recorded oval office conversations. calls, and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ well this is day two now president trump and saudi arabia. he is going to meet with arab leaders today in advance of a big speech in a few hours on islam. an early draft of that speech suggests the president will cast the challenge of extremism as the battle between good and evil. after saudi arabia, he is on to israel and the vatican for a meeting with the pope. while in europe, he will attend the euro summit and the g-7 summit. we want to know from you this morning what your expectations are for this week long trip by the president overseas.

we are calling it a very ambitious trip. . what arehere are the numbers to call. what are your expectations? democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8002. 2.dependents, 202-748-800 -- republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. good morning on this sunday, the 21st of may. has this"washington post" headline. a shot of the president holding a bilateral meeting with the king of bahrain. this is part of many meetings he is having this morning ahead of this major speech. the story says the presently is the nation home to islam's holiest site as a backup to call in the fightan

against terrorism as the worst of the relationship with arab leaders. it little more on the speech. peter stephenson is a reporter for the "washington post" joins us by phone now. guest: thank you so much for having me. host: sure thing. set the backdrop for us. speech stage for the sieg we are hearing about islam today. what is at stake? guest: this speech is the convergence of a lot of different aspects of president trump's early presidency coming together all in one. for one, people in the trump administration are somewhat happy to be out of washington after a crazy week of news where different news was breaking everything with a, but this is ng every single day, but this is a chance for the president to show he can get things done. he has already come up with a couple of bilateral agreements and multinational agreement. this is his chance to show he can be a world of format on the world stage and deliver a speech

to people who he has publicly disparaged on the campaign trail and as president. host: who is the audience to the speech? both in the venue that the president will be speaking at, but more broadly. guest: exactly. he will be speaking directly to the leaders to more than 50 liters from muslim countries, but he is also speaking to people back here at home. remover, he had a very difficult week back here in the united states. the trump administration is trying to calm the waters a little bit. policy.t to get back to they want to get away from the talk of the russian investigation and get back to a place where they can say the president is getting things done on a diplomatic scale and in terms of back here at home, domestic policy. host: the speech today on this lab and in general for the president -- on islam and in general for the president, those three words, radical islamic terrorism, that he used during the campaign.

what are you hearing? guest: well, it is interesting. those are also words he criticized president obama for not using, but we have heard he will not use that phrase. we have are a couple things about the content of that speech. we know he will call for peace, security, prosperity in the region and the world. he will say he wants a coalition of nations to work together to stamp out extremism. we know he will say very pointedly that this is not a battle of faiths. it is a battle between "good and evil." you can see the president moderating this talk at least domestically a little bit for this overseas trip and also attempting to make a little bit of a connection with the visiting.he is we know there will be a phrase in the speech where he is saying he hopes for a future that honors god. that is a little bit different

than the regularly have heard -- the rhetoric we have heard at home. host: plug the nation of iran into this. explain why the president pence saudi arabia for this trip. guest: is a really interesting one in terms of the politics of the region. iran's most closely allied with russia. saudi arabia has been one of our allies for quite a long time. the president may an agreement with the saudi's for a 10 $110 billion plan. the president is visiting one of the largest u.s. allies in the region and proposing an arms deal that would give the saudi's a lot of u.s. technology. host: what else should we know about this leg of the trip and anything else that might come up to interest our viewers? guest: the speech is the real thing to watch for, but with president trump, you really just the to keep an eye on his interactions with these world leaders.

