[applause] >> hello and welcome to washington post life. washington correspondent at the post. before we get into the program want to say how nice it is to see a real life human beings washington post live event. our life team has done a spectacular work over the course of the pandemic to provide remotely an amazing array of programming and they will continue to do that but to see everybody here in the seats for this moment is incredibly gratifying and i can think of no better day and no better guest that we have here today. this is the first third of three sessions we have done marking the 50th anniversary of the watergate break-in . and today we have to to reporters whose names are synonymous with that story. bob woodward and carl bernstein. they obviously need no introduction. they've been rather well exposed recently. to go over the history but we are thrilled to have them here today and i want to say both our longtime friends of mine and so for me it's a double pleasure to have both of you so gentlemen, welcome and thank you . >> one other note, remember you can if you wan

>> afternoon everyone, welcome to the washington post for this event. years ago today, breaking someplace good afternoon, everyone. welcome to the washington post for this very special event. 11 years ago today, a break-in took place at the democratic national committee headquarters in the watergate building, just two miles from here. the white house press secretary at the time refered to the incident as nothing more than, quote, a third rate burglary. that may have been how history would have recorded it but for the reporting of two men who are about to take the stage. a former publisher of the washington post, phil graham, once said that journalism is the first rough draft of history. bob woodward and carl bernstein wrote their first draft of this story and then a second. under the guidance of legendary editor ben bradley, whose wife sally is here with us today, and the support of the publisher catherine graham, whose son, don, is here with us today, they exposed a tale of cover-up, corruption at the highest levels of government. the totality of their

but also discuss what some of the principles of the washington post? principles that the post at the time of the watergate scandal have had to say about this interpretation of watergate. and will consider why it matters we'll consider the so what question. why debunking this myth? matters along the way we'll have some time for q&a. here are a few names that will encounter. during our class today. bob woodward and carl bernstein these are these were reporters for the washington post the lead reporters on the watergate scandal for the post. and they teamed up in 1972 and were together through the scandal in 1974. together they wrote two books about the watergate scandal. catherine graham is another name that will encounter she was the posts publisher. during the watergate period the post then was a family-owned newspaper. and she was publisher from 1969 to 1979. she backed the watergate investigation. sometimes in the face of government pressure catherine graham died in 2001 ben bradley is another name will encounter today. he was the posts executive edit

but we start tonight with a truly gobsmacking new report from the "washington post." here's the headline. fbi searched trump's home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say. quote, classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were found among the items that fbi agents sought in a search of the former president donald trump's florida residence on monday, according to people familiar with the investigation. experts in classified information said the unusual search underscores deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at trump's mar-a-lago club, and potentially in danger of falling into the wrong hands. one former justice department official, who in the past oversaw investigations of leaks of classified information, said the type of top secret information described by the people familiar with the probe would probable cause authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents that could cause grave harm to u.s. security. the "washington post" goes on to quote david

washington posts reporting. in the next hour will discuss and examine how the heroic >> we will discuss and examine how a journalist mit took hold and why it's so tenacious. we will also discuss what's some of the principles of the washington post, the principles of the time of the scandal, have to say about this interpretation of watergate we. will consider why it matters. the so what questions. why debunking this myth matters. along the way we'll have some time for q&a. here are a few names that we will encounter during our class today. bob woodward and carl bernstein. these were reporters of the washington post, the lead reporters in the watergate scandal for the post, they teamed up in 1972 and worked together through the scandal in 1974. together they wrote to books about the washington scandal. catherine graham is another name that will encounter. she was the post publisher during the watergate scandal. the post was a family own newspaper and she was the publisher from 1969 to 1979. she backed the watergat

again, this is with the washington post is reporting. it sort of falls in line with what we know has already been found. highly classified documents that should never had left the white house. should never have left washington and was sent down to the former presidents beach house, and that is the reason why they had this month long interaction, trying to retrieve documents, sending a subpoena back in june, laura, retrieving some of those documents, and why you saw this escalation, which ended up happening on monday with this search. >> gloria, it's very difficult for anyone. just look at this and say, you know, this is sort of like a pen. when would not know if they were classified documents. only one would know -- i might occasionally find a five dollar bill in my jeans pocket. i did not know it was there, but i'm probably going to know that there is classified documents if it is a nuclear nature. if that's true, gloria, team trump is saying that they were cooperating all along. there was a grand jury subpoena. we know all this informat

