigation of election interference on the former president and his allies, according to a person with direct knowledge of deliberations. secretary raffensperger, are they asking for your input or assistance in that case? guest: as it relates to the fulton county da, she has asked our office and requested documentation. we sent her records of any document we have. she has interviewed a few people, her investigators have. that is her investigation. you would have to ask her where she is with that. on january 6, they asked for some documentation, also. they can make their decisions of where they want to go forward on that. i'm an engineer, not a lawyer.

that gets into the weeds of what the lawyers are planning on doing. host: about january 6, you write in your book, "integrity counts," you said that january 6, recognizing congresses meeting, i drafted a letter to the georgia congressional delegation with a point by point rebuttal of the allegations that the outcome of the georgia vote was wrong. i signed the letter just afternoon and transmitted it to our represent us. a small stop the steal rally gathered outside the state capital and some of the participants carried assault rifles, with one of the protesters, a former ku klux klan leader, who leads american patriots usa, entered the capi l ol unarmed, looking for me, the state patrol decided it would be best if i left. are you still under threat from people because of your actions in the 2020 election?

guest: i'm not getting too many texts or phone calls. you get a few from time to time. but nothing to the magnitude that we saw during the postelection. that's what my january 6 looked like. we were working on getting that letter done and we did not realize what was going on in d.c. until i got home later and turned on the tv. i saw the mayhem that was going on. host: do you feel like members of the georgia delegation, the house delegation, listened to what you had to say in the letter you sent to them? guest: it's very interesting. they said everything was fair and above board. in the presidential race, -- he did that. that shows he is a double minded person. that is a pastor. he should know better.

this will help set the table and tell you the story on what really happened. 28,000 georgians did not vote for anyone for the presidential top of the ticket. they skipped it. they skipped the democrat nominee, joseph biden, the republican nominee, and the libertarian nominee. in the rural areas of georgia, where the republican congressmen hold the seats, they got 33,000 more votes than president trump. those data points show us there is a tail off at the presidential. many if not all of the republican steakhouse represented of and senators -- statehouse representatives and senators got higher votes than the president. host: thank you for telling

about the pressure trump put on you. i'm not sure why you voted for trump since he displayed so little honesty and integrity during his presidency. guest: we all have choices to make. i was one of president trump's earlier supporters in 2016. i thought that what we needed was a change. we need to get back to -- i'm a pro low tax kind of guy. pro small business. deregulate the environment, let the free market be free. in 2020, i voted for him again. my family has given money to him. i've always voted for the republican team. i understand your question. i understand that. but, we also have to look at who our choices were. when hillary clinton ran in 2016, she called everyone that did not support her establishment philosophy, deplorable's. -- deplorables. i guess that included me. what we need to do going

forward, is say how do we grow the party, how do we help unify people and pull people together? we can have our solid, conservative message but we don't have to call people names. when we look at the last time we had this movement of conservative fraud, ronald reagan let it. in his reelection, we won 49 states. it was a tremendous -- that he did. we saw that with glenn youngkin. i wish him well. host: you right -- wrote in your book about character. you said it is not complex, it is straightforward. if we don't have people of the highest character running for elective office, we will fight disinformation, misinformation and deception. and the end result will be an erosion of public trust. you pointed to virginia.

do you think that was an election where people voted more on character? republicans, anyway, more on character, and less about president trump's influence? guest: i think people were impressed with the character of when youngkin and parents believe they should be involved in education and they should be. it was a big message that he had. it attracted people on both sides of the aisle. character always is king. when we start having people who lift that up, that model of integrity, character, honesty, and civil discourse. even ronald reagan said you can be kind and it does not make you soft. i learned -- i talked about that in my book. i learned a lot about kindness from my children. we can still be principled.

both were african-american democrats, one from a funeral home, another was raised in the foster homes. we had respectable conversations. they did not vote for many of my bills and i did not vote for theirs. we can laugh about it and joke about it. we were trying to understand each other. so that there is some human capacity to understand each other prayed i think that is important. host: we go next to mark in ben salem, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. the question i have was on your recount, you did 15,000 votes. you found 450 in initial three party judges that said 450 did not vote. you went back and adjudicated them. if you push that for 50 with 1.5 million, -- 450 with 1.5 million, 45,000 signatures do

not match. 45,000 signatures do not match, hypothetically. how could you prove these people voted for whoever they did and adjudicate it? you couldn't. the anonymity part of it makes it so that you can't tell me not one of those votes, how they voted after they separate the ballots from the envelope, is that not correct? guest: we always have the secret ballot. that way people don't feel chorused by the union boss -- -- coerced. we had 15,000 ballots and they did a deep dive and they called every single one to verify that is who they were. what they found out is that two people out of the 15,000, it was not correct. a spouse had done one. one had a health issue. 99.99% accuracy.

if you project that across the entire state, there was never enough to overturn the result. that goes to the subjective nature. when i ran, i said we need to move away from signature match and move to driver's license number. that's what this is doing in minnesota for 10 years. it works for them, it works for us. red states, blue states, it will work for everyone. host: on the redline, this is james. caller: i want to thank you for being honest, open, and being a real republican. i also want to thank ms. cheney and the other person that is being criticized and ostracized because of the political hate in this country, because a person lost. i also want to ask you this.

do you think that this committee for the sixth of january, do you think those politicians that spew this hate should be called up, and let the american people decide who is telling a lie and who is telling the truth? because, if you have politicians , and i don't blame president donald trump, i blame the people that are backing him up. they know that they claim to be christians. they know that they have a soul and a spirit and the flesh. we know the spirit belongs to god. if you are a politician and you forget about your soul and your spirit, you haven't forgot about

the soul and the spirit. a lot of them left their soul and their spirit. i don't know if they chose to do that. but, i think you -- thank you for keeping your soul and your spirit intact. host: any,? guest: -- host: any comment? guest: those are our federal elected officials and they run their own show. that is their lane. my lane is making sure we have fair and honest elections in georgia. host: next in washington, it is peggy, on the democrat's line. go ahead. caller: hi. i just want to say thank you for your service to this country and your integrity. i just want to say if trump would have had the right people in place during the 2020 election, we would have had a constitutional crisis. i'm afraid next time he or someone like him will do just that.

