♪ host: good morning. thursday, january 23rd, 2025. the and senate at 10:00 a.m. eastern today, and we are with you the next three hours on

washington journal. we begin on donald trump's move to issue pardons for those who took part in the january 6 right at the u.s. capitol, including those charged and convicted of assaulting police officers that day. we are getting your reaction on phone lines. if you support the pardons, (202)-748-8000. if you oppose, (202)-748-8001. if you are unsure, (202)-748-8002. you can also text, (202)-748-8003. if you do, include your name, @cspanwj where you are @cspanwj from, otherwise, catch up on at and facebook.com/c-span. president donald trump was asked about the pardons in his

interview with sean hannity last night on fox news and this is what he had to say. [video clip] >> the only pushback i have seen on people who were violent with police. why did they get a pardon? president trump: they were already in there for three years, treated like the worst criminals in the history, and you know it they were therefore? they were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and he were protesting the vote. and you should be allowed to protest a vote. >> you should not be able to invade the capitol? pres. trump: most of the people were absolutely innocent. forgetting all about that, these people have served horribly a long time. it would be cumbersome to go -- you know how many people we are talking about?

1500 people. almost all of them, this should not have happened. the other thing is this, some of those people, they were very minor incidents. they get built up by a couple of fake guys on cnn. they were very minor incidents, and it was time. [end video clip] host: president trump's it down with sean hannity, it aired last night and was asked about a variety of topics, including the january 6 pardons. today, focusing on the pardon move, this is jason in the washington post, executive restraint is going extinct to the pages of usa today, it is his column, biting and trump show how presidential pardons are abused. -- biden and trump show how

presidential pardons are abused, and in the new york times, at a campaign event, shortly before the november election, president trump get an answer that gave the best explanation for the pardons announced this week, asked at a univision town hall about his supporters january 6, 2021, he said, "there were no guns down there, we did not have guns." he said it is the pronoun "we" that gives trump away, that gives mr. trump schema way, by pardoning the writers, in every real sense, pardoning himself. that was in the new york times. anti-about beds. we would mostly like to hear from you in this first half-hour of the washington journal. busy today. a lot to get through head of the

house at 10:00 a.m. eastern. we will take you there for gavel-to-gavel coverage. phone lines are open, split by support. marissa is first out of montana on the line for those who oppose. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span, america. i'm so grateful for c-span. you are a shining light in the darkness. my name is marissa. i went shopping yesterday, the price of eggs was $9.75 three he said he would lower the price of eggs. a few words to see the republicans, never, ever say that you are the party of the rule of law. never say that you support the blue read i never would like to hear that again. do not declare president biden -- compare president biden with trump. and do not compare the democrats and republicans because they are

different. i'm so tired of hearing everybody saying that. wrong, wrong. the democrats actually do stand up for the rule of law. please, i'm tired of hearing that. and all you republicans out there, never claim you have anything to do with the rule of law. you have elected a man who is convicted felon, -- i cannot even say all the stuff that man has done. and one more word for republicans and then i will let you go, if any of you get in an emergency, good luck because he's not paying attention with anything to do with the guys. i guess we will see what he's doing. thank you. host: neil, louisville, kentucky, line for those who support the pardons. caller: thank you for taking my call. lord have mercy, i hope you give me enough time like you gave her.

it is a great day in america, and i believe he's doing the right thing. he did not really pardon himself, he pardoned the people. joe biden pardoned himself and his family, so i cannot understand the lady who just talked. she is so wrong on so many points. he just got in monday, and he supposed to get the groceries down overnight? this is a mess that is going to take years. he won't even be able to straight out -- straighten out the mess of the last four years. it will take two or three terms. it is a great day in america. all the democrats need to loosen their hair, even the women. host: the first two callers bringing up grocery prices. chuck schumer yesterday talked about grocery prices in relation to donald trump's choices at the

outset of his second administration. this was chuck schumer yesterday. [video clip] >> nothing donald trump has done will help lower grocery prices. nothing donald trump has done will lower prescription drug costs. instead, president trump's biggest accomplishment to date has been to issue conditional pardons to 1500 lawless riders who attacked -- rioters who attacked the capitol. he is focused on his past and grievances instead of improving health care and jobs for the american people. the american people have to wonder, how on earth will pardoning january 6 rioters help me pay for food at the grocery store, help me get a lower cost of buying a home or help me save money for my retirement?

how on earth will americans feel safer if the president rewards lawbreakers who assaults police officers by setting these criminals free? so much for focusing on lowering prices, pardoning lawless riders is not with the american people signed up for when they voted for donald trump. they wanted the president to get to work quickly on issues that impact them, costs, safety, health care. the first three days of donald trump's "golden age" has been golden for everyone but working americans. it is a golden age for big corporations and pharmaceutical companies, it is a gold age for lawlessness and looters. it is not a golden age for hard-working americans who would like their costs reduced. [end video clip] host: chuck schumer yesterday on

the senate floor. they are back at 10:00 a.m. eastern today. we are taking your phone calls this morning, getting your reaction to president trump's january 6 pardons. virginia, maryland, on the line for those who oppose. caller: morning. i have one thing to say, how can any president pardon anybody that screams "hang pence?" he was the vice president. i don't understand. host: yvonne, line for those who support. good morning. caller: smuck schumer is a joke -- host: let's stop the name-calling and make your point. caller: democrats operating blows my mind.

i would like to know how many of you [indiscernible] beat up police officers and walked out of jail clashing the middle finger at the camera? how many of you democrats were outraged when blm burn down an entire apartment? how many of you democrats were super upset when the democrats took over an entire city block for the summer? you people really have a lot of nerve. you would like to talk about hypocrisy, you put a capital h on it. as far as me supporting trump, no, i don't necessarily agree, however, they spent four years. how long do you think they are supposed to serve, life sentences?

the way those people were treated versus illegal immigrants were treated, beating up american citizens, i would really like to know, where is your outrage, democrats? you are so selective in your bs attitude and i'm sick of all of you. you have a lot of nerve. host: you got your point. this is denise, detroit, good morning. caller: i've called a few times, and every time i call, i'm still nervous. my point, i don't feel like i did it over, but i would like to say, i listen to these people talk about black lives matter and the riots, but that was george floyd's murder, and i think as many people watch that murder on tv stated that riot at the capital. -- murder on tv as they did the riot at the capitol.

the republican senators that i watch run through, being secure, being protected, when the majority of them that night turned around and voted -- host: i'm listening, bernice. caller: when the majority of them turned around that night and voted and said donald trump had won the election, those are the people who got protected that day. i'm listening to these callers. there are some intelligent people who pay attention and what they are talking about. every time you hear somebody say "ghost democrats" they are -- "those democrats" they are trump supporters. i know they watch and are listening. buyer they not understanding anything that is being said? i don't understand, but they

need to think about that. let them talk to me, let them explain to me how they supported donald trump like they are supported donald trump and everybody is a liar but them. host: you mentioned the members of congress there on january 6, 2021. marjorie taylor greene, congresswoman, publican, elected in 2020, she was there in 2021 and was asked yesterday about donald trump's pardons, by members of the news media who gathered. this is what she had to say. [video clip] >> i'm thrilled with president trump and very thankful. over 75% of blm nt 4.0 rioters never serve time in prison. and many of the communities burned to the ground, blm never donated that money to help build communities back.

president trump to the right thing and pardoning them, while joe biden pardoned his crime family, doubt she, -- anthony fauci, january 6 committee members, rapists and murderers, that is what you should be focused on because i tell you what, the american people are sick and tired of everyone's hyperfocus in washington, freaking out about a day where there was a three hour riot, and a lot of people walked to open doors in the capital, and they don't give a damn about january 6 and are happy these people have their lives back. you know what people care about? voter security, the economy, they are sick and tired of the foreign wars. that is what people care about. outside of the city, so the hyperfocus by the media january 6 needs to end because i'm hearing from people at home, i hear from people all over, they think you're pathetic, they think you are disconnected with the american people, and they think you don't understand it,

so everybody needs to put their big boy pants and big girl pants on, move on and care about with the american people care about, and it is not january 6. [end video clip] host: marjorie taylor greene yesterday on capitol hill. the houses back at 10:00 a.m. eastern on capitol hill. you can watch that here on the c-span network. marjorie taylor greene was talking about joe biden's pardons the final hour of his presidency, and in some cases, the final minutes of his presidency. in today's usa today's usa today, this is what he writes, biden, trump show how presidential pardons are abused. he notes joe biden used his last breaths as president to pardon family members, alongside other political targets of the incoming trump administration, and weeks ago, he used it to rescue his son from a possible prison sentence. he writes, "don't get me wrong,

trumps abuse of power is more brazen, protecting hundreds of people who try to violently overturn an election. however, both sides are contributing to the effective degradation of the pardon power that was once held in such high regard. under our current trajectory, there is no end in sight to the accelerating abuse of this pardon power and our leaders have shown no interest of either party of taking the high road to correct the course of this is -- to correct the course." this is joe, unsure about the pardons issued. caller: i would like to know what is the difference, here they are talking about the capitol being burned, this and that, but how about the american flag? they burned it and did not do anything to those people. you pledge allegiance to the flag, and they are talking about the capital being, i don't know,

a writing -- a riot. cops got hurt, but even if they talk about the cops being hurt someplace else, they don't talk about it. plus, the democrats don't even know what is going on. and god knows what. if the devil was a democrat, they wouldn't know, too, that is how stupid they are. host: that is john in new jersey. some of the numbers related to the january 6 investigations by the justice department, as of the end of november, the biden administration, the investigations effectively over in the wake of trumps executive orders, but there were approximately 1000 165 defendants federally charged with crimes associated with the

attack at the u.s. capitol, including with assaulting or resisting or impeding law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, including 160 nine defendants charged with using the deadly dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury. 174 were charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon, approximately 18 defendants charged with seditious conspiracy. 88 charged with destruction of government property. 67 charged with theft of government property. all defendants charged in the january 6 prosecution have also been charged with some form of trespassing or disorderly conduct or violation of the federal criminal code. those are the numbers the justice department released last year. john, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm glad you went through all the charges because i support

some of the pardons, but probably not all of them for everyone. was there anyone there who was convicted for obstructing an official proceeding? host: that was one of the charges involved, yes. caller: in my opinion, if somebody was charged with only obstructing an official proceeding in the all got trespassing, i would pardon that. in my opinion, it was an insurrection. that was a totally infiltrated, federally managed conspiracy. and it was also a riot, and trump is a big hypocrite. he would like to come down hard on rioters, and he says he loves the police, but maybe he just should have commuted their

sentences for people convicted of bigger crimes. host: a handful of commutations, as well, coming from the president when it comes to some of those bigger crimes that you talk about, including the leaders of the proud boys. we will get into that in a few minutes. bart jensen, with usa today, -- bart jansen, from usa today, joining us at 7:30 eastern. taking your calls until then. from california, good morning. caller: good morning. i called in on the wrong line, got back in on the right line. god bless america, god bless president trump. i'm a supporter of his. just to give you a little history, i know you remember the bundy ranch deal in nevada.

