[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

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

trust the washington post. how do you think about the relationship between those things? >> i would push back on that in the sense i do not think that has been my experience at the post. woodward and bernstein and plenty of -- my colleague has a strong brand. i think the post has been good about incubating talent. of course i am honored to work for a brand, but in terms of establishing trust, you can see people establish trust as individuals so you need to be accountable in that way. it is obviously a dance. i tend to focus on my authority to buy feed. -- nobody would trust me going off and covering, i don't know, cars? >> you live in l.a. >> true, but i stick to my authority, stick to my beat, i don't try to compete to be the authority on everything. >> do you feel the tension between asking people to trust you and steering people toward, just trust the post? we have standards, we have editors, that is really the promise of the post. i am not saying from the perspective of management or how this operates, but more from the audience perspective. >> i think we see these ten

that is according to the washington post and i want to discuss now. cnn contributor and former nixon counsel john dean is. here national security analyst julia k, and peter strike, the former fbi chief of the counter section. he's also the author of compromise counterintelligence and the threat of donald j trump. julia, i want to ask about. this this is big disturbing stuff, right? don't overplay, it don't want to underplay, but it is explosive reporting from the washington post, these documents about nuclear secrets. and i quote here, some of the seized documents detail top secret u.s. operation so closely guarded that many senior u.s. officials are kept in the dark about them. we are talking about documents only the president and a handful of officials would be able to see. what goes through your mind when you hear that? >> basically that sources and methods were likely compromise. not classification we get to the how was this done, how did we acquire this information, rather than sort of what does it say? we have an asset, another country is tellin

let's get to that reporting from "the washington post" people familiar with the matter tell the paperbing the foreign nuclear secrets were one of the top items seized from mar-a-lago a month ago. the post did not identify the government, but there are only eight other countries with nuclear capabilities. there they are. >> and you can also say, there are other countries that are pursuing nuclear weapons, have nuclear ambitions. it could also be iran. >> sources also did not specify where inside the former president's beach house that the document was found. and the days after the fbi searched, the post reported that they were looking for nuclear documents. >> by the way, i love that description, a beach house. i see a straw house, listening to jimmy buffet, music. >> there are a lot of people that visit there. >> people from all over. >> from all over the world, walking around that place. >> some people there go to parties that obviously shouldn't be there. >> he lets anyone in. >> we've seen that in the past. we're proof of that. >> we're living proof. >> but, willie, you have people

at the washington post. i'm happy to be joined here by secretary wendy sherman, deputy secretary sherman, welcome to "washington post live." sherman, deputy secretary sherman, welcome to "washington post live." sec. sherman: thank you, jason. it's good to be with you and especially good to be with you here in washington, d.c. rather than you being in a prison cell in tehran. mr. rezaian: i think it's worth noting that secretary sherman is joining us in a diplomatic capacity and i in a journalistic one but we share a background. when i was bureau chief in tehran i was detained for 534 days and during much of that time secretary sherman was the lead negotiator on iran's nuclear program. this is personal for both of us. i'm really excited to have you on the program today. sec. sherman: thank you. mr. rezaian: i want to start by asking a question about the recent executive order around hostage and wrongful detention that president biden announced over the summer. he declared this a national emergency. why now? w

"the washington post" reports some of the material contained top secret u.s. operations normally under lock and key. also information about a foreign government's nuclear capabilities was among the documents seized, according to "the washington post." here is nbc's alice barr. >> reporter: a new level of concern today about the kinds of documents seized from former president trump's florida estate. "the washington post" reporting a document describing a foreign government's military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities was among the highly sensitive material. the post citing people familiar with the matter. nbc news has not independently confirmed it, but a former intelligence officer says the revelations could hurt our relationships with allies. >> i don't blame them for not trusting us to hold on to their nuclear secrets. >> reporter: the post also reporting documents the fbi seized include information so highly classified it requires special clearances on a need to know basis, not just top secret clearance. and is often kept under lock and key. the

the washington post reports, they included highly classified information about a foreign government's nuclear program. quote, a document described a foreign governments military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was fined by fbi agents who searched the former presidents -- private club last month. according to people familiar with the matter. they detailed top secret we operation, so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. earlier, one of the officials who broke the story said the discovery of this document is huge. >> we don't know how much, we don't know which foreign government is involved, we have some theories. but we've club list what we can establish with great certainty, and that is that among the records seized, there were details so classified, so concerning, that it was covered by this classification, material that relates to the former foreign governments nuclear capacity. >> carol leonnig went on to explain, that fewer than a dozen or so people would have access to these sort of records, and that no one in