host: ok. brad raffensperger? guest: i'm very hopeful about america. my wife and i, we travel all over the country. it doesn't matter if it is main or oregon -- maine or oregon, what i have found is people are all the same. they are good people. i have never doubted the goodness of american people. i'm very hopeful about america. going from one economic cycle to another, they are stressful. i understand that. never doubt the goodness of people. i believe most people are good and most people are kind. host: our guest is brad raffensperger. he is the georgia's secretary of state. his book is titled "integrity counts." we open your calls -- we welcome your calls and commons. for democrats, (202) 748-8000. for republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents and others, (202) 748-8002. georgians, (202) 748-8003. a question for you from twitter. mailed ballots are foolish and unnecessary except for rare occasions. this person says voting must be in person. guest: to that point, no excuse absentee balloting was put in place in 2005 in georgia. the current speaker of the house supported it and voted for it. the current state party chairman supported and voted for it when he was a state senator. it was signed into law by a republican governor. that is historical fact. i know that other states do mail-in ballots. in georgia, you have to request

a ballot. when your application has been verified that it is you requesting it, you are sent the ballot. when you get about, you send it back to the election official. that is how it started with no excuse absentee voting. the general assembly has elected not to change that. host: how has the georgia 2021 election law changed early voting in your state? guest: we increased it by another day. we mandated all 159 counties have to have 17 days of early voting. monday through friday, 15 days. any county that wants to have sunday voting can continue to do so. host: let's hear from kathy in kansas. go ahead. caller: yes. i was wondering. i'm a little confused. there was something on the new voting laws that is whenever a

group of electors somehow allege fraud or something, they can go back and you can get a new group of electors to go to overturn something. how does that work? i also want to ask you, would you vote for trump again in 2024 if he runs, given all his hideousness and everything he has done to this country? guest: two your first question, i don't know what you are referring to. that is not georgia state law and i don't know of any other state doing that. that is something, i don't know exactly what you are describing. people cannot come in in any political party and overturn the will of the people in georgia. nothing has changed to that extent. 2024 is a long way off. i am sure there will be lots of

people running for president. we will see who those people are. then we all can make our decisions on who we support at the end of the day. host: from georgia, this is carl. caller: thank you for taking my call and thank you for c-span. much thanks to mr. raffensperger and all the good work he has done. i know is has been a trying time for him. i worked for a mid-georgia radio station. there were videos of poll workers after midnight, up to 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning, november 2 and 3 that uncovered boxes of votes and ballots that were under tables. i looked into this myself. a lot of people have asked questions about this. i think they can process, correct me if i'm wrong, 3000 to

4000 ballots per our. what exactly was going on with that? i have never heard an explanation of what went on with that. why were they keeping boxes and boxes of ballots underneath a black tablecloth? why did they stay over from 1:00 to 8:00 the next morning counting these balance? if you could address this, i would appreciate it. guest: i think you are referring to state farm video. we will have to unpack that. it takes time. in the morning, those boxes come official ballot boxes, it was all under video surveillance. the boxes were opened, emptied, closed, and zip tied, and secured. they were then put underneath the tables. the reason they were there is they had stacks of absentee ballots. they knew they would not be able to count all of those that

election night. around 10:30 on election night, they went ahead because they thought they were done for the evening. the election director called them and said you are not done yet. you need to staff until at least 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. prior to that, what they had started to do was pull out those boxes, open them up, and put the un-scanned balance -- ballots in the boxes, zip tie them, and put them under. you see them pulling out the ballots they put in a few minutes earlier. rudy giuliani came down to a state senate meeting and showed the video out of sequence and made a narrative that they were finding these balance and stuffing the boxes. we brought in our investigator and the georgia bureau of investigation and fbi. everyone looked at the full tape

and they said nothing is there. that went into their report. the former attorney for the northern district resigned. they brought in the attorney for the southern district as acting director. they both said there was nothing there. what had gotten out on fox news, and all my contractor friends work calling me about it, looking at what rudy giuliani was putting out, a false narrative. that is what we were facing from day one. we are still fighting it over a year later and you're asking me that. we responded to that immediately. it has been totally debunked. it is one of those urban legends out there that makes it difficult. talk about that in my book so you have the full information about what happened and did not happen in state farm. host: let's hear from

connecticut, good morning. mary lou, good morning. we will hear from nina next in florida, democrats line. caller: good morning. i have a couple of points. number one, i don't even know why after a year that your gentleman said we are even talking about this still. i don't ever want to go through this again. i am very disappointed in how it all went down. secondly, the voter i.d. thing to me is not suppressive. i have gotten two vaccines for covid. i have had to show my i.d. twice now. i don't know why it is voter suppression to not be able to show your i.d. when you go and vote. i don't even know if you have

anything. also, did stacy ever conceived her election? not that it matters, but i am tired of last year's stuff. i'm ready to get on with our lives with future politics. thank you. host: brad raffensperger? guest: i think most of us are ready to move on. stacy evans has still not conceded. she is still playing that narrative. 2014, they poll tested the word "voter suppression" and found it is a great way to motivate people to get out and vote. she has not conceded that. we are all tired of that. that is why i put up my book, to start putting this to bed, that this is the facts of what happened in the election. there were not dead people, there were not underage people.

if people want to know the truth, they can read it and look at it. i am willing to debate the points. as a republican, i am disappointed. the fact is president trump did come up short in georgia. host: how may votes did brian kemp win by ultimately? guest: nearly 55,000 votes. host: larry next from alexandria-virginia. caller: a few quick questions, if you can say it where he was born and raised in how he became a millionaire through his construction company. has he read molly hemingway's book? she showed strong reason to question the wood gallery of more votes than the margin won

by biden in georgia. i wonder if he could say whether she is a liar and talk about himself a little bit. thank you. guest: i forget exactly where you are from, but i talk about in my book. my dad was in the construction industry. we lived in upstate new york in niagara falls for two years and then moved to pennsylvania for first grade through fourth grade. then my dad got transferred to toronto. moved up there. that is where i met trish in high school. we moved back to the states when i graduated from engineering school. have not been back but to visit family. we have lived in different parts of the country. georgia has been our home since 1982. first business was a daycare center with tricia. then left and had a partner for several years.

i do specialty contracting. engineering is what i leaned into. it helps me in this job because it is very fact-based. in the office of the secretary of state, it is not just about elections. it is also about corporation formation. last year, we had record in corporation formation which is awesome. we have a lot of budding entrepreneurs who want to build corporations. we have licensing for structural engineers, nursing, electricians, plumbers, and folks like that. i want to do what i can to streamline licensing to reduce paperwork burdens. i have not read molly hemingway's book, but i will take a look at it. host: a big push is being made on capitol hill to pass voting reform rights legislation. the john lewis voting rights bill among those.

