| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| We can do this. | ||
| So, with that, let's finish strong. | ||
|
unidentified
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Let's be a championship team. | |
| What's the theme for this campaign? | ||
|
unidentified
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It's time. | |
| It's time. | ||
| No, no, no. | ||
| It is. | ||
| We want to make New Jersey great again, but that's our theme right there. | ||
| It's been the case for 18 months. | ||
| We can't change it with two days to go. | ||
| I was at a rally last night. | ||
| The guy started yelling at me, it's past time. | ||
|
unidentified
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It's past time. | |
| It's okay. | ||
| All right. | ||
|
unidentified
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All right. | |
| I get it. | ||
| It's time. | ||
| It's time to vote. | ||
| It's time to win. | ||
| It's time to fix New Jersey. | ||
| Let's get this done. | ||
| Let's get this done. | ||
|
unidentified
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Come on. | |
| Let's get this done. | ||
| All right? | ||
| Come on, finish strong with me. | ||
| Let's go. | ||
| Let's get it done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, guys. | |
| Thank you, Tom Schroeder. | ||
| You've been watching live coverage. | ||
| We return now to our scheduled program. | ||
| We joined it in progress. | ||
| Other than that, how would you describe that? | ||
| I would say there is a hybrid war that Russia is conducting against Ukraine, especially along the borders of those countries, but also within the countries of Western Europe. | ||
| For example, you have sabotage. | ||
| There are actually fires that have been started, you know, unknown origin at a shopping center in Poland. | ||
| There are, and it was done, Poland would allege, and most observers believe, by Russia. | ||
| But they pay, let's say, a young guy who just wants to make $100 and he has no idea maybe that it's Russia that's paying him. | ||
| But this is one thing. | ||
| So sabotage and some very serious sabotage. | ||
| Remember, we've talked recently about cables being cut by ships up in the Baltic Sea. | ||
| You had drone incursions into a number of countries along the border. | ||
| You had an air incursion with MiG fighter jets into Estonia's airspace and many other examples. | ||
| So, and I should never forget corruption and undermining elections. | ||
| This is another major way that Russia is trying to undermine the West. | ||
| When you were on the ground there, how much access do you have? | ||
| You provided us with plenty of pictures, but how much access did you have? | ||
| Were you kept from certain areas? | ||
| How did that work for you? | ||
| Well, you know, because I teach at Georgetown University, I also continue to do live shots for CNN, and I'm also at the Wilson Center, the Woodrow Wilson Center. | ||
| I have a lot of connections in that part of the world. | ||
| My area is Russia, of course. | ||
| So months in advance, I actually contacted the Border Patrol, Interior Ministries, and the military in those countries and said, hey, I want to see if that's possible. | ||
| Can I go up to the border? | ||
| And they were all extremely helpful. | ||
| They did not stop me. | ||
| I was able to walk around, ask as many questions as I wanted. | ||
| And it was a real education. | ||
| And in each, especially those three countries, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, they gave me briefings showing some of the video that they have taken, for example, of those migrants coming over. | ||
| And it's really pretty amazing. | ||
| Again, our guests with us until 10 o'clock. | ||
| The numbers will be on your screen. | ||
| They all start with a 202 area code for Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| Independents 202-748-8000. | ||
| To our guest is the author of a book, My Russia, What I Saw Inside the Kremlin. | ||
| Ms. Doherty, a little bit about the book, your experience as well, how it informed this trip, and how you're, particularly how it also informs the larger issue of the Russia-Ukraine war. | ||
| Yeah, you know, I've been dealing with Russia actually since I was in high school. | ||
| I studied the Russian language way back in the 1960s, and then I became an exchange student in Leningrad, now called St. Petersburg, at coincidentally, the very same time that Vladimir Putin was there getting an education at the law school so he could become a budding KGB officer. | ||
| And then I went on, I worked with Voice of America, I was on U.S. Information Agency exhibits. | ||
| This is all even before I began to work as a journalist. | ||
| So what I try to do in the book, My Russia, is I begin with Ukraine because the last time I was in Russia was actually February 2022 during the full-scale invasion by Russia. | ||
| So I begin there, and I wanted it to be dramatic because it certainly felt dramatic to me. | ||
| And then I kind of backtrack and give my personal history with Russia, why I was interested, you know, Cold War, Sputnik, et cetera. | ||