thank you philip rucker, he's the editor for the washington post. joining us now is the former director of the cia, john brennan. director, thank you for being with us, particularly on shore to notice. i want to start with the obvious question, how big of a deal is this? >> it's a big deal, ari. when i heard about this that there could be documents related to nuclear matters, whether it be our nuclear force structure, decision-making, practices and procedures, as well as presidential authorities, these are exceptionally sensitive documents that are restricted in terms of who has access. who can handle them. how they are storage, and to take them out of the white house i think is the height of recklessness and irresponsibility. when i worked with the obama white house as it is at homeland security adviser and deputy adviser, i had access to some of these documents. but when it became director of cia, i know longer had access to them, because i didn't need them. and because they needed to be held under tremendous lock and key. they are not even upload

so, again, this is what "the washington post" is reporting. but it sort of falls in line with what we know has already been found. highly classified documents that should never have left the white house, should never have left washington, and were sent down to the former president's beach house, and that's the reason why they have had this months-long interaction trying to retrieve documents, sending a subpoena back in june, laura, retrieving only of those documents and why you saw this escalation, which ended up happening on monday with the search. . >> gloria, it's very difficult for anyone to look at this and say, oh, you know, this is sort of like a pen. one would not know they were classified documents. one would know -- i mean, i might occasionally find a $5 bill in my jeans's pocket i didn't know was there. i am probably going to know there is actually classified documents if it's a nuclear nature if that's true. team trump is saying they were cooperating all along, there was grand jury subpoena subpoena. we know this. if this is what we

you have no idea of that from the washington post. the post just published a piece inverting the truth and titled she survived a forced sterilization and now she fears more could occur post row. the article equates forced sterilization with bands on abortion and paints riddick as a fervent supporter of roe v. wade? is she? we would like to get facts on the story. we are speaking directly to elaine riddick. she's the director of the rebecca project four justice. things were taking the time to come on the show. i will be totally direct with you. are you as the washington post says, a supporter of abortion and of roe v. wade? >> i am a pro-lifer and i am against abortions. i have been all my life. i have been fighting eugenics and abortion and planned parenthood since i was 19 years of age in 1971. i am 68 years of age now. i have never in my life ben vore abortion. >> how could the washington post put you with the picture on our screen. i don't know if you can see it. put you in a story as a pro- abortion activists when you run an organi

hello and welcome to washington post live. i am dan dimon at the post. am joined by new york city health commissioner dr. ashwin vasan to discuss the monkeypox outbreak. dr. vasan welcome. guest: thank you. host: we want to hear from viewers. you can share your thoughts by tweeting at post live. many americans still have questions about monkeypox. briefly, what is this virus and how is it spreading? guest: you are absolutely right. there is a lot of lack of information or confusion around this virus. so it is important to start with the basics. mpv or what is being known as monkeypox is a poxvirus that is related to smallpox but not as severe traditionally. it is a virus that has passed primarily through contact of lesions that develop around the body and transmit to someone who does not have the disease. it is -- it requires close skin to skin contact for a relatively long period of time. so brushing against someone or shaking hands should not be, and we are not seeing it as, a prime rate of transmission. monkeypox has existed since the 1970's mostly en

>> welcome to washington post life. i am kate cunningham and today we are here to talk about something that has taken on -- an ms toll on teachers and students -- immense toll on teachers and students and i am delighted to be joined by two guests. my first guest is zeinab hijazi, the senior health and technical advisor at unicef. welcome to washington post live. >> thank you for having me. >> a quick note to our audience, we would love to hear your questions. tweet us using the handle @post live. let's start off with statistics. i heard that one in seven kids under 19 years old experience some kind of mental health disorder around the world. does this figure sound correct to you? >> yes. mental health and these statistics are an important indication of mental health being this global issue. of course, it remains stigmatized and underfunded in almost every country rich or poor and poor mental health in childhood or adolescence prevents children from reaching their two true potential. far too many children are burning und

i repeatedly docite stories from the new york times the washington post and other other sources and i make the point in the book of saying they're not always wrong. but when they are wrong, they're almost always wrong in a direction that hurts republicans or hurts donald trump the whole collusion narrative the whole sealed dossier narrative, which received the the lion's share of coverage and donald trump's first three years. it was a relentless non-stop feeding frenzy. all based on nothing all wrong all polarized the nation all gave liberals a reason to think that donald trump was illegitimate. and it was destructive if the news was anti-trump it got a bump and that's what i saw for three years of coverage. yes. they covered the hillary email scandal they broke that news and then when it was clear, there was a fbi investigation. they did cover it. but as soon as james comey said that there were no charges to be made the story went away and the press reset about how dangerous donald trump was. well, you know, we were just talking you mentioned the whole collusion business. ultimately

