brooks. >> eye of a political type was him the story of the moment, i think it is filling the moment of the vacuum of the decline of local tribes and the tribes that make people happy, family, deep friendship, long-term shared vocations or meaningful work. those things are being undermined by the moment we are at technological history. >> watch this weekend on c-span2's book tv. this weekend, president trump is in paris with other world leaders to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of world war i. before his departure, he spoke to reporters discussing immigration, the firing of attorney general jeff sessions, and the senate election in florida. this is 20 minutes.

reporter: mr. president? mr. president? president trump: we are heading off to europe. and should be a beautiful time, the 100th anniversary of the ending of world war i. we have many countries, the leadership of many countries will be there, especially since i heard the united states will be there. i look forward to that, it will be a great, really commemorative journey. i think it will be something very special. i see what they have planned and i think it will be something very, very special. i just signed the proclamation on asylum, very important. we are not letting them in, but they are trying to flood our country. we need a wall, we are building

a wall, but we need at all built at one time and quickly. it is very important. we need democrats support on our new immigration laws to bring us up-to-date. the laws are obsolete and incompetent. they are the worst laws in the world. it is only because we don't have the democrats votes, so we need their vote so we can change immigration. we will have no trouble whatsoever at the border. we want people to come into our country but they have to come into our country illegally, they have to come into our country legally. we want people to come in through the merit system so they can work for all of these great companies that have coming into our country. we have many car companies coming in, many tech companies coming in, we have literally hundreds of companies moving back into the united states. we need people. we need to have -- you see the unemployment numbers, they are at record lows. we need people in our country but they have to have merit.

they have to come in through a system of merit. we have everything worked out. we need some votes from the democrats, we need support from the democrats and hopefully they will see what is going on. other the reason this is happening is we have created such a successful country, economically that everybody is flooding into our country, or they want to, but we are stopping about the border, that is only have our great secretary there. >> [indiscernible] president trump: matt whitaker, i don't know matt whitaker. he worked for jeff sessions, he was always extremely highly thought of, and he still is, but i didn't know matt whitaker. he worked for attorney general sessions. he was very, very highly thought of and still is very highly thought of. this often comes up because anybody that works for me, they

do a number on them. but matt whitaker is a very strong man, a very respected man in the law enforcement committee, very respected, top-of-the-line. the choice -- it still is in some circles, it is a shame that no matter who i put in, they go after. it is very sad, have to say. that he is acting come i think he will do a very good job and we will see what happens. but i will say this -- matt whitaker is a very highly respected man, and you did not have any problem with matt whitaker when he worked for jeff sessions. he is respected by law enforcement. he is a very strong a lot enforcement personality and a person. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: i did not speak to matt whitaker about it, i

don't know matt whitaker. matt whitaker has a great reputation, that is why want him. i also wanted to do something which frankly -- i could have brought someone very easily from the outside. i didn't want to do that. when sessions left, i very simply took a man who worked for sessions. again, he worked for jeff sessions, he is a highly respected man, especially by law enforcement. i think he is going to do a great job. he is there in an acting position, probably from what i hear, a very strong person, a very strong personality, and i think that is what they need. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: who? reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: you mean mr. kellyanne conway? he is just trying to get publishing for himself.

while you do this, what are you ask him that question, all right? what are you ask kellyanne the question, she might know better than me. i don't know the guy. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: when you make a comment, first of all -- let me speak -- when you make a comment, i see everybody on television, all these lawyers, all these law enforcement people making comment after comment. they never asked to get recused. they make comments. the fact that you go on fox, cnn, msnbc or anybody and you make a comment, you would have nobody left to choose, absolutely nobody left. i see different people at different times going on shows, am i supposed to say oh, now, he is not qualified to serve in government? all the time i am watching many different people go on many different shows saying many different things, that doesn't mean they are unqualified.

in all fairness to matt whitaker, who again, i did not know, ok, other than through reputation. his reputation is excellent. in all fairness to him, he did some shows, so did many of the people you are talking about career and so did everybody you are talking about a permanent position. i think anybody looking at a permanent position in any department has done many shows. does that mean we cannot hire anybody come and we have to hire anybody that has not done a show? i don't think so. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: say it again? you have to speak up. reporter: [indiscernible] florida recount. president trump: if you look at broward and palm beach, if you look at broward county, they have had a horrible history. and if you look at the person,

in this case, the woman involved, she has had a horrible history. all of a sudden they are finding votes out of nowhere. and rick scott, who won, you know, it was close, but he won by a comfortable margin, every couple of hours it goes down a little bit. and you see the same people who were involved with the fraud of the phony dossier, i guess i hear that they were somehow involved or worked with the fusion gps people who have committed -- i mean, if you look at what they have done, the dishonesty, look. bad things have gone on in broward county, really bad things. she has been to court, she has had a lot of problems, she has lost. i say this, he easily won. but every hour, it seems to be going down. i think people need to look at it very cautiously. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: what? reporter: [indiscernible]

president trump: i have not ruled out anything, haven't even thought about it. i am thinking about the world the reality right now, i am thinking about the world, i am not thinking about -- there was no collusion. it is a whole hoax. this was something set up by the democrats just like they set up other things. when you look at what is going on in florida, in lots of different locations, the russian investigation is a hoax. it is a phony hoax. i did not speak to russians. the fact is i was a much better candidate than hillary clinton. i worked much harder. i went to the right places, she went to the wrong places, because she didn't know what the hell she was doing. i did a great job, i was a great candidate. she was a bad candidate. i want to wisconsin, i went to michigan mi was to pennsylvania. she didn't do a good job.

