considered it so i would take them down to a thing called south by southwest music festival don and austin listen i am of i'm from a different perry como thing i'm not sure i pay myself a square but on the beatles the stones i don't get to pop all that much but i said i've got to go to some of these things with them so they just don't think i turned great santini i on what they did so i went down and i can't tell you how heartened i was by the vibe in the street where i did about you i'm old as the new but what were bill closer than we are we kids and when i was a kid there was there was such cliques mad there was hoods there was jocks there were squares and never the twain shall meet when i was down in austin for south by southwest i dug the fellowship there i saw the kids who were welcomed in the clacks that my generation were not i think it is getting better so well at you know those kinds of. constants are really great because they draw a people who are passionate for music and i think austin is an anomaly i mean it is a very cold playing. nice petri dish. and but i think you know look i'm gl

lucy johnson was not here in austin at the time. listen linda bird was at school at the university of texas. immediately the secret service provided protection to them as such. their lives also were impacted beyond that. and i simply wanted to bring that to the attention of the group here. julian. >> let me mention one other footnote. i call it the unfinished itinerary. most people don't know that the plans also included the president was going to spend that night at the lbj ranch. >> that's right. >> there was going to be a beautiful typical lbj barbecue. >> barbecue on the banks of the -- >> that so many of you experienced. all of those arrangements were made and that's another thinking that did not happen. that we have not heard. >> we have a few minutes left. i want to talk about texas's role here. larry, you are the lawyer of the group here. as i understand it, under texas law, the crime that was committed in dallas, the assassination of the president was under the jurisdiction of the state of texas at that time. >> it was. >> and the

austin. let's listen in. >> both military civilians, i'm not exaggerating. he's looked out for his people. that's why he was known as the soldier's leader. this time, in the united states army, lloyd austin met every single challenge with extraordinary skill and profound personal decency. he's the definition of duty, honor, country that every step, he challenged the institutions that he loves to grow more inclusive and more diverse. he is the 200th person ever to obtain the rank of a four star general but only the sixth african american to ever do that he was the first african american general officer to lead the army corps in combat. the first african american to command the entire theatre of war and, if confirmed he'll be the first african american at the helm of the defense department and well-over 200 years. another milestone, and he's a barrier breaking career has been like this throughout his career. lloyd austin retired from the military service more than four years ago, but the law states that an officer must have left the service seven years before

austin a tough time? what say you? >> listen, i think they're going to have a hard time denying this history-making candidate, who came off so well today, who talked about the history of african-americans in the american military, how that's been difficult at times and a representation at the upper ranks hasn't always been what it needed to be, as barbara starr talked about. sitting here, seeing not only austin, but then vice president-elect talk about him, talked about him as someone who could rebuild and renew global alliances, these two barrier-breaking candidates, a nominee and the vice president-elect, it was a remarkable moment in american history. i had to kind of sit up and say my goodness, look at what we are seeing with these two americans at this point in history, it's delayed, it's much later than it should have been given the long history of african-americans being in this country, participating in this country, contributing to this country, but my goodness, what aday we have seen here with these two folks who are g

. >>> good afternoon, you have just been listening to the introduction of retired general lloyd austin to the american public. he is president joe bide's pick, and he is the most controversial nop knee yet. he would be the first african-american to win trun th d.o.d. he retired roughly four years ago which means he would need a behavior from congress to serve. that special permission has only been granted twice before, most recently to jim mattis. critics on the left and the right including elizabeth warren and tom cannotton are skeptical. there are concerns that nominating a recently retired general under mines civilian control of the military. sensing this potential backlash, the president-elect argued in an on on-ed argued that austin is the best man for the job in this time of national and global crisis. you heard everyone address that a moment ago as well. he oversaw the troop withdraw from iraq. biden says it qualifies him to over see distribution of a covid-19 vaccine. that it will be a near herklyian operation to vaccinate 50 million people in his first 100 days. here is the la

