Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20160124 : vimarsan

Christian conservatives only. Who is your candidate and why . You are an important vote for the Republican Party. If you live in the eastern tral part of the country here are your numbers and you can also send us a tweet or go to facebook. We will take your calls in a moment. Bloombergin with this politics piece on their website. How donald trump stealing iowas evangelical vote. They reported that ted cruz jumped out in front on the strength of evangelical voters that he poached from dr. Ben carson. Donald trump has since surged back into a Competitive Position in iowa carry he is now making overt moves to take over evangelicals in iowa. Roberts university in tulsa, oklahoma and Liberty University in lynchburg, virginia. On friday, Donald Trumps campaign started a radio ad that will be playing in evangelical strongholds. Featuring a portion of his speech by gary falwell junior, the president of Liberty University delivered to the students. Its as faithbased voters are traditionally an important component of the Iowa Republican caucus vote. This month, 57 of likely Republican Caucus goers said they attend church at least once a week. , half december addition identified themselves as evangelical christians. Take a look at what Jerry Falwell junior had to say. On monday he was on rocks. He spoke on Sean Hannitys show and he compared donald trump to his father as a generous man. Do note are things you hear about donald trump because he comes across as a tough businessman. It reminds me so much of my father. My father would make politically incorrect statements all of those years and in real life and in his personal relationships with people. He gave away so many scholarships to students at liberty, he almost bankrupted this goal. He was always giving away scholarships. Here is one thing people did not know about your dad. The limousine story is interesting. A couple stopped to help him and he paid off their mortgage. People would say ok, she had the money to do it but there are a lot of wealthy people who dont do things like that. Trump60 minutes, donald was watching a report of a maytag plant that moved out of iowa into mexico. The three companies in that report, he actually searched them out. They were about to go out of business because maytag left. He found ways to buy products from those companies for his hotels to keep them in business. He gave money to his local Dominos Pizza restaurant so they could buy cheese and bread and stay in business. Those are things the world needs to know about donald trump. The bible says by their deeds you will know them. He may not be up the illogical expert theological expert, but when you look at the fruits of his life and the people to whom he has provided job, that is a true test of someones christianity. That was gary falwell junior talking about donald trump who spoke at Liberty University trying to court the Christian Conservative vote. Were asking Christian Conservatives this morning. Who is your candidate . He just tweeted out yesterday when he was in iowa just left a great event, going to Church Tomorrow in iowa. Robert is a Christian Conservative in pennsylvania. Good morning to you. Who is your candidate . Support donaldo trump. I was a supporter of ross perot years ago. I do not think our twoparty system is serving us. I do not want donald trump to be a thirdparty candidate that i do think this could start something and both parties have been leading us badly the last few years and i think donald trump could get things done. Greta people talk about him being married three times. He says has bible is his Favorite Book but when pressed to name his favorite verse, he cannot. What you make of all that . If we can look in the other direction who disgraced this country in the white house for infidelities and sexual harassment, i think we can look the other direction for a few things that donald trump has done. Greta robert, do you go to church every week . No. I am not that devout of a catholic anymore. I am christian. Greta do you consider yourself a Christian Conservative . What issues are important to you . Yes. Starting with our International Viewpoint as far as how other countries look at us, we have been doing nothing but talking our tale between our legs and leading from behind. I think that is important that our allies respect us and our enemies fear us. If we do not change that around, our enemies will take big wax at us in the future. Greta what you make of donald trump saying yesterday in iowa i could shoot someone and not lose votes . Is a comment on his popularity. I dont think that is a remark regarding actually shooting someone. The beatles said they are bigger then jesus christ and no one held that against them. I think that is just a statement of how popular he is. Greta ok. How old are you and what you do for a living . Im 54. I am disabled. I was a machinist for many years. Thanks for having me. Greta here is Time Magazine with their story about Christian Conservatives, republicans trying to get their vote. Why donald trump is winning over this group of people. Nationalrts this polls suggest that donald trump has forged real connections with this voting block. In a recent survey, the front runner earned the support of 42 of evangelicals. Including his top rival, senator ted cruz who garnered 25 . In january nbc news survey also showed Donald Trumps deepest support among white evangelicals. Everly is a Christian Conservative in baton rouge, louisiana. Tell us who your candidate is. My candidate is ted cruz. I am not against donald trump. I think we oh him a debt of to spur people to want to make change. He is right about protecting our borders and about keeping people vett we cannot that from coming into the country. I am against people coming into the country until we know where these they had. Has madesan bernardino a lot of people think about donald trump. Here are other issues i will vote for donald trump if he is the candidate. I will vote for any republican. Greta prolife is the most important issue for you right now. It definitely is. You cannot murder babies to get prosperity. Prosperity is not worth the life of one baby. I think that is where a lot of evangelicals stand and why we are voting for who we are voting for. Because of that issue. You have to be truthfully for that issue. Moore on thissell program earlier this week and he what evangelical Christian Conservatives are looking for in these kennedy. Take a listen. Human dignityt to and that includes the dignity of the unborn, protection for the unborn, prolife issue is still a major issue for evangelicals and our allies. We have many evangelicals showing up in the Nations Capital this week for the march or life. Is a major commitment for evangelicals. And then a concern for religious liberty. That is something that we previously take for granted because it had a bipartisan consensus this iraq consensus for basic protection. Divideshad cultural war. Of thethe president Southern Baptist convention, dr. Russell moore was on our program this week. He was in washington for the march for life. We will go to phyllis in mount pleasant, pennsylvania. We are speaking only to Christian Conservatives this morning. I want to say i enjoy your program. My question is, i would like to Ask Donald Trump if he made a donation to Liberty University to get there endorsement . Greta you saw it as an endorsement . A lot of candidates speak there but you took it as an endorsement . I did not see any other candidate have such a big rally with sarah palin and with the liberty connection that he did. Separaterah palin was from the Liberty University speech. Im sorry. I see all of the big connection. I see it all playing together. Greta that is what the daily caller put together. This piece. Why sarah palins endorsement for donald trump could matter and they say that first is momentum. With this endorsement, donald trump has hijacked another media site two weeks before i went iowans go to vote. That could benefit donald trump to the detriment of ted cruz seemed to have them would the momentum in iowa before sarah palin. For some godforsaken reason, a contingent of evangelicals and conservatives still trust sarah palin even though her influence has steadily faded. Iowa may be a state where her influence still remains at least marginally significant. Let us go to marry in michigan. Mary in michigan. Who is your candidate . I am not sure yet. Greta what issues are important to you . What i was going to say is that you quoted donald trump. You forgot the first part. That the paper stated, if i were to choose someone i wanted you to correct that. Thank you. Greta let me read the story with the headline from politico. He said i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot someone and i would not lose any votes. It is incredible. Comment was met with some laughter in the crowd. Urgedo that he also vote in the iowa caucus. He said it doesnt make any difference if you are sick, or having a fight with your spouse, you must caucus. Who is your candidate . I am definitely undecided but i cannot believe that evangelicals could possibly support a man that has been divorced three times, supports prolife. Hows boggling my mind people are getting behind this guy. On the prolife side, if you are a prolife supporter, unless you have adopted a handicapped minority kid, then you have no right to complain about women making a choice. Adopt. Stand on your principles. A guy who talks about prosperity and you have money, go out and adopt them kids. Make them minority and handicapped. Greta were talking with Christian Conservatives, and important voting bloc for any republican running for president. Who is your candidate and why . Screen. Nes are on your if you are a Christian Conservative in the early voting states, dial in as well. Eastern part of the country and mountain pacific. Here is a recent story in the Washington Post. Dr. Ben carson has died in the National Polls in support with evangelical voters. This is from december of last year. It says his vote fell seven Percentage Points in just one month. Poll, carson was virtually tied with donald trump at 23 . Carsons campaign has struggled to prove his understanding of National Security and foreign policy. Who has been believed by support of social conservatives his support among evangelical christians appears to be eroding. Conservativesite is down from 32 . His support seems to have siphoned the bulk of those voters. Christian conservatives only this morning. We will get to more of your whole. Called. First, James Pindell is joining us to talk about the race in New Hampshire. Let us begin with yesterdays event. Most of themdates, gathered for a town hall in nashua. What did they tell New Hampshire voters . Jeh johnson this is part of their final pitch. Who is a group of folks would pay 40 to see president ial candidates that they could see any week for free. Some of these are the elite in the party. For a lot of these folks, it was a final argument to the cspan trying to influence any undecided voters. The weird dynamic last night, all day yesterday, this was supposed to be the center of the political universe. Cspan was there. We had a lot of National Media there. Seven president ial candidates. Was all in the room about donald trump, a person who was not there and who has been leading in the polls in New Hampshire since july and the latebreaking news about Michael Bloomberg and the dynamic that would half. You saw in this speech is there was a lot of conversation not there was other and some conversation about themselves but you heard a lot from jeb bush in particular or Carly Fiorina about why it is not donald trump. Why it should not be Michael Bloomberg. And why it should be them. You saw that in their speeches all day. It was a weird thing. It was supposed to be the center of the political universe but we were talking about two new york alien heirs that were not in the room. Billionaires that were not in the room. Greta why was donald trump not there . November,october or the state party chair, jennifer horn, told the boston globe that she did not think donald trump would be the nominee. He did she did not think he would win the pole. She said that because she did not think New Hampshire voters would pick someone who was voiced risk and who did not boisterous and who did not have a lot of substance. He was offended by that. He organized an effort to have her removed from office. The Republican Party chair has to be neutral by the bylaws. I spoke with them yesterday. I do not feel i need to make money for the state Republican Party, particularly this chairwoman. I do not feel the need to fill a room. If i showed up, there would be a huge audience to listen to seven other candidates. The interesting thing is that he will go to the same hotel, the same location on friday and he is hoping he will have a lot bigger of an audience in the 700 or so that showed up yesterday. We are eight days away from the voting that will begin in iowa followed by New Hampshire. The Des Moines Register endorsing Hillary Clinton and marco rubio, senator from florida on the republican side. Does that impact New Hampshire . James you have to argue it separately. The Des Moines Register has a it comes tod when endorsements. How much momentum it actually gives. Did did nod to john edwards and that did give him a lot of momentum. It made him an option for a lot of undecided democrats. In both races though, this editorial could make a decision for them. For iowa caucusgoers. The democratic contest is so in a and neck. The republican contest is also an and neck but we are not sure what will happen in third place. The third place in iowa really does matter, a heckuva lot. In New Hampshire, you have an establishment lane. A dozen candidates. A dozen republican candidates. Be sure to divide them up into three links to see who makes the final. The establishment lane. The conservative link, ted cruz. The outside lane, donald trump. The establishment lane in New Hampshire is stuck. Bush,ve marco rubio, jeb john kasich, and Chris Christie and they are all clustered around 10 . If you add them up together, they are a formidable first place but they are split up. Iowa canens in iowa, tell New Hampshire i think this is the establishment lane candidate we should look at. That could be an important signal to New Hampshire. If marco rubio or Chris Christie or jeb bush are not that clear candidate. Greta who is leading in the polls right now in New Hampshire . James donald trump and everyone else. He has been leading since july. His lead is about 20 points and some polls. One poll out this week showed him about 20 points. The race for second is fascinating. It has been changing. Ted cruz is in second place right now. John kasich. Ith depends on the poll you look at. I think ted cruz will end up in second place if he wins the Iowa Caucuses. New hampshire is not a ted cruz kind of state. You can make an argument that there are so many candidates running in second place is around 18 , ted cruz would be the choice out of five conservatives and he has consolidated them. John kasich is on the rise right now in terms of the establishment lane. And that is what is making it interesting about that Des Moines Register endorsement. Marco rubio has been in second place for quite a while in New Hampshire. Basicallyh has got nothing going on in iowa. We will see how that plays out. Greta is he the dark horse to watch . James john kasich. Out of nowhere, he has come up in the polls. Bush and his super pac is on thending john kasich airways so someone thinks he israel. Greta we appreciate your time as always. Let us get back to calls. Felicia in des moines, iowa. Who is your candidate . Jeb bush. Greta why . Of the candidates, i believe i know exactly where hes hands in his christian values. I would also like to say that any christian who is supporting donald trump, the same man who said he never has had to ask god for forgiveness. He has been married for three times. He had an affair on his first wife. How can he say he does not have to ask for forgiveness . Point, everyone in their life has to ask god for forgiveness. So i do not see