from the u.s. congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns and more from the world of politics all at your fingertips. stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for c-span's tv networks and radio, plus compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. download for free today. c-span now, your front row seat of washington anytime, anywhere. @cspanwj. before we get to your calls, i want to show you the headline from "the washington post." biden continues to work during covid isolation. some officials signal his bout will be short and mild. yesterday, president biden was meeting virtually with advisors

and talked about how he was feeling and discussed gas prices. [video clip] >> thanks. let me start by apologizing. i feel better than i sound. we have some really good news, gas prices are coming down. they have fallen every day this summer for 38 days in a row. you can find gas for $3.99 or less in over 35 states. in some cities, it is down almost a dollar from last month. we have been working hard to bring the price down. four months ago i gave the order to release one million barrels per day from the strategic petroleum reserve. and i love the world to coordinate the largest release of oil reserves in history, including other

countries. in total, over 240 million barrels boosted global supply. host: you can hear how the president is sounding. also yesterday, the white house briefing. dr. jha gave an update on the president's outlook. >> how often is the president being looked at? >> we have been looking at him -- i do not have an exact number -- but multiple times per day either by phone, zoom, physically. the president is doing really well. he does not need an ongoing exam all the time. he is getting examined at least once a day but dr. o'connor has been looking at him at least

once per day. >> has president biden been examined by other doctors? >> not that i know of. >> was there a discussion about the possibility of eliminating the blood thinner even for five days would increase the risk of stroke? >> by the way, we clinically do this a lot. probably thousands of patients i have taken care of that need a procedure who are on blood thinners like, eloquist, and he stopped it because he is on paxlovid. we think it is low risk. dr. o'connor has been consulting with experts around the country and he made the decision to give the president the short course of aspirin. >> this took place whether or

not to go with paxlovid over the monoclonal antibody? >> that was made by dr. o'connor. paxlovid is the first line agent we recommend. that was the decision dr. o'connor made and you have to look at the medication list to make modifications. dr. o'connor made the decision to stop these medicines. they were recommended to be paused and dr. o'connor added aspirin for a short time. host: we are asking your thoughts on president biden's diagnosis. let's look at what the "wall street journal" is saying. some in the press are using this infection to lecture that americans are not taking covid seriously enough. but by now they and the public health have lost much credibility. americans have learned to live with the virus despite continuing risk because they have concluded the cost of

mandates, school closures and business shutdowns are too great. we, and a few others, argued against shutdowns from the beginning. but the press and most politicians did not want to hear it. covid has been a painful lesson in the cost of media and elite conformity. with the we wish we could say the conformists have learned much from it. wonder what you think about that and other things you're seeing in the news regarding the president's diagnosis. first up is victor in silver springs, maryland on the republican line. caller: good morning. a year ago biden made a statement saying, if you get the shot and the boosters, you will not get the virus. boy, that turned out to be one blasted lie. i am not the only one that is done with this administration, with the virus, and if he thinks

if he things he is going to have another plandemic in time for the elections, he has a big thing coming. people are fed up with this administration big-time. host: next is ralph in washington, d.c., independent. caller: how are you doing? i kind of agree with this guy. host: are you there? caller: can you hear me? host: ben in nevada on the republican line. caller: i wanted to start by saying i hope he gets well soon. that being said, i fully agree with the first caller. this is the first time i heard the term plandemic but we have so many more tools to come back from severe illness then we did in march of 2020.

hindsight being 2020 i remember president trump saying the treatment cannot be worse than the disease. unfortunately, that is what happened in this country. lockdowns, people losing businesses, have you gone to a restaurant lately? they are so shortstaffed. it is so sad what happened to this country. i feel for the individuals who passed away or got sick, i do not mean to discount their experience, but the country as a whole suffered a lot more from the democrats shutdowns, mandates, etc., than they did from the virus. host: yesterday's white house briefing we heard from press secretary karine jean-pierre. she pushed back on calls for the president's personal doctor to take calls from the press. [video clip] >> why are we not hearing from

