04/06/17 04/06/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: i will tell you it has already happened, that my attitude toward syria and assad has changed very much. amy: as the death toll from monday's suspected chemical attack in syria rises to 86, president trump accuses the assad government of crossing many, many lines. lastly, the trump administration signaled it supported assad staying in power. what will trump do now? then we turn to bill o'reilly and the growing sexual-harassment scandal at fox news. ,> fox news has a very tired

tattered playbook. and that is attack, attack, attack, especially women who speak out against their moneymakers. amy: more than 50 advertisers showoycotting o'reilly's over his history of sexually harassing women, but the fox host has picked up the support from one big fan -- president trump. he says he does not think o'reilly did anything wrong. we will get the latest. plus, we will look at u.s.-china relations. pres. trump: we cannot continue to allow china to rape our country. and that is what they're doing. it is the greatest theft in history of the world. amy: that was donald trump on the campaign trail. today, he is hosting chinese president xi jinping at his mar-a-lago golf resort. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

president donald trump said wednesday a chemical weapons attack in syria this week that left at least 86 people dead had altered his position on syria and its leader bashar al-assad. speaking at the white house alongside king abdullah of jordan, trump called the attack an affront to humanity, but offered no details about his planned response. pres. trump: it crossed a lot of lines for me. when you kill innocent children -- innocent babies. babies. little babies. with a chemical gas that is so lethal. people were shocked dear what gas that was. that crosses any, many lines. amy: when trump was later asked whether he would consider military intervention in syria, he said he would not disclose his plans leaving open the , possibility of a surprise attack. trump's remarks came just days after his administration said it would no longer seek the ouster of bashar al-assad.

on friday, the u.s., france, and britain accused the assad government of carrying out a chemical attack. a spokesperson for russian president vladimir putin called the gassing of civilians a "dangerous and monstrous crime," but they did not name anyone as the perpetrator. at the united nations, u.s. ambassador nikki haley told the security council wednesday the u.s. was prepared to take unilateral action against syria. >> when the united nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action. amy: u.s. ambassador haley held photographs of syrian children killed in tuesday's gas attack, asking, "how many more children have to die before russia cares?" the journalistic monitoring group airwars reports over 700 children have been killed in u.s. coalition airstrikes in iraq and syria since august 2014.

president trump has removed his chief strategist, steve bannon, from the principals committee of the national security council. the move reportedly came at the request of trump's national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster, who objected to trump's top political adviser shaping national security policy. bannon is the former editor of the web site breitbart.com, which frequently publishes sexist, and white supremacist views. trump's move will also restore will -- trump's move will also restore the chair of the joint chiefs of staff and the director of national intelligence to the national security council after the pair were initially told they would attend meetings only when invited. trump has also added cia director mike pompeo, u.n. ambassador nikki haley, and energy secretary rick perry to the council. on capitol hill, senate

democrats are preparing to mount a filibuster today against supreme court nominee neil gorsuch, as republican majority leader mitch mcconnell prepared to change senate rules to confirm supreme court nominees by a simple majority, the so-called "nuclear option." the move would pave the way for gorsuch's confirmation in an up-or-down vote friday, and could radically change how future supreme court appointees are selected. ahead of today's showdown, oregon democratic senator jeff merkley held a filibuster-like session overnight tuesday, speaking for over 15 hours in protest of gorsuch's nomination. merkley repeatedly cited the refusal of republicans to even consider president obama's nominee to the supreme court in march of last year, merrick garland. >> to confirm anyone but merrick garland to the seat confirms the senate as the thief who took the seat for the first time in u.s.

history and transported to another president in an effort to pack the court. amy: meanwhile, politico is reporting supreme court nominee neil gorsuch borrowed heavily from several authors for his 2006 book and an academic article, without citing their work. in one chapter in "the future of assisted suicide and euthanasia," gorsuch lifted entire passages from an indiana law journal article, with minor additions and changes to verb tenses. syracuse university writing professor rebecca moore howard told politico -- "each of the individual incidents constitutes a violation of academic ethics. i've never seen a college plagiarism code that this would not be in violation of." president donald trump travels today to the trump mar-a-lago club in palm beach, florida, to meet with chinese president xi jinping, the first meeting between the two leaders. since taking office, trump has already spent 17 days at mar-a-lago at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $3.3 million per trip.

