"washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning. it is sunday, july 23rd, 2023. coming up this morning, a sunday roundtable on campaign 2024 and a deep dive in the latest batch of jfk assassination records released by the national archives. a question of whether your interests are being represented by politicians in the nation's

capital. we want to know, is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you? democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can send us a text, (202) 748-8003. please include your name and where you are from. catch up with us on social media . a good sunday morning to you. you can start calling in now. is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you? recently, the associated press released a poll that asked a couple different versions of this type of question. that poll from late june, one of the questions, is democracy working well in the u.s. -- 49% of respondents saying not at all or not to well.

10% saying it is working extremely or very well. everyone else falling somewhere in the middle. another question from that same pole, are people like you well represented by the u.s. government? 53% saying not at all or not to well. the middle 35% or so saying somewhat well. that poll from the associated press from late last month gets us to this question of whether washington is focusing on the issues that matter to you. that is what we want to know from you this morning. we want to know with those issues are that matter to you. it was recently on the washing bang -- washington is not doing enough to get things done, this is what he told viewers. [video clip] >> even if you watch c-span, you are not seeing -- c-span3 and

the hearings, you can go online. even if a dozen of my colleagues are wasting their time, there may be hundred beating on a variety of different issues that probably do not make c-span3. you cannot cover all the hearings. congress is 435 individuals. the press will show you the 10 doing the most extreme thing. that does not mean the other 400 plus are not working to try and make the country better. also, there is a lot of discussion about getting things done. getting things done means erasing one law and replacing it with another. sometimes -- most of the proposals for doing that are actually bad proposals. we introduced thousands of bills, thank god we do not pass most of them. yes, we need to get things done.

sometimes come the best outcome is to have a hearing, look at a proposal and decide the current statute is better than the proposal. host: california democrat brad sherman on this program recently on getting things done. we want to know whether you think washington is getting things done and if it is focusing on the issues that matter to you. democrats, it is (202) 748-8000 two call in. . republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will start on the line for republicans, gaithersburg, maryland. this is christine. caller: good morning. i think trump should be in jail. he should not run again for a year, because he has not paid a fine. or, the they should have him pay a fine of $100,000. i think joe biden is doing a good job. host: christine, donald trump is

the issue that matters to you? caller: yes. host: that is christine in gaithersburg, maryland. a story from today's new york times, trump and allies weight forward from georgia on an expected indictment -- to indictment some donald trump are already in the books, the outcome of the georgia investigation promises to be strikingly different. they write, while the cases filed by the manhattan district attorney and the justice department is mainly focused on trump himself running election interference, the district attorney in georgia has promised to announce if there are charges against the former president next month. democrat from silver spring, maryland. caller: good morning. i will tell you what is

important to me. i have a neurological issue that makes me sick around heat. i am a climate tourist. every summer, my husband and i have to leave and go as far north as we can. we have gone as far as vancouver. this year, we have to go to maine. it is not any cooler in maine. my issue is that the world is on fire. it is existential for the whole world. the floods in vermont were close to us. i think because it is such a major issue, we have to make sure that trump does not get reelected and biden stays in power because he is working against climate change. host: do you think that congress is actively working on that issue, as well? is that what you are hearing and seeing from members of congress? caller: i think half of congress is serious about it. the other half is denying it is even happening. i have talked to my republican friends and i have some who just do not believe that it is

man-made, that it is a real issue. it is horrifying to think people are still so ignorant about it. in texas, they are baking. it is hard to ignore. host: what surprised you -- gallup does their monthly poll on acting americans, what they think the most important problem facing the country is. environment, pollution and climate change gets just 3% of the selection of biggest problem facing this country, as of the june gallup old. it does that surprise you it is such a low number? caller: it does not surprise me. it makes me really sad. unfortunately, people are drawn to what is provocative and interesting to talk about. mostly, we are just interested in yelling at each other and hating each other. just a today, slowly -- just day to day, slowly you are the frog

in the pot and you are boiling the water in the frog does not jump out. i think we have to wake up and realize we are in this together. host: some of the other biggest issues facing the country according to that june gallup pole, economic issues come in as the largest issue in recent polls if you add up the different economic problems, whether inflation, the economy, the cost of living. 32% of americans say that is the because problem facing the country. when it comes to noneconomic problems, the top selection of respondents, the government and poor leadership at 18%. immigration at 18%. the problem of not being able to unify the country, 6%. crime and violence, 5%. ethics, moral, religious and family decline in this country at 5%. poverty and homelessness at 5%. race relations and racism at 3%. that is the gallup poll, the

most important problem facing the country, this poll they do every month and have been doing it for years and decades. you can find it at gallup.com. jeremy, madison, wisconsin, and independent. is washington focusing on the issues that matter most to you? caller: yeah, thank you for the question. i'm confused. good morning. happy sunday. the morning, it is sunday -- good morning, it is sunday. regarding how you are in the different poles and questions, i was under the impression you were asking about moxie working. host: that is one of those questions asked in that recent ap poll, it ties into this question. is washington working -- caller: washington focusing on issues. let me tell you what happened last night. i am trying to go to a 24 hour gym with a bike.

i am not going to describe the parking lot, which is beyond relief -- belief. host: hold off on your workout routine. we go to pittsburgh, california, democrat. good morning. is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you, and what are the issues that matter to you? caller: no, and the issues that matter to me is they are spending billions of dollars over to ukraine to help them with their war and we've got a war at home. they ought to send at least a billion dollars to the bay area so we can tackle what is going on in our community. host: what is going on in your community in pittsburgh, california? caller: you got a bunch of kids that is just out of control. parents just not being responsible for their kids actions, they not being held accountable. once they get called on a high-speed chase, a robbery, stealing from stores.

they call them in two or three days. these kids need something to do in the community. host: what works? what have you seen networks, or what could work in the community in pittsburgh? caller: what works is providing something to occupy their time, they are bored. the parks got broken swings. there is just no form of motivation to want to do anything for the community. in the community. because, there is nothing to do. host: the question, is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you? a couple comments from social media this morning. just the democrats are, republicans obstruct and feed the rich. this from joe, it depends if lowering inflation, gas prices and the 10 million people crossing the border every day is being helped by investigating

hunter biden and the great fight and crime family. what the thing, says joe? this is phil, north carolina, independent. caller: i am going to say i do not believe any of the politicians in washington are doing the americans business. overall, there are so many issues they have to deal with. i know two of them i am concerned about that i have been addressing my congressman for our the outrageous, uncontrolled of the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industries as far as pricing goes, as far as what they do to customers who really need a medication and they cannot get it or the price is outrageous. the same with insurance. we get blasted with insurance commercials on tv, but they have that much money to spend on insurance commercials on tv, they should be taking and

reducing rates they are giving people. i addressed that with my congressman. host: he said he agreed with you? caller: yes. host: what was the response? were you able to talk to your congressperson specifically? caller: female. host: what was your other issue? caller: what was that? host: what was your other issue? caller: those are the two, the control and lack of federal control over what people are being charged for things that are out of their control. it is not like it is a matter where you can go from one insurance company to another. and like you can a car dealership or walmart versus some other store, let target. do you understand what i'm saying? fmr. vp pence: host: yeah. -- host: yeah, so it is an issue the previous congress tried to crack, whether it was the affordable care act or

legislation since then. why do you think this is such an intractable problem? caller: i just do not see there is any kind of control for -- on behalf of the american people. the american people do not have a voice in it, they do not have a choice in it. they are forced to take and pay what companies charge. and, not necessarily be able to shop around for example, pharmaceuticals. my wife, she needs an inhaler and takes advair. if she tries to get that in the united states, it is an outrageous price. she has to get it outside the country. at an affordable price, so she can take this. i know there are things on the news every once in a while, you will hear about somebody's cancer treatment. the price is outrageous. i am, in general -- my comment in general is, no, i do not

believe that politicians in washington are focused as much as they should be on the american people's is this. this thing about going down the trail of hunter biden. that stuff was covered during the trump election. anyway. that is my opinion. host: thanks a lot. this is marshall at nashville, tennessee. republican. the question, is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you? caller: how are you doing today? i do not believe so. the reason i say that is because we have a congress that probably has a 9% approval rating. a lot of this is due to, unfortunately, the way the news and media chooses to cover the news. i believe that the american people actually knew what was owing on -- this is just a theory of mind -- we have a president who shot down a

pipeline in america that was under construction, that would help the american people out. two days later, he opened one up , or allowed the continued building of one in russia. the way he left that, nobody has been held accountable. nobody has lost their job. we now know that the fbi worked with hillary clinton in the 2016 election. we also know that in 2020, the fbi worked with -- i believe the democrat party. i do not know that. that is my thought. it is hard to believe they are innocent in this. they worked with social media to shut down half the american population. something that we know that is true today and that would have affected the election, 2016 and 2020, they interfered with and

influenced the presidential election. host: when you say we know these things, how do you know these things? as a result of congressional investigations, since republicans have taken over the house, and in that sense, is washington focusing on those issues that matter to you? caller: in that sense, they are. you know, hey, listen. if it was the other side, the other shoe, the republicans would be ignoring the issues as well as the democrats are. when we looked at this hearing -- i watched the hearing on c-span this past week with john f. kennedy junior, and all of the democrats could focus on was trying to slam him. there was a time in this country when democrats and republicans, when they saw this, would work together. once again, it does not matter whether it is republican or democrat.

they will cover stuff up. this guy, santos, republicans should remove him. host: that is marshall in nashville, tennessee. start your comments by talking about congress's approval rating. let me give you a snapshot of what americans think about the three branches of government. this from that associated press poll that we showed you earlier in the segment. the question asking whether various institutions are doing a good job or a very or somewhat bad job. president biden's overall rating, 33%, saying he is doing a very or somewhat good job. 46% saying he is doing a very somewhat bad job. the supreme court, 28% say good job. 45% of american saying bad job. congress'ratings, well below that. 16% of the country saying, congress is doing a very or somewhat good job.

