[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] host: good morning. president biden gave a speech yesterday. he condemned a process surge of

anti-semitism in the u.s. following the hamas attack on israel. we want to get your reactions to the speech. how do you define anti-semitism? do you think it is on the rise? if you are jewish, how do you define it? republicans can call (202) 748-8001. democrats at (202) 748-8000. independent colors can call (202) 748-8002. you can also text (202) 748-8003 . welcome to today's washington journal. people get started with a portion of the president's speech from yesterday. [video clip] president biden: we must not give safe harbor to anyone --

for everyone in our nation. we know that scapegoating and demonizing any minority has affected every minority and our democracy. we had to put these principles into action. i understand people have strong beliefs about the world. in america, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech. to protest peacefully and make our voices heard. there is no place on any campus in america for anti-semitism,

hate speech or violence of any kind. [applause] whether against jews or anyone else. destroying property is not peaceful protest. it is against the law, and we are not a lawless country. we are a civil society. the uphold the law and no one should have to hide just to be themselves. [applause] the jewish community want you to know -- i see here hurt and your pain. let me reassure you, as your president, you belong. you always have and you always will. my commitment to the safety of

the jewish people, the security of israel is ironclad, even when we disagree. [applause] host: we are getting your reaction to that speech and what the president is calling a versus surge of anti-semitism in the u.s. an update on the war in gaza. u.s. paused the shipment of bombs to israel. the article says the biden administration paused the administration among controvert -- among mounting concern about their plans to expand military operations into gaza that could increase the conflict death toll. yesterday, they said israel should not launch a ground

operation in rafah, where people are sheltering with nowhere else to go. we are especially focused on the end use of the bombs and the impact that they could have in dense, urban settings. and take a look at this. this is the trump campaign has recently put out this ad, arguing that the biden administration is not doing enough to fight anti-semitism. [video clip] >> facing pressure to step up response across college campuses. president biden: i understand their passion. >> they are accusing president biden's administration of taking a lackluster approach.

>> they have a point. mr. trump: we have seen anti-sexism on university campuses, and the public square and entrance against jewish citizens. this is my pledge to you. we will confront anti-semitism. we will stamp out prejudice. we will condemn hate speech. we will bear witness and we will act. when i get back into office, i will put every university president on notice. we will not subsidize the creation of terrorism on american soil. i will defend our friends and allies like no one has ever defended it before. i will always stand with the jewish people. host: we will go to the phone

now and start with david in minnesota. morning. caller: good morning. the rise of anti-semitism is mostly due to a change of definition. it is not more people being anti-semitic, such as marching in the street with tiki torches saying certain groups will not replace as. it is more people calling for an end to the oppression of palestinians. they want them to have equal rights, such as everyone in america has equal vote. everyone in america -- people just one palestinians to have the same ability. from sea to shining sea or from

the sea to the river, i just do not think that equates to something you should kill people over, wanting equal rights. i think it is terrible that we are using one genocide to justify another genocide. host: this is what the adl put out. i want to get your reaction to it. from the river to the sea, palestine will be free is a common slogan featured at demonstrations. the rallying cry has long been used by israel's voices. they seek israel's destruction. it is fundamentally a call for palestinian state extending from

the jordan river to the sea. it would mean the dismantling of the jewish state. what do you think of that, david? what would happen to the state of israel? caller: currently, there is a country called israel, which has the blessed bank in gaza, where palestinians live. they are taking their land. in my mind, there would be a whole country. i do not care what you call it. everyone would have equal rights. it would not be a jewish state or a palestinian state. it would be a state for all of its people, where people could live safely. that is what a river to the sea means. can i say one more thing? the adl was also against the movement in south africa and the

apartheid there. i do not think we should take them seriously at this point. there are palestinian jews and palestinian christians. no one is asking anyone to hurt the jewish people or the israeli people. host: i have to move on, but you're you are right. there are definitely palestinian christians. but they were offered citizenship. stephanie, in melbourne, florida. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to say that israel has made a fool of those in the

white house. israeli politics into congress. the students are protesting against genocide. it is not anti-semitic. the more you repeat israel's terms on c-span, the more they get to highlight those enticing medic things that they are saying. stop the lies. to israeli genocide. african-americans, if we can use -- wouldn't we have rights? thank you. host: joshua from silver spring, maryland. caller: it is really important to recognize that commenting on

israeli government policy is totally fine. standing against the government, benjamin netanyahu is fine, but when you are out there protesting on the campuses, there is one thing to be out there protesting palestinian rights, great. you want to promote that and advocate for that, but what is happening at the encampments, that focus on what causes violence, when they are screaming death to zionists, it is no longer just an expression. it is an expression of he against a group specifically jewish people.

for those who say it is focused on zionism, it is a part of jewish identity. we need to recognize these forms of anti-israel expression are a form of anti-semitism in this country that is very problematic. host: do you believe that anti-semitism is on the rise in the u.s.? caller: absolutely. anti-semitism is one of the only forms of hate that comes from the west and the -- left and right. there are more overt forms of anti-semitism. there are swastikas drawn on doors. and then there is the denigration of jewish identity that has brought in from the left.

usually have to check your zionist pro-israel identity in order to enter those spaces. not as a form of anti-semitism. when you are saying that a part of your identity is not acceptable, and order to be part of a space, that is anti-semitism. host: right thing and we will eck in on facebook here. out made and calling for isra's destruction when they respond. americans will not recognize anti-semitism if they tripped over. absolutely shameful. tammy on facebook, it is not anti-semitic to think that they are being immoral by killing men -- women and children.

the protests are over their behavior. client is next. caller: hello. -- clive is next. caller: hello. i think they co-opted percent of the protesters who went a little overboard. 97% of them are for the palestinian genocide. that is all they are therefore. it is sort of like what the right wing does. they take one little thing and they blow it into a eager thing. i do not see where this he is coming from matt advocating for the genocide.

not only the genocide but the co-opting of territories that do not belong to them. that is not even being talked about. host: do you think anti-semitism outside the protests are on the rise in the u.s.? caller: i think it has always been steady. it has always been steady in america. host: do you think it should be? you seem kind of resigned to that. caller: you know, what we want and what is our two different things. this is the hypocrisy of our democracy. it is just part of the fabric of this nation. host: here is the front page of

the journal. you can see president biden on the front with speaker johnson. holding up pictures of victims of the holocaust. we will take a look at another portion of the speech from yesterday. [video clip] pres. biden: on the sacred jewish holiday, the terrorist group hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the jewish people since the holocaust. driven by is desire to wipe the jewish people off the face of the earth. innocent people. babies, parents, grandparents, slaughtered.

massacred at a music festival. raped and mutilated. thousands more carrying wounds. bullets and shrapnel from the memory of that terrible day that they endured. hundreds taken hostage. now, here we are. not 75 years later, but just 7.5 months later. people are already forgetting. they are already forgetting that hamas unleashed this terror. , hospitalized israelis. it was hamas's who took hostages. we will not forget. [applause]

host: back to the phone lines now. independent. good morning. caller: i hope everything is going good. we have spoken before. it was probably eight months ago or something like that when we talked about intellectual property. now we are talking about hamas and israel. this is what i think about it. it is crazy to me to see how everyday people like you and me go through life. these people at the top of the pyramid schemes are negotiating. why don't we open it up? we are seeing negotiations worldwide. it should not be closed doors.

if they want to negotiate with the hamas government, let's see what kind of game they are playing. let's open it up. let's open up the courtroom. we have the supreme court in the u.s. host: i get that. but what do you think of anti-semitism? caller: i think hate is a game from the people at the top of the pyramid scheme. keep them in their box. no one hates jews. no one hates palestinians, but these legions at the top take us hate each other. you understand what i'm saying? we all go to a better place in

this world. this planet becomes amazing instead of killing each other. you understand what i am saying? host: i do not. let's talk to mary in fort washington. caller: hello. how are you doing? the question is about the surge in the -- surge of anti-semitism in the u.s.? no. this is swaying us from what we are actually discussing which is genocide in war. why is it anti-semitic when it is about jewish people but when it is against black people it is just plain racism? i believe right now it is just a movement to keep us protecting jewish rights. you cannot hide behind the holocaust forever.

when we talk about reparations, we get laughed at. but getting back to the question, no. it is the same amount of racism. it is not anti-semitic. from the river to the sea, let palestine be free. does that make me anti-semitic? no. i do not -- i do not want to see babies slaughtered because of israel. they are not an israeli defense force. ar an israeli death -- they are an israeli death force. it is out there for everyone to see. if you do not get the congress to stop this, imagine what the future will be. there is nothing but hate. you forget that they have voting rights. they will remember this in

november. congress, democrats, you better watch out. that is all i have to say. host: she mentioned the term anti-semitism. this is from the u.s. holocaust memorial museum. it says the term anti-semitism was coined in the 19th century. the anti-jewish hatred and judeo phobia date back to ancient times and have a variety of causes. there is more about the term, the origins. prejudice against or hatred of jews. the holocaust, the state sponsored murder of jews by nazis in germany through 1933 to 1945 is history's was the extreme example of anti-semitism. the word itself came in 1979 from a journalist. he originated the term, denoting the hatred of jews and hatred of

cosmopolitan and international trends of the 18th and 19th centuries often associated with jews. kyle is in new mexico. caller: thank you. a quick housekeeping note. on your website, you can search for joseph what an, the florida surgeon general. you have it misspelled. that is just a housekeeping note. host: thank you for letting us know. caller: i would like to know, on social media -- i want that to be fixed because he says some really important stuff, but you cannot find him on your website and you cannot see what he has to say. host: thank you. caller: otherwise, a note about the genocide.

it is not genocide. i love to see some many republicans and democrats calling in and agreeing that this is not genocide. we do not care what faith is put on it. it is genocide. that is about it. thank you. you guys are awesome. host: thank you for calling. this is a text fro frank in north carolina. i do not agree that there is a ferocious surge of anti-semitism in colleges andniversity. they were a mixture of antiwar with a minority that were outside agitators and not actually students. this is from alfro in man, michigan who says that the protest at the universities are not anti-semitism but

anti-genocide. palestine has the same rights. let's talk to cornell. good morning. caller: good morning. anytime you have chuck schumer and sanders, the most influential jewish senators that we have, speaking against benjamin netanyahu's behavior, it is a landgrab actually. just recently, when hamas agreed to a deal, benjamin netanyahu's government escalated into roth. now, the problem is, they do not want a two state solution.