| And then I get into my journalism career, and I pull out from all of those things that I experienced bigger lessons, like how did the United States react to the space race? | ||
| What did John F. Kennedy do? | ||
| Because these were all personal, but they were also parts of history. | ||
| And then I go through my career at CNN, which actually spanned three decades, especially as Moscow Bureau Chief. | ||
| That I think was the most intriguing of all, and it was the thing I'm interested in. | ||
| And then I also talk about young people, and that's a big subject for me. | ||
| Young people in Russia, young people in the region, and you could say young people in the United States who want to study Russia, but there are fewer and fewer opportunities to go. | ||
| In fact, practically no Americans go to Russia anymore because of the possibility that you'll be held as a hostage. | ||
| So that is, so it's person, it's very personal, and then it has a lot of Cold War and modern history in it. | ||
| We have a viewer who asked off of a text this morning saying, what are the types of illegal activities the Russians are directing migrants and or proximity countries to commit within NATO countries? | ||
| You know, I don't think, as far as I know, that the migrants are induced to carry out criminal acts. | ||
| A lot of them want to go, let's say, to Germany. | ||
| If they get to Germany, they will get a lot of benefits. | ||
| Germany provides migrants, you know, money and housing and things like that. | ||
| So if you're sitting in Afghanistan and you think, wow, I get no opportunities, I'm going to make my way to Germany. | ||
| It doesn't sound that bad in a way. | ||
| This is not like a terrorist recruiting. | ||
| But what happens is, because this is illegal, and because there are large numbers, sometimes there are hundreds of people at one time who are going through the fence or going through swamps, et cetera. | ||
| It's very expensive for the countries in Europe along that border to defend the border. | ||
| So they immediately have to spend money. | ||
| And then that could be destabilizing it if it becomes, which it is, millions and millions of dollars. | ||
| Then those people get to cities in the West, sometimes, you know, not even knowing the language, certainly not knowing the culture. | ||
| And Russia uses them to create societal tensions. | ||
| You know, under the best of circumstances, sometimes that happens. | ||
| Even if countries want to welcome people from other cultures, there can be tensions. | ||
| And Russia exacerbates that. | ||
| And they do that through their hybrid attacks and their disinformation campaigns. | ||
| And then all of this, again, creates ferment in the West. | ||
| And Russia's idea, big picture, is to create problems for the governments, especially NATO countries, governments in the West, to urge people to rise up, create problems. | ||
| And it helps Russia to undermine these countries. | ||
| Jill Doherty, our guest, our first call for you comes from Ben. | ||
| Ben is in Maryland Democrats line. | ||
| You're on with our guest. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Jill. | |
| I wanted to ask about the hybrid attacks in Moldova and Romania and attempts to interfere in that election. | ||
| Some have been proven to be connected to Russia, some are alleged to be connected to Russia. | ||
| And also, what is your opinion on the U.S. government's position in supporting NATO allies in this hybrid war? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Great questions. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| So I was just in Romania and Moldova. | ||
| There are two countries that I'm paying a lot of attention to. | ||
| Let's take Moldova. | ||
| Moldova is a very tiny country. | ||
| It is considered the poorest country in Europe. | ||
| It sits right on the Black Sea under Ukraine and then near Romania. | ||
| So this is an area, especially we have to watch the Black Sea very closely. | ||
| This is where Russia wants to establish control. | ||
| So how does it do it? | ||
| Moldova now, the president, is a Western-oriented woman. | ||
| Her name is Maya Sandu. | ||
| She's a very brave woman, in my opinion. | ||
| And she has said, we want to become part of the West, especially part of the EU, the European Union. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because it would help to increase the economy, help the economy, and help Moldova and Moldovan citizens live better and become part of Western values, etc. | ||
| So Russia has put Moldova in the crosshairs. | ||
| When I was there, I talked with many people about this. | ||
| The election for the parliament had just taken place. | ||
| In fact, I was able to attend the first speech by President Maya Sandu to that new parliament. | ||
| And what had the Russians done? | ||
| Well, they had spent between an estimated $250 million, $300 million to, I've even seen an estimate of $400 million on an election to throw the election to Kremlin-friendly candidates. | ||
| And it didn't work, which is really quite striking. | ||
| You know, one kind of small woman, she's about as big as I am, but she's very, very brave. | ||
