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the dinner you can watch online@c-span.org or on the freaks he spent now video app. next, discussion the current state of politics former house speaker kevin mccarthy pretty talks about why he voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results. his continued support for former president donald trump and the motives behind his removal as house speaker back in october hosted by georgetown university institute of politics ticks in public service it runs just over an hour and 10 minutes. >> good evening everyone. my name is cody becker our first year graduate student at the school of public policy. it has been an amazing or participate in programs hosted by politics i first got involved last semester member of the student strategy team for fall of 2023 fellow.

for spring 2024 mckayla carr. mckayla served former speaker at mccarthy's chief ofir staff and counsel. working with mckayla i've worked workso much the ins and outs hag to converse with her regularly and here are some really shared insights from one of the hills most senior staff is not always exclude those two opinions other than one similar to my own. but by coming here should this city and this school and set programs like the geopolitics of and able to expand my worldview bulk of opinions that were previously foreign to me. this cometh to me embodies the spirit of democracy and exemplifies with the mission is all about. with that. today it is my pleasure to introduce former speaker of the house kevin mccarthy. kevin mccarthy served as that 50

fit the speaker of the house of representatives. he was u.s. representative for california 23rd congressional district in 2007 to 2023. he served two terms as a member of the california state assembly before being elected to the u.s. house in 2006. mccarthy served as house republican chief deputy whip from 2009 until 2011 house majority whip from 2011 to 2014. in 2014 he was elected house majority leader later served house minority leader as well. he was elected to the speakership it january 2023. following his remarks former speaker will take your questions in a discussion moderated by executive director of geopolitics. you can join the conversation on social media by tagging at ge you politics using # mccarthy at gu. now please join me in welcoming to the stage mo and former

speaker of the house kevin mccarthy. [applause] it is a great crowd this close to the end of the semester. i think i was at the tombs as close to the end of the semester when i was a t student here. [laughter] thank you all. mr. speaker, thankou you for coming back to georgetown you spent some time here. your son graduate a few years back the progresss of a son graduated in 2016 i spent a lot of time hereto. [laughter] on your 21st. [laughter] thank you for being here. as we were talking about backstage big focus of the institute this year has been around the topic of trust in

democracy. we are seeing poll after poll after poll that shows americans not just americans across europe latin america are losing faith in the institution of democracy. cithe associated press had a pol just last week that shows only three in 10 americans believe our nation's democracy is functioning well. our own poll month says 81% of americans believe democracy is actively under threat. and so i want to dig into that a little bit tonight. i have got some thoughts on that i'm going 20 ask about but i also want to hear yours. we are going to have a conversation for a little bit and about the halfway mark we would invite all of you to join in the conversation.

as always the speaker has graciously agreed to take student questions as well. but i want to start there. before start throwing out my theories. why do you think americans trust in democracy is at a low right now? >> first of all, thank you for being here. there's a number of these and you've got to think about democracy. but still the greatest form of government because we the people get involved it was designed as democracy itself. it's not fast is not overly efficient there's reasons why people stopped having lack of trust in it. you go all the way back and say it happened after the pentagon papers during the vietnam war. he really is to trust your government is not democracy but at your government.

you have got social media. no longer drip's three tv stations that provide you news you you can go home and get your news from an outlet that philosophically agrees with you. that does not matter what position you take part doesn't matter if you are a republican, a democrat or more progressive or more far right i know to msnbc instead of the others, right? when they are providing news they are providing opinion. you are not hearing someone and then how effective has congress and the senate been in the laste little bit? so it compounds it. and then social media as a whole another aspect to it. and i would say from this perspective there's a number of other reasons may people begin to question. you slowly have had, since the

year 2000 every time a republican ran or one a presidency for the first time it got challenged on the floor. then you had republicans challenge the last president and you generally sixth. you have had that go on and governor races and others. you would not have picked up on it when it first hit. but then we had covid. anything went covid happens is like a once ins winter beers or others. those go to the power of democracy itself historic study if someone during an incident light covid and it is a democracy you will lose. so changing of your self into the institution itself. the only leaders who sustain themselves or dictators if you watch around the globe that's to be true. something happened during covid

i'm a firm believer structure dictates behavior. when covid hit we did not know what it was. and so the world did not know what it was weird trying to react to a policy mix at the same time. so the next thing they did is they started supplyingex it. i was opposed to it. they would call a proxy voting. it was only going to be used if you had covid. seeso you did not to fly to vote you did not want to lose your vote so you vote by proxy. which is probably a pretty good idea. i was supposed to it. because i thought it would be taken further. then they keep it even though we are passing covid. it didn't matter if you had covid you just signed a piece of paper there is a person that some movie stars wedding in france there is a guy voting on a boat on vacation and he phones