53% of the country saying congress is doing a very or somewhat bad job. those numbers again from that associated press poll at the end of last month. 1200 american adults surveyed. you can find it online at ap norc.org. this is jerry out of tennessee. good morning. you are next. caller: can you hear me? hello, can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: no, i do not think they are doing a good job. when you've got -- they cut social security out. look at what has happened with women's rights. women are not going to have the right to vote in five years from now, mark my words. this is terrible on a what is happening with women's rights. somebody needs to stand up. women, please call in. please go vote. you are not going to have the right to do anything, because it is -- what is happening to women.

a lot of this is coming out of churches. i hate to say that, but a lot of this is coming out of the church is, what is going on with these women's rights. they are pushing this stuff and it is just to control the women. thank you for taking my call. host: this is athens, georgia, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. the young man who just called for jerry marshall. if he had four guys like him paying attention, i think the economy -- john, good to see you, love that tie. it is good to see you, sir. john, is the congress doing a good job? it depends on, what purpose are they serving? i believe they are working to benefit themselves first and their global agenda they have adopted. the american people have been

ducked down so much they are not aware of what is truly going on behind a television screen. host: what is an example of globalist agenda? what are some issues that you think fit into that agenda? caller: i do not want to be vocal, because it might get me on the banned list. you know how much i love c-span, you know how much i appreciate what brian does for us. here is one quick example, i hope you guys do not hold it against me. there is an institute, an organization called world economic forum. they are from, my understanding, they are the premier leaders of this globalist agenda. something like the digital currencies. all these are what undermining

american individual abby -- individual allergy -- gay and transgender issues, they are distracting with sports and entertaining events of barbie versus oppenheimer. we really do not reach that exceptionalism america is at. that is my personal opinion. [indiscernible] thank you guys for c-span. host: a few other callers for this morning. we are about halfway through the segment. let me get to frank in west palm beach, florida, republican. caller: good morning morning,

good morning. thanks for taking my call. i cannot understand why people cannot figure out what is wrong with the government. 80% of the government is made of attorneys. we all know how fouled up the judicial system is. they run the show. they make the laws. they make the rules and it is a mess. that is my feeling on it. host: frank, why aren't more non-attorneys running for congress? caller: it is the system. it has been that way since the beginning, probably if we go back and look at the government since the early days. the attorneys have run the show. if they are running the show, which they are, it is a mess. the reason is, it is, it does not really affect them. they make the laws, they make the rules, the rest of us have to live by them. host: what could the rest of us

do to encourage more nonattorneys to run for congress, if that is what will make a difference? how will you make that happen? caller: people need to be aware of what is going on with the government. if you do a little bit of research and look into it, 80% of the government -- politicians and the rest of the government is made of attorneys. we all know it is a miss, so let's ask we all know it is a mess, so let's get it fixed. host: that is frank, west palm beach, florida. the previous caller was talking about distractions that there is too many issues out there that are distractions. he specifically mentioned barbie versus oppenheimer, those two movies that are competing for the top spot in the current cinema ticket sales. this from politico today, there

magazine. what barbie says about the gender wars in this country, in the movie, the cans are fine letting barbies run everything. in the world -- real world, it more, located. douglas, south dakota, democrat. caller: good morning. i think it is terrible congress is only doing more to investigate the presidents for their wrongdoing. i got to double up on a few other things pretty medical costs, i am a baby boomer. i am going to turn 69 soon. i had to go to the doctor a wild back. i was there for three hours. they told me i had cancer. the procedure they went through, they did a cat scan and a chemical and a few tests and it was $11,000. medicare has paid pretty good for it. i got a medicare policy maybe and a supplement. they only charge me $223.

there is a lot of other processes going ahead on me. i got a really good doctor, he got whipped on me. i am going to keep kicking for a while. i was working until they gave me the diagnosis. i was working for myself. the medical cost is terrible. host: you began your comment by saying, you do not think congress does enough to investigate presidential wrongdoing. is that what you said? caller: i think they do too much. i do not think they should have to do that. i am a never trump-er. he is a crook. now they got me believing biden is a crook. it is terrible. host: did you think the house elect committee to investigate the january 6 attack on the capital, did you think that was too much? that got a lot of and different hearings. caller: they carried it out too far and did not do nothing about

it. there is a lot of wrongdoing done, but what did they do about it? nothing. biden, i do not know if he is a crook or not, but i am about ready to vote for mansion -- ma nchin. the monopolies nowadays are terrible. just like the companies. these big companies and corporations and boards are putting the screws to us little people. they raise their prices 9% and say inflation is downed 3%. that 9% did not come back down, i am paying 11%. i feed these cats. this cat food has went up 50% and they are talking -- i do not know. it is crazy. they need to work on a monopoly. medicare. host: we will take your comments. we are just about halfway through the segment. this is gar in decatur, georgia.

caller: two marvin gay songs start with what is going on, and where are we going? the issue that congress is not really addressing is the gun issue. you never hear them talking about 66 suicides on average a day in the united states. when was the last time you heard -- all you hear is mass shootings. you hear about school shootings, but you never hear about the 66 on average suicides a day in gun violence. congress is not addressing the gun issue. what did greg pallas wrote the book, we have the best moxie money can buy. -- we have the best money democracy -- we have the best democracy money can buy. host: good morning. caller: 1936, the democrats had

been charged in philadelphia. to me, it is like a science experiment. the city of philadelphia is in terrible shape. about the gun control, to me, my family are stuck in philadelphia and finally got out because my dad had a gun to protect us. my sister was stabbed in her crib, her walker, when -- it is terrible. i think both republicans and democrats are in bed together and behind closed doors, they make deals and nothing is done. host: when you talk about your concerns about philadelphia and cities in this country, have you

been following the back and forth over jason aldean's song, try that in a small town? caller: yes. host: what do you think about the outrage that has caused, the accusations that have gone back and forth? caller: what about iced tea and other rappers when they say, kill the cops? it is the same thing. they make a big deal over nothing because they cannot solve the main problems. host: this is diana in lexington. democrat. caller: good morning. hello. host: go ahead. what you think about the question, is washington keeping on the issues that matter to you? caller: i think they are trying to. i would rather that they have equal amounts, because until then, they are not going to get anything done. the gun issue, the women's

rights are taken away from them. i do not know about you, but any preacher who stands in front of a church and starts preaching, they are not -- and starts preaching about republican or democrat is not a preacher in my book. my mother told me she cannot do anything when she was pregnant back in the 1950's because she did not have any right, they could not have their tubes tied or nothing else. it is going back to that. they need to get out and vote. host: you are talking about the good ones on both sides are focusing on the issues that matter to you. who are some of the good ones on both sides, specifically? caller: they are trying. host: who are some of them? caller: some of the biden administration, some of the good ones are republicans. i have voted both ways. the person getting gas lit on

these rhonda santos, trump-s ters. these man -- this man i have heard about for 60 years does nothing but steel, take. i have had mafia in the family. i think they would be insulted if they put in the same damn category as trump. host: this is the sunday taken the washington post, his column appears in the washington post on sundays. a focus on the utah governor, spencer cox, a republican who once america and americans to learn to disagree better. he is the new chair of the national governors association. he writes that cox hopes to drill more deeply into what he believes is the most serious impediment, solving problems. the rhetorical bombshells and partisan and transitions that inhibit those with opposing

viewpoints to produce real results. "we are facing toxic debate unlike anything we have seen since the civil war. i think many of us believe this division cannot continue and we have to find a better way to disagree better." cox knows the resistance he will face, the political industrial complex, is full of cowards and when something works, everybody copies it. he points to the preponderance of negative advertising that permeates clinical campaigns. he believes, at our core, americans are good people and we have to offer an alternative. he offers his tenure as the chair and therefore the time he will have to focus on this issue will coincide with what he predicts will be the most divisive election season in u.s. history. trying to provide you all with counter programming, he said, while visiting the washington post. this is jane out of louisiana,

independent. you are next. caller: good morning. i have one question. when did the american people -- what year or what ballot did we get to vote for globalism? when was globalism voted for, and by whom? thank you. host: what is globalism? what are some examples of globalism happening now? caller: globalism is where all of our money is going to all these different countries. all the climate control we donate all this money, to all these places, ok? we give all this money to companies that are not built up yet, ok? we have cities here that are built up yet. host: jane, is focusing on our

military and filling our military, which is one of the most expensive parts of the u.s. budget each year, does that contribute to globalism? caller: right now? host: say again, jane? you think it is? caller: i would not give you a nickel for this military we have. i do not trust it. i am not going to say -- host: that is jane in louisiana. it was earlier this month that the house freedom caucus held their press conference on their amendments they passed when it comes to defense spending in this country. this is virginia congressman bob good talking about the importance of the united states military around the world. [video clip] >> the challenge we face as a republican house is we are dealing with an executive branch, an executive branch, and

administration that truly does not understand or does not agree with what should be the ultimate purpose of the military. the sole purpose of the military. the purpose of the military is to be the most effective, lethal, fighting and killing machine so that no one wants to challenge us on the planet. they perpetrated this relentless assault on the very fabric of our military, the purpose of the military, and that was reflected with the ndaa's that we had to vote against. almost all who voted against it four times last year, a ndaa

bill weakening our military and taking away the purpose of what a military is. i want to congratulate my colleagues today by putting back the focus of what the military is about. we attacked the social experiment, diversity, equity and inclusion, climate extremism in the military, the funding for abortion -- which has never happened in the country before until the biden administration, and funding for transgender surgery for military members. i am proud to stand with them today. this is a great step for the country and for our military. host: former virginia republican bob good talking about amendments to that national defense bill. this morning on "washington journal", we are asking you, it is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you, and what are the issues that matter to you? (202) 748-8000 for democrats to

call in. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. having this conversation for the next 20 minutes. at the 8:00 hour, a campaign 2024 round table taking a look now about 470 days away from election day. 2024. this is maryland in birmingham, alabama. good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. no, the issues that i am concerned about our issues that have to do with senior citizens. i listened to the republicans. i do not understand what they are talking about. they continue to bring up issues that will not been a fit me -- benefit me, nor anybody of my

age group. i used to be a republican. i switched from being a republican when ronald reagan was elected president. the first person i ever voted for was richard nixon. these republicans -- these people who call themselves republicans are not the republicans that i remember. none of them know anything about physics, governing, know anything about the three branches of governance. they are radicals. they are fascists. they are illiterate. they are just -- host: there are a lot of candidates running for the republican nomination.

do you feel that way about all of those candidates running for republican nomination? is there somebody in there that you think you could agree with with your roots as a republican? caller: no. people seem to forget that brown versus the board of education had a republican route, as you say. the chief justice of the supreme court at that time was -- the supreme court voted 9-0 two integrate the schools in the united states. about would -- that would never happen now. host: this is steve in florida,

independent. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: doing well. you think washington is focusing on the issues that matter to you? caller: i do not think they are. i do not know what they are focusing on. their focus is scattered and the country is going crazy in every direction. you have these transgender thing -- i do not know what percentage of the population is transgender . god bless them, whatever they are peerage just because you put a bunch of makeup on and a tight dress, you are still a fat man. you are not a woman. people who demand this and these pronoun people, it is crazy. i do not understand it. i am too old. host: transgender issues are not issues that matter to you, steve? caller: not at all. that is up to you. it is not something i should be shoved on my throat all day long on the news, on tv.

the major networks, it seems to be one of their main causes. host: what issues do matter to you, steve? caller: the border. that is a good issue. the ukraine, what is going on in the ukraine and all the money we are pouring into this. that is another good issue should be keeping an eye on, the drugs coming into the country. there is a lot of things we should be focusing on that make a bigger difference to us then that. host: that is steve in florida. this is john in comanche, texas, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i have been a texan, the number one issue now is the border. because of the drugs. they are subsidizing the mexican cartels. the other thing is the immigration. the laws are written.

