06/15/17 06/15/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we are united in our shock, our anguish, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. in shock onrs are capitol hill after a gunman opens fire at a congressional baseball practice. house majority whip steve scalise of louisiana was shot in the hip and critically injured. watchable others were also injured. we will go to capitol hill dispute with longtime democratic commerce members john conyers and barbara lee about their

shooting, the new lawsuit against president trump, and much more. we will also look at next week's special election in georgia, the most expensive congressional race in history pitting democratic newcomer jon ossoff against republican karen handel. >> to be very clear, jon ossoff would be the congressional member right now. he really would have won the previous special election but for a combination of systemic voter suppression tactics and techniques. amy: we will air a special report on the georgia race from investigative journalist greg palast. all of that in more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. house majority whip steve scalise of louisiana remains in critical condition this morning after he and four other people were wounded wednesday when a gunman opened fire at a baseball field in alexandria, virginia.

the lawmakers were practicing at the field for a charity congressional game that will take place tonight when scalise, the third ranking republican in the house, was shot in the hip. the gunman, who was shot dead by capitol hill police, has been identified as a 66-year-old white man named james hodgkinson from belleville, illinois. he has a history of domestic violence and has also made violent threats online. in one recent facebook post he wrote -- "trump is a traitor. trump has destroyed our democracy. it's time to destroy trump & co." reports indicate hodgkinson also once volunteered for bernie sanders' presidential campaign. hodgkinson had received a license to have a gun earlier this year, despite being arrested in 2006 for domestic battery and discharge of a firearm. we'll go to capitol hill for more on the virginia shooting after headlines. the shooting in virginia came the same day that a worker opened fire at a ups facility in

san francisco, killing three people before fatally shooting himself in the head with an assault pistol when the police arrived inside the facility. the gunman has been identified as 38-year-old jimmy lam. he was wearing a ups uniform during the massacre and had worked as a driver for the company. abc reports he had filed an internal grievance in march saying he was working excessive overtime. two other people were also wounded in the shooting. president trump now under investigation for possible liver obstruction of justice. -- possible obstruction of justice. mueller's investigation is looking into whether his associates, including his son-in-law jared kushner, have committed any financial crimes including money laundering aimed at hiding possible financial payoff that might've been part of a cooperation between trump associates and russian officials. special counsel robert mueller will be questioning top

intelligence officials, including the director of national intelligence dan coats and the national security agency had michael rodgers. this morning, trump slammed the investigation, tweeting -- "they made up a phony collusion with the russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. nice." members of the trump administration and the republican national committee have been attacking mueller in recent days in an apparent effort to discredit his investigation a special counsel. this comes as the senate voted 97 to two wednesday to approve a new round of sanctions against russia over alleged interference in the 2016 u.s. election. united nations investigators say u.s.-led coalition airstrikes have killed at least 300 civilians in and around the over thety of raqqa

last three months. the deadliest attack was a march 21 airstrike that killed as many as 200 civilians when it struck a school housing displaced families in the town of mansoura. the u.n. investigators say the escalating dress-led bombing campaign -- escalating u.s.-led bombing campaign has also displaced more than 150,000 civilians. this is iman faisal. >> we fled because of the airstrikes. we escaped. there are a lot of clashes because of daish. we want to safely go back to our homes and find them intact. the journalistic monitoring amy: group airwars says last month u.s.-led coalition airstrikes reportedly killed more civilians in syria than any other warring party, including isis, russia, or the syrian government. u.s.-led coalition airstrikes also continue in iraq, amid the ongoing battle to retake the city of mosul from isis.

the monitoring group airwars says u.s.-led bombing and attacks by the u.s.-backed iraqi military have reportedly killed dozens of civilians over the last week. on monday, 12 members of the same extended family were reportedly killed after an alleged coalition airstrike destroyed their house in mosul's borsa neighborhood. dozens more civilians were reportedly killed on sunday amid airstrikes and shelling in multiple neighborhoods, including in zanjili, where iraqi forces reportedly found a child alone in this house after the entire rest of his family was killed. on saturday, 13 civilians, including engineer abdullah al-mazouri, reportedly died after airstrikes in mosul's shifa neighborhood, while on friday, at least 18 civilians reportedly died after airstrikes hit their homes and they were buried underneath the rubble in the center of mosul. the pentagon has confirmed launching at least one airstrike in and around mosul every day over the last week.

