and later, former state department official thomas countrymen talks about his recent departure from the state department at the request of the comp us -- the trump administration. it is my great honor to present the next chair of the democratic national committee, visionary, great american, mr. tom perez. ♪ donna brazile unbalancing the new head of the democratic party as members gathered this week in atlanta. it is sunday morning february the 26th. congress is back to work following the presidents' day recess. the senate voting on a number of cabinet nominees and president trump delivering his first speech before a joint session of congress. youill have a live for

tuesday evening on the c-span network. we want to begin with tom perez winning the vote as the new head of the democratic party. what is next for the dnc? our phone lines are open. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independents. spanwj. on twitter @c our line for international viewers is (202) 748-8003. this program is live on the bbc parliament channel. good sunday morning to you. coming to you from a different studio as we work on our normal washington journal studio. we want to begin with headlines from the atlanta journal-constitution. tom perez as the new head of the dnc. with ties toeteran

the establishment as the new face of the resistance to donald trump. tom perez will lead a democraticed national committee which has been reeling from the 2016 vote. that left the party firmly in a minority. democrats were worried at the buoyedliberal outcry -- at the wave of liberal outcry. our phone lines are open. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. is the headline from the washington post. tom perez elected as the party chair. more highlights from the event in atlanta in just a moment. first fred from new jersey. democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the press watching

conference and they were talking about doing in autopsy as to what went wrong over the last year. theorymy own dear he -- as to pennsylvania and wisconsin and michigan. i think it was the sanctuary cities issue. i know that was a big issue in pennsylvania because i live just outside of philadelphia which is a sanctuary city. pat toomey made a big issue out of it and pointed out that a dangerous criminal had been let loose on the streets instead of being turned over to ice. that helped him win reelection. that helped trump in pennsylvania. milwaukee is a century city. detroit. auburn, michigan. with the sanctuary city policy is it puts the interests of illegals about the safety of everybody else. host: another viewer saying

clearly congressman ellison isn't about to give up the dnc chair limelight. it should be entertaining to shadow followz's him about. as soon as tom perez was elected as chair of dnc, he had this to say. begin byd like to making a motion. have discussed with a good friend. and his name is keith ellison. [applause] and the motion i would like to make to the body is a motion suspending the rules, if i may. to appoint keith ellison deputy chair of the democratic national committee. [applause]

tell me the -- phrase i'm supposed to utter? a second? all for? opposed? the silence is deafening. the motion passes. congressman, the floor is yours. and hism perez

runner-up in that race getting about 200 votes congressman keith ellison named new deputy chair by the former labor secretary. this is a story inside the new york times written by jonathan martin. democrats have yet to heal the wounds from last year's presidential primary. the attention of democrats will now turn to a handful of special congressional elections and governors races in new jersey and virginia. the most significant task ahead for mr. perez will come in 2018 when democrats face a daunting senate map, a more favorable house landscape and 36 governors races which will determine which party is best positioned to redraw lines after the next census. on the democrat line, good morning. caller: i think two things need to happen. dnc,rt of put behind the

the unethical behavior of debbie wasserman schultz and donna brazil. withecondly to come up inspiring candidates that really bring people out to vote. i think both of those contributed to the loss, which is why we are where we are in the democratic party. it takes inspiring candidates to really move on. host: who is inspiring you on the national level? caller: candidly at this point, very few people if anybody. fact there's a couple more on the republican side that are more inspiring than on the democrat side. they just don't seem to be surfacing at this point. the weekly standard is writing about the democrats. democratic attorney general's. democrats were decimated at

nearly every level of government over the past six years. republicans controlled the house. they will do so for the foreseeable future. the party is looking at a very favorable senate map in 2018. democrats controlling just 31 of the 99 state legislative chambers. they had 22 state attorneys general, enough to gum up the works for president donald trump's agenda when congressional democrats can't. they have a lot on their plate. they have stated their plans to protect sanctuary cities. the pushback against potential voter integrity members from the justice department and to protect funding for planned parenthood and contraception. on the republican line, james is next from north dakota. i just wanted to say it's interesting a lot of the