the president is supposed to enforce the laws that are written, not what he feels like enforcing. here is my point. he stands up and says he is for the working man, the best president the unions have ever had. yet, he is letting these people flow in that are taking union jobs and these people are also flowing in and taking the jobs that should be going -- the starter jobs for our children. you do not have to look around too much to see kids nowadays, they are headed down the wrong path. because, you know -- like we used to say, when a young man is working, that young man is working away from trouble. the way it is in texas right now, a young person trying to start out runs into all the

starter level jobs, all run by mexicans or first-generation immigrants. they close them out, they run them off. host: you were talking at the beginning of your comments about drug trafficking and cartels. early now in the campaign season, we have heard some republican candidate say they would consider using the united states military, sending it into mexico to put a stop to the drug trade, to use u.s. forces to do that. his that something you think would be a good idea, a good use of the u.s. military? caller: no, i do not. i do not think invading mexico -- that is going to extend the problem. we have done enough wars to know , for all this domination, the

winner usually is the biggest loser. because they wind up taking in the traits of the loser before it is all over with. i think if you were going to use the military, close that border. that is a frontier. close it. host: that is john in comanche, texas. whereabouts is comanche? caller: west, north central for about 90 miles southwest of the fw -- dfw. host: did you read that book, the empire by the summer moon about the comanche indians in texas? caller: we read a lot of them. it is like, i claim it as some of my ancestors were the people

in lonesome dove. i have been in texas a long time. when the men would come over here or the women and they would work and send their money back or take it back when they went back home, that works. but, this thing, we are letting them in and these folks, god bless them, but they do not pay taxes. they say that they do, but they do not. host: by the way, as sequent who wrote that book on the comanche indians is going to be on book tv's in-depth program the first sunday in august. talking about all his books, but including that pulitzer prize nominee, empire of the summer

moon. this is arlene in louisiana, independent. caller: good morning. i have one important issue, abortion. the government has no right to be in my body. whatever decision i make when it comes down to my body is between me and my god. as far as the government telling me what to do or winded do it or how to do it, they have no business because at the end of the day, on my judgment day, none of these people is going to be standing with me to be judged. only myself and my maker. the government need to get out of my body and stay out of my body and get down to the serious business going on around the world. host: what is the serious business? what should we be focusing on? caller: we should be focusing on the economy, for one thing. and, we should be focusing on the elderly.

and how the prices are just going up sky high, but no paychecks or nothing is going up. it is ridiculous. what they should be concentrating on is the wrong things. it is ridiculous. it is the insult to women, it is an insult to me. i am a voter, i am a registered voter and i am getting to the point where now, i do not even know -- should i vote or not? host: arlene out of new orleans. it was last week in philadelphia president biden was focusing on the economy, on bite and onyx -- on bidenomics. this is what the president had to say at that event. [video clip] >> inflation has slowed for the last 12 months. how many times do you read and say every session is coming? wall street today says they

do not see a recession now. inflation is the lowest point in over two years. u.s. has the lowest inflation rate of any major economy in the world, the so-called g7. less than two thirds of what it was a year ago, down from 9% to 3%. and, going to go down lower. at the same time, pay for minimum-wage workers has gone up on a faster pace for over two decades. wages are growing faster than inflation. that means a lot of working folks are beginning to have a little bit of breathing room. according to surveys, job satisfaction and america is at 836 year high. we have got more work to do, but people are coming off the sidelines to work. the shared working age of americans in the workforce is the highest it has been in 30 years, including every single day under my predecessor.

bidenomics is my economic plan in action. host: that was president biden last week in philadelphia. this is joy today in philadelphia. is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you? caller: good morning. no, they are not. i have several things i wanted to talk about. first of all, i saw some of the hearings that was going on from the republican congress. they talking about banning books. what marjorie taylor greene shows nude pictures of hunter biden -- how does that help everybody? that is what i want to know. also, my pet peeve -- that is one of my pet peeves, they contradict they cells. -- they selves. all the guns.

somebody is making money over these guns, putting them in these neighborhoods. every time you look on the news, you see -- yes, it is bad. it is bad, young people. but, mostly the young people in my family have graduated and went on to college. you never see that on the news. you do not see any positive images of black children on the news. i try to turn on fox and all you see is people smashing women. you never see a graduation. you never see anything like that. that is why diversity matters. you see black -- you need black people in the newsroom to put a positive spin. yes, we have a problem with guns. but, the republicans do not wondered talk about that. -- do not want to talk about that. host: the marjorie taylor greene story you mentioned, this is the huffington post headlamp hunter biden's attorney files ethics

complaint against marjorie taylor greene. a lawyer for the president sent file that complained after the georgia republican displayed nude pictures of them at a house committee hearing. this is jim in texas, republican line. caller: good morning, how are you? i do not know what i am. politics, once people get up in washington, they do not vote the way in politics. we need to not allow any lobbyists, because they change the way our politicians say they are going to act. my number one thing is, get rid of the money, not let these big companies, the nra and the people that make our medication and drug companies, things like

that. let's put it cap to the way it is supposed to be, -- put it back to the way it is supposed to be, not the big lobbyists even down the hallways of the congress. host: on getting rid of the lobbyists -- when lobbyists come on this program and they defend what they do, they will point to the first amendment of the constitution and say that their job is defended there, the first amendment saying in part that congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise thereof, abridging the freedom of speech, the press, the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. that is what lobbyists say they do, they petition the government for redress of grievances. caller: i understand what you are saying. that person we voted on and elected, he is from my area. these people that are flashing

the money around are a national deal. stay out of my area and let the people vote the way we elected them. you know? we need to get back to the basics and leave money out of it. and get some real people out there that are going to do something. host: who is your member of congress, and has your congressperson gone to washington or did they represent texas? is it rose key, texas? caller: yes, you got it right. most people do not. they do not vote for what our local people think. i do not believe at all. like i said, you know, i used to be hard-core republican. with what is going on and what

they are doing, i do not know what i am. i am going to vote for the person we need to lead and what they honestly feel. we need to leave the money out of it. money is what talks in persuading, that is what is wrong with america right now. host: this is from our social media feed on twitter. it is a social charade. what characters like george santos lets them linger so long with zero consequences? saying, i wish congress would get us out of the deathtrap of an economy that reagan set in motion. all we get is socialized losses and privatized gains. this is one eta, south carolina -- this is juanita, south carolina. independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. as far as congress focusing on issues that matter to me, i would say, yes and no. i watch the senate hearing --

watched the senate hearing yesterday on ethics reform for members of the supreme court, which i am in favor of. as i watched the hearing, i believe it was senator kennedy who brought up the fact he wanted to add an amendment that condemned racism against -- well, i guess against the entire supreme court. well, certainly, we should all condemn that. that had nothing to do with the subject at hand. another senator said -- a woman said, she introduced an amendment that focused on the leak from a prior problem of the supreme court. she did not think any reforms should take place until they discovered to the leaker was. i think that, maybe we should

have everyone who is elected to congress, the white house, pass a basic iq test. some of these people seem to not have the common sense of my nine-year-old great-grandchild. i really worry about the future of the country in the hands of such common sense lackers in congress. thank you. host: that senate judiciary committee hearing considering supreme court ethics reform took place on thursday. i believe we re-aired it yesterday. if you want to watch it, you can online at c-span.org. time for one more caller in this segment. this is joe in florida, democrat. is washington focusing on the issues that matter to you? caller: good morning. i am concerned -- greed and

corruption. i am a democrat, but i tell you, i do not know what we are. the country is falling apart. i am concerned about the food industry. i'm concerned about private military contractors. what is the military contractor's budget large within the u.s. military? i am concerned about the media coverage. i would hope journalists would stop inputting the personal opinion in certain and all. of the coverage they make. i remember in the past, 60's and 70's, the journalists would cover the story and leave it at that.

the journalists are commenting and interjecting too much of their personal opinions about different issues. the other thing i'm concerned about is the nonprofit organization, the growing popularity of nonprofit organizations, which eventually turn into profit-making organizations, which are lots of federal money is pouring into these organizations. they become private and of american public during those and it is impacted. host: what is an organization you have seen do that? people talk about with goodwill,i they seem to be profiting. companies like walmart change

the requirement for people who get subsidies have to work more hours now. it is not right. host: stick around plenty more to talk about this morning including of next sunday morning panel on campaign 2020 for. we are joined by kevin cirilli and steffi mary of the messenger. later veteran journalist and author jefferson morley joins us to discuss the recent release of documents related to the former president assassination. stick around. it will be right back. -- we will be right back.

♪ >> tonight on q&a, chief financial correspondent author of the phoenix economy talks about the long-term social and economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic. some of it positive. >> the pandemic gave us this theme that is throughout the economy and people are embracing their dreams and those dreams are creative and creative activities increase companies and wealth and i think that it's one of the big reasons why i'm so optimistic is that i see

opportunity of creativity more exhibited the it is ever been. people anywhere in the world assumes they have a intimate connection can change the planet in a way that not been able to. i think were able only at the beginning of seeing the huge opportunities that were engendered by is being forced to take another look at our lives and say how do i want to live this. >> the phoenix economy tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span q&a. you can listen to q&a and our podcast on our c-span now at. >> c-span's campaign 2024 coverage is your front row seat the presidential election.

watch our coverage of the candidates on the campaign trail with announcements, meet and greets, speeches, and events to make up your own mind. campaign 2024 on the c-span network, see spent now, or any time online at c-span.org. c-span your unfiltered view of politics. ♪ >> we can spring you book tv featuring authors discussing the latest nonfiction books. journalists jim popkin shows his book about the life and career of defense intelligence analysts who was a spy for cuba for nearly 17 years. on afterwards, pulitzer prize-winning journalist argues moments of progress and race matters in u.s. often met with acts of violence in his book american white lash.

watch book tv every weekend on c-span two and find the full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a sunday roundtable about this upcoming election. where joined by stephanie murray and kevin cirilli. these key things do change over the course of election but of say the defining issue -- if you had to say the defining issue of the early stage of the election, what would it be? guest: for president biden, we have seen he's trying to make this about the economy. the progress that's been made. in former president trump, it is

not enough progress has been made. he is trying to capitalize off of what his support is perceived to be a great distrust, not just political process, but the entire global world order. my talk to sources close to trump's campaign they say all the indictments against him are a reflection not only of the justice department going against trump, but also a reflection of justice department going against the supporters. he's trying to reflect this to supporters. whether or not it helps them with moderate voters, do not think it does. but when the republican primary, it might -- if you look at the polls, he is the dominant front runner. host: this is one sentence from a story in the washington post. the campaign -- trump campaign plan for the former president to run while facing four separate trials. manhattan district attorney

indictment accusing trump a pain hush money to an adult film actress for the election. jack smith indictment in florida accusing trump of mishandling classified documents. potential indictment to over 202020 election and potential one from georgia the probe into the efforts to overturn the elector defeat in georgia. are those indictments a part of the defining issue of these early days of the election? guest: i think that is right. when you think 2016 he invented the process and it is happening again in the 2024 cycle. there is a possible trial coming for trump in may 2 024 this week. we know the process if he is the nominee, it will be an unprecedented thing to see a

former president running as close to an incumbency in can. facing these indictments and charges. it is something that has defined the 2024 primary field when you think about florida governor ron desantis when he sat for an interview to reset his campaign. the first question was about trump and the indictments. it is summing up the oxygen -- soaking up the oxygen and it is something the field has to navigate. host: want to talk about trump and the indictments for a second. a story made the argument the trump campaign for president and his criminal defense, those two things are emerging, there are few distinctions between the two. would you agree? guest: absolutely. i was in miami two weeks ago when former president trump was going to for his arraignment. the supporters that were there

