senator merkley, welcome to "firing line." >> thank you very much.reat to be with you. >> i want to thank you for hearing the call and going to the border and elevating this issue, which is truly a moral issue for our country, and for which i believe our country owes you a debt of gratitude. >> well, it was an incredible situation because we heard the story, the policy, and then we heard children were being separated, but it was kind of vague and not very clear. this can't be happening, that families fleeing persecution are being treated with trauma when they arrive in the united states of america? so that's what i went down to find out, and i got to say, i was incredibly shocked when it turned out it was not only true but being done on a massive scale, thousands of children. >> who tipped you off? >> i saw stuff in the press and said to my team, "this can't be -- this can't be right. they can't be doing this." i mean, this is basically taking lady liberty, who holds a torch to the world and says, "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses y

senator merkley and i withheld our blue slips. we have not consented to a hearing, a markup or a debate on the floor. and the reason we have done that is because mr. bounds purposely misled the independent oregon committee that reviewed his candidacy by concealing the disturbing writings from his young adulthood. in my view, that's exactly the way the blue-slip process is supposed to work. history shows that this tradition has benefited both sides with a check on the power of the president and a moderating democratic force on the judiciary. it helps to ensure that administrations are not seating flawed nominees or extremist judges whose views are simply far from the mainstream of the lives that they have considerable power to change if confirmed. in fact, let me quote a letter from the entire senate republican conference sent to the last president at the very beginning of his term in 2009. what that means is that whole side of the chamber in 2009, every member of the senate republican caucus sent to president obama at the beginnin

merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i ask that my indiana tern careen in a velazquez be granted privileges of the greer for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: the nomination of ryan wesley bounds is just the latest of attacks based on a strategy of converting the united states from a nation that is based and organized and fights for the principle of we the people to one that bows to the powerful and the privileged. his nomination has already strained and degraded the senate's blue slip tradition as our colleagues rush to pack our colleagues with extremist judges to advance that division, not of judges who call balls and strikes but of judicial activists who want to rewrite the constitution, rewrite it to put down workers, to put down health care rights, to lay out and tear down consumer rights, women's rights, so many opportunities and empowerments diminished in the favor of the privileged and the powerful

merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my intern, whitney wag never, have -- magg -- wagner have privileges of the floor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: the most important are words of the constitution are the first three, we the people. it is the mission statement of our country, a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people as president lincoln so eloquently stated, not a nation by, for, and of the powerful and the privileged. and critical to that vision of we the people is a strong, independent judiciary, and particularly a strong and independent supreme court. since all the decisions from the lower courts can be appealed right on up to the very top. today, mr. president, there is a vacancy on the supreme court with anthony kennedy's announced retirement. on monday night president trump announced his nominee to fill that seat, judge brett kavanaugh. a single vote can make all the difference in the world on the supreme court in protecting the fre

democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon today, " donald trump is terrified of robert mueller. it's no wonder is he chose cav anyhow as his supreme court pick. he's someone who has argued that sitting presidents should be immune everyone prosecution and not be indicted and the president of the united states has the sole power to appoint and fire special prosecutors at will. joining is now, senator jeff merkley from the great state of oregon. >> nice to be with you. >> a lot of people are learning this part of judge cav anyhow's record. there's a lot to his record. i expect we'll eventually see millions of documents, e-mails, communications, not to mention his rulings in this confirmation process. why are you highlighting this particular part as a concern? >> we already have a president who believes in a broad expanse of what his office is capable of. and now we have a president who is seriously under investigation for possible collaboration with a foreign power. it is ironic that he will be meeting with putin by himself very soon. at this very moment, he is nominating the candi