according to the washington post, this happened before noon on january 7th.tays inside for a while and comes back out to greet the computer experts and escort them into the elections building acting as if it is all part of normal business. nbc news has reached out to cathy latham for comment but has not yet to hear back. the data forensic form referred nbc news to the lawyers who declined to comment. gwen keyes fleming, a former cobb county, georgia district attorney and author of fulton county, georgia's trump investigation, and she joins me now. gwen, let's begin with the law at issue here. georgia law, about whether this is the kind of thing that is lawful for a county chair of a republican party to lead someone in and give them access to private voting data in the machines of the voting system. >> first of all, the election law in georgia is very clear that only the secretary of state is the only person who can authorize access to computers. so, anyone in any local county does not have the authority to authorize access, so in the absence of authority, wha

just under a month ago "the washington post" reported that classified documents relating to nuclear weaponsnew reporting, though, shows that they found some of what they're looking for. "the post" goes on to explain how sensitive some of the documents taken during the serk were. quote, some of the seized documents detailed top secret u.s. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. only the president, some members of his cabinet or a cabinet level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs. that's according to people familiar with the search who spoke anonymously to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation. these types of documents in the wrong hands could have serious and dire consequences. even others just knowing about their existence can be problematic. here's donald trump's former defense secretary mark esper this morning. >> well, you don't want your adversaries to know that you know what they have or what they can do because otherwise they change the

"the washington post" also reporting today former trump chief strategists steve bannon is set to face state charges in new york that a 2020 federal case he was accused of a private effort to build aon responded i to nbc news saying the southern district of new york did the same thing in august of 2020 and try to take me out of the election. it didn't work then. it certainly won't work now. this is nothing more than a partisan political weaponized of the criminal justice system. with us now to talk about all of this, nbc news chief white house correspondent kristen welker, boston globe columnist and co-host of the sisters in law podcast and washington post criminal investigations reporter jackelyn. kimberly and jackelyn are msnbc contributors. how big of a deal is it the former president appears to have information in his home about another country's nuclear capabilities? >> well, this is significant according to intelligence officials, jose, because it under scores just how sensitive this material is that we are talking about and the fact that this really may have posed a significant

now, i'm quoting for the headline of "the washington post." foreign nations nuclear capabilities seized at trump's mar-a-lago. the subhead reading, some seized documents were so closely held, only the president, a cabinet level, or near cabinet level official could authorize others to know. now we're trying to connect with one of the reporters on the story right now. >>> there's also this just in. mark warner says he and his members are expecting a briefing soon from the intelligence committee on sensitive documents recovered from mar-a-lago. chairman warner indicating to cnn's manu raju that he is trying to get an update without waiting for a final report. >>> meantime, on judge aileen cannon's ruling that a special master be appointed to review the materials, listen to what the former president's attorney general said about it last night on fox. >> the opinion, i think, was wrong, and i think the government should appeal it. it's deeply flawed in a number of ways. i don't think the appointment of a special master is going to hold up. >> when

and now, tonight, the reporters at "the washington post" are at it again. headline, material on foreign nation's nuclear capabilities seized at trump's mar-a-lago. here is the leak. quote, a document describing a foreign government's military defenses including its nuclear capabilities was found by fbi agents who searched former president donald trump's mar-a-lago residence and private club last month, underscoring concerns among u.s. intelligence officials about classified materials stashed in the florida property. some of the seized documents detailed top secret u.s. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. only the president, some members of his cabinet or a near cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs. records that deal with such programs are kept under lock and key almost always in a secure, compartmented information facility, a skiff, with a designated control officer to keep careful tabs on their location. such

for "the washington post" to have this editorial is a big deal.>> martha: our polling has this as a toss-up. fetterman is ahead six to eight points. given this, this race is in thes to-up category for us. let's take a look at ohio as well. jim ryan versus j.d. vance. ryan was enjoying a decent lead. this is tied now. this is neck and neck this one, bret. >> it is. as we look at the south lawn of the white house and president biden with this celebration of inflation, the inflation reduction act on the same day we get the cpi of 8.3% year over year and the dow dropping 1,300 points today, it is -- you have to say that this issue of inflation, how people feel about what they're spending and what is bringing -- what they're bringing in is probably the biggest issue. abortion is running high in ohio and tim ryan is trying to capitalize on that. and in other states. however, i think this issue and perhaps the tone deaf nature of this moment up on the south lawn could play in other races across the board. >> martha: yeah, it's hard to imagine scheduling