-- he first stopped in georgia and marjorie taylor greene introduced him, a state where he will face more speculation for his impact, it is a reflection. this is donald trump sucking up all of the oxygen but also reflecting on to supporters. in any other case, the court of public opinion might not matter as much. in these cases, it matters. even if he is convicted on one or a couple of the indictments, will that help them in their republican primary and mobilized the base to get to the polls? based on anecdotal reporting, i think it might because they are motivated to show up. every time he has been indicted he's gotten -- host: another indictment coming possibly this week. guest: if there is another

indictment the question becomes playing it forward to the end of august. how does he go to the first presidential debate? if he does not go, what is the dynamic of the other republican challengers like desantis and nikki haley who is called him out a says she does not know him as someone to back down. does trump provide counter program. the debate -- counter program to the debate? he had a counter programming event for military veterans. if you look at the post, he is dumb dominant in iowa and new hampshire. what is the -- he is that in iowa and new hampshire. host: who has the most to gain and most to lose from this august fox news debate that is happening? guest: the challenge is to help

to differentiate themselves from trump when there's a good chance he will not show up. he is the front runner and you have ron desantis who would like to take him on and talk to him the challenges he will not be there so you will have trump not showing up versus the rest of the field debating without him. you have to wonder who is going to turn in and how these candidates start to differentiate themselves because now they have been not so critical of trump, not drawing a strong contrast and we expect that debate could be where it happens but if he is not there it is difficult to do. host: 470 days from election day. how much credence do we give the post at this point? guest: they're not predictive of what will happen six months from now or four 170 days from now but it does give you a snapshot with the electorate is and what his candidates need to do in

early states thinking about iowa and new hampshire and nevada where trump is dominating even though you have two candidates in south carolina who have been elected statewide there still holding behind trump. -- polling behind trump. guest: we love polls. host: polls or the quarterly fundraising numbers? guest: if your name is not donald trump it is the quarterly fundraising numbers. even for someone like former new jersey governor chris christie, he has been able to fund raise a hefty chunk of change and get access to voter analytics in his fundraising. how much longer can some of these candidates keep moving forward? the debate is a good opportunity for lesser-known candidates to

get fundraising about. host: you focus on the desantis campaign. the story from this morning, just train -- jets drain the desantis campaign admits that but the campaign spent $1.5 million on travel over six weeks, about 20% of the total spending in the second quarter, a higher amount to any other campaign other than trump. guest: i think this is why we are seeing reports about the desantis campaign trying to do a reboot because of the challenges . he pulled in more money. his presidential campaign he raise more money than anyone in the field but his report shall he also spent a lot of money in a way that is not sustainable for his campaign. i was talking to a source last week who said desantis is kind of facing all of the attention

for his weaknesses and not so much attention for his strengths and he needs to flip that on its head heading into the rest of the campaign. the strength had existed before he entered the race. i do something he has said himself. he had political goodwill he was reelected as governor. he has struggled to catch fire or gain any steam in the polls and now you see these questions about his fundraising and this causing worries about his donors, devon trying to assuage but -- they have been trying to assuage bible watch whether the reboot is successful. host: i want to invite viewers to join in our conversation. political roundtable this sunday morning focusing on campaign 2024. kevin cirilli and stephanie murray is our guests. if you want to join the conversation: democrats, 202-748-8000.

republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. there will be with us until 9:00 a.m. eastern so go ahead and start calling. i want to show this ad speaking of the president election effort from the biden harris campaign featuring marjorie taylor greene. [video clip] >> joe biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure in environmental program finishing what fdr started that lbj expanded on and a joe biden is attempting to complete programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, labor unions. he is working on it. host: the digital ad out last

week. the background on that? guest: is that artificial intelligence? if you're president biden, this is exactly the type of message you want to have. marjorie taylor greene who polls very low and is a critic of bipartisanship this is exactly the type of message and the type of framing the biden reelection campaign want to see. lump trump to marjorie taylor greene. if you do that, they're trying to draw up the bottle line for independents that biden would be a centerleft president. then someone who like congresswoman illmar. guest: i think it is clever and a dust tie trump to these fringe year less popular republicans

among democrats and who better for democrats to raise money against ? host: the advert from the desantis campaign using the ai version of donald trump. let me show viewers that. [video clip] >> governor reynolds is a conservative champion signing the heart to be built. why is donald trump attacking her? >> i opened up the governor position for kim reynolds and when she fell behind i endorsed her and she wanted and now she wants to remain neutral. i did not invite her to events. >> trump should fight democrats, not republicans. what happened to donald trump? host: it was an ai voice of donald trump in the ad but it was a real social media post by donald trump or his truth social account. guest: where is he a new

frontier for artificial intelligence, campaigns and super pac's. we are stepping into uncharted territory. it viewers casually watching tv be able to tell that is an ai voice of donald trump or will they think it is the real thing? i'm not sure and it is not the only example super pac's using ai. francie saw this -- sarvis using any nai image of his face and they cannot coordinate but ai is letting them get pretty close. guest: we just play two ads where the ad was able to draw contrast on policy and a contrast on strategic initiative in lumping a candidate to the partisanship and the party. we talked about desantis ad and it was about that is cute, it is

about ai and that was the gimmick. i guess in a way it was the biggest hurdle for the desantis campaign is everything is about the desantis campaign, everything is about the horse race, everything is about what they may or may not create, who is ron desantis? host: it's about iowa and focusing on the caucuses? bring your attention to donald trump? guest: it is not an ai ad about how as a candidate going to shift the conversation with artificial intelligence getting jobs and securing jobs and policies as the rise of technology and innovation. he got it to round out by the gimmick in the coverage of this. host: 20 more time to talk about. -- we have plenty more to talk about. this is thomas out of new york, independent. good morning.

you're on with kevin cirilli and stephanie murray. host: -- caller: good morning. i would like to give a shout out to the capitol police, the magnificent bravery who stood their ground and protecting my vote. let me get to the issue at hand. the campaign. they have the third-party what would the consequences be since there are no third-party, there are no labels representatives see the house or the senate, how effective would a third-party candidate be if elected and put forth proposals that would benefit the american people? would that person, whoever that third-party individual would be, wouldn't they be attacked by both sides? host: a good day to ask that

question. kevin cirilli you recently moderated in the event last week. what was the event and what are your thoughts on the question? guest: stephanie is a great reporter so you become familiar with her reporting. when i was asked to moderate the no labels town hall in new hampshire, host: you made it to the diner? guest: yes, i got the pancakes. i was asked to moderate this and they said you can ask anything you want. nothing is off-limits. that was one of the questions i asked. ok, if you do this, are you concerned, senator manchin, the risk of being expelled a candidate for -- do you risk

being a spoiler candidate for president biden and helping trump? he said he has never been in a race unless he wins and never in a race to be a spoiler. host: let me give viewers that. we'll have it pulled up for you. this was last week at the event. [video clip] >> we are here to make sure the american people have an option and option is can you offer respective size -- sides. in your side cannot win without independent -- i decided cannot win without the independent. if they have another option then they are in trouble, both parties in trouble so they will have to say that you look at this again. we say over here and there would

not vote for us maybe we can move. it is too early. >> if you do get into a race and you spoil the election, would that factor into -- >> i've never been in a race to spoil. i get in a race to win. i never made -- the only place in the world in america is the next election starts today after the last election. have is nowhere but here -- that doesn't happen but nowhere but here. guest: from a practical standpoint, no labels has said that been able to raise $70 million and get access as an insurance policy to run a unity ticket essentially in the states. if the american people demand there be another type of

challenger to election, senator manchin is a for reelection in west virginia, state trump carried by 40 percentage points in 2020. as it relates to policy, which is the platform that millett was last week when they're coming it the common sense platform. it reminds me when alexandria new york congresswoman announced the great new deal. was a part in policy but not from -- cut from a same political playbook because she was able to lay down a marker. she was criticized by centerleft and republicans and praised by progressives and got into some of president biden's climate change efforts. no labels has been criticized and people have said everyone agrees on the stuff. they say that is the point. everybody agrees on a balancing the budget and, since government is supposed, why are they not in

policy? why the two parties answering to the respective ranges? that is the message then whatever candidate they choose or not choose to put out. host: stephanie murray on the labels and third-party candidates? guest: we are operating in a two party system that makes it difficult for a third-party unity ticket to win. i've heard from democrats who are worried about no labels, they appointive polling that shows unity ticket would pull from joe biden and maybe hand the election to the republican nominee. that is the concern for democrats. risk and time. guest: you are spot on. when i talked to sources in center-right world, they say remember that the republicans

are the 44,000 folks, independent voters in states like georgia, wisconsin back president biden in 2020 and voted against former president trump, it is not a vote for biden, it was a vote against trump. the leveraged they are seeking is who is the biden reelection campaign ultimately, how they going to put together that coalition of progressives and never trumpers? this conversation is forcing back to the forefront with the real risk months -- real risk of the division in the moderate community and impact that would have. host: the caller said he was not familiar with your work. what is the messenger where you work as a political reporter? guest: it is a new outlet covering politics, entertainment, business. we lashed about 12 months ago with the goal of delivering unbiased reporting. host: the messenger.com.

also currently a visiting media fellow at the atlantic cancel. guest: i was careful to receive the fellowship at the atlantic cancel -- grateful to receive the fellowship at the atlantic council. my focus has been -- my -- and looking at the u.s. competition and how important it is not just a traditional sense of of tactical information by the digital frontier and strategic competition with china and autonomous vehicles and high-tech innovation of the future. look at something like russia's egregious war with ukraine and how the general secretary of the communist party xi jinping has cozied up to vladimir putin.

that is the topics i have been able to research and explore and the impact it has on americans and our economy and most importantly our democracy. host: martha did not political campaigns focused on domestic issues and pocketbook issues. with the ongoing war in ukraine, how much do you think foreign policy will play into the issue field? guest: massively because covid-19 laid bare the u.s. overreliance on china and everything from our supply chain both from able to package off-line and also get medicine. our technology, one of the things, perhaps the biggest bipartisan achievement of the last couple of years republicans and democrats should champion is the chips act which they were to

create high-tech manufacturing jobs. to create what is the dna of our modern life powering cameras to spaceships to laptops. i think folks get it and even if you look at traditionally the last cycles where nafta has been an issue, the reason president biden was in pennsylvania in what using workers see. -- union workers see. i think people get the part of china. host: bruce in new york, republican. caller: yes, how are you guys? i'm kind of shy so maybe this will be awkward but i feel like maybe both sides are not doing what they're supposed to do.

i feel politicians may be 70 years ago would be like with the policies popping out and they're not for the american people. the whole thing good donald trump. if he is under investigation, how can you possibly answer questions people are going to shoot at him? i think it is a document. i am a republican and most of all i am an american and i does become surreal. -- it has become surreal. i am flabbergasted off of these policies that they sign in backroom deals. you want to know what is in the health bill? say yes to it. they put 6500 page bill in front

of a person read it in two days and then vote on it. host: i hear the frustration out. guest: it is an interesting point you make and i think the polling bears out that when you zoom out from the primaries and look at national numbers, voters are not so happy with either of their choices. they are frustrated with congress. it is a challenge that no labels has tried to address. it is a challenge. guest: 70% of american did not want a biden trump rematch according to a poll. i think there is this frustration amongst independent voters in which they feel that the two respective parties are able to fund raise off of the fringes and capitalize off of the division. the moderates and independent voters do not see themselves

reflected in either party. guest: you see this in a whole lot of states were independent voter registration is rising and people are leaving the democratic and republican parties and being independent. host: billy in texas, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to say that america is the strongest nation on this planet because we are a nation of god. we got more god than we have fake newspeople. we lead the world. america strong because of god. i can tell you joe biden is going to be the president again. he is not a crooked person. host: as election 2024 going to be about god? caller: yes, it is because america is not the largest country in the world we are the most powerful because the world can see us. we got so many crooked people out here staring in the devil,

they not going to be america. even when they brought slavery back, we defeated england. we won july 4. she was divided -- they keep us divided, that will never work. host: this is al in tennessee, independent. good morning. caller: yes, sir. these no labels guys the first thing they do is label things. they say everybody agrees we should have, since this, -- common sense this, common sesne that, but i disagree with that all of a sudden i do not have common sense. is he in elections, does not matter who the candidate is, for instance, biden and hobbes in arizona, they never debated

anything. fetterman had a stroke and had brain damage and the only thing that matters now is you have corrupt voter rolls and they generate mail in valleys and you harvest the ballasts -- mail in ballots then you harvest the ballots. let's think in narrative. -- last think is a narrative. the washington post lost $100 million last year. you are framing the debate based on $100 million worth of deep state propaganda. that is no good. we have to get out of the new york times and washington post pre--- washington post. host: we talked about the associated press. what do you trust? where did you go for your news? caller: i got six newsfeeds on my television screen.

