you know he's trying to do that and you are fine with the dictator as long as he's your dictator and that is the problem. host: siriusxm progress host, dean obeidallah, thank you for being with us this morning. that is it for today's washington journal. thank you to everyone who called in and our guests. we will be back tomorrow morning was another show at 7:00 a.m. eastern and 4:00 a.m. pacific. enjoy the rest of your sunday. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

is next. ♪ host: this is "washington journal" for sunday, june 2. last week, former president

donald trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in the new york hush money case. two justices say they will recuse themselves. we want to hear from you a. how confident are you in the u.s. legal system? republicans, your line is (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you would like to text us you can do so at (202) 748-8003. be sure to include your name and city. you can also post a question or comment on facebook at facebook.com/cspan or on x at @cspanwj. it was thursday that the jury came down with the verdict for former president donald trump, guilty on all 34 counts. former president trump spoke to the press friday about the verdso we will continue the fight.

host: the judge has set the date of the sentencing for july 11 days before the republican national convention in milwaukee

, wisconsin. the manhattan district attorney also spoke to reporters after the verdict was announced thursday. here are s remarks. >> first, i want to thank the service. drovers perform a fundamental civic duty. -- jurors perform a fundamental civic duty. we should all be thankful for the careful attention that this jury paid to the evidence and law and their time and commitment over these past several weeks. 12 everyday new yorkers and our alternates heard testimony from 22 witnesses, including former and current employees of the defendant, media executives, book custodians of res, and others. they reviewed call logs and emails.

they heard recordings. they saw checks and invoices bank statements and calendar appointments. this type of white-collar prosecution is core to what we do at the manhattan district attorney's office. in the 1930's, a district attorney ushered in the era of the modern independent professional prosecutor. now, nearly 90 years dedicated professionals in this office have built upon that tradition. a major part of our practice hincluding involving local estate elections and others. i wanted to thank this phenomenal prosecution team. embodying the finest traditions this

office, professionalism, integrity, dedication, and service. they are model public servants and i am proud and humbled to serve side-by-side with them. the 12 everyday jurors vowed to make a decision based on evidence and law and evidence unlawful alone. their deliberations led them to a unanimous conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. while this defendant may be unlike any other in american history, we arrived at this

trial and at this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the court doors. by following the facts and law and doing so without fear. host: we want to hear from you. how confident are you in the u.s. legal system? let's hear first from joyce in kentucky on the republican line. caller: i am not very confident at all. democrats should not be throwing rocks. they spent over half $1 trillion of government money on illegals when the blacksrations. i think the government is out of control. host: you said the entire government. caller: the entire government is out of control. he needs to be reined back in and run by the people.

host: let's go to jail in alabama on the democrat line. good morning, joe. >> i think we do have a fair justice system. to say that as a black american i think is kind of like fair to say in some cases and i think the only victim here was melania trump and i think she has to stand up and say guilty and she should stand for all women who happen treated on by their husbands. this is her window of opportunity to stand for all of us and i think the next thing is i hope the doj comes after her because she should have recused herself. she is a weak link in the justice system. there are weaklings and we cannot let them get away with it. hopefully the next thing that happens is that eileen cannon gets thrown off the judiciary in

florida. host: eddie in alabama, good morning. >> i don't think the justice system is fair because there are so many people, innocent people, locked up for no crimes. and donald trump -- he has been to court already and found guilty of everything. i want to know about that $500 million and they ain't talking about that no more. they let him come on and he is saying something about all of africa coming in and how corrupt

africa -- he named a lot of places and then these black people want to vote for him. this is crazy. no. the system is not made for colored people. it is made for clowns like him. they let him get on and just talk. republicans just love him making all kind of money. i am blind. i asked for a gofundme. i did not get not one cent from nobody, but donald trump can be a criminal and all this money -- this is keeping him -- just coming on talking. i just heard his speech. it made me almost throw up. it is sickening, having him come on every day crying and complaining.

he is the one doing all this crime and trying to get away with paying people to get away with his crime. people who want to vote for donald trump need to wake up. because -- host: we will go to mike in california on the republican line. good morning. caller: i am tired of the haters in the media. all they do is hate and divide and some of the blacks are waking up and liberalism does not equate to better and victim allah g -- victimology does not equate to betterment. black people just want to go through life being victims. host: we are talking about the u.s. legal system and your confidence in it.

caller: my confidence is shattered after this because it can be politicized. nobody can say this was not politicized the judges is a biden donor. they asked for a change of venue. they did not get that. it was all kinds of inconsistencies. i'm not an attorney, but there were all kinds of inconsistencies and they did not really circumvent president trump and it was unfair by everybody. i am embarrassed for the democrats but it really showed -- a really manipathetic the people that run the democratic party are. they are really vacuous of any sort of morals whatsoever at all , to engage in these sort of tactics against president trump. beat him fairly and squarely. if you cannot, that is too bad. to engage in these tactics and circumvention it is obvious for everybody to see and america sees it and i cannot wait to

vote the republican line. host: chris in seattle on the democrats line. caller: i was going through some papers the other day and i cut out this article and political cartoon in the seattle times back in 2018 after john away and the cartoon shows the former president looking on his tombstone with the quote by john mccain that says nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself. something that encompasses you but is not defined by you alone. in the cartoon, it shows the former president standing there looking at it and his response is i don't get it. there is nothing bigger than me. regarding our justice system -- i have one more thing about that.

there was a provocative column attached to the cartoon and the question was what will your legacy be, mr. president? what will your legacy be? it says two ex-president agreed to eulogize mccain, a man with whom neither were personally closed but most regarded with respect. it is hard to imagine any ex-president giving you a eulogy, so who do you think you will get? kid rock or vladimir putin? regarding our justice system, i don't know. let's look at the central five. the central park five. how justice was done there. finally, it was, but what those young men had to endure at those young ages and the former president taking out full-page ads in the new york times saying

there should be a death penalty for them, i don't know. now that they she was on the other foot, the republicans are all screaming about fairness. i find that the height of hypocrisy. it is disgusting on every level. and we will have to see how strong the country is. i just believe that he is getting what he asked for, so one last thing i will say is and i am quoting, he said what will your legacy be? he says, the thing is we write our own eulogies. someone delivers it, but each of us authors his own in the life he lives and memories he leaves. despite having 72 years to work

on, the eulogy you have written thus far is meager and pathetic. you -- your inability to muster even modicum of decency diminishes your eulogy even more. there is a cautionary wisdom here. if you only had the wit to understand it. your funeral is coming. you probably never thought about that. this will be a good time to start. host: that was trish in seattle. before trish, we heard from mike and he talked about the fairness with which former president trump was treated during his trial. here is more from the press conference friday. >> as far as the trial itself, it was unfair.

we were not allowed to use our election expert under any circumstances. you saw what happened to some of the witnesses that were on our side. they were literally crucified by this man, who looks like an angel but is really a devil. he looks so nice and soft. he seems like such a nice man. no, unless you saw him in action. and you saw that witness that went through help and when we wanted to do things he would not let us do those things, but when the government wanted something they got everything they wanted. it was a rigged trial. we wanted a venue change where we could have a fair trial. we did not get it. we wanted a judge change. ot conflicted and obviously he did not do that. nobody has ever seen anything like it.

we had a d.a. who was a field to d.a.. crime is rampant in new york violent crime. that is what he is supposed to be looking at. crime is rampant in new york. yesterday you had a man hitting him up with a machete. whoever can imagine even a machete being wheeled in in a store, in a place where they are eating and watching the trial. host: one of the claims former president trump made during the press conference was that they were not allowed to use our election expert under any circumstance. today's new york times says that is false. the judge did not bar the election expert in question, the former chairman of the federal election commission, from testifying but did limit what he could say.

ultimately, mr. trump's lawyer did not call upon mr. smith. the justice ruled that mr. smith could testify generally about the election commission and defined terms related to the case like campaign contributions. in make my the judge noted that allowing mr. smith to testify would invite testimony from an election expert chosen by prosecutors resulting in a battle of the experts. we are talking with you about how confident you are in the u.s. legal system. we are hearing from you via text and tweets. he confidence in gas station sushi. let's hear from james in tennessee on the independent line. good morning, james. caller: this is james from indiana. i won't have the ability to sit

and rant and rave all i want to and get paid for it and get contributions the way that trump does and of course i will be called a hater because of the way i am approaching this thing but have confidence in the system? i have less confidence in the system if he gets out of this. what we are supposed to have is a legal system that is about as good as we can get. all 12 of those people can be nullified because of the outcome was not what they wanted -- a long time ago i knew people who got in trouble and people that were supporting them were such good friends even though they were guilty and they ended up getting -- they were found guilty of what they did. there was people that got mad and did not like it.

it is just the best we've got. what are the young people supposed to think? if people do things like has happened here if he gets out of that, what are the people who are already in prison for things that are a whole lot less severe , are they supposed to get out and be free because somebody did not like the outcome? it is the best we've got, so how much -- the confidence i have is this. i was confident because he was convicted and he should have been. but if he gets out of this for whatever reason, if these politicians that are backing him -- i can't believe it. you got any questions for me? host: you said if you get out of it it would not be fair. is being convicted enough for you or with the sentence also factor in? caller: the sentencing won't

matter that much. he will be handled with kid gloves. all he has ever known is handled with kid gloves. at leastconvicted did mean something. had -- he was president and all that. the people who don't have riches to support them, the people who have come to understand there is a way that people to -- do tend to get out of things if they have good lawyers and good money. so yes, being convicted did mean something to me and it did give me confidence in the system. if he gets out of this, that is a poor example for young people in this country to see. host: that was james in indiana. let's hear from tom on the republican line.