senator merkley and i withheld our blue slips specifically because of what i described, these lies by omission. we didn't consent to a hearing, debate on the floor, but chairman grassley and majority leader mcconnell just barreled right ahead. leader mcconnell even told "the new york times" that blue slips ought to be viewed as nothing more than an indication of how senators might vote on a given nominee. but that sure was not the tune republicans were singing in 2,009. democrats then occupied the oval office, held the gavel of the judiciary committee and every member, every member of this body who sat on that side of the chamber in the republican conference sent a letter to president obama and then chairman leahy saying the nominations process was needlessly acrimonious. they wanted to return to an era of bipartisanship. and then they said we hope your administration will consult with us as it considers possible nominations to the federal courts from our states. regretfully, if we're not consulted and approve of a nominee from our states, the republican conference will be unable to s

merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for oregon. mr. merkley: as ranking member of the agriculture subcommittee, i rise today to discuss the agriculture appropriations bill. this is a good bill that was drafted in a bipartisan manner and passed out of committee unanimously. a big thanks to chairman hoeven for his hard work on the bill as well as to members of his team who worked very closely with members of my team throughout this process and considered requests and concerns from senators on both sides of the aisle. in his budget request, president trump proposed more than a 25% cut to usda's funding. he also zeroed out a number of important programs including programs that benefit rural america, along with research programs and domestic and international nutrition programs. the bill that came out of the appropriations committee rejects those devastating cuts that were presented in the president's budget request. this bill which is within the subcommittee's discretionary allocation of $23.2 billion, makes smart, targeted investments in

. >> now for a perspective from the other side of the aisle, democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon. senator, thank you very much for joining us. secretary pompeo, is the pompeoa said that thinistration's been tough on russia, tougher than its predecessor, and that the president has th prerogative to have private conversations with his own canet, and with other leaders. were those answers sufficient? olutely not what we have seen is a president who refused to critique russia on their annexation of crimea. they're holding the eastern edge of ukraine he hasn't criticized them over the attacks on individuals in weapons.with chemica he hasn't criticized them for cozying up and supporting thet syrian governm it dropped barrel bomb on people, and h certainly hasn't criticized them for cyber attacking our and we heard nothing today to contravene that. in fact the one thing we did hear is that there is not yet any type of agreement with north korea not even over creating an inventory of its ballistic missile and nuclear sa ieties. ant to get to north korea in a second. but the president's d

senator jeff merkley. thanks for being on tonight. joining me now jennifer palmieri, former communications director for hillary clinton's campaign and former white house director of communications under president obama. sxrik wilson, author of "everything trump touches dies." rick, you tweeted out earlier that you're going to be on the show with me and we're going to be talking about summer gardening tips and the best deals on amazon prime. and by the way, filthy traitors who sell out their country. this was a remarkable moment today. four people who really willing to accept the fact that donald trump was in vladimir putin's pocket. what happened next? >> i think what happens next unfortunately in washington is republicans will do their fur roed brows and deep concern act for 24 hours, then they'll get right back on the trump-putin effort to delegitimize the investigation into russian hacking into our country and russians' attempt to manipulate our elections. they'll be right back on the fire mueller train. in 48 hours or less. i do t

merkley responds something close to that. >> yeah, i think it's important we don't fixate solely on thats the bright, shiny, salacious obvious. we are searching for an explanation for why donald trump is -- shows unusual reluctance to criticize or confront vladimir putin out of all of the other humans on planet earth. how come he won't only not stand up for american interests, but is parroting putin's party line in public and apparently in private. so something is not right. his own administration tries to contain the president. his own administration tries to be tough. >> mike the anton won't come on and defend. >> you can't defend the indefensible. >> thank you both very much. >>> next, a man who said putin wants him dead. by the way, the russian president chose to call this individual out by name in today's press conference. bill browder, is he the bargaining chip between trump and putin? he's "outfront" next. >>> plus, is trump a russian agent or playing one on tv? that is the question posed today from pulitzer prize winning writer tom freedman, who is also "outfront." let's see why