i can look at fox, msnbc, bbc, and am looking -- last week i'm looking at connecting the dots from tens of millions of dollars of payments from foreign countries through shell companies to biden's account only on one channel. the other channel is trump, trump all the time. 75% of the country does not know we have documentation that biden crime family taken money from foreign countries. that is evidence. we have a hard evidence of that and a lot of the country does not know that. host: stephanie murray, or do you want to start? no labels voter rolls and immediate narratives, trump, and biden crime family. guest: i think you are right it is trump a lot of the time because political scandals have

sucked all the oxygen up in the room. it is hard not to talk about him when he's about to be indicted again for a third time. some of the benefits biden stepped out of the way and let the trump circus continue. if you are a republican candidate trying to challenge trump in the primary, it makes it hard to get attention. guest: also, we just heard there is a deep mistrust in institutions in the u.s. today. particularly amongst those who fill in mistrust with the media, mistrust with the government, mistrust -- and we should be blunt with the mistrust with the media. it is very real. people are skeptical of the job we do. we have to earn trust from our audience. would you always do every day. lastly there's a mistrust in

democratic process. how did that happen? how do we restore that trust collectively as a nation, not as a party, not for any candidate? when i have been back on the campaign trail and talking to voters, whether you agree with people to are not, there is about 30% of the country who does not trust our democracy. if we lose that, that is a big problem for our democracy. host: joe down on the loss of trust in media. when did we lose that trust and why? you say we have to earn the trust back? how do we do that? guest: there are more journalists who have always wanted to earn the trust of their audience. we think of our colleague at the wall street journal who is a brave person in terms of what he and his family who are telling

the horrors of russia's war with ukraine and conflict around the world and put themselves in danger. but i think specifically the political press which is different than those sectors that i just identified, the political press is in the era of social media and the error of fragmented media in the era of self branding has perhaps had the most difficult time trying to collectively, not individually gain the trust of the broader public as a whole. host: we showed this article to viewers from politico, does this help earn the trust? with says about gender wars -- with what barbie says in the gender wars. guest: i did not read the

article so i have no opinion. host: stephanie murray on loss of trust and any back trust as a reporter? guest: everything you said is right and it is a challenge for the press. local newspapers are shrinking. wherever you are watching the show today, your local newspaper is probably about half of the size as it used to be, if it even exist anymore. so much of our media has become totally national. reflecting our broader national divide, cultural war divide and there is less of the daily and local reporting we used to have. host: what are some think media did we were embedded in the campaign -- a lesson learned from the campaign the media should not do? guest: there's a lot of things the media did write in both camps. in terms of -- it is simple. what are the issues folks care

about? one of the policies folks care about? -- what are the policies folks care about? continue to drive that home. we are here to serve as journalists the public and getting information and getting to the truth. trying never to lose sight is that as well and ask tough questions. host: this is the lead story from the hill newspaper, frustrated lawmakers demanded answers on ufos. guest: i think that is important. i still work on politico, but i think space exploration and space economy and space supply chains and what is going on, i think, what is going on? space is untapped area economically, national security perspective, competition with china in

addition to the future. i think space collectively is going to be something folks want to know about. host: they make a point in the story that the interest bird from the chinese -- interest spurred from the chinese spy balloon and ufos over u.s. in general. guest: i think it is a massively underreported area. host: 20 minutes left in our roundtable this morning. henry in virginia on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: i just did not understand why it is that the republicans are going so far with mr. trump and the fact that the only reason -- i know a lot of republicans and they are not like that.

i do not know how they can follow a guy like that saying he wants to control the piggyback in the white house and he wants to take charge of everything. that is not who we are about. i've fought in vietnam and that is not what we had in mind to have one died, especially a guy with all of these indictments. he is scared to debate. that's all have to say. the ufos, yeah, they up there. they jumped off a bunch of republicans in washington. host: i believe he made the point earlier that after the indictments the former presidents polls numbers have gone up amongst republicans. this is house speaker kevin mccarthy making this point last week. [video clip] >> i guess under a biden administration you would expect

this. recently president trump went up in the polls and was surpassing president biden for reelection so what are they do now? weaponized government go after their number one opponent. it is time, i think the american public is tired of this, they would have equal justice and the idea that they utilize to go after those politically disagree with is wrong. host: speaker mccarthy last week on capitol hill. direction on capitol hill in general -- the reaction on capitol hill in general from the lawmakers? guest: for the republicans, for many of the republican districts, the former president polls incredibly well. he is the dominant front runner. it is tough for republicans trying to reflect the need of the district not to go against the standard public and primary. there's a power vacuum in

leadership. guest: even for the people running against him they are reluctant to criticize trump or even play up this indictment. a decent portion the republican primary field placed a would pardon trump there elected to the white house. if you -- if he is convicted of a crime. it is different we are trying to pull away from supporters without alienating them. the dance the candidates are doing right now as part of the reason that they are not catching fire against the polls. trump also in their districts. this is the challenge. host: outward in iowa, republican. good morning. caller: good morning.

earlier you made a comment about never trumpers voters in georgia and arizona as it was a vote against trump we also have found out that a number of voters had they known about the laptop they never would have voted for biden. do you think that would be enough to swing the vote back to trump? host: edward, stay on the line while we get the answer. guest: to answer your question directly, i think that without question the issue you are referencing is one that conservatives are arguing ought to be further explored. i think now as we enter into a new race and a new presidential cycle, it is one that is going to come up. i cannot predict the future of how the voters are going to vote

in 2024, but you had asked the question and there other people who are asking and likely when the question get asked is going to demand an answer from the reelection campaign. there denied any wrongdoing. but republicans have argued there are more questions than -- that need to be asked. as it relates to independent voters, when i said they are divided right now, perhaps i should have been more specific. leadership of many independent moderate organizations are trying to explore the best path forward for 2024 cycle. no labels is taking one approach. the lincoln project is taking another approach. that is what i meant when i said they are divided in terms of the best strategic approach they are taking.

thank you for your question and allowing me to clarify. host: are you going to caucus in january for the republican caucus in iowa? caller: yes. host: do you know who for? who is that? caller: donald trump. host: is there any way your mind to be changed between now are then are you set on this vote? caller: well, he is not my first choice, but i think is going to be the winner. host: why do you say he is not your first choice? caller: there somebody else who i would rather see. host: do you mind sharing who that is? caller: tim scott. host: why? caller: i think he would be an excellent president. i like his policies and i like his guts. he stands up and says what he has to say. host: this is two paragraphs from today's new york times

their story about tim scott. he is perfectly positioned a right to seize the moment if donald trump collapses from his criminal cases. the only question is whether either moment will come. stephanie murray on tim scott. guest: what you say this is an example of what a lot of voters in iowa and donors are thinking about tim scott that he could cease this moment -- seize this moment. especially seiu will as desantis campaign struggled -- in iowa as desantis campaign struggled, he got some bumps there. trump did not go to that event. he got his a spot of the republican governor a few days before, he skipped this big presidential event where half dozen of the candidates did show up.

it makes you wonder if the trump campaign is trying to set excitations that he might not perform as powerfully as the polls suggest or you would expect him to as a former president as caucus-goers say, trump is not my first choice, i will caucus for in many ways but i would like to say someone else and that could be tim scott. host: what us your attention? guest: republicans are split on how to take abortion restrictions and that was on full display in iowa. the governor window station signed a six week abortion ban at that event. she received a lot of praise from much of the gop presidential field but when they are talking to the press after that signing, they were saying they would advocate for a 15 week national abortion ban rather than a six week one. it shows you the most antiabortion candidates see the

national polling and understand where nationally voters are at when it comes to abortions restrictions and polling shows it is support for abortion at a six week special move forward into pregnancy, the percentage goes down. the field republicans generally are split on how far to take these new roles. host: the messenger.com for more on that. you are the author. guest: for republicans, it is a defining issue and for democrats. both sides have tried to mobilize parts of their respective parties to get them out to vote. i have to say i love iowa voters because and he should go to zombie burger the next time you're there. it is the best. the thing about iowa and

caucus-goers they do not expect know the pick canada's policies -- can it is they expect to shake their hands. they take their vote so seriously and i think it is awesome. host: erin in alabama, independent. good morning. caller: i guess i would start off by saying this message was brought to you by pfizer. it seems like everybody sold out to the money scandal that was the cares act. who's going to stand up to these big international bankers ? it seems like everybody has sold out. what are we going to do about it and who is going to do anything about it? trump and biden and everybody sold out. who is not sold out to big pharma? guest: the issue of big pharma

is the one and populace argument in both parties is going to be further explored. rfk, in terms of the criticism he took from most democrats on the hilt last week and the praise he garnered from some republicans. rfk running against biden. historically, we have been here before, in terms of the issue reemerging, after the plague in the early 1900s, there was this issue resurfaced. i think it is going to resurface given the last couple of years and what is going on. that distress in many of the institutions -- that distrust in many of the institutions. host: carrie in illinois, democrat. caller: good morning.