in. but this is what happened with it. members weren't talking to each other. and then, because of covid they made a special rule built on have to go through committee. and inin congress you work on al this time to get on the committee of that jurisdiction the bill goes right and you fight hard for you lose because some people are home and voting another way. how serious are that looking at it? so it compounds all of that in there. so you don't have news provided because information you have opinion this going to go from one side to the other party of social media providing something very quickly there's no editor in charge of what somebody says. i have seen a lot of things printed. sitting in her room and thought none of that transpired. you got people challenging presidential races and others on both sides of the aisle. we have just become a matter

where we are the united states of america refers to states is red o blue. they define you all that weight. so it's not just the trusting of a democracy, do you trust your bank? do you trust people down the street? you will judge them how many times you hear someone say i don't trust them because that person is a different partyse tn i am, right? i remember a kid would come back at they got a bad grade the teacher doesn't like you your politics. that or you just didn't do it right, which one is it? >> is interesting, this is an aside. it asks people i would be upset if my child married outside my, fill in the blank faith, race, political party. for the first time over the past three years political party exceeded race and faith. i guess that'ses progress.

[laughter] but i find that nuts in many ways that to your point people have that viscerale reaction. >> evenn. if he took people witn their own party and he asked them to define what your party stands for they could not agree. and they would fight among themselves. it felt like we have two parties in america but we don't have two parties in congress i think we have five or six inn congress. i just had my own party that eight people not in it i would still be speaker. [laughter] >> were going to get to that. we are going to get to that. you touched on a lot of things i want to get to hear. let me start, you just talked about people challenging elections. so let's start with trust in elections. our most recent bowls about 60%

of people have some level of doubt the 2024 election will be held fairly. about half of those really have absolutely -- they feel completely certain it will not be held fairly. and so let's go back to 2020 for a moment. do you believe joe biden won that election? >> yes. >> okay, so you can explain the rationale behind your vote on january 6 regarding certification of the election? >> member was certification of election is and remember in 2020 what happened prior to 2020? elevated. we had an election during covid? what transpired with covid? with covid taking place started

to their ballot different. you californians said i'm going to send everybody a ballot. you had people in pennsylvania making decisions and not the state legislature if you look at the constitution hit to make these changes. is itt fair if you go to pennsylvania but one county let's you let's beat really honest with everyone else for let's you let's beat really honest with everyone else for if i wasas successful challenging e last election who would be president today? joe biden. we get elected by electoral college. we never objected to enough votes that would change the outcome. but that is not the same case to the election that transpired in 2000. when the democrats objected or the 2006. the problem being you see this progress over time. what would nancy pelosi tie when the first objected?

she said this was your only time to do it. it's the role of the government. but you had covid on top of it. we didn't challenging california but if you are from there and everybody got a ballot homes -- the last four families that live there because they did not clean up the rolls. l.a. had one point to million more people on the ballot then who were old enough to register to vote there. because they don't clean the rolls. then you transpire at what trans in 2020. in 2020, if you look at that election and you look at how close it was biden won that election by 41 that -- 48918 votes. a lot of the states were very close. to me that's not a problem especially when you're living in the world of covid people notice. your only time to question did

it happen? and in a democracy their ability to question number if you don't question are you more likely to believe it or not. if you're denied that ability you're really going to assume. we are coming off of also you have got the bush/gore in daflorida. you have got in georgia and you've got the challenge of the 2016 race. ilary clinton who said she one. you had jimmy carter said that hilary one. you have hakeem the democratic leader said trump is an illegitimate president. you had invited and who agreed with that. you had it built upon all of this and then you have an unbelievable covid experience people literally change election laws. legislatures could not meet.

when else would you be able to raise the question? 6 it's no surprise there were here there were folks who challenged the election very quickly challenged ohio. >> with democratic nominee had already conceded the race. and it was a few people it wasn't the marmingt of the democratic conference that was doing that andoi i bring up that distinction because in 2020, you had the incumbent was still actively02 trying to make the ce that it was not over. and if i think fueled some of that number that i read it fueled some of people's distrust in the elections i'm not saying -- that everyone would havele said everything is hunky dory but

when you show that force and the incumbent is sell pushing it, does that not feed some of that -- >> i would say when hilary pushed it she did too -- >> conceded -- >> but she'll say i will read you quotes where you can return the best campaign and most votes and still not win and you have jimmy carter the president joe biden saying 2016 was stole stolen you had race for a georgia governor who said no and former governor of virginia who dnc chair questioning that election. so all of this builds upon itself.. but one point i would raise to you is -- okay, so those who questioned the race when george bush won challenged ohio. have they been successful bush would not have been president and republicans challenged 2020 race been successful in two

challenges, joe biden would be president. he wouldn't have same electoral vote that keam out but challenging something doesn't mean you're overturning something. a challenge is a challenge. a challenge is, is there something wrong here? can you answer the question? so that is the point that you raise now, a member of congress is elected by themselves it doesn't matter somebody else said something else and i'm sure brought more votes but remember where the country was at as well. we had been at this point i remember bush gore you and i would remember that and storming in for ballots you remember them looking up a guy with the eyeball with hanging and went to the supreme court to make the decision. so i mean, these are all added into the question. why are they all so close? and having covid on top of it i think raise the question higher. in>> let's talk about what