our next speaker is senator jeff merkley. [cheers and applause] senator merkley: good evening, everybody. let's talk about the issue of justice. let's talk about the future of the united states. this nomination tonight is all about power over the people. how about instead we have people over the power? cheers and applause] i can tell think is the most political apostle appointment. this is a nominee that wants to pave the path to tyranny. who says the president can do anything basically. that a sitting president shouldn't be investigated. that says the sole power to appoint a special prosecutor rests with the president. that says the president can disregard the laws even if the supreme court says no. so here's the thing. everything is at risk. the workers are at risk. the consumers are at risk. and certainly roe vs. wade is at risk. so we have to stand together. this is a moment where we have to protect our country, protect our we the people constitution with every might we have. thank you all very much. thank you. cheers and

joining us democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon who questioned secretary pompeo today.or, do you think secretary pompeo knows what went on in that meeting? because he never said -- the white house said that the president met with pompeo and mattis, among others and talked to them, but the white house never said that the president explained in detail what he and vladimir putin talked about. was it clear to you mike pompeo even knows? because he doesn't seem to give any details. he didn't seem to have any answers. >> well, the secretary said the president had informed him about the details, but, of course, that means the president only shared what he wanted to share. so i don't think anybody knows for sure what was discussed in that meeting. >> secretary pompeo argued, though, that the president's entitled to private meetings. i mean, i guess isn't the president allowed to conduct foreign policy as he sees fit? >> i must say we're in a very strange space right now because the president is under investigation, or his team is under investigation for potentially having colla

merkley: i'll take that description. i've got 20 seconds so i want to ask you one last question on a completely different topic. fortified rights, human rights group that traveled to burma to document what happened with row -- rohingya, devastating atrocities and the report senator brownback our ambassador on religious freedom is making. is it time for the senate to act on the functions against the -- on the sanctions against the burmese military we passed out of the senate foreign relations committee? sec. pompeo: i'll leave to senators to decide if it's time for the senate to act. i can only say that the underpinnings that you described, the atrocities you described are very real. sen. merkley: well, i would say this is the type of thing where executive leadership makes a difference in giving direction to this body, and so that's why i was seeking your and the president's opinion whether it's time to send a strong message against such ethnic cleansing and genocide. can we expect such a leadership from the president or

we were joined by senators merkley angela brent. people know the stakes.hey are asking us every day how to get involved and make sure their senators will uphold their promise to afford us the personal liberty that we know guards our own lives and the lives of our children and our chilton's children. in all 50 states, we are working with these partners to build a movement to fight the supreme court nominee and demand that our representatives in washington must act. on august 26, we will hold a mass mobilization in all 50 states in order to bring together that diverse set of voices that have one thing in common which is asking every single senator to vote to opposed any nominee that will not affirm the personal liberty standard. the american women know the personal liberty standard is all that stands between us and criminalized abortion and punishing us for simply trying to live our lives. this is not theory. this has been already practiced in many states including my home of texas. this is the standard we need every senator to uphold and they need to examin

we'll next turned to senator merkley. >> thank you very much, mr. chas hearing.and under what authority to each of you you that we are currently in syria taking on isis? judge napolitano? >> well, i don't think we are in by any constitutional authority because like your colleague, senator sanders, i don't believe that either of the aumfs were constitution because they didn't adequately articulate a target and they didn't put in an endpoint. presidents of both parties have used sort of the vague principles that they believe are emanating from the aumfs to justify the type of incursion you are asking about. >> mr. turley? >> i i see no authority even unr the aumfs, that under the constitution. what it is unfortunately a noble lie, there's been the specificity of the targets which was there for public consumption. this proposed legislation is that same technique. it give some specific references while having provisions that list can be expanded almost at will by the president subject to a retroactive some post hoc action by congress. >> use any constitutional author

democrats jeff merkley and ron wyden objected to the nomination and protested his confirmation in speeches on the senate floor. milania trump spent part of her day talking about the best practices for being civil on line, part for child well-being the best campaign. she met with 15 students from across the nation tasked with helping the tech giant microsoft on the issue of youth centered online safety. the president's pick to run the internal revenue service facing opposition from several senate democrats who say they will vote against charles redding to protest the new agency policy that some groups won't be forced to disclose their donors identities, critics say the policy will let more dark money including for foreign interests flood into the us political system. an exclusive interview with mike pompeo. >> the russian ambassador, there were important verbal agreements made in private conversations, can you tell us anything about this. >> i don't take the russian ambassador's word for a lot. >> bomb for developments for gavin do some. jonathan hunt investigates next. you're headed down t