she -- this has nothing to do with the russians. this was a big hoax. >> michelle obama said that? i haven't seen it. i guess she wrote a book. she got paid a lot of money to write a book and they always insist that you come up with something controversial. well i have some controversy back. i will never forgive him for what he did to the united states military. by not funding it properly. it was depleted. everything was old and tired. i had to come in and fix it. i am in the process of spending tremendous amounts of money, so i will never forgive him for what he did to our military and what he did in many other ways, which i will talk to you about in the future. what he did, did you talk about -- what he did to our military made this country very unsafe for you, and you, and you. [inaudible] president trump: we are looking at other people.

i did not see chris christie yesterday. i heard he was in the white house. he is a friend of mine and is a good man. when he got out of the presidential race, as you know, the next day he supported me. he has good taste. he has proved one thing, he has good taste. but when he got out he immediately supported me. i like chris christie but i have not talked to him about it. he was in the white house yesterday but i did not see him. [inaudible] president trump: unprofessional i think jim acosta is a very unprofessional man. he gets paid to burst in. he is a very professional guy, whether it was me, where ronald reagan come our anybody else, he was have done the same thing. look. i don't think he is a smart person, but he has a loud voice. wait, wait, do you mind if i answer the question?

as far as i'm concerned, i haven't made that decision. but there could be others, also. when you are in the white house, this is a very sacred place to me, this is a special place. you have to treat the white house with respect. you have to treat the presidency with respect. if you have ever seen him dealing with sarah huckabee sanders, it's a disgrace. and he does this for the -- it is the same thing with april ryan. i watch her get up -- you talk about somebody that's a loser, she doesn't know what the hell she's doing. she gets publicity and she gets a pay raise and gets a contract, with, i think cnn. but she is very nasty and she shouldn't be. she shouldn't be. you've got to treat the white house and the office of the presidency with respect. i see her nodding very positively, so i will ask her, you know -- you have to speak up.

you have a helicopter region back there. for all the people who don't know why, my hearing is great, but you have a helicopter that is raging back there. do you remember ronald reagan? he was, what? what? i can't hear you! at always thought he was hard of hearing. he wasn't. that the problem. reporter: what is going to happen when you meet with putin? president trump: i don't know that we will see each other in paris, but i will be meeting with him in g20. we have a good relationship. having a good relationship with russia and china and every other country is a good thing, not a bad thing. but we have a very good relationship. [inaudible] president trump: no, i will look into any complaints. if there are any complaints i will look into it. [inaudible] -- xl pipeline?

president trump: that was a political decision made by a judge. i think it is a disgrace. 48,000 jobs, i approved it, it is ready to start, and i guess they will end up going to the ninth circuit, as usual. we are slowly putting new judges in the ninth circuit. everything goes to the ninth circuit, everything. now daca, there was actually good news yesterday, because you never win in the ninth circuit if you're are on this half of the equation. when i say half, it could be half or more. you rarely win in the ninth circuit. the good news is by rejecting daca in the ninth circuit yesterday, finally, we have been waiting for that, we get to the supreme court and we want to be in the supreme court on daca. president obama said he had no right to sign it. he had no right, but it was upheld in the ninth circuit, as usual. if you take president obama's statement, he knew he couldn't sign it.

it is a terrible thing what is happening with the courts. daca will now hopefully go to the supreme court, where it will be given a fair decision. [inaudible] president trump: we will be making a decision -- i have so many people on it. we are looking at numerous people, we have plenty of time. nikki is staying until the end of the year. we are working with nikki also. we have some very good people who want that job. i will make some decisions over the next few weeks but by the end of the year. reporter: [inaudible] -- and who are the front runners? president trump: well, there are some very good people, but there is no rush. you have to go through a senate process, which takes a long time, but we will pick someone that is very good. matt whitaker is a highly respected man, but i did not know matt whitaker. but he is a highly respected

man. reporter: matt whitaker has not gone through the senate process. president trump: but neither has mueller. excuse me. you talk about the senate process, mueller is doing a report. he hasn't gone through the senate process. you are saying whitaker has -- you're saying whitaker hasn't, but he has, with a minute -- he was a really distinguished u.s. attorney in iowa and he was approved by everybody, because to be the u.s. attorney, that top-of-the-line. he was a highly respected -- in fact, i'll tell you, the ambassador to china, who used to be the governor of iowa, he told me what a great choice i had me what a great choice i had made. he is one of the most respected people in all of iowa, and that was coming from terry branstad, who was the governor. look, mueller, the complaint people have, mueller was not senate-confirmed. so he is doing a report. he wasn't senate-confirmed.