how true conservatives can support him. About the true life people, prolife people, i consider myself one. They do not want to help anyone after they have their child, they only want to make sure that they had them. Say that jeba, you bush because you are confident that he is the only one you know is solid in his faith. Why not senator ted cruz who has made his faith a front and center issue of his campaign or why not dr. Ben carson . Both of them preach too much hate and you cannot be a conservative with all of that hate in your hearts. You cannot spew that against american citizens. Greta that is an argument that Governor John Kasich makes. Why not him . I do like john kasich and he speaks a lot of truth but i just do not know if he can take what he did in a state and actually turn it into something that happens throughout the United States. All of these governors who say i got it done in that state. Things lot easier to get done in your state when you are the leader in your state and people follow you. It is a whole lot different to get congress to Work Together to help you pass bills. We see that with this president obama. Greta that is the exact argument that the Ohio Governor made when he was in New Hampshire yesterday at the town hall event that we covered here on cspan. Take a look at his argument to New Hampshire voters. John kasich do we have Serious Problems . We do. Are they solvable . There is no doubt. I think it is easier to solve these problems when you are positive about the ability to get them done then when you are moping about where we are. Why might i feel that way . Thatis it that i have seen causes me to be optimistic about the future . Was the only republican in america to defeat an incumbent democrat and i ran in 1982 at a very downtime. I think we lost 26 seats in the United States house of representatives and reagan lost his working majority. In 1982, i was elected running on the reagan agenda. In thereagan came in election of 1980. You remember his famous line it is morning in america. It was morning in america and i was there and worked with Ronald Reagan to see this country reach new heights, new strengths, new optimism. It did not happen overnight but it happened. Americas confidence, spirit, and our strength was restored because of Ronald Reagan. And i was there to see it. I was there when Ronald Reagan was able this it down with tip oneill, and be able to strengthen our Social Security program. Oh yeah, everyone says they were great friends. They were not great friends. They were irishmen who liked to have a drink. Nothing unusual about that that they decided that they were americans before they were anything else. That program was in so much trouble. They did not fix it forever because we will have to fix it again but they worked together to get it done. Greta ohio Governor John Kasich yesterday in New Hampshire who is starting to rise in the polls in the granite state. The state that will go second in this nominating contest. We covered yesterdays event with the other republican candidates, part of our road to the white house coverage. That can use today with donald. Rump in iowa he will be holding a rally there and talking with his supporters and we will have coverage here on cspan. Time as welltern as on cspan. Org. He tweeted out that the are that event, he will be going to church. We are asking Christian Conservatives only this morning, who is your candidate . Onnie is in riverton, i am a christian first and an american second and i will always be an american. I am voting for donald trump. Greta tell us why. Beatcause he does not around the bush. He says what he does and he says what he means. Hillary clinton lies to everybody and she has gotten away with it. I do not understand. Greta bonnie, what about we have heard from some collars who say how can you trust donald trump who was once prochoice, he has been married three times, one collar says he does not think he needs to ask for forgiveness. As a Christian Conservative those other the people that want to put him down. I do not believe all of that. I watch the news continuously since the election. I believe we need to have somebody that is going to do something and it is not the republicans because they are changing. They are just about as big the liars as the democrats. It is tiresome. Greta for you, it is about his ability to win the white house over a democrat, it sounds like. Well, he could. Greta do you think donald trump is a man of faith . I do. Greta tell us why. Well, because i just do. State that a lot of things that christians do but it does not mean he is not a christian. As long as he prays to god and he asked the lord jesus to take him under his wing, he is a christian. We wont any of us know until we are in heaven whether that ever happened or not. In harrisburg, pennsylvania. Judy, youre next. The only one i would support is ted cruz. Most republicans i cannot vote for because they are basically democrats. If you look at ted cruz, the democrats hate him, the media hates him, the gop establishment hates him. That tells me he is doing something right and that sounds stupid because that would not be the only basis that i would vote follow but i actually these politicians. I Pay Attention to the way they vote. I Pay Attention to their record. Ted cruz has been consistent. Is a total flip flopper. I remember him standing on the stage in the gang of eight. Rand paul, i really liked everything and that he supported Mitch Mcconnell for reelection. You have to watch these people, not just their soundbites and slogans that actually Pay Attention to what they do. The only one who will cut government is ted cruz. The only one i truly believe. Greta let me ask you, christian servative, where does where do your christian beliefs fall in your priorities when you are choosing a candidate . Is it behind cutting the government . Is it first . Mybelieve regarding belief regarding i am a christian first. Jesus is my lord. That is the only king i have. As for a political leader, i want to know that they had a bahing they could be they they could be a jew, could be a buddhist. I want to know they have something that informs their faith. Something that they are based on. I do not look for a spiritual leader and chief, i am looking for someone to lead the country. They have to have principles. Greta first, they have to be a person of faith. Donald trump says he is a presbyterian. Donald trump says he has never asked for forgiveness. Everybody needs to ask for forgiveness. That in itself tells me he is a liar because you cannot be a christian who has never asked for forgiveness. Greta ok. Sean in missoula, montana. Much areyou very having me on. Youlittle perplexed asked for conservative christians and one of the Biggest Challenges of being a conservative christian is to follow the bible. The bible says judge not that youd not be judged. He whoalso says has not sinned, cast the first stone. That i admirengs about donald trump is he owns it. Has done something wrong, key owns it. He tells the truth. When they asked him embarrassing questions about filing for bankruptcys and different things, he has owned it and he says i have done what everyone else has done. I have used the government for my own advantage. I would much rather someone get haveere and say i abused the system or i have the system. Becauserofited greatly of loopholes in the system. I am where i am that because i am smart. I have trained well. Thingsthe rest of the that he says. The fact that he is telling it like it is. Greta that means more to you. As a christian, you are not judging him . Absolutely not. Greta we will get more calls from Christian Conservatives as we continue our talk sunday morning. Joining us from iowa is james lynch, a Political Writer for the gazette. Eight days to go until that state goes to the caucasus. How were the candidate using their time and how much do these last eight days matter in iowa . James they are busy. To move using the time across the state and back. I think it matters because if you look at most polls, going tendseveral cycles, iowans to make their decision late. Especially on the republican side, there are so many candidates. ,hen i talk to a lot of people they say they have a short list. 23. From the caucuses and they are still trying to decide among three candidates. Then what does that mean when you look at polls . Could the polls be wrong . Donald trump is in the lead, ted cruzs neck and neck. Could they be wrong . James short. A couple of years ago, Rick Santorum was in the Single Digits less than two weeks before the caucuses and ended up winning. Wrong or ituld be could be that people change their mind in the final days before the caucus. I was just looking at one pole here and it says only about 6 of republicans say they are not i go back to what people tell me at these events that they are trying to decide among think whoidates and i they are sure of today may not be the same on february 1. Greta it matters who turns out for the caucuses. Who has the best ground game in iowa to get people out and to the caucuses . Is a good question and there is a lot of debate about that. Say ted cruz is winning in that regard now that his campaign has come on strong in organizing people. He is getting help from some of the groups who are sort of backing him either formally or informally. For example, the leader of the Christian Conservative group. It has not endorsed him but the leadership has. They are very organized in getting people to the caucuses. That helps ted cruz. I would say that he is meeting with homeschoolers around the state. They are usually very active in the caucuses. They take their civics seriously and they turn out. He is getting some help in that way. It is always one of those things that you have to wait until caucus night to see who has the best ground game. The people involved in running ground games in iowa have done this before. They know how to do it. It comes back on the candidate and whether or not they motivate people. You can make all of the phone calls and knock on the doors and do those rings but if the candidate is not motivating people, they will not show up. Greta let me ask you about endorsements. We are going to ask our viewers if endorsements matter. The Des Moines Register has endorsed marco rubio and Hillary Clinton. Sarah palin was in iowa to endorse donald trump and ted with himglenn beck yesterday for that endorsement. Does this sway iowa voters . Yes but how much it sways them i question. In the case of sarah palin, i have not heard a lot of people say they wished she was running but donald trump won that new cycle with that endorsement. With a lot of these endorsements, i question the impact because iowans see these candidates and get to ask them questions repeatedly. For the last year we have been seeing these candidates. Dont know if they are looking for a newspaper or a person to endorse someone. It is not a general election where people have not seen the candidates. And they are looking for guidance. I am not sure how much it moved the needle when the Des Moines Register or sarah palin or glenn. Eck greta we will wait and find out. James lynch, what does the weather looks like for february 1 . James colts. Cold. It is safe to say that. It is winter here so we expect that. Greta thanks for your time. More on the Des Moines Registers endorsement here. The one on Hillary Clinton, the editors write this the presidency is not an entrylevel position. Must him and straight a deep understanding of the issues affecting america but also show the skills that allow the president to forge alliances to get things done. She is not the perfect candidate in the way she handled the email server. When she makes a mistake she should just say so. She has yet ton embrace. Their import their endorsement of marco rubio. He has the potential to charter a new direction for the party. Senator showed policy detail, reeling off four point plans a policy issues. They go on to write this about marco rubio. The Editorial Board also values the executive experience, pragmatism of Chris Christie, jeb bush, and john kasich. Most republicans are not interested in rewarding a good resume this year. Followed the lead of his colleague and really missed a vote in the senate. He has many questions to answer if he is going to unite the party factions. We are hearing from one of those factions this morning, Christian Conservatives. Who is your candidate . Ted from south carolina. Good morning. We are definitely looking forward to our primary because it will end up being so important after iowa and New Hampshire. I have pretty much settled on ted cruz and a matter of fact, i have started making phone calls for him this past week from his headquarters. Greta what motivated you to get out and start making calls for him . Most voters and a lot of your callers, i do not listen to a word that the candidates say during the campaign. Their ads. None of that. Most of them promise things they cannot deliver on anyway. If you look at several decades of elections and what we got after the elections were over. Of time on this. I am a retired air force officer, vietnam veteran and have been working in campaigns since 1972 in five different states. I have a pretty good handle on how to judge candidates. I do it solely on records. I keep track of all of these people for years. Ed cruz i have met him i have met several candidates but i have met him and his father who is a baptist preacher. A wonderful man. It gave me some comfort with that because he has that heritage. Had a luncheon with him in ohio this summer at a convention and i watched him work the crowd, a small group and i listened to him talk to people, old and young. I got a good Comfort Level with him. Greta let me ask you. His christian values or any candidates christian values, first and foremost to you and if so, what is next . Absolutely not. Their religious faith other than if they belong to a strange cult or Something Like that means absolutely nothing to me. We are not electing a pastor in chief. It is a political decision. I would prefer even having someone with military experience with none of the candidates this year do. Then i have to look at someone who i believe will listen to the advice of his joint cheese and other military joint chiefs and other military advisers. I think ted cruz would do that. Greta you like his position on isis . It mirrors my own feelings about it. I could be even more hardline because i do not have to suffer political consequences of making public statements that would turn off some voters. Greta why not donald trump . Oh my goodness. You do not have time. Fanve been a donald trump for his blowing up i consider myself more of an independent conservative than a republican. Donald trump has served his purpose up to now by creating me, hemoil he has but to has now served that purpose and i would be happy to have him leave the stage. Greta that is ted. Christian conservative in south carolina. Let us hear from cindy in florida. Hello. I am definitely all for donald trump. Greta tell us why. Feel being proud to be an american again. That is very important to me. Our country really needs that, especially at this time. Greta what about concerns that you may have heard from our previous viewers, Christian Conservatives who are saying that he once supported abortion, he has been liberal on other issues, social issues, and they do not trust him. He has been married three times. Does that bother you at all and if not, why not . It does not bother me. There have been plenty of candidates that have gone back and forth on this on these issues. It will never come to a time where a woman could not make that choice. It may not be my choice but that is my right as an american. Where does your Christian Faith fall in your priorities of choosing a candidate . Like the other callers said we are not calling electing a minister. Donald trump makes me feel proud to be american again. I think with going into the white house and having his aid that can help him make the best decision for our country, i think he will make the best decision for our country because we have not had that. But howo judgment here come to give viewers context, do you go to church every week . Yes. Greta stacy in alabama. The morning. How are you doing . Greta doing well. Who is your candidate . Donald trump. I am a delegate. If you look up the gop website, i and there. Out of a dead sleep. Trump jumped up, i immediately carried my money to the party and i signed up as a delegate immediately. Donald trump is the most amazing kennedy and the best opportunity we have ever had by far in the United States to get to make America Great again. Greta what about concerns with his faith . You do not have any . No, i think Jerry Falwell son made a point. You look at the fruits of what people do. Research ona lot of donald trump. He has done a lot of good things. He hit on some of those as well. He is running because he doesnt care he care about american values. He wants america to stay america. He wants people to speak english as a language. I think we will lose america if we do not have donald trump. He is awesome. Greta how old are you and what you do for a living . 