what we did was we set out to focus our attention on congressional staff, congressional staff in part because congressional staff are more accessible, we can get them willing to participate then more than members are. they play an important role in the entire legislative process in terms of their advice to members, in terms of writing legislation, coming up with ideas, staying on top of legislation so forth. i think no of the country and will rivals the role and of whh staff as far as i know, staff place in a legislative process. i know i talked to members legislative and other countries and they marvel at the role of our congressional staff in the legislative process. in terms of the partnership for a secure america we have an established record of being able to mobilize congressional staff on a number of the program soviet a running start on some of this. how did we do this? our database is composed of three different components, and i'll give you the numbers on them. the first part of the database is we did face-to-face personal interviews with about 20 congressional staffers, most

congressional staff in part because congressional staff are more accessible and more assemble a bowl. is that a word? they are willing to participate more than members aren't congressional staff plays an important role in the legislative process in terms of writing legislation and coming up with ideas and so forth. no other country in the world, the role in which staff as far as i know staff playing in the legislative process. i talked to members, legislators in other countries who marvel at the congressional staff in the legislative process. an awful lot in terms of established record of mobilizing congressional staff and a running start. and composed of 3 different components. and and congressional staffers. heavily involved on this issues. and getting clarity on responses, follow up and things like that. is upset of the data we were able to gather and send out a survey to congressional staff, not exactly what i would call a random sample but gives us some credibility in making inferences from those data. these were directed at staffers who have some broad engagement on foreign-poli

congressional staff, in part, because congressional staff are more accessible, they are more assembleable --is that a word? they are willing to produce a paper this more than the members are, and congressional staff plane important role in the entire legislative process. in terms of advice to members, in terms of writing legislation, coming up with ideas, being on top of legislation and so forth. i think no other country in the world rivals the role, as far as i know, that staff play in our legislative process. i know i've talked to members, legislators around the world marvel at the role they play in our legislative process. partnership for america, we have sort of a running start on some of this. how did we do this? our database composed of three different components, and i will give you numbers on them. the first part of the database. we actually did face-to-face, personal interviews with about 20 congressional staffers. most of whom are what we call a -- directly involved or heavily involved on this issue in nuclear security. these were personal interviews in their offices, personal i

they write now come to the congressional management -- they right now come to the congressional management. they say, can you help us on this issue and they know it will be confidential. --e it comes to the oc's co's office, there may be concerns that members say once this is a part of the house of representatives, i may be uncomfortable raising that concern because of what they have if someone and political interest in that office decides to release the information. i am not sure that was the case, but that is probably the one that comes to mind. >> we are thinking about how often we turn to outside organizations. in your testimony, you talk about states who have been doing it well internally. i am picking about the states that are doing it the best externally. the folks that are not doing the public resources, but who have found the private sector to help them. could you give that some thought and some number in the future and have a conversation about who it is, which states are excelling out of house and instead of in-house? >> sure. i can certainly follow up with more information, but

why vetoed the congressional repudiation of the saudi led war in yemen? why he refused to comply with the direct congressional request under the magnitsky at about whether the assassination of jamal showed he was a human rights violation or not. there periods of instances with this administration where in response to congressional action in some cases congressional mandate it matters dealing with saudi arabia that the administration is taking unusual actions. mr. chair effect introduce for the record or report from the house oversight committee dated february 2019 whistleblower raises grave concerns for the trump administration's efforts to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to saudi arabia. >> that will be entered into the record thank you sir. >> let me list some dates and secretary cooper at this as a broader set of questions for the administration that i know i and many other members are concerned about. as a candidate for president in august of 2015 than candidate donald trump said quote saudi arabia i get along great with all of them. they spent

