Michigans contom mated water supply. As always well take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. Washington journal is next. Host good morning on monday, september 16. Well begin this morning with calls from some democrats to Impeach Supreme CourtJustice Brett kavanaugh after the New York Times over the weekend corroborated, they say, previous allegations of Sexual Misconduct and revealed new allegations. Those allegations raising questions about whether Justice Cavanaugh perjured himself during the confirmation hearings last year. Democrats, 2027488000, publicans 2027488001 and independents, 202748800 it 2 2788003 or go to twitter and post comments on facebook. Com cspan. Well get to your thoughts in a minute. Lets begin with the new york piece that ran over the weekend and the headline was Brett Kavanaugh was one of the privileged kids and she didnt fit in with the privileged kids. A story about Deborah Ramirez and her allegations that surfaced around the confirmation hearings about Sexual Misconduct by the Supreme Court justice when he was at yale. The calls for impeachment this morning by some democrats, those running in the 2020 race, are pointing to his confirmation hearing where hes asked about ms. Ramirezs allegations. Or ms. Ramirezs allegations bout you true . Brett those are not. None of the witnesses in the room support that. If that had happened, that would have been the talk of campus in our freshman dorm. The New York Times reported as recently as last week she was calling other classmates im not going to characterize it but calling classmates last week and seems very ill just stop there. But its not true. Its not true. Host the New York Times report seven people including ms. Ramirezs mother heard about the yale incident long before mr. Cave gnaw was federal judge and two were classmates and heard about it before the party occurred and suggested it was among students at the time and the New York Times recovered a previously reported story about mr. Kavanaughs year and another saw him with his pants down at a Different Party where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. Max stier notified senators and the f. B. I. About this account and the f. B. I. Did not investigate and mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly. We corroborated the story with two officials who communicated with mr. Stier. The female student who declined to be interviewed and friends say she does not recall the episode. Thats from the New York Times piece that ran over the weekend as part of a book excerpt thats coming out about the confirmation process for justice calf you snaw. Cavanaugh. This morning were getting your reaction to this news and debate happening where the candidates who are running for president , many of them senators and members former members of Congress Like beto orourke saying yesterday, yesterday we learned of another installation of Brett Kavanaugh, one we didnt find out before he was confirmed because the senate forced the f. B. I. To rush the investigation to save his nomination. We know he lied under northwest. He should be impeached. Ry booker, this new evidence showed why he should not be a Supreme Court justice. Calling for up peachment proceeding to begin. Bernie sanders, the revelations confirm what we already knew. During his hearings he faced credible allegations and likely lied to congress. I support any mechanism to hold him accountable. , he is a sham to the Supreme Court and this latest evidence of assault must be investigated and he should be impeached. Congress should properly investigate the matter. Elizabeth warren saying last year the nomination was rammed through the Senate Without a thorough investigation of the allegations against him. Confirmation is not exoneration and these newest revelations are disturbing like the man who appointed him, he should be impetched. Cam mijares, i sat through the hearings and Brett Kavanaugh lied and he was put on the court through a sham process and his placement on the court is a insult to truth and justice and must be impeached. Thats from democrats. But the president tweeting out yesterday, defending the Supreme CourtJustice Brett kavanaugh saying cant let Brett Kavanaugh give radical left democrats threats of impeaching him over made up stories and false allegations and crimes. This is a game they play. Fake and corrupt news is working overtime. Brett kavanaugh should start suing people for liable or the Justice Department should come to his rescue. The lies about him are unbelievable. False allegations, which does it stop . Theyre trying to influence his opinions. Cant let that happen. For impeachment to begin it would have to start on the house side and approved by the house. The senate would have a say as well and the Senate Majority leader mcconnell saying this on twitter, unfortunately the majority of senators and American People rallied behind timeless principles such as due process and i look forward to many years of service to come from Justice Cavanaugh. The far left seized on completely uncorroborated an unstan cheeated circumstances was a dark and embarrassing chapter for the senate. With all that on the table we turn to you to join in the public debate. Sue from syracuse, new york, a democrat. What do you think . Caller i believe Justice Cavanaugh should resign. The reputation of the Supreme Court is at stake here. Chief Justice Roberts should not tolerate any Sexual Assaultists on the court. In fact Justice Roberts should call for Justice Kavanaugh to resign and if he doesnt resign, Justice Roberts should make a letter or something he has written public. And if he still doesnt step down, congress should impeach. And if it doesnt pass in the senate we should take to the streets. If this is such an important thing, this is a lifetime appointment that he basically got by fibbing to us and to the senate so he think he should resign. Host as you recall he was confirmed 5048, one of the tightest votes for a Supreme Court justice. Justice kavanaugh told the New York Times he denies the allegations, both the old and the new and declined an interview with the reporters who were writing this book because they could not agree to terms for that interview. Tom, lake geneva, wisconsin, a republican. Tom, good morning. Caller yes, i feel like im watching air america this morning, some kind of liberal station. I dont know why youre carrying this story. She cant remember anything happening. What are you guys doing . Why are you carrying this story . Host tom, you still there . Caller yeah. Host thats part of this conversation. So you believe that this isnt even a story, it should not be interesting that any of the newspapers report about, even these new allegations . Caller liberal. Youre total liberal and quick hearing the liberal line. Host jack, providence, rhode island. Democratic caller. Hi, jack. Caller yeah, hi. I dont think you liked the previous caller when he called you a liberal. Im one of these conservative democrats. Now, i havent followed this case closely but if these allegations have been lying around and unsubstantiated again, i dont know. I know you know. Theyre unsubstantiated and go further, categorically false. President trump is right, he should sue everyone under the sun because man, these people re vicious, cowardly, back stabbing, gutless. Kavanaugh knows if he did these things are not. But why come out now. This stier is stabbing him in the back, a coward. Should sue him if theyre false. Host ok. Jack in providence, rhode island. Lets go to diane, houston, texas, republican. Hi, diane. Caller good morning. Hey, i have a question i want to ask. How come youre not telling the American Public that at 11 00 last night the New York Times pulled that article and said it was false and they know they made a mistake. I want to know why you continue to push this crap when its not true. Give me your answer, please. Host the New York Times pulled what . Caller made a statement it was totally false and inaccurate. Look at 11 00 last night. Host ok. Diane in houston, texas. From the New York Times story, ms. Ramirezs legal team gave the f. B. I. A list of at least 25 individuals who may have had corroborating evidence but the bureau in its supplemental Bureau Investigation interviewed none of them though we learned many of the potential witnesses tried in vaughn to in vain to reach the f. B. I. Two interviewed ms. Ramirez and found her credible but the Republican Controlled Senate imposed quick limits on the investigation and we have to wait for thorks through anybody else. One of ms. Ramirezs lawyers recalls the agent saying it was almost a little apologetic. Charlie in florida, a democratic caller. Caller good morning. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, its usually a duck. Theres a lot of allegation and i admit it does bow back a lot of years. Heres one question that comes up thats pertinent and goes back to several months. When he got athe court, his debt debt disappeared and apparently he had a bunch of Credit Card Debt to the tune of 1350,000. Host sorry, caller, we lost you there. This is the story in the Washington Post this morning. About the story. Front page of the Washington Post, new claims calls for if kavanaugh impeachment. Thats the story on the Washington Post. The Washington Post write, last year confirmed that two enter intermediaries laid such a claim to lawmakers and the f. B. I. This is about stiers eablingses and new york did not publish the part because enter needaries say the woman involved declined to comment. That from the Washington Post this morning. Theres also on the sunday shows yesterday several of the 2020 candidates were on rograms, clobe clobe char klobachar was asked about these allegations on Justice Kavanaugh. [video] my views are clear, most people remember my asking of the justice and asked me if i blacked out and had to apologize to me. I strongly opposed him based on my views on executive power which will tino haunt our country as well as how he behaved. Including the allegations that we are hearing more about today. My concern here is the process was a sham. I dont think you can look at impeachment hearings without getting the documents. And the attorney general is shielding documents. If you recall, we were given this moment just a few days every other hour to look at the documents related to other allegations called in on the tip line. I cant bleefl what i saw but they were documents of this side and you could only look at one toppy while the others were in there. It was nutty calls nixed in with a tip line with people from calls that had to have information. The whole thing is a sham and those documents need to be taken over as well as the white house hid his team in the White House Councils office. Host to matt in maryland. Democratic caller. Matt, good morning. Youre next in the conversation. O ahead. Guest good morning. Caller can you hear me . Host yes. Guest just to say i believe that eever morning theres also three weak must bes for every decked on this line. I also want to say theres enough evidence right now at this point the justice should be investigating and should be investigated further. The excuses ive heard by republicans for not investing, hisent theyre justed a in nature. Its time we start looking at all the administration and all their appointees. Investigation needs to continue on this matter, thank you very much. Max matt, a democrat in maryland. Were asking you to responsible to the New York Times story that an over the weekend and was part of a book subject coming out on tuesday about Justice Brett kavanaugh and the story, the name of the book, excuse me, let me get to that. Is the name of the book the education of Justice Brett kavanaugh. The story that ran over the weekend is an excerpt from that book written by two reporters. They were on the beat and then wrote this book together that again is coming out on tuesday. Getting your reaction to it. Justice kavanaugh has denied these allegations, did not give a comment to the New York Times. You saw the call from some democrats for impeachment proceedings or at least an investigation into the f. B. I. , whether or not the Justice Department and whether or not they looked into these allegations sufficiently during the confirmation process. Your thoughts on that. Virginia from bush administrationington, illinois, a republican. Hi, good morning. Caller id like to say this has nothing to do with kavanaugh but has to do with embarrassing the president. Theyll stop at nothing. Dont they know youre hurting yourselves. Tonya from carolina, a forecast democratic caller. Caller good morning, cspan. Host good morning. Caller id like to say i think i dont really believe they should go here and start list g the piece peace on good morning america. Theres too smig about it and if they couldnt get him during the senate confirmations, no way theyre doing anything now. Iive believe there has been crungs going on but consist could be to let it go and move on. Host tonya, a democratic caller. Ted cruz was on abc this week and was asked to respond to the New York Times thing. Caller they apparently sent 10 months with under caller who went to school with Justice Kavanaugh 30 years ago. Its an amazing level of reporting trying to dig up any dirt they can on the guy. I think that follows up with the rather shameful circus we saw during the confirmation where they took allegations and sat on them and didnt make them public and didnt reveal them. The District Attorney did everything theyre supposed to. The American People heard this and at the end of the day they made the evidence the corroboration was there and i think this article shows the obsession to the far left and trying to smear Justice Kavanaugh by going 30 years back with anonymous sources. [end of video] host republican, what do you think of this this morning. Jason i watched most of the hearings a couple years ago and am the very first to make charges of heres there. You heard congress try to make kind of i dont that this went away and why did you do this . Its reached to a point the republicans cant do anything. If they appoint a janitor heyll have an having. People get atrade to work for the publiced. Heal have to have the chris investigate this poor plan. From what i heard hes nearly a saint what he all did. Theyre reaching a point maybe republicans cant live with democrats and maybe theyll have to split the country in half. That would be a terrible thing to do. But the main stream democrats seem to be supporting these crazy positions. Oh, god, i guess im getting too old in life to listen to this stuff. Hank for you taking my call. Host joseph a democrat in lance down, pennsylvania. Youre next. Caller thank you. Im just really worried about our country. Nobody used to be concerned about such matters to what we are concerned of now as to say this on hears. If theres an issue that arises, i think we should all calm down and simply let the investigation take place. If there is nothing there, the vision will show that there is nothing there. Respectable ladies and gentlemen on the other side claiming this is kind of a witchhunt is a little bit worrisome. The courts have become very political, dont forget that. And that is why i think it is very necessary when issues arise that theyre investigated. The other day the court made a decision i was really surprised about. It seemed to me that this is the question of a right wing court now. So anything that goes to the court that is in favor of the Current Administration is likely to be upheld in his favor, in the favor of the administration and i think thats our last hope, that is to say the hope of having some fairness in this country. All of the courts are now being packed with right wingers because mr. Mcconnell refuses to do anything that will enable a balanced court. How can we run a country like that . The legislature is a Political Institution and it is run by the democrats now just halfway so to speak because the senate is tilted by very strong right wing. So the country is in a mess not because the democrats are causing a problem but actually because the republicans with the power they have in the presidency and the senate are causing us to go too far to the right and therefore just to conclude, i think on this matter, nobody should say oh, this is just crazy