don't miss this week's "the gavin newsom show" with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm

outspoken. i'm a dramatist. ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. it is finally d day. in wisconsin. today's the day. come on, wisconsin voters. get out and vote and dump scott walker! big time! hello, everybody. everybody in the nation is counting on you good people of wisconsin. hello and welcome to the "full court press" this tuesday morning. june 5. so good to see you today. we've got a lot on our plate. lots to talk about and that's

why it is good to have you with us. thanks for joining us here on the "full court press." your new morning show on current tv coming to you live from our nation's capital right here on capitol hill in the shadow of the capitol dome as we like to say. we've got our eyes on what's happening here on capitol hill what's happening the other end of pennsylvania avenue, what's happening around the country and around the globe. another new bombing in afghanistan yesterday which just indicates the still unsettled situation there both in iraq and afghanistan. we'll take your calls, too at 1-866-55-press. love to have you join the conversation. 1-866-55-press. it is your ticket to join at any time. i have a great line-up of guests today and a lot of issues to talk about. so much on plate the entire team is here this morning. peter ogborn back again. hello, peter. >> hi, there. >> bill: with the able

assistance of stevie lee webb, here for a stretch. dan henning still on his beer run to germany. i've heard bad reports over there. >> is that right? >> bill: i got a couple of calls from the german police asking if we could vouch for this guy. if he really has a job. >> i got that report on the e-mail about the sausage. >> bill: and cyprian bowlding, our videographer get the wave, hello, cyprian. good morning, glad to see you. we start with a sad note today. the passing of joe hager. one of the greatest americans that ever lived for sure. we've had a lot of great tragic losses lately but none i think compares with the loss of joe hager. what are you going to do for pants now? >> slacks. >> bill: you don't know? joe hager.

>> are those hager slacks? very nice. >> bill: and so hager is the guy that made the slacks for lyndon johnson. nobody put as much personal attention into his slacks having to fit in all of the right places as lyndon johnson and being just the right color. we remember when lyndon was talking to joe hager. >> joe is your son the one who makes the clothes? >> yes. >> you all made me some real lightweight slacks. he just made up on his own. sent to me about three, four months ago. it is kind of a light brown and light green, soft green and soft brown. >> bill: so i like the color but what i need is -- well, a little more room in my pockets and other places.

>> the pockets when you sit down in the chair, the knife and your money comes out. so i need at least another inch in the pockets. >> bill: his knife falls out. >> sorry, i thought i just heard a president of the united states of america his knife falls out of his pocket. keep my money and my knife. >> bill: i need some room, too, other places. >> another thing, the crotch down where your nuts hang, it is kind of tight. when you make them up, give me an inch there. because they're like riding a fence. almost the best i've had in the united states. when i gain overweight, they cut me. you never do have much margin. let's see if you can't leave me about an inch from the front of the zipper and around the back of my bung hole so i can let it

out there if i need to. [ laughter ] [presidential theme] >> bill: i need another inch around my bung hole. [ laughter ] >> bill: oh, man lyndon, l. b. j. [burping sounds] >> bill: third or fourth. third volume of the lyndon johnson -- the life of lyndon johnson. this is better than anything in that book, i'll tell you. >> bill: david shuster is on the ground wisconsin. going to give us a report at the top of the next hour.

it is tuesday tuesdays with judd, judd legum from think progress. we're so pleased and proud to welcome into the studio in our last hour together, senator bernie sanders from vermont. this is the "full court press." >> i'm still trying to compose myself after talking about lyndon johnson's bung hole. >> here's what else is making news. it happened in our skies in 2004 and again this year, it is tomorrow. if you miss it you'll have to wait until 2017 for the next chance to see the elusive transit of venus. the astronomical event recorded in december of 1639 by jeremiah horrocks and subsequently by

other -- >> bill: we weren't around yet. that's all. >> others astronomers used it and it changed our view of the universe. it occurs when the sun earth and venus grand our vantage point, we see venus as a tiny black disk moving. don't stare directly into the sun. it could hurt your eyes. >> bill: that's what the transit of venus is. the movement of venus across the face of the sun. >> that's it. it is tomorrow. >> bill: during the day? >> i think so. if you miss it tomorrow, you have to wait until 2117. maybe you can wait. >> bill: i might. depends on how busy i am tomorrow. >> there is a reason they call themmate's mightiest heres. the avengers is the highest grossing film of all-time both in the united states and worldwide. they did break the biggest opening weekend ever record in the comic book epic keeps churning out money. a past deathly hallows part two.

it is a movie not directed by james cameron to beat titanic and avatar. >> bill: you saw it, right? >> he may end up with a cellmate he can spar with. evander holyfield amassed more than a quarter million dollars in purses during his career. apparently the $250 million doesn't go as far as it used to. holyfield filed bankruptcy in 2008 reportedly owes in excess of $372,000 in child support and may wind up in jail if he doesn't resolve the issue. he has at least 11 children. >> bill: i figured we're talking nba playoffs here because the spurs, they won 20 in a row. they were going to go all the way through the playoffs without losing another game. how are the spurs doing?