47. Am a state corrections officer. Greta have you ever called into the show . Never have. I was just watching this morning and i thought i would go ahead. Firsttime caller. I appreciate the opportunity and i appreciate what you are doing. It is good ask people different questions but i have no doubt in my mind that donald trump has the conservative values, christian values and i think just because he makes a mistake on the bible, you have to judge him and being married multiple times is bad. I have not seen him marry a man. Greta firsttime caller. Thanks for calling in. Frank in west virginia. Good morning to you. Would like tol, i say that im going to vote for ted cruz in the primary and i will vote for whoever is against hillary in the general. Having said that, i do not have any faith in Donald Trumps christianity but i do think he will do a lot to restore the nation to a place where christianity can thrive. In the last several years, i believe there has been a war and a movement against christianity and in favor of islam. Normally, i would not consider donald trump because of the values that he held on many issues not long ago. Evolvebarack obama can from being against homosexual it, possiblye for donald trump has evolved to the positions he says he holds today. Greta how old are you frank and what you do for a living . I am 66 and retired. Greta what did you do . Construction for many years and then i worked for walmart in a warehouse. Greta have you always been a republican . Since i started thinking. Greta we will leave it there. We will take a short break but when we return, we will talk to paul singer about recent republican investigations into Hillary Clintons email, planned parenthood, and the president s executive exact executive action on immigration. And then we will go to flint, michigan to get an update on the water situation in that state. As i have been watching the campaign this year, it is far more interesting to look at the republicans than the democratic side. That may have something to do with why there is more interest in these candidates and their books. Tonight, on q a, carlos lozada, Nonfiction Book critic for the Washington Post, discusses books written by the 2016 president ial candidates. Many have interesting stories in their lives. Politicians who are so singleminded in their pursuit of power and ideology could have particularly interesting ones but when they put out these memoirs, they are sanitized. They are vetted. They are there for a minimum controversy. Tonight at 8 00 on cspans q a. Monday night on the communicators, Washington Post National Technology reporter craig timber joins us from Stanford University in california to discuss a series of articles for the post regarding security to examine the internet, and why security play such a small role and what cyber issues face users today. Forevernsumers, we are thingsg choosing other than security. Speed, performance, features. Security, is somewhere between 510 on the list of the priorities of most software developers. They will tell you that security and Security Experts say that security does not pay. Washington journal continues. Mr. Paul singer at our table. I want to show our viewers the headline. Probes on key political issues. What are they investigating and of course, what is the impact of this leading into november . Some of these investigations spot from others. Three caught my eye. Year, the of last House Republicans decided to create a special committee, a subcommittee to investigate planned parenthood. They call it the task force on infant lies. The allegations, there were some undercover videos shot that suggested that planned parenthood was selling tissue from abortions for profit. Planned parenthood argued that they do no such thing and they changed their policies to clarify that but the investigation is just getting up and running in house of representatives. That is one of them. They are hiring staff for that. The two new ones they announced in january the first one is an investigation, the task force on executive overreach. This is out of the Judiciary Committee. The whole point is to get at the question of whether president obama has extended his power beyond his constitutional right and taken away power from the congress. I will say that the republicans are clear that it is not just president obama that other president s have also extended the reach of the white house and extended the authority of the white house but they say it has accelerated under president obama. The last investigation is the Health Science committee is taken over the investigation of Hillary Clintons email. The Benghazi Committee found she had this private email. The Science Committee is coming at it saying they have jurisdiction over the federal governments standards for cyber security. They are asking the providers, the company that provided Data Security for Hillary Clintons email to come in and talk about whether they meet the government standards. To be their track on the Hillary Clinton email scandal. Greta earlier this week on the washington journal, we spoke with the man behind those planned parenthood videos. Followed our program, the Vice President of one of the reproductive Rights Groups and so if you missed that conversation, go to our website, cspan. Org. This is what House Republicans are doing. Are there is similar investigations on the senate side . Paul part of this is a division between the house in the senate and what they see as their roles for 2016. In the house, speaker hall ryan has made it clear that the republicans are going to set the agenda and create the agenda for republicans nationally running for office. They have an entire plan set out to come up with an agenda on National Security. Come up with an agenda on Economic Security and in fact, one of the agenda items they will look into is the executive overreach or protecting the constitution. Issuesre fundamental that will play a large role in the president ial campaign and in the house and Senate Campaigns going on across the country. It is clear that the house plans to do it this year. The senate is different. They have toll extend a tenuous hold on the majority in the u. S. Senate. They are much less assured of maintaining the majority next year. They have to be careful about what vote they take. They have to be more careful about what votes they take. We do expect republicans in the senate to move spending bills and try to get the government appropriations process going. A big budget bill possible. Some unique and specific issues. I do not think you will see them trying to do the same kind of broad agenda that the house is doing because frankly, they are in a position where they have republican senators running in traditionally Democratic State for reelection and they have to be careful to not alienate the voters in november. Tota paul singer here today talk about all of these investigations, planned planned parenthood funding, Hillary Clintons email address and server as well as the investigations into president obamas executive actions. We will take your questions on those. Phone lines are on your screen. You can also send us a tweet if youd like at cspan. Org. This week on use nation, makers, we sat down with Jeanne Shaheen and we asked her about Hillary Clintons emails. Heres what she had to say. How concern are you about the continuing investigation into her email, and the continuing benghazi investigation on capitol hill affecting her candidacy . On benghazi, im on the Foreign Relations committee and the Armed Service committee. I have sat through multiple hearings on benghazi. We saw her testify for 11 hours before the house committee. I think she answered those questions and persuaded americans that this has been a witchhunt that has been all about politics. On the email, shes acknowledged that she should have she wish she had made a better choice, but as Bernie Sanders says, i think the public is sick of hearing about the emails. I think they want to hear about what is Hillary Clinton . What are all the candidates going to do to address the very real challenges that we face . How are we going to make sure that families have good opportunities for themselves and for their kids . That we have good jobs, that people can make sure that they can have a life where they can support their families and send their kids to College Without incurring all kinds of debt . How do we make sure that women get equal pay for the works that they do, that people can count on retirement . And benefits that we have health care . So i think thats what people want to hear about. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016]] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] host senator Jeanne Shaheen, the democrat from New Hampshire. Our guest on newsmakers will air today here on cspan. Paul singer, a democrat from New Hampshire has endorsed here. What do you make of her answer . Guest well, senator shaheen said that people want to move past Hillary Clintons emails. Bernie sanders said the same thing on stage. I dont think thats true. Well, let me rephrase that. Its not true for the republicans. They would love to continue talking about this issue. If nothing else, it requires Hillary Clinton to continue answering questions on this topic. Did you make a mistake . She said probably in hindsight, she shouldnt have done it this way. Then theres a series of questions that come from that. Was it intentional . What were you trying to do . And every time she gets into this conversation, it bogs her and her campaign down. Theyre not talking about what they want to be talking about. Yeah, i dont know whether theres a smoking gun out there and the Science Committee investigation of literally the National Institute of Science Technology standards for government computers. Like really . But there are a series of questions that will still require responses from Hillary Clintons campaign, will still get them an opportunity to talk about did she do something wrong . And that is the House Republicans subcommittee thats investigating her emails and how they were used. Guest they are setting this thing up and you have to assume the reason to set this up is to push that dialogue through the election season. Host where she testify before the committee . Guest no idea. Host what about the Benghazi Special committee . Guest they were all about enghazi. Did we do enough to protect our american citizens on the ground there . And the chairman said i dont intend this to be about the email and this is his way of off loading that issue about somebody else. Let lamar smith to take on the email question. That gives the Benghazi Committee to go back to their conversation about were the right policies being made . Were the response appropriate . Host lets get to calls. Ron, a democrat. Youre up first here for paul singer. Caller good morning to both of you and thank you for making me time to get in there this morning. Host absolutely. Caller greta, first a request from you and maybe you can request to brian lamb. When you have open phones in the morning, thats like an email or facebook. You know, when you read those constantly from the same people and then maybe when you have a guest on, you could not take so thatthe 30day delay we could get in the phone calls with guests. And to your guest, why is it that when the democrats are in charge, they do not take and go after republicans for starting the war on a lie and dont investigate Vice President or the president s chief of staff and things that they did and the emails that they had to the chief of staff and we all know about benghazi. That was the c. I. A. Outpost and theres things that the public will never know until the freedom of information act kicks in. And as far as her emails go, it nown that clone Powell Colin Powell and susan rice has a minimal of hers. Guest it is true. The rules were changing and there were guy dance being sent that they should no longer have these personal emails where the discussion comes on was Hillary Clintons email set up appropriate at the time . As far as the investigations go, when it first came up, a little bill was it was henry waxman, a democrat who was the chairman of the Oversight Committee when george w. Bush was in office and there was a huge dustup over basically the same thing, of government officials using either private emails or as i recall, it was emails operated by the Republican National committee. Were they doing official business over these emails . Theres a whole battle over how much of this could be subpoenaed . Could congress get their hands on these emails . It went on for months and months. So believe me, the party in power whether its democrats or republicans at any given time, if there is a white house of the opposite party, that is the job to some degree of the Oversight Committee in the house is to pester the president of the other party. Its not true that democrats never investigate similar thing. Host from a twitter. And they wonder why congress is esteemed so little as they pursue witch hunting investigations. Could this backfire . Guest yeah, but backfire in what sense . Congress has Approval Ratings in the teens. So, yes. This could backfire and congressional Approval Rating could drop the nines or the eights or the sevens. But ultimately, what you are doing and ill say against the republicans. They argue were not going to stop doing oversight simply because theres an election year. And if you believe, as i think its fair to say, a lot of the Republican Party believes and even possibly some democrats. If you believe that president obama has extended his executive authority beyond his constitutional limitations, then theres nothing inappropriate about investigating that. I think where the republicans call themselves into some criticism is when they headline an investigation not, you know, constitutional balance of powers between thehouse and the congress. But they headline their investigation executive overreach. Host mike in new york. Independent. Youre next. Caller thank you so much for taking me. Thank you, mr. Singer. Thank you. I have two comments and one question. I am a physician and discussing the planned parenthood issue. So i am prochoice. But the events that transpired with the tapes and the i dont know how to put it, the lack of interest by the u. S. Press and the lack of interest by president obama to kind of investigate this really was troublesome to me. That the fact that Something Like this might be happening. Reallyselling body parts should be a serious thing and should be investigated. I as a physician received an email and i dont know if it was a legitimate email but it was actually people selling am any yachtic membrane for 50 off. And i would like to ask your guest whether he thinks there was adequate coverage and really , you know, concern by the president. I really didnt hear him talk about it very much. It wasnt a matter of funding or not but that organization with people in it that are doing such things. This is really serious. And secondly host ok. Guest secondly, the benghazi thing, i think we can make the mistake and not send enough people to recollect protect the embassy but the real question was like watergate. Did you cover