i cite stories from the near times the "washington post" and other sources and to make the point to say they are dolly's wrong but when they are wrong they are almost always wrong in the direction that hurts republicans and donald trump. the whole collusion to hold dossier narrative which received the lion's share of coverage in donald trump's verse 3 years, it was a was nonstop thing all based on nothing. all wrong. allll polarizing the nation. and it was destructive. the news was anti-trump got a bomb. they covered the hillary e-mail scandals, and they broke the news on those clear there was an fbi investigation they did cover it. as soon as comey said there were no charges to be made the story went away in the press said how dangerous donald trump was. >> you mentioned the whole collusion business, ultimately the mueller people said they didn't see evidence specifically of collusion by don't think there's any question, i don't know howl, you feel that the russians with their thumb on the scale in favor of donald trump and you had paul manafort and the russian lawyer going up to trump

the wait and see one is this little reporting from "the washington post." post says, quote, the work of the national archives may not yet be done. some national archives officials believing that there might still be more records missing. now, this is in this post article where they say they spoke to 14 current and former national archives employees and trump advisors and historians and people familiar with what's going on in the cases. 14 sources. one apparently told "the post" there are officials at the archives who think now even after that search warrant was executed by the fbi at mar-a-lago archives officials still believe trump is holding more documents. he is still hiding more documents that he effectively stole from the government. now, nbc news has not matched that reporting from "the post." as far as we know, no other news organization has either. if that's true, if after the, you know, the pleading letters from the national archives and the contact from the justice department and the subpoena from the justice department and then the search warrant

according to the washington post, they warned him that an america's democracy is teetering.d what's going on now to the moments before the american civil war and world war ii. joining now by the one of those ones that was at that meeting, jon meacham is the rogers chair and the american presidency at vanderbilt university, and occasionally advises president biden on historical matters and major speeches. john, a lot to get to, but i want to start with the washington post news that just broke about some of the documents that the fbi was searching for. relating to nuclear weapons. can you give us a sense of just how significant this is? can you think of a comparison when it comes to someone keeping a president, keeping sensitive documents like this? >> while to take those in reverse order, alicia. no i don't think there is any precedent for this. in some ways, in the polls reporting is correct, it has the capacity to be the nightmare scenario for these documents leaving the custody of the government broadened put. just think about what this could mean. you have something float

according to the two people who spoke to the "washington post." so in other words, one of the federal grand juries looking into former president donald trump has been looking into this issue of potentially mishandling classified information. the existence of the federal grand jury looking into that as a potential criminal matter was first reported in may by "the new york times." but the "washington post" reported back in february that what he took to mar-a-lago, his boxes and boxes and boxes of documents, which the national archives tried for a long time to get back before they were finally able to get them from him, this is apparently such, some of this at least, stuff of such high classification, not only can you and i not know the contents of these documents, can't know any of the words that are in the document, you can't know about the existence of the document. you can't have the type of document it is described to you unless you have a very high level government clearance. it's that classified. that's what he took to like the golf course, go

this report comes from sources who spoke with ""the washington post"."y whether these potential documents were recovered. obviously this news possesses major questions about national security. and so i want to bring in national security expert, former director of national intelligence, james clapper. james clapper, thank you so much for being here. >> well, thanks for having me, sara. >> in hearing this latest news, i think there are a lot of jaws that dropped certainly in my sphere. what is your biggest concern after hearing this reporting from "the post"? this may have been about trying to take back documents that had to do with nuclear weapons that were inside the former president's residence. >> well, sara, when this story first broke about the search in mar-a-lago and i was asked what would be the range of classified information that's conceivably stored there, and i speculated that, you know, nuclear weapons-related information, you know, would kind of top the range, the holiest of holy. but i doubted it because i thought -- i thought even donald t

the wait and see one is this little giblet of reporting from the washington post. the post says quote the work of the national archives may not yet be done. some national archives officials believe that there might still be more records missing. now this is in this post article in which they say they spoke to 14 current and former national archives employees, and other people familiar with what's going on with this case. 13 sources for the story, one of these people told the pose that there are officials at the archives the think now, even after the search warrant that was executed by the fbi at mar-a-lago, officials still believe he's holding more documents. he is still hiding more documents that he effectively stole from the government. now nbc news has not matched that reporting from the post. as far as we know, no other news organization has either. but if that is true, if after the pleading letters in the national archives, the contacts in the justice department, and a subpoena, and the search warrant being f done by the fbi, after that, there is still more tha