. >> bill: austin, let me bring you in. if you listenhis comments, he was talking down this economy. trying to find a bright spot here. we've been through a tough year. does it benefit him to talk the way he did in the past hour? >> i don't think he was talking down the economy. he was recognizing the virus is raging out of control and the white house is not doing anything to stop it. the vaccine is the best development that we have. what the president-elect said that lets just get the money the tied us over until we can get out from under the yoke of this thing is appropriate. this is relief money. this is not permanent government spending, this is so millions are not thrown out of their homes. it's crazy that we have hundreds of thousands of people and millions of businesses -- >> bill: did speaker pelosi screw that up now? did you hear the question? >> i did not. >> did speaker pelosi screw this up? she was looking for $2.2 trillion. that won't happen. >> the president of the united states screwed this up. the president of the united

austin just retired from the military four years ago and some democrats on capitol hill have expressed conceptiskepticism ab granting him a favor. take a listen>> i want to thank you, general. you're a friend, but i want to thank you, general austin, for once more stepping forward to serve your nation. this is not a post he sought but i sought him. lloyd austin retired from the military service more than four years ago. but the law states that an officer must have left the service seven years before becoming secretary of defense. a good reason for this law that i fully understand and respect and i would not be asking for this exception if i did not believe this moment in our history didn't call for it. it does call for it. and if i didn't have the faith i have in lloyd austin to ask for it. >> reporter: lloyd austin also expressed a commitment to civilian control of the military and i'm told he will begin meeting with lawmakers on capitol hill next week as his confirmation process kicks off. >> a lot going on. thank you both. >>> more breaking news. president trump now trying to get involved in a texas lawsuit, asking the united states suprem

now the mayor of austin, texas, he regrets telling residents to stay home while he went to cabo. listene need, you know, stay home, if you can, do everything you can to try to keep the numbers down. this is not the time to relax. jackie: not the time to relax in cabo. you know reminds me what we saw with governor gavin newsom eating at a restaurant in napa and nancy pelosi was getting her hair washed at a salon. okay to tell others they have to stay home but they don't want to do it themselves. there is a problem in that logic. >> they want different rules for the little people. not for them. you know, governor newsom, mayor of san francisco or both at the french laundry, more appropriately they're airing dirty laundry going out to eat telling others, my goodness, county supervisor in los angeles ho literally went out to eat just hours voting to block that from happening, very county she resided in. mayor of denver telling people not to travel, then jumping on a plane. these people think that the average american is an idiot. we're not. we're smart. just give us the facts. tell us what

>> i look at general austin and i look at his bone fides ande s that, you know, the requirements were waived and he's able to accept the nomination and be confirmed. i listened-elect, as he was introducing colonel austin and s op-ed and, you know, the more i know and i knew of him before, the more qualified i think he is at normalcy between the administration and the military. and we need that at this time. you know, absolutely. and what an historic nomination. and i think it important for the congress to move forward in giving joe biden the secretary of defense that he has asked for. >> i thought the op-ed was remarkable. what i didn't know when you're reading about all the names floating around is that this is the person that joe biden had dealt with. this is someone that the incoming president has dealt with around the plight of gold star families, around -- he was head of centcomm, someone the president-elect has worked with and trusted just as someone who worked in a white house. i can't imagine a more important person than the incoming president wants to work with. reverend al sharpton and donna edwards, thank you very much. >> just ahead, a scary real

confirmation senate democratic leader chuck schumer says he'll listen to democrats concerned very good and we'll figure out. >>where to go from there in austinlf insists he's now a civilian i hung up my uniform for the last time. >>and went from being general lloyd austin. to lloyd austin austin will get to make his case before the house armed services committee next tuesday. >>in washington raquel martin. >>today pentagon officials announced the defense department strategy and distributing the for iris vaccine to members of the military the dod is expected to receive just under 44,000 doses of the pfizer vaccine. as early as next week for immediate use health care workers emergency service personnel and residents of military retirement homes will be a top priority. followed by military personnel who provide quote critical national capabilities such as watching nuclear weapons crews. and a new study out of finland is highlighting another possible covid-19 risk factor obstructive sleep apnea say researchers found that people were 8 times more likely to get a severe case of covid-19 others. what makes this concerning to doctors is that an esti