what is your view? guest: i don't support it for several reasons. i don't support same-day registration. that is a recipe for voting day mayhem. all of a sudden, people show up and say i would like to register to vote. now, you have lines around the corner. we have worked hard keeping lines shorter than one hour. what do you do when 100 people show up and you have to register them? the counties will not be able to handle that. you're taking away photo i.d. and seeing people can sign an affidavit. that opens the door for fraud. also, it opens the door for noncitizen voting. we already have people in other states letting noncitizens vote. i believe the only people that should be voting in elections are american citizens. host: let's go to gary in new york on the independent line. caller: good morning. i would like to ask two

questions. how come all the states are not the same in voting? in the last major election, vegas was allowed to vote two days after tuesday. how come every state does not open at 6:00 in the morning and close at 9:00? my second question or comment, i would like to see estate representative or federal representative declared the winner before the guy makes his victory speech because you hear news outlets saying they have declared the winner. the guys making a victory speech and the other guy don't concede yet because he does not say it is official. i would like to have it official when they say he is the winner and they make the speech. guest: our federal constitution says this has been delegated back to individual states

through their general assemblies, so the states write the laws. each state does what their citizens want. on the west coast, they do something. new hampshire does what they do. in georgia, we have 17 days of early voting plus two days of sunday voting for any county that wants. our elections typically go from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on election day. in atlanta, they go up to 8:00 p.m. even in the state of georgia, we have that variety. every state is different. every state makes the rules. it is a decentralized approach. one of the strengths of the system is after the general assembly passes the law, it is the local precincts that run the election. the precinct workers are your neighbors that you see at the grocery store, at church, at the soccer and baseball fields. those are your neighbors.

when they walk that line of integrity as your fellow neighbors, you know you can trust what they are trying to do. they are working hard to make sure you have a fair and honest election at the precinct level. they will flip those results to the county. the county reports to the state. and then, the state reports those. june the 2020 election, people wanted us to accept absentee ballots up to three days after. we took that to the appeals court and prevailed that every ballot has to be in by 7:00. it should be the same for all other forms of voting. host: in georgia, what is the process of the state informing the media of the vote count? guest: we post it and have our results. we are not declaring winners and losers. we say with 60%, 80% reporting, these are the results. the county will give us their results typically by friday, the

latest, the monday after the tuesday election. that is when we begin the process of certifying elections. host: in terms of a presidential election, would you support making the presidential election a national holiday? guest: well, companies already give employees time off. in georgia, we have 17 days. there are plenty of opportunities to vote. i think that is plenty of time. i don't think we need that happen. if you can get that through the federal government, i think they have bitten off more than they can chew right now and they need to step back and work on bigger things. the biggest issue in georgia is the in the raf 1993. it says you cannot take people off voter rolls 90 days before the election and have to put them on 30 days before.

we have such a mobile society with 7.5 million people. that means 11% move each year. in 90 days, that is 200,000 georgians that have moved. we have a very dynamic, mobile society. host: let's hear from nate in parkville, meriden -- maryland. you are on with brad raffensperger. caller: good morning, secretary raffensperger. how are you today? guest: great. caller: ok, terrific. i have a question. do you believe that a secretary of state should actually be in control of the ballots in an election that he is running in? guest: the secretary of states run for reelection.

out of the 50 states, probably 40 are elected. they will typically run as republican or democrat. some states appoint the secretary of state. when they do, that is usually a democrat governor appointing a democrat secretary or a republican governor appointing a republican secretary of state. you really cannot take the politics out of it. we are not running the election. we oversee the election. we received of results from the counties. we cannot change those results. we investigate and make sure we have honest elections. the secretary of state's office is not trying to overturn the will of the people. host: next, james on the independent line. caller: greetings, good morning. regarding mr. reynolds at the georgia bureau of investigation recently dismissing the data

presentation, i find this alarming. if you are an engineer and say that data speaks strongly, the synchronization of surveillance video and the pings off the cell phone data seem to be a big question, especially when it comes to ballot harvesting. please speak to that and given honest answer. please don't refute that because it is irrefutable data. guest: they said they had the fbi look at it but did not have enough to do further. they said if you have witnesses that provide additional information, they would review that. that is where it is right now. it is in their hands. i know the questions raised. they are very thoughtful questions. but they did not have enough to go by. if the witnesses they have could

provide that to the gbi and fbi, that is where it is. they have the data analytics to handle that. it is at their level. we will wait and see what they do with it. with sp2 hundred two, it has been updated. we have moved to photo i.d.. we have made sure every county does have drop boxes. they will be inside the buildings moving forward. we do have covid but not the severity in 2020. host: what did you make of the effort in arizona and is there a move in georgia to do a similar thing? guest: if you look at what we have done in georgia, we have done a 100% hand recount. all 5 million ballots. those verified the original results. we scanned them through a final time and that result was similar to the other two counts.

we took a statistical significant sample size of the machines used to verify they had not had anything done to them and that the counts were accurate. we also did a signature met study in cobb county. the university of georgia is doing a statewide audit study. in arizona, they said president biden got more votes. that was president trump's people doing the audit. hopefully, that would put it to bed. i know this helps people understand the three data points i gave earlier. 28,000 georgians skipped the presidential ballot. they did not vote for anyone. they have proven biden got 20,000 more votes. the republican 33,000 more votes than president trump.

that tells the story. that is what happened. host: this is olen in rome, georgia. caller: i voted. the second time i went down there, i asked the ladies inside . i looked at the paperwork and said there is no check mark where i voted. the page had the squares. you know what i'm talking about, don't you? guest: you're talking about your ballot when you went through the ballot marking device? caller: there are two squares appetite. -- at the top. the second time, i did not touch the key when it said submit your ballot. i did not touch the key. maybe it did not count that time either. a policeman came in. i thought, what is he doing? i looked at his camera thing and

said is there anybody i can talk to. i walked out to get in my mother's car. he did not know that she could hardly see. i started to get in. i listened. the policeman said he was in there screaming. screaming? i voted three more times. one time, i stood in line. the lady motioned for another guy to come out of the line. everybody i voted for, i noticed they took office except for one. but anyway. my sister said don't tell people that you voted five times. i want y'all to tell everybody. host: mr. raffensperger, you talked about the discrepancy between the numbers of what mr. trump got and other candidates got. do you want to respond to his comments? guest: anyone that admits they voted multiple times, we open up

investigations. that is what we do. we bring them before the state election board. if they find there is sufficient information, it goes to the attorney general's office for prosecution. we had a person bragging about that during the june 2020 primary. the investigation started with the election board and goes to the attorney general's office. sometimes there is a local district attorney that wants to go after voting fraud. we will refer them to the local district attorney. we had people going back to 2018 in a senior center. host: how many votes were cast in the 2020 election? how many actual incidents of "voter fraud" did your office discover? guest: we had 250, 300 investigations ongoing. if you added up the number of

cases, it never added up anywhere near the 12,000 votes president trump one short. it was less than 1000 votes. sometimes, it was multiple situations like going through senior centers. that is one area we try to manage the best you can. that is people taking advantage of seniors and signing an absentee ballot for them. things like that. there was never enough to overturn the results we had. host: of the 250 to 300 investigations, how many were prosecuted? guest: everyone that has come before the state election board has been moved over to the attorney general's office. they may have fines or whatever the law allows. that is chaired by other folks other than me. it will make those decisions. host: let's go to bob in las vegas on the independent line. guest: yes, -- caller: yes, mr.

