states government. cyber security has got to be one of our highest priorities at the department of state, and as an entiregovernment. my experience in government, when i was at the commerce department was, because of our lack of cyber security, now this was 12 years ago. all our systems were open to a number of different foreign governments. such that we had to create our own internal operating system to communicate among ourselves and prepare documents for the secretary to send to the swowhi house, because we had so little confidence that the system we were using wasn't penetrated. so cyber security is, for me, very high priority. >> thank you, mr. sullivan, thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. chairman, and thank you mr. sullivan for your willingness to take on this responsibility. i just want to follow up a little bit on senator gardner's point about china, because we had a hearing before the armed services committee where experts testified that there really are only two things that the chinese are going to respond to from the united states' perspective. one was whether we sanctioned their financi

explain to me your view of how the state department has departed from its core mission? you for our: thank discussion yesterday. i very much enjoyed it. changed in world has the 21st century, and our state department and the way it is organized has not changed. the defense department has in my experience in government reorganized several times in the the timeframe in which state department has not. in example of an area where i think we need to focus on management issues, the intersection of our regional bureaus, which we need to have, obviously, and the functional bureaus that have created and multiplied over time as issues have arisen. i think the interconnection between those two and make sure those are united in promoting our common interests, national security, and economic prosperity is an area where we need to focus. and so it is not so much that i think the world has changed. we have added functional bureaus as issues have arisen, we have not integrated our approach to this new world with new technologies, new means of communications, new transnational threats th

the idea for the department of state testified before the state and forema foreign subcommittee. n his written testimony he cited systemic issues in the department related to physical security measures. the ig cited a lack of coordination and an inability to prioritize needs. more than four half years after the terrorist attack in benghazi and with the events of 1979 in mind, would you agree that the department of state can and must do better when it comes to physical security in emergency action plans that are posted overseas? >> senator, i would have no higher priority if confirmed them protect our men and women that we send a broad on our behalf. >> have you reviewed this testimony? >> i have not but will make that a priority if confirmed. >> thank you. i yield back. >> let me ask you, do you have any sense of the contours of the top or bottom review the stake in place on what type of realignments might take place within the state department. >> in my discussions with the secretary, he has made clear he has no preconceived ideas on what the outcome should be. he started this in

sessionsns has threatened that e united states department of justice may renew its focus on marijuana. even in states like california where it is legal. let me tell you, what california needs jeff sessions, we need support in dealing with transnational criminal oerg organizationin organization. not goingngdm after grandma's medicinal marijuana. leave her alone. and sessions has overturned an obama administration directive to phase out the use of private prisons. clear about private prisons. the business model is that you reap profit from incarcerating people. let'san be clear about this. and let's be clear we should not bepr creating incentives to hou people in prison. we should bee creating incentivs instead to shut the resolving down into prison. [ applause ] and with last week's memo, sessions advocated that prosecutors seek the harshest sentence available, including an increased use of mandatory minimums. instead of going after violent crime, drug cartels and major traffickers we'reth worried abo the neighborhood street level dealer. en about that. instead ofab going after drug ca

. >>> an awkward moment at the state department what stumped a state department spokesman. what actually happened here? we have insight and how he reacted about what the question was. breaking news, a man has been arrested inside the trump international hotel in washington with two guns, 90 rounds of ammunition and we're getting word he may have been discussing and may have been plotting of an assassination. we have details coming in from police. that's ahead. as you do. but do they need help making more of their own tears? if you have chronic dry eye caused by reduced tear production due to inflammation, restasis multidose™ can help... with continued use twice a day, every day, one drop at a time. restasis multidose™ helps increase your eyes' natural ability to produce tears, which may be reduced by inflammation due to chronic dry eye. restasis multidose™ did not increase tear production in patients using anti-inflammatory eye drops or tear duct plugs. to help avoid eye injury and contamination, do not touch the bottle tip to your eye or other surfaces. wait 15 minutes aft

sessions has threatened that the united states department of justice may renew its focus on marijuanaen in states like california where it is legal. well, let me tell you, what california needs, jeff sessions, we need support in dealing with transnational criminal organizations, dealing with issues like human trafficking, not going after grandma's medicinal marijuana. [ applause ] leave her alone! and sessions has overturned an obama administration directive to phase out the use of private prisons. so now let's be clear about private prisons. the business model is that you reap profit from incarcerating people. let's be clear about this. and let's be clear, we should not be creating incentives to house people in prison. we should be creating incentives instead to shut the revolving door into prison. [ applause ] and with last week's memo, sessions advocated that prosecutors seek the harshest sentence available, including an increased use of mandatory minimums. so instead of going after violent crime, drug cartels, and major traffickers, we're worried about the neighborhood street-leve