maybe people don't know the background on it. senator reed owns property all around bundy ranch, and bundy ranch owned water rights going into lake mead. that makes all that land valuable if we can have that water. what happens is, bundy has $1 million worth of cows on the ground, and all of a sudden, they came up with the bid for $1 million. host:host: i remember the standoff, but take me through how it relates to this week. caller: at that ranch, this is the comparison i would like to make, they threw all of bundy's family, all of them in prison, and a lot of supporters. as a matter of fact, i went

there -- by the way, i was military police at the top of my class. and the point i'm trying to make now, so stuart rose had donated money, and when word got there, his whole crew read him out and left us there without donated money. they threw those people -- why do they always get thrown in without charges filed against them? and, you know what, if trump would have won and paid for us to come and take this country, all he had to do was say the words, i would have come. host: you are saying you would have committed violence? caller: i said i would have

come, if trump would have called and said we are taking the country back, i would have come, that's all i'm saying. host: this is the roi, maryland, good morning. go ahead -- this is leroy, maryland, good morning. caller: you people elected a devil to put in the white house who thinks he is better than god. well, god showed him, he threw the south and to deep coldness and it has never happened before. host: you think the weather is related to the january 6 pardons? caller: i think the weather -- as far as january 6 -- some think he is god, that january 6 was about trump. somehow got them to go to washington got them to destroy things because trump thinks he

is a god. host: josephine, new jersey, good morning. caller: good morning. i concern, i did not want to go into the january 6 part of it, but i watched c-span on january 6 for six straight hours, and i forgot what former governor hogan called the white house and the oval office to say within half an hour of everything starting, it is on c-span so you can check it, and he basically said, i will send troops in. the president refused to talk to him or except the national guard. that aside, my concern is, yes, he did give those pardons out. look what he has already said about california. he does not plan to give not one

dime to the state of california. screw california. they are only going through fires. he don't care. i mean, he did say screw the american public, we are going to raise prices of prescription. you better watch. this is going to be the next four years. unfortunately, we elected a man who will not be caring about us but his own pocketbook. frontline had a whole thing tuesday night, went through his whole line. he does it because he protects himself, he throws it back on us because don't believe them, believe me. he is hitler. host: you mentioned california, we will be joined later in about one hour by congressman judy chu of southern california, the l.a.

area, the district she represents in california. we will talk about the latest on the wildfires and some of president's comments last night with hannity on future aid and changes in how california manages its woodlands and forest areas. we will talk about that in about one hour. this is john, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. three quick points. number one, i was in washington, d.c., january 6. a lot of people say they were at woodstock and saw the moon landing. i was standing by the national monument. i was there. there were hundreds of thousands of people protesting a stolen election by the democratic party. that is why they were in washington, d.c., and while i was there, i saw a lot of people walking around with baseball bats and i thought to myself as a guy who was there protesting

the stolen election, i thought, why are they here wearing these outfits and bats? we found out later, the process was set up by the deep state to break down the constitutional process of checking into the election in about seven states. they're going to check and kick some of those votes back to the state and say, was there fraud or not? host: you still don't believe the results of the 2020 election, do you believe the results of the 2024 election? caller: absolutely. host: what made you more confident about the federal system in 2024 the 20, because donald trump won? caller: not idle, it was because the republican national committee actually was a republican national committee and they fought back against election fraud and all of the swing states, so people talk about, well, they should not have freed the january 6 prisoners, they should have read every single one several years

ago, and the proof of that is biden leaves the white house, one of the first does is he gets all of his january 6 committee and gives them a pardon. they were not charged with anything. what he was doing was protecting them because they destroyed evidence. i was there with hundreds of thousands of other people. i did not go to the capitol, i stayed at the monument to listening to trump speech. i was there with hundreds of thousands who were there to protest stolen election, which is their right as a citizen. host: donna, kansas, good morning. caller: hello. i'm just shocked at some of the reactions. i watched that whole thing, when that happened on that day from the beginning to the end, and it was regional, cbs, abc.

i mean, people, it was the most shocking. i felt sick to my stomach what had happened. that is a cathedral to our country, all the history and what they did, and to act like it was a little protest, and nobody got hurt? are you kidding me? my god. they tried to hang mike pence. there was a lot of policeman hurt, a lot of policeman hurt. lost their eyes. one guy lost his eye. some had their back hurt, some had strokes. one had tasers, over and over.

and was, you know, jabbed with spears on the end of pipes. this was not no little protest or a little people voicing their protest. this was an insurrection. host: our last caller in this first segment of the washington journal, donna. we will continue to talk about january 6 pardons, joe biden's pardons at the end of his presidency and the justice department in general. we will talk about it with part janse session part jans -- bart jansen. later, carlos gimenez will join us. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ >> american history tv,

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>> book tv, every sunday on c-span2, features leading authors discussing nonfiction books. here's a look at this weekend, and for gary marcus looks at the potential of artificial intelligence and the distracted you mission of the tech industry. and sociology professor chris benner and manual pastor discussed the role of the mineral and the electric vehicle industry with "charging forward at 8:00 p.m., gb kerr argues robert e. lee has been unfairly canceled in america. in his book "un-cancel robe e. lee." and on afterwards, the author of

"it takes chutzpah," senator ron wyden discusses achieving your goals through hard work and focus. find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at tipi.org -- i look tv.org -- at booktv.org. host: bart jansen joins us now. i would like to start on the january 6. at this point, is there anyone convicted of some crime related to january 6 that has not had their sentence pardoned or commuted by president trump? guest: i think that is right, the work of the pardon was very broad, basically pardoning anyone with any actions on january 6 at the capital, with

the exception of the 14 commutations, and he said he may review those and come back and pardon them. host: what is the difference? guest: pardon his full release from the charges and any punishment stemmed from them, commutation is shortening a sentence. all the people in prison are in the midst of being released. host: we have heard about the january 6 investigations, one of the biggest in justice department history, are there any pieces still pending or are all of those wiped away? guest: as i understand, all of those charges are being wiped out with pardons. it was actually a trial here in d.c., on monday, on tuesday, and on monday, the judge dismissed the case, so that was a father-son team, so their case

is over. they said after it actually happened tuesday when they heard trump's announcement late monday, they cracked open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. so all the court action is also ending. host: you said the judge did it without comment, but there have judges making comments leading up to january 20 and the expected clemency for january 6, people who have been convicted of crimes, what do those judges say? guest: several judges have gone through the cases for four years. they have seen the details of the accusations. in fact, more than 1000 people were convicted, more than 1000 by another 260 or so by contested trials, so the judges,

even trump appointees, expressed frustration with essentially freeing or abandoning these cases, particularly with a blanket pardon because anybody charge from the january 6 riot would be pardoned, and, typically with most pardons, they are an individual case. so judges expressed frustration as they issued sentences because many of the defendants asked, hey, he's about to take office, he said, can't you postpone this to see how it turns out? the justice department said, that is speculative, but if trump did what he said he was going to do, they would have the pardon. host: police units supported

donald trump in 2024. guest: that is right. we had an issue yesterday from police, they said they had been supporters of trump, they had a good relationship with them, and they expressed disappointment with pardons and said nobody who attacked police officer should have been pardoned and they should have served their full-term. it was something like 600 of the defendants were charged with assaulting or interfering with police on that day, and about 140 police were injured during the riot, so there is frustration and disappointment among those defending the capital that day. host: also, there are those who are first treated by joe biden's

pardons at the end of his presidency. guest: he was an activist who in 1975 was convicted of shooting to death two fbi agents, and he has been serving a life sentence. he was -- his advocates said he suffered poor health, so he is being released after 50 years in prison. host: one of the op beds today coming from richard stout in washington times. biden kicks the fbi in the teeth on the way out the door, thumbing his nose at the cause of justice, writing about louis ponte. staying on biden, these last-minute pardons from president biden, how unexpected where they? what is the point of a preemptive pardon? guest: preemptive pardon is to

prevent any potential future charges against being pardoned, the case you will remember was when richard nixon was pardoned to avoid any lingering charges or a trial out of the watergate era 50 years ago. in this case, biden extended pardons for nonviolent, potential nonviolent crimes since 2014 for a handful of his relatives. the most significant would be james biden, his brother was investigated for his business deals with and without the president's son, hunter biden, in ukraine, china, and elsewhere. the other pardons went to his wife, the president sister

valerie, and her husband and brother francis. but the one that had faced accusations was before the business deals, the main accusation, house republicans urged the justice department to investigate mind about a meeting he says he did not attend and other witnesses say he did attend in 2014 -- no, 2017, at a hotel in los angeles, and he said he was out there, and there is documentary evidence that he was. so if they wanted to investigate that, that is something the former president has cleared. host: whether it is the biden pardons are the january 6 pardons, what is the most interesting reaction you have seen? what has been the most interesting thing for you to watch? guest: reaction to the biden

pardons, house speaker mike johnson told reporters yesterday that he found that shocking and unbelievable, and he said lawmakers are going to investigate and see if there was anything they could do. that is a tough nut to crack because pardons for the president are written into the constitution. i'm not a lawyer, but it seems like you would have to have amendments to the constitution to change that and that may be tough. host: you mentioned speaker mike johnson, shocking, unconstitutional about the biden pardons treaty was asked yesterday about his reaction to the trump j6 pardons. [video clip] >> everybody can describe this however they would like, the president has the pardon and commutation authority. it is his decision. i think what was made clear along was that peaceful protest should not be punished.

it was a weaponization of the justice department and the events, the following, the prosecutions that happened after january 6. it was a terrible time and a terrible chapter in america's history. the president has made his decision, i don't second-guess those. yes, it is kind of my those, we believe in redemption and second chances. he figured argue those people did not pay a heavy penalty after being incarcerated, that is up to you. the president made his decision. there are better days ahead of us. that is what we are excited about, not looking back but looking forward. [end video clip] host: mike johnson, saying i don't second guess those pardons, but very different to joe biden's pardons. guest: he particularly mentioned peaceful protesters, that is something republicans mentioned, something, a lot of folks have

been compared to walking through the capitals, but hundreds of people were charged with violent offense, convicted of violence on that day. they were building baseball -- they were carrying baseball bats, beating police, spraying them with chemicals. several of the police who were injured that day who retired after their injuries, voiced great upset at the pardons. one particular, suffered a heart attack, was tased repeatedly and says he feels betrayed. host: phone lines for this segment, as usual, democrats, republicans and independentss. get your calls and. bobby, oklahoma, democrat. you are up first. caller: yes, if it would have been me, if they had come up and

try to take me out like they did , they would have looked like could ornaments hanging off the side -- host: what is the question, bobby? caller: the question is, why is people so dumb, they will vote for a man like donald trump? he fooled people, saying he would get the price of eggs and milk down, he's not going to get anything down. host: donald trump did exactly what he said he would do when they came to january 6 pardons. guest: after what he called "hostages" for years, he said at various times it would be for nonviolent or people who assaulted police, but as it turned out, it was all of

them. he spoke about it on monday and his return to the oval office, he said hostages were treated outrageously, and that their lives were destroyed. so i don't think he's made it a secret he thought they were treated badly. host: virgil, republican, go ahead. caller: i have a question regarding how fair the media at large is, whether we talk about it in newsprint media or tv media, about the pardons between trump and biden. biden in his four years issued over 8000 pardons, including the pardon of someone who murdered two fbi agents. yet, trump is being attacked for his pardon of a little over 1500 j six people who do not actually kill anyone, even though the democrats, to this day, arst

deal pretraining the lie that officers were killed on january 6. there is this great big disconnect between the reality of the pardons trump has issued and the pardons president biden has issued. guest: in terms of the steps that have been linked to the january 6 right, one of the officers died the next day. he had been sprayed with chemicals very, and his death was ruled of natural causes, but his mother and others feel like he died because of his treatment on january 6. in addition, a handful of officers who were defending the capitol that day died by suicide in the days and weeks afterwards, so sometimes we will hear lawmakers say they died as a result of the attack.

