"washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning. wednesday, january 31. republicans on the house homeland security committee released two articles of

impeachment against alejandro mayorkas, charged with refusing to uphold the law and breaching the public's trust. the secretary sent a seven page response saying it was baseless and the accusations were false. but you thinou that? we will take your calls your do you support or oppose the impeaching of dhs secretary mayorkas? phone lines are as usual, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. text (202) 748-8003, senior first name and city/state. we are on facebook and x. here is a headline from late

night, vote since historic mayorkas impeachment vote to the house floor, saying the house homeland security republicans approved two articles of impeachment against the omelette security secretary just after midnight wednesday, sending the vote to the house floor. it is a historic vote, and if it succeeds, mayorkas would not be the first cabinet impeached since 1876 would conservatives have been getting to impeach mayorkas for years as the border has become the number one issue for the republican party. democrats insisted republicans failed to provide evidence of the constitutional standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. the articles passed out of committee along party lines. let's take a look at what congressman mark green said, chair of the homeland security committee. he opened yesterday's meeting arguing that secretary mayorkas has not lived up to his oath of office. [video clip] >> it is not about policy

differences at all. we reject his policies, but this goes far deeper. according to the democrat led committee investigating iran contra, government officials must observe the law, even when they disagree with it. or when they think that congress is to blame for passing laws that run counter to administration policies. the case we are dealing with today is that simple, sec. mayorkas has put his political preferences above following the law.honoring our oath's to the intent and following congressional precedent, including dataset by house democrats, it is our obligation to hold sec. mayorkas accountable. which brings me to today's proceedings. today is a day we have not approached lightly. sec. mayorkas's and's have forced our hand appeared we cannot allow the border crisis

to continue and allow fitton all to cross our border or criminals to walk in fentanyl to cross our border. host: that was the chairman, mark green. here are the actual articles of impeachment. you can find these on our website. yorkas, secretary of homeland security at the u.s., is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the united states senate. we have that on c-spanrg. here is the response made by the secretary, a seven page response . you can also read through that on npr.org. let's get the response quickly before we start taking your calls. congressman■k betty thompson, tp democrat on the homeland security panel, because the

impeachment a political stunt. [video clip] >> this is a terrible day for the committee. the u.s. constitution and our great country. republican members of congress worn to support and defend the constitution and are rejecting the frame of clear intent and over two centuries of precedent in favor of sham impeachment. republicans have failed to make a constitutionally viable case to impeached secretary ellie hunter mayorkas, dedicated public servant. the sham impeachment of sec. mayorkas is a basic -- baseless political stunt by extreme maga republicans. they have pushed for an even fund raised based on this preplanned, predetermined scapegoating of the secretary. in a process akin to throwin wag what sticks, republicans have

cooked up their own unprecedented grounds to impeached secretary mayorkas. refusal to follow the law and a breach of public trust. neither of the impeachment charges committed were considered today are of high crime are misdemeanor under the article two of the constitution. you can watch all of the hearings about sec. mayorkas on our website if you would like to . the entire thing is at c-span.org. tom in deerfield beach, florida, republican. caller: good morning. sec. mayorkas should have been impeached at least 90 days ago. ly, this comes from the president that he serves. that is why i believe it is proper to impeach him. ■0frankly, attorney general garland should be impeached, secretary granholm should be

impeached. there are questions about the secretary of interior or energy. multiple members of the biden administration. frankly, secretary austin should be considered, is abdication of responsibility. all those things, multiple people in the biden cabinet that have not been doing their job. . in d.c. anymore, not anything. host: do you think impeachment is the best way to do that though? caller: i do not think there is any choice anymore. because i do anything related to the border. it is clear he has responsibility, clear that he has duty, clear that he has the ability to enforce the border. this has been purposefully done for the last three plus years. it is not really a question anymore.

how the democrats somehow try to split hairs on what is proper impeachment and what is not proper impeachment just shows you the fallacy that we live in in this society. no sane person can say that there has not been an absolute abdication. we have been almost 10 million illegals into this country. my parents were legally emigrated into this society in the 1950's, legally, legally. they had to fly here. they did not walk across the border. what is this in this country? host: let's hear from glenn, also in florida, this time in lakeland. democrat. good morning. caller:he first caller named all the democrats that need to be impeached, which means this is a sham in the first place. the only reason they are doing this is because nancy pelosi and

democratic congress impeached them twice.as far as the people coming over the border in all this kind of stuff, look at the time he was in office, caging kids and separating families from their parents and they still have not found them all yet. this is about, you know what, we don't want biden. they cannot impeach biden for anything, so they go for someone that works for him. as far as fentanyl coming across the border, has anybody caught anybody here that actually did that? have we got any cartel members from mexico that brought fentanyl over here? and not just when they brought it over, but who is receiving it in the country? cartels from exit profiting offe shipments coming into the states -- cartels from mexico or americans profiting off the ship is coming into the unite is get? that is what we do not want to be concerned about. it is a joke.

it is about republicans being angry so they will come out and vote for trump in the next election if he does not go to prison first. this is what it is all about, ;t republicans. you're giving all the money to a billionaire, and you guys are barely making anything in this country. host: nick in delray beach, florida. caller: good morning. it is always great to follow a democrat call because it makes it easy to some incredibly intelligent. couple things. i support the mayorkas impeachment because failure to enforce the law is breaking the law. that is what people don't understand. the legislative branch passed at when the executive branch fails to enforce those laws and puts the american people in danger, that is an impeachable offense. as far as the border goes no,

real quick, and i know i am probably going to get cut off because you are not allowed to tell the truth on c-span -- this lie just heard or the series of lies you just heard that you will hear from democratic callers is, number one, the breaking up of families at the border, listen to what the last caller said, they still have not found the parents for a lot of those children that were taken away from adults at the border. that is because those children were kidnapped and are bei sex trafficked into the united states. that is why they were taken away from those people, because they are being sex trafficked into these countries. it would not learn anything from jeffrey epstein, from woody allen, from polasky?x not learned that sex trafficking is a big business in this country and needs to be stopped? it goes back to what the media did with the so-called pizza gate. host: are you saying that all the kids that were separated at the border during the

last administration were because they were being trafficked and that was confirmed? caller: i don't think i said all. i said the reason why they cannot find the parents is because they weren't their parents. when they were separated, it was because they were not the children's parents. how many children -- have you been watching congressional testimony where dhs people have lost thousands of children on the interior of the country? they don't know where they are anymore. host: so you do support the impeachment of sec. mayorkas? caller: yes, and i understand you need to cut me off because you are not allowed to state -- host: it is just that we have to move on because other people are waiting with their thoughts. lori in modesto, california, independent. caller: i think that this is ridiculous. talking about enforcing the law?

ok, i have been an independent my whole life, and i will vote for whoever i think is best for the people. and there is no way i would ever vote for trump, no way. i mean, we all need to stop fighting. and this whole impeachment thing is ridiculous. as far as the trafficked kids, that is not true. i mean, it is despicable. but the children that were d from the parents is because they did not find where they were from, and it was their parents. and it was a horrible thing that he did, just horrible. facts are facts. this is ridiculous. everybody needs to stop this. this is the united states of america, united. stop it. we need to go together to work together and finally become the greatest country in the world, finally become the idea we were based on.

not to become great again. that to slavery and everything, and we never have achieved it yet. so let's do it. there is nothing greater than to love each other and to show an example of what we can do. this fighting makes us look absolutely ridiculous, makes us look foolish to the rest of the world. we could be stronger than we ever were if we get along and get things done. host: got it. this is from a commentary on the "washington times" by representative mark green and representative virginia foxx says the immigration and nationality act mandates the detention of illegal aliens crossing our border, whether they have a credible claim or not, and limits the use of parole to a case-by-case basis or an urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit. by refusing to comply with this

law and engaging in mass catch and release, mr. mayorkas has refused to comply with the laws passed by congress. the constitution distantly gives legislative authority to congress to lawmaking, leaving the executive branch with the sole responsibility of executing those laws. and jim in north dakota, republican. do you think the secretary should be impeached? caller: hi. i think it is a waste of time. it is biden's responsibility, the president who swears an oath to the constitution. in many of them, going back to bill clinton, did not live up to that oath, which is almost impeachable itself, article four, section four says the individual state shall be protected from invasion. and then it says and domestic violence. and by republican form of

government, the federal government is supposed to act. and the federal government always acted. we forget, i think 1915 to 1916, only a little over 100 years ago, there were incursions across the border, it is a poncho villa. there were eight mining engineers killed on a train. our people, our great grandfathers mothers who have more of a robust pride in themselves and their country in the sense of sovereignty and their bones demanded woodrow wilson do something. he sent 15,000 troops under blackjack purging, before he went to france, and he goes on there with a young lieutenant named gorge patton and they chased the mexicans 1000 miles back into the desert. they secured the border with the seventh calvary. custer upon own division -- host: coming to the current situation with the secretary,

you said you thought it was a waste of time? caller: yes, waste of time. eisenhower was told he had close to 900,000 million illegal aliens and acted with the joint military law enforcement operation that removed close to one million mexicans by force. it had a bad name, called operation wetback, but he did it twice, by the way, and the american people applauded him. that is what a country does. when you have two people, two 52, coming across the river, it does not matter whether they have guns or hello kitty backpacks. it would have the same effect demographically and culturally on the nation. without assimilation, we will never hold together as a people, never have linguistic and cultural unity unless we secure that border. b÷we should do it with the military. host: list go to west virginia cut -- let's go to west

virginia, democrat. john, good morning. caller: this whole thing here i think it's just getting blown out of proportion. there has never been any really good border legislation. i think right now what they are doing is necessary. and i do believe that republicans need to follow through on this deal and get this border security. i am a democrat, but i'm for border security. host: what about the impeachment? caller: that is nothing. he is trying. they are battling at everything, smoking gun, their typical move. throwing a bunch of figures, time, money, instead of addressing the situation that needs to be addressed. it is just terrible. not necessary, not what this nation needs.

