♪ host: good morning. thanks for tuning in. looking back at the week in the news, abortion is now set to be a top issue in another pivotal state in the 2024 presidential race, with arizona's supreme court allowing a near-total abortion ban in the state to kick in within a few weeks, and after several failed attempts, the house of representatives reauthorized a

controversial spine law. we want to hear about your top news story of the week. our line for republicans is (202) 748-8001. for democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents can call in at (202) 748-8002. and you can text us at (202) 748-8003. be sure to include your name and where you are writing in from. if you would like to reach us on social media, we are at facebook.com/ c-span and on x,, @cspanwj. we have been following that abortion story as well as the reaction on the campaign trail to the news out of arizona with former president trump issuing his stance in various ways on abortion. we also heard about speaker johnson being under fire by

marjorie taylor green, especially about that faisal law. the march inflation report came in higher-than-expected and president biden announced another round in his student loan forgiveness plan. many of us enjoyed watching the 2024 solar eclipse. some news we are watching out of the middle east follows news this week that iran has plans to strike sites in israel. here's a story about that in the new york times. american intelligence officials said friday iran plans to strike targets within israel within several days in retaliation for a strike on senior iranian commanders. iran is not expected to target the u.s. in order to avoid direct conflict.

any iranian strike would be a watershed moment in decades of hostilities between the nations that would most likely open a volatile new chapter in the region. president biden gave his assessment of the potential attack on israel from tehran. here he is responding to reporters questions about it. [video clip] >> my expectation is sooner rather than later. don't. >> our american personnel at risk? our american troops at risk as well? >> we are devoted to the defense of israel. we will support israel. we will help defend israel and iran will not succeed. thank you very much. host: now to your calls.

we will start with tom in cambridge, new jersey on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i hope everyone out there takes a listen to what i have to say. first of all, we are worrying about iran attacking israel. iran was loaded up from the democratic party. obama gave iran all of our drone missile technology. he landed our top drone in iran because he felt that it was fair for them to have a lead in the military division of the world now. not only did he give them the drone technology. obama-biden gave them billions of dollars on the fourth of july at midnight. so everyone get on google and look up all the money obama gave to iran to build up the drones

that he gave to russia and china. came to iran and dissected them, military drones from america that landed in iran because obama said land is there. he should have crashed into the sea. it's a stupid thing he did and he did it on purpose. thank you. host: we have paul in houston, texas on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: i would like to respond to respond to what this gentleman just said. obama did not give iran nothing. that was iran's money. he did not give iran anything. getting off that subject onto the celebration issue. biden will end up losing the election. everyone wants to see immigrants, over but in a legal way.

biden will hand trump the election. and we are going to have a fool for president. host: what do you think biden should do about the border? caller: i think you should stop -- close it off and let only legal -- let people in this country the legal way. host: thank you, paul. barney is in zephyrhills, florida on our line for republicans. good morning, barney. caller: i want to talk about the supreme court that trump put up there. when those guys were flowing in, they swore him on the bible. they lied on the bible about overturning roe v. wade. that's ridiculous. now you have your buddy trump

and the speaker of the house talking about a border wall before the election starts. it will be another insurrection. people storming the capitol again. host: and you are a republican? caller: what's wrong with that? host: right is right, wrong is wrong. caller: thank you. host: i want to talk about -- caller: i'm amazed that the religious establishment that knows the bible and the minister -- the ministers and clergy that jesus gives you a charge. if one wants to have an abortion, that's between her and her god. this thing about abortion, it's

no more a sin than telling a lie or committing adultery, because god said no big sin and no little sin. what's wrong with the churches, these preachers, these bishops? what only tell america and the world god gave you a choice -- why don't they tell america and the world gave you a choice? with the border, i don't know why biden don't do an executive order. from said don't pass his bill. he want to run on it. but it's just a mess. and as far as -- the infrastructure program. the income it would bring in. they would bring america new bridges, new technology, and they want to talk a has

infrastructure -- talk about his infrastructure program. the infrastructure? imagine what trump would get up if nobody mention his name? host: we have dewayne in north charleston on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. [indiscernible] host: it is hard to hear you. can you speak more directly to your phone? caller: sure. we have to keep our ion what's going on -- our eye what's going

on with the case in new york. host: you were talking about former president trump's hush money trial. caller: correct. that will be something to watch to see the truth so we can move on from this nonsense that's been going on since joe biden got in. and it's amazing how he disrespected him and still has not conceded. and that's really what my concern is about a person in general that does not admit he lost and move on. so we just have to keep an eye on what's going on. hopefully in november we will have a new day. host: thank you, duane. more information on that hush money trial. so news on that with a jury set to start in that trial monday. this past week, trump said he

intends to testify in his men had case -- in his manhattan criminal case. jury selection begins monday on the prosecution of donald trump on charges covering -- charges of covering up something. failing to fend off a criminal trial in manhattan that begins monday says he plans to testify in a case stemming from a hush-money payments to a porn star. mr. trump, when asked whether he would take the stand, responded he would. i'm testifying. i tell the truth, he said, standing with mike johnson behind them. all i can do is tell the truth and the truth is there's no case. they have no case. marshall is in nashville, tennessee on our line for republicans. good morning, marshall. caller: good morning.

good morning, america. i want to talk about what's going on in america and its multifaceted but i will keep it condensed as much as possible. this past week, iran said they were going to retaliate against israel. you have a president and a press secretary refusing to sell the press what preparations america is taking. meanwhile, in dearborn, michigan, you have a group of people who are singing death to america repeatedly. you have people protesting in the street in the name of palestinians, but those

palestinians are the ones who are shields for hamas. and i'm not saying that's by choice. although they elected hamas over there, they did not elect to be human shields. i want to kind of wrap that around democracy.your first color said check it out on google. by now, google has those stats hidden. the next caller stated that he was concerned about immigration and that biden is going to lose the election. my thought is he's not going to lose the election because of the 10 million people that he's allowed into this country, and not only that, but brought in. host: thank you. we have jj in california on our line for independents. good morning, jj. caller: good morning. thanks for having me on.

host: what is your top news story? caller: i have a couple. i'm concerned about biden's student loan. i'm going to take care of it. it comes down to the gritty. he's not taking care of the loans. the taxpayer will pay for it. the other thing i'm concerned about is get trump. you have fannie mae. it says money that was supposed to go for a trump convection that she spent on her boyfriend. jim jordan says fani may received grant money and she cannot produce receipts or evidence that show her the money went. number three, we have mayorkas, who says that the border is closed, and everybody says it's under control, and then you find out that how could that be when

13 million people crossed. you have biden and obama. ukraine was asking for help and they sent blankets. when trump was in office, they sent them tanks. finally, biden takes a physical but won't take a cognitive test. he gets up on the microphone and cannot make a sentence, cannot find his way off the stage, and the monitor is doing all the talking. host: i want to follow-up on one of the first new stories you've mentioned, which is about student loan forgiveness. here's a story about that in axios, that biden's student relief plan would cut debt. the ministry should announced a

new student loan forgiveness plan that would provide relief for more than 30 million borrowers. it is biden's latest attempt to cancel student debt after the supreme court blocked his signature debt cancellation plan last year. they have families to deliver relief to borrowers by using their existing authority and circumventing the need for congressional or court approval. the plan would cancel up to $20,000 of accrued interest regardless of income, the white house said monday. president biden touted that plan at an event in madison, wisconsin monday and responded to criticism that it leaves out other americans who did not attend college. [video clip] >> this relief can be life-changing, just as you heard from ashley. folks, i will never stop to deliver student debt relief for hard-working americans and it's in the interest of america we do it.

a good, it's for the good of our economy that's growing stronger and stronger as it is by freeing millions of americans from crushing debt. it means they can finally get on with their lives. that's why we are -- why anyone making payments should go to studentaid.gov to learn more and see if it applies to you. that is not all. people say it's great you are helping people in the college. how about those people who grow up and had no opportunity to go to college? that's the neighborhood i come from. that's where big part of my agenda is investing in all-americans americans whether you attended college or not. we are expanding career and technical education in high schools. think how many shop programs have been dropped, people not knowing whether they want to work with their hands, not being able to get started. to provide pathways to good middle-class jobs without college.

my labor department is providing grants for apprenticeship programs around the country. [applause] host: once again, looking for your top news story of the week. you can call in. our numbers are on the screen now. one message we got via text is steven from gladstone, michigan. "no matter how many tim dald trump tried to delay his criminal trial, it starts monday and there is nothinge n do to stop it. trump is frantic." that is the hush money trial in manhattan. kelvin is in maryland on our line for democrats. good morning, kelvin. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call and for what you do for the country. april 10, usa today, new voting restrictions taking hold in the south.

there's a quote from the louisiana state conference of the naacp. he said we have to use the same process that is being used to kick us out of the voting to make a stronger push to make sure that everyone has the unfettered right to vote. and the reason why this is important to me and it should be to the rest of americans is hr one, the john lewis voting rights act, that has to be passed. the last thing i would like to share is that you do your very best to fact-check some of the people, but it's hard to fact-check everybody with the time constraints that you have, but i do thank you for your service.

have a blessed day. host: thank you, calvin. calvin was referencing a story that came out on april 6. "voter id and absentee ballot limits. the south tightens ballot laws ahead of the election. states are passing the restrictions on how votes are cast. activists say it will reduce turnout among black voters." it says since 2020, states have titans who can vote absentee and who can vote absentee into concern and absentee ballots. they passed a stricter voter id laws. they are adjusting how they remove odors from the rolls. that could affect which candidates win the swing states of georgia and north carolina, the outcome of key congressional and senate races, and which party gets a seat

on the alabama court that ended fertility medicine. we have cindy in north carolina on our line for independents. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i agree with the two gentlemen before the last one. about how things are going in our country under this administration, but my main point i was calling in about is the division that we have and the hatred. there are so many people that call in with the hatred of donald trump. he is not our president at the moment. he is running for president, but the hatred that spews out. the last gentleman about fact checking, i agree on that. but i think -- in north carolina, we don't have to show an id to vote, but i think you

have to show an id to vote. i vote. that's why i'm independent, because i can vote either side. and i look at the policies and stuff they have. another reason i was calling about division and families and the politics. i just lost my older sister. my best friend. but how politics has played in our family. it does not matter. family should be first. and i see the division even in my own family sometimes. there just should be no hatred. it shouldn't be -- and also the media is so bad about telling the truth. they really are. social media, media on tv, it's

hard to find the truth sometimes. i just pray that the country will come together and stop this. look at the person's character and how they are instead of who they vote for. host: condolences to your family, cindy, and thank you for calling in. next up, we have adu in massachusetts on our line for republicans. go ahead. what is your top news story? caller: good morning, c-span. thank you, washington journal, for taking my call. my top story this week is the national debt. it really scares me how high the national debt is and how are congressman arnott coming on the floor -- are not coming on the floor and talking about how they will fix it. mike johnson, it seems like he's

gone to the left instead of working for the right. my other concern is the election. this is the most scary election i have ever prepared for this year and i don't like how it's going to turn. host: what worries you about the election? caller: if trump does not win, i don't want biden to win knowing his position and his incompetence, and if we don't get this country straightened out to the right direction, we are in a bad position in history. history has been warning us about what's ahead of us with the national debt, and if they don't solve this national debt and work on our military, we have a serious problem on our hands. war around the world and nothing is getting solved in the house and senate, and until they get

this washington in line, we have a serious problem on our hands. host: thank you. i want to follow-up up on his point about mike johnson. here's a story in cbs news. marjorie taylor greene says no deal after meeting with mike johnson as she threatens his ouster. in a roughly hour-long meeting with house speaker johnson on wednesday, little was done to convince marjorie taylor greene to drop or threats to force abode they could end his speakership. i have a lot of excuses, green , said. we did not walk out with a deal. greene threatens to force a vote to strip the louisiana republican of the gavel after he relied on democrats to push through a one point $2 trillion spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown last month.