but, no, the rioters on that day did not shoot or kill police officers the capitol building. host: san diego, independent, good morning. you are next. go ahead. caller: yes. i was wondering why he would pardon some people when they are actually extremists. i was shot in the head in 1991 by a drug dealer, so i can sympathize with the feelings of these people, but i was wondering why wasn't he pardoning someone who was an extremist? that is the way i feel about that. host: oath keepers, proud boys leaders, commutations from them coming, explain who those folks are.

guest: there were two far-right militia groups who were considered the organizers or instigators that day, a total of 18 people were convicted of seditious conspiracy, the accusation that they were trying to overthrow the government that day. one is a group of law enforcement officers, wearing camouflage outfits and helmets and riot gear, entering the capital and sort of a military ment. the proud boywas the other group, they call themselves western chauvinists, supporting america, so in both cases, the leaders of both groups were given the harshest sentences. steward rhodes of the oath keepers had an 18 year sentence,

and the leader of the proud boys at the time had a 22 year sentence. one was pardoned and steward rhodes left on tuesday morning, so the harshest crimes have als been committed by trump. host: alexander, democrat, good morning. caller: yes, good morning. thank you for taking my call. give me a moment before i ask my question. i honestly feel that this election completely demonstrated the collapse of both parties, republican and democratic parties, for people to actually vote for a person so flawed, trump and his cabinet, like--patel, tulsi gabbard, but

as far as these pardons, what concerns me the most is that a sickly now trump has a paramilitary. he has several extremist groups that have now been given green lights to be able to put a great amount of pressure on anybody that they would like, and now they know that trump will pardon them if he has to. my question is, whatever you would like to call this, people would like to turn this into a farther autocratic system or democracy, how is this system literally supposed to survive when the actual people or half of the people in this country want this violence and type of transactional government? and there really is no more law and order because you can bend the will any way you want to get

what you want and democrats will not be able to stop this, they really will not. what is your sense of where we are historically toward a system that just needs to be collapsing? because the laws are bent anywhere that you would like in order to get your end results. guest: it is a little hard to talk about the and other democracy in a brief television periods -- television appearance like this, but what i would say is that trump would say he won a strong with geordie in the -- in the electoral college with the actual majority of the popular vote, which republicans have been hard-pressed to find the last couple of decades. and, in addition, he won the house and senate, so, as you say, the entire government now is in the hands of republicans. he says that he has a strong mandate to carry out his

priorities, including any of the pardons he said he would do on the first day, he did it on the first day. he said he would like to increase drilling along the coastlines and, presumably, he will pursue that. so it you are going to see over the next two years is trump and his republican allies in congress pressing their agenda, and the difference would be if enough people get upset or disappointed with his priorities, then, perhaps, we will start to see changes in 2026. for now, you have two years waiting to see what the republicans will accomplish when they control both branches of government. host: election donald trump's priorities, this is from the washington post -- justice department given the job for much of trump's to do list. can you explain what is happening at the justice department right now and what

happens at the beginning of a new administration? pam bondi has not been confirmed yet, but donald trump staffers are in charge of the justice department, so what is happening this week? guest: during the transition between the election and inauguration, the incoming administration sends its own staffers to evaluate priorities and staffing in all of the federal agencies, so the justice department is a high-profile agency. trump has named top leaders for the department in months. he named them very early. and so pam bondi has had her confirmation hearing, a former attorney general of florida, a prosecutor, so it is not so much

that her credentials would have been challenged, but just her priorities and allegiance to trump, which are the political questions as we wait to see how the judiciary commute will go wednesday on her nomination, and we will see about it with the full senate, but in addition, he has nominated other top leaders and political posts that govern priorities or the policy direction of the department. among those, the deputy attorney general, todd blanche, has been appointed, and -- host: we knew him from the donald trump trial in new york. guest: correct, and his partner were his criminal lawyers and represented several of the cases, so blanche would be deputy attorney general, and then principal attorney general, so those folks -- he is now

acting as deputy attorney general, so, for instance, he sent out a memo on the 21st saying that they would like to enforce immigration laws. immigration was one of trump's top priorities during the campaign, and he looks to strengthen the border and support mass deportations, many of those functions pass through the justice department because they technically oversee the immigration courts, and they would be pursuing any of the legal remedies for deportations, so he put out a memo saying, keep track of who is cooperating with the federal government, the department of homeland security agency will be rounding up people, the immigration and customs and border protection and border patrol, and some states and cities have with the call century laws, where they

say they would not cooperate with this federal law enforcement to detain or deport. one memo said, well, we will keep track of that going on, and if we need to, we may investigate folks who are not cooperating the state or local level with the law enforcement. host: a few minutes left with bart jansen, taking your phone calls, barbara has been waiting knoxville, tennessee, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is, given the press announcement yesterday, mike johnson was very upset because biden hardened his family, even though everybody knew they were going to go after biden's family. they said they were going to look into it. how can they do that when it is supposed to be absolute? guest: you are absolutely right

that the pardoned authorities absolute, there are no apparent restrictions on it, but what some lawmakers have talked about in the past, this is one of the big advocates the past week, was a democrat, they may not be aligned with mike johnson on many issues, but at least since 2017 on the federal level, they have talked about adjusting the pardoned authority so that a president could not pardon relatives or top aides or people with potential financial relations. host: with the constitutional amendment? guest: i'm not a lawyer, it seems he could pass legislation, within the first challenge to wipe it out is unconstitutional,

so the legislation also has not moved out of committee. he says he's going to pursue it again this year. we don't know what speaker johnson was talking about in taking a look at it, but it is possible republicans may also be looking for ways to adjust that authority, but it would be interesting to see how the supreme court may respond to an eventual challenge because in the immunity decision that it reached in july, involving the trump criminal charges, several of the things you absolutely cannot criminally charge a former president with are the core powers of the presidency, and that is pardons, and the appointment power. so it is only held by the executive, and other branches are usually reluctant to step in

or to tinker with the powers. host: what else are you watching for any busy week on your beat that we have not talked about yet? guest: i'm focusing a lot on immigration and waiting to see how these enforcement actions will play out. they already talked about rounding up hundreds of undocumented immigrants, and there are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country. half of those are people who have overstayed their visas. there is also i am wanting to see how do they pursue these folks and the volume could be huge. they have begun deploying active military to the border, 1500 troops being sent. that is not entirely new prude active duty has been sent to

protect them for a couple decades now. we are waiting to see how trump's actions will be new and what he says will be more aggressive to secure the border. host: bart jansen, usa tod is where you can see his work. we will be joined by the republican representative carlos gimenez to discuss donald trump's actions and the news of the day. it stick around. we will be right back. -- stick around. we will be right back. >> c-span has podcasts for you. listen on the afterwards podcast and on q and a, wide-ranging conversations with nonfiction authors and others who are making things happen. book notes plus our weekly

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c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we take you now to the rotunda on capitol hill. joining us is republican representative carlos gimenez. i want to start about the reporting about president trump preparing to send 10,000 troops to the border to support border patrol agents. it is a banner headline in today's washington post. what will they be doing? guest: they will be supporting agents and securing our southern border. that is exactly what they will be doing to make sure our southern border is secure. host: support them how? guest: support them in whatever way they need support.

that is what they are therefore to make sure our southern border is secure. what the specific duties will be i'm not aware of that. host: truce are prevented from performing a law enforcement duties on u.s. soil, white is that? is that something that could change? are the troops needed to do law enforcement inside the u.s.? guest: probably, because we have had an invasion at the southern importer and protection has been overwhelmed. in order to secure america, we need to have armed forces down there and also shows strength that we mean business to the people who are importing these immigrants. the southern border is controlled by that mexican cartel. we have designated them as a terrorist organization and you

will need a show of strength in order to show the results of the united states to protect our southern border. host: what does designating cartels as a terrorist organization do? guest: it says they are a terrorist organization and we will take extraordinary action against them. i have been calling for that for a number of years. three years ago, then former director and now former director christopher wray is in front of the committee and as said what is the difference between the mexican cartels killing tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of americans and al qaeda who killed 3000 people on 9/11? after they did that, we went 6000 miles in waged wars to try to wipe them out. the mexican cartels have killed many more americans than al

qaeda did and they are right across the border. what is the difference and he said there was a legal issue as to why we couldn't call them terrorists. i call them terrorists. they've been killing americans for a number of years and we need that to stop. host: do you think we need to wage a war and wipe them out and does that include war on foreign soil? guest: it means we need to tell the mexican government we are very serious about it and we are not going to tolerate their cartel or lack of control of their side of the border to continue to kill tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of americans. if they can't do it, we may have to go there because the number one job of the federal government or any government is to protect its citizens. we know who is doing it and we know where they are getting their chemicals from that produced the fentanyl, from communist china, and we have to protect our citizens and if that is what it takes to protect our

citizens, then we need to go over there and wipe them out because they have killed far too many americans and we have been very little about it. host: another donald trump executive action revoking a biden administration decision to remove cuba from that list of state sponsors of terrorism, what does that do? guest: by removing them, it allowed them access to financial markets and has giving -- given them oxygen for that regime and putting them back in and that restricts them from accessing markets and there are sanctions imposed to countries that are sponsors, state sponsors of terrorism so i am a very happy president trump did that. it was in the biden administration. i am not a big fan of president

biden. i thought his decisions were just not in the best interest of america and i am glad that president trump reversed that and put q but where it should be as a state sponsor of terrorism -- put that as a state sponsor of terrorism. the u.s.-cuba relationship should be frosty and we should impose as many sentients as possible and should start restricting travel to cuba. that regime is in deep trouble and on the cliff and has been oppressing its people for over 60 years. there is no freedom of the press and no freedom of religion and a thousand political prisoners. they haven't had free elections in over 60 years. they can even provide electricity for its people. there are rolling blackouts in cuba every day and the people of cuba need to be free and the united states has to be the champions of democracy and freedom and the people of cuba have not been free for over 60

years. i am here because of that. my parents fled to the united states back in 1960 to obtain freedom and thank god they did. i live in the greatest country in the world but i am not going to forget the people of cuba. we need to turn them from an enemy into a friend and the only reason they are an enemy is you have a marxist government down there that remains in power through the use of force. host: carlos gimenez is with us and we are taking your calls. we have dj up first out of rising sun, maryland, a line for democrats. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: what is your question for the congressman? caller: i was calling in regards to the orders issued. how many that were issued have

had previous criminal history and where they part of charlottesville and there were probably is in oath keepers with the riots when george floyd was killed. how many of those release were part of those riots and previous criminal history? host: congressman gimenez? guest: part of the george floyd riots? i don't think any of them were. i don't have the specifics on each individual what i do know is president trump said he would issue the pardons for the january 6 folks who were involved in the capital and he kept his campaign promise. unlike joe biden who said he wasn't going to pardon his son or family and did just that. president trump kept his promise and president biden broke his

promise. host: time, independent. go ahead -- tom, independent. go ahead. caller: you had two years. is there going to be a lot of what aboutism. host: just a feed to your phone. caller: every time there is a criticism of term, what about biden? host: you are going in and out but if you got that, congressman, you can respond but if not we can go on. guest: i did not get that. host: ron, go ahead. caller: i lived in hollywood for 40 years and i saw the corruption in devoting their.