the united states has agreed to sell $12 billion worth of u.s.-manufactured f-15 fighter jets to qatar amid a major diplomatic crisis in the persian gulf. the jets are made by the american weapons contractor boeing. qatar is facing regional isolation after saudi arabia and other gulf neighbors cut diplomatic ties with qatar earlier this month. it was a move that president trump applauded. back in the united states, in michigan, five state and local officials have been charged with involuntary manslaughter over the deaths that resulted from the poisoning of the flint water system. the highest ranking official to face the felony charge, which carries up to 15 years in prison, is nick lyon, director of michigan's health and human services department. he is also charged with misconduct in office for trying to cover-up the water poisoning rather than worn flint residents

about the deadly legionnaires disease. a sixth official, michigan chief medical executive eden wells has been charged with obstruction of justice and lying to police. flint's water crisis has been linked to at least 12 deaths from an outbreak of legionnaires' disease, as well as the lead poisoning of residents, including children, across flint. the crisis began when flint's unelected emergency manager appointed by michigan governor rick snyder switched the source of the city's drinking water in order to save money. governor snyder said wednesday that he supports lyon and wells and will not suspend them, even as many flint residents are continuing to call for criminal charges to be brought against the michigan governor snyder himself. standingdakota, the rock sioux tribe have won a major legal victory in federal court on wednesday, which may have the power to force the shut

down of the 3.8 billion dollar dakota access pipeline. on wednesday, district judge james boasberg ruled that the trump administration failed to carry out an adequate environmental review of the pipeline after president trump ordered the army corp to fast-track and greenlight its approval. district judge boasberg has requested additional briefings next week on whether the dakota access pipeline should be shut off until the completion of a full review of a potential oil spill's impacts on fishing and hunting rights, as well as environmental justice. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has vowed the israel military will occupy the palestinian west bank indefinitely -- a promise that precludes the possibility of a two-state peace deal. netanyahu said -- "in any agreement, and even without an agreement, we will maintain security control over the entire territory west of the jordan river."

meanwhile, israel's security cabinet has cut down on the electricity it sells to the gaza strip, leaving residents unable to keep food from spoiling a living by candlelight. before the reduction, gaza residents only had about an average of four hours of electricity a day. now the 2 million palestinians living in gaza will only have about 3 hours and 15 minutes of electricity daily. this is naji zoroub. >> life is dead because now when we look at ourselves, our food and work, there is no work and no food. the leftovers of the food we have, and we are fasting. we put it in a refrigerator in the next they we want to take it out at night we find it is rotten. and now we do not know what to do. amy: in somalia, up to 19 people

were killed in an al shabab attack on a popular restaurant in the capital mogadishu wednesday. 20 people were also taken hostage in an adjacent restaurant. somali soldiers killed the attackers and retook control of five the restaurant after several hours. in london, the death toll from a massive fire at a 24-story apartment building has risen to 17. another 30 people are still hospitalized, 17 of them in critical condition. it took hundreds of firefighters a full 24 hours to put out the blaze, whose cause is still unknown. the guardian reports a number of safety warnings about the dangerous living conditions and fire risks in the building were ignored in the lead up to the blaze.

without their consent or knowledge, putting families at risk of default and foreclosure. the changes involved increasing the total amount families would have to pay back to the bank by extending the duration of people's loan payments by decades. the lawsuits come as wells fargo is already facing widespread protests over its funding of the dakota access pipeline, as well as a massive scandal over the creation of more than 2 million fake consumer accounts. in tennessee, christian minister robert doggart has been sentenced to 20 years in prison over his plot to massacre muslims at a new york mosque. he was also a 2014 congressional candidate. discoveredi agents robert doggart was stockpiling weapons and plotting to travel to upstate new york to kill muslims using explosives and assault rifle, and a machete. according to a federal investigation, he saw himself as a religious warrior and wanted to kill muslims to show his

commitment to his christian god. robert doggart was not charged with terrorism. at his sentencing on wednesday, the judge told him "you're not a monster. in many respects, you lived a life of honor." in argentina, thousands of unionized workers marched in the capital buenos aires on wednesday to protest austerity imposed by argentine president mauricio macri. this is hugo godoy of the state workers' association. >> we are protesting so that the government stops the application of economic and social policies, which harm the working people. there is a group of large transnational companies which take all of the wealth out of the country by the load, with benefits from the governing policies which harm the workers. poverty and unemployment have risen. it has become more serious in the last year and a half since this policy was applied.

