| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
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The attack. | |
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| Coming up on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Associated Press congressional reporter Mary Claire Jelanik talks about her book, Storm at the Capitol, an oral history of January 6th. | ||
| Then Johns Hopkins University's Cynthia Arnson and the Foundation for Defense of Democracy's Mark Montgomery will talk about the impact of the Trump administration's actions in Venezuela. | ||
| Washington Journal starts now. | ||
| It's the Washington Journal for January 6th. | ||
| Key leadership and committee members met with several members of the president's cabinet yesterday on the issue of the actions of the Trump administration in Venezuela. | ||
| Later on today, President Trump is set to meet with House Republicans to discuss his actions. | ||
| Several Republican leaders have expressed confidence in the president, while many Democrats and even some Republicans have been critical. | ||
| To start the show today, what is your message to Congress when it comes to President Trump's actions in Venezuela? | ||
| Here's how you can let us know this morning. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000, Republicans 202-748-8001, and Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| If you want to tell us what your message is to Congress on Venezuela and you want to text us those thoughts, you can do that at 202-748-8003. | ||
| You can also post on our Facebook page at facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and on X at C-SPANWJ. | ||
| The briefing with key leaders and committee members took place yesterday on Capitol Hill. | ||
| The New York Times writes about it, saying that the briefing was for a select group known as the Gang of Eight, the House and Senate leaders from both parties, along with chairman and ranking members of each chamber's intelligence committees, which is generally alerted to major military operations before, during, or immediately after they occur. | ||
| Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and General Dan Kaine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were conducting the briefing along with John Radcliffe, the CIA director, and Pam Bondi, the Attorney General. | ||
| Several lawmakers questioned why senior leaders on Capitol Hill had not been notified in advance about the raid, which captured Mr. Maduro and his wife to face drug trafficking charges in the United States. | ||
| By law, the Gang of Eight is supposed to be kept apprised of covert operations, although the Trump administration has not always done so. | ||
| That's a bit of the background, taking a look at those leadership committee and committee leaders who met with the president's team yesterday. | ||
| The president will meet with House Republicans at the Kennedy Center later on today. | ||
| In the meantime, when it comes to your message to Congress, what would you want Congress to tell the president on Venezuela or your message to Congress on Venezuela? | ||
| You can tell us on the phone lines. | ||
| 202-748-8000 for Democrats, 202-748-8001 for Republicans, and 202-748-8002 for independents. | ||
| You can also text us at 202-748-8003. | ||
| After that briefing yesterday, one of the people going before cameras to talk about what he gained from it was the House Speaker, Mike Johnson. | ||
|
unidentified
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With regard to the war powers, and the compliance with federal law, we are not at war. | |
| We do not have U.S. armed forces in Venezuela, and we are not occupying that country. | ||
| The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, that is true, but it also vests the President of the United States with vast authorities as Commander-in-Chief. | ||
| Under Article II of the Constitution, the President has the authority, as all presidents do, to deploy military forces to address threats to the U.S. and to enforce U.S. law. | ||
| That is what happened here. | ||
| The War Powers Act states that notification should be made to Congress within 48 hours following the initiation of hostilities. | ||
| As we've noted, and I've made many public comments, that happened almost instantaneously here. | ||
| My first call was at 4 a.m. by Secretary of State Rubio. | ||
| Despite the claims by some of my colleagues, under the War Powers Act, there is no requirement for prior congressional approval or prior notification. | ||
| And in fact, in this case, the intelligence was so sensitive, the conditions had to be perfect. | ||
| There was no predetermination of when exactly it would occur. | ||
| And if there had been prior notice, even assembling the Gang of Eight. | ||
| For example, during a December holiday, it would have set off alerts and very likely might have been a leaked situation, which could have caused great damage to our forces, our troops there. | ||
| Any claims to the contrary about the War Powers Act either misunderstand the statute and long-standing precedent or they're just being disingenuous. | ||