>> i'll have a full report next hour but i can tell you the spurs did not win. they're now on a three-game losing streak after winning 20 games. >> bill: how do you spell choke? >> s-p-u-r-s. >> bill: of all of the issues out there this morning, here's one that caught my eye to start off this morning because this is a pet peeve of mine. it's more serious than that. it is more than a pet peeve. it is a major crusade of mine. a major cause of mine. and that is to get rid of the star-spangled banner. i know. you're going to say i'm not a true american, i'm not patriotic. i don't think patriotism has anything to do with it. the national anthem is just absolutely monumentally unsingable. there's so much wrong with it.

i don't know where to start. okay. we know, right,ity's been our national anthem, only since 1931, written back in 1816 -- or 1814 during the war of 1814. right up the road at fort mchenry in balmer by francis scott key. he wrote the people then they took an old british drinking song, another one and put the words to the british drinking song. they started singing it but it wasn't until 1931, herbert hooker is the one who sign -- herbert hoover signed a declaration making it a national declaration. it ranges two octaves, most people can only do one octave. bombs bursting in air, rockets red glare. a lot of national anthems are that way. a lot of military jargon.

there's only one phrase, the land of the free which is kind of nice and the home of the brave. i don't know. >> i get that part of it. >> bill: are we only the -- the only ones that are brave? i'm embarrassed every time i hear it. the reason it came to mind today, why today? i'll tell you. because very interesting that "60 minutes" and "vanity fair," what a team, did a recent poll about all kinds of issues and one of the issues they asked americans was who should compose the -- be asked to compose the new national anthem which, of course, assumes that most americans want a new national anthem which i think is the case right? if they've ever heard it. who hasn't. so what are the possibilities? they used to sing hail columbia

before the star-spangled banner. then there is always my country tis of thee. >> i think all british songs are drinking songs from what i know about the british. >> bill: i really, really love god bless america. nobody belted it out better than kate smith. remember this one. listen to that. ♪ god bless america ♪ ♪ land that i love ♪ >> i'm waiting for you to sing. >> bill: you'll record it and play it back. >> i would never. ♪ through the night with a light from above ♪ >> bill: that's got some real mining and some umph -- some real meaning and some umph. people get into it. even more favorite than that for me, i guess what i'm saying is

we have some great songs out there. how about -- i mean who can resist ray charles? ♪ oh beautiful ♪ ♪ for spacious skies ♪ >> bill: still gives me goosebumps. >> absolutely. if you want a song that stirs emotion every time you hear it when you're talking about your country, this is the one. >> bill: absolutely. ♪ so we could do that. maybe a little hard to sing. but you know, sing along with ray there. and then in this poll at "vanity fair" and "60 minutes," americans chose bruce springsteen, the boss. ♪ born in the u.s.a. ♪

>> bill: people stand up at the ballpark and belt that out. absolutely. you would have everybody sing it and they could sing it. so bruce springsteen got 22%. stevie wonder 18%. this is who should compose the national anthem. the new national anthem. and after -- bob dylan came in third place with 11%. any one of them. another option i think would be this land is your land, this land is my land. >> that's a great one. >> bill: so my question really is, isn't it time -- patriotism has nothing to do with it. this doesn't go back to 1787 or anything. the founding fathers didn't choose the star-spangled banner. it is not written in the freakin' constitution. it is a something we picked up

along the way. it is time to junk it. time to junk the spar -- star-spangled banner. who do you vote for and what do you vote for 1-866-55-press. i'll tell you what, there's one we do not vote for and one artist we do not choose to write the new national anthem or to sing it. this one. ♪ imagine there's no heaven ♪ >> you're not an american. >> bill: he's got a new job anyhow. he's back to being a radio talk show host. and you know what? that's a perfect job for him. i go for ray charles. how about you? 1-866-55-press.

let's do it! time to get rid of the star-spangled banner. i never want to hear it again. never, never never! i'm not going to stand up the next time they play it. i'll start a protest. >> good luck with that. >> bill: probably get arrested. >> announcer: radio meets television the "bill press show." now on current tv. >>join the debate now. let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now.

enttv

>> we're not through just yet, mr. vice president. >> they're swimming against the tides.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: okay. senator bernie sanders in studio with us next hour as well as yahoo! news chris moody. president obama didn't get in until about 1:00 this morning back from new york city. so he's going to take it a little easy this morning. not getting his daily briefing until 10:45. 11:15, he's got a meeting with his senior advisors. that's what they always put on the calendar when there's nothing else going on. the only two events of the

presidents' day. press secretary jay carney has his briefing today at 2:00. and one of the saddest days in recent years. the passing of joe hager yesterday. we will mourn the passing of joe hager at the top of the next hour. and of course, you all know joe -- who joe hager is. if not, we'll tell you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> bill: hello america!