it's the state department and defense department that deliver our national security. i am inspired by you and i thank you for that and i'm honored to serve alongside of you. we will be talking again. thank you. [applause] .. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> next, from the republican national lawyers association conference, deputy assistant to president, sebastian gorka talks about the fight against isis. then a discussion on president trump's executive order on religious liberty for individuals and groups. and later, veterans affairs secretary david shulkin testifies as a house oversight hearing. >> now, deputy assistant to the president, sebastian gorka, speaks on the effort to combat isis. spoke the republican national lawyers association conference. this is 45 minutes. >> come on up. [applause]

one of the great honors for me serving in this department, the department of state, and all of you know, the department of state, first cabinet created and chartered under the constitution. secretary of state, first cabinet position chartered and created under the constitution. so we are part of a living history and we're going to get to carve our little piece of it, our increment, in that clock of time. we're going to carve our piece into that history. and i think the question is how we will do that and how effectively we will do that. and history is moving around us as we just spoke. and how do we adapt to that? and so i want to ask all of you to be very free in your thinking. so the process going forward, as you know we've just kicked off this listening exercise and i really encourage all of you to please go online and participate in the survey online. this is vital to how we understand where we want to go and i think we have about 300 individuals that we've selected to sit down face-to-face and do some interviews so we have a more fulsome understanding. we want to collect all of the

included in the budget address, a reduction in funding for the state department. nearly one-third of its budget. it's a move secretary of state tillerson says reflects the president's america first policy. rich edson joins us live from the state department. rich, what is the white house proposing cutting here? >> reporter: billions of dollars in aid to the state department, u.s. id, international programs, global aids prevention, funds that would prevent and address climate change. a number of programs across the board including cultural programs and the united nations. as part of this it also shifts some military grants to loans. so instead of straight up money given out, it would require some of the funds to be paid back. state department and trump administration argue these cuts still provide a budget amount of spending that allows the united states to be a leader in foreign assistance throughout the country, throughout the world. however, it requires other countries to step up their spending. in a statement secretary of state rex tillerson says, quote, this bud

state department calls back to talk to them. that's julian and wikileaks. and what's happening in this scene is they've just learned that there's a password for the state department cable for 250,000 state department cables have been published by a journalist and was now potentially going to be released online. they were warning the state department. >> for all of those persons who have been and for that matter still are hillary clinton supporters who think that julian aang is the enemy, the devil incarnate, you say what? >> okay. what they publish from the dmc and podesta was published by the "new york times," the "washinington post" it was cleay news wore think. not everything they published but what was going on with bernie sanders' campaign was kn news worthworthy. i think what's conflated is another issue that has come clear that there was a hack in the dnc that -- according to the government. they haven't released a lot of information, evidence. but according to the government there was a hack into dnc and rnc and they use

state department say the syrian government has built a crematorium to hide mass killings.hey say as many as 50 bodies are put inside every day. we will go to washington for more. iran per touring for -- preparing for a presidential election. we take a look at the islamic republic's jewish minority and their push for greater rights. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. tonight, a shakeup for the european union. the leaders of the two nations known as the engine of europe, president emmanuel macron of france and chancellor angela merkel of germany, agreed the european union needs deep reform. macron called for what he is calling a historic reconstruction. he was visiting berlin just one day after his inauguration as the youngest president ever of france. reporter: a man on a mission. macron traveled to germany on his first full day in office determined to make a start on reinvigorating european progress. it has unnerved some german conservatives but chancellor merkel emphasized common ground after talks. she said france and germany want to deepen their relationship and develop a new ro

i do not say that about the state department, a state about institutions globally. in fact, i had the same conversation about the united nations. there are many institutions, you can see when we have our conversations with nato, many institutions around the world that were created in a different era. they were set up to deal with certain conditions their processes and organizations were set up. as things change we have not adapted those. not that we have not recognized, but we have not fully adapted how we deliver our mission. as we get into this opportunity to look at how we get our work done is to think about the world as it is today and to leave behind we do it this way because we been doing it this way for the last 30 or 40 or 50 years. all of that was created in a different environment. what i am inviting you to do is to approach this effort we will undertake with no constraints your thinking. with none. one of the great honors for me serving in this department, and all of you know the department of state first cabinet created and charted under the constitution