caller: i would say i love america. in all its systems, legal and social in his people. i am a god-fearing man. i paid my dues. host: go ahead. caller: i am going to church later on. i hope people in this country band together and -- for the challenges that made us ahead. host: tom saying he has confidence in all systems. back in september 2023, their headline views of supreme court remain near a record low. their chart shows that the approval rating of the u.s. supreme court is at 41% with 58%

disapproving of their job. let's hear from freddie from texas on the democrats line. good morning, freddie. caller: i am very confident in the system. i think america would be great if a lot of us would get up and vote your conviction and president biden is a man of integrity and a good role model for all of us for generations to come. no man is above the law. host: james in texas calling on the independent line. caller: hello. am i on? host: you are. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a black 65-year-old man and i enjoy your program with all

the moderators you have there. on the question of the confidence in the u.s. legal system, since when in the united states of america has the judicial system ever been judicial and jus just by virtue of the constitution and the laws that are on the books of the beginning of america is biased in his language. what we are looking at with the judicial system now, we are looking at a demonic spirit that we are sitting back and playing with and we are looking at it as sensational news and something to talk about, but we are looking at a personality of demonic influence that is trying to go back to the beginning of how america was created with all of the people back then, but the

only problem is that it targeted one specific culture. now there are multiple cultures that are in america that that demonic spirit is going to target. we talk about hamas and the things happening in the middle east and we shrieked at that but we have to understand that is a demonic presence that is soon to come to america if we continue to play with this daemonic spirit. the fact of the matter that people in america can sit back and advertise the daemonic spirit and look at it like it is one individual is ridiculous because it is not that individual. he has no power. it is the power that is controlling him. we are seeing that. we are hearing that. we are witnessing that. we are looking at everything

that has happened. the judicial system was fair before. now it is partial because of one individual, absolutely not. we have 200 million people in america. why is demons just going after one individual? no. he is inception to get people to understand or to miss what we are actually seeing. host: let's hear from frank in texas on the republican line. caller: yes ma'am. i would just like to say that if you look at the democrats over the years, look what they did to a good christian black man in judge thomas. they tried to drive him down. a good, christian black man judge thomas. let's move down. judge kavanaugh. they brought in a lying woman

just like they did on judge thomas come and try to lie about him and try to drive him down. let's look at miguel estrada. miguel astana was nominated around 2002 by the young george bush to be on the u.s. supreme court. the democrats all love to bring up the race card, like that man that just got off the phone. he is a racist. he hides under a different cover, but he is a racist. miguel estrada was a good christian hispanic man that was fixing to get put on the u.s. supreme court and what the democrats do? just like they on judge thomas, just like they did on cavanaugh, just like they did on estrada, they go out and try to destroy. in local courts -- this decision with the trump thing is going to be overturned in the upcoming

court. so democrats out there, you all enjoy your little laugh now because it is not going to last. if the appellate court don't get it, then the u.s. supreme court is going to start a mudhole. you have a corrupt da, a bot off judge. letitia james is nothing but a racist. alvin bragg is a racist toward hispanic people and white people. look what he did to that poor hispanic man that was defending his life. he killed a black man that was trying to beat him to death and bragg took that poor hispanic man and put him in rikers prison for six days before fox news, the only ones that tell the truth, fox and newsmax they raised so much heck about it to

get the poor man free. he was defending his life and bragg threw him in the pen for six days. he would still be there if it had not been for the great fox news and newsmax. you just got corrupt da's in these local courts like this. but it is going to be overturned . democrats out there, enjoy your racism. enjoy your lying and baby killing. host: frank mentioning getting overturned. former president trump has said they will fight the. on fox and friends on friday house speaker mike johnson spoke about the verdict and the impact it has had on the justice system. [video clip] >> the national republican congressional committee, you guys raised $300,000 last night which eclipses only the day you were elected speaker and you

raise $175,000. so obviously angry voters are motivated voters. >> they are and there is reason to be motivated. this entire thing is absurd. i was a litigator for 20 years. i was in court with president trump a few weeks ago to see this for myself. what happened was outrageous. this is a purely political exercise not a legal one. everybody knows that. they know intuitively that it is wrong and the people are outraged. i will be in illinois tomorrow. by the end of this week, i in 115 cities in 29 states. something is happening out there. people see what is going on. they see the democrats are desperate because president trump's crushing joe biden in the polls. they see the democrat party so desperate to stop him that they will risk the destruction of our legal system.

we broke records on our fundraising platforms. we set up a new website supportdjt.com. that is how members of congress are going to stand with him and make sure the right verdict is rendered november 5, the american people's verdict. >> if i can get you to put your legal hat back on, not as a speaker, how does this play out? the former president is going to appeal this. do you think this will before the election? do you think the supreme court has a duty to step in since this will impact the election? we want to act like he is a normal guy, but he is a leading presidential candidate. the voters should know what is going to happen here. what do you see playing out in the legal system? >> there are a lot of developments yet to come, but i do believe the supreme court should step in. it is dangerous to our system. you talk about it all the time.

this is diminishing the american people's faith in our system of justice. to maintain a republic, you have to have that. people have to believe that justice is fair. they do not see that right now. i think the justices on the court, i know many of them personally. i think they are deeply concerned about that, as we are. i think they will set this straight, but the process takes a wild to play out. democrats know that and they are dragging it out. that was the will objective. they want to diminish his credibility and go after his character. they wanted to keep him off the campaign trail and now they want to call him the convicted felon. this will be overturned. it is just going to take time. host: we are hearing from you about your confidence in the u.s. legal system. on facebook,fiy started using that change to get three supreme court justices.

be careful what you wish for. to poalesrr soros funds have damaged justice. let's go back to the phones and hear from jerry in south carolina on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i think the system is corrupt -- the judicial system is good. they have all the evidence on someone. why does people think that needs to be overridden? you have the paperwork and all that stuff. people are saying this was political. that was not political. this investigation was going on before he started to run for office. when you have a little skeletons in your closet, it is going to come out. it is going to come up.

a lot people that follow him now , it is like he is drinking something and they are drunk off of it. it don't make sense. a lot of republicans now are worse than their forefathers were. you would think things would be getting better, but they are getting worse. if it ain't my way, it is the highway. you cannot have it your way. host: sean in minnesota calling on the republican line. good morning, sean. caller: i do not understand how donald trump -- he has had money his whole life, and he acts like he is a poor picked on guy. everything he says isnough money i would take a lie detector test. he knows the 2020 election was not stolen but he repeats his lies and lies.

now he is going to die with it. he has to die with eli. i want my daughter's spelling bee and she won. there were people, kids, saying it was rigged. how do you rigged a spelling bee? only if you do not know how to spell the words. host: mike in illinois calling on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i think we have a fantastic legal system. a lot legal scholars keep knocking our border policy, but they are not broken. they are just not enforced. i don't care much for the relief of the student debt because the supreme court told them they cannot do it and they did it anyway.

and the political trial is kind of weird because they waited to tell him the charges until after the trial? i do not think that is a legal mauver. i have never heard of that and i worked in a courtroom.other than that, we have a great system, but there are other people promoting it for their own personal uses and it is going to hurt us as a nation in the future. host: don in maryland calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: i have a complement and criticism. you are relatively new in the moderators chair, but you get that every week. the criticism is i wish you would refer to the democratic line, not the democrat line or the democrats line. it is the democratic line. as for my confidence in the legal system, i have a great

deal confidence in the legal system. the only drawback is if you have sufficient funds to access it like everyone should be able to. if you are rich, you have a good shot of getting off. if you do not have the funds off to jail you go. host: james in louisiana on the independent line. good morning. caller: i think the stem is filled with hypocrisy. case in point, the military does not accept convicted felons in the air force, navy marines army, but the republicans are ready to put a convicted felon in charge of the entire military as commander-in-chief. thank you. host: bill in georgia calling on the republican line. caller: as a republican, i am just kind of ashamed of all the knuckle dragging going on in my

party right now. being from georgia, i heard donald trump try to influence our secretary offor 11,800 votes. i heard donald trump in 2015 admitting women. i don't understand this approach to this man as the leader of my party. how we can justify supporting this man. it is still just beyond me and this was not even the most important trial. when this man took nuclear secrets and war plans to his home in his -- we don't know how much it is actually worth mention in florida -- mansion in florida and now he is manipulated and people who worked around him. i do notople in my party do not understand

what a danger this man is and how he will destroyvery much. host: jennifer in california calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: what a breath of fresh air, that republican saying the truth. thank you for that. anyway, confidence in the judicial. i do. it was 12 jurors that found him guilty. i don't understand, are we in an alternate reality? what is wrong with the republican party? anyway, rock on. host: roger in milwaukee, wisconsin calling on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. the gentleman who spoke from georgia was a republican and is fed up with his party. that is pretty much my -- where i came from.

i'm an independent now. i find it just happens to be a safe place to be. after having confidence in the legal system, as a whole i believe i do. where i think it has become a pathetic mess is our supreme court. they come off as if they are even more entitled than the president. with the gifts that thomas and these people except, it is beyond me how this is allowed to go on. knowing there are rules that have to be followed. also there was a gentleman on, i do not know if he is a gentleman, but he really -- at the side of fox news and newsmax. if you would check the fcc filings come a would find that those three news organizations have the highest level of false

and disinformation and they are also known for not retracting when they do discover they have been found out they are wrong. i think that is wrong. as for the overall with and the verdicts are in and i like adding insult to injury when it comes to donald trump. the 34 indictments against him. it is more than that because each jurist had to vote 3, 4 times -- 34 times. that is 408 casted votes unanimously for this guy. so 34 makes it look small. then the speculation comes about should he get jail time. all i know is that if soldiers who went to jail -- he should

have to do the same thing. maybe not for a long period. a four year potential. so he gets six or eight months in jail, but i think it should be an absolute because he showed such disrespect for the judges the prosecutors. every procedural side he insulted, so you want to have faith in the legal system, merchan gave him a mile. and donald trump keep his mouth shut. as for the overall presidency, i have to republican -- most of the people, this is a man who supposed to represent the united states on a global stage. impeached twice

sexual-harassment harassment the business fraud. there is a point where a man like that, i don't care what party you are in, he cannot be on the global stage representing our country. host: roger bringing up justice merchan, who oversaw the trial piece from a retired new york city in ministry to judge and a former police department fire deputy. he attended the trial. bu saw, i never encountered anything remotely talent just challenging as what justice merchan faced while presiding over the first criminal trial of a foer president. since donald trump was found guilty on 34 counts, justice mershon -- justice merchan has come under further attack.