the u.s. position is, we want a two state solution and we give israel more money than we give any other person, any other government, and yet we constantly have to tell them, you have to be mindful and be careful to not hurt the civilians and everything, but it is tragic that people died. but when you are talking about 35,000 palestinians, most of them, women and children, that is a serious problem, and how many stations have the united nations -- israel basically says, we are going to do what we want to do. that is really the problem because like i said before, this

week they held back weapons from israel because they are afraid israel is going to keep bombing women and children. benjamin netanyahu said even when they are finished, they do not want any of the male palestinians coming back to gaza. wake up. host: all right. you did mention the negotiations that are ongoing. here is the new york times from yesterday that says hamas has offered to hand over 33 hostages . we are not clear whether they revealed in the cease fire negotiation how many of the 33 would be freed. and nelson, upper marlboro,

maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. can you share me? -- hear me? host: we can. caller: one of your caller name was joshua. he said the jewish state is an integral part. kind of -- it is funny that he said that because before the zionist movement left europe, jews were living side-by-side. they did not have any problems. there were jews living in iraq and ethiopia come all across the globe. the concept that anything you say against the killing of babies and children in palestine is anticipated, -- i think that is wrong. the majority of people do not hate the jews. the senseless killing of babies

and women -- nobody likes that. the students are standing up to it. every time students are protesting, they are saying it is anti-semitic, but it is not. it is the senseless slaughter of babies and children in palestine. i remember back in the day, the president of u.s. would call the president of israel and say knock it off. stop what you are doing. and they would listen. but now, benjamin netanyahu can do whatever he wants and he does not care. it is just a landgrab. he does not care. i do not think the majority of americans are anti-semitic. the actions of this meeting cam. that's all i got. host: nelson, here is a portion

of speaker johnson's remarks at that same ceremony yesterday. [video clip] rep. johnson: we are seeing universities become hostile places for jewish students. they have succumbed to an anti-semitic virus. students who were known for producing academic papers are known for stabbing their jewish peers in the with palestinian flags. faculty who produced research are linking arms with protesters calling. administrators who were once lauded by their peers for leadership are borrowing jewish faculty and choosing not to protect their jewish students. these jewish students are physically threatened when they walked on campuses, their peers hold posters repeating the nazi propaganda in the program the final solution. now is a time for moral clarity,

and we must put an end to this madness. [applause] host: we will continue to take your calls for the next half hour. the numbers are by party. (202) 748-8001 republicans. independents (202) 748-8002. we will go to the democratic line, ricky in birmingham, alabama. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, we can. go ahead, ricky. caller: i think that we woke up on the wrong side of the world. what i mean by that, our so-called high-profile leaders have not really sit down and thought about this thing at all. we in god's country and we all

need to take a step back and pray about this thing. i don't care where you live in the world, wrong is wrong and right is right. and when you kill someone, it's wrong. innocent people get hurt for no reason. i mean, we got leaders at the top won't even discuss this. we need to try to love one another. host: won't even discuss what, ricky? caller: right and wrong. you know, war is wrong. and these kids have nothing to do with what's going on in the world. we supposed to be leaders. but we're not. we're going up the wrong path. if we don't stop it soon, it's going to get worse.

i enjoy all of your comments this morning. host: let's talk to fred in cherry hill, new jersey, independent line. caller: good morning, mimi. i agree 100% with what i just heard from speaker johnson. he is exactly right. when people say from the river to the sea, and we are hearing that from a lot of these protesters, but they are really talking about is the destruction of israel. that can only happen if there is a genocidal war with millions of jewish killed. that is antisemitism to the extreme. host: i want to ask you about what our first caller today talked about, the one state. like in america we are one state, everyone has a vote. that should be the case there, where there is no palestinian territory or israeli territory,

it is just one state and everybody has -- it is a democracy, everybody votes. caller: israel is the only democracy in that part of the world. i agree with you, democracy is the best form of government. everyone should support that. host: are you in favor of a one state solution, a two state solution, what do you think is the best solution out there? caller: i don't know that a two state solution would work. it doesn't seem like it's very practical. israel has to survive. host: all right, let's go to sarah in new york, new york. democrat. caller: good morning, mimi. i want to address a few things. the definition of genocide.

i am jewish, a proud jewish person, a zionist, and a zionist because we need israel after the holocaust, ok? let's go back to genocide. genocide is the client and assistant -- planned and systematic destruction of the people. that is what happened during world war ii to 6 million jews, two thirds of the world jewry at that time. they gassed them in pits. that is what genocide is. what is going on in gaza is terrible, it's terrible people are being killed, but they are not being lined up and shot. there is a big difference. one of your callers said, don't hide behind the holocaust. how dare she. my grandparents were gassed to death. i never met them. there were so many stories like

that. that is what yesterday was about, holocaust remembrance. we always say we will never forget. that is why there cannot ba.1 state solution -- be a one state solution, because we need a homeland after what happened in the holocaust. we will never let that happen again. never. host: sarah, i understand your point. i just want to ask you about what is happening in gaza. a lot of the criticism comes from how that war is being carried out. that it is, for instance, the idf wants to get to a tunnel that is under a residential building, that whole building gets bombed with all of its residents, with the women and children in it. or a hospital where there is hamas activity in that hospital, under it, or wherever, and the whole thing goes out. what are your thoughts on that? caller: i mean, i think that's

tragic and terrible, but hamas is the one setting that up. they do that purposefully. they use palestinians as human shields. they could -- if they gave up all of the hostages, then perhaps we could start to put an end to this, but they don't want to give up. remember what they stand for. their motto, or one of their unwritten or written policies, is they will destroy israel and destroy the jews. we cannot accept that. host: let's talk to richard in wilmington, delaware, independent. hi, richard. caller: how are you doing? host: i'm doing ok. caller: it reminds me of the

hatfield's and mccoy's. they were at each other for 20 years. the palestinians and israelis have been doing it for 75 years or more. the muslims themselves have been fighting each other, the sunni /shieh thing has been going on for 1500 years. are you kidding me? these people can't live with each other. they want to kill each other. they just don't want to do it. we have been hearing about a two state solution for over 30 years. the first jewish prime minister said, yeah, let's do it. they killed him. they assassinated him for agreeing to it. when is it going to end? host: richard, getting back to

the concept of antisemitism, have you seen that it is on the rise? do you think it is about the same? what are your thoughts on that? caller: i -- i have never had a problem with jewish people. i used to swim at the jcc because the ymca wouldn't let my dad, who was born in china, they wouldn't let him join. i have no problem with jews, i have no problem with muslims, i just wish that they would get over all of this stupid -- like the hatfield's and mccoy's. that lasted 28 years. all this death and killing is stupid. host: let's go to another richard, in kansas, republican. caller: yes, olathe. host: you guys have to spell it

phonetically. [laughter] caller: that is a native word for beautiful, but i don't know what they were looking at, so -- [laughter] first off, i would like to apologize from the gentleman, i will go lightly on him, from oklahoma. don't kill the messenger. you are provoking conversation, you know? i know every once in a while you will say something from an article or something that seems like you're being biased, but today tell me it seems you're just trying to get -- today, to me, it seems like you're just trying to get people's thoughts out of it. accept the apology from me about someone not so intelligent, i think. i see a problem about the ignorance around the world, really. the first caller starts off saying charlottesville.

jews will not replace us. that is not what they were saying, because it is completely nonsensical why the people were there protesting and doing what they were in the first place. it was about taking down the statues and stuff. what they were chanting was "you will not replace us." that is one of the big themes going on right now about the replacement theory around the world where people are being imported into countries that cannot sustain them. that was one thing that i really saw that that gentleman, he had no idea. he was listening to cnn and msnbc. i guarantee you. they put that out. host: how do you know that, richard? you were not there in charlottesville? caller: i talked to the people

who were actually there. host: you talked to someone who was there? caller: nell, i watched newsmax and fox -- no, i watched newsmax and fox. they interviewed people. it was like the guy who ran over the woman. they were going to drag him out of his car and beat him to death. just like the rodney king incident. do you remember what they did to the concrete truck driver? mobs have no intelligence, people. host: going back to our topic of anti-semitism, do you think that it's an issue? do you think that there has been a surge in anti-semitism? caller: i am a christian. i study scripture. i don't study these phony bibles where you have 100 different ones that say different things. go back -- christians, go back

and read christ's own words that he warned us of. stop blaming jews for what kenite's are doing. if you don't know who kenites are, they are the descendants of cain. that is what christ told them. christ himself told you christians who these people work. that is -- ever since the garden, that is what the world has been about. the fight between good and evil. there would be no war in israel if the terrorists -- because that is what they are. the palestinians voted these people in, they keep them in, they protect them. that is a problem. host: richard, we are going to move on to georgetown, massachusetts. independent line. good morning. caller: thanks for having me on.

yeah, i just wanted to bring up the point of the word anti-semitism itself. i don't think it does anyone any good. what do you call a patriot against mexicans? what is the word for that? what is the word for hatred against americans? how about the word for hatred against russians? there must be a word for that. how about hatred against germans? do we have a word for that? how about hatred against english people? is there a word for that? or canadians, guatemalans, brazilians? host: your point being it doesn't really exist, or -- caller: why is there a special word for hatred against jews, but not a special word for hatred against any other

nationalities? host: i think because historically there has been hatred against jews. you don't deny that do you, dan? caller: historically there has been hatred against every form of life on the planet, right. we have been around for quite a while, we have quite a history between wars between people. host: there have definitely been wars, but there hasn't been a holocaust. caller: holocaust is a name for one event. what i'm saying is, when you have a special word and apply it to certain people only, that rig ht there causes an imbalance, i believe. host: you think jews are getting special treatment? is that right? caller: i'm just -- i'm talking about that word and why the only

nationality that has a word like that are jews. another point i wanted to bring up here is that our wol -- our world is being run we should all know by now by authoritarian power. the use of false flag attacks is driving normal people around who are being led around by the nose with false flag attacks that come from the most powerful countries on the planet. host: all right, dan. allen in chicago, indiana, democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for having me on. i love the show. i think it's the very best on tv. i just don't like the studio. it looks horrible, but i still watch it. that is just one point.

