C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Open Forum highlights calls criticizing ICE mask policies, linking them to safety risks like doxxing and robbery fears, while others accuse bias over Gaza coverage or Epstein investigations. Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin reject a failed grand jury indictment as political intimidation, citing threats tied to their Senate roles. A border shutdown looms by February 13th due to stalled DHS funding, amid cartel drone incursions in Texas and debates over sonic weapon use. Callers clash on immigration history, mask narratives, and radicalization claims, underscoring deep partisan divides over law enforcement, security, and accountability. [Automatically generated summary]
Thank goodness for C-SPAN, and we all should review the tape.
Everyone wonders when they're watching C-SPAN what the conversations are on the floor.
I'm about to read to you something that was published by C-SPAN.
There's a lot of things that Congress fights about, that they disagree on.
We can all watch that on C-SPAN.
Millions of people across the country tuned into C-SPAN.
That was a make-for-C-SPAN moment.
If you watch on C-SPAN, you're going to see me physically across the aisle every day, just trying to build relationships and try to understand their perspective and find common ground.
And welcome forward to everybody watching at home.
We know C-SPAN covers this live as well.
We appreciate that.
And one can only hope that he's able to watch C-SPAN on a black and white television set in his prison cell.
This is being carried live by C-SPAN.
It's being watched not only in this country, but it's being watched around the world right now.
Mike said before, I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1.
That's a big upgrade, right?
Only a few ground rules for open forum.
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First call in open forum comes from California, Republican Line.
This is Sandy.
Good morning.
Go ahead.
Okay, I have about three points to make here.
First of all, on our ICE agents, I want them masks.
I don't want them being threatened and their families.
And if the rhetoric from the Democrats had not been so intense about this, you wouldn't have people going to peaceful protests with guns and using their vehicles to run people over.
So I have a problem with that.
Not that I ever want to see anybody be hurt, killed, or maimed.
That's a big problem I have.
Voter ID, everybody needs to have an ID.
You can't even go to a casino and win money without an ID.
Why should you be allowed to vote without an ID?
I have a problem with that.
So yeah, I want voter ID.
I live in California.
The amount of money and taxes and everything that they charge us for and gas and everything else.
It's really hard to be a retired person in this state.
Trust me.
The other thing I have to say is the way that Pam Bondi was treated yesterday.
She's doing the best she can with what she has to work with.
And I don't like the fact that anybody was taken advantage of or mistreated or hurt in this way, women, children, or men.
But what I like even less is that the previous administrations did nothing, but they're trying to pin this all on the current administration.
Come on, people, wake up.
Okay.
Okay, Kenny from North Carolina, you're next up, Independent Line.
Yes, good morning.
Thank you for taking the call.
You know what really concerns me?
Hello?
You're on.
Go ahead.
Oh, okay.
No, I'll turn something back there.
Is that it is, you know, what I really heard and it really concerns me is that this, that Epstein Ranch was a spying, spy, a foreign spy ring.
And if you look around, all the politicians that were there, that's what we should be concerned about.
And I heard it was read by AIPEC.
And that's the reason these guys, that's the reason that it hasn't been brought up.
That's the reason nobody has investigated it and been scared to investigate it.
But it's terrible.
It's terrible when we let foreign people come in and completely run our government.
And it seemed like they got into C-SPAN now because you guys won't even have a show on the Gaza Strip.
I mean, that's the biggest genocide.
And y'all won't have a show.
Oh, I would invite you to go back in time and check out our archives to many issues when it comes to Gaza and other foreign affairs-related matters.
But we'll go to Ohio Democrats line.
John, hello.
Hello.
I just want to kind of reinforce what an earlier caller said around the concerns she had about law enforcement personnel wearing masks.
Unfortunately, all law enforcement officers who don't wear masks may be subject to being doxxed.
But the problem with it is where I grew up, if someone comes up to you with a mask, you think you're being robbed.
It's a part of doing your job and what they're getting paid for.
I think it's disingenuous to use that as an excuse for people to wear masks.
We just can't have that, people wearing masks representing law enforcement.
Changes in ICE enforcement at the center when it comes to the future of funding for the Department of Homeland Security roll call later in the evening yesterday saying lawmakers making no apparent progress towards a deal on an extension of Homeland Security funding.
And the Senate peers set to leave town Thursday despite the February 13th deadline to avoid a partial shutdown of that agency with both chambers on recess next week.