i am calling because there's a lot of stuff going on with the election and it is really crazy. the one think i really want to tell the dnc and democratic party is they need to stop doing all of this partisan -- they have picked a candidate. i do not think it is fair. they did the same thing with hillary in 2016. i want to hear the taj of the kennedys that -- i want to hear the candidates and i want to hear more from rfk. i have not and i'm leaning towards him. i'm going to do my research. there is going to be a lot of times between now and the election but i wish the media and the political atmosphere would allow people to have a voice so that the voters could

truly make up their minds of what they want, what they want to hear, what they want to see. there's a lot of issues out there now that is affecting the american people and the working class people. there are a lot of things out there that is impacted me, my neighbors, and i want to hear their policies. what are they going to do? host: as a democrat, was joe biden your candidate in 2020? caller: no, but i didn't vote for him because i did not want trump. host: who did you want in the primaries? caller: bernie sanders, of course, is who i wanted in 2016 but the most recent election, i just got on the bandwagon because i did not want trump. the whole divisiveness and the

whole far right, for -- far left, everyone gives me a lot of problems because i call myself an extremely moderate liberal. there is no shish think. that they say there is no such thing but there absolutely is. host: let's dive into your comments. guest: i think it ties into what we talked about his by then going to be put together this coalition of antitrust vote? we are because for them to debate his lesser-known primary challengers -- we hear calls for him to debate his lesser-known primary challenges and there's this interesting calendar shake up the dnc has push forward the last few months , changing the early-stage order for democrats. something that will go by quieter because it is not such a big open field primary like it was in 2020 but there's a chance

somebody else other than biden could win the primary in new hampshire if the state does move ahead with its primary date even though the dnc has asked to push back later. they do not, there's a chance biden will not go on the ballot and rfk or someone else could win the new hampshire primary and give biden a political headache. host: kevin cirilli you have donald in georgia, republican. caller: good morning. i want to talk about the republicans and democrats. when trump came down the escalator and said -- host: are you still with us? caller: yes, when he came down in 2015 and said he was going to drain the swamp, he hit both sides, democrats and republicans. i'm a vulture but -- i am a

voter but you do not know what to vote for because you do not know who is telling the biggest lie. host: 50 swamp get drained during the trump presidency? caller: no because he was just one man by himself. democrats and republicans went to fight him. that is the reason why he did not win in 2020. guest: i think what it donald tapped into amongst trump supporters he ran as an outsider candidate and with the indictments he is saying they are still against me and carry, i think the caller before him, she is saying like millions of other independent voters, i am a voter and other party is speaking to me. -- and no other party speaking to me and that is the biggest unknown variable that i did not notice as much as the previous two election cycles, there are large group of people frustrated

that they fill neither side is speaking to them. host: let me throw numbers out. to support a third party or independent candidate in 2024 44% of registered voters say they definitely or probably consider it if candidates include biden and trump. 45% of democrats would consider, 34% of republicans would consider. guest: i think it is what we have tapped into that there are a lot of voters who feel like either party is speaking to them. independent voters are not happy to see a trump biden matchup next fall. host: lorena in indiana, independent. caller: good morning. one think i'm not going to say

is you know i wish they would stop taking of time saying you know. i want to know how is no one talking about the person printing from texas? he was asking for one dollar -- i want to know how no one is talking about the person who is running from texas? he was asking for the one dollar and that is the only person i would vote for. john, i wish you would stop conversation with people and let people get through and ask questions. we know you are intelligent and everything you do not have to find out what where they live in everything. we do not need to hear that. we want to get online and ask the question and make a comment and get off-line. thank you. host: thank you for the feedback. final feedback pre-guest: i'm

johnson biggest fan and i grew up outside of philadelphia and i love hearing where people are from. a level he's able been able -- i love brian and what he has been able to do with c-span. i love being on your show. host: what are you watching for this week? guest: high indictment is the biggest story and economically indicators and the impact that is going to have on the safety of the nation. guest: how much you have the debate states shape up. it is one month from today is the first republican presidential debate. the hand is not making the station at are asking for one dollar to get themselves on the debate stage -- the candidates who are not making the stage yet are trying to get one dollar to get themselves on the debate. host: thank you both for your time this morning.

up next, conversation with veteran journalist and author jfk assassination researcher jefferson morley about the recent release documents about the former president's assassination. stick around for that ♪ >> nonfiction book lovers, c-span has a number of podcasts for you. listen to best-selling, non- fiction authors on afterwards. on q&a, listen to conversations with others making things happen. but notes plus episodes are weekly, our long conversations that feature fascinating authors of nonfiction books on a wide variety of topics and the about books podcast takes you behind the scenes of the nonfiction book publishing industry with

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witnesses will give first-hand accounts as the committee -- the committee assesses transparency on the issue and a potential threat to national security. later, federal reserve chair jerome powell will hold a news conference following the federal open market committee meeting. watch this week live on the c-span networks or c-span now, our free mobile video. head over to c-span.org for scheduling information work stream video live and on-demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪ >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with the days biggest events with live streams and floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns and more from the world of politics all at your fingertips. stay current with the latest

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which still surrounds the subject. i have been doing it about 10 years. jfk facts was formed in 2012. host: latest news about the jfk assassination coming from new york times, biden final order on kennedy files leaves some still wanting more. explain what happened at the end of last month and what a final order on the kennedy files is. guest: june 30, president biden issued an order relating to the release of jfk files that remained in the government's position that continue to have reactions in them. there -- redaction's in them. biden's order enables primarily the cia, but other government agencies, to keep those documents secret indefinitely. at the same time, new material was released. a lot of -- several thousand

documents were released over the last six months. not in their entirety in every case, but more declassified versions then before. in those documents was one very important document, in my view. which was a document from 1962. a 61-year-old document revealed the name of the cia official who was reading lee harvey oswald's mail before the kennedy assassination. a detailed the cia had hung on four close to six decades. the story of how the cia monitored and surveilled the alleged assassin before kennedy was killed is a key part in the jfk story still unfolding. host: his name, ruben ephron. what dots can we connect from learning his name, that back story? guest: what ruben ephron's name tells us is, the cia was paying

close attention to the man who is sometimes described as a lone gunman. he did so at the behest of more senior officials within the cia. what his story points out is how the cia watch the man who allegedly killed the president for four years before the assassination happened. what this suggests is the cia was either incompetent in watching oswald closely and failing to stop him from protecting the president or that the cia was somehow the nip relating oswald to be what he said he was, a path for other people to commit the crime. what we see is we cannot answer that question yet, thanks to the continuing secrecy host: host: of the cia. do you lean one way or the other when it comes to your personal thoughts and after these years of research on the topic? caller: after all these years of

research on the topic, i have come around to the view of president truman, president john then -- johnson, president nixon, who privately believe president kennedy was killed by enemies who made the ability to make the crime look like something us and those people might have come from the cia. three presidents believe that. texan kennedy and robert kennedy believed that. -- jackson kennedy and robert kennedy believe that. who specifically was behind the crime, that is what is shrouded in secrecy. host: we are talking with him this morning in the wake of that release from the national archives of some of the still remaining redacted documents surrounding the investigation and this jfk assassination. if you want to join this conversation, you can do so by phone lines split regionally. eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8000. mountain or pacific, (202) 748-8001.

how many documents are still redacted? what do we think is in their? what don't we know about what is in there? guest: the jfk records collection as it has been collected by the national archives since 1990 consists of about 320,000 documents from a range of government agencies. most of those, probably a majority, are from the cia. the fbi and other agencies comprised a lot. of the documents that still remain secret, there is 4600 that contain reactions. these reactions might range from a single word or a name or a sentence, sometimes a paragraph or a whole page. those documents, the 46 hundred documents, are primarily from the cia. there is a bunch from the irs, which are exempt from disclosure, that is written into the lot. there are conversations between

jackie kennedy and william manchester, the author that will not be released, which are related to the assassination. what is in these records are what the cia does not want to share about the assassination. some of this is legitimate national security information, but i think that is a very small percentage. what we see in the redacted documents -- when were documents have come off in the past, for example in the last six months, oftentimes the information revealed is completely trivial and it is hard to believe it was withheld. one document that came out earlier this year revealed the united states had a listening post in australia, which is known as pine gap. at the time the cia was taking this -- keeping this secret, netflix had a series called time gap about the u.s. listening post in australia.

the cia was trying to keep that secret. that is the kind of excessive secrecy that makes people question whether the cia is undertaking this law in good faith. a lot of the reactions are not important at all. others, like the name of ruben ephron, conceal information as quite relevant to the assassination story the cia would prefer not to share because it is embarrassing. the cia does not want to explain to the american people, we were reading the mail of the man who killed the president. they do not want to talk about that for understandable reasons, not because there is some national security secret, but because it is embarrassing. people say, how did that happen? didn't anyone at the cia lose their job because they were reading the mail of the man who killed kennedy? no, no one at the cia lost their job. people do not trust the cia on this issue, nor should they. the cia has an atrocious record

of lying about matters related to the assassination. that is why we want to see all the records, because the cia cannot be trusted. host: jefferson morley, our guest of jfk facts. and author of scorpions dance. joining us for the next 25 minutes on the "washington journal." phone lines are split regionally. mike out of montgomery, alabama. good morning, you are first with jefferson morley. caller: good morning. 60 years has gone by. jfk was murdered in dallas in 1960 three. i was 10 years old. it stuck with me, being raised catholic, going to a parochial school. the nuns, the priests, the

monsignor's were thrilled he was the first catholic president. having said that, there have been such a wide array of speculative, probably serious, if i may say -- it goes back to when rfk testified to put jimmy havel away. there was some situation there, it turned around organized crime was going to get jfk. you talk about the cia, kevin costner made a movie 25 years ago about attorney garrison. all the facts were there. then, it was shut down. we still do not have any concrete answers. i remember reading 10 years after jfk died that the government would start releasing documentation. it has been a slow trickle of documentation.

this brings it all out again. i do not think we will ever know. that is my comment. thank you, c-span. host: your chance to respond. guest: that is right. we still do not have all the records. the government has been very slow. by law, these records were supposed to be released by october 2017. first, president trump, then president biden both succeeded to demands for continued secrecy. people are frustrated. they are wondering, why would the government do this? why would you keep withholding information that is 60 years old? when people act like they have something to hide, it is reasonable to prelude they have some thing to hide. that is how the government and cia are behaving right now. host: this law we have been talking about, governing the document release, was passed in 1992. can you explain the interest in the jfk assassination in 1992,

why it got to such a hype this law would be passed by congress? guest: what happened in 1992 was oliver stone released his movie, jfk. which start kevin costner as the new orleans district attorney jim garrison. it tells the story how garrison attempted to investigate the it's hassan nation and -- the assassination. the movie with an a-list cast of top talent like kevin costner and joe pesci was a huge hit. it was a slick, compelling piece of cinema. this runaway hit, jfk, in 1992 came with at the end of it oliver stone inserted a trailer and said, 90% of the governments's documents related to the assassination are still secret, which was true in 1992. if you want to do something

about that, contact your congressman. congress was buried in an avalanche of outraged constituents in the mail, saying, why are these records hidden? it was strong, the controversy was so strong that congress was shamed into doing the right thing. they passed a strong law, the jfk records act, which said all government agencies had to produce any records related to the assassination. they had to review them for national security and privacy material. then, they had to release them. they created a process to do this, they created an independent review board to handle this. this was what was strong about the jfk records act. it took the final decision about the release of records away from the government agency into independent hands. so, the cia no longer had the final word on whether this document or that document would be made public. with that power, the jfk review

board was able to do a tremendous job in obtaining a huge number of records like i said before. 320,000 records comprising several million pages of material were collected and put into the national archives. that new group of records really deepened and changed our understanding of the assassination. host: as we noted at the top, president biden has now issued his final order on what would be released. can the next president down the line issue a new final order, or will we never see what is in those final documents? guest: that is a good question. a nonprofit foundation which sponsors the internet's largest online collection of jfk records has sued the president. they believe they are improperly enforcing the law. what biden has done is basically

washed his hands of the matter. what he said was from now on, the determination about the remaining records that have reactions -- those decisions will not be made by the president. they will be made by the national security agency and the cia. there is no provision in the law for the release of this additional material. the way things stand now, cia can keep these records secret forever. so, we do not think that was right. we do not think that was the intent of congress in passing the jfk records act. for right now, that is the president decision and that is the law. we do not know when these other records will be reviewed or released. that is entirely up to the intelligence community now, not up to the president. what a future president could do, well, president trump has promised if he is elected again, he will release the records.