the people out there are trying to blow this out of proportion. let's keep it simple with what's happening. the attack that happened on october 7, it began 76 years ago when 200,000 displaced european jews invaded palestine. we just had a war for the occupation of european countries by germany. we thought that was bad. the occupation of palestine was actually more. the palestinian people just didn't go away. they are still there. you had people on before talking about what was happening in the gaza strip for the past 17 years. how those people have been living. it has been an open air prison camp.

they have walls on three sides, they can't get out of the mediterranean, can't fish for anything because the jewish will prevent them. everything that they have they are 100% contingent upon israel. food, fuel, clothing, medical supplies, you name it. there was supposed to be 700 trucks a day to go in and help those people by october 7 that was down to 455. the latest that i heard was maybe 85. it is an occupation of palestine and people just want to be free. what is wrong with saying that if you criticize israel you are automatically anti-semitic and they bring up the holocaust and conflate the whole thing and get over it. i appreciate for once joe biden

he did something right by not keeping a moral reference, but i think we need to ban, divest, and sanction israel. we are supporting the killing. host: the c stands for boycott. this is carl on facebook who says that biden'comments seem way too late and are words falling out of the same mouth that used maga as a curse word for half of america. the ferociousurge is from lefties, not maga. it appears the definition of anyone who disagrees with israel or u.s. policy regarding support for israel, that's what i've noticed, anyway. let's talk to george, falling waters, west virginia. hi. caller: good morning. many people, i am old enough to remember the vietnam war peace

protests. it bothers me that some of the same techniques are being used by those who oppose the protesters. i remember the democratic johnson administration and the republican nixon administration, who were prosecuting the war in vietnam, would generalize about isolated incidents at peace protests. people who would chant the left is going to win, that kind of thing. they would say that the piece protesters were communist sympathizers and communist supporters, etc. much in the same way that president biden and speaker johnson and others are using very isolated anti-jewish incidents that are reprehensible, of course, they are using these isolated incidents at peace protests to

generalize and smear the piece protesters. -- peace protesters. where people visited the third-party candidate jill stein who happened to be jewish, when they visited the large college i believe in michigan, but i'm not certain, a large pro-palestinian peace protest, she didn't see any incidences. we know from news reports that many jewish students are participating in these peace protests. i think it is unfair for politicians, commentators, and others to generalize about these terrible, isolated incidents. host: let's look at education secretary miguel cardona on capitol hill yesterday speaking out against anti-semitism on college campuses. [video clip] >> i know we have common ground when it comes to our horror at the appalling anti-semitism we are seeing on some college

campuses. as the president said last week, there should be no place on any campus, no place in america, for anti-semitism or threats of violence against jewish students. there is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind. the biden-harris administration, including the department of education, is taking action each and every day to help ensure that schools and colleges are free from discrimination and safer for jewish students, and all students, and will continue to do so. make no mistake, anti-semitism is discrimination and it is prohibited by title vi of the civil rights 1964. dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent should never lead to disorder or denying the right of others so students can finish their semester in their college education. hate has no place on college campuses. every student deserves to learn in an environment where they can

feel free to be themselves without discrimination or fear for their safety. host: go back to the calls now, john in cleveland, ohio, democrat, good morning. john in cleveland? are you there? caller: yes, i'm here. in my mind this is not about anti-semitism, it's about murder. for example, the whole world came out and with their humanity protesting murder. the comment about the maga movement and the gop, think about why your ancestors came here. they came here to escape authoritarianism, to establish a new way of life. you need to protect democracy. the maga movement and the gop, the maga american gangster

association and the gangster oppression party, your ancestors are turning over in their graves. you are trying to destroy what they tried to avoid in europe, wherever they came from. thank everybody for their humanity in this situation and for george floyd. have a good day. host: anaheim, california, hi, steve. caller: good morning, mimi. basically, it seems to me that my generation thinks of israel like the movie exodus starring paul newman. the winds of change have come along where you are getting more information or education about how israel came about, when it started, who actually immigrated

, how they pushed the arabs off the land. that brings us to today where they are crying about that they got students protesting on campuses. well, israel is destroying colleges over there. they destroyed six of the seven colleges over there. they have destroyed the infrastructure, the wastewater and water treatment plants, dropping tons of bombs, like the 2000 ton bombs, it is a small nuclear explosion. you asked one lady, what do you think about hamas has a tunnel under a building and they got a bomb, and her response was i don't care about the people who died they are trying to kill hamas. this is the excuse that israel has been giving everybody about, we had to attack this building because they had hamas. yet, there is no evidence of it. they show us a few tunnels along the border, but in some of the actual cities there is no evidence of anything.

they show us a couple of weapons and there is no independent verification that all. this is not anti-semitism i know, but i'm just trying to go through it. in the meantime, you have mccain , i forget which organization she is into, but she sees the famine going on over there. you're asking me about anti-semitism is a problem in this country, i say no. look at the ucla campus, or the kids who were camping out. they were attacked by jewish organization, which we still don't know who that was. it is more or less getting away from the rule of law. might does not make right. every time i call lynn here i keep saying that we need to get back -- i call in here i keep saying we need to get back to

dropping the george bush policy if if i feel like i'm threatened i'm allowed to attack you. the last thing that i would like to say is on the october 7 issue. before the october issue, for a year and a half israel was killing one to two palestinians every day, but nobody reported on that. that's it. i will get out of here. host: loretta, cleveland, ohio. caller: good morning, mimi. good morning, america. i am just so -- i am taken aback with the republican party. they are really the gop, the gangster oppression party. if we are going to fix a problem we have to diagnose it, we have to understand what happened, and

if people are not willing to talk about the truth, then it is never going to be solved. the settlements that israel has been putting up for 75 years, i'm wondering how many palestinians died in 75 years. i don't understand what israel wants. israel was all over the world and hitler brought all of them back and was killing them. we understand that. my point is that america had nothing to do with what hitler did to the jews.

that was their holocaust. america's holocaust is slavery. they need to be fixing their own problems. we have a 400-year-old problem going on today. host: we are getting a little off of the subject and we are out of time. if you didn't have time to weigh in on this, you can certainly do so during open for them in half an hour. next, we have florida republican john rutherford to discuss unrest on college campuses and some republican efforts to remove house speaker mike johnson, formerfoer president 'l in new york and other topics a later the defense department inspector general on the oversight of money and other resources being sent to ukraine. we will be right back. ♪

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c-span now mobile video app. or wherever you g your podcast and on our website c-span.org/podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are joined by representative john rutherford, republican of florida who is a member of the appropriations committee. welcome to the program. >> good to be with you. host: the president gave a speech about anti-semitism saying there is a ferocious rise of anti-semitism in this country. do you agree with him? guest: i do. in my own home in jacksonville we have seen an uptick in anti-semitism. i've seen that over the years. but i do have to say i don't think i've seen it at the level it is today.

where in jacksonville they were literally projecting anti-semitic messages onto buildings with some kind of laser. i've never seen anything like it. hanging banners over the interstate overpass. they fill up these little bags with rice and put anti-semitic notes inside and then drive down the street and just throw them on people's driveways and they pick it up going what is this and they read the note. there's just all kinds of hate out there. host: we were talking in our first hour about those notes, those messages, are they anti-israel, so against the war in gaza, against israel's policy , or is it against jews and advocating violence against jewish people? guest: it's advocating violence against jewish people.

the ones that i was dealing with didn't have anything to do with gaza because that hadn't happened yet but these messages were up recently, that -- that -- they weren't calling for violence but it was very derogatory language. host: and your views on the campus protests that have been going on? guest: i think law enforcement and these college presidents, if they would understand you have to get on this quickly whether it when it starts to occur on your campus. the president of the university of florida has handled it magnificently. the president of the university of north florida in jacksonville handled it very properly. host: tell us how? guest: you make arrests very

quickly. host: people can protest guest: people can protest but once they start to pitch a tent, than they need to go to jail. what the university of florida did which i thought was interesting, they said anyone that got arrested would also be trespassed from their property for three years. what that means is if you are a student, your college career is over. host: and you think that's proper? these are just young adults that are trying to say that they are against the war in gaza. guest: they are inciting violence and many of them as you know are not even students. they are actually from outside the community. some are in the community but -- i think that's one of the things we have to get to the bottom of, i don't think -- this is sort of the summer of 2020, the summer

of love they call it when cities were burning across america and all the rioting with the black lives matter, the antifa, those things have to be stopped quickly otherwise they just continue to spread like that. host: back to campus you think there's a role for the national guard or do you think it should just be addressed by local police? guest: i think it can certainly reach a point where you need the national guard. but hopefully if local law enforcement and the college presidents handle it properly i don't think it will get to that stage. that's my whole point. if you meet it upfront, you set those standards like they did at the university of florida, everybody -- a few may be to violate the standards and they were summarily taken care of. host: we will take your calls

for represented john rutherford of florida. those lines are by party so democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents 202-748-8002. as you know, marjorie taylor greene has put in a motion to vacate there has been meetings between her, tom massey and speaker johnson to discuss that. where are you on that, what do you think of that motion? guest: i think it's a horrible idea. i think a move like that to oust the speaker again in an election year would be catastrophic for the party, i think that's the message being delivered by not only the speaker, but other members of the house freedom caucus. certainly president trump has come out against it and so i think she's beginning to hear

that this is not a good idea. host: i will play you a short portion of what she said, this is represented of marjorie taylor greene after her meeting with speaker johnson. host: we've --[video clip] >> right now the ball is in mike johnson's court. he understands he has to be our republican speaker of the house. the things we've discussed about the got leaked out to the press are very simple and they heard -- serve the american people, they serve those that gave us the majority and we are interested in these actions not his words. >> what is the timeframe here? >> that is up to mike johnson and it cannot drag out. he's already delivered joe biden's agenda, he's delivered every thing chuck schumer has asked. if he's capable of doing that with a majority of republicans controlling the house i think he's extremely capable of doing that. host: she has said that speaker

johnson has delivered joe biden's agenda. guest: i disagree with that. if you look at the bills we've brought through when kevin mccarthy was speaker, energy independence, securing the southern border. we got a lot of bills that passed with just republican support. now -- and this i think is some hypocrisy here. i know many are upset because speaker johnson is going to partner with democrats now if there is a motion to vacate and the democrats are going to help secure his position. and they are upset about that. but you know what they weren't upset about, remember back when they threw kevin mccarthy out of office? eight republicans partnered with 210 democrats to throw him out.