stuff and then the democrats should let go. You know, the democrats are not the ones bringing up the charges, you see. When the charges arise, the democrats say lets look, lets investigate them and think thats fair so thank you very much. Host following up on the earlier caller who said the New York Times pulled this story, he might have been referring to fox news with this headline, the New York Times updates kavanaugh bombshell. Known accuser doesnt recall the alleged assault and the New York Times supposedly led a revision to the bombshell case to the assault by Brett Kavanaugh hours after virningly all 2020 president ial candidates cited the original arting article as a reason to impeach the kavanaugh and included the significant detail that several friends of the alleged victim recalled the reported Sexual Assault at all. The alleged victim refused to be interviewed and made no comment about the episode. The only firsthand statement with the attack on the original piece rub pushed on saturday came from a clinton connected lawyer who witnessed it. Editors note an earlier version of this article adapted from a forthcoming book did not include one element of the books account involving an assertion but the book reports the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say she doesnt recall the information. That information has been added to the article. The update came only after the federalist Molly Hemingway who reviewed an advanced copy of the book first flagged the articles omission on twitter prompting other commentators to press the issue. Find that on foxnews. Com. Robert from indiana a republican. Hi, robert. Caller thank you for letting me talk. I just wonder how much more money theyre going to spend on checking out all this stuff. Mr. Kavanaugh is a good man. I wish meese democrats would let there trump do his job. We spend so much money investigating and theres nothing to it. Its just a bunch of lies from the democrats. Theyre nothing but a bunch of trouble. If they dont get this country straightened out, were going to be doomed. Youve got a bunch of idiots up there. Host ok, robert in indiana, your thoughts there. Well go to spokane, washington, a republican. Caller were on tv . Host yeah. Caller good morning to you and good morning to the americans as well. I have a question ever since i saw the opening questioning of the Selection Committee for the Supreme Court position which kavanaugh is running for. I happened to catch all of kamla harris questioning of Justice Kavanaugh, this was a week before the ford letter was released to the pun. To the public. Kamla harris kept drilling him, do you know or do you have a association with such and such a person at such and such a law office and kavanaugh replied, i dont know. I dont know. Thats a very open question. You think about it, thats an open question. Do you have an association with anybody at any business, vaguely thrown out in the wind. This is very curious. Hen a week later, fords privileged letter that was supposedly tightly held in Nancy Pelosis office was released to the 34riss and then had a big explosion and there should have been an investigation to it at the right time. Kamla harris, what did you know and when did you hear it . What operative in your organization got ahold of pelosis office and him you used it for your political advantage in your run for presidency. My question is which democratic primary candidates right now might be pushing this . Because they want to get her out of the race. Thats my comment. Its curious, did anybody else those tapes are out there. You can go back on x tan hours before fords letter was released to the public. Host go to cspan. Org and at the top of the website we have a Video Library and you can type in kavanaugh, those gavel to gavel confirmation hearings from last year. Hi, bethany. This is not about being a democrat or a republican. Ive been through my own period of being sexually assaulted when i was younger, i think i was about 10. And i actually didnt see my mom i wouldnt say it was until my later 20s because it was something i was embarrassed about and scared about and how people would receive it p. I have two daughters of my own now and my daughters are five of three and im terrified. Like at 5 years old, im telling my daughters, listen, anybody does anything to rimet you, you tell mommy. Ven if these women waited 40 years, im not saying thats 100 true but should give them an opportunity to speak on it. It shouldnt make them feel it is something they never can discuss no matter how many years it took them to talk about it. With this conversation with kavanaugh, whether its true or not, it still should be investigated. It should always be investigated. Youre proven innocent until it can pullly come up and say youre get. It shouldnt be because it years ago, 43 it should be about people and truth and given the opportunity to speak on the air whatever they feel like they need to get off their chest and its our chance to listen and try to determine whether or not, you know. But for people to always just years it happens 40 ago. No fruit to the story and really sad and breaks my heart. Ive experienced my own case of sexual adaughter and wyoming 10 years old and remember it very vividly. Like i said i am from the caribbean and was terrified of telling anyone. I was scared. Only up until i came around 28, i because my nom, you know what. As we saw in the tweets earlier, democrats running for president. Some are saying we should at least investigate these new legations and put the reporting of the New York Times that the f. B. I. Did not talk to the witnesses from the allegation of Deborah Ramirez. Theyre saying some of them saying lets investigate and some going farther and saying we should impeach because theyre saying he lied to congress when he was under oath, when he was testifying before the Senate Judiciary committee. The Washington Post had a story yesterday that said calls are mounting for impeachment, how would it work . From their story they say the question of lying under oath is particularly important for someone who would be as a member of the Judiciary Committee according to graves. The former Senate JudiciaryCommittee Lawyer who called for his impeachment to the Supreme Court. Credible person from a judge. Kavanaughs removal is exceedingly unlikely given the supermajority threshold in the senate where there are 51 republicans and 49 democrats. The supermajority threshold for removal is exceedingly shy by sign and the democrats drafted it to pro reprevent conflicts and any conflict is enough for bipartisanship support for removal. We go to a democratic caller next. Hi, matthew. Caller hi. m just going on Justice Kavanaugh should be impeached , there should at be an investigation on him and not only that, that President Trump also should be impeached nd along with almost everybody he has kicked out of his cabinet. D because of the whole russian host well stick to the topic and go to lutherville in maryland. Independent caller, help me with your name. Caller rene. I dont think theres enough evidence or theres no evidence right now to impeach. Theres no factual basis and ts all heres hears at this point and its not that the people directly involved dont recall the incident but is being brought forward to a lawyer linked to Hillary Clinton and it seems to me like were pack to fisa 1 or 2. Thank you for taking my call. Jack in michigan, independent. Hi, jack. Caller good morning, america. Thanks for taking my call. Youre discussing judge kavanaughs nomination. Host yes. Caller thats the discussion this morning, right . Host yeah, jack, youve got to turn down the television and talk and listen through your phone. Caller ive got my confident turned down. But yeah, i watched most all those hearings. I know the democrats. Im more or less independent. I have voted democrat and republican. But i noticed when they were having the negotiations they bot in tough that wasnt true and they were using on him but i dont know the background. They bring up stuff 20 or 30 years ago could have been true and might not have been. I think hes probably knead a pretty good thing. Say her thing if i might are democrats always play the race car, every adeck they play the race cart and was born and raised in alabama though ive been in michigan almost all my life. Host again, jack, ill stick to the topic. Debbie, New York Times reporting about new allegations of Sexual Misconduct and they say rob race of a previous allegation. Your thoughts this morning. Think its a scam and i kavanaugh is innocent and think the democrats are desperate because their candidates are stupid and comies and kavanaugh should stand strong and let it bring it on because theyre trying to destroy this country and i hope every one of the democrats get voted out. Theyre crazy. And i think the American People need to go through up the smithmont act and hold on to your gun because theyre crazy comies and describing our country. Host well go to mitch next in delaware. Democratic caller. Caller good morning. Wear tch in lewis del and believe in the story of the boy who cried wolfe. If you recall from your childhood, he gets the woodsman to come to his rescue three or four times. And unless because he was just making a joke but the sixth time he called the wool isnt oing to show up and the boffle devoured him. Him whether its a false allegation, a fake news hanging or a fake assault on women, another perpetuator goes free because the victims are not so indeclined to come forward with true stories of being attacked, this ats the story for morning. Have a good day. Host mitchs thoughts. Bob, arlington, texas, is independent. Caller good morning, greta. Max good morning. Caller im really surprised kamla harris would make such an ago youization. One is to withdraw or be resign or be impeached. Him she has quite a relationship with willie brown who was speaker of the house, lso the mayor of the city of san francisco. Y only issue is zrm kamla have floridas. Host your thoughts this morning. Caller i couldnt turn my tv down. Yes, i want the democrats to please before they become so selfrighteous, i want them to look up cory booker assaulting a young girl when she was 15 and touching her inappropriately and all he says now is now were friends. And he blames her saying pell, she wauncht too dunk to push his hand away until he found his remark. And obviously the selfrighteous democrats, always the women, i was touched. Thats too bad for you, but look at cory booker and kamla harris, she kept men in jail to have free labor. Robert orourke who wrote a song talking about running over a child listening to the bone crush while he did that. The democrat candidates are not all moral. Please dont go after this pung n, theres been enough and she wont say the democrats impeach, impeach, impeach. The only people that should be impeached were dress for the democrats and have fun on it and dont want to waist him. Writing about raping this young girl, look for doby booker. Host fox. Com has this headline this morning, did Brett Kavanaugh perjure himself in the confirmation hearing. New allegations are raising questions whether he met the very high bar for perjury and they note this in the story, at one point during his conversation hearings, senator orrin hatch asks, when did you first hear of ramirezs investigations in front of you. He said in the new yorker. Did the Ranking Member or colleagues or any of the staff ask about ms. Ramirezs allegations before linked to the press and kavanaugh said no. And two others were in contact with the Supreme Court nominee and his team according to messages. And before the publication of the new york story, the friend wrote she had been in contact with brett sky and wanted her to go on the record for refute ramirez. According to the friends, one of them told her friend she turned over a copy of the Wedding Party photo in kavanaugh and wrote, i had to send it to bretts team, foofment and another moment in the hearing is noted and thats towards the end of the questioning of Brett Kavanaugh of senator John Kennedy Louisiana asked judge kavanaugh then about the ramirez allegations. [video] are ms. Ramirezs allegations about you true . Those are not. Stice kavanaugh none of the witnesses supported that. If that had happened it would be the talk of campus in our freshman dorm. E fork sometimes last week was calling other classmates seeking to he im not going to characterize it but calling classmates last week and seems very ill just stop there but its not true. Not true. Host your reaction to the reporting over the weekend, a new book excerpt coming out about the confirmation process of Justice Brett kavanaugh and in that expert publish the by the two reporters the f. B. I. Is made of witnesses to corroborate Deborah Ramirezs allegations and theres a new allegation made that they discovered that the New York Times reporters. Reaction to that this morning via king your comments 8782003. Age, 2027 be brief and stay on the topic at hand and message and data rates will apply. Heres a text from lynn in massachusetts that the republicans did anything to cover up the evidence, then yes should be investigated and maria from philadelphia, if there was enough evidence, i doubt f. B. I. Will not investigate. The left wing will just not let it go. And deborah in fort north, texas, we could find improper behavior on every person in the house if we searched for it. When is the house growing up . Patty in reidsville, wisconsin. What do you think of the reporting from the New York Times and democrats running in 2020 for an investigation and some going as far to call for impeachment. Caller thank you for taking my call and thank for you being cspan. This isnt a republican or democrat or independent issue. If i was judge kavanaugh i want this cloud lifted over me and my family, especially my two daughters. I was just [inaudible] and go from there. God bless you and thank you. Host jerod, sterling, virginia, republican. Caller thank you. One respect, im a radio caller and took a while to look up the number to call in, if you could announce that more often, that would be great. I lovell chris stuff and also one of the individuals in this watch of the last majority of and the now hearings lady said she was a child victim and we need to characterize these allegations against Justice Kavanaugh they were individuals of the same age. Child Sexual Assault is stolet different than the regular assault. Hes being hurt with that and theres no indication he has been told of any Sexual Assault stuff. That said, i think everyone who watched the hearings can agree that Justice Kavanaugh had the most detailed account of anyone ive ever seen. To the point of almost a crsks dc. He had them very detailed and he went through hell with this congressional testimony. I understand the reasons for if sexual allegation. But if you need anything else, there should be additional proof for all of our youth in america that if you are the victim of Sexual Assault, youve got to do forward very quickly. I understand why theres stigmatism with that and individuals sometimes are afraid to report this. Ive years down the line, 20 years of class, the freblet actor douse down with the democratic republican. And he has done a great job according to tori booker and everyone else coming forward. All we want is impeachment of any republican in office to include the president. Justice kavanaugh happens to be in that category, two, because hes indiscriminately coming forward, colin ford, because they dont have a chance in you know what of getting the aptal nomination in the first thrace and trying to drive up more interest. Appreciate you taking my call. Host jim, independent, from pennsylvania. What do you have to say . Caller good morning, greta, thanks for having me on. Im a little nervous. That can science watch the many and w jon is lying they know the direct spot the brain is activating and can see it happen. Are you still there . Host yes, were still listening. Caller i think its m. R. I. , but the same thing with this other fairfax deal, all these people that are if this is ue and i believe it is, its almost infallible. Its not like a lie director test. And theyre just going to leave because they know theyre going to get caught. Im telling you, you could clean some house. And its probably