to continue this washington post breaking news story tonight that, of course, of course donald trump had nuclear secrets at's winter home and, i looked, let's remember. it is winter home. he hasn't been there since like maybe april or something? may, as soon as it got a little too hot. so he has left them alone in the house that he abandons for the season, until the fall's. you know most people who have that second home page, when they close up, and they move to the other home for the season, they tend to take the nuclear secrets with them. >> they pack up the perishable, the home, the pets, the kids if they have them, and then nuclear secrets. >> yeah. >> and also lawrence, may i just add to that, of course on a troubled when treating inexorably, or truth social-ing incessantly that there have been no nuclear, at, all whatsoever, total hoax, for the last several weeks. and now as it turns out, indeed there was nuclear. but with donald trump ups and downs down is up, nuclear service up along in the scif stay in your closet. >> we look forward to his defense about the -- luscious talk

that is, according to the washington post, citing four sources familiar with the matter. he post also notes, quote, some of the seized documents detail top secret u.s. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. only the president, some members of his cabinet, or a near-cabinet level official, could authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs. now trump's fellow republicans, who had already stuck their necks out for him, without knowing all the facts -- that's always dangerous -- were left exposed and struggling to explain why it was actually found that the ex-president kept nuclear documents in the basement of services florida country club. >> it depends on what the nuclear information is. you can say nuclear weapons. but there are things that are highly, highly classified. there are things that are not extremely classified but are, nonetheless, classified. the other aspect, with respect to access, is that we do not know what those documents are. >> so the washington

and now the washington post is talking to them, please.of sacred hospital wards in southern ukraine soldiers with severed limbs, shrapnel wounds, mangled arms and shattered joints, the military said they lacked the artillery needed to knock out russia's entrenched forces and described gaping technological gaps with their better-equipped adversaries. kiev hopes that the kherson counteroffensive will boost the morale of the nations and demonstrate to the western government that their billions of dollars in economic and military aid are paying off, even though sanctions against russia pushed up energy prices and inflation, and added to fears of an even more expensive winter. each soldier said that it was impossible to predict when kherson might be liberated. many said it would depend on when the ukrainians received enough artillery from the allies. actually. this is a very revealing article, at the beginning of which successes are described. the ukrainian army in the direction of kherson, which expressed itself in these same soldiers with sev

"the washington post" says that the fbi foun

it was three weeks ago when the washington post published this bombshell piece, it's hard to ignore a-- sources say. the post reported the fbi agents were concerned that classified documents related to nuclear weapons could be found a trump speech club down in florida. to which the former president quickly and vehemently told the world, quote, nuclear weapons issued is a hoax, just like russia, russia, russia was a hoax. impeachments were a hoax, the mueller investigation was a hoax, and much more. same sleazy people involved.

host: you cover labor issues for "the washington post." for being with us on this labor day. guest: thank you so much. host: on this labor day, the president is leaving shortly from washington to go to two spots. there is a live look at air force one at joint base andrews. first stop is milwaukee, wisconsin and then he will stop in pittsburgh and west mifflin, pennsylvania for remarks on this labor day. we will cover that event at 5:30 p.m. eastern and you can watch that live here on c-span and watch it on our free mobile app, c-span now and at www.c-span.org . that will do it for this morning's "washington journal." we are back tomorrow at 7:00 >> c-span's "washington journal." everyday we take your calls and discuss policy issues important to you. dave leventhal talks about the ongoing investigation of potential conflict of interest by members of congress, and a look ahead to capitol hill this fall with "the hill's" editor-in-chief. watch "washington journal" live on c-span or c-span now, our free mobile video app. join with your calls, f

as "washington post" reporter david onfairnhold uncovered in june ofnh 2017, donald trump wa not on the cover of time magazine in march of 2009 but he had been hanging fake magazine covers in his golf clubs to make it look likeve he was. just to be clear here, trump wanted so badly to be on the cover of time magazine that he invented a fake time cover all about himself and hung it up in public, in multiple places all over the country. that forgotten little detail from trump's presidency became relevant again today after the department of justice issued its latestrt court filing in the ongoing courtil battle over accs to the fbi search at mar-a-lago. the filing included this shocking picture, showing some of theow top secret and classifd documents the fbi found during thatdo search. documents clearly labeled top secret, and sci, or sensitive compartmented information and none bear markings that they are declassified which is a t typic part of the declassification process. those documents are also sitting alongside what appears to be drum roll, please, a box with the framed time magazine

