Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20171227

Hollywood saw the initial impact from the movement, it went into politics also at the resignation of several members of congress, and calls for capitol hill to improve how claims of Sexual Assault are handled. For your thoughts on the movement and its influence in the next hour, we invite you to call in on two lines. For women, 202 7488000. For men, 202 7488001. You can post at cspanwj on our twitter feed and give your thoughts on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. The Chicago Tribune talks about the movement and its founder, miss burke, who coined the phrase. She is a survivor of Sexual Assault and she wanted to do something to help women and girls of color who had survived Sexual Violence as well. It moves on in the timeline to talk about the influence in hollywood with the active kevin spacey becoming the focus of claims against him and timeline also talks about the influence it had in politics, highlighting the Washington Post into their piece that was published about roy moore. Which ended up with him losing that election in the Alabama Special Senate election. Again, the me too movement and its influence are the thoughts for this first hour and getting your thoughts on it too. We want to show you if it from toronto burke herself, she spoke at a Forum Earlier this year about why she thinks they were a big influence this year. The reality is people do not to talk about this issue, they do know what to amplify these discussions and are those of us that have worked in Sexual Violence, we go out and we work hard and we are in our communities trying to amplify the voice of survivors, but it is not a popculture issue. And for me, i found working with black and brown girls in the south, you cannot get more marginalized than that. So it had to have popculture, the light of popculture to shine on it so people would Pay Attention. So in ways i am grateful for that, because now we have a National Conversation we have never had before. I definitely did not see this, foresee this in 2006 when we started doing this work. There was no such thing. Twitter, it had not even started yet. So it was not the vision. But we did have a vision to have something that survivors could connect to that was simple. But it showed in exchange for empathy, that people connected with each other. It is easy for somebody to say, when you tell your story of any can of trauma, for them to say i am so side that happened to you. The other person is wellmeaning and wants to make you feel comfortable, but there is still a distance there between you and them. The same as it happened to you, not me. The difference is when somebody shares something that is the most romantic thing that happened to them and at the end of that you can say me too. There is a connection that happened that it leaves for the two of you or three of you, it is a liberation that you cannot trade for anything in the world. There is no money that can help you have that feeling of having a connection with somebody that says, i am not alone, i am not crazy, i am not an anomaly, these feelings i have are real and genuine. That is what this meeting movement is about. Host you heard her talk about the National Conversation people are having about the movement and we are getting your thoughts on it as well. 202 7488000 for women. 202 7488001 for men to give your thoughts. You can post on our twitter feed, and facebook is available to you as well. Two posts, rich saying people have abused it for iffy situations. Patricia this morning saying, time to start the dirty secret has been exposed. That is a way to get your thoughts how this morning about the influence. You can tell about your personal story, the influence on culture and particularly on politics. We have a color from caller from pennsylvania, go ahead. Caller i think it is all ridiculous. President trump is doing what he said he was going to do. He is going to clean the swamp. And i think it is a necessary thing. People should be exposed. HIllary Clinton is trying to convince everybody that she was not guilty, but she was. Host all of those things aside, what do you think about the me too movement . What has its influence been . Caller i think there is no reason for those women to be nasty. Uh, but you know, nobody can help if they are beautiful. Nobody can help if they speak five languages. I think Melania Trump and his daughter are beautiful, and what that woman said, that trump is using her as a sex symbol, that is absolutely ridiculous. Host that was loretta from pennsylvania. The Chicago Tribune looks at a story from Samantha Bond camp, who writes about the movement in 2018 and if it will actually create real change when it comes to the workplace. She writes in a june 2060 report, a year before allegations against Harvey Weinstein were reported, suggested that managers such an uptick would show victims are comfortable coming forward. Such a harassment reporting has remained s teady over the last decade. The eoc received dozens of complaints in 2016, including Sexual Harassment in the workplace. It goes on to quote Adam Hochstein, the founder and ceo for strata. Puthinks this movement has managers on notice to prevent workplace harassment, including Adam Hochstein himself who brought it up in the meeting in december, saying they can put a check in the box when you talk about policies with employees, but i do not think anybody has brought into the forefront like it should have been. Sylvia from washington state, hello. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have called before. I really enjoy your show. In, i am very proud of those women who have had the courage to come forward. When i was growing up, and having the abuse stuff happening to me and ill throw my life, i have had to really all throughout my life, i have had to really push myself to call somebody. When i was young you did not dare say anything about any nd i haveng on a had jobs where they have had you wear clothes like a waitress, and these people would say, i want her. They do not want food, they pointed at me. And when i asked the boss, why do you make me wear these clothes . He would say, sex sells. Host do you think the movement will be longlasting, or shortlived, what do you think will happen as far as the impact it will have . Caller i am hoping for the best, because there are still children being abused every day, children being sold every day into sexual slavery. And it is still happening. Even my granddaughter was sexually abused by a quote, y outh minister that worked on her until she gave in. It was really a nightmare. Host we will hear next from jenny from ohio, lancaster, ohio. You are on. Caller good morning. You know, i think i feel that for these women who have gone through this. I have gone through it, but you know what, you get over it. Maybe we should worry about north korea and china and russia and the things that are really important. And i understand some of these women got into the situations. You know what, it has happened to me and i got over it. You do not hear me going around get over it. Men and women are different, they just are. Host jenny giving her thoughts this morning. You are also welcome to give your thoughts. 202 7488000 for women. 202 7488001 for men. Russell in the oped section of the Washington Examiner writes about the me too movement and she writes under the headline, saying the primary thing the me too movement has created is an awareness of the disciplinary action of men in positions of power and the open harassment, assaulting women who were beneath them. This is progress, of ending decades of secrecy and shame that the women have entered. Yet the me too movement has created also a secondary issue of allegations of abuse that not demonstrate national dime Natural Dynamics between men and women. An unwanted kiss was a compliment that seems bumbling. The attempt to roll all of these instances together and declare them as equally harmful is disingenuous and it will backfire and create a dynamic where all women are basically victims and all men are the perpetrators. Maxine is in new baltimore, michigan. You are next. Caller hi. Good morning. This is maxine. I think this me to movement is going to hurt women more than help them. I will give you some background. I am 78 years old. When i started working, there were no women in the field i was in. I had a boss tell me, we never considered hiring a woman before, but we had never had one with your qualifications, so we will take a chance on you. Women do not realize what we went through to make a way for them. And naturally i was sexually harassed, but i used to tell them, do not start with me. Do not start a habit you cannot keep. Also, women have got ways to deal with Sexual Harassment. You do not have to run to hr, you do not have to run to someone to cry on their shoulder. Use a little humor, use your brain instead of whining and crying. It is natural for them to make passes at women, that is natural, that is nature. You are not going to change it. This movement is going to hurt women more than help them, because men are going to be hesitant about hiring women are working with them and that is all i have to say. Host getting your opinions so far on the me too movement as it has been called. Your thoughts are welcome on the line or you can post on our facebook feed and our twitter page. You can also take a look at this piece by Jenna Mcgregor in the Washington Post this morning, talking about the me too movement and how it will speed up the number of women in leadership positions, or will it slow it down. Movement,e current with it lead them to management roles or hold them back as the me too movement takes place in workplace after workplace with the risk of headlines or extensive legal proceedings. Some experts worry backlash to the moment from overly cautious men in organizations with unfair expeditions for the women, who did get promoted, her the numbers rather than help them. Others are cautiously optimistic that the current tremors will finally move the needle. The recent allegations that put a spotlight on the lack of women in powerful rules. Roles. A research and consulting organization, the leader says, they will say why women do not get top jobs, but they are seen as a risky bet because of the stereotypes people have, but now may be men are the risky bet and good but asking about the risk of not having women in power. Bill in kentucky. Caller yes . Host your own. Caller i do not want to detract from the horrible he behavior of Harvey Weinstein, but when i was a young man i had a girl tell lies on me that were completely untrue. I do noter her reason, know, but i have to tell you that i have seen women lie. Just because they Say Something does not mean it is true. I do not want to downplay people who are being abused, but i have to say that this is wrong the way that they are going about it. To think every time a woman says something is true is the height of stupidity. Host is there a better way to go about it . Caller she goes and she filed a complaint with the Police Department. They issue a warrant and they take you to court. If you are not willing to do it, do not say you are being abused. That way you know if somebody has been convicted of sexual abuse or Something Like that, but especially do not sit around for 1015 years and come out later with somebody is running for office and to something, that is stupid. Host how do you deal with issues of harassment, say in a workplace . Caller well, first of all you have to define harassment. Who, in what persons mind is harassment actually there . Somebody asks somebody out on a date, is that harassment . If somebody tells a woman that she is dressed nice, is that harassment . When they start putting their hands on you, that is harassment my will draw the line right there. Host that is bill giving his thoughts this morning. We have divided the lines for men and women. Men, 202 7488001. Women, 202 7488000. Gabrielle in brooklyn. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller i was calling because i see a lot of people are, maybe like from the older generation and i like to say that with the me too movement i think it is something, i think it is a great conversation that we have opened up the door for, and i think it is something that has to be discussed. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things about the system that we live in, the way that we live, that will not be right, but they just have been. When i hear older women say, i have been sexually assaulted and you get over it, no, we should be educating people to respect one another and to teaching our boys to respect girls, even though we have natural urges, it is not ok to do whatever you feel like. So i think that there needs to be a conversation and there should be accountability. And i think that it is a great conversation piece and unfortunately it does make way for people to have, to make allegations that might not be true, but i think that it happens more often then not and people do not understand that sexual advances or a comment or a wink, it may not be your intention to make somebody feel a certain type of way, but it can be uncomfortable for people and i think that we need to have a conversation about people respecting one another and young a conversation about, know, just because men or more sexual than women it does not mean it is ok for them to slap you when they see you. Host do you think that there is long lasting change because of the movement, or do you call a conversation, you think ultimately change comes from it . Caller i think change is coming from it and i think there is a lot that has happened in the past few years, with thankfully the presence of social media, that is more accountability and i think that is why a lot more people are realizing, this is not just me this has happened to because there is a place where people can have dialogue, there is a place where the girl in the town next to me may have gone through a similar situation as me but i would have never known that, should i see a tweet or a repost or something, now i see, amy from wherever has gone through this as well and im not the only victim. And i think as peoples attention is brought to it, because that is a conversation, there has to be changed from it because this is a serious issue and people are, women do not want to be ostracized. We do not want to be victimized. We do not want to be all these things. We are powerful and beautiful entity that needs to be respected in all shapes and forms from all people. Host that was gabrielle giving her thoughts on the me too movement. This in todays pages of the washington times, from the associated press, writing about officialsSexual Assault complaint coming against the President Trumps foreign saying amanagers, congressional candidate said on tuesday that she filed a Sexual Assault complaint against him for hitting her twice on her buttocks in november. She said sheker, plans to meet with detectives in washington next week about the complaint against Corey Lewandowski saying she saw him at a gathering at the trump hotel on the day after thanksgiving and it said that he struck her extremely hard, even after she told him to stop, and she said she thought it was disgusting and demeaning. That she isto say considering a run for a florida congressional seat and said she initially thought it was Sexual Harassment and police told her that it constitutes Sexual Assault and she was told it was classified as a misdemeanor. We will hear from stacy from virginia. Caller good morning. Good morning, america. I think the me too movement is going to hurt women and it will make it difficult for them to get jobs. I have been sexually harassed, but it has mostly been by women. And i have been ostracized when i reported it. I worked at the Radio Station and it ended up on the don and mike show on wjfk. I reported it and she got vicious with me and i ended up getting out of radio because of her. And nobody is talking about when women sexually harass other women. And that has happened to me as recently as a couple weeks ago, when i went to the military ball. So i feel like the Womens Movement is a bad thing, because it is grouping child molesters with sexual harassers, with assault, and those are different things. If you assault somebody or molest a child, that is a criminal problem. If somebody is hitting on you are trying to pick you up and you feel uncomfortable, report them to hr, or tell a joke. That is how i deal with Sexual Harassment, i tell a joke about it and i move on. But i think this movement will hurt women because people will be reluctant to hire them, especially a woman like me. Not to brag, but i am attractive, i am very curvy, and im afraid if i go apply for a job people will say, no, that is insurrection will assault waiting to happen. We cannot hire her. Lets go with somebody else. I feel like the me too movement has taken away from important issues that we are dealing with today, be at the russian coup we are dealing with, the gop cooperating, conspiring with russia to overthrow an election and to assault the fbi to cover up their crime. We have serious issues that we need to be dealing with. Host ok. Lets go to logan in virginia. Actually we will go to lawrence in washington dc. Caller hello. Good morning, pedro. And to your listening audience. The key to the whole problem is called morals. Women have them and men have them. Morals,ou know them we should start looking from the top, from the president all the way down. If you have morals. , men do not do things to women, and women do not do things that will be offensive to men. Each of us can tell it individual person, stop. This is not what i expect of you, this is not what you should expect of me. It is called morals. And we talk about morals. I would like to say one other thing with this issue of the me too movement and whoever else too. Look at what is happening to america. We have no morals. When the president of the United States says to anybody, i can do this to any woman, every man in america should of been upset, because he said he could do it and nobody else would do anything about it. She would let him do it. And women did not get upset. He should not have been in the position he is now. Int that was Lawrence Washington dc giving thoughts on the me too movement. You can as well, 202 7488000 for women. 