sean, listen, the military has struggled with the military. 19% enlisted is black but only 8% are officers. does putting austincharge send a clear message that this is now going to change? >> yeah, don, look, i think it's a really good move in the right direction. look, as someone who served in the marine corp. for 21 years as an enlisted service member who then became an officer, i can tell you our military is a reflection of our society. we see the same kinds of issues in the military we see with regards to race and gender and other issues of equality that we see across the country. lloyd austin brings to this position unique perspective to those issues. i would expect with regard to a wide range of issues like the one he mentioned with regard to the underrepresentation of african-americans and minority officers and senior ranks, certainly with regard to the roles that women can play in our military, i would expect that we would see some focus on those issues. but focus from the perspective of someone who sits on that position of having been on the receiving end of some of the challenges that we face in the

rest of us we can't but then again the austin mayor, who said people ought to stay home but he vacationed in mexico. between the two of them i don't know. again, listenust said. they can't even make ends meet. these people, mayor of chicago, new york, l.a. supervisor, tell you have to stay home but they still can live a normal life. that's why people are so angry. elizabeth: all right. tom del beccaro, so good to see you. thank you so much for joining us. we really appreciate it. >> all right. happy new year. elizabeth: you too. just ahead former state department official christian whiton we'll take on this story with christian, 2020's worst media whoppers. we have the run-down. we'll show you how the media went haywire in a year unlike any other. that story next. >> that is exactly it. they weren't fulfilling the role of investigative reporters. they went from being watchdogs to lapdogs. ♪. elizabeth: let's welcome back to the show former senior advisor in the trump and bush administrations. he is christian whiton. it has been quite a year. we started out with fires in australia. kobe kobe dying bryant dying in helicopter crash. we had a year of med

approved for todd general lloyd austin will be the 1st african-american to fill the role but having recently retired he'll need a waiver from congress let's just listenin for all of us deeply held belief in the values of america's alliances and he is just as committed as i am to rebuild and modernize you know his alliance from the asia pacific to europe and around the world through sheer determination extraordinary skill he's been breaking down barriers and blazing a trail forward in this nation for many years now for more than 40 years and he has a long way to go and he's going to do it again and so today i'm honored to nominate former general lloyd austin as a 28 secretary of defense. i want to thank you gen your friend but i want to thank you general austin for once more stepping forward to serve your nation is not a. post he sought but i saw it here and i want to thank you and your family for once again sharing all right so that's happening right now in wilmington delaware is. castro. listening into that so we knew this was going to happen who he was going to nominate but it's not necessarily a done deal issue it is it. no it's not and there is a

austin, but my inclination is that i would support that. >> does it make you uneasy, there are groups out there including veterans groups that say listen, this should be a civilian in this position. it should be a civilian running the pentagon? >> yes, it does, but on the other hand, is the president of the united states who makes these nominations and i presume that biden and his team have thought long and hard on this. >> how do you feel about the cabinet so far? do you feel like there's been enough progressive representation in joe biden's cabinet picks? >> i have said many times, the progressive movement in this country is a very significant part of the democratic coalition. some of the folks in the democratic establishment don't want to recognize it, but that is a fact, and in truth, if it wasn't for the hard work of a lot of progressive grassroots organizations who got young people involved in the political process, working class people involved, in a way that we have not seen, joe biden would not have won that election and i think that's pretty clear, and my point has been from day one that those voices, that movement deserves represe