now working with democrats is a bad thing. you worked with them. and so the hypocrisy -- that's what aggravates me. host: what do you think needs to happen in the gop caucus in the house to make it operate in a way you would like to? guest: i think we should get to where these folks say they want to be which is regular order. under kevin mccarthy before he was vacated, we had 12 appropriation bills with significant cuts. 58% in general government. we had some really good cuts in those bills. i think we passed six of them on the floor. but the other six when they

started to come to the floor after they had been through regular order, what did this group do? they took down the rule so we could not get the bill to the floor for a vote. that's regular order. they want regular order when it fits -- when they are getting everything they want. , my position is change my mind about my vote. don't stop me from having a vote. but that's what they do. so i am adamantly opposed to that kind of behavior. we need to go back to regular order, like they say they want. but they don't follow. >> let's talk to callers. david is an independent in swains borough, georgia. caller: how are you doing john. i apologize up front but i'm going to have to disagree with you on two things you brought up here. to the first one being about we

need to just call out the police to these college students and just arrest them. sir, what happens when there is a riot of the capitol and is caused by the congress for time so far and one time by former president. i don't see you calling out the law then. and the other point would be what you said about appropriations and things like that. this country is suffering from smaller government. it was so bad at the irs that they could not pick up the phone. and you're talking about cutting basic services by 50%? sir, when you go home there's going to be some folks that this is what you want to do to their government. we love you but you have to quit with this smaller government.

and you have to stand up for the people who caused an insurrection. this is five times in congress. that the house of representatives did it twice. mitch mcconnell did it twice. and the ex-president did it one time in the most audacious way. have a wonderful day. host: your response. guest: thank you david. let me talk first about the january 6 situation. what -- there is this bifurcated way of dealing with justice in this country. one group is handled one way during the black lives matter and nt for movement that burned and murdered and pillaged our cities all across the north, none of which were run by an elected sheriff which i think is an important point.

but then you have january 6. i am never going to defend, particularly as a former law-enforcement officer individuals that break through windows, breakthrough doors, fight the police. the guys that's what happened on one side of the capitol on january 6. but on the east side they were letting people in. now there are some people that simply walked in past of the police. there is video of it, walked past the police went into the rotunda, took a couple of pictures and left and they are being arrested and prosecuted. yet you did not see that with antifa or the black lives matter riots that were going on. my point about police acting quickly, they have every right to protest. and i support that. but there are guidelines that they have to follow. they cannot bring clubs and use

them as a sign, they can, with tens and start campaign and all of that. there's other guidelines the president of the university of florida said if you violate this we will trespass you and that's what they did. i want to mention also the cuts when we are talking about 58% of the general government that's the dollars that are used to run congress and other places. but it's certainly not an insurmountable amount. we spent less this year on nondefense discretionary is actually smaller than it was in 2023. so i think that's a plus we have to get a handle on the spending

and get a real handle on spending is about discretionary. nondefense discretionary is about 11% of the total budget. mandatory is where we have to get control of what's going on in this country economically. >> on the line for democrats in buoy, maryland. >> good morning. first of all sir i believe the biggest and greatest anti-semite is trump. he has made several statements against the jewish people. do you recall when he said there were good people on both sides in charlottesville? people marching against the jews. you keep bringing up about the black lives matter demonstrations in 2020 when a black man was killed on tv and we saw it. the people that were doing the rioting and destroying the buildings, etc. those were

people who came in, outsiders who did that. then you want to talk about january 6. you agree, thank you you should have said that. january 6, these people attacked our capital. you talk about the people that were let in. those capitol hill police were outnumbered. i would let them in as well and then take care of them on the reinforcements came. donald trump did nothing for three hours but mike johnson is good to go up there to that university and talk about the national guard people brought in. mike johnson was part of assisting trying to overthrow the government and not certifying the election. trump did nothing. you support this guy who tried to overthrow our government by not accepting that he lost.

guest: first let's talk about charlotte. the president's comments in charlotte were taken out of context. if you look at the whole paragraph in the recordings of what he -- the writings of what he said, clearly what he was talking about was not the people who were committing violence when he said there are good people on both sides, what he was talking about was the issue was tearing down monuments. that was the issue that was being discussed. he said there were good people on both sides of this argument. that's what he was referring to. the people who were tearing down the monuments. and it was not at all anti-semitic speeds. his daughter is married to a jewish man. so that i disregard that.

now, on the issue of january 6 i would say again they were handled differently. and i think we have a two-tier criminal justice system about the way some federal agencies have been weaponized, we know about lois lerner and how they went after conservative groups. she left but she -- i don't know if she was ever punished for that. and then you also have crossfire hurricane that was run -- this is in operation run against president from the moment he became a candidate for president. by the fbi. host: the russian collusion. i'm curious congressman about

something that the caller said which was the capitol police were completely overwhelmed and you mention the east side of the capitol and they were being let in. since you have a law enforcement background, let's say you are facing a mob and you are overwhelmed, would you just stand aside? guest: they did what they should've done, they called for help and it did not come for several hours. in fact, president trump asked for the national guard to be on the mall and i think it was january 4 or fifth a couple days before the event. that request went to the capitol police review board which was nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, the two sergeant at arms for the house and the senate and the architect. they make up that board. they refused those requests.

>> let's talk to james. alabama, independent line. james are you there? terry in kennesaw, georgia. republican. caller: thank you so much for letting me speak to you today. john owes him a speak strictly about congresswoman green in from georgia. i really appreciate what she's been trying to do, trying to get things done in congress. however, when she starts going after the speaker which we have such a small majority right now, all i can say to her using a southern colloquialism, we go hard because i will tell you we

don't need to be going after republicans right now. guest: you are right. caller: just to get order back in to what's nothing but chaos republicans have to stick together. the democrats are lockstep. i don't believe in being lockstep but then again when you have to get things done sometimes you have to be in lockstep. having said that, i take issue with the woman going after trump being an anti-semite, like you said his own daughter is married to a jewish man and in fact she's converted to judaism along with her children so i don't see how he could be an anti-semite. guest: exactly. caller: when we started talking about trump, it would be good if

they have their facts straight. because trump is not the one that's going after our democracy. it seems to be the democrats any time that they accuse you of doing something it's because they are -- guest: the one doing it. host: any more comments on that? guest: he just said what i said many times. the democrats accuse us of something you can bet they are already doing it. that is amazing. host: former president trump has said he wasn't very clear on whether he would accept the results of the election. he said he would accept them if he won. did that because any alarm for you? guest: well know because i think my interpretation of what he said is if there are legal challenges to it, then he should

challenge it. we should challenge them on the house floor. which by the way going back to the january 6, the worst thing about that was the january 6 riot i will call it. actually overshadowed what republicans were trying to do on the house floor. we weren't trying to overturn an election, we were trying to enforce the constitution which says that these electoral ballots if they are not put together basically what i would call regular order, or you get two ballots from estate, we have every right to protest. host: what do you mean by two ballots? do you mean alternate electors? guest: yes, sometimes states will send in two and which one is the right one. that's the effort. host: that is regular order? guest: what i'm saying regular

order is is when you file a constitution with your election laws. here is the problem. the constitution says only state legislators can change election law. leading up to the 2020 election we saw governors change election laws. we saw secretaries of state, we had a judge in wisconsin. there were six states where those election laws were unconstitutionally changed. and that's what i was protesting. that's what 140 seven of us were protesting because in fact speaker johnson was the one who wrote the amicus brief laying this out that we sent to the supreme court. host: let's talk to jeff next. democrat in indianapolis, indiana. caller: how are you doing.

congressman. i am a u.s. veteran. guest: thank you for your service. caller: i served my country in beirut and lebanon when marines were here back in 83. congressman, i am against the saudi royal family. i am also against the taliban in afghanistan. as well as the ayatollahs in iran. i don't think that makes me anti-muslim or anti-arab. i am against benjamin netanyahu and the israeli government and their policies towards the palestinians. i don't thing that makes me an anti-semite. speaking of antisemitism and you have people like marjorie taylor green talking about jewish laser beams and wanting her other colleagues to come to the white nationalist conference and donald trump having lunch with

nick fuentes and kanye west, two of about anti-semites. republicans when jewish synagogues were being attacked and mass murders by white nationalists i didn't hear anything from you all and san diego and as far as those statues are concerned -- they went to war against the north, they tried to destroy this country. they were traitors. trying to maintain an institution upholding in bondage. there should be statues of harriet tubman and john brown and frederick douglass instead of stonewall jackson and robert e. lee. guest: we've got harriet tubman in statuary hall right now. host: any other comments on what he said about the antisemitism? guest: look i think you can be

opposed. i'm opposed to the hamas terrorists, but that doesn't make me i'm anti-palestinian either and so i agree with him on those issues. >> one more call. otis in irvington, new jersey. caller: good morning. >> i want to ask you a couple of questions. do think president trump won the election? guest: well -- no he did not. president biden did, but the question is were all the constitutional laws followed. and you heard my conversation earlier about how states unconstitutionally changed their election laws. caller: ok. why didn't you stand up to

donald trump when they wanted to pass the bill? host: which bill? caller: -- for the wall. for immigrants. host: the border wall? caller: the one that they wouldn't pass. host: this is the langford bipartisan bill that was killed. guest: because that bill was unacceptable because it would've continued the invasion, more and more people would've been coming in, it would have slowed it somewhat maybe but hr two has been sitting in the senate, the secure the southern borderthey .

