george w. bush, and the future of the republican party. >> good evening. i'm larry temple. as chairman of the lbj foundation it's my true privilege to welcome all of you to this program tonight. i happen to think that the lbj library has set a pattern or is setting a pattern. three weeks ago we had two stars on the stage, bob schieffer had a moderation, a conversation with former secretary of state madeleine albright. well, tonight we got two more stars on this stage. john avalon and mark updegrove. john is a true, rising star in this country in the media and journalism world. john got his start as a speechwriter for rudy giuliani, both when he was mayor of new york and later as presidential candidate. john avlon today is editor in chief and managing director of the "daily beast", but he is way more than that. he is a very active writer in this country. every major magazine has seen one of his pieces. moreover, he's on television all the time. you can look at cnn, look at msnbc, , you can look at pb

george h. and barbara bush and george w. starts flailing away almost cartoon style and arms are going 360 degrees. and he's trying to hit his dad. and his dad is keeping him at bay. [laughter] by just putting his palm on his flushed forehead until he tuckers himself out and then he just stops and they had walk with along again. in a way it's a metaphor of the reckless you know the -- the young and reckless days of george w. bush in some ways he tried to land a blow with hissed it and never did and ultimately walked on and father had faith to do the right thing ultimately and wouldn't bring up that ill tempered moment. >> you know there's also you know press you on father and parpghting because there's some wonderful details in the book. moments where -- you can see that h.w. leading by example one example is -- w. walked off a summer job. a couple of days early, and you tell the story because apparently made a big impression on w in materials of a parenting style if that is relatable and inherently historic. >> goes back to

and i think george w. bushds to get a little bit of credit for that. >> and john mccain immediately came out saying that this was a wonderful speech. let's listen to more about what george w. bush had to say. this time it seemed to be aimed at the biggest bully in the history of twitter. let's listen to this. >> bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone. provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children. the only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them. >> charlie, what is george w. bush's residence in today's republican party? >> well, obviously, it's limited. that primary was a rejection of not just of jeb bush, but of bushism. but those sentiments are important. these are important things to be said. that the president is the role model for the country. raising children in the era of trump is a real challenge. and i do think there is the fundamental decency that ought to celebrate whether you're a liberal or a conservative or

people do their criticism at home rather than abroad. >> laura: the bushes over the years have taken some swipes at you. hw and w. george. bush, bush 41, said that he at one point or another said that you and cheney were basically pushing us into the iraq war and w made a comment in a book that was published this month. he said the fact that there was any doubt in anyone's mind about who the president was blows my mind. cheney and rumsfeld didn't make one blanking decision. >> he's right. i think that his father, who is getting up in years made some comments about cheney and rumsfeld, fair enough. he's always felt competitive i think to both of us. it doesn't surprise me. george w. bush, was the decider. he was the president of the united states, cheney wasn't, i wasn't. and he's exactly correct in his statement and it was kind of i think a stitching of his father by saying that. i think it would be wrong to have said anything else. obviously he's talking about big decisions and he was the president and he made those big decisions. cheney didn't and rumsfeld didn't and obviously cheney gave advice to the president as vi

president clinton continued all that, and president george w. bush was a champion and continues to be a champion on recognizing the value of immigration. he has spoken about it intellectually and with respect from the heart for people coming to our country and has urged us to do so. he couldn't get the cooperation of his own party when he was esident to cooperate for immigration, comprehensive immigration reform even though when we had the power as democrats we supported it but he could not get the 60 votes in the senate. but nonetheless, continues to be a champion, really, for immigration reform. and so here we have a new president who campaigned on the backs of new comers to our country, made immigrants villains. it's a complete change from the republican party. commitment to valuing new comers and diversity in our country. a complete departure from president reagan, president herbert walker bush, president george w. bush, just to name the republican presidents. and so we find ourselves in this situation, but that doesn't change the fact that we ha