good morning and welcome to the "full court press" on this tuesday, june 5. so good to see you today. we've got a lot to talk about. i know that's why you tuned in to find out the latest stories of the day from our nation's capital, that's where you'll find us right here on capitol hill. stories from washington, d.c., around the country and around the globe. and you're going to want to talk about it. we'll give you a chance. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. as we mentioned a little bit earlier in the program george zimmerman, trayvon martin's killer is back in jail busted because it was determined that he lied to the judge during his bond hearing. now get this, now the guy wants a second bond hearing. forget about it. you lie to the judge once, you cool your heels in jail. we'll talk about that and a whole lot more but first, we go out to los angeles and get the latest with today's current news update with jacki schechner. >> good morning, bill. good morning everyone. it is 7:00 a.m. in wisconsin and

the polls are open in the recall election. we'll find out whether governor scott walker gets to keep his seat or whether milwaukee mayor tom barrett gets to take over. if you're not in wisconsin and you want to help, go to current.com/wisconsin and you can find out how to help out online, on the phone or in person if you're close enough to the state. we're also keeping an eye or at least half an eye today on the primaries in five other states. california voters will have their first nonpartisan primary today which means the two candidates with the most votes regardless of political affiliation will move on to the general election. redistricting is pitting incumbents against each other in two california districts in the 44th and the 30th. in the 30th, it is long-time democratic congressman brad sherman and howard berman. both are popular enough to likely get enough votes to both move on and do this again in november. in new jersey, it is incumbent democrat pascaral going up and

putting clinton and obama back up again. because rothman has been backed by the president. in montana south dakota, primaries today. south dakota pits bart against fairlyic. this gives us an opportunity to joe you this jeff barth gem again. [ gunfire ] >> we just like an excuse to show you that. whoever wins goes up against christie nome in november. back with more after the break. current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

>> we're not through just yet, mr. vice president. >> they're swimming against the >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

>> bill: it is decision day in wisconsin. time for wisconsin voters to finish the job and send scott walker packing and bring in tom barrett as their new governor. hello, everybody. that means it is tuesday, june 5. this is the "full court press" on current tv and your local progressive talk radio station coming to you live coast-to-coast from our radio factory, tv factory and book factory here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. good to see you today. and thank you so much for joining us. lots to talk about. particularly on the political side here. in this country as we're in the middle of the -- at the end of a big recall effort in wisconsin and in the middle of a presidential campaign out on the road in this presidential campaign following all of the candidates. chris moody is political reporter for yahoo! news. joining us in studio this morning. hey, chris, good to see you. >> great to be here. thank you for having me on. >> bill: thanks four your great work, keeping us all

informed. you join our whole team press here this morning. peter ogborn. >> hi, there. >> bill: yes indeed. stevie lee webb filling in for dan henning this morning. hello. >> hem low. >> bill: our videographer cyprian bowlding. hello, cyprian. >> hello! >> bill: we keep him well hidden. chris, we have a lot of important political information to talk about. by the way senator bernie sanders going to be joining us in studio about 20 minutes from now. but we do mark the passing of a -- of a great american today joe haggar died. do you know joe? >> i didn't hear that yet this morning. >> bill: joe haggar, do you know joe haggar? >> he's the slacks baron. >> bill: yes. if you have a great pair of khakis like these, you probably -- these are probably

made by joe. by joe haggar. >> you guys have fun in here. >> bill: joe haggar is the guy who made pants for lyndon johnson & johnson was very demanding about his trousers. >> i've heard about this. >> bill: here's lyndon johnson. he's very particular about the color. >> joe, your son is the one that makes the clothes? >> yes sir. we're all together. >> y'all made me some real lightweight slacks. he just made up on his own, sent to me three or four months ago. it is kind of a light brown and a light green, rather soft green or soft brown. >> bill: he likes, goes with the texas hues, the light brown and the light green. the problem is it needs a little extra space in some certain key places. lyndon? >> the pockets, when you sit

down in the chair, the knife and your money comes out so i need at least another inch in the pockets. >> bill: first of all, whoa, whoa -- >> the knife and the money. >> bill: the knife falls out. right. i hope he's talking about a pocketknife. >> imagine barack obama saying folks, this factory here makes a nice pair of pants. problem is my knife falls out when i sit down. >> i like how he says the knife. the knife. >> only need one. >> bill: the knife falls out. we need a little more room in the pockets. that's not the only place we need a little more room. >> another thing, the crotch down where your nuts hang is always a little too tight. so when you make them up, give me an inch so i can let out there. because they cut me. it is like riding a wire fence. almost the best i've had anywhere in the united states but when i gain a little weight, they cut me under there. so lev me -- you never do have

