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March 17, 2025 13:48-14:10 - CSPAN

21:57

Washington Journal Open Forum

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pedro echevarria

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unidentified		Be sure to include your first name and city and state, and you might hear your question asked at the next briefing.
		This afternoon, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce will speak to reporters and likely face questions on U.S. airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen over the weekend and the status of a ceasefire proposal between Russia and Ukraine.
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pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		The Associated Press reporting and others that President Trump will speak to the Russian president Vladimir Putin Tuesday as efforts to continue to end to end the war in Ukraine, a move that could represent a possible pivot point in the conflict and an opportunity for the president to continue reorienting American foreign policy.
		Mr. Trump disclosed the upcoming conversation to reporters while flying from Florida to Washington on Sunday evening.
		Quote, We will see if we have something to announce.
		Maybe by Tuesday, I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday.
		A lot of work's been done over the weekend.
		We want to see if we can bring that war to an end.
		That's from the Associated Press reporting on that that took place over the last couple of days.
		A story in the Wall Street Journal takes a look at the current efforts of Ukrainian soldiers against Russian soldiers.
		This is from the headline under the headline, Ukraine driven from nearly all of Kursk, saying the Russians use familiar tactics, relentless assaults with overwhelming numbers of troops, including elite units and North Korean soldiers.
		Glide bombs smashed buildings and bunkers where Ukrainian troops sheltered.
		And then in the past month, Russia deployed large numbers of drones controlled via fiber optic cables to strike armored vehicles on the main routes for supplying Ukrainian soldiers on a shrinking patch of land.
		Ukraine had hoped to cling to territory in Kursk as a bargaining chip and peace talks, but Ukrainian officials said it had to pull out to preserve lives.
		That's from the Wall Street Journal.
		To call an open forum in Massachusetts.
		Brenda in Massachusetts.
		Hello, you're first up.
unidentified		Oh, thank you.
unidentified		Does it matter what I talk about?
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Open forums, anything political in nature, so go ahead.
unidentified		I'm 76 years old, and I've seen many, many presidents, but I have never ever seen a president like this one.
		And the way this man talks is unbelievable.
		I wouldn't teach my children to talk like he does.
		And when I see the man, what I look at is what kind of person they are: integrity, honesty, morals.
		I don't see this in this man at all.
		He wants to be a white supremacist man, and he's got an ego bigger than anything I've ever seen.
		And when he deals with Russia, and this is so important, people better understand that this world is small now.
		We have computers, we have everything in technology, and everybody knows everybody.
		Okay, but when we start going with people who are dictators, I mean, he mentioned three dictators the other day he gets along with.
		That ought to tell people something.
		And in this country, with all the layoffs of these people who one day have a job and the next day don't have a job, I mean, it's unbelievable what I'm seeing.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
unidentified		It's unbelievable.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Okay, Suzanne in Ohio Republican line.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Hi.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Even though I am a Republican, I am not a Trump supporter.
		I'm glad that during the World War II days, Roosevelt did not abandon Britain the way Trump is treating the people of Ukraine.
		That's my first point.
		What he did to President Zelensky of Ukraine in the White House, where it was a shouting match, was disgraceful.
		Also, I think it's a shame that because of his feelings about DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, he forbade the Marine to play with some high school students who wanted to play with the band.
		And I was very proud of retired Marine Corps people, Army band members, Navy band members who played with those young people.
		I saw it on 60 Minutes, and they were excellent.
		And finally, I am shocked that one of the agencies that the Doge people, Trump and Musk, wants to eliminate is the Library of Congress.
		The Library of Congress was founded, I believe, by Jefferson.
		It's a national treasure trove of a lot of the history of our nation.
		And for people who are blind or otherwise print disabled, it's often the only place where they can get something to read.
		And I just think that's a disgrace.
		Thank you ever so much.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Suzanne there in Ohio.
		This is Kevin in Washington, D.C., Independent Line.
		Kevin in Washington.
		Hello.
unidentified		Hello.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		You're on.
unidentified		Go ahead.
		I wanted to ask Nira about trust, like trust in politics and trust in the media.
		You guys covered the Semaphore three hours, and they didn't mention the Steel dossier one time.
		And Ben Smith, the founder of Semaphore, was the one who took the bait and was the first one to publish the Steel dossier by MI6 guy.
