by the end of the 1960's, vietnam has become something of a mess for the united states. at the same time, you got guys like randy weston, this six foot eight, towering jazz pianist, fielding questions like how can you be supporting the united states when this is going on? that is the context of all of these jazz musicians. you can't separate them from why the state department was putting them out there. to backtrack. thinking why africa? you know why in terms of minerals and the natural resources, especially after the decolonization movement. the u.s. and soviet union descending on almost all those countries saying, yes, align with us. we will send you cool stuff. and you can be our friend. that is a simple way of thinking about it. we know why africa conceptually. we also remember that africa and the third world were some of the most hotly contested cold war spaces. so what you have here on this top map are all of the conflicts throughout the world from 1945 onward. this includes a lot of civil wars in africa in the 1990's and 2000s. you have a lot of conflicts emerging

you be supporting the united states when this is going on? that is the context of all of these jazz musicians. you can't separate them from why the state department was putting them out there. to backtrack. thinking why africa? you know why in terms of minerals and the natural after the especially decolonization movement. the u.s. and soviet union us.ending saying align with we will send you cool stuff. and you can be our friend. that is a simple way of thinking about it. we know why africa conceptually. world werethe third some of the most hotly contested cold war spaces. you have all of the conflicts throughout the world from 1945 onward. this includes a lot of civil wars in africa in the 90's and 2000s. you have a lot of conflicts emerging even in the cold war. this bottom one may be more telling about what the u.s. was doing. as ais all cia involvement percentage of years. these countries are places where the cia was operating from 95 to 100% of those years. big presence for the cia trying to work against the soviet influence. of course th

bush, thomas pickering, the former united states ambassador to the united nations, all gree that we must be considerate of the long-term interests of our own country. and so for the foregoing reasons and those stated by the national security experts, the international law scholars, the president of the united states, i find that i must vote to . stain the president's veto and mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to override the president's veto. it is the right thing to do. it is the right thing to let american citizens have access to their courts for torts, for terrorist attacks that occur on american soil. this bill is a modest amendment to already existing exemptions to the foreign sovereign immunities act. it is the right thing to do. i urge my colleagues to join me in overriding the president's veto, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virgini

has she the ability to direct the state department to admit 65,000 from syria mr. henshaw: the president of the united states can change the numbers after consultation with congress. chair sessions: and consultation does not mean ask our opinion. simply note it. and mean it. let me ask you this, aside from the security question that we deal with, that you do your best to check, i don't dispute that, you do not screen refugees for anything other than what threats they might make to the united states. isn't that correct? mr. henshaw: they are screened for medical issues, as well. chair sessions: i just want to discuss this a little bit. and so, i think the american people, and all of us need to think about this going for the rational immigration policy, you take into consideration the applicant's proficiency or lack of it in english, or even the literacy with regard to the country from which they come. mr. henshaw: our decisions to bring in refugees are based on their former abilities. chair sessions: you don't consider whether or not they read or write in their own language? mr. henshaw: no. chair sess

that affects the security of the united states. so the time has come for republicans in congress to do their part and we would like to see them do more. i think the last thing that i will note here is that over the weekends, the cia director was asked about this and he noted that russia, and this is a quote, that has sophisticated abilities in collection and other things they want to do in cyber. we have it on this for quite a while. i think this is an indication that the president and his team are not just keenly aware of the situation but have taken aggressive steps to try to counter it and we would welcome our republicans in congress doing their part for a change. >> on syria, there's a significant difference of opinion between sec. carrie and the secretary of defense about partnering with russia. is the president concerned about implementing or developing this not next face, whatever that might be, because of this disagreement. >> let's start by saying the f in your question is a sizable one. there remain there remain significan

to show if you have a patient or don't have a patient, the united states has a good passion, the united states waits for the condition or better condition, the obama administration realized that. the situation between the united states and cuba. the united states loses patients and tries to respond, that is the policy to intervene in iraq. in the middle east, how us -- losing passions for the area. that is what i worry about. i hope i answered your first question. and think about taiwan, us relationship and government. so far so good. only two months. the new government's popularity just dropped. we can just wait, this new government, so far so good. it was not in a position to deal with those in taiwan and that is a reason they did not direct the consensus. and the united states, tried to make the balance between different ideologies, the best she can do to maintain the united states and also on mainland china. >> microphone please. >> the agency in hong kong, any evaluation for what taiwan could bring for strategies, the difference -- the method, all kinds of impacts. >> very tough qu

