Linda Chavez promotes The Silver Candlesticks, her decade-long novel, before C-SPAN previews Trump’s February 24th State of the Union, where Ben Carson and Leo Terrell praise his HBCU funding, criminal justice reforms, and "America first" policies. Alice Johnson credits Trump for her 20-year prison pardon, calling it life-changing. Arnetta Bradford’s coffee shop thrived under Trump’s tax cuts, while Will Haygood’s The War Within a War examines Vietnam-era racial tensions. Meanwhile, Les Wexner faces scrutiny over Epstein ties, with Democrats like Robert Garcia demanding answers amid DHS shutdown chaos, exposing partisan clashes over immigration enforcement and agency funding. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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donald j trump
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Appearances
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alice marie johnson
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forlesia cook
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hakeem jeffries
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leo terrell
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robert garcia
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scott turner
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don bacon
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Linda Chavez's Book Club00:01:57
unidentified
He was doing.
Learn him, follow in his footsteps, and together we can make the world a better place.
Thank you very kindly.
C-SPAN's America's Book Club programming is brought to you by the cable, satellite, and streaming companies that provide C-SPAN as a public service.
Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold original series, Sunday, with our guest author, former Reagan administration official, and a Library of Congress living legend, Linda Chavez.
She has written a number of books, including Out of the Barrio, An Unlikely Conservative, and The Silver Candlesticks, a novel of the Spanish Inquisition.
She joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubenstein.
How long did it take you to write the novel?
It took me almost 10 years.
10 years.
10 years, yes, to write the book.
I mean, Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace in seven years.
And we are going to renew unlimited promise of the American dream.
Every single day, we will stand up and we will fight, fight, fight for the country our citizens believe in.
unidentified
Watch the C-SPAN Networks live Tuesday, February 24th, as President Donald Trump delivers the annual State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress.
President Trump's State of the Union00:15:36
unidentified
The speech will mark President Trump's first State of the Union of his second term.
The State of the Union Address.
Live Tuesday, February 24th.
Our coverage starts at 7 p.m. Eastern on the C-SPAN Networks.
C-SPAN, bringing you democracy unfiltered.
If you ever miss any of C-SPAN's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-SPAN.org.
Videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights.
These points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos.
This timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in Washington.
Scroll through and spend a few minutes on C-SPAN's points of interest.
President Trump held a reception in the East Room of the White House to commemorate Black History Month.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and former HUD Secretary Ben Carson were also in attendance.
During his roughly 45 minutes of remarks, the president expressed his condolences to the family of the late civil rights activist, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
That's about as like 150 is good, but 200 is better, right?
100 is better.
I want to begin by expressing our sadness at the passing of a person who I knew very well.
Jesse was a piece of work.
I want to tell you.
He was a piece of work.
But he was a good man.
He was a real hero.
I just want to pay my highest respects to Reverend Jesse Jackson.
He's a good man.
He's actually, as you got to know him, he got better and better all the time.
A lot of people, you get to know him, they get worse and worse.
Jesse got better and better.
But I knew him well long before becoming president, and he really was special with lots of personality, grit, and street smarts.
You would say Jesse had serious street smarts, right?
A very important ingredient to life, I will tell you.
He was gregarious and someone who truly loved people and a force of nature.
He was somebody that we're going to greatly miss.
And on behalf of everyone here today, I know you join me in sending our condolences to the entire family and a great family.
We're also honored to be joined this afternoon by many exceptional African American leaders and patriots, including Secretary Scott Turner, recommended.
Where is Scott?
Where is Scott?
Will you come up here, Scott?
He was recommended by somebody who's very special to me, Ben Carson.
One of the reasons I was so high on Scott Turner is he was really the driving force behind the opportunity zones, which was doesn't get nearly the attention that it should, but it was because President Trump realized that the best way to get things done is through public-private partnerships and have everybody with skin in the game.
And it is working, as are all the other things that he's been recommending.
And at some point, at some point, the mainstream media will recognize that you don't politicize everything.
You open your eyes and your ears and you look and you see what works and you deal with that.