since then, she has criticized his leadership in interviews and social media, warning passing ukraine aid or reauthorizing fisa would imperil him. obviously since then the house has reauthorized fisa. robert is in new york on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. my biggest news story is mike johnson traveling to mar-a-lago to meet with our shadow president, who continues to lie and cheat his way into the oval office again. and with respect to some of the prior callers talking about fact checking, i have a suggestion for c-span as it relates to calls concerning politics. it would be helpful to ask all callers if the 2020 election was stolen.

and where they get their news sources from. because it's quite obvious that republicans calling in are just mouthing everything that they hear the prior week on far right news outlets. so it would be very informative for all viewers to know the source of the information that they purport to, you know, no and hold dear. i will leave it at that. thank you. host: more news on mike johnson and that meeting we were just hearing about. a story in the associated press. "trump gives support to embattled speaker mike johnson at pivotal mar-a-lago meet. trump offered a political lifeline friday to speaker johnson, saying the beleaguered gop leader is doing a good job, and tamping down the far right forces led by marjorie taylor greene. trump and johnson appeared

side-by-side at the ex-president's mar-a-lago club." next, we have darrell in delaware on our line for independents. good morning, darrell. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: fine. what is your top news story? caller: mine is one that went under the radar. it's the story of the indiana state university nursing student who made a comment in relation to the cowboy carter album, saying if you are black, you cannot be country. i find that quite interesting and very telling of a segment -- an individual saying the

quiet part out loud, that there is this underlying current of racism, and the fact that this individual is applying to be in the nursing field, who will ultimately be coming into contact, i'm sure, in impoverished areas where people of color are, this speaks to the disparity. i hope the issue is addressed. i also want to speak to the fact that indiana state university gave a very weak response in relation to this news dropping. host:i had not heard that storyt i see it covered on abc 33 news from that area, covering that it was a viral tiktok video, saying that, if you're black, you're not country, a college student says in a viral tiktok video. a woman who was allegedly a

nursing student at indian river university is facing backlash. the video, which has now been deleted, was produced soon after beyoncé dropped her country album. now let's go to tom in ohio on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. host: what is your top news story? caller: all the stuff about the border and the republicans, that is there election issue. they do not want it to go away. they could get anything they wanted about the border in 2017, when they controlled the presidency, the house, the senate. right now, they have got a bill sitting in the house that they don't want to take up, because donald trump doesn't want the

border issue taken care of. and as far as the national deficit, if you'd quit giving away millions of dollars in tax cuts to rich people, that would go a long ways towards helping out the national deficit. thank you. host: thank you for your call. bob is in florida, on our line for republicans. what is your top news story? caller: good morning. my top news story is disappointment in the republican party. and i say that because our family has been conservative republican for generations. and it's obvious that the republican party of today is not the republican party with integrity of the past. i would like to see all of the ranker set aside -- rancor set

aside, and that the politicians in washington would work together. bipartisanship. that is the thing that has to happen in our country. i do not like the way that our party is supporting donald trump , because it is obvious -- it is obvious -- that he should not be supported. and i hope that the donald trump era will be over sooner rather than later, for the good of the country. he is a person who is interested in himself, not in the people. and it is obvious. the trials that are up and coming, starting monday, are obviously things that he has done. and he can say that it is a witch hunt, but it is not a witch hunt. he has done a number of things that has hurt our party, and i can't wait for a return to the

republican party with integrity, because it doesn't have it now. thank you. host: what does this mean you will do when it comes to the november election? caller: well, i cannot vote for donald trump. there is no way. i wish people would just look at the man and see that he is a artist -- con artsit. host: so does that mean you would vote biden or stay home? what are your plans? caller: well, biden is working hard to make the united states remain the leader in the world that it has traditionally been. i hope, in this instance, he wins. we only have two choices. he has worked to lower the deficit. the deficit is on the shoulders of donald trump and george w.

bush and presidents who have given tax breaks to the rich at the expense of our national debt. it just can't continue. so we must vote for sanity. we must vote for someone who will be a leader in the world and not, perhaps, because the disintegration of nato to an extent, and who is obviously in a position to help himself and not look after the people. he can talk about all the people he loves and cares about, but he really does not care a great deal about the people of the country. and please don't get me started on abortion. host: thank you.

appreciate your call. we have a comment from our text message line from bird, who says the house voting for the warrantless fis -- authorization ranks first year. the all-out assault on our constitution and basic freedoms is endless. for a bit more on that ifsa vote, we go back to the new york times. the house passes two year surveillance law extension without warrant requirement. speaker johnson scaled back the measure, which is fisa, the foreign intelligence surveillance act, to two years from a five after donald trump urged republicans to kill it. an effort to require warrants to search americans' messages ended on a tie. the house passed a two year authorization of an expiring lien -- starring warrantless -- the bill would extend a provision known as section seven

hundred two of the foreign intelligence surveillance act, or fisa, which is set to lapse next friday. it was a remarkable resuscitation of the measure after mr. trump urged lawmakers to kill fisa. the house passage came after lawmakers narrowly defeated a bipartisan effort to restrict searches of americans' messages swept up by the program, a major change that national security officials had warned would gut t he law. the vote reflected widespread skepticism of the program. here's a portion of congressman jim jordan's remarks on the house floor yesterday, explaining why he supported the proposal to add that warrant requirement to the law. [video clip] >> in 2021, 2022, the fbi did over 3 million u.s. persons queries of this giant 702 database, of this giant haystack

of information. 3 million queries of united states persons. make no mistake, a query is a fancy name for search. 3 million americans' data was searched in this database of information. and guess what? the fbi was not even following their own rules when they conducted those searches. that is why we need a warrant. not jim jordan talking about it, washington post reported last may that 278,000 times, the fbi found the -- and the justice department found they did not even follow their own darn rules when they searched this giant haystack, this giant database of information on americans. what we are seeing is, let's do something that the constitution has had in place for a couple hundred years that has served our nation well and protected american citizens' liberties. let's make the executive branch go to a second -- separate and equal branch of government and

get a probable cause sermon -- warrant to do the search. it has done pretty well for this country for a long, long time. by the way, in a bipartisan fashion, coming out of our committee, 35-to know vote, we said we would even put exceptions in there. if it is an emergency situation, the fbi does not have to get a warrant. they can do the search. if it is an emergency situation, they could do it. we put exceptions in there. host: on the other side of that argument, republican congressman mike turner of ohio was among numbers of the intelligence committee who argued adding a warrant requirement would wea ken the program. [video clip] >> the fbi abuses have been extraordinary in their searches of foreign data. we need to punish them. this underlying bill punishes the fbi. we should not punish americans. we should not make our nation less safe by giving

constitutional protections to hamas, giving constitutional petitions to the chinese communist party. i've been talking to members on the floor, and they say this amendment is about protecting americans' data in the united states. it's not. americans' data in the united states is already protected by the constitution. there is no one on the house floor who would argue you do not need a warrant to look at americans' data in the united states. this amendment, and i encourage everyone to pick it up and read it, applies to the data we collect in spying on hamas, hezbollah, the chinese communist party, to give them a warrant, to give them constitutional protections means that they are open for business. the day after this passes and we go blind, the chinese, and has a complete pass to recruit students to spy in our industries in. hamas and hezbollah have a complete pass. we will be blind as they try to

recruit people for terrorist attacks in the united states. host: back to your calls. edward in rochester, new york, on our line for independents. what is your top news story? caller: i forget has changed since i heard everybody talk. i will be brief. i am african-american. i have to have an id to buy cigarettes in new york, to buy beer. i'm 65 years old. to go in certain government buildings, i have to have an id. and this notion that black people, like me, who have been in this country 60 years or better, can't afford to get an id -- this is really despicable and demeaning to african-americans. the other note there, i keep hearing individuals talk about people need to pay their fair share.

that's a poor tested link which could everybody come all over the world, think people need to pay their fair share, but when you ask people, what is the rate of the hair -- of the fair share, america has the highest corporate tax rate in any industrial country in the whole world. this rate makes the united states unable to compete in the global market. no one talks about joe biden -- when joe biden gave the eulogy of a former klansmen named senator byrd, fact-check that. he said byrd was a great person. joe biden was against federal busing of blacks to schools. there is videotape of joe biden saying he doesn't want his kids going to racial jungle schools. in new york, they say voting ends at 9:00, 9:00 p.m. that is what they say. the vote ends at 9:00 p.m.

they allow voting three weeks before november the fifth. when voting ends at 9:00 p this is what the state signed, the state legislature signed. this is the law. it ends at 9:00. same in atlanta. so when you start allowing people to vote 10:00, 11:00, to me, that is against the law. the last thing i want to say is they always want to tie donald trump to putin. putin's cash cow is the nord stream pipeline, a pipeline that goes to western europe, to have western europe receive natural gas. who sanctioned that pipeline, the cash cow? it was donald trump? who released the cash cow? it was joe biden. we always have a double standard in this country. even on the abortion thing. the woman has the right to choose. do they ever tell the american

people that even the right to choose up to the ninth month? that is what the abortion-rights people says. a woman could choose up to the ninth month. is that fair -- host: alright, i think we have got your point there. let's move on to bill in massachusetts, on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. host: what is your top news story? caller: for the gentleman just on, i would like to say that abortion -- i believe everybody should make their own choices, and no one should tell anyone what to do, because when it comes to the end of it, if one faces god. god is here to judge you. if you made a sin and will not get to heaven because of that, have a nice universe, because it does say judge not, lest you be judged. so i'm not judging anybody. the thing i would like to say is because we are doing all the fact checking, last week,

friday, i believe, the commission in georgia that was made in 2007 or something like that, to look into election fairness and all that stuff found that tens of thousands of votes in fani willis' district afford. -- were forged. they were fake. the commission did not do the due diligence. i do not want to lose elections to the republicans, and donald trump should not be in office and the vegetable that is in there right now should not either. i do not know who i will vote for. host: next up, bob on our line for republicans. caller: good morning. first time caller, longtime listener. host: thanks for calling in. caller: i wanted to speak on abortion, my opinion. i think, in most cases, it should be discouraged.