The impasse means the department might be without a big chunk of its funding until at least the week of February 23rd unless there's a breakthrough or leadership calls members back to Washington early.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday he wasn't planning on keeping his chamber in town unless an agreement was close.
Quote, as soon as we can strike a deal, we'll vote on it.
Until then, I don't know if there's any point in keeping people around here sitting around doing nothing.
I think it's important that the people at the negotiating table double down, sharpen their pencils, and strike a deal.
Shea up next.
Shea in Florida, Republican line.
Pedro, man, there's so much to go with right now.
I wanted to talk about the ICE agents.
Now, you showed, I've seen it on C-SPAN when I'm watching it, you're showing about the ICE agents and everything, how they go into those people's houses, going upstairs, they handcuffed them, they walking them out.
I mean, they're not throwing them down on the ground and doing all of that.
I mean, I don't understand why can't they go get who they're getting, and they believe they had masks on.
The lawmakers don't have masks on.
They've been called.
If Trump tells them to go get them, you know, you got crazy people that'll go and try to intimidate people, but that's just wrong.
And what I could see was happening up in Minnesota.
I saw a cold-blooded murder with that Alex Purdy.
They said 11 days ago, yeah, I saw him.
He kicked at the taillight of a car, but he never kicked it out.
And when he was helping that young lady, he had his phone up with his left hand, and he was trying to protect her.
They were throwing her down on the ground.
They grabbed him and threw him down on the ground, face down on the ground, and they shot him nine times in the back.
And how do you think your fellow Republicans have responded to that?
I mean, it's ridiculous.
Okay, it's ridiculous.
What the problem is with Republicans and Democrats, I hate parties.
I hate parties.
When the frame was first come out with that, they did that to divide us.
I ought to be talking about Pedro what you stand for.
I want to know I'll vote for Republican Democrat Independent.
If you're a good guy and got morals in you, you're a Christian, because Christ said, as much as you do it to the least of minds, you've done it under him.
Arthur Arthur in Michigan, Republican line as well.
You're next up.
Go ahead.
Yes.
Hi, Pedro.
Good morning, Chief Fan.
I wanted to address your guest, Mr. Peters.
If they're so hard on this Epstein files, how come Biden didn't release him in four years he was in power?
And then another thing I wanted to say is about also when I go to a hockey game with my son, I got to show ID to get a beer, and I'm in my 70s.
So come on, let's use some common sense.
People need to get back to church and God.
And as far as Lemon case, he violated the congregation in that church and First Amendment, and that is religion.
So that's all I got to say.
I just hope, and I am praying for those two that got murdered shot in Minnesota.
So please, people, use common sense.
They're anti-Irish people that are in the peaceful protest wear masks.
So give me a break.
Laurie is in Long Beach, California, Democrats line.
Hello.
Hi, is this for me?
Yep, you're on.
Go ahead.
Okay, thanks a lot, Pedro.
You know, I hope I can be clear.
I feel a little nervous this morning.
But the Republicans, the MAGA Republicans, keep calling him on and on and on.
Why didn't they do this with the Epstein files over during Biden and Bush, et cetera?
Well, hello.
They did.
In 2006, Jeffrey Epstein was convicted, if I'm not mistaken.
And that's long before Donald Trump was in the picture.
So they were aware of him.
They were doing something.
Sweetheart Deal Exposed00:03:28
I think that was the sweetheart deal he got, but they were doing something about him.
So that's Not even true.
They were.
But the reason it's such a big thing now is because Trump was his best buddy and he's president.
That's basically all I want to say.
There's a lot of other things on my mind, but you know, it's ridiculous.
The pictures of him and Epstein and Ghelain Maxwell are everywhere, and there's many of them.
And the sweetheart deal that Ghelaine Maxwell got is very suspicious and very disgusting.
And that's really horrible.
That's Lori from California.
One of the things that took place yesterday, the New York Times reporting that federal prosecutors in Washington sought and failed on Tuesday to secure an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video in the fall that enraged President Trump by reminding active duty members of the military and intelligence community that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders for people.
According to the matters, according to familiar with the matter, said it was remarkable that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, led by Janine Pirow, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump's, authorized prosecutors to go to a grand jury and ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom served in the military or the nation's spy agencies.
But it was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on a grand jury in federal district court in Washington forcefully rejected Mr. Trump's bid to label their expression of dissent as a criminal act warranting prosecutions.
It was two of those members, Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin, senators responding to this announcement yesterday.
Here's some of the.
If the average citizen had the physical threats and then the legal threats that we've been facing, you understand why people just go to ground, right?
Just the ability to hire a lawyer, right?
And as a senator, I have the ability to stand up a legal defense fund and help pay for the lawyer that I need to defend myself.
The average citizen can't do that, right?
And the average citizen doesn't get Capitol Police when there's 24-7 threats against you and your house and your family and your parents.
So I feel like I'm doing it because others cannot.
And again, I think they're trying to send a signal to others to deter them from speaking by watching what we go through.
And then, you know, I would just say both of us have served in dangerous situations.
Both of us have put our lives at risk.
I don't, neither of us enjoy this.
I certainly have worked alongside the FBI and the Department of Justice as a CIA officer my entire life.
I have great respect for what the career professionals do.
They keep us safe every single day.
So I don't enjoy waking up and having those same organizations targeted and pointed against me for freedom of speech.
I don't.
But he's counting on us to feel weak in the knees and to bow out.
And I think that's why we went the opposite direction was to say that point directly to the president.
Yeah, I mean, this is not taking any kind of emotional toll on me.
And I'm pretty sure with Senator Slotin too.
I mean, we've been through, both of us, harder things than this.
And we're not going to let the president do that to us.
And I really think he picked the wrong two people to go after.
Just let me do it.
Joe's Concerns About Sonic Weapons00:08:21
Again, you can watch more of that that took place on Capitol Hill yesterday.
When it comes to things to watch out for on the networks today, in about 25 minutes from now, Tom Holman in Minneapolis set to hold a press conference.
He's the White House Borders, set to hold the press conference to talk about the situation in Minneapolis and where it is to date.
You can see that on C-SPAN 2 starting at 9 o'clock.
You can also view it on our app at C-SPANNOW and follow along at c-span.org.
Again, about 25 minutes from now.
Let's go to Joe.
Joe in Virginia, Independent Line.
You're next up.
Hello.
Hey, good morning.
And first, I want to thank you guys for having this alternative to the mainstream media.
And my concern, I was doing a little research this morning that our national debt is 120% of our gross domestic product.
And it seems like we're spending a lot of time in Congress worrying about things that are never going to get solved.
And I'm wondering what this Congress is going to do about our national debt moving forward.
And I don't see any movement on any of that stuff.
Anyway.
That's all I got.
Thank you.
That's Joe in Virginia.
This is Jim.
And Jim joins us from Winter Park, Florida, Republican line.
Good morning, Pedro.
I would have loved to have gotten on with Mr. Peters.
I'm 75 years old.
I lived in New York for my first 40 years.
When he started talking about gerrymandering and about what the Republicans are doing, gerrymandering has been going on since way before my lifetime.
And I can tell you that if you could bring up the map of Jerry Nadler's district and watch how it goes up one street, back down and around a couple of streets and back up another street, it's not a square, it's not a rectangle.
It is driven by the people that he wants to vote for him.
And this was in the 70s that I saw this.
So the Republicans are just fighting back against what the Democrats have done forever.
As far as talking about face masks and stuff on our ICE agents, our ICE agents, every one of the things that you show on all of your little clips that you show of ICE being picking up people and stuff, they're wearing vests that say ICE police.
They're wearing a badge next to their gun on their belt.
They have a face mask on, and they're doing it because they are being attacked by other people.
If we're going to take the masks off of the people that are trying to arrest these criminals, I want the masks off the protesters who are in the streets throwing stuff at them, yelling in their ears, taking bullhorns and blowing them off in their face.
Why do they have fit masks on?
What's the reason?
The reason is because they're probably supposed to be at work, and instead they're out in the streets doing this stupid stuff.
Maybe they don't work.
Maybe they're being paid by the people that they're working for.
Okay.
Maria Morell in Maryland, Democrats line.
All right.
Good morning, sir.
Thank you for taking my call.
I got a couple issues I'll run through real quick.
As far as what I keep hearing Republicans say with Obama, they keep saying Obama did this with immigration, Obama did that.
And my issue with that is I think our Democrats, when they have their press conference, need to be ramming that down their throat.
That one thing he didn't do was have an armed militia kicking indoors, arresting people, dragging them outside.
Now, what the other caller said earlier about those masks, we had an incident here in Baltimore where the ICE agents were there to arrest a lady.
They came in masks.
The people in the neighborhood sit outside.
They thought that lady was being robbed.
So they ended up surrounding the ICE agents, and the ICE agents left.
So they had no idea who those people were.
So that's my issue with the mask.
And if they're getting threats and they got masks on, who's threatening them if you can't see who they are in the first place?
And one more thing I'd like to say.
I just can't stand the way the Republicans with their selective vision because they talk about Ms. Good that was murdered.
Anyone with clear vision can see her tires and wheels turn sharp to the right, not toward that agent, as they say, trying to ram him.
Okay.
Morel in Maryland, when it comes to economic news coming out yesterday, the Wall Street Journal highlights information coming from the federal government saying the U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in January, its strongest growth in more than a year.
It's in a sign that the labor market might be shaking off its recent stagnation.
It also adds that revisions to nearly two years of jobs figures sharply downgraded the earlier reports, particularly for 2025, which saw a paltry 181,000 jobs added for the entire year.
There's more there from the Wall Street Journal.
If you want to read that, let's hear from Ellen.
Ellen in Missouri, Independent Line.
Hi, thanks for taking my call.
I got a couple of points.
First one, voter ID.
I'm 65 years old, and I can't buy a LIDAR in the convenience store without an ID.
So the hubbub about the IDs is ridiculous.
Secondly, the Epstein files, the more Trump tries to hide it, the more people want to see it.
He's so worried about immigrants that are sex offenders and running them out of the country.
Why doesn't he run the high-money, high-power people who are sex offenders out of the country?
Because they're just as bad as the immigrants.
That's all I got to say.
Susan is up next in Missouri, Democrats line.
Hi, my concern is in Venezuela, when we went there and invaded them and took their president, we used a sonic weapon, which seems to me like is very similar to the Havana syndrome that our CIA agents and some other people have experienced.
So if the president and his administration would send the National Guard and Marines to cities, I fear that he would use this sonic weapon, which he acknowledged that they used against his own people.
So if there were some civil uprising, I mean, he would use that weapon on us.
I'm really disturbed.
I think it's kind of like a crime against humanity to even use that kind of weapon against anybody, similar like if you used chemical warfare.
But yet they used it in Venezuela and acknowledged and admitted they used it.
And now I worry as a citizen that he would use it against us.
The Washington Times highlighting a technology-related story coming out of Texas, which you possibly heard in other places, saying Mexican cartel drones breached the U.S. airspace according to the Trump administration, leading to the sudden closure of an airspace over El Paso, Texas Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport hours after announced a 10-day closure for special security reasons that would have grounded all flights landing and leaving.
It was later Wednesday that the Trump administration tied the spur of decision-making to drones linked to a Mexican cartel.
Quote, cartel drones are being shot down by our military, the Attorney General told Congress.
But several news outlets, including the Associated Press and CBS News, reported that the sudden closure stemmed from the Pentagon's plans to test a laser for use in shooting down drones used by cartels.
Those plans caused friction with the FAA, which wanted to ensure commercial air safety.
Why We Talk About Radicalization00:02:10
And the two agencies sought to coordinate, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Brian in Pennsylvania, Independent Line on this open forum.
Good morning.
How are you doing today?
Fine, thank you.
Go ahead.
I want to talk about the radicalization of the American people.
The way this is like playing out.
Hold on, let me gather myself here.
You kind of caught me off guard.
Yeah, just let me get back to the radicalization.
I feel like this country is being divided.
It's been being divided, not just through this presidency, but through Biden's presidency too.
It started with Biden's presidency with the way he was treating the Republicans.
I'm not a Republican or a Democrat.
I don't subscribe to either because I actually really do see what it's doing.
I see the division.
And then I want to talk about the mask being worn by these ICE agents.
Police officers don't get to wear masks.
They have to identify themselves by their badges and what they look like, just in case they go outside the bounds of the law and need to be held accountable.
You got a lot of these ICE agents that were January 6th insurrectionists that have been pardoned and then hired by ICE.
I'm not sure if a lot of these people noticed or not, but that's a fact.
So, yeah, they should have to wear masks.
We're not talking about people who have proper training, who have taken oaths, any of that stuff.
These people were hired on the limb.
There was a girl, a reporter not too long ago who put in an application for ICE.
She was hired within a week, and she only did that just to see if they would hire her.
All her social media posts and everything were anti-Trump and all that stuff.
They didn't check none of that.
They still.
Live now to an area close to San Diego where Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border.
This is live cover.
Thanks for making everybody.
Thank you for being here.
I'm Christine Ohm, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
And I also want to thank Chief Banks for being here with me today.