-- took up that bill. host: thanks for coming in. guest: my pleasure. host: later robert storch discusses how the dod is overseeing the money and resources being sent to ukraine. first it is open forum, your chance to weigh in. democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002. >> will you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> saturday watch congressman

investigate as we explore major investigations in our countries history in the u.s. house and senate. authors and historians will tell the story, show footage and we will examine the impact of key congressional hearings. the 1987 hearis on the iran contra affair. we will hear about the sale for release of hostages and the sales going to our unconscious. two iran contras.the house will >> the house will be in order. >> we have been your primary source for capitol hill since 1979. taking you to where the policies are debated and decided to, all with the support of america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable.

>> nonfiction book lovers, c-span has a number of podcasts for you. listen to authors and influential interviewers on the afterwards podcast. on q&a, here conversations with authors and others making things happen. book notes is hour-long weekly conversations that regularly feature fascinating authors of nonfiction books on a wide variety of topics. our podcast takes you behind the nonfiction publishing of books with industry updates and bestseller lists. find all of our body -- podcasts by downloading the free c-span now app wherever you get your podcasts are on our website, c-span.org/podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. it is open forum. you can start calling in now with whatever is on your mind. if you would like to talk about

what you've heard so far or anything else, it is (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8002 for independents. [video clip] >> what is required when you have this most majority in history is you have to quite literally get everyone to work together. when you can only lose one vote on a preference or priority, it takes a lot of time to vote consensus. what i do every day almost on an hourly basis is that your suggestions, ideas and thoughts and i hear them. my door is open. everyone knows this. there is nothing unusual about this and i have heard marjorie and thomas's ideas just like i have every date for the last six

months, heard others. i reminded today that everyone has the ability to do this. what i am trying to do and what my job is to improve processes and procedures and policy preferences and legislation and make sure we can build the right consensus to get everyone together. it takes time and patience to do that but i am committed to it. we are going to continue to do that. i take marjorie's and thomases and everybody else's ideas equally and we assess them on their own value and where we can make improvements and changes in all of that we do. that is what this is. there is nothing more going on. host: for the schedu later today, secretary of defense lloyd austin and joint chiefs of staff staff chair gener brown will testify about the ongoing fighting between hamas and israel a the war in ukraine and take questions abo the pentagon's 2025 budget requests.

that is at 10:00 a.m. today. you can watch that senate appropriations subcommittee hearing live on c-span 3 and also on c-span now our video app and online at c-span.org. and also the response to pro-palestinian protestat george washington university that allegedly involve anti-semitism a unlawful activity. we will hear testimony from the d.c. mayor murl bowser and a police chief pamela smith here that is live at 1:00 p.m. eastern. we will go to the phones now for open forum. rudy, sun city, california, democrat. caller: because of the anti-semitism and islamophobia, this is the reason why i am always going to state woke.

it only means keep your eyes open and what is going on is people are following the wrong individuals. i don't care if it was stalin or david karesh, that is who you have to watch out for. for me i will always be woke. ron desantis don't know what woke means at all. thank you very much. host: in fort oaks, north carolina, republican line, michael. how have you been? caller: it has been a struggle but the good news is we are investing in the country and abroad and i just found out president biden has just gave $3 billion toward microsoft and corporations. host: explained that, michael. are you talking about a defense contract that has gone to

microsoft? caller: i am just now learning about it. it was on cnn and they unfortunately just jumped from that breaking news so i am not sure. i am encouraged because i think the world of bill gates and we need bill gates and elon musk to really step up to the plate and help us with our deficit and help us figure out with the congressional members how we can slow things down at the grocery store. it is ridiculous. host: how are you feeling about the elections in november? caller: i don't want to say at this time because i have voted for president trump twice. i don't want to have to do that again but i am worried about what is going on with the vice president right now.

i like her. i don't mind seeing her in the white house again for four more years for vice president. they gave her several positions and it didn't seem like anything has come of it. with biden's age, what might happen if she becomes president and people have to consider that. host: who would like to see former president trump choose as a running mate? caller: i don't have a dog in that fight. it seems like all the good ones have turned against him. host: don in clifton park, new york, independent. caller: this is in reference to the congressman you just had on this morning. first of all, i have a correction for him. it wasn't nancy pelosi and chuck schumer who turned down the

request for the capitol police. essentially it was pelosi and mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader at the time. also another thing is in reference to the statements about black lives matter, there were a lot of right-wing activists in the violence going on at the black lives matter situation. all i am after is, i don't care if you are a politician on the left or right, be honest and tell the american people the truth. host: when you say the right wing people, explain that. caller: essentially what it amounted to is a lot of the people at the black lives protests were masquerading an essentially they were trying to

cause mayhem during the protests. host: let's talk to peter in celine, texas, democrat. caller: how are you doing? host: i'm doing ok. caller: i'm calling in reference to the representative in earlier from florida. it is just unbelievable how republicans are always in denial of what happened on january 6. they can't give a straight answer it. they beat around the bush and give the politician answers. they could just say it yes or no if trump was wrong. you don't have to at all this other stuff to it. they can't give a straight answer. and also donald trump lost the election. be honest about it.

it was on tv and you saw what happened on tv. you had people parading around the capitol with confederate flags. like it is 1952. i am a 50 five-year-old man and i was born in 1968, right before the civil rights act was passed in 1964. that is all i have to say it. thank you so much. host: here is alan, republican in fulton, mississippi. caller: hello. host: hello. caller: i am calling regarding a caller that called last week. he was most emphatic about the

president. they said he was doing a wonderful, good job. he actually said, i am a black man and i think trump was doing a wonderful job. i would like for him to call again and explain to the people what wonderful job they actually did. he made a mess in afghanistan. the border is ms. -- is a mess. how can anyone say that he did a wonderful job?

it has been a complete disaster since he was president. i should vote for donald trump because he is not a republican and he is not a democrat and he is not an independent. he is an american citizen and a lot of people don't know that during his four years as president, he never received a penny in wages. he give it to the veterans fund. a man like that, he has been persecuted since he first became president. he has been absolutely persecuted but all they can say

is -- host: that was clinton. caller: i do beg your pardon. host: we got your point. let's talk to luke, columbia, maryland. caller: i have a question a gentleman a couple calls back mentioned about the roles played for the security of the capitol building. i was wondering since mitch mcconnell was the head of the senate, did he actually have a role, equal role as nancy or did he not get involved in that at all? because that seems to be unclear. the second question i have is marjorie mentioned earlier this

week that there is language in the bill, the hate bill, that christians will not be able to use terms from the bible because that would be considered anti-semitic. so if you get into those two questions for me, i would really be appreciative. host: i don't know the answers to those but i will see if our producer can find us anything on either of those two things. melvin in fort lauderdale, florida, democrat. caller: i am really in a rush but i the last guest from florida, he said anybody was a enforcement told a lie.

he said it was nancy pelosi and schumer when it was mitch mcconnell. that is another about january 20. normally starting at 1980 when they first started c-span, they wouldn't correct people here that would make statements that you all knew our actually basically what i'm saying is a lie. if you allow the information you know is allied to be repeated you are adding more fire if someone else wants to call in. you need to go back and start correcting these people when they make errors. host: i hear you. we are doing the best we can. caller: it is really giving me

headaches and i get high pressure listening to these people. i think you all need to start doing that more. there are other places and websites put out lies and people think they are the truth and you shouldn't allow that to happen. host: matt is a democrat in st. louis, missouri. caller: two things. first, the first person you had on you all talked about buildings in palestine where hamas was getting underneath them. i want to point out that you can't date a tunnel without people knowing. it is not a clandestine thing. it takes heavy equipment to dig a tunnel.

people knew about it. host: people who? israelis knew about it? caller: let me expand. the palestinians absolutely knew they were digging tunnels. there is no way you can dig a tunnel -- try to dig a tunnel under any hospital in the united states and see how long it takes for you to get caught. there is no way they dug tunnels without the palestinians knowing. the second thing that republicans constantly do, i don't know why you can't do a three second search, but when they say the black lives people were not arrested, according to usa today today, over 10,000 black lives matter protesters were arrested for vandalism. it is a three second search on google. the most dishonest group of

people have ever met. host: here is an article on rfk junior in the new york times. it says that rfk junior says doctors found a dead worm in his brain. the candidate has faced previously undisclosed health issues including a parasite in part of his brain. you can read that in today's new york times. sam is in burke hill -- brookville, maryland, democrat. caller: i am calling to make a comment about why nobody is allowed to call out israel and not be branded anti-semitic, considering some of the atrocities that the israeli

forces do commit, including the bombing of the aid house. and there is such a thing as disproportionate force, granted that hamas attacked israel first but it looks like what is going on is israel just going for the kill all the way without any -- including our government who has overwhelmingly committed to israel. i am not sure why they can't be -- there can't be a sense of balance in the matter. host: and might, north carolina,

republican. -- and mike, north carolina, republican. caller: and now it is going on with the sham in new york with trump with the gag order. everyone can talk about trump but he can't talk about them. and the lady prosecutor, she is a big donator to the joe biden and so is the judge and her daughter works for a big democrat organization to raise money for them. all of this is a political trial. i know the college campuses and all that stuff in the trial going on, everybody has blinders on on cnn and cbs and this still going on invasion of the southern border. in march there was a record three hundred thousand illegal

encounters at our border. he is wanting to bring in afghans -- i mean palestinians? how can egypt build a wall, jordan doesn't want them, saudi arabia doesn't want the palestinians. that must tell you something. it biden wants to appease them, just like the college presidents who want to cater to them and give them free this and free that. what about the americans that don't have nothing, low income, lack -- black, white, we can't get anything free and he wants to cater to illegal immigrants, approximately 10 million illegals in this country since he has been in office. if god forbid bid he wins the election or if he knows he is

going to get beat, i think he will give amnesty to all of them and they are just power-hungry. they don't want to admit nothing because they are power-hungry. host: mike did mention the hush money trial that is on break today and resuming tomorrow. this is the front page of the washington times about the stormy daniels testimony. it is daniel's detailed story of trump tryst, judge denies divergent risks appeal. you can see that at the washington times. and claude is calling from renton, washington, independent. caller: i am going to divert a little bit. listen to the open forum, everybody was jumping on you about questioning your guests. but let them talk.