and the latest reporting from the "washington post," only makes that work more urgent.dni's damage assessment is happening right now, despite a decision from a trump appointed judge, to use a special master to review all of the documents taken from mar-a-lago. the judge's order put a temporary halt on the fbi's criminal investigation, but it merely permitted the odni's damage assessment to continue unimpeded or at least that was the judge's intent. but that is not how it works in reality. here's how former cia officer david priest sees it according to the "the wall street journal." it is at best difficult and more likely impossible to do a meaningful odni damage assessment while the fbi investigation is stalled. odni needs to know what documents were at mar-a-lago and who may have looked at them, that information is coming from the fbi's investigation. the odni assessment is operating in a vacuum without information from an active investigation of who has access to those documents. so this complicated ruling from that trump-appointed judge could likely hamper not just a

i mean i've been in you know, i've been in washington as the national letter of the washington post. which was a very high ranking position, but not that was number two in the national desk. um, i covered presidents as i i was in covered the vietnam war from both ends. i covered the soviet union and so on so i had a very wide range of experience that i could bring to knowing whether a book was was of interest. and that's how i started doing it my first my first major major major political books were both very satisfying. when was tip o'neill's memoirs called of the house. and the other one was sam donaldson's white house memoirs called. hold on mr. president and both of them were great successes. because i was able i think in the case of sam, we finally understood i had to learn lesson that sam really was somebody who was better at talking than he is at sort of narrative writing. so i sort of talked it out of him. and in the end we got a wonderful book. and tip, you know, it's just a great storyteller and the book was very entertaining and very successful. so right then i had these t

"the washington post" is not the authority on criminal justice in the united states. i want to be clear. however, a federal judge has found probable cause that it's more likely than not that this crime was committed somewhere on those grounds. this reporting seems to confirm that information. at a certain point, it walks like a duck or talks like a duck. i think it ought to alarm everybody who reads it. >> let me follow up on one thing you said. we're going to let this reporting play out. we should underscore this is not cnn reporting. this is a "washington post" story. they are the only ones that have this information. they had reported about nuclear documents. there were a lot of people who assumed they were u.s. nuclear documents, about our nuclear programs. do you see a significance difference between if the president had that document versus one about a foreign country? >> i think there are some -- there might be different security interests, but there are serious security interests and u.s. security interests. >> fair enough. >> there's no difference. there's --

it was three weeks ago when and washington post published this bombshell piece. it is hard to forget airport with a total like this, quote, fbi searched trump's home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say. the post reported that fbi agents were concerned that classified documents relating to nuclear weapons could be found at trump's beach club down in florida. to which the former president quickly and vehemently told the world, quote, nuclear weapons issued is a hoax, just like russia, russia, russia was a hoax. impeachments were a hoax, the mueller investigation was a hoax, and much more. same sleazy people involved. in the days after, trump kept bringing up the washington post report again and again. on august 26 affidavit every redacted, nothing mentioned on nuclear. a few days later, quote, whatever happened to nuclear? a word leaked early on by fbi doj to the fake news media. something about that whole nuclear thing really hurt donald trump. i got under his skin. but besides trump's outbursts, four days after that reporting, we heard noth

out of the washington post into being a first book editor and eventually a book publisher. so it was a mid-career move. i brought with me all the experience. i had in journalism, which turned out to be very valuable and connections. so i i know one of the last thing i realized almost as soon as i got there that the difference is in the newspaper business you went out and got the story in the publishing business you get the story and then you have to sell the story. and i kind of enjoyed that part of it as much as i enjoyed getting stories. so that's why i ended up doing the career. i did well in a recent article and publishers weekly that you penned you say that you became a specialist. in acquiring political books how to how did that happen well, i'm my background in journalism certainly was important. i mean i've been in you know, i've been in washington as the national letter of the washington post. which was a very high ranking position, but not that was number two in the national desk. um, i covered presidents as i i was in covered the vietnam war from both ends. i cov