something up after the fact when you made the mistake . When things like that happen and three or other families in benghazi saying that ms. Clinton said there was a video, thats concerning. Host all right, mike. Got your point. Guest those thats two different conversations, obviously. The planned parenthood issue, there has been some significant investigation in congress. Needless to say, this becomes quicksand very quickly. We dont we dont know exactly how the tapes were made. We dont know exactly what was on all the tapes. I am not an expert in this issue. I have not spent hours investigating all these tapes because its not really my department. It is very clear what was said on those tapes was troubling and disconcerting and suggested illegal activity. The question what we dont know is was there actual illegal activity and whos investigating that . We know that congress is trying to get to the bottom of this. We know they have a committee set up to look into this. I dont think its inappropriate to look into that. I think particularly if you have an organization that does have a great deal of federal funds traveling through services that they provide, medical services that they provide. Its a fair question to ask did something inappropriate really go into that organization . So my understanding is that that is something the government is looking into and should be looking into. President obama hasnt spoken much about it. I believe thats true. Im not sure he would. Its not clear to me if hes going to get involved in such a thing, particularly when its a dispute whether the person who is making the video, even the democrats want to make the argument that the person who is making the video did something improper also. Maybe they registered an improper nonprofit organization. Its a very murky issue. None of this is black and white. Thats issue one. The benghazi thing, you get into a conversation about the talking points and i think this is the weaker position honestly for republicans. Because now youre no longer asking the question was the protection on the ground in snogs did the secretary of state at the time Hillary Clinton somehow cut back on security at the facility there . Hose are all perfectly valid questions. And then all youre asking is in those few days, theres a couple of weeks period, was she saying something that was not true . Verifybly untrue . And it was within a week or two, the story had changed into something that we think was verifybly true. So, again, now youre talking about was the description of the issue in a very brief window of time inaccurate and intentionally inaccurate and its a different question and whether policy questions that the secretary of state was involve that was in danger to americans. Host lets go to joe. Caller i am Christian Conservative who is voting for Bernie Sanders. So lets chalk that up. Host ok. Caller and i would like to chime in. The congressional investigations are political theater. What really matter is when the d. O. J. Gets in and we can look at things like, you know, facts. And what ms. Clinton has done through the myriad of this onths topics. I sure wish that planned parenthood would just have a legitimate f. B. I. Investigation along with benghazi quite frankly. But what are your comments on that . Guest one of the things that have happened in american politics is i think everybody has lost faith in any kind of notion of an unbiased judiciary r an unbiased Law Enforcement. And it used to be the eyes of investigating will get to the bottom of this. Now the response is oh, yeah, but its obamas f. B. I. Or its bushs f. B. I. Or how come they didnt investigate chaney . You know, we have lost as a nation any confidence in the notion that Law Enforcement will be impartial and nonpartisan. Even sofa investigation comes out and conclude that Hillary Clinton did not break the law, i can sawyer you it happens before the election, that republicans will say that that is a white washed job by the f. B. I. And by the same toning, if there is some criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton, it does turn up something that was a crime, democrats will be arguing its because somehow, republicans did this whole thing up. And in their base, that is a legitimate answer. I agree. My view of the whole thing is im a lot more interested in what Law Enforcement turns up than what Congress Turns up because i dont have a whole lot of faith, certainly that congress is going on this as nonpartisan fashion but im afraid that a Law Enforcement investigation is not enough to put anything to rest. Host what is the time line . Do we know for the f. B. I. . Guest no idea. Some of these investigations are likely to wrap up oh, i dont know, sometime between now and the elections. For instance, its the Judiciary Committee on the executive overreach. I believe that has sixmonth time line. So right around the time the convention, theyll come out with a report saying that president obama probably took too much power away from congress. Host and at the same time, the Supreme Court is supposed to rule on the executive action on immigration . Guest right, yeah. So well have plenty to talk about this summer. Theres no doubt. Theres no end of this conversation, particularly during a political year. Host from bristol, a democrat. Hi. Caller good morning. The last caller asked what i was going to ask. But mr. Singer, i want to find out that if Hillary Clinton wasnt running for the presidency, do you think all this informations were going to take place . Guest thats a really good question. I suspect the f. B. I. Investigation would still be going on. Because again, i think its a really interesting question here out the use of a private email address or email account in a private server by a government official. Its a worthwhile thing to look into. All of this in this very modern era are totally connected taugts to our phones, to our emails and our twitter. You have to ask a question of what are the limits of that when you become a public official and what do you have to stop doing . And when you are getting possibly top secret classified information. Guest absolutely. Keep in mind in congress, they have this problem all the time because theyre required to segregate their Campaign Information from their official, that is their legislative information. They all have two different blackberries or two different devices and you sit and have a cup of coffee, and you have a person with two different telephone asks they ring for different reasons. Its not an unfair conversation to have. I do honestly believe that if Hillary Clinton was not running for president , we would be hearing less about this. We would be less about benghazi. We would be hearing less about the emails because they would be interesting posse issue and a concern at a government level but not something to be on the front page of the newspapers every day because the people who cared about the answers would largely be technical people and political experts in washington, not people in the campaign land. Host Hillary Clinton sure to be asked about this again when she appears on meet the press today. Shes going to round out her day with an appearance on the program followed by Bernie Sanders, donald trump and robert gates. Fox news sunday. Theyll have senator marco rubio headlining the program from iowa and jeb bush makes his second appearance, followed by g. O. P. President ial contender, Chris Christie. And cbs also will have donald trump to call into the show to gauge his chances in the Iowa Caucuses but Bernie Sanders, speaking afterward. Abcs this week. And jeb bush will concentrate most of his efforts in New Hampshire headlines the program followed by senator Bernie Sanders. Guest they should be on your program. I would put them on washington journal, taking phone calls from regular people. That is much more interesting than having them call into this week and talk about it. Host from your mouth to their ears, we will ask. Lets go to the republican line. Caller good morning. You know, hillary had information on that server that even the senators didnt have clearance to read. They had to get special permission to look at those emails and read whats in them. And you know somebody has hacked nto that server. Hillary clinton should be dieted and put in jail. But you know what, nothing will happen because the democrats will tell obama look, let her ide. Guest there is no place in the system that Law Enforcement will come to the proper answer without political shading on the investigation. You know, as far as what information she had on her emails server and what exactly it said, you know, i havent had a chance to investigate. Keep in mind that the emails that we are receiving, that we are seeing, because theyre release them in batches now, theres no classified information in there because anything they release publicly has been redacted. Wholedont get to see the email. Even if there is a classified program, that a newspaper reports on the classified program, officials in power are no supposed to be even discussing or sharing the newspaper report about the classified information because its considered classified even if the newspapers are reporting it. And i cannot tell you because im not an expert in email classification what particular document moved across her server that should not have . I am hoping someone is asking that question. I know that Inspector General is looking into that question. And again, those are perfectly fair and reasonable questions to be asked whether there is faith in the outcome is up to the American People. Host does it give people more faith that the f. B. I. Director is a republican . Guest no. I mean, you just heard the call. I dont think it matters. I think people look at this as welling the attorney people works for obama. Obama is trying to protect Hillary Clinton. It just sort of there is an atmosphere now in american politics that nobody is above the fray. And, you know, ill tell you if you spend any time on twitter, which is never a good idea, you will see i write stories. Host youre going to get it now on twitter. Guest i do a lot of investigations of democrats and republicans and every time i public a story about democrats, there is a on you show for the Republican Party, blah, blah, blah. Same deal. When i write this for the republican because people are no longer interested in facts. They are interested in what is your agenda and who are you trying to everybody and the facts are only as good as the partisan spokesman who is delivering them. Host david, independent caller. Good morning. Welcome to the conversation. Caller good morning. Good morning. How are you today . My concern is that in Central Florida and in florida in general, were not allowed to vote in the primaries as party nonaffiliated voters. Welcome your comment. Guest they are 50state elections. They are not National Elections. So what you end up with, well, in the district of columbia, im sorry. So what you end up with is different rules in every state. That includes, by the way, different rules for who is on the ballot in different states. If you are in oklahoma, the candidates for president on your blatt when you ballot when you go to vote may be different than if you live in new york. Why . Because new york and oklahoma have different rules for who gonets the ballot. It is your power to express your concern that youre not being given the voting options you choose or that you would like to be able to choose. It is one of the odd things about american politics. The president of the United States is elected by 50 separate states each operating by different rules. Host waukesha, wisconsin, keith, a republican. Good morning. Caller good morning. Paul, youre missing the whole point on benghazi. Just before the tragic incident happened, president obama came out and said he had terrorism under control. Then after the incident happened, somebody sent susan rice on the show to say it was a dem croatian over a video. Hillary said that weeks before or weeks after when the bodies were off loaded from the plane. This was not covered correctly by your medium because for the difference between watergate and this was that gave reporters put on the papers every day. There was not an insider guest thats not true. Wait, wait, wait hold it. Im going to stop you on that point because it is simply not true that none of us wrote about benghazi. This one, youll forgive me for leaping out of my chair. I got a phone call, maybe two weeks after benghazi had broken. I got a phone call from someone complaining that we werent covering benl why are we not paying attention . And i said you mean the story on my front page today . I mean, we covered the story. We care about the story. We continue to cover the things that are coming out of the Benghazi Committee. Im not saying that nothing was done wrong. Im not saying that Hillary Clinton is not culpable. Personally, im interested in what were our policies in libya that led up to this tragic incident . But i simply will not accept the complaint that we havent covered benghazi. Now, are there things that we have not found out . There are things that were not spending enough time instigating . Im open to that concern and that conversation. Lets have that. But dont say we havent covered benghazi. We have. Host jim in new york. A democrat. Caller thank you for taking my call. Good morning. I have one important suggestion here. Good morning. Guest good morning. Caller are you hearing me . Host you are on the air. Go ahead. Caller sorry. Earlier, there was a gentleman from florida, i think, who asked about the investigation. And in benghazi. And wonder why the people were not investigating benghazi didnt investigate the iraq war. You know . And i didnt think you answered the question about the benghazi with iraq war. I have to say that i love democracy. And i like to see a strong reputation. And i am just thinking that the with the investigation is in a weak position. And i think thats why donald trump is could come in and like isis take over the party host ok. Roy, im going to have paul singer respond to whats hearing from you. Guest well, again, the iraq war has been pretty fully investigated at the start of the iraq war has been pretty fully investigated. It is clear now and i think a lot of the people who were responsible for launching the iraq war have now acknowledged that the information that they had and that they were operating under and their claims that iraq had weapons of mass destruction turned out not to be correct. Now, were they wrong . Were they lying . Those are not judgments that i make. My question is was that investigated . Yeah. Have we concluded that the information that the public provide at the time was not correct . Yeah. Lets move on. Because, again, looking backwards at this point, its not going to get us very far. Now, the benghazi thing, again, heres the investigation that is ongoing. Its been going on for quite some time. Theyre spending a lot of money in congress doing this investigation. I trust that they are looking for substantive answers to substantive questions that the American People would be interested in. So im not saying its a bad idea. I think, again, the challenge of doing any investigation, even as a reporter doing any of these investigation in a political atmosphere, the first thing that comes out of someones mouth is you are doing this to Favor One Party and not the other. And, you know, all i can tell you is as reporter, i see my job is to go track down facts and write about them. I believe it is a twoparty system in america, the corrupt party and the party i have not yet cost. Beside from that, i dont care i dont really care who wins. Host tim on our line for inns. Welcome to the conversation. Independence. Welcome to the conversation. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Caller i have a quick comment and a quick question. One comment i would like to make to the American Public is Hillary Clinton was actually on the Watergate Commission back 40 years ago. And if you think about this, this woman has been in politics for 40 years, not four, but 40. How in gods name could this woman not know about clearances, the d. O. J. , security, and Everything Else . Number one. Number two, is mr. Gonzalez, who was the attorney general at the time for mr. Bush who everybodys going to talk about the iraq war and he did this and he did that. If he was the attorney general, do you think he would prosecute a republican for what they did with the i. R. S. And i would guarantee you, and please, all you democratic and independence, listen to this. I will assure you this man will call in and try to get every fact that he could and find out the truth and not just have a political play on this. Thank you very much. Guest i cant address the hip the kl of what the former attorney general would or would not continue to thats not my job. But your question is exactly the right question, which is as a candidate for president , Hillary Clinton should answer this question of if your email system was improper and theres all these difficultys and questions coming out, shouldnt you have known more about how government information was handled and should have been handled because of your ackground in politics . I think we should ask her and move on. Host a democrat in new york. Caller yes. You know were concentrating on benghazi and her email server which are important. But more important are the disastrous votes that she made as senator. She voted to go to war with iraq and we lost 4500 americans in that war plus millions of iraqis that dieded in thelessly because there were no needlessly because theres no whens of mass drufpblgts she had not held accountable for her vote. And no one should vote for that war should have a right to run for the president of the United States and we ignore this fact. And as copresident of the United States as a wife of bill clinton, she supported nafta which stole our jobs away, sent them down to mexico. She supported that. And we lost so many jobs here in the United States and our industry. And its just unbelievable that shes not being held accountable. Host ok. Dell in new york is echoing what Filmmaker Michael Moore saying yesterday. Saying you voted for the iraq war. Lives were lost. Money was spent. And now you think your reward should be the white house . Guest well, i mean, you cant say that shes never been held accountable for her vote in iraq. I mean, she lost the presidency to barack obama in part because of her vote for the war in iraq. Politicians are held to account for policy positions they take. And politicians should be held to account for policy positions they tavenlg dell, youre right. If youre unhappy for Hillary Clintons vote, you should vote against her. Period. Right . I mean, thats what this is all about. But, again, the argument that somehow shes not being held accountable, its not fair. Shes being treated improperly, whatever else. What else can we say if shes already lost the National Election based heavily around that vote. Lets see if he loses another one. I dont know. Maybe she will. Host david in oregon, a republican. Caller good morning, greta and good morning, paul. My comment is if people would really watch cspan throughout the day and watch the Oversight Committees, they would understand that our government isnt really working for us when the Oversight Committees cant the get the paperwork from department of justice or from, you know, for the secretary of state when they ask for these documents. Theyre either redacted or told they dont have the clearance. They cant see them in camera. Even when theyre s ped and they come in and they just subpoenaed and they come in and they just playing these senators and cells saying youre not important for us to give you this morning or they dole it out when they ask them can you please maybe give us back get back within a week host david . Guest my favorite story doze back when the i. R. S. Told us well, that information is available in the freedom information act reading room. You just have to go get it. And my colleague discovered it was closed. And there was nobody really to attend it and there was no way to get in it. It is absolutely true the government spends an enormous amount of time and energy telling us what we cant have and it makes me mildly insane that both parties do it. Republicans and it the democrats do it. And the Government Agencies do it all the time. More information is better. I really believe more information is better. And thats all there is to it and we will continue to make that argument and hopefully get more information. Over years and decades, more information becomes available. Its good. I like that. But its never fully satisfied. Host pauley, u. S. A. Today correspondent. Thank you for making your way nto this morning, paul singer. Guest were doing just fine. Host thank you very much. Were going to take a short break. When we come back, were going to get an update on whats happening in michigan with the flint water crisis. And later, senator marco rubio for their partys president ial nod. Sarah palin got behind donald trump. The National Review called them a menace. Do these endorsements sway your vote if before that, New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen is our newsmakers guest today at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern time here on cspan and cspan have. Shes asked to grade to the f. D. A. On its handling on the problem of heroin addiction in the u. S. And in New Hampshire. How would you grade the f. D. A. In this regard . Lousy. It is a great concern to me. And i think we need a National Focus on how were going to respond to the heroin and Opioid Epidemic and it is a critical issue in New Hampshire but its an issue throughout this country. There was the New York Times had pretty dramatic graphic in that shows s week we are losing a lot of people and weve gone in New Hampshire from in 2013 where we had of about 140 deaths from heroin and opioids, 13 of them were related to fete knoll which is an additive that makes heroin. Thats a killer to 2015 having turnover 240 deaths that were fete knoll related and out of the 380 something. Law enforcement, we need to give them the resources they need to put away pushers. It means treatment. Making sure that there are beds in New Hampshire. We dont have nearly enough. Shortterm detox beds to help people. We dont have Recovery Centers that we need because its not just about shortterm helping people detox. Its also about long term. How do we keep people from going back to drugs once theyve come out of those detox units . Its about making sure that were not prescribing in the way that we have historically. Painkillers, its really that the increased prescribing of opioids that has led to the current problems with heroin because now its cheaper and easier to get. Cspan campaign 2016 is taking you on the road to the wlouse for the Iowa Caucuses. Monday, february 1, our live coverage begins at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on both cspan and cspan2. Well bring you live precaucus coverage taking your phone calls, tweets and texts. And we will take you to our Republican Caucus on cspan and a Democratic Caucus on cspan2. Tv event live in its entire tim. Tay with cspan. Washington journal continues. Host joining us from michigan this morning, chad livengood, who is capitol reporter with the detroit news to give us the latest on the flint water situation in flint, michigan. Management Power Restores to flint mayor. Explain why the flint mayor didnt have these powers to begin with and why was the decision need restore them . Guest well, last year, flint emerged from Emergency Management after a fouryear reign of state emergency manager who have been running the city because the city had been in a financial emergency. Almost a perpetual emergency. In this transition in this kind of revised emergencying me law, they gave the city some of its powers back. They gave the voting powers back to make decisions. And also for the mayor but they put a board kind of layered over the city council for a transition board and that board still had basically a veto power on contracts and other measures. So what they did this week was they gave flint mayor karen weaver the powers to appoint the top officials of city hall, the police chief the fire chief, the city administrator because one of the final acts of the emergency manager who left office last spring was he appointed a new city administrator and basically signed an order saying that the city council couldnt fire her. And the mayor couldnt fire her. And theyve left this person in charge, basically. And it was basically critics say it was emergency manager in a different name. Host so chad livengood, the water situation has involved because of switching water source. Were now where the water is contaminated and people know the headlines. Leadcontaminated leadpoisoning, etc. Will the water get switched back to a better source . What move will be made next to try to fix the situation . Guest well, theyve already switched back to the detroit water system. They did that back in mid october after the state kind of finally confirmed the findings of independent researchers that there was lead infiltrating and leeching into the water system through pipelines at peoples homes and school drinking fountains. Back on the first of october. And they confirmed the studies that show there was elevated lead levels in the blood of Flint Residents and children. So from there, they are now still constructing a new pipeline. All these communities north of detroit in these three cowens in generals see county and a couple of others in the thumb region of michigan. They are being a new pipeline because they wanted to get off of detroits water system partly because detroit gets its water from lake huron as well. And detroit has to pump it uphill. Because flint sits at Higher Elevation than the detroit and its suburbs. And it was a much costier expensive water flow. Though flint has been on detroit for lamb half a century. So this is this is what caused all this problems here in flint is they wanted to get off of detroit water. And then detroit wanted to charge more for a temporary threeyear contract. Some millions dollars more per month. And flint being basically near bankruptcy could not afford that. So they void make this costsaving move to get water from the flint river temporarily for three years and the rest has been sort of downhill since then. Host the associate press reporting on friday that president obama denied an appeal by the michigan governor for additional aid for flint to a disaster fallacious, saying the program isnt appropriate for the citys drink water criteria because it wasnt man made crisis because it wasnt manmade. What will the governor do next . What will the governor do . Guest hes backed in a corner here. Theyre trying to argue that it is still a Natural Disaster because lead in water is a natural phenomenon. It is an argument that may require going to court over frankly. They havent said it yet but that is now basically been denied twice by fema, this emergency disaster declaration. Theyve got a Emergency Declaration which has very limited funding stream. They have 5 million upfront and after that, the president will have to go to congress for more money. And so the governor has asked the legislature and they are fast tracking a bill to provide 28 million in emergency aid. About 22 million of it is from the states general fund. The rest is from federal sources actually and from restricted sources. And that is expected to get voted in out of the state senate as early as tuesday and sent to the governors desk. That will pay for some up front emergency costs right now. More bottled water, more filters, more cartridges. Theyre going to be hiring nurses, putting them in schools and actually even expanding the women and infant Childrens Program eligibility to try to get some nutritional guy dance to these parents and families who have these children who have tested high for led blood levels. Host we want to invite our viewers to call in as well. Phone numbers will be on your screen and weve got democrats 2027488000. 2027488002. Nd ichigan residents as well. 2027488003. John, youre up first. Caller good morning, cspan. Thank you, chad. Just a few weeks ago on michigan public televisions off the record show, then, chief of staff to Governor Snyder stated that he first told Governor Snyder of the seriousness of this lead issue in late july early august. Governor snyder has said since during his state of the state just last tuesday that he first learned of the seriousness of this issue in october. Now dennis is no longer with Governor Snyders staff. All know he has is now a lobbyist with a very lucrative Lobbyist Firm out of lansing there. Ok . Why did he resign . Did he resign knowing that this lead issue was going to come to a head or did he already have this new job in the pipeline prior to this issue . Host mr. Levin good . Guest i dont know whether dennis had a job in the pipeline. He announced he was leaving in late summer and that he was transitioning out by just last week, basically, by tuesday after the Governors State address. He was going to transition the chief of staff office to give the Communications Director some time to get up to speed with that job. That said, there is a theres some murkiness here in the Governors Office about when the governor was really fully bereaved on the problems. He has said the governor has since then said that he did get some indication from the chief of staff that dennis was in communication with the Community Health and the Environmental Quality departments and the governor has said they push for information and were basically told theres nothing wrong here. And there is records to show that, that there are d. E. Q. Employee who is sent messages to the Governors Office saying theres no problem with lead right now. And so the but at the same time in august, the Governors Office was facilitating quietly the distribution of 1,500 lead water filters through a group of flint pastures that dennis had been talking to who had been raising concerns because going back, the water switch happened in april of 2014. There have been complaints for well over a year and more about the quality of the water. It tasted bad. It smelled. It was kind of brownish looking. And in some spots of the city. And so dennis was dealing with these complaints that were really kind of festering up and he made this blunt assessment to the department of health and Human Services director nick lie beyonce saying it looks like were blowing off the people of flint. So that seemed to have causeed some defensiveness within the state bureaucracy. And but there are still some question about how detailed of information the governor was getting in august. But it wasnt until october 1 when the community finally confirmed that they were in fact having a lead crisis in flint. Host the governor released his emails from 2014 and 2015 related to the water situation. 