this is a guy that has any a lot of homework for this trip, but also someone who likes to go off script every now and then. we learned that today, he is signing a memorandum of understanding that will create a task force with these countries to track funding that fuels terrorism. that is another big thing to watch. keep an eye on thehe diplomacy. host: thank you for setting this up for us. guest: think of for having me. host: that a speech in saudi arabia, we will happen for you later on the c-span networks. we will have it on c-span and c-span.org. it happens probably within 2.5 hours from what we understand. a little more reporting by the "post." worth $110ision

billion. the president touting jobs and a feminist investment. we will give you more details -- the president touting jobs and financial investment. we will give you more details. what are your expectations for this trip? caller: first of all, the background point was iran and iran's threat to the world in the region and the press conference between rex tillerson and the saudi foreign minister was really impressive, especially for the saudi foreign minister, who i thought it a tremendously important presentation on the iranian activities and threats to the region. that is part one. not is very important to just saudi arabia and its issues with iran and similarly israel also has issues with iran, obviously. i think that this trip is very important, but, caveat. i think what president trump should not try to do is to b ite

off too much on this trip and do too much on the palestinian-israeli issue and try to wrap up a deal of the century in israel. that is not going to happen. it has eluded all the other presidents. the best thing to do would be to buttress and solidify relationships with these allies. that would be a tremendous success and would show trump is an international leader and someone capable of doing foreign policy, which has been questioned and a question mark and something we are not sure of. host: thank you very much, mark. we got plenty of your thoughts. thank you for waiting in. joe is in sarasota, florida. by the way, the news conference tillerson,ary o we just played that program just before this program started. joe is on the line from

sarasota, florida, democrat. what are your expectations here? caller: just look at the record. 9/11, 14 terrorists, osama bin laden. again, iran. 1970's. they took hostage americans. we need to make peace. iii. not need world war i get it. in the 1970's, we depended on saudi arabia. gas. we just need to make peace. that is the point. that is the period. like i said earlier, osama bin laden, 9/11, the connections. host: joe, to your point about making peace, how hard or harder ory is it about -- hard

how easy is it to make peace? caller: diplomacy. just look at history. two world wars. first world war, number one maneuver to, a second world war two, a numbers are second world war. innocent people died. we need to make peace. war,then, the first world it was not a nuclea even nuclea. network did not exist. -- that word did not exist. they banned syria, chemical weapons. bannedst world war, they chemical weapons.

host: now to james comer republican. what are your thoughts and expectations? with yocaller: i just want to sy hi and regular caller. it was a wonderful ceremony. he was treated with the opposite of what you think he would be treated with. he was treated with respect, probably because the saudi men respect strength. it was wonderful to see him not bow the way obama down all the way down like a japanese guy. so did george bush. he bowed down and kissed the rain. trump lets him and i. melania held her head up. no hijab on her head. they often go to these places and have a hijab on in respect of these misogynistic cultures that treat women with cruelty beyond belief. proud.ld be

but of course that is a lot of ethno masochists. host: move this forward. what are you looking forward to the president to a compass? caller: $110 billion trade deal. wonderful thing. next, he is going off to visit a couple other places. there is no chance for peace because islam is divided into three places. the house of islam, the house of war, and the house of peace. until the house of war is overcome, which is us, there will never be peace. that is the way to history of islam has been for 1300 years. when he arrives with hope francis, someone with msnbc said he will get a real talking to by the pope. the pope lives behind walls that kept the first muslim invasion out. is a littlepope

hypocritical there. times" hasnew york this map. president trump is in saudi arabia. he will move on to tel aviv and bethlehem. he then after that flies to italy, the vatican, where he will meet with hope francis. he then moves on to brussels for the nato summit. then it is back to italy, sicily to be specific, for the g-7 summit. very busy week these next several days. before he left him the president recorded his weekly address a little bit about what he would like to accomplish and how he sees things happening in the middle east. [video clip] president trump: my fellow americans, this weekend, i began my first trip overseas as president, a group with historic significance for the american people.