not that expensive, probably a few thousand dollars per scan and no way to stop it. Up host a note, the president holds a Campaign Rally in rio rancho, new mexico, this evening at 9 00 p. M. Eastern ime and will be live on v pan. V span. Org, listen to the app and listen to the president wherever you are. And also, Elizabeth Warren will be in new york city and well have coverage of her this evening at 7 00 p. M. Eastern time. Again, thats on cspan as well. Cspan. Org or download the app. Part of our campaign 2020 coverage and follow it all if you go to cspan. Org. Mike in new york, democratic caller. Hi there, mike. Caller hi there, greta. This is an article about a book. Lets step back a bit. This isnt any democrat making allegations or anything else like that. I knew it was going to happen after the fact. The fact is he never answered any question honestly. When they asked him about court of his past and record and vote and his opinion on things, he was very dishonest and didnt answer. This came about because a woman came to, diane finestein. It doesnt have to come out but an bit pushed her to do it. I dont want to make a the lo of allegations but i know about drinking and alcoholism. He blacks out and forgets things and goes wild. Ive seen it a hundred times especially in college. He also never took a lie detector, as i recall. The f. B. I. Investigation was talk trict order not to to this person with a book. The left can stop doing the stuff. They went after Hillary Clinton and theyre still talking about her killing her partner back in the 1980s. Theyre just nuts. Hopefully theyll be out of there soop, selfissues. Host the book is the education of Brett Kavanaugh, an investigation and coming out tuesday written by the two reporters with the times and authors of this forthcoming book. Donald in hickory, North Carolina, high, donald. Caller no, im a republican. Max go ahead. Caller a couple things. I hope you give the same attention youre giving to these New York Times thing and 3408y welling way and her book about kavanaugh and if youre going to be fair like i think you all are, you should do another program with their books and what they say, that way its got a rebuttal. Second of all, the new york mes article was within was writen by an opinion piece and other people have said i dont know how true it is with the lawyer with ties to the clintons, specifically i think it was bill clinton. And you know, theres more than one side to a story. So youre playing into the New York Times accusations. But i implore you to look at Molly Hemingways book and see the other side of this story. Host ok. The Washington Examiner with this headline, kind of enjoying how bad this is, Molly Hemingway rips new kavanaugh investigation, Molly Hemingway the supreme hor of court ripped against kavanaugh on a raucous saturday evening tweet storm which you can find if you go to twitter. Reading the new antikavanaugh book and all claimed antikavanaugh while all but a tiny few with a few sips and nterestingly how long they have done this. And it shows a previous allegation of Sexual Assault against kavanaugh and offers fortification of previous accusations Deborah Ramirez had made. Hemingway details how allegations of his last book marred kavanaughs contentious allegation. We talked with Carrie Severino and she previewed her book there and you can find that if you go to cspan. Org. Lets go to jim in little valley, new york. Independent. Good morning, gym. Caller good morning. I called in this morning to make the people of the United States aware that the democrats who made a statement in the primaries, that they were going to drag their feet on everything the republicans put through because trump one and have been doing that since day one. The new investigation to daff gnaw is just another distraction, nadler in the Judiciary Committee and cummings and all their investigations for russia and collusion and obstruction and all that. All that is them dragging their get and not doing their job. I call them democrowns because it aint nothing but a circus. I voted democrat in the past and voted republican. I wouldnt give you a dime for anybody in the field right now as far as democrats go. I voted for bill clinton back in the day, you know. But then how come were investigating trump and everything obama and holder and clinton and all theyve done is swept under the rug and denied by the democrats when everything theyre trying to prove against donald trump is coming up dead in the water. Host i should note Molly Hemingway and carry severino who wrote a book for Justice Kavanaugh were part of book tvs after words and sat down and talk about their book with she recover shnd covers the Supreme Court court. Justice on trial was their book and they wrote about that. Watch this interview that they did to anderson more about their book and which a they found about the evidence. San francisco, democratic caller. Good morning. Youre on the air. Caller its yvonne. I find it hard to believe as a woman that they dont believe these women. I believe the women and just think they should impeach him. I cant believe he even has opposition. Thats my opinion. And i think donald trump is a joke. People are crazy calling us. Host yvonne in san francisco. A democratic caller. Other headlines, the wall street journal, iran denies carrying out the audi attacks. The president signaling possible military action with his tweet has night saying we are lock the and loaded. E Financial Times, saudi reasserts markets with the Oil Production and 5 global output is altered and threats of higher food prices. The opinion pages of the wall street journal excuse me, the editorial page this morning, the Editorial Board writing, irans return handshake, an attack on saudi Oil Production shows john bolton was write and that i apologize to john morton, he would receive perceived weakness in the white house. And bolton resigned notably on iran. The weekends events proveded former advisor right. The president s Pressure Campaign is working and to abandon it now would encourage it to take more risks p. We ard from the secretary the dajon bolton resigned held a knew news briefing and said the maximum Pressure Campaign would continue and that the president and his administration was onboard to continue with that. Also on Gun Legislation from the Washington Post, the speaker of the house, the minority leader in the senate tells the president Gun Legislation must include background checks. More on that coming up. Rich in kings port, tennessee. Independent. Hi, rich. Caller hi, greta. Glad to see. Skeptical of some of the legations and the reason why and i want to mention her attorney said she wanted to put an asterisk on any future opinions on abortion that kavanaugh come out with so, you know, which is politically motivated and with ramirez, you know, she said she had been drinking heavily along with everyone else. Also i think it took her six days to get together her recollection host we lost you there. Oh, youre back, rich. Finish your thought. Caller did you get the part about it took her a week to get her memories . Host yes. Caller as a former victim self of molestation, i can recall perfectly in great detail but then i wasnt drinking. Its just the it sounds like a drunken dorm party. Who knows what took place. Im sure all kind of things were going on. I was in college and i witnessed things at parties with people who were drinking who didnt remember anything later of what happened. And i left. But anyway, thats why im skeptical until we have better corroboration. Host all right, rich. Kathy in cuyahoga falls, independent. Hi, kathy. Kathy, good morning. Let me try that one more time. Caller hi, thank you. Thank you for that gentleman calling. It takes a lot of courage to call in and say im also a survivor. And im really upset about people calling in and talking about democrat or republican about this issue. And thats got to stop. Were dividing and conquering ourselves right off the bat with every issue. And when i see it happening for this issue, too, it really upsets me. It took me 23 years to get to therapy, and im currently in therapy and they tell me that one in three women are attacked. So really whats at stake here is the goodness and the integrity of our country, and it has to be protected and encouraged everywhere. And thats really i think all i can say today, thank you. We wir now. Campaign we will talk 2020 with Washington PostNational Political reporter and pbs Washington Week moderator robert costa. Later on, pbs frontline film maker abby ellis joins us to talk about her new acumen three of flint, michigans contaminated water supply. We will be right back. Student the studentcam experience is really valuable to me. It has really helped us grow and learn as people. Cspansst winners of studentcam video documentary competition, the experience sparked their interest in documentary production. The fun part about that is i can be right in the middle of caucus season and i got to meet so many different candidates and because of cspan i have the experience and the equipment and knowledge to be able to film some of them. This year we are asking middle school and High School Students to create a short film documentary answering the mostion, what issue do you want president ial candidates to address during the campaign . Include cspan video and reflect if ring points of view. We are awarding 100,000 dollars in total cash prizes including a 5,000 grand prize. Be passionate about what you are discussing to express your view matter how large or small you think the audience who will receive it will be. Know that in the greatest country in the history of the earth, your opinion does matter. For more information to help you get started, go to our website, studentcam. Org. Campaign 2020. Watch our live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. Cspans campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. Washington journal continues. Back at our table this morning, robert costa is a political reporter and moderator of pbss Washington Weekly. Lets start with the news that happened over the weekend. Been a loomings question over the 2020 campaign. How will the Supreme Court as an issue factor in to the campaign . Trump,in 2016, president then candidate trump was able to use the issue of the judiciary as a motivating force for republican voters. He said you may not like me as a candidate, but if you want to make sure conservatives are on the bench, you want me in the white house. Democrats have yet to make a forceful case on top of all the other arguments they are having on health care and policy about the future of the court in these new issues about Justice CavanaughJustice Kavanaugh could bring issues about the Supreme Court into the fore. Host what do you think the state of play is right now . Many who are running, where do they stand right now . Guest it is hard to see how President Trump does not win the republican nomination. He has some rivals like mark and joeand bill weld walsh. A group of lowprofile candidates to say the least who are trying to get traction in states like new hampshire. Almost every poll shows President Trump with 80 approval among republicans. He is almost certainly going to be the nominee. On the democratic side, it is a real race. Can Vice President biden hold on to the polling lead hes has pulling lead he has held . Senator warren is rising. She has strength across the on buildingampaign infrastructure in many key states. The field is so big. I dont like to predict anything. At this stage in the race, things happened in politics and you have candidates like senator harris, senator booker, mayor buttigieg who could get traction this fall but for now, you really see the centerleft of the party in some respects coalesce around Vice President biden but not totally with him on all levels. The left energy in this Democratic Party is with senator warren and senator sanders. Senator sanders was the runnerup for the democrat nomination last time around and while senator warren has gained a lot of support on the left, sanders still has much support. Host we want our viewers to join us for this conversation. Your church your take on campaign 2020. Who is your candidate and why . What do you want these candidates to be talking about . Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. You can also text us at 202 7488003. Robert costa here to take your questions and comments. About 538 . 500 one trumps cabinet write is slipping. 53. 7 disapprove. Approvals rating is slipping. 53. 7 disapprove. Guest we saw House Democrats do Trump Campaign advisers are concerned about the suburbs. Trendingvoters are toward the democrats in many areas of this country. When you look at that status, the approval rating, what it tols them is that they need turnout among the rehelp Republican Base and they cant count on having general approval among rank and file suburban voters, need to make sure that new voters and core trump voters come out in 2020 and that is why the president is going to be in new mexico on monday night, having a rally, trying to get people on that sunbelt. How do they get those trump voters excited again . Part of it is rallies, part of. T is the focus on immigration dosaw the Trump Campaign well in places like new mexico, unusual states for republicans. He did expand the map for republicans in states like wisconsin. He did it by turning out voters who are more independent or populist and may not always participate. New mexico would be a reach, especially after 2018. This is part of the Trump Campaign strategy. How did they build this coalition . Most campaigns when they see the race in wisconsin or ohio, it would focus entirely on the upper midwest but the Trump Campaign is really a National Movement on the right to try and get all of these people who voted for President Trump in the past to do so again. Host and the president will be holding a rally in rio rancho, new mexico this evening, 9 00 p. M. Eastern time. You can watch that by tuning intospa or logging onto cspan. Org or downloading the free cspan radio app. Presidency the president sees his rating go down. Based on my reporting he is trying to rally his own voters. Host make sure they show up. Guest the question about expanding comes on the decision he estimates on decision he has to make on gun control. He is going to make a choice about expanding his coalition, does he put Political Capital on gun control . He has a limited time before the Campaign Season heats up. Is the new version of nafta going to pass . Is the president going to put his whole political weight into doing gun control or not . Host what do his base voters wanting to want him to be talking about . Andtalked about expanding doing something on Gun Legislation and trade. Has the president focused enough on those issues . Guest trade is his signature issue. The challenge for President Trump is, is there going to be a trade deal with china . It continues to be stalled. , they are negotiating at some level, trying to have further talks but the talks have stalled and when you talk to the president s advisors, they want a china deal to be part of the signature accomplishments they offer voters in 2020, but he what that he alone was the person who could get a china deal but it has been complicated with the hong kong protests distracting the Chinese Government and President Trump continues to try and put tariffs on and pulls them back because he sees the talks could still happen. There is a political and Economic Cost because some farmers in the midwest dont want to have all of this uncertainty about whether there will be tariffs on soybeans or other agricultural products. This what does he have at point, what can he. 2 and how does that message resonate with voters . Guest it depends on who he is trying to appeal to. Getting out rank and File Republican voters, he points to things they were doing the first two years, and that is the tax you had a pullback of Health Care Provisions pushed by president obama and then you saw with Mitch Mcconnell, pushing through Supreme Court justice confirmations across the federal bench. Since the divided government started after nancy pelosi took over the house and speaker, you are seeing more limited accomplishments on the Trump Campaign part and the white house. It is much more about executive orders and he has not been able to get a comprehensive immigration legislation through that would fund his border wall. He has used executive power to try and get federal projects and money to show his base that he is taking some kind of action. That is a real point of frustration at this white house. Nd they wanted to show more host . Host lets get to our calls. Matt in pennsylvania, democrat. Caller good morning. Costa, like to ask mr. My candidate is Kamala Harris even though she is not getting any traction. I would like to ask him to comment on North Carolina and how democrats again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, thank you. Host that caught guest that caller is not far from my home town in pennsylvania. I thought he would be asking about pennsylvania suburbs. Host we can talk about that too. Guest in North Carolina, democrats have had a tough time. You sought republicans get in trouble with the districts were drawn and this time around they saw President Trump come into the district with Vice President pence. As i was saying earlier, really rallying Republican Trump voters. The suburban voters, Speaker Pelosi saw the turnout, the data. Democrats feel pretty good about what happened in North Carolina in the sense that suburban voters are trending away from President Trump ahead of 2020 and that is a sign to them of a trend moving in their direction, but it wasnt enough. Whole dont the take North Carolina as an isolated case. They say it is part of some success they had in 2018 and sometimes they have had some narrow misses and this was a narrow miss. Especially in a race this close, especial election that had a lot of nationalization to it, you dont want to read too much into it. Host in new york, democrat caller. Caller we now have a Supreme Court that has 2. 