202 7488001 for men. And our twitter and facebook feeds also available. One person at the forefront of this was representative jacky pair of california, talking not only about her own experiences, the causes of change that she wanted to be on capitol hill, but she appeared on the program before the legislation was passed in the house that would change sexualharassment policies, and reporting policies on capitol hill, but she was on the program talking about her experience and what she wants to see on capitol hill. Here is part of the conversation. The rest of the federal government, there is a requirement for such a therement training, and are offices of equal opportunity that you can go to for support. Here in congress, we have to e same patchwork that is inappropriate. First of all, interns and fellows have nowhere to go, yet they are in many respects the most vulnerable. If you have a complaint you go to the office of compliance, you are given a month in which you to bepposed to provide provided legal counseling, they tell you the ropes. If you agree to move forward, you sign a nondisclosure agreement in perpetuity indigo into mediation. In mediation there is a mediator, you, and there is the house representative general counsel representing the perpetrator. And in the most recent case in which i talked to one of the victims, she was trashed by the house counsel, saying you will never be able to work here again if you move forward with this, using intimidation. After that mediation is complete, you have a month cooling off. In that amount of time coming up to continue working in that environment. It is an unsustainable and indefensible program. Host that conversation is available on cspan. Org. Your thoughts on the me too movement. For women, 202 7488000. For men, 202 7488001. This is elaine from florida. Caller how are you . Just commenting on the comment from the representative from california, it is so difficult for women nowadays and i think it is something that we have to look into, regardless of how many other things are happening in the world. Women need to have a voice in this country and in this world. We cannot do that if we are constantly being harassed by men. And there is no way that we can defend ourselves fro sometimes. There are people that will defend men for something so irresponsible. I want the world to change because i have daughters, it is not something that we should have to deal with in the state and age. It is 2017 and people need to stop acting like this is ok. Host lets go to justin in south carolina. Go ahead. Caller hello, my name is jess. I just retired from 43 years in the womens resources filled. Is ank the me too movement terrific thing and i think it is going to empower women to come forward. I probably handled that i probably handled 30 i probably handled 3040 complaints during my career and i did not hear from the woman the victim, she would tell her girlfriend or a coworker, the coworker would tell supervisor and the supervisor would tell me. Then i would get involved. Almost invariably, the first thing the woman would say is i did not want to give the individual in trouble. And my attitude is, if you do not want to get the individual in trouble, Say Something right away because men become empowered when you do not say anything and they step up the program that they are on. They get it just, im sorry host justin, let me ask. Caller i am getting upset. Host it is ok. What are the best practices when you are investigating or looking into these claims, speaking from a Human Resources standpoint, what is the best way to go about investigating this . Caller i worked my way backwards. I spoke with the supervisor that is delivering the message, talk to the friend that heard from the individual, then talk to the individual. Once i get all my facts in order, i would talk to the perpetrator. If there is witnesses to the action, then i would talk to them before the perpetrator. To be quite honest, almost all the perpetrators admit to their actions. They a lot of them do not feel like what they are doing is harassment. And in spite of training, for two or three decades now people have been getting trained where i work, they still do not get it. Host do you find that workplaces have clearly defined definitions of harassment . Caller i think most have very well defined definitions. I think the problem is that the the , basically there are too many shades of gray. My personal way of reacting is touching was an automatic termination, any kind of unwelcome touching. I have had plenty of people who are trapped in small areas, that generally led to termination. Once in a while i would have to tell somebody, no, that guy asking you out for dinner politely is not Sexual Harassment. But for the most part it is that women, they need to be empowered by this and come forward and if you really want to stop it and you really want to save that job, that persons is mostly what i would get, that if you tell it right away the correction can be verbal meeting, rather than termination. Host got you. Lets go to their old in darryl in mobile, alabama. Caller the previous gentleman still my thunder. As the father of two girls i absolutely, i love the fact that where too movement, issues of power being addressed against men and what have you. That is my comment. Host on twitter, this is j. D. , who says moving usin the movement as a political weapon will be a failg. That thever saying, victims of both genders should be heard and admired for their bravery. It is a difficult thing to prove. If you want to post on twitter at cspanwj, that is how you do that. You can go to our Facebook Page as well. You can always call us on the phone lines. 202 7488000 for women. 202 7488001 for men. Sarahs next from wilmington, delaware. Caller my concern is the promoting of victimhood. Of course, my heart goes out to women who have been harassed and or assaulted, and a couple of callers ago they talked about the shades of gray, individuals need to be held accountable for their bad behavior, yet we need to because this, i believe, cautious, ie believe, with promoting victimhood. It is a Better Movement to empower women to shut it down. Is that where this is leading, fantastic, but we cannot have it lead toward women having to cover themselves up, because men cannot control themselves. En, women and all those variations you have. Lets not promote victimhood. I do not think it benefits anybody. Lets respect each other as humans and those that have acted badly need to be held accountable. Host from philadelphia, ronald is next. Go ahead. Caller it amazes me the all these people want to say victimhood and they want to hide in the corner and do nothing. These women are standing up and i am proud of them. This is my child, my wife, my granddaughter, it would not be them. It would not be victimhood. Every time there is racism and discrimination, but just keep it quiet lets just keep it quiet. What is wrong with these people . It is sickness. And all these preachers running around saying you voted for this. And for Sexual Harassment to be in the white house, pitiful. Have a great day. Host this is from the chairman of the house budget committee, diane black, announcing today that she is stepping down from her Committee Chairmanship as part of the statement, saying, that she is a candidate for the governors race in tennessee and she plans to remain and caucus as a member. It has been an honor to work alongside members this year to work on policies for building a better america. Very proud of our members and what we have accomplished, especially offering reforms for programs and unlocking tax reform. As we enter a brandnew era and as members craft a budget for fiscal 2019, in confidence, the focus will remain on mandatory programs. It is critical lawmakers take real action toward the growing debt, while it will require decisions in the short term, the longterm will provide a prosperous future for generations to come. That was from diane black, stepping down as the chairman of the house budget committee. Frank in louisiana, go ahead. Caller yes, i am on . Host yes, go ahead. Caller look, talking about people making these accusations. I grew up in a town and it had quite a few people in the. Every time in it. Every time you turn around, orple were getting pregnant, somebodys getting accused of being a homosexual, and it never happened. I got accused in the fifth grade for having sex. I had not even figured out what masturbation was it. People grow up learning this stuff from other people, from the older kids, and it goes through their life. Host what about the movement as you see it . Caller i am sure that there are to it on both sides. I mean, i got sexual harassed. I was working in a hospital. I would just a paper pusher. It happens to both sides and but who are you going to believe, . I think if everybody wants to start accusing people, take a polygraph and see who is lying. If it is permissible in court. I bet it would cut out a lot of things. Host are you saying regardless of who makes the claims, they cannot be believed on faith, they should be investigated . Caller they need to check into it. But if it is going to be that serious, you know, take a polygraph on both sides. Both sides should be taking a polygraph. Host kathleen is in florida. Go ahead. You are on. Caller i just have reservations about some of what the ladies are saying. I grew up in an absolutely a mans world in the late 1950s and 60s. We had a motorcycle automobile dealership. And i understand that a lot of times the ladies are approached, but i believe that you set the standard. Sometimes i think that the men may have been encouraged and then when it got out of hand, it was the ladies who screamed. That is not how it should work. There areybe instances where certainly anything physical comes into it, that is a whole different issue. But when it is verbal, then i think sometimes we need to maybe take a second look, or take a second listen. Washington journal. That is host that is kathleen in florida. We are talking about the meeting movement and your view of it. For women, 202 7488000. For men, 202 7488001. We did a recent interview this year, with our outwards program which you can find online, we spoke with Gretchen Carlson who talked about how settlements for Sexual Harassment cases occur and the results of them. Here is part of her experience. Settlements, yes, this is the way in which our culture has decided to resolve these kinds of cases. Over 90 of Sexual Harassment cases into up and settlement. End up in settlements. That means the woman is much never works and her chosen career again. And we can never talk about it. She is gagged. How else do we solve sexualharassment suits . We put in arbitration clauses and employment contracts, which make it a secret proceeding. So again, nobody ever finds out about it if you file a complaint, you can never talk about it, ever, and nobody ever knows what happened to you and in most cases you are terminated the the company and perpetrator still works in the same position in which they were harassing you. This is the way society has decided to resolve sexualharassment cases, to gag hat weso that we can t have come so far in 2017. The reason that we think we have come so far is because we are not hearing about these cases, but the reason we are not hearing about the cases is because the women are silent. Either through settlements or through forced arbitration. Host she talks about her own experiences in those larger issues and if you want to see that interview in total you can go to our website at cspan. Org, and when you go to the video library, type in her name and that program will appear. Also if youre interested in the topic of the meeting movement or related issues, type that into the box and you will see every thing we have taken in on the topic. Eddie in massachusetts. Caller good morning. I want to say that i enjoy your show and you are fabulous and all the other posts as well. Happy new year. I am a victim of me too as well. In the early 90s i was getting into the music business and i trust of this person and i had something put in my drink and long story short, i just, i see a lot of people praying on people in the Music Industry where ive been in arizona, tennessee, not back, massachusetts where i am originally from in fall river, and i want to say that this is a Long Time Coming. I remember my mother being a beautiful mother, physically she was attractive and i remember at a young age defending her, i remember grabbing onto her leg because guys would whistle at her. You know all those little things. I did not like that. I was always running to the defense of women in my life. I have two older sisters and they are both me too survivors as well. I cannot speak for my mom and dad, my mom is in a nursing home in my gadgets past, but this is a Long Time Coming and i am so happy to see us moving in the right direction and i hope that we can start, finally, putting some kind of method in place that will protect us all. And i do not want to say it is bad, but i have to wear a suit, and i think that women should consider, and i think i love fashion, i was in the fashion would for 10 years so i understand a little bit about it, but i think if women to try to dress a little more conservative, like guys have to wear suits and cover up, i would vote for that and understand that and i think that women are so beautiful and so were men come and we can get this done. It is a Long Time Coming. I am so happy to see this happening. Host on twitter, a viewer says the issue is important, but some instances have been overblown to the detriment of real harassment and assault victims. That on our twitter feed. From pennsylvania, hanover, we will hear from sharon. Caller good morning. I am so glad that man just said that. About attire. It seems to be at the been to be a cap you taboo subject. Hollywood has affected many women who now go about in what was once considered virtually underwear, such as lowcut camisoles and so forth. I have male friends who say, what kind of man would be, would want a woman who wants to show herself everywhere . Women need to clean up their act. Modesty is not something that you should not practice. I am a progressive liberal, politically, but i am thinking of becoming a recluse, because where i live women are just getting off the chart. Lets give men a fair shake too. Host that was sharon in pennsylvania. The washington journal takes a look at 2018, particularly how educated women as they describe them, are planning or could vote in the 2018 election. Shows democrats with a 20 edge with women when asked about the control of congress. That is larger than during the 2014 midterm election. It talks about some of the reasoning behind some of the women and how they would vote. Highlights stephanie martin, a woman whod considers her a longtime republican