Skip to main content

tv   Washington Journal Open Phones  CSPAN  April 18, 2024 9:45am-10:11am EDT

9:45 am
c-span.org slash history. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what's happening in washington. live and on demand. keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams, floor proceedings, and hearings from u.s. congress. white house events. the courts. campaigns, and more from the world of politics. all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of "washington journal" and scheduling information for c-span's tv networks and c-span radio. plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. scan the q.r. code to download it for free today or visit our website, c-span.org/c-span now. c-span now, your front row seat to washington any time, anywhere.
9:46 am
>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more. including wow. >> the world has changed. today the fast reliable internet connection is something no one can live without. so wow is there for our customers. with speed, reliability, value, and choice. now more than ever it all starts with great internet. >> wow. >> wow, supports c-span, as a public service. along with the other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. @cspanwj. good morning and welcome to washington journal. the house will gavel in ad 9:00 a.m. we start with an article from axios that says senate democrats on wednesday squashed impeachment charges against alondra mayorkas, an end to the gop's attempt to oust him.
9:47 am
democrats saw the impeachment as political theater but republicans argue it it sets a dangerous precedent. let's take a look at how the first republican objection played out on the senate floor yesterday. [video clip] >> that there be up to 60 minutes for debate concurrently and equally divided on the motion to dismiss and points of order and following the use of yielding back -- or yielding back at that time, the senate vote in relation to the points of order in the order raised and motion to dismiss. following, the senate vote on the motion to adjourn the impeachment. there be up to four minutes for debate equally divided between the leaders or designees prior to each roll call vote or without intervening action or debate. >> is there an objection? senator? >> reserving my right to object.
9:48 am
to dismiss or table articles of impeachment against secretary mayorkas without a trial today or in committee is an unprecedented move by senator schumer. never before in the history of our republic as the senate dismissed or tabled articles of impeachment when the impeached individual was alive and had not resigned. as senator schumer said in 2020, a fair trial has witnesses, relevant documents as part of the record, seeks the truth, nothing more, nothing less. i will not assist senator schumer in setting our constitution ablaze and bulldozing 200 years of precedent. therefore i object. >> madam president? >> objection is heard. >> madam president, point of order that impeachment article one does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor as required under article two, section four
9:49 am
of the u.s. constitution and is therefore unconstitutional. >> under the precedents and practices of the senate, the chair has no power or authority to pass on such a point of order. the chair therefore under the precedents of the senate submits the question to the senate. is the point of order well taken? the republican leader is recognized. the clerk will call the roll. host: that was yesterday on the senate floor. we have that full coverage of that on our website, c-span.org. and here are some tweets from lawmakers. here is speakejoson, who said this. "my jointtament on senate ignoring its constitutional duty to hold mayorkas impeachment trial. by voting unanimously to bypass their constitutional responsibility, every senate democrat has issd eir full endorsement of the biden administration's dangerous open
9:50 am
border policy. sec.aykas alongside presidenbin has used nearly every tool at his dposal to engineer the greatest humanitarian and national security catastrophe at our borders in america history. tragically, senate democrats don't belie is merits their time or a discussi othe senate floor. instea ty are signaling to millnsemanding accountabilityhathe officials responsible for th disaster, who have ignored the law anmied congress repeatedly, is above reproach. the american people will hold senate democrats accountable for this display. here's the house judiciary democrs,ho say this is not about ignoring constitutional duties it is about a policy disagreement disguised as a constitutional and evidence free political stunt. here is senator duckworth.
9:51 am
"republicans impeached sec. mayorkas for n doing have to keep the border secure. also blocked the most significant border security deal in a generation. the irony should not be st on anyone." here is senator tillis. "it is rich the democrats now don't want to hav an impeachment trial for sec. mayorkas after they weaponized d rushed the impeachment process against president trump." and senator mike lee, "today, senate democrats refed to do their constitutional duty. they let mayorkas off for destroying our border with no trial, throwing out over two centuries of precedent. we will member this next time democrats want to remove someone from office." and senator warner, i am glad t see us move on from that point was impeachment hearing. it is time to getacto work on things that matter, cating middle-class jobs, protecting elecon security, and keeping
9:52 am
our word to our partners abroad. and just a reminder of what those impeachment articles were. this is from the house. the two articles were, first, willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law, and the second, breach of the public trust. we will go to your calls and get your reaction to that starting with erin in monticello, florida, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i can see why they went down the order of removince articles, which, let's be real, if we were in a court case, the same thing would happen to our attorneys. so my thing as an independent, i hope this country will figure out what is going on, because at the end of the day, the border needs to be fixed. thank you for your time and god bless america. host: diana is next.
