Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 11192017 20171119

, we will look at 2018 politics and the senate hearing. The president s authority and calling with the desk calling for the use of Nuclear Weapons. Al franken, and some calling for his rigid resignation. Call in on 202 7488000, that is the line for democrats. 202 7488001 four republicans. Ndependents, 202 7488002 we also have a line for minnesota residents, 202 7488003. Good sunday morning, thank you for being with us. We want to begin with the very latest involving senator al franken, and this is a story from usa today. When it comes to al franken and the assault allegations, congress appears united. Congress may be gridlocked when it comes to policy battles but the condemnation of lawmakers of senator al franken harassing a tv host and sportscaster was incredibly swift. So was the minnesota democrats apology. By the end of the day the accuser already accepting his apology. A National Conversation about Sexual Harassment is ricocheting from hollywood where movie producer Harvey Weinstein stands accused of harassment and rape to the halls of congress. Senator al franken is the first to be accused of harassment. Notably, no lawmakers on thursday chose to defend the accused along party lines. Coverednk this was pretty extensively during the campaign. We addressed it then. The American People spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president. How is this different . In one case specifically, senator franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president has not. Host on our Facebook Page, a lot of you weighing in as well. Join us for the conversation at facebook. Com cspan. Joseph green wrote the following i want to ask the following the people of this christian nation, where is your forgiveness of others when they do something stupid at apologize for it . Katie said, i am a woman who has been sexually assaulted. Finally, from jamie, everyone is distracted from this while trump was accused 17 times, calling this a joke. Lets get to your phone calls. We have a line settled side for those of you who live in minnesota. Should al franken resign his seat . That number is [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] 202 7488003. I do not thinkr that he should resign because if you are going to do the same on al franken, then you got to look at the president. One thing, he did apologize, the man apologized. Here we have a president , donald trump never apologized and admitted to grabbing womens genitals and everything else. If you are going to do it to al franken, you are going to be fair. I do not care what Political Party you are in or whatever, but as a man, these people need to understand as a man and the character of men, we have him and roy moore have not apologized. You know what, steve, i have been trying to call. Let me tell you something, those people like that, roy moore, they have been doing this for centuries, ever since the south has been here. Groping women, and women of prominence, a family who got a prominent name or a person, a respectable person, at least seven times. They have been doing this to women. They did it to all kind of people. You know what, those other women who sit and side with them, you know what they used to call those women . Even if they know they are credible, they called them white trash. They have been doing this for years, man, in the southern towns. The seven people, southern people, America Needs to stop being naive. Host thank you very much. We will go to mark on the republican line in zachary, louisiana. Should al franken resign . Caller i dont think so. Unless more women come out and it is evidence, not just accusations, but actual evidence, i do not think you can make him resign over this. But i think this is something that is going on. People calling in like the gentleman earlier. Am from louisiana edwards was a democrat and he was accused of stuff like that. It is everywhere. Do not be so foolish. It is everywhere, in hollywood, a new york, everywhere. Look at congress. They have these women who are being sexually assaulted and these peoples names are not even put out there. Why is that . I do not understand that. If you want to protect women, why would you hide these people . I do not know why everything has to be so partisan. Everything we do, either by the media or people calling in. I do not see a partisan thing here. You should not do this to women, and if there is evidence you did, more evidence with al franken that this is a common theme with him, then he should go. As of now, i do not think so. Host mark on the republican line from the louisiana, thank you for the call. A lot of tweets, this is from chris not only should he resign but he should be banned from ever running for office again. You can send your tweet at cspan wj. Some longn loath before this allegation. He is the pit them academy of hypocrisy. Comparison to the criminal behavior of roy moore and at real donald trump. A lot of comments, this one from mona saying, if roy moore is expected to drop out than al franken should resign and bill clinton should be crossed prosecuted. Hell, no, the which was lying about her desk him. Him. Your comments on our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Ireland from minneapolis, good morning, this is your home state senator. Frankeni love senator and no, i do not think he should resign. I do not think in what he did. If something is wrong here when we state that he needs to go to the Ethics Committee, even though he apologized and the lady accepted his apology. When we have a president that enough, andfair what about the Ethics Committee for him . What about the women that accused him, that society at the time refused to believe, the majority of society refused to believe these women . I think it is hypocritical for people to ask for senator franken to resign, or for him to go through an Ethics Committee when we do not have the same standard for the president. It is really terrible. Host carolyn, thanks for minneapolis. Our friend bill with a tweet how about a compromise, how franken resigns, President Trump resigns, and roy moore drops out of the race. Chris murphy says i have seen senator frankens accuser on the playboy cover grabbing the obama of robin williams. Mark crump said absolutely not. Dont compare what franken did to that of moore and trump. Go,adline franken should reads in part that horrifying photo of franken will confront feminists every time they decry trump of grabbing women by the genitals. It is not worth it. The question is not about what is fair to franken but what is fair to the rest of us. Frankensurn departure from the senate, but i think he should go and the government should appoint a woman in his place. The message to men in power about sexual degradation has to be clear we will replace you. Stacy is joining us, independent line, from mclean, virginia. Caller good morning. No, i do not think al franken should resign. That is ludicrous. You are comparing a child predator, a man who preys on children, and you have to realize in the state of alabama, you can date girls as young as 16 years old. Moore to his own admittance, he said he would ask the mother if he could have permission to date the daughter. There are some women who will pimp out your children for a man or for money. The gop is known for defending pedophiles. Look what they did to dennis hatcher. They went to court, they wrote letters to him they went on tv defending him, and after the judge called him a serial predator, a serial child molester, now the gop want to ask like they are holier than thou act like they are holier than thou. Hiringout in cleveland male prostitutes for 800 dollars an hour that you dont want to play pay a living wage to people for 15 an hour or 10 an hour or 12 an hour . Shame on you. When you point a finger at someone, Three Fingers are pointing back at you. They are mad at al franken exposing Jeff Sessions for the liar he is and yes, im going to call him a liar. Worse, he is a religious liar and i compare them to satan because it is awful they hide behind the church and religion and commit crimes against people and god. It is blasphemy. Do not resign, al franken. Hold your head high because you are man enough to admit you were wrong. I get jokes. You are a committee and. Sometimes things hit and sometimes they missed. I have been sexually harassed my whole life. My father made sure that stacy knew taekwondo before she went out. Anybody touches me, you better know how to fight. Know how to go toe to toe, blow for blow, because im trained to defend myself. Why i think al franken should resign . No, do not resign. You are more of a man than the president was to admit when he was wrong. It takes a real man to apologize and admit that he was wrong. Kudos to you, al franken. Keep fighting for america. America needs right now. We are under a coup. Host stacy from mclean, virginia. , caffe Facebook Page says his actions were sophomoric and stupid but not harassment. He had no power over her. They were equal. She was a willing purchase been. If she had said no to the rehearsal kiss nothing wouldve happened to discipline to turn in any way. J moore says out franken elected under shady circumstances, voting irregularities were proven but a long and hanging chad style fight was avoided as republicans conceded the senate seat. Jan why would the Ethics Committee something he apologized for an happened before he was a u. S. Senator . Helen joining us on the democratic line from ohio. Caller hi, i am from michigan. Host michigan. Caller good morning. Hello, cspan. No, i dont think al franken should resign. And we have a bigger problem of justice, this issue youd we have got to go back for a long time now, where women have been pretty much portrayed as sex objects. Like going to hooters. All these women getting boob implants. Butt we have got to get out of the stigma of women having to be so gorgeous and beautiful like sex objects. I am not blaming this on the women at all. The fact of the matter is that you go back years ago, it is just that way, the may the treatingere always women. That is why they are coming out of the closet saying, as happened to me and i never said anything about it because it really hurt my feelings. Who is going to care . This is what happens. This is the stuff that happened back then. I dont think so. What trump has done and what that other character done, he is a child molester and i do not care for that. I love that lady from virginia. That man is using god, and i call that using gods name in vain, because when you do the things that you do and say you are a christian, you believe in god, that is definitely using gods name in vain. Host there is some news on Senate Roy Moore and his senate candidate. Another opinion piece from the im agton post feminist, i study rape culture, and i do not want all franken to resign. Resigning frome his position as the only possible consequence or one that is best for american women. Campaignt me too demonstrated how normalized unwanted kissing and groping are in our culture. Donald trump was caught on tape crudely admitting to both of those transgressions and we made him president. It would feel good momentarily to see franken resign and the democratic governor of minnesota appoint a senator who has not harmed women. If i believed for one second that franken is the only that, but iid am betting there will be more. A book on feminism and the peace available at Washington Post. Com. Rob on at new york city on the democrats line. Caller good morning, thank you for cspan. Mitch mcconnell says he believed the dozen or so accusers of roy moore. Many of those were minors, minor children at the time. I am sure that Mitch Mcconnell also believes the dozen or so accusers of mr. Trump. I know that most of us believe the accusers of President Trump. Al franken forced a kiss, and awkward kiss. She described, a slimy, wet just on a beautiful woman. Kiss on a beautiful woman. Most guys i know who have made a play for a beautiful woman have at some point or other not always been smooth, and in one context or another, forced a play the play that they made for the woman fail. The photo was absolutely juvenile, and i do not know why you are even discussing this topic. I am assuming that you chose this topic this morning. Itk this is really a is almost uncalled for at this point for you to be taking time on cspan. I think it reveals your republican leanings. I remember how depressed your face was the night and i like you the night obama was elected the first time. You sat there and you were just, you couldnt even show any teeth , you were so upset about it. This is a nonissue at this point with franken. Host we chose the question, and we chose the question because there are a number of Opinion Pieces saying he should resign or should not resign. It is certainly part of the thetical dialogue, president weighing in, so why is it not a legitimate question . Caller at this point, with what is going on in our political world, for you to bring this up and make this a subject of conversation over a forced kiss, and awkward, forced kiss and a juvenile photo is really a waste of our time. Pose there we wrong to question with regard to roy moore as we did on two separate occasions this week . Caller roy moore is a different story. You are talking about a man who preyed on teenage, underage, minor children. Host rob from new york. We will go next to garner in decatur, georgia. Caller i think al franken should not resign unless roy moore steps out and donald trump steps down. And another thing, i read a story a couple days ago where Republican Congress spent 70 million on bill clintons sex life, 70 million for bill clintons sex life. Well, that is a lot of money. Thank you. Host this is an editorial from the birmingham news and a number of different newspapers in alabama. Our view that alabama voters must reject roy moore and endorse doug jones for u. S. Senate. This is a turning point for women in alabama, a chance for them to make their voices heard from a state that has been silencing them for too long. Accusations against roy moore have been shocking. Horrifying but not shocking. Although roy moore has denied the accusations of these women, his own platform is hostile to so many alabamians. Republicanans establishment has chosen to stand behind him, belittling the brave woman women who have come forward against him. Unlike the National Party, that alabama republican establishment has chosen to stand by him that saying alabama voters must enjoys endorse doug jones. Next is paul, joining us from pennsylvania, democrats line. Good morning. Caller good morning. I have not really tuned in to washington journal for a long time because the past few years there was so much hate. Democrats hate republicans, republicans cannot stand the democrats. This is such an example of a false equivalency. On one hand, you have an admitted predator like trump who said, i grab women by the and then you have a child molester and al franken, i am embarrassed for what he did. It was juvenile and stupid but he did not expose himself, he did not touch any private parts in the picture. It was obviously staged. His fingertips were barely touching the flight jacket. He was not trying to cop a feel. He thought it was funny and it was stupid, it wasnt funny. It was a mistake. As far as grabbing a kiss, it was unwanted, i am embarrassed. It was stupid. He should not have done that. And you compare that to the things on the other side, where children are being molested, the president brags about grabbing women . Not watchy i do anymore. In the beginning of our country, whoever ran for president , the person who got the most votes was president. Whoever came in second was