trump promised that before in the 2016 election. when it came time to release the records, he did not do it. he turned around and acquiesced to the cia. a future president has a lot of latitude about these records, but the next president would follow the biden order and leave the matter in the matters -- leave the matter in the hands of the cia. host: this is ron. you are on with jefferson morley . caller: in the 1960's, i listened to a radio interview with sylvia mager. sylvia was on the warren commission, she said she quit because they were told not to view the assassination theory. she left. along with mark lane and a few other people who wrote books. the other thing i have to say is , i have the dallas morning

news. it says the gunmen was found in the book depository with a german mauser. they changed the story to an italian car can go, that was the gun oswald owned. the other thing is, in this country, you are innocent until proven guilty. oswald was never brought to trial, never convicted. actually, he is still innocent and there is still, to me, a definite -- i think something should be done about finding whether or not there was a triangulation of fire or one assassination, which i think there was. i would like to see something done about this. i am disappointed with president biden, what he did. although, i am a biden fan. host: let me pause there. you bring up a lot of different issues.

let me let jefferson morley jump in. caller: he is right about the warren commission being not deviating from a preordained conclusion. guest: three days after the assassination, president johnson and hoover spoke and they both said and told aides explicitly that what they wanted was an investigation that found that oswald had on this alone and had no collaborators. so, the president had not even be buried -- been buried. oswald was dead and had not been buried and the investigation had barely begun. the president and j edgar hoover wanted the lone gunman solution. they got it. nine months later, the warren commission said, lee harvey oswald killed the president for another reason -- for no reason. and another guy came along and killed him because he felt like it. it is not a strange story.

as run pointed out, writers immediately began to point out the story did not make sense based on the evidence of the warren commission itself. he mentioned sylvia mark, she wrote one of the books most influential on me called accessories after the fact. which was a very careful book, not a conspiracy theory. it showed the warren commission's story could not possibly be true. those doubts had been there, strong, well-founded, right from the start. they governments continuing observation through a law supposed to give full disclosure -- people can see the government really does not want to talk about this. it is embarrassing, it is a difficult, hard subject for the government to come to terms with. but, 60 years later, it is an issue in the presidential election. people still care about it. if we have a government that responds to the will of the

people, we are going to get all of these jfk records. that is an open question. host: on twitter once you to talk more about jack ruby, saying i happen curious about jack ruby's ties with organized crime. guest: jack ruby, the man who killed lee harvey oswald two days after the assassination, owned a burlesque club in dallas. he was an organized crime want to be. he was not in organized crime, but wanted to hang around the gangsters of dallas. he stopped oswald after oswald was arrested. he appeared at a press conference the night before oswald was killed. ruby was there. ruby was gunning for oswald from the start. he did have organized crime connections. there were lots of phone calls which were later discovered from him to las vegas to areas where there were organized crime figures. i interviewed a woman who knew

ruby. she told me, i said, why did your friend jack kill oswald? she said, i do not think jack had a choice. i said, what do you mean? she said, i heard he works for summit. jack worked for people. they think that is my ruby had to kill oswald, the people he worked for. who were they, she did not know. she was under the impression ruby did not voluntarily kill oswald, but somehow had to do it. lee harvey oswald on trial would be a devastating defeat and embarrassment for the cia, because they knew so much about him. if he had gone on trial, all of that would have come up. all of the information that has taken 60 years to learn might have come out in 1963 with oswald on trial. the cia would have been terribly embarrassed, might not have even

survived as an institution, if oswald had gone on trial. jack ruby silenced oswald for a reason. the most plausible explanation is that oswald knew more about a plot to kill the president and was a threat to talk about it. host: spokane, washington. good morning. caller: hi, mr. morley. i have a comment. that is with regards to the way the defendants -- the descendants of jfk and rfk have been treated the other day in congress. i am talking about the son of robert f kennedy and the way the democratic party just did not want to hear what he had to say in the cause of congress. -- in the halls of congress.

jfk had a lot to say to this country and he did a lot for this country. these democratic politicians did anything but be decent to that man. they seem to think they are going to censor what can be said and what cannot be said by anybody. i resent that. i want to say, i am sorry that he was put through that. it was wrong. i am sorry to the kennedy family, because they have done a lot of good for this country. without jfk junior, we would not have civil rights. it was not johnson, it was jfk junior. he was the one that started that. that is what my comment -- i do not know what happened. i am still sad. he was a kid when he was assassinated. i want to apologize and tell him, he had a right to his own

opinion and the american people have a right to hear it. host: got morley your point. mr. morley. guest: robert kennedy came in for a rough time in congress the other day, mostly what he said about covid and covid being ethnically targeted. a lot of factually dubious comments. his comments about his uncles assassination, on the other hand, did not figure a great deal in that discussion in he is being attacked for other things, other statements, other than what he says about his uncle's assassination. that is somewhat controversial, but that is not what he is taking the heat for in an event like what happened yesterday. host: a question from mlb on twitter. why do you think finding out the truth about an assassination that took place in 1963 is still important today? guest: that is a very good question. it is a really important

question. i think a couple of things. one, this is a matter people still care about. when you look at a presidential candidate like robert kennedy talking about it, you look at the news coverage, former president trump talking about it. it is an issue people still care about. people feel there was some possibility there was loss with the loss of kennedy. if the president was killed by enemies within his own government that got away with it, we live in a different country than if that is not true. what happened after jfk's assassination, when we had no real accountability. think about it, the president of the united states is shot dead in rotted daylight in no one is ever brought to justice for the crime. a previous caller said, lee harvey oswald was charged, never convicted. his innocence has to be presumed. that is the conundrum where

people pause. without accountability, this country went on a more militaristic course, i would say, after 1963 because the intelligence community was not held accountable the way it should have been. the way harry truman thought it should've been. harry truman's response to the assassination was, we need to abolish the cia. truman suspected the assassination might have emanated from the clandestine service, was not a conspiracy eerie. that is what the former president of the united states, the man who signs the cia into existence, that is what he believed. after 1963, we lost this accountability and the cia obtained an impunity in the american power system that has been checked to some degree, but is still largely there. i think when people talk about the jfk story, they are interested in what happened historically, but also

establishing credibility, accountability over the secret intelligence agency that we seem to have lost. host: east sandwich mass, this is brian. good morning. caller: good morning. i was leaving high school when it came over the public address system in massachusetts, everyone was crying and every thing. i wanted to ask you about the warren commission, should have voted for gerald ford. i wonder if there is anybody left from the warren commission. what about the rifle that allegedly was used in this murder? finally, isn't the role of the secret service to attack the president? i would like to know what your

guests thoughts are on the protection of the president during that time. guest: let me take those questions. the performance of the secret service was obviously terrible. he lost the president, they failed to protect him. no one at the secret service lost their job as a result of that atrocious failure, which tells you something. how come nobody lost their job with the ultimate failure? the reason was, the government closed ranks and decided this one guy did it, nobody else is to blame, nobody else has to be held accountable. we are going to push it off on this conveniently dead man. that was inherently suspicious. the secret service -- in 1995, 30 years after the assassination, the jfk review board created to put jfk records in public, went to the secret service and said, we want to look at your records from 1963

and we are going to come by and here is our procedure for doing that. before that meeting could be scheduled, the secret service went out and destroyed reports from 1963. even 30 years later, the secret service was scared of accountability in jfk's assassination. you ask about the rifle that oswald allegedly used. multiple teams of people have tried to replicate what all is walled allegedly did with that rifle. really, no one has been able to replicate it. you can make the task a little simpler, like some people test on a target that is not moving. some people test on -- with a different rifle. nobody has been able to reproduce what oswald allegedly did there. even the witnesses of the crime, even the people in the car were

kennedy was, do not accept the warren commission's version of where the gunfire came from. john connelly was struck by multiple bullets and was quite adamant and certain that he and kennedy had been struck by two different bullets. the warren commission said they were struck by one. connelly and his wife, who was also in the car, never believed that. the government's explanation around the man with the rifle was not critical. host: anything else you want to add to that? caller: i forget exactly what he was asking about the warren commission. guest: the warren commission was created for damage control purposes. it was not created for fact-finding purposes. even lyndon johnson, the man who appointed the warren commission, later in life said, i do not believe it. he believed kennedy had been killed by his enemies. if lyndon johnson did not

believe the warren commission which he appointed, i do not see any reason why anybody else should believe it. host: to new orleans, this is thomas. good morning. caller: good morning. really enjoying this program. it is certainly timely. like other callers, i was in grade school when kennedy was killed. i went to a catholic school in louisiana. if it weren't for the beatles on ed sullivan a couple of weeks later, that was a placebo. my question -- i still live in south louisiana. are there any dots to be connected between jim harrison, carlos marcella, judith mary baker and mailbox and dying in a plane crash in alaska? especially the judith baker book, which is fascinating to me. many people do not know about it, she was supposedly lee

harvey oswald's girlfriend in new orleans. are there any dots to be connected here? i will hang up and listen to your response. thank you. guest: judith baker is a woman who claims she was lee harvey oswald's girlfriend. i spent some time with her to check that out. i was not able to confirm her story. i do not believe it. i do not believe what she said. she might have known oswald, she may be exaggerating her relationship or inventing a relationship with him. i was not able to confirm her claims. i would put that matter aside. carlos marcello was the mafia boss of new orleans. he was deported by robert kennedy in 1962 to guatemala. humiliated and had a strong animus against the president and his brother. whether marcello was involved in the assassination or not, there is some talk among mafia figures about getting rid of kennedy.

i have never seen persuasive evidence the reckless connecting -- i tend to doubt the organized crime figures were the motivating force in the assassination. i think the rumor of jack ruby executing oswald indicates organized crime involvement in the events of 1963, but i do not see them as the moving force of that. jim garrison as a longtime prosecutor disick -- district attorney did not make marcello organized crime the focus of his investigation. that is where i would leave it when it comes to carlos marcello. host: you talk about ruben ephron, the revelations about the cia listening post in australia. what is another big revelation from these recent releases of the jfk documents? guest: one of the most

important, which i first reported on jfk facts is a memo written by a man named donald heath. donald heath was an undercover officer in the miami station in 1963. in 1977 when congress reopened the congressional investigation, he wrote a memo to the house select committee on assassinations. he said, you should know we conducted an investigation of the assassination in the miami station. in this memo, he laid out what the cia has done in the immediate aftermath of the assassination. which was, launch their own investigation of who killed kennedy. at the time they launched this investigation, the president, johnson, fbi director j edgar hoover had agreed they wanted to find that one man alone did this and had no co-conspirators. they were echoed with that view by the dallas police department

and all of the national press corps. there were no jfk conspiracy theorists. in south florida at the cia station in miami, they had a different impression. they did not believe that oswald alone had killed the president. they believed he was what he said he was, a fall guy. they set out to investigate anti-castro cubans known to the cia who they thought might be behind killing kennedy as a way of triggering a u.s. invasion of cuba. that was the leading possibility in the eyes of the cia in the immediate aftermath of the assassination. we did not find out about this investigation until heath's name was classified last december. the results of that cia investigation of kennedy's murder have never been released. they were never shared with the warren commission or any other investigations. we do not know what they found. it they find an anti-castro