9:53 am
good morning. caller: good morning. my father worked for the defense industry. he worked on the b-2 bomber. our family actually became naturalized citizens for fighting in world war ii and my grandmother became a natural citizen in 1943. in california. i cannot have my property legally in my name even though i am a citizen and born in the united states. i have to have it under my mother's name. host: diana, that's really not our topic this morning. greg, democrat in ohio, good morning. caller: good morning. i would just like to say that immigration and the republicans
9:54 am
talking about it is played out. most people don't know this. what is asylum? asylum is, when you come to the united states by any means necessary, you want asylum, you have to be processed. and illegal is not a person who is in the united states who requested asylum. people always say, well, the immigrants are hurting the economy. they are not affecting my rights or ability to make money. all those people who died on the bridge in baltimore were immigrants. i welcome them. asylum is the law. and mayorkas is following the law. host: all right, greg. and jim is in hudson, florida, republican. caller: good morning. when are they going to realize that the border is one of the main topics -- of who is going
9:55 am
to be elected in november? they act like the citizens out here don't know -- like, if we don't talk about it, they won't realize we have a problem at the border. it's like gasoline. if we don't talk about it, they don't know it is too high. if we don't talk about groceries, they don't know they are too high. young people can buy houses. they talk to us like we don't know and we know there's a problem and they need to talk about it, but when the democrats -- that's an injustice to the people because people need to hear why. the man says the border is secure. all the people run across. you are an idiot if you don't believe there's a problem with everything. even fast food. you cannot even go get fast food anymore, it is so hot. host: do you believe holding an
9:56 am
impeachment trial for secretary mayorkas would be the best way to handle that? caller: yeah. people want to hear from him. how can you say anything is secure when you go somewhere and the people rush into a ball game? host: this is on msnbc.com. a democratic congressman said this, representative dan goldman wrote an op-ed. he says "my republican colleagues are wasting this and it's time. articles of impeachment failed to allege an impeachable offense." what do you think of that? you have gone. corey, princeton, missouri, independent line. caller: unprecedented, unfair is
9:57 am
all i have been hearing. well, mitch mcconnell did not seem to think so whenever he held obama's scotus appointee and then shoved in trump's weeks before the election. i guess they get what they deserve. host: speaking of republican leader mitch mcconnell, he was on the senate floor yesterday voicing his objection to the adjournment vote. [video clip] >> we have set a very unfortunate precedent here. this means that the senate can ignore in effect the house's impeachment. it does not make any difference whether our friends on the other side thought he should have been impeached or not. he was. and by doing what we just did, we have in effect ignored the directions of the house, which
9:58 am
were to have a trial. no evidence, no procedure. this is a day that is not a proud day in the history of the senate. host: and we are getting your reactions to the dismissal of sec. mayorkas impeachment without a trial in the senate. the numbers are on your screen. republicans, (202) 748-8001, democrats, (202) 748-8000, independents, (202) 748-8002. about 15 minutes left in this segment. we will hear from larry in north carolina, independent. good morning. caller: how are you? host: good. caller: thank you. i'm amazed what warner said concerning the scenario -- this
9:59 am
scenario because i have family in virginia. i also have family in arizona. and my sister in arizona was telling us, in 2021, about the problems they were having with illegals breaking into outbuildings on properties. my nephew was assaulted. it was on camera. police said they could not really do anything about it because they were migrants. so they didn't know where they were. so my family wrote a letter to warner and kaine and their response was almost a form letter saying that they agreed with what the biden administration was doing on the border. and this is in 2021. so now, today, they try and make
10:00 am
mayorkas accountable for what he has done. he is not an elected official, so how do you fire him -- fire him? host:host: i hear what you are saying, that you wanted to see mayorkas fired, but practically speaking, president biden would appoint somebody else that would also institute president biden's policies. caller: well, yeah. they are bidens policies. you are correct there. so maybe we all should speak in 2024 that we are not happy about this situation. it's up to the american people and hopefully we will look through the garbage and figure out the right thing to do. host: all right. also in north carolina, this time in greensboro, roy, line for democrats.
10:01 am
good morning. caller: you all do such a great job with washington journal even though a lot of people complain. this is just kabuki theater. of course it was going to be dissolved. it's a way of the republicans getting out of doing the work that needs doing. they are preaching this chicken little hymnal and they are all singing from it. a couple callers you have had today talk about gas prices. lowest gas prices in the developed world. the most gas we have ever produced. groceries, they are not low. you see people buying everything. ok, the border, there is a problem, but it's largely because we don't -- americans don't do manual labor anymore essentially. that is why housing is so high. we cannot even find the people who will do that hard work, farming, all the entry-level
10:02 am
farming and construction now that i see is done by immigrants. now, there is a problem. it's just a manpower problem, which the bill that was put forth was trying to solve, but i don't see why -- here is my brilliant idea. even the chinese are coming here because it's so bad in some countries and it's so good here. it's so good here is why they are coming. here's my great idea. why doesn't our gargantuan military, like over one million active, they can send units down where they are needed, not guns blazing or anything but just processing these people. we have all this manpower that is doing nothing. the military has finagled their way into doing nothing. they don't cook their own food. they don't wash their own clothes. they don't even do the protection and the war theaters. they had to contract that out.