much margin there. see if you can't leave me about an inch from where the zipper -- [burps] >> back to my bung hole. so i can let it out there if i need to. >> bill: all right. that's how i tell the tale when i get my khakis made. >> you're supposed to burp when you're talking to your tailor. >> bill: i need another inch around the bung hole, where the nuts hang. >> imagine barney from the simpsons was president at one point. [burping] >> bill: do you think every tailor has to go through that? we mourn the passing of joe haggar who died yesterday and went to his grave with lots of stories, i'm sure. absolutely. again, senator bernie sanders joining us. we will get into the politics of the day with chris moody but first, we start off each hour with the big headlines of the

day. >> here's what's making news. from the sports desk, at the french open, russian tennis player was the considerable underdog to number six seed david ferrer but hope to put up enough of a fight to please the weekend crowd in paris. that did not happen. usni dropped the first eight games and when he won a game during the second set, he scrawled a message on clay, on the clay with his foot. it just said sorry. he used his foot to draw the message sorry in the clay. he said after the match, there was a lot of people, that's why he writes sorry because i can't show them a nice game. >> bill: there have been a lot of upsets at the french open. another upset. >> there is a reason why they're called earth's mightiest heroes. one month after opening marvel's "at avengers" is the third highest film. after breaking the record for the biggest opening weekend ever, they keep churning out money passing harry potter and the deathly hallows part two. it is the biggest movie not

directed by james cameron but it has a long way to go if it hopes to top titanic and avatar. >> it is a lot of fun. >> bill: peter has seen it too. >> bill: good popcorn flick. >> it is fun. big explosions. >> mindless. >> things go boom. peter has a way with words. >> i think i just found my spirit animal. dutch artist bart jansen got bad news a few weeks ago. his beloved car was run over by a car and died but instead of moping, he performed taxidermy on the animal and turned it into a remote-controlled helicopter. he wired propellers and wings to the animal and implanted an engine controllable by a remote and now the cat is flying with the birds. it is fitting that the cat was named orville. >> bill: oh, get out! no! you made this up. >> it has its arms spread out like this and there's helicopters on each arm and it

flies in the air. >> it is awesome. >> i'm allergic to cats so i can't have one. i don't know if the dander still lives. i have no idea. >> bill: wow. you know what? this is going to start a trend. it is bad enough we've got drones that are going to be going over american cities. we're going to have cats. good lord. thank you, peter. boy, my day is complete now. so chris, there's a lot of speculation about now that we know it is going to be romney versus obama, now that we know that hillary clinton -- barack obama is not going to dump joe biden for hillary clinton which keeps that story absurd, keeps popping up. what do we know on the romney side? do we know anything about who he's looking at, thinking of? >> in covering of a lot of the veep stakes stuff, the romney campaign keeps a tight lit on who they're going to name. they're very good about not letting any leaks get out if

they can help it. he's got a really solid group of people he will choose from. a lot of names have been tossed around. in florida, marco rubio. in new jersey, chris christie. in ohio, rob portman. the name that i see popping up more than i think others is rob portman. he's a solid pick. >> bill: paul ryan, too. >> paul ryan, too, up in wisconsin. even bobby jindal in louisiana. >> bill: his name comes up and drops off all the time. he was up the last time, too. as a possibility. tell me about portman. >> portman is the slow and steady wins the race. a very serious legislator. respected on the democratic and republican side. he can act as a liaison to congress. >> bill: former budget director? >> budget direct forfor george w. bush which you can bet your bottom dollar the democrats will pounce off if he's elected the nominee. i'm sure they have a book on him from the bush years that's

pretty thick. there's no real scandals there with rob portman. he's a safe pick. a serious guy. one of the colorful parts of his past though is he has been the number one republican debate prep surrogate. he stands in as democrats for presidential debates. he's played john edwards joe lieberman, he's even played barack obama. and from what i'm told from the people who were in the room is that he does have a perfect impression of almost all of those people. he's played joe lieberman in 2000 and joe lieberman told me his impression is so good, it is eerie. he wants to send him to fund-raisers in place for joe lieberman. he does a great impression. >> bill: did he have fun playing john edwards? >> he said it was his favorite to play. >> how much did he commit to that role if you know what i mean. >> i asked him who's your favorite? he said john edwards. i said why? because he's really predictable. he likes to play john edwards maybe for other reasons but i

don't want to speculate there. >> bill: i guess -- we haven't seen that side of rob portman to say the least. i mean to me, comes across as the profoundly boring. >> that's something that really has been said about him. >> more boring than mitt romney if that's possible. >> from what i hear, from people who know him is when he's on the clock, he's very serious. when he's off the clock, he's a joking guy. rick lazio, former congressman from new york told me the story about how he and portman went to germany one time for a code, delegation trip. portman was known for playing pranks on the road. he found this hairy fruit in a market like a kiwi thing in germany. he stuck it under lazio's bed sheets and he thought it was a rodent and he jumped out. he knew exactly who it was. had to be rob portman. he's got this side to him. he's also an avid kayaker. he kayaked through china and down the entire rio grande. he has his adventurous side. i think you'll see a lot more

