watch congress investigates saturdays on c-span two. >>he podcast of-span's podcast featuring nonfiction books each week we are making it convenient to listen to episodes discussingtory, biography and current events. you can fd the c-span bookshelf podcast feed on the free c-span now mobile video app. and on c-span.org/pcas.

>> this week, 2024 campaign trail was on the road in texas where independent presidential candidate robert f. kennedy, jr. met with voters and continued his quest to get on every states ballot. and from new york city, remarks from potential runni mates and former president donald trump showing their support during another week of his criminal trial. and vice president harri votersd michigan. but first look at the top political headline of the week. biden and trump have agreed to two debates. cnn and er 1hosted by abc. the agreement by the candidates

means theyl skipping the dates previously planned by the nonpartisan commission on presidential debates for september and october of this year. e agreement came after president biden posted this account.deo to his social >> donald trump two debates for me in 2020. now he's acting like hean debate me again. will make my day,ell -- well make myay, pal. >> psident trump posted this video in response. ♪

>> we want trump. we want trump. ♪ [crickets] ♪ >> also making heads past week, the results of the may 14 primaries. in west governor jim justice beat congressman alex mooney to clinch the gop u.s. senate nomination. he's now favorite to win in the general election.

the cook political report rated the race solidly republican. west virginia attorney general patrick morrissey beat out two candidates from longtime political families. he's now the favorite to win against williams, who was unopposed in his primary. and in maryland, congressman david tron lost the state's democratic u.s. senate primary to angela also brooks. the prince george's executive who bested him by nearly 14 points despiin than $60 million of his own money into the race. she now faces former maryland governoran in the general election. next some of the conversation from washington journal program on the result of the race and its impact fatover con. >> there was a very closely watched democratic primary in maryland to succeed ben cardin.

we saw two executive angela also brooks and western maryland congressman david tron vying for the nomination. he spent 60 $2 million of his own money. he is very on this race. is more than anybody has ever self-funded on a primary in american history. also brooks spent just a fraction of that on her campaign and yet when all the votes were tallied, she ended up winning by about 12 points. quite the stunning result looking at just the financial picture. the republican side, former governor larry hogan won the republican nomination. he's going to make maryland which is traditionally very blue democratic state into a top-tier senate race come the fall. on the democratic side. pri why do you think that was given

how much money david trone spent. why do you think she was successful? >> i think it's a couple things but the underlying factor is you can have t in the world, but if voters are not buying what you're sng not going to get you all the way they are. i think ultimately he found out additional $1 million he put on tv. everybody already knew who he was and what he was about. anddn't want to vote for him. elections are choices. once also brooks really spun up her operation and voters knew they had a choic, they felt they would rather go with her. >> even though as you wesaying s democratic, why do you think this could be competitive? >> because of hogan's we saw him win two elections.

comparatively a landslide victory in 2018. in maryland, hogan was really able to appeal to independents and mo the state. he is as popular in some cases, maybt now, but a year ago he was probably as popular among democrats as repub he has significant support aacke traditionally democratic. independents and brings a lot to the table. that makes him competitive. it doesn't ma the favorite. we know even governors who are very popular in their own states when they try and run for senate oftentimes aren't the deal. >> west virginia has -- joe

manchin hre you looking at? >> this state iuc the senate map because it is by far republicans best pickup opportunity. the senate is split. 59 democrats, 41 republicans. if trump wins the presidency, all the republicans need is to flip one senate in order to reclaim and right look at the map as it is and move west virginia, that is a 50-50 sen if the election were held today, i think it's clear trump wouldht winning. democrats are really on their heels in the senate. it's going to be very difficult their majority and it's basicallyto bm to maintain a majority if trump wins the presincy this fall. >> trump got a big boost in

pollinlast week. one om the new york times, philadelphia inquirer and siena college showed the presumptive republican nominee with leads in five of six key battground states. two, georgia and nevada, was dd outside the margin of error. the strong pullingas the trump campaign active in states like new jersey where the former president now says he has a chance of winning this year. next, some of the rally he held in the seaside resort town of wildwood, new journey. -- new jersey. >> we are in the state of new jersey. we are goi to win the state of new jersey. got a great group of people with us. we are also looking really great in the state of minnesota which hasn't been won since 1952 and we are leading in the polls.