274 pages of emails and documents and letters. Chad, have you looked through them . Whats to note from them . Guest well, there is some interesting passages from the chief of staffs emails kind of both i mean, these are the advisors to the governors confidential they thought was going to be confidential comments. In late september, hes kind of taking this contrarian standpoint that hes not still sure that they are on the hook for switching flint back to detroit water. And there was a lot of demands from flint politicians, all democrat and you have the republican Governor Administration here. And they also were concerned that that there was politics being played in flint over this whole thing. They seemed to be more fixated on that at times in some of these back and forth. Interestingly enough, the governor himself sends relatively few emails in two years about flint. He asked a couple of questions here and there. But there are literally fewer than eight emails in an entire 274page stack that the governor pened himself and there were really a lot of just small questions. He actually inquired about the water fillers after the filters after the distribution of september 1. He asked the director how did that go. And the urban Affairs Director replied it went great and theres demand for more. Host you can find those emails if you would like to dig on them yourself on the governors website, the state michigan website. Robin in louisville, kentucky, independent. Youre next. Caller hello there. Im going to i want to make a quick statement and then i want to clear the lines so you guys can response if you choose to the commentator and the previous guest. We need your help. We need you to talk to whats going on in flint to help to accommodate email gate. And who the candidates are that are running for the most Important Role in our country. Please, let us know who these people are that are running. Dont make us wait for the debate out for the general election. The last guest laden with people who seemed obsessed with their own celebrity. I dont mean you. I mean groups who seem intent on picking election winners and seeking coverage to secure their choices. We want accountability. We cant pursue if we dont know who did what. And we dont want to exalt bald players. Tell us. Host ok, i want to tie what youre saying to the flint, michigan, situation. Chad livengood, talk about the researcher at Virginia Tech and the freedom of information request he made in order to discover and let the public know about what was going on. Guest well, this researcher, marc edwards at Virginia Tech, he started enquiring with both his own request and at the end of august, he started doing his own research of the water. Hes nationally renowned expert on corrosion and corrosive water. And he really put the pressure to the city here and the state by doing this research himself and finding elevated levels of lead coming out of the taps of peoples homes. He was immediately dismissed by the department of environmental a ity and there was really pushback from the bureaucracy because they had this certain protocol and this is they were following and then at the same time, there was this internal fight behind the scenes between some lower level officials at the e. P. A. And the michigan d. E. Q. That started back in february of last year when a d. E. Q. Employee told e. P. A. When they inquired about concerns about the water. Hey told them that flint has a optimized Corrosion Control program. And so that kind of backed the e. P. A. Off. But by april, they changed their tune and the e. P. A. Actually knew as early as april that there was no Corrosion Control program and this corrosion is what has caused this lead to leech. Host sherman is in flint, michigan. You are on the air. Caller yeah, good morning. And thanks for having me on. Im loving your reporting on it. Im here in flint and i can relate to whats happening and suffice it to say, one of our most infamous councilman and i have the same parents. So i am deeply interest and concerned with whats happening but my problem is and as were all moving forward to get this court will nd the solve the problem of who did what and when but my problem is with the mayor. She ran on solving the problem, changing direction and so on and as late as this past friday, she made two public pronouncements that none of this would have appened had it not been erased component of flint being poor and black and that has nothing to do with it and im outraged she made that statement and i asked the office is that the official position and if so, then i have a problem with it and im not going to stand for it. Weve got more things to worry about than this nonsense of race being a factor and it absolutely is not and she knows better. But shes feeding into this frenzy of people who have no knowledge of whats going on here. And im not going to have it and im making it a personal mission of mine to call her out on it and she needs to apologize publicly just like she made that assertion. And we both know and chad, you know perfectly well race had nothing to do with this but that was her public pronouncement on two separate occasions, at least, and i need her to make a public apology. Host all right, sherman in the New York Times with the headline, the michigan governor said race had no role in the water response. Let me ask you this you say as we move forward to fix this, can it be fixed . Guest yeah, it can be fixed. Theres agholor process underway to try to recoat the inside of the pipeline with a phosphate that essentially entraps and makes sure that the lead sauter points within the citys 550 miles of iron pipe at 75 years old or more essentially tries to encapsulate that so it doesnt continue to leech. But how long thats going to take is unknown at this point. And to shermans issue that he raises and mayor weaver and her statement this week. Shes taken a different tap to this week. A couple of weeks ago, she was standing arm in arm with the governor, saying were going to Work Together. And then she kind of linked up with Hillary Clinton in her campaign. Hillary clinton last sunday in the democratic debate used flint for her Closing Remarks and made some charging commence that this comments that this wouldnt happen. The response would have been a lot faster in a rich affluent suburb of detroit and she continued to say this on the campaign trail the next day on Martin Luther king day at a speech in columbia, south carolina. And mayor weaver seems to have picked it up. And mayor weaver endorsed hillman thriller this week and appeared on a press call. This while Governor Snyder essentially shot back at Hillary Clinton saying that he thinks that hillary is politicizing this for her own president ial ambitions. Host chad on the fix, how much is this going to cost what you were talking about . Guest they dont quite know yet. Mayor weaver has thrown a number as high as 1. 5 billion. There are numbers as low as 60 million just to replace the pipes. The damage to the children and the residents of flint is really still unknown. I mean, the state has tested about positive for lead poisoning 50 people. But theyve only tested 2,200 roughly, people in the entire city of almost 100,000. And the problem also is when lead you ingest lead in your water. It leaves your body. In short order. Behind. Eaves the damage the longterm effects to children i. Q. s and behavioral problems and other developmental delays that may have been caused by exposure to lead poisoning through the water may not be known for years. So the cost may not be known for years. Host bob in canton, georgia, democrat. Hi, bob. Caller hello. I was born in st. Josephs hospital in flint and lived in maryland street downtown and grew up within the speed limits. And i watch city limits. And i watched this from afar now having left the place some years back. This gentleman who is outraged at the possibility that they would not put in place Corrosion Control when they switched to this temporary system. I would ask him one question and i hope youre listening, gentleman. Do you think if that had been gross pointe or bloomfield hills, that they would have prevented Corrosion Control from being put in place when they set up this temporary system . He has repeatedly tried to drag the federal government down as responsible for this. This emergency manager correct me if i am wrong that this emergency manager and the entity that tried to hushhush this and when they tried to destroy this person who tried to bring this to the attention to blood levels and try to say that she was spinning off numbers, these are Governor Snyders appointees. If he had any responsibility of having poisoned an entire city, he would resign if he had assured of responsibility. Thank you. He had a shred of responsibility. Thank you. Guest to that point, the deq did dismiss dr. Mona, the pediatrician, her findings when they came out in september, essentially, they said that she causing hysteria and they questioned her research skills. She has since then fully been embraced in Governor Snyder and is in contact almost daily. And thene of the heroes whistleblower, essentially, in this storyline. Bird here is a tweet from who says, why wasnt the study completed prior to the switch . Environmental impact studies are done for less. Would one have shown the issue . A study. Ere was this is one of the issues. It is not the water coming into the plant, it is a water coming through the pipelines. The foot whatever water is more the foot river water is more corrosive than the a deepron water that was and cold source of water, so the river water changes temperatures, luxuries, and there were other problems. There was an e. Coli breakout, and they had boiled water advisories in august and september 2014, so after that, they had another byproduct issue issue ant they had to advisory about, but there was studies done to the water coming into the plant. It is what they did not anticipate. That is one of the questions that is unanswered, why, from the outset, was the not Corrosion Control agents added to the water . A consultant later told the city aboutld cost 140 a day, 50,000 a year, basically the cost of a starting salary for a Police Officer in the city of flint. Host james, texas, independent, you are next. Caller i have a question about the timeline. This cant have been a problem that just started. The infrastructure in flint has probably been needing work for quite some time. At one point, flint was a vibrant economy. Could they not have used this decades ago to address the problems with lead in their infrastructure . Thing, i am in texas and arming us a are responsible for supplying clean water, r responsible for supplying clean water, not really this day, our municipalities are responsible for spiking water, city, didally this flint have problems because they were not paying their bills or could they not have raised the water bill price . Two parts there, essentially, flamed economy has economy has not been robust in the most top a century. This is a town that was the birth place of General Motors, they built a lot of chevrolet, fork vehicles in flint many years, but by the 1970s, just like detroit, flint started taking a downward turn. There was a lot of population , as youants closed might recall, Michael Moore did a film called roger and me, where he went after the ceo of gm at the time to try to highlight the demise of flint. Timesty has fell on hard for much of the last 30 years. Or more. Or asave not had money robust of the tax base to reinvest into replacing this old infrastructure. This is a story not unlike any other city in the midwest. There are problems like this that are frankly blooming in other cities in michigan and in other parts of the belt. Your second question was host oh, he was asking about flint, michigan and could their water bill have gone up in order to pay for this expensive order . Guest they could have paid more. Flint was on a 30 year plus contract, and basically, they were breaking the contract so they could join this new water authority, which all the surrounding communities around county were doing, as well as to others in nearby counties, north of Metro Detroit , and they wanted to get off of the detroit water system because it was more expensive. They were buying water that was being pumped uphill and it was an added cost to that. They were trying to lower the cost by getting onto this new pipeline, which will not be online constructed and until later this year. They had to fund a temporary source and negotiations broke down what detroit water system to buy temporary water for three years. Interestingly enough, detroit at the time was under the control of the state of flint emergency manager and was preparing to go into bankruptcy at that time. Any talk in michigan of trying to replace this aging Water Infrastructure . That is the big longterm question. The legislature is repairing for this is preparing for this shortterm 28 Million Dollars spending bill, but the longterm needs flint and other areas. I think this already has a conversation going about immediately starting to replace lines toserviced public schools. That will be a first step in michigan and there is an initiative underway to test the water at the drinking fountains. Some communities across the state have found some lead levels are water levels or toxins that exceed the safety limit. They are replacing them on their own. Got a whole host of different discussions underway. Positive out of this, there will be more proactive efforts. Host a couple calls from michigan. Pollen emily city paul. Go ahead. Caller first of all, i wanted to know your thoughts on our lovely governors interview on would youe was asked, allow your own grandchildren to drink the water and they then it and bathe in it . Im sure you saw what he said, yes, i would. Is, i was in flint last week, i live 30 minutes away, it is a rundown area, General Motors much packed their bags up and left in globalized. What about the homeowners, the pipes in the homes, the water heaters, the mcdonalds, the burger kings, the taco bells, the coney island infrastructures . What are they to do . Host let me add to that. The value as well. Guest the medium home value in , a sales inflint the last year, 28,000. These are homes that are not worth a lot. Because of the immense poverty in the city and the disinvestments, and as you mentioned, General Motors and others have left. Is a lot of cost, and i talked to a homeowner in flint she saidago or so, and this corrosive water has ruined your hot water heater and ruined other appliances, curtis washer and washing machine, so she was ,ctually driving 20 miles away roundtrip, just to have showers essentially. There are a lot of problems and there is the business aspect. I colleague was in flint earlier this week and he talked to a couple of Restaurant Owners who buy they were having to bottled water, which is expensive, and at the same time, once i had a coney island in Downtown Flint said he was on the verge of closing his business in 20 years, and essentially, put a sign outside that said, i am closing until you fix the water. He has likened it to chernobyl. You play offad the big banner in downtown that says flint, vehicle city, and he said it is basically poison city. Host shannon in south shields, michigan. Where is that . Caller probably 40 or 50 miles from flint, just outside of detroit. I live in a community that is permanently in opposition to do some drilling in our community and they are concerned with credibility. Question goes to i understand that General Motors that offered itt water system to connect at some point in time, i think 2014, and that they reported it to the state, but it sounds as though no one really paid. Ttention to General Motors i am very curious as to why because to me, that wouldve been a huge red flag. Guest actually, the governors chief of staff has called it a flag, not a red flag, but up flag. This happened in october 2014. General motors announced they were going to switch water sources of flint township outside the city limits, which had remained on the detroit water system. All the suburbs of flint have remained on the detroit water system and they had ponied up more money to do that temporarily, but flint could not afford to, so General Motors decided to switch and their reason was the water was too corrosive, the chlorine level and the water was causing engine parts to rest. To rust. People jumped on this and said, look, if the water was to grow support engine parts, why was it still good enough to feed children . And people . This is a question the administration has been unable to answer. In december 2014, gm fully switched over to flint townships water, but the timeline, you have to step back a little bit and this may come out at some point, in october governor and the state were frankly fixated on elections. Reelection that he did win in the next month, november, so it the flag was raised, but it was missed in the midst of an election. Host another caller from mount pleasant, michigan, independent, sean. Caller good morning. I take sense with the previous caller who said they were offended that this has been called a poor and black problem. Because youhy is cannot raise the water prices on the residents, that is a poor problem. Theke the d fracking d fracking happening out west to the waters, poor farmers, this is a poor problem. In flint, years later, after all these children and people often exposed in all of the things you are saying the lord wanted to do to the children, this is a poor problem because