a liberal in the most liberal sense of the term as opposed to george w. bush and what did george bush do? he invited ted kennedy and his family to the white house after the inauguration and he said the new movie 13 days has just come out about the cuban missile crisis and your brother john f. kennedy and his presidency, would you like to come and watch it in the white house theater? >> all of these things were developing,rust this mating dance, this relationship, this common cause of and we get something big done russian mark they both had their own equities, d -- politically and otherwise. imagine, thest brother candidate sitting there with the new president bush washington on the white house. they started talking about how they wanted to work together on some big issues. it would be health care, education reform, he started reaching out right across party lines from the early days of the administration. member, president george w. bush was elected as compassionate conservative. and reform was where he was going to make that mark. on september 10, the day bef

is our political analyst ron christie, former advisor to president george w bush. there you have it. the president of the united states endorsing a man who has been accused by eight women of sexually harassing them, one was only 11! years old at the time. how does that look for the president?m looks good for the president and president's supporters in alabama. the political optics of this i think are breathtaking. these are very credible allegations of these women had and have brought forth against mr moore. this is also a man who is the chiefjustice mr moore. this is also a man who is the chief justice of mr moore. this is also a man who is the chiefjustice of the alabama supreme court ‘s, who was rebuked seven removed from office twice. the president of the us would endorse the candidacy of this individual, who i think lacks the moral conviction to hold public office... i would pounce on this and start using that to make political ads for days and weeks and months to come. i'm surea days and weeks and months to come. i'm sure a few democrats have had that idea as

that was the last month under george w. bush. he had to bring us out of a big hole and now we donald trump came in he inherited an economy that was maybe 4-5 years with over 100,000 jobs every single month. so you have got, you have got to admit that. as far as regulations, we do disagree on that and there are so many to talk about. i will mention one. getting rid of the regulation that barack obama put in to limit the amount of greenhouse al was something to the benefit of all americans, not just the planet, and reversing that, i would not say that that is good news for this country. host: if you look at 2017, what was the biggest significant development do you think the democrats and for the republicans? bill: i want to echo something that al franken, senator al franken, soon-to-be former senator al franken said -- host: do you think he should have resigned? bill: no. i do not think he should have. this is a long discussion, but look, i think it is so important, this me too movement, is so important is so importantt women are f

george h.w. bush appointee to a top law enforcement position he was at george w. bush to a top law enforcement position well or so this notion about who is on the staff you know who gave contribution or to a political party is it or thought you were just appointed to the supreme court well i'm not i mean i just i don't know i'm not so worried about democrat or republican guys i'm more worried about the deep state that's what i worry about ok you know john one of the yes exactly one of the things i really worry about here is if you look because the way things are going men are for it in flint seem to have been unfairly treated because they said something that wasn't true i think a whole string of people. in the obama administration didn't forthright with the f.b.i. you know when it got to be the saddest feeling guy right now in the whole world he was doing what everybody else was doing it but what i what i find worrisome and i hope richard can respond to that is a rapidly running out of time is that there is a very strong sense of bias here on the people that are do

i went back and looked at the george w. bush national security strategy and there was this idea at the beginning of the century that china and russia were possible partners in sort of -- they were emerging and that the bush administration was hopeful they could sort of be brought into a more peaceful freedom-loving global community. that hasn't happened. that has changed. you also heard this in some of the remarks you had from that statement earlier that i think were definitely a shot at the obama administration. and their effort to sort of bring iran into the community of nations. that is certainly something that the president on the campaign trail castigated the obama administration for. >> if you look at the spread of isis, you look at how much terror there is going on everywhere, the attacks that we see going on in europe and here at home, you look at nuclear proliferation as it appears to be happening in iran and north korea, that this other policy of spreading democracy and even nation building hasn't worked. >> i don't kn

and president george w. bushoke out during obama's presidency has also on occasion voiced his concerns about the current climate. join ming me now close confidan of those two presidents. welcome to both of you. i want to start with a question for both of you. this has been a remarkable year. the first year in what's been the start of a very unconventional presidency. you both worked for the pro previous presidents, obama and bush. david, let me start with you. in the past few weeks president obama has been increasingly vocal in some of his criticisms about president trump, not just about topolicy but the tone and tenor. does president obama see a danger in the trump presidency? >> well, look, i think that the big concern, you know, elections happen and policies change, and that is democracy. but democracy also depends on sustaining our institutions. one of the things that president obama most appreciated and certainly i did was how president bush handled the transition from one presidency to the next and the peri