| Congress retains full oversight authority and the administration is acting consistent with the law. | ||
| And that's what we discussed in the room tonight. | ||
| I'll close with this with regard to international law. | ||
| There's been a lot of question about that. | ||
| It is important to point out the United States has never accepted any interpretation that the U.N. Charter limits the use of force solely to responses to armed attacks. | ||
| The U.S. has always maintained the right to use force to defend our national interest, to preserve the safety of the American people, and to prevent ongoing threats to its security. | ||
| Venezuela's state-sponsored drug trafficking constituted a persistent violation of U.S. sovereignty and a direct threat to the safety of our citizens, and the President was justified in taking action to stop it. | ||
| Speaker Johnson, just one of those key committee and leadership that met with the President yesterday, or the President's team yesterday, the President meeting with those House Republicans, what's the message that you want Congress to deliver to the President when it comes to actions in Venezuela? | ||
| We'll hear from Bill, who joins us from Florida. | ||
| Republican line, Bill, what's the message to Congress? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, for one thing, I don't just said it was a civilian, it was a law enforcement act with military backup. | |
| But regardless of that, what I think they should do, your liberal listeners, most everybody that listens to this station should go on a Spanish-speaking station right now, listen to them people in Venezuela and around the rest of the Spanish people. | ||
| They're praising Trump. | ||
| Don't show them 100 people in front of them, people that were back in Maduro. | ||
| That's crazy. | ||
| Because he was killing them. | ||
| So, Bill, all that said, what's the message to Congress then on these actions? | ||
| What do you want Congress to say to the President? | ||
|
unidentified
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Get the yellow off of the Congress's back and let them back the president for one. | |
| Okay. | ||
| Black ladies got a yellow back. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Bill there in Florida, Jason Arnold from Facebook saying when it comes to the message to Congress, and you can make these comments on Facebook as well: stop pretending like every president since FDR hasn't been given broader executive power and taking military action without the consent of Congress. | ||
| This is Congress's fault for relinquishing its power so long. | ||
| And then this is from a viewer in West Virginia, talks about Taiwan when it comes to the actions of the president, saying that Trump's actions in Venezuela serve as a green light to go ahead and invade Taiwan. | ||
| We're invading other countries. | ||
| Why shouldn't they? | ||
| Again, texting us is one way if you want to make your thoughts there. | ||
| When it comes to the president and his actions in Venezuela, Axios takes a look at those Democrats on Capitol Hill and how they're reacting to the president in the light of recent days, saying the Venezuela strike has escalated already boiling tensions between Mr. Trump and congressional Democrats who are furious about Congress being left in the dark. | ||
| Quote, I had absolutely no briefing or heads up. | ||
| That was House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Greg Meeks fuming to Axios. | ||
| I received all information from the news media at this point. | ||
| It was Greg Meeks himself, the Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member, who was also attending that briefing yesterday and stepped before cameras to give his comments of what he gained from it. | ||
| Here he is from yesterday. | ||
| I'm very concerned about what happens next. | ||
| About the leadership, about democracy, about the willingness of making sure that the Venezuelan people of Venezuela will be involved in that democracy. | ||
| I'm concerned about going back to old policy in South America. | ||
| You know, this whole thing with the national security strategy by saying that we're going to make sure that anybody there has to be and do what we tell them to do. | ||
| It seems as though, you know, to one degree, I could have been part of the Russian Dumas. | ||
| And Vladimir Putin saying we got to get rid of Ukraine. | ||
| We've got to make sure that there's no NATO. | ||
| And so, what is our response and have the national security strategies put in place? | ||
| It'd be okay for Russia to say we're going to take care of all the areas in our geographical region. | ||
| China, same thing with Taiwan. | ||
| We'll take care of our geographical jurisdiction. | ||
| America, you take care of yours. | ||
| So the three divided up. | ||
| That is not who we are. | ||
| That is not democracies. | ||
| That's not diplomacy. | ||
| That's not working with our allies in the United States. | ||
| So I come out of there. | ||
| I went in with those concerns. | ||
| I come out with those concerns. | ||
| One of many Republicans and Democrats getting that briefing yesterday. | ||