happened in the middle of that days. and the assault on the capitol the insurrection. i guess one of the things i stilll struggle with -- as i look at that day, and the reaction ever since honestly -- even up until today, are the number of people who are willing to excuse it, to apologize for it. with many of them, some high, very high profile people, referring to those people as hostages, the defendants as hostages. at a time when we're spending a lot of time talking about the rule of law, is that normalizing that kind of political violence? that kind of rhetoric? >> well, look, the person who sat inside of january 6th --

i got removed from the capitol. they broke into my office, right, i didn't loseo my office until they were coming to the window what happened on january th was wrong. i don't apologize for any of the people who did it. i don't think iti was right and any shape or form. i don't think it was right when we had a couple of months before people protesting appointment to the supreme court and founding on the door trying to get into the supreme court. i don't like the idea that after the fact that both sides try to politicize it and scream it into the way of their own beliefs own style. you know, if it was truly he believes it was a bad event why wouldn't speaker of the house with everything else you've ever done, let the minority leader appoint the republicans to investigate just as you got to appoint democrats for the first time in history when we went to perform and who was the first

person to ask to have a bipartisan commission like the 2011 toti look at what happenedn january 6th? me. [laughter] right after the day. you know what's interesting this is other reason why, i have minority leader at the time, sergeant, sheriff of the capitol, that i ever met that man, no. on that day when they had warnings before with the fbi everything else, you think he kale to tell me hey to the members hey this could be a problem that days, nope. but the person where numbers pop in front of the capitol the parking attendant said there's a problem butut sergeant, didn't want any of us -- when that transpired when they literally had the guards move me out do you think sergeant of arms ever called me? maybe two days later, no he reported one person. he made the policing of the capitol to be political. it drives down structure

dictates behave there. and that shouldn't be the case and just like when speaker pelosi told me no i couldn't appoint certain members -- to the committee to investigate it she would pick who could be. the bottom is true whether or not and how do you start the premise with saying everything is open -- except the speakers communications with the sergeant of arms that day. what typeca of answer are you going get if you want to know the answer to the day so what would you say to folks today -- who are down playing what happened on that day? or -- defending the people who stormed the capitol. >> i don't know that defending of people that storm the capitol but defending due process for how long if we're now sitting almost four years later -- why are they sitting in jail and not having the ability to go to court? are they being treated fairly? i think that's a greater question that i hear from people

on the other side. >> i don't to spend we've got a lot of material to cover and i keep getting -- the sign that we're going to mo to student questions -- ming make harder -- [laughter] >> i want to talk about congress a little bit more gallop approval rating last month showed 12%. it dropped. now the lowest it's ever been. [inaudible conversations] >> i knew that would happen. making that institute -- making that institution you know maybe one of the few institutions that is less popularr than both major party nominations for presidents right now. >> that's kind of hard -- [laughter] >> let's talk about your experience upon winning the majority, running for speaker in that marathon -- >> very first speaker. with a good tv. [laughter] >> first of all, let me tell you this. i served 17 years i loved every

single 1 daying. i said speaker it was tough i loved every moment. highest of the lowest two philosophies that i have. every day i want to learn something new and i can never have too many friends. i'm a republican but i was not born into a republican family i was born in a in the family my son went to georgetown and i had no ability to get into georgetown my family didn't have great wealth and father was a firefighter and i was youngest when we got out of high school i couldn't go away to college but junior college but i instilled a work ethic and never gave up but a guy had a liquor store and he would sell underage but i lived in bakersfield, california, i would pay you a hundred if you take me to l.a. car auction because you have to be a dealer so i started buying selling cars and flipping them and pay my way to college it is illegal but i

don't know it while i'm doing it but going to jr. college you visit buddies so my other way stanford so -- i pick up a friend and go to grocery store so i have money for the weekend. close and behold as i'm cashing this check the day before the lottery started in california soy bought a lottery ticket and i won the lottery. could you believe that? but put yourself in my place 1985, the most is 5,000 dollars so before biden inflation it was money. now, just a joke -- [laughter] you're 20 years old friday night win 5,000 and spend the weekend ten minutes from tijuana i take my folks and give my family a hundred bucks and never take risks so i put the majority of money in one stock i make 30% of my money so next unless i take a break from school i go to try to buy a franchise and no one will sell me one because i'm only 20

years old but i don't quit so i open my own deli. i do pretty well right so then two years -- i now have about enough money that i can pay my own way through college and go to cal state so went to cal state local paper says intern in washington, d.c. as local congressman. i don't knoww the man but i thought he would beal lucky to have me. so i applied. you know what he did -- >> sound like a georgetown student. >> you know whatt he did -- he turned me down and end of the stories i got elected to the seat i couldn't get an internship for and 55th speaker of the house only in america could that happen. okay -- [applause] now i got to be leader for five years. there were tough years for republicans. in those -- in those election years, republicans lost the presidency. they lost both cycles of the senate, and lost governors in the state house. but inse congress we won both