raffensperger. excuse my ignorance, but i am across the country. is your position elected or appointed? guest: elected. caller: you are elected. i am wondering if we can solve the mystery of the urban legend, so-called urban legend, of the suitcases seen being taken from underneath a table full of ballots. host: i'm going to let you go. you can go online and watch it on the c-span now app. the secretary just talked about that, a full explanation. brad raffensperger, i don't want to have to repeat that for the caller, but you did a full explanation about half an hour ago. we will go to cutler in hooksett, new hampshire, on the democrats line. caller: hello. i called in on the democratic line, but my history of voting

has been that i like the republican candidate, i would vote for them. my own feeling is, and what i have seen from my own neighbors, is that democrats tend to be, you talked about kindness, democrats seem to be kinder. that is just a feeling. my point is, election integrity, very interesting. until mr. trump lost, there was never a question about integrity. i am old. i am 80 years old. i remember the hanging chad thing that happened in florida. when that was resolved, the loser graciously accepted his defeat. what we have is a man who was power-hungry and cannot accept his defeat.

so, my fear is, and this is even happening in good old new hampshire where they are starting to question election results. republicans have used mail-in ballots a lot for years. host: brad raffensperger, what do you think about the messages we are hearing from the former president, particularly in terms of voting and vote counting? guest: since i call it from new hampshire, i do have to give a shout out to secretary of state bill gardner, the longest-serving secretary of state in the country. he does a great job. he walks the line of integrity. at the end of the day, we have been facing this from stacey evans on the left and president trump on the right. we make sure we have fair and honest elections. peter drucker has an essay called "managing oneself. that is what i work on

each day. if each of us decides we want to be the best person we can be, america gets better. what i can control is myself. if each of us do that, america gets better. that is how we move the nation forward. you can be kind and still conservative. host: let's hear from lives in new jersey on the democrats line. caller: good morning. i would like to thank you for having the moral character to say no to donald trump. he seems to have a lot of sway over republicans in general. many of them start folding, wanting to show loyalty to him rather than to the u.s. constitution. i think you put the constitution first.

that is what we all have to try to do. when you said 28,000 georgians did not vote for president, i would suspect those are largely disaffected republicans and independents who could not vote for the president for reelection. that is why he lost. he does not accept loss. i don't think he has a place in politics. you cannot put your name up for election or reelection. you have to be prepared for losing. he outright said the only way he could lose his it would have to be rigged against him. that is just so out there that it is not logical. host: we will let you go, liz. brad raffensperger, any final comments? guest: that is why i wrote "mr.

raffensperger -- mr. integrity counts" to set the record straight. host: that is the new book by secretary raffensperger, "integrity counts." thank you for joining us this morning. next, we are joined -- we will turn our attention to the elections. our conversation next with the conservative american union chairman matt schlapp. ♪ book tv features authors

discussing their latest nonfiction books. our two hour conversation with columnists will discuss his books, faith, and conservatism, in america. we will look at publishing industry news and trends and the latest nonfiction releases and bestseller lists. afterwards, andrew yang talks about his book forward, notes on the future of our democracy. they argue that the current system is outdated and it needs transformation in order to address the first century challenges. he is interviewed by eric swalwell. find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online, anytime at booktv.org. ♪

>> you can be part of the national conversation by participating in the studentcam video competition. if you are a middle or high school student we are asking you to create a 5-6 minute documentary that answers the question, "how does the federal government impact your life?" using c-span video clips which are easy to find and access at c-span.org. the competition awards 100,000 dollars in total cash prizes and you have a shot of winning the grand prize, a $5,000 -- of $5,000. for competition rules, tips, or how to get started, visit our website at studentcam.org. >> a panel of political analysts discuss next year's midterm elections on monday.

live coverage on the american enterprise institute starts at 12:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or our new video app. the supreme court hears oral arguments in fbi versus visaga. it was a surveillance program conducted on a missile community in california. you can watch online or on c-span now, our new video app. >> liz cheney will speak at a free-speech awards event in new hampshire on tuesday. the oilman republican who serves as the vice chair of the house select committee investigating the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. you can watch live coverage at 4:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or on

c-span now, our new video app. washington journal continues. host: we are joined by matt schlapp, the chair of the american conservative union, to talk about political events of the past week and the future of the republican party. welcome to "washington journal." guest: great to be with you. host: let's start off with tuesday's win by glenn youngkin andy near-win by the republican candidate in new jersey. what is behind those wins for republicans? guest: i wrote an op-ed for foxnews.com. i am a conservative so everyone has to take that into account. there were conservative wins all over the country like in my hometown of wichita, kansas. any school board member supporting crt was defeated

during the election. we had a pro cop councilor elected in seattle. we had school boards shift all over the country. we had a close governor's race in new jersey. in virginia, it was a clean sweep. it was not just that glenn youngkin ran a solid campaign and won a solid victory, we got a majority in the house of delegates. anybody trying to say maybe it is because glenn youngkin ran a great race and spent a lot of his own money, this was a win from shore to shore, even in places where republicans have not been doing well lately. host: what do you think this means for strategy for republicans going into 2022? guest: i think it is an interesting thing. anybody who watches politics knows that the democrats will take a drubbing next year if

things continue on this course. if you look at their individual policies, which is this new socialist agenda, the biden administration, they are unpopular. it is tough for a party to win when they are unpopular. the republican party, when they get the majority, they have to change their act. i have a lot of respect for the fact that nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, when they get the majorities, they push the agenda hard. unfortunately, it is unpopular for them. when republicans get power, they worry and say we cannot push too hard because people will not like us and we will get attacked in the media. for those of us who will push hard to get the majorities back, we also expect those running the majority to change their act. host: what does it say for republicans, based on the model of glenn youngkin in virginia,

in terms of the role of former president donald trump? glenn youngkin did not embrace donald trump. donald trump supported glenn youngkin, but glenn youngkin distanced himself from the former president. guest: i would have a contrary take. glenn youngkin aggressively sought president trump's endorsement and got it. that allowed him to win in a very competitive republican primary. glenn youngkin was an unknown political person unable to win that -- and able to win that and went on to win in the general election. they let glenn youngkin run his own race. i live in virginia. it is a blue state. joe biden won it by 10 points. we have two democratic senators from the commonwealth of virginia. it is a reliably democratic state. i think it was smart to allow glenn youngkin to run his race.

that is what he should do across this country into next year. almost every republican will seek his endorsement and use that to make sure the coalition sticks together. think about it. it is mag of voters, conservatives, republicans. it is a lot of independents who were turned off by the idea that america is a rotten place filled with racists, that if you are white, straight, a boy, that somehow there is something about that that is wrong and you should be taught at tender age is to rethink those ideas. the acrimony should end. we should have tolerance for everybody and go back to teaching kids to read, write, and do math and not making them little social warriors. host: matt schlapp is our guest. we welcome your calls on the line for democrats, republicans,

independents, and all others. you touched on the issue of critical race theory in terms of being an election issue not only in virginia and elsewhere, the white house pushed back on that. i wanted to get your reaction. [video clip] >> america come as you heard the president say, is a great country. great countries have to be honest themselves about the history of what is good and bad. our kids should be proud to be americans after learning that history. the president certainly is. fundamentally, we believe a school's curriculum is not a federal decision. it is rightly up to communities around the country. the parents, the school, the teachers, and the administrators. that means politicians should not be dictating what our kids are being taught.