ofusations since trump won racism, nationalism, all that stuff. trying to tie him with david duke which is a really insane thing to do. ku kluxke was in the klan for maybe three years of his life and got away from it. was once our speaker of the house on the democrat side. host: he was vice president of the senate. caller: go ahead. he was once like third in line to be president. ellison is a guy who is joined at the hip ideologically with farrakhan who made statements about treating a black nation within a late -- nation. he's a black separatist. jewsid some things about

that david do never -- i don't know much about this perez guy. thatat the 200 counties to trump. these are mostly white working-class people. some years ago the white house announced they weren't going to reach out to the white working class anymore. i think of the lines are being drawn in the sand. we really are moving towards a party that democrats don't really want the white male anymore. time i turn around they are calling us racists and everything. you want to know why a lot of guys who are independent like me voted for trump, you can't keep calling me a racist for 30 years of my life.

you can't keep checking me down and calling me names all these years and not have any kind of consequence to it. to have regional parties. i predicted 15 years ago there would be the rise of a nationalist movement. trump is not really a nationalist but he's an economic nationalist. i think we are going to continue to separate into regional parties. i think there is going to be continued racial vulcanization. that's my belief from following this for 20 years. host: inks for phoning in. the the washington post, trump show is the cover story for this week section. what does steve bannon want? ,here may be reasons to worry but not the reasons everyone is getting. president trump responding to the election of tom perez as the

new head of the dnc. he tweeted the following. congratulations to tom perez who has just been named chairman of the dnc. i could not be happier for him or for the republican party. from ohio, democrat line. good morning, steve. i just wanted to say thank you for c-span and all that you do. vestige perez, he's a of the democratic a latest. you have people like nancy andsi and chuck schumer hillary clinton all of those mouth the right words but the bottom line is that they're not out for the interests of the middle class. they're not out for the interests of working people. and working people can see through that.

i couldn't have been more disappointed with the nomination of hillary clinton. labeled irrectly donald trump as crooked. because,or her only and she croaked her way all the way to the nomination and i voted for her only because it was a vote against donald trump, not a vote for her. out and workedne for bernie sanders. i would have gone and worked for martin o'malley. that she hadne is raised all of that money for the and those party superdelegates were hell-bent on nominating her. host: the president made reference to bernie sanders. he wrote the following yesterday

saying, the race for the dnc chair was of course totally rigged. never had a chance. clinton demanded perez. caller: that is absolutely correct. party, there's not a dime's worth of difference between the democratic elites and the republican elites with the exception that the democratic elites mouth the and then work contrary to their base and the republicans tell it like it is and do whatever it does tell they want. a couple of tweets from our viewers saying, wonder if trump will ask tom perez to show his papers? there's this from celeste. calling tom perez and honest man, a good guy. a good day for democrats.

disadvantage crosses the roads. david is joining us from new jersey. good morning. welcome to the conversation. good morning, c-span. host: it's good to hear from you, my friend. caller: i wanted to say i am very afraid of what's happening in our wonderful country. good morning, c-span. host:i spoke to you before the election. time i was afraid of what was going to happen during the election. it turned out to be true. i spoke to you at the beginning of last month and said the same thing. in every federal, state and municipal election since president harry truman. for 40 years president truman

and the contract with america that the republicans won the house and the senate. i voted democratic. thelast five years democrats ran a dictatorship. they wouldn't let the republicans vote. for amendments or anything like that. it was strictly the way the democrats wanted. i see what's happening on c-span when the congress was in session. the house of representatives on every single bill votes one way. all democrats vote either willst or for a specific and the republicans do the same thing. -- bill is voted along party lines. and that's not america. i sincerely believe it's time for a third party in our great

country. represent wewill the people. not the special interests, themselves and the party. i think we should call the third rival party we the people. host: thank you for the call. you are a regular listener and viewer. how old are you now? i was 93 years young. the end of last month. there and i'm active. i write to the newspapers. i call my elected representatives. ,hank you for remembering steve. it's wonderful to talk to you. david, thank you.

