now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, campaigns, and more from the world of politics. all at your fingertips. can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for c-span's tv networks and c-span radio, plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. visit our website, c-span.org/ c-span now. c-span now, your front row seat to washington, anytime, anywhere. >> house republican leaders talked about the results of the new york special election to fill the seat of expelled representative george santos.

during the press conference on capitol hill, they also discussed the investigation into president biden's handling of classified documents. this is about 25 minutes. >> good morning. first house republicans are so excited to welcome back our majority leader, the legend from louisiana, steve scalise. welcome back, steve. we are excited to have you back. before we talk about the week ahead, i want to touch on the bombshell report last week from the special counsel confirming that president biden retained an mishandled classified documents for years in unsecure location. special council's decision to not prosecute biden because of his deteriorating mental state further demonstrates the un-american two-tiered justice system that exists in joe biden's america. there cannot be one set of rules if your last name is biden and

another for the rest of america. biden's america. there cannot be one set of rules if your last name is biden and another for the rest of america. and the american people know that if someone is mentally unfit to stand trial, they are unfit to serve as commander in chief. turning to our agenda of this week, house republicans will continue to deliver on our promises. yesterday, after a year-long investigation, led by the house homeland security committee under the leadership of chairman mark green, we executed our constitutional duty impaoefpg secretary mayorkas for profighting his oath to support and defend the constitution, subvert the rule of law, and preach the american public's trust. impeachment is just one step. the senate must pass house republican securities the border act, the strongest border security bill in history to stop the invasion at our border which we are seeing under joe biden's policies. this week, house republicans will also bring the unlocking our domestic l.n.g. potential act to the house floor.

stopping joe biden's war on american energy and unleashing domestic energy production. with that i'm proud to hand it over to congressman ronny jackson from the great state of texas. mr. jackson: thank you. i appreciate everybody being here. i want to thank congressman pfluger for introducing his bill on our l.n.g. exports. i want to thank leadership. i want to thank speaker johnson, leader scalise, whip emmer, and chairwoman stefanik for keeping this oil and gas issue at the top. i want to talk about something else today. what i want to talk about in regards to the hur report that came out, this is on the mind of a loft americans right now, i want to state the obvious. if you are not cognitively fit to stand trial or answer accusations against you, are you not fit to be president, commander in chief and head of state. and i think that we have to at this particular point, we have

to start asking the hard questions, i'm glad to see. so press is starting to do that. i have been saying individually for a long time since he was candidate joe biden that this man's not cognitively fit to be our head of state and commander in chief. we have had lots of evidence of that since then. a lot of people are starting to see that. now we have the hur report coming out which is a completely different angle. objective report. from an appointee of his own d.o.j., his own administration saying he's not fit to do his job. and i think that when the president got up the other day and tried to speak to the nation, he just reiterated and reinforced the idea that we are in trouble in this country right now from a leadership standpoint. this l.n.g. thing is a big issue for us. i grew up in the oil field in west texas. i know how important this is. it's a national security issue. it's an issue for our economy. punish hardworking blue collar folks in this country. whether it's this l.n.g. issue. whether our disaster at the

border. disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan. the crime in our cities. all of the other issues that have been a disaster during the biden administration, what it says to us is that joe biden is probably most likely not making these decisions. we know this at this particular point. there are radical extremists in the west wing, whether it's climate extremist or the globalists making these decisions. these decisions are not coming from president biden. these are coming from other folks within the white house with different agendas. with agenda that's not america first. not in the best interest of this country. i want to let everybody know we are going to continue to make this an issue. i will be introducing another letter today. this will be the fifth letter that i have introduced that i sent to the president. this will go directly to president biden t will c.c. every member of his cabinet. and insist that he come forward and be honest with us about his physical and his mental capabilities. he's supposed to be get ago

physical exam here a few months. they indicated there will not be a cog any test associated with that. i think if there was ever a time we need a cognitive test for a sitting test. president trump got one. it was large part because of the press, his insistence had he that included as part of his physical examine. i would like to see that same enthusiasm that president biden submit to an cognitive examine -- exam. if he thinks he's fit prove it to us. with that i turn it over to my friend and chairman mark green from tennessee. thank you. mr. green: last night the house of representatives voted to impeach d.h.s. secretary mayorkas for high crimes and misdemeanors. specifically for his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the laws and his breach of the public trust.