i attended each day of ttrial. what i saw was a master class in what a judge should be, how one can serve fairly and impartially for the prosecution and the defense and remain a pillar for the rule of law in america. he goes on to say as a supervising judge i always emphasize the importance of maintaining control of those under my charge. that is how a judge ensures that all defendants, especially the most difficult ones, get a fair trial. that is how everyone is treated, with courtesy, and how rulings are evenhanded and fair. in this area judge merchan excelled. we will hear from perry in north carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: yes. give me as much time as you did that radical leftist roger from wisconsin, who was totally and

utterly informed. the pc read from the new york times -- why don't you read something from breitbart that people like alan d big of a travesty this judge was? if you want to get back to confidence when should joe biden go back to trial? obviously he lied to the special counsel. we can't hear the transcript. we can rea hear it, how joe biden was stumbling and bumbling and trying to -- glide through his tax invasions. this is a man for the last 30 to 40 years that has enriched himself by the american taxpayer. donald trump has made joe biden and barack obama's paychecks for the last 30 years. when it comes to these call themselves

americans that are on the democrat side, you people have no idea. joe biden sold our manufacturing base out along with -- host: what about your confidence in the u.s. legal system, the topic we are talking about? caller: i have none. i hear democrats say we got all kinds of confidence in it, but the suprem people. huh -- is evil. huh. when i watch hillary clinton or joe biden get off with murder -- they are pedophiles. what happened to epstein's clients? you know why it got shut down? there are leaks in arm -- the elites in our media and the elites in washington are the people with the money. all benefited from 35 trillion dollars in debt?

it sure wasn't us taxpayers out here. host: we will go to david in michigan on the democrats line. caller: thank you for doing a great job and i agree with roger. roger was absolutely excellent and he was telling the truth. the new york jury did a great job. the judge bent over backwards to be fair with trump, although trump got on -- before he could get out of the courtroom, he was lying. he was going off on the judge, lying on the judge's daughter. he was fussing and raving. i have been through it with my -- a young man i had mentored. he was a troubled child and we went through the court system. i did not have a lot of money. i was going to stand up for the boy and two i lost my bail

money try to help him out. i thought it was unfair, but what could i do? trump has all this money. he has all these rich republican corporations that support him and he cries like a baby when he is rolled on in a fair way. i think the jury was fair. they tried to be honest with him. and i also think this. i wish president biden would get on tv and let them know the lies that trump is telling saying he is running all this and has all these juries going against trump. biden needs to speak up more and defend himself. because people believe that. this sunday, i will have to say the republicans that i heard calling in, they were true republicans. they are telling the truth on trump.

these other people that is following trump, i do not know where these people came from. that is all i have to say. host: we have about 10 minutes left. let's hear from mary in nebraska on the independent line. caller: good morning. i want to agree with most of the callers prior to me except for one regarding our justice system. i think donald trump got just exactly what he deserved. but i want to republican until i fell to the paails on the crazy train. at that point, i decided not to crawl in a puddle with blinders on. it is all about everybody when we vote, not just about who i want. i have to make my vote according to who is going to benefit the people that go on after i am gone and i wish that other people would stop and think.

there is simply one thing that tarnished trump, january 6. friends that i stepped back from who were aware ahead of january 6 that they were going to be there, not for a peaceful protest, but because it was going to be wild. these are people i have known a long time and really respected as common sense people and they now are brainwashed fools over donald trump. i don't know why you would believe somebody just because they tell you they are fabulous. go back and do some fact checking. go back to when donald trump was involved in sneaking into dressing rooms of teenage peep at them half dressed. this man from as far back as anybody could remember has really not been what i would

consider a president of the united states. host: let's hear from edna on the republican line. good morning. caller: the question was how much confidence do we have in our legal system. our legal system is justice for all. i know what we say in our pledge of allegiance, but it is not that way. in my 70 years, i have never saw the legal system as it is now. it needs to be reassessed. it depends on who you are asked whether whether you get justice. and it is that way whether you are a republican or independent or democrat. we just need to practice some good common sense. host: kristin on the democrats

line. good morning. caller: i just want to say i am a democrat, but right now i am supporting donald trump. men are going to be men. when it comes down to it. when it gets down to it, those who cast the first stone, if you have no sin, cast the first stone. the united states was doing a lot better with donald trump. i'm sorry. our economy was better. he may have had an attitude on the stand, but when you are facing 34 charges, how are you going to feel? host: what is your confidence in the legal system? caller: how are you going to feel?

i think donald trump did a great job when he was in office. host: what is your level of confidence in the u.s. legal system? caller: i honestly think nobody can do a perfect job. but i think that with the way and the stake -- states that the united states is going in right now, i think the presidency is doing the best they can. host: let's hear from judy in pennsylvania on the independent line. caller: hello? i thought i was calling on the democratic line. but that is ok. independents are ok too. donald trump has been corrupt since he has been an adult. and everything that he has done, ruined the country. i have faith in our judicial

system. there are faults, but every system has faults. for the most part, i think donald trump is getting what he deserves. host: kevin in new york calling on the republican line. caller: good morning. i guess for your direct question i thinkhe major ones that we have had issues with with the judicial system. things have gone out. people have gotten out and have committed crimes again, so i think when you're looking at bail reform as part of the judicial system is failing. the judicial system needs to be revamped for it.

in our area here where i am, we are seeing cases dropped because they do not have enough people to prosecute. to me, that is a problem with the judicial system as well. everyone else is talking about donald trump. governments do non-disclosure agreements. if they are going to do anything , nondisclosure agreements should be illegal so everything is out there. i guess that is the only thing i have to say. host: we will go to the democrats line. good morning, gg. caller: i wanted to say, having served as a juror several years ago i felt the weight of the responsibility of judging someone and having their fate in my hands and i took it seriously.

i feel if people do that they will judge by the facts and weigh carefully what their decision is. but i also wanted to say this because i think it is important. i feel we are in a spiritual battle and people are not trump the way he should be looked at because i feel he is like a false prophet coming in sheep's clothing but as a ravening wolf because he has sold so much chaos and distrust and put people's lives at risk. all the vicious attacks against the judges, i guess the jurors and witnesses, that is wrong. you judge a tree by the fruit that it bears and donald trump's tree is chaos and hatred.

host: rebecca in virginia beach calling on the independent line. good morning. >> i did start as a democrat my entire life and then after serving in the military and in the federal government and seeing how this corrupt that so money people within it, and i'm not saying the system. i am saying the leaders in the system that are serving other interests, that have just ignored and abandoned serving the public good and unfortunately it starts with the legal system. that is what we are. that is what our nation is. we are supposed to be a nation of laws and when you use those laws you weaponize them to go after opposition, that is not in

the public good and not in the public interest. had donald trump been an attorney, he will not be facing this now. he is facing this because of the fact he is not an attorney and he dared to run for president. just like everyone else serving on the supreme court. everyone seems to think you ha to be an attorney to serve the public and i am not sure where that misconception came about. however, i intend to complaints as i can against the american bar association because the attorneys that are supposed to serve as model citizens for our country have fallen so far along the wayside that i do not even know if we are going to have a rule of law in the future, so thank you forever me on. host: our next caller is calling

on the republican line. caller: good morning. i was a young person when i arrived to this country. my mother and father left cuba. i learned a lot from them, what they went through, and it seems to me like we are repeating this again. host: what is your the u.s. legal system? caller: i've lost all confidence years, let's say. it's almost like a repeat of what my mom and dad went through in cuba. it is a shame what is going on in america. people might not like donald trump, but this was not the right way of doing it. host: phillipe in illinois. that is it for this hour. next we are going to talk with the american executive director

about political news of the day and later we are going to have a conversation about campaign 2024, the serious xm -- radio host dean obeidallah. we will be right back. ♪ s,l flynn to talk about their experiences during the war. >> we were on our way to the invasion of the big island in the philippines. that convoy was under constant attack from the japanese day and night and there was one coming right at us. still out of range so i waited a few seconds.

i remember thinking i wonder if we are going to get that sucker. just a very calm thing and we got that sucker. >> that's when they had the aircraft pilots from the japanese -- starts to get close. on the dangerous mission aircraft shells are exploding all over the place and the navigator, namely myself was just sitting there hoping the bombardier would say bombs away and they could take over again and get out of the flight that veterans tonight on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on our free c-span

now app. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. your primary source for thousands, unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where policy is debated and decided all with the support of american cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting powered by cable. host: joining us now is kurt mills, executive director of thethank you for being here. why don't you tell us about the american conservative and why it was founded. guest: it was founded in 2002 as a sort of conservative hub against the iraq war, not a popular stance in the bush administration days.

some of the themes of antiwar unfettered immigration here we are 22 years later. so a couple decades later who is your audience, what are some of the goals of your writing and your publication? host: -- guest: our audience is anyone who reads us but generally speakingng to map out the biological battle space of the republican party, what we call the conservative movement. additionally preparing for a potential change in the administration and seeing where we go from there. host: you took over as executive director earlier this year in i believe april and january. april was your first issue. guest: under my leadership. there was an issue that we put out in february. host: talk a little bit about

your background and what you are bringing to the magazine. guest: i'm from around here, i was born in the suburbs of maryland and i moved to virginia. i've roughly lived in the swamp i'm not trying to -- anyone is from around here. i've heard attacks since i was 13 years old. it was very much instrumental in guiding my own views, and i think to the extent that being a native washingtonian is an advantage, i am a defender of this city. i remember top of carlson's of the same thing, a great place to live. host: and what is your approach

to the magazine? are readers going to notice any changes? guest: potentially. i'm very much taking us back to basics, a magazine founded in opposition to a war that was not popular. foreign policy i think is going to be the front end of our coverage as long as i am e.p. i have quite a soft spot for domestic politics in campaigns into looks like we have a large one coming up here. host: you just alluded to former president donald trump who was convicted on 34 counts and that new york hush money case. your reaction? guest: i think this case was always taken more seriously than potentially it was. a big show porn star case, everyone thought it was a joke but the law is not a joke in this country. if you are indicted it is a major deal.

the jurisdiction was not particularly friendly to mr. trump. mr. trump in his current incarnation is from there. he always ran the risk of this. i do think it is the least damaging of the possible convictions to happen before the election. if this had been the january 6 case that would have been a catastrophe for his political chances. it is too soon to tell what this will do. my instinct is there will be a polling bump for biden in the coming weeks, but as americans let this gestate toward november there's going to be a lot of pause about what we did here as a country. host: there is another trial coming up next week that is biden in a delaware court on gun related charges. why should people pay attention to that case? guest: the hunter biden situation is not important in my

opinion for his personal problems. like many americans he has an addiction problem, had a tough period in his life but that is neither here nor there. i do believe the trading on his father's name is relevant. additionally, where some of the allegations pertain is the most active, relevant wars ofs right now which is ukraine. it's not nothing, especially because this story was somewhat suppressed from discussion in 2020. i do think this will be of significance. host: something that your outlet reported on with the libertarian national convention that took place last week c the fact that former president trump and robert f. kennedy, jr. both spoke. what do you think about the impact of third-party candidates like rfk jr. and others, what they could do to the election?