in the state of virginia and actually many other states. it could be all of them. this guy is so damn bad it could be all of them. he is so bad, i think we are going to win them all. all across america of millions of and so-called blue states are joining our movement based on it's te to set othernd differences aside and come together, get the job done for america. we are going to make america great again and we are going to do it fast. and we are going to look at biden, i am sure nobody ever saw the apprentice. that was our big hit. that was a big powerful hit. but i'm going to look at that guy and i'm going to say joe biden, you are the worst ever. joe biden, you are fired. geout of here. you're fired. get out here, joe. we are going to straighten out

our country. we are not going to destroy it. he's destroying it. think of ohi better. you look at the afghanistan disaster, the border, the economy. the real economy, not the fake economy. everything they touch turns to what? >> the former president was also back in a manhattan courtroom. in recent days, he has brought along a series of high-profile including one counting in its ranks rumored vice presidential picks. governou burgum of north dakota, congressman byron florida and entrepreneur vivek ramaswamy. >> we have all known this was a sham triwhen you have the opporo see it up close and personal, you can see it's a scam trial. when you have a judge that is a donor to biden, prosecutors that are supporters of bid and then you've got relatives of the

financially directly from this trial and then you've got the star witness is a serial perjurer, you have to ask yourlf what is this all about. i think the only conclusion is its election interference and tying up the president from being out on the campaign trail. where's the crime? there is no crime. the only crime happening here is this democrat judge and the democrat parro their political rival right in the middle of a presidential election. the crime here is that the issues facing our nation are not being addressed by democrats but they want to go after donald trump and there's nothing wrong. there is nothing tt has been wrong here, the only thing being done wrong is by this judge. >> this arthat is the best proou have. it's dammed if you do, dammed if you don't. this is a sham.

this is not the united states of this is some vertebrate banana republic. i am ashamed as an american citizen to sit here in a courtroom watching the former leader of the free world and likely next leader of the free world sitting with the indignity in this dingy third-rate court room at a for rate lawyer on the stand as a witness who actually violating attorney-client privilege left and right, nobody is talking about that. this is a shame. we will get throught and be stronger because of who ultimately casts the vote on this case? if you are at home, and you don't agree with eveinmp h ever. whether you are demo orepublicar gay or straight or man oran,

our justice system should be blind to politics. regardless of whether your last name is biden or trump, you get a fair shake in our legal system . and when you have a prosecutor who campaigned on the pledge of going rrump. democratic operatives byose fundraising over the is presidid then telling the president he is subject to a gag order, that is not justice. it is the best organization of what this country is founded on. >> vice president harris made her way once againthe midwest battlegrounds of michigan and wisconsin. some of her an event for entrepreneurs and students in milwaukee. >> i'm here becterause i

engagement in the state. we do creative art. all the stuff to help artists find ways to monetize their passion. >> i know gu great media -- are you familiar with their work? >> i was not familiar. >> this is why i'm doing this. so that entrepreneurs like can have access to information about folks like these leaders to make sure that we are getting you everything that you really know, it's our job to make sure you know. did you get one of these?

when she was a senator, she fought for money. >> ipe get 12 billion more that's the kind of work that we have done so thatntrepreneurs like you can benefit. >> i do want to ask you one more question. what is the most frequently aske question that you guys get? what are you fine people are curious about? >> people are just really curious about resources. there was a young woman here who was like i'm a little start.lmed, i'

if wean't help you, we will try our best to connect you with another organizatio individual. >> are you finding a lot of people you're interacting with actually did not know? >> community, economics, government and a lot of different ways. so we are just rthe community. >> thank you guys. you are making national economic opportunities.

[overlapping chatter] ndide robert f. kennedy, jr. added a number of states to they gained blot access. those are the 14 state's and dark purple on this map. among them are california and texas. next, some of our rally el in texas to celebrate meeting the lone star state's ballot petitioning the threshold and deadline. >> we had a historic in texas. just0 signatures. that's more than any presidential candidacy in the

history of texas. and in the history of our country. the texas changed the rules. that doubled the number of signatures they needed to b bect nobody would ever be able to do it. but the pundits, you heard them from the beginning of this campaign were saying it would be impossible for us to get on the and we got on the ballot in texas andf you can get on in texas, we can get on everywhere. taxes only gave us 45 days to collect 100 13,000 signatures. we got more than double that.

and i was just upstairs talking to the team, i was just completing the signature and they said we are on the way to new york tonight because new york is the next one for us. we have 10 days now. we had 45 days. the hardest statesew yk and texas. we've already got more than we need in new york. the dnc has done everything in their power to stop us and they wito d that, but we are going to get on the ballot in evein ste and i want to thank all of you who are part of this. >> democratic senator bob casey is trying for his fourth term representing pennsylvania. here is katie my, government editor and reporter at spotlight

pa. what has been going on in the race? >> one of the things we are seeing already is a lot of money. this isngo be a very expensive race. the 2022 race between john fetterman and mehmet oz has also beerqswhat we have seen so far s really significant support from the democratic establishment. mccormick with some of his own money, he is a wlthy guy. also with major donationsrom other wealthy people that have gone to a super pac his behalf. super pac aside, cacuy has more on hand in his campaign about. mccormick has that to fall bk we are talking tensns of dollars as of the first quarter of this year. it's not donors, if

this several dozen and most of them don't live in pennsylvania, a a big school choice advocate. pennsylvania is one of those states that the senate campaign commtesing on. not all of the money is on hand. those are some of the financial na seeing. >> the primary race this year wasn't terribly exciting on either side. >> not really. the field has been clearing out for these candidates. mccormick had already run in the primary and lost pretty narrowly. as as the gop establishment wastheyee him as somebody who would be able to mount a good campaign again. d casey, you would be facing tough oddso run against him in

pennsylvania in the democratic primary. the state, he is a scranton guy whose dad was governor. ■mhe has close ties to biden. >> what has been the early strategy from these candidates? >> very dnt iterms of what they are focusing on. casey is more of a fighter member of the senate. he's not a really flashy guy. he doesn he has really stressed thahe gun part of theiparsan noncontroversial bills passing. one of his bags -- big focuses has been consumer protection, licompanies for price gouging. it is something biden has talked

about. you can seehe rationship there, focusing on things voters are really going to feel good about that are not controversial. mccormick tied himself to trump, herts trump and that has been his approach. immigration thing for him. he talked a lot about the border, which has a for republicans. his big thing is don't touch the southern border. in one of his recent ads, he was talking about palestinian immigrants. the white house had a proposal that would allowesnians in egypt to immigrate to the u.s. if they had family here and that was something he kind of tied casey to the biden administration. another dynamic i would have to mention is that mccormick has lived in connecticut for many

years. his career has taken him all over the place. re recently the ceo of bridgewater. he's a wealthy guy for many years did not live in pennsylvania and that was a huge issue for hce for u.s. senate, it's going to be an issue again this year, it already is. he has been doing a bus tour arnd pennsylvania for the early part of the race. he goes back to connecticut a lot. he has two houses, one in that is for sure a dynamic as well. >> you mentioned the bus tour he's doing around what other tactics are the campaigns using. >> a lot of advertising. i mentioned the super pac that is■e supporting mccormick. i haven't even put a dent into the large amount of money they have on hacasey has spent a lite money out of his own campaign

unt so far. same thing forreintroducing him. casey's name recogs higher so that the story is a big part of mccormick's strategy . a big goal is to set himself apart. w e name casey in pennsylvania. ving a hard time. issues like inflation are going to be top of mind. that consumer protection angle omhing he's really focused on. >> pennsylvaniaong rge in the presidential race. what is the interaction between the senate race in the presidential race in pennsylvania this year? >> it's one of those things that

is unavoidable. whatever happens at the top of the ticket affects what happens down ballot. with casey and mccormick, they are not trying tovoe themselves from the candidate at the top of the ticket. in casey's case itou be really hard for him to do that. he aidh other for many years. i think pennsylvania, we see a lot of ads. it's already starting. in the primary you mentioned it was quiet for the u.s. senate uiet for the presidential race at said. there was the uncommitted movement did see some traction here. syatprimary. the fields were well-settled by ed. we are still seeing everything kicked into motion here. the major action is still going to happen. >> katieeyer, thank you so

much for your time and expertise.>>ne last stop on th'. in washington state, democratic considered a top contender in is thi's gubernatorial race. partly because of his statewid name recognition. twother bob ferguson's also filed to run but eventually pulled out of the race. he three bob's -- bobs. >>idat named bob ferguson have backed theirby of state's 5:00 withdrawal deadline. that was aft ferguson the attorney general threatened b ferguson's with a felony if they ran for governor and that's why they decided to end their unusual campaign. 's in a name? >> i have known this bob ferguson.

mus. id that two other bobs also named ferguson filed friday to run for government. thr goal is clear. ferguson. to mislead voters and split my supporters three ways to depress my vote total. he was flanked by the prosecutor whonk and also cited the revised code of washingtonso crime. >> this is a class b felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. >> glenn morgan took credit for recruiting the other bobs who both lists this olympia ups store as their campaign the bob from graham said he will back out afterease and desist letter from the bob who is attorney general.

>> i'm a little man, i do not i served in the u.s. army. who knew the biggest personal threat i would face would be from the attorney general of the state with the harassment and threats i received from him. and the other bob who posted a handwritten sign on his door saying he was busy running for governor has backed out, too. >> this is a threat to our election system. >> it's also about protecting the name of a free, clear an fair election. >> a reminder, this m and all of c-span's cpaign 20 coverage can be found online at c-span.org/campaign.