stories coming out if it looks like he will be the nominee. >> bill: the speculation is that romney may do this sooner rather than later so you -- this presidential thing has been advanced so early. it is like we're in full throws of the campaign now. it is barely memorial day. >> we've been at it for two and a half three years already. i wouldn't be surprised if he chose someone early. the vice presidential pick earns. >> good week, week and a half of media all about you. and so he can really maximize this. if he sees a week where he can dominate the news cycle, i think he'll make the pick and send it out. if not, we might see a couple traditional days before the convention in august. >> bill: you've also been writing, chris moody, our guest for yahoo! political news. you've also been writing about super pacs and their -- just dominance really of this election cycle. clearly, we've never seen anything like this thanks to

citizens united. is it going to be any backlash do you think? >> it is certainly one of the most fascinating parts of the story. as you said, it is a new thing. we haven't seen this before. there is so much more money being pumped into the election cycle. so you know, the backlash, i would guess would only come from the torrent of negative ads going on your television and not just paid for by the campaign but by groups you've never heard of. americans for veterans and american flags. things that sound great but you don't necessarily know who's paying for them. >> bill: the latest karl rove thing, the agenda for the new majority. >> right. new majority agenda is part of the american crossroads program. >> bill: like what does it mean and whoever heard of it? >> exactly. majority sounds good. news sounds good. you're going to see a lot of the groups, maybe even more popping up. there's scores and scores of these super pac groups that keep -- everybody's got one, you know. if you're running for office

you have to have one. it was interesting, we saw -- >> bill: or if you're a millionaire, you have to have one. you're a billionaire. your own. they're not going in -- they're to certain extent pooling their money in the campaign but over and above that like sheldon adelson has to have his own super pac. foster friess, his own super pac. >> it is kind of like christmas for them. they have this opportunity to play a major role that they might not have been able to play in the past. >> bill: but the question is do you think that -- i've read where even some republicans are saying hey, wait a minute what have we unleashed here. this is a monster that could turn around and eat us. >> the republican argument is a little bit different than the democrat argument. i think they find some common ground. you had newt gingrich on the campaign trail saying let's get rid of the super pacs. let's allow the campaigns to take unlimited donations so long as they're disclosed that night on-line. that seems to be the republican compromise to getting rid of the super pacs because gingrich

wanted every attack ad that came at him to say i'm mitt romney and i approve this message at the end. and a lot of them did not because of the super pacs and this bothered him quite a bit. >> bill: so even beginning rich -- even the super pac ads should be the candidates should have to acknowledge -- >> because the money would go -- the money under the gingrich system would go through the candidate. and so you would be getting rid of mccain feingold. you could donate as much as you want to a candidate instead of having the caps. >> bill: i think the law requires, not just regulations that the super pac have no contact with the campaign. >> right, no coordination. >> bill: that's the realty. >> the candidates do fund-raisers where super pac donors happen to be. or they walk into a room and they're all there. so they're very careful about how they do this. it is an extremely fine line.

they like to say there's no coordination. >> bill: i don't believe it for a second. >> also a lot of the people who run these super pacs are former head staffers of the campaign. >> bill: exactly. >> they still got their phone numbers in their address books. how much they communicate is hard to say because they come out and say that they haven't or when a super pac ad comes out you ask the candidate about it, they say oh, i haven't seen it. they take it so far that they say they don't watch it even though they have their ipads right there and surely they've seen it. >> bill: we're talking with chris moody about this crazy political season and of course, the biggest news of all of the day, chris, is that herman cain finally has a job that he's qualified for. >> radio station. >> bill: he's going back to his talk radio days. i can tell you from people that i know closely that you need no talent at all to be a talk radio host. >> i wouldn't say that.

>> bill: join the conversation. we always save a seat at the table for you at 1-866-55-press. on this beautiful tuesday morning. we'll be right back. >> announcer: on your radio on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

don't miss this week's "the gavin newsom show"

with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist. >> obama: i could not be prouder to have called him president. i could not be prouder to know him as a friend and i could not be more grateful for him taking the time to be here tonight. [ applause ] >> announcer: this is the "bill

press show." >> bill: that was president obama last night in new york city. welcoming to his fund-raiser former president bill clinton. in the studio with us, chris moody from yahoo! news. so chris, president clinton sort of made some waves last week when he said gee, mitt romney was a great success at bain capital. and they cleared the air last night. >> he really stepped on the message a couple of weeks ago. obama campaign is trying to go after his business record and then you have a very high profile surrogate saying it is sterling that doesn't help very much but i think over time that will pass and he's going to make up for it when he hits the road for obama like he did new york last night. >> bill: clinton has become probably the most popular and the most effective political campaigner of our lifetime. >> no doubt about that. i've seen republicans completely amazed. i think republicans wish they had a surrogate like that. but maybe in the future but right now, it is bill clinton. >> bill: yeah, president obama