But the best thing about Scott, he's got a lot of energy.
You know, I'm an old man now.
I'll be 75 on my next birthday.
I'm not like President Trump.
He just goes forever.
No one else is like that.
But Scott Turner, we call him the Energizer Bunny, and he is doing a fantastic job.
And I want to congratulate all the people at HUD because most of them have come back and continued with what we were doing during the first Trump term.
And so I just want to say to everyone that's here, you know, as we celebrate this special day in not only black history but American history, this year that we've been here, you know, under President Trump, the Lord has been so gracious to us and he's been faithful.
And the president has been a tremendous leader in his work ethic, his heart for people.
And when he says America first, he really does mean America first.
And so, and to be able to stand on the shoulders of Dr. Ben Carson and for the president to trust Dr. Carson at his word is truly humbling for me.
And so to stand now as the servant leader and the secretary of HUD, I'm grateful to the Lord.
I'm grateful to the President and Dr. Carson.
And I promise you we will continue to do good work and to make not just housing affordable and everybody achieve the American dream, but really to bring transformation.
And so that those that are in our country who depend on subsidies and this, that, and the other will get off of that and live a life of self-sustainability.
I fell in love with this man, with his heart, with his heart for this country, with his heart to really bring America back to the form of greatness that it deserved.
And that's exactly what he has done.
My story is truly a Joseph story.
This president right here, President Donald Trump, brought me from the prison pit to the White House.
Only in America could there be a story like my story.
And President Trump is the only president who would have had the courage, the courage to bring someone like me, someone who received a second chance.
But who knows more than someone who has sit among the captives, than someone who has been in captivity themselves.
I did not get comfortable in my own freedom, but I went back, as Harriet Tupman says she did.
She went back to draw many others into freedom.
And President Trump has listened to those recommendations.
There's so much more to come because when you see me, you see a miracle.
You see hope.
You see second chances.
And you see someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work, do the hard work to help individuals gain their freedom.
President Trump did something historic in his first term.
He signed the First Step Act into law.
And for that, over, over 40,000, and that number is low, over 40,000 individuals have come home to their families early.
You know, when I was looking for a pardoned person, like a pardoned czar, they gave me somebody from Harvard, somebody from Yale, somebody from Princeton, somebody from Penn, somebody from Stanford.
And I said, do you know anything about it?
Well, we can learn.
And when I met Alice, I said, she's better than these people.
And she's done a fantastic job.
You know, I said to Alice, I said, so I'm looking for people like you to let out.
How many people are there like you?
She said, many.
I said, many in jail.
Think of it, 22 years she was in jail and she had 28 years to go on a phone call.
You admit you did a little something wrong, right?
But it was like, okay.
It wasn't 50 years.
Even if you said six months, today it would be probably nothing.
But even if you said some little time.
But I said, I'm looking for other people like you.
How many are there?
Many.
Then I was worried, because then I was worried.
I said, well, maybe she's going to say everybody should be let out.
And we're not a believer in that.
I said, so, Alice, are there people that shouldn't be?
You met a lot of people, right?
Are there people that shouldn't be let out?
Absolutely.
Then I felt better.
Because there are some bad ones in there, too, right?
But you are fantastic, and you've been great and so respected all over the country, all over the world, in a sense.
But if I introduce all of you, we're going to be here a long time.
And that's unacceptable.
Not only are we celebrating the century of Black History Month, also, as you know, this year we'll also be celebrating the 250th anniversary of Nation's founding.
And the good thing when they cheated on the election, they made me wait four years.
And because I waited four years, I get the 250th year.
I get the Olympics, which I was the one that got it.
And I get the World Cup.
So I got the World Cup, and I said, you know, it's too bad before all this nonsense takes place, took place, I said, it's too bad.
I got the World Cup to come here.
Johnny, another Johnny, we got the World Cup.
It was fantastic, the head of it, one of the great people.
And I said, the only bad part is I won't be in office because my four years will be up.
This would have been the more traditional route.
And then they cheated on the election.
And I said, now, well, we won by so much.
We won by millions of votes, but they cheated.
It was during a COVID period and they cheated.