| And she decided that they, you know, society was going to fight it and try to remain whole and have a real election. | ||
| So I think that is a very good example of that. | ||
| Romania, you had a candidate. | ||
| I'll try to keep this brief. | ||
| I'm sure you know about this. | ||
| He was called the TikTok candidate for their parliamentary election. | ||
| He came out of nowhere, a guy nobody knew. | ||
| But all of a sudden, he was on TikTok saying very interesting things and running for parliament. | ||
| And it was obviously, in my opinion, and of course, citing what the country said, he was obviously funded by the Russians. | ||
| So unfortunately, Romania had to cancel that election. | ||
| It looked bad for Romania, but it was obvious that they were being undermined. | ||
| So these are examples of what Russia is doing. | ||
| We could talk for an hour about this alone. | ||
| Now, on NATO, I think it is crucial for NATO countries to believe that the United States is going to stick with NATO and stick with its promise to uphold and respond to any Chapter 5, | ||
| sorry, any calls by countries for Article 5 protection if they are invaded or attacked in any way. | ||
| This is part of the NATO system, which is if you invoke Article 5, then you ask the other countries to treat the attack on you as if they were being attacked. | ||
| And the only time that that has ever really been invoked was when the United States was hit by 9-11. | ||
| So we have benefited from that. | ||
| And I would say it's very important to keep that promise to the other members of NATO if they are attacked that we will respect Article 5. | ||
| Ben is in Maryland, Democrats line. | ||
| You're next up. | ||
| Hello. | ||
| Ben and Maryland, hello. | ||
| Let's go to Jeff. | ||
| Jeff in Florida, Independent Line. | ||
| Go ahead, you're on. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Good morning, Joe. | ||
| I appreciate your work over on the border there. | ||
| In regard to that, I had a question. | ||
| We can't seem to gather much information on the participation of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine. | ||
| And are they actually on the front lines? | ||
| We can't seem to get any solid information. | ||
| I think that's a violation. | ||
| Article 5 could be brought up there. | ||
| I appreciate your time. | ||
| Yeah, I'm not quite sure about Article 5 because Ukraine is not a member of NATO. | ||
| So it doesn't really apply. | ||
| But if you look at the North Korean troops, there's no question that they've been on the front lines, especially in some of the areas like the Donbass-Donetsk region. | ||
| And the way the Russians have used them initially, these were, they didn't, obviously, North Korean troops did not speak Russian. | ||
| They were not used to Russian ways of war. | ||
| So they were used essentially and continue to be, as far as I understand, as cannon fodder. | ||
| So what would happen is, let's say there's an attack, this wave of North Korean troops would go first, be mowed down by the Ukrainians, and then the Russian troops would come through. | ||
| Now, the war is changing with drones, but it still applies that the North Koreans are there basically, it's a terrible expression, isn't it, as cannon fodder. | ||
| They also reportedly, and I don't know this for a fact, but there are indications and reporting, that they may be used for reconstruction in areas that the Russians have taken. | ||
| This, I think, would be very important to watch, because North Koreans are used in Russia for some of the same types of tasks. | ||
| So that synergy between North Korea and Russia is worrying. | ||
| You know, North Korean can create Korea can create a lot of problems. | ||
| If Russia wanted to crank up the heat on the United States or on NATO or the world, all they have to do is tell Kim Jong-un, why don't you send a missile over Japan? | ||
| That's an easy one. | ||
| In other words, North Korea is not that powerful, but it is developing nuclear weapons. | ||
| But they can be used in synergy with Russia and with China and with Iran, who are now the friends of Russia, to create a lot of havoc in the world. | ||
| You were showing people some photographs you took. | ||
| This is in the Lithuanian border at a crossing point. | ||
| I think I'm saying it right, correct me, please, Khyberthai. | ||
| Perfect. | ||
| And so tell people what they're seeing. | ||
| Yeah, okay. | ||
| So Khyberthai is this very small town in Lithuania. | ||
| It is on the border with Kaliningrad. | ||
| So if you look at the map, Kaliningrad is actually located in Europe. | ||
| It used to be a part of Germany. | ||
| It was taken by Russia after World War II and is now part of Russia. | ||
| So it's an enclave, but it is definitely part of Russia. | ||
| So in order to communicate between Russia and Kaliningrad, there are railroads and different ways of getting in. | ||
| So the railroad, let's take it up to kind of walk you through that border. | ||
| So at the border, this is an actual border between Lithuania and Russia, which is Kaliningrad. | ||