Vice President. Maybe we should go back to that, because there are founders who feared this would happen if there were parties. We cannot get anything done. We should do away with this party system. Whoever gets the most votes is president. Whoever gets the secondmost, Vice President. It would Work Together. Good luck. God bless. ,ost paul from pennsylvania and a reminder, we have a line set aside for those who live in minnesota, 202 7488003. Let me go back to this editorial with regard to roy moore at al. Com and also for the birmingham news and the newspaper in mobile, alabama. What is disqualifying is the conduct of roy moore against women and children. It was disqualifying for his party leaders, the senior senator, and should be disqualifying for his state party. By the various misdeeds, miscalculations, and mistakes of its voters and leaders, alabama has left itself with few options. Alabamians must show themselves to be people of principle, reject roy moore and all that he stands for. There is only one candidate left in this race who has proven worthy of the task of representing alabama, doug jones. On the republican line, from berkeley springs, west virginia. Caller what i would like to talk about is the socalled Ethics Committee in congress. It is a joke. I was watching a tv program last night and they were saying Something Like 600 cases had been brought before the Ethics Committee. No one was punished. I know a few republicans resigned when they were caught doing something, but as far as congress punishing, that is not going to happen because they are just too much incorruption. Each one has something on the other, so they are not going to go that far as to punish them. I remember bill clinton. And you have a man on abc right anchor, andop during bill clintons fiasco he was out taking up dirt on the women that were accusing bill clinton of wrongdoing. The democrats circle the wagons. Most republicans will say, get out of there. Host harley from west virginia. Of the miamiwo book festival and we are covering it live on cspan two as part of our 48 hours of books at booktv. One of the speakers, al franken is canceled. Al franken was accused of Sexual Harassment and has canceled his miami appearance. The book is called al franken, giant of the senate. His cancellation was for later today. You can watch all of our coverage on cspan. Org and cspan2. Tim is joining us from wilson, north carolina, independent line. Caller good morning. The other caller that had called, i like you but you seem to lean republican. The last time i called, you immediately cut me off. I made a statement and you cut me off in probably about 20 seconds. I need a statement about russia preying on less educated americans and using the internet to do it, and that was the way that they was getting in and corrupting the mind of a lot of the people here. You immediately cut me off because a lot of time republicans call in and feel offended. I have not called any of them uneducated or anything, but they automatically think you are talking about them. You play right to them. , young to the point that know, we are talking about today, what roy moore did, these was children. This is a child predator. This is a totally different thing from what al franken did. , to my opinion, way back after the civil war we should have educated a lot of our people. We allowed all these generally statues to be up there. If you look general lee statues up there. If you look in the south, you can be with a 16yearold girl. N alabama and it is illegal the backwardness a lot of people there have, they are against government come of a think government is terrible. These are the things that russia is playing upon. Host bottom line, do you think al franken should resign . Caller al franken, this is something that al franken did before. Guy said just like i said, this was not a child. Like i said, this was not a child. This is someone he apologized to, and the person accepted his apology. If you look on the republican side, if you look at donald trump and you look at this guy, roy moore, they will sit up there and deny it, hide behind the bible, and then the people will sit there and back them. I dont understand this. This only happens i would not only say only but this happens only in the south. You have Rush Limbaugh and sean hannity and these people feeding this garbage, and people see it to hate the government, and russia is playing right on this. This is the reason we are becoming divided. Host thank you for the call. If we cut you off and again, i do not remember only if you crossed the line, if there is a derogatory statement that is made or using one of the swear words, that would be the reason. Thank you very much. From wilson, north carolina. Its michael who says is all a political calculus for the democrats on franken. Will there be more accusers . We shall see. This from super town al ,moore accosted an adult molesting children is a false equivalent. The Statement Issued thursday, the second of does statements by senator al franken reads the first thing i want to do is apologize to leanne and everyone who is part of that tour, everyone who has worked for me, everyone i represent, and everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There is more i want to say, that the first and most important thing is i am sorry. I respect women. I do not respect men who dont, and the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed. I am asking for an ethics investigation to be undertaken and i will gladly cooperate. The truth is, what people think of me in the light of this is more less important than what people think of women who come forward to tell their story. They deserve to be believed and they deserve to know i am their ally. I have let them down and im committed to letting making it up to them. Heidi is joining us from minnesota, st. Cloud, good morning. Caller i am from central minnesota. I have met al franken briefly when he was coming here to campaign, and i find him a very sincere person. He and his wife, frannie, have a very close relationship. He is down to earth. He has put so much legislation together that is helping women, especially in the native American Community in minnesota. And i like his apology. I think what he said was very sincere. Host heidi from st. Cloud, thank you so much. Al franken began his career as a comedian and writer, and later one of the stars of snl. Last night on we can update there was this. Thursday is thanksgiving, and there is so much to be thankful for, unless you are a human woman. Senator al franken is being accused of Sexual Misconduct on a 2006 uso tour by leann tweeted and who posted this picture. , butw this photo looks bad remember, it also is bad. Sure, this was taken before franken ran for Public Office but it was also taken after he was a sophomore in high school. Pretty hard to be like, he did not know any better, he was only 55. Tweeden is also claiming he forced her to kiss him as part of a comedy sketch. E on, man, dont kids in troops in afghanistan have a hard enough time to watch sketch comedy . Host the weekend update on saturday night live. And is joining us a ann is joining us from bar harbor, maine. Caller i am 68. I was sexually abused by a philosophy professor. There was no recourse. I have seen a lot of social and political change in my life. I do not think al franken should resign. I think that there should be and i think there will be a lot of social discussion and moving forward, on womens issues and respect for women. I think at the same time, we have to move forward on issues like black lives matter and homophobia, and all sorts of discrimination. I think there is political change that can be done, and i hope on this issue we can sort out the social responses and the political responses on this discussion. There is a lot of work to be done, and i do not want to minimize what al franken did. I have seen a lot of that in my life, but i also want to see what the laws are and see how we can make changes that benefit not only women as women, but women as women of color, women as poor women, women as lowerclass women. What are the barriers . I hope this discussion cannot just be about sexual predation, but can also be about moving forward agendas that benefit all americans. That is my comment. Host ann from bar harbor, maine. Sorkin has this piece liberals and Sexual Harassment available on the new yorker website. Factors playedy into Hillary Clintons defeat but that junction bill kept her as hard as it is to hear given the historic nation of clintons candidacy and her laudable record on everything from Climate Change to childrens health, her nomination compromised the democratic party. There were earlier choices. Voters in alabama where moore is on the ballot and in minnesota where al franken is may remember they have choices. Moore, and the test for the democratic party, a piece by Amy Davidson Sorkin on the new yorker website. Joining us from arizona on the democrats line, should al franken resign his seat . Caller no, i do not think he should resign. When this happened, the lady involved was in show business, i am assuming. She knew the skit. Come forward and apologized, which is more than i can say for a lot of people that have had this accusation made against them. And i do leant that way, and i just do not think you should resign. I have one more thing to say. I watched washington journal every morning and i have never noticed any of the moderators political leanings. These people that have talked to you personally about your political favoritism or leaning or whatever you want to call it, i have never noticed that. I think cspan is just wonderful and all of the moderators are very professional. And that is all i have to say. I appreciate cspan. Host anna, thank you so much. We get it from both sides. If you are just tuning in or listening on cspan radio or sirius xm, number 124 carries this Program Every sunday morning, we are focusing on the news of senator al franken, his immediate apology, some calling for him to resign. We want you to weigh in. We are also talking about roy moore and the Senate Special election in alabama. One pastor supporting roy moore saying, more women are sexual predators than men. Republican roy moore blasting the allegations of Sexual Harassment, saying they are part of a war on men. More women are sexual predators pastor radish at the International Baptist ministry. Women are chasing boys up and down the road because and we are not hearing about it because it is not pc. John from bethel, pennsylvania. Caller i just want to say i know you are a fair man, even though you lean to the democratic side if any side, because of your background. I believe you used to work for mr. Mondale. Host i did not work for mr. Mondale. Caller and that is fine, and i found that out years ago, and i always thought you were pretty fair. Host just to be clear, i never worked for Vice President mondale. Caller i know that. But, just for the caller in new york who made that foolish remark and the man in north carolina. Anyway, i do believe this comedian who i always thought was a comedian, who i remember from saturday night live, i remember his disgusting jokes, he has made jokes about rob reiners son being raped. I do not know what it is about minnesota that can elect wrestlers to be governors and comedians to be senators. That caller on the line was always complaining about the dumb old south. There is a law that says at 16, they are of legal age. So unfortunately, we are not talking about children except that 114yearold. I have not except that one 14yearold. I have not seen any evidence. When i see evidence as opposed to just accusations this is america and we have due process this needs to stop until he has his day in court. Host from ghost eagle there is this tweet i believe this will make al franken a stronger advocate for women. Lauren appel has this editorial at Washington Post. Com excuse me, foxnews. Com al franken, no joke, you need to resign. Aep for before becoming senator he joked about a child rape and in 2000 he joked about raping 60 minutes reporter leslie stahl. 15. 2 Million Dollars in taxpayer between 1997s paid and 2014 for Sexual Harassment complaints against members of congress or members of their staff. That is an astounding figure. We, the taxpayers are footing the bill while being left completely in the dark as to who we are shelling out this money to protect. Was franken a beneficiary of the hush money . If we are serious about protecting women from sexual predators and not just saying that is a political talking point, then al frankens colleagues need to call and him to resign immediately. This editorial available at foxnews. Com. Dr. Your phone calls, on the line for minnesota residents, beverly from minneapolis. Caller i am 84. I am from koran rapids. Rapids. Re c coon there was a wonderful letter yesterday that supported senator franken, and i would like to quote it what is more obscene, leaving children without health bringallowing hunters to ivory into the United States, which will encourage the destruction of elephant species, a tax bill that will leave future generations restoring deficit back to the middle class, rolling back entire meant environment protections, continuous attempts to take health care away, disguised attempts to defend medicare and making nice with vladimir putin, or almost groping somebody who is using this incident for monetary and political gain, i am not sure, that i cannot believe having senator al franken step down is the right punishment. A sincere policy, which has been given, and moving on makes sense. Admonishing him to keep fighting for justice against the present administration, and that is exactly where i stand. He said it much better than i could say it. Host thank you for sharing that. Another tweet fromann saying you should only resign if trump is forced to resign. Senator franken must stay. Your thoughts and comments of whether you think you should stay or resign. Tyrone is joining us from north carolina, democrats line. Caller give me a few minutes to say what i want to say. Host certainly. Caller do not cut me off, please. He should stay in and if anybody should resign it should be donald trump. He cheated on his current wife of his former wife. That is adultery. He said he would date his daughter if she was not his daughter. What kind of man would want to date his daughter . He talked about grabbing women by the privates. That man the just called from connecticut downing the people in the south, connecticut is a racist state. Andblicans called in republicans call in and call people rabid dogs and immigrants. This has got to stop. You are a good host, and you keep doing your job that you are doing. Republicans do want to control everything, and fox news and news magazines are the ones that have been providing us. Donald trump in the white house is the downfall for this country. Host this is a tweet from President Trump late last week El Frankenstein picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his pictures hands pictures 2, 3, 4, 5, and six while she sleeps . Attack forfrankens for an these abc which launched Rush Limbaugh , a political foe of al franken. I wanted to post a picture of n but most of the pictures were of a woman who is very scantily clad. Al franken is one of the best senators in congress, and there is a false equivalency in comparing him in any way to child molester roy moore, or to our alleged president who has been involved in dozens of these things. And finally, the man who attacked Jesse Ventura, the governor of minnesota, Jesse Ventura refused to execute, kill ishou shall not not asterisk with exceptions. Examiner, ashington headline. Darrell is joining us from randallstown, maryland, democrats line. Should i do not think al resign but is Something Else comes up on him he might have to. He has apologized. He gave a very formal apology. She accepted it and i think it is time to move on. The problem that we have is probably hello . Host you are on the air. Continue. Caller the problem we have is we have a president that has 13 women he said they were all liars. I think they should all take a polygraph test and all get together and sue him. That is the problem right there. That guy is awful. You should never be in the senate. Host alan is next, atlantic, republican line. Your view on this . Caller good morning, steve. I do not think he should resign since this incident took place before he was elected, however, what i think, what you think, and what the public watching and listening is not make any difference. We are on cspan because we think we make a difference, and it really doesnt. The politicians do whatever they feel like. We have a news cycle of probably two weeks. In two weeks, the al franken story will be long gone. It does not matter. Our country is in deep trouble and we are prattling about al ore, and it judge mo will not make any difference. We are rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. We need to get our country in order, and these incidents are just entertainment, i am sorry to say. Host from rock dots there will always be callers trying to work their rest. I think the hosts are careful to be as fair as possible. Chris wallace, host of fox news sunday, with this piece inside the Washington Post. Donald trump is assaulting our free press but also has a point. You can read it at Washington Post. Com. Politico has this story why President Trump will not touch the moore scandal. His refusal to confront a disaster playing out in his own party is not without risk, and the president may face accusations that he advocated advocated abdicated his authority. It underscores the desperate nature of the situation in alabama, the full story at politico. Com. Next is alex joining us on the republican line, and chester, new hampshire. Good morning. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call. The calling to comment on parade of people attempting to compare the al franken incidences to judge moore and donald trump. With al franken, there is photographic proof. With President Trump and judge moore, it is accusations, and if people were to did into the details, there were a lot of inconsistencies in the accusations regarding judge moore as well as President Trump. I do not believe these women are being honest. Host i know it was 13 months ago, but what was your reaction to that access Hollywood Tape . Caller i think there is a big difference between what people say and what they do, and the photographic evidence of what people like al franken do is phenomenally different than say, locker room talk. Host do you believe or not believe the women who came forward, up to nine in alabama . Caller there is inconsistencies the yearbooking of. D. A. Earbook was signed which is the initials of his assistant. He did not actually sign that your book. There is something about the restaurant where that woman accused him of bringing her to the back parking lot. That restaurant does not have a back parking lot. This is not being reported in the mainstream media. Host alex from manchester, thank you. The front page of the new york times, looking at the troubled some way system subway system and to that, the republican tax bill facing a problem over business. Senator ron johnson has already come out against the legislation. Speaker paul ryan of wisconsin placed a hasty phone call to his senior senator, ron johnson, in an attempt to resolve the likely conflict in his backyard. Mr. Johnson is the first to say he cannot vote for the Senate Version of the tax bill. During the phone call, mr. Ryan posed an essential question what are you going to need . He said, is needs, for the bill to treat more favorably Small Businesses ands and other socalled passthrough entities, businesses whose profits are distributed to their owners and taxed at rates for individuals. The Senate Finance committee moving ahead on its legislation, two different versions, the house passing it thursday on a partyline vote with 13 republicans voting against it. No democrat supporting it. Look for a vote in the senate early next month. Thad is joining us from south carolina, republican line. Caller good morning. A couple weeks ago or a week ago, you will have the chairman of the Ethics Committee on, and i want you to kind of help me out here. I understood her to say that they only investigated incidents that happened after they are in office, that they cannot do anything about anything that took place for they got elected before they got elected. If you remember that segment you were not the host if you could find that out i would appreciate. Host it is on our website. You are talking about representative jacky stier on the Ethics Committee and she talked about the house of representatives. On the senate side, senator Chuck Schumer and Mitch Mcconnell calling for a Senate Ethics investigation, and al franken saying he would cooperate and welcome it as well. Bruce marcus and the Washington Post editorial page, how should they be punished. In looking at roy moore, Harvey Weinstein, and kevin spacey, Available Online. Stephen is joining us from williamston, south carolina, independent line. Aller good morning, sir i would like to point out something about the process of these accusations against roy moore. The process is that there is no refutecan repudiate or or defend himself against these accusations. ,he most recent accusation recently on cnn, occurred over 26 years ago and it basically amounts to he said, she said, and there is no way to tell who is telling the truth. The original accuser, who supposedly was 14 at the time, and that was 38 years ago, has completely disappeared. No one can even talk to her. Similarly, Gloria Allred refuses to hand over the High School Yearbook that is the only physical piece of evidence available. And she will not do it until after the election, just wait and see. The whole point of this thing is to make a series of unsubstantiated allegations that the target, in this case, roy moore, cannot repudiate or defend himself against, and to in up the media equivalent of a witchhunt. He has runincidence, for Public Office several times before. This has not happened the cause because the state thought if you can reduce the republican majority in the senate to one vote, it effectively their lives from carrying out trumps agenda. They cannot get much done with a two vote margin. If they had a onevote margin, it would essentially derail as a president , which is why the establishment media and i do include the Washington Post is doing what they are doing. Billare doing the full cosby on roy moore. We have seen it before. They did it to bill cosby. When it finally got to court, a jury refused to convict bill cosby because he was no longer being tried in the court of public opinion. Host steve from south carolina, thank you for the call. As is from america 1 idu act why do you ask about the axislywood how did something said on a tv show suddenly become treated as real . It was on tape. An obituary we want to share with you, bobby baker passed away at 88 years old. , he served 16bj months in prison in the 1970s. He was a senate staffer, often referred to as the 101st senator. This picture was taken in the late 1970s when he appeared on press. Eet the he passed away on november the 12th in florida at 89 years old. Whey is joining us from michigan, independent line. Caller good morning. It seems your previous caller was right on the money. The witchhunt continues. They are hurricane and mr. Moore. All of these allegations did not happen just a year ago, they happen when he was running for election. Is there a blue dress in the background someplace . I would have to ask, and refer to you know who. He has been walking scotfree for years, doing worse than apparently even al franken. , and he is ahumor joke. He cheated to get elected. It will end. Have a good day. Host the conversation continues on our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Says the frank and followup testing the senators bond with the Senate Credit Senate Leader Chuck Schumer. This from aol. Com, the birmingham news a host of christian pastors criticizing u. S. Senate candidate roy moore and the conservative policies he supports yesterday, encouraging alabamas leaders to sign onto a letter denouncing the republican as a misguided candidacy. This is a letter from angie right, associate pastor of the greater alabama ministries. These are extraordinary times and requires all of us to take extraordinary measures. The full story at al. Com. Julius from atlanta, georgia, you get the last word. Franken should he say stay or resign his senate seat . Caller if he resigned, i truly think he would be put back in office from his constituents. I do not think they will go against him. I have something i wish i could say. I do not know if you will allow me. I think the Biggest Issue is that donald trump himself has been accused so many times of doing wrong with women, and i dont know how many people know that donald trump also was accused of molesting a 15yearold girl, which is a fact. Host your source for that . Caller anyone can google it. He is supposed to be in court in december. What i understand is because he is the president , that he could more or less get that bypassed. On cspan, you will do a good job. You let people know the fact support in court for molesting a 13yearold girl and like his buddy in crime who already went to jail for having sex parties with teenagers. Host julius from atlanta, georgia, you can hear your comments on our Facebook Page. Should al franken resign . Al franken facing questions about his ability to do his job, from the star tribune in minneapolisst. Paul. Several hundred are on our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Coming up, we will turn our attention to 2018 with experts to give us their perspective, looking ahead at the midterm elections. Newsmakers follows the washington journal every sunday at 10 00 eastern time. Texas attorney general, talking about the alongents proposed wall the u. S. Mexico border. Here is a preview. What will happen in congress if you chase out everybody out of the state working without a visa . What i have said is i dont know if the wall that goes along the entire border, but i want them to look at preventing illegal immigration from a safety standpoint. Number two, people ought to come here legally. El paso has a fence. As you know, el paso borders mexico. Before they put that fence up, violencead the highest in the nation. What is the status of south americans, mexicans trying to cross illegally into texas . We saw an uptick under the obama administration. What kind of situation is a putting custom and Border Protection into when there having to catch and release because detention beds are full . Illegal immigration is significantly down largely because the message from the president has been very strong. I have had the opportunity to meet with Border Patrol and local Police Departments numerous times, and they are excited to do their job. Administration, they were not able to enforce the law, they were letting people in. That is the reason why you are seeing the numbers come down. One is the message. If you come, you will be arrested and sent back. And it works. You let these people do their jobs. If you let enforcement and our local people do their jobs, we are successful in preventing a lot of illegal immigration and protecting our citizens. So, you are nothing more migration . No, it is way down, significantly down since called has come in to office. It is down since trump has come at office. Host ken paxton is our consultant and you can check out the free cspan radio app. Looking ahead at 2018 some of the midterm elections. Want to welcome Stefan Hankin, pollster and strategy, and Brian Nienaber. Lets talk about the gop in the midterm election. Typically the party of power loses seats. Will the republican lose house and senate seats. . . Tell. Is too early to ralliedt bush really and held our losses to a minimal amount. It is too soon to tell until november 2018. Host give us one state or senate race that worries you the most. Guest obviously, certainly alabama with the moore case. Thesel have a lot of midwestern states were President Trump it better than republicans did in the past. Are we able to replicate the same situation like in indiana and michigan . Host what is more damaging . Having the democrats pick up a key seat, or have one more in the senate and republicans have to do with him that way or moore in the Senate Republicans have to deal with him that way . I think republicans can lose an election like in the state of alabama. , but losing the seat will be having the party being in an unacceptable manner. Race as you look at the and we heard from the campaign telling the national democrats, spend money, but dont get too involved. Why . Brand ise democratic not stellar in places like alabama. When the National Party comes in, it tends to rub people the wrong way. If you look at the results statewide and president ial levels, in states like alabama going back for decades now, it hasnt been close. Senateng the Democratic Committee comments, or others come in, it doesnt fit well with a lot of Republican Voters who say they cannot vote for roy moore. Lets let this one play out. Seems like we can still this one. Races on me put two the table. Mccaskill up for reelection. She had a closely watched battle winning over todd akin who had his own issues dealing with legitimate race, but if you look at that race in the state that has gone through donald trump, how do democrats maintain betsy . How do democrats maintain that seat . Guest when we look at the states that her up like missouri, indiana, montana, north dakota with senators in all of the season they are doing a great job in the have proven they have won before, but if you look at what cost goal if you look at mccaskill, they were heated by colorful statements by republican candidates. It is not to say they will lose, but these are really tough races, and theres not much Growth Potential for democrats in 2018. Heller andator senator flake stepping down in arizona, we will see what happens with the primary there and bob corker in tennessee. 2010 wherein republicans should have won. We ended up holding on to the senate for a couple more elections. Win back the majority on paper . Absolutely not. But could we . We could. Host lets talk about arizona with jeff flake announcing he is going to step down. How do you maintain those seats . Guest our biggest worry are both of the seats in the changing demographic with New Residence or not familiar with either candidate. That is always challenging. Hellerer what candidate, is a strong candidate who want to statewide. Whoever we end up with an arizona, they will have the challenge to introduce themselves to a good portion of the electorate. Host you cannot most here what the president is going to saying but the president is going to say to voters in 2018. He spoke to reporters from the white house, and here is part of his speech on our website. [video clip] i explained to all the World Leaders and asia, how well the United States is doing. Economic growth has been over 3 the last two quarters and is going higher. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 17 years. The stock market has made trillions of dollars in value since my election, and has reached record highs. We are massively increasing our military budget to historic levels. The house has just passed a nearly 700 billion defense package, and it could not come at a better time for our nation. Once again, our country is optimistic about the future. Confident in our values, and proud of our history and a role in the world. I want to thank every citizen of this country for the part you have played in making this Great America come back possible. In asia, our message was clear and well received. America is here to compete, to do business, and to defend our values and our spirit. Host you hear the. The dent, part of which you think will be his strategy you hear the president and a part of what you think is strategy will be in 2018 . Guest how my going to meet my bills, what is my future wife to look like . That is one of the top concerns. To be able to make the case in washington along with congress trying to lower taxes and make things better and get you more takehome pay and fighting for the u. S. s place abroad. Compellingawfully message to voters. Danger, heere a continues to pop about the stock market. The stock market goes up and down. If they goes down, does that make you more vulnerable in 2018, 2019, 2020 . Guest it is a nice talking point, but if you look at the statistics on how few people are invested in stock market, it is a nice marker. Financial tiess are not in the financial market. Host Stefan Hankin, what is your take on it . When he reads the teleprompter in his on message, it is a decent message. 2018 beingan go into their statement and we are doing this in the economy is moving think that will probably be the first probably be the best foot forward for the republicans. Just because he managed to do this for a couple of minutes during a speech does not mean that will be talked about tomorrow, let alone next november. 2027488000 is a lie for democrats. 2027488001 is the line for republicans. We can also read your tweets. Lets talk about the tax bill that passed the house. Two different versions. With the president has something to find by christmas . Guest i truly hope so. People really do fundamentally think they pay too much in taxes. There is substantial room for reform. When we look at how this will work, there is a real opportunity to get a big win here and give back to the American People to put more money back in the pocket. And make the tax system simpler and fairer. That is a compelling message after a tough year. Guest we will see, clearly the republicans are about the win and very little else. If you look back in 1986, the last time we had major reform, and i dont think what we can call here is reform, it was four years in the making, plus, not to mention the types of senators and congressmen working on that. Said,e else in washington the team they had in the 1980s, the people who are playing right en theuld not of even ridd bench for that team. If you start messing around with health care, you are taking one little piece in the repercussions of that could be massive and no one is thinking through this because it is trying to get things signed by december, but they have to pass a continuing resolution to keep the governmentdac. Daca is on the table and they has a limited time left to get all this done. Could it happen . It could. But i still think they are facing odds to get this done by christmas. Host centre al franken has a new book out and he is not participating in the miami book festival after canceling friday afternoon. How does this story play out for him and his democratic colleagues . Guest we will see. Look, a lot comes home to roost for men and a lot of industries. Men are men. It is not just the republican or democratic thing. Men had been doing stupid things for a really long time, and now people are getting called on it and rightfully so. Frankention and how al has handled it is a stark contrast to what is happening in alabama. They are calling for an Ethics Committee. I am the sure what they are looking into. Honestly, he should probably step down and set an example of how this is how you handle poor behavior as opposed what we are saying, not only in the white house, but also what is happening in alabama. Host so you think he should resign . Guest honestly, yes. It is tough. It is something who i feel has done a great job as a unit senator and i believe in a lot of great job as a u. S. Senator and i believe a lot of what he is doing. But on the flipside, if a republican did the same thing, it would be easy for me to say, he should resign. But it is tough when you have donald trump in the white house. So if thou resigns in the still have trump who has admitted to sexually assaulted women with 12 women who have come out saying that he assaulted them, it makes it tough to look at al franken and say he should step down, but he should step down. Host do you think he should step down . Guest i was appalled by some of the imaginations that went on with them finding both of the last minute and i have always questioned the legitimacy. But you know, this is something that we hold our elected officials to a higher standard, and he clearly crossed the line that is not acceptable, and he should step down. Host at what point do you accept an apology and at what point do you say you should leave . Even the apology he gave the second time, to say, i remember it different way than you did, that is like saying, i am sorry you are offended. That is not a true apology. Lead with your wrong. Host during the debate lester, President Trump also apologized. During the debate last year, President Trump also apologized. Guest he never admitted what has gone on, but i am appalled that he behaved in this way, too. We ought to look at our elected officials to be leaders in a look for loopholes when they are accused of something. Tweetede president about al franken but not roy moore. Why . Guest he survey has personal know whatnd i dont the calculation is on one of the other. From my perspective, you know, if you are somebody in your 30s trying to the 16yearolds, that is unacceptable and harassing adult women is not acceptable. Both things are unacceptable. Ahead at 2018 and talking about the Alabama Senate race scheduled for december 12. Independent line. Good morning. Caller yes, good morning, steve. Think this judge roy moore thing should be put to rest with him resigning, even though the governor, a woman, still endorses him. As for democratic representative there, he doesnt seem too optimistic about the upcoming elections. And that could be because the Voter Suppression in arizona last election with, what was it . 180 polling stations being closed. And kris kobach and his Voter Suppression that went on in pennsylvania, michigan, north carolina, arizona. And it is just a shame to see democracy undermined by a man going on ined kansas and that is what is going on in this country today. Heart,e no one with any sensitivity, this tax bill is absolutely repulsive. Host bill, thank you for the call. Stefan hankin . Guest i agree with a lot of what he is saying, everything from that there is a clear systematic effort to try to increase hurdles to voting, and you know, the pattern is there. When polling stations get shut down, they all tend to be in democratic strongholds. We look atow, when the voter id, which has been proven to adversely affect voters who tend to vote for democrats. The big problem is the move past supporting oneparty or the other. This is tribalism and away. This is tribalism in a way. We are basically, we are revering false idols. If you are looking at a roy moore, saying it doesnt matter if there is a republican in that seat, that is a problem. Same thing on the democratic side. Not that it started with the president , but clearly, maybe the pinnacle of it. When you saw the things that he said on the access Hollywood Tape and a myriad of other things, as long as it is not clinton in office, i would argue that is a big problem and not a good thing for this country. Host Stefan Hankin a republican Brian Nienaber at the table taking your calls and your tweets. This is from jodey. If al franken should resign, roy should step down in trunk should notgn, too, if one is better than the other. Box . Thoughts . Favor ofwould be in the president making a full apology. I dont know the facts of all the accusers. He issued a much different apology, but for the current cases, i think al franken should step down. Behaviornk roy moores warrants him stepping down as well. Host will there be enough republican support. Senator johnson is against it at the moment and there is talk to senator bob corker is concerned about the impact on the debt. Guest the good part for the senate is mcconnell is a good deal maker. And i know members have concerns about things. Individual senators have interest representative states. There is a good chance he can pass the senate because i think theres always the opportunity in the senate for them to Work Together and figure things out. I think they can get something passed. Host Stefan Hankin, is a going to pass . Dont know,estly but it is fascinating to see what we are dealing with. We have a party with part of the platform being a constitutional amendment have a balanced budget, and now that is being thrown out the window. Now they have approved going into 1. 5 trillion more of debt. Lets just throw the kitchen sink in and tried to get 50 plus votes and tried to get this through committee, and try to get this done by christmas, all for a win. To brians point earlier, health care they have not passed them is of the have to have some its talk about a 2018. That seems to be the motivating factor, not having a deal, but getting something passed. They are just trying to jam this through and that is incredibly scary. They have 12 to 14 working days left. I have my doubts they can get this done by christmas, but i have been wrong before. Host i dont know the answer to wins the if doug jones Alabama Senate seat, election is december 12 and if the senate hasnt voted on his final passage, will he be seated before christmas . Guest that, i dont know. The senate has leeway when they actually seat people. Remember when i was a senate staffer, they tried to hold up a and therer a senator was a rally behind her to get her seated sooner. They have a lot of tricks in a bag if they want to get them seated sooner. Caller good morning. The republicans are toast. People visit their tax person and they find out that they are going to be paying a lot more in taxes the republicans are stuck in the middle and giving it to the top 1 is what they are doing. Wisconsin and i wont be able to take my property tax to my tax guy anymore and have him right off and have him write it off. My state and local taxes are out the window. I tell you what, once people get wind of this tax plan, people who pay between 60,000 and 75,000 are going to be paying a lot of taxes. Representative in wisconsin speaker of the house caller he want to get rid of medicare and social security. He doesnt believe in any safetynet. He wants a dog eat dog world for everyone. Only the rich can survive in his book. Host thank you, paul. All, there isf going to be a changing of how the brackets work for the tax plan and the people at the bottom will be paying less. More of your income will be exempted and taxed at 0 . And state of local taxes, that is a normal Public Policy that too many states have really high taxes, and say to their citizens, you can write it off. Taxpayers inng other states the ability to pay way too much. In wisconsin, they do run a pretty tight ship to be in the state of subsidizing other states. It is bad Public Policy and not a terrible idea to look at this not beand say, we should subsidizing people in states with high taxes. Premise of there tax bill is punitive, right . The blue states that voted for clinton will have to foot the bill to help other states. Meanwhile, the high tax states are talking about california, new york, massachusetts were all net givers. Regardless of european on the state level, though states are paying more regardless of your opinion on the state level, those states are paid more. They are taking more in. Now, they are trying to make that more extreme. It is no longer you get to do what you want. We are going to take even more money out of your pocket to pay for what is happening over here. When you look at everything, not everything, but a lot of things the are trying to change, it is punitive. It is trying to make people pay for behavior the republicans dont agree with. This from a party that used to have the Heritage Foundation used to say, look, there should be no social engineering from the tax code, and now were trying to penalize people for decisions that mistakes are being made and elected officials are making. Host Stefan Hankin and brian chuck from alabama, republican line. Good morning. Caller good morning. All these accusations to get judge roy moore did not originate in alabama. They are coming from the Washington Post there. And the main woman accusing this man is a democratic activist. Alabama, we do not hear about this thing until it came out of washington, which basically shows this whole thing is democratically being pushed through. Has not beenn substantiated other than the smearing this are judge. I wonder if this stuff will ever stop . Host i assume you will a vote for roy moore . Is that correct . Caller that is correct. Host will the win on december 12 . Caller i think he will. The people in alabama dont let people in california are washington determined our destiny. Clear, andk very ,hen you get into these places it is a smear campaign. Host the birmingham news today came out for doug jones. Did you read the editorial . Any reaction to that . Caller i dont read the papers because there is so much garbage. All of these papers are controlled by the democrats. Host thank you very much from the call. Other two things alabama local papers have recent other alabama , there are a few folks from washington that would benefit for having another diehard u. S. Senator. For him to say that the for him to say that he believes the accusers and something drastic should be done, is a pretty strong statement. Uest agreed Mitch Mcconnell, paul ryan said something, mitt romney made the point same look, innocent until Proven Guilty works in court, but when there is a wellfounded look into these accusations, this isnt just anonymous women saying something. Their names are on these quotes and in these stories. Look, i dont understand how anyone can look at this and say, it is more important for me to vote for a republican and i am fine with someone who is a 32yearold dating a 14yearold is totally fine, supposedly if it is a man of god. Mindboggling that this is the point we are at. Host this is the editorial this morning, and a number of newspapers in mobile. The election is a turning point for women to make their voices heard in a state that has silenced them for too long. The accusations against roy moore are horrifying, but not shocking. Ifs has become a referendum we are going to accept this from our electorates. A vote for roy moore since the worst kind of message to alabamians. There is only one candidate left in this race who is proven worthy of the task, doug jones, the voter must make their voices heard. Tony in pleasantville, new jersey, democrats line. Good morning. Caller good morning, steve, and also to your guests. I want to get away with sexual stuff. A couple of quick comments i have is referring to tax reform. I understand about the Corporate Tax cuts and they want to bring all the businesses back, but i dont understand how that is going to happen when they are paying those people pennies over there, and you know the American People are not going to work for pennies. Our cost of living is higher here. Host do you want to respond . Guest we have the highest Corporate Tax in the industrialized world. You