dr. o'connor? there was a statement from him but yesterday we had a difficult time comparing the description of the symptom progression from his letter versus how you laid it out. dr. jha, your last update was from 10:00 the night before. >> a couple of hours ago at 11:00 you got a detailed letter from dr. o'connor. we have given you two detailed letters and you have heard directly from him. look, we -- >> we have not heard from him. >> yes, you have. you have heard directly from the physician. that is hearing -- in his words you are hearing directly from dr. o'connor. but i am answering your colleague's question, give me a

second to do that. you heard directly from him and not only that, you have heard more, i would easily argue, about a mild symptom of a virus than any other president. dr. jha and i were here for an hour field the questions. we are here today. we are going to commit to make sure you are hearing from dr. o'connor, from his daily report, detailed report from dr. o'connor. here's the thing. dr. jha is one of the foremost experts in this field when it comes to covid. he also has dealt with covid patients. he is running our covid response and is a medical doctor. he knows how the process works. again, we should feel good and be very happy that the president

is doing better, that he is improving. this is the president of the united states. he is improving, he is reacting well to the treatment, and let's not forget we have the tools to treat this because of the work this president has done. host: the press secretary yesterday and we have the official letter from the president's physician, dr. o'connor. you can take a look and it will be on the website, c-span.org. we are taking your calls this morning on the president's diagnosis. linda in south gate, michigan on the independent line. caller: hi. i am very happy president biden is doing well, but i would not have expected anything else since he has taken good care of himself as far as covid is concerned. but i am not surprised after all of the going overseas that he

did. of course, very often not wearing a mask because he wanted to be accessible to other leaders. i am not surprised he caught it but thankfully he seems to be suffering mild symptoms. that is what we all want to hear . however, i am disappointed in a publication like "the journal" saying we were overreacting. and a couple of months there were 2000 americans dying per day. i don't think anything was an overreaction. it was a new virus. unfortunately, because of president trump's sort of laying it down we had a patchwork of different things going on in every state. i feel like if we worked

together as one nation, since it was a national emergency, probably the lockdowns would not have been so chaotic and having to keep going through surges. i think everybody should get accident so if they get covid -- vaccinated so if they get covid, they will only suffer mild symptoms. host: judy is in mississippi, another independent. caller: when trump lied about the virus at the beginning. if you listen to bob woodward and trump interview, he knew it was going to be bad. he waited weeks before he actually did anything.

damned if you do and damned if you don't. i have been vaccinated twice and i have not had covid. i have been out but i wear a mask. that was my comment. host: all right, judy. take a look at this from axios. the headline says, trump's tweet on positive test is the most shared ever. just a reminder when the former president got covid his tweet said this, tonight the first lady and i tested positive for covid-19. we will begin our quarantine and recovery immediately. we will get through this together. that was before vaccines were available. len his calling from florida on

the republican line. caller: good morning. well, i think joe biden taking care of the virus in the same way he has taken care of the inflation, gas prices, you name it. he cannot do it. also, we can thank putin for lowering the gas prices since he was blamed for raising them. thank god trump found the virus inoculation. have a good day. host: let's talk to sue in fort wayne, indiana, democrat. caller: hi. i would like to respond to the fact that the president is doing

all that he can and people blaming him for this pandemic, are they remembering 45 had a playbook and decided to throw the playbook away? we would not have even gotten to this point had 45 done what he was supposed to do. host: what do you mean a playbook? caller: the playbook that our then-president, obama, gave him in regards to this virus that was going to be coming. host: you mean a plan for a future pandemic if one were to happen? obama did not know about covid.