| So there are several ways that you can get through. | ||
| There are trucks that provide, you know, supplies and furniture and everything else to Kaliningrad. | ||
| So they're coming from Russia. | ||
| They get to this border crossing, and it looked almost like the MVD, you know, where you pay your toll or a border in general. | ||
| These trucks pull in and they are inspected by the Lithuanians and then they go through to Russia. | ||
| Then there are also trains. | ||
| So there is one train a day with people in it that comes from Moscow and that also has to be inspected. | ||
| So I saw one big long train filled with, not filled, actually there weren't as many people as I expected, but they're sitting in the train sometimes for hours as they go through, you know, passports and are you hiding anyone, et cetera. | ||
| So this is a border check. | ||
| And then there's a final way people can actually walk over the border. | ||
| So there were people who came through. | ||
| Some women that I talked through who were going through were going to Turkey. | ||
| They were actually Russians who wanted to come through the border and then take a flight onto Turkey. | ||
| So there's a lot of cross-border. | ||
| But that is continuing. | ||
| But I have to say, in Poland, it was not that. | ||
| They have shut down almost all of their border because of these incursions and because of problems of drones that have gone into Poland. | ||
| Let's go here from Mark in Massachusetts, Independent Line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| I was wondering how can, I have a couple of points, but how can Russia fight on all these fronts? | ||
| I mean, from what I understand, I mean, what's there, 50, 75 million people, and obviously they got all this oil revenue, but that's tough to come by. | ||
| And also, too, do you see any similarities between Putin and Napoleon invading Ukraine and his successor? | ||
| And he looks sick. | ||
| I mean, his successor, is he going to continue these attacks? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Yeah, that's a great question. | ||
| Well, I mean, how can they do this? | ||
| Okay, so you're right. | ||
| Russia is an energy producer. | ||
| It basically produces nothing that the world wants except for energy, oil and gas. | ||
| They have enormous supplies, and that is where somewhere around like 30, 35% at least of their budget comes from oil and gas. | ||
| Now, they export it. | ||
| There are a lot of sanctions. | ||
| It's getting harder. | ||
| But they are sanctions busting with these what are called the ghost fleet ships. | ||
| These are illegal ways of getting oil around the world. | ||
| But it's getting harder and harder. | ||
| You're right to sell it. | ||
| And it's, by the way, Europe is going green. | ||
| So the countries that used to import a lot of Russian oil and gas are importing much, much less, with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia. | ||
| Hungary, you know, there's a lot of praise of Hungary among some sides politically, but they are some of the biggest importers of oil and gas, I should say, energy, Russian energy, in Europe. | ||
| So anyway, they've got, the Russians have now sufficient money to do this. | ||
| When you talk about gray zone or sabotage, that is cheap. | ||
| That is, you could do an entire operation with the cost of a couple of missiles. | ||
| So the military part of it is expensive, but the disinformation, bribery, spending $400 million, $400 million is nothing. | ||
| That's like a few missiles. | ||
| So the undermining that's very serious, this gray zone, is something I think that we're going to have to watch for a very, very long time on the part of Russia. | ||
| And then finally, the second question I think was on, I'm sorry, I need to be reminded. | ||
| What was the second question? | ||
| I forgot to jot it down. | ||
| I apologize. | ||
| Well, I think the similarities between, I guess, the current leader in the Polish. | ||
| Yeah, yeah. | ||
| Yeah, exactly, because I thought that was a great question. | ||
| Look, Putin actually is looking, to my mind, better than he looked a year ago. | ||
| I don't know why, but maybe he's doing, he's a big exercise guy, so maybe he's doing his exercises and eating well. | ||
| But he looks pretty good at this point. | ||
| He is, I am sure, in charge of some type of plan because presumably, who knows? | ||
| He may die. | ||
| I mean, I'm joking. | ||
| Obviously, he will. | ||
| And in my book, he probably has a plan for post-Putin. | ||
| But right now, he is not talking about that. | ||
| He would be a lame duck. | ||
| There is, let's say that he died tomorrow. | ||
| There is a process in place, which is the prime minister, who at this point is a very capable kind of, you know, gray bureaucrat, would take over. | ||
| He's never going to become president, but he would take over. | ||
| And then there would be another election, I believe, within three months. | ||
| So then I think it gets interesting because Putin has not named an error. | ||
| We don't know who would come in. | ||
| And he is a very small group right now, his inner sanctum people, a very small group. | ||
