the weekend with shane weinberger who reports on -- sharon weinberger who reports on the pentagon agency, darpa. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon, everybody. welcome to the gaithersburg book festival. my name is mark corpsman, i'm ab state legislator from district 16. gaithersburg proudly supports the arts and humanities. we're pleased to bring you thiss fabulous event thanks in part to the generous support of our sponsors and volunteers. a few announcements. first, please silence your devices. if you're on social media today, and we sure hope you are, pleasc use the hashtag gbf. your feedback is also really valuable to us. surveys are available here at the tent and on our web site. you'll be entered into a drawing for a $100 visa gift card. our author will be signing books immediately after this presentation, and copies are on sale in the politics & prose week tent just to your right -- book tent just to your right. this is a free event, but itbo does help the book festival if you buy a book, and the more books you buy, the more books the festival sells, the more publi

things -- but all the pentagon folks heard her in the last couple of weeks of testimony was lament of lawmakers asking why is it not more. it seems like mr. trump's own budget folks cut the legs out from underneath the pentagon on this deal. help us square -- why are they coming up short when mr. trump wanted to do so much more? rep. thornberry: i would say first, i don't think there's any doubt the president wants to repair and rebuild our military. the budget that his administration since up -- sense did not do that, in the reason is they did not have any people in place on capitol hill. when the budget came to capitol hill, there were exactly two senate confirmed trump appointees in the pentagon. one was the secretary of defense and the other was the secretary of the air force and she had and there one week. what you had was either obama ord odors -- holdovers people who were there temporarily, and what they had was the plans of the obama administration, and that is what they sent. those of us in congress who have been following this understand that is inadequate. part of the attit

event of a chemical weapons attack in syria after the pentagon said it had evidence the regime was preparing to use those weapons on civilians. the fight to oust the islamic state continues. dozens of civilians have been killed by the u.s. backed coalition. first, companies around the world say they have been hit by a major cyber attack. the french construction company and the british advertising giant wpp are among those who say their i.t. systems have been struck by a virus demanding money in exchange for access to data. it is a similar attack to the virus that claimed thousands of victims. to talk more about that i'm joined of new york by an internet security expert. thank you for joining us. is this virus spreading so rapidly and how much damage can it do? is a ransom ware attack spreading because it was designed to spread. it is a type of malware that criminals in fact machines with an demand a payment to free the day that they have locked. this was highly successful in the past. they are making a lot of money. >> what kind of damage do these programs do? some pretty big targe

for first responders at the u.s. pentagon. the i-team scott mcfarland is getting results and now those firefighters are a step closer to getting a new station. bill toney remembers running for his life inside the pentagon. >> all these images won't ever leave me. >> reporter: and remembers seeing the firefighters running toward the danger. >> it was greatly inspiring to see how e and risked their own quietly stalled. out of past 15 years, trailers, which don't meet u.s. army standards. that's according to military records obtained by the i-team and the local firefighters union. >> people are worried about it being broken and how we're going to fix it and make it better. >> reporter: we found the timetable and the plans to rebuild vanished after the defense department revealed it was wildly understating the cost. now the report has captured the attention of congress, the top-ranking democrat u.s. subcommittee overseeing projects says she'll support funding for be built. trailer either of those things. >> reporter:eyreesenting the pentagon community say they strongly support new fu

investigation. weeks ago the i-team revealed a problem for first responders at the u.s. pentagon. the i-team scott mcfarland is getting results and now those firefighters are a step closer to getting a new station. bill toney remembers running for his life inside the pentagon. >> all these images won't ever leave me. >> reporter: and remembers seeing the firefighters running toward the danger. >> it was greatly inspiring to see how and risked their own lives. >> reporter: the terror attack at the pentagon killed 184 people and devastated the nation and destroyed the fire station outside the complex.ç toney was troubled, though, when a news4 i-team investigation revealed in may the plans to rebuild that fire station had quietly stalled. for the past 15 years, firefighters who manned that station have worked out of trailers, which don't meet u.s. army standards. that's according to military records obtained by the i-team and the local firefighters union. >> people are worried about it being broken and how we're going to fix it and make it better. >> reporter: we found the timetable and