2 percent of its members with credible Sexual Misconduct as well as lying about it. When Mitch Mcconnell stole the seat from Merrick Garland and they pushed through kavanaugh, for me the democrats have no choice but to pack the court when they are back in power. Despite roberts best intentions, the court has no could ability. It is part of a corrupt political party. I would just like to say that i have seen on this show twice in a very short time and i hate to be one of those callers that calls in and says cspan is favoring one side over the other, but i have not seen the strong left side presented as well as you do the right. Host do you want to take her comments . Guest if you look at the news today with the New York Times story, you already have a wave of democratic president ial candidates coming out with calls for impeaching Justice Kavanaugh. That seems to at this early stage on a monday morning be becoming a rallying cry for democratic president ial candidates. Other candidates like president like Vice President biden says there needs to be more investigation but this is an issue that is not going away and your reference to court packing, this was a suggestion, candidates in candidates like buttigieg have talked about expanding this expanding the Supreme Court and maybe having a rotation. This comes out of a frustration that your comment underscores about not only on the left but also in the center about the dish about the judiciary in this country becoming too political. They would like to see it become less political, less politicized. That is an issue for voters to decide when they think about these proposals being floated. Host two kentucky, paul is watching, independent to kentucky, paul is watching, independent. Caller you just have the story about Brett Kavanaugh. Mentioned the woman who was accusing him would not even talk about it. But he kept on courting the New York Times and Washington Post which are nothing but democratic toadies. On. Continually have them should change your name from cspan to dspan. Host we will go to jeff in nebraska, republican. I dont know where this country is going to go. They allow people to go through the democrats want people to come to the border. We are not stupid. We know they want voters. They want them in california. California is ruined. I used to be stationed out there. That state is dead. It is so dead. There are parts of our country where it is just crazy what we are doing to it. Press is told is totally against trump. Host lets take your point about immigration. Are democrats talking about it and is there a concern within the party that they could lose moderate democrats, independents over this issue . Guest two straight callers, i need more coffee. Some policy questions out there. About the media, people are frustrated. The Washington Post is not part of the Democratic Party. It is not part of any party it is an independent News Organization that pursues the truth. I would not want to work anywhere that did not do that. Put that aside for a second. Immigration,on of democrats collectively confronting a president who is so hardline, nationalistic on the immigration issue and that has been his electric issue politically on the right side of american politics. They also see themselves, seeing a lot of energy on the left because President Trump has made immigration such a key issue that there is alarm is him on the left alarmism on the left and an eagerness to confront President Trump on this issue. Should you decriminalize border crossings . Should you even work with President Trump on immigration or not . These are flashpoints in the Democrat Party because could there be a deal done on dr. , the deferred action for childhood arrivals, the Dreamer Program that would also give President Trump border money . There could be at some point but what when i am on capitol hill talking to lawmakers, they say President Trump because of the way he approaches immigration, any kind of congressional deal is very hard to see in the coming year. Without any deal appearing on the horizon, both sides are in their political trenches. On the left side of the Democratic Party, there is a real motive to protect immigrants. They see immigrants under fire from President Trump and the language President Trump uses about immigrants is incendiary to say the least, often hostile. That has made democrats quite frustrated, very unhappy and that is what you see on the campaign trail. This desire to protect immigrants, those who are undocumented and those who are here illegally. Host we look into andrew in ohio, independent caller. Caller how are you doing mr. Costa . Guest i am doing well, thank you. Caller i want to talk about this 15 minimum wage thing. It is truly absurd to me that the government can mandate a wage on a private business like that. What are your thoughts . Guest the federal minimum wage has been one of the main issues for senator sanders, senator warren and other Democratic Candidates. They believe in this time of economic unrest that the federal government needs to provide people with some kind of minimal wage that is higher and would give them some kind of substance sustenance and protection against the economic turbulence. There are some new ideas that have appeared in the democratic debate. Andrew yang is talking about universal basic income. Giving people some kind of money to keep them going, what of the market is up or down. That is going to be whether the market is up or down. That is going to be beyond the cultural grievances. When i am on the ground, it is going to come down to issues like minimum wage, the economy, who is fighting for who, whether it is been a mom wage, deferment of debt, a tax cut, who is going to give what americans want as their economic interest . Who is going to give the best argument to voters . In so many elections you talk about a thousand issues and it comes down to the economy. That is why the minimum wage is at the forefront of the Democratic Campaign right now. Host stuart in florida, republican caller. Caller good morning to both of you. I have been listening to some of your callers. One question is that talk about the Supreme Court. And asthat the democrats toxic as the talk is, you are guilty, now prove your innocence. The sad part is, we cant go that way. Here is a man who went through all of this senate stuff. He was found not guilty from them. The other thing with a minimum wage of 15 per hour, what is going to stop them saying well 15 isnt enough, you have to go 25 because when people make 15 an hour, cost of living goes up. Rents becauseaise the cost of everything else. Hard,brought up, you work you achieve. If you are not getting it, some people go to college, go to trade school because trade school, people can go to trade school to make more than they could coming out of college and it costs less. As far as immigration goes, we are talking illegal immigrants, not immigrants who come to this country legally and go through the process because every republican wants legal immigration, not illegal immigration. I wish you guys would stop using and put theigrants cast over everyone. There is a definition between illegal and legal. Guest those are some points you made. I did not hear a question but host the question comes to mind the sending to him and other callers, what issues are resonating with the democratic voters that you are talking to out there . The big debate in the Democratic Party talking to these candidates is do they want someone they think is invest position to beat President Trump or do they want to canada whos going to be a radical change or overhaul the political system . That is the thing whether you are senator warren or senator sanders or Vice President biden, youre making a different case to the democratic voters. Vice president bidens core argument is that he is seasoned, he has been with president obama for eight years. He has real depth with voters in places like South Carolina, states that democrats see as real bellwethers for their primary process. Is have senator warren who not that different politically from Vice President biden on most issues. Its about the scope of change she is advocating. On health care, Vice President biden is saying we want to tweak obamacare, the Affordable Care act and we want to add a public option to it. That has become the moderate democratic position, and then you have medicare for all on the others of that democratic debate and that is an overhaul of the health care system. Where does private insurance go . Where does private insurance go . Does it exist . How much does it cost . These have been some of the debate points in recent months. When i was in South Carolina at a historically black church and i was in some other early voting states, you continue to hear democratic voters ruminating about these choices. It is not so much about the candidates themselves. This isnt a battle of personality, it is a battle of strategy for many voters. They want to get rid of President Trump in the Democratic Party, but they are not sure about what it takes and other it is worth the risk in their eyes of putting someone who is more to the left. Is that too risky . Is that putting President Trump in a better position to be reelected . Other democrats say they look at the polling numbers and they say he may lose regardless, so why not have a candidate who really reflects my liberal values . Host george in michigan, independent caller. Question or comment . Caller both. I have to ask about the race from brian lamb. Host thanks. Not yet. Caller one more aside. Before my 90yearold mother died a few years ago, she used to sit and watch and say how can sit for threey hours tricking all that coffee and never have to use the bathroom. Is,to your gentlemen, why why are both parties so extreme to the right and the left . Data and we try to be practical. I cant be a democrat because i dont believe in abortion. I cant be a republican because i am a tree hugger. Butlieve you can have guns who needs these ak47s or whatever . Public, unless you have a Million Dollar check, you can never talk to your representative oneonone. Guest hopefully that is not the case. Caller in my case it has been for decades, but you get access to these people, both sides. , do you look in their eyes you ever think or can you evers are you allowed to say, you are talking a bunch of trash . Just to be a politician. Host can you call them out . Guest i would not use your phrasing but you do confront them from time to time and you ask about the action, what is motivating that and why isnt anything happening and they andg up some similar points there is polarization in the country and there is polarization on capitol hill and on the campaign trail and part of it is the 24 7 nature of Politics Today and some of the older lawmakers have given me the insight that when they started in the 70s and 80s and they came to congress, they could have meetings that werent chronicled on twitter. They could have meetings with their committees and they can have republicans and democrats had earmarks to their state or district. There was much more of a factory of deals and it was done without a lot of scrutiny and sunlight. There was a cost to that. People became suspicious of government and wondered what really happened in these rooms. You had more accountability which is for the best in almost every respect but the older lawmakers often lament that as good as it is, to have more people aware of the process, politics is messy and you have to be able to scream at each other, to cut deals and float deals in an environment Like Congress without it being broadcast on cable, minute by minute. Thats a change that some people who are older lament but at the same time, americans deserve to know what is going on. The press deserves to know what is going on. It is not an excuse for politicians. Host we will go to joe in alabama, republican. Caller i was calling about this kavanaugh thing. M writing an article here reading an article here that says the New York Times has including update several friends that allege the victim not recall the reported Sexual Assault in question at all. The first time she refused to be interviewed and made note, made no comment about the episode and this was late sunday night. Host what is your point . Deal abouting a big and impeach kavanaugh thing the New York Times came out and revised it. Host referring to the question we asked our viewers earlier today. It became public debate after the New York Times published an excerpt from the book. What you are referring to is fox news has this update, New York Times updates kavanaugh bombshell. Alleged accuser does not recall in reference to this new accusation that was brought forth. We will go to rosetta in new york, democrat line. Caller good morning. Because i am so tired of hearing about trump being reelected and all of this kind of stuff. First of all he should be in jail. Second of all, all of these things that you talk about on the news and all of this about what hes done, he is guilty. Of course hes guilty. The point i would like to hear is one of the going to do something about it . All of these things he has been doing since day one. All of this stuff cannot be legal. It cant be legal. My question is, what are they going to do to get him out of office . The question when i talk to democratic voters, they asked winner House Democrats going to take action on impeachment and you see House Democrats struggling as they move forward slowly on impeachment. They are investigating across the board, the trump administration. , covertidents finances corruption within his cabinet, the president s conduct. A wide range of issues democrats are pursuing in the house. Speaker pelosi is aware she won the house by winning over suburban voters who like the democrats message on health care and the economy. When you watch that most recent democratic debate, they were not asked once about impeachment. Sameof them are on the page and believe President Trump should be impeached or removed from office after further investigation or should at least be brought under more of a hotspot light but the impeachment issue is not exactly the galvanizing issue right now for democrats because they believe they want to make a wholesale case against President Trump and the republicans as they headed to 2020. In the wake of the mullah report and the russia issue being settled in the eyes of federal investigators, you have congress now saying, House Democrats saying what else should we be looking at . Russia is