i will be visiting with the leaders in many different countries to strengthen our old friendships, built new partnerships, and unite the civilized world in a fight against terrorism. in that spirit of unity, i will travel the lands associated with three of the world's great religions. my first stop will be saudi arabia, the heart of the muslim world. there i will address a historic gathering of the leaders of more than 50 muslim nations. i will represent the views of the american people frankly and clearly. many of these leaders have expressed growing concern about terrorism, the spread of radicalization, and iran's role in funding. now it appears muslim leaders are ready to take more responsibility and a much bigger role in fighting terrorism in their region. it is about time we do it. we will do it together, but it has to be done. america cannot solve all of the we can'troblems, but and must help any nation willing to join in the common cause of

eradicating terrorism from the face of the art. -- earth. next time i will travel to jerusalem to talk to my good friend, prime minister netanyahu about bringing peace and prosperity to both of our nations. host: back to your calls. your, new york, expectations for president trump's. -- trump's trip. caller: good morning. i have notifications. he is showboating. you will insult the muslim culture in this country during his primary, and all of a sudden, he has forgotten all about it. i have muslim friends. i have jewish friends. i don't even call him president. donald trump is a fraud. i have sorry to say he is a fraud, and i have no respect for him. host: are you still there? caller: yes. host: talk about the trip itself. move away from the personality if you can. what do you want to see the united states accomplish from

this trip? caller: i cannot see him accomplishing anything. every president i was overseas, it is the same rhetoric. they talk and talk. you come back here, and it is the same thing. obama has been in office for eight years. what did he accomplish in the middle east? it is the same old song and dance we have in this country. i have no expectations. host: thanks for calling in. let's hear from garnet in new york, democratic line. your expectations for this trip? caller: i cannot agree probably more with the previous speaker. however, i try to remain truststic, but i cannot the leader of our country, period, and i would like you to continue to keep following the money because i have to question the idea of trump's profile

being placed on that hotel were were. and his family he received nothing for that? because if you can prove that he received not one penny for that, i might be able to get to trust him, but you know what? i just can't because i still firmly believe that it is all about putting the money in his pocket and for his family. i am going to ask you to please keep following the money. host: thank you for calling. dennis, republican caller, you are up now. dennis, are you there? caller: hello? host: yes. caller: yes, i am calling because i don't trust donald

trump. never have, never will, never shall. he is talking racist comments to people. they never forget. never forget. for him going over there and saying he will do this $110 billion deal with the saudi's, no. it is not going to happen. he is going to line his pockets just like he did before and try to make deals with jared and i ivanka and rex tillerson and the bunch, and he will never do anything for america. as he says, put america first. no. host: thank you for calling, raleigh, north carolina. from the "post" on this $110 billion deal. what has happened so far is the president making a flashy debut on the world stage, entering a

new era of the u.s.-saudi arabia relation. here is a look. [video clip] >> the intended sales of the

defense packages in particular fall into i've brought categories, border security and counterterrorism, maritime and coastal security, air force modernization, and missile-defense, cyber security, and communications upgrades. i think you can surely identify and all of these the importance to al that all those areas have to u.s. national security as well. along with this will go a lot of training and support to strengthen our partnership with the saudi armed forces as well and further strengthens our relationship. the package of defense department and services supports the long-term security of saudi arabia and the entire gulf region, in particular in the face of maligned iranian influence and iranian related threats, which exists on saudi arabia's borders on all sides. additionally, it bolsters the ability to bolster its own security and contributing to counterterrorism operations around the region.

the important part of this is this huge arms sales package reduces the burden of the united states to provide the same equipment to our own military forces and will strengthen saudi security forces for the future so that saudi arabia is more capable of carrying a greater share of the burden of their own security, which as i indicated, is important to the u.s. national security as well. host: a little bit on the deal there. one new site reporting some of the reaction out of israel. israeli official troubled by the $110 billion u.s. saudi deal -- u.s.-saudi deal. a senior cabinet ministers talking about all this and expresses concern about the deal. let's go to joyce now in point pleasant, new jersey, independent caller. good morning. caller: good morning. call.you for taking my i believe that part of this trip can be viewed as a symbolic

spiritual trip to garner support for world peace among the three great religions of the world. i am a little concerned about the previous caller with such negative remarks they made about the trip. to me, i have to bring this up because it is obvious the democrats and media are trying to interfere with the trump presidency. i believe that if they say something negative often enough, people believe it, and i think that is the goal -- their goal, i also believe that words matter but actions are more important than where. -- wroords. i believe trump is trying to gain peace in the world and a greater nation for our people in this country. i do wonder whether these leaks sometimes will become lies, and at what point that begins. i am worried about that with the media. as far as sean spicer is