you about crime, issues like that. It will be a poor problem then, a black problem, and i take offense to that. I believe if it was done south of here in an affluent suburb of detroit, there would not have been such an issue. Somebody would have come over. You have them save the water was to corrosive for the car parts, yet, they still at this water do something to the homes of Flint Residents. Host what are your thoughts . Issue,back to the gm this is what some observers of administrations are sort of confused by. This is a governor who was very probusiness, essentially at times, has spent over backwards for fostering economic development. When you have one of the states largest employers pulling out of the water system in flint and siding these reasons, it is kind of amazing that nobody raised any questions at the time. This is part of the examination going on. They are trying to understand who, what, where and when. Host on twitter, chernobyl is a good residents and the flint resident should be relocated into the piping is replaced. Chernobyl is a good analogy. The flint resident should be relocated in th until the piping is replaced. Guest it is not a Natural Disaster and they asked for money for that purpose, for temporary housing, relocation and also for compensating individuals with replacing their pipelines that lead from the there into the house, so has been a request, but so far, it has not gotten anywhere. I would expect it would have to come back to the state legislature. Something to note, the governor last week told his budget look at the budget plan against that they were preparing for the next fiscal year in february. Theyre going to rewrite the budget basically to fit in more money for flint for immediate needs and also basically start riding in the budget longterm cost. Right now, they are paying for this emergency aid out of surplus of onetime funds, and they need to essentially write it into the budget as the yearoveryear dedication of money toward these kind of costs, whether it is the health and nutrition and education of children and residents who have been harmed by the lead poisoning or if it is this longterm infrastructure improvements. Host florida, james is a republican. Your question or comment. Caller yes, a question. I would like to ask the at i believe that [indiscernible] we are having a hard time hearing you. Turn that television down. Hasng it anybody investigated the governor. Guest there is a review of what happened and they are getting assistance by the u. S. Attorneys office in detroit. Or howat assistance is involved federal prosecutors are at this point is unclear, at the same time, attorney general then shooting, who declined the flint state representatives request last fall to investigate, he jumped on the bandwagon and couple of weeks ago and he is now doing an investigation. There are a couple of investigations by von by lawt under way enforcement under way. What they look like its unclear perry there are also federal lawsuits against the state and the Emergency Managers involved and deq employees that will probably lead to a discovery , height andecords low, being extracted out of the Governors Office. In michigan, something to note, the reason the governor released his emails the other day and was such a big deal is because chickens Governors Office, just the Governors Office and the legislature, are exempt from the freedom of information act. That their curious predecessors carved out themselves from the laws that they forced on everybody else, so the problem here is that these internal Governors Office emails, we have gotten emails or they told us that the emails Governor Snyder sent or received, but we have not gotten confidant sent among each other. The only emails we got that they sent to other agencies have been through the state agencies, so some of these records will come out probably in these lawsuits and that could really increase the scrutiny on what happened. Host one last call, lawrence, new jersey, independents. Caller i was calling because in new jersey, we have a county and ua, the agency which controls the water and sewer. It seems to me like everybody isnt jumping on the governor but nobody is saying anything about the nua or Actual Service provider because on the evening news, the woman says there are still charging the bill and whoever they are charging the bill to come at that company is [indiscernible] is this one of those things where we blame the governor and all the agencies with responsibilities in between the get off the hook . Guest the governor is getting blamed because ending because in his department of quality, they admitted they failed to require Corrosion Control agents to be added to the water. Flint city utilities also bears responsibility for not doing it to begin with. Do that is kind of the question that remains unanswered. Especially in some of the other problems that they had with the color and taste. We were dealing with those issues. In fact, the governor himself, when year ago in february of a 2year handed out million grant to flint to try to deal with Water Quality issues, says thevernor himself buck stops with me and he is getting all the arrows in the face. Host you can follow chad online and reporting at twitter. We appreciate you catching us up on what is going on in flint. Guest thank you for having me. Host we will take a short break when we come back, or return our attention to endorsements. The Des Moines Register endorsed marco rubio on the right and Hillary Clinton on the left. We want to know, to these endorsements sway your vote in any way . There are the phone lines on your screen. Start diving in. As i have been watching the campaign this year, it is interesting to look at republicans more than the democratic side. That may have something to do with why there is more interest in these candidates in the books. Tonight on q a, nonfiction the Washington Post discusses books written by the 2016 president ial candidates. Everyone i think does have interesting stories in their lives, and politicians who are so singleminded in this pursuit could haved ideology particularly interesting ones, but when they put out these memoirs, they are just sanitized. Are are vetted, they minimum controversy. Tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. Is on, and aswn we approach the Iowa Caucuses, were really the only place where you can watch these events unfold as they happen. Whether it is the campaign rally, house party, town hall meeting, covering a policy speech, nobody else will give you that unfiltered look at the candidates as they worked the crowd and talk to voters and make their best sales pitch, so we will be crisscrossing iowa for the next couple of days leading up to the caucuses. We will be covering all the candidates and keep an happens on caucus night itself because we will be the only network that will take you to a republican and Democratic Caucus, so if you have ever wondered how it all happens, watch cspan. Washington journal continues. Host we are eight days away from the iowa caucus for president ial campaign 2016. The Hawkeye State newspaper endorsed the Des Moines Register endorsed Hillary Clinton and also endorsed senator marco rubio. To these endorsements matter to you . Iowa, newowing hampshire will go next on february 9 and then in south carolina. Donald trump has sarah palin with him in iowa lasted for her endorsement and yesterday, glenn that close with ted cruz and i for that endorsement. We are wondering this morning, do the endorsements matter and influence your vote . The phone numbers are on your screen and you can join us on twitter and go to facebook. Com cspan. A little bit from the des and theirister endorsement of former secretary of state. They say, whoever is sworn into office next january, must not only understand the deep issues in america, what possessed the diplomatic skills that enable president to force alliances to get things done. They do have concerns and this is what they write she is not a perfect candidate, and as evidence, she has handed her private email. We wrote that when she makes a mistake, she should just say so. They endorsed her in 2008 and she did not win in 2008. They also endorsed a junior senator from florida, marco rubio, and they write in their endorsement of him, that he has the potential to chart a new direction for the party and perhaps the nation with his message of restoring the american dream. However, they do note he does not have the experience of others. They also value the executive experience and popular policies of john kasich, Chris Christie and jeb bush. Republicans, they write, are not interested in having a long resume, and they want you and different. Host lets get to a couple calls. We will go to denise in arizona, democrat. To these endorsements matter to you . Denise roberts, for them, arizona. Good morning, everybody and the world you might say. I like to call attention to the aspect of medication between parties, especially between people. A lot of people do not Pay Attention to all this political hash because there are two very distinct important messages that are missing. The fifth way of the constitution says to promote the general welfare and entitled this discussion, saint badmouth host please type this to the question. Tie this to the question. Do they influence your vote . No. Er hell,n i am endorsing myself, people i know from the bottom of my heart and intellect. Lets say that i Pay Attention and i know that phrase in the constitution saying to promote the general welfare is very important. Another important concept of how you treat people and how you look at people and how the ultimate outcome is to try and give everybody some dignity. Host ok, jean in florida, republican. What do you make of the endorsements from newspapers to people like sarah palin . Is that so your vote . Caller no, it does not. In has nothing to do with me. I am a grown woman and i am for this country. I have to stop and think about who is going to lead this country when times are hard. Not only to protect us, but farther on for the kid to graduate and you do not have enough sense to know what to do for themselves. They really do not know much, so somebody has got to be there to guide them and show them. Host who is your candidate . Caller ted cruz. Host why . Caller because he can do the job. He is man enough to stand up with that said the shoulders and he can do the job which we have not had. He is man enough to do it. Host jean is a republican in florida. Carol in massachusetts, independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host what do you think on endorsements . And i will tell you why. I have had the good fortune with my former career to travel the entire United States. All but north dakota, but no one is running from north dakota. [laughter] what i do to talk about candidates, when they are and i and i year lived in florida for years, so i checked the records. I think the past does foresee the future, so i checked the two rida gentlemen, k sixasi john kasich, no, and i have watched donald trump, etc. , i just say that i go with my instincts. And their records. Host i will leave it there and we would get more voices in on this. Question, do endorsements influence your vote . Phones amaliehe nash, part of the decisionmaking at the Des Moines Register, executive editor. Behind the endorsements of Hillary Clinton and marco rubio, emily nash, are you trying to influence peoples votes of these endorsements . Why do you do then . Is a good question. Thank you for having me. There is a reason that we do that at the register. It is because of our unique position. We get really close oneonone access to these candidates, so we are able to bring them in, and as you know this, we spent more than three hours of Hillary Clinton, so we get a certain level of access that others are unable to do, so we can ask them questions to figure out how to so weur nation, islands, feel like it is important to shed those conclusions with our readers. Editorialize on different topics all the time. As far as whether that influences people only want it to, in the column we were clear, we do not want to tell people how to vote. That is a sacred right for people to draw their own conclusions on their research. We want to put out the information that we have gathered and the conclusions we have john and how people will consider that as one additional piece of information before they go out. Host how much work you do . Did you meet with all the candidates . And after, how much work to you do looking into what they tie you about what they will do and a vision for the country . Is an and cost. We invited all of them for two rounds of interviews, one earlier this year, and a second round of endorsement interviews which started in december, so we spent six weeks. The only ones who did not come and work ted cruz and donald trump. Time and weot of followed the coverage in iowa, nationwide, and we have read position papers, their websites, act checking, so we did some of that and we spent an exhaustive amount of time. We really deliberated and spent a lot of time talking to her strengths and weaknesses. Host did you rollout donald trump and ted cruz because they did not meet with the board . All, that is not a prerequisite for endorsement. It helps to talk to them directly and ask questions, but the fact that someone does not come into something they would not be considered. Host you write that it was a tough decision, why . There is a very wide field, especially on the republican side. When you look at people and we talked about how he liked the approaches of some of the governors week spoke to, and they have impressive resumes, so it was blamed for who is best suited at this point in history who will be able to leave their party and eventually the nation . We grappled with a lot of questions in terms of different positions. I think you can tell from others, we did not think any of them were necessarily perfect and it was wrestling with who brings most to the table in terms of earning endorsements. Host you say Hillary Clinton is the best candidate because she has all this experience and the person who comes into the office cannot it is not entrylevel position, but at the same time, you endorsed marco rubio and this would be an entrylevel position, in some way, is there a contradiction . Good question and we talked about that extensively in the process. Yes, Hillary Clintons resume is unmatched. Marco rubio does not have that level of experience and that was the biggest concern around him, but especially on the republican side, if the like the party really needs to be united, needs take itsomeone able to to the future, especially given all that we have heard from caucusgoers and voters in general about the discontent with the status quo, so we really try to talk about who do we think can help bring get into the future. That is why we ultimately landed on him, despite the lack of lengthy resume. Theseyou can create editorials for yourself if you go to the Des Moines Registers website. Elie nash, am thank you. The to the calls, do endorsements influence your vote . What about antiendorsements . This week, National Review put this out about trump, saying he is a national menace. Theyre saying iowa voters can vote for anybody besides trunk, so what do you think about these as well . Ernie, democrat in west virginia. Caller i love cspan and i have been watching for 40 years. See hill and bill back to the hill, 2for1, and they will get in there and do something that needs to be done. Host carol in texas, independent. Good morning. But do you think what do you think . Caller i think some are great and some are not too great. When donald trump had sarah palin host we are listening. Alaska. Caller im sorry, i knew it was up there, but her running for Vice President and with the news media asked her questions about what she raised and stuff like that, she had no clue. I am so disappointed in the woman, and for donald trump to have her come in and endorse and. I was really looking at donald trump. When he cannot make a decision about having someone like sarah palin come in and endorse them, that really blew my mind. Host lets show that endorsement from earlier this week in iowa. Only one candidates record of success proves he is the master of the art of the deal. We,s beholden to no one but the people, refreshing, perfectly positioned to let you make America Great again. Are you ready for that, iowa . [applause] pussyfooting around. Our troops deserve the best, you deserve the best. He is from the private sector, not a politician. Can i get a hallelujah . Sector andhe private you have to balance budgets in order to prioritize, keep the main thing the main thing, and he knows the main thing. The president is to keep us safe economically and militarily. He knows them a bank and he knows how to lead the charge. Troops, hank in there because help is on the way and he is better than anyone. Being able to command fire. Host sarah palin endorsed donald trump earlier this week and she hit the campaign trail with him yesterday in iowa. Senator ted cruz had the endorsement of congressman steve king, an introvert an influential congressman in iowa, becke said that glenn is also indocin takers. Bill, michigan, democrat. You have got to turn that to be down. Go to michigan, a republican, mark. Caller i am calling from michigan and i am in next am a veteran. If all these political souls can come off and put all this misleading garbage and who is this, and who is that, you just continue the phony world that the politicians have played in. Endorsements do change politicians mines. In has been obvious and common sense tells you that it has been shown in our country. Of republican80 senators are college graduates. It used to be that you send your kids to college, not to work yourself and your body through hell and you could earn a better paycheck and be home for your family. What has happened to the American Family here is parents. 