caller: no, but he knew that there was one coming. and he gave 45 the playbook so it would not get to this point. host: fox news is saying this, media call biden's covid white house video smartly done after attacking trump as deranged in 2020. president biden elicited farmer sympathetic response for his covid diagnosis appearance than former president trump in 2020. on thursday the white house announced biden tested positive. the statement from the press secretary emphasized he

experienced mild symptoms and he was taking paxlovid. she mentioned in line with cdc protocol the president will isolate in the white house and continue his duties there. mark in martinsville, indiana, republican line. caller: i am a republican and i am just glad to hear that president biden is getting better. he is trying very hard to get the gas prices down. he has got them down. thank you and have a nice day. host: ben is in woodstock, connecticut, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i am 61-years-old and have not

been to a doctor in 30 years. take your vitamins. my wife is a nurse. we have never caught it. i don't know if people notice but coronavirus is patented in 2015 by rothschild. host: are you vaccinated and boosted? caller: no, no. like i said, vitamin d, zinc, and vitamin c. i have not had a cold and i don't know how long. it is part of taking care of yourself. host: do you take the flu shot? just wondering. caller: no. the virus was patented, so was the vaccine.

the u.s. government is in partner with these pharmaceutical companies and they get money from the patent. host: how do you patent a virus? caller: see how much money he has. host: sarah calling on the democrat line from fayetteville, georgia. caller: i have got one comment to make. i am so tired of these people going around talking about, they don't want to wear a mask, then they get sick, and then they take up hospital rooms. the guy taking the zinc? that is in addition to the shot. i hope president biden feels well and gets back on his feet again. host: angie is next on the

independent line from evansville, indiana. caller: good morning. i wanted to say i believe that president biden did everything the cdc recommended. he had his boosters. he is up in age and comes into contact with a whole lot more people than the average person does during a day. you know, the new variant is a new variant and i think covid is here to stay. it is going to be like the flu and we have to accept it. i hope he is going to do well. it sounds like he is doing well. i have started wearing masks indoors again and i don't think this is going away anytime soon. i have been boosted once.

i should have been boosted twice but i have not gotten around to it. taking vitamins, stay healthy, eating right, maintaining weight . it is like any other virus and i don't think it is going anywhere. i think it is here to stay. i am proud of the president for, you know, maintaining all the cdc recommendations. i wish him well and i think he is going to be fine. my dad was in his 80's and he guided a few months ago. he is fine and he has had multiple heart surgeries. something i think we have to get used to. it should not be a political issue. host: let's hear from lucy calling from florida, democrat. caller: good morning. i want to wish the president

well wishes and a speedy recovery. i would like to utilize this type of forum to unite us and stop the controversy. we need to come together because covid israel. have a blessed day. host: let's look at what our viewers are sending us over twitter. this is from mary lou who says, president biden keeps himself in shape. doing great, unlike trump, he had to be hospitalized. another tweet says, i wish him well and a speedy recovery. what more is there to say? aside from the fact he is lucky to be double vaccinated and boosted. mike is next from reynolds, missouri, independent. caller: i wanted to make a statement about an observation. i noticed people driving down

the highway by themselves in their cars wearing masks. to me that is kind of crazy. i was just curious if they are making a statement or they are truly that scared? if they are that scared, it is a shame somebody put them in that position to be so fearful. just thought i would give that input. host: william in stowe, ohio. caller: hello. how are you? host: good. caller: we are talking about the covid-19? host: william? caller: i am here. host: you have got to mute your tv. i can hear it in the background. caller: i am 66-years-old and i

have seen a lot of things come and go. but these american people don't want to wear this or that, they don't want to take the shot, they don't want to do anything. i was on a respirator and in the hospital almost 30 days. i almost died. i could not find the vaccine in our area so i suffered through it. i came to the conclusion we are so selfish. we only care about ourselves and what we do is what happens to us we complain and cry about it. but until it happens to you, nobody wants to do a thing about it. they don't want to wear masks, they don't want to take the shot. we have been taking shots all of our life. polio, measles, you name it, we have taken it.

but now you're scared of needles? i find that hard to believe. we claim this is america but we do not really care about each other. host: i am glad you are doing better. conrad is next on the republican line, philadelphia, pennsylvania. caller: how are you doing? when the coronavirus came out we had fellow republicans, women, men, saying, "my body, my choice." they say that when it comes to the virus. shouldn't a woman have the same rights when it comes to abortion? you need to get this together. every country in the world looks at us. we look like we are scrambling around, chickens with our heads

cut off. january 6 changed the outlook on the u.s. throughout the country. thank you. host: mark in st. peter's, missouri. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. just an observation. i have noticed the topic of today is president biden's covid diagnosis but it seems like all of the democrats calling in continue to talk about president trump. even c-span is reading different things concerning president trump. that is unbelievable. we cannot seem to let him go. one of your callers talked about the plandemic and it seems like they are gearing up for this

midterm variant where they are changing the election things. they will allow for drop boxes and the american people will not stand for that. thank you for taking my call. host: cheryl is next, daytona beach, florida, republican. caller: are you talking to me? host: yes, i am. how are you doing? caller: good. sorry, i did not hear you say my name. i am sorry biden got it but it is inevitable. the vaccines, i wish they would admit they do not work like they hoped they would. it is a fact. even dr. birx admitted it after leaving the administration. she finally got the truth. we need to take personal responsibility. our politics are so corrupted, so divisive, and the media is

even worse than the politicians. you guys do more to divide this country. i looked at all of your c-span, three stations, all week it has been pro-dem, anti-republican all week. you showed the january 6 committee ad nausea. you talked about packing the supreme court over and over one night. host: i wanted to go back to the covid-19 diagnosis of the president. you said you do not believe the vaccines are working. do you believe they are lessening symptoms? keeping more people out of the hospital? what are your thoughts on that? caller: look at the studies. this affects your autoimmune system.

i am a nurse. i was a trauma icu nurse for many years. when you take a drug and manipulate your system what you are going to see is the longer out multiple vaccinated and boosted people, their immune system is infected in a more negative way than people who have not been vaxxed. host: have you taken the vaccine? caller: no, i have not and i will not. if you want to take the vaccine, that is your business. i have no, nothing to say about that. that is your choice. host: let's look "the washington times." reporters a sale white house for shielding biden's doctor from questions about the covid test.

is as reporters slammed the white house thursday for not making president biden's doctor available to answer questions. one journalist said the staff were exhibiting, "the least transparency of any white house in 50 years." wonder what you think about that? we are taking your calls on the president's diagnosis. let's hear from a democrat in san antonio, florida. jan, good morning. caller: good morning. i just have to laugh at these callers who think trump got the vaccine. trump did not do anything with the pandemic first started. i read bob woodward's book and it is verbatim out of trump's mouth. he did not want to tell people how bad it was because he did not want to scare people. that is an idiotic assessment of

the pandemic. i thank god for joe biden. he had the sense to get his shots. he did not end up in the hospital. i don't know. the two doctors with trump, they suggested we drink bleach. thank god we got the vaccine. i have had both of my shots, both of my boosters. i am 88-years-old and in great health. president biden did not have to go to the hospital. host: bill is next in massachusetts, republican. caller: hi. how are you doing? host: good. caller: it is remarkable, huh?

first we hear, it's my body, my choice. but now it is not my body, my choice on taking the vaccine. number two, the vaccine does not work. what are we supposed to do? take 500 vaccines from now until five years from now? number three, you destroyed numbers of young kids' minds wearing masks around-the-clock. my last comment is, how come the borders are still wide open allowing everybody to be running through and be placed all around the country if it is like the black plague? host: let me ask you, going back to the virus, do you think there should not have been a shutdown?

do you agree with "the wall street journal" that it was all overblown? you think that should not have happened during the early days? caller: no, no, it should not have been shut down. it should have been isolating people who are 80 plus years old who have cancer and diabetes and copd. they should have been isolated and the other people, the kids mostly, should have been allowed to live. last thing, all these people that got fired? remember americans, vote republican. the democrats are communist. host: next caller on the democrat line. caller: i called to wish president biden good luck. i had covid before they

developed the shots and it was three and a half weeks of not breathing, torture. i could not go to the hospital because they were full in charlotte. my doctor even called and said he was closing the office. i did the best i could with the knowledge i had of vitamins and things like that and eating well. i used old-fashioned, common sense things. but i feel sorry for the guy that called, bill? he is a mad, angry man. the lady that called and said she was a nurse and did not have the shot, i consider that being crazy. she worked around people that she could have gotten it from. these people that trust everything to fate are wrong.

i have been healthy. i have been energetic. i have been everything my whole life and then i had a 300 pound steel bookcase fall on the and crush my hips and knees and now, i am not like i was. pride goeth before the fall. people calling in acting like guiding started the shut down -- like biden started the shutdowns, they started before march. people need to remember who was in control when the pandemic started. i remember joe biden and jill biden walking out to the war thing in d.c. and all the 500,000 plus candles being lit and that is when he took over.

how many people have died since? he has not done any worse than trump. i think people need to start learning that they need to listen to other channels besides fox. i listen to all of them so i can compare. i was a debater in school. there are two sides to everything but you don't have to argue, you can discuss. god bless you, bill, but you need to find the lord and some common sense. host: let's hear from the cdc director rochelle walensky. she spoke to "the washington post" virtually and was asked about the president's diagnosis. [video clip] >> let's start with the president's health. according to the cdc, more than 500,000 americans tested positive this week, joe biden is one of them. if we cannot protect the president from infection, what

does it say about our ability to protect the most vulnerable americans? >> really important question. first, good wishes to the president for a speedy recovery. he is on paxlovid and that should assist with his recovery in addition to the fact he received the vaccine series and two boosters. we know there is a lot of covid out there, as you said, 500,000 documented cases this week. hospitalizations have been on the rise since early april. what we are doing is sending the messages we have been all along. if you are in an area of high community spread level, that is about 60% of the population, we are asking people to take the necessary precautions to wear masks, test if they are going to events, and take the precautions necessary to protect them and their family.

host: that was the cdc director. we are talking this morning about president biden's covid diagnosis and taking your calls. next up is harry in georgia, i am 71 years old. i'm afraid.

on the other hand, if i had everyone taking care of me like he's taking care of, i'd be ok. host: let's go next to karen. bradenton, florida. republican. rep. raskin: hi. my best wishes to biden. i think the origin of the disease needs to be looked at. we don't seem to be investigating the cause of this disease. i think it has lost a lot of trusted people. fauci says it did not come from a lab, which we know is false. i think the trust is what the bottom line is.

we have lost trust in our government. it has been so politicaliz ed. people want the truth and we have not gotten it. thank you. host: linda from rocky mount -- spring hills, florida. independent. caller: hi. hello? yes. i have a very, very strong thing about what have these people are talking about. first of all it was brand-new and trump did the right thing. no one knew what to do. he stopped air flights from china coming in. a fast -- find something fast. that is what he did. to get a vaccine, a lot of vaccines take at least eight years. he did the right thing. they are knocking him forgetting

it when no one knew anything about it. what is the matter with these people? then comes biden. i am going to do this about covid. i'm going to do that about covid. he didn't do anything but put fear in people. i understand about not knowing and taking some of that advice. i have been vaccinated. i just can't understand why trump is to blame for this. he did the right thing at the right time. no one knew anything about it. host: take a look at usa today. here's the headline. biden and trump,a tale of two presidents with covid. this time things are different. donald trump got covid in 2020 before they were vaccines. joe biden has coven but has been fully vaccinated and boosted. a couple of points.

the biden white house was quicker to acknowledge the president's positive covid test. trump announced his infection in october -- october 2, 2020. the book revealed he tested positive days prior. biden received antiviral paxlovid. trump received experiment antibody treatment. a couple of comparisons with the previous president. sabrina is next in rocky mount, virginia. republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. the last call you had that made the comment about whenever they started donald trump was the one that stopped the flights because he suspected something was very wrong, i totally agree with that. that was the right thing to do. people need to remember that when donald trump got covid 19 there was no vaccine.

there was no vaccine. you had one color that said -- caller that said trump got sick because he does not take care of himself. joe biden to right thing and he's doing fine. that is not fair. by the way, just because i'm a republican -- i watch fox. i watch you. i watch msnbc. i watch everything. i google stuff. i try to keep an open mind. i just pray as americans we can come together. it is ok to disagree. we should not hate each other. thank you. host: sally from columbus, ohio. democrat. caller: yeah. i have a concern about president biden. it has become evident he's been suffering from -- >> , partner in richmond with a law fif