that's the question examined in a new series launched by "the washington post."s, although black coaches tend to perform about as well as white coaches, they have had to serve significantly longer as midlevel assistants they're more likely to be given interim jobs as full-time ones and held to higher standards keeping their jobs. back in 2003, the nfl under intense pressure introduced the rooney rule requiring to hire one of color. it was named for the pittsburgh steelers owner dan rooneys who was chair of the workplace diversity committee. back cnn, there were only three black head coaches. 19 years later the tally is still just three. todd bowles of tampa bay buccaneers, and mike tomlin of pittsburgh steelers. brian flores fired in january filed a lawsuit accusing the league of its teams engaging in hiring practices. and joining me now one of the five bylines on "the washington post's" michael lee who is the sports reporter on diversity issues. michael, i would think that the nfl owners would be prepared to hire satan if they thought the devil was going to win

joining us now is one of the writers of that washington post scoop as well as several others since thetart of this investigation, carol leonnig is the pulitzer prize-winning national investigative reporter for the washington post and coauthor of i alone can fix it doll j trump's catastrophic final year. carol the, catastrophe continues well into the post presidency is ems. let's just first start -- i mean, that piece that you wrote what is so presages this moment. -- i just want to get your moment -- which is seems to me more like a political document then a legal document, right? it's full of buzzwords that i'm sure trump's allies will use, the word witch hunt isn't in there, but it basically suggest this is all part of a political ploy on the part of the deep state. how did you read it? >> a very similarly. and i'm really glad you noticed the political rhetoric and the optics of this filing which, as you know to yourself, is part of a pattern of how donald trump deals with federal and other courts. his idea is, let me communicate the way i want to communicate to my base. he still thi

served as a political strategist to the president, and -- robinson, jennifer, first of all on the washington post reporting. again, we don't have more details other than what the washington -- or we can't confirm what the washington post is confirming, on just the high-level nature of some of the information that was found at mar-a-lago. >> well, it's consistent with some of the reporting from before, that they are very, very high-level, highly classified documents found in mar-a-lago, nuclear secrets are among the most closely held in government, of course. this is consistent with what's been held out there, but with more detail i wonder how it's getting, out and who is leaking it. i think it's problematic that those are coming from inside the government. but in terms of the government's case, listen, this is the kind of document that you would charge a case about, and it's not a document that will be subject to any sort of executive privilege or attorney client privilege. you think about documents that are going to be available to -- this is the sort of document you're talking about. >> i want

"the washington post" citing people familiar with the matter reporting the documents detailing a foreign government's military defenses and nuclear capabilities were found by agents during that august search. the highly sensitive documents are so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. former trump white house strategist steve bannon awaiting sentencing after being convicted on two counts of contempt of congress is now reacting to another "washington post" report that he will turn himself in to new york investigators tomorrow facing a new state criminal indictment. bannon telling nbc news overnight that state prosecutors in new york are engaging in, coat, political weaponization of the criminal justice system. this hour, we will take a dive into the impact the supreme court's abortion decision could have on the november midterms. congressional democrats grow more optimistic about their chances to hold the majority. next hour, former president barack obama returns to the white house joined by michelle obama, her first trip back to the

the washington post reporting today among the documents recovered at mar-a-lago was one including the nuclear capabilities. it's so secret, it requires a need to know clearance. so secret, it's supposed to be under watch and under lock and key 24/7. it's unclear at this moment just where on trump's resort the fbi agent found those documents or what country's defense secrets it could expose. what is clear, the document was never supposed to be there. >> it's very troubling this type of information would be there, or anywhere for that matter. the issue is not just about the content of the report but what it may reveal about our sources and methods. you don't want your adversaries to know you know what they have and can do. >> also, an immediate demand on capitol hill to know more. >> i definitely want to know what's in there. the counts that have been made with suspected national security documents and documents involved in foreign nations are of enormous importance. >> he could have easily broken the law, and that's why this investigation is underway. >> i'm not saying i'm not concerne

there is a like to the "washington post" last week. there were no leaks out of mar-a-lago and donald trump about cls classified information to the "washington post." but the department of justice just like the stasy, east german is leaking information to their pra pravda like media, strike a foreign government military defenses including nuclear capabilities found by fbi agents who searched former president donald trump mar-a-lago resident. under scoring concerns among u.s. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the florida property. now you have prosecutors and investigators leaking about classified information. that was not leaked at mar-a-lago by the former president or his staff. to the media and for the world. they are in court fighting idea of a independent special master to go over the work. they already stole from him passports, attorney-client privilege information tax. clothing, they stole this. to use their phrase. from him. but do you remember bill clinton? yes. this is from the capital research. as pre