i have to thank all of the latinos who voted for trump because these people have actually seen communism and they know what is going on. this administration we just got rid of, the doj was nothing more than the gestapo. these people destroyed evidence and everything they did was illegal in the media picks it up and propagandizes everything. people don't know what they are talking about when they call in. when i hear democrats call in, they are emotional basket cases and they don't know what they're talking about because the media is not giving them truth. i hope we fix that. host: how do we fix that come around? --, ron -- how do we fix that, ron? caller: when obama came in, that is when the line started.

i was journalists could be journalist but they have turned into activists. host: that is run in tennessee. -- that is ron in tennessee. guest: is borne out in the election and the media is at an all-time low and it is their fault. i do agree with the caller who said they have turned into activists. i remember a time when it was who, what, when, how and then you reported it and the reader would make up their minds. everything now is slanted one way or the other and so i do agree we need to get back to basic journalism. as far as what he talked about early in the conversation about the people who have lived under communism, it is a great

example, in southern florida, in 2016, hillary clinton won miami-dade county and then 2020 i think joe biden won by 7%. this time, donald trump won miami-dade county and for the first time in a number of years. why, because we have so many who have lived under communism and dictatorships and they know what weakness is all about and they reject how and what the democrats were doing it. so now we are solid red and those are people, like people, venezuela, nicaragua who have been oppressed and they understand that the only way to obtain freedom is through the strength and not through weakness and president biden has just demonstrated weakness throughout his entire presidency. host: how should we deal with people oppressed trying to seek

asylum? guest: we need to go after the resumes that are making them asylum seekers. if you did that, it would have asylum-seekers. that is what we need to focus on. we need to turn cuba, nicaragua and venezuela from enemies harboring russians and chinese communist party, iran and north korea and turn them into friends and the way to do that is through strength and pressure in our supposed friends dealing with those totalitarian regimes that are oppressing their people. or been enough focus on the american media and what is actually happening in south america. this is our hemisphere in the hemisphere we live in and he should be the champions of democracy and freedom in our hemisphere and that has not been focused on enough by the media. in south florida, we do look to the south in miami is the

gateway to the americas, the capital of latin america and we are much more focused on that than the rest of the country but it is really important for america to be the champion of democracy and freedom at least in our hemisphere. we need to pay for attention to what is happening at home. host: mentor, ohio, independent. caller: i just have one question, purdue pharma, why are they not in prison. they primed the drug crisis in this country. what did they do? they pay a few books. answer my question, please. why aren't they all behind bars in federal prisons? the families that have been devastated by this poison. the fda employee that gave the stamp of approval and push the poison through, why are they not

in prison? guest: those people violated the law should be in prison and those folks who created addicts should be in prison. i can see the emotion in this phone call and it sounds to me like you have been touched by it but also they created addicts but the cartels down in mexico, they really took advantage of what was happening here in the united states but they are the ones who are killing our people. had tens of thousands of people killed by fenton all that was manufactured by those cartels and transport -- fentanyl that was manufactured by those cartels and transported by them. they got you hooked on the drug because they laced it with fentanyl and eventually your luck runs out and you take a drug with too much and you pass

away. i don't know with any family or person who doesn't at least know of either touched their family or knows of a family that has lost somebody. the fentanyl overdose was the number one death from 18 to 34 ages in the united states directly attributable to the mexican drug cartels. so we need to do something about that. and yes, sir, big pharma is also guilty of hooking and making addicts of people care those people responsible need to be brought to justice. host: new york, david, republican. caller: i am in agreement with the policy to seal the border, to stop all of the infiltration. let's strengthen it and stop this infiltration of people from

all over the world that we don't even know about. i am in agreement with the congressman. having said that, i would like to say it one more thing about the last election. had an election, that is the only solution we have and we compare the candidates and trump came out ahead. he was compared to kamala harris and whatever her resume was going to be and people made a decision because the border was a big decision for people. it was for me. in an imperfect world, you don't get a perfect solution but we have the best solution we could've had under the circumstances. i am looking forward to seeing how this new administration is going to play out and solve problems. thank you very much. host: congressman, any thoughts? guest: the gentlemen is right and elections bring consequences and we are going to go in a

completely different direction than the biden administration, and i am happy about it. most of the steps president trump is making i am in complete agreement. i'm not in complete agreement with a hundred percent of it but we are going in the right direction. this is america and you have the right to disagree, but i voted for this president and i support president trump and i think he will be putting america and a much stronger position and securing our border. we will be now energy dominant. i am sure we are going to work on the ways we can strengthen our economy and bring jobs back to the united states. we will keep the trump era tax cuts flowing and incentivize new investment in america. i believe the things he is doing are the right things for america. host: what are the areas of this administration's agenda you disagree with? guest: i agree in birthright citizenship and i think it is

well established law and the 14th amendment and reaffirmed in 1898. i think the problem they're trying to address is migrants coming in and giving birth here in the united states and the way to cover that if you want is to control the border. once you control the border, you won't have that problem but i think birthright citizenship, you are born in the united states, you stay in the united states. host: does changing that require constitutional amendment? guest: i think so. the argument is that somehow they migrate is not under the authority of the united states for the 14th amendment says anyone born under the authority of the united states is a citizen, a natural born citizen. the case i am referring to, in 19 -- there was an individual born to chinese immigrants and they were illegal in the united

states and the parents went back to china and apparently took their son with them. when they came back the u.s. that he was not a citizen. the supreme court affirmed that he indeed was a citizen and was born under the authority of the united states and therefore he was a citizen. i think it is well established law. in order to change that you would need a constitutional amendment. i doubt sincerely that will have three fourths of the state ratify something like that. host: you are talking about the 1898 case. there is an entire based on history of that case decided 6-2 by the supreme court it is constitutioncenter dot org to study up on that. this is eugene in georgia, independent. good morning. caller: i understand, congressman, you are a big advocate for the banning of tiktok.

you felt it was very important to do that. that probably was the most bipartisan piece of legislation that came out of the last president. i have heard a word from you since it has been suspended for 90 days. if it was important to pass the legislation, i haven't downloaded it since the freeze came because what kind of reaction rate going to get. >> "washington journal" continues. that is -- host: that is a big topic. let's get a response. guest: you haven't been watching but i have to comply with the law and i know that president trump what he is doing, i will give them the benefits of the

doubt but at the end i expect the law to be complied with and followed peak demand tiktok and it needs to either be sold to an american company or it needs to be banned in the united states. i expect that to be followed up with and i expect that the full intent of the law to be complied with. host: for people trying to understand, what does it mean banning it in the united states, they can't download it or use it. guest: it can be downloaded or supported by tech companies. in other words, when you go to tiktok, you want to get anything because it is not supported in the united states. i expect that to happen, either sell it to an american company or it is going to be banned. that is the law. it was upheld by the supreme court and i expect at the end that is what needs to happen. host: sean is in california, democrat. good morning.

caller: a great topic. i have three quick questions. let's remember the 14th amendment comes after the 13th amendment. mr. heaven as -- mr. gimenez, does this apply to your family as your parents were born in the u.s.. for the drug cartels, i understand have to go after them for drugs but you made the statement earlier in the show that we will go after them, yet we will go after them. that means you are going to say that we are going into the country and go to war. i need you to clarify. are we going to war? i feel american citizens who are putting drugs on the streets for our children to be gotten. we know fentanyl is being made

in america by american citizens. the drug cartels are getting away with it. go back to 1980 and a drug cartel got away and he was an american citizen now we're supposed to go after the criminals. however that drug cartel from columbia should have also been in federal prison. host: a lot there, congressman. guest: my parents came in 1960 and brought me here in 1960 and they became residents, legal residence and then became citizens and i became a citizen in 1975. so the 14th amendment, i wasn't born here but i am a naturalized citizen. i am a citizen of the united states and i can't be a member of the congress if i'm not. as far as the cartels are

concerned, al qaeda attacked the united states on 9/11 and killed three thousand americans. they were housed in afghanistan. we went 6000 miles and waged war on afghanistan for 15 years in order to get rid of al qaeda which by the way it still exists. the mexican drug cartels have been killing hundreds and tens of thousands of americans, hundreds of thousands of americans and they are right across the border. i don't see much of a difference. they died from a plane crashed into a building or just poisoning us. so they are poisoning us and doing it on purpose and now they are a terrorist organization and we need to go after the terrorist organization that is killing americans because the number one duty of the american government is to protect american citizens. the fact that they happen to be in mexico, well, al qaeda was in afghanistan. hamas is in the gaza strip of

the duty of government is to protect its citizens. and i expect this government to do everything possible to eradicate the mexican drug cartels that are killing americans. i know it is a strong position but i feel strongly about what those cartels are doing. in those cartels are not only producing fentanyl because they are the ones producing it, by the way, but they are also the ones profiting from human trafficking in the united states and they are the ones facilitating the flow of illegal immigrants on our southern border. it is like a two front war with the cartels. they are enemies of the united states. the mexican government doesn't do anything about it. i would hope the mexican government would say, hey, you are harboring terrorist organizations and you need to do something about it and if you don't, we might have to take matters into our own hands. host: we are going to have to

leave it there. i know you have a busy day on capitol hill and thank you for starting it with us on the "washington journal." coming up, the federal news network drew joins us about -- drew friedman joins us about policies announced by the trump administration. coming up is open forum, now is the time to call in. phone lines are on your screen. we will get two calls right after the break. ♪ >> book tv, every sunday on c-span two features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. here is a look at what is coming up this weekend. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, gary marcus looks at the risks of artificial intelligence and the regulation of the tech industry

in his book "taming silicon valley." then sociology professor discusses lithium in california's region and the role of the mineral in the electric vehicle ministry in the book "charging forward." and then a book said that robert e. lee has been unfairly canceled. he served as -- at 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, democratic oregon senator shares his thoughts on having the tenacity to pursue progressive goals to strong alliances, hard work, and focus. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide and watch online anytime at book tv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: time for open forum.