didn't go to wisconsin. bill clinton goes to wisconsin. right. bill clinton is going to be there on the road with barack obama all the way and last night, he said it was -- a calamity for the world if romney were president. >> if you get caught in north korea, bill clinton can come save you, too. >> bill: chris good to meet you and have you in studio. come back again soon. >> great to be here. >> bill: we'll be back with senator bernie sanders from vermont. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." we are the idea no one wants to hear until it grabs you and won't let go. we push, we prod until the truth reveals itself. we are fearless, independent trendsetters, problem solvers, and above all, we are politically direct. the young turks with cenk uygur at 7, viewpoint with eliot spitzer at 8, the war room with

jennifer granholm at 9, the gavin newsom show fridays at 11. and there's only one place you'll find us: weeknights on current tv.

>> bill: there is tuesday, june 5, the "full court press" coming to you live coast-to-coast from our combination radio factory, tv factory and book factory here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. don't forget june 9 saturday, june 9, i'm going to be out in chicago. signing copies of my new book, "the obama hate machine" at the frugal muse bookstore in darien, illinois. 2:00 saturday afternoon. come on by and say hello. fun to see you out in the chicago area. we're so happy and proud to welcome to our studio at this time -- i have to tell you, i don't tell everybody this. you know that. my favorite united states senator. senator bernie sanders from vermont. because he's such a fighter for all of us and for working families across this country. senator sanders, great to see you. >> great to be with you, bill. >> bill: at one time when i was rejected, rejected by the congressional press corps for a credential at the united states cap tool, senator sanders

adopted me as his intern. >> i want to tell your listening audience and viewing audience, he was a pretty good intern. he was a little weak on the coffee. but otherwise, did he pretty well. i'm glad to see you've made something of yourself since then. >> bill: we were a great team. >> yeah. >> bill: senator, i read this morning in "the new york times" that jamie diamond, head of jpmorgan is coming to capitol hill this week to finally to explain what the hell happened with suddenly losing $2 billion in one trade. what's your message? what does this say about wall street reform? >> that's exactly the right question. bill, in my very strong opinion, we are never going to see the middle class grow in this country. we're never going to see the kind of economy our country deserves unless we deal with wall street and the difficulty of dealing with wall street is they are so very powerful. and they have so much money that it makes it a very difficult task.

certainly the republicans are not going to do it and i'm afraid too many democrats are afraid of them as well. the bottom line is the lesson to be learned of the recent fiasco of jpmorgan chase is these guys have learned nothing since wall street drove this country into the worst recession since the 1930s. they have learned nothing about the fact that what financial institutions in this country should be doing is investing in the productive economy. helping small businesses grow. creating real jocks. helping us -- creating real jobs rather than continuing this insane gambling casino they've been doing for so many years. what we have done, we're working hard on wall street in general. what we did after this fiasco is we made the point that introduced legislation that it is totally absurd that jamie diamond continues today as the ceo of the largest financial institution in america to sit on the new york fed.

so here you have the theory of the fed among other things that is supposed to regulate the financial institution so as to have people there who are paid to protect the consumers of this country and then you have the head of the largest bank as one of the regulators, regulates himself. and if this is not a conflict of interest, you tell me what is. >> bill: who appoints him to the fed? >> that's another issue. let's take a deep breath and move on. you have bernanke's group of seven people appointed by the president, approved by the senate then 12 regional feds, the new york fed where diamond sits. what you have there is there are nine members on it. six of them come from the financial institutions. appointed by the banks themselves. >> bill: so they're pointing -- this is the fox in charge of the hen house. >> this is the fox in charge of the hen house. clearly, we need fundamental reform. not only did wall street through their greed and recklessness and

behavior plunge us into this horrible recession that during that period, the fed lent out $16 trillion bill. to every major financial institution in this country including jpmorgan chase. now how would you like to be sitting on a board head of a large bank and say all right hey, how much does your bank need in low interest, zero interest loans? >> bill: with your fellow bankers. >> exactly. >> bill: just dividing up the pie. it is unbelievable. >> bill: after the crash of 2008, jamie diamond, ever since he's been one of the people who's been the loudest in saying we don't need any new regulations. we don't need any new legislation. we know what happened. we'll take care of it. right? we'll police -- basically we'll police ourselves. we've learned our lesson then they blow $2 billion. >> i think the lesson is they are stubborn. the lesson is that back to their old, greedy, gambling ways and