a key part of it but they are also looking at for example, i was on the road with Vice President pence in iowa where he stayed at the president s golf club and you see democrats wondering, should the Trump Properties in the way the administration interacts with them be part of the impeachment case . You wonder why impeachment is not happening now, it is because democrats are recalibrating in the wake of the Mueller Report and they are thinking about if they are really going to make an impeachment case, it has to be about more than russia and should encompass all the things you are probably concerned about including the Trump Properties take a look at House Democrat activities. Three committees opened an investigation into ukraine to assist President Trumps reelection. Regarding money spent at President Trumps Scotland Golf resort. Judiciary Committee Votes to formalize procedures for impeachment investigations. Judiciary Committee Hearing on obstruction of justice is scheduled this week with rob porter and Rick Dearborn subpoenaed to testify. Guest that paints the whole picture. This is a multifaceted investigation from House Democrats. The real tension among democrats is is it too much . Should they vote on articles of impeachment now or not . Belief,pelosi has the when you talk to her lieutenants, that this is a process that has to play out. The committee needs to have full investigations and reports and it cannot be rushed because they want to be seen by the American People as a party that is moving forward in a judicious manner, not an apolitical way. Host a text from one of our viewers, greg in california, how much do you think millenials and independence will impact the 2020 election . Guest as a millennial myself, they have a significant influence. Older voters are always the most reliable but the millenials in the democratic race are going to have an effect because they need to make a choice themselves. Do they want a new generation of leadership if they are a democrat or not and you have people like mayor buttigieg and younger candidates like senator booker and harris who are saying they are different than Vice President biden and senator sanders and respectfully they say they are a younger generation. You millenials want to see that or not . Not as closen is in age to senator booker and mayor buttigieg as she is to Vice President biden and senator sanders, but she is trying to win over a lot of those millennial voters by talking to them on their issues like student debt, college costs. So is senator sanders and many other candidates who were not near the millenials in age. They are making a case that their version of change would be most appealing to millennial voters. The question for millennial voters is often as much as they rally on social media and they get interested in different candidates, will they come out and vote . Will they spend time to caucus . We saw in 2008, they were there with president obama and we have seen them be active before but when you look at a state like new hampshire, South Carolina, it is the older voters who most Democratic Candidates campaigns i speak with, they are the target voters. Host lets go to clay in the louisiana, republican. In louisiana, republican. Caller when you speak of the millenials, suburban voters, i am not only a senior, i am a super senior and when i look at these Democratic Candidates, they come across as kind of looney tunes. Retired people, if they want changes, they want incremental changes, they dont want these radical changes and they speak about health care for all. I can tell you as a retired person, i have medicare and a lot of Doctors Today will not accept medicare. You have an increasingly difficult time getting a medical cus guest important points. Caller on the democratic side, when they speak of the republicans like myself, old white men, well the leading candidates are all in their 70s and joe biden is a nice guy, a guy you might share a beer with but he never impressed me as being too bright. Warren, sheizabeth comes across as the wicked witch of the west. Host why . Guest the point about Vice President biden, that is a personal slight, unnecessary. The point about senator warren was unnecessary. Your points about aging and the older population, they are important. Where is this country going, so many millennial voters i speak with and older voters saying you have a baby boomer generation that is going to be around for a much longer time than many had expected because of developments in health care and the cost of ,eeping people eating, living on medicine, on health care is only going to grow in the eyes of both republicans and democrats, and confronting this change of People Living into their 90s and 100s is going to be a dominant issue in politics, for younger and older generations. That is why the Health Care Debate is so critical. Youre raising concerns about medicare for all. Youre a republican voter. Other people look at medicare for all and say they want that security of Health Care Coverage being there but older voters say they want to make sure that Social Security and their own version of medicare is protected. These are the debates, more than any kind of twitter war or personal shot that really matter because this country has cost issues about longterm federal spending that are not going to go away and it has Health Care Issues about coverage that people really care about and that is what politics seems to be moving towards, a debate about who is going to pay for health care, how much is it going to cost and how are we going to deal with an aging population . Host we will ask our viewers reacting to the president saying the u. S. Is locked and loaded in reaction to the attack on the saudi oil plants. What are you hearing on this . What is the next move . Guest the administration on the middle east, there are a lot of different points to understand. Netanyahu in israel is facing reelection. The president has been supportive of netanyahu and had a call with him in recent days to offer him some solidarity. The president has been tight with saudi arabia despite jamal khashoggi, a member of the Washington Post staff being murdered by the saudi government based on our reporting. You have iran, the president was looking for a deal, meeting with ronnie at the United Nations meeting with rouhani at the United Nations. Who has so often had his eyes on china and domestic policies, the middle east, Jared Kushner is working on a peace plan that has yet to be released to the public. A lot of issues in the middle east and i believe the president is going to meet with the leader of iran today. Host robert costa, you can follow his reporting on Washington Post or on pbs Washington Week. Thank you. Guest thank you. Host we are going to take a break and when we come back, your reaction to the president saying the u. S. Is locked and loaded after that saudi attack. There are the phone numbers on your screen. There are the phone numbers on your screen. Later on, pbs frontline filmmaker abby ellis is going to join us to talk about her new documentary on flint, michigans water supply. We will be right back. Campaign 2020. Watch our live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own minds. Cspans campaign 2020, your view of politics. Communicators,he california representative cochair of the Artificial Intelligence caucus on the future of Artificial Intelligence, Election Security and whether big Text Companies need more regulation. Google is a californiabased company and if we want to look at how it is doing its practices, it is important to do it in a very thoughtful way. Justicehe department of and the federal trade commission are talking about doing investigations in ai competitive practices. This andd to look at investigate this and make sure the companies are behaving. Im not sure breaking companies up is a good idea. These are Big Companies with a lot of tentacles and employees and if you break a company up like that, there was going to be unintended consequences. Tonight at 8 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. Cspan2. Washington journal continues. Host we are getting your reaction this morning for the next 20 minutes to President Trump saying the u. S. Is locked and loaded after that audi oil attack. ,he headline in usa today quoting the president there, and the usa today says drones claimed by Yemens Houthi rebels attacked the Worlds LargestOil Processing facility in saudi arabia and a major oilfield operated by the saudi government. President weeding out last night, Saudi Arabia Oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit. We are locked and loaded depending on verification but are waiting to hear from the kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack and under what terms we would proceed. The foreign minister of iran tweeting out, having failed at maximum pressure, secretary mike pompeo is now turning to maximum deceit. Illusions of weapon superiority leading to victory. Blaming iran wont end disaster. Excepting our proposal to end war and have talks may do so. That was the Iranian Foreign minister. The front page of the wall street journal, iran not denying carrying out the saudi attacks and the front page of the Financial Times out of london, the saudis seek to reassure markets as a tax half Oil Production around the globe. Haltedittle output is and higher crude prices persist. Lets go to steve in connecticut, independent. Your reaction to the locked and loaded comment . Caller the comment is over the top. What are we going to do . Launch a strike against iranian overields and drive gas up 100 . Thats kind of kooky. , it is ais humanitarian disaster. Why is saudi arabia even there . These drones, now you can buy off the shelf drones that are linked with satellites. They can get pretty accurate. Tactic, aore of a strategy would be to hit the oil fields two or three times a week. Is crazy they would shut down half their Oil Production for just one strike. If it was getting hit every week. I think we should roll the rhetoric back. I think weve got to reach out to the iranian president. Host you think the president should meet with him. Caller absolutely. , i dont have any delusions about his past. Wordni at least kept his about the deal. He kept his word. We reneged on our word. Is a man youani can make a deal with. Host dave is an independent as well, in georgia. What do you think . Furiousi think i am so i hope i get to finish my statement without my brain exploding. Locked and loaded as a military term. If you recall, our president never was in the military. I was drafted. I went. Im not ok now. The whole world is not ok. I want to call about people who cannot make up their minds about whether or not they want to vote for President Trump. Be able toant to brag about that . Dial it back with the iranians. We need to have a dialogue. Good luck world. You put somebody in the white and put somebody in charge of the epa who wants to destroy the environment. Some of you need to wake up and pay attention. Thank you very much world. Host we will go to derek next, virginia, democrat caller. Caller i think todays comments represent a point where this aggressive Foreign Policy donald trump in the middle east is really reaching a point which can bring the world into crisis. His canceling of the nuclear deal his support for the Saudi Led Coalition in yemen which has caused the worst humanitarian disaster in recent years. This is coming to a head way now. Igniting conflict in the middle east. It is on the verge of a regional war with root with israel, iranians, i the think donald trump needs to listen to his more diplomatic tendencies to avoid war and speak with the iranians again. He needs to put pressure on the saudis to stop the coalition that is causing destruction in yemen and is resulting in them, the Houthi Rebels attacking the saudi fields. We need to plumb a sea back on the table. We need diplomacy back on the table. Host from bbc news, the conflict has escalated in 2015 when saudi arabia and eight other Sunni Arab States backed by the United States, the u. K. And france began airstrikes against the houthis with the declared aim government. Host james in the in louisiana, republican. Caller good morning. How are you doing this morning . I am hearing you talk about andt talking about iran the saudi explosions and all that stuff. The listening to some of trump derangement syndrome people. I am wondering, has anyone theected the dots with palace of cash that Barack Hussein obama gave iran and all of a sudden we have a lot all that stuff going on . Lets connect some dots and talk about the world going into crisis. Guess what . We have been in a crisis and we now have a president that is allding up to fight against of the globalists and Central Banks that has the entire world in debt. Hes fighting against that and he is fighting against his own party but is not really republicans. They are all world globalists. Go ahead. I know you are going to cut me off. The hillary email stuff . Host we heard your point. We will go on to diedrich in boston, democrat caller. This man aint nothing but a crook, hes got his head so far up obamas behind. Obama everything. He never does anything. He just runs his mouth. The last caller does not know what the hell he was talking about. Obama was giving him giving them their money back. Go read something. That is what he needs to go do. Host hike mike. Caller i just had a concern , thei think a lot of Us Middle East driving the price of oil up which will be a serious problem. Host why do you say it is a serious problem . Caller they tried to destroy one of the refineries. That is half of the worlds oil and gasoline. It is definitely going to drive the price of oil up. Host for more from the Financial Times article about the attack, they say saudi arabia supplies more than 10 of global crude and is the worlds biggest exporter of oil. The estimated hit to output from the attack at more than 5 Million Barrels a day is the equivalent of 5 of Global Oil Supply which analysts warn can trigger a sharp rise in oil prices and acts as a risk facing the global economy. Jonathan in massachusetts, democrat caller. The president says the u. S. Is locked and loaded after these attacks. Caller regarding the Financial Times you are referring to, 5. 7 Million Barrels a day. That is 5 of the worlds daily Oil Production. We need to view this as more of a political tactic that the president is using for his says that thee it u. S. Energy department would release Strategic Oil reserves if necessary. It seems as though this is a political scapegoat that the president can dive in and act as a savior but in reality he is just profiting off of it financially and for his political gain. Host jonathans thoughts in massachusetts. Our next caller is a republican. Caller thank you for taking my call. One of the callers was referring to the amount of money that obama returned to iran and i think it is coming back to bite us. I think trump is trying to do the best he can with what hes got to deal with with these guys in the middle east. Trump is public going to come out as one of the greatest president s since lincoln. He is going to be reelected in a landslide. These people are just going to lose their minds when that happens. He is a great president and he is doing a great job. By the way i miss brian lamb. He is the last person, the last moderator on cspan that didnt have a bias that i can see. Thank you. The Editorial Board of the wall street journal, irans return handshake, they write an attack on saudi Oil Production shows john bolton was right. ss. Sanctions have hurt Iran Oil Exports but tehran earns hundreds of millions of dollars a month. Senator Lindsey Graham says a direct attack on iranian oil should be considered and the Islamic Republic needs to know that is not off the table. Also apologize to john bolton. Host chesterfield, virginia, a democrat caller. What do you think . Caller people in this country better open their eyes because theres another war coming up. Trump every undid everything obama did. The first thing he did when he got in was overturn almost everything obama did. We would be paying about five dollars for a gallon of gasoline by late november or december and a lot of people are misinformed. That guy from louisiana said they gave obama gave them all of this money. That was not taxpayer money. That was a deposit their people put in when they were our ally. When you do business in america and you are and you are a foreign country, you have to put up hundreds of millions of dollars. People had to put it millions of dollars in case something happened. Thank you. Host lets go to ronald in michigan, republican. Caller the name is donald. Host donald, sorry about that. Caller i hear a lot of people calling in and raising all kinds of cane about trump. He has a lot of the coming but i would like to give an insight into the Democrat Party a few years ago. Clinton deployed our military 40 times while he was in office. Dont take my word for this. You can read his own book. Here is what im going to say. The next time anyone wants to badmouth trump, thank president clinton for the iraq war. A 20 year war that is not over yet. Iraq in 1998. In saddam announced he would no longer cooperate with you in weapons inspectors. There was no way to understand the iraq war without reading president clintons address to the nation. 