		And in healthcare, I know Nira's passionate about Medicare and Medicaid, but Bernie Sanders is probably more authentic or more enthusiastic about it.
		He got iced out in the Democratic primary.
		The Democratic National Committee Women's Group had a candidate to form, and they only invited one person, male or female, which is Joe Biden.
		And there are other examples.
		Like in D.C., the progressive Alyssa Silverman, she got iced out by an October surprise a few years ago by the Office of Campaign Finance bad ruling in October before the election.
		So the progressives are getting iced out, and they might have been able to win the presidential election if Bernie Sanders had been the candidate.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Okay, that's Kevin there in Washington, D.C. Let's hear from Lisa, Republican line from Asheville, North Carolina.
unidentified		My question is, somebody other than Trump knew about Musk.
		I want to know why the independence Democrats, somebody didn't get this information out to us, everybody who voted, about what Musk, how Musk was handling Trump.
		Because now we're in the midst of this.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Well, other Republicans are supporting Elon Musk.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Why not you?
unidentified		I'm not a support.
unidentified		I'm a Democrat.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		I'm going to leave you right there.
		Again, if you would call in the proper line, we would appreciate it.
		202748-8000 for Democrats.
		202-748-8001 for Republicans.
		And Independents, 202748-8000.
		To the previous caller before the last caller mentioned topics of the media.
		Once event took place last night to focusing on that, Politico reporting on it.
		For the first time in 140 years' history of the Gridiron Club dinner, those gathered did not offer the traditional toast to the sitting U.S. president.
		Instead, leading members of the Washington Press Corps paid tribute to the First Amendment, the broken ritual, which came after President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance declined to attend, capped off a night of ominous signs about the state of the Washington media's fraught relationship with the Trump administration.
		At the annual White Tie Off-Camera and Bipartisan Dinner, where the guidance for jokes is to, quote, singe, not burn.
		A coldness marked the moment.
		Instead, Gridiron members drew applause for stating their support for the Associated Press, currently barred from covering official White House events, and the Voice of America, which the White House Saturday said would be stripped back by executive order to ensure taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.
		This also adding, meanwhile, the White House recently kicked the HuffPost out of the press poll of the event last night.
		The Newswires, Reuters, and Bloomberg have been forced to share a spot, and the White House Correspondents Association is reeling after the White House took control of the poll from it.
		That's from Politico.
		More reporting there if you want to read it for yourselves.
		Richard in Georgia, Democrats line.
unidentified		Good morning, Pedro.
		Last year, I got on the show and I told the public that this man is going to be a dictator.
		And he was putting people around him to be a dictator.
		And now things are coming to light along with Project 2025.
		Now, he is getting ready, and he also has a Democratic, not a Democratic, but a dictator Supreme Court who rules with him, just like the courts in Russia rules with Putin.
		And what we need to do, people need to realize is, as far as inflation, corporate greed is what causes inflation.
		The president can only do wage and price controls, and that's never really done.
		Maybe one time in my lifetime, I've seen it done.
		But corporate greed.
		I saw a story a few years ago.
		The CEO for Kimley Clark, Kellogg, and another one was on MSNBC or CNN saying they're going to try to create inflation on Joe Biden, but it didn't happen.
		Okay.
		And people need to realize that Trump is never, will be good for this country.
		He wants to be a dictator.
		And look who he praises.
		Okay.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Let's go to Aaron.
		Aaron and Maryland, Republican line.
		Hi.
unidentified		Hi there.
unidentified		Can you hear me, Pedro?
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Yep, you're on.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead.
unidentified		Okay.
		Well, here in the D.C. area, it was interesting to me that your previous commentator from the previous segment commented on how Trump is making it a very polar environment and making it so that we can't come together.
		And I have to say, I don't remember it being an environment in the last decade or so where this area, at least, felt like a welcoming area for conservatives.
		I certainly don't think it's a welcoming area for Democrats at the moment, but I would never say that it has been welcoming under any of the most recent presidents.
		I also would like to say, this is in hopes that the efforts in Ukraine are in fact under Trump are in fact a way for us to come to the table and maybe put our arms down and also give unfortunately having to give Putin a sense of saving faith.
		This is in hopes that that is what is happening.
		Because if he doesn't save faith, he's not going to lay down arms.
		He's not going to come to the table.
		So my hope is that this bluster and this rhetoric is in fact sort of a smokescreen to allow both of these egotistical sides, you know, and also patriotic sides to come to the table and a little bit save faith in an attempt to just stop.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Okay, Aaron there in Maryland, part of Open Forum.