| Let's hear from Eric when it comes to the message to Congress. | ||
| He joins us on our independent line in California. | ||
| Hello. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| I see Stan. | ||
| I believe that normally I am not in favor of us getting involved in other countries. | ||
| But in this case, I differ. | ||
| I think that Congress needs to be informed of a few things. | ||
| One, what's this plan going to be with our oil companies? | ||
| I remember people hearing some people say it's going to take years, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like when we put out the fires after the Gulf War, it'd be a lot faster. | ||
| To get the numbers out there, what kind of production will there be? | ||
| What kind of revenue is going to be generated? | ||
| And then those numbers should go to the people of Venezuela, and nobody should be put in jail, right, left, or anybody in Venezuela anymore. | ||
| And let the people decide what they want to do with that revenue and have everything be upfront so we know what's coming, we know what's going to be, and it could be a win-win for everyone. | ||
| Do you think members of Congress will actually deliver that message? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think right now, no, but I think after the November elections, which I believe the Democrats will win, perhaps. | |
| Okay, Eric there in California, the Washington Post took a snap poll over the events of Venezuela, and one of the things they acted was about congressional action, or at least the response that Congress should have in these matters. | ||
| Here's the question: Was it appropriate for Mr. Trump to order the operation on his own, or should it have required approval from Congress? | ||
| 37% of those responding to this poll, which was done via text, said that it was appropriate for the president to operate on his own. | ||
| 63% saying that he should have required congressional approval, saying more than six and ten Americans say the operation should have required approval from Congress. | ||
| Fewer than four and ten said it was appropriate. | ||
| Republicans say that Mr. Trump's actions were appropriate by a three to one margin, while large majorities of Democrats and Independents say Congress should have had to sign off on it. | ||
| Again, that's from that poll from the Washington Post from Facebook. | ||
| Some of you responding there saying that, and this was Nicholas from Facebook showing up, saying, and writing it in the form of a letter. | ||
| Dear Republicans, Mr. Trump's own words contradict the claim, quote, it was just a military strike. | ||
| Try thinking for yourselves for once instead of regurgitating what right-wing media told you, sincerely, Americans with common sense. | ||
| Again, if you want to make comments on Facebook, you can do that at facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and Xavailable to you too at C-SPAN WJ. | ||
| In Florida, this is Stephen. | ||
| Democrats' line, we're asking what you would tell Congress to tell the president when it comes to Venezuela. | ||
| Stephen, in Florida, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, sir. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| First, I think that the presidency is out of control. | ||
| I think it's the ultimate in arrogance that we should be telling a sovereign country who their president is. | ||
| I wonder if setting the stage, we can't protect or help an ally in the Ukraine, and we're telling the Chinese that now they can have Taiwan because that's their sphere of influence, and that North Korea can take over South Korea because that's their sphere of influence. | ||
| A very bad precedent and threatening Mexico and Greenland, and what is it, the U.S. versus the world? | ||
| So, all that said, what do you think? | ||
| What's Congress's role here? | ||
|
unidentified
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Congress is gutless. | |
| Congress should be up in arms. | ||
| And I think midterms, the Republicans are going to get a lesson in politics. | ||
| Americans don't like to beat up on people. | ||
| We like to help people. | ||
| That's the nature of America. | ||
| So, and this nonsense with Kelly, Kelly's an American hero because I spend his space. | ||
| I saw him take off and return to flight. | ||
| Okay, got your point there. | ||
| Yeah, Gary, Gary in New York, the message to Congress when it comes to Venezuela. | ||
| Gary in New York on our independent line. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I'm really sorry that we got involved with this. | ||
| I think that it's a little crazy to be pushing a Monroe doctor and the Monroe Doctor and, you know, actually genocided the Americans, the true Americans, which are the American Indians. | ||
| We genocided them. | ||
| Now he wants to push and take over, you know, South America, too. | ||
| I mean, he wants to go after Cuba. | ||
| He wants to do a lot of stuff. | ||
| And first off, I don't think that I've ever heard of any situation where there was a leak out of the gang of eight ever in the history of this country. | ||