times and i'll tell you the moment i became leader -- paul had left president trump did a "state of the union." and i go and i walk down on the floors you know what "state of the union" we really go like republican on one side democrats on thehe other. everybodyan wears color so one side stands up other side stands up and i'm sitting there -- and we had gotten a shellacking at last lerks and their side stands up. and it looks like you. it looks like america from every different walk of life. i look over and stand up we look like most restricted country club in america. [laughter] i kind of slump down i said i'm either going to to be the ed ler of the party or i have to open thisth party up somewhere else. i'm very proud of the fact -- that those two election cycles elected most republican women -- the most republican minorities that were before and that's really our ability to win in places people didn't win. when i got elected leader pelosi

got elected speaker so donald trump lost california by 5 million votes. do you know how many congressional seats did pelosi add to her majority when she became speaker from california, notes onehe she lost five, we wn five, new york, arizona -- washington. so the party found something different,ou and my how i cool o this party, is really abraham lincoln a teddy roosevelt and reagan if you find me many d.c. i'll walk the mall. all the away down to lincoln i ready the gettyburg address and forefathers on this continue innocent a new nation conceive in liberty dedicate a prop cig that we are all equal. and really in the end he said if we sell goth of the people by the people for the people, shall

not perish from earth. think for one moment what lincoln was say okay we want the world power. we were fighting one another -- but he knew he would sustain ourselves to democracy of we the people. it is more powerful than anything else so when we get down democracy but most important thing when he writes, conceive in liberty and dedicate a proposition that we're all equal. namely one nation in the world conceived in liberty. right -- we strive to be a more perfect union we're not perfect. but we have an ability to do it that's not always pretty. so -- when something goes wrong, we shouldn't say the whole system is wrong we have a system that allows us to correct that. to improve in that -- but we should be honest about what is wrong with the system and honest about really getting to the bottom of the answer. and if you have a democracy, don't think it is just elected

officials that are going solve the problems. it's all of us combined so was it this -- you made a lot of confessions -- going to negotiations. >> i didn't. let's get to the bottom of it. >> that is a misnomer in life let me get you truth about that. >> the truth why i'm not speaker because one person, a member of congress wanted me to stop ethics complaint because it started before i ever became speaker, and that's illegal and i'm not going to get in the middle did he do it or not i don't know. but i'm thinking other people in jail because of it. and he wanted me to influence it. and you know what, so then they come out they say because i kept government open. i'm doing all over again -- we're not going to pay our troops no i'll a pay my troops can't dot job -- okay. when it comes to the confession motion to vacate one person ail to make that motion how long has that been in the rules?

forever -- the only time it was changed when pelosi became speaker the second time. as she put the power with the minority leader i think it is wrong. i think elect let them govern now takes 218 to have the rule package there's nothing i can do there. well i have five people never voted for me anyway. in the f process -- i had eight at the end of the other, but everybody had to live by it. i lived by it. i think today if you went back to people who vote they think that wasey a smart vote i don't think so i have a motion to put cards in and walk o away no i me everybody stand up because i think historically it will be viewed as a very bad thing that happened to our congress. >> do you think it happens again? there's now talk that could happen to this speaker. >> no. two things - the dems will never let it happen. interesting party another inside story -- okay.

not this crowd. [laughter] so -- so i knew i needed to win majority by 20 votes or i would have a problem so i knew on election night i had a problem. but i had tried for speaker before and i made a bad interview and i had to pull out. but as leader i had never lost a race and i said i thought i was best prepared for the job. so -- when people tried to come and push it i kept going i remember pelosit was speaker and election was over and we had a meeting. she was like you have to put the votes together no i got to problem. come back with a motion to vacate okay give it to them give to them i told boehner paul never vote for that and table that every time. when it came time, i guess she changed her mind. but -- when we went through the fight, i had to go through 15 rounds,

right? i'm irish we box, it's okay. that only happened since the civil war. but i think it was a point that if 96% of the conference decides this is the person, why are you allowing 4% to do something else support them so that personn. can't serve.er who -- and a democracy the republic who has the p two standing mics start line up we're going to go to your questions very shortly i've got a lot more they haven't gotten so i me know where

you're from and studied. pledgets as you're lining up staying on this thread for a moment, marjorie taylor green is threatening to try to do the speaker johnson same thing and it is around ukraine funding. so my question is -- should the house fund speaking of democracy should the house vote to give aid to ukraine because if they don't, president zelenskyy said they will lose the war and if they do, does speaker johnson lose his job this is what we should have started with. now, what marjorie taylor green is doing not what matt gaetz did there was different ways to introduce a motion you can make privilege so it has to come up you have to have that vote. marjorie taylor green did not do that. so it is not exactly the same

what she's doing is raising an issue. which -- as a legislator has a right to do and if you read through what she's saying is i've always fought of s this with marjorie - you should sit down and tiewk her she's not ridged if you sit and make cases you can come toage agreement and remember our government is designed that one party doesn't control all. you have to have compromise it is just thene way that -- our government is set up. now, i'm worry what had the world looks like anybody here a history major? it look like 1930s -- when was the last time you have access of evil of partner together to fight democracies? iran, russia, china and north korea. you've had italy, germany, and japan. when was the last time you had