inside the washington post is a story that has been getting a fair amount of attention. to attendmp declining the white house correspondents dinner. the story also available online. trump's refusal to attend comes amid reports that media outlets like cnn and msnbc have been considering skipping the event. the move comes in the heat of his ongoing battle with the which he has labeled the opposition party. trump is the first sitting president to skip the annual dinner in over 30 years. ronald reagan was the last. he had been recovering from a gunshot wound following an assassination attempt. he did still provide some remarks be a phone. via phone. in 2011, president barack obama

spending much of his speech lampooning trump for questioning the validity of his birth certificate. john joining us from california. welcome to the program. caller: i wanted to agree with president trump that i couldn't be happier for the republican party that tom perez is the dnc chair. people don't remember what a disaster he was as secretary of labor. actually secretary of union labor. you remember the plants that boeing was trying to build in south carolina that he held up and tried to keep from even being built to give people jobs because they weren't going to be union labor? thanks for the call. we will go to ralph in new york. democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. . am a uaw worker i think tom perez is a good pick to leave the democratic party and allison as vice chair. i think it will help work or

skip focus back on the issues. i don't think the trump administration will advance any cause for working people because union labor is the backbone of this country. labor itout union helps out all workers. when the trump administration comes a full view of the american worker, they will see it's only for the rich and i don't see the trump administration advancing any legislation in favor of the american worker. in connecticut. line for independents. good morning. caller: we supported bernie sanders. when the democratic party stole it from him and gave it to hillary who was the pre-appointed -- pre-anointed one, we turned on the democratic party. i am disturbed and disgusted but certainly not surprised by the democratic choice of leadership.

i don't see any change between the old guard. i don't know why they did not respond to the debbie wasserman schultz fiasco. that is what cost them the election. they disenfranchised so many people who were so enthusiastic about the democratic party with bernie sanders and they pulled the rug out from under him. this was set up in advance. she was the anointed one and i don't see any change. going with allison would have been -- would have indicated a change. perez, old guard. goes way back in time. nothing is going to change. this is the old democratic party. they picked the candidate and the public just has to vote for that lousy choice. i see no improvement in the democratic party. perez was the former labor secretary.

now the chair of the dnc. the deputy chair is congressman keith ellison. he spoke yesterday after the vote. you came here supporting me, ,f you are wearing the t-shirt i am asking you to give everything we've got to support chairman perez. [applause] you love this country. you love all the people in it. you care about each and every one of them. urban, rural, suburban. all colors, all cultures, all faiths. everybody. and they are in need of your help. momentwe waste even a going at it over who supported who, we are not going to be

standing up for those people. we don't have the luxury to walk out of this room divided. [applause] we don't have that luxury. youi just want to say to that it is my honor to serve this party under the chairmanship of tom perez. congressman keith ellison who ran for the party chair. came in with about 200 votes. tom perez with about 235. the first time in about 30 years there has been a contested race. it's all on our website at c-span.org. edwin is joining us from north carolina on the democrats line. good morning. good morning. i think that's a great choice for the dnc chair. needs to totally change their focus. we lost the election because now we have a president that states

that he wants to build the military. i'm a military vet. how are you going to pay for it? this is a president that has workers posting their daughter's .lothing line there's things in the dnc that hopefully will be changed and reformed so they can be a more powerful party and the people who think that jobs are going to come back in this country from the rust belt, i hope you just keep in mind in four years, that's who you voted for. the atlanta journal-constitution, atlanta was the host city for the dnc meeting. democratic leaders picking a political veteran with ties to the party establishment as the new face of the resistance to donald trump.

tom perez will lead a cash-strapped democratic national committee reeling from the 2016 vote that left the vanquished party firmly in the minority. a wave of liberal outcry against the president, a rush of energy leaders are grasping to harness as they try to unify a fractured base. back to the issue of the white house correspondents dinner. president trump made it official at 5:00 yesterday, i will not be attending this year. please wish everyone well and have a great evening. president of the white house correspondents association responding with a statement. it's available online. planneder will go on as theng first -- tribute to first amendment and journalism. we will have live coverage here on c-span. lisa from louisville, kentucky. democrats line. caller: good morning.