amy: and journalists across mexico are gathering today to commemorate the one-month anniversary of the killing of award-winning reporter javier valdez, who was dragged out of his car and shot 12 times in culiacan, sinaloa, on may 15. valadez founded a newspaper and also wrote. he was at least the sixth mexican journalist to be killed this year amid a surge of violence against media workers in mexico. 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'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show on capitol hill, which remains in shock after house majority whip steve scalise of louisiana and four other people were wounded on wednesday when a gunman opened fire at a baseball field in alexandria, virginia. the lawmakers were practicing for a charity congressional

game that will take place tonight. scalise, the third ranking republican in the house, was shot in the hip and remains in critical condition. speaking on cnn, republican senator rand paul of kentucky gave this chilling eye-witness account of the shooting. >> i'm in right field. i'm at the farthest one of the field from anybody from the gunshots. of the gunshots are still feuding in the dirt in right field where there are two staffers laying on the ground. i think one of them may have been hit. there are between me -- between me and them is about a 50 to 20 foot fence. one of the staffers decides, i'm not staying here, bullets are flying around, he decided to climb the fence and he climbed a 20 foot fence in about three seconds, plopped down behind me and there was a big oaktree. we are behind that tree. the gunshots are still going in or 10 feetrt about five from us. as some point, i was a 50 or 60

shots at least have been fired from the shooter. then we start to hear the capitol hill police respond. there is is a different weapon, so you hear this all shots going back at the shooter. with tell you that i think absolute certainty, nobody would have survived without the capitol hill police. they saved everybody's life, incredibly brave, and deserve everyone's praise because with this guy, who knows how heavily armed he was? nobody else had a weapon, so he was just killing everyone. amy: the gunman has been identified as a white 66-year-old man named james tommy hodgkinson. he was shot dead by capitol hill police. krystal griner and david bailey, who have been credited with saving all of the congress members lives. hodgkinson was a retired building inspector from

belleville, illinois, who had been a vocal critic of donald trump online. in one recent facebook post he wrote -- "trump is a traitor. trump has destroyed our democracy. it's time to destroy trump & co." nermeen: hodgkinson had received a license to have a gun earlier this year, despite a history of violent behavior. in 2006, he was arrested for domestic battery and discharge of a firearm. soon after wednesday's shooting, virginia governor terry mcauliffe called for more gun control. >> i tell you this, i think we need to do more to protect all of our citizens. i have long advocated, this is not what today's about, but there are too many guns on the street. downround checks, shutting venture loopholes. that is not for today's discussion. it is not just about politicians. we worry about this every day for all of our citizens. amy: senator bernie sanders took to the senate floor on wednesday after reports emerged indicating that the gunman had once volunteered for his presidential campaign.

sen. sanders: that the alleged shooter at the republican baseball practice this morning is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign. i am sickened by this despicable act. and let me be as clear as i can be, violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. and i condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. real change can only come about through nonviolent action and anything else runs counter to our most deeply held american values. i know i speak for the entire country in saying that my hopes and prayers are that representative scalise, congressional staff, and the capital police officers who were

wounded make a quick and full recovery. i also want to thank the capitol police for their heroic actions to prevent further harm. amy: we go now to capitol hill where we are joined by the longest serving member of congress, democrat john conyers of detroit. he has served in congress since 1965. welcome back to democracy now! can you respond to what took place yesterday? the attack on your fellow congress members -- it looks like steve scalise is in critical condition. an aide to another congressman was shot in the leg. two capitol police officers who were there only because scalise, the number three man in the leadership, has a security detail. and they opened fire on the gunman, killing him. conyers,member john

we're going to go to our discussion, not only about what happened at the alexandria ballfield, but also your ,ntroduction of a major lawsuit 196-member's of congress have sued the president of the united states. we will find out why in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we will be joined by congressman john conyers in a few minutes. most extensive congressional race in u.s. history. the race for the sixth district in georgia. on tuesday, voters will head to the polls to fill the seat left vacant after tom price resigned to become secretary of health and human services. amy: while polls show the democrat jon ossoff in the republican karen handel are in a hereal tie, civil rights butter suppression tactic could cause -- cost jon ossoff election. we turn to reporter greg palast.