		Again, you can participate if you wish.
		2027 88000 for Democrats, 202-748-8001 for Republicans, and Independents 202-748-8002.
		And you can always post on our social media sites if you wish as well.
		That's facebook.com slash C-SPAN and on X at C-SPANWJ.
		We will pause for calls from Open Forum for just a few minutes as we talk on Mondays, usually from the White House with a White House reporter today, Taylor Populars of Spectrum News, serves as their national political reporter.
		Mr. Populars, good morning.
unidentified		Hey there, Pedro.
unidentified		Good to be with you.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		The news seemingly coming back from the president from Florida to Washington was this idea of talking with the president.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		How does the White House plan to package this or sell this over the next couple of days?
unidentified		Well, you know, the White House is, you know, feeling confident about their messaging.
		We saw the president in Florida over the weekend, and while he was coming back up on Air Force One last night, he answered a ton of reporters' questions.
		And when it comes to everything from immigration to Doge to tariffs, they're kind of promoting the platform fully and also kind of shaking off all the criticisms that are coming.
		And you've seen a good amount of criticisms in the form of protests, in the form of courts stepping in and trying to block things.
		But the Trump White House is really shaking it all off and insisting that they're going to trudge ahead.
		That flood the zone approach that has kind of been a hallmark of the Trump political era over the last decade continues in full force.
		And it's something the administration is both proud of and insisting will continue to help them achieve their vision in multiple policy points.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		You brought up the efforts of the courts.
		There was back and forth about the courts and interpretations of the U.S. removal of Venezuelans by the Trump administration and what the courts said they could or couldn't do.
		Can you give some highlights of this story and where this story goes from today?
unidentified		Yeah, this is a really fascinating story.
		Essentially, obviously, the president, when he was on the campaign trail, talked a lot about being tough on immigration and kicking out people that he viewed as criminals.
		What we saw over the weekend is he tried to invoke this Alien Enemies Act that hasn't been used since World War II to deport a couple of hundred alleged gang members, Venezuelan gang members that the White House says they've confirmed are gang members.
		They put them on planes.
		They sent them to El Salvador.
		But in the midst of all of that, there were court hearings taking place and a federal judge stepped in and basically told them to turn the planes around and that did not happen.
		The Trump White House is insisting that what they did was legal and was not defying the judge and this court order.
		But legal groups, especially Democratic-aligned ones, are raising the red flag and saying, whoa, whoa, whoa.
		They're ignoring a court order.
		So the Trump team is insisting that this is going to go forward.
		The president of El Salvador has become a big ally of Trump.
		He's even been posting on X that he is kind of celebrating the welcoming of these planes.
		He put out a very dramatic edited video of the arrival of these deported people.
		And he quoted a screenshot of a New York Post story about that judge order and said, oopsie's too late.
		I'm literally quoting him.
		So when it comes to that, the Trump team, I go back to what I was saying about flooding the zone and trying to kind of push through even when the courts step in.
		That's how they're viewing this story.
		The big question moving forward is will other planes be sent from the U.S. and will other judges try to step in and will the Trump White House try to stop them or try to ignore it or will they move forward?
		There's a press briefing today, so I expect there to be a lot of questions about that.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Mr. Popolars, now that the government's been funded, the president's signing that legislation, what is the strategy of the White House going forward on the bigger issue of a bipartisan or a bill that would allow the policy issues that the Trump administration wants to put in the place?
unidentified		So we've heard the president time and time again talk about what he views as one big beautiful bill.
		That's talking about this reconciliation package that in layman's terms is essentially a grab bag for the party in power to stuff everything they want into it and pass it with a bit easier voting margins.
		And what the Trump team has made clear is they want a reconciliation package that includes an extension of the Trump tax cuts from his first term.
		They want funding for the border.
		They want defense spending, among other priorities.
		There's been an interesting debate in Congress over whether or not it makes sense to have the tax plan included in a bill that also funds the border and funds the military or whether you should separate both of those.
		The president has made clear over and over again he wants one big bill.
		And now that the government is funded through the end of September, that gives Republicans both here at the White House and over on Capitol Hill time to negotiate and figure out a deal.
