unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court in public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. in arizona governor doug ducey announced former senator john kyle will replace the late senator, john mccain. he will serve in the senate until her placement is elected in a special election scheduled for 2020. here's the governor's announcement. >> we had just concluded a very difficult week for our state and our country. john mccain was an american hero and we were very blessed to have him as our senator.

we are all aware of the size of the void john mccain leaves. our prayers and our heart remain with sydney mccain and the entire working family and we will continue to celebrate the life of john mccain. i want to start off by saying that we all hoped today would never come. but it has come. i realize what an important decision this is in there is no replacing senator mccain. the law requires me to do it. and the people of arizona deserve representation in the u.s. senate. the decision that i made with careful and thoughtful deliberation. as you can imagine i received a lot of advice from people about

this selection and most of it unsolicited. the best piece of advice i received was from another governor who said just do the right thing. pick the best possible person regardless of politics. it was good advice and clarifying advice and made my job easy. as i contemplated who could best serve our state and the u.s. senate i kept coming back to one name and one person. john kyle. there is no one in arizona with the stature of senator john ky kyle. he is a man without comparable peer. with nearly two decades experience in the senate serving alongside john mccain senator kyle is the paired to hit the ground running.

over the last few months senator kyle has been working closely with white house on the senate confirmation of president donald trump's nominee to the us supreme court, brett kavanaugh. now, senator kyle can cast a vote for cavanaugh's confirmation. senator kyle is a beacon of integrity and highly regarded by people on both sides of the aisle. they are able to work across party lines to get results. there is a reason you considered one of the senators in the country because he was. he's an expert on the matters facing arizona. water, land use, and issues facing our native american communities. i want someone who will enter

and lead on those conversations. for those reasons i've asked senator john kyle to step forward once again in the spirit of service and to aid our state and serve in the seat vacated by arizona most beloved adopted s son, john mccain. people automatically assume that this appointment will serve through 2020. i have not been able to get that assurance from senator kyle yet. what i have gotten is a commitment to serve arizona the released the session of congress and it is my hope that he served longer. there is far too much work before the senate, work that is important in consequential to our state and our nation. work the demands immediate

attention. it is not the time for newcomers and now is not the time for on-the-job training. arizona need someone who can hit the ground running on day one. that is john kyle. the fact is everything all day that john kyle represents arizona in the united states senate is a day when our state is being well served. at the memorial here in the state capital last week senator kyle spoke of how senator mccain always but the interest of arizona and america before all else. senator kyle has done the same throughout his own service to our state and nation and will do so again. lastly i want to thank carol kyle. she has been so kind and giving and selfless and we sincerely appreciate her. thank you, carol.

no question these are difficult circumstances but we are blessed to have the leadership and statesmanship of john kyle as we come together and move forward. thank you. >> good morning. i'm grateful for governor duties confidence in me and work hard to accept this appointment. we are all saddened by the circumstances that require the appointment and appreciate there is only one john mccain. john and i serve the people of arizona together for nearly 20 years. in that spirit, along with senator flake, i will do my best to assure that arizona continue to be over presented in the u.s. senate. the governor asked me to serve for the remainder of the term and has made convincing points.

i committed to serving at least through the second session of the 115th congress. i do know i will not seek the seat in 2020 nor any other office in the future. i'm accepting this appointment to fill a seat vacated by the passing of my dear friend because of my sense of duty to the state i love and the institution of the senate in which i served for 18 years. and because the governor asked for my help. and because i am putting my country first. just as this seats radius occupant did everything all day for more than 30 years. for now there is much unfinished business on the senate calendar including confirmation of president trumps nominees to judicial and executive branch positions. i look forward to going to washington getting to work. thank you, governor thank you. >> a few questions? >> no offense but i know the good senator since he was working -- there was a comment

the mccain was -- [inaudible] >> i wanted to pick the best possible person regardless of politics. there is big work to be done in the united states senate and no one in the state of arizona has a statue of john kyle and i asked and i'm grateful that he accepted. >> [inaudible] >> the answer to the second question is no. the reason i did not want to commit to be on this congressional session is because when i left the senate almost six years ago i had no intention of returning and i needed to be with my family to come back to

arizona more and be at their side so in that spirit i am willing to serve certainly through the end of the session, at least, in order to make sure the business that is currently ongoing is taken care of. i don't want to make a commitment beyond that. >> governor doozy, should senator kyle step down before 2020 because who do you thank you would appoint then or two, would you leave the scene open until 2020? >> i'm hoping the senator will consider serving longer but i will fulfill my response abilities as they come due for right now senator kyle will be heading to sky harbor airport to fly back to washington dc where we are working with our secretary of state and the secretary of the senate and later leader mcconnell to get

senator john kyle sworn in to deny the senate to complete the work of this congress. >> [inaudible] >> have been clear on that from the beginning that will not happen. i'm not in the universe of potentials for this and i love the job i have and i want to retain it. when i considered entering public life i went and visited with senator kyle at the time and told him i was thinking of getting involved in public service on the first question he asked me was do you have an executive personality or a legislative personality. i knew the answer immediately. i said executive personality. he said the don't consider congress. i will stick right here. >> you said you wanted to make this decision regardless of politics but with respect to the

kyle has worked with the lighthouse and inherently with the kavanaugh appointment and i don't understand how you can swear that is a non- politicized appointment when someone -- [inaudible] >> i think it is in picking the best possible person in the experience and on-the-job and can sooth citizens in terms of what they can accomplish in john kyle has a record and he's worked across the aisle and has been lauded by both sides of the aisle and he will do a good job of the state of arizona. i picked him because he's the best possible person. >> [inaudible]

>> it was all about honoring senator john mccain of comforting the family and citizens of arizona. i do want to hold those conversations in confidence but i want to know the conversation i had with cindy this morning was incredibly positive and i would point you to her own social media feed. as to her response to this decision. >> i've only met him on one occasion several months ago. it is my honor to be helping on the kavanaugh nomination i believe in judge kavanaugh and in that capacity have been able to support not just judge kavanaugh but the administration and i think proper administration of justice.

>> [inaudible] >> sometimes his desire to create a fight or jump in the middle of a fight -- that reminds me of someone. sometimes i can be detrimental to what he achieves but that's why i stand by that comment. >> [inaudible] c-span washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning on day two of brett kavanaugh's confirmation hearing the alliance for justices and ethics

and public policy center's ed whelan will join us to talk about judge kavanaugh's judicial policy. be sure to watch washington journal five at 7:00 a.m. eastern on wednesday morning. join the discussion. the c-span bus is traveling across the country on our 50 capitals to her visiting all 50 state capitals. the summer the bus left the mainland and traveled by ferry to juneau, alaska and honolulu, hawaii. join us as we feature our 40th bus stop in des moines, iowa. life monday on washington journal with our guest i was senate president charles schneider. >> national intelligence director dan coats discussed threats to the us today including concerns about countries to which he refers to as the big four. russia, china, iran and north korea. this is about 25 minutes.