april 4th. >> according to pentagon officials an aircraft center which once housed the syrian jet that carried out april chemical attack is once again in use. u.s. intelligence has also picked up increase in communications, by the syrian military unit responsible for chemical weapons. pentagon officials cautioned the intelligence does not add up to a smoking gun. still, the white house rushed out a statement. warning that if the regime of ba sheer al assad conducts another chemical attack he and his military will pay a heavy price. ambassador haley expanded that to include syria's two main allies. >> the goal is at this point, not just to send assad a message, but to send russia and iran a message. >> about the same time haley was assad was given a tour of russian aircraft at their main base in syria. just offshore, four u.s. navy ships armed with cruise missiles were operating in the eastern mediterranean. twice as many as carried out the strike on sherrat airfield in april. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. >>> holly williams has been given a rare look inside syria where fig

pentagon. >> in an apparent concession to china, unofficial for the south korean government announced today that it would suspend the deployment of a crucial u.s. missile defense system designed to intercept long-range north korean missiles. the official said the two launchers of the terminal high altitude area defense system, or thaad, can remain but the others will be put on hold. the pentagon has not been officially informed of the decision. issued the following response. "the u.s. trusts the official stance that the deployment was an alliance decision and it will not be reversed. the top democrat said the decision shows a potential rift with seoul. >> tactical implications for deterring north korea that are deeply concerning. >> china and north korea view the thaad radar as a threat. the pentagon deployed two launchers in april. on a trip last week, officials traveling with traveling with defense secretary jim mattis seemed to indicate the deal was complete. >> we've been consulting with the government throughout the process. to get the entire battery to the korean peninsula which

house armed services committee, a key meeting this week, setting their pentagon policy and spending priorities for 2018. this as president trump is departing from recent presidential practice, delegating the strategic, much of the strategic and tactical decision making to his top generals and to secretary of defense. we wanted to ask about you the president's reliance on his generals and military advisors in this first hour this morning. join the conversations, here's what do you. if you're a republican, the line is 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. and for independents and all others, 202-748-8002. and you can join us also, by the way, we set aside a line for those of you who are afghanistan vet vans, 202-748-8003. we welcome your tweets, @cspanwj is how you reach us. also post your comments on our facebook page as well. we will get to your comments momentarily on this sunday morning. looking forward to hearing from you. but for more details on the president's policies, or i should say, his ways of dealing with his military leaders, we're joined by leo shane, the capitol hill

. >> welcome to the pentagon, mister president, you and your delegation. i would just tell you this is a privilege or us to host you and your folks, we are keenly aware of what your nation has been going through. our two nations as we both know share interests. we also share more importantly a commitment and that commitment is to the principles that are underlying the international order. words like sovereignty, territorial integrity and freedom from coercion come to mind. we do not take such freedom for granted and we recognize this 2014 was a watershed year for security in europe. we also recognize the severe these that your people suffer. and even in the face of dangers aggression, cyber attacks or a neighbor shredding, your country his stroke shown a strong commitment to defend itself and frankly against all on. the united states stands with you, we support you in the face of threats to sovereignty area the two international law or the international order. general essay, our senior defense advisor will continue to be a resource for you and for me, i might add. he is my former boss fo

america's defense secretary admitted u.s. failings in afghanistan last week the pentagon seems to have been looking for somebody to blame and it's found someone in his first report to congress since the election the pentagon named pakistan as the single greatest external factor hindering u.s. actions there are poor refers to what it calls support of afghan insurgents by the pakistani government during sixteen years of its involvement in afghanistan washington has given a range of reasons why it's outgunned campaign wasn't going to plan. iran is reportedly arming and funding the taleban corruption is a huge challenge in afghanistan that russia is now meddling in afghanistan it's very difficult to succeed on the battlefield when your enemy enjoys external support and safe haven we had the. overt legitimacy led to the taliban by the russians the problem that the us has trying to carry out the occupation and subdue the population and i mean the real answer here is the u.s. has to get out of afghanistan they claim that they would have resolved everything and they would have won the war if o