| And I'm really sorry that the president and his minions are acting this way. | ||
| So the members of Congress are getting a briefing yesterday or getting briefing today, Gary. | ||
| How should they respond to those briefings and what the president says about Venezuela? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think that we should not even be involved with that. | |
| They should have been told, the gang of eight should have been told beforehand, like it has always been done. | ||
| He's using the excuse of leaks. | ||
| And I'm saying that there has never in the history been a leak out of the gang of eight. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Have a good day. | ||
| Gary there in New York. | ||
| This is Annette Yancey from Facebook responding to what we posted when it comes to what Congress should tell the president and his team saying Venezuela is celebrating their corrupt dictator being taken and placed on trial. | ||
| Why should we be upset when they are happy? | ||
| Again, that's just some of the responses. | ||
| We're asking you to respond to Congress as they get these briefings on Capitol Hill, one yesterday, House Republicans today, that things they should say to the president when it comes to the actions taken in Venezuela, 202, 748, 8,000 for Democrats, 202, 748, 8,000, 1 for Republicans. | ||
| Independents, 202, 748, 8,000, 2. | ||
| Several Republican legislators in Florida held a press conference in that state on the actions of the president that he took in Venezuela, and one of those responding yesterday was the Republican senator from Florida, Rick Scott, his comments about the actions in Venezuela by the president. | ||
| Let's remember what Maduro is. | ||
| He's a drug trafficker. | ||
| He's a narco-terrorist, right? | ||
| He sent gangs of Venezuelans to Ragua and Cartel Lusosos to terrorize Americans, to rape Americans, to sell drugs to our kids and her grandkids, to kill them. | ||
| I mean, this is a despicable human being. | ||
| And when I got the phone call early, very early Saturday morning from Marco Rubio, I was ecstatic. | ||
| I was always hoping this was going to happen, but when he said Maduro is on the boat and he will be on U.S. soil soon, what a great day. | ||
| So now, what do we have the opportunity for? | ||
| We're not there yet. | ||
| We've got the opportunity for peace, opportunity, liberty, all these things. | ||
| We want everybody in Venezuela to have the same opportunity that people in Miami have. | ||
| You can get a job. | ||
| You can live your dream. | ||
| We want the same thing there. | ||
| And it's a rich country. | ||
| Some people say, oh, is this good for America? | ||
| Think about why it's going to be good for America. | ||
| We're going to have a new trading partner. | ||
| People we know, our friends and our family, are going to be able to live their dream in Venezuela. | ||
| We're going to have lower oil and gas prices. | ||
| We're going to have a great trading part. | ||
| This is going to be outstanding. | ||
| And guess what? | ||
| With Maduro gone, Diaz-Canal is not much... | ||
| So, from day one, President Trump has told Maduro accountable. | ||
| He's stopped the oil from flowing. | ||
| He stopped the drug boats. | ||
| Hey, Carlos. | ||
| We stopped the tankers. | ||
| And then this precision was unbelievable. | ||
| So many legislators spoke at that Florida press conference. | ||
| You can find that at our website at c-span.org. | ||
| You can also check it out on our app at C-SPANNOW. | ||
| Barbara, Illinois says this. | ||
| My message to Congress on Venezuela is to push for more congressional approval in drafting future plans for the new government of the country and also for reviving the failing oil industry infrastructure. | ||
| Clifford is next. | ||
| Clifford from California, Republican line on the message to Congress to the president on Venezuela. | ||
| Hello. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| Good morning, Pedro. | ||
| Yes, I think Congress should go ahead and congratulate the president for a great job he's done. | ||
| I mean, my goodness, you hear these Democrats always whining, complaining. | ||
| And I've been whining, complaining for four years when Biden did absolutely coming in that country for the... | ||
| placed himself as president. | ||
| I mean, they got what Trump did is a great thing for America. | ||
| And I hope these Democrats finally come to that point. | ||
| So do you think it's just congratulations that Congress should offer? | ||
| Should there be more? | ||
| Okay, Clifford there. | ||
| Let's go to Rick. | ||
| Rick in New York. | ||
| He is on our line for independence. | ||
| Rick, go ahead. | ||
| You're next up. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Everybody's talking about the drugs coming out of there, all the tons of cocaine. | |
| What about all the tons of money that replaced that cocaine and probably was purchasing gold and everything else? | ||
| Where's all that money? | ||
| Where's all that gold? | ||
| Why isn't they talking about that? | ||
| So what does that mean for Congress then? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, but they need to ask more questions about this stuff. | |