and, in some cases, it should be encouraged. and in some cases, it should be enforced. that is all i have to say. host: who do you think should be making those decisions? caller: states. host: ok. thank you for your call and for being a first time caller. next up, david in north canton on our line for independents. good morning. what is your top news story? caller: good morning. thank you for having the. my top news story for this week with ethnically be fbi director christopher wray, warning of an imminent terrorist threat against americans on american soil. i have not heard very much news outlets discussing it. i've heard it on tv on a couple news channels, saw it on my phone, on a news app i have on

my phone. but no one's talking about it. he warned of threats similar to what happened in moscow. and of course, we all -- host: before you move on, don't hang up, i just want to give folks a bit more information on that story you were just referencing. here it is, reported in reuters, among several other places, that the fbi is concerned about hostile coordinated attacks in the u.s. after the russia massacre. the fbi is concerned about the possibility of an organized attack in the united states similar to the one that killed scores of people at a russian concert hall last month, the bureau's director told a house panel thursday. as i look back over my career in law enforcement, i would be hard-pressed to think of a time when so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once, christopher wray told

lawmakers, at a budget hearing thursday, but that is the case as i sit here today. u.s. officials happen worried about the possibility of an attack carried out by an individual or small group inspired by the war between israel and hamas in gaza. so that was that story you are referencing, there. please go ahead. caller: yes, ma'am. thank you for that. i think that is probably, for me, the biggest news story, definitely this week. when you have the fbi director forewarning of threats against your country, your people in your country, it seems like we would have, be more alarmed and be more reactions. it would be more on the news, be more spread than what it is. and i hear people, it seems it is republican, democrat, they hate one another so bad, donald

trump, joe biden, where the country itself is suffering from this. i do feel like i was safer for years ago -- four years ago from terrorist threats than i am today, so my vote would be for trump. for many reasons, but that is technically one of the main reasons. host: thank you for your call. next up is donald in michigan on our line for democrats. good morning. what is your top news story? caller: my top news story would be mike johnson running down to mar-a-lago to kiss the ring of donald trump after marjorie taylor greene basically treated him like a little girl. host: what do you mean by that, treated him like a little girl? caller: because she basically told him what she was going to

do, and what he was going to do. and he has no -- he's just a terrible speaker. i wish nancy pelosi was back. you would get some work done for the american people. but to the border, republicans are holding up the border issue, so that is just their rally and call that the use to get their supporters all ramped up. into our terrorist threat, our terrorist threat is an inside job. we have more problems with right wing nationals, nationalist groups that are a threat to this country. these trump supporters need to wake up and get off the bandwagon. biden has done a good job,

because i remember, when trump left office, he had a destroyed economy that the republicans destroyed. . . republicans have short memories host: ok, thank you for your call. bubba in tennessee, our line for republicans. caller: good morning. you had a caller call in little while ago about a nursing student that said, if you're black, you can't be country. i remember, this president said you are not black if you don't vote for him, so you probably should be more worried about biden than a nursing student. and yet another caller saying that, if trump does win -- or if trump loses, it would be another -- he called it an insurrection. nobody has been charged for that. i remember the last election

that businesses boarded up their buildings, and it was not in case trump lost. it was in case he won, that it was going to be all kind of trouble going on. and i think that is probably going to happen this next election. trump is going to be the next president, because biden and kamala, they're doing the worst job ever in the country. and we got to have trump to get in and straighten it out. host: thank you. sean is in virginia on our line for independents. caller: good morning. my top story is actually o.j. simpson. most of us who are old enough to remember, when o.j. was found not guilty, this country was outraged, because the jury was black. here we have a president who has 91 counts for the last four

years and has never been charged, never been convicted, but still fighting for 91. the reason also i am saying, the older gentleman who called earlier, the republicans that we are dealing with today are not republican. they really pretend they are republican. all they are talking about the constitution and the border, which is they don't even have a respect of constitution, nor the border, because the only time they agree with you is if they win. it's like they republican never win the presidency. we have to be very careful. most of the americans who fight this freedom that we are enjoying for years, we cannot allow donald trump, whose daughter-in-law is running the republicans, win this election.

i do not support both parties. i always follow the debate on what saves me, how can we do better in this country. that is how i vote. the reality is donald is not one of them. he will not take care of this country. i am telling you, people. we are immigrants. we came here long, long time. we know what we have in this country. but people need to wake up. the freedoms that you are enjoying, somebody died for. you need to understand that. host: thank you. next up, jim in virginia on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. host: what is your top story -- top news story? caller: there has been a bunch of them. probably that1874 law reverted to in arizona, as far as abortions. yeah, there's just so many

things that happened during the week. but i wanted to respond to some of the callers. several callers back, a guy called in and says something about fact taking. because, before that, some guy was, couple guys were spouting about all these racing things that trump had done and things that he didn't do. in this geyser so that if you all could somehow ask these people where they are getting their information from. but let me just address a couple things i can think of, the remarks a couple people were making. i am from west virginia, so i know all about senator byrd. he apologized profusely, in his later years, when he was serving as a senator. he came and spoke at my high school, when i was in high school. he is a nice animate. he apologized tearfully. he wrote about it in books, how he apologized about it -- he

grew up, that democrat party, the old democrat party. they called them exceed cracks -- they called them dixiecrats, and he couple into the kkk in younger years. but as he grew up and got into politics and government. as a matter of fact, one caller needs to look at 1960 four, before the civil rights act, or when it was coming about. the democrat national party, they chose to adopt northern liberal philosophy -- host: can i ask you to bring it back to the focus for this week? caller: right. well, big focus is it feels like every time you see trump speak -- you all carry his speeches and so forth, he gets up and spews a bunch of lies. republicans only listen to fox news. they lock themselves into echo

chambers. how many republicans realize trump signed a treaty with the taliban in afghanistan that released 5000 dangerous taliban prisoners? he created pandemonium to cause the collapse of the afghan government. biden had to deal with it. host: all right. thank you for your call. let's move on to deborah in missouri, on our line for independents. caller: good morning. i want to say what the last guy said was right on the border is a problem for us. it has been a problem. we could fix it right now, or at least put a band-aid on it, but we cannot get any participation from the republicans, because they are trying to push trump's agenda. trump is not what this country needs. it needs to come back to god. it needs to be people who love their neighbors, help the immigrants come help their kids get to have a family and a house. that is what we all got to do.

i just want people to understand , donald trump is not the solution, he is the problem. thanks for taking my call. host: thanks for calling in. emma in illinois for our line for democrats. what is your top news story? caller: i just want to say, speaker johnson is jewish, so what side do people think he is going to be on? that is all i have to say -- host: i do not believe speaker johnson is jewish. i think he identifies is christian, is my understanding. caller: christian, ok, but he is still jewish. host: next up, milwaukee, wisconsin on our line for independents. caller: good morning. i would like to make a statement regarding how our taxes are being used for war. when those taxes should be used as well to pay for the education of people in the united states

who want to make a difference. and equally as important is how the taxes are paid in a manner that should be building america up, not murdering and killing people in war. thank you. host: thank you. next up, charles in california on our line for democrats. good morning. what is your top news story? caller: my top news stories about the hush money trial coming up next week. i think it is going to be interesting to see a president on trial for trying to cover up a story to where they were actually cheating and having an affair with a porn star. i think this is huge. a couple other callers earlier, i would like to address them. every time a right-leaning people have a tendency to call, they always say trump needs to get into straighten up this

mess, but they never detail what mess we are talking about. if they are talking about the economy, the economy, from what i understand, is going great. it is going great for me. all my stock investment are doing well. if they are talking about the border, past the border bill. another -- pass the border bill. another denman called about abortion done up to the ninth month. no, that is not done for that is called murder. republik and have been doing it for a long time to suggest the baby is taken out of the womb an d people kill the baby. that is not done. stop using those qanon talking points. more than that, i want to detail, even though we do not get along all the time, i am glad we all live in this country. i am not a big donald trump supporter. however -- however, i do believe that biden is doing a great job. i kind of lost my train of thought, but biden is doing a

great job here thank you, everybody. and if you could do just a little that her job when people are talking about hey, this country is going so that, can you ask them for details on where this country is going bad? i do not see it. we do not have soup lines or people standing in line for toilet papers or we can only go to grocery stores at a certain time -- host: thank you for the suggestion. next, ricardo in new york on our line for independents. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: how are you? i love this show and i appreciate what you guys are doing. host: thank you very much for that, ricardo. i really appreciate your call. those are all the calls we are going to take for now. next up we will hear from asia society vice president and managing director wendy cutler to discuss u.s.-japan relations. later, washington times's martin di caro joins us for our

spotlight on podcast segment to talk about his podcast "history as it happens" and talk about bringing historical perspective to the news of the day. the house subcommittee on higher education held a hearing on the education department's delayed rollout of a new federal student aid application, fafsa. here is a clip. [video clip] >> we are obviously dealing with a mess today. thank you for coming over. do you feel the department has owned its mistakes or taken responsibility? do you believe any employees at the department of education, political or otherwise, should lose their jobs because of a biased rollout? >> the department has acknowledged that these have been difficult, challenging times. but i have yet to hear any

apologies from the department of education. not even to schools, but to students and families. i admit that maybe i missed them, but we are months, six months th -- six months delayed from when the fafsa should have been released. there have been glitches, challenges, and swaths of students who haven't been able to complete it. we haven't seen that. i think that this committee, bipartisan lien, has the commitment to explore if there are ramifications felt to as those types of questions. i would add, if there was a financial aid director or a college president that delayed financial aid on their campus for up to six months the professional price that would be paid for that would be pretty steep. the second point that i would raise is that federal student

aid is one of only three performance-based organizations within the federal government. it operates uniquely in the federal government meaning that it is given certain flexibilities that don't exist elsewhere in federal agencies in terms of hiring, hr practices, and contracting. with those flexibilities should come additional accountability that congress should hold them to account for. if it is ok with the committee we can submit some recommendations on accountability and reform. >> let's switch to mrs. feltman. wynnewood your university normally send out aid offers, and because of the delays when will the offers be sent out this year? >> normally we tend to send out aid offers with offers of submission. that would have been towards the end of january for early admission applicants and the end of march for our regular. we have yet to be able to send

out a single laid offer because of the poor quality of the data and late receipt. we are hopeful that we have found some workarounds, because we are one of those schools that also collects the css profile form that will allow us to produce aid offers in a couple of weeks. however, without that, i'm not sure i would have an offer for you today. >> you aren't sure when it will be coming out this year? >> i hope by the first week of may we will have something out. i am hoping. >> i have been contacted by some professionals in wisconsin. obviously they have a lot of colleges, like everyone knows, and they are losing faith in the department. would do you think the department of education has to do to restore trust with the colleges and financial aid offices?