that has got to change. i voted for dodd frank for a number of reasons. i had no illusion then. i suspect you and i chatted about it. i'll tell you what i think. i want people to hear this because this is not discussed a whole lot in america. you have the six largest financial institutions, jpmorgan chase being the largest of them. own assets of over $9 trillion. these are six institutions which is equivalent to 2/3 of the gdp of the united states of america. >> bill: wow. >> if teddy roosevelt a good republican were alive, what would he say? you gotta break these guys up. it is not only the concentration of ownership. this they produce half of the mortgages and 2/3 of the credit cards in america. and here's the irony of all ironies. we bail them out base they were too big to fail three out of the top four are now larger than they were before the bailout. we are going to reintroduce legislation that says america can't sustain this kind of concentration of ownership for

two reasons. number one, it is not what a competitive capitalist economy is about right? and number two we're once again -- and jpmorgan chase showed us this. we're marching down the path again of a too big to bail out again. >> bill: why don't you think senator, why isn't there more public outrage and anger at wall street? i don't know whether you've seen it, tom frank has written a new book called pity the billionaire where it is saying basically we learned the wrong lesson like in the great depression franklin roosevelt said and with the american people behind them, let's go after wall street. here, the american people seem to be saying leave wall street alone. >> i don't think the american people are saying that at all. i think that's what the political leaders are saying. i don't think that's what the american people are saying. when you talk about the rage and the frustration on the part of the average american, i think a lot of it has to do with the understanding the wall street crooks drove us into a

recession, millions of people lost their homes, their jobs, their life savings. and how many of them went to jail, how many of them apologized to the american people for their actions. the american people say hey, you know, what's going on. the rich get richer. i'll tell you, all of this -- why isn't more being done? it takes you to power and it also takes you to concentration of ownership and wealth in america which is another issue we don't talk about. right now, bill, in america today, you have the top 400 people owning more wealth than the bottom half of america. 150 million people. 400 versus 150 million americans. you have the top 1%, only 40% of all wealth. you have the bottom 60% on less than 2%. >> bill: so if you're talking about income inequality, it is real. and the gap is getting wider and wider. >> it is phenomenal. it is worse than in any other

country in the industrialized world. where so few have so much. so many have so little. i'll tell you what else is going on. the rich don't -- tuck their money under their mattresses. what they are increasingly doing and this is incredibly frightening and i hope your listeners and viewers are familiar with the citizens united decision of two years ago because that is just one of the worst decisions in the history of the united states supreme court where they determined by a five-four vote that corporations are people. and they have first amendment right to spend as much money as they want on campaigns. what that means is people like the koch brothers and others, one family is worth $50 billion. is now going to spend at least $400 million in determining who our president will be, next president will be, who our senators and house members will be. can you believe that? >> bill: yeah. wrote a book about them. "the obama hate machine." and it continues. they just keep -- and they're

as you say one of the players. you have sheldon adelson and foster friess. so if the american people are ready -- and i think you're right. i know you're right from our listeners and callers, to crack down and to see some strong, new reforms and regulations, why won't the congress act? >> two reasons. number one in my view, they're afraid of the money that will come. i just want you to put against them if they stand up. put yourself in the position of a house member or senate member and somebody says well, it is time to break up these banks. you walk up to the desk to cast your vote. you think if i cast this vote i'm going to go home next weekend, i may have millions and millions of dollars of vicious negative ads attacking me. is it worth it? do i need to do it? what citizens united is about people have got to understand it, it is not just money coming into elections, it is an

intimidation factor on the part of elected officials who say do i want to stab up -- stand up to the drug companies and to wall street and then go home and find millions of dollars being spent against me or going to my opponent. there was a piece on which i quoted on the floor of the senate a couple of weeks ago from the american bankers association publication i believe. this guy says -- he was frank about it. representing the banking industry. he says you know, in the old days, we could give $5,000 or $10,000. now we can give $50,000. we can give $500,000. we can give a million dollars and you know what? they'll take notice when we do that. now, if that's not an intimidation statement then i don't know what is. >> bill: or maybe even bribery >> it is basically saying look, you want to stand up to me, you want to protect working families in america okay, do you it. let me tell you what's coming down the pike for you. >> bill: hey senator bernie

sanders in studio with us. lots of issues, lots to talk about. you are welcome to join the conversation. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. tuesday's "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> we're not through just yet, mr. vice president. >> they're swimming against the tides. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 12 minutes before the top of the hour. the "full court press" coming to you live coast-to-coast. and in studio with us, great senator from vermont. senator bernie sanders. senator, we were talking about

income inequality in this country and this combination of wealth and power. how can we break it up? is there any hope to it? >> sure, there's hope and i think we will be able to do it but you're going to need a very very strong grassroots movement. you're going to need millions of people who will have to turn off their tv sets and not look at the absurd dishonest ads coming down paid for by the wealthiest people and largest corporations in this country. and you're going to need people to begin to stand up, fight for their kids, fight for the middle class of this country and send people to washington and to their state houses who are prepared to do that. that's what you gotta do. >> bill: the republican answer to this, of course is to make the matters even worse right? by pumping more money up to those who are already at the very top of the scale and extend their tax cuts forever. and in fact, under the ryan plan, give them a bigger tax break than they got now. >> it is beyond comprehension. it really is.