we also need to be honest about what is going on here. republicans are lying. they are not being honest and truthful about where we stand. they are cynically trying to use our kids as a political football. host: matt schlapp, do you think kids were used as a political football? guest: i cannot sue that was -- see who that was. i think it is someone i know well and have debated on television. i seem to remember a democratic debate where kamala harris called joe biden a racist proposing -- for opposing busing and keeping a young girl herself off the bus to go to an integrated school. it is not that both sides do not want history taught. it is not a history that sanitizes slavery. as a republican, i'm proud to be

part of a party that was organized to stop slavery and give those former slaves their full political rights. i am proud of the fact that the republican has been forward leaning on knowing the history. but now, that history is being perverted into the idea that america was founded because of slavery and to guarantee that slavery would not go away and that america is bad because it has been primarily animated by people of the christian faith and was founded by people from europe and we have to end this. i think a lot of people out of caller and immigrants realize we are wasting time in school talking a t gender, why america is a bad place, talking about climate change, talking about a political agenda. kids have their whole lives to do politics. when they are young and tender, we don't have to saturate them with sex, with questions of if they are one of 162 genders.

there has to be a balance with the good and virtuous in our history. i can have my opinions all i want. the voters spoke up on tuesday and they are tired of this cra p. host: we talked about georgia. what about new jersey? with the issues different or the same -- were the issues different or the same? guest: i think it was similar. it was a race not covered by the media. new jersey is a state that republicans have won recently. chris christie was a two-term governor. new jersey offers some hope. i think the real story is across the country. think about minneapolis. there was an effort to have a ballot initiative to defend the cops.

that failed. people realized they need cops. they do not like the spike in crime. the themes and new jersey were similar to the themes across the country. as much as glenn youngkin ran a good campaign for virginia that reflected him and his values and seems to be a decent guy, there was no question this was a nationalized race animated by the issues that donald trump brought to the table, whether it was him from the white house grounds talking about crt and why it has to end, but he started the commission to go back to teaching our history as it actually occurred, to the idea that we should stand for the anthem, back the blue, these are all themes donald trump talked about. these cultural questions that some republicans are uncomfortable with our water animating debates across the country. host: let's hear from bill on

the democrats line. caller: glenn youngkin was running on a white fragility platform because snowflake white kids are not able to handle [indiscernible] does matt schlapp believe george soros is destroying western civilization? the anti-semitic dog whistle. the lie about election fraud and crt, why doesn't the mainstream media call it a pernicious lie? they are lying nonstop.

trump was smart on one thing. he did run as a populist. [indiscernible] oligarch. the only thing he accomplished was 82% of benefits went to the top 1%. matt schlapp is an industry tool . host: several things, matt schlapp. do you care to respond? guest: go grab a cup of coffee, bill. it sounds like you have some animosity. let me try to soberly give you a response. glenn youngkin made historic gains with hispanic voters across the commonwealth of virginia. the constant push that everything about america is racist and anybody that looks like me is racist is not working. when it is not working in minneapolis and seattle and new jersey and the blue state of

virginia, you might want to rethink the strategy. yes, we should fight racism in america. but we should not fight america or america's founding. we should acknowledge the fact we have gone through these civil rights struggles in this country. it was not perfect. a lot of people died. there is great tragedy associated with all of these things, but we ended up on the correct side of history. we got rid of slavery. the republican party led the way. we gave full civil to the former slaves. we have had three minutes to the constitution all led by great republicans that gave women the right to vote in the 1920's. that was a republican effort. the republican party has a proud tradition of giving rights to people but democrats did not want to give rights to. now, the strange thing in our postmodern context is there is this attempt to change that history, to turn conservatives and republicans into trying to

deny rights. he just had the secretary of state of georgia. in georgia, the black turnout in elections was at historic levels that equated to other communities. there is no attempt to stop people from voting. there is just a desire to follow the rules. when it comes to schools and school boards, the department of justice, the biden department of justice, i'm so disappointed in our attorney general, should not call parents raising concerns on gender domestic terrorists and start investigating those parents. by the way, the doj should not just go after people that have trump's politics. the doj should go after crime. they should not go after political opponents. host: you just called virginia a blue state. president biden won that state by 10 points in 2020.

the mass looks different after 2021. do you think it stays that way for 2022? guest: the one thing about politics is it is always changing. events have a big impact. i think the media has contorted politics. conservatives always assume that they are small, fringe, the smallest group in american politics, so we assume we are fighting a losing battle where we all have to retreat to florida and texas which are becoming ruby red with the in migration. the fact is conservatives are the largest part of our country. we are the biggest part. if conservatives will understand that an act like that, we are not a majority. we have to have a coalition. we have to pull in moderates, independents, and even democrats who are pro-life and may have served in the military, but things are changing all the

time. i would say there's probably more positive change for conservatives and republicans, even though you hardly ever read about it, than the change for democrats and socialists. what is happening in big cities in america is these big cities are crumbling under the weight of drug abuse and homelessness and companies fleeing those jurisdictions because crime is spiking, but also taxes and regulations are out of control. the change from new york city to florida alone is a huge economic impact. probably the biggest one we have had in our country. people are fleeing socialist big cities. even if they like some of the notions, the policies do not work in their lives. that is why i think republicans will do very well over the next two elections, unless the democrats pull back. the reason democrats did well in

virginia for a decade was they were seen as believing in the social net. they wanted to take care of people. they worried about people that did not have a lot of economic choices, but they were also moderate and careful when it came to business and respect for people with a traditional point of view. they eviscerated that with socialist ideas. election results show that. host: here is peter in new york on the republican line. caller: matt, it is a pleasure to speak with you. i would like for you to address a few things. i'm assuming you saw the raffensperger interview. guest: i was trying to watch it. i got to hear and see parts of it. i know what he says. i have some strong counter arguments to what he said. he is simply wrong. caller: that is what i wanted to say to you. i wanted to make a few points. number one, president trump wanted governor kemp to call back the legislature to deal

with some of the inequities in the election in 2020. that was not done. also, i think stacey abrams did a great job of getting the vote out. she lost the election. so is hillary clinton for that matter. if you want to get changes made in the election system, you don't just say everything was great, that nothing was wrong, because that will not motivate people. guest: could i jump in and give a couple of quick answers question mark they say that anybody who questions the 2020 election results is pushing the big lie. but when hillary clinton in 2016 refused to accept the results and said donald trump only won because of collusion with russia, which just last week was shown to be a completely false flag, that big lie was not

called a big lie. no one called hillary clinton out. stacey abrams literally in the last couple of weeks pushed this false claim that she won the race in georgia and is the true governor of georgia. nobody said it was a big lie when she said that. now you go forward to it happened in the 2020 election. these people deserve great political credit in a non-moral sense for doing what they could to push the envelope. what they did in georgia very simply is they did not follow the law. the only reason donald trump was not declared the victor in georgia is because the secretary of state was part of a corrupt bargain to not follow the election law, by his own admission, in a state of georgia, you cannot vote from a commercial address or a phantom address. you can only vote from your residence. thousands and thousands of people in georgia voted from those illegal addresses.

