in the "crossfire," senator sheldon whitehouse, a rhode island democrat. and senator john hovan, a north dakota republican. did the president set a dangerous precedent or bring home a hero? tonight on "crossfire." >>> welcome to "crossfire." i'm van jones on the left. >> i'm s. e. cupp on the right. tonight, u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl is free but there are too many serious questions to ask before we can all celebrate his return. why did president obama leave congress in the dark? why would we release five high-level terrorists to exchange for a guy who many in the military consider to be a traitor? what assurances does the united states have that these terrorists who are dangerous enough to be held in gitmo are suddenly safe enough to be released? and finally, is our centuries-old policy that the united states does not negotiate with terrorists a thing of the past? >> look, those are all good questions, but as for me, i'm happy we got this guy back home. we do not leave people behind and didn't leave him behind. in the "crossfire," democratic senator

sheldon whitehouse. how real is your concern that baghdad will be next? >> i don't know enough to have a view on that. i mean, i think obviously that would be their ultimate goal whether they have the capacity to come into baghdad where there's a stronger concentration of forces and the population would have a pretty strong itself in defending itself. i couldn't tell you. i'm looking forward to being at briefing this weekend so we get a sense of what the situation is. what our options are. >> there's not going to be a briefing -- >> there's not going to be a briefing until this weekend? >> this week. >> this week. okay. >> i don't think there's one scheduled this week. but i'll confident there will be one. i'm looking forward to it. >> senator, is what we're seeing unfold right now in iraq, is it sort of chickens coming home to roost? is it a failure of u.s. policy in iraq? is that what we're seeing? >> the original sin was going in there in the first place, and then there was some very poor judgments made about disassembling the iraqi army and the govern

but this, tonight, for example, senator sheldon whitehouse, the junior senator from rhode island, has been a trooper. he has been so enthused and so invigorated. he's traveled the country alerting the american people to the evils -- strike that word. strike that word. the dangers of what's happening to our world regarding climate. he has been a one-man show. now he tonight is going to work with a number of senate democrats in highlighting the need for congressional action to fight this climate change. i applaud him, madam president, for his work on this issue. he has focused like no other about our changing world. the care of our nation's veterans is another issue that we need to talk about, and hope we'll talk about that today also. last thursday senator bernard sanders, chairman of the senate veterans' affairs committee; and senator john mccain announced a bipartisan agreement on legislation to address patient wait times at v.a. hospitals. the details of the agreement are not in writing yet. at least they weren't a few minutes ago. they're being drafted. the legislation is a compreh

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. >> senator sheldon whitehouse, great to have you with us on "the ed show." it will be the issue in the next few years, no doubt. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts now. i'm in virginia, minnesota, monday with the workers. back with you monday night. good evening, rev! >> good evening, ed. thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, governor scott walker under fire. he's a top presidential hopeful but today he's denying allegations by prosecutes that he was part of a, quote, criminal screheme to violate election laws. >> this is one of those where the media jumps on this. you get detractors trying to claim there is more than there is. there is no doubt. s in a prime example of what happens when you take on government special interests. they are looking for ways to come at us. they will continue to do it. they did it two years ago in the recall election. they will do it again. we have a tough election this fall. they will come at it with everything out there. >> walker says it's all spin coming from the lef

they are asking who they can talk to here at irs about democratic senator sheldon whitehouse's idea that some conservative groups who we think may be liars about their political acist it is. solo which is is calling nicole saying this democrat wants us to work with the d.o.j. to see about criminally prosecuting the conservative groups? >> right. >> nicole flax writes back and says, i think we should do it? >> right. >> nicole procedures to go to the white house dozens of times and now both lois and nicole, whoops, had a computer glitch and we can't get their e-mail. do i have it right? >> yes, but there is something else. when that e-mail came out, two days later, lois lerner issued the fake apology. at the same time, nicole flax went over to the white house after the e-mail about the criminal charges. what was the discuss at the white house? what was that about? nobody has their e-mails. >> right as lois lerner went public, she was meeting with nicole about possibly criminal prosecutions. >> let's talk about what's real and what's not real. what they said about lerner's details? they sa