and conservative, she did not vote for donald trump last year, now she wants them across this a control of congress. Among the reasons she says, it was gop support for roy moore this month when he was accused of Sexual Misconduct with teenage girls. He denied the acquisitions, i do not know where the party is going from here. They will have to do a lot to get me back, said the former executive who holds a masters degree. Ruth is next from florida. I almost forgot what i was going to say because of the last two colors, they blew me cal blew me away with victim blaminglers. A man or woman should be able to walk through a crowd of human beings but naked without getting raped. Period. You do not have to cover yourself up so men do not rape you. For a woman to say that is disgusting. And secondly i want to say, is this is mainly for hollywood, if a womans career is advanced because something happened to her, and she keeps her mouth shut, and it happens to other women afterwards and she knows that is what happened because their careers are as well, at what point a she complicit . This is a big, big mess. It is not just men, and i am not trying, i am not trying to victim blame, but if somebody did something to you and you know that that is that persons m. O. , and you allow them to do it to other people you share some of the blame. Host lets get mikes perspective. He is in bloomington, Illinois Paid caller i guess where i come from there has to be something that is substantiating and allegations. Because i look back at this topic, doug jones, you had project veritas do a heavyhanded crew defense at throwing forward an unsubstantiated allegation to discredit. They will get better. And had you think the election would have gone had there been just a random allegation thrown against doug jones, three or four days before the vote . Having that we risk unscrupulous people use this as a political weapon, if we do not burdensh some minimum of proof, that is probably a bad term. Host ok, that was mike. This is jim in pennsylvania. Caller good morning. How are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller the reason i called. I am a Small Business owner from pennsylvania and i want to point out the fact that a lot of men are not going to complement a woman if she looks beautiful or she is attractive and her attire. This culture of the me too garbage and secondly on one of her higher in woman in my hire a woman in my Small Business. I will not take the risk of losing my business due to the fact i am accused of something i did not do because it is unsubstantiated. We need a way to substantiate the allegations that are made against a man, whether it is made against a man or woman. That is all i have to say. Host do you worry about claims of discrimination when you say things like you would not hire a woman . Caller absolutely not, why should i . Host ray is next, in texas. Ray . Caller yes, it is a double edged sword. You cannot have people coming on Mainstream Media saying that, there was gag orders placed when the woman voluntarily did it. You can cry victimhood, you can put things out there saying, you have to cover up, but then again you have to be empowered. That is an oxymoron, you cannot do that. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. I agree with the previous colors callers, we have to be able to substantiate it. There are too many ways to throw out accusations and our world has be desensitized by social media. Do, this needs to be something that comes from both sides. Gwen glenn from alabama from alabama, go ahead. Caller good morning. A man can never, never understand the me too movement. You have to be up at a walk in our shoes to understand what is really going on. And also, i want to say this, first of all we have to start at the top. The man that is the president of the United States of america and women, look at yourself, i want to speak to white women this morning because that is who voted for donald trump and caused him to be in office. With yourself and your base and think about a man that said what he can do to women, because he is wealthy. Think about him going into young girls rooms during the usa pageant, the young girls said that he came in and he said he could do that because he is the owner of the pageant. We have to look at ourselves. Put donald trump in office. I live in alabama, white women voted for roy moore because those women did not get together and lie about roy moore. Look in your mirror and think about what you did. Maybe next time when the me too Movement Comes together it will really mean me too. Host the White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders earlier this month fielded several questions about accusations against President Trump. Here is her response. Wanted to ask you about the women that came forward to say , on ahe President Television show, and then later, they said he should resign and that there should be Russian Investigation. He said this is artie been litigated, but i wanted to get your reaction to this idea that there should be a congressional investigation into this . The president has addressed these accusations directly and has denied all these allegations, and this took place long before he was elected to be president , and the people of this country in a decisive election supported President Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process. Host lets hear from eric in california. Good morning. Caller good morning, america. This is funny, because Everybody Knows the answer to this. Betweeny knows sex is customs and lives. If you are looking at somebody and thinking sex, that essential harassment. Host what do you do about single people in the workplace that engage in these practices . Caller sex between husband and wife, and if youre are having a conversation and looking at somebody that is not your husband or wife and thinking sex, that is perverted. You can do whatever you want to, but if you stay in that work and they are not your husband or wife and you are thinking sex, do not do it. Host ellicott city, maryland. Moana is next. Caller i want to respond to the woman who said that white women are to blame. I think black women hold a problem also, regarding how they vote. Altogether and cohesive like that. You have to look at the country first. As a Family Member that has been close to the victim of a violent, sexual encounter. Male thatember of a has been falsely accused i do not know which is worse. The injustice of losing your job and your repetition when youre falsely accused, it is horrendous. For women who have been through violent attacks, they should be the ones who are yelling the loudest of the false accusations. Host that was mona in maryland. A couple other things to show you. This is about the state of play when it comes to the various investigations into the russian involvement in the 20 16th election. To show you the headline from usa today, it features house and Senate Members engaged in the investigation. Senate Intelligence Committee richard burr, chairman of that, with every individual inputs of three more weeks into the investigation, that is why it makes it difficult for me to look out. Adam schiff of california, the senior democrat on the house Intelligence Committee saying, the house panel has many works ahead of us. He is worried republicans will rush the investigation to a premature close because of pressure from the white house. This under the headline from usa today, 2018 offers no resolution on russian inquiries. If you go to the opinion pages of usa today this morning, they talk about the investigation by the special counsel Robert Mueller. Headlineys, under the the contemptible effort to discredit molar, they say as the russian and the fusion track Russian Investigation gathers steam, republican congressman, joined by commentators on fox news and other trump friendly Media Outlets have called for his head. Going on to say that the special counsels crime, members of his staff, like every other americans with views in the private lives, nothing in the code of ethics requires agents to be to political leanings. The personal dislike is nothing new. When Robert Mueller learned last summer that one of his investigators had tweeted to another fbi employee that donald trump was an idiot, he was reassigned. The Justice Department Inspector General is looking at issues of bias with the fbi and will produce a report. They offer comments this morning from the republican from arizona , who responded to the editorial from usa today, saying that since june i have requested that Robert Mueller recuse himself. He learned after the appointment that the former fbi director james comey elite leaked documents on the special counsel, and has made blatantly partisan hires under a cloud of suspicion. This at the Justice Department, vetfficially bet prosecutors. We should be concerned with his unlimited reach and unvented hires. The way he has unilaterally expanded his investigation, and his abusive attorneyclient privilege would also just his preference for questionable tactics. Those are thoughts from andy biggs, the republican from arizona. Jersome from washington dc is next. Hello. Caller how are you doing . Host fine, thank you. Caller thank you for having me. I believe [indiscernible] victimizationhe of women is perpetuated every day, pushed in the most grotesque manner, on almost every television show. Shows women being victimized, it shows them in a light where they are a victim, whether they are being raped or assaulted. It is shown every day and it kind of grooms young men and those who may not even have the understanding, they see it. If you want any drama show or cop show, most of the videos you see on television regarding women, they are victimized and abused and assaulted to the the way that men are treated cannot even compare. Day,e being taught every all day on television. So as young men get older, this is what they are taught. The way that we present a way that women should be treated must be addressed and changed in the media. Host from josh in washington dc, your next. You are next. Caller good morning, everybody. It is a welcome sight to see this happening in 2017. We are a civilized, a more Civilized Society than that, and tomes we do not have ward what god has given us. We are natural beings. It is natural. But understand the fact that we have to have a Mutual Respect for each other. I have daughters and i have women in my life who i love and respect so much. Have n who loves to woman being consensual, but there are times you have to realize if the person does not want to kiss, you have to move on. We have to teach these men, which has been a way of american we, for decades, and good, wes is have to set up our daughters and granddaughters to know that they have dignity and they have the same rights as anybody else to be respected. Host we will take one more call. Akron, ohio. Caller thank you, pedro. I believe the me too movements is a joke. Until the women are able to gain control over their own bodies, you will continue to have Sexual Harassment and unwanted touching. Host what do you mean by that . Caller abortion. Man is the one that tells, four sets the rules and or sets the rules and the laws of the country, as far as the woman is concerned. Host that will be the last call. We will talk about the role of the police enforcement, prosecution and a prison meant. Especially when it comes to black men. Angela j. Davis, the editor of policing the black man will join us next as part of the author series. Later on we will look back at the year in media with the Washington Examiner commentary video editor,siraj hashmi. All that coming up on washington journal. I have been attacked by everybody. Ive been attacked by the rightwing. Ive been attacked by the russians. Ive been attacked by the Truck Campaign and the Sanders Campaign and now i can add to that list the clinton campaign. Q a,ay on cspans Donna Brazile talks about her life and politics in her memoir, hacks. I was here not far from here and hillary was very excited. She met this young state senator who is running. She has roots in illinois. She met this young state senator and told my friend. We were on the third floor and she said, she knew barack obama. I did not know barack obama. I do a lot of other people like danny davis and harold washington. I do a lot of people in chicago politics, but i never heard of barack obama. We met him that spring of 2003. Let me just say this could the rest is history. Q a sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan. The cspan bus tour continues its 50 capitals to in january with stops in raleigh, columbia, atlanta, and montgomery. On each visit, we will speak with state officials during our live washington journal program. Atn us on ginning her 16th 9 30 a. M. Eastern for our stop in raleigh, North Carolina when our washington journal guest is attorney general josh stein. Historyn where unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Announcer washington journal continues. Host our first guest of the morning is angela davis. She is editor of policing the black man. She also teaches at american universitys Washington College of law. Shes a professor there. Good morning. The title is obvious, but talk about the genesis of the book. What compiled these authors to talk about it . Guest i was approached by the publisher of the book and was asked if i would be interested in editing a volume that would attempt to contextualize and explore all the recent awful killings of black men and boys in recent years. I really jumped at the opportunity because theres no issue more important to me than the unfair treatment of black and brown people in the kernel justice could and criminal justice. Host what information do you base that on to come to that conclusion . Guest it is well documented. Its an issue that ive faced for over 20 years. Is certainly plenty of documentation to show that black and brown people are treated poorly in the criminal Justice System, much less fairly been there similarly situated white counterparts, and every step of the process from arrests to sentencing, hence the subtitle of the book. Although the inspiration of the book were all these killings that occurred in recent years and quite friendly have occurred since black people have been in this country but have received attention in recent years, that was the catalyst for the book. Really we went further than that to explore all the ways that black men and boys are treated in the criminal Justice System at every step of the process. Weing the black man use that in a broad sense of the word. The many ways that black men and boys are controlled by the criminal Justice System, arrests, prosecution, imprisonment, and beyond. Host you talk not only about modernday things but the historical context. Give our viewers a taste of that. Guest the very first essay written in the book explores this historical context. Black men and boys have been treated poorly in the criminal Justice System and outside the criminal Justice System from the time of slavery to the present day. The lynchings that occurred after that onto the present day and that has been well documented. We think about emmett till, vendor evans, Martin Luther king. Those are the more famous names that we know of, but black men have been treated poorly that only by Law Enforcement agents, but also people who have taken the law into their own hands. That has been happening throughout our history. Its just more recently quite frankly because of social media and technology and cell phone cameras that we the public have been able to actually witness eyes killings with our own because of modernday technology cou. Killingsely these have been going on since the time of slavery. Host the cell phone camera captured his death by shooting. That was part of the things as well and other instances when it comes to social media. Guest walter scott, we saw her being shot in the back as he ran away from the Police Officer. We saw eric garner being choked to death by Police Officer in staten island. Tamirw 12yearold nea rice killed by Police Officers as he played with a toy gun in a park. Shot with his hands of the air and caught by two cameras with the dashboard of the Police Officers car and from a helicopter overhead. We saw him with his hands in the air as he was shot by officer betty shelby. I think the thing so horrific about all these killings is that not one of those Police Officers was convicted by a jury. Mir rices killer and eric garners killer were never even charged. In the others, they came back either not guilty or a hung jury. That is what many people are finding so often that we are witnessing these killings yet there has not been accountability. Host angela davis is the editor of policing the black man. We will talk about the theme of the book during the course of the hour. If you want to ask questions, 202 7488002, 202 , 202 7488005. 