the month of ramadan. former pentagon official spoke to you this his thoughts about the early on he says the attack follows a similar pattern but a different target in europe. given the fact that this was a vehicle using the cheap means in fact it's the identical method that isis called upon. terrorists in place to to use because it's cheap it doesn't you have no intelligence on any of this and this has been this is been the history of what we've been seeing recently particularly during ramadan the fact that this happened during ramadan is also curious. but isis did call for greater. attacks but again you're fact going to happen in a muslim predominantly muslim area throws a little curveball here and that's that's a little strange unless it was more radicalized individuals trying to go after more moderate. muslims. what line is this monday morning a syrian military jets been shot down by an american war play near the embattled syrian city of raka damascus says the pilot was carrying out a bombing run against islamic state but the pentagon claims it down the plane for bombing u.s. ba

hours before the fatal strike the pentagon says it reached out to their russian counterparts on the d. confliction channel to have russia warned the syrians not to conduct any strikes even flying jets slow and low to the ground in a show of force that syrian jets did not stand down so an american f. eighteen shot down the su twenty two the pentagon says quote in accordance with the rules of engagement but areas of syria west of the euphrates river were under the control of isis prior to syrian government forces pushing into the region the last several months assad's government along with the cooperation of russian forces have been successful with killing many isis terrorists in that region and pushing them out of key cities so now moscow is calling on the pentagon to provide a full accounting of why it decided to take down the syrian su twenty two jet and told the u.s. that russian forces will track coalition jets should they enter this regional airspace again despite american mainstream media reporting or insinuating that moscow might shoot down u.s. aircraft immediately that simply

breaking news today because the pentagon says a u.s. fighter jet is downed an armed drone belonging to syrian government forces in southern syria the coalition statement says the drone was armed and advancing on u.s. backed forces it happened in the south of the country near a base in the region. as more. so the pentagon has confirmed that a u.s. fighter jet has shot down an iranian made pro syrian regime drone in southern syria at approximately twelve thirty am local time now i'll tell you is a town on the syrian border where u.s. troops are in fact training syrian rebels the statement claims the drone displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces this is in fact the third procedure in an aircraft they've shot down just this month a second drone was downed on june the eighth in the same area and on sunday the u.s. led coalition shot down a syrian government plane in the country's north that many felt that move was a step too far even prompting a reaction from the u.n. it does bring up the broadly or deep concern of the risk of possible miscalculation and escalation in t

set cross live now to former pentagon official michael maloof to get his take on this michael good to have you back on the program and just reading into the reports here no confirmation that this was deliberate it needs to be stressed but earlier i did speak to the chairman of the mosque and we also heard from the muslim council of britain they have called it an intentional attack on muslims tensions are running high in the u.k. after what we've seen over the last few months is there a fear that conclusions are being jumped to here do you think well not necessarily everything is a problem in the area with respect to this particular episode i've heard one report that the driver actually sped up before he plowed into the crowd of people that to me indicates deliberateness and and. it's a little strange that again we don't have any information on the perpetrator or perpetrators and consequently given that this is in a predominately muslim area outside of a mosque. again you cannot rule out certain possibilities so again i don't have the facts yet the police have not said so but. could th

head or more of what's happening there will come but you later as you say we spoke to former pentagon official he says this attack might show that more radical ideologies are attacking moderate muslims here. given the fact that this was a vehicle using the cheap means in fact it's the identical method that isis called upon. terrorists in place to to use because it's cheap it doesn't you have no intelligence on any of this and this is been this is been the history of what we've been seeing recently particularly during ramadan factor this happened during ramadan is also curious. but isis did call for greater. attacks but again your fact that it happened in a muslim predominantly muslim area throws a little curveball here and that that's a little strange unless it was more radicalized individuals trying to go after more moderate. muslims the finsbury mosque opened back in the late one nine hundred eighty s. has often been in the headlines as the muslim population in the area began to grow there since then it's been one of the biggest prayer holes in britain however in the one nine hundre