ahead of the talks with xi, trump predicted a difficult meeting, promising to confront the chinese leader over trade deficits and currency manipulation. the pair are also expected to discuss north korea's nuclear weapons program. trump has warned he's willing to take unilateral action against north korea. we'll have more on the meeting between donald trump and xi jinping after headlines. president donald trump lent his -- is lending his support to bill o'reilly wednesday as the number of advertisers boycotting the fox news host's program has increased to at least 52 following revelations that fox news and bill o'reilly paid out $13 million to settle lawsuits by five women who accused o'reilly of sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual behavior. other women have made similar accusations. in an oval office interview with the "new york times" trump said, wednesday, -- "i don't think bill did anything

wrong. i think he's a person i know well -- he is a good person." trump's support for a rally came days after he issued a presidential statement proclaiming april to be national sexual assault awareness month. in response, naral communications director kaylie hanson long tweeted -- "a man who bragged about committing sexual assault and grabbing women by the pussy is defending bill o'reilly. enough said." meanwhile, a third fox news employee has joined a lawsuit charging the network with racial discrimination. the suit claims top executives, including former ceo roger ailes, refused to intervene as african american women employees were forced to endure "years-long relentless racial animus" at the hands of a white manager, judith slater. fox news fired slater in march, just before the lawsuit was filed. in iraq, forces battled ices on the edges of mosul's old city today is a top iraqi general

claimed his troops were slowing their offensive to prevent more civilian deaths. the fighting came as iraqi officials said wednesday they've pulled nearly 300 bodies from the site where a march 17 airstrike buried civilians seeking shelter from the violence. the u.s. commander in the fight against isis acknowledged there's "at least a fair chance" the u.s.-led coalition was responsible for the deaths. in pakistan, a suicide bomb blast killed six people and wounded at least 18 others in the city of lahore wednesday. the pakistani taliban claimed responsibility for the violence, which targeted census workers. pakistan has deployed some 200,000 troops to provide security for this year's census, the country's first since 1998. in puerto rico, thousands of striking university students packed a coliseum in san juan wednesday in an unprecedented national assembly to discuss austerity cuts proposed by puerto rico's oversight management board in order to pay wall street bondholders. the students voted to strike indefinitely in protest of plans to cut $450 million of from the university of puerto rico

general fund. this is striking student veronica figueroa huertas. >> we need to balance what we win versus what we lose, if we are in the fight or not. in the past, we have seen how other fellas have sacrificed themselves. if we need to lose the semester, something that is never happened before due to shutdowns and strikes, but one of the counter arguments. if this is the first time we lose a semester, we lose it and retake it, i think we can come transformanges and the system. when you to invest in tools such as education. we're the ones who need to put pressure to make that happen. amy: the striking students are demanding reforms including an end to budget cuts, no tuition increases, and an independent audit of puerto rico's debt. in new york city, mayor bill de blasio has said the jail on notorious rikers island will be closed within 10 years. the announcement comes after many years of organizing to close the jail, which has been the site of brutality by corrections officers.

a commission has recommended replacing the rikers island jail with five new smaller jails, a plan that would cost $10 billion. among the cases of injustice that have called attention to rikers is the story of kalief browder, who committed suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after he was sent to rikers for nearly three years on suspicion of stealing a backpack. he always maintained his innocence and demanded a trial. instead, he spent nearly 800 days in solitary confinement. this is rapper jay z, who produced the docuseries "time: the kalief browder story," when i asked him if you would call for rikers island to be closed. do you think rikers should be closed? >> if anything like that has happened -- if that happens to one could come any place that that can happen to any could should be closed. amy: pepsi has pulled an advertisement featuring reality tv star kendall jenner following

widespread ridicule and anger for attempting to co-opt the black lives matter movement to sell soda. the commercial presented jenner as a hero after she offered a can of pepsi to a police officer in the middle of a peace march. prompted a picture of martin luther king saying -- misstatement, pepsi apologized saying it missed the mark. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i am nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. in syria the death toll from a suspected chemical weapons attack in a rebel-held town in the province of idlib has risen to 86. the dead include at least 30 children. dozens of civilians were also

injured. much of the international community has accused the syrian military was responsible for the attack. syria has denied the charge claiming the chemicals were released after a syrian airstrike hit a stockpile of chemical weapons controlled by rebel groups. on wednesday, the u.n. security council held an emergency session where britain, france, and the united states put forward a resolution condemning syria. amy: meanwhile, at the white house, president trump said the attack had transformed his views on the war in syria. just last week, the trump administration was signaling it would not push for the removal of syrian president bashar al assad. but during a press conference on wednesday with king abdullah of jordan trump struck a different , tone. >> the chemical attack crosses a red line for you? pres. trump: it crossed a lot of lines for me. when you kill innocent children -- innocent babies. babies. little babies -- with a chemical