i do not think it is what president biden is doing. he has done a very fine job. he is dealing with the crisis as best as he can. he is pretty much overwhelmed. he has a lot on his plate. he deserves -- america deserves he is our president. hi did not like trump, but he was the president. i am an old marine. i supported him. that is where it is for me. my loyalty is to the united states. host: got it. let's look at what a constitutional lawyer said about isopic. he said this, secretary of homeland security allie hundred mayorkas has been denounced as dit, dp love -- duplicitous, and derelict according to his critics. in my view, these things are manifestly true, and it is so true that none of these things unt high crimes and

eanors warranting his impeachment. moreover, being bad at your j is not an impeachable offense. even really bad. even mayorkas' level of bad. if that was the case, he would be only the latest in a long line of cabinet officers at congress for constitutional termination. that is a conservative commentator and legal extrovert -- expert, publishing that in the "daily beast." joseph in virginia, democrat. what do you think? joseph? caller: hello. host: you have got to turn down the tv. caller: ok. host: go right ahead. caller: i think this impeachment thing is a sad situation■■], wht the republicans doing, going down this road. when they not in power, the democrats do the same identical

thing. the republicans, what we should be talking about his kitchen table issues, health insurance, inflation, gas prices, jobs, some of that going to help somebody, not this whole impeachment going on for votes and stuff. nothing to help nobody. i think they going down a bad situation, these republicans. when the democrats take charge, they go there, that some situation. it just is going nowhere. i think they should talk about kitchen table issues to help somebody. thank you. host: sherry is next, -- terry is next, independent, lafayette. good morning. caller: nice to see you, very attractive lady. i like your show very well. you seem to let people talk. i would like to bring up that these democrats are standing up with mayorkas or biden, biden

has been getting millions of dollars from china. i think that is why he is running this country. immigrants in border towns than there is the people in them towns. and they are giving them money. and it is breaking those towns. even all over america, chicago, new york. is just ruining them financially, and he is doing that because communist china is giving that money to do it. he ruins this country because he is getting paid to do it. host: do you agree that secretary mayorkas should be impeached? caller: of course, him and biden . after that, they should file treason charges on them, because it is treasonous. host: here is my question for you. the previous caller said, look, you start impeaching cabinet

secretaries, then when democrats are in charge, they could start impeaching everybody that they don't like that are republican. what do you think of that argument? caller: if they were letting millions of people in this country doing something against theainst our constitution, than they should be charged, of course. they are not doing that. when trump was in office, the immigration was fine. did not have all them people. since biden has been in there, the inflation has gone up, the food, 33.7%. shelter, 18.7% gone up. energy, 32.8% gone up. we're going to stay with the border. louise in severn, maryland, and dependent. caller: good morning. i think that this is going nowhere, but i think that he deserves to be impeached. i am a prior democrat, currently

unaffiliated. a couple years ago, i retired from dhs with over 30 years of service. the secretary swears an oath to the constitution, not to the president. and what we have seen is, as presidents come and they interpret the constitution and the laws as it aligns to the president's desires.that is exactly what mayorkas has done. biden is left offs with an unsafe country and insecure border. he putam harris in charge, the border czar. that came to nothing. he has mayorkas leaning in the direction he wants. that is not following the laws of the country. so i don't think this impeachment is going to go anywhere, but i think it is just kind of a reminder that we are not complying with the laws. and i do think that he deserves to be im can i ask what you useo

do for dhs before you retired? caller: i cannot tell you about that. host: oh, ok. caller: i was there for over three decades, so i have seen the back-and-forth. that is what i see happening now. host: i ask if you were involved with the border at all or was it different? caller: um, hmm -- host: that is ok if you cannot say. caller: i did not touch it directly. but every time a president came in, you knew where they -- which direction they would go, you could interpret things certain direction, eitheleniently or strictly. mayorkas has gone out on a limb and has really abuse the laws out there. i am a little surprised he is being impeached. i do not think it is going

anywhere. it is just a statement from the republicans, we don't like what you're doing, but it will not go anywhere. host: let's take a look at what sec. mayorkas said in that response he de to the he says, we have provided congress and your committee hours timony, thousands of docu hundreds of briefings,uch more information that demonstrates quite clearly how we are enforcing the law. i assure you that your false accusations do not rattle me and do not divert me from the law enforcement and broader public service which i remain devoted. walter, sedona, arizona, independent. what do you think? caller: i think that this is a ruse that is orchestrated to keep our country stagnant. this impeachment is not going to get through the senate, obviously, but the real issue at the border is that there's

people being forced out of their country, primarily due to -- i hate to say it, but a change in clite, not just political climate but the climate change that is happening. and we are seeing this mass migration north. and we have got to have, obviously, a strong border. but the only way we're going to get that is if republicans and democrats can work together to get it done. i live in a swing state, in a purple state. and i think it is also a border state. and we have serious issues here that have to do with getting our country on track, and i resent the fact that chairman greene and the republican party are using this as a ruse to hold up the progress of our country and wasting taxpayer dollars when president biden, with republican

support, past the ira act and the bil bill and put trillions of dollars on the table to get this country back to work. quite frankly, as an independent, i think that it is working if■c it will be allowedo work, and that directly relates to the border. host: joe in napa, california, democrat. caller: yes, goodhost: good mor. caller: i have what you put up on the screen, the immigration and nationality act. was that just created with this new republican in control? host: the immigration nationality act, no, that is older. i don't know what year. we will look it up for you. caller: the thing about it is the very first sentence, the immigration nationality act mandates the detention of

illegal aliens crossing our borders. so you are going to detain a million people? because they said there's some months were over a million people came over. so where are you going to house them? you know, like, what kind of a law is that that you're going to attain them, whether they have a credibility claim or not? so you are just going to put them in jail, or detain them. where are you going to put them? and that limits the use of parole to a case-by-case basis. for urgent humanitarian reason -- like, how much broader can you get to decipher what that portends? you know? urgent humanitarian reason. or significant publicboth of th, in my opinion. you have a law here that is going to say a million people

are going to be coming over from any month to any month, and you are going to house them all. you know, this is a problem that you cannot look to try and impeach somebody. you have to look together to try to figure out -- iisproblem, but it logically to see. come together and have some kind of minds that have an understanding of the importance of what it is that you are trying to do and then work together to get it done. i do not have the answers because it has been happening since reagan. so i do not think this is going to be solved, and you cannot just blame biden f it. it has been happening for 40 years. host: that act was signed by lyndonohnson in 19 625, just for your information -- in 1965, just for your information. caller: what is it actually stating?

and what was the real problem back in 1965? not nearly as bad as what we have now. that needs to you cannot house one million people every other month. where are you going to put them? host: here is what the "new york times" says, front page of today's "new york times" about that. missteps and bipartisan resistance were it reversing some policies, talks about what the president did initially, and then it says, on friday, in a dramatic turnaround from those early days, the president granted congress a power to shut down the border so he could contain one of the largest surges of uncontrolled immigration and american history. given that authority, he said in a statement, i would use it the day i signed the bill into law. some of the circumstances that have created the crisis or out of mr. biden' controls, such as

the collapse of venezuela and a surge of migration around the world and the abstinence of republicans who have tried to thwart his efforts to address the problem. they refused to provide resources, block efforts to update laws, and oblique -- openly defy federal officials trying to contain security and border along the border. but an examination of mr. biden 's record over the last three years, based on interviews with more than 35 current and former officials and others, shows that the president has failed to overcome those obstacles. and that is all the time that we have got for this segment, but there will be plenty of other time for you to weigh in on the subject and other subjects later in the program. coming up next, the first of two lawmakers joining this morning. after the break, we will be joined by republican congressman don bacon, and member of the armed services committee, and we

will talk about that deadly drone strike in jordan and a potential u.s. response. later, "wall street journal" national security reporter vivian salama discusses allegations get the united nations relief agency in gaza. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress, from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated and decided, with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government.

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c-span now, our free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this.where americe democracy at work and citizens are totally informed. our public thrives.get informed straight from the source, on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for wor9 from the nation's capital to wherever you are. if the opinion that matters the most is your own, this is what >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back now with representative don bacon, republican of nebraska and member of the armed services committee. congressman, welcome to the program. guest: great to be back. host: let's start with that

drone attack in jordan, your reaction? guest: it has been over 160 attacks going back to october on american forces by proxy forces aligned with iran. whether it is houthis or militia groups in iraq or has bala in syria, over 100s -- or hezbollah in syria, over 160. iran is behind all of this, and we are going to have to regain deterrence. host: the question iso we do that? some colleagues on the hill are calling for strikes against iran inside iran. guest: i think they are right. going after has bala or militia groups -- going after hezbollah or militia groups in iraq, it is not the term. to gain deterrence, there has to be some sort of strike against the head of the snake, which is iran. i would be cautious where i strike.

but i would go after iranian oil export capabilities were the iranian navy, that would be more risk for our forces, but also to realize iran would probably counter strike. they are attacking us, they should fear our assimilation. host: some of your colleagues have also asked that the president seek congressional approval before any strikes. it could lead to escalation, as you said. you think that is necessary? guest: not necessary if it is a one-time power strike, but if it is a longer duration, he has to come to us. to get retribution or strike back at iran, one strike or a couple strikes, i don't think he needs to. if it is a prolonged combat scenario, you has to come to us. host: you retired you think is going to happen?

could this spiral out of control? guest: always a possibility that iran will counter strike. but they are striking at us right now. they killed three americans. there has to be a price to pay for striking americans like is iran is behind it. so we need to go back and punch them in the nose and say if you do it again, we are going to hit you harder. they should fear us, not us fear them. host: you can join the conversation. lines are, democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, an independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also text us or you social media. what are the goals here? guest: we want to be the regional power. so do other countries. turkey would like to be dominant , saudi arabia. they hate israel. they would like to wipe israel

off the map, and they hate us. they are the region. all those terror groups are aligned with iran, even hamas. they would not be able to do what they're doing to israel without iran. all those terrorist groups, they get their funding, weapons, and training through iran. host: do you think they could command-and-control through iran? guest: probably more loosely. hamas get most of their weapons from iran and training. israel. i do not know if they do tell what to strike or how to strike. i believe it is broader command-and-control. host: let's turn to ukraine. that funding is being held up, shall we say, by the border negotiations. what happens if ukraine does not get military aid from the united states?

guest: they would actually collapse. it wou b national security interests. if russia takes over ukraine, and that is their goal, to dominate and assimilate ukraine into russia, it would be very bad for national security interests. that has to be clear. not enough people are looking at this clearly. putin has made clear, talking about attacking the baltics at some point. host: meaning the soviet guest: yeah. ukraine stopped being the last goal of what putin wants to do. he has already threatened the three baltic countries. conversely, fixture europe where ukraine is free -- picture europe where ukraine is free, less aligned with the west, that is a game changer for europe. a pro-westernhowever, if russia,

it is not just ukraine. look at the baltics, scandinavia, other countries in the region. we need to give the weapons to ukraine that they need, and they are quick learners. host: some critics say we have given a lot already and do not know what the end game is. are we going to keep bleeding funds to ukraine? guest: we have provided about 5% of the defense budget. we have removed half of the russian tanks with that. about 300,000 russian casualties. russia is investing everything into this, and they're getting help from iran, north korea, to some degree china. so you can cannot beat all those guys on their own. they need our help. they are doing the fighting. it is their soldiers that are paying the price, not ours, but we should help them out. host: we were talking earlier about the impeachment of secretary mayorkas.

do you support that? guest: yes, because in the end, there are many laws on the books he is not enforcing. the border is as bad as it has ever been, worse than we have ever seen. 400,000 a month are coming in, and it is taking a toll on our country. so we looked at some laws yesterday he could enforce, and he refuses to do so. it is mayorkas'responsibility and president biden's responsibility. host: if he were to be removed, which is unlikely in the senate, the president would nominate somebody else. guest: you are right, that is the counter position. this is really biden's policy, and he would p s are not going t any democrat votes in the senate. but i think our citizens are demanding action. it is terrible. look, 700,000 people in denver.