And we did it again.
And we made it too big to rig.
Too big to rig.
And by doing that, I ended up getting the Olympics.
I ended up, we were responsible for both of them.
And we're going to have a great year, but we're going to have a great three years.
We're going to have hopefully a great, hopefully we're going to have a great century, because that's ultimately what it's called.
We'll get it started.
But as we honor America's 250, and I can't say that I got the 250, I tried doing that a couple of times, Bruce.
I said, I got the Olympics.
I got the World Cup, and I got the 250th year.
They said, you didn't do that.
I said, you're right about that.
I didn't do 250.
We happened to be here at the right time.
That's all that was.
But we thank God for the strength and courage and grit and devotion of black Americans who have helped make America the most powerful country in the history of the world.
We now have.
And you saw that with our attack a few weeks ago on Venezuela.
We have the greatest military in the world.
We make the greatest equipment in the world.
There's nobody even close.
Nearly 10,000 African Americans fought for the patriot cause in the Revolutionary War.
10,000, and it's actually a number, even, I've heard even higher than that, helping secure our independence.
And every generation since from the Buffalo soldiers to the Tuskegee airmen, black Americans have stepped forward to defend the flag and to defend our country.
Like few others, really, like few others.
And you've never really been given the recognition that you should get for that.
You know that, Ben?
They never, I don't think a lot of people have given the kind of recognition, but everyone knows all about the Tuskegee Airmen.
They were great and amazing.
The Buffalo Soldiers, do you know the Buffalo Soldiers?
Good stuff, right?
From jazz to the blues, that you know, that you do get recognition for.
Jazz to blues, from rock and roll to rap, black artists like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters.
I can't do anything first but say to God be the glory.
I have no business being here other than him having me here.
And so, yeah, I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to preach.
I'm going to settle myself.
Thank you so much for inviting me and having me here.
It's such an honor to be here today.
Hebrews 11 and 1.
People ask me all the time, why did I even open a business?
Why did I even call it Hebrews 11 and 1?
Hebrews 11 and 1 is my very favorite scripture.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
That scripture has walked with me.
It has grown me from a little girl on up.
Not having no longer my mother here, no longer having my father here, my husband not having his mother and his father here.
We opened Hebrews 11 and 1 with no funding, no money, no big family investors, no business loans, didn't have great credit.
It was us and faith in God.
That was seven years ago.
But I ran that business with just myself and one employee.
Then here comes No Tax on Tips.
I was able to hire seven more employees just by what she did.
Not only that, I was able to open a second location on our college campus.
Things are just going off simply because having now faith.
And so I love the fact of that scripture.
Now, I say all of that as to, I'm trying to stick to my little written down thing that I wrote.
I don't know how to do that so well.
But as a small business owner, I understand how critical support is.
I understand that you have to have the right people that make the right policies for us as small business owners.
So no tax on tips has been a stream of blessing for me and my business.
Not just mine, but I know so many people across the country.
I know a lot of us don't want to talk about the good part of it.
We only want to share the negative, but I'm here today to tell you you've done a great thing.
Thank you for just loving on us and showing us that even in small town Hope, Arkansas, and I have got to say this, I have the best governor in the world.
I don't only just call Sarah my friend, I call her my sister.
And so that's why I am here today to just tell you that No Tax on Tips has been an amazing blessing for me.
President Trump has been an amazing blessing for me.
And at the end of the day, Jesus has been an amazing blessing for me.
I love you guys and thank you so much because I am a youth pastor, but I will not preach on today.
And we can't provide opportunity for the next generation if we do not also have a thing called law and order.
We need law and order.
You know, Washington, D.C. is amazing.
It was a crime capital.
It was a horror show.
A year ago, it was really dangerous, and now it's one of the safest cities anywhere in the country.
And we're in Memphis, Tennessee now, where it's like a different world.
In four months, we've made it safe.
We're in Louisiana, as you know, or lots of other places.
And we have the lowest crime numbers that we've had in many years.
We have the lowest murder numbers in 125 years since 1900.
And that's despite the fact that a lot of people are here, but those people have been taken out.