pompeo or the mayor in austin did this, it is not just the people at the parties that they are putting in danger, it is everyone else. because if you are an american and listeningthink the virus is as bad as the science is telling us, you see that they are not staring home, they are not not having party, they must know something. or if you have been doing the right thing, you watch these people throughout oig tflout th think that i've been home for eight months. >> how do you right the ship? >> biden 45s promihas promised e science first. from mask wearing to the health and safety guidelines has been so corrosive and i think made this pandemic even worse than it had for be. so i think that if he is leading with science and rebuild some trust inside the administration, and he can start buyer following all t by fooling all the rules and have everyone in his administration following all the rules as well. >> s.e., thank you. >>> and coming up next, funeral homes are getting crushed as covid deaths surge. i'll talk to a funeral home director in he will pael paso w they are working 14 hour days. they are working 14 hour days. let's workflow it. workflow it...? with

austin. then we are live with john fortier, author of after the people vote, a guide to the electoral college, to talk about the results. watch the vote monday darting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. listen on the c-span radio app. andrew

austin when the city was under a stage 3 advisory. ten groups discouraged him. everybody had to be tested before attending. >> thanks, casey. here's dr. fauci from earlier today. listen. >> i love them. they're good scientists. they took the data from the pfizer company and instead of scrutinizing it carefully, they'd said, okay, let's approve it. that's it. they went with it. in fact, they were even rather criticized by their european union counter parts that are saying, you know, that was a hostile play. >> this is interesting. dr. fauci talking about london okaying the vaccine. first of its kind in the world. i want to bring in dr. marc siegel to talk about this. he wrote the new book "covid, the politics of fear and the power of science." did you hear fauci said that? he's saying that they're moving too fast. what do you think of that? >> when it comes to vaccines, you have to take dr. fauci seriously. one of the top vaccine experts in the world. that is his ballpark. but having said that, i have to hit the pause button here. i want our viewers to know, we keep calling this the pfizer vaccine. it's the bioentec vaccine. it was created in germany. it's a european

listening. hmm. (laughing) that works. >>> president-elect joe biden is facing pushback over his choice for another high-profile job in his administration. biden plans to nominate retired general lloyd austin to be defense secretary, who would be the first african-american to lead that department, like general jim mattis, austin would need a waiver from congress to meet the civilian requirements for the post, since he has been retired from active duty for less than seven years. some democrats wanted bide on it choose michelle flournoy to be the first woman to hold that job. house armed services committee chair adam smith, democrat of washington state joins us now his reaction to all of this. congressman, thank you for joining us. we'll get to the waiver in a second, but let's just talk about general austin for a moment. before he was reported as the pick yesterday, you told reporters "i think michele flournoy is hands-down the best qualified person for the job." did you have any idea this pick was coming and what's your reaction to it? >> first of all, i also said in that same interview that there are, you know, others who could absolutely do the on. i did not say michelle flournoy is the

austin. at 8:00 p.m. eastern we are live to talk aboutier the results. watch the electoral college vote monday live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. >> with coronavirus cases increasing across the country use our website, c-span.org/coronavirus, to follow the trends, track the spread with interactive maps, and watch updates on demand anytime at c-span.org/coronavirus. a look at how the veterans affairs department is helping veterans during the pandemic. officials testify about vaccine distribution, telemedicine, debt relief, and patient care in rural hospitals. this is just under two hours. [indistinct chatter] [gavel banging] >> welcome to the hearing on the response to covid-19. all who are here are welcome and those joining us by technology, we are glad to have you as well. as we now this committee has seen the challenges that have been faced. senators have seen challenges in our nation but we know, and especially we know that veterans, are not unfamiliar with adversity. adversity provides an opportunity to evaluate vulnerabilities in our system and reflect on what has worked to make improvements for th