these are multi-billion-dollar claims against the united states. for some of your questions i may need to defer the question to a closed setting like the one we did for house and senate staff earlier this week. the united states and iran entered into the accords in 1981 which created the hague tribunal. it was created to address claims of u.s. nationals, but also claims between the two governments. the agreement was entered into by the carter administration. it was endorsed by the reagan administration and debated by both houses of congress. in the end, it was determined that the accords and the tribunal process were of great benefit to the united states and u.s. nationals. in the first 20 years of the process, it focused primarily on resolving claims of u.s. nationals for debt, contract, appropriation and other measures involving property rights. received over $2.5 billion in awards and settlements from that process. there was significant government to government claims also filed at the tribunal. the majority and certainly the largest were by iran

why all of a sudden the united states chooses to help the syrian armed forces. they did nothing when isol was advancing on palmyra, all of a sudden the united states decides to come to the assistance of the syrian armed forces defending them, it is quite significant and i would suggest that this happened just two days, before the arrangements, russian arrangements to come into force. the united states was negotiating for a long time. as you know, the foreign minister and secretary kerry concluded in agreement on september 9th, which actually put in force a number of agreements they negotiated for the past two months, for reasons we cannot understand, the united states did not agree to share with you -- >> there you have it, the russian ambassador to the united nations calling it quote, suspicious that the u.s. carried out this strike in syria, killing syrian regime forces at this time. calling the timing of it not accidental. responding to u.s. ambassador -- to the u.n., samantha power, calling russia's response a stunt, and grandstanding, much, much more of thi

they're not convinced the president was born in the united states. the president, he's been president of the united states now almost eight years. our first african-american president. and 20% of the public, maybe because of donald trump's utterances over the years, is convinced, maybe he wasn't born in the united states? >> well, i do want to say, you know, it was a memo from mark penn, hillary clinton's advisers, march 19, 2007, that raise the issue -- >> we'll we're going to talk about hillary clinton's campaign manager in 2006-2007, and talk about what mark penn wrote and all of that, but there was never, ever, any evidence that hillary clinton promoted this birther issue. >> i think the idea it was raised was from the smart/penn 2007 memo. i had the honor representing a district 30% african-american. i live in a town 50% african-american in savannah, georgia. been in politics there 30 years, and if an issue is an issue among one demographic, then you as a responsible candidate need to respond to it, and i think that's what we saw today. we saw a

looking then to this problem of how the united states should move ahead and where the united states is moving, i think it is well that we take the advice of a very famous campaigner -- let's look at the record. is the united states standing still? is it true that this administration, as senator kennedy has charged, has been an administration of retreat, of defeat, of stagnation? is it true that, as far as this country is concerned, in the field of electric power, in all of the fields that he has mentioned, we have not been moving ahead. well, we have a comparison that we can make. we have the record of the truman administration of seven and a half years and the seven and a half years of the eisenhower administration. when we compare these two records in the areas that senator kennedy has -- has discussed tonight, i think we find that america has been moving ahead. let's take schools. we have built more schools in these last seven and a half years than we built in the previous seven and a half, for that matter in the previous 20 years. let's take hydroelectric power. we have developed m

bush, thomas pickering, the former united states ambassador to the united nations, all gree that we must be considerate of the long-term interests of our own country. and so for the foregoing reasons and those stated by the national security experts, the international law scholars, the president of the united states, i find that i must vote to . stain the president's veto and mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to override the president's veto. it is the right thing to do. it is the right thing to let american citizens have access to their courts for torts, for terrorist attacks that occur on american soil. this bill is a modest amendment to already existing exemptions to the foreign sovereign immunities act. it is the right thing to do. i urge my colleagues to join me in overriding the pres >> the veto allowing victims to sue the saudi arabian government. other issues included cyber security. h

the president of the united states is the president of the united states. we are trying to pick the next president, not review the birth of the current president. thank you, mayor rudy giuliani. >> let's talk about the next president being someone who would be prosecuted if she wasn't a clinton. i would have prosecuted her. i have seen plenty of people prosecuted for much less, like martha stewart. >> thank you so much. >> know how many false statements she made to the fbi? they are so long i can't count them. >> the fbi had the right to review that. they did and found her not in any criminal violation. thank you, mr. mayor. we have to go on. it's a long show. joining me is "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page, msnbc terrorism analyst malcolm nance. susan, thanks for joining us. you cover all kinds of things. what do you make of that, what we just heard? >> i think that mayor giuliani was misstating some facts. in fact, donald trump was asked about whether he stood by his birther comments, birther questions about president obama just this week by r