90 of the worlds problem is parents. Host ok, i will leave it there. Let me show you what glenn be ck had to say yesterday and why he is getting behind senator ted cruz. Right now, people in america feel hopeless. They feel lost, they are confused, and many of them are angry. Many of us are angry. You never make a good decision when you are angry, never. It will not end well. If we play into the anger, we do stand at a crossroads in our ofntry, the crossroads fundamental transformation. That is what barack obama said he was going to do, and eventually transformed United States of america, and he has done it, but it is not too late. I am telling you right now, i am here because i may not have the chance to vote. My vote may not matter because of the weight you vote the way you vote. If you make a choice and it allows, quite honestly, donald itmp to steamroll through, will be over by the time it gets to texas and i believe my childrens future will be lost. Endorsing tedck cruz. Larry on twitter says she does not Pay Attention to endorsements. I would not vote for clinton if she was endorsed by god almighty. Bernie sanders has my vote. Glenn saying that donald trump said word is that the goplenn beck that and doesnt have the right to vote in the republican primary. Dumb as a rock. Next caller. Caller i think the paper should report the news instead of making the news and when they make an endorsement, they cross the line. Host why . Did you hear what the executive editor had to say . How much work they put in, researching, asking questions. Caller that just implies they as toome superior insight the effort they have done. I would think any voter would have done the same effort and they could go through and make their own assessment. Their assessment stands for nothing more than their assessment. They are giving it an organizational imprint on it are papernk people should not carry that weight. In terms of the resource, it should be like about the facts, must not interpret the facts or kind of form an argument to support the choice that we made, which is building an opinion as opposed to staying on the facts. Host who is your candidate . Caller right now, i am undecided. Host what are you thinking . Caller i think that trump deserves consideration, not that he has bad points, but i think he brings up some points that are valid. Host sonja, south hill michigan, democrat. Caller hello. Host good morning, you are on the air. Caller i will let my boyfriend talk. Hello . Host all right, so boyfriend, do endorsements matter to you . Caller yes. Host ok, we will move on to john. What do you think . Myler glad youre taking call. No one fazes me because i have been listening to endorsements. If anybody endorses Hillary Clinton, she is playing race baiting blacks. , get that outelf billy, she endorses this race dating to try to get hurt race baiting to try to get elected. I do not follow anybodys endorsement because if they endorse what she said, i would be the race bait of Hillary Clinton. Host who are you voting for . Bernie sanders . Caller yes. And if Bernie Sanders does not make it, i am staying home. Host cliff, a republican. You are on the air. Caller right. Am voting for trap we need change i am voting for trump. We need change. Politicians in washington nothing changes, same old, same old. Vision. Change, a new that is my opinion. Host what to make of this endorsement by sarah palin is less than two weeks to go before iowa . Caller i wish i had watched what she was saying. Everything is right down the line for the country, what she believes, what i believe, too. Thereare so many factors that she is four and that is why she is endorsing trump. Because of what she believes. I am not a politician and not at the politics at all, at all. Its just not for me at all. For the country, and common sense is something that we really do not have any more, common sense as far as what people believe in what they understand. It is not about politics. The do you think that is appeal of donald trump and sarah palin . Caller i think so. Host one of the papers noted this morning, daily caller had an article that said this endorsement by sarah palin couldnt help and give trump the firsteading into in the nation could help and give trump momentum heading into the first of the nation caucuses and it could help in iowa because sarah palin is very popular with evangelicals in the state. Diana in florida, democrat. Well, i have been voting for quite a few years, and actually, some of the papers, the first you write from, it i believe it is a republican ride, i dont do say rag, but a lot of the comments are negative, especially for democrats. We have had so much of sarah palin and it is laughable and insulting. To tell you the truth, i would be for Hillary Clinton and i think the media onto route, but now what i wanted to do more than anything is the reason donald trump is being so popular is because he is raising the issues people are concerned about. All the jobs that loss and no benefits, we need fulltime jobs come making things in our country, that is why the people are rushing for donald trump. Hillary clinton right now, i wish she was talking about these Insurance Companies and what theyre doing to medicare because i just got out of a rehab situation. What i found out after i was there, the Insurance Companies were actually running my medicare. Now, they want me to pay out an additional 2400 and something dollars which i am fighting. This is an important issue. This is privatizing medicare. Hold oflike to get a them because they keep sending the a lot and i would have benefits with democrat, but i am not happy with some of the things she is pushing. Host let me ask you this because the hill had this and bernie her sanders where Bernie Sanders calls are part of the establishment because she got these endorsements from planned parenthood and other groups that get out and mobilize during the campaigns. Caller i love Bernie Sanders, i really do, but the socialist thing is such a silly thing. Why people are making such a big deal, he is a wonderful person and senator. Actually, this is so ridiculous. She is for the people, but right now, she read her set something down and talking about all these jobs and clinton had a lot to do with these issues to begin with, but we have to start making things back in the country, we have to start having fulltime stops, that if that affects everything. We could go host i am going to jump in. Paul in houston, texas, independent. Caller good morning. Host what do you think about endorsements . Caller endorsements depend on the individual. But for me, i am making up my mind a somewhat the individual and the candidates say and believe in. From the, for me, i have been watching this closely. Nigeria and i have i am from nigeria and i have been watching it closely and i lean toward democrats. Ok, that was in houston, texas. We should note that saturday night live began last night with tina fey impersonating sarah palin and her endorsement of donald trump. It was right down to the sweater that sarah palin was wearing earlier this week. If you go and see it, you will notice that they also give us a little credit for covering the road to the white house, which we do here, and you can go to our website, www. Cspan. Org, to see all the different events andy live with donald trump i were at 1 00 p. M. Eastern time on cspan. You can also watch a nonwww. Cspan. Org. Next to james in florida, a republican. Caller hello . Host you are on the air and we are talking about endorsements. Do they sway your boat . Votes . The truth, i think most of the time that people indoors somebody, they already have something in their mind. The reason they are endorsing them is because it is for them. That is what it seems like in this country. I am for trump and i just think people with and common sense. I am just a real good person here working, not really into political or anything like that, but it seems like they care about their own agenda. They dont care about the real people down the streets. Just their agenda. Host james, do you think that these endorsements give a candidate momentum and does it make it look like they are winning somehow . Endorsementsk at like this guy endorsed you, he has something behind him. Host he wants something in return, he or she . Caller you got that right. Host ok, columbia, kentucky, donnie, democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host what do you think yes, we can. Endorsements. Caller they dont mean much to me. I have my mind made up when they start running. I am for Hillary Clinton. Host why . Caller i am for Hillary Clinton all the way. Host bob in illinois, independent. Caller hi. Endorsements really dont matter to me. T is the substance you were talking just a couple minutes ago about who endorsed donald trump, and it was the governor of iowa because he is for ethanol. Ted cruz is against it only because he is from texas and he does not like it. Host i messed that up, didnt i. The governor from iowa said to vote for anybody but ted cruz. You are right. Caller thank you. I appreciate that. Host thank you for correcting. Randy in pennsylvania, democrat. Caller how you doing today . Host good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. What do you think about endorsements . Caller endorsements to me kind of turned me off, same with super pacs, that whole concept of money behind the vote. Patienti am a cancer who has stage four cancer and survived with the use of medical marijuana, so Bernie Sanders has been the only one who has been really supportive and has brought that up. Currently, for me, that is a big issue. Host ok, surely in arkansas, shirley, in arkansas, republican. Caller good morning. When io surprised watched them all during the campaign and he went into the acorn [indiscernible] host ok . We are listening. You are impressive glenn beck. Are you glad he endorsed ted cruz . I am surprised. Years ago, one of my friends to a soldierarried and he was stationed in germany. Hello . Host we are listening. Caller i did not know if i was still on there. Anyway, my friends sister had to come back to arkansas because they do not want their child to be born in germany. I would be afraid to put anything on somebody like that. Host because sender ted cruz was born in canada. Senator ted cruz was born in canada. As we said, tina fey impersonated sarah palin and also noting cspans coverage. Take a look. Coming up, we go to a rally in iowa where donald trump is about to have a highprofile endorsement. [applause] i am so honored to introduce my guest today. She is great, of course she is great, she is endorsing me. Ladies and gentlemen, governor sarah palin. [applause] iowa [applause] thank you, iowa. I wanted to take a break from my fulltime career of writing flygs on facebook to down here and then my support to the next president of the United States, donald j trump. [applause] hey, america. Isnt she great . The total package, smart, legs, yelling, everything. I have not seen a woman this impressive since jeb bush. I am here because americans are struggling, so many of us have lost our jobs in the factory or are reality shows about alaska. We have seen their own children turned in by the police for no reason other than they committed some crimes. [laughter] we turn on the news every seeing and are shocked to we are not even on it because we have them replaced by immigrants. [applause] she is fun. She just says whatever she wants. It is like her mouth starts driving before her brain gets in the car. I am here for all you teachers and teamsters, farmers and charmers. Whether you are a mom, or cute broke girls or three men and a baby or a holy roller pushing a stroller and a bowler with an abstract smaller she is a firecracker. A real pistol. She is crazy, isnt she . Is what the Mainstream Media is spinning. They are saying trump and his trumpeters are right linking ging slingers of the gun, but he can kick isis ass because he commands fire. I hope nobody is allergic to nuts because we have a big one here. [laughter] she is two corinthians short of the bible. Host saturday night live parody of sir palins endorsement to donald trump earlier. To these endorsements swear your vote . William in asheville, North Carolina, independent. What do you think . Caller no, endorsements do not influence my vote. The other thing i would like to say is to the man from michigan who stated that he would not vote if his person was not nominated. I am telling all africanamericans, i do not care who is on the ballot, you need to vote. I am 70 years old and i attended North Carolina State College andng the Civil Rights Era the citizens and the sit ins, i do not care who is on the ballot, exercise your right to vote. Thank you and god bless america. I am a veteran, too. Next we would go to nancy in rhode island, democrat. Good morning. View our last on the conversation. Go ahead. Caller endorsements do not influence my vote. However, they are very telling. If you take a look at Donald Trumps choice to have sarah palin endorsed him, you could impressions in the background as she said these bizarre comments and it reflects poorly on his judgment as a president ial candidate. Anyone that is tweeting about other people and how they are dumb as a rock, surely shows no president ial qualities. It is funny, the person who was been trumpeting similar sentiments as donald trump is someone who acts very president ial and his name is Bernie Sanders. They share a lot in common in terms of the fact that america, the middle class, is failing, but Bernie Sanders spoke out and and has had atpp consistent record of standing up for the American People. I do ask that anyone considering donald trump think about his this position as an International Leader and then take a look at donald trump. , referring said tpp to the Transpacific Partnership and the vote has not taken place yet, but they did take a vote on the fast track of a trade agreement through the congress. We will see if the Transpacific Partnership bill and that deal nexxus lighting congress this year and election year. That does it for todays journal. N thank you for watching. We will be back tomorrow morning, 7 00 a. M. Eastern time. Enjoy the rest of your sunday. [captioning performed by the national captioning itute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] next, newsmakers and then Loretta Lynch testifies atonol. And wrote to the white house coverage live at 1