somebody if you look at putin, he's done many of the exact same actions as hitler. you know hitler served in a german army in world war i he hated that his leadership signed treaty of versailles so much when world war ii bought france he brought the rail car back they signed it in and what does hitler do create a new party and landed in a democracy again and again and again until he took power hen he changed it and went directly against the treaty of versailles and he rebuilt his military but world power said nothing and thought he would keep communist at bay and what did he do? took part of czechoslovakia and austria and created access of evil and then heen told the ente world he's going take the rest of czechoslovakia on gasp day so world power can no longer ignore it and in comes chamberlain it

equals him to the world power. now the chamberlain says world peace and sign a piece of paper hitler sees weakness and plans year later invades poland and world is changed forever. putin, doesn't serve in a soviet military but he serves in the kgb he hate his leadership collapsed the soviet union to the west so much so when gorbachev died he wouldn't attend funeral he learned that a military makes you strong and dependency makes you weak and resources of russia an old pipeline that goeses through and uses kgb tactics to buy more natural gas and push europe when the powers of ukraine changed, he no longer wants to pay the dividends to them what does he do a new pipeline not to go through a country but through the ocean north stream too.

says great -- the only country to put sanctions on it is america. what does he do under the offices of president bush? president obama --- he invades every country as georgia -- he takes part of the world power sanction him at times but he gets away with it right and parks 100,000 troops along border of ukraine every president will get pressured when they come in. he threatens -- and when he got his meeting with joe biden before he got the meeting he went to the olympics in china to create the access, the partnership with china north korea and with iran. and then what happened to that meeting? biden lifted all of the sanctions of north stream too and asked him nothing and watched fall of afghanistan believe ukraine of the south and in 2015 i went to ukraine as a member of congress to go a bipartisan group.

russia had invaded. i watched house far the ukrainian how tough ukrainian people fought for defense and russian tanks had nothing but hold ling him back so i meet with the person in charge of ukraine you know who that was vice president joe biden i sat inai the situation room with republican and democrat members and i advocated could we sell them a defensive weapon to stop tanks? joe biden at that time told me no. merkel wouldn't like that let's do this let's train them on them and keep them in poland to move themt rapidly, he said no can't do that. we should fund ukraine. but for the same purpose, we should secure our border. now i disagree with people in america who said you can only do one or the other. you have a government that you have to find compromise in.

there's both parties that want some of both. why can't you make that agreement that we make every day? i am -- i am worried if putin is successful you're going get this push everywhere else as well. let's get to student questions and i'll sprinkle in occasionally your name what you're studying what year you are and where you're from. >> nice to meet you i'm from district in new jersey, and i'm studying science policy and school foreign service first year. i appreciate your comments especially what you saidd about ukraine, my question is about bipartisanship. and in particular in the senate on the house, a lot of major bipartisan members of the senate are leaving in 2024, mitt romney, kyrsten sinema, joe manchin might be on the rocks but m point is even if we are a

polarized country politically on face of things these members of the senate have been push through a lot of bipartisan legislation which might stave off effects of polarization in the actual body. what do you think the future of bipartisan legislation looks like once these members leave? >> the senate is always bigger than one person i like everybody you talked about. i would -- i would look out with kyrsten sinema she's smart does an amazing job people move for a lot of reasons. but number one people leave or don't run for reelection when they can't win so -- it's back in your district whether you determine that. you're always going to have bipartisanship and just because a bill says it is bipartisan, that doesn't mean it is good. i call a bill bipartisan all of the tile because i got one person -- but to have compromise, right? so what you really want -- when i l

when i love, old house rock i would to build a committee because you have the base on all sides. youl know i became speak or firt time in seven years we have an open rule which w you probably think happens w every day think about it seven years all four years of -- speaker pelosi -- and at the time of paul ryan. never did a bill come to the floor whereau any member in congress could offer an amendment. you have to represent all of these people. why can't they have a voice? and so -- i think it is more of the structure that is broken down but the reason why i think the names that you said are not running were not rewarding that type of work right? so -- how we get our news i think is a big problem. so you had also here and i would ask you who is your favorite people or what do you think in elected official somebody whoan works for both sides of the aisle but that doesn't show up on the ballot box and we also have so many races that aren't competitive ?oal all about a primary.