>> i understand that lack of faith when the education and guidance keeps changing just when we think we are going to get information there is another delay. what we really need from the department is for them to own the problems they have, which they started doing, and to tell us straight what is going to work, what's not going to work, anything about next year that we should know now. it is hard to believe we will be solved and on time for next year. let's start planning for that now and be good partners and try to help each other solve all the problems. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us is wendy cutler with the asia society policy institute, vice president and managing director.we will talk about u.s.-japan relations. welcome to the program. guest: glad to be here. host: the prime minister of japan was in washington, d.c. this week. what can you tell us about our relationship with japan?

guest: it was a historic week for u.s.-japan relations. prime minister kishida attended an important meeting with president biden, another meeting with president biden and president marcos, the first trilateral between the philippines, japan, and the united states, and he addressed a joint session of congress. his message was, we are an equal partner with you. we will help you shoulder the responsibilities in a region and world presenting a lot of challenges, and we will work with you on all facets of our relationship. not only to benefit the u.s. and japanese people, but also to work together to address challenges all around the world. a home run for prime minister kishida in washington. host: how would you describe the current relationship? is it an equal partnership? guest: not quite equal yet, but

relative to where it used to be when it was a big other-little brother relationship -- we would tell japan when we needed more money to put into this country or another country, japan would answer. now japan is stepping up to the plate and it is spending more on its military. one of the features of this summit was to integrate our two militaries further so we can present a joint security partnership to a rising china. host: what is the significance of our relationship with japan when it comes to the indo pacific region? guest: well, it is extremely important that the u.s. and japan work together in the indo pacific region on all types of issues, from security to economics, to supply chains the technologies. the endo pacific region is the area of rapid economic growth,

growing markets, but there are also a lot of security challenges in the region largely due to a more assertive china. it is very important for the united states and for japan, hand in hand, to work with other allies and partners in the region to support our values, support our approach, and work with us to achieve peace and prosperity in this critical region. host: what are some of those major challenges that you were talking about when it comes to economic policy and trade? guest: when it comes to economic policy and trade, what we are seeing is a real move by countries to diversify their trade to reduce their dependency on china. to develop more resilience --

more resilient supply chains with our friends and partners in strategic areas like semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, and pharmaceuticals, to name a few. host: you just mentioned it, but what are some key industries that the u.s. and japan have a key relationship with when it comes to trade? guest: well, we trade a lot between the two countries. i think that the flows of goods and services are up to $300 billion now in two-way trade. we export everything from pharmaceuticals to chemicals, to agriculture, to japan. japan sends us everything from auto parts to chemicals to machinery. we have a robust relationship. both sides recognize that with respect to certain products there are national security concerns, and we need to work together to make sure that these

technologies don't get into the hands of china, which is following what we call a civilian military fusion policy where they take technology that is presumably for commercial processes and make it available to their military. it is a very different world. we need to work together with japan and our allies and partners to make sure that these types of technologies, which can be used by china to help its military, don't get into the hands of chinese companies. host: we are talking with wendy cutler, vice president and managing director of the asia society policy institute. we will open the lines. you can start calling in. republican, (202) 748-8001. democrat, (202) 748-8000. independent, (202) 748-8002.

wendy, something that has been in the news recently and came up during a press conference during president biden -- the joint press conference between president biden and prime minister kishida was the nippon steel deal. we will go ahead and play what was asked at that press conference and their response. [video clip] >> mr. prime minister, you said the nippon steel acquisition of u.s. steel is a private matter, but i wonder, do you discuss the matter today with president biden? do you believe politics are influencing president biden's decision to oppose the deal? i wouldn't mind, mr. president, if you answer that one, too. >> on the issue that you have raised, we understand negotiations are underway between the parties. we hope these discussions will

unfold in directions that will be positive for both sides and reach appropriate decisions based on law implemented by the u.s. government. japan is the largest industry to the united states. japanese businesses employ close to one million workers in the united states and investment from japan to the u.s. today can only increase upwards in the months and years to come. we wish to see -- we wish to cement the relationship. pres. biden: i stand by a commitment to our alliance. this is what we are doing, a strong alliance, as well. host: can you bring us up to speed as to what the steel deal is and what is at stake for both sides? guest: what both leaders were

talking about is a proposal by nippon steel, a big japanese steel company, to buy and acquire u.s. steel, a pennsylvania steel company in the united states. this has become a contentious issue in that former president trump has already said that he would oppose the deal and make sure it didn't go through. president biden has made it clear that he stands by u.s. workers, particularly the u.s. steel workers. he has also said that he wants that company to remain u.s.-owned and u.s.-controlled. this could have been an issue of contention between the leaders, but both leaders decided this was not an issue they wanted to discuss. prime minister kishida, in the clip that you shared, -- this is

a private sector issue and he doesn't particularly want to go near it. my understanding was this wasn't raised during the summit. where we are now is it is up to nippon steel to see if they can make a deal with united steelworkers which could possibly pave the way for approval of this deal. but there are going to be a lot of hoops. there are a lot of concerns and i don't think anyone expects that there will be an outcome decision on this deal until after the election. host: our phone lines. mike in indiana calling on the democrat line. mike? caller: hi, yes. i would just like to talk a little bit about our relationship with china and our debt that we have right now. i realize that biden is doing

all he can do, i suppose. but he don't -- i don't understand why the debt isn't talked about more. we're -- our debt is increasing $100,000 per second. if we don't get it under control -- i think china could help us. we could work together on this debt. i believe that we got to get it under control. host: thank you, mike. let's get a response from wendy. guest: the caller is referring to a lot of the money that president biden and the

administration is spending around the country to boost our infrastructure, to boost our competitiveness, and used our production of green technologies while reducing our reliance on china. this has been a cornerstone of the president's china policy. we need to be competitive at home in order to be a strong competitor to china and be the leaders on key technologies. frankly, that does require money. that is what we are seeing as more money is being given to new investments around the country leading to more jobs. i think the thinking is as we become more competitive, our economy grows through the distribution of the infrastructure and clean technology funds around the country, that that will lead to

more economic growth and over time that will reduce our debt. host: john in headington, west virginia on the republican line. caller: good morning. i don't think it's a good idea. it is part of u.s. steel and our farmlands, even anheuser-busch is owned by the dutch. it is our companies. we shouldn't have four and investors at all in our country's businesses and property. china and the farmlands. it goes on and on. russia as well. i don't think any of this is good policy at all. i think it should be for america, american workers, american ownership. i'm not sure we are not taking over some of these companies and giving them to foreign entities

to own our property. i don't think it's a good idea with japan, nippon steel to own any part of u.s. steel. u.s. steel is u.s. steel. host: do we know anything about u.s. foreign investments in the u.s. like he was talking about with steel and farmland? particularly regarding japan? guest: not with respect to japan, but i would make a general comment that foreign direct investment -- win foreign companies come in and they build new plants in different parts of the country, they employ a lot of people. not only in those plants but in the community. you have seen that around the world and around the country, from the midwest to the south to out west. there are constraints on foreign direct investments that impede our national security. in those cases, there is a

government interagency process to look at these investments and to make sure that they are not impacting our national security. when it comes to farmland specifically, that has been a cause of concern. not with respect to japanese investment but to chinese investment. a concern that these investments are also near military installations. there is legislation in congress to restrict chinese investments around the country. i would conclude and say japan is the largest -- is our largest foreign direct investment partner. they are pouring a lot of money into the united states and have for years. my understanding now is that japanese companies employ over one million american workers. so, they are making a huge contribution.

not only to our workforce, but to the communities those workforces live in and to our economic growth and economic activity and economic innovation overall. host: paul in kansas city, missouri on the independent line. fall? -- paul? caller: china, russia, and bill gates own our farmland. do you think japan will eventually submit to china when they take over everything? because they will eventually. we all know. you know this as well. host: thank you. do you have any comment? guest: my only comment would be that with respect to china, one of the strengths of the united states with respect to china is our system of close alliances with countries like japan, like

korea, like australia. through working with these countries and cooperating and coordinating and sending out joint drills around -- joint military drills around the region, we are sending an important message to china that this is not their region and hopefully we are showing china the cost of some of their ambitions in the region. therefore, deterring military conflict. host: we will go to david in albuquerque, new mexico on the democrat line. david? caller: thank you. i just don't believe that we need any other countries coming in here and making factories to put americans to work. we have money. we have rich people here in america that should be doing

that. they kick back, they make money, they are getting paid under the table, on top of the table, behind their back. if americans can't do it of course we are in trouble, without a doubt. our country is in trouble. if we can't do it, we don't need other countries to own our property, make factories that they have that they control in our country. if americans can't do it then don't do it. host: any comment? guest: no, i think what i said earlier, i stand by those comments. i would say it is not an either/or question. there is room for both. i think the combination of both is allowing us to employ even more workers, but it also is allowing us access to the types of technologies that some of these foreign companies have. host: we are talking with wendy

cutler, vice president and managing director of the asia society policy institute. if you have a question or comment for her, give us a call. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. wendy, something that is -- something that happened several years ago is president trump pulling out of the ttp deal. since then the indo pacific commerce for a prosperous future. can you tell us what that isn't what the goal is? guest: sure. you are correct. the trump administration withdrew from the tpp agreement. the biden administration has been very clear that it has no intention of returning to this free-trade agreement that is in

place now between 11 countries without us. the interesting thing is, when we left the agreement i think that there was an expectation that the agreement would fail and go nowhere. but japan showed leadership and rallied the other countries to join. actually, the united kingdom joined to become the 12th member. that agreement is alive and very vibrant in the region affecting trade patterns. the biden administration is not ready to join the tpp and came up with a new initiative called the indo pacific economic framework agreement. this agreement, while trade is part of the agreement, more than economic agreement and deals with issues beyond trade, including climate change and including supply chain resilience. it is more of a cooperation agreement.

it doesn't lower our terrorists in the u.s., and it is viewed overall as a fighter agreement. part of it already -- as a lighter agreement. part of it is already in effect and we are working with 13 other countries in the region. parts of it are still under negotiation. the key thing about it is that it's a vehicle for the united states to remain economically engaged in the indo pacific region, even if it's not ready to do a big trade agreement in the region. and to try and promote the private sector and public sector to work together to remain engaged economically in this important region. host: brian in minnesota on the republican line. brian? caller: i have two points. number one, i was a steelworker.

i worked for national steel. nippon steel owned the place. they ran it into the ground, bankrupted the place, and it was eventually sold to u.s. steel. nippon steel wants to buy it from u.s. steel. i don't think that that's a good idea. also, if trump hadn't put the tariffs on steel, u.s. steel would have went bankrupt. that is all i've got to say. thank you. host: wendy, do you have any comment? guest: sure. the caller mentioned the tariff that president trump did put in on steel imports. they were at the level of 25%. many of these tariffs remain in place under the biden administration, although with some countries we have moved to

other types of import restriction based on the quantity of imports versus just adding a tariff. i think president biden understands the importance of the steel industry and the nature of the deal that is being proposed and has been very clear that he wants to see u.s. steel owned by a u.s. company. however, at the same time he hasn't put the brakes on the deal and is basically hands-off. if nippon steel thinks that they can reach a deal with the union which could pave the way for the acquisition, we will all have to see. i think that based on discussions between nippon steel and the united steelworkers last month, i think that this will be a difficult negotiation.

host: former called for across-the-board tariffs on international trade. has japan responded to that comment? what impact would it have on them? guest: i'm not sure if they have publicly responded, but i have heard a lot from my japanese colleagues and colleagues around the world. there is a lot of angst about new tariffs that could be imposed against them. i think some of them privately would say that if you want to put more tariffs on china, we understand. we can live with that. but we are your allies and partners. if you put more tariffs on us, you know, we will respond in kind. i think this time around, if

caller: thank you for taking my call. i have one question and one comment. does wendi know -- wendy know have any people are employed by the military? i believe toyota built a factory in tennessee for american workers.