any public policy, political issue you want to talk about, this is when we hand the show over to you and let you lead the discussion. the phone lines as usual as you call in. today, the house and senate return at 10:00 a.m. eastern. the house on c-span and the senate on c-span2. c-span3, you can watch th ongoing confirmation hrings, it is agricultural secretary minebrooke rollins will have her hearing. and now your phone calls. this is bob out of minnesota, line for democrats. what is on your mind? caller: i think we can get this country back on its feet again. all we have to do is get eight people's court set up to check

on our judges. the judges are just as quick as the republican party is. until then we are going to be in big trouble. host: what judges are you referring to? caller: all the judges need to be checked up on. they say they are working for the people that they are working for trump. everyone saw it but until then, we are going to have the same old thing, day after day, lies, more lies, and more lies. host: don is in dunkirk, indiana, independent. caller: i have three words to say about people that voted for trump, they are idiots. host: david in georgia, independent. caller: good morning.

let me point out a little bit of republican history and you will figure out why i am an independent. when it comes to cuba, the republicans let that go and when it came to other things, the republicans have done us wrong at the border. and we don't go after these folks in other countries. nixon set up china with of the industry that left the country in the 1970's and people forget that china is paying us back full the richest drug cartel which is the delano family.

the republicans keep turning their back on what things they have done and set us up for the mess we are in now because in 2018, the caravans were flowing to the border after the republicans cut off the money to keep them down there. host: keep calling in. we are going to take you back up to capitol hill to the rotunda and joined by california democrat judy chu. congresswoman, i wanted to start about the district and how it is doing and where the fires are in relation to your district right now. guest: my district is doing better now. the fire is 95% contained. however, the number of homes burned number in the thousands. they are 9500 structures that

have been destroyed and burned and 17 people are dead. finally, the evacuation orders have been lifted it so people are going back to their homes but they are discovering that they are burned to the ground and if they have a home standing it is full of smoke and ash. so the period of recovery and rebuilding is starting and it is going to be a very difficult one. in the meanwhile, there is a new fire that has started, the hughes fire, north of my area. it is i think about 18% contained. they are making progress over there but people really have to obey the evacuation orders and make sure they and their families are safe. host: a release from your office yesterday saying that you are demanding an independent investigation into the deadly evacuation order delays during the start of the eaton fire. explain. guest: i am very concerned

because the evacuation orders did not reach western altadena for many hours and as a result, there were those that did not leave right away and actually all 17 of the deaths that occurred were in that area. so i want to know what happened, who is behind this, why or those evacuation orders delayed. it is a tremendous tragedy and we cannot have this happen again. host: what do you know about the delays? guest: it was several hours. remember that most people evacuated within the first day and the fire started on a tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. most people then were ordered to evacuate that wednesday and they woke up to the fire that was coming toward their home. we are talking about several hours where they could have been

evacuated and had their lives saved. host: what does recovery look like in your district? what your constituents need from congress? guest: there is hazardous removal by epa and they are making progress. the next step will be debris removal. it will be a big job. and then there will be the process of rebuilding, of getting insurance companies to be able to assess the damage and provide funds for that. it will not be enough. the job is enormous. there have been estimates as high as $250 billion as far as the damage to palisades and the eaton area. so we definitely need disaster aid without conditions which has been the case for every disaster aid package in our nation's

history. these wildfires don't have any political affiliation. they don't have any political party and when americans are in their most desperate time and in great need of help, we need to be able to help them. this will be a very important time for us to give that aid so they can recover and the economy can return to what it was before. host: president trump was asked about disaster aid by sean hannity in the fox news interview that took place on capitol hill. this is 30 seconds from yesterday. [video clip] pres. trump: i don't think we should have california anything until they let water flow. they talk about the delta smelt and say it is endangered. how is it endangered? no wonder it is in danger, it is not getting any water. host: that was donald trump.

your response. guest: it is based on tremendous misinformation. the situation with the delta smelt in northern california have nothing to do with the water supply in southern california. in fact, they had enough water in the palisades fire and enough water in the altadena fire. what we did have work 100 mile per hour winds and fires where the embers were spread across a span of two or three miles. the embers landed on these homes and that is what made the fire spread so fast. so water was not the issue. host: do you have a sense of who president trump will meet with and where he is going in the los angeles area this week? guest: we have asked many and we can't get an answer. in fact, i would drop everything and accompany him. we have made inquiries as to

whether that is possible but haven't gotten an answer from anyone yet. host: what would you tell him if he did accompany him? guest: i would tell him that we have helped everybody who has been a victim of a horrendous disaster in this country. it was just four weeks ago when i voted on the disaster aid for hurricane helene which helped the people of tennessee, carolina and georgia. i certainly didn't look at whether it was a red state or a blue state. what i looked at was the fact that there were people who were in trouble and needed our help. host: i know you need to go get your day started on capitol hill, what are you working on today? guest: today there is the fix our forest bill that will be on the floor. i do plan to support it because it has measures that will help in wildfire recovery.

there is also a bill on the floor, something i plan to oppose. when a child is born and somebody kills that baby, it already exists in law and what this does is spread misinformation about abortion which is something that has been a right in this country or had been a rape in the country before the supreme court decision, for 50 years. host: congresswoman judy chu to the los angeles district. thank you for telling us about it and good luck to you and your constituents. back to phone calls. it is open forum, any public policy or issue you want to talk about. this is charles waiting in new jersey, democrat. good morning.

caller: what i am going to say is that for two or 2.5 years, social security and medicare will be running out of money. how will the crime be stopped in 2.5 years? all you have to do is the women and men who have been to prison, clean their record up and let them go get jobs. a lot of them can't get jobs. try that and for the others, i will tell you how to get rid of 25 percent of that at a later date. host: that is charles. this is anita in louisiana, republican. go ahead.

caller: thank you for letting me call. i just want to talk about the illegal immigrants, especially deportation and the ones who have been here for many years and support our community. not that i don't appreciate them. they do what they do and they do it well, but it seems like if they want to be part of the united states, some of them have been to 20 years and make no attempt to become citizens. i honor your last guest he and his family came here and all became citizens and now they are a vital part of our country. is there any way if someone can address this and make that become something in the forefront of our vision that these people are welcome here and welcome to stay but also

welcome to actually become part of our country if they choose to stay here. host: we have heard about the so-called path to citizenship built into some of the bills and negotiations trying to find pathways to become a citizen even if somebody came into this country illegally. what do you think about the pathways to citizenship? caller: i know propose they are just handed this. many people have came and worked and found out how to become a citizen. white in 20 years they can't do it is my thing. i also would like to speak on what your last senator just said about women's rights. women do have a right to their own body, but they choose to do

things that procreate life and so they give up the right undo that because it is already done and now they are given the right to kill somebody else because they don't like what they did prior. we are not taking their right away. they have the right to start off, don't do it. host: this is steve in clifton, independent. caller: when i listen -- it is interesting, last week we were talking about climate change because the fires but now that it's cold this week we are talking about it. in the past when a country wanted to invade a country, they invaded a country. now we can just send people

across the border to invade the country. who is for legal immigration -- illegal immigration? if you are for illegal immigration you are for drug and sex and child sex trafficking. the only reason i hear that we need illegal immigration is because basically we need slaves, people to pick our crops who get no money. the concept of illegal immigration is so inhumane. not only to us but to the immigrants themselves. who is for it? i heard the preacher talked about, we have people afraid, working this and that. if they are illegal immigrants, how are they working? why are companies hiring illegal immigrants? if they are illegal they shouldn't be able to work, period.

this concept that they are working, yeah, they are working for slave wages and i thought slavery ended in the civil war. host: to the yellow member state, this is john, democrat -- yellow hammer state, this is john, democrat. caller: i saw a documentary film called "vigilante inc.." have you ever heard of that? host: i have not. caller: it is a documentary about widespread voter suppression by a group called "true to vote." host: who is true to vote? caller: it is a group that go around suppressing people's voting rights. it is a woman by the name of

pamela riordan who was over the group. she was also a member or supporter of donald trump. host: so bring me to what you want to talk about. caller: what i want to talk about is the way in which the voter suppression was done with the vote between kamala harris and donald trump. the way they have done that is that your name, in alabama, your name is james brown in you go to vote and they tell you that you have the wrong address on your license and you can't vote. so your question and vote can't count until they clear up, are you the person who is standing there. the way true the vote did it, there were many named james

brown who live in the state of alabama. they do is everybody named james brown, they cannot vote because they have a different address. host: have you ever had trouble voting in alabama? caller: no, i have never had this problem. but let me finish this and you can take the next caller. they do this through each state and they go into georgia, with brian kemp who was a big supporter. when they get a name, they call somebody up in tennessee and another in texas and what they do is now we have all of these people with the same name in all of these states disqualified from voting. and they do this with jose gonzalez, cynthia fernandez, all throughout the united states they take these names and you

can add up to my loads are 3 million votes of people can't vote because they are using this tactic to suppress people voting. host: to the keystone state, very, republican. caller: i listened to judy chu say the wildfires in california had nothing to do with the water. is she claiming that the firefighters on the front lines who told us that they lacked water or lying? i think the listeners have liked to do push back on her a little bit and ask her that, because they are the ones that told us they lacked water that came from the firefighters themselves and i think listeners would have liked a little push back asking her if she is claiming those firefighters lied to us in this time of emergency, which seems unlikely to me. host: this is john in the

magnolia state, independent. caller: first of all, i would like to address one issue for the 14th amendment was not meant for someone to come from china, have a baby and be an american citizen and get all of the benefits. go to any other country, your, and any other country, so all abuse -- you who call yourself americans that benefited from the african-americans. you came over here and the government gave you it and haven't given african-americans an inch. we fought every war. it is a shame. you will even give us free education for the very thing that got us killed if we tried to pull ourselves out of

bootstraps, we didn't even have boots paid with basically been free for 60 years because if you can't vote and live your life, you are not free. so jim crow -- we have been slaves for hundreds of years and been out 60 ears and not be given anything -- 60 years and not been given anything? putting drugs into our neighborhoods,, assassinating our leaders. i am backing somebody that is going to be down for america in the american citizen and for reparations for africans. if we don't get that, america is just like any other country. hitler's did what he did but did it for a few years. host: this is freddie in

indianapolis. caller: i was listening to the congressman from florida earlier and he was critiquing, or not critiquing but speaking harshly on the drugs flowing into this country coming from the mexican border. he sounded as though he is ready to send the army to mexico to stop the drugs from coming here. here is what i am saying. if america steps foot on mexican soil, mexicans should step on american soil and destroy the gun runners sending the guns to mexico killing the mexican people. don't you think that would be a good idea? host: that is freddie in indiana. this is robert and the state, independent. good morning.