concerned, i think he is on the way to sainthood because of the abuse he has taken from the press in the press conferences. i hope that we pray for the world to become a better place. host: thanks. caller talking about it may be in terms of a spiritual trip. now fromon the line new jersey, republican. good morning. caller: yes. if this trip turns into a realignment with the arabs and t way, in an over military alignment between the arabs and israel, that would be a game changer in the world. to allze he is going three of the major religions, but if you can do that -- he can do that, it would be a marvelous thing. the main reason being iran is trying to be the big guy on the block.

they are trying to knock people around, and the other countries realize this. if they form together, that would be one more thing. that has been a hot spot trouble for over 3500 years. i don't think world peace will come of this as i think the idealistic former caller said, but if they can buttress up themselves against iranians, that would be a plus for the world. host: a couple of details from the presidential election in the "new york times" and elsewhere. secures ahani resounding victory in the election, riding a large turnout from iran's urban middle-class. he won the election in a landslide, giving him a mandate to continue his quest to expand personal freedoms and open iran's ailing economy to global investors.

they also talk in this piece about some of the challenges that he will face in his new term, and one of them is an unpredictable and hawkish trump administration. they write that they only sign sanctionsy signed the waiver. let's move on to maxine in new baltimore, michigan, independent color. -- caller. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. i could not agree more with the lady from new jersey. she is spot on. unfortunately, the trump haters are not going to get president trump his due. they are going to find that this is the best president we have ever had. showsddle east trip just the character of this man. this man is unlike any other president we have ever had. host: how so? caller: well, because he is taking care of business. he is looking out for the american public. he is not in there to make deals for uranium like the clintons did. he is out for america. he is taking care of business for america. this trade deal he signed, that is going to mean jobs here in our aircraft industry. they just cannot see it. my problem is with the trump

theaters. -- haters. it is unfortunate they will not be able to recognize the good he has done already. you see buildings are up. employment is down -- unemployment is down. it is sad they cannot see it. put me on the list of trump supporter. host: thanks for calling. connie is from new jersey, democratic caller. what i expectations for this trip? caller: not too much. like the other was we have had before. this is about religion. solved like that. is extreme right. --n you are going to europe

so when you talk about religion -- i am a spaniard. it happened in the inquisition. i don't see anything. the more i read about 1977, the more i see history repeating itself. that is nothing against trump or democrats or republicans. it is a matter of religions fighting each other. they fighting the shias. when you go to israel, they -- sooner or later, they will destroy themselves. that is my opinion. it is not hating trump or hating anybody. host: guest: thank yo the diffe.

the -- thank you for calling. let's hear what rich has to say. rich is in troy, ohio. caller: how is it going this morning? host: good. how are you? caller: good. real quick comment. i want to agree with the guy from new jersey. they haven't been fighting over there for thousands and thousands of years. i don't think one person going over there or going over there as a group will make a difference. here is my main thing. the three words that donald trump spoke here, and i supported him, i voted for him, i want him to see over there that they were, radical islamic words,sm -- the three radical islamic terrorism. if he does not, he will lose a lot of credibility with me. host: why should he say that? caller: well, he talks the big talk here at home. now he is in the muslim world, where nothing has been settled

for thousands and thousands of years. he always wanted to say islamic radical terrorism. sorry to jump in, but to use that phrase, what does that accomplish over there, do you think? caller: that what americans say is what we mean. we have lost so much credibility, not just in the obama administration, but in the bush administration. they are all out to pad their own pockets. i don't see that would trump. he has more money than we can all spend, so i don't understand where people are coming in that he wants to pad his own pockets. he has enough money. what is he wanted to accomplish? we will never know until it happens it happens, but to go into a muslim world and speak to their leaders about radical islamic terrorism would open a whole new stage in that part of the world, not just here in the