gas that is so lethal. people were shocked deerwood gas it was. that crosses many, many lines. beyond a red line. many lines. i will try you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. big impact. it was a horrible, horrible thing. and i have been watching it and seeing it, and it doesn't get any worse than that. and i have that flexibility. and it is very, very possible -- and i will tell you, it has already happen -- that my attitude toward syria and assad has changed very much. and if you look back over the last few weeks, there were other attacks using gas. you are now talking about a holder for level. nermeen: when president trump was asked whether he would consider greater military intervention in the conflict, he said he would not disclose his

plans. tuesday's attack has been described as the largest chemical attack in syria since 2013. a day after the attack in idlib, the united states, the european union, and middle eastern nations pledged $6 billion in aid to syria at a conference hosted by the eu and the united nations in brussels to raise funds for humanitarian relief. amy: almost half a million people have been killed in the war in syria, which has entered its seventh year with more than 6 million syrians displaced inside syria and 5 million syrian refugees living outside syria's borders. to talk more about the situation we go to boston to speak to na , sergie attar, a syrian-american writer from aleppo. she is co-founder and head of the karam foundation, a charitable group assisting syrians inside and outside country. welcome to democracy now! can you talk about what you understand happened on tuesday? >> thank you for having me.

what we saw on tuesday was one of the most severe chemical weapons attacks we have seen inside syria since 2013. and the death toll is over 80 people. hundreds of wounded. many women and children dead, again.to death once it is a series of attacks that really hasn't stopped in the past six years. it was more intense. the death toll was higher, but across syria, we have seen death in every single form every day. we have seen death by barrel bombs. death by thermal bombs. death by torture. so many forms of death you cannot even count anymore what we have witnessed in the past six years of this endless nightmare of loss. and tuesday's attack was more intense, more severe. we have to find a way to end

these attacks on syrian civilians and families. nermeen: you have been in touch with people in khan sheikhun in idlib where the attack took place. what have they been telling you about what is needed there now? a you know, we are humanitarian organization. when these kinds of attacks happen, we go into emergency mode. we reach out to people on the ,round to see what they need what is missing from them on the ground, how we can alleviate their suffering and pain. this time, the response was very stark, very bleak, and they said, "nothing you can said will save us. nothing you can send will help us. all we need is your prayers." nermeen: how do you respond to what trump said that his attitude as a consequence of this attack, his position on assad and syria has changed? and speaking wednesday, he faulted obama for not enforcing

his redline on chemical weapons, following the 2013 attack. trumka i think the obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this crisis a long time ago when he said the red line in the sand. when he did not cross that line after making the threat, i think that set us back a long ways, not only in syria, but in many other parts of the world because it was a blank threat. i think it was something that was not one of our better days as a country. nermeen: in 2013, trump himself had urged obama not to go to war with syria, tweeting -- "the only reason president obama wants to attack syria is to save face over his very dumb red line statement. do not attack syria, fix usa." can you comment on that, what trump said in 2013, the extent you think to which some if at all, you think the obama and

administration is responsible for what is happening in syria and the truck statement that has forced him or make him change his position on assad and the syria conflict? >> absolutely. the red line statement in 2013 and after the chemical weapons attack and nothing happening to stop the assad regime and its allies from attacking syrians, killing syrians by chemical weapons and other means, definitely set a precedence for really a green light from the world, including the obama administration and this administration, that everything is ok in syria, attacking people is ok, killing people is ok, continue doing what you're doing. this is what we have sent the message to the assad regime and its allies. we are tired of hearing these empty promises, empty words, into red lines and condemnations from the previous administration. we heard it over six years.

and now this administration is continuing to send mixed messages and messages that are filled with hypocrisy, which is not surprising from this administration. and the attitude changing, yes, maybe it has changed. but what does that mean for syrian lives? what does it actually mean for the future of syria? that is the biggest question. we are tired of the empty words and threats, and the talking about being sad about syrian children being killed. we want to see an end to our people suffering and an end to the senseless death of syrians. amy: on friday, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley, though she made a very strong statement yesterday, on friday she and rex tillerson, the secretary of state, said -- she said -- "our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting al-assad out. like marcoicans,

rubio, the senator from florida, was saying, "this what laid the groundwork, this gave a signal for a side to move ahead with this attack on tuesday." do you agree with this? >> i don't know if that specifically caused this incident. i think that if you look at what has been happening every single day, there really is no logic to the way this regime has been attacking its own people since 2011. i think that statements like this make it easier to continue on. i think that the brussels conference happening also makes it easier to make these kinds of attacks happen. i think that questioning what led to this assault is very difficult because we see these kinds of assaults every single day. i mean, when people are talking only about khan sheikhun, we're not talking about were over 120

barrel bombs were dropped on one area within just a few days. hundreds of people have been killed across syria. in just in the treatise incident alone, we have a friend who is a syrian american poet living in denver who lost nine people from her immediate family when in entire building collapsed on her family outside damascus. these attacks are happening every single day. there's no logic to them. every single day, syrians face death i some kind of form, by the syrian regime, its allies, by the u.s. coalition now, by isis, by all of these forces that have declared the syrian people their enemies. amy: obama administration people say it is wrong to say obama did nothing after the 2013 gas attack. , that he worked out a deal with of gas,or the removal

weapons of mass destruction from syria's a small. what happen with that? why is this gas available and do you know what it is? know what itn't is. some of the world health organizations are saying it is some kind of nerve gas, might be sarin plus chlorine. we don't know. we do not know how much the assad regime gave access to these organizations that investigated the arsenals and its destruction. , organizations and investigative authorities, have not been given access to syria to be able to remove chemical weapons, to be able to remove all sorts of weapons that have been killing syrians. and that is the problem. there are no investigative

groups coming in from the u.n., from other groups, to be able to really understand what is actually happening. and right now the people of idlib and elsewhere are asking syrian civil -- they're asking for investigative groups to come in and investigate to see what kind of gas this was and where it came from. nermeen: lina, could you say what you know of the targets of the u.s.-led coalition airstrikes? who are they kidding in syria? a lot of civilians have also been killed in u.s.-led airstrikes. >> so the u.s.-led airstrikes are targeting ices. -- isis. we're seeing many of these --acks being not targeted not being precise, if we want to use that kind of word of precision targeting of

terrorists. and what we're seeing instead are very large bombs being dropped. and in instances, hitting schools, hitting mosques where there are civilians, where there are children. and we're seeing the death toll of civilians rise because of such a tax. nermeen: what do you think the trump administration should be doing? do you think they should be pushing for assad's removal? >> i think the trump administration and world leaders and the u.n. security council and, really, everybody should be working toward finding a way toward peace, justice, security, and freedom for the syrian people. this includes bringing all of the perpetrators of the wars, the war crimes and syria, to justice, including the assad regime and its allies in the extremist groups who are responsible for the deaths of

hundreds of thousands of syrians. amy: let me ask you about president trump's muslim ban. that no syrians, something he repeated on the campaign trail in mostly and then included in the van, that has been stopped by the courts at this point, no syrian refugee can come to this country. what about now? well, our record on welcoming syrian refugees is very, very disappointing and shameful. obamatarted with the administration. right now we have around 14,000 syrian refugees in the u.s. come out of well over 5 million syrian refugees that exist worldwide. already we have a bleak record. obviously, with this new administration, that number has

halted. i think it is very shameful that the united states is not welcoming syrian refugees in much greater numbers to find safe haven and to be able to rebuild their lives and rebuild their futures, and have a safe place to raise their families, which is all syrians really want. the most important part is the war needs to stop in the violence needs to stop because syrian refugees ultimately want to go home. syrians want to go home. they want to rebuild their lives inside syria. and as long as these kinds of attacks continued daily, what we are creating is more and more internally displaced with less places for them to be able to go to and less places in the host countries immediately outside syria to be able to accommodate. and we are creating a major catastrophe. it is the largest humanitarian crisis of our lifetime. the attitudes towards syrian

refugees must change, but the war must stop. amy: finally, russia. really, russia plays and actively key role. president trump has said he was to change the relationship with russia and of course, there's a whole scandal around that. but russia did say today that it was a monstrous crime that took place, not willing to attribute the fault to the syrian government, but did change in saying it was monstrous what took place. what could russia do, and you think if they took action and stop in support of assad, jackets independently bring down the regime -- that could single handedly bring down the regime? >> absolutely. russia's support of the regime for the past couple of years, especially in the airstrike supports, has been one of the most devastating parts of this war and what destroyed aleppo and many other places inside

syria. stopping that kind of support would bring the death toll down and would at least be able to create some kind of save zone, some kind of place for syrians be afraid ofot what is falling from the sky, targeting them and their families. this is what is needed in syria. the bombs you to stop. all of the airstrikes need to stop to at least begin to work towards cease-fires that hold and try to begin to work toward ending of the violence, ending of the killing, and creating a place where syrians can live in freedom, dignity, justice, and most importantly, peaceful stop amy: we want to thank you very much for being with us, lina sergie attar, syrian-american writer from aleppo. co-founder and head of the karam foundation, a charitable organization assisting syrians inside and outside country. speaking to us from boston. this is democracy now! when we come back, president trump says fox host bill

o'reilly did nothing wrong as revelations come out of one settlement after another around women charging him with sexual harassment. out over'reilly hang $13 million, at least what we know to this point. we will speak with a lawyer for one of the women who have accused o'reilly of sexual harassment. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. rico president donald trump is lending his support to bill o'reilly as a number of advertisers boycotting the fox news host's program increased to at least 52, following revelations that fox paid out at least $13 million to pay out lawsuits a five women who accused o'reilly of sexual

harassment and inappropriate sexual behavior. other women have made similar accusations. in an oval office interview with "the new york times" trump said wednesday, -- "i think he's a person i know well -- he is a good person. i think he shouldn't have settled; personally i think he shouldn't have settled. because you should have taken it all the way. i don't think bill did anything wrong." trump support for o'reilly came just days after he issued a presidential statement proclaiming april to the assault sexual harassmen awareness month. naral communications director kaylie hanson long tweeted -- "a man who bragged about committing sexual assault and grabbing women by the pussy is defending bill o'reilly. enough said." meanwhile, the national organization for women is calling for o'reilly to be fired and demanding an independent investigation into the "culture of sexual harassment" at fox news. amy: "the new york times" recently reported fox news and bill o'reilly have combined paid

five women up to $13 million to settle sexual harassment claims. the women are rachel witlieb bernstein, andrea mackris, rebecca gomez diamond, laurie dhue, and juliet huddy. they have accused o'reilly of making unwanted sexual comments, kissing or touching them without their consent, and retaliating against them professionally when they rejected his advances. and on monday, television commentator dr. wendy walsh came forward to accuse fox news star bill o'reilly of sexually harassing her, and then retaliating against her professionally when she rejected him. this is dr. walsh, describing what happened after o'reilly offered her a job at fox news over dinner. >> so when dinner was finished, he simply said, let's get out of here. i assumed he meant we should move to the bar to continue our conversation about my career at fox news. he caught up with me said, no, no, come back to my suite. at that point, you know, i am a woman of a certain age. i've had situations like this in my life. i knew how to behave. i simply said, i'm sorry, i can't do that.

and he immediately got defensive and said, what do you mean? you think i'm going to attack your something? soon after, he of the executive producer of the show call me and say that they're going to take a break from the segment for a little while but they would start again later. they did with the other psychologist, but not me. but i knew it was coming. nermeen: that was television commentator dr. wendy walsh. o'reilly has denied all the claims against him. on sunday, the "wall street journal" reported fox news recently renewed o'reilly's contract. according to nielsen, "the o'reilly factor" is fox news' most watched program and just finished its highest-rated first quarter in its history, averaging 4 million viewers. amy: well, for more, we're joined by lisa bloom, civil rights attorney at the bloom firm. she represents dr. wendy walsh, one of the women who has publicly accused bill o'reilly of unwanted sexual advances. lisa bloom, welcome to democracy now!

can you start off by responding to what donald trump told "the new york times" as he sat in the president ofs united states, he said about bill o'reilly, "i don't think bill did anything wrong. i think is a person. he is a good person. i don't think bill did anything wrong"? >> i think is emphasize the important part of that statement. i don't think he did anything wrong. donald trump did not say, "i don't think he did it." he does not think the sexual harassment is wrong. i think that is a true statement coming from donald trump, a man who is right about sexual assault, who is been accused by over a dozen women publicly of sexual misconduct. i represented four women during the campaign who made those claims. donald trump is choosing to stick with his crony buddy bill half therather than population of america, women,

who are really crying out for justice in sexual harassment cases. nermeen: lisa bloom, can you tell us about your client dr. wendy walsh and what she says exactly happened to her with bill o'reilly? a she was recruited to be regular guest on his show. they created a segment around her. she is a psychologist and relationship expert. it was called "are we crazy?" after about three weeks of really an on-air audition for the job, she got an email from mr. o'reilly's executive assistant inviting her to dinner with him. she was excited because she thought it was the perfect chance to talk about getting the on air paid position. they had dinner at a restaurant at the bel air hotel here in los angeles. she says during the dinner, he said, your fantastic, told her she was beautiful, and would love to have her be a paid contributor. she got the dinner was going well. after dinner, he invited her

back to his room, she says she rebuffed him. he then immediately became very cold and angry. he said, you can forget about all of the career advice i gave you, you're on your own now. she was on a few times after that from los angeles. he was from new york. theshe was being weaned off show and ultimately, she was taken off the show entirely. needless to say, she never got the job. amy: she did not sue, though? >> she did not sue. this was back in 2013. instead, she continued to persist and try to get the job. she does what a lot of working women do, which is she thought, i will be a professionally. i will be nonthreatening. i will be friendly. this will blow over and he will come back around to giving me the job. she sent him some friendly emails now and then, always very professional. thanking him for helping her, getting her book out there and saying she really wanted to get the segment back up again. but it never happened.

i also want to tell you, fox news has said him and nobody is ever called our hotline about the sexual harassment complaints against villa o'reilly. so yesterday wendy walsh and i called the hotline. she called in her complaint. we made a video of it. it is posted on my twitter. amy: let us play that clip. prompt, thorough investigation of her complaint. amy: let us play that clip, which begins with the hotline on a muted response. 's automated response. >> in 2013, i experienced sexual harassment as a job applicant at fox news channel by an employee named mr. bill o'reilly. >> hello, ma'am? >> yes? >> is this your first time calling? >> yes. >> how did you become aware of our phone number? >> my attorney lisa bloom found

your number in the employee ethics handbook. >> what state was this in? >> california. >> you said the person you're wishing to report is first name l?ll b,-i-l- >> yes. >> how do you spell his last name? >> o'reilly. clip,here you have that lisa bloom, that you posted. also, on cnn this morning, allison who worked at fox for years, said she never heard of this hotline. she did not even know there was a hotline to call. is not my first case of sexual harassment against fox news. they have raised this in previous cases. i don't know if anyone who really was aware of this hotline. listen, the bottom line is, no employee is required to call a hotline. you don't even know who is going to be on the other and of it.

the law does not require it. since they make such an issue out of it, we decided to do it. amy: let us ask about the people you represent, not in the case of bill o'reilly, but now that donald trump has jumped into the story by saying that his friend o'reilly did nothing wrong, you represented women against donald trump who alleged he sexually harassed them. if you could tell us about jill harth. and then i much less well-known case, a 13 year old who accuses donald trump of assault. tell us those stories. harth, i was very proud to represent. she was the first woman to come with her story16 of alleged sexual harassment against donald trump. she had filed a lawsuit against him and the 1990's. it was out there for anyone to see. although he says bill o'reilly should not have settled the case -- in fact, donald trump settled jill harth plus case three weeks after she filed it.

so pretty quickly. her allegations have never change that he grabbed her, groped her on a number of occasions. she was really shocked and offended. at one point at mar-a-lago, she says he took her into training ivanka's room which is a little girl. or olders to the 13 girl, she decided ultimately not to come forward. she had filed a lawsuit with it she decided she just good not take the heat, frankly, and the lawsuit was withdrawn and dismissed. she did not want to speak publicly about her allegations. amy: the 13-year-old, the person who was 13 when she accused donald trump of rape. donald trump said he would sue the women who alleged he sexually assaulted them after the election. has he sued any of them?

>> we all knew that was a lie at the time, just like so many of the things that come out of his mouth. of course, he has not sued. . said, bring it on i represented four of the women. if you want to sue any of them -- listen, nobody wants to get sued, especially by a man as powerful and wealthy as donald trump. but i said online i would represent any of them. we would crowd fund defense cause. i'm very happy to do it. i will stand by them, just like i told wendy walsh i will stand by you if you come forward with your claims. i think it is important for women to have a strong woman stand with them when they do this kind of thing. it is very scary to do this on your own. anybody who has a sexual harassment claim against a powerful man, i encourage them to get a strong feminist attorney to stand by them. my attorney -- my clients feel very empowered after they walked to the fire. i think wendy feels good about what she's doing right now. this can be done.

i think it has to be done if we are ever going to change the move for our daughters and the ball forward. there is too much sexual harassment, not just by famous men, that workplaces in general. it will not change of we do not oppose it and speak out and bring lawsuits where that is necessary. amy: can president trump be sued as president? >> absolutely. we all remember the case apologize against bill clinton in the 1990's. the supreme court ruled unanimously that no one in america is above the law, and that includes the president. there is a defamation case against donald trump brought by one of his accusers because he called her a liar after she came out with her claims. donald trump is saying that case should not go forward, he has immunity. that is fake law. the case is going to go forward. i wish the woman the best. nermeen: we're also joined by arisha hatch, managing director of campaigns at color of change,

which has just launched a major campaign calling on advertisers to drop "the o'reilly factor." welcome to democracy now! can you talk about this campaign, what you're calling for? >> yes. thank you for having me. we have been running this campaign for several years now. the manning that advertisers divest -- demanding that advertisers divest from bill o'reilly's show. given the level of language, the level of hostility that we see him pursue on a daily basis, and obviously, a number of claims that have come up from women and many others about the hostile work environment they are enduring at fox. nermeen: what has been the response to the campaign so far? have lots of advertisers pulled out? >> yes. i think the count this morning is over 50 us far, about 100 current advertisers. there is tons of progress that

has been made. we're continuing to contact advertisers, to make our case about what -- what we don't think they should be enabling and type of behaviors settlements. we're focused on a number of corporations that still have not done the right thing. amy: a third fox news channel employee has just joined to colleagues in their lawsuit that says they were subjected to racial discrimination by an executive who just before they filed the lawsuit was fired in march. can you talk about what happened and who these employees of fox are? >> yes. it is butntly does recently been reported and we have been in contact with three black women who are making racial discrimination claims, not directly related to the o'reilly show, but through other executives a fox. we are talking to them later, but they are describing tons of racial epithets, and just a

general pervasive hostility toward black people, black women especially, that they have encountered. i think that is why the conversation around what o'reilly has done and said in the past and the advertisers that support him really extends beyond "the factor." their moneyr moving away from o'reilly show to another show on fox news does not really get the job done. what we're seeing time and again is a pervasive, persistent hostile work environment stop for anybody that is considered in other or outside the norm. amy: on wednesday, one of the plaintiffs told "good morning america" her employer's mockery of the black lives matter movement was the tipping point. >> walking down the hallway, if you encountered judith slater, she would put up her hands in this motion, i guess, mocking

the black lives matter movement, walking to the bathroom, even saying good night to her at night she required us to say "good night" at 6:00 or whatever time you are leaving. instead of saying it back, it is, hands up, don't shoe. nermeen: arisha hatch, can you talk about what she said and what she alleges was happening at fox news? >> yes. i think she described the incident -- many of these women are describing several incidents very articulately and very well. i think what she's describing is an existing racial bias that is targeted and creates in a sustainable work environment for people -- unsustainable people who are just trying to feed their families. while it is sad, incredibly sad that these women have had to endure this, it is not surprising.

it is not surprising this is happening behind the camera because we see so much of this sort of hostility in front of the camera. that is why this sort of campaign is so important. that is why i think corporate advertisers should take a second thought about continuing to support and enable this type of behavior because consumers do not want it. and many of the things that we're hearing coming out of fox news are behaviors that these own advertisers, these corporations would not tolerate. amy: arisha hatch, they can for being with us. on monday, another fox contributor julie roginsky sued roger ailes, the former head of fox, for repeated sexual harassment. arisha hatch, managing director of campaigns at color of change, which has just launched a major campaign calling on advertisers to boycott "the o'reilly factor." actually, it has been going on for some time.

and lisa bloom, civil rights attorney at the bloom firm. she represents dr. wendy walsh, one of the women who has publicly accused bill o'reilly ofnwanted sexual advances. april, as declared by president donald trump, is sexual assault awareness month. we will be back on china in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. donald trump is hosting chinese president xi jinping today at his for the resort mar-a-lago. it is the first meeting between the leaders of the world two largest economic powers. on the campaign truck, trump repeatedly attacked china. pres. trump: we cannot continue ourllow china to rape country. and that is what they are doing. it is the greatest theft in the history of the world. amy: trump tweeted last week -- "the meeting next week with china will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses. american companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives."

the meeting comes just a day after north korea launched another ballistic missile test wednesday. in an interview in a president trump warned he would be willing to take unilateral action against north korea saying -- "if china is not going to solve north korea, we will." for more, we're joined by orville schell director of the , center on u.s.-china relations at the asia society. he is co-author of "wealth and power: china's long march to the twenty-first century." his recent article in "the wall street journal" is "china's once and future democracy." welcome to democracy now! what do you expect from today's meeting at trump's golf resort mar-a-lago? >> what is sort of alarming is that we really don't know what to expect. and i think that grows out of the reality that trump has no obvious sort of spelled-out comprehensive plan. we have a kind of collision between what trump says and then what more reasonable people in

his administration often do. there is a kind of collusion going on between those two to principals, and we will have to wait to see what happens. amy: what about north korea? it seems to be the number one issue -- we can't know what will go on -- but with the ballistic missile once again being shot off? north korea somewhat of a paradox. on the one hand, clearly the most dangerous and pressing issue for the u.s. on the other hand, china has increasingly i think recognized it as its in its interest. have a nuclear north korea. that made tremendous sort of advances in sort of that recognition -- amy: are they providing materials? >> they are. they have not gone on the full measure in terms of squeezing off north korea, imposing sanctions, shutting down the oil pipeline, banks still do business, airlines fly back and forth -- north korean airlines. there's much more they could do. i think there is a remote

possibility that trump is desperate for a deal. this is a place where i think he has most prospect, actually, of getting some kind of a deal. as i said, still remote because there is a convergent interest, although, many things still divide the u.s. and china in regard to north korea. -- he goes into the summit, and if he cannot come out of it with something emblematic of his dealmaking ability, i think it will be a bit of a black eye for him. nermeen: use adjusted earlier it is difficult to anticipate what precisely will happen during this meeting. and that is partially because trump is apparently, in modern history, in a administration, is a administration has the most uncertain china policy. i want to ask you about one of the people who has been crucial

in his administration, steve bannon, who's had a particularly antagonistic rate for -- position vis-a-vis china. he is just been removed from the national security council. could you say what his positions have been and now his removal month -- how his removal might impact from's position? >> there is a group in the white house, steve bannon would be one, and peter navarro the head of the national trade council, who have taken a very hard line on china. ofn spoken of the prospect war with china as being more than just a phantom. i think we have seen them somewhat marginalized or set aside and people like secretary mattis am a tillerson, has come into the mix a bit more but he is still a nondescript. there are some level heads contending with these people who are in the white house and taking rather extreme positions. nermeen: who are those level or heads? >> i would say mattis, the new

head of the national security council. athink rex tillerson is least knows how to run a big company. at least knows how to have a strategy. but we simply don't know how all of the pieces are going to settle down. and we certainly don't have any conference of plan for dylan with china. nermeen: what about the trade deficit? that is likely to be discussed. jenna presidential campaign, trump compared u.s. trade deficit with china to rape saying "we cannot continue to allow china to rape our country"? >> he was going to impose across-the-board to against a currencyclare them manipulator. he has not done that. those issues i think are less pressing than issues like north korea and also the own level playing field for trade and investment. china risks losing the support,

which has been traditionally very strong of u.s. business, supporters of the no-fault china policy, if you will. 's election,re trump the relationship was fraying. now we have trump coming in and making these extreme statements, which throws a further off-balance. amy: it has been joked it is at a golf resort, that xi is , cause of the millionaires game. his or something deeper about this, that it is at his private membership club of millionaires in a golf place where they will not be playing golf and trump can control the press much more there because it is his own private property? can control who gets in and who doesn't get in? we don't know because we do not get the logs of the mar-a-lago visitors? have theer they would

summit, it would be incredibly tightly controlled. but i do think there's a certain irony. xi jinping, the party general secretary of the chinese communist party, showing up at a place like mar-a-lago while he is conducting an attack or up she campaign. this is donald trump. diplomatic donald trump. this is sort of the equivalent of bush's ranch for xi jinping. democratic ideals have deep roots in modern chinese history. >> which is to say china has a long tradition of democratic sentiment that bubbled up again and again over the last century. it also has a deep tradition photography.nnia throughout history, these two things have collated, at least in modern history. china has a rich tradition of democratic sentiment that keeps returning. amy: we will continue this conversation and post it online at democracynow.org. orville schell is director of

the center on u.s.-china relations at the asia society and co-author of "wealth and power: china's long march to the twenty-first century." his recent article in "the wall street journal" is "china's once and future democracy." that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] rallo: on this episode of "eat! drink! italy!"

i help make a cake that is as fun to eat as it is to make. tony verdoni and i learn about the friuli area, its food, and its wine. an italian coffee fanatic teaches us espresso 101. and i help make a great polenta dish that is topped with two cheese sauces. my name is vic rallo, and i love to eat and drink italy. follow me and i'll prove it. "eat! drink! italy!" is bught to you by wine enthusiast, magazine and catalog, for wine storage, glassware, and accessories. the asaro line of sicilian extra-virgin and organic extra-virgin olive oils, tomatoes, olives, and more. from the asaro family to yours. martin-scott win