georgia sixin congressional district were 6000 very proud, very patriotic and very white georgia citizens are celebrating. republican candidate karen handel, basking in donald trump's endorsement, is working this crowd which has little sympathy for democrats. >> that is who lost the war for us. jane fonda and that group, the whole leftie in the media, too. baby killers. that was all lies. >> this is 30-year-old democratic candidate jon ossoff who fell just two percentage points short of winning this out right in the first round. this should be an easy win for ossof. be theossoff would congressional member right now. he would have won the previous selection but for a combination of systemic voter suppression tactics and techniques.

>> the director of the civil-rights center of washington, d.c. >> the district itself was gerrymandering. the republican leadership has been clear that they gerrymandered in order to ensure it would be held by republicans. >> and it was overtly racist. >> attorney for the aclu. >> the chair of the house redistricting commission says "i am not for drawing [bleep] districts." that is what the court decided to find it was -- he was a racist. >> how did it happen a democrat is favored to win the georgia district racially gerrymandered to give us newt gingrich? the answer is here in this newly built african-american church. in the past few years, there's been a huge influx of african

americans, asian americans, and latinos into these atlanta suburbs. losew could jon ossoff given the new racial map of this congressional district? we talked about voter suppression. >> past or leaching cuts once the congregation about the threat to their rights. >> a lot of things have been going on behind the scenes where there are tactics -- tens oftered literally thousands of minority voters but strangely, the voter forms simply vanished. what's we registered over 86,000 but registration forms. 86,419. 46,000 of the folks we have registered who have made it and 40,000 of them are missing. you know what they told us yet that we don't know what you're talking about. what forms? >> you mean 40

>> the new georgia project. >> with all four of my eyes, we want into county boards of election, registrars, and seen boxes and put her registration forms waiting to be processed. >> if you complain about the missing voter registrations, you could face criminal felony charges and your group could be destroyed. three years ago, i visited the group registering 10,000 korean voters. i met the director. >> asian-americans national are the fastest-growing electorate and our political power is growing. >> they called it voting gagnum style. this past week, i went by their

office to my but it was shuttered an empty. >> he said there was a campaign startedter them -- they registering significant numbers koreans. they were not getting process. they send a letter that said, hey, these are the people we registered to vote. they never got a response from the secretary of state. the next thing you know, there were folks from the georgia bureau of investigation coming, seizing their files, requesting correspondence -- basically, kicking in the door. they shut down the operation. >> georgia gop officials dropped it after two years. by then, the group was put out of business. but even if you get your name on the rolls, gop officials mason for you raise your name through a purge called crosscheck. georgia has a secret list of in

a stanching 660,000 suspected double voters. we got our hands on a copy of the list. according to the crosscheck .ist, this is the same voter the list of used voters was created by this man. donald trump just appointed him to head the voter integrity commission. >> it is looking at the entire issue of voting irregularities and fraud and registration problems. >> i tracked down the republicans candidate karen handel who was happy to talk with me about democrats stealing votes. do you think they will try to sell the selection by having illegal voters? >> i think that they are pulling out all of the stops. >> i wanted to know if the gop really found legal voters or millie purged dark skin innocents. >> do you think the republican party stealing the election by eliminating voters of color from

the voting rolls, using crosscheck that will illuminate a lot of voters -- >> we use the system to make sure illegal voters are not on our roles. >> did you find any? >> we did. >> did you arrest anyone? >> several people were brought before the board. >> georgia did not convict a single double voter. miniature and weird. heard bins blocked me -- her goons like me and pushed me. through publicans have tried -- are you muscling me? ask about theo rage on the voter registration groups. this was the answer. >> usa! >> get out of here, liberal! ♪