agencies including customs and border protection, immigration and customs enforcement and the state department. wisconsin republican congressman mike gallagher is the chair of the task force. it's about 90 minutes. >>> the committee on homeland committee task force on denying terrorist entry into the united states will come toerd. we are examining the security of the visa process and visa waiver program. i now recognize myself for an opening statement. >>> i want to start by welcoming back our expert witnesses to the capital and thank him for being here doing double duty for joining us yesterday for a classified hearing. i look forward to following up on some of the broader themes of briefing in order to inform the american people of the security of the visa process and the visa waiver program. i also want to thank chairman mccall and ranking member thompson for prioritizing this task force and its mission. last congress this committee's task force on combatting terrorist and foreign fighter travel was not only successful in producing legislative change but also eye opening in what it revealed

he apparently has guidance from the national security council not from the state department but from the nse before he makes some of these calls in southeast asia. makes a call to the dictator in the philippines who has said things like if he could catch a terrorist, he would eat his liver. >> right. >> and called president obama the son of a whore. meaning the cancellation of a presidential visit back then. and so he calls the leader of the philippines and freelances. he invites him to the u.s. to come to the oval office which was not in the talking points. >> not in the talking points. it wasn't on anyone's drawing board to go down this road. they thought, certainly the state department, that this was a courtesy call you make that the president's been making to many heads of state. but then this kind of went off rails. now you have your state department, your national security team sort of playing catchup which is never a good thing. two, from what we understand, they're going to be background conversations to sort of dial this back as quickly as possible because the president cann

a cuts the state department by nearly a third. that is insane. there is bipartisan support not to do that. secretary of state james mattis even said, look, if you do not fully fund the state department, i'm going to have to buy more bullets. this is a really stupid budget designed for war. no one in congress wants to do that. host: you mentioned veterans. this budget has a 6% increase from current levels from the department of veterans affairs funded at $79 billion. is that something you can get behind? guest: absolutely, but not while cutting programs like medicaid and nutritional assistance that benefit way more veteran families. host: if you want to join the conversation, democrats can call at (202) 748-8000. republicans can call at (202) 748-8001. independents can call at (202) 748-8002. we will be chatting with him for about the next 25 minutes or so here on "the washington journal." ers talking call about foreign aid spending by the government and concerns about spending money overseas when money is need to be spent here at home. you are on

maximums not goals. ,crucially for understanding the american responses to the holocaust, the state department decides in europe or in your country whether you can qualify for an immigration visa to the united states. so you are not coming to ellis , island and presenting your papers. you're doing all that in europe. once you have your visa, then you can come and immigrate. crucially also, the united states has no refugee policy. we only have an immigration policy so people fleeing racial and religious persecution have to go through the same deliberate immigration steps as anyone else. in 1929, the stock market crashes. five years after the new immigration act. and the u.s. and a lot of the sens -- deens -- the scends into an economic depression and as a result of that president herbert hoover issues and instruction to the state department to deny immigration visas to anyone who would likely become a public charge. anyone who they perceive would at any point need any sort of assistance from the united states once they immigrated. so if you did not have an indefinite stream of income, you are n

. >> state department urging travelers to be vigilant in the most common areas in the wake of recent terror attacks overseas. >> live in the nation's capital. >> a new state department travel warning urging awareness and vigilance of continued threats of terrorist attacks which can come with little or no warning. isis, al qaeda and their sympathizers have the ability to execute attacks using explosives, guns, knives and vehicles as ramming devices, versus state department want extremists continue to focus on tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls and local government facilities as viable targets, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, high-profile, educational institutions, airports and other soft targets remain priority locations for possible attacks prompting this warning, there have been 6 attacks in june of last year in london, paris, nice, berlin, stockholm and russia killing 120 people and with just 6 days to go before the runoff election the country remains on high alert. numerous attacks in france in the last year, normandy, less shooti

hear testimony from several federal agencies including customs and border protection and the state department. this is an hour and a half. >> the committee tax course on denying terrorist entering the eye states will come to order. the test for submitting to examine a visa process and the visa waiver program. i recognize myself for an opening statement. i welcome back our expert witnesses to the capital and thank you for being here and doing double duty. i look forward to following up on some of the broader themes for the briefing. in order to inform the american people of the security of the visa process and visa waiver program. i want to thank chairman mccall for prioritizing this task force in its commission. last congress on combating terrorist and foreign fighter travel was not only successful in producing legislative change but also eye-opening in what it revealed. the work done by members and staff on both sides of the aisle under chairman raise awareness about gaps in screening and information sharing both at home and with our foreign partners. this led to positive reforms for protect