Lots of them have been taken out.
That's why we stopped the invasion at the southern border.
And just one year ago, and think of this, one year ago, we had the absolute worst border that we've ever had, and now we have the safest border that we've ever had.
So it's going to be really something 125 years ago.
That's before my father was born.
I had a wonderful father, but that was before.
So we have, murders are down from 125 years.
We had the best numbers.
When you think about it, that's pretty incredible.
And those numbers are made up by Democrats.
Can you believe it?
They don't want to give me those numbers.
They can add a couple of people here and there.
But I've also deployed the National Guard to bring back safety to Memphis and to New Orleans and Washington.
And the National Guard has been incredible and people are safe.
In the case of Washington, the restaurants were all closing up.
People were getting really badly, badly hurt and killed, frankly, many people killed.
And now you can walk down the street and you have nothing to fear.
We have one of the safest cities in the world.
And it happened very fast, Bruce.
One of those who knows the importance of this mission is Felicia Cook, a lifelong Washingtonian who tragically lost her grandson to violence in 2017.
Felicia, we're so sorry, and you are a spectacular person.
Under the Trump administration, we believe that no community should be abandoned to the scourge of violent crime, and we're saving thousands and thousands of lives in many cities.
And frankly, if these radical left lunatic Democrats would come and say, please help us, please, we'd stop crimes all over the place.
And we're doing it in a lot of cities.
Sometimes we have to force ourselves upon them because they're so bad.
And I don't even think they realize what's happening to their cities and their towns.
But every town that we go in, every city that we go in, like Washington, Felicia, you feel much safer now.
Totally safe.
You can walk to a restaurant.
The restaurants were all closing.
Now you can't get a restaurant.
The bad news is you can't get into a restaurant.
But it's a great thing to see what's happening in Washington.
It's like it's a hot place.
And hopefully people will be coming in record numbers.
And it's been, well, I know we need a little help.
You need help in Atlanta.
He just said.
You're right.
Atlanta.
Atlanta, we could take care of Atlanta.
I'll tell you what, you ought to get them to call me.
We could take care of Atlanta so fast.
They don't want to call.
They don't want to.
They don't want to call because they don't want to admit it and they'll never fix it themselves.
Don't forget, we move people out.
We don't just go in and be tough guys.
We move people out.
We take career criminals and we get them out.
We bring them back to the country from where they came.
And think of it: 90% of the crime is caused by 2% of the people.
So, we're calling it in, and I just want to say this is an honor to be here.
We celebrate Black History Month.
We honor the memory of those who came before us by continuing their legacy and fighting for an American that's really an America that's safe and strong and prosperous.
We now have a country that's bigger, better, greater than ever before.
I want to thank all my secretaries and all of the people that came here.
Our military leaders are here.
We have a lot of people that are here, and I want to thank you all.
But this is a very special group of people.
So, happy Black History Month, Happy Black History Year, and Happy Black History Century.
Thank you all.
Thank you, Bruce.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, everybody.
unidentified
Sunday on C-SPAN's Q&A, former Washington Post correspondent Will Haygood, author of The War Within a War, talks about the experience of black American soldiers in Vietnam and the struggle for racial equality, both in the war zone and back home in the United States.
Les Wexner's Deception Revealed00:09:23
unidentified
He also reflects on growing up in Columbus, Ohio, during that time, where he experienced this stark divide firsthand as a child.
And I found myself as a 14-year-old kid running from National Guard tanks during the riots.
I don't think it was until I really got deep into the research of this book that I realized that these two epical moments in American history, Vietnam and the draft, and then riots, that I saw elements of both through my own eyes.
Author Will Haygood with his book, The War Within a War, Sunday night at 8 Eastern on C-SPAN's Q ⁇ A. You can listen to Q ⁇ A and all of our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app or wherever you get your podcasts.
On Tuesday, President Trump will deliver the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, which will include an update on the economy, immigration enforcement, and other administration policies over the past year.
Our live coverage will start at 7 p.m. Eastern on the C-SPAN networks.
Best ideas and best practices can be found anywhere.