>> back at the eagle's nest church, the congregation refuses to go back to the way it used to be, with an election decided not by the voters, but by jim crow. this is greg palast for democracy now! greg palast, investigative journalist, author and director of the documentary "the best democracy money can buy." he joins us now by video stream. the significance of this election and what you found, greg? >> the most dangerous thing is that they are rolling out brand-new jim crow tactics designed by kris kobach. he is then put in charge of the election integrity commission, as donald calls it, to hunt down illegal voters. we know there are no illegal voters, that it is almost an on existing crime, but they're using methods that pull hundreds of thousands of voters off the voter rolls -- legal voters. we're estimated -- i started

this investigation through "rolling stone." it looks like in georgia, 50,000 people were removed from the voter rolls being accused of voting twice, a second time in another state. yet not a single conviction. you heard there were 40,000 names that were supposed to be added to the voter rolls. many in the sixth. they have not been added. they will not be added in time. 10,000 korean voter registration forms -- that group was based in' tortures sixth congressional district. it is one to be tough for jon ossoff to overcome this type of tactic. i am worried -- it looks like this will be the pattern the gop will use nationwide. amy: and that election will take place on june 20 next week. , thank you for joining us, investigative journalist, author and director of the documentary and book "the best democracy money can buy."

we turn back to capitol hill, which remains in shock after house majority whip steve scalise of louisiana and four other people were wounded wednesday when a gunman opened fire at a baseball field in alexandria, virginia. the lawmakers were practicing for a charity congressional game that will take place tonight. nermeen: we're joined by the longest serving member of congress, democrat john conyers of michigan. he served in congress since 1965. amy: welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you back with us. on a very sad day. right now your fellow congressman steve scalise is in critical condition as a result of this shooting. the game will go on tonight with republicans and democrats standing together. but your thoughts today? stir by imd plea to steve -- i am deeply disturbed

by steve scalise's problems. we are all praying for his speedy recovery and hope this will all soon be past. we have got an important commitment here, and i think it is very important that the prevented from spoiling what should be an important consideration. the constitution says no emoluments. let's explainan what you're talking about since no one knew what emoluments meant anyway. it is this lawsuit you are involved with against president trump posted you and nearly 200 congress members from the senate and the congress, 196 overall, are suing president trump,

accusing him of violating the emoluments clause of the constitution by accepting millions of dollars in payments from foreign governments to trump's companies while serving as u.s. president. the lawsuit alleging trump has accepted foreign emoluments, payments, which benefit him directly without going to congress first to get its consent. i want to turn to elizabeth wydra who is president of the constitutional accountability center, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of of you and the 195 other members of congress. this is what she said. >> president trump has received billions of dollars from foreign governments leasing space in his properties, placing diplomats in his hotels. he has received very valuable trademarks from foreign governments. this is just the tip of the iceberg. the benefit at we know he has received from foreign governments in violation of the constitution.

we need to have a transparent process. that is what the constitution envisioned. that is what it requires. we are into court today to make sure the president abides by the constitution. amy: among the violations cited acceptingsuit, trump intellectual property rights when he was granted trademarks are the chinese government and accepted payments from foreign governments by leasing space in his properties and placing diplomats in his hotels. representatives of saudi arabia, turkey, and kuwait have all stayed at trump international hotel in d.c., located near the white house. the lawsuit involving more congressional plaintiffs than any legal action ever taken against a president. congress member john conyers, you're one of the leaders in this lawsuit. why? >> well, because it is simply a constitutional violation that is

an simple, amy. this is something that we can't sit by and let happen as if it doesn't matter. it does matter. complicated or complex or anything else. that is why we have so many congressmen and senators working with us on it. nermeen: can you explain why it is so significant that you say that trump has violated the emoluments clause? why is that so important? --well, it says that , dust money,e many benefits, or other rewards that can't be used in the legislative process. without the emoluments clause,

amy, the government and the lawmakers are subject to all kinds of offers, bribes, inducements. of thes really a waste democratic process if we don't do something about it. and so that is why we are. andave got 160 congressman 30 senators as well all joined with us. --: so far, the 196 of you you and senator blumenthal of connecticut are leaving the charge here in this lawsuit -- are all democrats. among others, the president's spokesperson sean spicer has trumphat these attacks on around the emoluments clause are all partisan.