guest: i tend to relatively -- where mr. kennedy is going to be. he is running a symbolic campaign at this point. that said, he could very well be the most important third-party candidate since at least nader in 2000. the expectations going into this year, i don't think that is on the cards. i'm not convinced he's getting 5% of the national vote. i think where is relevant is even 3% is a big deal. al gore diehards still blame ralph and some people still blame -- for 1992. i think what is also interesting is how mr. kennedy's appeal slices. rsuaded that the average candy voter liens

democratic but i would guess that there's going to be a lot of kennedy numbers in large blue states where the kennedy brand name has strong association california, new york massachusetts, which could potentially hurt is popular vote. what should be concerning for the trump campaign is if they lose independents, the younger people who feel very disaffected and kind of think rfk is kind of fun, for different reasons than residual loyalty to the kennedy brand. and that is super concerning for them. if they are losing boats like that in phoenix, milwaukee, philadelphia detroit, big problem. host: we are talking with the executive director of the american conservative about the magazine and political news of the day. if you have a question or comment, you can join in the conversation. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. when fear talking about the campaign, other than the economy and abortion, what issues do you think are most important to voters? guest: i am a believer in the foreign policy angle. foreign policy experts always tell you that voters don't vote on it. i don't believe it at all. it is a serious desire to relegate your own profession to the point of relative unimportance. the israel issue is the biggest foreign policy issue and as a top three issue on this campaign and has the capacity to sink biden. the protectors are not a joke.

once they are back in school this is a huge problem for the biden campaign. it will be interesting to see how it emerges. biden is in a position where he competes with nobody. his donors are disgusted with the white house and the left has sort of held its nose for him in 2020his sort of block, young people are totally disgusted with the administration's response. meanwhile, trump is just this change agent candidate if you want a more hawkish response. if you want a candidate who been calling with the israelis are doing a genocide, that is also trump. he spoke at a rally in the

midwest where his own supporters shouted genocide joe and he said they are not wrong. that strikes me as a complete poison pill for biden. host: former president trump, we have seen some of his foreign policy in action while he was serving in office. remind us what that looked like and how it compare guest: what is foreign policy look like? at least as it pertains to the middle east, trump is going to advance the lie that he started no foreign wars, that all the administrations of this century expanded. iraq and afghanistan for george w. bush, ukraine under obama. trump got mighty close with iran but that did not happen and that of course, biden has brought us

to the brink of nuclear war which is not occurred since the 60's. so trump will say that he looks pretty good. in fact, i'm being prosecuted by the war party by the deep state. i think all of these lines could potentially be very persuasive in the electorate, especially if the white house -- i heard one of the callers on the democratic line complain where is biden? he's not responding to any of these narratives. host: first to john in new york calling on the republican line. good morning, john. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a couple of comments to make. one is i've listened to your show before and some people were at electric about the future and

what is going to happen. people talking about civil war. i was pretty dismissive about that. but given this past several weeks, what is happening with bragg and the teacher james, i think there is absolutely nothing that the democrats wouldn't do to winection, and that does include things that are illegal and things that are cheating. and i say that basically because what they did is they violated a sacred constitutional principle of due process. i mean, obvious factors of this trial, it was a show trial at the very least, and it's really concerning. it's like there's no more moral clarity. they view trump as a demon somebody that is going to bring down the country.

and i just want to say i don't know what the solution is. i think that the democrats have no more moral clarity in their party. so i just like to say this, that i hope that whoever wins the election ok, wins it with the best plurality so there is no dispute as to who has the will of the people. i just want to add this parenthetically a quick second. when biden opened the border coming from all over the world the democratic caucus in both houses and congress never said a word, really. they supported him. the sex trafficking of young , the fentanyl and everything, nobody in their caucus ever did anything, said

anything. i wonder where we are going as a country. i think we've lost our path forward in terms of morality. i'm not a religious person, i just think that is a dangerous thing. host: got your point, let's get a response. guest: sure. responding to the idea that we could be headed toward a civil war, i would go the other direction. the absolute protest in reaction to the constitution. republicans widely speaking did not take the streets. imagine the inverse were former president barack obama was convicted of a crime, i think there would be a lot of protest in reaction to that. i'm not convinced that it will utterly destabilize the system. as to the show trial nature of it, rule of law considerations

are a major deal here but they have to be valid with the system itself. we had never convicted a current or former president, i think we had good reason to. as to the question of the democrats moral clarity or lack thereof, this is a simple fix. dean phillips, this candidate who ran against biden in the primary i think pardoning trump would be the right thing to do. as for the idea that we should have no dispute of the election, i agree with you. host: ronald in south carolina calling on the democrat line. caller: my line of questioning

is -- in north carolina, south carolina. conservative people are pushing this, where they don't want a certain percentage of people in that state to have representation. if they were conservative, how would they feel about that? i think reputation is very important to individual states, that they shouldn't be running the lines up in that area to get the right person elected. that is controlling the election. is there something that can be changed? thank you. guest: i share the anxiety. i would say gerrymandering, i think it is a bipartisan practice. i believe what you're referring to is the republican practice in

north and south carolina, although the north carolina state it is overwhelmingly republican in south carolina. but another staple you see the lines of redrawn again for public that they will be relevant for control of the house this fall, i think the problem is a lot of times the alleged bipartisan commission, and i think we've seen with the cult of expertise has taken this country in the last fieait is disquieting, it is uncomfortable, it is cynical. but my honest answer is that i think there should be a fairly high bar change around how miserable it is. host: massachcaller: i just wanted to make a comment. i watched yesterday about the

travel shows, and the program yesterday was all about fascism covering mussolini and hitler and how everybody puts their own thinking aside and goes with other people who are against everything that anybody wants. i think there could be a good program for other people to watch during what is going on he stays in this country. host: republican line, built good morning. caller: i for the gas and the c-span audience. host: go ahead. caller: with the maga crowd have hanged vice president mike pence if they had found him? would they have dragged him through the crowd?

also was mitt romney running through the halls of the capitol because he was excitedly happy for the crowd, or was he in fear for his safety? was he just playing hide and seek, or were they terrified? host: le'guest: the essential nature of your question, january 6 was an unacceptable riot, a bad day in american history. i think it was not pearl harbor and it was not 9/11 and i think the idea that mike pence or nancy pelosi or mitt romney were truly in mortal danger is overdone as far as all the evidence i have seen. the people who were involved in

january 6 on an operational level and in the capitol that day, i've seen their lives destroyed. they been prosecuted, based in met with the full force of the law, and that is the appropriate response to that kind of action. i really don't have anything he is an active litigation as we are all aware, and that will be handled presumably after the election, but he could of course pardon himself. i reee politically -- i'm not a lawyer, the legal side. how this serve the country to continually harp on this episode. host: let's hear from kyle and clearwater, florida on the democrat line.

good morning, kyle. caller: thanks. i have a question kind of higher level when we get past the election and the results whatever way it turns out. when we have 70% of the republican party that inks that the election is still rigged and kind of re these fox news facts of that far right media structure which is then through the so powerful with the new trump government, how you think we kind of with that, no matter who wins, because i think the distrust just kind of amplifies. guest: yes, very much not good. there's much to the conservative critique of the democratic reaction in 2016. it was not a one-for-one trade.

former secretary clinton has never quit in her adage that russia is the reason that trump is the president, even though there with the most exhaustively investigative issue in world history. all we know about mr. trump none of the investigators, none of the independent researchers could find anything of material substance on trump as an agent of the and yet the former secretary of state continues to populate that myth. as to their republican concerns over voter fraud book, on record, i think if joe biden -- dividing was fairly elected the president of the united states. trump has been poorly served politically by advancing this narrative. in fact, i think we seen him

relatively relegated in 2024 compared to 22. in 2022, republicans performing in swing states. at the risk of just saying i hope this goes away, it is possible that the concern is overstated. host: margaret in illinois calling on the independent line. caller: yes, i cannot understand how this gentleman wants to see trump get elected a second time. he cheated to become president in 2016. he has never served his country he's never signed up for the military. he made fun of handicapped people ridiculing a poor young man who couldn't speak very well.

he himself is nothing but a second son endlessly looking for the attention of his mother and his father who almost drove his brother to an early death. he is a sickening, revolting man and the sooner he is out of the lives of the american people the better. host: any response from margaret? guest: to be absolutely clear we are a nonprofit organization severe not in favor of an individual. we are doing activist opinion journalism so our writers have their views. as for the idea that the election of trump is unconscionable i think americans are clearly divided on the subject. i would submit that those analyses of him as a man are not going to persuade anyone at this point in his career. the question is if what you say

is true about trump, whether or not it is, isn't it a political indictment of what so many americans still want to seem as president? host: nick in louisiana on the democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to say to the gentleman you have sitting here, i can relate to him that has understanding and i'm not going to agree with everything he's saying but i do believe that he has some -- this country. when this country was formed, we

didn't want that. there is no other way to do that. what did trump do for this country? tell me what he's done. people look at that who shouldn't even be looking. over time we've grown to be better than we were in 1940 1930. we prone.

a new that is a move of self-governance. trump has never known a person who had to work every day. he's never known what it is to have to take food stamps. he's never known those things. and that is the problem with what his movement is about. to be on c-span right now, this is our right to be on c-span. host: let's get a response nick. caller: -- guest: as for the idea that he didn't do anything, i would submit that the biden administration kind of point to that. trump was able to fairly quickly shift the paradigm on three key

issues. number one, immigration. there's now bipartisan consensus that the border is a disaster. i think the country has grown more hawkish on immigration that it was 10 years ago with a good legacy for mr. trump. more hawkish on trade, more nationalistic on trade. ibreorienting our foreign policy away from the middle east. also something that bind has continued with the monstrous exception of his error in ukraine. this is obviously somebody was born into privilege but he's worked with numerous people throughout his life and i do think aware of the difficult circumstances.