what may be the most extraordinary of all the developments is this new reporting by "the washington postthat says classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items fbi agents sought in a search of former president trump's florida residence on monday, according to people familiar with the investigation. that could turn the concern over these documents up to 11. it's really a game changer when you're talking about what could have been in these papers. >> no question about that. joining us now is former attorney general alberto gonzalez, the dean of belmont university college of law and attorney general, i want to start with the washington post reporting. i'll read are classified documents relating to nuclear weapon. how serious would it be if those documents were at mar-a-lago? >> well, it would be extremely serious. i think it would certainly forform legitimate basis for attorney general to approve unprecedented search of the former president's estate. this is information at the highest order that's important to keep classified for the national security of our country

according to the two people who spoke to the washington post. so in other words if one of these federal grand jury is looking into president donald trump is looking into the potential mishandling classified information, existence of the grand jury as a criminal manner was first reported by the new york times in a, but the washington post reported back in february that what he took to mar-a-lago or boxes and boxes and boxes of documents, that the national archives tried for a long time to get back before they were finally able to get them. this is apparently -- some of this is of such high classification that not only can you and i not know the contents of these documents, you can't know any of the words in the document, you can't know about the existence of the document. you can't have the kind of document it is described to you unless you have a very high level clearance. it's that classified. and that's when he took to the golf course, golf club thing or whatever it is, the supper club, whatever it is. his gold thing in south florida. the new

i gotta ask you, the washington post report is fully frankly breathtaking. i have to ask you, what is your reaction to the reports that they were searching for not just classified documents, but those that may be related to nuclear weapons? not somewhere where it secured under the cover of the federal government, but mar-a-lago? what's your reaction to that? >> yeah, i mean look laura, this is a very, very serious allegation. this is the kind of thing that government does not screw around about. and obviously, the idea of nuclear secrets being held in an insecure way at mar-a-lago is just extraordinary. and certainly, really changes the conversation in a significant way. we've heard three days of gaslighting from the former president and his supporters, right? about this, as if it was merely a matter of doodles on cocktail napkins. obviously, classified nuclear information is a whole different ball game. and it reminds me of the story of the four years of trump and the president sees himself being in some ways a national security threat. this is another illu

what do you make of what you are reading in the washington post tonight? >> yeah lawrence, i'm still trying to get my jaw off the floor, when they started talking about nuclear documents, we talk about nuclear weapons, the issue of two possible potential concerns. one, is it our weapons or someone else as weapons? are these intelligent intercepts of the foreign countries nuclear weapons? which is certainly something you don't want left around unsecured. or even worse for donald trump, was this about our own nuclear weapons? because if it's our own nuclear weapons, there is an entire another law that comes into play here. it's called the atomic energy act. it has its own classification reggie, and donald trump could not think these are the cost by those records on his own. so tell us >> about how that law changes the legal picture for donald trump, if and let's just stop and stress. if nuclear documents actually are involved in this search warrant. and we do not yet know that for a fact. this is reporting based on choices. we may know it's fairly soon, but

joining us now is jackieal many, investigations reporter for "the washington post." ms. almany, thank you for being with us tonight. this feels like maybe not full circle but quite a ways around the ark from your initial reporting. >> thanks so much for having me. >> i know you and your colleagues have been continuing to report this story. you were first to break the news of this scandal six months ago. what do you understand about the latest here, about the scope of the fbi's action and what it says about this investigation as a whole? >> yeah, rachel, we're trying to get new details right now. and what we've heard so far is that which the former president confirmed himself is that the fbi did raid the premises today. this is an especially news worthy development, though, because obviously six months ago we reported that the national archives had sent people down to mar-a-lago to recover about 15 boxes worth of documents, classified information and various mementos, things, records that belong to the american people from former president trump. the fbi revisiting him to

because, according to a new report from the washington post. doj officials, including eight counterterrorism head named jay brat went down to mar-a-lago in june, to inquire about more documents. quote, trump stopped by the median as it began to, to greet the investigators, but was not interviewed. the lawyers showed the federal officials the boxes, and brad and the others spent sometimes looking through the material. a lawyer for trump said the justice department officials that they did not believe the storage unit was properly secured, took trump officials out of aloft to the facility. when fbi agents which the property monday, they broke through the wanted men out into the door. according to trump's lawyers, the fbi removed about a dozen boxes that have been stored in the basement storage area. -- trump's lawyers said that a quote, indicated that agents were investigating possible violations of laws dealing with the handling of classified material, and the presidential records act. worth noting just how remarkable it is that there was a warra