in previous elections, those ballots were not counted. in this election, those ballots were counted. the secretary of state participated in an illegal scheme to not check any of the signatures for those who voted by mail. because of the pandemic, mail-in ballots increased by 50% in most states. if you did not check the signatures, thousands, enough to change outcomes, were included in the count. stacey abrams and mark elias worked with the west wing republicans to make sure it would be no verification of voters in 2020 when it came to balloting, knowing those were the rules that they got the six graham state to change, any ballot that hit a box was counted. you know that because when you check the math, there is usually a 3% to 5% tick out rate not

verified. in this case, it was less than 1%. you know that is a statistical anomaly. follow the math, follow the science, and you will see that we can never vote like this again. host: is that what you were referring to when you said brad raffensperger was part of a corrupt bargain? guest: he did not have the statutory authority to change the state law unchecking signatures on mail-in ballots. that can only happen through the legislature which is why the president and other people were saying that the legislature, who was unaware that the law changed, should come back and make sure the balance that did not follow state lower were kicked out. the reason there was confusion in these states is because there

was one slate of delegates, a electors, sent to make the decision on the election, to validate joe's victory. the reason some legislative chambers were trying to get back into session is they did not realize the wrongdoing until they supported the slate of electors that favored joe biden. many realized if they had followed state laws, some of these states would have put up two slates of electors and that would have changed the dynamic in congress. the reason they did not do that is because laws around the electoral college do not contemplate this level of wrongdoing and illegal voting and they did not have the time to look at it. unfortunately to this day, at least 50% of americans view the fact there was a lot of illegal voting in the last election and are very troubled by it.

we should never elect our president like this again. no other country does. host: do you believe joe biden was intimately elected? guest: absolutely. he lives in the white house. i said the other day he is my president, your president come our president. we have to deal with the fact it was an election like we have never seen before. it does not mean joe biden is not president. it does not mean people like me should be suppressed from explaining the fact that i do not know the level of illegal voting because we have not put the hood up on the car and walked through in every state why the results should not have been the result. that is what we need to do. host: kentucky, go ahead. caller: good morning. it is regina. i am good.

i was a trump supporter. i supported his policies. i even like his style in fighting new, holding the media accountable i should say. i am a black woman, a woman of color, and i wanted to help the republicans to continue on this path of having these policies across the country, starting with my own state, so i reached out to our state to see how i could help with outreach to communities of color in kentucky. i was given a contact to a regional rnc. these people never called me back. i am not here to ask you to explain what happened. the ball was obviously dropped.

it was very disappointing to me. i have a bad taste in my mouth about that because you have got some people of caller -- color who could help with outreach and messaging when it comes to the republican party. we are sick of hearing that republicans are racist every time. i think there needs to be some proactive approaches. you have to be able to use the people of color in your community to get the message out. my frustration is, we have got to be able to do that. i think one of the things the republican party needs to be careful about is i think there is too much confidence going into 2022 and 2024. there is no reason why some of these districts or states republicans give up on. host: thanks.

we will hear from matt schlapp. guest: regina, what you are diagnosing is a real problem on the republican side or the conservative side of politics. unfortunately, we rely too much on spending, digital media, broadcast media, cable media. it is all about the digital explanation of why our candidates are better. in my role, we believe politics should be animated by a grassroots approach. i know the rnc has attempted to try to fix the problem. i think this problem will be fixed by people like yourself, hopefully people like myself, who organize their communities. seeing in these schoolboard elections is nobody waited for permission to go to that school board to speak their mind. what i encourage you to do, if the rnc or national leaders do not take you seriously, go show up at these events, go speaker

mind. when it comes to black voters on this whole question of sexual lysing our kids at young ages and this idea of trying to indoctrinate them into this idea that they are probably the wrong gender and there is a one genders they should consider before they have gotten into puberty is outrageous. i think for a lot of people this vaccine mandate is outrageous. i know there are people in the black community that feel that way. you want to make choices about the chemicals they put into their body. the issue is very well set up, people like regina, need to go to these community events and express herself. in national folks -- maybe some people consider me a national folk -- we cannot solve these problems. it is going to be these grassroots leaders. my hat is off to the people around the state of virginia and other states that stood up in their communities and fought back against crt, against sexualizing our kids.

overall this question about, somehow america is a cruddy place with a history we should be a same -- ashamed of, that is outrageous, and i think americans want to fly the flag. as imperfect as our history has been. you want to stand up for people who put on the uniform. they are not all perfect i have been the victim of bad policing, i'm sure we all have, but the majority of them are doing a courageous thing and we want to stand behind them. host: alabama, keith on the republican line. go ahead. caller: [indiscernible] i got two questions. [indiscernible] host: keith, we are having a little trouble hearing. are you on a speakerphone?

can you use the receiver? caller: can you hear me now? guest: oh, man. host: go ahead with your question. caller: my first question is, was they 400 million that took a boat harvesting, was that tax-deductible? the second question is, why wasn't joe biden when he was caught on video bragging about getting a prosecutor fired on his son's case? guest: i would like to answer these questions. the first question, i'm smiling not because i'm happy. $400 million, you know, there is a bunch of young staffers that worked the white house that have been subpoenaed to appear before a democratic commission, with a few phony republicans, to talk about what happened on 1/6.

they are trying to make it sound like that rally was an insurrection. do you realize that mark zuckerberg has not been subpoenaed to go to that same commission to talk about how he spent $400 million through nonprofits? whether that was c3 money or c4 money, i think we should all know. you make a point about scrutinizing whether that money should have been tax-deductible. that 400 million dollars was spent, 90% of it, to try to allow for voting in communities that would not follow the law. to me that deserves a lot of questions, it should never happen again, i think anybody involved in this $400 million schema to install somebody into the white house who did not even basically campaign, we all need to know about it. it is why so many of us have a bad feeling about what happened

in 2020. a second question was on -- was it on hunter or biden? host: it was about the prosecutor in the hunter biden case. guest: i will just go big picture on this. there is no question for conservatives there is a two-tiered system of justice. the obama administration used their power to spy on their political opponent, namely donald trump and those around him, and a corrupt attempt to bring him down, to weaken him politically. after he won, even though they said he was not a legitimate president, they used their power to take him down. that is a fact. reporters won pulitzer prizes about the story of fake russian collusion. yet at the same time if you are associated with donald trump now, it looks like doj is coming