| They're not pushing him to respond to anything about the drug money. | ||
| It's all about oil. | ||
| It's all about the drugs. | ||
| But there's nothing going on to push this president to talk about the drug money. | ||
| Hey, Rick, when you say that they need to ask more questions, do you think that these briefings are going to provide that forum for the members of Congress to actually ask questions on these things? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, they need to hold them responsible and accountable for what's going on there. | |
| And the only way they can really find out what's going on is they've got to follow the trail. | ||
| The trail that cocaine brings that money. | ||
| Where's that money going? | ||
| Who's sitting on it? | ||
| That president's got that president, and he's holding them here, and that money's somewhere. | ||
| And you don't think that president don't want that money? | ||
| Somebody needs to ask him about where the money is for the drugs. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Aaron in Michigan, Independent Line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| Good morning, Pedro. | ||
| I just kind of wanted to start with the fact that last night we had. | ||
| Aaron, let me pause you for a second. | ||
| Your connection is really spotty. | ||
| Can you get closer to your handset or get closer to a place where a signal will be stronger, please? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, sir. | |
| Can you hear me? | ||
| Better. | ||
| Yes, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All right. | |
| Yeah, I was just kind to call in to say the last time I had seen that this attack on Venezuela, the death toll is claiming to over 80 people. | ||
| So I don't really see that last statement you put on there with the where the people are celebrating. | ||
| They're really not celebrating this. | ||
| And there was also a theft of almost a trillion dollars in silver from the country of Venezuela. | ||
| So everything the Trump administration is doing is illegal, and Congress needs to be doing more to put their foot down and hold him accountable to the Constitution because quite clearly at this point, he's violating every aspect of the Constitution, all to distract from the Epstein files and the fact that he killed a child on Lake Michigan in North America. | ||
| Caller, that's an assertion. | ||
| And to this idea of Congress should be going to more. | ||
| He's gone. | ||
| Let's go to George, Philadelphia Democrats line. | ||
| Your message to Congress on Venezuela. | ||
| Hi there. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, sir. | |
| When are they going to send the troops home and the sailors? | ||
| You're saying that's something should be Congress that Congress should be asking? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And also, they should be asking how long they're going to keep the troops on the ground. | |
| Okay, George in Philadelphia, one of those people criticizing the actions of the president, a member of Congress, Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, saying that he wants Congress to take a more active role as a check on the Trump administration's use of military force following that weekend operation in Venezuela. | ||
| He plans to force a vote on legislation that would halt further military action in the country without lawmakers' approval. | ||
| He joined a chorus of congressional Democrats who were frustrated at President Trump's decision to strike the capital of Venezuela and subsequent capture of the president Nicholas Maduro and his wife without oversight or approval from Congress. | ||
| This story from Fox News saying that congressional Democrats have long been frustrated at Congress's diminished role in decision-making since Mr. Trump took office last year, particularly over continued strikes in the Caribbean ahead of Operation Absolute Resolve that took place on Saturday. | ||
| Let's hear from Tim. | ||
| Tim is joining us on our Republican line in Illinois. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| Yes, hello. | ||
| Bravo to President Trump and all the people, these wonderful people he has around him. | ||
| Very, very intelligent people. | ||
| Great job. | ||
| Congress needs to get to work now and work on the United States here. | ||
| You know, Venezuela needs to work itself out. | ||
| I'm worried about the cartels there, but that's Venezuela. | ||
| They need to put somebody in a position that can actually run the country. | ||
| Do you think Congress should have, you think Congress should have more of the say as far as what the future holds when it comes to actions by the Trump administration in Venezuela or other places? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, no. | |
| He did a lot better job than Obama just dropping bombs on people, 2,600 bombs. | ||
| Stop them killing civilians, children. | ||
| I don't want to hear he needs to be reined in. | ||
| Let him do his job. | ||
| Can you elaborate why you don't want to hear he needs to be reigned in? | ||