i was wondering if she can comment on how that is going. i believe toyota is one of the biggest selling cars in america and many of those cars come out of that plant in tennessee. i think it was built five or six years ago. which he comment on how well the plant is doing? that's an example how japanese companies came here and build the plant to employ american workers. by the way, i love what c-span does everyday. i try to watch everyday. you do a great job. host: thank you, charles. guest: i don't know precisely about the plant the caller mentioned. toyota has been a big investor in the united states, building not only auto plants but battery plants. prime minister kashita was in

north carolina yesterday visiting a toyota plant for batteries. they continue announcing new investments that are going to employ u.s. workers. overall, the statistic i have seen is japan is our largest fbi partner and japanese partners employ over one million workers. a million american workers. that is a pretty high number. i don't think that includes all the infrastructure and communities and small businesses that locate near some of these factories in order to serve the population. host: rose in illinois on the republican line. caller: i'm an old lady now. all my life i did not believe in allowing foreign countries to come in and own anything here. they don't allow us to own it in

the rest of the world. they protect themselves. america has never been a country to protect the taxpayers and the hard-working labor. we always get the bad end of the stick when our government does anything. three short points. the steel industry used to be bigger in the united states. we would ship out steel all over the world. today we have practically one company. they have to make tanks during the war which makes them very needed in this country. they make bridges. our infrastructure. they make high-rises. they control the military and wealth. this is the last of our steel. to give it away would be of seen. -- obscene. corporations were deemed like a human being, a right to vote. the supreme court gave them the right to vote. they are considered like a citizen, corporations. that is why they can buy out our

politicians. they have more voice to our politicians than us taxpayers have. when you give foreign powers only corporations that can buy off our politicians then we are doomed forever. they have been doing this for years. our own corporations buy out our politicians. they sleep together in joint unison almost like fascism. it will get worse. we can't give up the last bastion. we should have shut down buying any properties by any foreign entities in this country forever. they are only ruining it and we are getting overpopulation no. we don't have much to give away left of us when we are so deep in debt. taxpayers money subsidizes companies. it would be taxpayer money that would be subsidizing these foreign countries through their corporations. we don't need this no more.

we have really stupid politicians who are against the american worker. they don't love us. they love money. thank you. host: any response? guest: i would stand by my earlier comments would also say in the united states we can't make everything. there are products that we are going to need from other countries. one of these areas is critical minerals which has become an important strategic sector that has received a lot of focus not only from the u.s. government but from our allies and partners. we are trying to work with them as a group to reduce our reliance on china. while i understand there has been a theme -- a lot of viewers -- the folks who were on the phone that we should make every thing here and not let any foreign companies in here, i

would just urge them to think about the need to work with other countries. particularly with respect to certain technologies and certain sectors where we are not in the lead. we don't make this stuff and it will take us time to rebuild our competitiveness in some of the sectors. host: mike in ohio on the independent line. caller: good morning to everyone. great show. maybe to add onto some of what the previous caller said about national security for some of our industries, perhaps maybe some of them should be nationalized. i will give an example. the largest refining and petrochemical complex in north america is in port arthur, texas.

it was formerly owned by shell. then it became motiva. now it is owned by saudi aramco. you can see them hiking oil prices. this becomes a national security problem. i think if i'm not mistaken it was allowed to be taken over by saudi aramco during the trump administration. i think that poses a danger. i would like your opinion about that. thank you. guest: i'm not aware of this specific investment. i would make a general comment. there is a process in the united states where potential investments are scrutinized for

potential national security reasons. this leads to certain investments being turned down, you know, a company cannot invest here. we have national security concerns. sometimes this results in the government telling these companies if you want to invest here, here are the six things you need to do to mitigate our concerns. i want to -- there is a process and a very vibrant process in place to sort through these investments to make sure the threat to our national security is not allowed. host: what are some of those considerations when we are looking at -- what are concerns about the national security threat? guest: it could be everything from the relationship between

the company applying for investment to its military at home. it could have a lot to do with the types of products they want to make in the united states. it could do with the ties they have with investments or exports to china. all this stuff is looked at in excruciating detail. sometimes, you know, this review can take a number of years to reach fruition. host: we have time for one last call. cy on the republican line. caller: good morning. in keeping with what some of the other callers said i would like to know the coalition with japan, the united states, the philippines, and australia to

counter china in case war breaks out with potential takeover of taiwan. in light of this fact, why do we allow china to buy farmland in this country? particularly near military installations? why are we allowing 30,000 chinese young men to enter the united states? what vetting is in place? how do we know if war breaks out that they will not cause havoc? thank you. host: i think you've addressed that already a little bit. is there anything you would like to add? guest: no, except when it comes to china there is a lot of legislation in place to avoid a lot of the concerns the caller had. host: wendy cutler, vice

president and managing director of the asia society policy institute, we appreciate your time and you being with us today. guest: thanks tammy. host: later on washington journal, we will go to the weekly spotlight on podcast segment. we will talk with washington times's martin di caro about his podcast, "history as it happens," and the importance of bringing a historical perspective to the political news of the day. we will return to our earlier discussion of your top news stories of the week. you can start calling and now. republicans, your line is (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. ♪ >> next week, the house and senate will be in session,

following the passage of the pfizer reform bill. and now heads over to the senate which is expected to receive the articles of impeachment for homeland security secretary alejandra mayorkas on tuesday. also tuesday, secretary mayorkas will appear before the house homeland security committee to testify on his budget request for fiscal year 2025. the senate finance committee will hear testimony from irs commissioner danny were full on the tax filing season, along with budget request for his department. on wednesday, a committee will hold a hearing on the potential threats to the 2024 elections. witnesses include director of nationalntelligence, cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency director jen easterly, and there was a nap -- alysa knapp from the national security branch. watch next week live on the c-span now. also head over to c-span.org for

scheduling information or to stream video live or on-demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> you say i'm over the hill. that's a man in his prime. >> watch c-span's coverage of the white house correspondents dinner live saturday, april 27, with collin jost as the featured entertainer and president biden giving remarks. coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.org and c-span now. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, sights and sounds from inside the ballroom before the festivities begin. watch the white house correspondents dinner live saturday, april 27, on the c-span networks. ♪

>> the house will be in order. c-span celebrates 45 years of guttering desk covering congress like no other. since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to were the policies are debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back for the next 30 minutes or so. we will take more calls on your top news story of the week. some stories include president trump -- fmer president trump and his abortion stance in the arizona abortion ban. speaker johnson under fire in his meeting with former president trump. the inflation report. president biden's student loan

forgivens plan, and the 2024 solar eclipse. yesterday speaker johnson was down in florida with president trump. from the washington post he defended mike johnson, sankey stance with the louisiana republican as one of the former president's loyal allies in congress, targeting johnson for removal. it was the first time trump had addressed the ruling effort to oust johnson from his position by rep marjorie taylor greene of georgia. trump said it is not an easy situation and he thinks he's doing a good job. here is a soundbite from trump yesterday. [video] >> we are getting along very well with the speaker. i get along very well with marjorie. we have a speaker who was voted in and it was a complicated

process. it is not an easy situation for any speaker. i think he's doing a very good job. he's doing about as good as you're going to do. i'm sure marjorie understands that. she's a very good friend of mine. i know she has a lot of respect for the speaker. host: we will go to the phones. first is chris in palm harbor, florida, republican line. what is your top story of the week? caller: the conviction that came down other woman that sold ashley biden's journal. she wrote the joe biden would have been appropriate showers with her when she was a child. that conviction. she was sentenced to a month. the reason that's a top story is somebody called with this last week. mimi said that was debunked and did not happen. she should probably check the

facts before she makes comments. it dovetails into the npr story of the 25 year employee who stated there were zero conservatives at npr. npr purposely ran stories to attack trump or make biden look good. somehow that is not a big deal either. i would recommend c-span not only be nonbiased but check the facts. host: we will go to steve in massachusetts on the republican line. caller: good morning. my top story is the student debt. this puts our nation's economy and perspective to me. my father dropped out of high school at age 16, worked in the local mills. we were able to save. i graduated from boston college.

my sister from michigan. you can't do this anymore now. regarding the student debt, let me segue with this. i used to be a democrat. i was far left. you can call me a reagan or kirkpatrick public and if you wish, which i am -- republican if you wish. trump takes out loans, pays them back with interest. the government goes after him to the tune of $250 million. students take out all these loans. they can't pay them off and the government is going to pay -- i take that back. the taxpayers will pay these back with these people. i don't see how anybody can vote democrat anymore. i learned russian, czech, and serbian in the army.

i don't see how people can't see this. i find the democratic party as -- they have life, liberty, and the provision of happiness. i got a little wordy here but i appreciate you listening to me and have a wonderful day. host: the biden student loan new plan he was talking about. it eliminates up to $20,000 in accrued interest for borrowers, cancels debt for those already eligible for existing forgiveness programs but never applied, ccels debt for those paying for 20 or more years, and graduate loans for 25 or more years, cancels debt for those who enrolled inroams that cheated or defrauded students, andffs relief for those of spirits financial rdship. -- experiencing financial hardship. he also canceled an additional

$7.4 billion in student loans this week. from the washington post, the white house will send emails on friday to 277,000 borrowers informing them their debts have been forgiven. the article says the lion share of the new release will go to 206,000 borrowers enrolled in biden's saving on valuable education repayment plan, which ties monthly student loan payments to earnings and family size. it says the administration sat an additional 75,000 borrowers were also have their balances canceled. we go to stan in florida on the independent line. caller: he's only canceling the

interest, not the whole. donald trump attacked the capitol. 144 police officers got there ass kicked and he wants to go back to the capitol. i watched tv the other day and the guy -- how could he come back here after what he did to us? they got beat up so bad, some had heart attacks. some loss fingers. some lost eyes. some can't go back to work. host: can i ask that relates to your top news story of the week? caller: he was to come back. he will never ever admit he lost. people never admit it -- he will never admit it. he can't stand it. host: we will go to peter in new jersey on the democrat line. caller: yes.

trump was talking to johnson. johnson has not done anything. what has he did for the people in the united states? nothing. biden gave us the relief. that's a beautiful thing. that is all i wanted to say. host: thank you, peter. joan in cleveland, ohio, republican line. caller: line has to deal with the tuition these colored -- mine has to deal with the tuition these colleges are charging. they mentioned certain colleges. i believe it was harvard, that they had more than $1 billion in

the bank. no college should be operating with that kind of money. if you do a budget and see how much it will cost operate for the year, they should be lowering the tuition. not increasing it. how can you increase it and you are holding all this money in the bank? who are they holding it for? i think all the colleges, ohio state, harvard, all of them that are making this big money and putting it in the bank. that is wrong. our children should not have to carry that burden when they are holding the money in the bank and not sharing it with the students that are trying to get in. somebody needs to attack these colleges and find out why tuition is going up. they have all this money in the bank.

nobody should be allowed to do that. i never heard of this. host: we will go to joe in ma ine on the independent line. caller: good morning. wow. i don't know. my call was to address the caller who called about donald trump, saying he beat up the cops. well, you know. it's ridiculous. he killed ashli babbitt. ashli babbitt will not be voting for donald trump this november. herman cain. he probably won't be voting for donald trump in november. they're dead. his financial advisor is going back to jail. that is my lead story of the week. another idiot who believed in donald trump is going to jail. another one. all his lawyers disbarred. you can name them on c-span but

you won't. if you let these republicans come on in lie. you let buddy carter say they were 5000 dead georgians that voted. why don't you correct that? why don't you get that clown back here? $174,000 a year he's getting paid to be in government. you let him come on your channel and lie. stephen moore, the economist. comes on he repeatedly and says he worked in the trump administration. that is hogwash. there are better words forth but i won't waste my time. c-span should be embarrassed. i'm done. host: ok. another top story this week was the arizona state supreme court ruling on abortion ban. here is vice president harris in

tucson yesterday talking about that new ban. [video] >> what has happened and arizona is a new inflection point. it has demonstrated once and for all that overturning roe was just the opening act. just the opening act of a larger strategy to take women's rights and freedoms. part of a full on attack, state-by-state, on reproductive freedom. we all understand who is to blame. former president donald trump did this. durin his campaign in 2016, trump said women should be punished for seeking an abortion. he said women should be punished. as president, donald trump handpicked three members of the united states supreme court

because he intended -- intended for them to overturn roe. as he intended, they did. and now because of donald trump more than 20 states and our nation have bans. now because of donald trump one in three women of reproductive age in our country live in a state that has a trump abortion ban. host: former president trump also responding to the abortion ban. here he is yesterday from mar-a-lago. [video] >> you said you would sign affordable -- a federal abortion ban sent to your desk. >> we don't need it any longer. we broke roe v. wade and we did something nobody thought was possible. we gave it back to the states. the states are working very

brilliantly, in some cases conservative and some cases not conservative but they are working. it is working the way it is supposed to. every real legal scholars wanted to have a go back to the states. democrat, republican, liberal, conservative. we are able to do that. we gave it back to the states. now the states are working their way through it. you are having some very, very beautiful harmony. you have some cases like arizona that went back to 1864 or something like that. the judge made a ruling. that will be changed by government. i disagree with that. host: the new york times reporting on the impact of the ruling and how candidates are responding. gop senate candidate backs efforts to drop 1864 abortion law. the article says a handful of arizona republican legislators looking to overturn the 160-year

state law that bans yearly all abortion have a new high-profile supporter, kari lake, a prominent candidate and close ally of donald trump. ms. lake, who is in a competitive race could determine control of the senate as an important ally. she has offered her support to any effort to repeal the law and reverse the 15-week abortion ban in effect and arizona according to a person familiar with outreach. we will go to john in pennsylvania on the democrats line. what is your top news story of the week? caller: i want to know if the economy is so great, why are we so far in debt? our economy is the aliens coming into the country. we give the money to buy. we give them a place to rent,

which the hotels are making their money. stop the aliens and our economy would collapse. it is like a monopoly game. instead of making somebody go bankrupt, don't make them go bankrupt. give the money to stay in the game. someplace along the line this is going to come to a screeching halt, because the aliens are our economy. they are the people that buy. the people that spend the money they are given. that makes our economy great. but it isn't. if it is so great, why are we going so deeply in debt? host: i think we got your point, john. tom in woodbridge, virginia, republican line. what is your top news story of the week? caller: i would like to comment

on the last caller. probably the biggest news that every american should pay attention to is the vote this last week. it has basically been proven be on a shadow of a doubt and every american should be concerned that the fbi carried out hundreds of thousands of unconstitutional 702 queries against american citizens, which they knew when they were doing it was unconstitutional and criminal activity. they used january 6 as an excuse to do it. the fact it has to be renewed, people don't understand what that means. every two years we have to revisit the level of intrusion that the u.s. government is allowed. the fact they will re-vote on

monday hopefully we'll have the right decision and some of these republicans that voted for it -- i work in the intelligence community. i see the value of 702 if it is used against foreigners. it wasn't used against foreigners. it was used directly against american citizens. that is a huge issue. i think the bottom line is, and this is a comment to the other caller that called in about january 6 and donald trump attacking the capitol, if you go to my website you will find a 94-page timeline of events from 2009 all the way up to january 6. it is basically a detailed timeline from the original sources, from the federal government of everything that led up to january 6.

it did not start on january 6. it was going on for years with the illegal counterintelligence investigation they lied to you about. they lied about twitter and facebook tamping down on free speech, basically silencing the voices of americans regarding the hunter biden laptop which turned out is absolutely true. the criminal investigations into hunter biden and the biden family that were going on in ukraine. these things have all been proven to have been true. trump was right on all of it. he was trying to wake people up and ultimately the people that were awake showed up on january 6. if you look very closely at the events of january 6 -- host: sorry. i think we lost tom. we will go on to joann in michigan on the independent line. caller: hi. i think all this carrying on

about biden forgiving and decreasing interest on student loans is kind of disingenuous. we give -- that is what we do. we give subsidies to business. we have the covid loans. we give subsidies to farmers and tax breaks to business. i don't think it is such a big deal to give a break to the students who are going into all these jobs like nursing and doctors and police to help the country out. when i went to school, the government helped subsidize big colleges. now states and the federal government does not subsidize as much. now the students have this huge loan. that is how it works. that is all i have got to say about that. host: we will go to randy ub was -- in wisconsin on the republican line.

caller: -- i have three things quick here. the lady that talked about the student loan, she was right on. even the guy on january 6 was right on. i think everyone should go and take out a quick student loan -- president biden. another thing is when kamala harris -- host: you keep breaking up. we will move onto bill in michigan on the democrat line. caller: i have been upset all week with trump using religion as a ploy for his politics. a man that has broken every commandment over and over and over again, all the way from

adultery to lying and cheating and not paying people. yesterday when they posted a picture of jesus with his hands on trump's shoulder, it made me sick to my stomach. i don't understand how any christian could vote for him. he would sell the bible to make money. that's ridiculous. he wants people to think he is the chosen one. last week he called jesus and that he's comparing himself to mandela. how can any christian vote for a man that doesn't even know what a church looks like? he just makes me sick. thank you for taking my call. host: also from the wall street journal, u.s. deploys warships to middle east. the u.s. rushed warships to

protect israel and american forces in the region looking to head off a direct attack from iran on israel that could come as soon as this weekend. that moved by the u.s. is part of an effort to avoid a wider middle east conflict. to comes after a warning from a person familiar with the matter -- it comes after a warning from a person familiar with the matter about a potential attack from iran, to person breach by the iranian leadership. while plans to attack are being discussed, no final decision has been made. we will go to harry in north carolina on the independent line. caller: i have a couple of news stories. on the student loans, what the people don't understand, it is not the loans that are killing the students. it is the exorbitant interest rates they are charging.

there are people out there that have been paying 20 years on a $40,000 loan and they still owe $160,000 on the original 40,000 note. as far as donald trump, he should not be in the white house. being involved in government. he's a criminal. he's a traitor. we have the republican leader of congress going down there to ask donald trump what he wants to do. it's ridiculous. wake up, people. we will not get another chance. donald trump is the worst thing that ever happened to this country and he always will be. even his wife. she plagiarized michelle obama on her speech when he was elected the first time.

they are grifters. they are bad for the country. they are going to take us down. he is selling upcountry. -- selling out the country. host: denise in illinois on the republican line. caller: of course it was abortion in arizona. other than that there was another topic, the death of o.j. simpson. he was accused of killing his wife nicole and their neighbor. he got away with murder, literally. it was all to do with racism. why people thought he was guilty. black people thought he was innocent. there was a black woman on the jury. she found in favor of him and he got away with murder. another thing turned up that was astounding to hear about. the los angeles police

continually heard from the coal -- nicole when simpson was beating her up. they did nothing to help her. that revealed another type of ism, which is sexism on their part. they showed any white women who had the gall or maybe stupidity to marry a black man was not going to get any sympathy from the white police department. it is a pitiful thing that it happened. o.j. simpson lived out the rest of his life, even though he had cancer, guilty of murder. host: we will go to mike in pennsylvania on the democrat line. what is your top news story of the week? caller: it's about the student loan thing. a guy a couple of calls ago sort

of stole my thunder. anybody paying alone over 10, 20, 30 years with such a high interest rate has already paid back way more money than the original loan was worth. that means there is no charge to the taxpayers. the taxpayers are not losing money. they made money off these people. my second point on this is, why is the government involved in trying to make a profit off of student loans? why is there an interest charged at all? the idea is to promote higher education and to train people for the future of our country. i never understood why there was an interest charge involved in it in the first place. thank you. host: we have time for a couple more calls.

danny in south carolina on the republican line. caller: how are you doing this morning? there are so many top issues in this country. one of your previous colors said trump would bring us down. in my world, i'm a high school graduate. i did not go to college and thank god i didn't. i hope he does bring us down. bring our egg prices down. bring the bacon prices down. bring gas prices back down. bring all the wars in the world back down. this country is on fire. it seems like the louvre people that are doing good in this country right now are democrats. you never complained about the price of nothing. just give me, give me, give me. student debt. mr. trump was being punished for paying back his loan but we will forgive i don't know how many millions of people in this country that did not get an education. somewhat to college to become a gender specialist. they are driving a truck.

we need plumbers and carpenters. we need working americans. americans. trump stood for working americans. small businesses. i'm in one. i'm basically being run out of sewer plants because of one reason. baby wipes. you would not think that's a problem in america. i have been run out of two sewer plants because they blame me for the baby wipes other people flush down the toilet. oh, they don't come down the sewer pipes. they are only in septic tanks. no, they are in sewer pipes -- host: we will go on to dave in las vegas, nevada. what is your top news story of the week? caller: trump was convicted in civil court and should have been brought up increment of court

but the statute of limitations ran out and nobody seems to care. he tried to overthrow the united states government. the constitution says he should not be allowed to run. those republicans backing him our communist dictatorship. you will either vote for biden to be president or vote for trump who will be a communist dictator. he will hurt this country. he should not be allowed to run. not one news person like yourself said he is our rapist. he don't even care, do you? he was not convicted in criminal court. what? host: we will go to our last call. dave in massachusetts on the republican line. what is your top news story of the week? caller: there are two but i will go with the student loan thing. i just cannot understand any of

these people calling and saying there is too much interest on the loan or whatever. you were 18 years old. i took a car loan. i had to pay it off. why should they be forgiven for getting alone to go to school? it was their decision. they did it. like one of the guys was saying, have these people that went to school never graduated or did not even do what they want to school for. i can't understand. i think the democrats are pushing this whole thing like we have to forgive, we have to forgive. forgive everybody else's loan. what about someone who paid off their loan three years ago? that is my feeling about it. it is sad we are at this stage where they are forgiven these loans. forgive everybody's loans if you going to be equal. host: that was the last call for the segment.

we appreciate everyone who called in. we are going to do our spotlight on podcast segment. we are joined by washington times's martin di caro who will discuss his podcast, "history as it happens," and the importance of bringing a historical perspective to political news of the day. we will be right back. ♪ >> c-span now is the free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what's happening in washington. keep up with the day's biggest events with livestreams of hearing from the u.s. congress, white house events, the courts, campaign, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips.