so then on both sides going further thes other way that makes it harder there but look our government is designed this way and worse than other days. it's about redistricting in the senate but it is not redistrict but it will rock back and forth but -- sinema if you looked at her early career whether there -- if you look at mitt romney when he was running for president, he wasn't the same that mitt romney that he was today. there's one book i would recommend for you and adam think again it is a great book adam is a professor. you will have a philosophical belief right now but if you have this belief and this much was information and you get new information and change your opinion is that wrong? no. i think that's intlek comul. intellectual and you should challenge yourself on that but more information andsh said i he a different opinion on this the

country would go after you no you want to start rewarding that. cain is diagnose a great job too. >> hello thank you for coming and answering questions i'm quan studying government i'm a senior. under -- you talked a little bit about hanging chads and inconsistent cities across the country when it comes to elections but under your leadership --he the republican party blocked it every turn. democratic attempts to standardize elections across the country. you after january ofth mar-a-lago stood beside a person after manynd frivolous lawsuits were thrown out you said this is still the guy that should be leading our party. so do you feel that you have turned your back on democracy to any degree? h >> okay thank you for the question. [applause]

we have distrust and democracy. if i let your questions stand and answer the way it was, then people would think what you said was true. so that is unfair so i have to challenge you back not in a disrespectful way. so the first premise is we denied any election in that answer is no. we actually proposed we couldn't get through. if i look at my job as speakership we brought a whole new bill. it opened it up more. he said i stood and said something, that is not tribute to my go to mar-a-lago? yes. i do not say that itt mar-a-lag. so that is not true. i have the philosophy. whether i like you or dislike if something bad happens in your life and want to be the first person to call you.

because the one thing i learned in life is too many facebook w friends we do not have real friends. the first thing that happens when something bad happens in your life, everyone abandons you. i want to call you not to help you i just want to know how you are doing as a person. i'd do that on both sides of the aisle. i think as a person of who i am, i'm going to do that. you can say anything you want into me going to mar-a-lago. i simply got a phone call and i was down there doing a fundraiser. what i can buy into the president? yes. i think all the attention would go out? no. she want the back story behind that too? i can buy as it looks like president trump. we have good relationships be yelled at each other times be a bad relationship sometimes. i do not criticize them onel tv all think back and forth. that is read the respectful

thing tofu do. loss of sense to hear things you might not want to do but if i'm going to be a real friend i should tell him exactly what i think. we have had some heated conversations. he has to come by and see him, i happen to be in palm beach at that time. so i said yes. thirty minutes later the "new york times" has had a thought is going to go by and no one was going to know that. now the press is all around. so i go in and i sit down for lunch the first and the president said is did you leak this? i said no i didn't tell them. did your staff click this question requires no i did not tell my staff it. do you think my staff like this? i said no. he said who do you think leakedk that? i said you. [laughter] eat looks at me and said it's good for both of us you know. [laughter]

endorse at this time. the endorse and before the iowa caucus. despite everything that happened and everything we have been talking about you don't think he's the best person to lead our democracy? >> i say he is much better than our current president joe biden. let me make my case. we can have a strong a difference of opinion and we do. [laughter] [laughter] but let's do this. i have served underi both. i have watched. what happened inn afghanistan never should have happened. i am in the gang of eight. i get the exact same everything. the decisions that were made on how we left americans behind, is going to set our country back for the next two decades. it is moved our allies closer to

china and everywhere else. inflation, and i am sorry not one of you sat in the room that i know of a negotiated bills ins with the current president. this is different than being the mayor. this is different than anything else it right this is the leader of the free world. i sit with other foreign leaders. i know what they say when they sit with presidenty biden. and i am sorry. even if the entire room is democrat and most of the room is democrat. if i asked you privately would all pick someone else, wouldn't you? this is serious but there's a higher probability that if joe biden is elected he cannot carry out his entire presidency.

i also know who is running on our side. i don't have a choice but when i made a decision it was who was left. do i think w he would do the bet job? yes i have seen it. i know where we would be stronger. i know we evacuated five embassies. we have got war in europe. one of our greatest strength is our natural resources. do you know american natural gas but had it russia become so strong? we sold natural gas to europe. do you g realize if we replace americane natural gas with russa natural gas just for one year we would lower co2 emissions but 280 million tons. mr. president, just stopped our ability to sell more of it. what does that do to our economy? what is it due to the

environment? i have served with both people. it's not a hard decision for me. i think i am making my vote based upon the america i want to leave for you. and i think you will have less opportunity. we have a debt crisis we could no longer ignore. we have a president making politics out of medicare and social security will not let you debate it. you can't do that. we've got to wake up. we are all in this together. you can criticize for those who want to have a different opinion. you can always respect your opinion we should respect each other's opinion. you come from your opinion based on your beliefs. but also remember the other person comes from their beliefs. based upon her own experience based on my experiences us on a

hard decision. >> heights figure d mccarthy. thank you for speaking with us today. i am a senior in the college from new york majoring in physics and classics. my question for you is in light of recent failure to pass bipartisan border legislation and military aid for ukraine, after former president trump oppose the bill, do you see a single individual's power to effectively derail bipartisan consensus building as a threat to the functioning of our legislative branch off government? >> you would say trump has the power at weather come to the floor or not. the speaker has the power. i do not know who influence the speaker but there trump did or not. this is what i would do having been in that job. i had a very difficult situation. i knew after strength for speaker i have the debt ceiling. that's a serious issue. you can shut government down the side of bigde deal. you cannot fault on a debt