1998. Book, after the attack, we had no way to know how much of the prescribed material had been destroyed. If president clinton and the u. N. Would have forced saddam to honor the ceasefire agreements u. N. , by saddam, the america and britain, we would have known about weapons in iraq. Host we will leave it there because we are running short on time and i want to show all of you what the treasury secretary had to say. He is standing next to the secretary of state, mike pompeo last week, the day it was announced john bolton had resigned, that the president asked for his announced asked for his resignation. This is what he had to say. [video clip] secretary pompeo and myself and the president completely aligned on our maximum Pressure Campaign. We have done more sanctions on iran than anybody and it is working. The president has made clear he is happy to take a meeting with no preconditions but we are maintaining maximum pressure. Host that was the treasury secretary last week on the administrations position on iran. The president tweeting out last night, the u. S. Is locked and loaded after these attacks on saudi oil. A couple callers brought up money that was returned to iran. Signed the multinational deal to restrain nuclear development, in return for being freed from sanctions, it would gain access to its own assets which had been frozen abroad. There was no hundred 50 there was no one hundred 50 billion gift from the treasuries of other countries. It was money iran was allowed to take back. Amountut of roughly that did came out of the u. S. Treasury to pay off an old iou. In the 1970s, iran paid money for military equipment that was never delivered because the government was overthrown and diplomatic relations captured. Matthew in pittsburgh, democratic squalor, good morning. Caller good morning. I just have a couple of quick comments. The original again. They want to start another war in the middle east, and basically, it will be about oil. I have heard from many people that the United States is sufficient in the amount of oil we produce for ourselves. Smallmazes me is how a incident over in saudi arabia can affect the whole entire world, and here we are screaming petroleum willut go skyrocketing in september. I just think it is another way for large rations, with the president s helped to benefit from this. Host ok. Will take a break. When we come back, we will be frontlinepbs filmmaker abby ellis to talk about her new documentary on flint, michigans contaminated water supply. We will be right back. Campaign 2020. What our live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail, and make up your mind. Spans campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. Communicators, california representative and cochair of the Artificial Intelligence caucus, on the future of Artificial Intelligence, Election Security and with big tech Companies Need more regulation. Google is a californiabased company. I think if we want to look at how it is doing its business practices, it is important to do it in a very thoughtful way. I know that the department of justice and the federal trade commission are also talking investigations into enter competitive practices of these companies into enter competitive practices of these companies. By am not sure breaking the companies up is a good idea. These companies have a lot of tentacles, a lot of employees. If you break up a company like about, if you manage to do it, there are going to be unintended consequences. Announcer 1 tonight on cspan two at 8 30 p. M. Eastern. Announcer 2 washington journal continues. Host joining us from Salt Lake City is abby ellis, producer and director on pbs frontlines flint dirty water, here to talk about her documentary. Remind viewers when and why flints whatever came contaminated . Ofst in 2014, the city flint decided to join a new pipeline to draw water from lake huron all the way to flint and other surrounding cities and counties. In the interim for the pipeline was constructed, state officials in charge of finances in this 80 at the time decided to switch the city of flint onto the flint river and turn on the flint Water Treatment plant come which had been barely operational in about 50 years. Host and what needed to happen for that to be successful, and what did not happen in the wake of making that switch to the flint river . Guest there were a lot of upgrades that needed to happen at the plant, about tens of millions of dollars worth of upgrades. The plant had not been operational in this way in nearly half a century. There were a lot of upgrades to the systems needed, there was replaced,needed to be and there were stuff that needed to be adequately trained. What we found is before they made the switch, the staff that they had there wasnt enough, they didnt have the adequate training necessary. And they couldnt fathom that they were going to make them turn on the plant in such a short time. Host you spoke to one of the workers at the plant or his sister. What was his saying at the time before the switch was flipped other government officials . Guest we spoke to matt mcfarland, he had worked at the plant for about 20 years before this happened. Loved his job, was very passionate about it. In the lead up to the switch, matt was responsible for doing a lot of the plant, but some of what he was responsible for was operating the system that killed bacteria. He knew in the leadup to the switch that those systems were not working, and he was very nervous before the switch actually took place. He was calling his sister, trying to get a supervisor to delay the switch and not make them run. He spoke to other people at the plant. State officials shut it down and said, no matter what, we are going to run anyway. Matt calls his sister the day before they switch, and says, tell everyone you know and love in flint not to drink the water, people are going to die. Host and government officials knew . Guest yes. What we know is that state officials in flint at the time were aware that the plant needed more time and more staff and better equipment. Host we are talking about pbs frontlines new documentary flint that he water. Water, witheadly the producer and director, abby ellis. The number to call on your screen if you leave in the eastern part of the country, 2027488000, montano Pacific Command 2027488001, and michigan residents, the number 2027488002. Text us thealso number to dial is 2027488003. Elect a sure bet of the documentary. [video clip] people look at the water issue come up at the issue has been legionnaires. I followed how the deaths. I followed the death to see if anything stood out. What people did not know. People didnt want us to expose what was happening and why. Test the water. They should have tested the water. Tune in or stream on pbs starting september 10. Host abby ellis, let us go back to where we left off. Staff was saying to government officials that they were not ready to go at the plant that had not been used for years, and you interviewed the man that was charged with making sure that the exterior was killed. What happens after they make the switch. Interviewed,man we he is deceased. He passed away in 2016. When we interviewed his sister, whom he confided in a lot. Immediately after the switch, a cases of weeks later, legionnaires disease started popping up in the city of flint. It is a disease that is very severe and can be fatal if untreated. It is very important that the community and the medical community both be aware that there is an outbreak of legionnaires disease, otherwise it might go untreated because they typically would not test for it or diagnose it. Host so there are cases popping up of legionnaires. What happened. Alerts rs who who who . Guest this is a couple of weeks after the switch in many simple water some lies. Cases continue to pop up in july, august, so number and october. This continues until the end of 2014, i think there were about 30 confirmed cases in the city of 100,000, which that in and of its health is on of the biggest outbreaks in and of itself is one of the biggest outbreaks in u. S. History. The state Health Department knew about the outbreak. Of the outbreak, by the residents of flint were very much in the dark about it. As far as we know, the medical community was also in the dark about it for most of the time. Host what was a government officials when you about the out rick doing at the time, or what were they talking about doing. Host at the time, they were talking about where the out rick might be stemming from whether it was coming from the french municipal water some live or if it was confined to one local hospital. What we found in our reporting was that an outbreak of legionnaires disease is it hospital,ften to one it usually comes from somewhere, likely the water source. Government officials were speculating from whether it was coming from the municipal water supply. We also see the narrative starting to form that maybe it is confined to one hospital, and not the municipal water supply, which is interesting. Host where where the hospital getting their water. Host from the city of flint. And at the time, it was flint river water. So what should government officials have done at this point when they see the number of legionnaires disease, and the done . Question they have guest experts we have spoken to have said, if you see one case of legionnaires disease in the an investigation is to be launched. You need to find the source of the outbreak and decontaminate it. You also need to check and make sure there arent other people who have symptoms in the city. An investigation should be launched right away, especially in a city like flint, where poverty rates are very high and with high poverty rates come chronic illnesses. We saw this in the bronx in 2015 where similar socioeconomic situations, experts who we talked with who handled the bronx outbreak actually started an investigation on day one soon as they started seeing cases, and other fertility rates were much smaller. Host when did the local government call in federal officials, or should they have . Is, youo the hierarchy have the county Health Department, which, in flint, to be fair, they dont have a lot staff,urces were a big but the county Health Department was ringing the alarm and trying to get the state Health Department involved because they needed additional help. When the state Health Department wasnt responding or adequately responding, they tried getting in touch with the centers control. Se the centers for Disease Control and he did the permission of the state before they could come in. From emails we obtained from the cbc, they said this was the largest outbreak that has been in a lot of time and it required a full investigation, and they were willing to come in and help, but they needed permission from the state, and they never got that. Host was there any investigation done by an outside team . Guest not really. In 2016, after the governor finally comes forward a year and a half after the outbreak begins he tells everybody that there has been an out, rick of legionnaires disease outbreak of vision is disease and hires researchers from universities across the states to investigate the outbreak. But as we uncovered in our firm, these scientists and experts felt that they were experiencing bytty consistent push back state officials in terms of what they could investigate, the scope of their investigation, who they could talk to, what water they could test. I dont think they thought for much of their investigation that they were given a full opportunity to do it right. You inhat did they tell your documentary, this team of scientists, about what should have been done, and how their communication with the government, what was it like for them to try to do this investigation . Guest it was really interesting , because at the time that these men and women were brought on to do the investigation, is around the same time that this special prosecutor appointed by the attorney general was starting to investigation. L and he is absolutely investigating the Michigan Department of health and Human Services as well as other agencies that may have been involved in the flint water crisis. The Michigan Department of health and Human Services was very much overseeing these scientists and their investigation. So there was a bit of a conflict of interest here. The very people supervising the team to investigate the source of the outbreak, are also being investigated criminally by the attorney general for this very situation. The scientists we spoke to in the film said they experienced increasing push back. They werent allowed to test water filters. Three of them have testified to the fact that when they told the Michigan Department of health and Human Services director that if they dont up surveillance, they could experience another outbreak and, if they dont do that, people are going to die. According to these three men, die. Esponse according to these three men, his response was, well, they have to die of something. Host so frontline, your team, went about to try and investigate the connection between legionnaires and pneumonia death. I want to show heart of that documentary. [video clip] we were still trying to determine the total of the artwork. It is kind of like detective. Work. You look at the evidence and the value it circumstances, then you start putting these pieces together. Narrator after months of reporting and analysis, frontline had documented 115 pneumonia deaths that happen in flint during the outbreak. In response to our findings, his spokeswoman from the state Health Department told us they had noticed an increase too and concluded it was due to influenza. But independent scientists were telling us that in all likelihood, some of them were actually due to legionnaires. I took the information from the death certificates and i plotted out each of those debts on a map to see if anything stood out. Did, inact, it particular, the older parts of the city. We found these clusters of people that around the same time frames of the switch were dying of pneumonia and dying of legionnaires disease. Host abby ellis, why was it important to look at those deaths that were supposedly caused or could have been caused by pneumonia in this investigation . Why was it important to look at pneumonia specifically . So, legionnaires disease is a severe and fatal form of pneumonia. The symptoms you might experience are very similar to pneumonia. If there is an outbreak of legionnaires disease in the city, according to experts we spoke to and it goes unannounced, meaning the medical community is not alerted, and the public is not alerted, it is very likely that a lot of these cases of legionnaires disease could go undiagnosed. In that event, these patients would likely just be diagnosed with pneumonia. They might be treated with antibiotics used for typical bacterial pneumonia, and those antibiotics typically will not ella, isinst legion very aggressive bacteria. In order for doctors to diagnose it and adequately treat it, they need to know there is an outbreak going on. When realized there was never a full investigation done by the cdc, itthe state or the became apparent that there were likely more cases that officially reported. Officially there were 12 deaths and 90 cases. We test ourselves with figuring whether or not there was an increase in pneumonia deaths in the city at the same time as the outbreak of the journey is disease to determine if the scope of the outbreak could have been larger. Host have those cases been reviewed by officials as you made those connections . Guest we have shared our findings with officials, with a number of people in different agencies. At the government level. But what we found, we found 15 pneumonia deaths. 