this action, this is the culmination of nearly a year's worth of investigations and hearings. was necessary to deal with a rogue tk-fg secretary whose lawless actions caused and perpetuated, one of the worst, the worst border crisis in american history. one that has devastated communities across our country. second mayorkas has shown throughout his tenure that he will defy, he will ignore, and he will replace the laws enacted by this congress. his actions have not only shown a disdain for the constitution, but for the congress, the law, and the american people. the constitutional case against secretary mayorkas is sound. the historical record is unambiguous. the framers were united in their belief that the executive branch officials must defend the constitution, respect the separation of powers, and enforce the laws passed by this

body. if they fail to do so, they should no longer hold office. if we are all being honest here, we all intuitively understand this. when an executive branch official rejects unilaterally replaces the laws passed by this congress, we have to act. and last night, we did. i want to thank speaker johnson for his support, his leadership. and entire leadership team for their support of the months from my committee. and i want to thank the members of the committee on homeland security and our staff who has done a fantastic job. they and this congress, this republican congress, have worked to hold this lawless secretary accountable. it's now time for the senate to do its duty. to step up, hold a trial, and convict secretary mayorkas. with that i'll be followed by the gentleman from minnesota, mr. emmer.

mr. emmer: thank you, mark. the american people elected a house republican majority to undo the damage the democrats have done. and to hold the biden administration accountable. thanks to our members and the diligent work of chairman green and his homeland security committee. we are once again living up to that mandate this week. under secretary mayorkas' leadership, americans have experienced the worst border crisis we have ever seen. yesterday house republicans said enough. we did not take our impeachment vote lightly. it was the product of a very thoughtful, fair, and deliberate investigation lasting nearly a year. the evidence was clear as you have heard the chairman say this morning. secretary mayorkas willfully refused to enforce federal law, repeatedly lied to congress, and breached the american people's trust. because he failed to do the honorable thing by resigning,

house republicans filled our constitutional duty by voting to impeach. can i only hope my colleagues in the senate -- i can only hope my colleagues in the senate will step up and do the same on behaft american people. at the end of last week we read what was a very alarming report about president joe biden. you heard dr. jackson, our colleague from texas, talk about this this morning. not only did it conclude that he, quote, willfully retained and disclosed classified materials, close quote, it also did not recommend criminal charges because his memory has such, quote, significant limitations. there were two take aways from special counsel's report. a man unfit to be held responsible for mishandling classified information has zero business occupying the oval office. and it exposed the two-tiered justice system that indicted one president with politically motivated charges, while carrying water for another over

similar allegations. house republicans will ensure americans get answers they deserve on both these issues. lastly i want to give a special welcome back to our fearless majority, steve scalise. maybe the toughest man in washington, d.c. steve, we are so grateful to have you back here with us today in complete remission from cancer. and right in time for mardi gras and true steve scalise fashion. your grit, determination, and resilience have been an inspiration to each and every one of us. it's good to be fighting in the trenches with you again. with that i proudly turn it over to the toughest man in congress, steve scalise. mr. scalise: thank you, whip. it is great to be back. even more importantly than that it's great to be in remission from cancer. it's been a long battle. about six months long. but god answers prayers. there have been a lot of prayers. and thank everybody for the

support and prayers along the way. you surely don't get through this alone. i was looking forward to coming back. and now it's great to be back. it's great to see all of you. happy valentine's day to everybody. especially happy valentine's day to my wife. she's back home. i tell you, we got right into the business of what this congress, especially with this majority has done. taken our job seriously and doing the tough work. we brought back up the impeachment of secretary mayorkas. i want to thank blake moore for giving us the opportunity to reconsider the vote. and him procedurally making sure we had that opportunity. so that we can send a statement once again that we, this house republican majority, care about border security. and in a town where everybody should be concerned about what is one of the biggest crises facing our country. the fact we have millions of people come across our border illegally, including people on

the terrorist watch list. drug dealers from mexico, the cartels have an operational control of our southern border. our southern border. to the point where they are bringing drugs in that are killing 150 young people in america every single day. that should matter to everybody. especially the president of the united states. and especially to secretary of homeland security. who chairman green's committee did a job over months and months of building this case that the secretary has failed to do his skwrofpblt he's let down the american people. the american people want a secure border. and people have asked, what's the point of impeaching the secretary if the senate will discard it? i don't know what the senate's going to do. i gave up predicting what the senate might do. but i will tell you this. if the senate just discards this, like they do so many other important issues like h.r. 2 that we sent over six months

ago, where we came together as a republican majority and passed the toughest border security package that we have ever seen come out of congress at least since the 1980's. and the senate won't take that bill up. the senate can't even pass their own bill. and if they ignore this and just throw it in the trash can without taking it as seriously as the american people do, then there will be accountability and consequences to that action. so it's on the senate. they have to do their job. but the good news is this house republican majority as razor thin as it is once again did our job. we are going to fight to secure the border. we've got a speaker who continues to call on president biden and i'm sure he'll talk about this to just sit down and meet to talk about this major crisis. the president cares about all these other things going on around the world as we do, too. but if you don't care about -- one of the biggest crises facing our country to the point where the president won't even sit down with the speaker of the house of representatives to talk