for you. if you are a parent that spoke up at one of these schoolboard meetings, you are considered a domestic terrorist. we just heard that james o'keefe, his home was rated recently. -- rated recently. rudy giuliani lost his law license. and we read yet another case where they are going after the trump organization. trump and anybody associated with trump seems to be the focus of persecution by prosecution, either in new york or these other states, or by the federal government. we will not continue as a republic -- and by the way, if this continues -- and by the way, when joe biden says he wants unity, i would say to him, call these prosecutors and say, the election is over. call off the dogs. simply do a good job as president -- which, clearly he is not doing -- then let the voters decide what they want going forward. host: let's go to ben, florida

on the democrats line. caller: good morning. how are you doing mr. schlapp? guest: how are you? caller: how do you live with yourself after i just listen to you -- you twist everything around. first of all, military. do you think military men should be vaccinated? guest: i think everybody should be -- i'd love to answer your question. i think every teacher and every american and every cop and person in the military should make their own health care choices. caller: in the military? guest: yes. caller: do you understand military got certain protocols? guest: yes, i do. caller: so if you join the military that is not your decision whether or not you get vaccinated. you joined the military. is that right? guest: you join the military. don't conscript anybody into the military. everybody and our military made a voluntary choice to join. caller: therefore if it is a

real you have to get vaccinated, just like going to school, shouldn't you be vaccinated? guest: i believe everybody in the military should be able to make their decision on their health care. let me explain to you why. unlike other vaccines -- and i have taken all of them -- unlike other vaccines for smallpox and polio, where your chances of recovery are statistically varied troubling -- statistically very troubling and mortality rates were off the charts, this verlander form of the fruit -- of the flu is a -- be real form of the flu is different. if you are a young, healthy person like the people we have in our military your chances of surviving chinese corona are 99%-plus, because that is a different type of health care challenge. and because so many of us have had it already and we have the natural antibodies and the immunity, that should be taken

into account when it comes to how you handle chinese corona. as you know, the biden administration taking into account the fact that a huge percentage of americans have already had chinese corona. therefore, i think because the mortality rates are so low and so many of us have already survived it, that there is no reason to have a vaccine mandate. host: let's get one more call from john, plainfield, new jersey. go ahead. caller: hi, my name is john weston. i just find that your point about the country is that most people in this country are in the middle. and i think we are not finding common ground in this country, because we have both sides who are saying one thing and other things. i just find that when you talk about critical race issues and

issues we are talking about with lgbtq children, one of the saddest things is, you support people going up to those kids and getting beaten up because they are gay? guest: not at all. i think we need to be more tolerant of each other, including on sexual orientation. i support those efforts. all i'm saying is that when it comes to this idea of transgender ideology, this idea that very young ages, almost encouraging kids to rethink their gender, you go to that point we have gone way too far. i have gay friends you agree with me. there are ages where there was are appropriate conversations. adults of course should be able to make their own sexual decisions, but in the public school system it should not be a mandated curriculum for people at too young an age. and the parents should be involved, of course. that is the other part of this.

parents are the ones who should be involved in the conversation. in virginia the parents were purposely excluded from those conversations. host: quickly back to the virginia race. you are getting some agreement from an unusual source and the new york times this morning. or rained out -- guest: oh no, something is wrong. host: the headline of her piece "openness derails the democrats," is what her piece is about. guest: james carville said that woke this is destroying the democratic party. i have a lot of democratic friends. democrats and republicans disagreed on how much spending that would be. democrats wanted a little less rigor on the constitution. now you have a democratic party that does not degree in the constitution, once to socialize our economy, and they are headed right toward the family. and this idea that there are some private decisions you make as a family, including whether

or not you are going to vaccinate your nine euro child. these are decisions the government has no right to interplay in. this democratic party is being rejected. i wish the democratic party would listen. for me as a political guy, i hope they don't listen because they are going to get there butts and to them. host: matt schlapp, he is the head of the american conservative union. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you. host: more to come. we will open up our phones to hear from you on topics we have talked about today and things you are reading or hearing about in the news. securely in politics and policy. her cats, the line is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. for independents it is (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. ♪

♪ 5 -- >> tonight on q&a. >> most people care about community. but how long does the community support journalism? >> because now people want to get their news for free. people are saying, that's not worth a dollar. and that's not how you sustain a democracy. [laughter] 5 we will discuss the award-winning documentary "storm lake." the film details the small town family-run newspaper in iowa and its efforts to stay afloat amid shrinking ad revenue in the coronavirus pandemic. >> we are the first ones to say tyson employees tested positive. it was unbelievable. we are continuing to report on the numbers as best we can. >> now storm light is the hottest spot in the country.

>> we are losing money and there ain't a thing you can do about it. >> our ads fell off a cliff. >> it doesn't make sense to borrow money when we could walk away from it. >> filmmakers, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a on our new c-span now app. >> congresswoman liz cheney will speak at a free-speech awards event in new hampshire on tuesday. the republican, who serves as the chai -- vice chair of the select committee investigating the january 6 attack, will be the featured speaker in manchester. you can watch live coverage at 4:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. online at c-span.org. or on c-span now. >> "washington journal" continues. host: it is open form here on

"washington journal." to hear from you about issues you are following in the news. (202) 748-8000 is the line to use for cracks. (202) 748-8001, the republicans line. for independents and others, it is (202) 748-8002. they write that troops deployed around baghdad following the failed assassination attempt, with armed drones, that targeted iraq's prime minister. the attack significantly ramped up tensions spark the refusal of militias to accept carla mentally --parliamentary election results. security guards were wounded. according to two iraqi officials, they spoke on

condition of anonymity. matt schlapp, our former guest mentioned this story in passing. about an fbi search of a home in the d.c. area. fbi searches project veritas founder's home in connection with diary theft. federal authorities searched the home of james o'keefe, the founder of conservative group project veritas. a day after mr. o'keefe acknowledged the group was under investigation by the justice department in connection with a diary reported to have been stolen from ashley biden, president biden's daughter. the fbi carried out a court-ordered search in new york early on saturday morning after having searched homes of two associates of mr. o'keefe on thursday as part of the investigation. open form here on washington journal. we will go first to joann in

harvey, illinois. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. thank you for taking my call. i don't get in that often but i have been listening to c-span for about 20 years. it is amazing to me how this morning that you could let your guest, the last guest you had on, sit there and tell all of these lies that president biden did not win the election and that it was stolen somehow from donald trump. you all let him go on and on. even though i got into your conversation late, i did not even hear a democrat get on to talk. all i heard was republicans and independents. it seems like most times when i tune in to listen to your show that a lot of times that i hear mostly republicans and

republican-leaning independence that are getting through on your show. i don't understand today why you let matt schlapp sit there and tell all of those lies he did. it was just one lie after another, and did not even stop and say, if you're going to be our guest on the show at least tell the truth. host: appreciate your call, joanne. we go to wanda in dalton, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. host: good morning, go ahead. caller: i would like to make a comment concerning the election. at the time when we were voting for the president. i would like to make a statement i know is true. i am 85 years of age. i have never missed voting in an election since i became of age. i went with my father and jimmy