a massive republican tax cut of as we saw with george w. bush, for example, followed by a call and an attempt to, quote, reform entitlements. cut medicare, cut social security in order to try to reduce the deficit or eliminate the deficit. this is the cycle that we would be embarked on if this bill passes. >> it is the cycle. when's different this time is that the democrats have already done a very good job shaping public opinion. if you think about these poll numbers we're all talking about, there were no poll numbers like this on george w. bush's tax cuts. none at all. so i think that makes this bill more vulnerable so, yes, republicans will come back. they have the majority. they are going to try to cut medicare and social security and medicaid and all kinds of programs to help the poor but i think that democrats have done something important here which is they have defined the terms of the debate. i think that will make it harder in the long term for the policies to stick. and it will make it easier for the democrats to undo them at some poi

the george w. bushepublican administration had the most diverse republican administration racially. this administration does not compare at all. and when you have people at the table, their voices ring true. i think about condi rice back in the day, during the george w. bush years, when there was the issue of the university of michigan and the amicus brief, with the issue of admissions and the preferential admissions that they were dealing with at that time that the president wrote the amicus brief for. when you have people in the administration, they bring the issues of a culture to the table. i mean there have been a lot of issues on the table. taking the knee. the misunderstanding, if you will, of the administration as to why colin kaepernick was taking the knee. it was over police-involved shootings. instead, if you had that voice at the table, maybe it would have changed the dynamic of saying it's about the flag and about soldiers. also, you know, charlottesville. if you had those voices at the tab

and george w. bushst year, which 9/11, of course, happened that september, he had an 87% approval rating, george w. bush because he pulled the country together. he had the bull horn moment in new york. the corrosion of his presidency wasn't until the iraq war kind of drug on and on and on, so there may be poll envy here on steve bannon, his guy donald trump's at 35%. the worst rating of a president in american history since we started polling, 35 compared to bush's '87, and he's just kind of fuming about it. it's another complaint against the mainstream media by bannon. he does it almost daily. >> and brooke, i just want to point out that this is not the first time that bannon has said this, i actually covered a speech that he did in california a couple of months ago where he said, almost exactly the same words about george w. bush, and really used that to try to drive a wedge within the crowd, you know, making the case that, you know, we needed fresh blood. this was right after george w. bush's speech

. >> did you ever play with president george w. bush? >> on a number of occasions. he plays really fast g-golf, you almost have to run to keep up with him. >> uk trained to be a classical music pianist and i've seen you perform with yo-yo ma. >> i was fortunate enough to play with yo-yo ma at the kennedy center, which he was such a great leader, but at least once a year i play a concert with boston university and we do a benefit for a charity that we started that puts musical instruments in the school because i'm a great leader like anybody that we need stem, science technology, engineering and mathematics. but i also think they need the cards. [applause] i've heard some people that know theme one or two biographies you grew up in birmingham and it was a segregated south so when you were growing up how the long did it take before you realized you were not being treated us to everybody else? >> is the most segregated city at the time, and it was the place where the police commissioner connor was well-known for his brutality for and parents were in their best they cou

now, to this day, neither george w. bushor anyone close around him has denied that those things are true. realizing that we had a true story, we reported the truth, they attacked it for the process by we we got to the proof and centered on the documents. what's the purpose of journalism? journalism is to get to the truth or as close to the truth as humanly possible. you can fault us for the process, by which you got to the truth, but don't try to call attention away from the fact. and it is a fact we reported a true story. >> let's look ahead. according to some polls many americans feel our best days are behind us. how do you feel? >> i don't believe it for one second. our best days are not behind us. my own optimism and hope, which i try to reflect in the book, is there's plenty of reason to be optimistic if we do what we need to do as citizens, which is to be informed, to be involved, to be active, to organize, and to get to the polls because ultimately if you want to change the direction of the country, change the leaders