the united states.he, tu first. so he admitted the president was worn in the united states.e, to first. so he admitted the president was worn in the united statesrst. so he admitted the president was worn in the united states. this exchange i had with him back in 2012 after the birth certificate was released. >> i don't understand why you're doubling down on this birther issue after the state of hawaii formally says this is the legitimate birth certificate he was born in hawaii, why are you going through all of this? >> a lot of people don't agree with that birth certificate. >> but if the state of hawaii says this is official, he was born in hawaii on this dates here it is, why do you deny that? >> a lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. >> how can you -- >> many people do not think it was authentic. >> that was back in 2012. this is an exchange i had with donald trump in january of this year. >> his mother was a u.s. citizen. was he a natural born citizen? >> who know. who cares right now? we're talking about something else, okay? i have himy own theory on obama. some day i'll write a book and it will do successfully. >>

and that is that with the united states, more self-reliant that strengthens the united states and just interest in a variety of areas including in the middle east. let me, therefore, start with the advantages for the united states of this development. most obvious is that it reduces the united states vulnerability to oil price hikes and it reduces the united states vulnerability in particular to oil boycotts. after all, that shocking experience of 1973 win without major oil, any major oil producers refusing to sell oil to the united states caused a real scramble, and that just simply would not be possible under some of these scenarios in which the united states becomes fully self reliant on oil. but more generally the more the united states is self reliant on oil the heart of the united states can push, built these are producers without being concerned about their reaction. there's just a whole variety of issues on which the united states has tread on eggshells india with middle east oil producers where frankly we can push hard. and i particularly study iran and i can remember showing

but once the united states entered the war after pearl harbor and after the declaration of war on the united states or days after pearl harbor, the united states took over the direction of world war ii and nr reading winston churchill's memoirs, you would never believe it. i think in terms of history and historiography, the fact that winston churchill won the nobel prize was a great thing for him, for literature, but not for history. and in this fdr trilogy, i am doing my best to change history if by history but understand to look at the past and the way we interpret the past. the first volume, the mantle of command covered fdr in the first or after pearl harbor, up to the moment when american troops finally went onto the offensive and landed in north africa. the second volume takes the story several months later when the president of the united states becomes the first president in american history to fly while in office, flying across the atlantic to north africa and the first president to inspect american troops at war abroad. he flies to north africa at the beginning of this book

that's the legislation that's being proposed here in the united states congress. even the pope has suggested that because of this crisis in brazil that the steadfast opposition of the vatican to contraception may need to be pushed aside, but not here in the united states. come on. let's get real. let's understand the nature of this crisis. and the zika virus is not ransmitted only, only by mosquitoes. we are discovering that the transmission can come in many, many different ways. many different ways. so what are we doing about it? nothing. we are spending time talking about impeaching the i.r.s. commissioner. come on. in the history of this nation, only one person other than a president has been impeached. and that was back in the 18 70's, secretary of war. an i.r.s. commissioner isn't even a cabinet member. we are spending our time on hat. we are where, 20 days, little less, from the end of the fiscal year, when we have to fund government. we are less than what 17 days ay from the ability of the centers for disease control to continue to research and to address th

i think it's in the best interest of the united states, and the world as a whole, that the united states negotiate rather than go back to the cold war relationship with the soviet union. i don't look at the picture as bleakly as you have indicated in your question, mr. trewhitt. i believe that the united states has had many successes in recent years, in recent months, as far as the communist movement is concerned. we have been successful in portugal, where a year ago it looked like there was a very great possibility that the communists would take over in portugal. it didn't happen. we have a democracy in portugal today. a few months ago, or i should say, maybe two years ago, the soviet union looked like they had continued strength in the middle east. today, according to prime minister rabin, the soviet union is weaker in the middle east than they have been in many, many years. the facts are the soviet union relationship with egypt is at a low level. the soviet union relationship with syria is at a very low point. the united states today, according to prime minister rabin of israel, is at

and they felt that that their relationship with the united states had been compromised because the united states had actually been previous to the inflation been assiging -- assisting iraq in its military combat with iran. they were looking for other sources of defense. one of the things they did was start buying military supplies, from particularly the british, rather than from the united states. and i think the one, this is a speculation, that bin laden, who had been exiled from saudi arabia, had gone to afghanistan. had been a major figure in the rejection of the soviet union from afghanistan, and had put an term together an army of 30,000 war-hardened troops and went to the kingdom and threatened civil insurrection unless it would help him in a plat. i'm not suggesting that he necessarily gave the details but it was clear he wanted to do something big in the united states that was not that was going to be adverse to u.s. interests and needed help. the saudis had people in the united states who had the capacity to render help. people like bayuomi, the man in san diego and possibly this