40,000 migrants on the streets. it is overwhelming denver. the mayor is begging for help. this is the story all over our country right now. month on the river, with people coming over, but half of the women are being assaulted. we have about 110,000 people a year now dying of fentanyl. the effects of this are just terrible. and the administration has had the ability to act and are refusing to do so. it is not that we have to make a statement here and say it is wrong. host: larry in minnesota, independent. caller: howdy. i have got some advice for mr. don bacon and everybody who seems to think like him. if you wish to have a foreign

nation, please go there and leave us alone. we don't want you. and we don't want your ideas here. because they are not our problem. foreign nations are not our problem. our nation is our problem. can you understand something that simple? host: what do you think? guest: i disagree. we had people thinking that in the 1930'haisolationists, when s getting ready to start in europe, even 1939 with the invasion of poland and the war with great britain. you cannot ignore bullies. you may be able to for a year or two, but they are going to be on your doorstep eventually. russia will not stop at ukraine. it is not me saying that, it is putin. we should take him on his word. and china will respond to russia, and that will be in

their calculus when it comes to taiwan. iran is looking at how we are responding. so we're the world's leader for democracy and freedom. does not mean we have to do all the fighting. we should be very cautious about using u.s. troops. we have the ability to help countries who want to be free prevail, and we have the best weapons in the world. ur production. that has been one of the problems. but i would disagree with larry, it is not just their problem, it is our problem, too. host: what about support for israel? guest: i totally support israel. they are there because of the holocaust if you look at it historically. we needed a safe haven for jews all over the world to go to get away from antisemitism. what we saw in october was the worst barbarity, hatred, dehumanizing things you have ever seen. 1200 israelis were murdered that day. we should support them. if we were there, we would not

tolerate hamas on our doorstep paired we would white --on our doorstep. we would wipe them out. host: with the civilians given -- killed in gaza, does that give you pause, and would you support a cease-fire? guest: i do not support a cease-fire because that only strengthens hamas. it is terrible that we have civilians that are getting killed. terrible at 1200, mainly civilians inrtured, many raped d brutalized. with israel, they are trying to go after hamas, which is hiding in schools, hospitals, mosques. they hide behind civilians and use them as shields. the goal is destroy hamas and try to minimize civilian casualties. host: is that possible though, because it is also an ideology? guest: there could be hamas

outside of gaza, but they could take over gaza. they are rooting up 400 miles of hills, where these guys are hiding. they could do it in gaza, but it takes a toll, a heavy price. we would not let someone like that on our borders. host: tim in wisconsin, democrat. caller: good morning. i agree with a lot of what representative bacon says but disagree with a lot, too. i agree that we have got to support ukraine. mayorkas, this impeachment is got -- not going anywhere. they had an agreement on the table and the senate was ready to ratify it, but the house cannot agree. it when it comes to the middle east, i disagree with you on gaza. they he already bombed it into dust. i think they need a cease-fire. they could surround gaza, they

have already surrounded it. they could make sure nobody gets out as far as hamas. what happens in gaza, all the minions doing the fighting, it is going to come up again because it always does. meantime, if they had a cease-fire, that would help with a lot of problems in the mideast, settle thgs down. maybe we could move forward in some constructive manner. now it is going nowhere. thank you. host: any comments? guest: thank you, tim. glad we agree on ukraine. he speaks truth that the senate will likely do very little with this secretary mayorkas impeachment. but we had the worst border in history, a disaster for our country. we are trying to make a statement to the administration. there are laws on the books they

not enforcing. immigration expected soon. will you support it? guest: they have not unveiled it yet, but i would caution our folks in the house, let's give them a chance to present what they have worked on. we have been demanding the senate take action, we passed hr2, and outstanding border security bill. we realized the senate would likely not pass that verbatim. but even asking them to work together on a solution, so i am a little disheartened that we have some folks on our side saying we don't want anything. we have been asking for it for two years, so let's let them work on an agreement and try to be bipartisan. we will see what it is. they have not unveiled it yet. host: former president trump has already said he is against it, says a border bill is not necessary, encouraging people to vote against it and wait until he presumably comes back into

office next year. guest: on one hand, president biden does have the authorities to shut down the border, authorities not to let anybody into our country. 300,000 people coming a month right now, 85% are just released to our country. it is not working. our cities are struggling. the other thing, let's see what this and it comes up with. they have not unveiled their plan. we have got to start working together. we cannot be doing a republican only plan or a democrat only plan. it does not work. there is a system of government where you have to seek consists is -- consensus. the minority can get a voice. host: you would be ok with a bill that is maybe not everything you are looking for but at least in the right direction? guest: yes. but it is not possible. i think we should allow the senate to present the plan, and

let's go from there. i think our founders built the system working together, give and take, finding consensus areas that it might not be optimal to my point of view or to the democrat point of view. it is how the system works. host: a republican in long beach, california. good morning. caller: i was reading an article last night from foreign affairs written by eric schmitt. working closely with ukraine, especially in respects to the bomb drones over there. what he russians are jamming our drones that we give to ukraine with their radio capabilities, while simultaneously getting the drones from iran, which is supplying russia with a lot of weapons, which are cheaply produced compared to the united

states production of drones. russia is winning and ukraine is losing. the united states, even though they sent the drones over at $50,000 apiece, they are not effective. because russia has bader -- better capabilities of jamming them. as i am reading this, i realize we are also looking at china wanting to annex taiwan because taiwan has superior ai, which would give china a military advantage over the united states. and iran. now north korea is shooting off its ballistic missiles in a show of power, too. in these drones that the united states is going in to get for -- either they are $50,000 for each one,■ they blow up, and they're still not really hitting the targets. my question is, in this whole scenario, and i call it a

prescient scenario, are we going to end up as ukraine? eventually, if we keep going after them, keep taking the bait offered by iran and russia and china, by proxy, are we going to be looking more like ukraine in the next 2, 3, four years? that is my question. thank you. guest: first of all, very impressed. a great reader, i wish all of our citizens were reading as much as she is. thank you for your question and your concern. she is speaking my language, i worked on electronic warfare for three decades in the air force. we dominated electronic warfare capabilities up until the 1990's, and we were the best in the world. after the invasion of iraq, we were so good we thought we could china and russia wants how we did things, and they try to mimic us and invest a lot in

electronic warfare. in some areas, they have exceeded us, and now we're trying to catch up. i would look at the electronic warfare strategy through the laws as we pass. we are trying to get caught up. it has been our office leading those efforts. there are multiple -- multiple types of drones we have provided to ukraine, and they're also getting some from great britain and other countries. i think they have actually been quite effective, not to say russia has not had impact. iran is arming russia in this fight. that is why ukraine also needs our help. if russia is getting outside ukraine needs outside help, as well. that is a take away. my answer to your final question though is if we do nothing, eastern europe is going to fall under the shadow of russia again. china will see that and say we

do not have the willpower to stand up, and they will take taiwan. and tn present of the world's high-end computer chips -- 90% of the world's high-end computer chips. that? is just one thing. we have to stand up to these bullies. america is the indispensable country for freedom, so we have to have a voice. host: to the independent line, dug in westland, michigan. hello. caller: good morning. my question is for representative bacon. i had a question about where you are getting your information about iran supporting hamas and other terrorisms, that you call terrorists. because, isn't iran predominantly she is muslims -- shia muslims and hamas is sunni

muslims? don't they not get along, but there helping each other throughout the world? what are you saying? guest: great question. but irans helping hamas, because the goal of hamas is to destroy israel. in this case supporting hamas. most of the weapons hamas has are from iran. their training hamas individuals in iran and send the back to gaza. other sunni terrorists are not allied with iran, isis, for example. iran hates them, and they do fight each other. iran recently did strikes in pakistan and in iran going after isis.

however, iran has helped al qaeda, another terrorist groups. all the shia terrorists are very closely aligned with iran. hezbollah, the shia groups in iraq take all their orders from iran. some sunni terrorists groups are lined with iran, some are not. host: joe, republican. good morning. caller: my complaint is all coum kind of a penny pincher and think supposedly we left $70 billion -- 70 billion or 80 billion equipment and bullets in afghanistan when we left in such a hurry. if ukraine needed so much stuff, we could have gave them the stuff we left in afghanistan. this were with them is at a stalemate. ssia and ukrne a

stalemate. i do not think there is ever going to be a winner. what does israel do with all the money we have given them for 40 or 50 years? billions a year. i understand their big problem with october 7. but we're spending too much american money on other people's wars. and i don't believe, don, that russia is going to go into europe. that is another government mistake and another idea that is not going to happen. russia is almost broke, too. i do nothing they're going to go any further for a while. guest: i disagree with the call er on some of that but not all. he has already called the baltic states states that he wants to reclaim, so we should take putin on his word. he said he would tap -- he would attack ukraine, and he did. he

renegade states. but i agree with the caller, what we did with afghanistan was one of the worst things i have a personn my life. i do not know if i have ever been more angry with a president, and i have been in the middle east for four appointments as an officer, and i have known five people who died in afghanistan, and we threw it all away. we had troops in afghanistan not doing the fighting. we had taken a loss for your and a half, but we pulled away those 500, pulled away air support. all within a month. it was despicable. our military warned the president this is going to happen but he did anyway. ukraine could have used many of those weapons and i would agree to that. another thing that we haven't talked about today, we have a lot of assets in russia that

we've took control of. working with other countries, we should move those assets to ukraine. host: what kind of assets? guest: we should take russian money and give it to ukraine. it would be onf way to help fud some of the stuff. there are some discussions how to do that. russia deserves to feel the financial pain. also, you talk about russia going broke, this is costing a lot. but our energy policies also enable exporting their natural gas. just this past week president biden said he's going to limit natural gas exports out of our own country. who does that help? that helps russia. we should be the dominant ■tcountry for natural gas and choke them financially. host: me "are

you going to ask this guy about the icj, israel genocide ruling and whether the u.s. should be actively supporting what is happening in gaza?" guest: i did read the ruling and they didn't call it genocide. they said israel, don't target civilians. putting it down to the most basic ruling of what the court said, don't target civilians. they didn't condemn israel. they haven't condemned their operations thus far. but they are telling them to be careful. don't target civilians is pretty much what it said. i'd like the congressman to explain why if ukraine is a proxy to the united states, how

is it not justifiable that russia bombs the united states? if israel is a proxy to the united shouldn't the united states feel pain and feel some type of i guess death like they are doing to the palestinians. do you feel that 30,000 people dying is justifiable in your mind to the 1700, even thoughyod continue to bomb women and children? what you are saying.spicable, guest: i didn't say that. host: go ahead. guest: i didn't say that. israel should target hamas. hamas operates in hospitals, schools, mosques, and they hide behind the population. hamas is in this fight.

unfortunately the palestinians in gaza elected hamas years ago and they are the leaders, so there is some responsibility on the people. that is no excuse to target civilians, and if they are hiding in the civilian centers, it is very hard to not have casualties. this wasn't the fight they asked. they are responding to 1200 murders of their civilians, so they have to respond to it. i also want to point out ukraine is not a proxy for the united states. ukraine is an independent country that is being invaded by russia and there is no legal standing for russia doing so. this is illegal, it is barbaric. it is crimes against humanity. thousands and thousands of ukrainian children have been kidnapped and dispersed throughout russia. we've got to stand up to that kind of barbarism.

i'm not saying we should do the fighting, but we can help ukraine advance independence, and we should stand up to a bully like prudent. -- like putin. host: how does the war in gaza and in what is the day after? what is the situation going to be in gaza? guest: that's a good question. the israelis and the palestinians will have to work through. host: they haven't worked through it in a long time. guest: one of the callers pointed out if you have hamas leaders in qatar and other places, they have to be destroyed as a fighting force in as a. -- gaza. ■8find a way for palestinians to do some kind of self-rule in gaza. we can't go back to what it was. it is unacceptable after what happened on the seventh of october. host:■ you are facing a primary

challenge in nebraska. how are you feeling about that? guest: i know the majority of their constituents support what i'm doing. others, there's going to be some disagreements like when it comes to ukraine and we had a speaker fight that was a bit divisive. i will also do what the right for the district and the country and i feel very good about running on my compliments. i have the most bills passed of any republican last congress, so number one republican for effectiveness. we've accomplished a lot. a record of successes anduld for because our district, if all things are equal, i should win by oneguest: host: host: that in bacon -- host: that is don bacon,

republican from nebraska, member of the armed services committee. up next, wall street journal national security reported vivian salama discusses allegations against the united nations relief agency in gaza. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: book tv every sunday on c-span 2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, deputy -- former deputy chief of staff chris let out with his book year zero: the five year presidency and his new idea for a transition period forncoming presidents that would start the year before they tak oice. and "be a revolution," looking at how everyday americans are fighting oppression in systems and institutions to bring about change in communities. she's interviewed by author and

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helps report our nonprofit operations shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. washington journal continues. host: welcome back to washington journal. we are joined now by vivian salama, a national security order for the wall street journal. didion, welcome. guest: great to be with you. host: before we get to our topic which is the relief agency in gaza, i want to ask you about that deadly drone attack in jordan. the president has said he has decide how he is going to respond. what have you heard? guest: obviously when it comes to these intense military operations, he doesn't want to really reveal too much, but what we have learned from sources is that they are looking at some sort of multi-pronged approach where it would go over several days, sort of a tiered response to the attacks, perhaps an aerial strike of some kind.

we know that the islamic resistance group which is sort of under the pro-iranian militia umbrella within iran, they are the ones that have claimed responsibility. so at least they know who they argoing after to retaliate against. but obviously the stakes are very high. the administration saying from the get-go thanks to the october 7 attacks that it did not want to draw iran into a war, nor does it want to be drawn into a war with iran or anyone else. but now there has been a direct hit on u.s. military personnel, which puts us in this dickman omehow but also doesn't want to do so in a way that could really just trigger a widespread war. host: turning now to the allegations against u.n. relief agency in gaza, first explain what that is. what it is and what its mission

is. guest: it was created shortly after israel was established and began to operate in 1950. essentially its main mission has been to provide relief for palestinian refugees. it was made a refugee crisis at the time and they were out the providing everything from education to food to health care, and they are an entity of the united nations, so they have been operating now fl over 70 years. over that time there have been allegations and concerns of infiltration, that the party militant or extremist groups are trying to take advantage or manipulate access. however, bun has always pushed back on that and really defended its mission to help provide life-saving support, in some

cases, and certainly lifesaving support in the last few months where you see the situation just absolutely catastrophic in gaza and the potential for famine now. we are entering a point of famine, people are not receiving any basic health care, any food and basic needs, and so it is sort of that last hope for them which has beenlrin recent years. the trump administration has withdrawn its u.s. support in 2018, and so they were already struggling before this crisis. but of course, just because of the enormous demand for humanitarian relief right now, they were struggling and saying they were going to need billions of dollars to be able to meet that need. so it's quite startling on friday when theea out and

admitted that they were investigating 12 staffers -- host: let's get into the specific allegations. guest: yeah. so on friday, they came out early and said they were investigating 12 staffers who may have potential links to hamas and the group particularly that orchestrated and carried out the october 7 attacks. obviously very shocking, a shocking accusation and and it was apparently due toput conversations that they had been having where they had shared some intelligence to that they were concerned not just about these 12, but about hundreds that may have links either directly or indirectly 9rough relatives or have crossed paths with people.

remember, the gaza strip is not very big and its population even though it was in the millions, people are still very closely knit. the israeli government was saying that they found connections and unra said what we see is 12 people who are of concern, their contracts were immediately released, and they said they were investigating. however, most of the major donor countries announced very quickly that they were going to withhold any additional until those investigations are complete, and they were really pressing on the united nations to do so. host: i'll just get that on the screen, the 10 countries that have temporarily at least suspended funding. they areus germany, britain, australia, italy, canada, finland, netherlands, austria and japan.

they said that is being suspended pending that investigation that you were just talking about. you mentioned the 12 that were fired. apparently the says six actually participated -- this is the allegation -- participated in the october 7 attacks in israel, kidnapping and other things. what have you learned about that and have you seen that dossier? guest: i haven't seen the dossier yet but certainly it being investigated right now and unra said it is taking these accusations very seriously. of course, what they have said since friday is this has the potential to really take what is already a catastrophic situation and make it so much worse, the palestinian civilians because of the actions of a few. so they are taking it very

seriously and they are looking into it. unra really pushing back on any of this while they dig into this and by the way, the number of countries that have withheld age, you listed a few of them but there are many more than that. so unra really saying that what was a dire situation now is just going to go so they are also trying to appeal to these countries to do more to help them. yesterday, a state department spokesman matthew miller came out to the podium and he would be downplayed the impact of the u.s. aid. he said that the vast majority of the pool of aid that the united states had to give to unra, their congressionally approved give, most of that has already been allocated. so he downplayed the impact. but right now, every single dollar helps and that is really what they have been out there saying since friday.

they cannot afford to lose a single dollar at this stage because the need and the demand for humanitarian assistance, lifesaving humanitarian assistance is so dire. host: if you'd like to join our conversation, you can do so on our line by party. democrat, (202) 748-8000. republican, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002. i want to play for you the spokesman for the secretary-general responding to allegations and then i will get your response. >> the secretary-general made it clover the weekend the united nations taking swift action following the extremely serious allegations made against several staff members. the contracts of the staff members directly involved have been terminated as we told you on friday. investigation by the u.n. office of internal oversight services was immediately activated. the secretary-general has remained a very active on this

issue throughout the weekend and this morning. a few moments ago, he met with the secretary-general to ensure that the investigation will be done swiftly and efficiently as possible. any employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable including criminal prosecution and as we said, the secretary is ready to cooperate with authorities to prosecute the normal procedure for such cooperation. the secretary-general has also been engaged with leadership and donors to unra as well as regional leaders such as king of della -- king abdullah■x] in the president regent of egypt will whom -- with whom you will speak later this afternoon. the secretary-general is personally horrified by the accusations against employees of unra but his message to donors, especially those who have

suspended their contributions is to ale continuity of unra's operations as we have tens of thousands of dedicated staff working throughout the region in dire need of the desperate population they serve must be met. at this point, the outlook for unra in the millions of people it serves not only in gaza but also in east jerusalem, in the west bank, jordan, lebanon and syria is very bleak. host: vivian, he said that the secretary-general is personally horrified. as you said, it goes beyond the 12 individuals. it could be a lot of people within that organization that are at least sympathetic to hamas and to their tactics. how is the credibility of -- has the credibility of unra completely been shot at this point? you've got that issue and then on the other hand as we know, the humanitarian situation in gaza is dire.

so what happens next? will go now into the political rhetoric that we are hearing, the back and forth about whether the u.s. has done enough in what the united nations' role has and could be in improving the situation somehow. unra has come under fire before, but the fact of the matter is a lot humanitarian organizations around the world would say that what we hear now, as much as it ishocking and ry■ó■q troubling, it should not overshadow the wonderful work that they have done to provide lifesaving assistance to millions of palestinian's thso this is somey are having to grapple with right now. i've been speaking to people all weekend who say the last thing they needed right now, financially they were struggling already.

they'd had bumps in the road with their reputation and now this. so obviously it is something that is going to really hurt their reputation moving forward but at the end of the day, i think you talk to u.s. officials who understand that the need for humanitarian assistance is one that cannot be compromised in any circumstances under any conditions. for example, stopping them from workingvr is just not even in te discussion right now because they know that right now, that is not an option. they really need to get that lifesaving humanitarian assistance to as many people as possible. so it is really not an easy situation, but nor is the response to the military crisis in gaza. the biden administration has really come under fire for its decision to temporarily withhold aid to unra, especially from progressives who say that he

already hadn't done enough to help the people of gaza and as a result we've seen this soaring civilian death toll in the last few months. this has basically added fuel to that fire with calls for a cease-fire getting louder and against the biden administration for not doing enough especially among that group in his party also getting louder. host: le's talk to callers. doreen is first in virginia, hello. caller: hello, how are you doing? i wanted to speak with the senator earlier, but that's fine. he really bothered me. i have to recommend a couple of books because he said he liked good reads. also, i'd just like to say, all

the people who died in palestine, they are surrounded by israeli tanks getting shot up. also, before israel, to stop these genocidal actions, they just had a conference with a ■■■celebrated -- they had actual cabinet members. also, what i really wanted to say is three black soldiers died in jordan. please do not take this as a time to be patriotic. why do we have to serve in the military if we've already serve this country for a century? think about that before you take this into black history month. host: let's go to lewis in new jersey, independent. caller: good morning, i have two questions. if those people were immediately fired, how come they weren't immediately arrested? second question, how come the

press and especially c-span were like crickets about the american journalist that was arrested in ukraine for writing■ opposition -- i guess opposition stories against zelenskyy? how come we didn't get that guy out of there? he was arrested. brutalized, murdered in a ukrainian prison. thank you. host: this ian, do you know any -- vivan, do you know anything about that in ukraine? guest: this is the first i'm hearing about that, i'll have to look into it. host: he also asked why weren't the members of unra arrested rather than just being fired? guest: i think there is still an investigation underway. they have terminated their contracts for the time being just two sort of prevent them from having access to any unra-

related activities whiheit is pd be coming down the line. host: new: good morning, a few quick questions. vivian, if yous can give a quick history of how and when unra started, did they begin specifically to help palestinian refugees or was it someone else? number two, have the arab countries, the surrounding arab countries which are very wealthy, have they given any reasons why they are not willing to step up right now and fill the gaps of u.s. funding while we pull back and try to assess where the members of this unra group or whatever? can we ask the arab countries to step up? g abdullah of jordan have said -- has said jordan will not

accept any arab refugees. what reason have the arab countries given for not wanting -- no one seems to want to help their fellow arabs by taking them into their countries, all while israel tries to get rid of hamas. one last quick question, i believe that hamas has been running the school since 2005 or whatever and really indoctrinating people with hatred of israel. ve they asked themselves, do we have any precedent with a battle like this going on and what did we do in the past? how do we try to get rid of a terrorist country without hurting civilians, and what input have they given as to what better way to do it? appreciate your comments. host: a lot of questions. guest: yes, more questions.

i had talked a little bit about the history earlier but i'm happy to recap very quickly if you're just tuning in. 1950 is when unra started operating, it was created in 1949 just after the creation of the state of israel, and it was to address the enormous refugee problem that had arisen as a result of the state of israel being created. they were created to address the problems of palestinian refugees in particular, and that has been their core mission under the u.n. now i'm going to forget all your questions. host: the arab countries, why haven't they stepped up? guest: they have. e camp in gaza and has been providing aid. jordan has done air drops of food ath gaza and the emirates have taken some action. so they haee

their own way, in addition to financial funding and things like that. they might not necessarily be putting more money in, for example, but they do have their own activities. the egyptian red cross is very active, and the egyptian government has also been trying to get aid across the border since they share a border with gaza. host: and wha about refugees in their countries? guest: this is an ongoing debate, frankly, and it is a complicated one. i could talk to you about it for the entire show. in particular, egypt has been pushed, and there's a number of israeli lawmakers who have been saying egypt should take the people of gaza, the civilians and shelter them at least through the duration of the war, some of the more right wing's saying take them for good which has been frowned upon even by the united states.

the problem with that is that egypt has had, over recent decades, a history with extremism. the egyptians have groups like hamas and the muslim brotherhood, for starters. secondly, they have seen that a lot of times when that happens, when refugees go temporarily to egypt, it ends up being a one-way ticket either because their homes are destroyed or they are unable to get back and egypt feels like it is too much of a burden, is home to an enormous number of refugees. remember, there is war to its east and gaza, to the west in sudan and in libya. they are really burdened and doing what they can, all of the u.s. would like to see them do more. same for jordan. the majority of jordan's

population has the west bank on its border. it has over the decades become home to millions and millions of palestinians. the queen of jordan is palestinian. so that is just to offer a little context. and then finally, you mentioned the schools, and i'm glad you raised that. hamas was controlling the government in gaza. we say that they run the health ministry and they run the schools. you have to understand, and please take my word for it because i'm a reporter who has worked in gaza, the vast majority of people that i have spoken to, and i know a lot of americans question this, but believe me, the vast majority that i've spoken to in gaza belief they would have been better off without hamas. they were not supportive of hamas, that they had no

alternative. when we say indoctrinating young people to hate israel, it wasn't that they were hammering to hate israel. remember, gaza had gone through extreme periods of occupation and blockades. so the conditions were making it so that the palestinian people were resenting israel for those conditions, but for many, they just wanted to live. i'm not saying that people didn't hate, but what i'm saying is many of them also hate hamas, so it is just important to remember that in that context. host: i know that your time is running out with us and i know you've got a lot going on, but can you stick around a little bit longer with us to take some more calls? guest: only for you. host: pamela, miami, florida, independent. caller: thank you for had me on.

she is very biased and she is completely wrong about unra. unra is a corrupt enterprise, about a $10 billion enterprise with a huge amount of u.s. funding. it has about 13,000 employees. just a little background and history, there were equal number of jewish refugees from the war of independence, about 700,000 during the 1948 to 1950 conflict were absorbed by israel. unra has acted to actually prolong the conflict over 75 years. today, only about 35 direct descendants are alive. and by the way, other arab

countries don't even allow citizenship to palestinians except for jordan. guest: that is incorrect. the united arab emirates, qatar and a couple of others also great citizenship. a lot of developed countries do. caller: over 75 years i'm sure they have. in any case, i think unra is a totally corrupt organization and they played a deadly roll on october 7 and i think she is being very kind to them and covering up for them. the government should do their homework and admit the indoctrination and all the other crimes unra has been responsible for. it's also incredibly corrupt, as most organizations are. certainly they do a lot of good things, they do provide aid, but you've got to wonder why after 75 years do we still have a huge so-called refugee problem? it's not necessarily due to

israel. host: so pamela mentioned funding. i'm going to have you respond to that. i will put on the screen the funding for unra for 2022. total funding, $1.17lion and then the top funders are on your screen with the united states being at the top at $344 million followed by germany. guest: so i have seen accusations like the ones that you posed regarding wanting to prolong the refugee crisis. i assure you that there have been many other factors prolonging the refugee crisis for palestinians, and to my knowledge, based on my reporting and having lived in israel and worked in the west ink in gaza, -- west bank and gaza i have seen firsthand in some cases the

demolition of homes, the expansion of settler communities in the west bank u.s. right now is very concerned about. you have multiple wars, which have destroy homes and created an enormous refugee crisis. also keep in mind that the borders of israel were moving over the decades because of a series of wars with the neighboring arab countries before egypt and jordan made peace with israel. so there were a number of actor that fueled the refugee crisis for the palestinians. so as far these accusations go that unra sought to prolong the refugee crisis, i see no evidence of that, although i have seen people putting those accusations out there on twitter and other social media. host: one more call. winston, columbus ohio, democrat, good morning. caller: thanks for letting me on and i appreciate vivian for

sticking around. i did have a question because it seems like this whole conversation has gone on and not mentioned the fact that israel has been found to be by the international court of justice. this was like the furthest decision that they could make toward saying that israel is committing a genocide right now, and so the assistance ofeapons , the united states government, the biden administration is potentially assisting in genocide, the cutting off of unra funding which is largely responsible for helping people get food in the area that is deemed as descending into a famine condition, cutting off aid to the organization that is feeding them, that is assisting in the famine, assisting in the

potential genocide. i do wonder, can you speak all e international court of justice, the fact that israel is one of under a dozen countries that have ever been held to be potentially committing genocide, because it doesn't make any sense how 12 people are alleged to do something so a whole organization gets defunded. when the international court of justice looks at the evidence and sees that the israeli prime minister and other people in his cabinet are making genocidal claims, 30,000 civilians killed, all of gaza razed to the ground -- host: let's go ahead and get a response. guest: so just to correct you, winston, the icj actually did not find that there was enough evidence to say that israel had

the aunt to commit genocide. the israelis -- the intent to commit genocide. vzthe israelis were very pleased with that outcome. it did however say that the israelis need to do more to take action immediately to prevent additional civilian lives lost, and they were very concerned about that, but they did not go as far as defined genocide because you mentioned intent, that is something that they felt was not something that they had established with the evidence available. said, you are right to question, and the u.s. military aid, israel has been one of the largest if not the largest recipients of u.s. military aid for several decades now. there has been a growing group of lawmakers, mainly democrats in both the senate and the house led very much by bernie sanders

calling for a review and more scrutiny of the u.s. aid to israel over concerns that u.s. military aid, u.s. weapons were being used in its war where we see this enormous civilian death toll. for the most part so far that has been rejected by the administration and by most lawmakers on the hill. we believe that the u.s. needs to continue to support israel because it is its biggest and most important ally in the region, in the middle east, but also they see it as benefiting u.s. national security. really has not gained a lot of traction beyond that group of lawmakers who are largely progressive. that being said, the biden

administration is obviously growing very frustrated. sources that i've talked to understand that they have this enormous leverage over israel and could potentially pull the plug if they were to reach a point where they say enough is enough, too many people have died. they are not there as far as anyone i've talked not going to happen. it is certainly a conversation had behind the scenes in every court or of government here in washington. it is something that a lot of people are very concerned about and is definitely a lingering question. but for now, it remains only a question and i don't see it translating into action. host: vivian salama, national security reporter for the wall street j atwsj.com. thanks so much, nice to talk to you. coming upt 9:30 a.m. this morning, democratic congressman

gabe vasquez, a member of the armed services committee. he will talk about the deadly drone strike in jordan, a potential u.s. response as well as the southern border. but first, it is open for them. your chance to weigh in on any political or public policy issue on your mind this morning. you can start calling in now. the numbers are on your screen. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. ♪ >> henry william bryan's jr. has written close to 40 books in the past 36 years. the portland, oregon native is a professor of history at the university of texas, the same school where he earned his phd in 1985. his first american history book ■vkjin 1988 was titled cold

warriors: eisenhower's generation and american foreign poli. a list of his other books include one on lyndon johnson, woodrow wilson, andrew jackson, abraham lincoln, fdr and many others. we are going to talk with dr. bill brands about these and his newest offering about hamilton, madison, jefferson and john adams and a book called founding partisan. >> henry william bryan's jr. on this episode of bookotes plus. it is available on the c-span no mobile app or wherever your podcasts. friday night, watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail, a weekly roundup of c-span's campaign coverage providing a one-stop shop to discover where the candidates are traveling across the country and what they are saying to workers.

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apple store and google play. scan the qr code to download today or visit our website. your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. american history tv, saturdays on c-span two. exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 70 5 p.m. eastern we continue with the series "free to choose" coproduced by milton friedman and his wife rose friedman. this episode ted "from cradle-to-grave" looks at government welfare programs. and on lectures in history, the second part of a lecture by university of maryland history professor michael ross on the 1925 trial about teaching evolution and its cultural significance in 1920's america. 9:30 on the presidency, first ladies and civil rights.

a look at the complicate a history of american first ladies and race relations from slaveowner martha washington to michelle obama, the first african-american to all the position, hosted by the white house historical assiation. in on historic campaign speeches, a look at a 1988 speech by president george h w bush followed by 2020 democratic presidential candidate joe biden's victory speech after the soutry. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span 2 and find a chedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. welcome back to washington journal. it is open forums so we will take your calls on anything that you want to talk about, public policy or politics. we were just talking about the

middle east so i want to show you what happened on the senate floor yesterday. h mcconnell, and he criticized the biden administration for failing to compel iran and its proxies to change their behavio■vin the middle east. >> our objective is to compel iran and its proxies to stop attacking american forces and our interests in the region, and to preserve american influence. but to achieve this objective, we have to convince our adversaries that we are prepared to escalate and to threaten the interests that they hold dear. if the iranian regime thinks america is most afraid of escalation, it will use that fear because it believes it will drive us from the middle east

just as we were driven from afghanistan. it was reasonable to hope that proxy violence against american forces in the wake of the october 7 massacre in israel would convince the biden administration to start seriously exercising american strengths. it was reasonable to hope that a global superpower would begin to act like one. yet, but perhaps the gut wrenching tragedy of american casualties will finally wake this administration from its delusional approach to iran. yesterday, the secretary of defense after president biden's hollow assurance from earlier this month insisted that the admist "will not tolerate attacks on u.s. forces and we will take all necessary

action to defend the u.s. and our troops." unfortunately, this sentiment isn't yet backed by any action. the fact that iran's proxies have targeted americans 156 times in the past three months demonstrates that the biden administration is willing to tolerate attacks on u.s. forces. the question for the commander-in-chief is whether his options in the coming days will convince iran and its proxies that america's tolerance has been exhausted. host: and is open forums so we will start right away with your calls. caller: when one group refuses to concede the same rights and privileges to other is that it takes for granted for itself, there's always going to be a conflict. if the western allies dropped 2

million eastern european refugees into an area about the size of new jersey in 1948, you've got some people in this country whose hr is on fire even when it mexicans come across our border. the thing also is that, yoknow,n hundreds of palestinian villages being wiped off the map. it's obvious that for some people, there is no crime that the line or off-limits for them. we gave israel $10 million per day in military support and we've been doing that for decades, yet there is never any end to this horror show. we have a pattern that is so obvious.

this is just like jim crow-style racism with eastern europeans running a mark, with no controls, no borderline. can anybodenus where israel's borders are? is a state without borders. the international criminal court has been surrendering to this atrocity for decades, and nobody seems to care, nobody seems to know. donald trump, in four years in office he could have improved the situation, but he said now always got -- always got is october 7, everybody seems surprised. i wasn't surprised a bit. host: let's talk to michael in atlanta, georgia. democrat. michael? doesn't look like i can get that. caller: hello, can you hear me?

hey there. i just wanted to call in. you had a great caller on a couple minutes ago talking a was sufficient evidence, proof of intent to commit a genocide. so essentially for the public that means israel has been indicted. and then you had your guest vivian on who just straight up lied and said that is not true. i'm just really curious what you thought about having somebody on here to throw red herrings around while 25,000 civilians have been wiped off the face of destroyed. history is not really confused on this and i just can't really faom you keep ringing guests on who are trying to trick listeners into thinking 25,000 dead people and civilians with our tax dollars and our weapons is not a problem and doesn't need to be addressed as a genocide.

host: regarding that ruling by the icj, this is on friday, january 26. the courts stop short of ordering an israeli cease-fire, instead directed israel to take every measure possible to avoid genocide while also ensuring humanitarian aid. bob, illinois, republican. caller: good morning. love c-span. i have two topics i want to touch on but with regards to dave from florida, i wouldn't mind if you mexicans coming across the border. i only mined one million per year coming as long as they are paying attention to our laws. but when you get 8 million, that is another thing. anyhow, my first topic, president biden is always saying on day one he introduced a

proposal to control immigration, and he did nothing. the democrats control the white house, the senate, they did absolutely nothing. so he could stop it if he wanted to, but they've got their plans going the way they want them to. but the other topics, the democrats often complain about how chaotic trump is. what sent trump into a chaotic mood was when he won the election, immediately president obama, susan rice, i don't know who are, started unmasking the people he was bringing into the administration. they never had an answer for that at the fbi or the doj. they were all against trump and they have been for seven years. with a little hope and luck from the independents with a strong turnout in november, trump will get back in here and get this country back on the right path.

thanks. host: minneapolis, minnesota, independent. caller: good morning. i'd like to bring up a fact and then go another direction. night, they had this large meeting with all these senators trying to hang mayorkas. that's fine, but they seemed to stick around until midnight, and yet they can't seem to pass these crs that are so temporary and are not looking at the overall debt, nor doing anything about it. all we do is bicker and fight. the other point i want to make is -- well, actually, that's about all. host: ted did mention mayor mayorkas. i think we might have that clip to show you on house speaker

mike johnson. once we have that, i will definitely show you that. there is. we've got it. this is the house speaker criticizing secretary mayorkas' effots, a lot -- efforts, along with criticizing that send bipartisan deal on the border. >> sec. mayorkas rolled out a welcome mat for millions and millions of illegal immigrants and that is what we past three years. just four months into his term as secretary of the department of homeland security, mr. mayorkas appeared before us and the judiciary committee and i told them on that day and a cliff that many people have seen, he needed to prepare his resume because it became immediately apparent to us he was not doing his job. in fact, he was undermining the very system he was supposed to administer. this is laughable. the president is trying to flip the script. he wants to try to blame house

republicans in some way for the nationals early and committed. catastrophes that he caused. i can't make a full judgment on the national security supplemental at the full details of not yet been released, but based on the news reports that have been leaked, sec. mayorkas helped negotiate and it seemed the new authority to shut down the border would kick in only after as many as 5000 illegal crossings happen each day. why? why would we do that? illegal immigration is illegal. whwoul you sought to suddenly enforce the law? that would be surrender. the goal should be zero illegal crossings, not 5000. in all of the authority should be utilized at zero. host: indianapolis, indiana, democrat. caller: good morning.

first of■@ all, mike johnson, te so-called speaker of the house is just really unbelievable. so the senate republicans and joe biden did what they did to work on the border, to help secure more officers on the border, to capture illegal people crossing the border and the donald trump made a phone call to the house republicans to shut it down. the reason being because republicans need a talking point for the election. so here, all these brown people coming across the border playing into the whole great replacement theory so that they have something to talk about. he also liked that cheap labor. and a lot of republicans are beholden to corporate america, so as far as that, as long as corporate america had something to say about that, it's not

going to happen. that is all it is. middle class, middle america white folks coming across the border, and senator langford of oklahoma delivered a solution to curb a lot of that. but also, what is the republican obsession? now it is taylor swift. what is the matter, republicans, first mickey mouse, ron desantis , now it is taylor swift. you guys are afraid of women or something. host: let's talk to earl in kissimmee, florida. caller: i have been listening to c-span since 1982.

there wasn't area like a town square where you could share ideas. one of the things that i noticed is i used to think world powers were racist but i finally concluded that they are really immoral. it allowed them to spy and sell people to kill indians because they wanted their wealth and they did the same thing with south africa. and then you found a new word for greed, capitalism. a new word for liars, politicians and you have the nerve to call yourself a judeo-christian nation.

they don't have a temple and these christians who call themselves christians none of them talk about the principles jesus talk about. you have killed more people world war i 20 million, world war ii 50 million. you have can millions of people every year there is a war going on. c-span, please keep an archive of washington journal," notes because i will be doing a thesis to follow up. host: i assure you we will keep all of our programming and you

can look through our video library on c-span.org. if you are on the line stay with us but first we are joined by a reporter, chris marquette. thank you. i want tomr start with your article in roll call search and false warning calls leads to hug's emergency calls. guest: swatting is an increasing trend happening recently and much people, bad actors will call in a fake 911 call. in this case swatting members of

and since christmas, there have been 34 members who have been the target of swatting incidents. what these people do, they call and fake 911 calls to the member's address using ai with fake screams and glass shattering in order to induce a large law enforcement response with officdeding on the house with guns drawn. host: this is a concern on multiple levels given the heightened sense of danger. there are guns involved in th tt called wolf so when there is an actual emergency they might not

his response -- might not respond as quickly? guest: i spoke to a member from georgia who had been swatted eight times, including her had 11 swatting incidents in the first time there was a swatting call law enforcement drawn and luckily, it did not end up tragically but it is a scary incident nonetheless. recently over the weekend there were two publicly reported cases with tom emmer, a leader of membership in the call was placed ozark county but he

was in ozark so they knew that something was up because someone from the area would have known the two counties marjorie taylor greene were swatted over christmas and that was very prominent in the news. as a proactive measure the house sergeant at arms has encourage them to reach out to local police departments and have a conversation with them an emergency contact number and if you get any calls, reach out to us and make sure to validate so if it is indeed a swatting incident like it was with burlison they won't respond with

guns blazing. they had a hunche÷y6 it was swag e of the county discrepancy. at the same time, it's a tough area, a tough line because do you not send the cops but what s a real emergency? it is a tough line to toe. but we sought work out as well as it could with burlison it was a tempered law enforcement response but it is sucking up valuable law enforcement resources that should not have to be diverted to that. host: what is in place to protect members if anything? guest: they have a $10,000 pool

they make available to house lawmakers and they can use it to bolster home security there is one $150 a month they can use for home monitoring. and out pool you can use that on cyber security. so they will work with you on those fronts and so i mentioned earlier, if you want to you can proactively reach out to the locals just so you know this is been going on. those are thes in the capitol police and local law enforcement and the fbi are tasked with tracking down these

people making these calls but they are really hard to find because they are coming from overseas and using vpns and it's difficult to track down. just over the weekend, after the burlington incident the house sergeant an arm send out a reminder to members outlining what i said. host: cori bush is being investigated for campaign funds being spent on security services. what are the details there? guest: if you can recall last year at the office of congressional ethics investigated whether she used campaign funds to pay her husband who was a security officer on her team above market

value. she announced that they had e matter but they are investigating whether she paid her husband above market value. in her statement she said the doj did not comment. it is unclear whether or not their scope is larger than the ethics entities in congress are pursuing. the department of justice is currently investigating her but it is unclear if the doj is looking at something broader than paying her husband above

market value for security services. host: axios is reporting house democrats are organizing a task force to look at security. guest: tom marelli the top ranking member that oversees the capitol police when issues arise that are of concern to members that are of concern to members they get briefed. marelli,he capitol police and talk about best practices and how to stay safe one example was the israel hamas war broke out in the data briefing on keeping the member

safe. as current events happen, they will get together and hear from the house sergeant at arms and security experts on those fronts. host: chris marquette, you could find his reporting at roll call.com. thank you very much. we are in open forum but i wanted to show you cori bush's statement on those allegations we talked about from the capitol steps yesterday. [video clip] >> the department of justice is reviewing my campaign spending on security services. ly cooperating and i would like to outline the facts and truth. since before i was sworn in i have received threats to my

life. i am not entitled to personal protection and used funds to retain security services. any reporting that i used funds for personal security is simply false. right wing organizations have lodged complaints against me .dsaying i have been misusing campaign funds to pay for personal security services. that is not true. i have complied with all house rules and continue to abide by those rules. thna allegations are around by husband's role, i retain my husband as part of my

security team because he has had extensive experience in this area and is able to provide the necessary services at or below the market rate. the house committee on ethics is reviewing the matter and we are fully cooperating and all pending investigations. in september of last year after a month-long investigation the office of congressional ethics found no wrongdoing and voted unanimously to dismiss the case. i look forward to the same outcome for all investigations. host: we are an open forum taking your calls. we will speak to stephen, and arizona. caller: i would like to say, if

trump was president, i think without a doubt that ukraine would not have been invaded. i think hamas doing what they have done for decades, afghanistan, do people think we would've left those weapons behind if trump was in office? i'# bided blames trump for the withdrawal and afghanistan -- in afghanistan. i listen to democratic caller and i respect them but we would

not be in this turmoil of the world respected biden. caller: what is being done on the others of the border where they are not cooperating with the u.s. and why they are not facing a penalty. i would also like to address health care in america. it is so bad and corrupt that we need our law enforcement to look into that. host: in what way for health care? caller: it is very abusive. i have been on medicare and medicaid for four years in the abuse and immoral and unethical

practices are unforgivable. host: michael in st. petersburg, florida. caller: the reason i am calling in is to let everyone know in thisou we live in a democracy. i like my freedom, my freedom to voice myw opinion and i believe that everybody who is registered needs to make sure they are eligible to vote because this presidential election is going to change the landscape of america. i want you to remember what these candidates say publicly. if everyone remembers, trump said himself if i am elected the first day i will be a dictator. dictator, remember that word.

this, no dictator, no king, no trump. host: north carolina, spring lake, on the democrat line. caller:■j the first thing is,0g■ mitch o'connell wife is chinese. host: she is chinese-american. caller: she is from one of the wealthiest families in china. that is .1. point 2, they said 11 million

illegals under obama, now there are 7 million. where did those 4 million go? host: richard in oklahoma on the independent line. caller: good morning can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: i am 50 one, widowed. my wife died of cancer and i raised my kids, served in the military, marine corps on the ground. i'm a little bit disgusted with the leadership on both sides and mike, today would be an effort to offer a solution for the

border process we have going on. i appreciate your show of the platform to be able to get a message out. do you have 12 years of education at a minimum? host: where you going with this? caller: so you have 12 years of public education that taught you how to be a civilized citizen in the united states and how to function in society anfollow rules. two of our migrants to come across the border without educating them, we have a u.n.

in my opinion any time once to seek asylum it would seem to me the u.n. would be the best resource to provide a border school in the areas affected the most and leave them in a border school where they can be repatriated or reeducated to be able to function in that society and be successful. it feels like a moral obligation not to bring someone into a country that they don't even understand and set them free and expect them not to commit crimes in the basic human instinct of survival and if it comes down to it they will steal, kill and do

whatever to survive. host: let's go to the tiny and berkshire, texas. -- in berkshire, texas. caller: a couple of years ago, in the 80's, with president carter started realizing what the democratic party is about. it is about total control and total annihilation of owning everyone in the station. president biden wanting to blaine trump for the people coming over here. he stood on the platform on tv

and told them to come. flooded he said. that is what he said. we have people calling in saying it is donald trump's fault. every policy that trump set he dissolved it and then they want to put him in jail. the democratic party because the insurrection in the assassinated ashli babbitt. host: luis lewis in south carolina. caller: that was something to hear that. i am calling him about this israelite thing.

benjamin netanyahu when putin invaded ukraine, netanyahu with to russia to speak to putin but said he wanted to be over the supreme court so he started a riot and left their post. evidently this was already set up for an invasion to. not one israeli mention the names of jehovah, jesus they can even quote the scripture out of the word of god and at the same time

they will tell you shalom. that israel we know of in the bible is not the israel we see today. it is totally different. americans need to get out of there and back to ukraine. in this lady saying bided allowing people to come in. where i live there are a lot of hispanics working, they are already at the border and businesses, holding offices and they are out here complaining trying to stop hispanics from coming in when they are still taking that cheap labor from them. democrats, we look out for your food stamps, social security, we

are fixing the bridges and for the military and they still want to talk about donald trump as if he is the man. you are the losers under donald trump. host: let's go to nancy next, a democrat. are you there? caller: yes ma'am. &what i really wanted to call in about was two things. number one, i don't understand why the republicans are not giving the money to ukraine over russia. since the beginning of this issue i have always saiding to n , he wants the black sea.

they are trying to take over the red sea. if we don't keep him out of the ukraine what in sub happening that gives him a straight shot to europe. we don't need to be in another world war. i am■i born and raised in the state of louisiana and have traveled all over the world with eight years of college and i am so ashamed and disappointed in the representatives of the state of louisiana. here if you don't want to take care of the state with the department of environmental quality over the chemical companies on the mississippi were and take care of wildlife and fisheries. who do you think have given up

their adult lives so every single republican, you need to grow up or move. because you are not a representative of the people in this state of louisiana. host: have you written to your congressman? caller: i don't want to be anywhere around them. i love people and i worked my whole life and paid into the system there are a lot of things i can complain about but when you have an individl from this state that is not taking the citizens of the state and helping us, it is a shame. host: let's go to can in -- ken in connecticut. caller: good morning how are

you? host: good. er the first thing is about the border. i can understand how the democratic party inks we want this in america and they are paying our tax dollars to support immigrants who should not even be coming into this country. they immigrants who are not even american citizens. looking n york with people sitting all over the streets freezing. what did you guys come here for to sit in the gutter? did anybody offer you a job? did you have plans when you came here? he just came over the border from every country.

and now, we have all tse people in our country and what we do? where do we house them, they will take more tax dollars to give the people who are not americans that we suffer. why don't you put them on a bus or a plane. send them back to their own country down. host: we will talk about the southern border with our next guest as well as the deadly drone strike in jordan and we will be joined by rep gabe vasquez. >> the c-span podcast app makes it easy for you to listen to

multiple episode with authors discussing history, current events, signature programs, afterwards and q&a. listen to the bookshelf podcast feed on the free c-span now video app or on our website c-span.org/podcasts. book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their nonfiction books. former trump chief of staff talks about the five-year presidency ended 10:00 p.m.