edward ramotowski, department assistant secretary for visa services at the department of state and ms. rebecca gambler department of homeland security and justice issues. thank you for being here today. the witnesses's full written statements will appear in the record. the chair recognizes mr. dougherty for a five-minute opening statement. just turn on your mike there. i did that five times in my first week here so don't worry about it. >> thanks. chairman gallagher, ranking member watson coleman and distinguish committee members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today with my dhs state department ngo colleagues. the visa waiver program or the vwp was created by congress in 1980 stoichl allow citizens of qualifying countries to enter the united states for business or pleasure without having to secure a visa but only after necessary security clearances were performed. if addition to promoting and easing travel to the united states, the vwp relieved the department of state from having to interview low-risk applicants from program countries at our consulates over seas.

it's conducted by larmt agencies as well as their department of state. as my colleague noted, the department of homeland security's patriot system and the visa security program provide additional protections at certain of our overseas posts. special agents asigned to 29 baemgs and consulates in high threat locations provide on site vetting, visa applications as well as other law enforcement support and training to consular officers. security reviews do not stop when the visa is issued. it currently matched with records of existing visas and use our authority to revoke those visas when warnlted. we receive over two million polit politics. this includes nearly 11,000 visas revoked. notice of these revocations is shared across the interagency in near realtime. executive order 13780 on protecting the nation from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals, and the presidential memorandum articulate the effort to upgreat and refine our screening and vetting processes to keep this country safe. these actions range from efforts to harmonized screening and vetting sta

they met earlier today with the secretary of state rex tillerson at the state department. here's the russian foreign minister and the secretary of state before their meeting. >> we will take you live to the state department for a news conference with sergey lavrov.

he was the state department spokesman, also spokesman for the pentagon. john, let me give you a chance to respond here to michelle's reporting. she was the one who told two senior state department officials that a statement had come out from the secretary of state. so the state department didn't know about it. it came from the white house. how shocked are you? >> i'm stunned. i mean i think it just speak to a level of dysfunction at the state department in terms of at least the communications effort that i think is truly remarkable. i can't remember a single time -- and i worked for two secretaries of defense as well as a secretary of state where the principal, the cabinet official put out a statement, a public statement about something this big where the communications staff and the staff in general wasn't aware, wasn't tracking it, wasn't helping edit it, wasn't pushing it out. >> does it open the door to the fact of whether the secretary of state even knew? >> i think it probably -- i think that's an inescapable potential conclusion, yes. >> so on that

come to the state department. we ask you here to provide you with some new information on the six year crisis in syria. i'm joined today by acting assistant secretary for the bureau of middle eastern affairs , stuart jones. he's recently turned from the talks. he'll give us an update and provide us with newly declassified information on syria today. last week secretary tillerson met with russian foreign minister for more than an hour here in washington. you've read the readout from that meeting. i like to provide some additional context and details coming out of that meeting today secretary tillerson was firm and clear with the minister. russia holds tremendous insolence over president assad. a key point that turned in the bilateral meeting was telling russia to use his power to reign in the regime. complete but, the killing and devastation has gone on for far too long in syria. minister was clear as well that he shares the same goals as the united states does in syria, a unified and stable nation. those men agree

the state department accuses syria of installing a crematorium in a military prison to hide mass killingsian brady, one of britain's most notorious serial killers, has died. he killed five children and teenagers in the 19605 with his partner, myra hindley. france's new president hits the ground running — he meets angela merkel on his first full day in office. he'll appoint a new cabinet on tuesday. and capturing camelot in photos: 100 years since his birth, a new exhibit highlights the life and legacy ofjfk. hello. the washington post has published a report claiming president trump revealed highly classified intelligence to the russian foreign minister and ambassador at their white house meeting last week. quoting current and former officials, the paper alleges mr trump gave information about the so—called islamic state group, supplied to the us by a foreign ally, and considered so sensitive american officials did not even share it widely within the us government. the paper suggests intelligence sources and security relationships with other governments may have been compromised. the us se

the state department says included in this would affect about half a percentage of all people applyingor visas to come to the united states, amounts to about 65,000 visa applicants. it notes that much of this information it already collects but does so over a shorter time period. so for those who are flagged to provide more information, instead of providing five years of information as to your travel history or your employment history, that is now 15 years. but the social media component, that is new, and also new as part of this is siblings and children, that is typically not requested. all of this i get is a proposal from the state department trying to fulfill the extreme vetting executive order and the state department and trump administration want this approved and finalized in less than two weeks. back to you. >> melissa: we will see, thank you. >> jon: right now, the pentagon is eyeing possible military ties between two of america's most dangerous enemies. iran and north korea. two members of what president bush once referred to as "the axis of evil" peer u.s. intelligence offici