i was happy to host the first asean summit in the united states. meeting here in laos was our eighth meeting. this marks my ninth to the asean region. together, the united states and asean forged a partnership guided by key principles. including asean will remain central to peace, prosperity and progress in the asian pacific. the united states is firmly part of the asia summit and we worked to make the organization the leading forum for maritime security. we are guided by the shared vision we put forward. open, dynamics and competitive economies. mutual security and peaceful resolution to disputes and human rights where all nations play by the same rules. that is the vision we advanced here. we are stepping up efforts to increase trade and investment as part of the initiative i announced, u.s./asean connect. so it is easier to start new ventures together. more to connect entrepreneurs in the digital economies. more to connect clean energy projects as we pursue a low carbon future. all of which will reinforce the region's continued economic integrati

that -- now language that says, the navigable waters of the united states and any waters that are a significant nexus to the navigable waters of the united states. think of that. the ambiguous language of waters hydrologically connected to was litigated down to the point where the courts finally ruled that it doesn't have an effectiveness, because it's too ambiguous. and so they cooked up some other ambiguous language to litigate for another couple of decades. this ambiguous language of significant nexus to the navigable waters of the united states. significant nexus. all right. what is a nexus? well, that's anything that intersects. is it one intersection, two, three, 10, is it 50, is it 100? if you could go to new orleans and track the mississippi river up to the head waters, how many significant nexus do you have or tributaries that run into the mississippi? how many of those tributaries can be traced up to creeks and streams and tile lines and wells and water lines that go up to the kitchen sink? they have defined ambiguous language that allows them to regulate the entire

trump believes president obama was born in the united states. this is something that we have heard from top campaign officials before. we have not heard this from donald trump himself. this is a spokesman. for years, trump questioned the birth place or dodged when asked to give a definitive answer on the topic. that is what we are waiting for. does the candidate repeat what his campaign is saying. the timing is significant. the statement came hours after trump's comments to "the washington post" were published. the post asked him if obama was answered in the united states. he said i'll have the question at the right time. still he has not. hillary clinton jump on what he said. she said this while addressing the congressional hispanic caucus institute at the annual gala. >> today, he did it again. he was asked one more time. where was president obama born? and he still wouldn't say hawaii. he still would not say america. this man wants to be our next president? when will he stop this ugliness? this bigotry? >> reporter: this playing out as trump i

and the baltic states, and the obama himself, the president was in poland this week reinforcing the commitment of the united states to defend the periphery putin. >> what about security issues within europe. is it going to have any effect there? one of the issues driving voters was this fear of security of terrorism of these so-called open borders in that sense. >> guest: i don't think that the issue of security really is affected by the by the brexit, there's been complaints because there's no belgium and france, and oftentimes information is not shared completely. i don't think that is effective. great britain is part of five eyes, this is the united states, canada, australia, and new zealand share the intelligence. and we gather most of it through the security agency and great britain itself has been less dangerous. if you look at the historical who travel to syria. the most prominent death of an am peed campaigning about remaining in the u.s. but another british advocate for brexit. i don't think that the terror impish uwill be affected. but i want to underscore, a lot of these things are what we call a

president barack obama was born in the united states, period. now, we all want to get back to making america strong and great again. >> the clinton campaign reacted quickly, they said it's sickening and disgraceful to blame the democrat for the discredited birther controversy. gary tuchman has more now on trump's ties to the birther movement. >> reporter: it's been a narrative stoked by donald trump for years, ahead-bake into the trump lexicon since 2011. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate? he wasn't born in this country which is a real possibility. i'm not saying it happen, i'm saying it's a real possibility. he's one of the great cons in the history of politics. was it a birth certificate? you tell me. some people say it was or it wasn't his birth certificate. i don't know. >> reporter: cnn went to hawaii to investigate the same year trump made those claims. have you seen barack obama's original birth certificate? >> yes. >> reporter: the director of health confirmed empathically the president's birth certificate is and that he was bo

>> yes. >> abc news presents live coverage of the president's state of the union message to congress. >> the president of the uniteds. >> when he goes to give the state of the union address, he is under tremendous pressure. i remember being there and it was palpable. >> a lot hangs on this. this being his very first state of the union. >> 26 years ago, a freshman congressman who was out to change the world, stood at the back of this great chamber. as president truman said, i am happy to report to the 81st congress that the state of the union is good. today millions of americans are out of work, recession and inflation are eroding the money of millions more, prices are too high and sales are too slow. and i must say to you that the state of the union is not good. this one's got detachable keys it comes with a pen so you can write as you please this mac doesn't have any of that it's less useful like a hat for your cat surface has touch and a beautiful screen you can see things like they've never been seen this mac doesn't quite compare it's slower, heavy, and a bit square fold it in half, hello when you start lighter

but possibly keeping the united states out but more likely forcing britain out of the war at this point but then the opposite side of that is we could definitely encourage the united states. they could encourage the united states to come in to the war. >> well, isn't that -- >> if you could sink enough british goods coming across the channel in to europe with your u-boats or moving around europe, you could cause economic problems for them. and then that pulls britain out of the war and would open up the seas to your fleet. >> but don't you kind of know that if you go this route, you're going to pull the united states in? i mean, the warnings have been made. the united states is standing pretty strong on this. the oceans are important to us. right? so, you know, any return to unrestricted submarine warfare is going to have consequences. uit's not likely to keep us out. the germans pretty much know, it's going to pull us in. but are you that afraid of the americans? if you're running out of resources, what kind of timetable do you give yourself? >> is german intel fully aware of how long

being the president of the united states, of course not. our fears to rest. i did a great service for the country. >> right. as we said before, there is simply nothing in that statement that is attached by any tether to reality. this was done to delegitimize the first african-american president. it wasn't done as a service to the country. it was not born in the hillary clinton 2008 campaign. it was something that donald trump amplified and pushed. that's why i'm just enormously skeptical that anything he says is going to matter very much to anyone on any side of this debate. i think that people who are critical of donald trump for pushing -- >> thank you very much, everybody. >> hold up, ron. here goes. >> i, jonathan, have no reaction and i'm shocked that a question like that would come up at a time when we have got so many other things to do. i'm not that shocked, actually. it's fairly typical. we got other business to attend to. i was pretty confident about where i was born. i think most people were as well. and my hope would be that the

it has evolved to the point where there was bafflement they were not grateful to the united states for all the freedom we brought them. this to me really underscores how completely muslims are excluded from anything we think about or talk about in the united states. themve debates about without their participation, we have d discussions aboutut whaty are thinkingng without actually hearing what they are thinking. we have constant reports about who we arere killingng and how y people we are e killing g withot ever stopping g and thinking abt who those people are or whether they have done anything that warranted that violence. so much so it was recently revealed a couple montnths ago y the new york times the obama administration has adopted a new definition of mililitants, which says that any military aged male and a strike zone, meaning any male who dieies above the age of 16 or below the age of 55, is automatically deemed a militant without knowing anything else about them. this is how we have come to think about muslims, to the extent we think about them all, they die at the hands of

i have the privilege to introduce our first medal of honor recipient, mike thornton. mike is a retired united states navy seal, a tough cookie. and a recipient of the united highestlitary's decoration, the medal of honor. thehis actions in vietnam, vietnam war. in addition, he is the recipient of a silver star, three bronze stars, and a purple heart. i am proud to have him on my team. it is such a great honor for me. and also, fellow recipient bob patterson, who likewise as the medal of honor, who is also here. we have 17 medal of honor recipients, and they have all endorsed before president of the united states, and i have been endorsed by generals and many of the generals have become very good friends of mine. we seem to have a very good chemistry together. but even the generals admit there is something very special about medal of honor recipients. mike, if i might ask you to just say hello, say couple of words, and thank you very much for being here. mr. thornton: thank you, ladies and gentlemen. when it was not fashionable to support the military in 1986, some great people like donald trump and

and this is for the united states as well. in the united states, we have some of the best universities in the world, but one of the things i've been emphasizing we also have what is called community colleges. they are not four-year universities, they are typically two-year degrees and you can be very successful going there and finding a specialized trade or learning a very specific skill that companies are hiring for. we want to give young people a range of options. not everybody wants to study in a classroom and become a lawyer or dr.. but it's also very valuable if you have somebody that is a really skilled electrician. it's true the people that are designing software for the iphone are the best engineers but there are jobs in computer science is where you don't need a four year degree. coding isn't that complicated once you learn how to do it. so we want to make sure that at every level young people have the ability to access a great education. and if we are able to do that, then i'm confident that we will be successful. [ap

israel, one of the united states' greatest allies in the region is under constant threat in the united states -- and the united states must stand strong and support her. hezbollah has an estimated stockpile of 150,000 rockets and missiles. let me repeat that. over 150,000 rockets and missiles which iran has made a commitment to add smart bomb technology this constant threat is growing this constant threat is growing and needs to be countered by the passage of a robust, long-term m.o.u. this will ensure israel's testifies and military capabilities are able to meet these growing threats. i urge my colleagues to support house resolution 729 and support the continued defense and cooperation with israel. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. engel: may i ask if there are more speakers? mr. royce: no further speakers other than myself. mr. engel: then i'll close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. engel:

in my view, the satisfaction of the united states includes the people of the united states and the people's representatives here in congress. so whose signature? whose wet signature authorized this settlement? did secretary lew approve this settlement and make the recommendation to president obama? >> i'm really not in a position to know at what level -- >> can you shed light on that? i know the state department led the negotiations, but who approved this transaction in its structure? did secretary lew approve it? >> this settlement was the subject of a number of interagency discussions, as you can imagine. secretary lew, acting under secretary zuben were part of those discussions. i don't know the answer to your question beyond that. >> secretary lew of course was director of omb in 2000 so he expect he knows the details of this public law in this particular paragraph since he was in the office of budget management. i take it we released the set e settlement and in fact the taxpayers ought to get $400 million plus accrued interest, yet we have paid it out as part of this overall settlement

the process work? united nations decides which refugees come to the united states. the united nations commissioner of refugees decides which comes to the united states, not america. they work with the state department in bringing these refugees in. the state department then works with nine federal contractors, six out of the nine are religious charities. these religious charities are not passing the bucket on sunday morning or saturday morning when they collect the 1 billion-dollar price tag and were not even talking welfare. no they are getting this from the treasury department from your pocket and my pocket in order to resettle them. so who are these federal contractors? the federal contractors are church world service, ethiopian velma council, episcopal migration administer, aid society international rescue committee, committee for refugees and immigration, lutheran immigration and refuse services, united states conference of catholic bishops, world relief corporation. these six out of the nine are religious organizations, christians and jews. these federal contra

ladies and gentlemen, the national anthem of the united states performed by the united states army brass quintet. anthem]l >> ladies and gentlemen, the united states navy chief of chaplin rearguard numeral -- rear admiral. >> would you pray with me? almighty and eternal god, we pause this day in this hallowed state and the monument and memorials across the country to remember husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters, friends to remember the warmth and its miles the touch of their hands, their last words, the gifts of their lives. help us never forget that it has been your grace which has allowed us the time you were able to share and has enabled us to hold onto the fondness of memory and provide those moments like this to cherish forever. to, we pause this day remember those who first responded, the unsung heroes, civilian and military, emergency services, law enforcement, who fought valiantly that they to preserve the countless lives trapped within these walls and those who over the last 15 years across the globe have sacrificed their lives defending the freedom ou

not the united states. ecause of the first amendment to our constitution, which affords more protections to speech than anywhere else in the world, the united states government, as long as it has the authority to oversee the infrastructure of the internet, has a duty to ensure no website is denied internet access on account of the ideas it espouses. has become truly in a way sis of freedom. but that could soon change. , without seeking the consent of the american people, without seeking the consent of congress, the obama administration has stated it intends to relinquish the guardianship and give it to an international body known as i can. what is i can? -- ican? is not a democratically elected -- it is not a democratically elected group. sadly, officials have begun showing extraordinary affinity worstina, the world's abuser of freedom according to freedom house in 2016. icann's recently departed president and ceo, who shepherded the transition plan through the obama administration, made china a central focu

we need to put considerable effort into working with the governments of the gulf states, saudi arabia, the united emirates, bahrain, to take the kind of aggressive actions against funding for the afghan taliban and they have already taken against funding for al qaeda and the islamic state. >> thank you very much. in closing, let me just say that in addition to what you have heard today, we are producing this paper with a lot of the former commanders, a number of us in the scholarly ranks, which we hope would be of us to the next president as well. thank you all for coming here. please join me in thanking the panel. [applause] >> joining us on the phone and is back to work week with congress is bob cusack. as your colleague writes today thehill.com, capitol hill resembled a ghost town for the past two months, of course that all changed today. >> definitely. numbers are coming back into town. and a lot of the people who are closely tracked including lobbyists are no longer on vacation. it is usually a ghost town in washington in august. this was no exception. you have the convention this summer and

they are the united states government's funds, aren't they? >> no, the funds have remained in the trust fund as iranian moneys in the trust fund. the united states congress appropriated $400 million to be paid to these individuals -- >> instead of taking the money out of the fms trust fund, but by doing so, we thus own the $400 million? >> that is incorrect. i'm sorry. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. delaney for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. did the $400 million actually sit in an account, subrogated at a separate financial institution or just held by the united states government? >> the $400 million is in what is called the fms trust fund that sits in the treasury. all fms customers pay funds into there and they're separated into accounts for each customer. >> is it fungible cash or is it segregated into a separate account? when you say it's held in the treasury, is it fungible with all of the cash in the kroounls and crust tracked as a separate account or is there anyw

and as president of the united states, you know, trump has to be smart enough to keep his feet on the ground and be able to weigh this guy on what he is doing to the united states and protect the united states interests. he can't get enamored by the fact that putin is nice to him and plays to his ego. >> yeah, it's almost like nixon talking about john connelly, you know? i like the cut of his gym -- >> you and i know politics, you know, politicians love to be praised by people. but when you're president of the united states you got to be very careful about being praised by putin or the head of north korea or saddam hussein, because you have to protect the united states interests, first and foremost. >> well, let's talk about this, you're pretty close to t center in terms of national security. and i always wondered how you see hillary clinton because my hunch about her, watching her from a bit away is that she is going to be a notch to the right of obama in terms of readiness to use force. is that correct? >> chris, you know, i think that -- at least my experience in the national secur

i think what they are aware of, more than anything else, is how small the united states army is. if you look before world war i, what's the last major military expedition mounted by the united states army? yeah. and how did that go? >> terribly. >> you can't track down and bring a villain to justice and you're going to go over and fight in the biggest war against -- you know, the biggest war that anybody has seen against soldiers who were battle-hardened and this isn't poncho vee that you're talking about. this is hill den berg and. >> i would say for the germans, i would say it's definitely a risk worth taking because if you can get britain out of the war, you remove the biggest, best fleet in the world and now all of a sudden you're the biggest, best fleet in the world. >> the thing about that, though, the u-boats aren't going to be used to strike against british sea power and naval assets. not in a restrictive sense. they are not going after the grand fleet. they are going after the merchant ships. but -- if you get britain as a nation to surrender, the fleet -- >> the fleet do

we have two parties in the united states. future and one is a party that wants to go negative, backwards, and we cannot afford -- >> let's bring in laura to respond. you brought up the notion of decline and trump being a manife manifestation of change but you believe change is necessary regardless. >> first of all, robert mentioned hitler, mousselini and stalin and -- let me talk and you have get your time again. this is what happened in a conversation about the future of america where substance issues fade away in the background and the conversation just moves to personal attacks or the most outrageous adjectives or trump is crazy and before you -- trump could go away tomorrow and maybe you would clap and strike up the band and i understand that. trump could go away tomorrow and the carnage left behind between the established cobble in washington which is comprised of democrats and republicans, that status quo that left america behind and left the working class infuriated is still going to be there. i am sure hillary clinton

stronger america. >> donald trump did mention that new arrivals, legal immigrants coming to the united states would need to pass what he called ideological certification to make sure they shared the values of the united states. who would set those values? would this be some sort of written test? >> i frankly think those kind of questions and tests c characterized our immigration system throughout our history. when my grandfather emigrated here and came through ellis island, he was asked a broad range of questions. the similar fact is donald trump is making sure that we nepeople coming to america of every race, creed and color, share an appreciation for the ideals of this country, fundamental admiration for the people of this country, and that's been something that's been a part of our immigration system for generations. now in an age where under this administration in particular we've seen the rise of radical islamic terrorism. we've seen terrorism inspired on our shores and horrifically visited on our allies, ensuring that we are doing the kind of vetting -- not just extreme vetting with our

it's not really about the united states. the challenge the united states we try to bring change into the region. wecan make things worse and can make things a little better but we can't solve problems. certainlymething obama struggled with. we talk about in the book that obama had high hopes when he became president before the arab spring about the way we would reset our relations with the muslim world and that we would try to kind of reframe the way the u.s. projected its influence in the middle east. by getting out of iraq and trying to build up -- it was very hard. really the bottom chopped out from under us when the arab spring happened. it's sort the challenge for us is we have to understand that in the two other regions that matter most to the united states in terms of our future -- in europe, asia -- we are also seeing historic changes occur. if you go to each region, the answer all of our partners are asking for is more of the united states. we have to continue to be engaged in all three regions, and we have close par

howing to this problem of the united states should move ahead and where the united states is moving ahead, i think it is well that we take the advice of the very famous campaigner, let's look at the record. if united states standing still? is it true that this administration has been an administration of said nation? -- retreat and stagnation? is it true that in the field of electric power and all the fields he is mentioned that we have not been moving ahead? we have a comparison we can make. we have the record of the truman the 7.5 years and of the eisenhower administration. when we compare these records, and areas that senator kennedy has discussed tonight, i think we find that america has been moving ahead. let's take school. we have built more schools in these last 7.5 years and we both in the previous 7.5. , we havetric power developed more hydroelectric power in the 7.5 years been developed in any previous administration in history. let us take hospitals. we find that more have been built in this demonstration in the previous administrations. the same is true of highways. in terms t

he was born in the united states. no question to me he was born in the united states. t been a particularly successful president. >> he said that donald trump agrees the president was born in the united states. he didn't talk about it. >> frankly, i wouldn't want to talk about it either. there are so many other bigger issues. >> should he come out and say, yes, the president was born in hawaii? i apologize to the president for raising all those questions. >> you know that's a distraction from the larger issues we face as a country. >> there are obviously a lot more important issues. >> this is a sensitive issue. >> it started with hillary clinton. >> not with hillary clinton but some of her aides. >> and her supporters that still support her today. >> you know who kept it going and going? >> you are right. >> where do you stand? if he said to you, congressman, what sh i do? what would you say? >> i would say, obama's presidency. he served for eight years. this is a nonissue. let's focus on the economy and security and the border. let's not get distracted by side issues