		But I wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple of months there's a big negotiation and potentially a vote on a large reconciliation package that includes everything I just mentioned, tax cuts as well as border funding, defense spending and more.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Who are the key people from the White House that will be involved in these negotiations and are one of those people possibly the vice president himself considering he came from the Senate?
unidentified		Yeah, Vice President JD Vance, even though he served in the Senate for just a couple of years, he's become a key conduit between the White House and the Republican-led Senate because while Republicans are in charge of the Senate, their margin is pretty thin.
		It's 53 to 47, so they can't lose that many Republican members.
		And Vance, even though he was a pretty junior senator, does have relationships with these lawmakers.
		So he's become a key person in these negotiations.
		A lot of it does run up to President Trump because he'll get on the phone with these lawmakers and he'll have a direct impact in negotiations.
		He also hasn't been afraid to tell members, hey, I will support a primary opponent against you if you don't help me out.
		And then there are some folks kind of behind the scenes, the more legislative aides, if you will.
		I think of somebody like James Blair or James Baird, who really spend a lot of time with these members of Congress and really try to sell the Trump legislative agenda.
		So far, they've had pretty good success, especially in getting the Trump cabinet members confirmed.
		There was belief that there would be rocky roads for some of them, but they've all managed to get through so far.
		So you expect those people to continue to play a key role for the administration.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Mr. Popolar is on your X feed.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		It says that later on this afternoon, if I'm reading it right, the president's expected to go to the Kennedy Center.
unidentified		That's right.
		A little bit of an unusual situation.
		But we know a couple of weeks ago, the president announced on Truth Social that he was pushing out most of the members of the Kennedy Center board.
		Of course, people in Washington know the Kennedy Center, but it's known nationally as this big performing arts venue.
		A lot of steeped history.
		The Kennedy Center awards are there.
		The Trump administration, though, has been very critical of the Kennedy Center, basically claiming that in their words, it's gone woke and that they've brought in too many different gender issue related performances.
		They've honored controversial performers.
		And so the president himself has taken the unusual step of getting involved.
		He's named himself the chairman of the board, as well as one of his top political allies, Rick Grinnell, who served in a few different positions in his last administration.
		They've inserted a bunch of allies into the Kennedy Center board.
		And the president today is heading over there.
		He's going to spend a couple of hours there and allegedly get a tour as well as participate in a board meeting.
		I can't emphasize enough how unusual this is, especially for any president who has a whole lot going on.
		But, you know, the Trump White House has always leaned into culture issues, and this is kind of the face of culture in Washington, D.C.
		The president apparently wants to be more involved in what performances take place there, as well as who will get those famous Kennedy Center honorees each year.
		So it'll be interesting to see what he has to say amidst everything else that's going on both domestically and internationally.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		You mentioned the White House press briefing today.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		What else are we looking at, the key things of the White House this week?
unidentified		The biggest thing is what President Trump confirmed on Air Force One last night as he was coming back up from Florida.
		He's set on Tuesday to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
		His special envoy, Steve Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer who's really become, I would say, akin to a Secretary of State figure, was in Russia last week, met with Putin for a couple of hours as they're trying to reach a deal to end this war between Russia and Ukraine.
		Obviously, it goes without saying that Trump had a pretty explosive meeting here at the Oval Office a couple weeks ago with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
		Trump has continued to speak pretty warmly about Russian President Vladimir Putin, and now they're going to have another phone call as these negotiations continue.
		The president has made clear he wants this war to end and he feels he's the only person who can accomplish that.
		The big question is what will Russia or Ukraine have to give in in terms of a deal and will they both agree to that?
		Ukrainian leaders are really skeptical of Putin because he has a pretty shady track record of agreeing to things like ceasefires.
		But Trump and Putin have continued a dialogue and this will be the latest chapter of that.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Taylor Popolars of Spectrum News.
		He serves as our national political reporter and you can follow him at Taylor Popolars and at Spectrum News DC.
		Mr. Popolars, thanks for your time.
unidentified		Thanks, Pedro.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Again, open forum if you want to participate.
		Let's hear from Kim in New York.
		Democrats line.
		Thank you for waiting.
		Go ahead.
unidentified		I can't even believe what I just heard from your.
		I'm sorry, I had a statement, but just listening to what your reporter just reported on proves exactly what this man's agenda has been all about from day one.
		His message has been completely clear what he wants to do.
		He's all about dismantling and he's all about hate.
		He's against the very marginalized people in this country.
		He wants to devastate and destroy the very movement and growth of this country.

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