3. You can send questions or comments to her on the twitter j. Ed at cspan the bjw has aashington post count of shooting deaths. Males 220, hispanic males, and what do those mongers tell you when it comes to black males in shooting deaths . Guest a lot of people asked why focus on black men, but the numbers you just cited tells the story. The Washington Post has been a great job of piecing the statistics. Amazingly there has not been a National Database keeping track of these killings. What the journalists have done is that the Washington Post has done a good job. Explains why we focus on black men. They are not the only group treated poorly by the criminal Justice System. Latinos and black women, native americans, lgbt community, they are all treated less well than their similarly situated white male straight counterparts. When we look at the statistics for black men, they are treated worse than any other group. You mentioned the statistics on killings. Host people to look at the statistics and say that white males are killed more than black males. Guest when we look proportionally at the percentage of black men an in our population, there is disproportion. Statistics show that. There are 2. 5 times likely to be arrested that similarly situated white men. They receive longer sentences than white men who commit the same crimes. We document all this in the essays throughout the book. , thedisparate treatment statistics show is unfair. It is not black men committing more crimes. The statistics show that they are treated worse than their similarly situated white counterparts. By that, i mean whites who offenses andme sentenc are treated better by the criminal Justice System and thats unfair. That went 2 analysis shootings in 2015 took place, one order involved a fleeing suspect, one quarter involved officers under attack, and 18 officers were charged compared to 47 officers between 2005 at 2014. Guest that accept the research we are doing quite frankly. You spoke a little quickly so you may have to repeat some of those for me. You say many of them were fleeing at the time they were shot. Host they just said overall when it comes to fatal shootings, the involved a fleeing suspect or police under attack. Guest we have to look at that carefully. A fleeing suspect . What does that mean . The Supreme Court has been very clear in a case called tennessee versus garner that Police Officers are not allowed to use deadly force against a fleeing felon unless they believe that they are in serious danger of being harmed or the public is in serious danger of being harmed. That can be interpreted in many different ways, right . The Supreme Court has developed this very loose reasonableness standard which allows Police Officers to use deadly force in a much wider range of circumstances that you or i. We want our Police Officers to protect us. They have a very dangerous job. We also do not want them to use force when they dont have to use force. We dont want people to be unnecessarily killed. And so many of these instances, it has been proven that the individuals killed were not armed, or not attacking Police Officers at the time, and we have seen a lot of that on videotape. We want Police Officers to be trained to use deadly force only when it is absolutely necessary. Its very clear from so many of these cases that they have used it in instances when they should not have. Host our guest is a professor of law at american universitys Washington College of law and editor of policing the black man. She writes a chapter a prosecution which we will talk about the bit, but we want to take phone calls that have come in for you. Our first one is from loretta from cleveland, ohio. Caller good morning. Im enjoying this conversation. I want to say dont forget about john crawford, who was killed at a columbus, ohio walmart. A state where you can carry guns and mr. Crawford was in the walmart looking at some guns. Some white guy called the police and told a vicious lie. It is online if you want to look at it. The whole thing because walmart has cameras everywhere. The Police Showed up. They didnt say a word. They just shot him dead from all different angles. The point of my call i wanted to know if the professor knows reporthe 2006 fbi gao which stated that the kkk and White Supremacists have if a trader Police Departments and Law Enforcement infiltrated Police Departments and Law Enforcement nationwide. This report was given in 2006. The length of time that it covers and spans might go back to jim crow. We dont know. The point that im making is minorities, we pay taxes, too. Its incredible that things are going where we are paying to be killed in the street like dogs. Host we will let our guest respond. Guest sure, unfamiliar with the crawford case in ohio, a very tragic case. There are so many cases unfortunately that we could cover them all in the book. I am familiar with that case. Im not familiar with the details of the fbi report that you mentioned, but i do know that there is evidence that there are members and have been in police the klan departments and that is something we cannot tolerate in our society. That is something that needs to be dealt with in every Police Department. That should not be the case. Host from blake in mississippi, go ahead. Caller mr. Davis, i just want to give america just a small example of what it does to black americans. m a discharge gulf war veteran. Once i got out of the military, i came to the home state of mississippi and i got it together. I ascended to management at a job that requires fbi background. Its ridiculous. After 14 or 15 years of doing paying out millions like the business requires, i went on to be the manager of popeyes and , just several careers whereas basically trying to find myself after so many years in the game. After i got my break in the game , i decided to move back to chicago. My big mistake. Ive moved back home to chicago because i missed my Family Members and decided to get back into gaming. Made a mistake to walk to store about four blocks away. I walked to a store annexed to the store wasnt on a bike shop. A lot of abandoned cars that would be taken to the junkyard. I walked by the car and theres a sidewalk right there on my way back home. Anyway, i was accused of resembling somebody that was missing with the car. ,ix blocks away at my house anyway i was taken the cook county jail. All my rights were violated being picked up and brought back to the scene in a lineup that was totally illegal. This is the problem, america. Host im sorry to interrupt. Eventually what happened only in the interest of time . Caller the problem is grand juries. Ie grand jury, they said actually had the gentlemans id on me. Hearing, theyary mention this. At the trial, they didnt mention that. The prosecution made an agreement with my courtappointed attorney that i would mention that i didnt have any record. Host we will have to leave it there and you may have to explain some of that process. Thats part of the chapter of the book when it comes to prosecution. Guest you mentioned a lot of things. First of all, im very sorry to hear what happened to you. Its an example of how overwhelmed individuals can be and why we decided quite frankly not disciplined focus only on the shootings, but to focus on the entire criminal Justice System from arrest and prosecution to particular prosecution. , i one i contributed contributed a chapter in the chapter i contributed is about prosecution, and i focus on prosecution. Prosecutors are the most powerful criminal justice officials in our system. They make the decisions that really drive the system. Police officers have a lot of power and discretion and we must focus on Police Officers, but we cant stop there. Police officers have the power to bring an individual to the courthouse door, but its the prosecutor who decides whether that person will remain in the system and what happens to them frankly through their charging decisions. They are the individuals who decide whether people will be charged with a crime and what that charge will be. Ler pegida grand jury, individuals who decide whether a person should be indicted, but a prosecutor decides the grand jury. The prosecutor decides what evidence comes in and what evidence stays out. Thats a tremendous amount of power placed in the hands of one individual, mainly the prosecutor. I urge people to focus on prosecutors. Most of them are elected officials, state local ones anyway. And a lot of people do not Pay Attention to prosecutor races and i urge people to do so because they are the individuals controlling criminal justice. Host is evidence to say that the prosecution process is biased against black men more than others . Guest yes, there is evidence of that. There has been a lot of Research Done to show as i mentioned before individuals, black men and boys are prosecuted much more harshly for offenses. Prosecutors have a lot of power in deciding what to charge an individual with. Theres a lot of research to show that similarly situated individuals, one white and one alleged to have done the same thing, but with prosecutors it has been proven in many instances will charge africanamericans at a higher rate with harsher sentences. Benjaminsrious consequences when it comes to the outcome of those cases. Yes, theres a lot of research to support that. I dont allege that prosecutors are intentionally discriminating against individuals. I dont say that most prosecutors are intentionally saying im going to charge black people more than whites. I think a lot of it is unconscious, something we call implicit bias that we all suffer from. All of us in our society by virtue of being in our society are susceptible to bias. Unconscious views that we all have that we are not even aware of as a result of being surrounded by stereotypes in the media and society around us. They can be based on race, skin color, gender, sexual orientation, where we have these deepseated feelings that we are not aware of, the feelings that caused someone to see a black man and clutch their purse a little closer across the street because they have this unconscious bias or view about that person they are not even aware of. We all suffer from it. All of us from all races, but when an individual has a lot of power like a Police Officer or prosecutor is making decisions based on that bias, that is very problematic because that individual has the power to take away a persons liberty or even their lives in some instances. Guest youhost you talk about te of black prosecutors and white matters. Why it matters. Why . Guest a District Attorney in charge of a particular office, 95 of them are white. There are very few africanamericans, very few chief prosecutors or people of color. Thats a problem. Diversity is important our society. Haveimportant that we prosecutors of all races and ethnicities for a number of reasons. However, i make the point that adding a black prosecutor is not going to guarantee that the policy is going to change. A fact that a person is black does not mean they are necessarily going to set forth progressive policy. You need someone who is aware of the problems in our criminal Justice System, aware of the Racial Disparities, and who has the will to make change. That could be a black person. That could be a white person. I give some examples of the chapter of various prosecutors trying to change the problems in our criminal Justice System and theyre not all africanamerican or latino. It has to be someone who has the will to make that change. Host this is eric from georgia. Go ahead. You are on with our guest. Caller thank you. Just responding to the author and the professor you are speaking with, as a former Police Officer, im just wondering why it is that we dont discuss at all how difficult it is just to be a Police Officer in Todays Society. The community that i worked at was predominantly black. The citizenry that i served was black. And the victims and the people who were most hurt by crime were black. Those are the people that i worked to protect as a Police Officer. And yet, it seems that there is some combination for anybody who is a Police Officer that is why in america that serves the public today. Im not upset with the fact that we always seem to want to look at Police Officers as being villains in the way that we are projecting them. I would just like to know from the author what it is that she believes that we absolutely need to do to make this a different world not only for the black community but for people who actually have the job of policing in america today, which is a very difficult job. People risk civil suits, being in prison, if they just act the runway as a Police Officer. They are all human beings. Theyre all people who do the best they can every day and trying to protect the population they are ascribed to. Host thank you for the call. Guest thank you for that. I absolutely agree with you. Police officers have a very difficult job and we all depend on Police Officers to protect all of us. I dont mean to suggest that all Police Officers are villains. I have never said that. I think so many of them do their jobs well, but its very clear that many of them, however, are not doing their jobs the way theyre supposed to do. I focus on those Police Officers. We have a system unfortunately in which there are Police Officers who will reach for the gun, who will not deescalate a situation, who as mentioned before like all of us suffer from certain biases based on race and other things. I dont need to focus on Police Officers. All of us suffer from those biases. When someone who has the power to not only arrest someone, to stop them and involve them in the criminal Justice System, and to also take their lives, we should expect those Police Officers to do their jobs in a way that could not only protect us, but keep us all safe. Its very clear from these killings that have taken place that that doesnt always happen. Thatee with the officer Police Officers have a very difficult job, but i also believe that they have a responsibility to everyone in our community to keep us all safe to do their jobs the way theyre supposed to be done and to not use Excessive Force when its not necessary. , notats what we focus on on the officers doing their jobs well, but those that are not. Host kathy in michigan, good morning. Caller good morning, miss davis. I read about you for many decades now and ive always had great admiration. Good morning to you, pedro. Our three children and two of them very sadly were hurt in a childcare setting. C andan committed a csx because he was white, i believe nothing ever happened. I have gross documentation. I kept his file since 1992 and im still fighting for justice for my children. Had he been anything but white, he would have been charged and the charges would have been the most severe. When you have the support of the prosecutor attorney, and not just him, but one of them is still serving. When you have the support of that individual in office, you have a license to do whatever you want. In fact, the prosecuting attorney threatened me when i finally got the Police Report in 2004 that the man who hurt my children could take me to court and sue me. I was born and raised in flint. Probably the biggest highlight wheny schooling was segregation happened. I went to Public School my last four years of school and many of my teachers were black. Half of my fellow students were black and it was the richest of social experiences. I dont think i could duplicate it really could host. Host thank you, caller. Guest im so sorry to hear what happened to that caller. Oftentimes individuals are treated better in the criminal Justice System because of the color of her skin unfortunately and she provides an example of that. Host from houston, texas, reginald, youre on the phone. Go ahead. Reginald from houston, texas . Caller yes, good morning. And im a reginald correctional officer. Im Reginald Ward from sugarland, texas. You have to remember when article 13 was passed. There are still using that particular law today that has adverse effects on the policing. It was started in the slave control and thats how the police started, to control the slaves. They still have that mentality one third of the persons and livestock has more respect than a black person in Todays Society because of that mentality. Are still using that in the Police Officer and its