don't try to interrupt them or intercede with your thought. because when they talk, you get the truth from those people. when he kept saying that donald trump's daughter was married to a jewish person, will that is the typical concept of a racist. i am not a racist. i have black friends. some of my close friends are black. that is the typical statement that donald trump is not a racist, his daughter or somebody is married to a jewish person. that is just a hidden.

how can you compare black lives matter to the january 6, the takeover of the democracy? the republicans need to be ashamed of themselves. the republicans and fox news, the first and they bring up with a bring up the cap cap, they bring up -- they bring up the capitol, it was a constant frustration from the black folks with the police brutality. but to take over a capitol, if you do that in russia you would be dead. stop comparing black lives matter to the takeover of the capitol.

most of those who did the damage were white. now you bring it up with the protesters at the colleges. it is not that they are mostly white kids. it is not the protesters it is the outsiders causing havoc with the black lives matter. it wasn't the black folks. you had a few people but look at the pictures of a black lives matter, they were mostly white and did not leave -- live in the community. we had a host: caller -- -- host: thank you we had a color saying that audrey taylor green said she voted against the antisemitism awareness -- marjorie taylor greene voted against the anti-semi -- anti-semitic act. she wrote, antisemitism is wrong

but i will not be voting for the antisemitism awareness act. that could convict christians of antisemitism for believing the gospel that jesus was handed over to be crucified by the jews. you can read more about that at usa today.com. last call from ed in queens, new york, democrat. caller: good morning. it seems like you are taking a battering this morning. i will try to be less process for us -- prociferous. i am calling about the guest earlier. i don't believe that what they were doing, they were only challenging states where biden won. it was not in their purview to

do that, no matter what the state legislatures were doing had nothing to do with congress. so when he justifies that voting to send it back to the states, it was wrong. what really bothers me is blaming nancy pelosi for not taking -- not bringing in the national guard. it is nonsense. he set off of the oval office watching on a 70 inch screen tv for more than three hours and he did nothing. was he supposed to be on around to do nothing? he could have called in the national guard any time. when his doctor asked him to do something, when three fox news hosts called him and asked him to do something, when his own staff calls him and asks him to do something. as far as antisemitism goes, so

his daughter married a jewish guy and she converted to judaism. does this mean they cannot be anti-semitic? i doubt that. it donald trump is a malignant narcissist and a very disturbed and has no business whatsoever holding office. he is not being persecuted, he is being prosecuted. i am tired of him grieving over his lot in life. anything he has done he has brought it on himself. host: next up we will have robert storch, the u.s. money set -- the u.s. sentoney to ukraine but how much oversight is given to how those resources are being used? the defense department inspector general joins us to discuss it next. later we will get thsaudi arabia perspective with fahad

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>> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org, videos of key hearings, debates and other events pictures markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. this makes it easy to quickly get an idea what was debated and decided in washington. spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. joining us now to talk about oversight of u.s. military aid to ukraine is the inspector of the defense department, robert storch. thanks for being here. guest: a pleasure to being here. host: what is the role of an inspector object or -- inspector general for the u.s. government.

guest: there are 75 in the statutory group under the inspector general act and basically we do independent oversight over the programs, operations and personnel of the departments and agencies we oversee. that means one, audits and evaluations that look at department programs, determine whether they are complying with the law and requirements, and how they might achieve their mission better and then we give recommendations. and we do investigations. we have administrative investigation groups that looks at the conduct of senior personnel and the criminal investigative service which has hundreds of law enforcement officials that do investigations. host: with respect to ukraine, there has been a lot of discussion that we have sent a lot of money over there but we don't know how it is being spent and what is being done.

what is your role in overseeing that and how much information can you give us how much money is being spent? guest: we do robust oversight over all aspects of u.s. security assistance to ukraine and we work with our partners, and others in the oversight community, a 23 member interagency working group that meets regularly to ensure we are conducting comprehensive oversight. the congress created the special inspector general for operation atlantic resolved which includes ukraine assistance and at the dod i am honor to serve as the special ig. that carries with it both transparency observation and in the assistance to ukraine and oversight and coordination response and making sure we are covering all aspects of the assistance to ukraine. host: what kind of information

are you able to get? there is a war going on there. how are you able to get that kind of information? guest: first of all, for the dod, the vast majority is a training supply mission. most of that takes place before stuff gets to ukraine, looking at the process whereby materials are sourced, transferred, the training. once it gets into ukraine it is important so we and our colleagues have personnel in k iev and we make sure we are getting all the information we need to get oversight. with regard to security assistance, we have done and continue to do evaluations looking at the ways in which the department of defense ensures it is getting the information from the ukrainians regarding the status of the supplies and

equipment being provided. host: earlier this year you put out a report and here is the new york times article about it saying u.s. military aid to ukraine was poorly tracked. the report found that american officials and diplomats had failed to quickly or fully account for all of the nearly 40,000 weapons sent to the front. guest: that report came out in january and basically that deals with the obligation with sensitive equipment called enhanced monitoring designated technology and there are various things that have to be done to ensure that is being tracked and inventoried. what we found is there had been significant improvements. remember following the full-scale invasion, everybody left the country and there was nobody to do it and it was a d of the obligation. as it came back there was improvement and there still work to be done in all aspects of

that. we continue to do work on that and will continue to do work to help the department improved tracking so people know there is accountability for what is provided. host: is it possible some of the american weapons will end up on the black market? guest: this is designed on the front end. how are you doing the program and how can you do it better. on the back end, we have criminal investigators and to wo investigators and they investigate criminal conduct the full range of the stuff we see in combat situations. my office has best experience in doing these investigations in combat situations. host: how typical is it that american weapons, especially the small ones that are easily moved around, that they can end up on the black market and being sold

in criminal enterprises? guest: what i can say is history has shown whenever you have large amounts of stuff that goes in in a short period of time, that is why they do the oversight and we investigate on the back end. you have had instances in the past where items have been diverted or technology is have gone to other countries. we continue to investigate that. guest: if you like to ask a question of our guest robert storch, you can do so on the lines, democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, an independents (202) 748-8002. we have current and former members line set up and that is (202) 748-8003 and you can also text us at that number.

you set up a website called ukraineoversight.gov. i will show it here. it is the scale and speed of the u.s. govnment over 174 billion response and oversight. can you give us an idea of what we can find if we go to this website? guest: thank you for mentioning it. i am proud of the folks who worked on it and our colleagues. we wanted to create one-stop shopping for people who are interested in the oversight over u.s. security assistance to ukraine. it has all of our reports and all that have been done in the area. you can search and it is very interactive by design. you can sech by topics and dates in m oice. it has information about funding and about the nature of the

operation in general. with the reporting that we do, we report not only on our oversight with the status overall. we do quarterly reports in our next one is due out next week and will be made available on thursday. you can get an update on assisting ukraine and our oversight. there is a link that will take you to individual hotlines for each of the offices. our partners at gal as well. host: there is also a dashboard come oversight dashboard and i cannot bring it up right now but it does break out some of the different categories of funding that have been sent out. can you give us an idea of what the categories are and drill down on the top number two how it's being broken up? guest: at a broad level you have

the security assistance. and then you've got nonsecurity assistance and humanitarian assistance. the security assistance was the most recent supplemental, well over 60% of the total, 100 74 billion -- $110 billion of assistance to ukraine and that breaks up into several different categories you have the presidential drawdown authority and that is already in stocks around the world and we draw on that to supply assistance. then they have the ukraine security assistance initiative and that enables the department to buy new equipment provided to ukraine. and there is also a foreign military financing partner that enables the countries themselves to get money to buy. separate from that, you have the

humanitarian assistance and direct budget support overseen by primarily our colleagues and other assistance provided to ukraine and to its police forces, oversight of corrections and that goes to the state department. host: you recently traveled to ukraine with the inspector general of usaid and state department. what did you learn? guest: it was the second time we have been there since the full-scale invasion. they were -- we were there in january 2023 and then at the end of this january. one was to continue to convey the countearts themportance of accountability and transparency. weet with very high level people, in my case the minister of defense and finance up to the prime minister and talked about the importance of that.

they told us they understand that but as i also say, we continue to work on that. we wanted to deliver that strong message and we assigned a member of -- memo of understanding with ukrainian counterpart and reaffirmed our understanding and the special prosecutor's office and ministry of defense and others and that is about getting that information back and making sure we have everything we need. in some ways the most exciting part of those meetings is we went out to a number of sites and were actually able to see u.s. assistance in action. we went to the hospital in a western suburb where there were great atrocities reported. it had been overrun by the russians. we talked to the doctors there during the russian occupation and how they continue to treat people during that and that is now being rebuilt.

there was a lot of damage to that and other clinics. and it being rebuilt with the assistance of usa dollars. we went to a power plant and we saw a huge main generators and a bomb went in so deep they couldn't get it out and we are helping them rebuild. and perhaps even my dod we found interesting is we went to one of the sides where they transfer the weaponry for the enhanced monitoring stuff, the most sensitive stuff, and i had the opportunity to speak to the dod people doing the tracking and the people from the ministry of defense and ukrainian special operations commander who was taking possession of the equipment and talked about how they maintain accountability. my teams are there continuing to do work in the area.

host: i want to ask you, did your office review how the dod or the defense department executed that or lack thereof of the pullout from afghanistan? guest: we did a robust series of reviews over time related to afghanistan and did work related to different aspects of that. we did one big project and drew lessons from that and lessons learned. we believe those will assist the department as we move forward. host: let's talk to a caller in temple, texas, democrat. caller: i was in vietnam and i was in supply and what i was doing is i was ordering

ammunition and when we were in vietnam, they extolled like -- they stole. you can only do so much. you can only control what you are send to them and they will take it. you saying they won't take and that is wrong. we not only had supplies that were ammunition but they were stealing and when you are not in america and in another country they do what you want to do. guest: thanks very much for the question and comment. one thing i want to be clear about, i'm not saying they are not going to take.