-- in the pelican state, independent. good morning. caller: you had the guest on a few minutes ago talking about how the fentanyl is killing kids in the thing is, nobody is putting the drugs and these kids mouths. america has a drug problem they have to have some work to sell the drugs. nobody is putting the drugs and those kids mouths and making them take the drugs. when you had a crack epidemic in this country during the 1980's and 1990's, it was ok because you are putting the drugs in the black neighborhoods so the blacks could die. now in 2025, you have drugs in the country and fentanyl made in the country but you want to

blame everybody else for the drugs coming into the country but you are not addressing the problem. america has a drug problem. people that put drugs in their mouths freely. nobody is tossing drugs down these white kids mouths. they are doing it on their own because america is a drug habit country, period. host: back to pennsylvania, this is larry, summit hill, democrat. caller: i am a united states navy veteran and so are many of my family members. earlier and knew you had a representative on from california talking about the fires. i want to thank you for taking my call and i want to thank all firefighters in california, volunteers and other states who

risk their lives to save the people in homes and animals, especially the animal shelters and animal hospitals and veterinarians. that is what i wanted to say. host: sharon is in middleton, delaware, publican. caller: -- republican. caller: i think everybody in this country can ask themselves one thing, the last four years under a democrat, joe biden how was your life? did you feel safe, were you able to go to the grocery store, did you have all these other issues? you have a democrat, gavin newsom running california. trump told him it years ago how to avoid this catastrophe happening out there. biden, of course it was in the news, we are going to do this

and that and they did nothing. they left behind the people in north carolina after the hurricanes and some of the other states. the train derailment and i believe it was ohio. you never heard anything else about that. let's give trump a chance to try to turn things around and save the lives of our people with the drugs coming across and the illegal crossings coming in. it is just so bizarre that everybody is not willing to give him a chance. he had for years and we had none of this going on. i think everybody is in an upbeat mood, or a lot of people i speak with that didn't go for him because of the changes that have already been made and i am willing to give him a chance. host: stick around. about an hour left.

coming up, we will be joined by drew friedman on the federal news network talking about policies that affect the government workforce. we will be right back. ♪ >> the c-span bookshelf podcast makes it easy for you to listen to all of c-span's podcast featuring nonfiction books so you can discover authors and ideas. we make it convenient to listen to multiple episodes with critically acclaimed authors discussing history, biographies, current events and culture. afterwards, book notes plus and q&a. listen to the bookshelf podcast feed today. you can find the c-span bookshelf podcast feed on the free c-span now mobile video app

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drew friedman joins us. i want to start with two executive actions that are getting a lot of attention. the return to office directive and the federal hiring freeze. how easy or hard are these initiatives going to be for the trump administration to enforce? guest: it is hard to predict. for the return to office mandate, agencies have a lot of telework agreements with their unions and federal employees have been -- those that are eligible have been teleworking for many years, even before the pandemic. the shift to a fully in-person workforce will be a challenge and probably take some time. the executive order on the return to office left a lot open to determine in terms of how that will be implement it. -- implemented exactly. for the hiring freeze, there's a

feeling of uncertainty. concern among federal employees. i think that the hiring freeze wasn't necessarily unexpected. it was something president trump did in 2017 in his first term. it is something that we are seeing come back again. in terms of what agencies this will impact and how it will play out only time can tell. there is definitely a lot of uncertainty right now among federal employees. host: what do we know about the numbers of employees that are not in the office every day? the washington times points out a recent house oversight committee report. 10%, roughly 228,000 employees never going to the office. some 1.1 million employees are allowed to telework. does that sound right to you? guest: that does sound about right. from the numbers i've heard from the reports of the office of management and budget it is more

than half of the federal workforce is entirely on-site because they hold rules like federal firefighters, law enforcement officers, tsa workers. there are a lot of positions that require completely on-site work. for those who can telework and are eligible in the first place, many are spending about 60% roughly other time in the office already. they are above the 50% mark which is what the biden administration was trying to hit. i think with trump's mandate and a memo giving more details on that last night we might see that shift towards more in-person work regardless. host: give all those 228,000 employees who were fully remote and the ones who are partially remote, if they tomorrow returned to the office, is there space? guest: great question. there is definitely a big concern from a lot of federal

employees about having enough office space. there have been concerns from members of congress in terms of a lot of the office space sitting empty. at the same time, federal employees in a survey federal news network did recently, many were concerned about not having enough space. having to potentially share cubicles. a lot of agencies after the covid-19 pandemic started scaling down the about of office space they hold. they have plants in the works to continue scaling down on the office space. that leaves the question of if federal employees are pushed back to the office full-time, yes, will there be space for them? it depends on the agency. host: you mentioned unions and their reaction. this is the american federation of government employees. this directive, the return to office full-time, turns back the clock to before 2010 when ngress required federal agencies to expand telework by law. congress the action unfold

decade before the panmi recognizing telework was an important tool for agencies' operational efficiency. providing eligiblemployees with the opportunity to work hybrid schedules is a key tool for recruiting and retaining workers in both the public and private sectors. it will make it harder to compete for top talent. some of the reaction. what is the american federation of government employees -- how many employees does it represent? guest: it represents a couple hundred thousand federal employees. it is the largest federal employee union. as many other federal unions have expressed stronger support for telework, not have said -- none have said employees should be entirely remote. i think they are saying the same thing that a lot of federal jobs require on-site work. afg has been vocal and i think

pointing to the 2010 telework enhancement act shows where the telework scene has been for the last several years. host: drew friedman with us until the bottom of the hour. get your calls in on this topic. changes to the federal workforce. we will have a special line for federal workers. that is (202) 748-8002. otherwise, the numbers, as usual. (202) 748-8003 for federal workers. (202) 748-8002 is for independents. (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. just dial in and we would get to a call to the line you call in on. what is schedule f? guest: another executive order that president trump signed that was expected. it came at the end of his first term.

at the time, once president biden stepped into office, it was quickly rescinded. the idea of schedule f is try to make federal employees who are in career positions, nonpolitical positions, put them in a new classification of federal employees. essentially remove their civil service protections. that means they are easier to fire and gives agencies flex in letting people go. the executive order that came back is laying the groundwork for returning something like schedule f. they changed the name. there was a final rule from the by the administration trying to prevent that from happening. there is a little bit more back-and-forth this time than in the initial executive order. it is hard to say how it will play out. the goal was to reclassify certain career federal employees. host: the expectation this goes to the federal courts to

determine that classification. is this something that could make its way to the supreme court? guest: the national treasury employees union filed a lawsuit against the schedule f executive order that has been changed to schedule policy/career. it is the same idea. i think a lawsuit shows there are going to be strong pushes and strong questions on both sides of this issue. something definitely to watch out for. host: one more topic. the government diversity, equity and inclusion staffers. explain the latest of what is happening. guest: there was a memo from the office of personnel management yesterday that asked agencies to put all of their employees who are working on deia or dei projects unpaid ministry to leave. it is hard to say how many employees this will impact.

it is removing those employees immediately from their positions and working on dei projects. those roles focus on making the workplace culture inclusive, making hiring more diverse and that is something that president trump has pushed back strongly against and tried to reverse some of the policies. host: this is president trump from tuesday. 30 seconds on this effort on the dei positions in the federal government. [video] >> we ended destructive dei mandates across the government and returned upcountry to a merit-based system and a common sense system. the supreme court gave us a decision on merit where things in this country can be based on merit instead of a lot of different rules, regulations and things that really put our country at a big disadvantage. host: president trump on tuesday. what has been the most

interesting reaction you have seen to that specific effort? guest: there is a lot of back-and-forth in terms of what this is going to mean. definitely federal employees, those in those positions are certainly concerned about the future of those types of projects. that will be largely scaled-back and largely dismantled in this administration. host: phone lines for republicans, democrats and independents, and a special line for federal workers on how this is impacting you. independent line. linda in new jersey. good morning. you are on with drew friedman. caller: good morning. i have a question about the executive order that donald trump signed on immigration. people having children in the united states. host: you were talking about birthright citizenship?

caller: yes. donald trump's father was never a citizen. he maintained his german status. host: we are talking about the federal workforce right now. we have plenty of calls on that topic. i promise we will have a segment on birthright citizenship very soon here on the washington journal. shirley in louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning. i believe they should return back to the office. i will give you my personal reason. i recently contacted the social security office concerning social security. they passed a law that said louisiana teachers could receive their social security along with her teacher payment. in the background they were having a birthday party. people were laughing. i could hear them. i could hear the dog barking. why they -- while they are there

people visiting could see the computer open with your personal information if it is left open. when i called the irs, the same thing. they are not in the place by themselves. they had other people around them which can view your personal information. with all the identity theft going around, i am not saying they would do it but i was concerned there were other people there that could see my information. i think they should return back. host: got your point from louisiana. concerns about whether remote work is as secure for the sensitive information the government employees deal with? guest: this is something federal employees and agencies have been doing for a long time, this sort of remote work and there are positions that require high

security or deal with public safety. pallotta required to be on site. -- a lot are required to be on site. for the social security administration, they had a little bit of prior questioning about their return to office policy and the house oversight committee -- in the house oversight committee. for sentiment is not -- her sentiment is not unique. many feel that federal employees do need to get back to the office. host: fran from pennsylvania on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. what i wanted to ask, is there any plan by the federal workers unions to reach out to the other unions? i was president of a uaw local in the area. we kicked it around if this

happened where he went after union we would have a day of reckoning for the unions shutting down friday to show their solidarity for this type of treatment from the trump administration. host: drew friedman? guest: i can say that at least for federal unions they have been pushing really hard back against some of the policies of the trump administration so far. the national treasury employees union, they filed a lawsuit against the schedule f executive order. the american federation of government employees, the largest one that we have, they filed a separate lawsuit about the department of government efficiency. there is a lot of pushback coming from federal unions already. i think we might expect to see the trump administration issue executive actions around unions

similar to how they did in his first term. we have not seen a lot of that yet. it is hard to predict but it is something he has discussed. host: the federal employee unions go on strike often? guest: no. federal employee unions have a different structure than your typical labor union. they can't negotiate over pay rates because we have the general schedule and other set pay systems. they focus more on different types of workforce issues. that is why telework has become a very essential issue for unions and schedule f and the idea of civil service protections for federal employees. those are big topics for federal unions. host: federal employees, we want to hear from you. (202) 748-8003 is the number to call in to talk about how these exec actions have impacted you and your agency. looking for the stories as well. this is katrina in new orleans,

independent. caller: good morning. i'm a health care professional working at the va hospital. when i looked at the jobs of four trump was inaugurated there were hundreds of listings. they needed skills health professionals. i was wondering if you had clarity or updates on how the federal freeze would impact military and specifically the v.a. health care system? guest: great question. there are certain exemptions to the hiring freeze for the federal workforce. military personnel are not affected by the hiring freeze. same with positions in national security and public safety. those are exempt. there can be other exceptions as well. specifically for the v.a., it is unclear at this point. i would imagine they would -- they would be some exemptions. -- there would be some

exceptions. we have the executive order and a little guidance from the office of personnel management on that but there are going to be -- it is not a complete hiring freeze of federal agencies. there are deftly exemptions. host: the v.a. is a 2 million number workforce. they account for 500,000 numbers of the federal workforce, the largest by far, correct? outside of the military? guest: they are. they are the largest bill you agency. they have hired a lot in the last several years. in the veterans health administration and they have expanded hiring significantly. if there is a hiring freeze on certain portions of that workforce it would bring some impacts. host: the department of education, which has gotten so much focus in the lead up to donald trump taking office, something like just 4000 employees. guest: it is definitely a smaller agency.

that when i imagine would be under the hiring freeze. we have not seen a lot of details from agencies of how that is exactly going to play out. yes, they are one that is definitely a much smaller workforce in the v.a. guest: taking -- host: taking your calls with drew friedman. hannah out of north carolina on the line for democ. good mornin. i have a question and a comment. my comment is that it seems that at the beginning of the trump administration, the first one, there was grumbling among some of his supporters about government workers and how they weren't doing a good job. how we could do without some of them. now, with this dei piece, i

think it identifies government workers as blacks. we have watched over the years. we have seen the interaction between different agencies and the workers, how they work. i see also that the federal government was the first to hire blacks, african americans. that created a middle-class in the washington, d.c. area, philadelphia, new york and places like that. i take my hat off to these government workers. i was wondering is there anything you see that has anything political in terms of focusing on government workers now and whether they work at home or not? i think they do a great job. guest: thank you so much for the

question. i can point to a federal news network survey that we did of federal employees recently. some did say they believed there were political motivations behind the return to office for the federal workforce. many said they actually feel more productive while they are able to telework and they have the options. they have better worklife balance. they said there is positives to telework. the return to the office is definitely a concern for a lot of federal employees. in terms of trump's positioning on the federal workforce, he certainly said he is planning for major reforms or changes, downsizing of the federal workforce. at this point it is hard to predict how that will play out. the hiring freeze, the return to office, the schedule f pointed this -- a big overhaul or effort to overhaul the federal workforce. host: the bureau where federal

employees are located, some 20% are located in the dmv, the d.c., maryland and virginia area. other states -- this is from the partnership for public service map. there is a vast or large number of federal employees. california, texas, florida, new york, ohio and others. you can see the dark the shading on the map where federal employees are located. how do you inspect the colors to change four years from now? guest: to be honest i think it will kind of stay pretty similar. a lot of federal employees work at these larger institutions like the department of defense, the department of veterans affairs. a lot of employees may not be relocated because they are working at different hospitals or medical facilities. i do think there will be some sort of shift if we look at the

memo that came from the office of personnel management last night about returning to the office. they gave a deadline of 30 days to get federal employees who are able to go back to the office right away -- to get them back to the office. also to change duty stations for federal employees who may be located further away from where their worksite is. host: lynn is a federal employee in philly. good morning. caller: my name is lynn cox. i went to update you on information. i know you are saying people have to return to work. the federal workforce, as of january 1, already had to return to work and increase their days in the office. those that had a telework agreement, they also, you know, had to basically update their telework agreement.

as you said, telework has been in place since 1998. it was a home-life balance that was put into place of, you know, for people to work at home but also take care of their children. there are strict rules to telework. i said something about taking care of children. they cannot take care of children or the elderly. i think what happened during covid was that it happened so fast. people went right on to full telework. we are over the covid era, not over it but people think we are over it. they are returning back to work on january 1. they had to return to work and increase their days. i think they are too many myths. the ig, the inspector general, they found there was more productivity of federal workers

while on telework than in the office. host: do you do any telework as a federal employee? caller: right now i am a retired federal employee. i'm also a union president. when i was -- i have been retired for five years. yes, i did telework. i teleworked two days a week and i have been doing it since when i rejoined the federal workforce in 2000. it has been going on for years. host: what union are you involved with? caller: american federation of employees -- government employees. the one that ms. friedman said has been filing the lawsuit against the government. host: what is your view of what the federal workforce will look like at the end of the trump administration? do you expected to be significantly smaller or changed? caller: yes. i have a big fear -- everybody has a fear they are going to --

i came in under the reagan administration. they did the same thing. they got rid of my agency when i was under the reagan administration. i believe the federal workforce is going to have another hit like that where they will be reduced. what i worry about is the majority of federal workers do about 12 different jobs. if you reduce the workforce, you reduce the productivity and the services to the public. that is where the public needs to be concerned. federal workers do not do one single job like people in private industry. they do 12 different jobs. if i give you my resume, you would not believe what i did when i worked. host: do you mind what saying which agency? caller: i worked at hud. host: thank you for that call from philadelphia. drew friedman? guest: she brings up a lot of good points. what stood out was 20 of that telework has been around for much longer than the covid 19 pandemic. she pointed to the 2010 and

hansen act. telework -- enhancement act. telework was around before then. it's important what she said about the employees have already started returning back to the office more than they were in the pandemic. divide administration had a memo in 2023 -- divided ministries and had a memo in 2023 asking for a 50% presence for employees eligible for telework. the push towards return to the office has been a key part for the biden ministry and and now the trump administration. -- biden administration. i would say the biden administration was trying to push toward an end goal of returning federal employees to the office at least part of the time. host: south windsor, connecticut. this is terry, a republican. caller: good morning. i had a couple of comments. the first is about the -- excuse

me -- the telework. i understand it was pre-existing back in the 1990's. the bulk of those that remained at home when we were sequestered due to covid i would think would be required to come back to the office for productivities sake. as a businessman for over 40 years, there is no replacement of face-to-face interaction on a regular basis in my opinion. i would prefer that to be done. in terms of the government efficiency effort that is going on, under the usc code 901 the president can employ his discretion to reduce the number if agencies, to consolidate, to increase efficiency. that is something even the federal workers -- i understand you are in a vulnerable position because it is your livelihood.

frankly, when the private sector is motivated by profit, the government section is honestly not motivated by money. i think that is a key metric that has been void in the government. not that it will turn to a prophet but the motivation is different. i think as taxpayers the focus should be on efficiency and the ability to reduce any redundancy that exist. any company goes through periods of a deep dive for efficiency and firstenergy that can be created by -- for synergy that can be created by consolidation. host: drew friedman, we have not talked about the department of government efficiency. guest: that is a big effort from

the trump administration. there was an executive order on doge and it will be involved in the scaling down of the federal workforce size. one think that's important to know from that is that the hiring freeze executive order trump signed mentioned doge. the hiring freeze will last for up to 90 days, since inauguration day. doge will be involved with the office of management and budget in putting together a plan for reducing the size of the federal workforce and making it what they said would be more efficient. it is something where we are going to see a lot more of doge involvement in government matters. i think it is hard to say it will look like right now but they are being named in a lot of different areas. host: catherine is in the mountaineer state, harpers ferry. go ahead. caller: yes.

i was a federal worker. i'm retired now. i am calling about the schedule f. when you hear trump talk about it, he says he's trying to get away from -- he is trying to return to merit-based federal employee work. what he really wants to do is to put in all his loyalists. we already have a civil service that is merit-based. host: what kind of work did you do as a federal employee? caller: i worked for internal revenue service. i was a revenue officer and also a computer specialist.

host: did you have a chance to work remotely? caller: they had when i was there. they had a chance to work remotely but it was very few people at the time that were allowed to work remotely. that is when i was a revenue officer. host: what is your view on remote work today in 2024? caller: i think it should be allowed. i think we have to watch out for the schedule f stuff too. they are trying to put in all sorts of trump loyalists. that is going to have a big effect on everything else that happens. host: that is catherine in west virginia. what more should we know about schedule f? guest: during the biden administration they had this final rule trying to prevent schedule f from coming back. the regulations essentially

confirmed career federal employees in policy type positions to have civil service protections. it also created or ensured they would have an appeals process if those protections started to be removed. regulatory -- the regulatory prices the biden administration went through took about six months to finalize the regulation. it is in theory something that the trump administration could reverse if they were to go through the regulatory process as well. that is something that is going to at least slow down the schedule f efforts. the executive order was kind of the first step in the process of that. it will take time to actually see any of that come to light really. host: susan has an waiting in lady lake, florida. independent. you are on with drew friedman.

susan, are you with us? you have to stick by your phone. rhonda from new jersey, democrat. caller: good morning, america. when you were talking about the telework -- it is telemarketing. i have done it all my life. i started at the age of 30. i retired at the age of 62 because i adopted my granddaughter. i know all about it. as far as monitoring calls, they know every call you are on and how long you are on it and when you sign off or on. there is no way of not doing your job if you are working from home. i have done it all my life. what i called in about, this project 2025, which is available to everyone on youtube. this is in their plan.

they hired all these trump supporters to replace the federal workers. it is all there. if you want to know what's going to happen to america, it is in project 2025, available to you on youtube. host: that is rhonda in new jersey. project 2025. how much have we seen this week was in the document that got so much attention during the later months of the campaign? guest: there definitely were some similarities. schedule f is something that was discussed in project 2025. one that trump has said that he had the desire for something like schedule f for a long time. there are elements in project 2025. it is a huge document so it is hard to say exactly what is lining up for there are similarities. host: drew friedman's a reporter

for the federal news network. federalnewsnetwork.com. you can follow her on x. come back again. guest: thank you. host: 25 minutes left. we will have more calls. open forum. your public policy or political issues. the numbers are on your screen. we will get to those calls right after the break. ♪ >> democracy isn't just an idea. it's a process shaped by leaders, elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few guarding its basic principles. it is where debates unfold, decisions are made in the nation's course is charted. democracy in real-time. this is your government at work. this is seen in, giving you your democracy -- c-span, giving you

your democracy unfiltered. >> book tv, every sunday on c-span2 features authors discussing nonfiction books. here's a look at this weekend. 4:00 p.m. you turn, gary marcus looks at the potential and risk of artificial intelligence and the prospective regulation of the tech industry and "taming silicon valley." 5:15 p.m. eastern, sociology professors to scuff -- discuss the discovery of lithium in california and the role of t mineral in the electric vehicle industry. 8:00 p.m. eastern, gib kerr argues that robert e. lee has been unfairly canceled. " un-cancel robert e. lee." senator ron wyden shares his

thoughts on having the tenacity to pursue progressive goals through strong alliances, hard work and focus. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2. find a full schedule on your program guide or tch online anytime at booktv.org. >> washington journal continues. host: here is what we are on capitol hill today. the house returns at 10:00 a.m. eastern. the senate returns at 10:00 a.m. eastern. you can watch them respectively on c-span and c-span 2. ifouead over to c-span3, you hearing for agriculturion secretary nominee brooke rollins. you can also watch that on c-span.org and the free s -- c-span video app. the floor votes in the senate as ll a coming up as they happen.

perhaps more expected today. your phone calls for the next 20 minutes on the washington journal. lines for democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. any public policy or political issue you want to talk about. this is andy in phoenix, republican. caller: good morning. i was hoping to catch ms. fri edman and share my comment. it was on the remote work from home for federal workers. i am a retired federal worker myself. 27 years. could not even think about remote homework with the job i had anyways. host: what kind of work was it? guest: k-3 letter -- caller: a three letter agency that started with a 'b'.

bop. you can probably figure that out. host: prisons. caller: yes. there was no remote work for us. we had to show up and do the job. miley concern is with remote work. i don't think it is as efficient. i was watching a hearing on your network with the former irs guy who negotiated the deal with biden for 29,000 irs agents to stay home until 2029 remote work. he happened to call the irs that day. he was on hold when his questioning came up. he was on hold for an hour and a half. i don't know how effective that is. in my experience with not only government, remote work from home but private sector as well, over the years, before all this remote work from home it was a lot more effective and more efficient. i have run of the problems with private sector when i want to make a call.

it is just not as efficient. i must say the unions for federal workers, i was always bewildered why we needed a union in federal government. there are so many protections for federal employees. it is almost impossible to get fired unless you are a really, really screw up so to say. host: was there a union for the bureau of prisons? caller: yes. and i was a member early on. through my career i realized you really don't need union protection. because of all the protections you already have. host: why did you join to begin with? caller: ones that wanted to be part of the union, we had a name for them. blops. clay higgins on the phone for an hour and a half with the social

security administration, that is terrible. host: we will go back and watch that hearing at c-span.org. appreciate the call from arizona. james in the granite state, kingston. good morning. caller: glad to get through. i think as far as the jobs go with the unions and the denman before me -- gentle and before me touched on point -- gentleman before me touched on point. i think there will be job losses. what about the average joe who loses his job? it's a great job if you can get it, a government job. i understand that. some of the richest zip codes around the virginia-pennsylvania area. they are union. they are good paying jobs. it is hard to release these people if they mess up. there might be some -- i would

hate to see them lose their job but we don't have pensions and whatnot that some of these people have. we get these 401's that are not worth a lot and whatnot. i hate to see anyone lose their job, sir. i think that the unions -- maybe they have come and gone as far as different things. they live larger than the average joe and we are paying the freight. thank you for hearing me out. host: michael, democrat. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a federal worker. i work for the department of home insecurity. i have been full telework since covid. i wanted to express how much work that we do that we could not do in the office. i pull 10, 11 hour days. especially when you don't have the commute to dcn back -- d.c.

and back. i'm on leave right now and i'm taking calls on my cell phone. i'm working with applicants. telework is not this thing we just sit at home and not doing anything. more is expected of you. you do way more hours. i go pick up the kids and i come home and i'm back in the office for another three or four hours. i could never do that if we were in the office. host: when you say you are taking calls from applicants, what you mean? caller: the job, we deal with applicants. i don't want to get too specific. applicants apply and we adjudicate the cases. host: got you. what is in store here? do you foresee being able to stay working from home or do you have to go back? caller: i think we will go back. i'm on leave but i have seen

emails from my work phone about the deia stuff is over. if you even hear about that, contact is email and we will get reported or removed. i foresee -- my job does a lot of travel. i'm not sure completely if we will say or start going to three or four days a week. i'm not sure. host: tom from washington, independent. good morning to the west coast. caller: thank you for taking my call. this is the third time i'm calling in. i appreciate your show. you are nice and fair and balanced. this isn't a 2025 thing or anything like that. trump was elected. this is almost like either a revolution or a civil war with no shots fired. right now we are in a

reconstruction mode, just like after the civil war. i believe it is needed. a lot of people are upset about the not working from home but this is part of a big purge that is going on. i believe 25% of the federal government through all the agencies are going to be laid off. it is needed. that is how this money is going to be saved. the federal government has just gotten inflated and all that. i just think people ought to look at it. this is more of a reconstruction or realignment or a -- i had to use the word purge because it has dirty words. this is a good thing. this is a cleanout. host: gene from palm post,

florida -- palm coast, ford. lorida. caller: i agree with tom. i voted for donald trump. the first thing that came to our mind about him, of all the personal stuff that happened, that is in his personal life. he wasn't in politics. he had nothing to do with the government. he was a big donated to the democrats and republicans -- donator. the number one thing, accountability. as per the constitution, limited government, fiscal responsibility and term limits. people can classify that. that 202025 project 2 -- 2025 project. we have got to get back to what the constitution, what the

forefathers said about our government today. as the gentleman said, it is overinflated. i'm a retired schoolteacher. host: what did you teach? caller: i have enjoyed the fruits of my labor. host: what did you teach? caller: industrial arts. high school and middle school. host: how are the kids today? are you optimistic? caller: i haven't been in the classroom for 21 years. i never had really any problem with the students. they were always industrious and wanted to get their hands dirty. they wanted to realize what working with your hands, learning skills and traits, and we are losing that. we don't have vocational schooling to teach trades. we are losing a lot. that is why we have problems with immigration.

a lot of the immigrants come here to work. you see a lot of the employees working in construction. a lot of hispanic folks. they are very nice. i have spoken with them. some of them can talk good english, some can't. we do have a problem. we have to worry about getting hired to get things done. i don't know what the real answer is. i agree with tom. we are overinflated. i won't use the word purge but limited government and fiscal responsibility. and of course, term limits. it all comes from legislation. it is the legislation that makes the tax codes in the laws -- and the laws. he said congress makes the tax laws, codes. i just follow them.

there is a lot of -- host: appreciate that call. diane waiting in new jersey. democrat. caller: i have a few words to say. in this administration the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. have a wonderful day. host: wilbur. culpeper, virginia. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would love for c-span to have a segment on felonies across the country. we need to open this up. felons cannot get post office jobs or a police officer job at the american people elected a felon. we need to change the laws so a regular citizen who came out of prison can get a decent job. this is what we need to talk about. it is unfair to regular people across the country who served their time and cannot get a

decent job across this country. host: do you know anyone personally who has encountered that situation? caller: myself. over 25 years ago, i did something. i served my time but i got got my voting rights back. host: how many years did you serve? caller: no more than five years. host: do you mind saying with the conviction was for? caller: an assault charge. host: what was the first job you applied for when you got out that you were not able to get? caller: i used to work on capitol hill. i was in congress. due to my activities i had to leave congress. i worked for the u.s. house of representatives and the u.s. senate. due to my drinking over the years it led me to get locked up. i will put it that way. this is an issue the american people need to come to grip

with. we need to change the laws. we have a felon in the white house but the american people can't get decent jobs. i would love to hear when you have republicans call in, ask if they voted for trump and how you feel if a felon can't get a job across the country. i would love to hear from them. now they will try to have it both ways. host: that is wilbur in culpeper, virginia. robert in florida, independent. caller: good morning. jon. i wanted to make a few comments. i was a lifelong democrat and recently went independent. i did vote for donald trump this time. i'm pretty happy with what i see so far. host: why? what make you happy so far? caller: they are on the right

track with our economy. with the flood at the border. they are trying to take care of that problem. also our infrastructure looks like they will do quite a bit there. host: that is robert in florida. caller: good morning. i would like to make a couple of comments. how many money is going to the ngo's? anybody other than them? also -- st: what ngo are you concerned about? caller: i don't know. i get word from the news on ngo's. there is a lot of money being spent in there according to

the media. i would like to know about all these pardons. to be pardoned don't you have to do a crime to be pardoned? host: are you talking about the preemptive pardons? caller: yes. all the pardons. biden pardoned everybody before 12:00, his family. i just wondered is he saying there's a crime? if they didn't do no crime, why did you pardon them? host: that is authored in michigan -- arthur in michigan. kathleen in satellite beach, florida. democrat. caller: i was calling about grocery prices. ted lieu from california

reported on his blue sky account that 75% of the farmworkers have not showed up in bakersfield. bakersfield grows all kinds of carrots, tomatoes. they grow almonds. if the people are not showing up to pick the crops, they will rot in the fields and our grocery prices are going to go sky high. for me, i will start buying and stocking up on frozen vegetables and canned goods. i really worry about it. host: that is kathleen. alan from new york, republican. caller: not a republican. what i'm calling about -- i'm a democrat and retired federal employee. i must have called the wrong number. host: to keep it fair, let me go to a republican.

jeff in fairplay, missouri. go ahead. caller: good morning, america. what a great feeling it is to have the president who actually has his senses about him and has a game plan. joe biden was a complete blasphemous full. --fool. i don't think he ever had a foreign policy other than to demolish the american way. flooding the border, ending our pipelines, joining the paris accord along with the who. silencing the republicans on twitter. there are 70 things the fbi has -- so many things the fbi has done. the weaponization by the biden democrats is over. host: are you talking about the american way? what is the american way? caller: hard work, love your

family, love your god, love your country. not necessarily in that order. we do have to have sovereignty. we have to have borders. we need to start spending our money at home. host: the house set to come here in just a few minutes or two. they are in at 10:00 a.m. you can watch the senate on c-span2. on c-span3, another confirmation hearing for the agriculture secretary nominee. plenty to choose from. we look at to the house floor when they come in. this is jude, california, independent. caller: good morning. on your first segment you showed a clip of marjorie taylor greene. i agree 100% on everything she said. as far as mexico goes, mexico has taken a big dump on the

united states. host: we will go to brenda in charlotte, north carolina. democrat. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i have been try to get on c-span for a long time. i hope you let me talk for a while. sometimes they cut me off. host: the house is coming in soon so make your statement. we may have to go in the house comes in. caller: i don't know what is wrong with america to elect trump again. he is -- he has signed a thing to cut people's social security. what are older people going to live on? i am 78 years old. i have to depend on my social security check. he is going to do everything. he's going to destroy this country. why is that musk guy who gave him $3 million for his campaign --

host: it was a bit more than $3 million reportedly. caller: yes, it was. it was on the news. i have been writing down everything up there that trump said and that guy and everything else. if people remember when he did not get elected last time he said if he ever got elected again, american people were going to regret it. why does he have the right to change the name of mexico? mexico are proud people. i have managed hotels and restaurants. at the hotels most of my employees was mexican. mexican people will work for three dollars or four dollars an hour. the american people have to have more than that. what with these farmers have if they didn't have mexican people picking this stuff? where i live at, we have

mexicans cutting our grass and every thing else. host: brenda, we will have to end it there. we are back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern. 4:00 a.m. pacific. now live coverage of the house floor here on c-span. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025]