everything that they want done let me ask you this you know we're seeing the rehabilitation of george w. bush on some parts of the center left and people are going to even bush was better than and they said well bush invaded iraq and killed hundreds of thousands of people which trump hasn't done yet what do you say to the up criticism of kind of mainstream journalism making trump out to be somehow different to previous presidents well i think you can fairly make the argument that george w. bush or any number of other presidents have done worse things than donald trump has done in this first year in office there are been you know wars there's japanese internment you know the american presidents of both parties have done terrible things but i think i still think in fundamental ways in terms of his respect for political norms his regard for for truth and accuracy his knowledge of policy and lack of knowledge really this man is different so i don't think in all ways he is objectively worse than every other president but i don't think we've seen anyone like him charlie let me get this how does the

and his wife laura. [ cheers and applause ] >> george w. busht new hampshire to john mccain, and so south carolina was sort of do or die for george w. bush. he had decided to move to texas and stay there and became an evangelical methodist. that was part of his identity. so evangelicals really did identify with him. so he came to campus and he spoke in chapel. i remember it very well. about a day or two after the mccain camp decided to make an issue of the fact that the university, although integrated, banned interracial dating. >> the political tactics of division and slander are not our values. they are -- [ applause ]. >> they are corrupting influences on religious and politics and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the republican party or in the name of america shame our faith, our party and our country. [ applause ]. >> and it was, i think, todfodd for cable tv for about a week or two, and it was pretty painful to live through that. within a week or so, dr. bob iii decided that it did hurt the school and our s

short time in private practice before entering public service and then -- and then governor george w. bush's administration as a legal policy advisor. when president bush entered the white house, justice willett joined him as a special assistant to the president. in that role he helped shape the domestic legal policy of the bush administration, especially in the president's efforts to increase charitable activities in neighborhoods across the nation. the next year he became deputy assistant attorney general in the justice department's office of legal policy. there he oversaw both civil and criminal policy initiatives, including what became the protect act of 2003 which increased law enforcement's ability to prevent and prosecute violent crimes against children. justice willett returned to texas to serve as the deputy attorney general for legal counsel. as the top legal aide to attorney greg abbott, he advised the office on a wide variety of legal matters. in 2005 he was appointed to serve as the justice on the texas supreme court. elected to a full term in 2006 and reelected in 2012, justice

george w. bushetration and as an aid to secretaries of state condoleezza rice and colin powell. he joins us today from washington. good to have you here. you have followed this closely. you just came back from the region. give us a sense of how important a step up this dispute is. michael: sure, david. this missile strike, or attempted strike, seemed to target the saudi leadership and the attempted strike a few weeks ago seemed to target the international airport. together these things mark a real escalation of this conflict and it represents the yemeni conflict spilling over the borders and potentially becoming much more dangerous for the entire region. shery: how well-positioned are the rebels to cause real damage to critical infrastructure? michael: they have these so-called work on missiles that have a 900 kilometer range that puts into range most of the gulf , including oil and nuclear energy infrastructure, civilian targets, and boards and so forth . more important they have now shown a willing

leak america and you saw that stick through even with george w bush, this is not a diverse cabinet the president has around him right now >> this is not. even by bush standards. i know many black conservatives who are quite frustrated with the white house in regards to where they should be, and when she was fired, resigned whatever the case may be both sides of the aisle, african-americans were thrilled about that because they didn't think she was a great advocate in the white house. and specifically in the campaign they said he was fired, there's not these great institutional work within the party ranks, individuals who are african-american or latino or asian sitting at the table had in large amounts of numbers and considering some of the things that happened with charlottesville, things said about the nfl, all the sort of culture wars, it's a concern. >> they have to do more to reach out to even black republicans to get them inside the white house and just making some of those decisions >> it will be interesting to see how they fill some of those seats because it's not looking good.