Billionaire Les Wexner, who has headed up major brands including Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, was interviewed by members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein following a subpoena from Committee Democrats.
During remarks to the press, the committee's ranking member, Robert Garcia of California, highlighted the financial ties between Mr. Wexner and the convicted sex offender.
We're here because we want to talk to anyone that has information about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghelane Maxwell's crime, abuse, and trafficking of women and girls.
There is no single person that was more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with the financial support to commit his crimes than Les Wexner.
That is already, as we all know, in the public record.
We know of approximately over a billion dollars, it looks like.
It's about a billion dollars that was either transferred, provided in stocks, or given directly to Mr. Epstein by Wexner.
unidentified
Joining us now with more on the House Oversight Committee's deposition of Les Wexner in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation is Megan Henry, a reporter with the Ohio Capitol Journal.
Thanks for joining us.
Who is Lex Wexner and what is his connection to Jeffrey Epstein?
Yes, well, thanks for having me.
Les Wexner is Ohio's richest man, and he has donated to many politicians, more so Republicans, but he has donated to Democrats as well.
And he has had this long-term relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein was his financial advisor for several years, and then they cut ties with their relationship.
But now these new records indicate that that might not be the case.
Is Les Wexner being accused of any crimes?
And if so, what crimes and by whom?
Yeah, it sounds like today, as far as the position, that it was just to uncover more about his Wexner's relationship with Epstein.
Wexner has not been charged at this moment with any criminal charges.
So that remains to be seen.
What do we know about the questions that the members of Congress are asking?
Well, Wexner, he's been listed as an alleged co-conspirator of Epstein's in a 2019 FBI document.
So as far as the questions, I don't totally know, but I think it's safe to assume that it's just about the relationship with Epstein and how much he knew about Epstein's criminal activity.
Well, you said that the documents have uncovered that the relationship was different than he had said it was.
What has he been saying, and what do the documents show?
Yeah, Wexner has not been saying much.
Button reached out to his spokesperson.
His spokesperson says no comments.
His legal representation says that, quote, the assistant U.S. attorney told Mr. Wexner's legal counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor a target in any respect.
Mr. Wexner cooperated fully about providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again, end quote.
So Wexner has been very much out of the limelight.
He's a very prominent figure in Columbus historically, but he has been not very public-facing these past several years.
Democratic members of Congress who have spoken out said that they are following the money.
Where does the money trail lead?
What type of political activities has Wexner been into?
Yes, so Lex Wexner has been a big donor for political candidates on the federal sea level here in Ohio and even at the local level at the Columbus, Ohio level.
And so he has donated, as I mentioned, more social Republicans, but some Democrats.
But it's really starting last week and over the weekend and this week, we've seen some politicians give the money that Wexner has donated to them over the years and been donating it to charities to help victims of human trafficking or of child abuse.
So some notable ones include Representative Joyce Beatty here, Ohio's own, as well as John Houston, who has taken or has received lots of money from Wexner over the years.
And after some significant pushback, he finally has said he's going to donate the funds to charities.
You mentioned that Les Wexner was a private individual.
Did he ever socialize with Epstein in public?
According to some reporting I've read from my other colleagues, it sounds like Lexner did not join Epstein, who was not known to join Epstein at some of Epstein's parties or social events, but he has been involved, was at some events such as like birthday parties and the like over the years, but was not always in attendance at some of Epstein's social events.
Megan Henry, reporter with the Ohio Capital Journal.
You can find her stories at ohiocapitaljournal.com.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
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Shutdown of Department Homeland Security00:02:14
unidentified
C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered.
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Unfiltered every day on the C-SPAN networks.
Well, next, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries holds a news conference concerning the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, now on its fifth day.
It began after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement on reforms to immigration enforcement.
This is day five of the Trump Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Why are we in this moment?
It's because Republicans have decided that they would rather shut down FEMA, shut down TSA, and shut down the Coast Guard than get ICE under control.
The American people know that ICE needs to be reigned in.
We believe that taxpayer dollars should be used to make your life more affordable, not to brutalize or kill American citizens in cold blood, like Renee Nicole Good or Alex Predi,