but if you look at "new york times" and "the washington post," and in both of those places, you have people close to donald trump telling republicans, you might want to step back a little bit, this is about to get really bad. >> well, i think a couple of things happened yesterday, joe. number one, the fever pitch of the anti-law enforcement rhetoric that we saw both from i will say importantly both from elected republicans, and from the right-wing fever swamp in the media over the course of these few days since the search of mar-a-lago, reached a pitch that was, i think, was out of control. and you know how out of control was it that merrick garland, the most reticent player in the world about wanting to go out and say things in public. he made the decision yesterday to go out and take a step to ask the court in florida to unseal the warrant. but then he added, a three part addendum and the biggest part what defending law enforcement in a somewhat angry tone for merrick garland. and i think two things happened. one thing that happened, was the situation in cincinnati yesterday at the

you can find this transcript or the entire program and other washington post live programs at washingtont live.com. >> here is what is ahead live. coming up at noon eastern, legal scholars talk about speech on college campuses. that event hosted by the heritage foundation in washington, d.c. live at 1:45 eastern, the white house holds its daily briefing on news report -- news topics of the day. this evening, senators rob portman and chris murphy take part in a debate from the bipartisan policy center. live coverage starts at 7:30 eastern. you can watch these events on c-span, the c-span video app, or online at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? no, it is way more than that. comcast is partnering with more than one thousand community centers so students from low income families can have the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast supports c-span as a public service, giving you a front road seat -- front row seat to democracy. >> this

in one "washington post" story, a couple of different things i think are of interest in terms of whats guy could mean for their trying to prove their case for example, you know, there is a quote that says, we've already issued a subpoena for mr. zatko, that's the name of the whistle-blower, we find his information curious in light of what we've been finding. that's from his go-to guy. in the same story there's a quote that musk's legal team has been trying to get a subpoena for zatko's records and the judge decided against it i'm wondering if any of this will be admissible >> i think the work of mudge is in question. i don't think he had a great reputation you know mudge you don't look at mudge, his handle, dot mudge on twitter >> you're talking about zatko. >> yeah, he calls himself mudge. we have to take into account that once again, the accusations that there are just a massive number of bots flies in the face of everything that they do now, i know that musk says their work is shoddy in trying to get the bots out in working with them trying to figure out how many people hate me, i

washington for example the washington post wrote a pulitzer -- won a pulitzer prize for investigating me not corruption in the government. you need to have the spirit of investigative reporting and citizens need to do it. have a renaissance to go back to what was done decades ago. now it doesn't happen anymore. it goes back to what i talk about in the book which is economics. the commercial imperative which a lot of news organizations have slashed their budgets. abc news recently slashed their investigative bureau. it has become a commercial enterprise not a journalism one. that's why we are philanthropic nonprofit organization. nobody tells us what to do. >> what is the goal with project veritas? how do you pick your subjects? >> they find us. in the same way that any journalism -- journalists find their sources. in the same way of james snowden. that contractor found him. much is the case of project veritas. this year and fbi agent found me after the fbi raided my home. that agent came to us with internal restricted documents from within the fbi computer systems where they were call

so the washington post is unfortunately living up to its reputation and i read ability. the article also includes very positive feedback from americans who use the service. what does this tell us about the opinion of americans on this issue and also about the state of humanity? i think that americans have gotten one side of this whole story from the beginning . the, you know, putting your ukrainian flag on your facebook or social media pay is just a reflective of when americans are just told one side of the story, they instantly gravitate to it. we thought the same thing with the media was jumping all over cove it and get back slated, and now we're finding their own c, d. c is telling us the rest of the story and what we were being told with was either not science based and certainly not truth based. i think the same thing's been true with the propaganda that americans have been. but again, i think bribing an anniversary message to their, their wife on a missile that is, is going into a bad area that may or may not kill civilians. these people are not thinking about what

joining us now is washington post national reporter carol leonnig bylined on the story tonight.you so much for being here. it is breaking. it is explosive. i think the first thing that at least grabbed me in reading this article is just how deeply the former president appears to have been in selecting these documents. what more can you tell us about that? >> well, what's clear in the -- both the interviews we have done with sources and also as revealed in a lot of new records and letters that are coming out is that the president was very involved, the former president, was very involved in at the last minute hastily and chaotically packing up his documents that he thought were, quote unquote, his and arranging for them to be taken to mar-a-lago, private club and part-time residence. and also importantly, alex, despite the former president's claim that all he's done has been cooperative, what we found is that week after week he was the person resisting providing records. he was the person along with his lawyers asking for delayed in allowing the fbi, for example, to look over the