protesting the vote on ryan balance overnight, facing objections from his home state, ron wyden and jeff merkleyf oregon refusing to support him in front of the judiciary committee, the move as donald trump's supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh is praised by a hispanic advocacy organization calling the judge and advocate for small business. a 1-time critic of donald trump using his endorsement to pull off a runoff victory in alabama. jonathan seri has the latest on that republican primary. >> reporter: bobby bright was hoping to win back his congressional district from the woman who took it from him eight years ago. he was a democrat in a heavily republican district, this time he is running as a republican and was able to force the race or runoff against martha roby who ended up beating him by a roughly 2-1 margin. bright says he has always been conservative, having to defend attacks linking to into his former party label was the biggest of many hurdles he faced. >> tough to overcome a vice president's endorsement, the chamber of commerce endorsement and financial resources, almost impossible

vote on ryan downs overnight facing objections from his home state lawmakers, ron wyden and jeff merkley, refusing to support him in front of the senate judiciary committee as donald trump's supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is praised by a leading hispanic advocacy organization, latino coalition, the judge advocate for small business. republican congresswoman martha roby wins in a primary runoff, the 1-time critic of donald trump using his endorsement to pull off the landslide in alabama. >> i would like to extend my thanks to donald trump and vice president -- it belongs to you and i will never forget as long as i have the privilege of being here. jillian: roby beating out 1-time congressman bobby bright, former democrat turned supportive donald trump, she will battle democrat tabatha eisner in the general election. rob: donald trump says progress is being made on the denuclearization of north korea. >> discussions are ongoing and going very well. we have no time limit, no speed limit. rob: mike pompeo says most of the denuclearization should be done in 18 months by 2020. jillian:

luke merkley wanted to do something to think walter for his dedication so he gave walter his own personal ford escape and you can watch them tell their story with charles payne on making money at 6:00 p.m. i cannot wait to see that. >> that is so heartwarming. i love that kind of story. train to you is going to take them several hours. the police officers picked them up, took them to breakfast and brought them to work in the ceo learned more about all this. great story. gerri: great to hear about it first hand. federal reserve chairman jay powell returns to capitol hill to talk about the economy. he's got a positive analysis after telling lawmakers years of strong growth in jobs and inflation ahead. a lawsuit filed by mgm resort against shooting victims during outbreaks from survivors and everybody else. u.s. stock index futures looking at a mix on the indexes. the dow up 17, s&p 500 up over one. the nasdaq down two and a quarter. you are watching "fbn:am." ♪ it's single-origin kenyan coffee from the nyeri highlands, 6,000 feet above sea level. but how do you really know that the beans jo

jeff merkley/(d) oregon: so the separation itself was a horrific dark act.ut then the administration didn't track the children and parents so it's having an enormously difficult time reuniting the families. jeff sessions/attorney general/ wcvb: we need congress to deal with the immigration question. there are loopholes in our laws and we need that are being exploited. at a hearing earlier this week, the california judge overseeing the case called the reunifications a "remarkable achievement" -- going so far as to say the government should be "commended" for its efforts. ...but the judge also raised concerns about hundreds of parents who are unaccounted for -- many of whom may have already been deported. (grant) in court filings yesterday, the a-c-l-u also alleged some parents had signed away their right to reunification without understand ing cause of languag barriers. (pam) coming up: 17 years after the 9/eleven attacks ... another victim has been positively identified. how advances in d-n-a technology made it possible. (ken)plus: we know plastic straws are