u.s. where he has the backing of his trump supporters. host: thanks for calling, rich. one of the tweets we are seeing this morning about the topic, the white house released excerpts of the speech to the muslim world. radical islamic terrorism is not there. they are using the phrase islamic extremism. mike is on the line now from charleston, west virginia. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: i love c-span. value the dialogue we get between the two tribes that we are in. i guess i am in the democratic tribe. i would like to respond to republican callers's as anued titling of iran sponsor. that encouraging headline you flashed regarding their recent elections, which empowered the moderates. iran compared to saudi arabia is

a more democratic state. they are certainly entitled to exerting influence in that region given their long history of persian influence. the balancing of the president obama attempted to do with the trade deal was encouraging, but now we are going back the other way. it is going to -- not that the u.s. has insurmountable influence, but it is interesting moderatesni and the empowered elected, especially in light of the election of a very hard line traditional military- backed president in saudi arabia. host: thank you for calling. we will do this for about 25 more minutes ingredients in other news. as we mentioned, the next leg of

the president's trip is in israel.here is a piece from the "jerusalem post." netanyahu will talk security and peace with trump. this is ahead of tomorrow's arrival by the president. netanyahu said he would discuss regional security and the israeli-palestinian conflict with donald trump when he arrives in israel monday. is also set to talk about the steps to take to advance trump's plans to advance the peace process that has been frozen for over three years. elizabeth has been waiting from delaware, republican. hi, elizabeth. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: you're welcome. caller: excuse me, i am watching

melania trump. she speaks five languages. in one of the segments i was watching, she is obviously speaking with one of the arab sheiks or whoever. i don't know what light which they are speaking, but i was reminded how powerful jackie kennedy was when she spoke french when she and jack went over there. trying to keep the positivity. i really pray for the press to be the way i thought the press was supposed to be, and that is more objective. my expectation for this trip is really that we will finally be later little games and recognize that there is nothing but air in all of this ridiculous russia stuff. it is a red herring. like i said, keep an eye on melania. sometimes the subtleties are more important than the obvious. thank you. host: thanks for calling,

elizabeth. a couple other callers mentioning the media. this story from a harvard professor. trump's press coverage sets a new standard for negativity. the piece says that president trump has insisted his press coverage has been historically negative. a newly released study backs him up. a major study released last found that the coverage of mr. trump during his first 100 days was unsparing. you can read more about that in the "washington times" as we an on goingon look well. cindy in new jersey.

caller: hi. how are you doing? host: good, how are you. caller: beaming with pride. i am so proud of the president of the united states. i-55 is all that i have never felt as much pride in our president going overseas. donald trump is to politics what john wayne was to hollywood. there will never be another like him. he had a potential to be the greatest president the united states ever had. this goes to show what this trip, what can be accompanied. this guy is a go-getter. when people work with him, he gets things done. this should be a clear message to our media and the democrats and all the anti-trump people. he is the president of the united states of america. ,im and melani they represented us so well. melania wore a pantsuit in

saudi arabia. he has my total support. i just hope the media wises up and the democrats wise up and show a little respect. host: let's hear from raymond now in southold, michigan, democrat caller. what is your take on the trip and your expectations? caller: one thing i would like people a statement, when talk about trump, ok, and give him th a chance, when bush , he screwed up the whole middle east, screwed up our economy. that is why obama is in office right now. iii.man caused world war he is dangerous.

another thing about republicans. you guys, use screwed us last time. we are watching you do it this time. i love it. on towith move montrel jacksonville, florida. what is your name? caller: baud. excuse me, i am from the south of france originally. host: very good. caller: i want to say -- and i don't mean to open people, but the majority of the people mr. president trump are black, and it is because he wants to cut off a lot of the

unnecessary, how do you say it in english, give me the stuff and all that. come tohat they can understand this man is working for the whole country. he has blacks in his organization,'s business throughout the world -- his business throughout the world. he has muslims throughout the world. the policy shown in the east, that is all i have to say. host: thank you for calling. more of the dispatches from saudi arabia and the middle east. i think it is a seven hour time difference over there is a lot of news being made, but most recently, the president is thinking kuwait for its help in fighting against terrorism. trump says during a meeting with the amir of kuwait today that he