10:03 am
we only need a few dozen thousand. they can rotate so they couldn't whine and cry that, oh, the civilian authorities are making them do this thing they are not supposed to do. put them there to process these people and it could be done easily. we are already spending that money, wasting it. there's no war. we are in peacetime. thank you. host: wanda on the republican -- anthony on the republican line in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: i would like to comment. host: on the mayorkas impeachment? caller: yes. in the words of president roosevelt, a day which will live in infamy fits the narrative on this case. that is what i have to say. host: and why do you feel that way, anthony?
10:04 am
caller: if you can lie to congress multiple times, like mayorkas did come and get away with it, others no -- mayorkas did, and get away with it, there's no -- in other words, there's no reason to be impeached again. nobody will be impeached. host: let's hear from bill in newburgh, new york, independent. good morning. caller: i just want to comment on the previous caller from north carolina saying the military does not cook their own food. that is not true. they certainly do. we learn how to wash our own close in the marine corps by hand with scrub brushes, so he's not accurate. i don't know what branches of service he was in but the social service does not count. mayorkas lied to the american people, saying that the border
10:05 am
was closed and secured, neither of which is true. he's just doing when his boss told him to do. impeachment of mayorkas will lead to the impeachment of biden. ok? host: all right, bill. let's hear from senator schumer's comments after wednesday's vote. here he is. caller: as suspected, the republicans proved this afternoon that this whole impeachment was nothing more than a political show. the problem was they were not prepared. we offered to have an open and public debate and votes on multiple resolutions by republicans. rather than taking that time to hold the debate that republicans claimed was imperative, they denied our fair and reasonable offer and did not seem to know what to do. we saw today what we saw -- what we saw today was a microcosm of this impeachment since day one,
10:06 am
shallow, frivolous, political. and we felt very strongly that we had to set a precedent that impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. i felt that very strongly. this is the first impeachment i can recall. you look at history. none were done because there were policy disagreements. if we allow that to happen, it would set a disastrous precedent for congress, throw our system of checks and balances into cycles of chaos. anytime the house would want to shut the senate down, they could send over another impeachment resolution and could create frivolous impeachment trial after impeachment trial. so i felt it really important that the dangerous precedent was
10:07 am
not the one republicans were talking about but letting impeachment take the place of policy disagreements. host: getting your reaction to that. next from kurt, a republican in great meadows, new jersey. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: can we expect anything other than the democrats, who control the senate, obviously, to stop the impeachment trial? i listened to hakeem jeffries this morning preach on supporting ukraine, israel, taiwan, sending hundreds of billions of dollars to support those people, yet we cannot protect our southern border. all i have to say is fbi director christopher wray confirmed 357 individuals on the terrorist watch list from countries all over the world
10:08 am
have entered the united states under biden and mayorkas policies. when the blood flows here in america, let the blood be on their hands, and every democrat. who supports those policies. and that's all i have got to say. host: all right. d re is a text we got from scott in essex, massachusetts, an ident. heays "wow. what a surprise. big yawn. now get to the work the senators are supposed to do." clifford in birmingham, alabama, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. i have had it with these republicans calling in talking about impeachment trials. this is a clown show. there was nothing to be impeached about. there was no high crime or misdemeanor. there was a bipartisan border deal that was struck between
10:09 am
these people. and what did they do? because donald trump did not want to let biden have a win, he said kill it. talking about fentanyl coming in, well, former president trump said don't do it. republicans fell in line like lemmings. that was the strongest border deal we could have had. they want to talk about the border, they don't do anything about the border. that's what i cannot understand about these people. stop this nonsense talking about the border. host: what democrats will tell you, clifford, is we passed hr 2. why won't the senate passed that? what do you think? caller: that's a problem too. congress is not working as it should work, for the people. this border deal, that was a bipartisan deal there. they want to talk about it.
10:10 am
there was a bipartisan bill done that was going to do something about the border rather than just talk about it. donald trump, these people following this cult leader, said no. this might give joe biden a win. joe biden said, we can both take credit for this if that's what you want to do. if you want something done, you should have passed that deal. the man is for himself. that is donald trump. he said don't do it and those republicans fell in line. thank you. host: mark is a republican in hempstead, maryland. good morning. caller: i see the trump arrangement syndrome is running wild. trump has not been in office for over three years now and yet somehow or another they are still managing to blame --
10:11 am
it's interesting, because up until yesterday, we were told that the situation at the border was simply overwhelming, that this was going on all over the world and there is nothing mayorkas could do about it, but chuck schumer says it's a policy difference, so -- really -- so i guess it is the democratic policy that we have an open border. they pretty much said the quiet part out loud. we have been told this is a worldwide phenomenon. i think what most americans don't realize is that a lot of these migrants are coming to places like the darien gap. there are organizations there like the red cross, which is always pin a left-leaning -- always been a left-leaning organization. they have stations with instructions and maps in multiple languages as

12 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on