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the policies they believe could help them get to the middle class. she's interviewed by robbie swab e. find a full schedule on your program guide or watch oine anytime at booktv.org. >> the house is planning to send impeachment articles against homeland security secretary alejandra mayorkas to the senate chamber next week. several senate republicans requested the delay to have the chamber conduct a full trial instead of the democrats' plan to dismiss or table the ties. live coverage next week on c-span 2, on c-span now, and online at c-span.org. >> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other.

since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced unfiltered coverage of government, taking you into the policies are debated and decided with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us now is martin di caro of the washington times. he hosts "history as it happens" and we will talk about his podcast and why it's important to bring in a historical perspective thank you for joining us. guest: great to be here. host: tell us about the podcast. what kind of topics do you cover? guest: the headlines often dictate what i'm going to do. everything happening today comes from something somewhere. i'm not a historian myself. i speak to some of the best historians and political scientists in the world on my

show about the origins of current events. today the world seems like it's in chaos. the world has always had a large degree of chaos going on but today especially people are trying to figure out the mind-boggling hurricane of news that hits us from all angles at all times of the day. social media. do you go online and you look at websites like c-span. you can listen to congress and all this. i take a little bit of a step back from that and say let's talk about how we got here. i do it in a nonpartisan, free-flowing, based on a pretties. i'm not interested in opinions. i'm interested in hearing people who are experts on subject matter to try to get people to take a break from the knee-jerk reflexive partisan seeking out sources of information that cater to their feelings. i'm challenging people to think

about the historical origins of current events and hopefully get them to read more history books. we know a lot of people don't like to read 800 to 900 page history books. historians are aware that. my podcast gives them the opportunity to talk about their work to people who may not be willing to read their books. host: what kind of perspective are you trying to bring in? you want it to be nonpartisan and informative. what perspective do you want to add? what do you look for when you have a guest? guest: depth, complexity, nuance. history is surprising us. i think historians, while not good at predicting the future -- no one is -- have something to say at this moment in time in our country. the world has always been chaotic. i don't know if we are more chaotic than the past. there's a lot more order in the world and there probably was in the ancient times, right? i have right here a historians

brief that they filed in president trump's immunity case that will go before the supreme court on april 25. historians have a role to play to help us understand what is going on below the surface level. i try to steer away from surface evaluation. hopefully we will get to some of this. these are some of the greatest living authorities on the founding of the country. i will speak to him on monday about this brief in advance of the april 25 hearing before the supreme court. people are approaching this case. president trump claims he has sweeping and permanent immunity from prosecution even though he has been out of office for a few years. historians say let's look at what the founders set about this. let's go back to the constitution. they submitted a 40 page brief. i read it so you don't have to. host: it is not a history podcast. guest: origins of current events. host: why is that in order --

important? guest: people, and this includes me, it is vexing to consume everything going on right now in the world. russia and ukraine. i think a lot of people assumed such a war like that was impossible again in europe. i was foolish to think so. i examine the origins of the russia-ukraine relationship. you find out that the past -- we are living in the past. some people are actually trying to return us to a past era. that would be vladimir putin. the past is alive in our decision-making. it informs our perspective against putin. he has a history -- a version of history with ukraine's relationship with russia. host: you said you were not a

historian. you are looking for the historical perspective. when you listen to your episodes, some of these are more obscure. some of the ties you were making. how are you making those connections? guest: carefully. history does not operate in a straight line. it's a crooked path. i'm careful about analogies and comparisons. just because something happened in 1782 at this is happening today. i try to seek out continuities or cause and effect. historians will tell you they have two things to try to convey the meaning of history. one is chronology. simply understanding the order of things and how they -- one leads to the next. history is a deeply interwoven series of events. my guests who are some of the best historians of the world.

i have talked about the fascism debate we are having now, to try to steer clear of analogies to the 1930's. i speak to political scientists about where we are going. the author of "the end of history," a very relevant topic right now. think of much optimism there was and the 1990's -- in the0' about democracy. things are not looking so good. host: everybody heard history repeats itself. guest: i don't agree with that. host: how much of modern politics is truly unprecedented? guest: almost nothing. i'm on a one-man mission doomed to fail to get people to stop looking to the 1930's europe for answers to our problems today, and to stop calling things unprecedented.

very little is truly unprecedented. one exception would be the peaceful transfer of power that was trashed on january 6. we had never had a president do that. you can say the confederacy, right? jefferson davis was not president of the united states. that was a violent uprising against the united states as well. host: we are talking with martin di caro, the washington times -- of the washington times about his podcast, "history as it happens." you can give us a call. republicans, your line is (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. martin, one of your recent episodes looked at the age of candidates being a campaign issue. has it ever been such a talked about over important factor in a presidential election? guest: i don't think so. certainly not in the modern era.

i'm curious to hear the callers discuss this as well as to how important is age as they prepare to make their decision this november. come on the other issues and decisions we are facing right now -- among the other issues and decisions we are facing right now in the world. the older you get the more potential health problems you can have. woodrow wilson suffered a serious stroke in 1919 and never really recovered. there was not the same media environment. that was kept secret. he was not going to -- there was no bar against running for a third term. he was thinking about running for third term. the stroke put that to rest. he never had to face the public and try to prove he was capable in that type of respect. this was 1919, really before broadcast radio, television or anything like that. 1955, dwight eisenhower had a really serious heart attack. then he had another element

following -- the following year. people learned about this in the newsreels. once they figured out what was happening to him -- he was misdiagnosed. they thought he had indigestion we had a serious heart attack. once they figured out what was happening they were forthright and transparent about what was going on. ike led the country from the hospital for six weeks with a lot of assistance. it took him time to start running the country again from the oval office. he won a landslide victory the following year. he was in his mid-to-late 60's at that time. age and health was a but he put those concerns to rest. he defeated adlai stevenson. 1984, ronald reagan, walter mondale. you have a clip you want to play. that was the first time i remember in my life age of a president being a factor. age questions followed ronald reagan when he was running for the republican nomination in

1976. when he wins in 1980, he was the oldest. he was able to squash concerns about his age at the debate with walter mondale. host: we have that clip out of the c-span archives. here is the 1984 debate, the second debate between president reagan and democratic candidate walter mondale. [video] >> your question to president reagan. >> there is a question lurking for a few weeks. you already are the oldest president in history. some of your staff say you were tired after your encounter with mr. mondale. i recall president kennedy had to go for days on it with very little sleep during the cuban missile crisis. is there any doubt in your mind he would be able to function in

such circumstances? >> not at all. i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. [laughter] [applause] if i have time, i might add it was seneca or cicero who said if it was not for the elders correcting the mistakes of the young they would be no state. guest: even the moderators and mondale are host: why is this year different? guest: joe biden is clearly the

oldest president ever in office, right? he is 82 now so he will be 86 or 87 by the time the second term would end. i then -- biden 82. reagan, mid 60's, a considerable difference in years. also our own eyes. watch joe biden's news conferences. he doesn't give that many solo news conferences. his public appearances, he seems to be fading. he is forgetful. he says that his memory is fine but he does screw up names. he has always been a gaffe machine but it looks like he is slowing down. he doesn't have a vigorous public schedule. donald trump is also old. he would be older than 80 by the time his next term would in. i watched his rallies when he does this 90 minute stream of consciousness type of remarks,

and he seems to have more energy than president biden. his problems are different. the two men are not the same. i would encourage people to watch them both extensively. not just soundbites cut out for effect, but at length. donald trump says things like the criminals who attack the capital on january 6 or hostages. he starts with a mashup of the national anthem and star-spangled banner -- i said the same thing. america the beautiful and star-spangled banner from the jay 6 choir. polls have shown that the american public are not happy with other candidate. not just for age but for a number of issues. yet, here we are. the long way of answering your question. they are both old is the short one. host: we will start with

alexander in brooklyn, new york on the democrat line. alexander? caller: good morning. the second time talking to you. i guess i got lucky. i love your show. guest: that is so kind of you to say. caller: thank you. i think that the last episode was awesome. history versus trump. to be honest, sometimes when i cannot listen to the people calling on c-span i automatically go to your podcast to get a brief survey of what's happening in history on the day. i wanted to bring it back to your podcast, your episode i think 1992. guest: the election of 1992, go ahead. caller: ross perot and patrick henry. i wanted to bring it back where it is looking at the republican party going back to nixon. the more that i hear and read

and consider from nixon to trump, looking at the republican party more dangerous as time progresses and as the media landscape allows for more of this destructive rhetoric. policies, trump, even the rnc now. i know that you say that nothing is unprecedented, but when i look at autocratic characters around the world it seems like we are in a different world scheme. it is in trouble but the people. about the people they manipulate. to normalize this kind of violence and rhetoric globally through a media landscape i think is dangerous. i wanted to know your thoughts. i know that it's a broad question, but this kind of tendency within the republican party globally, is there a way

to get back some liberal democracies to have honest debates and a balance? guest: thanks again, alexander, for listening to the podcast. i'm delighted that you enjoy it. don't tune out c-span. this place isn't partisan either. that is why i like c-span and not the other cable networks. you have a free-flowing dialogue on your programs. to your point, it is an enormous issue globally. the so-called retreat of democracy. it is happening in some places. as far as concerns about where the republican party has been and where it is going, it's no longer the party of ronald reagan. i believe that's apparent. though there are continuities from the age of reagan and triumph of conservatism in the 1980. tax cuts, republican famous tax cuts today. deregulation is another. free-trade is not. the populist bent that we

started to see emerge in 1992 with pat buchanan, ross perot, two different kinds of populists. ross perot is more of a patriotic-type of populist while pat buchanan fed into some of the darker tendencies. he dabbled in holocaust denial, he was anti-gay, he was anti-immigrant, he went to a confederate monument during his campaign in 1992 to play the race card there. we could spend the entire hour discussing this. i think the way that i would put it is that the republican party has become more radical over time and more antigovernment from the early 1990's and end of the cold war when we start to focus on our own concerns rather than what was going on overseas. buchanan did have some legitimate points when he announced his presidency. his campaign for the presidency in 1990 one in new hampshire, couple of months before the 1992 new hampshire primary, as a

matter of fact that speech is in c-span's online archive and i encourage everyone to listen to it, but he and perrault saw the failure of institutions and legislation, like nasa. while the republican party has become more radical, what president trump did on january 6 was disgraceful and we've never had a president try to stay in power after losing an election like that, we have to look at the other side. that's the massive failure of our institutions. something that democrats often neglect to discuss when they go after trump. we have had forever wars, we had the financial crisis. that was the product of a bipartisan consensus of deregulation of the financial markets. the opioid epidemic, health free-trade didn't benefit the united states like people said it would, that is not a

concise answer, but that is the free-flowing nature of my show. host: john on the independent line. caller: good evening. i'm glad to see the two of you, c-span i always listen to every morning because i can get sort of a feel of what is going on in the country. not pro or against. that is why i am an independent. as for your guest, i would say, i listen to you all the time. guest: well, thank you. caller: when i want something informative. your guests are amazing. i look at it -- i look at several. victor david hanson listen to america, ralph freeport. you two keep me in sort of a

straight keel.thank you and continue with your program. guest: he makes a good point. there's plenty to be upset and depressed about in the world but you can't be upset and depressed 24/7. you would be miserable. keeping an even keel is important. too much cable news, too much social media, too much what i call shelton journalism and distraction television. it's important to try to have some perspective. you can do that by listening to my podcast or just by going for a walk in the woods one day and going out into nature and shutting off screens, right? host: david in boston on the republican line. david? caller: yes, i would like to talk to the guest. yes. talking about conspiracy theories. what started back when.

