C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Open Forum features callers debating ICE agent mask policies amid Sandy’s (CA, Rep.) claims of Democratic incitement and John’s (OH, Dem.) warnings of a potential February 13th shutdown over DHS funding. Shea (FL, Rep.) ties mask debates to Alex Burden’s fatal shooting, while Laurie (CA, Dem.) slams Republicans for ignoring Epstein’s 2006 conviction. Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin reject Trump-era legal threats, calling them attacks on free speech, as Janine Pirow’s grand jury fails to indict them. Joe (VA, Ind.) highlights the $34 trillion national debt at 120% GDP, demanding fiscal accountability. Tom Holman’s press conference follows shortly, addressing Minneapolis tensions live. [Automatically generated summary]
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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 my call.
You know what really concerns me?
Hello?
You're on.
Go ahead.
Oh, okay.
No, I was trying to stop back there.
Is that, you know, what I really heard and it really concerns me is that this 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 ran 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-SMAN 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.
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 and 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 where 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-STAN when I'm watching it, and you're showing about the ICE agents and everything, how they go into those people's houses, going upstairs, they handcuff them, they're 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 I don't think 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 Burden.
They said 11 days ago, yeah, I saw him.
He kicked 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 famous 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 on the Him.
Okay.
Arthur Arthur in Michigan, Republican line as well.
You're next up.
Go ahead.
Yes.
Hi, Pedro.
Good morning, Chief Man.
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 and 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.
The anti-artists, the people that are in the peaceful protest wear masks.
So give me a break.
Lori 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 manga-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.
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.
Average Citizen's Dilemma00:03:51
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 Ghelane Maxwell are everywhere, and there's many of them.
And the sweetheart deal that Ghelane Maxwell got is very suspicious and very disgusting.
And that's really hard.
That's Laurie from California.
One of the things that took place yesterday, the New York Times reporting the 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.
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 I was to say that point directly.
And I'm pretty sure with Senator Slotkin, 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.
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 Are, 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.
Your next up.
Hello.
Hey, good morning.
And first, I want to thank you guys for having this alternative to the mainstream media.
National Debt Concern00:00:29
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, you know, 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.