jeff merkley/(d) oregon: so the separation itself was a horrific dark act.t then the administration didn't track the children and parents so it's having an enormously difficult time reuniting the families. jeff sessions/attorney general/ wcvb: we need congress to deal with the immigration question. there are loopholes in our laws and we need that are being exploited and we need to get them focused. in washington i'm omar jimenez (ken) facebook just had the biggest wipeout in stock market history. shares history.stock market wipeout in biggest just had the facebook (ken) jimenez jimenez jimenez i'm omar in washington i'm omar jimenez (ken) facebook just had the biggest wipeout in stock market history. shares plunged 19-percent after executives warned that revenue growth would slow as the company focuses on user privacy. the sell-off vaporized about 1-hundred-19 billion dollars in market value that's the biggest single-day loss for any public company in history. according to forbes.... founder mark zuckerberg lost almost 16 billion dollars. that dropped him fr

jeff merkley/(d) oregon: so the separation itself was a horrific dark act.administration didn't track the children and parents so it's having an enormously difficult time reuniting the families. jeff sessions/attorney general/ wcvb: we need congress to deal with the immigration question. there are loopholes in our laws and we need that are being exploited and we need to get them focused. in washington i'm omar jimenez (vicki) president trump's tariffs and trade (vicki) president trump's tariffs (vicki) president trump's tariffs and trade policies with china and the european union are starting to catch up with the american public. jumps in the cost of steel and aluminum already have companies announcing expected price hikes for power tools, washing machines, and canned sodas.... and many parts of farm country are facing a potential double whammy... higher costs for equipment and parts from china, and lower profits for the products they sell there. at a recent stop in iowa... president trump says the trade clash with the european union is history, although the

. >> senator merkley, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> you're welcome.ou. >> i want to check in with chris to see what he's working on for "cuomo prime time" at the top of the hour. chris? >> how are you doing, my friend? we're working on the truth. we were very happy to bring this secret recording of trump and cohen to our audience. it's a little disappointing though not surprising that it's becoming a rorschach test for partisans. and i don't think that's really necessary. i think that we can bring you a better accounting of what's on the tape and then get into its implications. so tonight we're going to give people the best reading that we can of what's actually on there and who said it, and then we're going to get into what it means with a couple of great legal minds and also we have senator tim kaine on with his take. >> all right. that's about eight minutes from now, chris. look forward to it. thanks so much. and great get on the tape last night. amazing. coming up next, on the now postponed putin summit, a look into why. right after this. chicken?

. >> we have much more ahead including to that point that senator merkley was making about the documents is that materials and communications that senators will be demanding to see from brett kavanaugh's long life in public service. one of the things that follows him around as he heads toward a new confirmation fight are serious allegations that in his last confirmation fight, when he was last named to a federal court, he may have lied during his confirmation hearings on a very controversial matter. it created serious problems for him even after he was named to the bench. that story follows brett kavanaugh into this confirmation process in a way we've never seen before with any other supreme court nominee. at least in modern history. we've got that story ahead. stay with us. this is not a vid. this is not a screensaver. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ jimmy's gotten used to his whole yup, he's gone noseblind. odors. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this.

to visit two detention centers near the border including the one where police were called on jeff merkleyne month ago when he identified himself as a member of congress and asked to see inside. you may recall he was turned away but brought attention to the secrecy of the trump administration's policy which ended under pressure 17 days later. and the white house is using its official twitter account to attack two democratic senators critical of u.s. immigration and customs enforcement. one tweet accused senator elizabeth warren of, quote, supporting criminals moving weapons and drugs across our borders. another tweet took on senator kamala harris saying she was supporting animals of ms-13. she shot back that she went after gangs. that is being a leader on public safety. what is not is ripping babies from their mothers. both are considered contenders for the democratic party's nomination to challenge trump in 2020. senator warren called for the abolition of i.c.e., while senator harris recently said the role of the agency and the way it is administered should be reexamined. >>> president tr