pretty confident in a lot of his own supporters. these calls here that he is mussolini, that he is hitler, i don't think these are helpful analogies. there are better analogies than what occurred in europe. host: event in foreign policy. if former president trump were to be reelected in november what would you like to see and focus on foreign policy-wise? >> i think it is very clear that this is ministration idlogically allergic to it. it's very clear that trump is open to it. a cease fire armistice in russia and ukraine i think should be order number one of the day. host: we have about 10 minutes left with executive director of the american server the.

you can call in, republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. the tear from jane on the independent line calling from indiana. caller: i've got three things for the guest. i'm having a little trouble recognizing him as a conservative and i'm wondering if he could tell us how his brand of 't i don't think buckley would have agreed with him on. i'd like to add that i think buckley would have given the caller who talked about show trialstorical

difference between that form of government and hours. and my third questionhat is his position and what would buckley's position has been on a question of presidential immunity? and i will just listen off the air, thank you so much for taking my call. guest: the colors quite right this is not the conservatism of william barclay -- william buckley. it was very much founded with the viewpoint of the now defunct weekly standard which championed a lot that abroad. so yes, we are not associated with the wing of conservatism that has brought so much ruination to this country. a long history that you're welcome to research.

like i said, this is not in our conservativism. as to the question of immunity, i'm not an expert on with lines should be drawn but i believe the charges should not have been drawn in the classified documents case. he should have been given the benefit of the dowdy. i don't think we should be indicting presidents willy-nilly. looks like we are going down that road. host: liverpool, pennsylvania republican line. caller: in 2015 lindsey graham set if they nominate donald trump for president, he will destroy the republic party. he has. he still hasn't admitted that he

lost in 2020. he's unqualified. no credibility. fox news has no credibility. 99% of the republican politicians have no credibility. and he has destroyed the party. he is a lying crook and you can even admit that. host: you're calling on the republican line, are you republican? caller: no, that number was already in my phone. guest: senator graham is one of mr. trump's biggest champions now if we are going to attack people for being craven. i would probably have some -- for people who are very against trump in 2015 and are very for him now. i would submit are we a democracy or not?

the american people continue to -- there were tens of thousands of votes separating him from clinton and biden. it may yet happen again in 2024. a far more competitive candidate than mitt romney or john mccain. the most repetitive -- competitive republican since the one who got us into iraq. host: john in massachusetts: on the democrats line. good morning, john. caller: the previous caller kind of took the wind out of my sails because i agree with him. i think the guest is a very articulate, intelligent guy. but i think he represents the conservative movement and they have totally sold out their principles by not looking at the person of trump and the people he surrounds himself with,

because they are just morally and intellectually repellent to average people. 'm sorry, but he is a shallow for trump -- shill for trump and i think that is the whole problem with conservatives. i used to respect conservatives, no more. you've sold out your soul. guest: sweet and sour there. : we will go to david in california: on the independent line. caller: you are doing a great job and i would just like to say to you, the silent majority out here, we like to say thank you. there is silent majority out there. a lot of these people calling up having a lot of hatred. that's all i've got to say. guest: the caller said he was from california.

interesting that there are tens of millions of people who vote for trump in california. this is a complete ideological simple vacation to typecast people based on where they are from. especially outside of the metro areas, it is pretty red. i just find it pretty fascinating. there are a lot of people who think like the caller just now and i would just urges fellow citizens to try to incorporate the feeling there because if we are going to work together we've got to try. host: time for a couple more calls. good morning, william. caller: good morning.

i have a very simple that is one of frustration, i guess. why can we do better as conservatives, and why can't the parties control the toys that we have? guest: tan to the question of why we can't do better, the reality of what our institutional conservatism is supports the idea that is what people in this party want or what is in the interest of the party. i think that is the theme of my here, but the sort of bush when conservatism of free trade, open borders and endless war did not serve the communities of republicans and trump is a vehicle of

frustration, a private citizen for seven decades of his life against that. so yes, he is not a figure in government, but i think he is a useful corrective for that. it will begin testing to see how it bears out in the 20 20's and 20 30's. there's actually not a secret room. i really think it not a helpful way of looking at things. we have an open primary the country used to have these backroom conventions. they have not existed in the past century. he was elected because he was elected. 'his own party did not want him they hate him, they probably still do behind his back. this is actually democracy in action.

host: the tear from christine in massachusetts calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. when trump was president and he couldn't be indicted as a co-conspiracy conspirator number one, now that he finally has been charged, guilty for the same conspiracy that michael c oehn was found guilty for and sentenced to jail, why should trump be allowed to commit many, many crimes without any accountability? i mean, this triaed how corrupt he is. as far as i'm concerned, trump is a malevolent clown. he is a malevolent monster. guest: i mean, obviously people feel very emotionally about mr. trump and that is their right.

i think the idea that there's no accountability for trump or no checks on his power, obviously that's not true. he is not the president he just was convicted of 34 felonies. i would submit though, that it's not clear to the american democratic system for a former president to be prosecuted on effectively paperwork details tax stuff for the time that he was president. and additionally, i think it is just not clear we should go down this road. if trump actually shot somebody on fifth avenue and was asking to get i think that wouldn't pass muster. it's pretty clear that mr. brad with a highly novel legal

theory, a bastion of conservatism, i think we essentially conceded that. this statute of limitations elapsed and then finally he based it on attempting to conceal a crime that another prosecutor declined to prosecute. host: we have time for one last call. michael and connecticut: on the independent line. caller: hi, just wanted to say thank you for putting some like this, it is important these people be exposed. but have -- i have a real question that he should have an answer to right now. i very quickly want to first say how shocking it is that this man would defend a convicted felon someone paid half a porn star, someone who killed a bipartisan immigration plan. civilly convicted of rape, said

he will suspend the constitution, become a dictator on day one promising to free insurrectionists that he led on january 6, and how shameful it is that anyone would defend all of that, but it is my question real quick where is donald trump's health care plan? where is it? for nine years he's been promising a health care plan for america and it's always a few weeks away. where is it? it is a plan he's been promising for so long. guest: for the record, i did not defend all the things that the caller said. i don't think that's what i've answered to on this program. as for republican health care, notably they are a disaster. they don't they have a plan. it would be pretty full hearty for them to try to advance it if they got elected. i think obamacare is this sort of limp but workable status quo

and until somebody has a better idea, it makes sense -- it makes no sense for a republican administration to mess with. that is a point of extreme vulnerability on the part of the republican party. host: kurt mills, executive director of the american conservative, thank you for being with us. and we are going to have a conversation about campaign 2024 with dean obeidallah, but first we are going to hear from more of you in the open forum. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

♪ announcer: on thursday, c-span will commemorate the 80th anniversary of d-day, when u.s. soldiers stormed the shores of normandy, france marking the pivotal moment in world war ii. watch out coverage of the ceremonies of normandy featuring a speech by president biden, and then live on washington journal we were take your calls requesting on and remembering d-day. and then at 10:00 am join us or a national ceremony in washington d.c. followed by a remembrance ceremony at the d-day memorial in virginia at 11:00 a.m. eastern. and for the rest of the day stay with us as we commit -- continue to commemorate d-day with a look back at past presidential speeches and other programs. watch all they coverage of d-day starting live at 6:30 a.m. eastern on thursday on c-span network.

weekends bring your book discussing their latest nonfiction books. celebration. then, mike hickson looks at how issues of race and identity are playi out in school districts across the country. watch every we get on c-span two and find a full program on your schedule -- schedule on your program guide. c-spanshop.org has a selection of apparel, product, books, home decor and accessories. something for every fan, and

every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. washington journal continues. host: for the next 25 minutes or so we will be hearing from more of you during our open forums but first is mark from pennsylvania calling on the republican line. good morning, mark. caller: i want to talk about the case that just happened. i listened to all the testimony that has happened and such, and certain things have jumped out at me. first of all they charged a federal case in state court. there is a supreme court decision many times on this that it is not ok to do that, so they didn't abide by the separation of powers. the case itself, the jurist fountain eight kit -- guilty of

a case illegally brought in the first case. but then i looked at michael cohen's testimony where he pled guilty to the crime of this election case he had. what he basically pled guilty to was paying $280,000. as a citizen you are only allowed to put in about $3000 in the campaign. he was acting as a lawyer which i think he should have pled guilty to it, but the real thing that showed that he pled guilty to the crime was the fact that he never paid the $150,000. so he literally pled guilty of a crime they didn't even do, but yet they documented that he paid $280,000. next, you come along that they wouldn't allow witnesses for trump, they didn't bring the linchpin to the whole case. you have to assume that he wasn't going to testify.

the next thing, they wouldn't give the witnesses that were coming up, so he couldn't even prepare legally for it. plus, they violated his sixth amendment right by charging him with crimes that shouldn't have been charged in that word. the whole case was a mess. when the democrats cheered us on a would be literally like saying if your landscaper did a crime and then you get charged the penalty. this penalty was only going to be five years for what he did maximum, so how is trump being charged 20 years? he didn't fill out the document. 12 felonies for that. he never told michaelyou have to believe the actually told him to rip them off for $60,000. and then if the jury was reasonable they would say there's three payments he didn't even sign. three payments he didn't even sign, so that's $105,000.

this is all misdemeanor stuff to begin with. this whole case is a disaster. i feel really sorry for this country. i don't trust of the legal system at all anymore. this is a disaster and this is the end of our country, if this doesn't get rectified. host: marian philadelphia calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: i've worked for the government state of pennsylvania for 45 years. i'm hearing that these people are getting it all wrong.if you work any branch of government we integrated all branches of government under president reagan. brad should not have been out there by himself. every prosecutor should have been out there on the federal state and city level because we

are looki the same information regarding anybody that we are doing investigations on. the irs prosecutor should have been out there. the treasury department. if we saw information regarding documents that were transferred to other countries the cia prosecutor should have been out there. so they are looking at it all wrong. all branches of government, especially with these white-collar cases, they are required by law to be out there and not allowed on a district attorney to do the job of all the government agencies. they need to make sure that they get this correct on any other case and -- to do the job of all these government agencies. thank you and have a good day. host: jackie in waldorf maryland on the independent

line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: your on. caller: i'm calling about donald trump. they know the thread -- this man. he could have had more people killed on january 6, but they prayed to him. he was going to kill the vice president or have them kill him. so how are people saying good things about this man? you can lookand see this man is evil. he is a mess. and he is still lying. host: jackie was talking about former president trump found guilty on 34 counts in the new

york city hush money trial he spoke to press on friday responding to the jury verdict. here are some of his remarks. trump: if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone. these are bad people and i believe in many cases sick people. when you look at our country what is happening where millions and millions of people are flowing in from all parts of the world, not just south america africa, asia, the middle east, coming in from jails and prisons and coming in from mental institutions and insane asylums they are coming in from all over the world to our country. and we have a president and a group of fascists that don't want to do anything about it. today, they could stop it, but he's not.