| So all of this is very unclear. | ||
| I would say, big picture, Putinism continues. | ||
| You know, his style of leadership, the corruption, the central control will probably continue. | ||
| And then what happens in the future, we don't know. | ||
| But it could be, I think, kind of rocky after that initial period, because once there's a vacuum, a lot of interesting things can happen. | ||
| Watch the film The Death of Stalin, and you can kind of get an idea of what can happen. | ||
| Jill Doherty is with us for this conversation on the events concerning Russia and the borders there. | ||
| From John in Arlington, Virginia, you are next for our guest, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Yes. | ||
| What I like to ask is, do you think, in all honesty, knowing Vladimir Putin and what has happened so far that he would actually accept anything other than total domination? | ||
| In other words, the complete capitulation of the government in Kyiv, given that all that has been gone into it and all that they've lost, I believe from the most current casualty counts, Russia has now incurred more casualties than all their prior wars, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia combined. | ||
| I mean, approaching World War II level casualties. | ||
| So at this point, can he accept anything other than total domination of Ukraine in order to achieve his goals? | ||
| That's John in Virginia. | ||
| And Ms. Doherty, there's also a viewer off of X who offers a similar question asking what incentives, if any, could realistically compel Vladimir Putin to de-escalate in Ukraine without total defeat. | ||
| You know, both those, they're great questions. | ||
| So in my opinion, there are no incentives that we can offer Putin. | ||
| I don't think incentives are going to do it. | ||
| I think you have to force his hand, force him to some type of agreement. | ||
| Now, what does he want? | ||
| He has not changed one goal since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. | ||
| He set out essentially to take over Ukraine, to get rid of the government, get rid of Zelensky. | ||
| He tried to kill Zelensky to have him assassinated. | ||
| He wants to emasculate Ukraine insofar as it has defense. | ||
| He wants what remains of the Ukrainian army to be very, very small. | ||
| He wants a promise that it will never become part of NATO. | ||
| And he even wants to roll back NATO in the neighborhood. | ||
| So he has not changed any of those. | ||
| Now, so what's the situation? | ||
| What do we do and what does he do? | ||
| I think that at this point, he is not going to be able to achieve those goals because Ukraine has been able to put him off, to fight him off, for almost going on four years, you know, at least three and a half. | ||
| So I think what Putin will do is spin the fact that he has won. | ||
| He will tell his people and the world that he at least got some of the objectives. | ||
| And what would they be? | ||
| I think if you look at that Donbass region, you know, Donetsk and Luhansk, those two areas that are highly industrialized, and they are areas that Putin is insisting that he get, even if he hasn't won them militarily. | ||
| If he could get some type of fig leaf, and I'm not quite sure what that would be, where he can say, I did what I said, then maybe he can spin it that he won. | ||
| He will not have won. | ||
| But I think what the West has to do is make sure that he loses, that he does not achieve his goals. | ||
| Because if he is able to undermine, take over, whatever the Ukrainian government and turn it into a puppet state, which is exactly what he will want to do, it will only create more problems, except west more west and close to the rest of Europe, than now. | ||
| So, yeah, nobody really knows, you know, but I do believe that kind of claiming that you won is what he will do as opposed to the actual fact. | ||
| But he has to be pushed into it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This is from C-SPAN's Washington Journal, a live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington, D.C. and across the country. | |
| Coming up Monday morning, we'll talk about day 34 of the government shutdown with Newsweek White House reporter Daniel Bush and Notice Congressional Reporter Daniela Diaz. | ||
| And then Arms Control Association Executive Director Darrell Kimball on President Trump's decision to resume U.S. nuclear weapons testing. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal. | ||
| Join the conversation live at 7 Eastern Monday morning on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at cspan.org. | ||
| In his book, The Great River, Boyce Upholt talks about the history and geography of the Mississippi River. | ||
| And tonight, on C-SPAN's QA, he discusses how government-built infrastructures have transformed the landscape and ecosystem, and in turn, how the Mississippi has affected the population living along its banks. | ||
| I often talk about the Mississippi River being essentially a forgotten river at this point, right? | ||
| We know the name and we know about Mark Twain. |