g.ceiling. as speaker, you've got to have a strategy bring the fort leaders together and solve it doesn't that sound nice? that's the wrong thing to do with the speaker. i am sitting with the majority of six the democrats control the senate and the democrats control the white house. if you are the majority you've got to use the majority. i set up only going to negotiate with the president because the bats the best dealt going to get the present probably agreed to things that hakim and schumer never could. at the present agrees toc. keim and schumer have to vote with it. i sit down with them and said let's not play games with this. i want to come to an agreement for there certain things i canee do in certain things not. let's talk about it let's not put the country in n chaos. schumer got to him and i would probably do the same thing you

don't do that with kevin he's got a six seat measures at 20 people he can't pass anything. just push it up to the deadline and he will fold. i saidd no but go to the press every day and talk about it. on i got my conference to vote for something 48 hours later he called me. but what is he do? smart move on his part he brings the other leaders, why? they could say no. so what do i do? i've got to blow the meeting up. it is part of the strategy. after the first meeting in the oval the president said three very professional and one was a jerk and that was me. it was my strategy i had to get the others out of the room. so i could negotiate one on one. if you. look at the end of the day will be agreed to 2 trillion welfare reform these are the things you never would have

gotten if you sat there with bipartisan leaders everyone i think if you look at when you are successful usually divided government helps you to be successful. but if you go back tobill clinth they balance the budget. they had strength but they had to come together. they could use the other side. that have happened the next month. i went to ukraine but i knew ukraine was very important to the president. what i did if you noticed i added disaster in there. we had a terrible fire in hawaii. remember that in maui? i pointed that out of anybody utilizing it. i want to ukraine by itself with the border. i don't care where you are the border is a t problem.

how many chinese dissidents we caught so far this year? just the ones we caught. 22000. you go back two years it was like 200. anyone on the terrorist watch list? obviously no pretty hard to get on it, right? last february we got more people in the terrorist watch list and one month then we got in the last four years. we don't know who's coming is cross you've got a problem. i believe democrats please do something on the border force will save me my election. they don't have the willpower to vote for some on their own. this speaker should sit down with the president and negotiate it out like we did the debt ceiling and bring it directly to the floor. t that is the sign of strength from both position and that's what should happen. >> thank you speaker mccarthy my name is jason goodman i'm a

master of public policy and be a student from los angeles and a fellow dodger fan. >> are right road to korea to watch them play. >> that was opening day. >> former president trump often uses rhetoric immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country like hitler who i know you referencedr earlier. can you explain why you believe a leader uses such inflammatory rhetoric about immigrants is the best person to lead our country? >> i don't be said that exact quote i'm not going to challenge you. >> yes many times. >> i have never heard him say that. look, my grandfather came from italy but my great grandfather. we are a country based upon immigrants. it is a strength within our nation that we unite together. you want to waive that with the president is not secure the

border at all. so anybody can come through. i have got hanging in my office the ellis island papers of my grandfather coming here at agee 14. it's asking for a better life. you rate me for supporting someone you go through one her% of what they say i can come back with all these things about joe biden and you support him. nobody is perfect in life. i am a member of congress. i'm able to vote what i think is proper. i also think the country is based upon our laws and ourco rules. people can have a difference of opinion but i don't think that's what president trump believes never heard it. >> hi. my name is callie i'm studying computer science and political science. i just wanted to ask when did you find out about trumps fake

electric scheme and wanted to nnot do anything to stop it? >> the fake electric? i did not know he had a fake electric scheme. i met with him after the election. i talked about what to do, where to put the library. run later next time. i do not know the scheme i've never found out about a scheme. so from that perspective i do not know. i think you've got time for one more brick works i will stay here longer. i don't have a job anymore. [laughter] >> let's go over here. >> i am from mchenry's district. good man. >> i have a fun question and a serious question. the fund willl be why did you pick mckendry on this could also be fun. we talked about democracy and

the threat to democracy you have the weaponization committee that you did in the beginning. can you talk about the weaponization of the judiciary system? the $98 million president trump has had to pay for legal fees and how that can be a threat to democracy? >> it is a good discussion. we can come back and have this when you think of a threat to democracy i imagine most elected genera sixth, without a fair? so let me ask you this question. is it a threat to democracy if you keep someone off the ballot? just because you don't like them. i think that's a big threat to democracy. that is been happening in the selection part is that a threat to democracy if you use the court system to try to stop somebody? could be right, it could be wrong i would think some of these cases seemed like it's happening that weight when you

ask people that. that's the debatee on all side. the weaponization committee was created to go to the heart of your first question about democracy itself. people are on all sides of believing we have got a problem. you just ignored it gets worse. i create a committee. the select committee on china has been excellentn and i want o friend that after answer this. but get to the corporate democrats can appoint whoever they want. i sat down with hakeem beforehand told of what i wanted to do it what people wanted on there it was even concerning a sealant must happen to be a friend of mine we did a lot of work about space. i would say it our relationship started out he said a lot of my friends think you are the devil, i tell them you're nice. i was conservative and they were not. there are guys to the right of me sometimes. he buys twitter wants to come see me.