activities on behalf of the president after the leak of the pentagon papers, the top secret history of the vietnam war that the defense department put together and was leaked to the new york times. richard nixon became very paranoid about his own secrets leaking, and he did and illegal, unconstitutional act. he put together a special investigations unit, kind of a small secret police unit operated out of the white house and he personally authorized it to commit crimes on his behalf. the two of them that he initially wanted them to do was one, to break into the brookings institution, she thought had a hot -- top secret report on the 1968 bombing halt, something that nearly cost him the election. he wanted to leak information gathered by the fbi and justice department from its the pentagon of papers, and that is a crime because that prejudices a jury that would eventually have to leake whether any of the activities where it illegal. so when nixon learned that these two men, g gordon liddy and e howard hunt were involved in watergate, he realized that in order to protect himself he had to

chemical attack. there's hope the white house can stand in assad's way. more from the pentagon next. where would you go? ♪ expedia. that's a good thing, eligible for medicare? but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. there's a range of plans to choose from, too, and they all travel with you anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization

not in conjunction with the pentagon. in fact, we have no information from the pentagon why the white house actually issued this statement or where this information comes from. but if you look more closely at the statement, they do say that preparations have allegedly been detected, that could be similar to the ones ahead of the attack that happened in early april. of course, that was the one we were just seeing the pictures with devastating consequences on those many civilians out there in that area. of course, that the u.s. and the trump administration flatly blamed on the assad regime leading to those tomahawk strikes. now, ambassador to the united states nikki haley went a step further and said there would be grave consequences but also that russia and iran would share the blame as well if, indeed, there was another chemical attack. now, it's unclear what exactly the consequences would be, or what exactly the trump administration is saying it will do. however, they are saying there will be grave consequences leaving many to believe it would be more than just a tomahawk strik

pentagon on notice. there are numerous reports saying the pentagon was catching up on this when the white house but this statement out up white house but this statement out up to the white house very quickly but after other statement saying that all of those anonymous sources saying they hadn't conferred with the relevant agencies were not true. the white house expected the state department, the pentagon, the cia and the office of the director of international intelligence, all of the relevant organisations knew what the relevant organisations knew what the white house was up to. nevertheless, it is still a remarkable statement being made so publicly, as it was by the white house. a follow—up statement from the pentagon and also from the us ambassador to the un, nikki haley, who also made her own remarks. nikki haley is the us ambassador to the un. here she is on twitter saying... the russians, for their part, say they consider such threats from the americans to the legitimate leadership of the syrian arab republic unacceptable. so far, so predictable. the russians on the americans alwa

off rocca so he last also stressed that the pentagon is still treating various terrorist groups differently for. the french we have to show that the u.s. is really targeting but we don't recall america bombing so actively. so. it's constantly changing its name but it doesn't change its nature. russia has a hold at some cooperation with the u.s. over syria by pulling out of the agreement it is signed with washington to prevent collisions in syrian airspace meanwhile australia has announced that it is temporarily suspending its air operations in syria. the u.s. led coalition says the downing of a syrian fighter jet came in self defense however in the last month the coalition has already targeted syrian forces and the forces loyal to damascus five times let's have a look at where the attacks took place the plane was shot down here south western city of raka where the coalition is supporting kurdish troops in their fight against. the u.s. led coalition has also conducted several bombing raids against pro-government fighters here in the base training camp the pentagon site at the sam

. did this come from the pentagon, from what we understand at this point? >> reporter: from what we know at the moment, this was a statement from the white house. it hasn't been backed up by any evidence so far. but in a situation like this, one would be surprised if the white house or the pentagon were to be -- would want to publish photographs or evidence that they may have that they believe assad is preparing a chemical weapons strike. they would lose in part the element of surprise. perhaps surprising in part because president trump has said in the past that he would not -- he would not give warnings, he would just act. that's been the narrative until now. so far, nothing from the pentagon. obviously waiting to hear what they have to say. nikki haley, ambassador of the united states nations, being clear that it would be assad responsible, but not just him, as well his backers, russia and iran, as well. to that point, secretary of state rex tillerson talking yesterday by phone with his opposite number in moscow, sergei lavrov. >> reporter: clear if the issue of chemical weapons prepar