our country is in very bad shape. ery much against me saying these things. they want to raise your taxes by four time they want to stop you from having cars with their ridiculous mandates that make it impossible for you to get a car or afford a car. they make it very possible for china to build all of our cars. it's a very serious problem that we have. one of many experiences where we had a conflicted judge, highly conflicted. there's never been a more conflicted judge. i'm under a gag order which no presidential candidate has ever been under a gag order before. i am under a gag ord order where i've had to pay thousands of dollars in penalties and fines. threatened with jail. think about it, i'm the leading candidate, leading by-and-by a lot and leading the republicans that

is over. and the leading president -- person for president and i'm under a gag order by a man who can't put two sentences together, and they are in total conjunction with the white house and the doj. this is all done by biden and his people. i don't know if i've knows about. he is nevertheless president so we have to use his name. this is done by washington. nobody's ever seen anything like it. we have a judge was highly conflicted. nobody wants to write about it and i'm not allowed to talk that it. if i do, i get put in jail. so we will play that game and a bit longer. buu allowed to talk about it, i hope you do. there's never been anybody so conflicted is this. host: the house is back in

session tomorrow. one of the headlines facing the government response to the coronavirus pandemic. it will be his first congressional testimony in nearly two years. you can watch it live on c-span2 starting at 10:00 a.m. we will hear from mike calling from arizona on the republican line. mike, are you there? one more time for mike. caller: was going to happen -- host: i'm having a hard time hearing you. are you there? right, we will go to jack in georgia calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: i just want to say a couple of things.

one about your previous guest. they always talk about the russian investigation. the investigation was the sea of russia influenced the election in let me read one sentence from the first line. this is from the mueller report. favoring presidential donald trump and disparaged presidential candidate hillary clinton. that is the russian kgb, the new fsb. the republicans have to askthemselves why did the russian secret service work so hard to get trump? your previous guest said that was not the case. you have to call out these republicans when they lie on your show. i agree with the republicans this bragg investigation is silly. he's trump going after a prostitute. every christian man wants to pay off the prostitute so that's a

normal thing for a christian meant to do to pay off their prostitute. even if it iseghost: we will move on to sergio calling from albany, new york on the independent line. thank you for taking my call. it is interesting my call dovetails after the last two calls regarding about telling the truth. i was watching c-span last night, a replay, and the host was talking to a woman who called on the republican line and she was saying joe biden has stood with the grand wizard of the kkk for 50 years. she kept repeating that line. i know where that information is coming from. i was so grateful that the host took the time to go up and post the fact that was a false statement. this woman was being held to telling the truth. in thatv vein, as we head to this new election, americans

have to realize there is a really big problem in this country when people like roger ailes and rupert murdoch inform the opinions of people who watch them religiously and lie to them over and over again. rupert murdoch roger ailes and foxnews has done such a great disservice to our country by providing misinformation and lies to the american people. i hear it regurgitated over and over again every time i hear a caller on the republican line. this is a callout and thank you for c-span for providing this forum and thank you for taking the time to call out the liars when they are lying. i just watched x president trump stand there and lie to people again on c-span. i'm going we have a big problem in this country.

misinformation, disinformation. just listen to the republicans regurgitate -- host: got your point. we will go to philip in tennessee on the republican line. good morning. caller: i was going to rebut your caller from pennsylvania but now that i heard the last caller, he's grossly incorrect. he needs to get his information correct. i was going to rebut the pennsylvania person about why the irs and other people in. they didn't want to do that because then they would have had to bring in bragg, and they didn't want to do that because he would explain there was no crime. that is all i got to say. you don't have to hang up on me. host: tina in north carolina

calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. i tire of conversations about a rigged trial concocted by democrats before even onewas selected and approved by democrats cannot and will not take credit for trump's adulterous behaviors. that is the root of the problem. you always start at the beginning, not in the middle and not what's convenient for you. there wouldn't be a trial or any negative commentary had trump n ot willfully committed adultery. james, bragg all the other members of the doj we are bashing on this tv today. commandments posted on municipal buildings across the country, inspired by so-called evangelicals, when god gave moses the law on mount

and gentiles. but, president trump, like david, tried to cover up his adultery. that is why we are here today having these conversations. adultery, adultery. and it was his choice to make. he made it and we need to start talking about why we are here instead of the fallout because of what has transpired the past few months. thank you. host: donald in north carolina calling on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say i will be glad and i am hopeful and pray the republican party will return to the normal republican party we always knew.

way back in the late 1970's when i was in college and we used to see the radical islamic terrorists -- maybe it was the 1980's, after the hostage crisis, they were marching down the streets and beating themselves in the chest. i said that would never happen here in america because americans are too well-rounded in and democracy. we've seen on its head with this republican party. i do not know what's wrong with them. i have voted democrat and republican in the past, but it bothers me really bad that the republican party will sell out everything to support somebody they want to worship who is seriously flawed. want to say is that donald trump does not care about this country.

he's already been debriefed from the presidency and stole documents. if he gets out of there, he will sell those documents. as long as it takes similar he wants to go, he's on it. i don't care if it is a limo, car, a hearse, donald trump is only if it takes him where he wants to go. thank you for taking my call. host: james in myrtle beach south carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i've been listening all morning and especially these democrats some independents calling in. first of all, i'mrepublican. none of you people have to respect me. the democrat party can i talk about the morals and the principles of the republican party? we look at what's been going on for the last 12 16 years.

ok, if any of you think this trial that went on in new york was aboveboard and everything was right with it, i hope it happens to you and your family one day. i'm sick of being called a racist. if youcities in america run by democrats, who's suffering the most? the minorities. i'm done listening to you people. as far as holding people accountable, when joe biden can never get a sentence together, everything he says is a lie. what was the inflation rate when he took office? it wasn't 9%. have a nice day. another james in fayetteville arkansas on the democrats line. caller: good morning, how's everything going? host: just great. caller: sounds like we have a lot of problems. trump rode in on obama's back

and the economy was good, but ruined it when he gave all the rich people a tax break. did he let a lot of semitrucks get loaded down with covid people? why couldn't he accept the responsibility on that? because he wanted to look good? come on, republicans. everybody gets behind him and no one is looking at who's going for him. he ' himself. that is all i want to say. i'm getting upset because no one looks at what he does. everyone thinks he's a perfect man. he's not. host: we have time for a couple more calls. we will go to tony calling on the independent line. caller: good morning. please give me a little time here. i understand you have worked behind the scenes for about three years with c-span there.

this is my fourth call in to have "washington journal" have -- politico to discuss his book. now, there's another book i would like you to have the authmike mccormick. mike mccormick was the white house stenographer under three administrations, obama bush and trump. he wrote a book about impeaching and jailing biden. now, he names in his book some of the mediare corrupt and he names some other people. so, please bring this man on. i wrote down today when you all put bragg on there, he said to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. well, hilary is a citizen of new york.

i wonder if he will file charges against hillary for the dossier we know is false. what about b-- even though they put out a phony letter saying it waation, they concealed this scheme to corrupt the election. are they going to file charges? no because they are democrats. now, i called it the past about the report on dominion voting machines. people please google the report on dominion voting machines. lately just this may, double counting of the votes in fulton county, they had to appoint a special monitor to electiono monitor the election coming up. how about the immigration bill? host: i know you had a lot to get in but we are running short of time. we want to have rose give her

thoughts. rose in illinois calling on the republican line. caller: good morning. i just want to mention a lot of these democrats that are calling in, and it is all of them, not a lot of them -- first of all everyone is picking on trump because he had premarital sex or whatever you call it. one about clinton, what about kennedy, what about dwight d., eisenhower? what about the common man walking the streets? they are not any better. those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. that is not what he was being persecuted for. he was persecuted to undermine the new election. he's been persecuted -- they've been undermining the election since 2016. all the leftists which are real communists. progressive means nazis.progressive means communist.

when you wake up and see how bad they are in our government and trying to wipe us out, maybe you'll wake up and do something. thanks. host: that is it for this morning's open forum. next, we will be joined by siriusxm progressive radio show host dean. we will talk about campaign 2024 and political news of the day. we will be right back. ldll navigator ralph flynn to talk about their experiences during the war. >> was the invasion of the big island on the philippines. the convoy was under constant attack by the japanese day and night. i looked up and there was one coming right at us. l range, so i waited a few seconds and i gave the order to fire. i see them coming.

i wonder if we are going to get that sucker? was not afraid, did not feel any rush of adrenaline. a very calm thing. we got that sucker. >> the bomb runs, that is when we have aircraft fire from the japanese starts to get close.on the dangerous mission the aircraft shells are exploding all the navigator, naming myself, is sitting there hoping -- the pilot can take over again and of flight. world war ii veterans tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to all of our podcasts on our free c-span now

app. be up to date on the latest tv's podcast about books with current nonfiction book releases, plus bestseller lists and industry news and trends through insider interviews. n find it on c-span now or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is dean. the host of the dean obedalliah show on siriusxm. welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me. host: tell us about your radio show and what you focus on. guest: we are a progressive show. generally, democrats call and some people call because they want to argue. the idea is to make people

smarter. i have a comedic background in addition to being a lawyer. i try to make them smarter, make laugh to learn. myknow more, i jumped objective facts. now with the trump verdict people are worked up. we've had hours of phone calls thursday and friday from democrats. some shedding tears of joy some whooping and hollering. i think the term giddy would be the correct description including myself. none of the people who called to defend trump said he was innocent. they are not denying donald trump a convicted felon and he deserved to be convicted of 34 felonies. we don't call him 45 on the show, we call him 34.