115. Und we cant say whether or not that is statistically meaningful. What we did is we brought those deaths to independent epidemiologists who are affiliated with Emory University. They did a broader investigation and used a control group to compare the deaths with surrounding cities and counties with similar climate and other elements, and they found, they could conclude 70 deaths coincide with the outbreak of legionnaires disease. So there were 70 additional pneumonia deaths during the flint water crisis that otherwise we have not seen previously. Host let us get to our callers. Diane has been waiting in kansas. Go ahead with your question or frontlines new documentary, flints deadly water. Caller good morning. In early june, i was on the train to chicago and i met this woman in the observation car from flint, michigan. She was probably 60 years old, nice woman. We got chatting, and i asked her , how was the situation with the water supply in flint all this time later . And she said, we are still being given bottled water. She said, they are giving us plenty, but she said, that is not the worst of it. I said, what is the worst of it . She said, our water bills are outrageous. Mine is 300 a month. That is almost 10 times what i pay in kansas. She said, not only that, as a single woman, she lives by herself, she goes to the gym three times a week, she can wash her gym clothes there, so she hardly uses in the water. The virus doesnt kill us, the cost of water will. In contest with what you are reporting come if all of this is in context with what you are reporting, if all of this is occurring by the way, it sounds outrageous. Host ok. Abby ellis. Guest so Flint Residents have been experiencing extremely high water bills for years and this is one of the reasons that i think people were in favor of joining this new pipeline about five years ago when the crisis for of crisis began. They wanted to get a new water source. In the city of flint, people were desperate for their water bills to go down because there were so expensive. We met residents with had a 6,000 water bill. That is because during the water crisis, they were still expected to pay their water bill. If you go to flint and talk to residents there, the water contamination and the high water bills are almost equally prohibitive for them. Host are Flint Residents still drinking bottled water, and what is their water source now . Guest so they switched back to the detroit water supply, which is now under a new name, the great lakes water authority, and residents are still drinking bottled water. In the summer of 2018, the state of michigan, the administration that was in charge while the water crisis took place, actually declared the water in flint is testing the same as or better than other cities across the state, so they discontinued free bottled water at that time and recommended that people use water filters. There are three churches that on the operate from donations, and the lines are just miles long, of people trying to get bottled water. Because the same administration that lied to them for so long about their water being safe is now telling them that area safe, and they dont necessarily that. E importantly, though, the water filters that administration reported to be the solution actually dont kill bacteria, they only get rid of the lead. So there was never this acknowledgment that there was bacteria in the water for leon. Even when it comes in the water early on. Even when it comes to the solutions are providing, they are not adequate for killing the bacteria. Host you started out telling us about the new pipeline in the beginning. Is that in place . Guest it is. In other cities and other cities and counties are using the pipeline. I believe flint is still paying they hadof the bonds to take out to participate in the pipeline, so it is still very much in the world of flint and Genesee County. Host we will go to oscar in virginia next. Caller good morning. I wanted to make sure that you can get the facts from the very beginning. Wasnt the governor of michigan involved in coercing some e. P. A. Officials into the , andh from the flint river how they were negligent . I am reminded of how difficult how even whenre, President Trump tried to say host let us take your question. The role of the governor . Guest i do know about the governor pressuring the e. P. A. Specifically. I know there was a whistleblower at the e. P. A. Who tried to blow the whistle on lead levels very early on and he was discredited. This is something that we have seen throughout the entire crisis, when you have scientists or medical professionals who come with evidence suggesting there is led or bacteria in the that there is lead or bacteria in the water, and in each case, government officials have not taken it at face value. So the special prosecutor assigned to the case charged 15 people over the course of three years. He got the them cases that former director of Michigan Department of health and the chief medical executive, they were both charged with Involuntary Manslaughter for the legionnaires rick. Of those cases were bound for the legionnaires outbreak. Both of those cases were bound over to a jury trial. That was deemed to be a success as far as the criminal prosecutions go. Thever, last november, Political Landscape in michigan changed a lot. In you attorney general came in and actually fired the former special prosecutor and has since dropped all the charges without without prejudice, saying that they can charge again. But there is a statute of limitations and the clock is ticking. Host is there an effort underway to pick up the case, grassroots or otherwise . Guest the new prosecutor has said they are actively investigating it and we have no reason to believe that they will not bring the charges. We just have nothing to go on except for their word at this point. They have said the previous investigation was fundamentally flawed despite the fact that, you dont judges agreed they uld proceed to jury trial judges the fact that two agreed they should proceed to jury trial. But many activists want justice and are likely putting pressure on the attorney generals office. Host what did the special prosecutor unveil about the motivation of the head of the Health Department and the chief medical doctor or not alert the public to this region nears out break to this legionnaires outbreak . Guest i know that is still something we are reporting as well, to understand the motive of why. The question is, why didnt they just switch flint off the river when they new there was bacteria in the water and the knew it was. People and making them very sick . Washen they knew that it killing people and making them very sick . In the preliminary hearings, the prosecutor talked a lot about the pipeline and the bonds, and the money, and payments that needed to be made, but we have yet to prove any of the to be true. Host carol in michigan. Carol, where it is more in the state where is royal oaks in the state . Caller about 20 minutes from flint. Flint is not the less. Abbey, forgive me if you have answered this, but what in the world ever made flint city resign from detroit water and start this mess . Guest . Guest i am not sure if you are familiar, but in michigan, the former administration used Emergency Managers a lot. State officials appointed by the governor who answer just to the treasury. Their job is to balance the budget in these cities. Flint was under emergency manager at the time, so it was in state control. It had about 4 different Emergency Managers shuffling in a not doing that period. While the city council did not vote to join the pipeline, their vote did not matter, it was more like a rubberstamping. They could have voted against it, and state officials still voted for it. So while the city Council Voted in favor of this, it is kind of a moot point because they really did not have any power at all. I think their motivation was that they were being told that their water rates were going to be less expensive each month, and that it could potentially lucrative,omething because flint made for the first time in a really long time, have the opportunity to treat and sell its own water instead of buying its water from detroit. Host dawn in wisconsin, good morning to you. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call. I guess at some point along the way. , the citizens of that city and that area voted for their local officials and they got what they voted for. I happen to live in the farm in of rural area. I have my own well. I do have someone come to check my well to verify if i have a concern, i have to take it in and get it tested. I have to take appropriate action. If people are being charged 300 a month, and you have 100,000 people in the city, he have got a whole lot of income to make some changes and take some action on yourself. Why is it somebody elses fault . Guest what is important to understand, and it is difficult for those of us would have not lived in a city like this to understand is that in michigan, the governor appointed state officials who had all the power. So doing the flint water crisis and before the flint water crisis, local elected officials had no power, they were not allowed to make decisions on behalf of the residents. Tragedy. Eal michigan is one of the leading examples of how this policy can really harm cities. But actually, it is so important to note that all of these decisions were being made by the state of michigan. When residents started protesting immediately after the switch, when the water was brown and people are getting sick, and they fought and fought and fought, their cries were completely silenced because they were protesting to their elected officials saying, we voted for you, now, you fight for us. But the officials had their hands tied because a state official was in charge of the city of flint. So there wasnt much democracy at the time or before the switch at all. Residents have been disempowered in flint for a long time because of these policies. Host john in michigan, the name of your town is. Caller pinckney. Host ok, where is that located . Caller between lansing and detroit. Host ok. Caller my comment is, what i see here on pbs is a typical goingical of all these bs on in this country. This all started because the people in flint did not pay heir water bills, period. Their water bills were not 300 a month, that was an accumulation because they werent paying them. And because they werent paying their water bills, they had to switch to something else. They couldnt continue with the detroit water. You can play this anywhere you want, but what it all boils down to is, theres is a bunch of freeloaders in this country that are trying to turn this country into a socialist country. Host ok. John, did this start with water bills being paid . Guest now. This is not a result of water bills not being paid. In fact, at the time, flint did not need a new water supply, and also could not afford to get a new water supply. This was very much a decision made by state officials and powerbrokers in the region who want to the pipeline to go through. Our reporting has found that it would have been very difficult for this new pipeline, which was servicing other cities and other counties, it would have been very difficult for it to go through without getting the 100,000 residents of flint on as ate payers. This has nothing to do with the inability to pay water bills. Host ron in illinois. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call. Host go ahead, ronald. Caller back in the 1970s, i went to school to get my certified operators license for the e. P. A. Certifiedass b operator and responsible charge for not one that two not one chicago. Uburbs in when i went to school, i was told by all the instructors, if there is any type of water contamination in the areas that you are responsible for, and they traced back that it was because of your incompetence or your ineptitude, or your inability to get water samples every month, and Something Like that happened, i would go to jail. Well, that stuck with me the entire time that i was a certified water operator and responsible charge. We never, ever had any problems whatsoever with our Water Supplies because i was very, very set on getting these water samples when they were supposed to be taken, sending them to the e. P. A. , and within one or two days, we would get the results of these water samples and get an ok from the e. P. A. So during that time, there was one suburb were the certified water operator was putting addresses down for getting water samples, but he was actually getting all the water samples and one or two faucets probably doing it from where he worked. Eventually, it caught up with him because there was an outbreak due to a cleaning facility that was pouring poison into the water, and they found out. They traced it back. That man got a fiveyear sentence in jail. Host ok. Abby ellis, what do you make of what ronald is saying . Guest so one thing we have tragically seen in flint is that throughout the second year of the water crisis, there were tests being done. Residents were begging to have their water tested for lead. Then were being done and being falsified in the lab. In addition to that, people who were testing the water for lead, had been charged those charges have not been dropped but they were accused of testing the water in an area that did not have lead lines. So throughout the crisis, there were instances where people who were responsible for testing the water were accused of falsifying the tests and not testing the water in the right areas. Host i want to show viewers a little more of the documentary. This is how. It medical team from Emory University conducted their own investigation. [video clip] arrator the team compared test from the control group. The control group was from counties similar to Genesee County in terms of size, income, education level, socioeconomics, in michigan and surrounding states. When we start in. 2011 and we follow the mortality rate, they are pretty similar between Genesee County and the controls. This continues until you get to 2014. The middle of this is sort of where the Inflection Point happens. Narrator the increase was most pronounced in the First Six Months of 2014, and less so in 2015. It is not clear why, since flint was still on river water than. Right when the legionnaires epidemic starts, the pneumonia death rate in Genesee County goes up while in other counties, it is going down. Host abby ellis, what did we learn there. Host . Guest we learned that there were 70 additional deaths from pneumonia, and furthermore, what we found and what ever it confirmed thats what them are confirmed, was that in several pockets of the city of flint, we had several confirmed cases of virginias disease and pneumonia what we found, and what Emory University confirmed, was that in several pockets of the city of flint, several confirmed cases of legionnaires disease and pneumonia deaths were found. After the switch of water spike of the pneumonia death rates go up. Pneumonia is typically associated with influenza and usually something that happens in the winter, not spring or summer. So while it was going up in Genesee County, it was going down in other counties. So emily confirmed that the legionnaires outbreak emory confirmed that the regions outbreak was centered on flint. Caller good morning. I wanted to say first that the gentleman who worked for the people, ift those they were incompetent in their jobs, five years is a slap on the wrist as far as i am confirmed. You got peoples lives on your hand. Everybody, youd can trust, but you better trust and verify that your letter was safe. We were told that the air was safe. Safe. E told the air was that is the point. Dont trust the government. You have to verify for yourself, your community. People. Ually poor is a sad