whitaker was senate-confirmed. he does not need this, but he was senate-confirmed at the highest level when he was the u.s. attorney from iowa. but -- but mueller was not senate-confirmed. why did they not get him senate-confirmed? he should have been. but because of all the conflicts, they did not want to bring him before the senate, because he is very conflicted. so because of those conflicts, they didn't want to bring him before the senate. so don't tell me about whitaker because mueller was not senate-confirmed. and whitaker was. reporter: the democrats keep picking up more seats in the house, now more than 31 seats. president trump: whether they get a couple more house seats doesn't matter. it doesn't matter. but you notice, the votes don't ever seem to go the other way? they hire lawyers and the votes don't ever seem to go the republican way, although -- i

don't know, you tell me, it is always the democrats. it is always gps fusion. it is always crooked stuff. look. look at what happened. how many fbi are gone? how many justice department people are gone? that i found out, that i found out. there is a lot of bad stuff going on in this country and we are finding out. and i am getting to the bottom of it. and i have done a hell of a job. how many people have been fired from the fbi? you've got comey, mccabe, stzruck, lisa page, and a whole list of people. it is always interesting. it always seems to go the way of the democrats. now in arizona, all of a sudden come out of the wilderness, they find a lot of votes and the other candidate is just winning by a hair. what is going on in florida is a disgrace. go down and see what happened over the last 10 years.

take a look at broward county. take a look at the total dishonesty of what happened with respect to broward county. broward county election committee is a lot of dishonesty. reporter: [inaudible] -- why did you release doctored video of jim costa? president trump: the taped video of jim acosta? what are you talking about? oh, that was -- nobody manipulated it. give me a break. that is just dishonest reporting. all that is is a close-up. that is just dishonest reporting. i watched that and heard that last night. they showed it close-up, and he was not nice to that young woman. overly horrible, but when you say doctored, you're a dishonest guy. they gave a close-up view, that is not doctored. [inaudible] president trump: no, i wish her

well. she said something very inappropriate during the campaign but she apologized for it. i would not say she is exactly on my side, but i wish her well. i hope she gets better and i hope she serves on the supreme court for many, many years. >> another mass shooting, this time in california. president trump: terrible, terrible. a mental health problem. he is a very sick guy. a very sick puppy. not too many people knew about it, but now they are looking they are starting to see that he had a lot of problems, a lot of trouble, and we are looking into that. i funded a lot of money towards mental health for that reason and we are continuing to do it and we continue to look at the laws. we want to make sure -- look, it is a problem. it is a disastrous problem. it makes you sick to look at it,

but he was a very, very mentally ill person. reporter: [inaudible] -- firearms, are there any part of this mental health decision? president trump: well, he was a war veteran. he was in the marines, he was in the war, he served time and saw pretty bad things. a lot of people say he has the ptsd and that is a tough deal. we are spending, as you know, i have given funding to the vets for ptsd and for general health of ptsd. it is a big problem. people come back and it is a horrible thing. when they come back they are never the same. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: well, i don't like abusing any privilege, but when i see something that we should do, i always do that, yeah. i always do that. i believe you should. when somebody -- when it is a worthy situation, i believe it. reporter: do you accept matt whitaker be involved in the

russia probe? president trump: it's up to him. reporter: do you want to rein in robert mueller? president trump: what a stupid question that is. what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot, you always ask a lot of stupid questions. reporter: you said he would be signing the executive order on a birthright it is an ship -- president trump: because other things have come up, but we will be sending it soon. and it will probably work its way up to the supreme court. birthright citizenship, probably works its way up to the supreme court. it will be signed. we wanted a perfect document. because of the election and the delays in the election and whatever is going on in broward county -- remember the words, broward county. wait. take a look at the past. take a look at the past. all of a sudden they are finding votes, after the election, they are finding bugs? and then look at her past, where

she has already been convicted? there are finding votes, now they have this liar who represented hillary clinton in a lot of very shady things? i think what you ought to do is get smart. folks, i will see you in europe. [helicopter whirring]

>> c-span's washington journal, live every day. coming up, chris young, president of public affairs joins us to discuss pre-vote polling. derek willis talks about a joint report with the washington that discusses how congressional leaders control debates on bill. international interest contributor henry discusses his article on balancing and nationalism. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal, live at 7 a.m. eastern. join the discussion. . >> i thought about forgotten presidents for i even started the book, and then it occurred to me that there might be something they'll had in common.

this week on q&a, university of north carolina's constitutional law professor talks about his books. i think that bill clinton did a lot to merit his own impeachment. members ofknew that congress were looking for him to make mistakes, and then when he made these mistakes and later testified undergrowth of in a false, which wase later held in contempt by a judge for perjury, bill clinton made his impeachment almost inevitable. >> sunday night on c-span's q&a. >> the 115th congress returns tuesday for the lame-duck session and the home stretch of legislative work and leadership elections. joining us this scott