i like tom perez all right. i still think he's too much of an establishment candidate. i don't see things changing that much. he's young. he has good ideas. i am a strong supporter of our strong black brothers and sisters and our latino community. we really need to get back to bringing more working white class voters in. i was a bernie sanders supporter and i just really think that he had the right message and i hope in the future the dnc also does not go to special interest for the money. that's a bigk mistake and they need to do it like bernie sanders did. host: thanks for the call. ready for prime time, president trump's first address to congress. the associated press reporting with this headline. wilda corum hold?

bade is no shortage of word. he has mocked chuck schumer. he still has work to do within his own party. he appears on friendly terms with congressional republicans, speaking often on the phone with paul ryan. live coverage of the address here on c-span. you can also listen to it on c-span radio. on the joining us republican line from philadelphia. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a republican. i voted for hillary. want to talk about donald trump's fake real news. news is about not having the source. the source is what gives the

sake real news. the other thing is the correspondents dinner with donald trump. him not going is the main event. everyone would have a good time with him because all of the jokes -- the jokes on him. i don't think he's going to make unless youterm really turns around things. as for this guy perez, i don't know much about him. i've got a family full of union. what reallythat -- is messed up is that the popular vote by 3 million didn't take it. host: thanks for the call from philadelphia. the white house correspondents association to be here tomorrow on washington journal weighing in on all of this. a story on the former chair of the house oversight committee, darrell issa. he says theres

needs to be an independent prosecutor looking into what he leavell.ssia's he spoke in sacramento. president trump has appointed people he said will unapologetically tell you russia is evil and we need to have checks against them. certainly includes an active effort to stop them from interfering with elections all over the world. he appeared on real-time with maher.-- bill be a there needs to special investigation into illegal contact with russia during the 2016 campaign. the full story is available online. let's go to amy joining us from pennsylvania. good morning. good morning. my problem with mr. trump is he is not listening to both sides. i was raised democrat and i'm an independent because i just have

bothcere problem with sides squabbling back-and-forth. i think our country needs to get itself together and get it strong -- strong candidates. and get one candidate we can all stick aside. host: who is that candidate? caller: i haven't seen either side produce one and independents haven't produced one yet. that's the whole problem. this country is so fractured fighting with each other that we haven't shown any promise. the democrats have been decimated over all of this squabbling. donald trump keeps fanning the fires putting people down. that's his style. your calls and comments. later this morning we will have

live coverage of the nga winter meeting. they will be at the white house this evening. in a couple minutes we are at the table with washington examiner's political writer and editor jim ansell to talk about the future of the conservative to talk -- james antle about the future of the conservative movement. of propublica will talk about her piece on public schools using alternative programs for underachieving students. which will be airing at a special time this week, our guest is leonard leo. he is on leave from the federalist society and serving as an advisor to president trump . the confirmation hearings beginning on march 20. here's an excerpt of that newsmakers conversation. he made it very clear early

on in the campaign trail and meetings with his advisors and courage was something very important to him. the way he put it the first meeting we had after the november election was i want someone who's not week. smartare lots of really people in the world who could probably serve on the u.s. supreme court. the real question i think every , doesent should ask was this person have the courage to do whatever he thinks is right. if you look at neil gorsuch's record, you see a man who has that capacity and that determination. i think one of the most striking aspects of it is the number of separate opinions he writes as a court of appeals judge.

and the way he writes those opinions, lots of wind and humor. occasional barbs. less than justice scalia but occasionally. and he's willing to really raise questions. he's going to be asked a lot of questions during his confirmation hearings. whether or not money is free speech. how director do you think he will be during the testimony? >> here's the irony. the democrats wanted neil gorsuch to be an independent judge and they are going to ask them for pre-commitments on every issue they care about. they will ask for pre-commitments on all the kinds of cases. is inconsistent with what they're saying about judicial independence. if neil gorsuch is smart about what he handles this, he will say i'm not going to give you an answer because my duty to the american people is to not

prejudge these cases and be an independent spirit when i get on the high court. host: we hope you two into our phone conversation with leonard leo from the federalist society. because of the nga coverage today, as special time for newsmakers. 12:00 p.m. eastern time. airing later today on c-span radio. antle's politics editor for the washington examiner. we heard the comment from kellyanne conway that cpac is now tpac. is it? been: it's really fascinating to watch the evolution of donald trump's relationship with cpac. in 2011, cpacr was the scene of one of his first major political speeches.