he watches it but he never believe government was using to go after people. we think there are bad people. no paid millions of dollars. what about this. is it a threat to democracy if there is a major story that comes out from a major newspaper and people who served in the intel from the cia director and others tell you it's russia's falsity right before an election. and then utilize social media to save cannot reprint our post a newspaper article would that be aa threat to democracy? that happened in the last election to happen after the election? everything they said they came back and said that's not true. that really is a hunter biden's laptop. those 51 people who at top security clearance you asked them why did you say that?

the guy who was the secretary of state today was helping on the campaign called me and told me too write it down. that is a threat to democracy. patrick mchenry did you watch and being speaker? he was prettyth good. when you become speaker you have to put a letter in for if something was to happen to you. the whole idea was this person is going to hang over them feell good. i put a a listed i could rate everybody. nobody knows nobody sees what is. now you all know because there is an opening. patrick was not my first one. they had him on the list. two weeks prior i figured this was going to happen he figured they were going to when he called patrick one night. i thought this happens i don't think the dems will help me. going to be in a fight.

we'll go back to the 15 rounds. i am thinking strategically would write what in the chair but also who do i want on the floor working? whoever holds that chair i want to pick the very best person i would say it what if something really did happen and that person had to be chief? woodman a smart move with a could not decide who could be speaker to keep him who's that he's been in leadership. it's been a chairman for the prettywachovia governance a verr manner. most people would look back and say that exact same thing. cook something you said remind me of something in the news over the weekend. chairman mccaul of foreign affairs and chairman turner of intelligence of boats over the weekend came out and said russia propaganda has infected a good chunk of the gop base. these are two gop republican chairs they're seen on conservative media and on the house floor. do you agree with them?

>> they are referring to ukraine. some went making the argument aboutit ukraine. what's happening here as you sit russia will put things out this is happening in ukraine somewhat repeats it by not checking it.co that happens there other countries to get stuff every day. l there's a lot of problems right now. i would also say if you are the leader of america to think ukraine is important he should speak to america abouto it. what's happening as members are reflective. it's the wealthiest club of the world to go to the said it's pristine there are no rural visitors by the house is like having breakfast at a truck stop. microcosm of society. we are very reflective. they are getting the feedback. it is incumbent upon the president he should bee doing what's in the history of america

with a fireside chat. 911 happens though some are not even born. they proved to us it will reach us. there's a reason why america should lead. there is not one american man or woman in uniform dying in ukraine.e. if we allow trust her to come in and take another country, why can't china take something? why can't iran? if you want to be the leader of the free world to bring everyone else together and someone's willing to fight. the thing people don't quite understand is how many of you think that money goes ukraine? nobody? so where does it go?

the majority of the money does not go to ukraine. goes to replenish our own weapons because we depleted them all. if you don't find it you make america weaker. we ship them the weapons so we can protect them ourselves. i sent someone out there telling us that? every network will carry it. as an election coming up out of a job to look out for you. you know what's happening in ukraine? just what's happening with the rest of the world. it is becoming spring. the fighting is going to get bigger but we are losing ground to what we have taken before we have told putin he could not do this. what if he goes to the baltics next? watch history on the created this way. you know this w money we are

talking about is to replenish all r weapons. we are protected so someone does notle think we are vulnerable to attack us again. just go back to 911. we thought we could ignore other parts of the world, they attacked us. to know what? the terrorist groups are growing again. >> mr. speaker enforcement were about to be kicked out of his room. we have profound disagreements on many issues. when i was at the dnc i wrote a few press releases hitting you over the head of. [laughter] i am so appreciative you'd come here to georgetown to have a conversation with me. but more importantly the ticker student question. that is why we exist so thank you for coming. >> i thank you. [applause] >> i want to thank all of you for coming.

we have two more events this week to continue with our theme on democracy tomorrow it 5:30 p.m. in the icc auditorium congressman maxwell. per our conversation on protest to power is it jen z's time to lead? thursday at 1:30 p.m. in gaston hall former prime minister of the uk, boris johnson. on the global site for democracy. >> tell him i said hyper. >> thank you everyone. [inaudible conversations]

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>> coming up tonight cspan2 homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas testifying at one of two appearances on capitol hill today. that is filled by senators feltg about the southern border and the impeachment charges against secretary mayorkas from the senate floor. and later former president donald trump speaks to reporters during a visit to atlanta to meet with voters at a fast food restaurant. that and more coming up tonight on cspan2. ♪ since 1979 partnership of the

cable industry c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress. from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat is issues are decided. completely unfiltered. c-span your unfiltered view of government. ♪ ♪ ♪ c-span has been delivering unfiltered congressional coverage for 45 years. here is a highlight from a key moment. >> although the city was the nation's capitol for only a short time, from those early days the eyes of the world have continued to be on new yorker. one year ago this great center of history, and creativity suffered the greatest of cruelties and showedel