will any republicans be joining your ranks in this lawsuit? >> we will find out today because we are inviting them to come in. we did not want to get -- we did not want to start off with a debate about what provisions should be allowed, what emphasis and how this should be written. we decided to just start with the people that we knew would join immediately. on now we will be working republicans. and we want them to come in. we hope that some of them do. i think a few of them will. amy: it is an honor to have you with us, congressman john conyers, representing as you can's 13th district, which includes detroit. the current ranking member and former chair of the house judiciary committee. thank you so much for joining us

from the capital. in a moment, when we come back from break, we will be joined by your colleague barbara lee to talk not only about the shooting that has taken place -- she also has joined this lawsuit -- but also what president trump is expected to do now in miami. and that is to curtail the opening of cuba will step we ask you to stay with us. we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we spend the rest of

the hour with democratic congresswoman barbara lee, chair of the congressional progressive caucus peace & security task force. she is also the former chair of the congressional black caucus. amy: there is a lot we want to talk about, but we're going to begin with wednesday's twin shootings. in alexandria, virginia, a gunman opening fire at a baseball field, shooting house majority with steve scalise of louisiana and four others. congress member scalise is in critical condition. killed dead by two capitol police. he has been identified as 60 60 white man named james tommy hodgkinson from belleville, illinois. he is a history of being arrested for domestic violence. he is made violent threats online and one recent facebook post he wrote --

been in san francisco, just outside of congress member barbara lee's district, a ups employee shot dead three of his colleagues before killing himself. our guest is barbara lee of the bay area, democrat of california, charity congressional progressive caucus , peace and security task force. what happened in your area, in san francisco, hardly got any attention, the death of the three ups workers as well as the gunman because it was atrshadowed by the shooting baseballessional practice. can you talk about what has been taking place in the last 24 hours, congress member lee? >> first of all, it is a very sad moment. not only for us in washington, d.c., but for the bay area, my district, for san francisco. death, violence -- you know,

this is a very somber moment. my prayers and thoughts go out to the victims and families of those here in washington, d.c., and in the bay area. we just have to look at the investigations, where they lead, what they reveal, but we have to make sure that each of us do our part to ensure that the environment in which we live is not hostile, not toxic, and does not lead to allowing people who do such heinous acts to commit these crimes. it is so sick, really. it is sad. it is tragic. i think at this moment, what most of us are doing is trying to help reduce the tensions and to continue to reflect upon what

happened and to pray for those who have suffered so much. nermeen: what was your response when you heard that he is one of the people who is very critical of trump, signing a petition against him and writing in a facebook comment that it is time to destroy trump and company? violence andndemn those kinds of behaviors and actions by anyone. that is outrageous. it is terrible. it is hateful. it led to this. it led to the serious critical andries of my colleague capitol police, staff, and others. so these kind of behaviors and thought that lead to this kind of violence is very dangerous. it is up to all of us to make

sure we talk about how wrong this is and how dangerous this is and how we must really speak about violence and help reduce the hate in this country because there is quite a bit of hate right now. this is an example of his comments and whatever the authorities are learning about tragic.ly is again, right now, though, our thoughts and prayers are with those, you know, have been hurt in the fact by were killed -- the families of those in the bay area who have been so tragically killed. nermeen: i want to go to one of the people who has come out saying that liberals, so-called liberal politicians, and others are responsible for shootings like this one. this is fox news cohost speaking shortly after the shooting. >> there's been a sea change

recently. in the words of liberal politicians and celebrities early to use, democrat politicians have in playing fast and loose with the way they disagree with the right on the geo p health care law alone. cory booker said this will "mean death, pain, and suffering. terry mcauliffe of virginia said, people are going to die. virginia. let's call it the home field for today shooting. shakespeare's bloody rampage, it goes on and on. how many innocent people have to die before we realize that words do matter? crazy people act on the crazy things they hear from politicians and celebrities. think before you utter those blind, hateful words next time, liberals. fox newsthat was a cohost speaking shortly after the shooting on wednesday. congresswoman barbara lee, your response? >> i'm not going to respond to that.

he is politicizing it. at this moment, i think those that politicizing what has taken place need to stop it, quite frankly. really reflect and pray for the people that, you know, are ill andery critically for the families and victims of those who were killed. he should just stop it. i'm not going to respond to it. we of plenty of time to talk about it. right now is not the time to do it. amy: let me go to virginia governor mcauliffe who came to after the who spoke alexandria shooting and talked about how there are too many guns on the street. do more towe need to protect all of our citizens. i have long advocated -- this is not what today's about, but there are too many guns on the street. background checks, shutting down gun show loopholes. that is not for today's discussion, but it is not just about politicians.