and since then, we saw democratic senator jeff merkley tweeted that the nomination leaves them terrified of mueller. what's your take? >> i think it's true the president would have been aware of that opinion when he selected him. >> i'm sure. >> i'm sure it's probably the thing he cared about more than anything else. it's a remarkable position that kavanaugh took. it's one thing to say the constitution doesn't allow a president to be indicted. there's debate over that topic. but that's the position the department of justice takes. legal scholars are ultimately split on it. to say the president shouldn't even be investigated criminally if that were the case, we never would have had the water -- president nixon would never have had to resign in the watergate scandal. it was evidence that was turned over to congress that ultimately led to his impeachment. it's the criminal investigation in this case that's produced guilty pleas of his national security adviser an indictment of his campaign manager and may produce criminal evidence against him. if there could be no criminal investigation int

well one of those who voted against the motion, senator merkley, will join us. what you will do about it. when push comes to shove, remember the hubbub over this interaction between the president and montenegrin prime minister? the tiny country is now a member of nato and president trump is sounding off. >> they are very strong people. they are very aggressive people. they may get aggressive and congratulations, you are in world war iii. ♪ balance. re-align yourself with align probiotic. and try new align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health. is this at&t innovations? yeah, wow..this must be for one of our new unlimited wireless plans. it comes with a ton of entertainment options. great, can you sign for this? yeah. hey, uh.. what's in that one? that's a shark. new and only with at&t, you can get unlimited data, 30+ channels of live tv, and your choice of things like hbo or amazon music. more for your thing. that's our thing. visit att dot com. [ coughs ] ♪ ♪ [ screams ] ♪ [ laughs ] ♪ whoa, whoa, whoa. your one item would be t

. >> senator jeff merkley of oregon, thank you very much. >> youl're wecome. thank you. >>oodruff: the fallout continued today from a secret recording of then candidate trump discusng hush money to a former "playboy" model. yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> well, thank you very much. >> alcindor: the big topic at the white house today was supposed to be trade, but when president trump and european commission president jeaclaude juncker ended the public portion of the meeting, they were sprayed with questions about something entirely different: >> did michael cohen betray you? >> thank you very much. >> alcindor: this new talk about the presidens former personal lawyer, michael cohen, comes as a new recording has been made public: ioa september 2016 convers between cohen and then-candidate donald trump. tn, the first news outlet obtain the tape, reported thatit ot the recording from cohen's legal team. in the recording, cohen seems to be discussing a possible way to send payments to "david"-- davio pecker, chairmamerican media inc., which owns the "national enquire

senator merkley. >> thank you. thank you, mr. secretary. so in response to senator's question of new start, i wanted to follow up a little bit. both united states and russia came into compliance in february 2018. met the deadline on deployed nuclear warheads and but my impression from your dialogue was that u.s. does not yet have a position on whether to work to extend the new start agreement past 2021. >> that's correct. we're very hopeful to achieve -- we view them -- they are individual agreements as a legal matter and they can be worked on independently but the deterrence model, the underpinnings, the frame work of these nuclear agreements are connected whether they be things covered by new start, things covered by the inf treaty, other provisions and trying to do in it a holistic way. >> thank you. i can anticipate it's something you and your team working on in the year aheadseting the groundwork for understanding the options there. thank you. so russia oil tankers reportedly supplied fuel to north korea via sea transfer for several ti

and then, suddenly, they were gone after senator merkley's experience down here, having the police calledn him because he wanted to check on the welfare of the children that were separated. so then what happened is border patrol stood at the middle of the bridge, three men across, big husky men usually, to make sure they had "papers" before they would be allowed onto the u.s. half of the bridge. and if they had entered illegally into mexico, didn't have transit visas, or their transit visas had been stolen, they would call mexican immigration and make them come up the bridge, grab the people and drag them back into mexico to either jail or deport them. so word went out about that really fast, and everybody ran to the coyotes to get across the river. well, kids drown all the time in the river. you know, not t long ago, a womn with two small children and an infant was on one of those rafts going across, and the 3-yeyear-d fell in and she couldn't save them with the baby in her arms. so she was begging the coyote to stop. he wouldn't. the child drowned. so we have driven them into the arms o