| Can you elaborate on that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's part of Congress gave him that power. | |
| And to all the presidents before him, let him do his job. | ||
| Let him do what the other presidents before him did. | ||
| He's doing a great job. | ||
| That's Tim there in Illinois. | ||
| Let's hear from Ronald Ronald in New Hampshire, Independent Line. | ||
| The message of Congress to the president on Venezuela. | ||
| Ronald, hello. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, thank you for taking my call. | |
| Yeah, you know what they're doing? | ||
| Congress, they introduce resolutions to prohibit military force wherever, in this case, Venezuela. | ||
| And that's wrong because what they need to do is introduce a resolution to authorize military force in Venezuela. | ||
| And the reason why they have to do it that way is because it takes two-thirds of Congress to approve a resolution. | ||
| If they introduce a resolution that says to prohibit force in Venezuela, then only one-third of Congress needs to agree to that or to disagree with that for that to happen. | ||
| In other words, they're doing it wrong, right? | ||
| Congress has to approve military force. | ||
| They don't disapprove when military force is already gone. | ||
| Otherwise, it only takes one-third of Congress to go to war. | ||
| You know what I'm saying? | ||
| If they did all that, do you think anything would change when it comes to actions in other countries? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, because it would take two-thirds of Congress to start a war. | |
| Right now, the way they're doing it, it only takes one-third of Congress to agree to. | ||
| You said that, but the Senate is controlled and the House is controlled both by the House. | ||
| Why do you think if they both hold Republican power, why things would change? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What I want is I want Gene Shaheen, my senator, or Tim Kaine, whoever, to introduce a resolution in the Senate that says that to authorize force in Venezuela and let Congress vote on that. | |
| That's what I want. | ||
| All right. | ||
| In Virginia, Democrats lying, this is Grace. | ||
| Hello. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, this is Grace. | |
| I just feel like the whole United States, especially the Congress, especially the Senate and Trump and all those people in his administration need to fall on their knees, pray and ask God to forgive them. | ||
| So God said, you need to trust him. | ||
| You need to look to him. | ||
| And all you're doing, God is going to judge us. | ||
| And you better watch it. | ||
| Every one of those Republicans, you need to watch it. | ||
| God is going to judge you. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Grace there in Virginia. | ||
| This is from Don in Floyd, Virginia, who identifies himself as an independent, saying, my view of Congress is they've been neutered completely, and they're just there to collect the paycheck. | ||
| So those are the comments you can make, amongst others, if you want to talk about the actions of Congress, the message they should deliver to the president when it comes to concerns about Venezuela. | ||
| Again, the phone lines are available to you as well. | ||
| If you want to call or maybe you want to send us a text, you can do that too. | ||
| Let's go to Justin, who is in Ohio. | ||
| Republican line. | ||
| Hello, Jins. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, sir. | |
| My message is to Congress is pass the appropriations bills, balance a budget, and do your job. | ||
| Your job is not international diplomacy. | ||
| And if you guys don't like the laws, which there's it's clear that there was an arrest warrant out for Maduro, Democrats seem to have a real problem with going after bad guys. | ||
| I don't know what it is about them. | ||
| They've got this, they've put themselves in this box that they're defending criminals and rapists and illegal aliens just to try to get Trump. | ||
| It's so pathetic. | ||
| I don't even it's so blatantly pathetic. | ||
| These people are embarrassing to this country to me. | ||
| So Congress already has war powers. | ||
| You think the actions don't fall into that category? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Of course not. | |
| There's no war. | ||
| We don't have a single soldier on the ground in Venezuela. | ||
| Not a single one. | ||
| What what what war are you guys pretending is going on? | ||
| They went and arrested a guy. | ||
| It's it's that simple. | ||
| There's no war going on. | ||
| W w can somebody explain the war? | ||
| Okay, aside from the war, do you think that the intervention itself is something that Congress should sign off on? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't know. | |
| I mean, what for? | ||
| What's it going to do? | ||
| What's the Congress signing off on it going to do? | ||
| Elaborate on that. | ||
| What do you mean? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You're saying they should do it, I guess. | |
| I don't know what your position is. | ||