we knew her first as a congressional spouse, and as a member of the advocacy community , and she was always a great supporter of hours and of the congress. and certainly a great supporter of her community. we were fortunate, not long ago, when we honored the house energy and, committee, to hear from the great john dingell, tell stories about those times when he shared that committee, that he maintained anything that moved was under the jurisdiction of his committee. is aow, that he dingell .ongresswoman all her own she comes with a distinguished resume, having served as the president of the general motors foundation, chair of the manufacturing initiative, and lifelong advocate for issues important to women and children, founder of the national women's center, and she brought all of that experience and all of that dedication, so her district is fortunate to have congresswoman debbie not just her own district but as a leader in congress, and we are honored to have you today. [applause] >> i want to thank the historical society for doing this and for all of you being here to support the

congressional observers talk about the effectiveness of the 160th congress -- 116th congress.he american political science association hosted this 90 minute event. association, live coverage here >> thanks to all of you for coming to hear about whether or not congress is still dysfunctional. a fulle will provide background of what's going on on capitol hill. it is no secret to political scientists, nor to the members of congress or the american people, that congress is a mess. congress routinely polls poorly and this trend is bipartisan. republicanscrats or control congress, most assigned us a failing grade. over the past decade, congress has not once approved in approval rating over 30%. during the 1990's, congress's approval ratings were in the 40's and the 50's. today, they are in the teens and 20's. once thought to be the great repository of america's republican principles, it is now a broken branch. why has congress come to this point? what are the causes of congress's dysfunction? has anything changed since trump's election and the democratic takeover of the house? can t

the establishment of the office of congressional ethics. the repeal of don't ask don't tell, and those are just the highlights. confronted with the loss of the majority in 2010, then-minority leader pelosi did not stop. she invested in the next generation of leaders, ultimately retaking the majority in 2018 with the election, i might point out, of a historic number of women. nancy pelosi made history again in january 2019 when she regained her position as speaker, second in line to the presidency after the vice president, and the first person to do so to serve that second term in 60 years. her leadership is strong, inclusive, and decisive. thank you, speaker pelosi, for being with us. [applause] >> thank you very much, jane. thank you very much for your warm welcome. thank you. i accept your kind words on behalf of all of the members of congress who care so much about the history of this capital, and thank you, as president of the u.s. capital historical society, for your leadership. brilliant leadership. new leadership, and for safeguardin

a look at congressional history. first the u.s. capital historical society host an event celebrating the hundred and 16th congress. which started in january. after that house speaker house speaker nancy pelosi leading an event of the passage of the 19th amendment. from the u.s. capital historical society. a celebration of the hundred and 16th congress. we hear from joanne freeman and house speaker nancy pelosi. this is one hour. >>> my name is jane campbell and i am the ceo of the united states capital historical society. a position that i took an of february. it is new for me, and this is my first salute to congress. i am so glad the you are all here with me. and so, the first thing is for us to all rise as the capital police ceremonial unit will present our nation's colors. please rise. >> please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. >> th

i spent a whole year just reading the congressional record, which i will say is dedication. there are clues that i discovered once i knew the violence was there. for example, now and again the record will say something like quote, the debate became unpleasantly personal at one point. [ laughter ] in one case that meant that was describing a moment when one congressman pulled a gun on another congressman. that is indeed unpleasantly personal, or the record will say something like there was a sudden sensation in the corner. in one case, what that meant was two congressmen got in a fight, started punching each other and flipped over a desk. enormous brawls sometimes get mentioned in the record but often in the very barest detail, as in the case of one huge fight in 1849 that a clerk writing it down recording it described with this kind of wonderful poetic language. he wrote in brackets in the record, the house is like a heaving billow, he tries to capture exactly what he saw. some of this violence was a product of the times. the united states during those decades was an exceedi

the fbi values the important role of congressional oversight. as director wray and attorney general barr have stated, the fbi and the department of justice are committed to accommodating the committee's informational needs. in every instance, we strive to provide congress as much information as possible. we must do so without compromising our law enforcement and national security efforts as well as our investigative and prosecutorial responsibilities. we are committed to working in good faith to accommodate this committee's legitimate oversight interests. we hope the committee will in turn continue to engage in good faith with the fbi and recognize the importance of our law enforcement and confidentiality interests. the fbi has found the committee's march 6th letter to present some unique challenges given its breadth and the multiagency, multiyear complexity of the headquarters project, itself. due to the nature of the search for fbi headquarters and renovation and similar terms, our initial collection yielded an exceptionally broad return. we a

yp does the congressional repudiation of the saudi-led war in yemen?why refuse to comply the direct congressional request under magnitsky act to rent a determination about whether the assassination of homolka showed he was a human rights violation or not? there are a series of instances with this administration where in response to congressional action and do some cases clear congressional mandates in matters deal with saudi arabia, that the administration is taking very unusual action. mr. chair, i like to introduce for the record a report from the house oversight committee data server 2019 from whistleblowers raise grave concerns with optimization efforts to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to saudi arabia. >> that will be entered in the record. thank you, senator. >> let me just list a series of dates and assistant secretary cooper, this is not really in your bailiwick. it's a broader set of questions for the administration that i know i and many other members of the senate are concerned about. as as a candidate for presidentn august 2015, then

in the wake of several iranian attacks on oil tankers the koch institute held a discussion on congressional war powers regarding iran. experts looked at past authorizations for use of military force and how they could be used by the trump administration to justify military action in iraq. this is one hour and ten minutes. >> okay, so good afternoon. my name is reid smith and on behalf of the charles koch institute i'd like to thank you for joining us today or what promises to be a substantive and timely discussion about the applicability or lack thereof of existing legal authorities to use of force against iran. it's great to see so many staffers here today. we are encouraged to see a full house. you guys that so much to do with the way that we approach the broader matter of congressional war powers, so it's encouraging to see an interested room that's looking to get informed by some expert jurors up here with you today. for the sake of time and discussion i'm going to keep these introductions perfunctory in no small part because our panelists reputations undoubtedly precede them. to my far

we knew her first as a congressional spouse. and as a member of the advocacy ammunity, and she was always great supporter of ours, and of -- as aress as a whole whole, and certainly a great supporter of her community. we were fortunate not long ago when we honor the house energy and commerce community to hear from the great john dingell tell stories about those times, that he maintained anything that moved was under the jurisdiction of his committee. but now, that the tingle is a .ongresswoman all her own she served as the president of automotive policy conference in a lifelong -- and a lifelong -- founder of the children's resource health center and she has brought all of that is your means and and so -- experience the dedication, and so her district is fortunate to have congresswoman debbie dingell serving, not just her own district, but as a leader in congress and we are honored to have you today. [applause] dingell: you know, i want to thank the capital historical society for doing this and all of you for being here. the las

in 1916, the congressional union changed to the women's party.y join together to form the national women's party. there were many marches to get the 19th amendment passed. they would not speak. they held up signs and had peaceful protests. in 1917, the first group protested and pressured woodrow wilson to support the amendment. roughly 500 out of 2000 suffrage activists were taken to jail and some were force-fed because of hunger strikes. that didn't go so well with the public. because of the reports in the newspapers. >> lucy, would you look at this one? november 9, 1917, she was the former chief of neurochemistry and the commissioner called today and demands for which ms. paul was striking. my dear sister helen even spoke to a reporter and defended me. >> this is amazing. >> your sister said -- cannot believe the president who deliberately risked her life. she is talking about you. >> with all the attention and support, it wasn't long until the 19th amendment was ratified. >> this is a huge success. the end. >> what? >> not quite. >> alice paul

we go live now for discussion on congressional war powers regarding iran. this comes as tension with tehran increased. posted by the charles koch institute, this is live coverage on c-span2. >> as we approach the broader matter of congressional war powers, so it's encouraging to see an interested room is looking to get informed by some expert jurists appear with me today. for the sake of time and discussion i'm going to keep these introductions perfunctory in no small part because our panelists repetitions and deadly received them. to my far left, stephen vladeck is the professor in life university of texas school of law in austin. a a graduate of amherst college and yellow school all degrees on with distinction, his teaching and research focus on federal jurisdiction, constitutional law, national security law, and military justice. his affiliations are numerous as are his appearances and broadcast media and in print. outstanding member of l'affaire he cohosts a national security podcast with his colleague. to his right and are left, heather brandon-smith i

welcome to virginia's finest congressional district, the fourth congressional district of virginia.ause] mayor, i want to thank you, and i want to thank all the dignitaries and people who are with us on this solomon important occasion. today is an emotional day for me and i hope we can get through this chat without shedding too many tears. when you walk into that exhibit in the first thing you see is these faceless figures with 20 some oddly gross, it just grabs you. later, 56nk 400 years of their children had the honor and privilege of serving in the united states congress. god is good all the time. [applause] as i stand here today, almost inside of the confederate chapel, i am reminded how far we have come and, yes, how far we have to go. i'm reminded that we stand on the shoulders of those who come before, on the shoulders of those who make sacrifice to improve our lives. whether it was an enslaved individual risking harsh and severe punishment to seek freedom, or even to learn to read or learn to worship or those who after the civil war risked their lives and lynchings for incre

force oninus the task congressional reform. numbers a growing of members of congress that recognize there is a problem. not many are willing to act on it. they get reelected and feel safer, it is possible. it will also take a leadership change in both parties. >> what james said. it is hard to predict these things. two observations -- i always optimistic about congress reforming itself and learning, realizing it has given away so much authority. it doesn't seem to happen. when the current president was forted, i had high hopes slightly because there were republicans in his own party who had real serious differences with him. serious things, like the budget and restoring powers properly. but it didn't happen. i am less optimistic about that. i don't think change will come from congress. indeed, i think this trend actually drives everything increasingly towards a national debate in the very presidential centric system that will be increasingly so and will probably be focused on national elections. that will in turn then have impl

. >> next, a discussion about iran and congressional war powers. a panel looked at the authorized use of military force in 2001 and 2002 and how they can be used by the trump administration to justify military action today. the charles koch institute hosted this event. >> good afternoon. my name is rita smith and on behalf of the charles koch institute i like to thank you for joining us today for what promises to be a substantive and timely discussion about the applicability or lack thereof of existing legal authorities to the use of force against iran. it's great to see so many staffers here today. we are encouraged to see a full house. you guys have so much to do with the way we approach the broader matter of congressional war powers. it's encouraging to see an interested room looking to get informed by expert jurists up here today. for the sake of time and discussion i'm going to keep the introductions perfunctory in no small part because our panelists reputations undoubtedly precede them. to my far left stephen vladek is the a dalton cross prof

friday, the host of congressional dish. monday night on the communicators, we will talk about the future of broadcast television and challenges local broadcasters face with online platforms like netflix and amazon, with national association of broadcasters president and ceo gordon smith. >> the answer to what is happening to journalism, we are still doing the reporting. we are still investigating. we are still holding people accountable. i think the future for broadcasting is not just one we will survive. we will thrive. people need what we do even though they sometimes take for granted we are going to be there. anoccupy what i describe as irreplaceable, indispensable niche. >> watch the communicators on c-span 2. >> the house will be in order. announcer: for 40 years, c-span has been providing unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, this in court, and policy events from washington, d.c. at around the country. 1979, c-spanble in is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span. your unfiltered v

>> we have the american suffrage so, and congressional committee.if we could have a larger part? think of it. congressional union. that could work. we could do it. >> that was 1913. by 1915 the congressional union changed its name it women's party and 1917 national american women's suffrage association and they joined to form the national women's party. they did many things to get the 19th amendment passed. there were those that with protest. it was in 1917 we the first protests occurred and they protested quietly pushing the president to give support of the amendment. 500 out of 2,000 activists were tan to james and -- taken to jail and some were force fed because of hunger strikes. but there were reports in the newspapers. >> lucy, look at this. november 9, 1917 the former chief of bureau of chemistry and commissioner kent called upon the superintendent and demand for which is striking and six other prisoners spoke to a report in the face of me. this is amazing. you can't believe the president will deliver this. he is talking about you. >> it was

congressional -- >> those be the ones you're pretty one. >> the ones i participated in.laughter] the fact is, we have one and sees the majority or the presidency when we have one in swinging areas because we made a case. i don't really believe it's about either or. we need a very strong turnout and we also need to make sure that voters who are not happy with trump come home to the democratic party. there is old whole slug of voters who did not vote for trump but voted against hillary. the republicans lost in 2018. we need to keep them in 2020. >> and that fact you wrote a memo to the candidates before the debates and warned them not to be careful to lose the swing voters in wisconsin, michigan, for savanna and ohio and if you win the nomination in a way that forecloses the path to victory in the general election, we will lose in your name will go down. did they take your vice or did they spare away? >> i just finished my trip to rome, 984 miles to be exact, two weeks 60 miles a indiana one wie blue and one will be read. i met places were drink at the end of the night. fi

if you support congressional action on gun control, (202) 748-8000. if you oppose it, (202) 748-8001 . you can weigh in on social media. you can also post a comment on facebook. post has aington special section, 12 pages, where they get personal. they talk about the lives lost, many pictures of victims of mass shootings. of deadly mass shootings in the u.s. has accelerated. people represented here died between the sandy hook massacre in which 20 children and six adults were killed in 2012 and last week's attack in dayton. they account for one third of those killed in mass shootings since 1966. thatare making the point this is just between sandy hook and this past week. if you look further into this section, they break it down year-by-year. they begin in 1966 with the university of texas tower shooting. they also put names to the pictures. they list the names of the people killed since 1966. 54 years, 165 mass shootings, 1,196 victims. this is about 12 pages long. congress iswhat going to be doing, support for gun control is rising, but there is a chan

in a few weeks, voters will turn out fothe state's ninth district congressional seat. that contest maye an early barometer for the 2020 race in this crucial battleground state. we'll have more from north carolina after these headlines. president trump arrived in france today for the start of the three-day g7 summit. before a dinner tonight with all seven leaders, mr. trump had a one-on-one lunch with french president emmanuel macron. macron said the summit will be ns opportunity to discuss "how to decrease tensnd fix the situation in terms of trade."r afweek of relative calm in hong kong, thousands of anti- government demonstrators resumed protests today reiterating their pro-democracy demands. police fired tear gas into the crowds, who threw molotovs, cocktaricks, and attempted to tear down so-called "smart"os lamp fitted with surveillance cameras. hong kong's chief exutive, carrie lam, wrote on her facebook page today thatis "everyonired" and called for peaceful dialogue. the pro-democracy protesters wed to continue their demonstrations. re chedh on saturday la its l

this is not the congressional black caucus or annual meeting they have every year. this is a smaller event targeting at younger people. you have candidates coming to events like this and taking questions from the audience and getting those interactions to the audience and they notice that and they appreciate the tension they are getting. >> coming up next, president trump discussing new ideas addressing gun violence that involves mental institutions. we'll explain why that may be a bad idea. you are watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. ng "velshi& ruhle" live on msnbc (dad) i think it's here. (mom vo) especially at this age. (big sister) where are we going? (mom vo) it's a big, beautiful world out there. (little sister) woah... (big sister) wow. see that? (mom vo) sometimes you just need a little help seeing it. (avo) the three-row subaru ascent. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. get zero percent during the subaru a lot to love event. with retirement planning and advice for what you need today and tomorrow. because when you're with fidelity, there's noth

that will have an impact on the second congressional district in icmaine. jared golden one that seats, in part because of voting which was newly imposed in maine last year. actually a former susan collins stafford. before we close, i just wanted to note on a personal note, one of the reasons i became so interested in data was actually my grandfather who was a weatherman for many years and a climatologist up in massachusetts. i just wanted to say hi to my grandfather who is in hospice care. i brought a letter, actually, that he gave me, it was correspondence between him and his brother talking about the 1936 presidential election. the first election he ever voted in. he has 103. talking about the reader digest pulled that had been released weeks earlier. family history. i just wanted to say thank you to him for passing on a passion. david wasserman cook. cook political.com. we will see you further along in the election cycle. >> thank you so much. >> other live programming today. join us later this afternoon when journalists and former white house officials

she was asked about gun violence and the congressional agenda. the new york democrat set down with political reporter robert castor -- robert costa at this event hosted by the washington post. >> through these in depth one-on-one conversations we're learning more about the men and women seeking the presidency of the united states and what inspires them to serve the american people. our guest this morning is new york senator kirsten gillibrand. in 2006 she captured the attention of the political establishment winning an upset victory in the race to represent new york's 20th congressional district. just three years later she was appointed to the fill the senate seat of one of her mentors, former secretary of state hillary clinton. now in her second full term, she's working on behalf of women. she has endorsed paid family leave, reducing maternal mortality and spoken out against sexual harassment and assault including in congress. today we'll hear more about these efforts and senator gillibrand's other priorities such as medicare for all, gun contro

authority and congressional funding and that can take years and of course there are a lot of people critics questioning this adventure as they called it so therefore the trump administration has decided to move forward with establishing this space command it's and you need as you have mentioned operating on that the umbrella of the u.s. for an. 87 people and it will draw all forces from all services in the u.s. military. how we supposed to imagine what space command is is preparing for all xander are we talking about space ships in. the battle with each other i mean what is the white house in vision. well at the moment we are talking about satellites the u.s. nation's reliance on. difficult to protect satellites that provide. intelligence and sniff again that provide communications and their capabilities are vital to the us military and the u.s. economy and the u.s. is accusing nations such as russia and china for example accusing them that they are trying to develop new weapons anti-satellite weapons and laser weapons and other offensive capabilities to disrupt and destroy you ask

and from congressional republicans and i think they're disappointed it i think they hoped that he would be partisan because he is a long time republican but instead rosenstein has shown himself to be sara lee independent and a law enforcement person 1st and congress trumps allies fire at will at rosenstein and i'm not keeping any information from your thoughts of you why did you marry me should we allow those he does not call you why didn't he hasn't presented his 1st find a good fundraiser. where we've come and hiding information that you can answer if you have evidence of wrongdoing by any member of the trunk campaign presented to the damn grand jury whatever you guy. finish it the hell up to attack someone like that is very damaging ultimately to the system and importantly to the confidence that americans have in their government when elected representatives politicize the judicial process where this is lee the end dependence of justice. what is remarkable now is the white house and the justice department are at war our justice department and our f.b.i. . have to start doing their jo

the court can determine what the real object of the subpoena is by the congressional red ash records. -- records. >> and some can be long after the first resolution. >> the question -- no, i don't think the subpoena basis can be argued on a retroactive basis. >> you don't think that happened? >> i don't think that was the basis for the spread -- this. >> they did rely on the chairman's statement to the witness. long after the subpoena was offered. >> the subpoena for testimony but we are trying to determine whether holding someone in contempt what questions they were asked. the oral examination will require a different time of rain. >> you are not distinction between testimony and documents are you? >> the question is what is the basis for the request at the time promulgated? >> so any subsequently enacted resolution, subsequent transcripts, congressional hearings would not be relevant to that question? >> i think you have to take the subpoena and the request for testimony of the time it was made. we are dealing here with a record that has been to the desperate court and several round

you cannot win a congressional campaign against a young mother so it was not impossible. when i got to the u.s. senate, i met with a soldier, a man who said, i joint of the military because i believe in the honesty, integrity, the character of people who serve in the military and i wanted to be one of them, but not for me because i am forced every day to lie about who i am and who i love, and i cannot bear it. i said, i will help you repeal don't ask, don't tell. i will help you lift up your voice. i went to advocate and said, we must repeal this now. ot for me because i am forced every day to lie about who i am and who i love, and i cannot bear it. i said, i will help you repeal don't ask, don't tell. i will help you lift up your voice. i went to advocate and said, we must repeal this now. they said, the military won't let it happen. the best we can hope for is that president obama doesn't and force it. and i said that is not good enough. we have to repeal this corrosive, horrible, discriminatory policy, and i got to work. i went first to democrats and i said, we have to

on thursday, our guest is the code test -- cohost of a podcast, and on friday, the host of congressional dish. >> here is look at live coverage wednesday. on c-span, montana governor presidential candidate steve the pressll speak at club about the 2020 presidential race and policy issues like gun violence and campaign finance. elijah followed by cummings on his committee's investigations of the trump administration. on c-span two at 9:30 a.m., a discussion about the importance of maintaining military air superiority globally. noon, a discussion of congressional war powers and whether the 2001 authorization for the use of military force can be applied to future conflicts. and the heritage foundation takes a look at japanese-korean trade relations and how they impact u.s. diplomacy. ay, joining us is rachel quester with "the daily" from "the new york times." tell us why "the new york times" decided to go this route. born outhe daily" was of the question of trying to understand this moment. it launched in february 2017.

more than 29% of kentucky's fifth congressional district lives below the poverty line. president had a similar attack on june lewis' congressional district in atlanta in the suburbs tweeting shortly before his inauguration congressman lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district which is in horrible shape and falling apart not to mention crime infested rather than falsely complaining about the election results. crime rates have sharply declined in lewis' district since he took charge. >> no one has paid a higher price for the far left's destructive agenda than americans living in our nation's inner cities. for decades these communities have been run exclusively by democrat politicians. >> reporter: here in kentucky's fifth congressional district even some who voted for the president say they wish he'd spend less time attacking his opponents and more time focused on making good on his campaign promises. >> rural america rose up and voted for him. and he's talking about urban america. you know, he could throw us the bone, too. >> reporter: so you think

congressional overseers are often hostile. often when we get into political trouble, but investigations are run and people want to make headlines by beating up on intelligence and foreign polity paucity,-- policy,-- backs it. sometimes we can enlist sympathetic members of countries-- congress, richard helms was especially good at doing this, but more often than not we have to hope that an inhabitant of the white house is supportive and go to bat for us and political controversies. as you are undoubtedly aware. this is work i've done at the cia. you can read about it in an article i wrote if you go to cia.gov and google my last name and directors, it will pop up. when i was working on my book, trying to put him in the context of other direct others and figure out why john f. kennedy picked him and not someone else. he did have alternatives and after the bay of pigs he did have options to exercise-- in terms of leadership. why did he pick that individual? i expanded my analysis to look at a variety of important and objective dat

i would like any insights you may have about the upcoming congressional race. thank you. guest: that is a fascinating district. there was no district in the country that democrats picked up that gave trump more than 55% of the vote in 2016, but this one came close. trump won this district by 15 points, but a democrat did manage to win this seat. one of the reasons he was successful, claudia tenney was really unpopular as an incumbent. she made controversial comments, she had gone out of her way to alienate some republicans in the district. there had long been a divide between more moderate republicans behind richard hanna and more conservative republicans who fell into the tenney camp. there is likely to be a competitive race in the republican camp. this is one of the most vulnerable seats for democrats in the country. do republicans nominate tenney or do they nominate someone who is a more conventional republican like steve cornwell? if republicans can get a mainstream candidate as their nominee, i think their odds of winning this seat back are pretty good. host: you ran

we also heard from the congressional management on the track record of members of congress meeting with constituents. we will start by hearing from viewers on top issues for their members of congress. i don't talk to them directly but i think our foreign policy has to be changed and i think we have to focus on that issue because our country is labeled as a country that does not keep its promises to any country's health. host: john in new york, democrats line. you're n.e.c. top issue for your member of congress. caller: hi, good morning. i've been pretty active for several years visiting veterans in the veterans house near me. and they're very frustrated with the fact seniority care and they had to speak up about it. but all i got out of it was retaliation. i've contacted my congressman and senators about it and i didn't get anywhere, you know. host: when you say you didn't get anywhere, elaborate on that, how did that conversation go? caller: like the last call i got, oh, they're going to look into it. nd turned out that nothing happened. they passed the buck. they passed it on over. go