still mandated in a way that they feel like cap free reign to be able to shoot and kill and be the court and handle the Justice System with their gun behind them. I believe this seems to be looked over and people need to be held accountable in the judicial system along with our black representatives and all of us as people of humanity. This is hurting america. We incarcerate more than two thirds of the people in the world being incarcerated here in america. We need to have overview and oversight of our criminal Justice System so we can have more respect and admiration for us and dont look at black people as prey. Guest reginald mentions a lot of the things covered in the books in various essays. From a Historical Perspective, he mentioned from the time of slavery, he mentioned a lot of things. One that i think you made me think of was the fact that we talk about how theres a need for training and reform in the Police Department. A lot of what he says is true. What we talk about a lot of the issues like implicit bias and Police Officers are receiving implicit bias training. There is training around implicit bias. Theres an entire chapter on infosys bias implicit bias. Thats reform we suggested for Police Departments. Many things he suggested for the over incarceration issue in our country to the racial bias throughout the system, the need for a police training, these are all issues addressed in various essays. Host we talked about walter scott. Usa today published a story saying the top that shot him got 20 years in prison. Is that a positive sign of some sort . Guest whats interesting about the walter scott case is this is one of the cases where we saw on videotape a clear killing of a man who was running away from Police Officers. I think it is very troubling that many people say, how could a jury look at that videotape ,nd come back a hung jury not able to say that this man murdered walter scott when many of us who see it saw that . G theyry came back homun cannot make a decision. Walter scott was one of the few people who had federal charges brought against him. Its a difficult to have federal charges brought against Police Officers. Because he had federal charges pending against him, he made a plea bargain with the prosecutor. I talk about pleabargaining a lot in the book. He made a bargain with them that he would plead guilty to one of the civil rights charges in exchange for the state prosecutor not bringing the murder charges back against him. With a hung jury, the prosecutor has the option of trying the case again to see if another jury would convict. He pled guilty to that civil rights violation, violating the civil rights of walter scott. I think you did that because the judge had a lot of discussion. He couldve gotten anything from probation to life in prison. I believe he and his lawyer hoped that he would not get present time, but the judge decided to give him 20 years for the civil rights violation. I think that brought some comfort to the family of walter scott and others that he is doing some time, but the fact remains that he was not convicted of murdering walter scott. In none of these cases that ive mentioned has there been a conviction by a jury, even in cases where there has been a videotape. I think that is what so troubling. How can juries look at those videotapes and come back not guilty . I think people still find it very hard to convict a Police Officer, even in light of the evidence, the very clear evidence before them, and thats troubling. Host the freddie gray case, a lot of attention. Six Police Officers none of them charge for convicted. Was it the District Attorney . Guest the freddie gray case was a very complicated case. The prosecutors did charge all those officers. Many of these cases like the Michael Brown case and ferguson, rice, eric garner, none of the officers were even charged. They made the decision to charge those officers right away. I think she was criticized for how she did the charging. I think a lot of people thought she did it too quickly, but whatever you might say she did, she did bring charges. However, the Police Officers three of them went to trial. They charge to have a judge trial instead of a jury trial. The judge found him not guilty. I think its very clear that when the same judge is trying the last three that the prosecutor knew that was not going to be a conviction and she ended up dismissing. None of those officers were held accountable for the killing of freddie gray. I think thats very troubling to 70 people. Host this is our guest, angela davis. She is the editor of policing the black man. This is a compilation of articles or chapters, including one written by her. That is the title of the cover. Our next call is from missouri on the democrats line. Caller thank you very much. I have a question for you. Don lemon stated, why dont you put your hands on the grill like you are told . Why do blacks not adhere to what a policeman says . Thats the question that i have. The minister that wrote the last book that i have and i gave it away to a friend, he claims that it starts at the home with the women raising most of the black children. I dont know that much about it. Why dont they adhere to what a policeman says . The cigarette salesman on the sidewalk, they told him to put his and behind them, and he walked off. Wilson charged the policeman. Youll hear that on the news. You have to read it in some publication. Saids it that don lemon why dont you put your hands on the Steering Wheel like you are told . Host we will let our guests respond. Guest i dont know why don leavitt said that because in so many of these instances the men were doing exactly what the Police Officer told them to do. And they were still killed. We look at the case of lando castile, philando killed in his car, videotaped in front of his girlfriend and his daughter. He was telling the Police Officer that i have a weapon and im allowed to have a weapon. Im not reaching for it. He wasnt reaching for it. He was doing exactly what the Police Officer told him to do and the Police Officer took out a gun and shot him. They aren that somehow being killed because theyre not doing what Police Officer said is not true. The cases that you mentioned you mentioned eric garner and he was told not to sell cigarettes. If he was selling cigarettes and he wasnt supposed to, thats not a reason to be killed. You dont kill people because they are selling illegal cigarettes. Thats not a reason to take a persons life. Thats the issue here. We know so many instances where you are not allowed to kill. Police officers are not allowed to kill a person because they are disobeying the Police Officer. Thats not a reason to take a persons life. Police officers are allowed to use deadly force if they are in danger of being killed or if the public is danger. They are allowed to use deadly force not simply because a person is disobeying them. Our laws dont permit that. And in thesences cases, we had individuals opening the Police Officers, retreating, running away from Police Officers. We dont kill people because theyre running away. Thats not a reason to take a persons life. You take a person life if you are in danger of having your life taken with that person is endangering the public. That is what Police Officers are allowed to use deadly force. And in no other instances. Ofortunately and so many these cases, Police Officers escalated the situation and kill that took a persons life when that person was unarmed and oftentimes are treated and oftentimes obeying that Police Officer. Those of the cases that we are talking about this book. Those of the cases we want to stop. We stoppe want to stop these killings. Host john is in tennessee for our guests, angela davis p caller. Caller can you hear me . Host you are on. Go ahead. Caller the question i have for the guest is does she think that the problem of policing black men is solely linked to racism and bias or do you also think its a cultural problem . A couple things i was thinking of that is can we blame the systemof todays justice just on racism . Are there other factors such as poverty that help play a role . Guest just to clarify the question, you asked whether we can blame the Police Killings solely on racism or the problems in the criminal Justice System . Caller sure which the was talking about. Host we have them on the line. Go ahead. Caller i think just the problems in general. I will give a specific example. Here in middle tennessee where we are, if you looked at a map areasme in our area, the that have the worst amount of crime are typically areas that are the highest, for example, in rates of poverty. I guess what im trying to get factorse there other that play than just racism for has fromlack community the writers point of view suffered an injustice from policing . Im just wondering if theres if she thinks theres other factors than just racism. Guest absolutely. Thank you for clarifying. Racism is not the only reason we have problems in the criminal Justice System. Theres no question about it. There are many poor whites in the kernel Justice System who are not treated fairly. You mentioned class. You mentioned poverty. Those play a tremendous role in our criminal Justice System. People who do not have adequate representation when they are represented by a courtappointed attorney or public defenders who dont have the resources to investigate cases. They dont get an adequate defense. There are problems with money bonds were we still have places or people are being held from trial because they cannot pay a certain amount of money. That is totally unfair. Thats a problem in our criminal Justice System. Race and racism is not the only rec reason we have disparities in our criminal Justice System. There are many reasons why we have that unfairness and thanks for putting that out. Host this is alexis for our guest, angela davis, editor of policing the black man. Caller good morning. I would like to talk about the culture throughout the whole hello . Host you are on. Go ahead. Caller i couldnt hear. From the top down and am talking about all the way up from jeff countys down to a small where the District Attorney many t the fate of two too many africanamericans, people of color, and people in poverty. 30a former emt in boston years ago, we would be called to the police station. The first thing out of the patients mouth is the cop beat me up. We could not put that in our report. We couldnt say patient says. Wasother time patient said driving and had a headache and then lost control of the wheel. Policed not describe the in that respect. Working sidebyside with police, i saw collusion. I saw how it would go up the chain and people were wrongly treated physically and through the system. As, i was on a grand jury here in wilmington. Unfortunately you are presented with these cases. They have already done whatever support whatever they are trying to get you to do and thats usually indict. Cases people on the grand jury are like i have a nail appointment at 3 00. Host we have to leave it there. Guest you mentioned a lot of things and i appreciate you mentioning the grand jury for one. Shes absolutely right. Prosecutors absolutely control the grand jury. Individuals, to the grand jury from the community and the idea behind the grand jury is that we have members of the community who are deciding whether a person should face an indictment, should face charges. The reality is that they usually do what the Prosecutor Says. Thats why in the chapter written by Roger Fairfax of George Washington law school thats around grand juri es is that a grand jury will and died a ham sandwich and thats saying comes from the fact that it is so easy for a grand jury to return charges. All they have to do is assign that there is probable cause that a person committed a crime. Thats a very low standard. What the prosecutor presents all evidence they want to present, its so easy to come with an indictment. Why is it in all those cases where Police Officers killed these individuals, and the very few cases that were presented to a grand jury, they did not indict . It started with ferguson and Michael Brown. That grand jury did not indict. Why . The prosecutor was in charge of it and did not want an indictment. If you look of the transcripts of the jury, very rarely is it released, but he released it. It was very clear he was on the side of that Police Officer. That is why there is a call in cases where Police Officers are charged or alleged to have killed a citizen or an individual, they have called for prosecutors to step aside and allow an independent person to come in and present the case to the grand jury. Prosecutors worked very closely with Police Officers. It certainly does not appear theythey can be fair if are tasked with investigating the very officers that they work with every day and rely on to make their cases. If you look at these cases from case in ohio and Michael Brown in ferguson and so many others, the case involving eric garner, the grand jurys did not indict you that unless even though its very easy for grand jurys tonight. People find it very difficult to face. Why is it that prosecutors indict people every day in the criminal Justice System very easily . The prosecutor comes at present you with all the evidence and you feel like you have no choice. When its a Police Officer, its a very different story. People see that unfairness and are understandably upset by it. Host the Washington Post highlighted in april that it was just session talking about Jeff Sessions talking about the obama administration. Jeff sessions says we need to review this and light of that. Where is the status of that and what does that mean for the issue youre passionate about . Guest first of all, sessions is the attorney general of the United States. That means he is in charge of federal prosecution. That peopleing should realize is that only 10 of all criminal cases are prosecuted in the federal system. 90 are prosecuted on the state and local level. That is why we have to Pay Attention to our local District Attorneys. However, the attorney general is in a very powerful position. We had eric holder at Loretta Lynch in the Previous Administration who took a very different approach to these cases. Eric holder went to ferguson and did an investigation. Very difficult to bring civil rights charges, but that was an investigation. Of the Ferguson Police department and the entire system and ferguson. If you have not read the department of justice report, you should read it. It showed a pattern and practice of unconstitutional behavior on the part of the Police Department and other Civil Servants there. Re is now eight agreement an agreement between the Justice Department and ferguson that they will clean up their act and change. Same after freddie grays killing in baltimore. There was an agreement between the Justice Department and the Police Departments in both of those cities. They agreed we need to change. Those Consent Decrees were in place. When Jeff Sessions came in, he asked the judge to revisit them. Both judges said no. These were agreements made by the Justice Department and both of those Consent Decrees are in place. Monitors are in charge of them now and there have been hearings recently in baltimore where the public has been invited to give their input and the Police Departments in both of those jurisdictions are now being overseen because of these Consent Decrees and hopefully there will be changes and improvements. But Jeff Sessions wants to do it very differently going forward. I think thats fair troubling. Host this is carolyn in atlanta, georgia. Because im calling would like to know from this davis how often does she get to sit in on the grand jury, knowing that the eyewitnesses are somewhat believable and the portion of the video would be in the mix of the grand jury . How often do you get sit it on the court . We pulling people into wrongdoing . We speak against these Police Officers saying they are wrong in doing all these wer wrong things and then our people turn out to be even worse. The killing is elevated even more. The more we speak up on their behalf, does it get worse or do they get better . We need to take a look at how many of these people are on drugs. A lot of these people that are getting killed may be on substance abuse. ,nd also the case in new york the guy died because he not only had four or five preexisting illnesses. How do we know what people have all these preexisting illnesses . The police need to be able to handle them. Host you put out a lot so we will let our guest respond. Guest she asked about grand juries and how often i have been . Need personally . Ive