will hold a press conference in two weeks to discuss the battle against the islamic state group. he praising the u.s. relationship with the weight. kuwait. we also read earlier that the president has also accepted a trip -- an invitation to visit egypt at some point. not as part of this trip, but as a separate trip. it might be in the fairly near future. let's hear from crank in cedar rapids, iowa, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. good program. i hope president trump gets to , he will tell the prime minister that the united states is not going to break the abraham covenant because every al qaedaid, we hav tragedies have happened to us. there is a good book that outlines all that. i fly, facing the consequences of land for peace -- eye tfor

eye, facing the consequences of land for peace. i am glad he is getting away from this ridiculousness that is going on in america by the entity andd every venue they can do this. what they are doing is they are actually going against the constitution and trying to project out onto russia. they are meddling with the results of the election. thatnk the congressmen are doing this have violated their oath of office. they are supposed to defend and uphold the constitution, the electoral process is outlined in the constitution. they are just absolutely violating it because they are trying to change the results. it is almost comparable to a hate crime that they are committing upon our president.

if they want to be in power that much, they don't realize that democracy is not what we are. we are a constitutional republic. have you ever heard very many democrats talk about a constitutional republic? they are beholding to a democracy. if you research democracy throughout history, it has destroyed countries because what it is is majority vote, which in turn to mob vote. this is unprecedented. i believe that it is turning into a coup trying to take over the white house and the felonyent, and that is a as far as i have been told because it goes against our constitution. host: thank you for calling. want to get some other viewpoints in the next 15 minutes. a couple other viewpoints on things.

"the new york times" talks about the saudi welcome for trump is a sort of rebuff of president obama's views. they set the start of president thep's first are amid scales and chaos engulfing the administration was expected to be a blunt rejection of president barack obama's vision for the region. that is in the "new york times." more of the flavor back to the "post" today. he arrived at the palace for a royal dinner. hundreds of saudi men in long white robes danced the original sword dance. we have video of this. it is a sword dance that is performed on saudi national day and an honor of special guests -- in honor of special guests.

aides alongrump's with picking with more enthusiasm. the president wading through the crowds here. we will take a call from dennis. dennis is calling from williamsport, pennsylvania. go-ahead, please -- go ahead , please. caller: i would like to say that president trump is in saudi arabia. they criticize hillary clinton for not wearing a headscarf. he shows up with his wife, and there is not one on. that is an of hypocritical. it does not seem to bother the right republicans over this kind of stuff -- the right wing republicans over this kind of stuff. i hate to disappoint the republican callers, but if this guy lasts a year in office, it will surprise me.

at a nice day. host: have a nice day to you as well. rob calling from louisville, kentucky, now. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the only mistake that i see president trump saying, and i voted for him and consider him a , wellt, is he always says now, we are going to get jobs and put people back to work. that is a mistake right there because most of these politicians, they don't know the meaning of work, what it means. freeload,bum, sponge, but they don't know work. that is all i want to say. host: that was rob from louisville, kentucky. there is more pictures there from the sword dance. we will see if we can listen in for a couple seconds here. ♪

host: back to al. back to phones, rather. al is in iowa. hi. caller: how are you? host: doing well. good morning. caller: yes, there is a live discussion on the fact that islam is a peaceful religion. mohammed,he founder, waged war almost 10 times during his lifetime. in fact, he overtook medina with a large jewish population and took much of their money from them an himself. this has always been a problematic religion, which has co-opted different aspects of christianity and judaism and to make him a powerful and wealthy warlord. host: and give for calling. -- thank you for calling.