we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> breaking news tonight, the united states says it's ready to do whatever it takes to defend against the grave threat from north korea's rapidly expanding nuclear program. north korea claims it has the abilities to produce weapons with a higher strike power that it could use against the united states and its allies. hillary clinton says the world must stop north korea's dangerous game. she pet with a group of experts a while ago. clinton says the nuclear threats are a reminder that americans must choose a commander in chief that can respond with steadiness and strength. donald trump is responding by trying to cast blame on clinton. he's calling the nuclear test one more massive failure from a failed secretary of state. also tonight, russia holds massive war games in crimea. experts say putin is sending a message to the u.s. and the world that he's in control of krimea and forces are ready to fight to keep him. i'll talk about these global threats with

. >>> welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. we continue following the breaking news here on cnn. an explosion saturday night in new york city. i'm george howell. here's the latest we know. 29 people were wounded from this explosion that happened in manhattan's chelsea neighborhood. police say they have video from where that explosion happened and will use it to investigate. the video from msnbc that you see here purports to show that blast. it's surveillance footage from a nearby fitness center. the explosion happened at 23rd street and first avenue at 8:30 in the evening local time in new york. the mayor of new york said early indications were that the blast was intentional, but at the same time that there was no evidence of a terror connection. officials also telling cnn they found a suspicious device near that blast scene, in fact, four blocks away you see the image of it right here, determined to be a pressure cooker apparently rigged with what you see there. wires with duct tape on it and connected to a cell phone. there w

so he is born in the united states. no question he was born in the united states. he has not been a success president. >> conway went on to say the campaign does not believe the birther issue is an issue. that voters are more focused on topics such as the economy and national security. but without question, it is still a sensitive issue for many in the african-american community, who view the birther movement as racist. trump has been trying to court the african-american vote, hillary clinton, putting pressure on trump to admit to his mistake. she addressed the issue at a baptist convention last night. >> we are facing a candidate with a long history of racial discrimination in his business. who traffics in toxic conspiracy theories, like the lie that president obama is not a true american. if he doesn't even respect all americans, how can he serve all americans. >> and clinton also taking aim at trump for another false claim. trump continues to say he was against the war in iraq before it started. despite an interview trump did with howard stern in 2002, where he

the united states is very important for mexico just us mexico is very important for the united states. we share the busiest order of -- border of the world. crossed legally every day by more than one million people and over 400,000 vehicles. trade surpasses over half $1 trillion. we innovate and produce together. in matters of national security cooperation on a daily basis between our governments is increasingly important for both our countries to face the challenges of a complex world. the conversation we had between mr. trump and myself was very open and constructive. the purpose was to get to know each other and learn about each other's views on the bilateral relationship. on trade, i shared with mr. trump my conviction that i fully believe that nafta has been good both for the united states as well as mexico. are exports into mexico close to $200 billion. according to the u.s. chamber of commerce, over 6 million jobs in america depend on exports to mexico. mexico buys more from the united states than from germany, spain, france, italy, japan, and the united kingdom combined. many

of the united states. use oil companies are causing the deliberate destruction of our sacred places and burrials. they want to build a pipeline under the river that is our source of drinking water. this company has used attack dogs to harm individuals who try to protect our water and sacred sites. we call upon the human rights council and all member states to condemn the destruction of our sacred places and ensure that our sovereign rights are respected. >> the united nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, which the united states of america now finally officially supports, recognizes the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous people, especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources. people around the world know what we try to forget, that the united states of america has never respected words on a piece of paper, when those words are about native-american tribes, especially treaties with those tribes, which we violated almost as soon as we sig

who was he to question the president of the united states in the first place? no one cares what he's come to. last night speaking to robert costa of the washington post he wouldn't say the president was born in the united states. >> it's clear after that, now it is trump reading from a text, not taking questions. here is the trump tweets. the compilation of trump tweets. an extremely credible source has called my office obama's birth certificate is a frauz. how amazing the state health director who verified copies and all others lived. attention all hackers, you are hack everything else. so please hack obama's college records, and check place of birth. you wonder why in the survey monkey online poll in july 72% of republican voters still doubt president obama's citizenship. that gets to what katy tur has been finding on the trail. perhaps because of barack obama's name, because he's defined as an authother by peop like donald trump. katy, you talk more to the people at the rallies than i have certainly. that's not what we found on the trail. >> reporter: you kno