i'm not sure that it will i hope that washington and the pentagon in particular are reading those signals clearly and taking the message on board very carefully. there are people out there who are not happy with the current ready fire aim sequence that unfortunately this pentagon seems to be following as it did with the tomahawk missile strike several weeks ago on the syrian airbase you know we're still waiting for confirmation from the organization the chemical weapons prohibition organization that in fact there was culpability by one party and yet the talk that attack took place weeks and weeks ago so what we need here is a little more deliberate caution what we particularly need is the great powers involved here the russian federation the united states to have very clear lines of communication with their clients so that for example the su twenty two bombing perhaps doesn't take place in the first place and then in that case the shoot down doesn't occur either and do you think they might not say it in so many woods but is there an indication that washington people in washington

states economy will , it is bad for our security, asked people about the pentagon. bad for our health, it will have more deaths more asthma tax, vat for the -- attacks. bad for the planet. most of the world knows climate change is real and the problem is happening now and we need to move forward. you are seeing governors and mayors, collective officials -- elected officials doubling down and saying we need to do more. this decision by the president to back out gives ground to china and germany, to fill the leadership, explain that. guest: that is true, the new economy is the future. it is about solar, wind, energy efficiency. you see china leading the way with investments in solar power, wind power. germany as well, a real leader who will continue to go forward and make those investments. able get ahead of us and we will fall further behind. many governors across the country, the mayors recognize the problem. this was a horrible decision and it will benefit other economies around the world like china and germany. they are investing in the future and the president is looking backward.

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city in syria where pentagon officials say isis planned a number of attacks. we'll get a live report from the pentagon and i'm speak with a former cia analyst about how this mission could affect security here in the united states. as we approach the bottom of the hour and the top of the news, our expanded understanding of the u.s. russian investigation. possible meddling in our election and any possible collusion. there's a new documents and it's filled with information and it's next. liberty mutual stood with us when a fire destroyed everything in our living room. we replaced it all without touching our savings. yeah, our insurance won't do that. no. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. whattwo servings of veggies? v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake! done! you gotta shake it! i shake it! glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. ♪ the sun'll come out for people with heart failure, tomorrow is not a given. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. ♪ to

weapons attack, much like what we saw on april 4. >> reporter: according to pentagon officials, an aircraft shelter, which once housed the syrian jet that carried out the chemical attack is once again in use. u.s. intelligence has also picked up an increase in communications by the syrian military unit responsible for chemical weapons. pentagon officials cautioned the intelligence does not add up to a smoking gun. still, the white house rushed out a statement warning that if the regime of bashar al-assad conducts another chemical attack, he and his military will pay a heavy price. ambassador haley expanded that to include syria's two main allies. >> the goal is at this point not just to send assad a message but to send russia and iran a message. >> reporter: about the same time haley was making that statement, syria's assad was being given a tour of russian aircraft at their main base in syria. just offshore, four u.s. navy ships armed with cruise missiles were operating in the eastern mediterranean. twice as many as carried out the strike on shayrat airfield in april. david martin

pentagon poker it falls between 3,000 and 5,000 people literally hollowed out militants with buildings inside of it and has absolutely everything you could need as reservoirs' for fuel, drinking water, dining facilities, hospital, police department, fire department department, led the way government contracting works with the benefits that accrue to minority-owned businesses, the bunker dining facility is run by the indian tribe and it is just an enormous network and some of them are pretty you well built raven rock is rather a cabinet secretaries would go in virginia which is run by feet of which is the agency their runs all of the programs like the continuity of government but then during the height of the cold war almost every agency has their own banker -- bunker and location facility the state department said up a huge facility in virginia on a cattle farm. and greenbrier is where congress would have gone it was hidden under the luxury resort in west regina but now is a tourist attraction and is well worth going to sit in the house and senate chamber to imagine what it would have

was done by leaking the pentagon papers. it was good. i'm sorry. the vietnam war stocked. that told the public something. to be honest with you, this stuff with comey isn't so bad. the fact that he is the most sanctimonious goody two shoes guy and tries to come across as goody two shoes when he's this shark political operator. >> as a journalist, i'm sure you'd be happy but do you find it odd, do you find it odd, that the information that gets picked apart here isn't necessarily the stuff that leaks badly for donald trump but the other stuff? >> i think this, as a journalist, i'm coming the time administration and i want people to leak to me. i think i'm fair enough to know where to draw the line. i wouldn't have written the story about the russian dossier 500. neil: leaks on hillary clinton ignored. >> there was perjury coverage on the hillary clinton e-mails coverage. neil: we worry democrats about where these leaks are coming from and now that's not a concern at all in the case that -- smacked the republicans care. it's different public politics. i don't want you in my colleagues