it isn't recently difficult for those who have eyes to see to escape the conclusion, ones which we have been inclined since the beginning, that it would have been better if trump had not become our president. we have t we have washburn, north

dakota, on the line. independent caller. it is mark. good morning, mark. caller: good morning. host: what are your expectations of this trip? caller: i think it is going great so far. i am in support of donald trump and what our government has done in the last four months to promote our foreign relations. i think everyone needs to give him a chance and see what he can to put himhey decide or what our government is trying to do. i think we have done more over the last four months with our

public relations with our foreign countries than we have seen in the last eight years. ia feel we need to get our government a chance to move forward. host: ok. very good. thank you for calling. a couple more articles. a couple more phone calls before we wrap up the top of the hour and bring out some of our guests, but i want to tell you about our cities tour this weekend. it textbook to be an american tv to new jersey to explore the city's's and talks with local nonfiction authors. coming up today at 2:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv, all of our programs in the city will air in one time block. here, you can hear about a civil engineer that helped design to build some of the world' most iconic bridgess. >> amazing thing to think that

families withttle ideas of structures and buildings and engineering and what you can do and what could be done, they changed the way business was done. when you drive through trenton, you see now buildings that still stand where the trenton works were located. you see them transformed into where people are performing or buying groceries, but they are part of the very fabric of what makes trenton trenton. when you drive across the trenton bridge, when you see from the other side the sign that.s evidence of host: we invite you to to in this weekend on book tv and american history tv as our c-span cities tour goes to trenton. to see what we are going next, you can go to c-span on

or/citiestour -- c-span.org/ citiestour. on to israel tomorrow. a meeting with the pope at the vatican this week in addition to the nato summit that is going to be in brussels, and then the g-7 summit in sicily. faye is calling from ithaca, new york coming out. what are your expectations of this trip? caller: good morning, c-span. i first want to say i love c-span very much. you do an excellent job. host: thank you. caller: i wish that you could take more calls from this region because i call so many times, and i cannot get through. i just wanted to say that first because there is a lot i want to share a of the times, and i cannot get through, but going back to the question of the day, we still have to see what the president has to say.

i did not vote for him. i voted for hillary. i do not feel, unfortunately, that he is going to make a difference. he is not someone that should be in the position that he is, unfortunately. -- man, first of all, c-span, i love journalism. he needs to show his taxes. this is the most disgraceful. i think the election was stolen again. we need investigative journalism. we need people that need to be brave enough to come forward and ask these questions consistently because the media in many ways has allowed trump to continue this path. we need to find out what his taxes are. first of all, you are showing great footage, by the way. his whole team is there. why is melania and all these

other people always with him? where are their taxes? what are their connections? he changed his opinion on china. he is selling, making goods in china. so is milani. -- so is melania. so is his daughter. what are their connections? where are their taxes? we really need you to ask the hard questions.i love journalism , but what you read just a little while ago was very true that democrats need to do more. journalism needs to. there is fake news. this whole thing he is putting out is just a facade. i am not trying to disrespect republicans, but this is really dangerous and scary what has happened because the election has been stolen again. comey needs to be investigated

himself because the way he came before, 10 days before the election was stunning. to find nothing, that definitely tipped the election. host: think you for calling. let's get charles on the air from india. -- indiana. good morning. caller: yes, i think we need to look president trump do his job and quit criticizing him. thatongress is the one democrats and republicans cannot get along. they need to compromise and get some work done. they get big paychecks. that is all i have to say. host: the president's speech in islam arabia on hi coming up in about an hour and a half from now. coverage later from us today. frofor now, we will continue to tell you about some of the news.

the "new york post" reminds us north korea fired another ballistic missile. this according to seoul, south korea, front page of the "new york post." mid range ballistic missile. the rocket was fired from an province andouth luis what about 310 miles -- flew eastward about 310 miles. the white house said it was aware of the north korea launch. there is no official response just yet from the white house. they are referring people to the pentagon. kevin is on the line from california, republican caller. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: president trump is especially good at communication. i believe in the middle east if we can open some lines of communication between those

different countries and ideologies, we might be able to help them out. i believe president trump is someone who has the skills and charisma to be able to bridge that gap. one critical factor that i think he put into was selling all those arms in saudi arabia. it was a very big arms deal today that i found it be significant. historically, when we gave iraq arms, that ended up being a us.lem for when we gave iran arms in the 1970's, that ended up being a problem for us. as we give the middle east weaponry, we make the best weaponry, we are the united states of america, but we should not hold that to ourselves. we should not be giving it to other countries who will turn around and have a big advantage because of the u.s. weaponry d into there.t host: crystal, texas, you are on the air. caller: good morning.