i dare say sheldon whitehouse has made more speeches on the floor than anyone on this subject, and i started and when i had the gavel for the first time in 2007, i had to fight to keep it in my hand because guess what, we had al gore before the committee, remember, and senator inhofe was so distressed he tried to grab the gavel. we have kind of a funny picture in our office in which i said elections have consequences and they do. but to say that we're doing this because there's some donor is the most absurd thing i've ever heard. i'll put in the record a statement by lyndon johnson. this shows how far back democrats have warned about this. this is amazing. my staff discovered the this. air pollution, he said -- this is 1965 -- is no longer confined to isolated places. he says this generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale with a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. so don't come on this floor and say 1u8d the democrats care about this because it's an election year. you know, it's ridiculous. we've known about this for ye

here are sheldon whitehouse can about climate change. they announced that they voted to confirm silvio berlusconi to burwell-- sylvia leading up to a confirmation vote which is expected sometime this week. watch the senate live on our companion network am a c-span 2. for over 35 years, c-span brings public affairs and leinster washington directly to you putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house all as a public service of private industry. we are c-span created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by her local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. in force have been out today in central beijing to block any public observance of the 25th anniversary of the tiananmen square crackdown. that was the day that troops moved in on protesters killing hundreds of unarmed protesters. he spoke about the violence going on in the spring of 1989. here

sheldon whitehouse, keith alexander, and others used.yber theft has been the biggest transfer of wealth in history. ignoring slavery and other things. it is a remarkable statement to make. is robbing us blind. you can argue about economic espionage all you want, that is still traditional spying. blueprints isar spying. when russia was taking us out to lunch in the cold war, spying cry and say oht my gosh they are breaking the rules and spying. our primary responses to china is to say they are breaking the rules and spying. no they are not. theer than addressing urgent need to bring security to especially are defense contractors, we are trying to pretend there are rules about spying. which -- wes crime, can talk about this. there are some interesting fourth amendment issues being played out now. one of the things doj wants to do is to get a nationwide war go to ahat they can judge in d.c. and be able to vers all over the country to target threats. at will be an interesting debate. at least we are having the debate publicly. which is impor

it's actually funny because that's what everyone wants to -- you know, there's this line that sheldon whitehousekeith alexander, a number of other people use. they say that cyber theft has been the biggest transfer of wealth in history, ignoring colonization and slavery and other things. it's a remarkable statement to make, unself-critically. so china is robbing us blind, but it's funny because what china is doing, you know, you can argue about economic espionage all you want, but that's still traditional spying. you know, stealing our war blueprints is spying. and when russia was taking us out to lunch in the cold war spyingwise, we didn't cry and say, oh, my gosh, they're breaking the rules and spying, right? but we're -- one of our primary responses to china is to say, oh, my gosh, they're breaking the rules of spying. no, they aren't breaking the rules of spying. rather than really, i think, addressing the urgent need to bring security to especially our defense contractors, we instead are trying to pretend there's rules about spying. and then there's crime, which i think -- and we can talk a

. >>> rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse regularly speaks on the senate floor about climate change, calling for controls on carbon emissions. on wednesday he was joined by west virginia senator john mansion for a debate about climate change and the coal industry. this is a half hour. >> senator mansion and i come from different states in very different parts of the country. we're the ocean state, he's the mountain state. but we both came here today to say that climate change is real, that human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, are causing dramatic changes to the earth's atmosphere and oceans, and to speak responsible solutions that will ensure reliable, sustainable energy for the united states and protect our local communities and economies from the worst effects of a change in climate. recognizing, as we must, that fossil fuels will be part of america's fuel mix for decades. the recent national climate assessment showed many effects of climate change already being seen across the united states. in my home state of rhode island, we have naragansett bay. more than

senator sheldon whitehouse, a democrat from rhode island, says climate change is a tsunami in denial.te change and a castle built on sand, its collapse is inevitable. the question is whether or not we can address it in time. denial part,k the many republicans deny that climate change is real or deny even wanting to talk about the issue. i'm noticing a very slight shift in the rhetoric within the republican party. saying, well i am not a scientist, i will not comment on the science. but these relations will kill the economy. that is a slight distinction, they're refusing to comment on the science of climate change, when they were openly talking about whether it is real. senator marco rubio who has taken some heat for his comments on it recently. i think you are seeing a shift there. in terms of his comment, i think an alarmould call that mentality from the democrat party. i'm not sure if that's unable ultimately help the cause and not, alarmist comments turn people off. but not a lot of other things have really put this issue on the front burner. host: i'm not sure if you follow this p