what i am saying is we are doing robust oversight to make sure it dod is carrying out responsibilities as well as they can. they are carrying them out as much as they can to assure accountability. we are aggressively investigating any allegations of criminal conduct from procurement fraud or whatever it is including counter proliferation. i am not saying they won't take but what i am saying is we are doing everything possible on the front end and the back end to get a handle on that. it is a great point. every place is different and each brings its own challenges. you are absolutely right, it presents a number of challenges and we rely upon the ukrainians to give us the information we need for that accountability. host: how much are you getting from the ukrainian government? are they participating with that? guest: with regard to we, the

united states government, the reporting received has been improving. we continue to do work on that. they have instituted additional reporting requirements to try to ensure the dod is getting the information to do the tracking. in terms of my office being oversight over that, we are not the ones counting missiles but we are watching the way dod does it. we are getting the information to make sure that happens. host: brian, international falls, a republican. caller: i just want to thank the government for a up for the freedom in ukraine and supporting them. when trump gets in hopefully we can turn the ship around. thank you. guest: i appreciate the comment. let me say one thing in this is all parties will find interest.

the inspector general system is interesting. one thing that is critical is we are not partisan. i always tell my folks we can't be partisan. so much that we oversee at the department of defense and elsewhere is a partisan interest to folks. to be a credible and authoritative it is critical that we maintain that nonpartisan stance. it is up to the executive branch, congress. they are the ones who decide what happens. they are the ones who decide the policy and we do oversight to make sure that whatever those policies are they are being carried out properly and the people doing them are doing them properly. i appreciate the comment but it gives me the opportunity to say that all oversight is completely nonpartisan. it is up to us to make sure everything that is decided is being done properly. host: a question omiane in moorestown, new jersey. i ha seen stories of people in ukraine, shopkeepers claiming they are getting checks and

pensions are being paid. is that coming from the united states government? guest: there is support being provided as part of the assistance and some does go to pensions and the like. there is oversight going on over that. i mentioned my colleagues at usa and we work with them and other members of the working group to make sure we are conducting oversight over all aspects. host: marvin is a former military in chattanooga, tennessee. caller: i would like to ask almost a rhetorical bastion. how does the military justify for the congress justify supporting both elements of the conflict over in israel and palestine? how do you give moneys from the united states budget for a country that is said emphatically we are here to

genocide only with these people and then turn around and give money to the people that they are expressing genocide against? from a military standpoint, can someone give me the rational for that nonsense? guest: i appreciate the question. i understand where it is coming from. what i would say that as an oversight it is important that my office that we stay out of those sort of debates because it is up to the political process to decide what assistance is provided to whom and when and ones that is decided we do oversight to make sure it is being done as well as possible. i certainly understand the question but not within the ig role and inappropria for me to go further. host: another asks when can the ig expect to complete a full and clean dod financial audit? guest: that is something that

has been at the department for a long time. the dod has huge budget, at the discretionary spending of the u.s. it is three quarters of the assets held by the dod and we have done oversight over that and continue to do that. it is fair to say there has been progress in a number of areas but still a lot of work to do. one of the things we have highlighted are the outdated systems. these are huge complex and have financial systems doing reporting. a lot don't talk to each other well and a lot are outdated. we did a report on the topic that's spun off that issue and made recommendations to address it that will be a key thing. there is work to do all over the place on that. i can't give you a date but what i can tell you is we have a lot of folks doing robust oversight

over that will continue until get there and beyond. host: on the democrat line. caller: i would like you to thank you for the excellent job you do. as we know, ukraine was the most corrupt country in eastern europe before the war. they had exercised a lot of issues against minorities like the hungarians and even the russian population. now we are in the war, do you know the soldiers have to pay for their own ammunition when they are being recruited and then they have to buy their own bullets and sometimes weapons. where is all the oversight of the billions we are giving when the new people who are being recruited have to pay for their own stuff? in addition to that, the aide

being shipped there is being sold for a profit. so could you please look into that? guest: corruption has been a long-standing issue not just in ukraine but countries around the world. we work to help them address it. they have made progress, it is fair to say. when i was with the department of justice out of ukraine for a couple of years as a resident legal advisor hoping them to develop institutions to address corruption and those are now operating in doing things. there is clearly still more work to do. we continue to work with them. we do trust and verified. we get information and we appreciate those good relationships but we have an independent responsibility to make sure we are getting information we need to do to do our independent oversight. host: donald kohn from fairborn,

ohio, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. host: go right ahead, donald. caller: i am a retiree and i suppose oversight involves some manners of protection and support representation besides the school matters. i am not getting any support. i tried to go to a hospital i get abused. if i go to the police or any law enforcement, the complex i get

retaliation. all this externalization besides indulging alien invasion. host: have you gone to get help from the v.a.? guest: that is the worst. they are dangerous and outright evil people amid that organization. and besides the nonprofit, supposed nonprofits, that is what i am saying. guest: thank you for calling in and i appreciate the concerns. to pick up on what mimi said, i encourage you if you have concerns to report them so people can look into them. we try in the inspector general community to do a good job of getting all the information regarding what is going on so we can make sure we are getting at the problems and help the

departments and agencies address them but we can't do that unless people come forward when they have problems so we can assess them. i don't know the specific nature of the problems you are suffering but i encourage you to stuff -- report them to the appropriate channels. let people look into it. maybe there is something to do and maybe there isn't what you want to have anyone make that decision unless you can forward. host: rick in tacoma, washington, independent. caller: i have a question that maybe you could answer your inspector general the defense department. where do you rationalize giving all this money to a country that is very corrupt and who we started this back in 2014? we all know what happened victoria nuland and all the

stuff and we know about the bio labs that we were controlling over there. host: just for listeners, can you clarify what you mean by what happened in 2014 in the u.s.? guest: everybody knows what it is. it has been all over the news. guest: thanks for the call. i guess what i would say is for us to do effective oversight, it's really critically important that we not get involved in political issues regarding assistance, who should provide assistance, where it should go. those are issues for the executive branch or for the congress to decide. and so we stay out of that. if we were seen to take sides one way or another that would undermine the credibility of our

work and the authoritative mess of it. people would think we had an ax to grind. i don't have anything regarding to whether there should or should not be assistance of any type to any country. that's for others to decide. my people's job, we work well with our partners is to make sure that whatever the government does decide to do it is being done properly so i appreciate the question. host: randall is in north dakota. democrat, good morning. caller: this is by far one of the most surreal interviews i've seen in some time. host: we are having trouble hearing you. try again. caller: can you hear me now. host: yes that is better. caller: when i lived in charlston there was an airplane hangar that contained pallets of money -- pallets of money they

would funnel to afghanistan and distribute to the tribal leaders , and whoever. there was 45 reportedly billions worth of dollars missing in all audits of afghanistan up to this point. frankly i'm sure was closer to several hundred billion. but now you've got the work you are doing with ukraine which a previous caller mentioned one of the most corrupt countries that ever existed. when i hear the word attorney general that's one thing. when i hear the word attorney general of defense department. host: inspector general, randall. very different. is your point that there is no way that money is not being

stolen and there's no way to track it and do proper oversight? caller: yeah. this whole interview is coming across -- i don't think the word robust you understand the word robust really means. host: we will get a response in. guest: i appreciate the comment and the concern. all i can tell you is i have more than 200 people at my office who are engaged in different aspects of ukraine oversight between the three ig's who make up the court with our partners and between the three of us there or something like 400 people working on this, doing own -- investigations all sorts of support functions. we have more than 30 people for diplomacy in the region. people at the embassy in ukraine. we have 15 people working in

country in addition to people in germany and elsewhere in the region so we are doing robust work in this area. it is challenging. we have a lot of experience doing this sort of oversight. so we are making sure we are getting after it. i appreciate the comment and concern and we will do everything we can to address it. host: marcia from florida, republican. caller: first off i agree with the last couple of callers, just the word robust oversight is so unbelievable that that's your main go back to you keep going back to that. we don't believe it. we do not believe it. it is a corrupt place. i have a question for you. and if i can ask and you answer so i can ask the next one.

how much money have we given to ukraine. guest: until this most recent supplemental it was 110 billion -- 113 excuse me. 174 .2 is what congress is authorizing. i totally respect your concerns and that's why i, on programs like this. i'm not looking for headlines but it's important the american public no there is oversight going on and it's my responsibility to leave that -- to lead that with my colleagues. if you have questions you can go to ukraine oversight.gov, we set that up just to provide information to people like you who want to know what's being done in this area. i encourage you go there and read our reports and if you have other thoughts of what we should be getting after contact our offices and let us know. host: bruce in kingston, new

york. caller: good morning. i have a quick question with a little bit of different routing here. we have a history of buying $300 hammers and i'm wondering the oversight on the contracts themselves the generally come back to our own notes on the industries are being monitored, are we getting the best deal for our money and that that's being handled in an efficient way. i know a lot of this comes out of stockpiles and is re-done but i also know contracts can get lost in that arrangement. i would like to know if there robust evaluation of how contracts are being handled. guest: the answer is yes. we are doing it.

robust oversight of the contracting process. we've a number of reviews we've done and one is coming out very shortly. we do work on that area and we do investigative work on the back end of our locations of malfeasance and the final thing i will say on that. it's not restricted to ukraine. ukraine is job one for my office but we have oversight over everything in the budget the department of defense does. i had meetings in the indo pacific and we are doing oversight all over the world. wherever departments and art -- agencies we oversee are. so you raise a great question. we do a lot of work both programmatically and investigative leave regarding contract oversight and the financial part of all of it is important. host: defense department

inspector general, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. caller: up next joining us -- ♪ >> do you solemnly swear that in the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> watch american history tv's congress investigates as we explore major investigations in our country's history by the u.s. house and senate. each week authors and historians will tell the stories, we will see historic footage and establish the impact and legacy of key congressional hearings. this week the 1987 hearings on the iran contra affair. the sale of missiles to iran in exchange for release of hostages in lebanon with pro suite -- proceeds going to contra rebels in nicaragua.