jeff merkley/d-oregon>according to ice, overall program compliance with all regions is an average of 99% compliance for ice check ins and appointmentsif this proposal becomes law, it would apply to families currently in government detention and future immigrants.to ensure that never again will the united states government have the ability, or the power to separate children from their parents in the way that has been done. the lawmakers say the president asked for congress to update immigration laws and that's what they're trying to do. in washington alexandra limon. (vicki) the owner of the mandalay bay hotel in las vegas - is suing the victims of last october's mass shooting. m-g-m resorts international filed a complaint in court citing a post 9-11 safety act that extends liability protection to companies that use "anti-terrorism" services. m-g-m is arguing that the security team hired for the music festival -- fits under that law because they were certified by the department of homeland security. more than 25-hundred individuals have brought, or thr

. >> senator merkley? >> thank you very much. i appreciate you all's testimony. in your testimony, you have spoken to the importance of collaboration between federal and state agencies. true collaboration is very helpful and essential to understanding what is going on at both levels, and how those things will interact. i want to understand if you other practical events of the bill. secretary strickler, what is the practical effect of a governor appointing half the members of a recovery team? does it make it easier or harder for local interest to influence recovery outcomes? >> it makes sense for local localities or states that are in a physical area of a threatened or endangered species to have a greater role in recovery. this particular provision will throw things out of balance. in one sense, when a species is listed, it means that the states where those species exist have not done an adequate job of conserving the species in the first place. it gives the states the primary authority an equal number or majority of members on a recovery team, that kind of goes a

jeff merkley/(d) oregon: so the separation itself was a horrific dark act.t then the administration didn't track the children and parents so it's having an enormously difficult time reuniting the families. jeff sessions/attorney general/ wcvb: we need congress to deal with the immigration question. there are loopholes in our laws and we need that are being exploited and we need to get them focused. in washington i'm omar jimenez more than half of hispanic adults have a difficult time communicating with a health care provider because of a language or cultural barrier. the associated press poll shows half of those who have faced those barriers turned to a family member or to another health care provider for assistance. in addition, many hispanics involved in the poll said they're concerned about language or cultural accommodations for those seeking nursing or long-term care services. (vicki) the walt disney company...has announced it will stop using single-use plastic straws and plastic stirrers at all of it's locations. disney officials said today that the po

that ryan e chances merkley is not weakened by this.nk there are a few notably she that, has to deal with this rebellious sister matter of her in bavaria. ed it's hard to see how they can through this without her sacking the minister. ultimately, the new resolve in the whole erm, coalition looks weakened in the longer term. alan, you are the author of a book "angela merkel, chancellorship forged in crisis." survive is this angela merkel? alan:when the dispute arose two looked weeks ago, it like she knew she may be wobbling. bavarians are more conservative side of this party. they were essentially in a block, for the combined and they felt they could peel members.park yesterday it was clear her own her. was behind t looks like merkel will come on on top. tom: german chancellor angela merkel has been chancellor coming on 13 years. have seen - i say this with respect to the public service. of presidents in the united states. president ior, and regan as well in recent years. s angela merkel just simply exhausted. public arn out from her ser

himself admitted that oregon's two democratic senators, his home state senators, ron wyden and jeff merkley, played no role in his selection. the judiciary committee ignored the traditional blue-slip process which has been basically adhered to for over 100 years by holding a hearing on mr. bounds' nomination, even though neither of his home state senators returned their blue slips. the congressional research service could not find a single instance where a judicial nominee without at least one blue slip returned by a home state senator had a hearing or was confirmed by the senate, but nonetheless, mr. bounds' nomination proceeds apace. and writings that were not disclosed to the oregon selection committee that reviewed his application, mr. bounds published a number of very offensive articles on race and gender while he was an undergraduate, and while these writings were brought to life by a third-party organization, mr. bounds should have disclosed them to the committee himself. his articles took disparaging positions on topics including race relations, opposition to multiculturalism, lgbtq