have to assume that that policy encourages people to do silly things like incorporating other places. In thes not incorporated United States to dodge Corporate Taxes. Will lowwage manufacturing jobs come back here . Probably not. It is good to look at corporations and saying, you have a home here. Host with regard to that editorial, they say the people from alabama will decide and all others need to shut up. Making reference to the Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell. This is his take. [video clip] with regard to the alabama race, roy moore should withdraw. The women who left come forward are completely credible the women who have come forward are completely credible and his campaign is collapsing. From a Republican Point of view, it produces a dilemma because the ballots had been cash and i have spoken with the president , he called me from vietnam about this and i talked to general kelly on saturday and the Vice President yesterday. Obviously, we are in discussion this seatw to salvage if possible. And it appears as if the only option would be a write in. Seldomt is very successful, although we have had an example of that in 2010, Lisa Murkowski from alaska lost the primary. Ran a write in campaign in the general election, and actually won. I think the last people to do that with Strom Thurmond in the 1950s. So why did she win . She was totally wellknown and extending popular. And the name be most often discussed not be available, but the alabamians who fit that standard would be the attorney general, who is totally wellknown and extremely popular in alabama. Host he is the attorney general, so under the hatch act, he cannot participate in politics. Your thoughts . Guest i think he is right. The best option is to have general sessions resign. Host lets put that scenario on the table. s on theve roy moore ballot and you have Jeff Sessions in the campaign, does that split the ballot letting doug jones win . Guest there are a lot of republican saying that they are going to vote for roy moore because they cannot envision voting for a democrat, but if you have more democrats on the ballot, like in the case of Lisa Murkowski. Here was a reliable person in the republican party. She won. There is a real opportunity to say, if you are in republican but frustrated with someone who was done bad stuff, here is a better option for you. Host lets go to dean in south dakota. Good morning. Dean, are you with us . Caller number one, he was talking about the republicans and having time to get all of the things that the republicans are trying to get done. Does he remember when the Affordable Care act was passed by the democrats . And nancy pelosi says we dont know what is in the bill, but we will figure it out after it has passed. The senate had to vote on impeachment, all 50 of the democrats stepped up and said to mauls all right women. And also when you are using a in the office that was young enough to be his daughter, deed that set a good precedent in congress . Host thank you, dean. , it islooking back appalling and it is not how it should have been handled. End of story. I will remind the collar about health care that the health care process took over two years. Think there were 60 hearings and we will have zero hearings in the senate on the tax bill. Zero. So, if you are fine with that, i guess you are fine with that, an this is not exactly openended process. You know, it is a shame where most of the deliberate body in the world has come to that we are just trying to jam these things through, and not even take time to sears a think about it. Take time to seriously think about it. I dont think anyone is arguing that the Corporate Tax structure is perfect nothing could be changed. But the fact that they are not trying to reach across the aisle, and again, when you look at obamacare, i mean, amendments, discussions, hearings were all happening with republicans. But with this, it is shutting one side out. We saw what happened with the health care and we have to see what happens with the tax bill. Tot you made reference apples computer stock rewarding people for tax evasion. Are not evading taxes, they are behaving under the silly rules we have, but it would be better if we had rules that rewarded companies for relocating there could quarter here. Their headquarters here. To run a terrible way tax policy and it is a bad idea to have such a high Corporate Taxes you force companies to make silly things like incorporating an island and other places. Host sessions resigning and running for senate is liberal bubble mentality. ,lthough we should point now Mitch Mcconnell. Guest it is not unprecedented to have someone leave a cabinet post to run. Host this tweet is from rick who says al franken apologized. It was accepted. The matter is over. This is from Breitbart News and outgoing Arizona Republican jeff flake who is not seeking a second term, saying the leadership is toast. He said, if they become the party of roy moore and donald trump, we are toast. Guest yes. The parties have been shifting over the last, i mean, it is tough to argue to know exactly where it started, but this has been happening. Trump has accelerated this and moore is throwing more gas on the party, and the republican is holding on by a threat right now. And the democrats are, too, but we are not in the limelight as much. Sees impossible for me to how these parties hold it together for too much longer. And you will be saying whether it is these two parties we may be seeing for the first time Something Else that this is shifting because these coalitions cannot hold together. What is kind of scary from our viewpoint is we look at where were the shifts for child, en in france,e le p which is all this right wing, populism, kind of movements. You see education as the biggest predictor of whether support is going, so if you are College Educated, you are much more likely to be against the rightwing populism. If you are nonCollege Educated, you are more like the two before fear thatat is my there will be a College Educated party any nonCollege Educated party. That is a terrible thing for this country. The Washington Post focusing on the Alabama Senate race. Alabama digging in for roy moore. Shirley is joining us. Welcome to the program. Caller hi, this is shirley and i live on the outskirts of dayton. What i would like to say is this if we are going to treat everybody the same, let the democrats and the republicans used the same rules for each one. , justtake the roy moore an accusation and you are supposed to be innocent until Proven Guilty, and if you want to go that way, lets all go that way. But if you do that, when you put hillary and bill up there and you look at benghazi, and you look at the uranium deal, and you look at seth rich and that teenagers thrown on Railroad Tracks over a drug drop in arkansas when bill was there. Look at all the murders and all of the supposedly suicides that nobody can prove. Why dont we get in there and clean all of that up and just lay the cards on the table and let him fall where they may . I was a republican and nixon was guilty and i say she should of gone i say he should of gone. Lets do it in the senate, congress, and do the same thing, and i will cameron to you we will be down with half of the people in their. Get rid of all of the crooks have put the tea party in, lets go from there and stick to the constitution. Do the fair thing, treat them all the same, and as far as the sex thing, everything that do and and the clintons the chopper not the and the child pornography, they have all the money and then they left. Talk to the president of that country there. Host thank you, surely. Thank you, shirley. Guest innocent until Proven Guilty is the legal stance. I think we have to hold our elected officials to a higher standard if they can be convicted in a criminal court of law. These are supposed to be people we look to to guide the country through pretty tough times right now. When someone comes in and they have had such appalling accusations, it seems to be highly credible such appalling accusations that seems to be highly credible. From rhode island, jerry, democrats line. Good morning. Caller hello, good morning. I would like to talk about roy hannity, saying the two girls that testified against him proved he did not have sex with the other girl who testified against him. That sounds like an admission. Said, trump came out and i treat women like this, and i walk into the girls locker rooms when they are getting dressed, and 14 people came out and said i verified your story. That is heavy treated me. In his response was, they are all liars. Al franken made a mistake and thought something was funny. Repented, apologized, asked for forgiveness and did the christian thing. I dont think any of them is the same i dont think donald trump should be there. And i dont think roy moore should be there. I think they admitted something and people came out and said they did it. Thank you. Host thank you, jerry. Guest i tend to agree. With the roy moore, that is just bizarre i cannot wait until we can stop talking about this guy, hopefully. [laughter] guest hes a lawyer. He was on the States Supreme Court and he gives weird answers like dating 14yearold when i was 32 was not my typical behavior. What kind of answer is that . He is parsing his words in a way that i dont see how anyone find anything he says really credible. But its like look, even begin it a seat that we had no business getting in the senate, or we have roy moore in the u. S. Senate and the ads start writing themselves for 2018. Host in summerville, south carolina. Welcome. Guest mr. Hankin, you are completely disingenuous with why should they vote for roy moore to get them a seat . Whopposed to the democrats have been doing anything but obstructing Donald Trumps agenda since he got into the white house. This whole thing about we are going to have the elitist some educated party versus those uneducated drags out there who dont know how to work a shovel, hammer, and a male. In my experience, the people i have met in my life who know how to shovel a pile of crap into a bucket, have a lot more sense that anything that comes out of washington d. C. Host thank you. Do you want to respond . [laughter] seemed to statement target steffen hankin. [laughter] host go ahead. , there are a couple of points in their. Republicans are in control of everything, so to say democrats are thwarting trump, great. I will also point you to obamas eight years in office and it wasnt like the republicans were working with him. On the college education, i am not making the argument that if you are not College Educated, you should not have a say. I say clearly that this is a bad thing for the country, but if you look at the results in virginia, the biggest shift was among collegeeducated white voters. Again, this isnt just in this the unitedis is then kingdom, this is in the united kingdom, germany, france. For is a bad direction where we are going, but it is understandable of where the draw is with this conservative scum economic populism given for the economy is going, where the jobs are growing, but again, i think the outcome is a bar a the outcome is a very that they for the country. Host now do you want to respond . Tefan has made a good point that the college noncollege split is bigger than it has been ever before. Coalition onhave a college nonCollege Educated, which i think is to their benefit of having people from all perspectives. If we did get to a split where there is much more College People in one party and nonCollege People in one party, it is close to having a party by classes. We are in an interesting time. Are previous coalitions going to be frazzled as College People have a much less kinder view of President Trump and others. Host two shirleys call from earlier, shirley said he put out 10 lies in the world in a row. Lets go to tony from littleton, colorado. Ahead at the alabama special election in 2018. Good morning, tony. Caller good morning, and thanks for taking my call. Mr. Hankin, i appreciate your view of the parties from both directions, and i like your candor. I guess my comment as i have been watching this for years and and when ides now, look at the history, and looks like we went from one Bumper Sticker president , governor is a problem, now we have trump and make America Great again, and it is my generation. I am 57. The last of the boomers. It is my generation, we are the ones that were afraid of blaming themays, for taking our jobs, beginning 35 turning a range on to an Assembly Line anymore, so we have to look for someone to blame. My generation is here. My question is this i missing data that said millennials and that i have seen data say millennials and women are going to be a bigger part of the voter pool in the 2020 election. That thisbe the shift country needs to move away from my generation that has been so damaging to our American Democratic system . I would love to hear your comment. Host tony, thank you. Guest we will say. Being gauge meant among millennials the engagement among millennials and women is higher than ever before and started right after the election and inauguration of donald trump. Weve seen a handful of special elections in congress. The democrats did not win any, but a lot closer than they should have been. And so, we will see how that translates. Weary of a little whether or not this is a wave that is developing, or, i mean democrats will win seats if we dont give up as a party and packet in because we do not deserve to be a party anymore, but if you use the virginia results, if you look at the districts were democrats shifted and won and ended up giving thed up getting a net, overlap between congressional districts is next to none. The only area that democrats grew in the 10th district. It is not looking like it will make a discernible difference in any other district in virginia. If that is the case around the country, do we get to a majority of the party . I dont know. Even if more millennials and women vote. Selfsort it as a country and how the lines are drawn up for congress, i am still not there. Where the democrats are going to win back. Host this was in the new york times, beside despite recent the, gerrymandering dim hopes for 2018. Guest it is not just gerrymandering even though gerrymandering is terrible and both parties do it. December 10 that they dont. Lets not pretend that they dont. It is also where we live. Most of us Living Communities were 70 if not more share similar views on politics. To get competitive district, we would have to do more gerrymandering to make that even happen. We should absolutely reform the system, and the way it is done now is ridiculous, but i dont really feel that if the sum gerrymandering, that somehow we would have more than 10 competitive districts that we are dealing with these days. Carolina, fred, you are next. Thank you for waiting. Good morning. Caller good morning. Want to say to the democrat, hey, i am a lifelong democrat. I watch the republicans fight obama the whole way and now im watching the democrats fight trump the whole way. I hate him as much as you, but this resistance has got me and my company in the middle. Everybody hates the tax cuts inhibit the health care. It seems to me if you work with the crazy guy, we could get better. Now they are trying to do reconciliation on this and they are so limited. Family then we punch fingers at him. Us voters are caught in the middle. You have to do what you can for me. Resistance only helps the reelection, not benefiting me. Host what is your business, by the way . What is your business . Tile install a business. We were 52 employees before obamacare, and now we are 12. And i was good with obamacare, but i am paying for my neighbors and that is 