never been on a grand jury because of my background in the criminal justice. Ive been called for jury service and never get picked for that reason i think. I would love to serve as called. Caller areing the mentioned is that some of the People Killed were on drugs. Im not sure if she was implying that because of that that they should of been killed or what the situation. In a lot of these instances come up Police Officer have not been trained on how to deal with people that are in distress. There have been cases involving people who have been mentally ill that are killed by Police Officers. Thats one of the issues being addressed in the Consent Decree in baltimore. Police officers have no training. We can think of cancer incidences where individuals are suffering from Mental Illness or the effects of drug abuse who have been behaving in a certain way because please officers have not had the training. Our officers reach for the gun and kill them when it was not necessary for them to do so. The answer is that we need to have training for Police Officers to recognize when a person is unwell and how to learn to deal with those individuals without deadly force. We dont want to kill people because they are mentally ill or suffering from the effects of drug abuse. We want to learn how to get the help that they need without taking their lives. Host howard in new york, go ahead. Caller yes, hello. Court sanctions have been going on for decades now and what you have done so brilliantly is breaking it down from the black to whattters killing happens daily in court. Probably only 2 about Police Officers, but the issue is 98 of them will not turn them in and we turn a blind eye. We see the killing and the jailing of the Poor Community and sometimes the best of our community on a daily basis. Thank you for what youre doing. Prosecutors are the most important people in politics because they get to decide who gets charged and who doesnt get charged. In upstate new york, a prosecuted a black man for murder who had two killedsibley because she sibley because she could have felt that they could convict or. This is what we have facing black people daily. What you are doing is great work and i hope you can focus on the specific issue because its the greatest issue facing black america in the last generation. Guest thank you so much for your call. I really appreciate your point about prosecutors and the power to charge. One of things we talk about the book is not only the power to charge, but the plea bargaining process. At shows like law and order and think theyre all these trials going on. Resolved by way of guilty pleas. Prosecutors control the process because its so easy to bring charges as was pointed out. All the prosecutor needs is probable cause. That is the lowest standard that a person committed a crime. It is much lower and proof beyond a reasonable doubt that prosecutors have to show to get a conviction. Its easy to pile on charges at the beginning. With 57on is faced charges come you could see why a person would take a plea. The Prosecutor Says ive charged you with these 10 counts and if you plead guilty to one, i will dismiss the ninth. You can see how someone with an overworked public defender who doesnt have the time or resources to investigate the case and are innocent would say if i go to trial not convicted, i may be innocent, but i would be convicted of all 10 of these offenses. I better take the deal. If im convicted of 10, i could face sentencing on all 10 and face the rest of my life in prison. I will take the plea anyway even though im not guilty. That happens over and over again. Puts prosecutors on a tremendous unfair advantage and thats something we need to reform in our criminal Justice System. Mentioned theer black lives Matter Movement. How does that influence the process of the black man as he is being policed by officers . Guest the black lives Matter Movement is a very important social Justice Movement. It started after the killing of Trayvon Martin back in 2012. Its an Important Movement because we need individuals protecting on the streets. We need people litigating in the courts. We need people writing their state legislators. We need people taking action on all these levels. Without the attention that the black lives matter has brought to this issue, we would not be here today talking about this issue. We would not have produced this book. That movement, like so many movements that came about after killings, after emmett till was dgar everster me was killed, the black lives Matter Movement is a social Justice Movement of our day. This is not just kids out on the street. This is a Serious Movement and i really appreciate the work thats being done by the individuals in that movement and it needs to continue. Host heres the book, policing the black man. It covers all aspects of that. It is edited by angela davis. How many authors total on this . Guest there are 11 chapters and a couple of them are coauthored so about 12 or 13 authors altogether, individuals who are just very proud to include like brian stephenson, sherilyn , i could goin our on and on. We worked very hard to make this book accessible to everyone who wants to pick up and learn about this issue and learn about ways that they can make a difference by working to reform the criminal Justice System. Host did you learn anything by compiling this book . Guest i learned a lot. I was really fortunate that somebody of these great authors and activists that i asked to join me joined me and i learned so much from all the. M. I thought i you a lot about the kernel Justice System. Host orange, new jersey, that is where sterling is. Go ahead. Caller good morning and happy new years. Thank you for taking my call. The reality is that the Justice System cant be reformed without understanding that america was built on controlling black man and profiting from black men. The Justice System serves as a jobs program for the white community. Moved the portion of the white population into policing and monitoring the black population and it has grown since then. Now youre dealing with a triple headed beast where you have potentially 20 of the European Community making their living and raising their families off of what is happening to me and my community. So to fix the Justice System, you almost have to reform america because [laughter] this whole system, everybody out here come on dealing with it on multiple levels with family of mine where i make a great amount of money, but im dealing with everybody caught up with eddie charges. You always have to get a new lawyer and get this guy. Come idy we are going to spent 50,000 just about last year on lawyers and different legal fees. All that went to whiteman. Host ok. Guest the caller mentioned a lot of issues. He mentioned the Historical Perspective and i think thats so important to me that it was included in the book. The book starts with that and i think the caller would find that chapter interesting because it deals with looking from the days of slavery to convict policing to lynching top to the present day that there has been a consistent pattern of black men being treated fairly and poorly unfairly and poorly. Host baltimore, maryland, we will hear next from robert. Caller thank you, pedro, and to the guest. Im going to be as quick and succinct as possible. Ive been teaching for 20 years. As a teenager growing up in the city of baltimore and working at montgomery county, i always hear people say things like if the police had more training, a lot of these killings of unarmed black man would end. I think thats a fallacy in logic because if you look at it, and almost every Police Department, i cant think of one where a black officer recruits and they get the same training. They both get the same training at the police academy. Why is it that black officers are several times less likely to use deadly force whereas a white officer is probably two to three times more likely to use deadly force . They get the same training and yet the outcomes are very different. Host thanks, caller. Guest im not sure about the statistics. I will say this. Ive never said nor will say that training will eliminate all killings. I dont think thats the case. Certainly we do need to have more training in Police Departments. Training on a number of Different Levels implicit bias training so please can become aware of this bias that they have. In one of the chapters, once you biasthat implicit explicit, that goes away. We need training so that these officers can learn not to reach for the gun first when they are in the situation, not to escalate the situation between themselves and an individual, but to deescalated so theres not a necessity to use force. We need more training. Im not saying that will resolve the problem, but that will help. Host we spent a lot of time on imprisonment. What does it say about it . Guest he talks about the problems of the system and Racial Disparities throughout the system. He talks about it and many of the chapters have pointed out that a disproportionate number of individuals in prisons and jails are black men. The book explores the reasons for that and why thats the case and the unfairness behind it. Thats an issue that is explored throughout the book. Host one more call. This is rick from conyers, georgia. Go ahead. Caller i was wanting to know before the me too movement with the women, there was a me too movement about black men being pulled over with driving while black. The nation has had aggressively to different responses to those movements. What do you think about that . Guest i think both of the problems are serious problems. The me too Movement Involving Sexual Harassment and assault of women is extremely problematic and needs to be dealt with. Racial profiling and problems of racism in the criminal Justice System need to be dealt with. I dont think its an either or situation. Host apologies. The book is called policing the black siraj hashmi, when washington journal continues. Cspan cities tour takes you o springfield, missouri, working with media com, to explore the birthplace of route in southwestern missouri. On saturday, january 6, noon eastern, on book t. V. , author eremy neeley talks about conflict along the kansasmissouri border and the in his over slavery book the border between them. John brown comes back to the kansas territory and begins a series of raids into western missouri, during which his men will liberate and enslave people help them ri and escape to freedom, in the course, they will kill a number holders and the legend ty of john brown grows as part of the struggle people locally understand is really the beginning of the civil war. Sech, 2 sunday january p. M. On American History t. V. , e visit the nra National Sporting arms museum. Was the re roosevelt shootingest president , avid hunter. He organized and went on a very africa. Unting safari to this particular rifle was prepared specifically for roosevelt. President ial seal and of on the breech course roosevelt was famous for he Bull Moose Party and there is a bull moose engraved on the gun. Plate of this watch cspan city tour of springfield, missouri, january 67 on cspan2s book t. V. And cspan history t. V. On 3 working with cable affiliates as we explore america. Washington journal continues. Host welcome siraj hashmi to program, with the Washington Examiner, commentary video editor and writer here to talk about in the media. Good morning to you. How do you describe your job to other people . Guest essentially i write commentary for the washington but i also create a lot of video content, as well. Is a story that im passionate about or one of my about,gues are passionate they have the chance to actually xplain what the situation is, say, for example, the gop tax bill, a lot of chatter about the bill, because it was very nuance and into the nationally there is a lot of noise and lies going debunk somel need to false narratives and that is exactly what we do. The case goes for child tax credit, you know, the individual mandate and obamacare, things tax cuts going to wealthy, that kind of thing. Host lets break that down. Comes to tax cut itself, what has been the noise that is is truth about the tax bill . Guest sure. The ssues with like medicaid subsidy going to pay or lowincome tax cut, that is not actually the case. You have individual mandate people pealed, a lot of who actually part of that are people signed up for medicaid f. Are no longer able to be a medicaid then they simply come off of it because they are not penalized anymore buying it. You know, youre no longer going subsidy to go into medicaid. That doesnt mean there arent cuts, what they are doing is they are using the economic projected Economic Growth to pay for the low income tax cuts, not from medicaid that is one thing viral video that mckaskill, went against orrin media and as in the it wasnt really true. Host two other avenues you all, yourself, first of tax cut is primarily for the rich, as described and second of not really tax cut for the middle class, how do you nterpret statements you have heard and where is the truth . Guest a lot of people say it is not a middleclass tax cut. Ways, they are right, what it means is actually in tax cut, 80 of people are 5 of taxpayers are actually seeing tax increase more. 0 or you cant say that its going to for everyone in the middle class, i mean that is not true. You know, the rich is going to get all tax burden to the g top 1 . They are actually getting more burden other than most of the tax cuts, middle tax is seeing more of the cuts, somewhere around 35 of the tax cuts from this bill. How do you factor in the terms of this tax cut expire and means for taxpayers and do people understand that . Uest i dont think people understand that. The issue is congress is going to want to revisit this in the it is stated to be completely different. President trump was going into his presidency, people thought there would be another recession. We still have yet to see if that is going to happen. We saw one 10 years ago and impacted a lot of young people, like me, have to figure out what their lives and think about changing career and going into school. Of young e a lot people are dealing with student trillion he 1. 2 dollars of collected student debt they are now dealing with know, work it ou would go parttime jobs or orking full time or parttime job and theyre not able to pay that off. And now, i mean, one thing that will be critical of in this tax bill, didnt really address and s like student debt that is something that i think young people of hopefully republican and democrat, can come together on like that. Host siraj hashmi of the Washington Examiner joining us, ask questions about what hes talking about and other topics, 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000 for democrats. And independents, 2027488002. Questions or him omments at our twitter feed cspanwj. Last thursday democrats were chuckg out of session and schumer took to the microphone to talk about this legislative has been done by congress s. There anything when it comes to narrative and truth as you see it . Here is chuck schumer. This week crystallizes better any other. In the same Week Senate Republicans lowered the top tax of on the wealthiest americans, theyre failing to chip program to provide healthcare for millions of sick kids. N the same week that Senate Republicans voted to slash Corporate Taxes, they are short of middle llions class americans who lost their omes to wildfires and historic storms. In the same week that theyre interest the carried loophole they said theyd close, republicans are failing to boost in funding of both military and key domestic rograms that the middle class relies on, like infrastructure, the opioid ombat crisis, pension release and more. Our have been cofocused, republican colleagues have, on taxes, they have been unwilling these h agreement on issues for fear it would upset their tax deal. The story of the year. For the last three months republicans have buried their in the tax bill zel usually lashing taxes for those who need it least while leaving middleclass programs behind, year. S the story of this republicans havent accomplished much, but what they have benefited the s wealthy and well connected. Want its hone in on issues not resolved in 2017, daca and the tremors, 800,000 dreamers that came into the United States through daca and there was talk about, you know, reauthorizing daca instead of ending it in september. Of course, that comes with funding for border wall. What well see in 2018, whether concedeos that point and says get funding for passed er wall it Homeland Security committee back the 10 r, actually, billion for the border wall. Emocrats dont want to give that up and want to authorize dreamers eep 800,000 currently in the country. Is this if this is the big issue f. Trump oncedes on this point, breitbart, rightwing websites like them have dubbed him don. Sty host politico says group of republicans meeting with before t on this topic the christmas break and there saying some tor Bipartisan Legislation you might see in Congress Next year. With yeah, could come infrastructure bill, bipartisan and democrats want to move the all on because if you look, this is something that i thought trump being nt right on. Ou may disagree with immigration policy or tax plan, airport, you rdia are like, hes actually right. Hear chuck ou schumer say republicans havent accomplished anything this year. His side, how do you see that . Guest republicans, they have year, roller coaster of a so to speak. Ending the year on passing g. O. P. Tax bill, that is huge and momentum they need to sustain into 2018 to legislatively on infrastructure, entitlement authorizing whatever to do with daca and i think, you republicans can get some bipartisan deals, i think can move forward toward the raise act, perdue and cotton brought that forward to trump and that is omething that has everify, it addresses the security along the outhern and northern borders, mostly southern and secures funding for the wall. Can see that move in that direction, once we get to it, though, i cant say whether for certain that will actually, you be passed. Host first call from jame virginia onaff ord, with siraj hashmi of Washington Examiner. Caller good morning. Im not at i republican, im independent. Cut, is k about the tax it tax cut for the longhaul or benefit the ing to middle class for a short period absolutely then mean nothing . Guest thank you for the call, james. Essentially the tax cut is temporary for the middle class far. Whats n so permanent is Corporate Tax rate to 22 , ired from 35 believe. 