about ways to solve this problem, when we laid out a number of different option, not just laid them out, we asked them, which is not easy to do. we are going to take this seriously as we have for months and months and continue to focus on those needs of the american people. even if this president and his administration refuses to. one other issue that we are going to bring up this week, there are others, fisa will be a big issue tomorrow. on friday, as talked about earlier, mr. pfluger's bill on the l.n.g. exports. when bribe just few weeks ago -- president biden a few weeks ago said he would ban l.n.g. exports in america, all that does is embolden our enemies around the world f he does it because the far left extremists on the left and environmentalist groups are threatening him and staying stop supporting fossil fuels in america. i don't know if the president knows this or not. but let me tell him if it's not the first time he's heard it, i hope it's not, there is no body

in the world that produces energy cleaner and more efficient than the united states of america. and stop attacking american energy, mr. president. because when we make energy, we do it better than anybody else in the world. and it allows us not only to lower prices here at home for families who are struggling, but it also allows us to send that energy to friend around the world. when president biden takes that energy off the market, that just means countries like russia and iran become more emboldened because those countries still need that energy. we still need that energy. when he shuts down l.n.g. exports, it also stifles production in america. that kills jobs here at home. and again the cleanest place to produce energy in the world. it raises prices on families who are struggling. why on god's earth would you want to do that? we have a bill to reverse that crazy, insane policy. we'll have that vote on friday as well. we are going to keep doing our job here in this majority. the guy leading wait is our

speaker, mike johnson. mr. johnson: good morning, everybody. thank you for being here. it is ash wednesday. also valentine's day. the american people are not feeling very loved right now. they are not feeling heard by the biden administration. and i'm going to recap a few things you have heard here this morning already. first of all, regarding this fitness for office of the president. americans have been speaking out about the president's mental acute -- acuity anti-double standards within his justice department. on thursday, the special counsel confirmed that president biden mishandled classified materials in a way that presented serious risk to national security. he broke the law, but he's not going to be charged. why is that? well, special counsel said they decided not to indict the president in part because there are significant limitations on his memory. and a jury wouldn't convict him. because he would be presented as, quote, an elderly man with a poor memory. that did not inspire confidence

among the american people. it's of grave concern to us. ultimately they are indicting, remember now, the d.o.j. is indicting one president with politically motivated charges, and they are now carrying the water for another amid very similar allegations. a man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the oval office. and everyone in this room, you just ask yourself that question, will you come to the same conclusion. on energy, this isn't the only issue that the biden administration is facing criticism for. americans have expressed their frustration with his attacks on energy independence. we say all the time here that energy security is national security. two things are directly related. it's also the lifeblood of the u.s. economy. but the president has paused sending approvals on exports of liquefied natural gas. why? why would he do that? it's completely counterproductive for our country. it is dangerous.

my home state of louisiana has to be the largest producer of america's l.n.g. we try to export that around the world. but he is stalling l.n.g. export terminals. it's nothing but a political ploy to appease activists. at great cost. job creators and energy producer also have to pause their projects. it will jeopardize thousands of u.s. jobs. our partners in europe promised an alternate to russian energy will have to source fuel from moscow. they are going to line putin's pockets. if we don't send american l.n.g. to our friend and alleys in that part of the worrell, they -- allies in that part of the world they have to go to moscow to get it. turn to energy sources that aren't as clean, european friends and allies will turn to these source that is are not at clean. to make up for those losses. that's why this week the house is moving on legislation to depoliticize the l.n.g. permitting process.

house republicans are going to do our job. we are listening to our energy producers who are standing for energy indpepbdz which is good for every -- indpepbsdz which is good for every -- independence which is good for every single american. the border. talking about the american people not being listened to. they are crying out to president biden to cover the border. we know the stories of children being poisoned by fentanyl. and cities being overwhelmed by ph*eu grant surges. we know house republicans have shown that we are listening to and holding the administration accountable for this catastrophe. we are listening to the people. we are taking action to hold biden accountable. last night the house voted to approve articles of impeachment of secretary mayorkas. we had to do that. he's abdicated his responsibility. he's reached the public trust and disregard the the laws congress passed. much more has to be done to secure the border. what the senate produced this week is khrepbt shr*epbt on thattish -- silent on that