2400 a month. I mean, come on. If you are poor, it helps you. I started out poor, so it gave me a leg up, but this resistance host thank you for the response. Point we have got to a where it is tribalism. The other people are terrible and we are not going to do anything that they want to do, and then vice versa. And certainly, this was not invented under obama and i would argue it was heightened under obama, but this has been going on for a while now. This is also a part of the reason why it is hard to imagine these parties can hold on for two much longer because at some point in time in my hope is that an adult party formulates to get things done. It is a game here. It is. We all play it. Talk about horse races. We talk about horse races. For your average american, this has repercussions. The way that business is done in washington right now is not, i would argue, really good for the country. Host ari, you are next in the republican line. Good morning. Caller i do for the opportunity, gentlemen. People need to know that it is not the leaders who are important, it is important stay united. One side was brought to the elections because they wanted change. The other side they came in from vermont, nibbles a lot of people he brought in. Mock, and he brought in a lot of people. These crooked politicians, when they take money, they literally bomb countries and make new countries for the workers, especially the Illegal Immigrants. They want to block the borders for the latins and fill our cities with islamists. A bomb European Countries to make the newest countries in europe, which are islamic countries. If you follow the history of islam, youre literally going to see that this is one, big game and they are using the land they took from nonmuslims to pay for all of this corruption. Guest i think there is a lot of middle ground. I have worked on Immigration Reform since 20 oh five for various groups, and it is very frustrating i have for the Immigration Reform since 2005 for various groups, and it is very frustrating. There ought to be some way to allow people to come here temporarily and work to deal with Illegal Immigrants and to be that close on all those premises and not be able to go to the finish line is incredibly frustrating. Host i want to go back to an earlier comment about a democrat from connecticut, and telling the news that as much as i am appalled from the actions of the oval office, i have to admire the president s ability to keep us talking about things other than jobs and wellbeing. If we keep falling for that, we will pay a huge, political cost. Hes a democrat. You agree . Guest yes. Not this on whether or is smarts strategy or done walk, but trumps ability to wake up in the morning and throw in a few tweets that gets everyone off topic is pretty amazing. Now, it works for good or for bad. When are a lot of times republicans should be talking about what is going on in congress to get everyone moving forward, and then the president will throw a Monkey Wrench in the entire situation, but he can change the topic in half a second, or it used to be one for two characters now. Im sorry, 280, even better. Ist i am not sure if it strategy or it happens. Ont and political reporting a big republican donor, according to his spokesperson, they will not be supporting Steve Bannons efforts. They are supporting Mitch Mcconnell 100 . To infer otherwise is wrong. You that was tell very smart, i think that is right. They are savvy, political people. I think steve bannon has a burn it all down strategy. If you are someone who operates a big business, trying to find solutions that make things better for american businesses, a burn it all strategy does not sound good to you. Good morning. Caller good morning. My good morning. Why were businesses, u. S. Businesses allowed to go overseas and the first place regarding the tax situation . And why arent they required, not asked, but required to come back to the u. S. . Thank you. Host thank you, pamela. Taxes are complicated. What the real situation is, it is not about taking jobs overseas. That is a separate issue. What is being talked about is bringing money back in the u. S. Has a bizarre system that other countries used to have but everyone has pretty much gotten rid of these, where you make a profit overseas, but do not bring the money back, you do not have to pay taxes. For a company with enough cash in this country, like apple, there is no reason to bring it back and pay taxes when you insider when it can sit accounts, whether in the caribbean, all these other random country islands in the english channel, so basic way, other countries handle it differently, where you pay a portion of taxes or if you pay taxes and make money in the u. K. But you are the pay taxes, you do not have to pay additional ones, so the money flows more freely. The argument is, companies will invest more and this questions whether or not they will, but i think all parties agree this is insane. We have to change this, but clearly, that isnt enough to get this working together. Host Stefan Hankin, if people want to follow you, how can they . Guest at lt strategies. Host and Brian Nienaber . Guest at Brian Nienaber host heres what attorney general Jeff Sessions said write it. [video clip] is a must accuse the act before i get started here, any russians . [laughter] [applause] anybody been to russia . Russia. A cousin in anyway. Host that was this past friday. Guest i worked the u. S. Senate for a long time and i can tell you senators can do a lot of things, but telling jokes is not one. Clearly, a bad joke, and probably not meriting the attention it got. Guest the fact we are joking about the fact that a foreign country was trying to influence our election speaks volume to d. C. Is now. Host thank you. Please, come back again. When we come back, we will turn our attention to the issue of the president and nuclear codes. Our guest from new york is Alex Wellerstein. At the bottom of the hour, we will go back to our earlier question on al franken. This weekend under cspan cities tour, we traveled to burlington, vermont, as we explore the history and literary scene at 2 00 p. M. On cspan3s American History tv. All is Available Online at a website that www. Cspan. Org. Lake champlain is a 120 mile long water superhighway that cuts between the Green Mountains of vermont and the outer index of new york. Miles and490 square for all of Human History in the champlain valley, it has served as a corridor for commerce, conflict, and today, it is a great place for recreation. The late is called Lake Champlain because they french explorer named champlain. He had been invited on a tour by some of his native American Allies from the st. Lawrence river valley. Upon their journey south along this 120 mile long lake, the encountered the iroquois. The iroquois and champlain vying for the trade routes and the square mesh broke out. End of square mesh broke up. The couple had firearms and as a result, their french and allies from the north won the squirmish. Champlain modestly named the lake after himself and created a new region of new friends in the champlain valley, and set out they protected time of conflict between the british, who were moving north from the atlantic seaboard, and the french, expanding their territory outward from the st. Lawrence river. Travel to burlington, vermont, part of cspans cities tour. You can check it out at www. Cspan. Org citiestour and the programming airs today on cspan2s book tv and cspan3s American History tv. Joining us from new york is Alex Wellerstein, with the Stevens Institute of to all of you, serving as a nuclear historian. Thank you. Let me begin with the basics, what authority, power does the president have when it comes to the use of Nuclear Weapons or strike customer strike . Guest the president of the United States is the only person with the Legal Authority to order the use of Nuclear Weapons. As for what power he has, he has almost unlimited authority. There is a system where an order would have to be translated into reality, but he is considered to be the only person with the legal and practical capability of initiating that system. Host last tuesday, we covered a hearing on cspan. The chair of the committee, senator bob corker, republican of tennessee, has been critical President Trump. He is stepping down at the end of next year and held a hearing examining this issue. Here is part of what he had to say. [video clip] no admiral, general or defense secretary has the authority to order the use of Nuclear Weapons. Only the president , the elected political leader of the United States, has this authority. The nuclears arms race between the soviet union and United States during the cold war elevated the risk of new the conflict. As the soviets developed massive numbers of Nuclear Weapons and assistance to deliver them to the United States, we plan for the unthinkable, how to get our missiles in the air within this few minutes before their warheads can hit us and possibly destroy our ability to respond . That kind of scenario, theres no time for debate. Having such forces at the ready has been successful in determining such an attack and for that, we are grateful. This process means the president has the Sole Authority to get that order. Whether we are responding to a Nuclear Attack or not. Once that order is given and verified, there was no way to revoke it. To be clear, i would not support changes that would reduce our debt turns of adversary are debtor in sub adversaries but i would like to explore something said 41 years ago, the realities of this system. Host senator corker went on to talk about the checks and balances that need to be in place before a Nuclear Strike is officiated. How do you respond . Were i think his hearings immensely useful to get the issue out there. It is a shame we have not talked about this for over 40 years in the senate or house. Corker completely, adequately describe the situation. The president has essentially no real legal check on his ability to deploy Nuclear Weapons. There may be, and this is what a lot of testimony was about, practical ways in which a few members of the military may find ways to refuse the order, but there is a lot of uncharted ground. It is a system set up to allow the president to basically do what the president thinks its a good idea, whether other people think it is a good idea or not. Host should congress, and could congress limit the president s authority in this area . Guest should congress . I think congress should the least cap frank discussions about whether or not the Current System is the best of all worlds, whether or not it is a be,afe as it could whether any president , though trump has raised these concerns, but any president is a single human being. We have examples of president s who suffered from Mental Illness and addicted to substances. If you go through American History, it is hard to come away with the idea that president s are above it all. Could congress do it . It gets them to thorny constitutional law questions. I do not feel like we know the dimensions, the answer to that is. Congress has intervened with the as aower act in their role body that is meant to, under the constitution, to declare war. The president as commander in chief. These are somewhat at odds in modern age, where the ability to use military force and ability to declare war can be nearly instantaneous as opposed to like the 18th century, when it was drafted, could they do it . Maybe. Should they . I think they should look into it. Host where did the term political football come from . Aest the Nuclear Football is means by which the president can authenticate or issue a Nuclear Strike order. The term goes back quite a bit. I believe the project had a name that was a football reference and im forgetting the dropkick or Something Like this. When you see a picture of the president and there is a military officer walking behind him with a heavy bag strapped to his wrist, that is the football. What is in the football has changed over the years. In the early years, it was a list of plans transmitted by phone. Today, it probably contains ways of being in contact with the Strategic Command through radio or whatnot. But it is essentially a way for the president , if he needs or wants to, to issue a Nuclear Strike order. The idea is that the president may be anywhere at any time, may not be in the situation room or his advisers, but the cold war idea that there might be this out of the blue attack with missiles and you would need rapid response. I would point out that the president is not giving a password or anything like that. He is authenticating he is indeed the president and as the president , he can make the order. Nuclear codes are not some kind of elaborate lock system. It is a way for the president to say i am the president , thus, you have to obey the order. Host our guest is from new , he, Alex Wellerstein earned his doctorate from Harvard University as a nuclear historian. Walk us through the chain of command. If the president issues that order, what happens next . Guest actually a lot of ambiguity and contractor statements are about what the nuclear main chair and chain of command would be. The basic gist of it is the president issues in order. That has to be authenticated and well formed, in the format in order is required to be in. At some point, this john surma sort of civilian political side to the military this jumps to the civilian political this jumps to the political side to the military and how it makes the jump, there are contradictory things that have been said. You have to piece together and triangulate quite a bit. Once it is in the hands of the people in this vast military organization involved with managing americas Nuclear Weapons, like the Strategic Command, then it gets passed down to the people who are in charge of the actual delivery of the weapon, what one report calls the shooters. Once it is in those hands, the weapons, the keys get turned, the bombers leave their pads, those weapons are getting delivered relatively quickly. The interesting question to ask is not so much how many steps either in the command. There seem to be more than three but less than 100, right . But who in the chain of command, if they thought this was a terrible idea, could say no, legally or practically . The answer to that question appears to be not that many people. Hearings, general taylor, former head of Strategic Command, essentially said i would be the person in charge of saying no. It is not appear to be the secretary of defense, anyone else in the white house. Taylors idea of what it would mean to say no is not so much that is his right to say no, but he is obligated as a member of the United States military to refuse to obey an illegal order. That is essentially what taylor offered up as the only check on the system. If the order is in the minds of the lawyers at Strategic Command illegal, which is a narrow phrasing, then they would refuse to convey it, to which one of the Senate Republicans said, what happens after that . Taylor lautner comfortably inside, we would be in an unconstitutional situation, which is to say, i am not sure he knows. Host our phone lines are open. 202 the area code. 