very similar to that one. what the pentagon is telling us is that this was an armed drone that was advancing toward coalition forces. those coalition forces, no exact description of them but the most likely scenario is that these are syrian democratic forces, the armed groups that the united states supports and arms. there's a possibility that u.s. soldiers were actually on the ground with them at the time and this drone, according to the hostile, was displaying intent. that is the term used by the pentagon. hence why it was shot down by a 15 fighter jet. no munitions were dropped by this armed drone, but there had been some dropped just a week earlier by another drawn that was moving toward coalition forces as well. those did not explode once they hit the ground, but that's the exact same scenario, according to the pentagon, that happened during the night yesterday. >> the u.s. and russia are obviously on opposite sides of , that theict conviction channel still not back up and running as i understand it. we're just going to see more incidents, aren't we? that line is still close,

intelligence about another possible chemical weapons attack ramping up? >> the pentagon is saying it's seeing new activity at an aircraft hanger in syria. it's long been associated with chemical weapons. it is unclear if that is what prompted the white house to put out this very ominous and unusual statement late last night. it says that the u.s. has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the assad regime and that if it does, he and his military will pay a heavy price. that's a direct threat from the commander-in-chief. he has proven in the past he is not afraid to take decisive military action. the last time the assad regime carried out a chemical weapons attack against its own people it took president trump only two days to respond. at the time the white house accused russia that supports the assad regime of a cover-up. now the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. is including russia in this latest threat. quote, any further attacks done to the people of syria will be blamed on assad but also on russia and iran who support him. killing his own people. don't f

so gay lover also stressed the pentagon is still treating various terrorist groups differently for. the franks we have sure that the u.s. is really targeting i saw but we don't recall america bombing so actively. so whatever it's called now it's constantly changing its name but it doesn't change its nature to me because. all russia has now halted some cooperation with the u.s. over syria is pulled out of the agreement it signed with washington to prevent collisions in syrian air space or meanwhile australia has announced it is temporarily suspending its air operations in syria. well the u.s. led coalition says the downing of the syrian fighter jet in self-defense however in the last month coalition has already cheap already targeted i should say syrian forces and those loyal to damascus five times well let's have a look at where some of these attacks have taken place the plane that was shot down size west of the syrian city of raka where the coalition's supporting kurdish troops in their fight against i so the u.s. led coalition has also conducted several bombing raids against pro-

. the pentagon's name pakistan as the main external reason for instability in afghanistan . the exploitation of ungoverned sanctuaries outside of afghanistan by terrorists and afghan insurgents is the single greatest external factor that could cause failure of the coalition campaign the u.s. is now planning to increase drone strikes targeting militants in pakistan islamabad has condensed in the calling it a violation of sovereignty u.s. officials gave different reasons why the afghan campaign wasn't going to plan iran is reportedly arming and funding the taliban corruption is a huge challenge and afghanistan that russia is now meddling in afghanistan it's very difficult to succeed on the battlefield when your enemy enjoys external support and safe haven we had the. overt legitimacy led to the taliban by the russians the problem that the us has in trying to carry out the occupation and subdue the population and i mean the real answer here is the u.s. has to get out of afghanistan they claim that they would have resolved everything and they would have won the war if only it wasn't

we have not been provided definitive answers, pentagon officials have not ruled out the possibility that the president is profiting off dod funds, more specifically taxpayer funds. this would her head the department of defense from paying for expensive out of property owned or operated by the president or an immediate family member if the payments would result in an profit. the president have a choice of any number of governmental properties in which he can host meeting such as camp david. they've also hosted foreign dignitaries at other properties for which there is no issue of conflict. for example when president obama hosted in rancho mirage. the constitution is clear. no public official should be using their office to make a profit. the situation should be alarming to all of us who represent ourselves as stewards of the taxpayers money and i urge us all to take action and vote yes on this amendment. i yield back. we have been considering were the issues for this committee for the past seven or ten hours. this was not one of those. i would point out to the sponsor that several mi