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c-span voices 2024, be a part of the conversation. "washington journal," continues. host: we are joined by rep gabe vasquez member of the armed services committee. i would like to start with that deadly drone attack in jordan. the response to that and what is your thinking in terms of possible responses? guest: first, my heart goes out to the family of those service members that were killed in that deadly drone attack in jordan. it is never acceptable to lose american lives but we are seeing an escalating conflict that has the potential for wide& range

implications while i believe an investigation is necessary we have to be careful not to engage in a larger global conflict playing out in the middle east beginning with the conflict in israel/palestine. i think the administration understands the importance of diplomacy while making sure that we as americans solidify her capabilities and our show of force in a region that has the potential to escalate conflicts that could impact our national security. host: would you be in favor of direct strikes against iran? guest: we need to understand where the attacks came from and

who funded them and go after the direct actors who were responsible for. i look forward to undersnding better what happened in this situation as we are just getting this information about what happened here. first and foremost we have to act strategically within the use of force. host: do you support a cease-fire and if so, what conditions which you put on it? guest: i want to acknowledge and condemn the attacks of hamas on the israeli people that led to this conflict in the first place and secondly i was the first member of the new mexico delegation to call for a cease-fire after seeing the disproportionate response killing civilians. we want to avoid a response where civilian suffer from■thise

disproportionate use of force. people are looking for solutions on both sides so there is a discussion about what the future of israeli government looks like in the accountability for foreign aid■-ollars specifically funding going to israel and making sure there are no human rights violation with tax payer dollars are over seas. we have to do more but however, the negotiations are ongoing to release those hostages in exchange for a cease-fire there has to be longer-term thinking about how to achieve peace in this region and that is

something i am working with my colleagues under this big umbrella. host: if you would like to join our conversation you could do so democrats (202) 748-8000blicans, independents (202) 748-8002. you are in the hispanic caucus in your district borders the southern border. can you tell us the impact your constituents are seeing from the situation at the border? guest: it is an evolving situation on the border. i grew up on the others have the border, born in chihuahua. i have lived a bicultural life my whole life. 180 miles of the border is a

place that is my home. the evolving situation is something i know personally. that is why i recently issued the deal that dealt with the impacts my constituents are facing the influence of the cartels and coyotes use the kids to be drug meals. i'm advocating for security to prevent fentanyl from coming over the border. we have the technology to identify fentanyl and opioids at

points of entry. i have been frustrated that republicans have ignored these calls. several other bills that deal with farmworker labor fill critical positions and health care and building our infrastructure. comments and solutions to address the immigration conversation have not been taken up by republicans and what we are seeing now, the houses stalling and being able to have any meaningful legislation on the floor because of politics are right for them and that's not right for the american people. this is a humanitarian crisis and work on it issue that we

have kicked down the can. the politics are getting in the way and i wish republicans would do more to solve the solutions. i have put my bills on the floor. if they would be willing to look at realistic solutions to this crisis. host: what is it about a to that you don't like that would cause you not to support it? guest: at the end of the day there is no chance of passing in the senate and the president would veto. when you talk about bipartisan solutions to bring a resolution hr two is not a realistic bill. when you talked about permanent changes to asylum or building moreor, it's an

unserious proposal. it might be what they would like to have in their perfect immigration bill but you have to negotiate with the other party. if it is not going to pass in the senatethe president's veto you have to come up with different solutions. host: caller let's speak to caller: i listen to all of these callers who blame biden for this and that. donald trump was there for four years and all of a sudden these republicans are talking about■fe

don't want to do this, we don't want to do that. please clear your mind's because donald trump is a rapist. host: let's get a response of be republicans are blaming biden for the crisis at the border. guest: i feel the biden administration could have been doing more since beginning to get a handle of a strategy on dealing directly with the asylum seeker crisis. i think a lot has to do with resources to process asylum-seekers. that is what the border

supplemental package potentially seeks to solve. i think those issues should be completely separate and voted on their own merit. but oftentimes we have to make trade-offs so should the administration have done more in the beginning of its term to get a handle of the crisis? ar we had a place where the administration is now working with senate republicans to bring a solution to the table? and who is blocking this proposal? the house republicans. that's where the blame lies. host: an independent in huntington, pennsylvania. caller: i would like to say thank you for your service. first off, the very first day joe biden was in office he did

away with every border policy that was written under. i know people don't like trump, there were impeachments, and now he is a dictator because he made a joke. i said yesterday as i have with every hearing with mayorkis. the man needs to be impeached. where are the billions of dollars that we have spent on the tense for them to sleep? the tents for them to cope? if you go on to youtube and watch independent journalists go up and down, there is one man

who says you don't know who i am now but you will know who i am. he was released into the interior of the country. under president trump we have 11 on the terror watch list it is wide open. the money is for more border patrol, take them out and stop making sandwiches and babysitting. put them back on the border and turn these people around. they are finding id cards and passports they are leaving on the others of the vents because they don't want us to know who they are. we have spent so much money on these detainment centers. host: let's try getting a

response. guest: thank you for your call today i appreciate your point of view. from 6, 7 years ago from the first wave of the asylum crisis after the first family separation. i was just recently down in the sacred heart church of el paso talking about why they chose to come here and the conditions they had to get here which oftentimes are horrible and i learned about the legal process to claim asylum. what i can agree with you on, we need more resources for processing asylum-seekers. our asylum seeking process was not designed for this volume of people seeking asylum and that is something we can agree on. when it comes■= to support for e

legal and housing and humanitarian process to legally allow asylum seekers to follow the process in this country and follow the laws of the books we need more resources at the border. border custom agents at points of entry, immigration judges and facility to house migrants are part of the solution. this administration is working with senate republicans on a deal that we could see in a week or two, we may never see it. but we are trying to find solutions informed by the conditions on the ground in liko and arizona that will match the support we need for this hunitarian crisis. in less we see that we won't see any relief on the border. host: elise in springfield, missouri. caller: thank you for taking my

call it good morning congressman. ing i would really appreciate you helping me with. i would love c-span interview the former u.k. colonel kemp from the 70's-2006 when it comes to the debacle. i had the experience of viewing firsthand being on instagram and youtube the go pro videos from the hamas terrorist that i had the opportunity to listen to

reporters on the ground in gaza in the celebration of children dressed in uniform in the summer camp that lost two weeks. i don't want my tax dollars going to an organization that indoctrinate young children to want to be jihadi terrorist. i don't want them to go to the palestinian authority to torch families and i don't think our tax dollars belong in that arena. host: did you have one more thing? caller: and as far as immigration, i have to tell i have seen this on the show

more than i want to. in 1986i remember distinctly president reagan in the business community saying we don't want to be responsible for monitoring ouemoyees. the republicans have used this as a terror tactic on the american people and i think it is high time it stops. the coke brothers love illegal icans. guest: i understand it is difficult to digest what is happening in the israeli/hamas conflict at this point ing time and looking for permanent solutions that solve some of those bedrock, foundational reasons for conflict is something we will have to work

on as a country with our allies in the middle east. one important thing about having an ally like israel is they are the only democracy in the united states. mean economic policies and sanctions that have been imposed on their neighbors ha impact on the people in those communities. longer-term if we are to achieve peace in the middle east and eliminate terrorism we have to look at rebuilding these communities, not from our perspective but with our partners in the middle east that can create that equality and sharing resources like the delivery of electricity and aid. those are things we have to look at in the future if we have a two state solution and that is critically important.

to your second point, around immigration, i hear you loud and clear. we recently had farm bill negotiations for mandatory e-verify for all producers and farmworkers. it was republicans who negotiated the requirement out of the farm because migrant labor powers agricultural business we would see food costs rising because we would have no one to pick our onions, chilis, work in our dairies and in our meatpacking facilities. that is a reality americans have

to come to terms with doing the jobs a lot of folks don't want to do. i will continue to work towards that and educating on my current contributions in this country. caller: i am a veteran, the fact that donald trump should even be running for president in the border is out of control. the first thing you should do is put the military on the border. and the democrats are not going to win unless you do that because people around about the border. why don't you do something? bided put the military at the border?

guest: i think the solutions are multifaceted, they have used the national guard and technology. what we have found with this crisis is the majority of folks are coming through ports of entry. when we talk about the resources needed with the conditions currently happening at the it'se port of entry and that is where we should funnel the resources because side is where they are seeking asylum. this is different than what we have traditionally seen with folks not necessarily wanting to participate in the asylum process.

routes from farmworkers that come into our district and in terms of the resources we deployed to help support this current humanitarian crisis, until congress gets their act together on meaningful reform we have to deal with the crisis at ports of entry because we are seeing this impacts all across the country. we have to be careful about how we distribute those resources. host: we have chimney next from maine. caller: i finally got a chance to say something. the empire wins with arm sales happen. the empire wins when the arms sales happen. host: let's go to jodi, a republican.

caller: he was on tv yesterday during impeachment time, running his mouth about trump. he went to bed with thene spy. he should be impeached. host: your thoughts on the impeachment process of secretary mayorkas. guest: i think it is an unserious proposal and i think it's meant to distract away from solving this border crisis. we are working to strike a deal they can come to the house floor and we are seeing an impeachment that will go nowhere and distracts away from a larger

solution and that is something we will not see in many republicans will not support because they want to use immigration as a political issue in the next the former president has signaled that he wants to use this as an issue to run on. i think idihey are talking about this in the media and it doesn't benefit us to solve this issue. that is the biggest issue we have to solve, this mayorkas impeachment is a distraction from that. host: we know you recently visited a migrant detention facility in your can you tell me why you went and what you saw there? guest: we have several of them in new mexico and my biggest using private prison corporations to detain folks

whose only issue is attempting to entering the country illegally. they have little to no oversight. we made a surprise visit. we heard some very tough reports and deplorable conditions within the detention center and saw firsthan serving, the lack of access to legal services. we caught wind that there was nearly a riot in the senate when we were in the library talking to these detainees because folks wanted to make sure they can speak to us about these awful conditions they are experiencing. ccountability act that seeks to wield oversight

that are either publicly or privately funded. we are a nation of immigrants and should not be treating people the way that especially n centers in my district. host: g a democrat on the armed services committee. i hope we didn't make you late. guest: thank you mimi, i really appreciate it. host: we wanted to show you the portion of daniel goldman talking about the impeachment effort in the house. he was saying is just an attempt to trump reelected. [video clip] >> you claim secretary mayorkas working under president biden's

failing to secure the border. the irony of this secretary mayorkas has spent the last two months with the bipartisan group of senators negotiating legislation that would address the problem at the border should not be lost on anyone. you are sitting here trying to impeach a secretary of homeland security for neglecting his duties literally while he is trying to perform his duties and negotiate legislation. now, the real reason we are here, as we all know, is because donald trump wants to run on immigration for his number one issue in the november 2024 election. and you don't have to take my word for it, because he said it himself.

and last week, republicans echoed his call. why would we actually solve the problems that the border when it isuch a good political message to use for the election? host: and we are about to take you over to the hsethey are goig and very shortly, but also starting very shortly on c-span3 is the ceo's of social media companies. they will testify today on child sexual exploitation. witnesses include meta's mark zuckerberg, as well as the ceo's of x, d snap. that is starting momentarily over on c-span3, c-span now, and c-sp.os it for today's "washington journal." thank you, everyone for joining us.