issue. senator mcconnell and i spoke about that in frank sessions. let me be clear this morning, the republican-led house will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill that was opposed by most republican senators and does nothing to secure our own border. it's time for washington to show some love to americans. on valentine's day. we need to listen to the american people and their needs and take action. that's why house hraordship will continue to govern with american interests at heart. with that ill a take questions -- i'll take questions. questions. a reporter: last night there was about a nine-point swing from republican to democrat in new york 3. does that mean that house republicans have a challenge in keeping the majority? and what should house republicans do? mr. johnson: the result last night is not something in my view that democrats should celebrate too much. think about what happened there. they spent about $15 million to win a seat that president biden

won by eight points. they won it by less than eight points. their candidate ran like a republican. he sounded like a republican talking about the border and immigration because everybody knows that's the top issue. that incumbent had been a three-term member of congress and had 100% name i.d. and deep family history in the district. our candidate was relatively unknown in that comparison and had a short runway. she ran a remarkable campaign. there was a weather event that affected turnout. that is in no way a bellwether what's going to happen this fall. we are convinced, i have been to 17 states in the last 12 weeks. i'm telling you whether i'm out west, on long island, the deep south, mid south, midwest it doesn't matter. there is a fervor among the american people. it is bipartisan. people know that this country is on the wrong track. 74% in the latest poll believe that the country's on the wrong track. why? because of leadership in the

white house. they see what's happening. president biden has the lowest approval rating of any president who has ever run for re-election. 37% in the latest poll. it goes down precipitously. the reason is because of all the things we talked about. it is a total lack of leadership. and now more and more americans have made their own opinion about his fitness for office. so i think that will have a big effect in the fall as well. new york 3 was what it was. that has nothing to do on the efforts going forward. reporter: on the issue of immigration and new york 3, the candidate there seized upon the fact that you guys rejected this bipartisan border security deal in the senate. did you mishandle this issue and effectively give democrats something to campaign on? mr. johnson: the american people are with us. they understand you have to solve the problem. and the product that was produced by the senate did not solve the problem. you have all heard us hammer over and over. h.r. 2.

that was our signature piece of legislation. we passed many, many months ago. last year. and the reason all those components are important, again, is because they have to fit together. that's got to solve the problem. we have to address all of them. the senate bill didn't do that. that's why it was rejected over there. we have to do it. it's been mentioned that i have been requesting a meeting with the president for weeks now. months. been asking to sit down the president to talk about the border and national security. and that meeting has not been granted. i'm going to continue to insist on that because there are very serious issues that need to be addressed. if the speaker of the house can't meet with the president of the united states, that's a problem. i don't know why they are uncomfortable. having the president sit across the table from me. will i go in good faith because we have to solve this issue. as you know it's a product arsenal of executive authority he could use right now. he could have used yesterday, months ago to stem the flow. that's not our view. that's what the law says. we spelled that out. we also documented 64 specific actions that he took from the

day he walked into the oval office and his agency to open that border wide and create this catastrophe. that's why we have a problem. reporter: thank you, mr. speaker. you talked about the challenge the president cognitive ability. you said he is not fit to be president. why do you think a meeting, one-on-one meeting with the president of the united states would solve all these problems? mr. johnson: that's a good question. i have to do everything i can. he is the commander in chief right now. as uncomfortable that makes most of this country. i have to work with what i have. i have to do my job. i'm going to continue to do that. the house republicans will continue to do our job. we'll continue to move the ball forward. we'll continue to demand that before we take care of issues all around the world, we take care of our own first. i'm telling you that is not a campaign message. that is the truth. and that is what resonates in the hearts of the american people. we are on their side, common sense. the side of security, stability. sanity. and the president of the united

states will not acknowledge that. it is of great alarm to us. one more. reporter: thank you. welcome back. you have said that you want add meeting with the president. h.r. 2 is dead in the senate. you, yourself, were part of killing the senate promize. you called it dead on arrival from what you knew. my question to you is, while you say there need to be solutions, what are house republicans doing to get to a solution on the border and fund ukraine? or are you going to actually do nothing? what is your proposal? what are you doing? mr. johnson: we are addressing each of those issues. they are important issues on the table. we are not going to be forced into action by the senate who, in the latest product, does not have one word in the bill about america's border. not one board about security. the reason that the other one was dead on arrival is because it do not meet the moment t would -- moment. it would not have solved the

problem. what we are doing right now is the house is working its will. the house republican conference, we just met an hour ago, with all the members. there are lots of ideas on the table how to address these issues. we will. we'll do our duty on that matter. and all that begins in ernest right now. we have to -- earnest right now. we have to solve the problems. and not just take political posturing as has happened in some of these other corners. reporter: what about government shut down. will you get the spending bills done in time? [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is respons >> house democrats election. this is about 20 minutes.