senator merkley. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you, mr. secretary. in response to the question on new starts, i wanted to follow up a little bit. both the united states and russia came into compliance in february, 2018, met the deadline on deployed nuclear warheads, but my impression from your dialogue was the u.s. does not have a position whether to work to extend a new start agreement past 2021. >> that's correct. we're very hopeful that we can achieve -- we view them -- they are individual agreements a legal matter and they can be worked on independently, but the deterrence model, the underpinnings, the framework of these nuclear agreements, they are connected, whether they be things covered by new starts, by the inf treaty, other provisions. they are of a part and it is the case as we begin to evaluate how we approach that, we're trying to do that in a holistic way. >> i think i can anticipate this will be something you and your team will be working on in the year ahead, setting groundwork forunderstanding options there. thank you. so russia oil

many presidential contenders including cory booker, dianne feinstein, kamala harris, jeff merkley, elizabethconservative credentials are significant as a one-time staffer for jesse helms. he managed to win over most senate democrats with a promise not to privatize the v.a.. president trump's address will focus primarily on a pro-united states, pro-veteran message. he will express his gratitude for their service to their country. after today's address mr. trump will attend a fundraiser for missouri attorney general josh hall running against claire mccaskill. here is mr. hawley. >> delighted to have his endorsement and support. he was voted for by 20 points for the people of missouri. after all this time claire mccaskill still hasn't gotten it. >> the white house sees mccaskill as a highly vulnerable. this race is tight. the latest average of polls has mccaskill up by just one percentage point. it is key. a lot of missouri voters will be watching closely the confirmation process for brett kavanaugh to the supreme court. >> julie: that's very much. >> bill: we'll cover that speech in an hour's

ron wyden and jeff merkley protested appellate nominee ryan bounds. as supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is praised by leading hispanic organization who call him a supporting of small business. steve: thank you. martha roby easily winning her primary after get president trump's endorsement. the president reacts this morning. brian: plus, what is this guy doing? steve: my goodness, what is he doing? brian: i think he is cutting a watermelon. steve: dangerously. ♪ thick and ultra thin. but they would never make a sandwich with pasteurized process cheese food. it's only required to contain 51% real cheese. sargento slices are 100% real, natural cheese. they let sandwich lovers fly their muenster, cheddar and gouda flags high. sargento natural cheese slices, we're real cheese people. ♪ ♪ let your perfect drive come together at the lincoln summer invitation sales event. get 0% apr on select 2018 lincoln models plus $1,000 bonus cash. steve: election results. republican congresswoman martha roby won a big primary runoff. ainsley: she was one time a crit

and diane einstein of california, kirsten gillibran of new york, elizabeth warren, widen and jeff merkley- and bernie sanders of vermont. e will have a massive job in front of him. the v.a. is still facing delays with massive wait times, according to a new report. president trump touted his veteran's choice program for helping to ease those delays in his speech on tuesday, but researchers say reforms will not likely fix the wait times that the agency has until the agency improve this data collection and monitoring. the choice participants can face up to 70 to red receive care due tape. if you would like to read that story, it isn't the "washington times." manny in daytona beach, florida. when and where did you serve? caller: i served from 1960 to 1963. i was at the war college in carlisle, pennsylvania. support donald trump 100%. has done what he said he would do. he is straightening out americans, he is draining the swamp. people do not like it. you talk about the kind of lifestyle that he had that he gave up to help the american people. way peopleulous the are criticizing him and tearin

merkley: mr. president, reserving the right to object. this moment hardly seems the time for the senate to engage in debating rhetorical phrases of praise for the immigration and custom enforcement agency. when that agency better known as i.c.e. is deeply mired in the scandal of separating children from their parents. it is i.c.e. that partnered with border control and health and human services in this diabolical situation. it's i.c.e. that holds the parents in detention camps. it's i.c.e. that has failed to arrange for the knowledge within the system of which parents go with which children. it's i.c.e. that often has prevented lawyers from having access for the individuals to have access to counsel, to be able to even phone their children, to charge them for using the phone. this situation in which some 2,500-plus kids have been torn out of the arms of their parents, and this particular resolution would engage in nice phrases of praise instead of addressing itself to solving the problem. we should right now be considering senator harris'