| I'm asking if you think Congress should have more authority when it comes to these interventions, and what do you think? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, I don't. | |
| Congress is, they're just, we can't trust these Democrats, man. | ||
| These people are so anti-Trump, it doesn't matter. | ||
| They're so bad for our country. | ||
| You cannot trust Democrats. | ||
| And they don't have our well-being in mind at all. | ||
| Trump is doing a phenomenal job stopping this, the Chinese and the Iranians from getting into our hemisphere and bringing these drugs and trying to bring our country down. | ||
| Why aren't the Democrats pro-America? | ||
| This is good for our country to stop what's going on in Venezuela. | ||
| Not just to go in and arrest Maduro, to stop this infiltration of the Western hemisphere. | ||
| These people don't know what's going on. | ||
| They're pretending they don't know that the Chinese and the Iranians and the Russians were forming an alliance in Venezuela to hurt our country. | ||
| What is wrong with you guys? | ||
| Show your patriotism, for God's sake. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Tom is next in Long Island, Independent Line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| How are you doing? | ||
| Fine, thank you. | ||
| Tom Weigel. | ||
| I did pray to God, and God delivered. | ||
| We got our president, the best president this country ever had. | ||
| The Democrats have gone full-blown communist. | ||
| Why, I don't know, but I pray for them. | ||
| I pray that they come back to the American side of the equation. | ||
| So let me know. | ||
| What do you think as far as their role in issues of Venezuela? | ||
| What should they be telling the president specifically? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think they've said enough. | |
| They're completely useless. | ||
| They have no moral authority at all. | ||
| They're letting Americans die by the hundreds of thousands with all the drugs being pumped into this country, and they don't give a damn. | ||
| They all ought to wake up and just get in line and start paying attention to what this president's doing for this country because they're all a bunch of clowns, man. | ||
| They're just a bunch of clowns. | ||
| Betty, up next in New Jersey, Democrats line. | ||
| Your message to Congress when it comes to what they should be telling the president on Venezuela. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think Congress should have had say in it, just like they've always in the past. | |
| Now, my party may be Democratic, but in the past, I've also voted Republican when I thought that it was the right thing to do. | ||
| Mr. Trump was not the right thing to do. | ||
| I disagree with you other two gentlemen. | ||
| The Supreme Court and Congress has just let him run free like a kid at a toy store, that he can do anything and everything he wants. | ||
| What happens if he turns on those two gentlemen someday, arrests them, deports them, or maybe has the military blow their houses up? | ||
| How would they feel then? | ||
| They're saying he's the best president. | ||
| Then why are things so high? | ||
| Why are your older people having a hard time making ends meet? | ||
| And I'm one of them. | ||
| On Social Security, I make under $14,000 a year in Social Security, and that's my only form of income. | ||
| And where I live, by the time I pay my rent, I have $98 a month to live on, which has to do with food and all my necessities. | ||
| Ask those gentlemen, can they live on about $98 a month after they pay their bills and everything? | ||
| I think not. | ||
| Okay, one more call. | ||
| This will be Bill in California, Republican line. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, Pedro. | |
| You're on. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, America. | |
| Yes, all I want to say is that down in Venezuela and everything, stop the drug boats. | ||
| I know they're going in Europe. | ||
| They speak about they want to go to the fit and all it's not coming in here, but the drug boats. | ||
| But how long is that going to take? | ||
| Because we might have a Democrat in there after a while. | ||
| He's going to be law enforcement. | ||
| Congress should make sure that in the act of war, they should act on it and take the power back. | ||
| Bill, in California, finishing up this round of calls on the congressional message to the president on Venezuela. | ||
| A couple of things to watch out for on our networks. | ||
| If you're interested in seeing more, the Atlantic Council later on this morning will hold a discussion on the future of Venezuela, especially in light of actions taken by the Trump administration. | ||
| You can see that on C-SPAN 2, starting at 9 o'clock and right after this program, if you want to stay and watch that, members of the Organization of American States and its 35 independent nations will hold a special meeting of its own on recent events in Venezuela. | ||
| That is set to take place at 10 o'clock right after this program. | ||
| Again, everything that you see there on our networks, you can also find on our app at C-SPANNOW and our website at c-span.org. |