carter was the first time he ever voted republican. he said, a man that is not capable of running as governor is certainly not capable as -- of running the president. so, i was there. anyway, what i wanted to comment on, i made my first absentee ballot. i have a son that was -- host: monda, are you still there? caller: are you still -- i am still here. i have a son that has numbers of degrees, and i had him check my absentee ballot. he checked it, we put postage on it, he personally carried it to the post office and put it in the boxed. so -- the box. so we know it was turned over to

the postal service. it just so happened a few weeks later i had to go to the courthouse, and that is where they were having early elections for certain-aged people. i stepped in the line, was short. i asked about my absentee ballot. they checked on the computer, they called in two or three other people. that absentee ballot could not be found. so she said, since we can't find your absentee ballot, why don't you just go ahead and vote, re-vote? you are here. i said, that's against the law. that is double voting and that is against the law. she said, oh, honey, that doesn't make any difference. they assured me into, and then

let my son go in with me. because of my age. i didn't need him. i certainly have a good mind. i am still an owner of carpet murals in this city. anyway, i read voted. -- re-voted. i'm telling you, donald trump did not exaggerate when he said the absentee ballots was not counted. host: to donald in west virginia. independent line. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: we have a crooked media in this country. and they keep coming up with the big lie and the disgraced former president, but if they told the truth everybody would know what happened. thank you. host: richard is in mill hall, pennsylvania on the democrats line. caller: republicans for close to

47 years, changed the democrat. i am concerned about the, i guess i agree in some ways that the media is slanted. i am fearful for this country. i am fearful for the lack of civility and thoughtfulness. i'm not playing any means saying we cannot express our opinions in public meetings. but i'm just really scared about the way this country is moving. i wish i could express my thoughts more eloquently at this time. host: you have voted on both sides. do you think this is an effort,

in terms of being able to hear each other out, is it something that we need to do more as democrats or we need to do more as republicans? caller: we just need to do it more on both sides of the aisle. the democrats, i tried very hard to engage republican people, credit people, even the young people of the community in which i live in, the high school seniors, high school juniors, to try to get a sense of what is in their mind, what sources do they use to form the basis of their opinions. except for the high school juniors and seniors i tend to be met by vitriol, a lack of civility. i'm not trying to cause a dustup with people.

i'm just trying to understand things, because i'm scared. host: ok, appreciate your call this morning. this is the headline from the hill. writing about the aftermath of last tuesday's election, democrats debate whether they misread public on mandate. tuesday's election results prompted some soul-searching among democrats about whether the party misread the public's desire for change. introspection has picked up after the party suffered losses up and down the ballot tuesday, giving a reason for some to consider whether the party's agenda has anything to do with the losses and is out of step with the wider public. let's hear from bob in tennessee, republican line. caller: yes, thanks for allowing me to speak. i was hoping to get on with matt, who was the guy before matt? host: the georgia secretary of state. caller: right.

he is a bush guy. and this is the reason why -- anyway, let me tell you what i seen on election night in atlanta. they kept a handful of people in there, then they tried to not let the people back in, and they let a tablecloth up. this is what we seen. he explained in sylvania law just perfect. you were going to tell me that is not cheating? that is cheating in our eyes. at least we did not burn the whole town down like black lives bow crab done. host: independent line, go ahead. caller: good morning. a couple of points i want to make, and i hope you will let me. that gentleman that was on -- host: glenn, go ahead and mute

your volume on the television and continue with your comment. caller: yes sir. i would like to find out from all these republicans using the term sources. what sources are they talking about? the russian kind, the chinese kind, or the british kind? my next question is, the republican and democrat get together and pass one of the biggest bills for the american people and you are not talking about this morning? have the republicans and democrats get together on the biggest bill that are going to make our lives better. i'm talking to the democrats now. mr. biden, you need to bring out somebody, put them on c-span, and tell them about what you are doing with this bill for the american people. host: we talked a little bit about it in the first hour. he was the reporting from the washington post.

biting kits infrastructure package across the finish line. a $1.2 trillion bipartisan achievement. president biden secured an achievement that had eluded leaders of both parties for years, bringing an infrastructure bill to the cusp of enactment. it will make major investments in all 50 states for years to come. the desire by democrats and republicans to back the agreement and commit to upgrades in the country's roads, bridges, and ports marked a departure from partisanship that had seized washington. the pact resembled the type of washington deal biden had promised voters would still be possible during his 2020 campaign. in all fund, -- pa, go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. mr. schlapp, is that his name? host: matt schlapp. caller: he has alternate facts.

when he says the republicans are trying to give people rights, they fought social security, they fought medicare, medicaid, they fought obamacare, and, you know, in the constitution there is really only two laws. one law is, if you take up arms against the seat of government not only are you guilty of treason, but anybody who aids and embeds you -- abeds you is guilty of treason. if january 6 was not an attack on the seat of government, what is? there should be more republicans like the secretary of state of georgia who you can tell mike you know, he is a republican. he voted for trump.

but he is honest. and if you get some trump stooge in that position, when he calls up and says, i want you to find 1000 votes, he will find them. i never listen to the news. i was a musician. the only thing in politics i listened to, i would listen to the rates for president and a cup my mind and vote. no matter who won -- i'm 70 years old. whoever won, we all agreed he was the president. up until clinton. and clinton they tried to say he wasn't legitimate. then after him, obama, he wasn't legitimate. it's -- you know, we are one country. host: all right, to joanne on our republican line. go ahead, joanne. caller: thank you for taking my call.

i am a former reformed democrat and i would like to speak out to all of those democrats that believe in the fact that if the government gives you handouts and if they provide you with funding such as the pandemic relief funding, more americans stayed home and did not go to work because the government was dishing out this money. the problem here is that it has been proven time after time that every state that is run by a democratic party, that those states are the ones that fail in mostly all economic matters when it comes to the people. a reformed democrat, i switched parties because i was tired of being held down. in connecticut, there are no jobs for puerto rican americans,

for black americans. we get the low-level janitor jobs and are held down, and that is the problem. capitalism is probably the best way to go because the united states of america has to have a functioning economy and these large capital companies that create these jobs for us and opportunity leave us opportunity to grow. host: joanne, appreciate your call. thank you for your calls and comments. washington journal here every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. we hope your back here with us monday morning as well. enjoy the rest of your weekend. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021]

children's national hospital. watch washington journal live at 7:00 eastern monday morning on c-span or on c-span now our new mobile app. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. after his meeting with the federal open market committee, the chair of the federal reserve, jerome powell, announced the fed would begin reducing asset purchases and move towards ending the pandemic stimulus program by june of next year. he responded to questions about supply chain issues, inflation, and new conflict of interest rules for fed officials. this is one hour.