do you know? guest: forever. caller: kennedy. guest: there were conspiracy days in the -- there were conspiracies in the early days of the republic. caller: but then it turns into disinformation. i challenge you that i think january 6, the fbi was involved in it. is that disinformation? guest: when you say involved in it, do you mean they were behind in it, that they participated? caller: is that disinformation? guest: i would say yes. i don't see any information that the fbi -- caller: what you're telling me is that you are taking my opinion and transforming it into the word disinformation when it is my opinion. what you're doing is you are taking my opinion and you're saying that your opinion doesn't

count. it is just disinformation. guest: i wouldn't say that your opinion doesn't count. i think that you're making a statement about what happened on january 6 that different. to me and opinion is that i think vanilla ice cream is better than chocolate. if i were to tell you that the earth is flat and that is my opinion, you would say, go get your head examined. caller: so, what you are saying is that my opinion doesn't count? guest: no, not at all. caller: i can tell you that your opinion is wrong. what does that make me? guest: i hold out the possibility i'm always wrong about everything. that forces me to continue to think about things. i claim no expertise on any subject here, but i do appreciate you calling. host: we will go to michelle in los angeles, california calling on the democrat line. michelle? caller: good morning. i was wondering, what is your take on putin's contention that

ukraine has a large nazi element and that has been largely what has been driving the opposition to russia and one of the reasons for the war? guest: ukraine does not have a large nazi contingent. there has been a lot of ink spilled about certain military unit in ukraine having nazi or neo-nazi tendencies. there is truth in that. but the whole de-nazify ukraine is propaganda and pretext for invading that country. ukraine has other problems, corruption among them. one of the most corrupt countries in europe. that doesn't mean that it deserves to be invaded. no matter what kind of government ukraine has it was a war of aggression and unjustified. to answer your question, i think that has been overblown.

host: another episode you recently did was looking at the history of running for president from prison. can you explain who he was? guest: the impetus was the fact that you can run for president from prison if you have been convicted of a crime and are sitting in a cell. i don't foresee that happening this year. only full try to predict the future, but i don't think that donald trump will be in a prison cell by the time the election rolls around. he was the most influential socialist in american history who ran for president five times born before the civil war and a democratic party man and union organizer in the late 1800s on the railroad. after he was thrown in prison the first time for leading a

failed strike against the train car company, he became radicalized reading socialist authors and he came out saying the heck with these two parties. saying that these two parties are the same. we need a more radical approach to solving the problems of what he saw as the problem of capitalism and imperialism. in 1917 or 1918 in canton, ohio debs gave a speech that violated either the sedition or espionage act. they were passed in succession. during world war i they were meant to crack on dissent, not to catch spies. it is one of the more shameful chapters in american history. dissent was punished with imprisonment. debs gave a speech in canton, ohio where he encouraged people to resist the draft. he adopted linen's view -- leni

n's that it is a war between capitalist powers. that's not a sophisticated interpretation of the war. that doesn't matter come he was just stating come as the last caller said, his opinion about what was going on and he was arrested and thrown in jail. he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for antiwar dissent. his sentence was later commuted by president harding in 1921. during the 1920 election, debs ran on the socialist ticket and got around 3% of the vote, which is lower than he had gotten in 1912 when he also got about 6% of the popular vote. more people voted in 1920. women voted by then. he got 3% of the popular vote from prison so yes it can happen. but there is no similarity between eugene debs and donald trump politically. host: phil in minnesota on the

independent line. guest: good morning, phil. caller: listening to your podcast for one simple reason. i know who you work for. guest: i would encourage you to have an open mind about not my podcast, but everything. people can do as they wish, but judging a book by its cover -- washington times has excellent journalists working for. i work with these people every day. they cover the news fairly and impartially. every newspaper has an editorial page that you can like or dislike. you don't have to agree with everything you read. we do news at the washington times i do it a little bit different. it is some opinion but mostly, as i mentioned at the top of the show, the historical origins of

current events. i think that my show and put my expert guests have to offer. i'm not giving you me, i'm giving you what my guest has to say. i'm doing a monologue now. sorry. but if i did a monologue on my podcast, no one would listen. host: are you still there? do you have a response for martin? caller: yes, he's wrong about ukraine. i will tell him why. i have been in every major city in ukraine. what he will never tell people is that since stalin died in 1953 the u.s. government has wanted to wrestle ukraine from russia. currently, the ukrainian president, all of the cabinet

has been trained by a former programmer from stanford university. maybe you know about the ukrainian emergent leaders program? it's not, everything is not exactly what you think it is. you have to be careful when you talk about anything about history, because what they say, when they say it, and what happens after they say it is m ore important in 2024. guest: just to follow that last point, as far as ukraine goes of course there was western influence in ukraine. vladimir putin is happy to point to that. let's not forget about the agency of ukrainians themselves who in 2014 chose the west. this is when the president from the eastern part of ukraine, viktor yanukovych, reneged on a

trade deal with european union which incited the revolution. he was ousted and fled the country, and that is the origin point for the current crisis. we don't have the time to go through the russia-ukraine history, but ukrainians chose that they wanted a future to be with the west. host: ava in columbia, mississippi. guest: hello, ava. caller: i am an 80-year-old blind woman and i don't claim to be an expert on anything like some of these people. i wanted to ask you a question. i had heard recently on different news things that jack smith, i believe is his name, a special prosecutor that was appointed by the attorney general on trump's document case, i believe. was he legitimately appointed? does merrick garland have the right to appoint someone who is

not in the judiciary system? does he have the right to pull up anybody? they don't have to go before congress and be voted on and approved by congress if they are a person who come using the term off the street, as jack smith was? guest: i have not heard the objection that jack smith is not qualified or have the criteria to do the job. as far as i'm concerned his position as legitimate. there is question about independence and special councils and the need to rewrite the law. these investigations go on forever. not just the ones going on now. going back to ken starr and many others. host: karel in arkansas on the independent mine. caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. i wanted to talk about, i suppose, racism. the two presidential candidates,

joe biden and donald trump. first some facts on biden. i consider my opinion that joe biden is a racist, backed up by his dissent on segregation back when he was in congress. i think that is well documented. he was against desegregation. he hung out with the head of the clue clocks clan -- ku klux klan. that i consider being a racist. donald trump, before he was in the political arena, back when nelson mandela was released from

the racist people in south africa. everyone knows who nelson mandela is. he wanted to come to the united states to tour, let's call it. to talk on freedom. the united states government -- i'm not sure who was in political power at that time -- but they would not help him get to the united states to tour. ok? that is something else, but donald trump as an individual private citizen, not in policy, sent his private plane to south africa to pick up nelson mandela and bring him to the united states and gave him access to his private plane to tour the united states. host: what is your question for martin? guest: i have a question for carl.

i have a question for all the callers who are calling, if carl is still with us. is age a factor for you in the selection, the age of the candidates? their age? in washington we run a million stories every week about the age of the candidates. i wonder what voters think among the issues that will determine their vote in november? say it again? caller: i am between 65 and 70. guest: not your age. if you are concerned about biden 's age and trump's age. caller: i'm not concerned about their age at all. it is not the age that matters, it is their competency. guest: yes, i agree with you. host: thank you, carl. guest: let me say this about the age thing again -- sorry for hijacking these calls. you're dealing with a host here, right?

the best way for any candidate to squash concerns about their age or competency is to hold a vigorous public schedule. one-on-one interviews with confrontational journalists. hold news conferences where you are answering and taking questions from journalists across the spectrum. two public events. be able to speak without a teleprompter. those types of things, other than just saying "i'm fine." it is more acting than just talking about it. i think that is the only way that any candidate can deal with that. host: samuel in baltimore on the democrat line. samuel? caller: good morning. mr. di caro, i am a fan of your podcast. one reason is, when i talk to my conservative friends and i say that you work for the washington times but your podcast is neutral, that opens the door to discussion. when i say that i listen to something from rachel maddow

that closes it down, but you open the door to more people. have you had richard j evans on who had the trilogy the coming of the third reich, the third reich in power, and the third reich in war? have you had frank caro, who had lbj master the senate? i am a big fan, and i thank you very much. you are doing a great service for educating all of us on c-span. guest: thank you so much. it means a lot to me that you value what i'm trying to do. yes, we need to have conversations. as he said, when he tells people he works for this news organization people immediately jump to conclusions. it is impossible to be completely objective and neutral, we all have biases and gaps in our knowledge we may not

be aware of. i try to be aware of that and present a free-flowing nonpartisan product to inform them about the origins of what is going on today. richard evans, one of my favorite historians, wrote a trilogy on nazi germany, the coming of the third reich, the third reich in power, the third reich in war. i haven't had richard on yet and i hope to in the future. he has a new book coming out soon. i have had kershaw on the podcast several times. he is also a great scholar on the third reich. robert caro is very difficult to do interviews with. he is busy writing we hope volume five of the lbj series. when that book is published i hope to have robert caro on my show. that would be a highlight of my life. i met him years ago and he is a wonderful man. i've listened to him speak in public. his books on lyndon johnson are political biographies of the united states in the 20th century. yes. host: we have time for a couple more calls. devon in florida on the republican line.

caller: thank you for taking my call. on the age limits of the candidates, i do believe we need term limits in congress. we need fresh ideas and fresh blood in there. i believe 35 years old for president, anyone 35 i don't have a problem with that. joe biden is showing cognitive dysfunction that is negative. i see donald trump sharp on the ball answering questions and giving the logical strong answers. what i want to ask you from the washington times, i'm african-american, 35 years old. donald trump has been the best president in my lifetime. with the talk of barack obama wanting to get out the bribery lobbyists and one thing to get term limits and not even trying to help black america, i didn't see him for me as a voter. donald trump has been there for me.

he has done the economy, he has done the military, he has done everything to bring peace in this time frame of the world. i'm trying to understand when i watch cnn and msnbc and they are trying their best to rid this man of his personality of being a good leader, a game show host, a business leader, why are we trying to break down america? why are we trying to tore america apart by looking at these leaders saying he is a nazi an insurrectionist? all he is trying to do is save from non-logic common sense wicked things that are happening. guest: he is not a nazi and he is not stalin. dev makes interesting -- devon makes interesting points.

he has gained ground among latino and african-american voters. that is something democrats can't seem to understand, but it's real and it is dangerous to their prospects in november. the gains that donald trump has made in those two areas. about the age. he mentioned how donald trump in news conferences, i mentioned before, i refer to it as a stream of consciousness. he actually gave a news conference yesterday with the speaker of the house where he stood up and rapidfire took questions. no question he showed more vigor and energy than joe biden does. host: we have time for one more call, john in florence, massachusetts on the independent line. caller: i have a comment and question. i want to make sure that everyone knows the blm riots were not mostly peaceful, republicans are not the devil, i

am an independent. we need another paul harvey out there that will get me the rest of the story. guest: i agree republicans are not the devil. i believe what he is trying to get at is that our discourse today is so polarized that we don't want to listen to each other. that is why i have done a number of shows about the fascism question. i think it is a distraction. it's a good starting point and we should study history and understand basic philosophical concepts. i can give you my fascism definition, but i won't. less name-calling, more thinking, more conversation i think would be better for our country right now. host: washington times's martin di caro, a host of the podcast history as it happens. that is it for today's "washington journal" and we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern 4:00 a.m. pacific. thank you for joining and enjoy

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