21. 2 . That is going to do is bring more companies and jobs back to the United States and actually going to help with hiring, benefits and anufacturing for the middle class and that is something that owering the Unemployment Rate, lowering Unemployment Rate, that was tough to say, lowering Unemployment Rate for every american essentially benefits he middle class and that is something that President Trump hopes will sustain throughout focusing on just middle class tax cuts, it is cut, not ry class tax just middle class. Host talk about your perception f the various investigations going on into the russia involvement in last years house, the senate, the white house, in light of new information about the f. B. I. , what is the narrative you are what do you see from that . Guest sure. Ompeting from the left and right or Mainstream Media and media right wing social nd in general, is that the president is trying to undermine the investigation by making it ut to be a political witch hunt. By doing so, hes gone after an deputy f. B. I. Director, looking and saying he 90 days and re in also going after his wife lisa running for state senate in virginia, accepted money from mcculiffe governor to run for state senate seat and basically like hes a k political pawn in all of this. James comey and ert mueller, they are close associates, best friends, f. B. I. , given period of time, finding out asically that, you know, there is no russia collusion and that being nt trump is just subject to another media and political witch hunt. Parts of the are russia investigation that are legitimate. Hiring mike flynn to e National Security advisor, aswing he had gone to russia part of the gala, his connection to the turkish government, not russia probe, but had to register with fara, as a agent, id say the folly of President Trump was hiring him in the first place and would not have opened up this huge can for him if he simply not hired him. June 2016 with, kushner, donald trump sha, and the surrounding that meet ingsha, and the questions surrounding that meet and whether there was collusion, it is hard to say, at the enough things wall and hope something sticks, these are main things that have enough to t is not really beyond reasonable doubt Campaign Trump colluded with the russians. Host william, independent line, ahead. Caller yes, good morning, happy holidays. Guest happy holidays to you, too. Caller thank you. Caller i just want to push back you in regard to the tax going to tating it is stimulate jobs stateside. This idea has been forged reagan and bush 2, idea of stilledown economics and did not work. So my question is what makes you going to work this third time of trickle down economic . Ill hangup and listen to the comment. You. T thank i will push back on his push back and say former president lower obama wanted to Corporate Tax rate, too, he wanted to lower from 35 to 28 . Right now, under this tax bill, difference. president obama had the same Economic Outlook as president go a step did not further. And they couldnt obviously Corporate Tax rate, 35 beforehand and no guarantee, on the point, there is no guarantee it will bring jobs and Companies Back to but under states, this tax bill, at least ncentive for corporations to come back and produce in the nited states because and also for young entrepreneurs and individuals, mom and pop shops registered as y like s or c corporation, small that fourpartner groups actually want to get something done and build up a company, hat is actually who is benefiting the most and these are people within the middle class who are actually their ing and to see Corporate Tax rate go from 35 huge. is i mean, think of it, if there startup rked in a domain and it is incredibly tough, not only pay your taxes Keep Overhead and also pay your employees, but also have sustaining model of allows you to grow bigger than you actually started. Call from is another chicago, democrats line, next. Ck, you are caller yes, good morning. Guest good morning. Caller yeah, actually the took my fore me you know, dont spin it, just tell the truth. Trickledown thing, it doesnt work. Not n, the jobs are still here. Now working s mcdonalds, you know, the i dont has left and believe that a tax cut to the wealthy will bring the industry back. Think republicans need new ideas because weve been you doing this idea since reagan and it just hasnt comment. That is my thank you. Guest well, i would just say to you know, this is not a tax cut for the wealthy. They are getting more of the tax burden than the middle class. 35 of lass is seeing tax cuts compared to the wealthy, who are seeing 21 of tax cuts. If you look at how much the 1 ual share of the top versus the bottom 80 for paying, the shift is going from top 1 lass on to the and dollar for dollar, they are paying more money than anyone in would. Ddle class host kathy from ohio is next, independent line. Caller good morning. Taking my call. Im hoping the guest can please of coverage e lack on every major news channel of i see as the very regimented stepwise procedure by administration to dismantle the protection for the environment for the profit of watchecial interest and i msnbc, veryspan and little coverage about the environment and i than im not that believes protection of environment for the future is our greatest responsibility and i say shame news channels for andcovering it specifically scientific and bipartisan way, can you please comment on that try to do something about it . Host mr. Hashmi. Say to the l callers point, i do believe in climate change. That it is manufactured by humans. I will say this, that what President Trump has done, at least in part with regard to the Paris Climate Accord is that studies have shown reducing that by the year manufactured by humans. I will say this, that what 2100, that by p has engaging in paris climate projection of lowering orbal temperature by. 7,. 8 dumping thegree and money we currently have or dollarsmany billions of paying to Paris Climate Accord and paying for majority of it one of the the fact better sustaining nations in terms of environmentally aware friendly nations and look at ations like china, who arent doing their part. In a way, i will say that the moving forward on something and leading the way is pen ficial. Paris climate he accord really addressed those you know, imsay, all for deregulation and there that lot of regulations were enacted by environmental rotection agency that were egregious and obviously probably hurt more people than it helped. Will, you know, but the same ime, you know, there hasnt been really a good middle ground on this issue, it is either, you the you are for environment and want to make sure the government is affairs of n the everything that has to do with the environment or want them it. Meetly removed from never been like a happy medium for where the government has a play and they know what they are doing. Host our guest is editor and Washington Examiner, previously was assistant editor for red alert bachelor in biology from dickens college, how do you journalist . Guest you know, i for a wanted to be a doctor. In 2012, i decided to no longer field and wanted to switch careers. Initially thought about doing Sports Broadcasting and made my passionatefield, im about sports. In order to keep the job i was i was in the startup working for, i had to switch to politics and i had known quite a politics to make the transition. I found covering politic system covering esting than sports, nothing is redundant in always something new. Host indiana, republican line, judy, good morning. Morning. Good le left he gentleman is leaning. My comment, if Hillary Clinton elected president , we would know nothing about the corrupt, the way they perceive it. O one seems to be making comments on that. That is what i find very isturbing that all of this would have been just hidden, the men who were in power would stay and it would continue in this way forever. Thats my comment. Guest the caller is right in that, you know, a vote for Hillary Clinton was kind of quo, and r the status what we saw from the investigation into her email 2016 and then f. B. I. Director james comey not charges or indicting her for anything or Hillary Clinton for anything, know, that in a way is politically motivated. What you have is justice Loretta Lynch, r she recused herself, but met clinton, or he met with her on the airplane tarmac nd people point to her and say that was an area they were trying to rub elbows and sweeten deal. There are questions about the f. B. I. Investigation into Hillary Clintons email server like where did this thing go wrong. The probe into the Trump Campaign knowing he was willing political to be check on the presidency, take that rom President Trump, is obviously very concerning and the f. B. I. , as we know, over the of their history has been rying to undermine leaders, both civil and political going Martin Luther king jr. And malcolm x, and a lot of that. E ignore now we are bringing up the corruption and scandals within fact b. I. Considering the they have been doing this for years and it wasnt focus og focus og blackut peep and he will civil right leaders. To recent attention given uranium 1 and the dealings Illary Clinton had, is that valid investigation or valid probe in your mind . Dont at this moment, i think as valid as the investigation into her email is a lot of disputing evidence that she had uranium 1, do with she did not oversee it, it was a signedyll proved it was by the president , then barack obama. HIllary Clinton wasnt really a of uranium 1. Point fingers to the previous hillary and not clinton, i continuing is probably more valid to say, Hillary Clinton was more she wasble for thinking above the law by not having her public and r available for Public Record and that is more concerning, i rather than r, bama, who arguably and again, there is no actual inclination think that he thought it was bad idea. A or ranium, i cant say with certainty most probe going on right now. Host indianapolis, democrats is next. Y caller well, good morning. Guest good morning. 2010, you know, back in the republican was swept into would create it new jobs here in america. , the president has lower this tax plan, Corporate Taxes and lower taxes will be bringing jobs back into this country sounds good to bring jobs back into this dealing withwe are other countries. Are republicans trying to pull the wool over our eyes for us to president of other countries will just stand by and tax rate in ir order to keep the jobs in their country . Is one. We hear all the obama did tosident raise the deficit. It, the tanding of Congress Control the purse. Ow how did the president overwrite congress to take this money and spend it . Thanks, caller. Guest a lot of people make the argument that president obama deficit by close to 10 trillion. Balanced thereally budget. What the president does, submit a budget to congress and authorizes whatever ppropriations to different agencies and i will say with the bill raising deficit o 1. 5 trillion along the deficit, people were complaining, at least democrats adding more his is to the deficit or where were hey when president obama was raising the deficit. The economic recession, the government stepped in with a as ulus package as soon president obama was sworn into office. And yes, the government has made lot of move necessary terms of trying to lower unemployment bring jobs back to the United States. The same time, also the power of and obamas power grew as a result. I think a lot of conservatives and republicans had a problem with power going and bringing jobs back to america, that is obviously a great thing, how should play a role in that . For many conservatives, i agree with this line of role of by removing government, creating taxes and creating incentives for companies to come back to the and actually provide jobs, you know, i know that, is no guarantee of giving them incentive of doing best way ink is the moving forward. Host one more call from rachel in texas. Hello. Caller hello. You know, i didnt vote for trump, i think character means a lot. News, they lean toward the right and cnn leans toward the left. If we tofs get up in the morning to the news and they was to tell the truth, theyd viewers, they tell viewers what they want to hear to keep their t. V. News media on t. V. Andtheir viewers, they tell vies what they want to hear to keep their t. V. News media on t. V. Andlose their viewers, they tel viewers what they want to hear to keep their t. V. News media on t. V. Andtell viewers what they want hear to keep their t. V. News media on t. V. Nd nobody talked about the russian ads put out before the election. Them on was dpeting her phone talking about Michelle Obama being a male and had a sex adopted two ey children, nobody talks about ads put out there. Host caller, thank you. Yeah, facebook and have come under heavy for accepting funds for these ads and it was a problem we cant 6 election, deny that. However, russia played a role in either pushing fake news or in the election through server and John Podestas emails. Ling in the election through hacking the dnc server and John Podestas emails. I thinkdling in the election thh hacking the dnc server and John Podestas emails. Think peachel should leave it up to them to believe or not. Realize obama, a male, truth from fiction and realize f. Crazy of an idea this is people are willing to believe Something Like that, what else are they willing to believe . Cant say that russia absolutely absolutely people have to truth from fiction. Washington hashmi, editor. Com. End of the until the program. 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000. And independents, 2027488002. We will take those calls when we come right back. Daily. Ory, unfolds cspan was created as Public Service by americas cable elevision companies and is brought to you today by your provider. Satellite cspan student cam, the tweets say it all. Editing and splicing for institutional documentaries, this group showed us how it is done. Stellar interview necessary one day and students ask hardhitting questions about and the dreamform act. Were asking students to choose u. S. Ion of the institution and create a video illustrating why it is important. Open to all on is middle school and High School Students, greats 612. 