exiles were involved in kennedy's assassination? did they absolve cuban exiles from any role in the assassination? we do not know. that document just came out. that is another example of something that took a long time for us to find out, is obviously relevant to understanding the assassination story. what did the cia think of kennedy's assassination? we just found out about it now. there are new things to be learned by these records. that is one of the ones that happened in the last six months. host: this is jim, baltimore, maryland. you are on. caller: hello, thank you for returning emails to me i sent you in the past. number one, my question has to do with the interview done of james pastor rick -- james patrick, following oswald around. in the interview, they stopped the interview when he mentioned

his third note he wrote, which identified where lee harvey oswald was working. the other two notes apparently were given to numbers, i think you track down who those notes were going to. the third note was never identified and we never heard anything about it. i am wondering if you have thoughts on that. guest: yeah, you know. it is a good question. the fbi destroyed a note oswald had written to him before the assassination. this did not come out at the time of the assassination. it only came out about 12 years later. the fbi had a note from the accused assassin to the fbi. a secretary who worked in the fbi office who read the note said it was threatening, that oswald was upset host he was talking to his wife and felt harassing her. he was telling the fbi to lay

off after oswald was killed, the head of the fbi in dallas ordered him to destroy the note and he did it. why would the fbi destroy material evidence in and assassination of the president? especially if it would tend to confirm oswald skill? the only conclusion you can draw is the note not confirm oswald's guild, it cast doubt on it and that is why the fbi felt obliged to destroy it. you talk about the role of alan douglas in guiding and controlling testimony for the warren commission, his presence on the commission is a sign of the investigation was con surprised -- was compromised. he had been fired from jfk. he was an active opponent of kennedy's policies. when you see in how he acted during the warren commission, he clearly tried to control testimony to lead witnesses to the conclusions he wanted, that nobody at the cia was

responsible, nobody happy cia needs to be held accountable. douglas compromised the investigation and his handling is one more example of that. host: morley jefferson morley -- jefferson morley. if you want to subscribe to jfk fact, how to do it? guest: jfkfacts.substack.com. you can pay a small fee, $55 a month and get a subscription to get access to all of the original reporting as well as a podcast and videos. host: easy enough to find on twitter. it is jefferson morley. i appreciate you chatting with us on a sunday morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: in our final 20 minutes today on "washington journal",

it is our open forum where we let you lead the discussion. any political issue, any state issue you want to talk about. phone lines are yours to do so. the numbers are on your screen. we will get to your calls after the break. ♪ ♪ >> tonight on you and i, axios chief financial correspondent felix salmon, author of the phoenix economy, talks about the long-term social and economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic. >> the pandemic gave us this yolo theme that is throughout the economy. people are embracing their dreams and following their dreams, creativity creates not just art, it creates commerce, companies in wealth. i think that is one of the big

reasons why i am so optimistic. i see opportunity of creativity more broadly then it has ever been. people anywhere in the world, as long as they have an internet connection basically, can change the planet in a way they have not been able to before. i think we are only in the beginning of seeing a huge opportunity where we are forced to take another look at our lives, how do i actually want to live? >> felix salmon with his book, the phoenix economy, tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. you can listen to q and a and our podcasts on our free c-span now app. ♪ >> if you are -- if you ever miss c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at the span.org. videos of key hearings, debates

and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on slick videos. this timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on the spans point of interest -- c-span's point of interest. >> "washington journal" continues. host: in an open forum, letting you lead the discussion. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. as you call in, here is a story from today's washington post about a man that c-span2 viewers are familiar with. the reverend barry black, no one has served longer -- a longer consecutive term ministering to the senate and if he stays on another four years, barry black

will be the most tenured senate chaplain in history. the story notes he is the first nonwhite chaplain and that is often lost on most senators who, due to his tenure, only know of one chaplain, the referent barry black. he is 74 years old. he writes, it is pointless trying to pin down black's politics. he grew up in federal housing in a project in baltimore and used government aid to attend oakley university -- oakwood university. after several years in private ministry, he became a navy chaplain and spent more than 25 years inside a fairly conservative institution where he found inspiration from 11 conservatives pro -- from 11 conservatives. i turned to my wife and said, i think we are going to be ok.

i know the power of government when it is properly used. barry black, feature on him in today's washington post. 20 years as the senate chaplain. this is joe in indiana, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: thank you, john. i am sorry i missed the jfk situation. it was being reported. i just hope that c-span will keep that issue in mind and maybe have future people on about it. mr. morley was wonderful. i would like to say this. the jfk assassination and that of martin luther king and robert kennedy changed my whole life. i would like to recommend that people, if you can hit a copy of the book written called reasonable doubt an investigation into the assassination of john f. kennedy

by henry hurt, get a copy of that book. there are so many instances of where the government destroyed documents a long time ago. fbi, army intelligence, even the doctor that examined president kennedy's body at the naval hospital took his notes, his bloodstained notes of the entry wounds and threw them in the fireplace because he claimed he did not want these bloodstained notes to pass on in history. there are so many incidents of where documents have already been destroyed and i think people need to be aware of this situation about the kennedy assassination, because it has been so long ago. they figure everyone would be dead who had experienced this. that is why they took so long to release these documents. please, please have another show

about this assassination. please read the book, reasonable doubt by henry hurt if you can get a copy of it. host: this is bob in illinois, hometown, illinois. republican. what is on your mind, bob? caller: good morning, john. love the c-span. my topic is mainstream media. big tech covered up the biden family crimes. for seven years, president trump with no evidence or nothing, all this evidence under our noses, i am waiting for washington post in the new york times to print a paragraph or two about the biden crime family. we cannot wait. we have got to get from in there in 2024. host: this is don in new orleans, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. july 26, 1948, 75 years ago.

president truman desegregated the military with executive order 9981. now, one million black gis did not receive the g.i. bill. that includes about 10,000 female african-american gis who did not receive the g.i. bill, which created the wealth inequality in this country. even though black americans have been in the military serving this country since the christmas attucks and john martin, the first continental marine. when we look at the issue of the strikes of labor and we talk about the economics of this country, we have to look at the vagrancy laws, especially when i look at the actors strike and the writers strike. i think of charlie chaplin. charlie chaplin was from

england. he came to america and he pretrade a figure -- he portrayed a character that was about being unemployed. part of the deal was to serve in the military. when we talk about the vagrancy act of the 1824 in london, england, many of those powerless people came to economies where -- england's aristocracy or england's capitalists or england's land owners to what we call america today. when we look at these vagrancy 1866, which tried to usurp the 14th amendment of the u.s. constitution and even the 13th amendment with the exception to the abolition --abolishment

of slavery. we have a lot to be in cohesiveness about what we talk about the united states of america and this constitution. affirmative action and all these things they want to turn their back on, look at the vagrancy laws and we can move onward from there. host: thanks for bringing up executive order 9981. 75 years ago. the national archives, you can find that document, an image of that document. here is what the president wrote at the time. whereas it is essential there be maintained in the armed services of the united states the highest standards of democracy, with the quality of treatment and opportunity for all those who serve in our country's defense. therefore by virtue of the authority vested in me as president of the united states,

there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. this policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible. signed by president truman. this is donald, south bend, indiana. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say, i would be good with -- for exchange for trump not running for any public office ever again, i would be good with him being as a plea deal for not being prosecuted for all the indictments that are coming down against him and every thing. i would be good if you would just agree not to run for president of the united states or any public office ever again. in lou of being prosecuted and possibly going to jail. that is all i have to say. host: do you think a deal like that is a possibility, donald? caller: i hope so.

i hope so. if jack smith is -- jack smith is an interesting person. i do not know if he would accept that. but, i guess it would be for trump to decide that. it is a possibility he may make some deal like that. i am hoping he would. host: this is jimmy, athens, georgia. republican. good morning. caller: good morning, john. i have one opinion and three facts. i will provide the sources. too many colors expressed their opinions but give no facts. that is my opinion. my first fact is over 6 million people died of starvation during the great depression. all americans learned about the great depression during their school years, but you were talked about the millions who

died from lack of food. why is that? nearly all of us who starved, lived and died in the ukraine, which was then a part of the ussr. i source is wikipedia. fact number two, the man that convinced osama bin laden to join the muslim brotherhood was jamaal -- as a teenager, osama bin laden was more interested in gambling then politics. his high school buddy told him he was wasting his life and told him he needed to find a higher motive for living. the u.s. government killed bin laden and the saudi government killed him. source, the looming tower. fact number three, agnew resigned as vice president in 1974. president nixon went to jail -- president nixon replaced them. washington officials wanted ford to assume office as possible

because they knew nixon was about to be impeached. they decided or's would -- ford would need a vice presidential transition team. the man chosen to lead the team was brian lamb, who founded c-span. source, watergate by paragraph. host: this is willie in arkansas. independent, good morning. caller: i was born during the morning and i -- the governor of arkansas had school closed down in little rock, arkansas and i remember the time that john kennedy got assassinated. between kennedy and eisenhower, those are two of the best presidents we ever had in our lifetime.

anybody who thinks trump or biden or reagan and all those guys, i have never known other two presidents other than eisenhower and kennedy. host: this is jerry. crestview, florida. you are next. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. i want to make a brief statement concerning the statement one of your callers called earlier today, alluding to the fact of the so-called biden crime family. he said the mainstream media is not reporting on it. the reason that is is because the radicals on the right have taken control of the right-leaning media from where he gets his information from. that is all i got to say. host: just a couple minutes here before the end of our program, it is our open forum.

any public policy issue that you want to talk about. one interesting book that is just coming out that you might be interested in, this from the washington post book section. in the fall of 2018, a government official became the most famous writer in america but no one knew his name. he published an anonymous op-ed. the next year, anonymous expanded his exposé of transcription into a book called a warning. more than two years after the op-ed, miles taylor, a former department of homeland security official, revealed himself. tuesday, he published a new book, called blowback. miles taylor's book. this is keith, republican. good morning. caller: hi, good morning.

while we are engrossed around domestic, political mess, i think it is important we start paying attention to what happened this morning in moscow between putin and lukashenko. it sounds clear to me they have their sights set on poland's. lukashenko talked about the wagner group and how the mercenaries in belarus are restless and eager and went to go west -- one to go west. this is a clear indication we are heading to war and there is going to be a big innovation to pull in. i am worried. i think we have to start paying attention on this. host: lori is in california, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling because i want to share my reflections on the chino valley school district meeting this week. i watched the whole meeting

about over four hours long. in some ways, it is wonderful because both sides on the issue got to sit and listen to each other. i've felt for both sides. one of the main things was our school's state superintendent was present. his concern about giving parents notification when their children identify as transgender is that he cites the high suicide rate among the youth in that situation. i have personal family situation with suicide. i know how devastating suicide is. my conclusion is that, if over 40% of these youth are feeling suicidal ideation, that is a huge issue. it simply needs to be addressed

in a very serious way. they need therapy. that should probably be covered by their parents insurance. a small wellness center on campus and people who are not really trained well in mental health have no business thinking they can hide that kind of thing from their parents. there was a man there who testified how devastated he would be if his child committed suicide. he had no knowledge that the child was struggling with gender issues. so, that is my main point. tony, if you can hear my message, please take it more serious. suicide at 40% levels require more than hiding and supporting kids at school and thinking they are safe at school, when 40% are thinking of suicide?

school is not the safe place. therapy and family involvement is the only way to help those kids. thank you. host: our last caller in today's "washington journal." we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. in the meantime, have a great sunday. ♪