here's what's -- here's among many other things what one of the great debates that's going to be taking place in the next six months or so here in washington. has to deal with deficit reduction. and it ties it to exactly what you were saying. let me say a word on this. here's what the -- we are in a deficit today and a $15 plus trillion debt because george w. bush took us into two wars and he forgot to pay for them. he kind of forgot to pay for the wars. we all forget things. he gave huge tax breaks to the richest people in the world, in this country who are already doing phenomenally well. no offset to that and then because of the deregulation of wall street and the greed of wall street, we are now in a terrible recession and that means substantially less revenue is coming into the federal government. that is why you're in a deficit right now. now, republican friends say oh, well, maybe but the real way to deal with this deficit problem is to cut social security, cut

medicare, cut medicaid, cut education and oh, by the way we think because the top 1% are a hell of a good bunch of people, we want to give them more tax breaks because the fact that the top 1% earns more income than the bottom 50% the fact that the top 1% are paying a lower effective tax rate than at any time in the last 50 years that's what warren buffett's whole thing is about, the second richest guy in america pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary, but we're going give them reason more tax breaks. you got a quarter of the major corporations in america paying nothing in taxes. hey, we'll protect those tax loopholes. >> bill: which only makes things worse. >> of course it does. less revenue will come into the federal government. the struggle that goes on right now will be going on until the lame duck session after the election by the way is how do you deal with deficit reduction? do you ask the wealthiest people in this country who are doing phenomenally well whose effective tax rate is the lowest in decades to start paying their fair share? i think so.

most americans think so. do you end absurd loopholes so that hugely profitable corporations like exxon mobil on a given year pay nothing in federal taxes, yeah, i think you end the loopholes. do you deal with the reality this will lose $100 billion. you've got corporations of rich people putting their money into tax savings at the cayman islands, yeah, i think you deal with that. that's one way. the other way is to say oh well, actually social security hasn't cost us a nickel in the deficit because it is independently funded by the payroll tax but we're going to cut social security and medicare and medicaid. that is the struggle that we are going to be engaging in for the next six months. >> bill: can you resolve it by cut -- spending cuts alone? >> i guess you theoretically can. it will mean that millions of elderly people will not be able to see a doctor or not be able to have hospital bills paid. you'll throw millions more lower income people off medicaid. i don't know what happens to those people. you'll deny young people the opportunity to go to college.

i guess you can cut the food stamp program so that starvation increases in america. i guess you could do that. but if you have any sense of morality, no that's not what you do. i'll tell you what else. what the republicans are proposing with the draconian cuts is not only immotherly to ply mind, it is -- it is bad economics because unless you create the jobs this country needs, unless you put money into the hands of working people, you won't get the stimulus impact that you need. there are a limit to how many yachts and huge homes the very rich can buy. there is a limit. >> bill: one would think there would be until you hear john boehner and mitch mcconnell talk about the job creators which is probably the biggest -- >> let me tell you about the so-called job creators. many of the major so-called big corporate job creators, you know what they've done in the last 20 years, they've outsourced millions of jobs. in the last ten years alone, bill, we have lost 60,000 factories. so what boehner and his friends

and mcconnell forget to tell us, the guys are job creators. the only problem is they're creating the jobs in china in vietnam, and in countries where people are paid pennies an hour and they are cutting jobs in the united states of america. >> bill: senator bernie sanders, we need 100 of you. or maybe just 95. then we can take care of the other five. thank you for your leadership on so many issues. thank you for being so outspoken and so courageous. >> bill, thank you for your voice. we need a media to speak up for the needs of working people. that's what you're doing. >> bill: we've got your back senator. thanks for coming in today. come back again any time. love having you here. i'll be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>>we have such a big show today it may, uh, actually explode. >>(narrator) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>we're hogging all the sexy on our side. hello! [ ♪ theme ♪ ]

>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: on this tuesday, june 5, my parting shot for today all's well that ends well as we know and for herman cain, this republican primary ends well because he finally got a job he is qualified for! we know he certainly was not qualified to run for president let alone assume the office. he proved he knew nothing about foreign policy and nothing about the economy and nothing about balancing the budget. herman cain was really, when you think of it, not so much a candidate as he was a clown. shame on anybody for taking seriously. but now he's got a job he's qualified for. he's going back to being a talk radio host. think about it. it fits him perfectly. no responsibility. no obligations, no demands all he has to do is talk talk, talk

for three hours a day and god knows herman cain can talk. so this is good for herman cain but you know what? it is also good for all of the rest of us because we will never have to hear him say nine, nine, nine again and we will never have to eat his cardboard pizza. herman cain. can you believe it? have a great one! go, wisconsin! dump scott walker!