at we are dealing with, this ongoing fight on this issue. host: you mentioned there has been a lot of interest about talking about the verdict and the trump hush money trial. other than that, what sort of topics are you covering during your show and what kind of guests you have on? guest: many elected officials many congresspeople. we talk about samuel alito, the justice with the flag. we talked about clarence thomas and ethics reform. probably mostly progressive members of the house and fo; others. senators as well. all the grassroots activists. democratic and republican

aside, people on the grounds like taking big money out of politics. i think people should agree that we should overturn citizens united and our vote should better more. so, a lot of times, the grassroots issues are where we find common ground. one of the big things is taking money out of politics, limiting the influence of corporations, and make the government being about the people. there are things we can agree on. i think there are people in leadership on both parties who don't want us to agree on those issues. getting rid of gerrymandering completely. the best person winning, not the best contrived district winning the election. i hope we can find common ground there but i am not delusional that we would on other issues. host: going back to the jury

finding former president trump guiltyadline from cnn is that trump's conviction is not doing much to shift these voters' 2024 pick. they talk to independent voters about who they may support in the election. what does the fact it is not moving thee tell you about the state of the 2024 election? guest: it is interesting. when people called thise show there was no excitement this would impact the results in november. as democrats, and people who are independent who called, it was not we are going to win. it was donald trump finally being held accountable. a man who has escaped accountability on crime after crime. the january 6dy been tried. the supreme court is now slowing down.

in florida, the espionage case. trump is charged with violating the espionage act over 30 times. that should have been tried already but trump gave cannon that job as a judge and now she's returning the favor by slow walking the trial. our frustration was trump attended a coup, incited january 6, not charged with that but charged with trying to stop the transfer of power. and never held accountable. the accountability here. the impact on the verdict -- election, i don't know. time will tell. i think many americans who are torn right now i don't know who they will vote for, the question will be asked do you want someone convicted of 34 felonies representing the u.s. on the world stage? deep down, think that will move some people. 0yzi just don't want a convicted

felon representing the united states of america on the world stage. host: we are talking with the host of the "dean obeidallashh show." if you have a question or comment for him, you can call in now. republicans --(202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents --(202) 748-8002. one of the headlines that came out before the trump verdict was that biden's campaign plans to get more aggressive once the trial ends. it was talk about the possibility of labeling him as a convicted felon. are the possible pros and cons of the biden campaign leaning into that kind of labeling? guest: there are no cons except for donald trump who might be a convict in the near future. he's a convicted felon.

everyone listening to your show -- we are not normal people. we follow much more closely than the average person. we know the cothere are many americans who don't follow this at all. they don't tune in. they are busy with their lives. democrats, it is their job to inform voters about the candidate that is running in the republican nomination. a whole range of issues. one being donald trump is the reason that roe v. wade wasd "i overturned roe v. wade." informing people of donald trump status as a convicted felon, i don't think a lot of people know that so yes, theyput that out there. they should put out merchandise 34 felonies. they should use sense of humor. joe biden should say i will debate donald trump at the end of june if his parole officer

allows him to leave the state. it is not the only issue, but it to his character. to me, there were so many issues before this that he was unfit to be president. donald trump attempted to overturn the he incited january 6. the committee report said the central cause of the january 6 attack was donald trump. if he simply accepted his loss, there was no attack on the capitol. the only reason for january 6 was donald trump. now, donald trump, almost traitorous, the idea of pardoning people who beat up police officers on january 6 almost killed them. if you don't find that manhe mirror and ask yourself what do you mean about being an american? that's my viewing. we cannot have two sides to our

democratic republic. we cannot have two sides to democracy. for those on the right, i hope you are troubled by the fact this man tried to remain in office despite losing election and involved in an attack, and now celebrating the attack. the january 6 choir before his events, celebrating the attackers by saying they are being treated unfairly and vowing to pardon people? that is the definition of an american -- un-american. host: you are a former lawyer. you went to law school and worked as a lawyer for a while. your takeaways fm the trial. did you find anything in particular interesting or what grab your attention? guest: the verdict grabbed my attention. a lot of other things. there was some misinformation and it was trump. there are people, good americans who listen to trump and repeat what he says like it is the

truth. they don't fact him or just want to believe him. someone said they charged him with federal crimes in a state court. does that make sense to anyone? of course not, that's not what happened, but trump said that so people repeat it. he was charged with 34 state crimes and he was convicted of 34 state crimes. to me, the misinformation is the problem. i was not surprised by the verdict. looking at the grand jury indictment the plea deal and following the evidence, as a former attorney -- juries are not going in there to be lawyers. it is common sense. common sense dictates with the verdict will be on almost every case. a few exceptions. common sense said donald trump had an affair with stormy daniels in 2006. he paid her off 10 years later one week before the election and we are supposed to believe that thought about cheating in the

election? of course, it was. and the donald trump was convicted of cheating in the 2016 election. what troubles me is his lack of remorse. donald trump saying he's innocent. he is telling us he will commit the same crimes again in 2024. that is why remorse is actually relevant in sentencing. punish and deter. you punish people and deter others by the punishment. if somebody is convicted and said i learned, i was wrong, i would never do that again. that is important for a judge to hear. the judge hears donald trump saying i have done nothing wrong, it is rigged, the judge is corrupt. the judge is hearing this man will do the same thing over and over again because he believes he's above the law. that is what is so concerning to me. donald trump could be sentenced

to jail. he won't go to jail until his appeal is over. donald trump should be sentenced to jail. he was convicted of 34 felonies. find me someone convicted of 34 felonies 34 felonies who did not get jail time. you will not find it. it is time to end the special treatment for donald trump. he could get 130 years in jail. that will never happen. he should at least get one year iat rikers to send a message to everyone that if you try to cheat in the elections, you e going to jail. why can't i cheat? you have to protect our democratic republic. i know that sounds but it appeals to certain people on the right who are republicans conservatives, not maga. you are a patriot, you believe in our republic. stand against donald trump and

protect our democratic republic. host: we have people lined up ready to talk with you. we will hear from asandy on the democrats line. caller: hi, i love your radio show. it is fabulous. it is finally an answer to the trash you here every day. the mark levins, all that group. i do have a question. how many civil judgments does it take to make one criminal they are talking about 3000 to 4000 cases he has been charged. how many has he been convicted of? guest: he was found liable of hundreds of millions of dollars of committing fraud in new york. it is not like 10 civil trials equals a criminal conviction. i know what you are getting it. how much do you need to prove that trump is a crook?

you cannot get through to maga. donald trump is now a convicted felon. 34 felonies, convicted by a jury. what troubles me is you see trump reject the 2020 election, he rejects the criminal conviction of the january 6 attackers, and now reject his own conviction. the question i asked for him and trump supporters, what part of america do you embrace? if you reject our elections, our constitution our judicial system, what part of america do you embrace except the loyalty to t will all be on the history channel one day. wow, why didn't they see the signs? many have seen the signs. go watch the history channel watch what happened in the 1930's in europe. host: let's hear from dayton on the republican line. caller: if he's done the

crime, he should do the time. guest: that is a good republican. i like this very much, dayton. host: anything else? guest: i think he's a genius. good job. host: lynn in columbia, maryland calling on the independent line. caller: can you explain to us -- i thought of the john edwards case. it is just about the only precedent. can you draw a comparison between the two? can you address the fact richard nixon was an unindicted co-conspirator but never criminally charged? can you explain to me why stephanie crawford, a.k.a. stormy daniels, could shake down somebody? that is not the crime of black maleail, extortion? how far is a client responsible

for crimes committed by his own attorney, in this case michael cohen? is it a question of whether he's aware his lawyer is committing those crimes? what is the point at which a client of an attorney can be held also criminally responsible for crimes that his attorney has been convicted of? i really wish you would compare this to john edwards. when this hole broke out, the first thing i thought of was the john edwards case but maybe that is not a correct comparison. guest: a lot of questions there. i am not an expert on the john edwards case. he was charged with campaign violation. thatguilty. i don't know the evidence that was that a jury here in new york with donald trump -- the former top prosecutor in new york and his team are very experienced. they picked a jury -- they

presented their evidence. at the end of the day a jury of 12 people in new york, and the very county where donald trump was well known was convicted unanimously on 34 felonies. comparing it to another case does not matter, the fax to that was different. this jury found that donald trump committed 34 felonies. the stormy daniels thing. if she committed crimes, she should be charged. the last thing is when did you as a client get implicated criminally for the actions of your lawyer? that is when you are a criminal co-conspirator. when you agree on an illegal goal and collectively work towards that illegal scheme. that's exactly what donald trump and michael cohen did. what they were doing is not legal. the idea of paying off hush money to win an election is

nothing that he to a law school because that is not law. that is called crime. trump's innocence. what they are saying implicitly is that trump is above the law because you like him. that is not how the system works. if joe biden was convicted of 34 felonies democrats would say let's get a new candidate in a second. thank you for your service but we have to move on. we will pick someone who's not convicted of 34 felonies. republicans go we love this guy even more. that says so much about how morally bankrupt maga is. i look at maga versus the republican party. there are republicans who are patriots who are disgusted by maga. maga as a threat to our democratic republic. i have to be blunt about that. you are faced with a budding fascist and authoritarian movement on u.s. soil.

i never called republicans before fascist. we say it now academically based on the definition. just read the academic definition. we are dealing with an antidemocratic movement on u.s. soil. host: let's hear from vicki in kansas calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to tie this into a little historical fact with the january 6 incident that trump encouraged. way back w right after reconstruction there were a lot of hangings and death associated with people that had no access

to the legal system. they were not entertained. people would hang them, take them out of the jailsrial or anything like that. that kind of reminded me news. the president at the time, i think it was woodrow wilson, and thereafter, because we know the legal system has not been fair to minorities and poor people for quite some time, even up to lately when the young man was killed in georgia jury found him not guilty even though we all know they were guilty. it all depends on the jury. i think the jury got it right this time. i think there was no bias, as there are in other states. if the trump case had been held in one of the other states where they love him where the thought is consistent with the culture there, yeah, he would have been found not guilty even though the

facts were there. what got me was when i saw that noose on the grounds of the capitol, and these people were there and wanted to hang mike pence and whoever else they would've got their hands on at the direction of the president because the president back then did nothing either. that is my comment. oh i did want to mention one other thing. there's a book by ralph ginsberg called "100 years of lynching." read that book. thank you. host: any response? guest: i think that was a great point. i think where this case would have been held could have impacted it. trump one of the jury picked from a trump rally. if there are any trump supporters upset the trial was held in new york, our constitution says the venue for your trial is where you committed the alleged crimes.