i don't know if you were listening to our last segment, but we were talking about the pick of general lloyd austin the defense secretary. i wondered your thoughts on that pick and this issue of the waiver that would need to be granted, since he has only been out of the military for four years. guest: i plan on supporting the waiver. it doesn't bother me to have a retired general be the secretary of defense. he is retired, he's now a civilian. it's still civilian control of the military. future president joe biden, he will still have civilian control, to. i think the general will bring 41 years of experience into the pentagon and i think that's very good. i thought jim mattis was also a great choice. let's not forget general george c marshall was also the secretary of defense back in the 50's. i don't have a problem with general austin being the secretary of defense. the years of central command when isis took control in syria and iraq, he will have to answer some questions there. from my perspective, i think he's going to be a good choice. a middle-of-the-road moderate option. i thought the candid

austin. then we are live with john fortier, author of after the people vote, a guide to the electoral college, to talk about the results. watch the vote monday darting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. listen on the c-span radio app. andrew cuomo announced a ban on indoor dining in new york city starting monday along with more restrictions. some congressional democrats fored to reiterate a call congress to pass additional relief aid. gov. cuomo: good morning. thank you all for being here today. let me introduce the people. the former secretary to governor paterson is back and helping us with the hospital surge influx plan and the vaccination plan, which are major operations, as you know. operations, as you know. commissioner zucker to my left, the secretary to the governor to our left, robert made -- robert meade. i'm going to speak quickly today, number one, i'm from new york, and we have some special guests were joining us. we want to be on time for them. 286. is day we are doing through covert operations at the same time. number one, managing hospital capacity and surge influx. number two, trying to slow the spread of the virus, and number three, being as aggressive as we can on vaccina

austin mayor. i mean, you have tough decisions when you are in charge, i get it. but, at this point, why should the american people listen to their own good common sense and take precautions and be careful. covid is real. it's killing people. i lost a dear friend of mine, a former staff member with me at the governor's office monday night who died of covid. it's serious. and people are being injured by it. but what i would say is that when people shut down businesses and entire economies, the government officials who make the decision should not take a paycheck until the people that they have shut down are allowed to take theirs. that will give a much different perspective to the people who are making these decisions and, again, that's lead by example. go be the first person out there on the battlefield and the last one to put your feet up from that ground of battle. that's what leaders do. and these guys aren't leaders. and, if they were, they would be managing this very differently. steve: all right. governor mike huckabee joining us from his location, i believe, in the panhandle of florida. governor, thank you very mu

austin. at 8:00 p.m., we are live with .ohn fortier we talk about the results. watch the electoral college vote today. live starting at 10:00 a.m. online, orc-span, listenn the c-span radio app. "washington journal" continues. host: with covid vaccines on the way, a conversation about how to keep track of the data. coyle, explain what the association does and why vaccine registries are considered a tool in the fight against these viral diseases. you for having me. they are a tool for helping capture all of the immunization given to a person, particularly in a specific area. this and how we operate in this space, all of the states, with the exception of new hampshire, all of the operating immunization registries. where we fit into this is more of a membership organization where we are working with all of the states and also with cdc. out whereelp figure records need to go and thinking about how they need to be develop, working to that decision for testing the system to make sure they can pull the information that is going to be needed, likewise making sure everything is helping out across-the-board. we have been involved from the there are acause lot of

listen to you. i want to put up this covid hypocrisy democratic hall of fame if i can. newsom, pelosi's haircut. my hall of fame goes to steve adler, the mayor of austin who went to cabo and recorded his stay at home video in his time share in cabo. what do you make of these politicians? what do you think? >> two things. one the obvious thing commented on already, trace. the degree of hypocrisy is astonishing. i would add a couple other things to that. one it's a loss of credibility. it hurts credibility of leadership. say what you want about donald trump, tough, rough, brutal but tends to tell the truth. he tells it like he sees it. the second thing is, i think kind of a subtlety, when these people are seen at the french laundry or cabo or go to the hairdresser or out to dinner like the l.a. supervisor was, another thing is clear. it's clear they don't believe their own message. they don't believe it. they don't think they are in danger. so we're supposed to change our lives, shut down our businesses, keep our kids out of school, and they are behaving in such a way that makes it plain they don't think they'll get sick at the french laundry sitting sh