and serving in the administrations of bush to the bush and donald trump -- administrations of george w. bush and donald trump. steve: mercedes, let's begin with your story. you came to the u.s. when and why? mercedes: i was born in miami, florida. my parents came from cuba, they were fleeing the castro regime. my father at the time was in prison under fidel castro. he was a political prisoner. he basically fought to help free cuba, when obviously the dictatorship came in in the late 1950's. he served time in jail, and it was a trying moment for my family. they came to the united states, and it was one of those things where theyrt

but those -- as someone you and i read every speech george w. bushe on iraq and also cheney, who was an oil man. much more so george bush. he wrapped it around the fact that these were victims of saddam hussein inside iraq and we were going to try to tip over a domino effect and create democracy in the region. that failed, but that had nothing to do with the oil and the rhetoric that came from president bush. >>> let's listen to sean spicer's answer when he said what is the president talking about to go back to iraq and get the oil and don't expect an answer. >> what the president has been clear about in foreign policy is too often the united states is going in with a lot of money, a lot of manpower, in many cases, losing both loss of life. and we want to make sure our interest are protected. so if we're going in to a country for a cause, i think he wants to make sure that america's getting something out of it for the commitment and sacrifice we're making. >> so, steve, it's clear that sean spicer knows it is an indefensible comment that donald trump

presidents george w. bush, barack obama and now donald trump. i remember when dennis kucinich used to go to the house floor with articles of impeachment against george w. bush and we would immediately table them. during barack obama's administration, we had in 2016 republicans wanting to impeach the irs commissioner. we tabled that. and now we have some democrats going to the floor with articles of impeachment on donald trump. those have been tabled as well. as i said, let's -- let's just let director mueller finish his work, finish his investigation before we come to any conclusions. >> let me squeeze in another topic here. let's turn to immigration reform. president trump telling democrats he won't consider a daca fix for d.r.e.a.m.ers unless they agree to a wall. isn't he setting himself up for a fight that he could lose with republicans who say they too wanting a daca fix? >> i believe there will be a daca fix. in fact early in the new year, there will be an attempt to probably try some, i'll say, reasonable border security measures with the

this was a lot written by george w. bush.he fact that we are still debating it in 2017. >> shannon: now what we are talking about is daca, done by executive order. a lot of people think president obama said he couldn't do it and he did. you reference this letter from the house g.o.p. 35 member said "daca recipients, are contracting members of our communities and economy. reaching across the out to protect daca recipients before the holidays is the right thing to do." mary. >> this is another thing people hate about the swamp. they sit here and say were going to put this on another bill, the spending bill and instead of having bring a claim spending bill and a clean daca bill so we can know how the representatives are voting, they mashup together so we don't know and this is what people hate. the lack of transparency. i want to know how my representative is voting. >> that's nothing new, mary. >> it doesn't make it right. >> republicans have democrats have done it for decades. let's not punish the 700,000 daca recipients becau

george w. bush was criticized for not reading the media enough and relying on his dossier is more than the media about his donald trump watches fox and friends in the morning and it's the most widely watched by a long shot. it reaches a huge amount of people and it's often basic concerns. it's's not high-mindedness. it ranges from what's going on iner the political landscape average americans think americad interesting too because a healthy meal for your kid or fun costume for halloween and watching shows like that, he's gotten a good idea of what makes americans comfortable, what makes americans uncomfortable and watching the mass media as opposed to the new yorker you solve a lot of these journals and websites that said i can't believe hillary clinton lost i guess we are going on a tour of the red states to seeth what its like. donald trump has a better understanding of that into tucker carlson tonight is a different kind of show in the years since donald trump has become president, tucker has bec

when george w. bush reportedly said to a group of aides that i may well be the last republican president and then repeated that to me that became the obvious title. >> how many smart people do you know who don't necessarily think this is a bad thing? this sea change going on for the gop? >> well, it's very clear, brian, that the republican party is in a battle for its soul. it's at war within itself. and as abraham lincoln said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. so we'll see what happens here. there passion that platform is election or donald trump, the kind of republican that was behind us. when george w. bush reportedly said to a group of aides that i may well be the last republican president and then repeated that to me that became the obvious title. >> how many smart people do you know who don't necessarily think this is a bad thing? this sea change going on for the gop? >> well, it's very clear, brian, that the republican party is in a battle for its soul. it's at war within itself. and a

it sometimes is a predictor of what's coming in in the case of george w. bush six months before the invasion the shock and awe invasion of iraq. bush came out with a national security strategy which provided although we didn't use the exact words of preemptive war it was the logic of preemptive war another words the u.s. arrogating to itself the right to perceived threats and go to war against them even before the us has been attacked of course that would be a violation of the u.n. charter and international law but nonetheless it became a powerful logical explanation for what came later the question now with donald trump's national security strategy is does this predict where trump is really going in and i think it i think it does i mean he mentioned china twenty four times in the report mentions china twenty four times all of them in a bellicose aggressive way it mentions russia in a in a bellicose an aggressive way there's no kind words for either china or russia iraq and north korea rogue states and of course non-state actors terrorism is the third dimension

it began with george w. bush. george w. bush said i will support a tax increase if the democrats sport spending restraints. my biggest problem in '93, i think we went far enough. we finished it out in 97. it was unpopular. people loved getting rid in the deficit you can't get it done any other way. the brave moment was 1990 when president bush said i will support a tax increase. and that -- all we did -- as i said three years later and seven years later was finally balance the budget by amending that legislation. >> that broke his read my lips vow. i'm already reading because time and space has become compacted in and every day is really a week. i'm already reading this is a lame duck president. do you agree with that? >> no i don't agree with it. you never know. i mean you could be -- it's hard to predict. i didn't predict he was going to win who who am i to predict whether he will win a second term. the troubling thing about the russia investigation is consistently appear constantly saying it's a witch hunt. it's not. it's

george h.w. bush appointee to a top law enforcement position he was george w. bush to a top law enforcement position well or so this notion about who is on the staff you know who gave contribution or to a political party is it or thought you were just appointed to the supreme court well i'm going to i know what i'm not so worried about democrat or republican guys i'm more worried about the deep state that's what i worry about ok you know john one of the yes exactly one of the things i really worry about here is if you look at because the way things are going men afford in flint seem to have been unfairly treated because they said something that wasn't true i think a whole string of people. in the obama administration didn't forthright with the f.b.i. you know you got to be the saddest feeling guy right now in the whole world he was doing what everybody else was doing here but what i what i find worrisome and i hope richard can respond to that is around. running out of time means that there is a very strong sense of bias here on the people that are doing the russ

george w. bu george w. bush. more about this, i want to bring in cnbc global markets reporter, i think the question on most people's mind, in regards to who you credit for this market, what do i do? is 2018 going to look like 2017? >> reporter: the stock market has had an upward year, the positive economic data has also helped, plus earnings have improved this year, so companies by an average are delivering bigger prospects. it's also working out that the prospect of tax reform which wall street has been excited about has also been part of the market rally. some analysts warn that tax reform may not be as positive for the u.s. economy as most companies are expected to spend the money they save from a lower tax rate on buying back their own stock versus spending it on employees. and that's where we'll have to see if president trump tries to exert pressure on businesses in terms of how to actually spend that money. also with the economy improving, the fed could very well hike interest rates multiple times next year

moments ago i spoke with the assistant ag under george w. bushnd he said it is time now for robert mueller to put up or shut up. >> i think this is another step in a long investigation. we will see what robert mueller has learned from michael flynn in exchange for this guilty plea today or might learn in the future although i suspect he has learned most of what he would learn from michael flynn. i don't agree with steve cortez who said that this is absolutely not news and not even a firecracker. my jaw dropped when i heard him say that. he made baghdad bob look like a truth teller in saying that. this may not end up being a huge deal but it certainly is something when the former top national security advisor to the president of the united states pleads guilty to lying to the fbi. >> harris: this is what some legal scholars have told me. once you get to the man in the middle, you've heard tom depree kind of describing him, this is it, this is the person who is going to be able to give you information. once you get there, if there is no evidence, a

. >> joining me now is someone who worked in the george w. bush the trump administration rhetoric eerily familiar. corey shocky is from the hoover institution and co-authored a book ""warriors and citizens, american views of our military," with the defense secretary james mattis. thank you so much for joining me. i appreciate it. you believe that the trump administration is dangerous lis boxing itself in on north korea. i want to show viewers part of what you wrote in a piece recently. you wrote, the administration statements strongly prejudice policy toward military action. they have not only drawn a red line, they've attached a countdown clock to it. president trump will either fight a preventive war to disarm north korea or will be forced in humiliation fashion to dismantle a skafr followed of his own construction calling into question american security guarantees. it sounds like you think the u.s. is barreling toward war with north korea. >> i really do. i'm struck how much the administration, particularly the administration and national secur

and whether it's donald trump or or george w. bush, 41 or 43 or anybody else, a president, once in office, has to wrestle with all those other devices.s pro-- he has to earn on a continuing basis the consent of the people much more complicated and deliberate way than he simply theed on the day of election when he emerges as the quantitative winner of the vote system. if he's lucky with the in the vote victory count, popular vote count as well. but that's the beginning of a story and not the end of it. so govern effectively and hascratically, a president to wrestle with those congressional constituencies. to wrestle with governors, with varying public same publics, the that chose him on november 8 may 8 a against him on november year later. and two years later, has a chance to undercut him in elections.allal this has happened quite frequently in recent years. toyou look what happened bill clinton in 1994, if you look what happened to george '06, if you look what to barack obama in 2010, this is the republic of expressing their ayes in

independent investigation if it was then you would have prosecutors that were from i don't know the george w. bush administration or you'd have people that were from the george h. walker bush or even if the reagan administration people are still around from there this would have a mix mark it is not is that point an offer when they were wrong when i want to point out go ahead richard go ahead. i'm saying mohler robert muller who is the head of this was a ronald reagan appointee to a top law enforcement position he was george to a top law enforcement position he was george w. bush to a deep state that's what i worry about ok you know john one of the yes exactly one of the things i really worry about here is if you look because the way things are going men afford influence seem to have been in the obama administration didn't world he was doing what everybody else was doing at that but what i what i find worrisome and i hope richard can respond to that is a rapidly running out of time is that there is a very strong sense of bias here on the people that are doing the russian investigation nine out of

well if you look at george w. bush's tax cut in two thousand and one or the tax cuts that were pushed through in the state of kansas in two thousand and twelve neither of them led to the kind of economic growth that the proponents pushed for and congressman shays appropriately pointed out the surpluses that we had under the clinton administration those disappear with the two thousand and one bush tax cut and so frankly if we're going to spend one trillion dollars i would rather have spent it on a infrastructure bill that would have actually created jobs grow wages and really help speed up commerce in this country. it disappeared in two thousand because we got rid of grand rudman in the other elements that when you cut taxes if it didn't if it wasn't revenue neutral then you saw slowing the growth of spending our problem was we just lost track of spending and i take responsibility as a republican under the bush years i don't look back fondly at how we were dealing with spending under george w. gentleman so both you mitch

you were no stranger to this building during the george w. bush administration. mercedes: i had the honor of serving as director of specialty office of media affairs. i was basically has spokesperson spanish-language media, religious media, trade publications, and i love my time here under president bush. i made lifelong friends and that my husband in this building, so it is a special place to come back to. the memories you share here, and it was obviously a united team. to push the president's message out to these outlets that, you know, back in the day we did not have twitter or facebook, so it is amazing how it is revolutionized, but at the name time, being able to serve one of the resident -- serve as one of the president spokes people. -- the president's spokespeople. steve: different president, different role. mercedes: the roles are all unique and special in their own way. my blessing has been to meet a whole new group of individuals and to really form a team. and again, the same directive in terms of pushing the president's agenda and working together to