if you don't want trump to be convicted in the future, west virginia. if you commit them in the state where it was charged -- it is about accountability. every democrat knows donald trump being convicted does not mean he will lose the election. we live in a very hyper polarized time where facts don't matter to a lot of americans sadly. it will be a closelection and no one knows right now who's going to win the election. who comes out in the key states the most. we're 150 something days away and no one knows the results yet. host: p' in new york state court. can they do that? guest: not directly. it would be unbelievable if they were to get involved. i don't see them getting involved. they don't really like --

will appeal in the appellate division new york. the court of appeals. they could try to appeal the supreme court. they won't get involved. mike johnson is the one who wrote a brief after the election on trump's behalf and getting other members of congress to overturn the election. mike johnson does not respect the will of the people. that is what is so jarring for people who know better, people who are lawyers. josh hawley, yale law school. they know the law and they are misleading otherwise good americans. to me, that is the greatest sin. they are corrupting a system that needs protection, not corruption. host: let's hear from bob in massachusetts calling on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to see how donald trump things how the other

trials are coming up, and what you i was a democrat all my life. as far as fairness goes, i'm sorry, maybe donald trump got hung out to dry as he deserved, but hunter biden got to slide. they had him dead to rights and they let it go by the wayside. they're letting president biden off for taking secret documents out of the buildings where he was a senator, not even as a president. the president can supposedly declassify anything he wants, a senator cannot, the vice president cannot and he did these things. he had them at home and had them in a garage and ha the world. the fbi did treat them both differently. anybody who says they didn't, they are absolutely bananas. just like the llc's the bidens

have. just like all the conversations on that laptop that everyone has shown us all and nobody is admitting. goldman, the guy who sits on the house committee, he's probably the most corrupt human being i've ever seen. don't just call the republicans that people. the democrats don't seem that great to me either, ok? we do need an independent party. we need an independent party of human beings in this country that care about this country. from what i am looking at -- the republicans have been infiltrated by democrats. barr is a democrat, christopher wray is a democrat. that guy before christopher wray, he was definitely a democrat. who cannot say you are a republican and then let the democrats walk out the door without even looking at it,

without even caring about it. they have all these documents that prove these guys have been doing things and nobody says anything to them. hang donald trump out to dry. host: bob, let's get a response from dean. guest: bob, you might not know this but hunter biden's trial is starting monday. second between biden and trump, the classified documents -- they are not in the same universe. donald trump refused to turn over documents intentionally over and over. joe biden cooperated fully. good they have charged joe biden? sure. if they did, democrats would have said we are getting a new nominee. republicans go, my gosh, he's convicted of a crime, we love him even more. your bigger question about an independent party.

i think there is some potential to that, a party for the people and not for the billionaires or wealthy class. the question is who will fund that? orm in this country. even maga agrees on that but the people in power won't let us do that. we have to return the power to the people 100%. i will agree with that. host: dean, you are also a cnn contributor. one of your headlines was talking about the national convention. former president trump spoke at that event last weekend. o(what are your takeaways? guest: i am not a libertarian i am a progressive but i wrote about they booed donald trump. he stopped speaking about a half hour. he turned on the crowd and lashed out at the people there. i love that they booedthey had signs up saying he's a threat to democracy.

what i applauded is booing donald trump is what patriotism sounds like. they booed trump, i applaud them. they were making it very clear they rejected him. ultimately, he did not put his name into formal consideration. he knew he was going to lose so badly. i disagree with libertarians on many things, but i think it is important that maga people see that and see that americans outside of their little world see donald trump for who he is and reject donald trump for the threat that he is. the republicans could dominate someone else and that person could beat joe biden. we need to move on from the maga era and to a time where we can disagree on policy all day, and we should. we should disagree on taxes

trade policy, middle east policy, all of that. but we should not disagree on protecting our democratic republic and ensuring an election is protected. and the people that attacked the capitol is held accountable. not that they will pardon that because they agree with us. this experiment cannot continue to exist -- at some point they will win and this ends. host: let's hear from teresa in texas calling on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. so have heard people say that the other side is not reasonable. i happen to be a democrat. my sister is a republican. she was very maga. she had the hat and all of it. so she talked about the election being stolen and rigged and how unfair it was. i talked her into becoming an

election worker. if you think it is so rigged, get involved. go down there, become an election worker. cheat. we don't have anyone out there casting 100 votes. so, she did. now, she no longer thinks elections are rigged. i would like to say that i think education is going to be the key to getting people to understand more about our system. we need to bring back civics classes in high school. junior highve that is pretty much what i have to say. guest: that is a great point. i could not agree more. i think teaching civics in school in a way that is not having any right-wing or left-wing slant, as well as teaching critical thinking skills -- i think teaching critical thinking skills in our

country is so vitally important for everyone. because sometimes my fellow democrats will email me about an article from someone's blog and it is not fact-check that all. there is no proof to this. you cannot disagree -- you cannot just give it to people because you like what it says. check it out. i encourage democrats all the time. you get an article, you never heard of the publication, google it, see if it is true. look at articles andin media outlets that are above board. it could be bbc. it could be nbc cbs, more of the legacy media outlets that have a higher degree of fact checking. cnn -- people will not agree -- they go through such a rigid fact checking frdards looking at it, and that is an opinion article.

sometimes people make mistakes, but at the end of the day they are fact checked. don't take my opinion. articles, i hope it will spark thought and they can agree or disagree but go fact-check on your own. click on the link and then google it. don't cite right-wing garbage sites. you are being intellectually dishonest. get a fewi think critical thinking skills will make our country stronger. the people on the right don't think one day there will be a democratic donald trump. who says i don't care about the election results, we will storm the capitol. if you don't think that will happen, you are kidding yourself. we need people to be thinking clearly and understand what is real and what is not by fact checking things. right now, the primary threats are from maga.

that is the reality. host: we have about 10 minutes left with dean, siriusxm progressive host. we will hear from anthony on the republican line. caller: c-span. host: good morning. i'm going to make a comment and then ask you a question. i'm going to ask you to use your critical thinking skills ok? the whole method that you guys are using to get giddy, using your terms to make donald trump a convicted felon, to give him that label -- it is obvious the doj had something to do with this. it was a misdemeanor case that was frankensteined into a felony case.

colangelo from the doj opened up the trial in new interference right there based on fact. critical thinking skills, more facts. you had a misdemeanor charge in 2018 which was now resurrected magically to become a felony. the crimes that he was supposed to be into a felony were never defined. election interference is basely what this is. do you believe this is election interference? be honest. i know your schtick is to make democrats giddy. be be honest. the honest answer you have to

give me is this is election interference, barguest: i think you me. just so everyone knows the investigation into donald trump began in 2018 when michael cohen implicated donald trump in the crime. trump's doj would not allow the manhattan da to investigate for about ofa year. then, donald trump filed a lawsuit saying you cannot investigate a sitting president. that took a year more. the jury heard all the facts. the statute of limitations argument made by trump was rejected by the judge. it could have been reversed on appeal, unlikely. the fact that donald trump cheated to win the 2016 election. would he have won anyway?

maybe. that is not relevant to the crime. the doj did not bring this case, the manhattan d.a. brought this case and it was brought in 2019. i wish the corporate media and democrats would do a better job explaining. we cannot picture michael cohen testifying before aoc which triggered the ag investigation new york. trump is now a convicted felon. i did not convict him, the judge did not convict him, joe biden did not convict him. a jury of our peers did. if you are rejecting our jury system which part of the system dido you embrace? host: dean, what other stories are you following or interested in right now other than the trump trial? guest: is there another story? no, of course.

i cover a lot about the middle east. i have palestinian heritage on my father's side. in different times, we have covered gaza a lot more. this week, president biden having a new proposal for a cease-fire. the massacre in rafah earlier this week, we covered that as well. i think in the future we will cover that if netanyahu speech before congress, we will cover that in great detail. i predict massive protests in d.c. if someone who is arguably a war criminal speech before our congress. that is a big issue. there issues of the day. whatever they might be. supreme court issues about ethics to just democrats fighting on policy issues with republicans, to a lot about messaging.

democrat callers want to talk about how they do a bad job messaging. if you listen to conservative radio, they call of about how bad conservatives are about messaging. it is probably somewhere in between on both counts. host: the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has accepted an invite to speak in front of congress. do you think that will happen and what reaction? guest: i think if you think it is in his best interest to come here, he will. even chuck schumer who was saying netanyahu should step down, he said point-blank that he's extended the were to remain in power. now that same chuck schumer is joining with the republicans and inviting netanyahu. i believe that was morally and politically wrong.

i think inviting netanyahu -- there is more destruction to homes in any conflict since world war ii. we won't know the full details until they war is over. 70% of the infrastructure, making gaza unlivable. two invite him to speak here you are celebrating him. it is not about israel and iron dome stuffs is about celebrating a man who's on the verge of being charged with war crimes along with hamas. they are a terrorist organization, of course. the idea of celebrating this man i find morally repugnant. it is a political mistake. two parties are not the same end by saying we had the same on netanyahu -- only 18% of democrats approve of him.

that is where the democratic party -- we have to take control of this party. that are too many people who are wall street democrats establishment who are in positions of power. we need to change now as much as possible. host: we have time for one last call. jeannie calling on the republican line. good morning. caller: hello. i'm judy and i just want to make a comment to this man. know how to pronounce his last name. what is it? guest: just call me dean. caller: no, but what is your last name? guest: obeidallah. caller: ok. you know, i used to be a

democrat, a lifetime democrat. so were my parents and my husband's parents. i lost my husband from agent orange from the vietnam thing in i change my vote and my affiliation before my husband died. i went republican. i like trump. that is the only reason why i changed. i don't agree with you. you are verythe show on cnn has turned biased of hn't know why i keep watching and people get on the air and they are republican and democrat and speak their peace. i think you are nuts. guest: thank you. caller: you have very biased -- host: we are running short on time so we will get a response.guest:

she is right. this is america, you should be biased. the framers had duels over politics. we should not have that but i am saying we should be passionate over politics. i have all the respect in the world for republicans to d disagree with me on policy. republican maga, you know he's trying to do that and you are fine with the dictator as long as he's your dictator and that is the problem. host: siriusxm progress host, dean obeidallah, thank you for being with us this morning. that is it for today's washington journal. thank you to everyone who called in and our guests. we will be back tomorrow morning was another show at 7:00 a.m. eastern and 4:00 a.m. pacific. enjoy the rest of your sunday.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]