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Davids first, los angeles. Good morning. Caller good morning. Topics really fascinating , especially in light of the other topic he finished up with with the immorality and the nonsense when it comes to disrespecting and violating women, but this topic is always concerned me about the character, not only of trump, but trump highlights it. What trump has done is brought to the table something that should be foremost in the minds of the american and people of the world. We can have somebody in office necessarily meant to mentally stable with this power and i do not think the peoples consciousness is at the level where they understand the implications of this. In ae talking about it comical technical way, but what we are talking about with this total destruction, the thing that gets headlines is this thing with and i understand we should never, and it is appropriate that women assert themselves today cannot tolerate the top of madness, but how can they survive any of that . Example, go for deeper at the deep end, mentally speaking, are any of the characters who have this power . Host we will get the response. Thank you. Guest i think there are a lot of interesting things one could say. One, the Nuclear Issue in a way makes this point very fine. The issue of stability of any leader is going to have vast consequences, nuclear or not. But the Nuclear Issue makes it clear. The other thing i might point out, if you are a soldier applied to do work in the Nuclear Weapons field, to be near a weapon, there are very stringent, psychological requirements, medical requirements. You need to be reviewed for your responsibility, your stability on a regular basis. There no doctorpatient confidentiality. In every other aspect of our infrastructure, we treat this human factor as an important but fallible part. We do not do that when it comes to the commanderinchief. I am not saying that we should require the president to have examinations, but i do think we should think about the fact that if we are going to centralize our power in one human being and that human being is exempt from the same requirements any other human being would be, that is something to watch out for. Host i want to follow up on air force general john, commander stitches it demand. Strategic demand. He made comments at a weekend event in halifax and nova scotia and he told the audience i provided bys to the president i provide advice to the president , he would tell me what to do. If it is illegal, guess what i would do . I would say, that is illegal. He would say, what is legal is to mark and we would come up with answers to whatever the situation is and that is the way it works. It is not that complicated. Guest it is a remarkable statement. Is the literal, lowest legal requirements the armed forces so saying i will not do anything illegal, that is great, but that is kind of the definition of the job. What i found most telling about that though is the answer is not, this is illegal, full stop, meis, this is illegal, let figure out how to make it legal. The president had an order they thought was illegal. They have lawyers who will pick you out how to find a way to get the same results that the president desires. The goal is hes not setting himself up as a check or position but almost a translator. I would point out and i think this is important the quality legality is a low bar for what we are talking about. Concerned illegal things would occur. Their concern the definition of legality is complicated. The United States is not believe it is illegal to use Nuclear Weapons and has affirmed this many times. The question of what is legal in war is murky when it comes to practice and we only have to look at recent American History to find that things are pretty difficult to work out when targeting civilians, initiating preemptive attacks, things like that. Secondly, legal is not the same idea of a good idea or something that would have catastrophic consequences. I wish the conversation was not just focused on if the president gave an illegal order, and i am that if he reassured gave an illegal order, we would find a way to come up with a legal alternative. Host were talking with Alex Wellerstein, a nuclear historian, graduate of harvard, and talking about the president s authority with regard to Nuclear Weapons. Critz, st. Louis, missouri. Democrat line. Good morning. Margaret, missouri. Democrat line. Caller the president s elected remarkabled several things about his mental stability. First, we start with saying he was wiretapped by obama. It took a lot of taxpayer money and everything to do this investigation. Since then, there has been a barrage of things like this to happen with this president. Also, there are quite a few other things that are questionable in his behavior as president and a person. Available to us to check the mental stability of someone to be able to have such authority to have nuclear code . Is there anything in place that can evaluate that and prohibit him from having those codes available . Host thank you. Guest well, there are two answers. If the goal was to make it so the president had a harder time using Nuclear Weapons, congress may be able to do Something Like that if they desire. I am not optimistic but it is possible. You can imagine the met legislation that they would add a few checks into that system, especially for cases where we. Re not under direct attack secondly, and the broader answer, the 25th amendment does allow a president who is mentally indisposed to be removed from office. A large hurdle. I do not put a lot of faith in it being done. It would take a large portion of to cabinet to say we want depose the president. It would have to be affirmed in a lengthy process. It is not meant to be used lightly. It has not been used lightly. I do not put a lot of faith in it but constitutionally, if top, the vicevery president , cabinet, things like that, that the president was unable to do so his duties, they could remove him. Is that likely . Probably not. Is it impossible . Host no. To our viewers in Great Britain, we welcome you. Norma from hastings, england. Are you with us . We will try one more time. Pat in newon to jersey. Good morning. Caller i would like to know if this might be a matter of semantics, that if the president has authorities to use the weapons or transfer the weapons to the military and let them use them . What happens at the president is killed in the opening minutes of an attack . I say this only because i read a novel years ago with that scenario, where they had to go to the white house to get clearance to use weapons but they use them in the course of war. The president did not push the button. Host thank you. Guest great question. The weapons are in the hands of the military already. They did not used to be in the early cold war. They were separate. The fuel of the weapons were kept in civilian hands and had to be transferred by the president to the military. The 1960s, it became routine. The military has the weapons. For what would happen if the president was indisposed and we were under attack, our system is set up under the assumption that the russians would launch massive attacks and tried to knock out our weapons first and it is set up under the assumption that if the president or unable to respond possibly killed, in effect, there is a chain of command to avoid what they call decapitation. That is one thing we do not have to worry about. That is built the system. This is the kind of mindset that led to the system we have now. The president is meant to be a check on general and the decisive figure who can make that decision in the 10 minutes we might have or less, or seconds about retaliation, things of that nature. It is worth asking if that is the world we live in now . This is a system not quite ready to go but it is meant to happen to retaliate past to avoid the scenario you describe. People worry that system now is it does not take a lot to set it in motion and i f the fears that decapitation from the russians, that might be a dangerous thing. Host we are talking about the president s authority of use of Nuclear Weapons. Truman truman harry s was the last to use them. What did he do before or during those bonds to be dropped . Guest truman is actually much more peripheral than most realize. The standard story we have this truman deliberated and agonized over the decision and gave the order. Historians know that is not quite what occurred. Presented essentially with what was already going on. Most of the planning had taken by the military and truman said, sounds good. Notans decisive moment is in the approving of the attacks on hiroshima and nagasaki, it is on august 10, after nagasaki. He prohibited the military from using Nuclear Weapons without his permission and he maintains throughout his presidency the idea that the president is the only person in part of this is this trusted generals and this is a team in the cold war. The recently have the system is the president said this is not a military weapon, but a political one. It is unacceptable to be used lightly. Only an elected, high official of the country, should be able to make that decision. The irony is now we are talking about how whether the military can be a check on the president , it is inverted from what the early cold war arrangement was. Useful fory is understanding because people will say, how did we end up in this crazy system . This was seen as a great idea in the 1940s to 1960s because the fear was opposite of the one people talk about today. Host let me get your reaction to the hearing we covered with pete seeger, former special adviser on the National Security council, responding about the Legal Authority in the decisionmaking process. [video clip] one of the things the office asks themselves is under what authority do we allow this operation . That would require referring back to what are the authorities . They could reach the judgment it is the inherent authorities in thecle ii of commanderinchief clause, so you would require legal judgment and theres legal staff throughout the chain of command. What would either case, if it would not be the president alone persuading a single military officer, alone, on the other side of the telephone . There would be a large group of advisers and legal advisors weighing in on this, and that is an important part of the context that is lost in media coverage. There would be a lot of people under the scenario you describe. Not imminent, not waking the president up, but we had time to decide many people would weigh in, including lawyers. The many people testifying in last weeks hearing. The full hearing on www. Cspan. Org. Your response. Guest we do not know how many people. There are a lot of assertions, is it five, 10, 3 . One. Theres a good would be the way he placed it is there is a difference between the military way can the president up and the president making the military of. Satisfying,ot find and it is indicated this some degree, we do not want there to constitutional debate on Whose Authority rules. We do not want that to be discussed on the fly. Murky constitutional questions that have existed about whether or not what powers the commanderinchief has versus Congress Regarding declaration of war, whether the use of Nuclear Weapons should have congressional input, things of that nature. What i worry about is i have nothing against lawyers, my father is a lawyer, just putting that out, but we are imagining lawyers, inhouse lawyers, military and white house, and they are coming up with arguments on whether this is a good idea. These will not go before a judge, a jury. They are arguments they were used to justify actions that will have tremendous consequences. If we look at the history of American Military action in the 20th century and 21st century, we find these lawyers can come up with the explanation that there clients, the military or president , want. They come up with explanations that fit within the law and they will not call up the Supreme Court and say, is our interpretation correct . They will run with that. I did not feel that is a safe check. It is an uncomfortable situation that would emerge and one of the things that congress could do if it passed is at least weigh in on what their opinion is. Those lawyers, under pressure, might decide congress does not matter. They would have to professionally live or die on that. Expressedxpect a strong intent to say we do not think this situation is legal, that would play into their discussions and conversations they had and it could make a big difference if it occurred. Host we are talking with Alex Wellerstein, nuclear historian, joining us from new york. Our next caller is from kansas. Rick, good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you. I think everybody can appreciate why we have the Nuclear Football. If we have missiles in the air, [indiscernible] would probably come from Strategic Command if we had missiles in the air, so maybe an idea congress could do is we are worried about preemptive attack by the president , maybe language that would have to be confirmation we do have missiles in the air, just an idea. Thank you. Host we appreciate it. Known so this is what is as a no first use policy and people up advocated for years. China has one, apparently. Your country is specifically says, if you attack us with Nuclear Weapons, there will be a bad response. But we will not attack you first where you can imagine Congress Passing a law where it would be illegal to attack first. I would disentangle this from the president ial authority issue. The reason is no president ial administration has gone for a no first use policy. Even the obama administration, and the obama approach to what is called Nuclear Posture was to say we reserve the right to use inse if we have to, even nonnuclear situations. Effectively, you can think of this as a no first use policy but we keep ambiguity there in case someone attacks us. I think a no first use policy approach is a nonstarter. The military and National Security people do not like it. I think you could imagine a situation that would add a few checks to any decision the president made about Nuclear Weapons, especially in a situation where we are not launch under attack, not seeing missiles inbound, but it is preemptive. You could do that without running afoul of injections of objections people have to no first use policies. There are people who disagree and those who think it is the best way to tackle the situation. I think it is politically a nonstarter, which is what i think we should disentangle them. Host we will go to stephen in brooklyn, new york. Caller thanks. I want clarification when he speaks about legality of using the nuclear missiles. Are you speaking from International Law, and is there a difference between them . Host thank you. Guest excellent question. There is no law in the United States that prohibits the use of Nuclear Weapons. We are talking about International Law and questions of proportionality, geneva convention, things of that nature. The difficulty here is if you read the geneva conventions, you can come away with the conclusion that there is no way using Nuclear Weapons will satisfy the criteria. They are more powerful and can kill more people and have collateral effects. If you get an International Lawyer, especially in military one, they will find different ways to answer the question. The United States military has stated they do not consider International Law to prohibit them from using Nuclear Weapons. It may determine certain aspects about how they would use weapons, but they are good at coming up with justifications for doing the kinds of things they might want to do for if they can find a military justification. I do not want them to be having drawnout,omplicated, constitutional or International Law conversation with their minutes at stake. I would like it if we could, either as congress or society, worked out the answers to questions ahead of time for scenarios we are concerned about. I do not know. I think anybody can say what the group of lawyers, who would have the discussion, but come to coast there are a lot of answers. It is not clear cut from an international or domestic discussion. Host our topic, president ial authority in the use of Nuclear Weapons and the socalled Nuclear Football. Our guest is historian Alex Wellerstein from the Stevens Institute of technology from new york. Thank you. Guest thank you. Host we will take a short break. First, todays headlines from the star tribune indianapolis in minneapolis. A future kind of his hands, and a photograph of al franken. A political stir on the rise. He was a leading voice of opposition to donald trump, raising millions of dollars for democrats across the country and frequently appearing on the lists of potential 2020 president ial contenders. With one photograph, his political clout has come crashing down. We want to get your thoughts on whether or not you think he should resign his senate seat . Some say he needs to anothers say he should stay. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. We have a line for those who live in minnesota, 202 7488003. You are watching and listening to cspans washington journal. We are back in a moment. Monday night on the communicators, adam alter talks about his book irresistible the rise of technology and the business of keeping us hooked. They do not say things like we have builtin special , butnisms to hook people that is the sense to get. Never get high on your supply. If you are creating something, you know the dangers and you want to make sure others you love and hold dear will not be affected. Communicators monday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Nighthawk walked into the room first and he was wearing military camouflage with the blood dropped emblem here and the initials kkk on his chest embroidered across the beret on his head with knights of the ku klux klan. Head, he had a semiautomatic handgun and holster. He was followed right behind him , the grand dragon, dark blue suit and tie. When the nighthawk entered the room and turned the corner and saw me, he froze. Backelly bumped into his but he stopped short. They regained their balance, looked around the room and i knew what they were thinking. There were thinking, either they gave him the wrong room number or this was a setup and ambush. I went like this to display my hands, nothing in them, and i stood up, approached him and said, my name is gerald davis, come in. Darrell davis has befriended ku klux klan members to understand their hatred and convince them they are wrong. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on q a , on cspan. Washington journal continues. Host a future out of his hands, the headline from the star tribune, with focus on senator al franklin al franken. Franken york times, al should go. That horrifying photo of him will confront feminists every boast of decry trumps grabbing women by the genitals. It is not worth it. What is there to the rest of us . I would mourn his departure from the senate, but i think you should go and the message to men in power about sexual to gradation has to be clear, we will replace you. Lets get to phone calls. Cliff from maryland, democrats line. Good morning. Cliff, you with us . All right, one more time. Caller can you hear me question mark host now we can can you hear me . Host now we can, we are getting delays. Thats go on to missouri. If you get through, turn the volume down to 11 eight echoes. The head. To eliminate any echo. Go ahead. Caller hello . Sorry, there is a bad connection. I am getting a buzzing on your end. If youe can hear you, so want to make your comments, go ahead. We are having a problem. Cindy in fort worth, texas. Go ahead, please. Caller i do not think al franken should resign. I like the way he handled the situation, speaking out, getting ,n apology giving an apology and i would still vote for him if he wanted to run for president. I think he would make a good president. Host we will go to darrell in point of vista, colorado, or california . You with this . Caller yes. Host go ahead. Say al i would like to franken seems like a good guy, and what he did in the past, all the stuff is going through the news cycle right now, but i think as long as money is involved, it is like there will be people who will degrade themselves for any number of reasons for money. As far as abusing young children, that is not good and the senate are in alabama the senator in alabama, he has his ther issues besides children. Host hes harding has a piece this morning on the Washington Post website. She wrote the following i am a feminist. I study rape culture, and i do resign. Al franken to he says i do not believe resigning from his position is the only consequence or the one best for american women. Campaignt me too demonstrated how unwanted kissing and groping our normal in our culture. Donald trump was caught on tape through the admitting to both and we made him our president. It would feel good to see him resign and a new senator be appointed who has not, as we know, harmed women. If i believed franken is the only democrat in the senate who has done Something Like this, i would see that as the best and most appropriate option, but in the world we live in, i am betting there will be more. Linda on the democrats line, from north carolina. Good morning. Caller how are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller i think the whole thing, but franken about franken is exaggerated. Meantotographs is clearly in humor and theres no groping involved there. The kiss, oil, we do not know but i amdo not know not sure that would qualify. Anyway, he is worth keeping. He is a keeper. Lets not go beyond the reasonable and our reactions to support women. Thank you. Host linda, thank you. This tweet goodbye, al franken. She called you fish lips. Maybe you can find employment that mrs. Pauls. Last night, saturday night live, where al franken was a writer, took aim at the minnesota democrat. [video clip] thursdays thanksgiving and there are so much to be thankful for, unless you are a human woman. [laughter] senator al franken is being accused of Sexual Misconduct on tweeted, who leann posted this photo of him apparently groping her breasts washing was asleep. I know this photo looks bad, but it is also bad. Sure, this was taken before he ran for Public Office, but also after he was a sophomore in high school. Didty hard to be like, you not know better. He was only 55. She also claims that franken forced her to kiss and as the rehearsal for a comedy sketch for troops. Come on, man. Dont the troops in afghanistan have it hard enough without having to sit through sketch comedy . People can barely stay up to watch them after week and updates. Host back to your phone calls, al franken was scheduled to be in miami for a miami book fair. We are covering it today on cspans book to be but he canceled. His book is called al franken giant of the senate. Good morning, joe of virginia. Caller i think a lot of this is being missed that there is a false equivalency being drawn between senator franklin senator franken actions, such as others like roy moore. I think theres a big difference. I am not saying it is excusable or justified in any way, but it is much different, not only in actions but response to the allegations when they are brought up. I think senator frankens response was appropriate trade he appropriate. He valued the comments of those had i think and heartfelt response to those accusations. Host thanks for the call. Photograph ofa bill clinton read in the oval office and it is written, with women be sonst heavily affected if Hillary Clinton had been elected . They told me feelings of frustration and discuss of having an accused predator in the white house instead of the first woman president held give the story of velocity. Nyt you can read more at times. Com. Next, linda, columbus, ohio. Welcome to the conversation. Caller good morning and thank you. I have to say that i am a republican and i voted for donald trump, and i also think that al franken should not go out because these all happened before they were in office. If they do anything now, they should be ousted, for sure. I want some sense in all of our government, and i would like to just keep him in and see how he does. I do not care for the man really, but lets give him a chance. Thank you. News from the arming him , from the birmingham news, and editorial, stand for decency, project roy moore. Doug jones is the only candidate worthy of representing alabama. That was published overnight. Democrats line, good morning. Caller good morning. That i am 68 years old. How old is al franken . Host i believe he is in his early 60s, 65 . Caller i was wondering if we grew up in the same period, you school,en i was in high college, dating guys and stuff, honest to pete, i had tons crammed down my throat all tongues crammed down my throat all the time with somebody knew that i would date and never heard anything bad about. Time. Pened to me all the and, yes, it is disgusting [laughter] host why are you laughing then . Caller well, i am laughing because where i did was i never went out with them before and i told everybody i knew they shouldnt either. You know, the guy was a jerk. From what i understand, correct me if i am wrong because i heard lefton the news, when she or something that she faced him if he ever did anything like that to her again, she was going i do not remember what but you know, she had the guts to say that. Host what year were you born, rebecca . Caller 1949. Host al franken was born in 1951, about your age, 66 years old. Caller i am saying this, and not only that, i always followed him from the time i saw him, but when he was on that politics host nbc . Saturday night live . Caller no, the one on cable with what is that guys name . Host we have to move on, so make your point real quick. Caller [laughter] i am terrible with names. Anyway, they used to do these political skits on this talkshow. There was a roundtable and he would do a skit with huffington. Host that would have been the age for hbo program with bill maher. Caller remember the one where they would lay in bed at night and talk back and forth about things . I just do not see it in him as doing something that was bad because i do not see his mind is working that way. Host thanks for the call. We have to move on. Mike from lake city, florida, good morning. Caller my name is michael saul in case anyone wants to contact me, but i do not think mr. Franken should back out. He has offered himself up to grand inquisitors, so he should stay in the mix because he is a professional comedian. We have to hear it out, what is the basis for this picture . Number one. Number two, he is intelligent, so we should not have him step down before the hear what is going on. As a hardcore democrat, i do moore shouldoy back out into the facts come out in that case, but i think franken should stay in because he is intelligent. Host i want to share two statements al franken issued thursday, but his second one again with these words the first thing i want to do is to apologize to leanne and everyone else part of that tour, everyone who has worked with me, everyone represent and everyone who caps on me to be an ally, supporter and champion of women. Theres more i want to say, but the first thing, and if it is the only thing you care to hear, it is this i am sorry. Should he resign . Mike in glen falls, new york. Good morning. Caller good morning. Absolutely confused by some of the calls i am listening to of people saying that he should not resign and stay in it. What i do not understand is to have the evidence pointing to the fact that something to place. These people are elected officials. They need to behave in a manner that is becoming of that and they are not. Why are we talking about resignations . We should talk about prosecutions. Why do people say they should stay in the races . I am very confused. Any other citizen with this much evidence against them would be in bracelets, so why are they not . Why is kevin spacey not arrested . Why are these people in political and financial and power situations not treated as a standard citizen . Host thanks for the call. There is an investigation and Great Britain with regard to what kevin spacey was doing in london, i think up to 18 accusations against him. Donnie from kentucky, democrats line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Frankeny talk about al and all that, i cannot. I think he is a good man. Roy moore, i do not know him. Down, donald trump is the person that needs to go. Trump aint nothing but a liar. Them one,ng to get get them all. [indiscernible] that is the way i feel about it. Donald trump is nothing but a liar. Host politico has this headline why trump will not touch the roy moore harassment scandal, the president to cannot seem to resist culture sheet steers clear of this one. You can read the full story at politico. Com. One more moment from last nights saturday night live from the weekend update segment. [video clip] Jeff Sessions testified again about the Trump Campaign contact with russia. Here to comment is Jeff Sessions. [applause] hello. Good to see you, jeff. When i say do not, you say, recall. I do not recalled. Thank you. That is a recall in response column. That is my catchphrase. I notice you said that a lot during testimony. Do you not remember meeting with george cap lapidus about russia . I have some memory problems stemming from a childhood trauma. A childhood trauma, what was that . The passing of the civil rights act. [laughter] all right, i will ask some questions. [applause] do youask you questions, think you could answer them truthfully . Yep. Did you say yeb . Nobe . Did you meet with any trump surrogates about russia . I do not recall. Even though i recall. [laughter] do you remember george mentioning the russian government . I do not remember him talking about russia. [whispering] i remember everything. And you are under pressure to investigate the clinton foundation, do you think you will . I do not believe there is enough evidence at this time. We are definitely going to do it. Saturdaytesy of nbc night live last night. Were back tomorrow morning with washington journal. Adam green,nclude cofounder of the progressive change committee, looking at progresses and the 2018 campaign. Griswold will join us as we look at employment. On our manyjeszeck, segments, are you saving enough for retirement . Eastern, 4 00 a. M. On the west coast. Newsmakers is next. Check out the tv, live from the miami book fair. Thank you for joining us. Have a great thanksgiving week. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] on cspan this morning, newsmakers is next with Texas Attorney general ken paxton. That is following followed by attorney general Jeff Sessions talking about his involvement with the Trump Campaign during the twice 16 election. Later, the Senate Finance Committee Meets to debate and amend its version of the gop tax reform bill. Greta the 51st attorney general of texas joins us today, republican ken paxton. Thank you, sir, for being here. Atty. Gen. Paxton thank you for having me on. Greta i appreciate it. We also have with us kevin diaz, who is with the houston chronicle, the washington correspondent for them, and josh gerstein, who is senior White House Reporter for politico. Josh, you have the first question, go ahead. Josh welcome, mr. Attorney general. I wanted to start by asking you i think one of the programs or controversies you have been associated with most recently, which is the daca program for dreamers, litigation threatened by your Office Appears to have spurred the Trump Administration into winding that program down. At a hearing just a few weeks ago in new york, a federal judge seemed very perturbed by the way the wind down was carried out. He called it, unacceptable to me as a human being and as an american, and he also called the winding down of that program heartless. How do you react when you hear those kinds of comments about a