100,000 in cash prizes will be 5000 go grand prize of to the student or team with the best overall entry. Deadline is january 18th, get content detailos our website studentcam. Org. Washington journal continues. Host if you want to give us a all, 2027488001 for republicans. Democra democrats, 2027488000. Independents, 2027488002. You can post at facebook wj. Happening over this holiday break for the president of him talking about healthcare what he thinks is the future of it, he said that the Washington Post reports the president predicted democrats and republicans would come president overhaul obamas healthcare law, the unpopular mandate erminated as part of the tax cut bill, repeals over time obamacare. Democrats and republicans will eventually come together and great new healthcare bill. Hat was effective in 2019 was the requirement nearly everyone have experience or pay a tax at time, it will mean less people insured, likely to raise it. T for those who do have u. S. A. Today, this morning, if you go to the front page of the this street journal morning, as a result of tax bill, you have probably seen this on television, as well, owners attempting to pay off property tax bills this year. End of david harris and jennifer municipal offices saw busy postchristmas rush as taxpayers calculated the effects of the new law. Property values have municipal busy risen and up at s of people lined Government Center to prepay. Cross the potomac river, the county Council Called special Tuesday Morning to pass legislation allowing residents to prepay their taxes. Phones, the lines are on the screen. Lets hear from mike in california. Republican line. Mike, go ahead. Pedro, yes, good morning and america. According to am 720, on sunday to go into the nvironment, one topic, not control the environmental ituation in america if we keep sending, keep buying resources from say chien alike lithium, control 99 of lithium resources in the world. Our own tting down plants here at mountain pass, we lithium. In the world. Were shutting down our own plants here at mountain pass, we have our own lithium. Resources. Were shutting down our own plants here at mountain pass, we have our own lithium. The way to control the environment is by developing our going to ces and not china, where they stock pile and r in huge piles asbestos and everything. Host okay, to sandra in texas, democrats line. Caller hello. Host hi, you are on. Caller oh, well thank you. Calling about our president and our congress. Im not understanding how we any kind get back to normalcy. Every time this president opens his mouth on any conference or anything, he has to have adoration and if you look will be a lie and we have congress on the other backing him up, eating it whatever he says. When they know absolutely know wrong. Im just totally concern body how ation at this point, hes undermining every one of cia, ivil liberties, our entity that wery have. Host to carl in maryland, independent line. People need to know if their crook. Nt is a you dont get sued thousands of times if you are an honest businessman. Thank you. Host you are welcome to keep calling and make your thoughts known until 10 00. Will take a detour briefly to talk about an event going on in virginia, particularly when it comes to house of delegates race hat took place last month in november and continues on this day. Joining us to talk about this savado, of ry universities of virginia, director for the center of politics. Morning, sir. Guest good morning. Host headline from richmond talks about this event, there was supposed to be tiebreaker in this case, because of a court case. Could you set up for the happened . Hat guest essentially the context comes down to this. Remarkably in november in electing democrat ig byernor and attorney general wide margin, virginia voters upended the republican majority of delegates. They had had 66 seats out of 100, a very large majority, and 13 or 14 of them, we are recounting kind of two districts and this particular district is one of those districts, a critical district, which in the a republican incumbent led by 10 votes, his name is yancey. We had the recount, which was obviously necessary with a turnedthat small, and it out in the recount, at least the democrat, shelly simons, won by one vote, unusual situation in general, but particularly because that particular district determined the republicans controlled the house of elegates or the democrats got an equal 50seat margin with the 50seat margin, which means there would have to be sharing. Lo and behold, the next day, the was supposed to be validating recount, the in, i think came without the democrats knowledge, at least until just event and uphilled a ballot thrown out the day before three judges the agreed to count it, it meant it tied and under virginia law, which is not unusual, large majority of the states have this same provision, when there is a ie, it goes to game of chance or a lottery of some sort n. Virginia, we have a precedent this, legislative race in 1971, bring the candidates in, names in a film anister each and put it in a bowl and someone designated to ull out one of the film canisters does and supposedly that person will be the member f the legislature for the next two years. Normally would be controversial, drawing particular would determine the control of delegates. Of ost as far as the challenger, sally simunds, asked for court to look at this, what could be result of this investigation by the court . Guest shes appealing it before held, was is supposed to be held today, it was cancelled because shes gone o court to say that the procedure the court used was invalid under virginia law. Tis very unusual, we dont have ties very often, but that the courtle after the recount, decided to ballot, which made the difference between a tie. Ory and a shes saying, her lawyers are saying this changed recount rule essentially makes recounts less valid. Youre going to have the loser close race, loser coming uphilling ballots rejected the day before, the is. Before, whatever it she is taking it to kirkit court constituency, the delegate seat is located and together whether they agree or go to the drawing, have to be would held in a few days time, i would suspect. Endss up the drawing with power sharing 50 50 count in delegates, what is history of how do legislators at least maneuver as far as determining how the power is shared . Virginia had couple examples of it. Uncommon. That there have been 43 cases of this state house of a legislatu legislature. 43 cases since 1966. N fact, in our very partisan times, it happens almost every election somewhere. Normally the two parties get decide and rationally how to divvy up power, there may cospeakers, they may preside on different days, there are all the cochairs of committees and that house of the legislature. That every vote, it could be, which would mean no legislation would proceed, most legislation is not terribly big issues l, the tend to be very partisan. Implication governor electhe northhaam, hes in a pretty good condition. Predecessor, the democrat, who had to deal with republican majority, northam will have about half and also got almost half of the state senate and he won by a race that was supposed to be close and the democrats picked up all the seats in the house. It was pretty clear the voters were sending a message, maybe about trumpwas more than northam or mcculiffe, or anything else. Democrats come into this with head of steam and clear support of sizeable ajority of voters, even in the legislative races and house had as a whole, democrats about a 10point edge in popular vote, but of course these gerrymandered to favor republicans, so that 10 points turned into a tight house. Sabato, director of center for politics explaining tiebreaking situation in the virginia highest delegates. Sabato, thank you. Back to open phones. E. T. From san diego, california, republican line, thanks for waiting, go ahead. You, my name is e. T. Firsttime caller. Point is this, what and how do i find the truth . Difference w the between what one channel is saying and what another channel is saying . So difficult to discern from someone saying the sky is a pebble is fall og your head. The serpent talked to eve, you consequences of that decision is affecting us even to this day. David, richmond, virginia, democrats line, go ahead. Is david y, my name and i hear a lot of negative president obama did when he was president , but you know, you never hear about things that he did positive, like bail just about company out because of bush and cheney politics that, have to say. Host from jared in riverdale, republican line. Caller hey, good morning, i echo what the caller just said the truth and analysis. A seems like it would be such good analysis of the tax cuts. Couple of economists on and ask them what is the in giving million certificate to go buy a burger and soed averseus 5 million of stock purchase to mcdonalds . Effect of grange where does that money go and how is it used . Job . Does it create what is done with it . Host jared, ill tell you this uch as far as this program is concerned, we spend several hours on analysis taking a look at issues concerning the tax bill. You want to find that for yourself and listen to what the guests weve invited on talk their perspective on it, go to our website at cspan. Org, go to the video plenty of content there for you to consume regarding this tax bill that was just the implications there. Again, you go to cspan. Org, for that. Nanny in massachusetts, independent line. Caller yes. Comment on the state of politics today. Im afraid most people dont understand. Host are you there . Manny hung up. Carol of the Washington Post about a decision by the Trump Administration when it to United Nations budget. Budget cut is in sight saying the u. S. Mission to the United Nations on sunday killed operating budget for 2018 and 2019, slightly less than the 5. 4 by the secretary general. In tiate it is 285 million cost save sxgs reducing bloated management and supporting no longer we will let generosity of the American People be taken advantage of or unchecked, the u. S. Ambassador nikki haley calling come. O using calculation based on the pays 22 ofeconomy, the operating budget and eacekeeping operation, the contributor among member nations, followed by germany, france and britain. Bob in kentucky, good morning to you. Are on. , you caller okay. Pedro, or sometime bob. Last time i called you, my name you b and i was calling bob. Host i remember that, go ahead. I was anyway, what wanting to talk about is trump, doing at least trump is something. For the last 40 years, democrats wasnt doing anything. At least hes trying something. I mean, great for that and i believe we got patriot in the office, most politicians they worry about is who is going to vote for them and how going to give them, trump dont do that, he stands straight up. Thank you. This Washington Post morning on results of the Retail Shopping season because of and holiday saying oliday sales increased 4. Fooin according to latest Mastercard Spending pulse payment type. Mark cohen, director of study at Columbia Business School says the real tell wont be known or march. Uary reshipping is expensive, and roblematic for ecommerce players. It was generally a strong ends o lack lust sxer inconsistent year attributable to a healthy economy. The fact is that employment roles are high, consumer high, ence seems disposable income is robust and loadings are once again credit cards. Marie, independent line, in new york. Yes, my comment is about what the guy talked about gerrymandering and even comes across electoral college, some of us feel like votes dont matter because even though basically a lot of wins one party or anything wise ger margins, count dont end up with proper representation, like in democrats swept the house and had more actual votes, a split in control. I think something needs to be done about redistricting and lines more even, better people opulation, all are represented, not Just One Party or another. What the founders wanted was compromise, not one party rule. From bisby, arizona, next from steve. Hello. host hello, youre on. Caller okay. d like to address what one caller several calls back pass g about mountain mined in california and lithium. Has nothing to do with lithium, we dont have element ines in the states and we seriously need them there is more to find and we will go back where does ho said, the person find truth, my god, this is the age of google. Out of the ing them trees. Nobody apparently wants to take diligence to check any of the statements. Little a. M. Radio stations are essentially working as fraudsters. O someone calls, i would like to ive a talk on your statement about land patenting to avoid getting around, you know, losing your home to fore closure or something, people talking to fraudsters. For host irvine, california, dave, good morning. Hello. You doing . How i want to talk about the new tax bill. It will hurt Social Security and medicare and people are going to ate this new tax bill, it is going to top 1 and all of the iddle class and poor people will not get anything, should be opposite way. Middle class and poor people getting 83 and the nothing. Uld be getting there, alllready got in Congress Make their salary and they got healthcare ydo they make 170,000 and average person on Social Security gets 1200 per month and they tax it. Right. Ot that is my comment. Also, all the republicans care for the tax breaks rich, more work, taking away all they that, is care about, war. Calling y, dave in north korea korea missile program, topic of statements by korean government, weapons ing Nuclear Program said tuesday the north will continue to advance nuclear 2018, e capability in despite claims about completing nuclear force. Korea will conduct one more test to master reentry technology. The north was raising time to ability before united ations sanctions before squeezing the economy. North korea and pan, soared but never flew japan. Caller yes, thank you taking my call. I would like to appreciate a earlier that mentioned these companies that left our shores, the country they are in now might have something to say and i also wonder about the fact that what kind of penalties are we going to have for their environmental ur oversights are being dismantled . Thank you. In washington, d. C. , this is marjorie, hello. Caller yes. Hello . Host hi, youre on. Caller oh, thanks. Concerned about the senileacting judges who to give a them person a writ and then the three dont get the writ, years and landlord cannot get the property, that is one thing. Social security, my first 1 a month. Presently it is about on the same average, of course, it is 150 a month. About sending these nigeria,ack, my from mean, eans probably i what is the meaning of sending back people to where they come u. S. Have g that the millions of acres of land, specially the land that hasnt been from the trees. Host marjorie in washington, times n the washington this morning, update on electricity in puerto rico. Press, only ciated 70 of the territory has electricity restored. On to sistudy conducted by engineers cal estimate 50 of the people remain without power. Corps of engineer says likely wont be until may all of electrified. S rough terrain and damage is elaying the Power Infrastructure in dire need of maintenance due to the recession. Puerto rico r of quickly enough. Tim in illinois. On this he last call open phone. Go ahead. Caller hi. Illinois. Tim, from im an independent and i would like to say that the probably make up the Biggest Group of people out there that are ignored. We really want progress in this country, we need the start looking after ordinary working class people. Bill that was ax president isby our prime example of how politicians ave forgotten about ordinary hardworking people. Thank you. Ost last call for this open phones and last call for this program, as well. A new Program Comes your way at morning. Orrow we thank you for watching today. We will see you tomorrow. Goodbye. New york city mayor talks bout what he than studentcam, the tweets say it all. Studentcam in action, Video Editing and splicing for constitutional documentaries. This group showed us how its done, to stellar interviews in one day. These students asked hardhitting questions about Immigration Reform and the dream act. To chooseing students a provision of the u. S. Constitution and create a video illustrating why its important. Our competition is open to all middle school and High School Students grade 612. Be0,000 in cash prizes will awarded. The grand prize of 5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. The deadline is january 18. Get contest details on her website, studentcam. Org. New york city mayor bill de blasio was the speaker at an event hosted by the political activist group, progress island. Iowa. The changing Political Landscape and what he called the beginning of a progressive era. It was part of the Holiday Party in des moines. It is 35 minutes