in a recent address to state department employees, secretary of state rex tillerson said conditioning our foreign policy too heavily on values creates obstacles to advance our national interests. mccain goes on to write, with those words, secretary tillerson sent a message to oppressed people everywhere. don't look to the united states for hope. our values make us sympathetic to our plight and when it's convenient we might officially express that sympathy. pretty tough words from senator mccain. what do you say in response? >> first, i would say if anyone has earned their right to express their views, senator mccain has. i have great respect to the senator. i think the point that i was making, chuck, in that message to state department employees is an important one to understand. and that is that america's values of freedom, treatment of people, human dignity, freedom of expression throughout the world, those are our values. those are enduring values. they're part of everything we do. and, in fact, they serve as the guidepost and they serve as the boundaries as we develop our foreign

and the state department. der this version of the policy it will apply to all global health funding provided by the united states -- under the defense, state departments and usda as well. >> brangham: any u.s. department now falls under this rule? >> right, when it comes to global health assistance dollars, they have to abide by this mexico city policy. >> brangham: specifically, we touched on this a bit, but the rule says, if you're getting federal money, you can't perform or mention abortions. is that right? >> right. that's basically the general version of the rule. you can't perform or mention abortions as part of family planning. now, u.s. officials said today while rolling out this policy that they will make exceptions fofor abortions performed basically in the cases of rape or incest or other sort of emergency situations. but, you know, the vast majority of abortions are not for those purposes, they're for sort of family planning purposes, so the funding will be restricted when it comes to groups that pr

we also need a well functioning state department. diplomacy isn't optional, but it's comparatively cheap. as secretary of defense mattis put it, if you don't fully fund the state department, then i need to buy more ammunition. for america to remain the unrivalled global leader, we must value and fully fund the talented career professionals who do the delicate work of diplomacy. [ applause ] third, our diplomacy needs to be backed by an equal dedication to smart development. helping other peoples is neither charity nor wasteful spending. it's one of the wisest investments we can make in our security and prosperity. from afghanistan to nigeria we've seen poverty and corruption stifle opportunity and extremism take root. but when u.s. aid helps a farmer increase her yields in ethiopia, supports microenterprise in haiti or electrifies a village in kenya so kids can study at night, that's good not just for them, it's good for america's security. when we combat malaria, aids, and ebola, investing in global health infrastructure, that's goo

the state department has never -- russell told the fourth circuit the same thing. it can't be the current injection. even though once they arrived in keep them from entering under 1182 f. i think that's right. that's when the state department has always said when you are denied a visa under 11th the two. it is only because you are validly suspended under 1182-f. if you disagreed with us on that, it would be the basis for a different injunction. one that would be present harsh. i don't think there's anyway you can read 1152 to limit the suspension of entry power under 1182-f. once you make that move there is no basis for the injunction. >> you are dealing with a process. >> the way to reconcile them is the way the state department has, which is to say 1152 governs the issuance of immigrant visas all the time. where you have 1182 suspension, -- if you thought they conflicted out say 1182-f has a more specific -- what you're talking about is a specific finding of these categories of aliens. >> of congress passed that in 65 -- >> then you have to get past the presumpti

at the white house just a little while ago with representatives from the phoenix police department, new jersey state troopers and the ostra county sheriff's departments mourning the deaths of two officers. i had a chance to spend time with his wife, kristin, and his 6-year-old son, micah, who has my hat and he's now with us. micah, stand up. kristen, please, stand up. great people. [ applause ] >> i know he is so proud of you both. and thank you so much. thank you. we also remember those incredible heroes, who were so cruelly targeted for execution in dallas, texas, rushing in to a hail of gunfire, never to return. dallas police sergeant michael smith was a 27-year veteran of the dallas police. he was decorated, a law enforcement officer at the highest level. and even paid his own way to attend advanced training sessions. he leaves behind his cherished wife, heidi, and his loving daughters, victoria and carolyn. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. shot and killed steven eric n - desirio. he was the chief of the kirkersville police department. he died responding to a hostage situation at a loc