i want to begin with german from california set about the arms. with what theegin gentleman from california set about the arms. i know that trump got the saudi's to reduce the cost of it, but this will benefit lockheed martin. naturally, they will go along with it because they are 100% financed by the federal government. they don't work for everybody else but the federal government so it was not hard for trump to get them to reduce their price. my question is, how is that going to help everyday people in america? those jobs are going to go to lockheed martin employees. i don't see, maybe some of you know something i don't know, but i don't see how that will help somebody out there who is struggling and needs a job today. up nowathleen, you are from idaho falls. caller: good morning. host: good morning.

caller: i am calling on the independent line. i used to be a conservative republican. but i will never call myself a republican again. host: why not? caller: i think people have forgotten trump life everything with a. trump admitted to sexually assaulting women. there is a possibility he colluded with the russian government. i don't understand what is wrong with people. i am afraid he will embarrass us terribly when he speaks over there. governmentsoreign -- this is reported by reuters and ap. we are a laughingstock. people, at least pay attention to what he actually says.

go 5th avenue and shoot and kill somebody and be all right, i think a lot of trump supporters be that way. it would not matter. it matters to me. not matterdid morals to people? this man is not fit to be president. host: one last call. christine, shenandoah, pennsylvania, democratic caller. caller: i agree wholeheartedly with the person ahead of me. , which iss a cult why people do not see what is actually happening. host: let's get back to the point of the question and your expectations for this trip by the president. what you do you think? caller: i hope it will be ok. i think he will be gotten over by these other countries he will visit. we don't know actually what has happened.

arabia asd in saudi far as agreement, but really, russia got over on us. russia got over on him. there is a good chance he is people, withover on the americn it's a series of lies. people seriously need to look at the facts, not the propaganda and this is scary stuff. he's hurting the poor, he's hurting children, he's hurting senior citizens, he's hurting veterans, and he is slashing our environment, and it's all about the money. it's all about the money. host: thank you for calling, and everybody who called this past hour. we begin the guest segment in just a moment. author and historian garrett graff will join us difficult to look at the special counsel. university of virginia's ken hughes will join us to talk

about the history of oval office recordings and the federal laws surrounding them. guests, we want to remind you about newsmakers, were we talked this week with jim langevin, the democratic congressman, the secretary caucus cochairmen from rhode island. by democrat from there, and he talks about how the u.s. is protecting military, governments, and private sector networks. [video clip] >> there are three things we need to look at. network,rotected.net how we protect the.gov network, and how we protect the other networks. cyber command is tested with protecting the .mil domain. they are rapidly getting up to speed and i think it would acknowledge is not where they want to be yet, but i have high confidence in their ability to defend the .mil network.

personnel and training will always be the key aspects of this. continue the trajectory they engaged in, the department of homeland security is responsible for protecting the .gov network. it's a work in progress, we have to get better as well, but they are try to get us there. the other challenge we have is how we protect the .com networks. there,is in charge that's all private sector, so the areas were the most damage could be done from cyber attacks, it's going to be in the come protecting our electric grid, financial sector and telugu medications, water treatment, those types of things that we have to continue to encourage private sector to step up and do more. to thethis is down

processes in place and plans, but if you don't have the people to execute the plans, that's where we are going to be caught short. i know the pentagon is always looking to recruit new cyber talent and i have actually given them the tools to make that haser and it the pentagon programa cyber corps that they have been able to give them great tools to track and give scholarships in that area. host: at the table now is garrett graff, author and historian to talk to us about the special counsel robert mueller. we will learn about it this man is. thanks for joining us. who is robert mueller and why was he picked for special counsel? guest: