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television companies and more. . including comcast >> you thought this was just a community center? no, it is way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with 1,000 community centers to create wi-fi enabled centers for students of low income families to get them ready for anything. announcer: comcast supports c-span as a public service, along with these oth television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> steve in ohio. democratic caller. good morning to you. your reaction to the news that the former president has been indicted. caller: thank you. good morning to everyone. i was wondering if you could tell me what is the status of the class action lawsuit against trump? this is the lawsuit that many

have launched about the fact that he allowed a half a million people to perish in this country, according to the university of john hopkins and others another official health experts that proclaim how did not been for his behavior during that time, a half a million people would have been alive today. i was wondering if you could tell me, what is the status of the class action lawsuit? host: i would try to find something. i did a quick search. i do not see anything immediately but we can have a producer look for that. host: in arizona, independent.

hi, nona. caller: thank you. i am tired of the house this country is going against. if you look at our economy, what it is today compared to what it was when he was in office, our country is in shambles. our border is not secure. i live in arizona where we have people come across the border every day. people that are ill. people that are criminals. people that should not be here without going through the legal process. my husband came through here legally from canada. he came over and he served in the u.s. military while a canadian and then was denied a government job when he applied for one when he got out. he became a citizen thanks congressman that took care of it within two days.

this country needs to wake up. people are suffering daily. people do not want to go to work because of the handouts that this administration is giving them. host: tie them back to the indictment -- that back to the indictment. caller: the indictment is a crock. they are doing anything they can so that president trump will not run again. the democratic party is afraid of him. they can to make people dislike him and not do the good things he did for this country. host: james in florida. republican. caller: i am appalled by the ignorance of the callers who are supportive of this indictment of donald trump. it is a sad day in america.

this trump derangement syndrome israel and they go after him because they do not like him. to me i see it as the end of freedom. i'm flying my flag at half mast today. host: renee, michigan. democratic caller. caller: good morning. i have quite a bit to say but i will keep it limited. james, thank you for your call. you call it ignorance because we disagree, not necessarily do not like him. i do not like him his ways. as it relates to the indictment, i see people going to jail every day. i see people being killed every day. on the behalf of the police. we do not visit them in jail. we do not have any concern about their well-being but those who tear down january 6, who goes in

and kill cops. how dare you tell people where they can and cannot go? for a man to take children away from their parents simply because they come from another country, they should not be here, who are you? if you felt that way, go ahead and pass something on immigration to assist, not to destroy. how can you sit there and say he is a good guy? he is full of hate. that's all he has been living under for the last eight years almost. dealing with this guy and his way of thinking and he brings his puppets. he's a puppetmaster. he has occultist personality and you say you should go after bragg. she go after everybody there republicans disagree with.

trump is not a part of congress. they are backpedaling information. everybody is suckers for him. he is running it. what have they done? what bill has a past that made a difference? republicans in the house have not done anything. host: we will stick to the news this morning. indictment of former president, first time in has three. he will be arraigned on tuesday, april 4 around 2 p.m. eastern time. from there reporting in the paper, a the suspect and daddy police custody, police or other law enforcement process them behind closed doors taking mugshots and fingerprints. the process is identical whether the person is arrested or has agreed or negotiated through lawyers to turn themselves in. as we have said to you earlier, the first court procedure after an arrest would be an arraignment where the judge

would determine whether the former president needs to pay bail or adhere to certain restrictions like a possible gag order which will prohibit him speaking about the case publicly and anyone close to him. james is the fort myers, florida. cnn reporting 30 plus counts in this indictment although it is still sealed and we do not know details. what do you make of it? caller: good morning. first of all, i have to say we should be thankful for the checks and balances that we have in our system and that is all this is, a check imbalance. -- a check and balanced. i'm 73 years old. i'm not seen anyone that can get by time after time, it is the number of people who

want to support trump because they perceive he has done something no one else has done. i'm talking about good. he has done bad too. and that is to be checked and balance. that is the way i see it. i'm glad we have it. i thought about this a one million times when i was listening to "washington journal" and we all better -- one of the other would not work. that's the way i see the. host: you're looking at video from last night at mar-a-lago as the news broke. this is from reuters. pro-trump supporters in florida yesterday we saw some pro indictment folks outside of the

district attorney's office in new york. security is being beat up in those cities -- beefed up in those cities and here in washington dc as officials expect more protests today. roy in woodstock, georgia. republican. caller: good morning. you all owe me an apology. i called in about january 6 and i mentioned a person named ray epps, an informant that instigated the january 6 insurrection to stop the challenge other republican election. but the think we trump -- the with trump, they have been after him since day one. he went to the world economic forum and said he would make america great again.

they wanted a one world american cyst -- one world system and trump said no and you should make your own country great. ever since he been there, because of the world economic think israel. america needs to wake up and see this. we have this agenda 23. erode road economic system people are trying to impose -- there is an economic system people are trying to impose and trump is standing in their play and they want him out of the picture. make us need to stop this into cnn and get real news. our country is in trouble, we are approaching an area of no return until we start doing things the right way. host: here is a text from steve in florida. donald trump getting indicted for an affair, campaign hush money is like al capone getting indicted for income tax evasion.

you can text us with your reaction to the news this morning at 202-748-8003. using go to facebook.com/c-span and post your comments there or send us a tweet with the handle @cspanwj. you can follow the story on instagram as well, same handle @cspanwj. taking your calls all morning. your reaction to the news of the former president being indicted. chuck in pennsylvania. democratic caller. caller: thanks for taking my call. this is a first of four indictments coming down the road. this is the tip of the iceberg. you have the jack smith indictment from the federal government. new york city is going to have one and georgia. this is just the beginning. as far as heads of state being

indicted or gone after, this is the only country that probably has not had one. it is have them in mentally -- it is had them in italy. people from south korea. one from france in jail. this is only new in this country. just because he broke the law does not mean you're allowed to break the law in this country. they had distinct when you are president you cannot be -- this think we were president you could not be indicted. that is the policy they followed. host: usa today with a similar headline, charges against trump will be up first in the united states but other countries every tilney charge -- they routinely charge leaders. italy, south korea, and france have convicted leaders of crimes.

host: bill, independent. caller: good morning. listen to some of these people talk is interesting. the idea of indicting trump is a good thing. nobody in this country supposedly is above the law and i think that is a good reason to have him taken down. anybody that is indicted then they say we are going to have a big rally and people are going to be hurt, killed that should not be allowed. the january 6 comes back to what he said about having an x direction in new york city -- and insurrection in new york city. i am not unhappy. i just hope this gentleman -- i

hope this does not turn into a farce. host: the district attorney? caller: yes. host: alvin bragg. caller: i hope he has real solid evidence that he's not going to make an idiot of himself and not make it idiot of the justice department. i hope he has all his ducks in a row and will be able to do it properly and legally. thanks very much. host: front page of the new york post this morning. your grand jury poster charge -- poster charge. caller: this kind of looks like election interference to me. i know the laptop, hunter's

laptop, the fbi said 50 of them said it was fake and now we realize it is not fake. and that it showed bidens grandson that i -- got $100,000. he is 14 years old. looks like they are hiding what they want and exposing everything they can about trump. alvin bragg was elected because he said he was going to target trump. he gave him $40 million to run. this is seven years of trying to get trump. i know they also tried when they went down to mar-a-lago and they got these secret documents and they're going to press charges on that. within biden had -- but then biden had them in his garage and all over it that killed that

does them trying to get trump on the documents. i know stormi. seven years ago she paid trump because they proved she was lying. she had to pay him. seven years ago if you remember that but now it is changed all around. there is even a letter that stormi wrote saying it was not true. they have tried, four years of the russian lies, two attempted impeachments. it is scary meet that the left, every single person that calls in from the left, he is a racist, he's a extremist, he is a liar. i've never heard so many names called.

i'm 73 years old. why does the lab have to use such nasty name-calling constantly ? host: can i ask you about your 40 million from george soros. where did you hear that? caller: i think that was on the british network. i'm not sure but is it true? did your sorrows back alvin bragg? host: this is from political fact. you heard this mentioned before. trump's attack on alvin bragg back by george soros. here's what you need to know. facing potential indictment over hush money payments, the president attacked or portrayed the prosecutor as driven bipartisan intent. he says in march -- your sorrows

did give a aggressive racial group $1 million in may 2021 and in the same month they endorse alvin bragg and pledge to spend over one million supporting his campaign. however dorsi was $1 million was not earmarked for alvin bragg. there is supporting other progressive district attorney candidates that year in different cities and had done so in previous elections as well. it is impossible to know 's weight the decisions on the best getting trump. the group's focus has been criminal justice policy and trumps legal situation. the money came from your sorrows given to a group called for equal justice, that group donated to alvin bragg's campaign. your reaction? caller: before bragg was even

the d.a., he ran on getting trump. and he got $1 million, ok. $1 million to help him and his whole thing was running to get trump. three other da's and the feds refused to prosecute. isn't it strange that now trump is running for president again and all of a sudden three da's and the feds said they do not have a case and bragg does? i note new york is strictly democratic so it does seem one-sided. host: right. michael on twitter says no proof of politically motivated prosecution exists. alvin bragg is doing his job just as any other dh throughout the usa. he gathered facts, evidence and

the evidence has been presented to a grand jury. 23 citizens doing their duty resulting in an indictment. sarah in virginia. democratic caller. caller: hi. what took them so long? mr. trump's father took him under his wing. donald trump has gotten involved in a lot of things and he started off with the student by new york city with regards to the father not running to people of minority groups -- renting the people of minority groups and i think trump from that said i can do whatever i want to. remember his statement when he was running, he can go ahead and shoot somebody on fifth avenue and he would never be indicted. i think mr. trump thinks he is of a class that cannot be touched. the banks in new york city were

not known him money. only one bank, deutsche bank. that should tell you little bit about his standing in new york city. there is a reason why he changed residents to go down to florida. my question i go back, what took them so long? he thinks he is privilege. you can get away with anything -- he can get away with anything. i hope he gets a fair trial and i'm sure he will. the judge will see to that. it is in the judge's hand. it is not in the republican or democrat's hands. or any of those crazy people that will go march for him. on top of that, mr. trump went out over a week ago and said i'm going to be indicted on a tuesday. he went out and raised over $1 million just on that one statement along. that should tell you about the mentality of mr. trump. host: he saw a poll numbers go

up among republicans voters. this morning we are continuing on the "washington journal" getting your reaction to the breaking news that the former president was indicted yesterday by a grand jury in manhattan. the new york times frames it this way. the nation finds itself on a path never traveled. the wayne in jamaica, new york. independent. caller: good morning. it amazes me and i listen to callers. some have good points on what is going on. have anyone of them sat in a grand jury and listen to evidence? bragg did not pull the evidence out of thin air. he has the evidence. i have set on the grand jury. i listen to the evidence. if the evidence did not make sense, i voted against it. whatever the grand jury saw that the evidence to indict the

former president, that is what they would with. host: how do you respond to people who say the bar is low for an indictment? and people make the joke you could indict a ham sandwich, caller: these are all little sayings. people come up with these things to make a joke out of things. and i a ham sandwich? this is real stuff. this man has been indicted. not convicted of a crime. when he comes to trial, the evidence will come out. we do not know with the evidence is. we are assuming. we are all fighting. let's see what comes out of this. host: i would add cnn reported last night, early this morning that over 30 counts. 34.

"politico" -- "punchbowl news" noted that the counts added quickly because each one the 11 checks that the president signed to michael cohen is one count. i want to get your reaction to that. caller: i am not a legal scholar by any means but if that is the evidence we so far know about, that is a 30 counts, that's all we have to do with -- not week, he has to deal with. he has to hire an attorney to defend him on that. everyone thinks it is about think what is doing, it is. if you are signing finance checks to a person for sex, they say it is not a crime, in new york state, it is a crime. host: his lawyer is likely to argue is previewed in the washington post this morning. a writ of caution on the

indictment. prosecuting him over checks makes for a problematic case. they argue the strategy is novel and courts may regard it with skepticism. the potential campaign finance charges self is shaky, when federal prosecutors charged john atwood with a similar crime following his 2000 eight presidential run, he rebutted the accusation by arguing he was trying to disguise his faithlessness from his wife, rather than from the voting public. the child ended in acquittal -- the trial ended in acquittal and the justice department dropped the charges. in memphis, tennessee. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. it seems to me most of the democrats calling in are so

bitter and haters. i'm a trump supporter. i've been called all kinds of names this morning on your program just because i supported trump. bragg run on getting trump, taking him down, and the most this is is a misdemeanor is trying to turn into a felony. in manhattan, he is letting these felons out with a misdemeanor that has been out killing people and doing much worse things than what trump has done. trump has not done anything. we do not even know. democrats are really angry. you sat there and let them call us all kinds of names. january 6, trump did not tell these people to do what they did. he told them to peacefully march and let your voices be heard.

that is left out all kinds of times when you talk about january 6. host: we covered what he said that day in the entirety and i encourage others to listen to what he said the morning of january 6. allen in brooklyn, new york. democratic caller. caller: good morning. there are so many points i want to make. first of all, the new york times versus sullivan case in the 50's said you had to work harder to prove libel if you are a public figure, debbie interest in free speech, in favor of the free speech, the ordinary people and against the protection of public officials. when i hear people arguing, we are to have a higher standard of proof in order to indict a public figure, that is opposite of what the supreme court said

about the balancing of public versus private figure in the free speech context. if you consider the fact that michael cohen was indicted and put in jail for the very same crimes that were talking about here being charged against trump by trump on justice department. he tried to keep him in jail longer when he began to write a book to silence him. i do not see how he can argue the merits against him are somehow less then he used to put his former attorney in jail. then there's the whole question of the balance of the past 40 years of republican misconduct enlarging their powers. we heard recently about ben barnes, the testimony that the election of reagan was almost stolen in 1980 when the

interfered in negotiations to release hostages and that probably calls part of the election -- cost the election. how many major decisions, enlarging the power of gop the past four years were based upon this interference? when people say republicans are getting the wrong deal, democrats doing thing for their own party, look in the mirror. look at what is been placing an imbalance of power in your favor. host: more reaction from republicans. this are from senator of missouri, he was on fox news last night. listen to what he had to say. [video clip] >> i think what this is about as nothing to do with the rule of law. this is about power. this is the demonstration of raw power. the democrats know it has nothing to do with the law. they are sending a message, they

will use any power they have tender fear the next election -- to interfere in the next presidential election. there were not willingly let donald trump run. it would use every means at their disposal. these are the same people who sent swat teams to pro-life activists. use fbi against parents at the school board meetings. they'll use any kind of power to try and hold onto their privileges, their own position is interesting that tonight. it is unprecedented in american history. the only way out now is to win. >> is like a fastball to the head of about her? >> exactly. and the head of the batter is the american people, conservatives who want to have their own abuse and make their own decisions and democrats are saying will use power against you. you want to elect donald trump, no. we will use power against you. you want to speak up against a

school board meeting. we will use power against you. you want to protest peacefully at an abortion panic. we will use power against you. it is burning down the rule of law. they will regret doing this because the american people will not stand for it. we got to make sure they did not succeed in what they are trying to do. host: missouri senar sh hawley on fox news. your turn to give us your reaction to the indictment of the former president. gregg cifornia. what do you say? caller: i think more or less to me it gives me a better belief in the re law. the president of former president can be indicted, it tells me that maybe there is fairness to this judicial system.