thing to think that there was led in the water. I dont want to bring politics into this, but republicans and democrats, sometimes political people are not the people, it is bureaucracies that are running. They are not privy to everything. It is like senator mccain making the trip to the v. A. And everything is running shipshape the day before he comes. And when he leaves, people are dying. So maybe he did not know what was going on, and we didnt know what was going on. And now we are paying a major price. Host ok, we will leave it there. Abby ellis, can you tell us who outbreak . During the guest to her the end of the summer of 2014 and the beginning of the fall, the state department was made aware, the county Health Department was absolutely aware. We know for sure by january of 2015 that the director of the department of health was aware, and a couple of months later, we know that several members of the Governors Office were aware, both cabinet members and aides to the governor. However, former governor of michigan rick snyder has had that he did not know about the outbreak of each and theres until january of 2016 the outbreak of the juniors until ofuary of 2016 the outbreak he did not know about the outbreak until january of 2016. Host what does the disease due to someone . Guest it can cause kidney failure, lung failure, heart failure, it is a very severe type of pneumonia. That is why it is so crucial that you get treated right away. And why it is so crucial that the medical community be aware that there is an outbreak. And it is also important that the public knows, because if you have a fever nausea and you think you have a cold or flu, if you know theres a deadly outbreak of the disease in your community you might go to the emergency room a lot quicker,. In flint profound resident who got sick of doing the outbreak of legionnaires disease, and some connected her illness with that. She has since passed away. I wanted to just show the viewers of the debate from the documentary featuring jasmine macbride. [video clip] i have been doing breathing treatments to help open up my airway and my lungs. Some type of medicine in that solution that are put in their, and it does help. You notice the difference when you do the treatment and when you dont do the treatment. Four times a day is kind of hard to do, especially when you have dialysis and you just want to sleep all day and do nothing. Generation, my am, like, theyi all got children or the have started families, and here i am, i am battling health issues. It is a challenge. But you do what you have got to do to live, to get better. Host abby ellis, tell us about jasmine ride . Guest she was 26 when should got diagnosed with legionnaires disease. She wanted to become a pediatric nurse. She was working at a Senior Center of the time when she got sick. Enroller job, wanted to at university for nursing degree. She got sick in august of 2014 a couple of months after the switch of Water Supplies. She almost died. She was in the hospital for a couple of months. By the time she got out of the hospital, she had kidney failure , her heart had failed multiple times during her hospital stay. She had respiratory issues, so by the time she got out three months later, she has to relearn how to walk, talk, eat, everything. Every single day, she had to do breathing exercises to help strengthen her lungs. She was on 24 hour a day oxygen. She had to do dialysis multiple times a week, which is a couplehour process, to flush out her kidneys. Host from michigan, good morning to you. Caller goo hello. Host go ahead, bob. Caller i am sick to death at the mcgrath creating all these problems and blaming republicans for them. The governor had nothing to do with what went on in flint. There was flint an attitude of people in flint were supposed to add to the water to keep it from corroding, they didnt add it. It was very expensive, they didnt pay for it, and it cost of the people to get sick. That is the bottom line. It had nothing to do with republicans. That city has been run by republicans for least 50 years. Host you want to jump on that . Guest i think one thing to keep in mind was that the city of flint was under state control when all of this transpired. So there was one person in charge of the city who answered only to the governor and to the treasury department. So when the governor is roped into a lot of these conversations, it is because the city of flint was under state control. Host maurice in washington dc. Caller i have to the questions before i make a comment i have two questions before i make a comment. Is flint in the United States in america . Guest yes. Caller is there water system run by the city . Guest yes. Caller in america, not paying your bill has nothing to do with the quality of your water. This is a social and economical problem. The water problem in flint is complicated, but the solution is easy. There are so many political, problems in america there dont understand, but i can still have a pretty good life, but when you are talking about the water system and the United States of america, this has been going on for decades, obviously. I am not really clear, is it the pipes . Because him and if the river is messed up, is it the pipes, the processing plants that are processing water . Host let us review that . Guest so, originally, when they switched to the river river water can be drinkable as long adequately. Ated the problem was that at first, they treated it a little bit, but they did not treat it adequately for it to become drinking water. That was the problem in the beginning. As a result of that, the water corroded the pipes. And a you have in. You have infrastructure all around the city that is corroded which meant water was leaking in and leaking out. Now, the majority of the types are still corroded, have not replaced, and they are wondering how you can trust what are coming through these pipes that have gaping holes in them. Lead which led to the crisis, the story most people heard about. Guest yes. What we think about when we think about the city of flint is children getting poisoned by lead in their drinking water. What adds to that tragedy is there were people dying in unusually high numbers during the water crisis and those deaths are, links to the switch in water supply as well. Host mary from alabama. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have a question regarding the Residential Property values and commercial Property Value. Theuestion is, how has deadly water crisis affected Property Values . I would be reluctant to purchase. Home or business in flint can she speak to that a bit . Guest so that is actually a really important point, and it was really sad to learn throughout our reporting that residents who wanted to leave because of the water crisis who wanted to leave flint actually cant now because they cant sell their houses. So we have not reported on it very thoroughly, but i can say that we have spoken to a lot of residents who say that their Property Value has gone down, and they feel trapped in the city because nobody wants to move to the city of flint because they are scared, they have no idea if the water is safe yet. And the residents would live there who do live there are unable to sell their houses. Host we go to massachusetts next. Norman, your turn. Caller thank you for taking my call. I read a couple of items about federal culpability in the we keep the article on the flint water crisis, and i am curious if they were in your documentary. One of them was that secretary castros housing and urban Development Department was required to inspect the water but neglected to do that. Of course, i dont know if anyone was fired i am sure no one was arrested for it seems like maybe that devastation continues. The other thing mentioned in wikipedia is not a whistleblower did indeed inform the federal may, andt in april or is that of acting on it, the Obama Administration dropped his contract. Some lightcan share on those things, i would appreciate it. Thank you . Guest so, im not aware about the whistleblower who alerted the Obama Administration in the spring. I am not sure about federal agencies and what may be they failed to do. What we do know is that this outbreak and this water crisis happened at the city level and there was a county Health Department and a state Health Department responsible for taking care of the citizens of flint and they didnt do that. Host wilbert in flint, michigan. Good morning. Caller good morning. The elephant in the room, and i s group toabby investigate the fact that flints water was coming from detroit. There was nothing wrong with the water. Somethingas changed in the equation. They one of the pipeline that flint did not need, because the water from detroit was efficient. They wanted the pipeline to come the way across michigan [indiscernible] fracking. That is why the water crisis began. Host ok, you are breaking up. Let us have abby ellis jump in. Guest we have heard residents in flint and outside of flint talk about fracking and how fracking might be associated with the pipeline. They have their opinions on that , but we have not been able to look into that at all. Host bonnie in west palm beach, florida, go ahead. Caller i think we need to Start Holding these people accountable, and they should get prison time. Get that is the only thing that will get people to stop doing this. Each individual needs to report people. For some reason, people just dont want to speak up when somebody is doing something wrong. I dont know what that is all being,because as a human i cannot stand by and watch other people get hurt. Host bonnie, to your point. Abby ellis, has anyone gone to jail . Guest now, no one has gone to jail. As i mentioned, there were 15 charges, and they have since been dropped by the new attorney general. Host jeffrey matthews, North Carolina. Caller this is my problem with flint,ries of events in everyone knows that the infrastructure is falling apart in america, but still, we are wasting money trying to build a wall, giving money to farmers and we arenning, acting like infrastructure problems dont exist. Then, when we actually talk about it because i dont think flint or what is going on in new jersey is the end of this, i think it is just the beginning. I think what is going on across , ands like ohio, wisconsin minnesota, is all these infrastructure problems that exist there are all going to start coming to fruition. If we dont want to spend a dime, later on, we will spend a lot more money just to save peoples lives. I mean, weve got people calling in trying to assign blame to democrats or republicans when people are losing their lives. It doesnt matter whether they were democrats or republicans, people were trying to make additional money, that is why they got badwater in flint. I dont know how they were going to make additional money, but it all centers around money. Host abby ellis, can you take that point . Guest with infrastructure in this country, and flint did have lead pipes in the city. However, water can flow through lead pipes and be ok if it is adequately treated. In flint, specifically, the issue is that they didnt treat the water effectively. Not only that, once the pipes that are corroding, there was increasing push back from every level of government in michigan to not acknowledge the problem. One thing we can take away from flint is that the aging infrastructure, keeping that in mind, we need to be more mindful andhe treatment of water, we need to be maybe hypervigilant about if this aging infrastructure is failing it summers x due to the water not being failing, in some rest x, do to the water in some respects, due to the water not being treated adequately. Host next caller. Caller getting back to the samples taken, you test the ph, that is the first thing you do. The chlorine will not work, it is a simple thing. A swimming pool, take for instance, you have got sodium soda. Onate, baking that was supposed to be put into the plant, it wasnt. What happens, it corrodes the lead joints on the old systems. So really, all the plants, there is probably a lot of lead giants all across america. They have got to make sure lead joints all across america. These plant managers have to make sure before that you have no bacteria. She explained what happened, it was an original person who was responsible for the samples not putting the right things in to treat the water. That is my comment. Your team,ellis, what will you continue to look at in flint, michigan . Guest we will continue to investigate motive and to better even afterwhy, people were dying and people are getting sick, and it goes on for a year and a half, why the city of flint was not able to switch off the river, and what motivation may have been in play theire. We would also like to better understand, with water contamination like this that goes unannounced for so long, it is years before you understand all the health implications. So we want to learn more about what other ailments people are suffering from, and whether or not they can be linked to changes in the water supply. Host and what are you watching out for, abby ellis, on the story of the prosecution and how the government is, moving forward . Guest we are watching, just like everybody else. Like i said, the prosecutor has not giving given us anything other than her word that they will continue the investigation. But we are keeping our eye on the statue of limitations. There are a number of them, because there are a number of different charges, to see whether the charges resurface, and if they do so in the right amount of time. Host if you missed the documentary, you can now find it pbs. Org website, frontline, and the pbs video, streaming their. Abby ellis, producer and director of since deadly water flints that he water. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me. Host that is it, were out of time. Enjoy the rest of your day. Announcer live on cspan, a discussion comparing toernational terrorism violent domestic extremism, from the center for strategic and International Studies in washington, d. C. At 1 00. Later, more from campaign 2020 with democratic president ial candidate senator Elizabeth Warren. She will be speaking in new york citys Washington Square park. Live coverage starting at 00 p. M. Eastern. More from the campaign trail this evening with President Trump in real rancho, new mexico for a campaign or you can listen live on the free cspan radio app. Announcer tonight on the communicators, california representative, a cochair of the intelligence caucus, on Artificial Intelligence, and whetherurity, there needs to be more regulation. I think if we look at google and its business practices, its important to do this in a thoughtful way, and i know that the department of justice and the federal trade commission are talking about doing , and its good to look at this as investigative and make sure the companies are behaving. Im not sure that breaking them up is a good idea. These are Big Companies with a lot of employees, and if you break it up, if you can manage to do it, there will be unintended consequences. And then sula that is tonight on cspan two. That is tonight at cspan two. This is very important to me. There are people going into this. For past winners of this competition, the experience sparked their interests and documentary production. Deck of the fun part about this is i get to be right in the caucus season. Ive got to meet many and i was actually able to film some of them. We are asking students to create a documentary about the question that you want to hear candidates addressed during the campaign. This includes differing points of view. We are awarding 100,000 in total cash prizes. Be passionate and express your view matter how large or small you think the audience will receive it to be. You need to know that your view does matter. For mower information go to our website. For more information, go to our website. Announcer campaign 2020, live coverage of the president ial Campaign Candidates and make up your own mind. This is your unfiltered view of politics. Next, remarks by dr. Jill biden, wife of former Vice President joe biden. She was in dover, new hampshire, to help open a field office for the campaign there. She discussed her husbands vision for the country. This is 35 minutes. Good morning. Hello. [applause]