so, rich, what is the state department strategy now?: this is part of an effort to compel russia, the ally of assad to pressure russia to stop its support of the assad regime. the u.s. state department is making the case that assad is murdering his own people, cremating the bodies to cover it up. all of that is part of the unconditional support that syria is getting from russia and iran. as enablers here, keeping the assad regime in power and letting this killing continue. the u.s. wants russia to agree to drop its support of assad and agree to a peace process where syria would transition to a different government that did not include assad. as for that strategy, one an live said it's difficult. >> i do think it's important that president trump is taking that step, but shaming russia for its role inside syria is not going to be sufficient in my estimation to force russia to change. >> reporter: why the u.s. believes this is a crematorium, these satellite photos show a building on the western edge of a prison compound in western syria. t

according to state department data, u.s. accepts over 2,000 refugees in march. lowest monthly total since 2013. 3300 refugees admitted in april, second lowest since 2013. >> joining me now to discuss law and order president and much more mickel malkin, host of michelle malkin investigates on crt v .com. >> thank you. >> let's start with those numbers. this is a decidedly new world that president trump has brought to us in the way of diminished flow of refugee, vetting beginning to take on the issue of backgrounds and going far beyond whatever the state department had done before or, united nations? >> yeah. i hope it trend continues. these low figures at in point we hope would stay zero. i would have preferred a moratorium, zero level. and if you look at over a period of 10 years, as refugee resettle am watch. and ann cochran pointed out we're still at a dangerously high trend. donald trump will come in lightly below average look at 10 years, this is such a promising development, a huge see change from the open and unfettered floodgates we had under obama. and h

i think the state department's reading of the statutes is a former sensible one.matter what reading your take, unless you say that the everyent is disabled, president, permanently, for making any nationality-based distinctions under 1182 at, reagan with the cubans or carter with the iranians, unless you take that road, i don't think there's any way to read the statutes that could provide the basis for the injunction we have here, if i can reserve the remainder of my time. >> thank you. >> thank you. may it please the court, government would like to pretend that this court decision in washington versus from never happened, but it did and the government can't shut its eyes to it. there's a simple test, ask yourself if you accept any of the arguments you just heard, would have altered washington versus from? -- versus trump? when the government claims that mandel applies even though washington said it doesn't, when the government claims you can't look beyond the face of the order, even though washington said you could, when it claims the injunction harms national sec

>> the state department issuing that travel alert warning u.s. attacks in france, sweden and the u.k. there's plans to execute terrorist attacks in europe. 2017 is on track to be a record year for terrorism arrests and suicide attacks. this isis inspired plot in stockholm marks europe's fourth attack in 12 months where the group used vehicle as a weapon to inflict mass casualties. in the first four months, analysts say the french and british have seen a significant jump in the number of women arrested. on monday, british police arrested three girls, alleged members of a cell with the fourth being shot dead. the chairman of the homeland security committee said there's more plots against the west since bin laden was killed. >> jon: and you have new information on certain electronics on flights to the u.s.? >> yes. in march, there were new rules impacting ten airports banning electronic devices larger than an iphone in carry-on baggage. the decision was based on solid information pointed to a plot in the near term. >> on specific credible intelligen

i think a lot of that is going on in washington in terms of soft power, cutting money in the state department, for example. indeed the idea of the united states as an open, free society that is welcoming to everybody, where people have opportunity, where you have upward mobility, where you can arrive with nothing and become something, it is a very powerful idea, and a very important one, and i think it really is the underlying value -- the underlying foundation of our society. when you are out on the street trying to convince somebody to spy and give you information that is going to put them at risk, their lives at risk,their livelihoods at white possibly put their lives and families at risk, it needs to be for a good reason. you have to offer something good. for some people, money is it, that is enough of a motivating actor, but for some people -- but for somector, people they believe in western values and want to be helping that. host: we are talking to alex finley. democrats can call 202-748-8000 join the conversation. republicans can call 202-748-8001 and independents can call 202-748-800

the state department raised concerns at the highest level.tary of state spoke about the status of the protest. >> we did call the ambassador of turkey into the state department to discuss what occurred with them and express our view that is -- this sun acceptable. there's an investigation going on and we'll see the outcome of that. we've expressed our dismay. >> which this has happened in washington d.c. before. last year, erdogan's security detail got into a fight at the brookings institute. >> shepard: thanks, rich. democrats and republicans are criticizing president trump's budget plan before he even releases it. what we're learning now about the cuts the president is planning to make to keep his promise to balance the budget over the next decade. >> shepard: president trump is set to release his budget plan tomorrow. we're already getting a preview and seems not much anybody is happy about it. white house officials say they will make cuts to government assistance like after school programs and food stamps. the congressional budget office