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>> washington journal continues. host: we are joined by the spokesperson for the embassy of saudi arabia. welcome to the program. guest: good to be with you. host: i want to start with the role saudi arabia is playing in the desk in the cease-fire negotiations between israel and hamas. guest: let me start by widening the lens a little bit. saudi arabia has been clear and consistent for years the late king abdullah presented what is known as the arab peace initiative in 2002 and the arab summit in beirut, offering israel full normalization not just with saudi arabia but all members of the league of arab states in return for a comprehensive peace with the palestinians. the kingdom has an very clear in the current crisis in its

policies. we have asked and advocated for an immediate cease-fire, the release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian assistance. going forward however we still need to get the talks back on the political track and chart a clear and irreversible pathway to a two state solution. this is what we've been advocating for years and we really do see it as the only sensible way forward. host: can you explain that there would be normalization between saudi arabia and israel for a just and comprehensive peace and you're talking about a two state solution. what are the details there because that's where everything really gets hung up. guest: ultimately they will have to be worked out between the israelis and palestinians. we have long argued for the middle east region to enjoy any semblance of peace and prosperity and stability this view has to be resolved.

it's resolved in so much pain and suffering to both sides but it's also been exploited by the most militant elements in the region. so we really need to resolve this to be able to have peace and stability. >> can you talk about the humanitarian aid saudi arabia is offering to palestinians? guest: we have sent i believe at least 30 plane loads of assistance and maybe three ships worth of assistance. most of it goes through egypt so we are providing assistance through land, air and sea. this is critical because the conditions in gaza are unacceptable. not only do you have the destruction of gaza, there is clear indication a good portion of the people who have been displaced are on the verge of famine and that obviously cannot

continue so we are doing everything we can to alleviate the suffering of this place. >> are you going through unrwa or are there other organizations you work with because there's been issues with hamas taking that aid. guest: we are working with organizations on the ground. unrwa is one of the boat we are also working with the red cross and a lot of organizations based in egypt as well. host: we will take your calls for the saudi embassy spokesman, the lines are by party. democrats 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents 202-748-8002. this is an article in arab news with the headline saudi arabia warns israel against targeting gaza's raw file. there has already been a targeting in raw for.

what is the response of the saudi government and what are you willing to do in response to this incursion into rafah? guest: following israel's onslaught against gaza and the aftermath of the october 7 attacks. saudi arabia convened a summit in riyadh of leaders of arab majority muslim countries. the summit created mirrors -- ministerial committee that has been traveling the globe advocating for the three conditions we have mentioned earlier, immediate cease-fire, and the release of hostages. we really do not see a way forward without those conditions and those things happening immediately. the suffering ongoing in gaza is not acceptable and will certainly not lead us to where we need to get to. >> i want to ask you about the

murder in 2018 of washington post journalists, all khashoggi in turkey. u.s. intelligence has concluded it was your crown prince, mohammad bin salman that approve that operation. what is the response of the saudi government to that. guest: well, we've rejected that assessment. the murder of jim all khashoggi was a heinous crime. an egregious front to our values and laws. a clear violation of our laws. the people behind it were arrested and prosecuted and are doing long prison sentences. i think it's important to keep in mind if you look at our history we have never had anything like that happen because it's simply not how we resolve our differences. it is not who we are. we've taken some additional measures to make sure it hasn't -- does not happen again. it really shouldn't define us as

a nation or people. it is not who we are. host: a new york times article with this headline saudi's overwhelmingly opposed ties to israel according to a poll, the results reveal hurdles to the administration's push for saudi arabia's established emetic relations with israel. i want to ask about your public desire or is this would show a lack of desire for ties with israel and how much support hamas has among your population. guest: i have not seen the results of the pole. we have a very clear vision for saudi arabia called vision 2030 it was unveiled by the royal crown prince. the vision basically is a vision to empower our youth, to empower our women and entrepreneurs. it does seek to transform saudi arabia into a regional tourism

destination, a logistics destination so we have a clear vision. we are well on our way in terms of implementing that. we have a vision for the broader region and believe o neighboring countries in the region also put up the resources on the greatest assets which is there people that the region can be transformed. israel could become part of this vision. there is no reason why the middle east cannot enjoy peace and prosperity and we cannot have people and goods and services traveling in trade so israel could be part of the vision that we have with the region. but for the time being for that to happen we really need to resolve this dispute and the measures israel has taken, the targeting of civilians, the killing of thousands of civilians, reducing gaza to ruins is certainly not the way forward. >> have any talks with israel

about normalization of ties have been gone -- ongoing or have they been put on hold or stop completely as a result of october 7. guest: our talks have been with the united states. long-term we have a clear vision for ourselves in the region. we do need this dispute resolved and the way forward is a two state solution. for now we need an immediate cease-fire. host: jess is calling from new york, independent. caller: in response to the question about mr. khashoggi that this was an aberration and not who you are. i'm looking at the amnesty international website and him finding a tremendous number of political prisoners have been tortured for nothing more than criticizing the government and

expressing their opinions on women's rights. i could go through this but i would ask everyone to simply go to the amnesty international website and look up saudi arabia. everyone can see the people in prison for nothing more than expressing their opinion. host: let's get a response. guest: the protection of human rights is integral to who we are, integral to our faith and values. we are signatories to dozens of human rights conventions and agreements the protected rights of women and elderly people, children, people with disabilities, people with special needs. we have a human rights condition the raises awareness on the importance of protecting human rights so it raises awareness about the responsibilities of employers on the rights of workers. host: in response to jeff's

question, are you saying there are no political prisoners in saudi arabia? guest: we have institutions in saudi arabia, they may not be the same institutions as the one you have here but they have served us well. we have a way for input to be provided into the decision-making process. we have a consultative council initially established in 1990. it has 150 people. it has including 30% women. so this is all our institutions are undergoing reform and evaluation. we take care of our people, we have a wide social safety net in saudi arabia. we have free education, health care. just as an example and i hope the shines a spotlight on what we value in saudi arabia. during covid not only did we

provide saudi citizens with free health care and treatment we even provided all residents including those in violation of our immigration policy and that is an indication of what we value human rights. host: joanna is a democrat in germantown, maryland. caller: good morning. i have a comment to make. i feel whether in gaza or in tel aviv, all children deserve to live. all children deserve to live. and frankly, i'm a mother with children. i am sick of these men, i am sick of hamas, netanyahu, beating their chest and who suffers from this. namely the children. i wish children could be a priority. it upsets me so to see whether it is israeli children or the

palestinian children it hurts my heart to see what's going on over there. this is what's missing is children are not being put first. host: looks like we lost her. any comments? guest: the images of suffering especially the children and women in gaza have been heartbreaking so we sympathizing we are doing everything we can to end the suffering but ultimately we need this conflict resolved once and for all. host: republican, good morning. guest: -- caller: i'm very concerned about israel. host: in what way? israel has been in war for years -- guest: israel has been -- caller: israel has been in war for years prayed a lot of people don't read the bible. and i feel sorry for the jews

over there. because those are god's people and we ought to understand that we have to take care of god's people. >> your thoughts, this is a very religious issue for a lot of people in the region. is there a solution to this conflict? >> we certainly hope so and we think so. the solution is for the two state solution is the way forward meaning to states living side-by-side in peace and security. we believe the current campaign of israel in gaza is not going to ensure israel security but we have long felt israel deserves that sense of security but -- host: when you say a two state solution what are your thoughts

on who leads the palestinian people certainly in the short term there's an issue of who's in the lead gaza. >> our engagements are with the palestinian authority. we don't decide who leads people anywhere so certainly not israel. we sometimes get this question about how you feel about the netanyahu government, that's outside of our control. what we believe is the way forward is to states living side-by-side in peace. saudi arabia has long supported the rights of palestinian staff their own sovereign state. we have provided economic assistance to them over the years and we've been very clear and consistent and at some point there's no need to reinvestigate. i think the two state solution is the only sense of the way forward. host: a democrat in burnsville,

maryland. caller: good morning. i don't think this guy represents all the muslim countries, they are doing the same thing in syria and yemen. they are killing the children and talking about peace right now. they should be ashamed of what they are doing like one of the callers said, no one is talking about the children. they all have self interest that they are thinking about. if we talk about the muslim world, who has done more for palestine we can talk about iran than saudi arabia or even standing up, in simple words you have to be a human being -- you

do not have to be a muslim. i don't think saudi arabia represents like a peacemaker in the region. thank you. guest: i respectfully disagree. i think saudi araa is often -- we have a good track record in that regard. we played a role in -- we played an important role in ending the conflict with rich rea. we offered to mediate between russia and ukraine. we have provided billions of dollars as the caller mentioned. yemen alone we provided $70 billion in humanitarian assistance. in the form of food, medicine assistance. even oil derivatives and exports

and we are helping yemen on its way to recovering from the war. also providing billions of dollars to syrian refugees and displaced people. we are trying everything we can to assist not just our neighbors but assist the international community the kingdom adheres to a set of principles when it comes to conducting foreign policy that has made it uniquely positioned to play the role of honest broker. we believe very strongly in the political resolution in gaza and we believe in the importance of crating an open channel of dialogue and communication. we support collective efforts and crisis revolution and we support internationally recognized state institutions. we oppose nonstate actors and this is the reason many countries around the world in the region and beyond to look to saudi arabia to lead and resolve

a lot of the disputes and conflict in the middle east. we think we're doing our part in that for sure. >> the national security advisor jake sullivan had said the biden administration would not sign a dissent agreement with saudi arabia if the kingdom and israel did not agree to normalize relations. >> they go back 80 years not only have they endured for 80 years but they continue to strengthen and to deepen and to broaden both democratic and republican administrations. the relationship is multidimensional including political cooperation a number of fronts, military cooperation including regular military training but also military operations. the level of trade in goods and services which is value at $40 billion on an annual basis support 160,000 jobs right here

in the united states. there's also an important people to people dimension to the relationship so i think the last figure i saw was 70,000 americans living and working in saudi arabia. at least 30,000 saudi students in the united states. this is a multidimensional relationship that only continues to grow and deepen over the years. in continuing to grow and to deepen going forward. host: a lot more to say but we are out of time. a spokesperson for the embassy of saudi arabia thanks so much for joining us. that is it for today's washington journal we are back again tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. eastern. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms. washington, d.c. may 8, 2024. i hereby appoint the