we worry about this every day for all of our citizens. amy: that is governor mcauliffe. the national spokesperson for the nra, the national rifle association, criticized governor mcauliffe's comments. this is the nra's dana loesch speaking on fox news. >> i think that the governor's assertion of this is inaccurate. he also mentions loopholes, which is fabricated term that people use when they do not want to describe criminal acts. it is a made-up term. there is still such thing as a loophole. private sales are very heavily regulated by the federal government. there are a number of laws that govern those. first and foremost, private sales are only for hobbyist or historical artifacts. you cannot be a storefront and engage -- being aging in an intrastate sale without having to run a background check. he is horribly misinformed.

amy: that is the nra spokesperson. barbara lee, your response? beenny of us have long advocates for gun safety measures. so i agree with governor mcauliffe. once again, this is not the time, as i said earlier, to get into our policy debate. we have to take the time to really try to bring the country together. we have our debate about gun safety and gun control, and we will continue to do that because we know there are too many guns out there on the street. we need background checks. we need all of the common sense gun safety measures that we have talked about for decades. though, iot the time, don't believe, for the nra or for any of us who have been fighting these battles for so many years to really talk about it will stop we need to try to figure out some common ground. so our children can see at least during moments of crises, that

democrats and republicans can, conservatives and progressives, are trying to bring the country together so we can continue with our democracy and fight for the values and the policies we believe are correct for the country. amy: congress member lee, we also want ask about u.s.-cuban relations. president trump surprised many, i think, when it was announced in the last few days that he is expected to announce friday in miami, is in fact he goes there given all that has happened in washington right now, to roll back some of the u.s. new diplomatic and commercial relations with cuba which were , brokered under the obama administration. bloomberg news reports the changes may include curbing travel between the u.s. and cuba. now you can take a direct flight, for example, from new york. other changes may include reinstating restrictions on americans visiting cuba and famous cuban goods, like cigars and rum.

officials also say trump might demand the extradition of people who have received political asylum in cuba, like assata shakur. can you respond to what you understand his plans are? we don't know if in fact he is going to miami tomorrow, but what you understand he wants to do? >> it is hard to know from this white house, this president. we spoke with secretary tillerson about that will stop he responded in a way, you know, indicated to me that what you just said is accurate, that they do want to roll back the opening that president obama made as it relates to u.s.-cuba relations. 65% of people, cuban-americans in miami-dade county, support moving forward and normalizing relations. this is a failed policy, over 50 years old. why in the world do americans not have the right to travel to cuba freely?

we can go to china will stop we can go to vietnam. why in the world can businesses not trade with cuba and do business with cuba? if the president rolls back many of president obama's policies, we stand to lose billions of dollars. so far, aliens of jobs have been created. i think we have $6 billion in revenue. it is quite a bit of revenue that we have as it relates to cuba. i think the economic impact of doing business with cuba is extremely important. congresswoman barbara lee, i also want to ask you about u.s. military action in iraq, syria, and afghanistan. you and investigators say u.s. led bombing has killed 300 civilians in raqqa.

dozens of iraqi civilians have been killed in mosul recently st otheirs theews that presidentrump has given the pentagon the ability to set oop vels in afghanistan, which means u.s. may deploy thousands more troops there. the lone001, you were vote against the authorization for use of military force after the september 11 attack. how do you see these wars being waged in a president trump? of the continuation authorization that, unfortunately, was a blank check that a voted against in 2001. this president needs to come to congress. we need a debate. we need to vote up or down on a new strategy. we do not know with the new strategy is or what is taking place. congress has the responsibility to authorize the use of force. this president has not come for that, yet he continues to expand these wars. the war in afghanistan is the longest war in american history. 16 years.

at what point will the country say enough is enough and insist the president come back to congress for authorization? i have a bill to repeal the 2001 authorization. we should vote that up -- we should vote it out, actually. i have republican support for that bill. we have legislation to stop the funding for these wars that are unauthorized. so congress is missing in action. what they're doing at this point is hard to determine. it seems like he has outsourced this to the secretary of defense. the president continues on this footing that create more havoc and chaos and has no strategy. so more civilians are being killed and we really need to understand what the cost and consequences of these wars and minimally require a debate and a vote so we can have -- so the mecca people, at least, can know

with the strategy is and what it is going to cost. amy: one of the top news stories today, president trump now under investigation for possible obstruction of justice. "the new york times" is a reporting special counsel robert mueller's investigation is looking into whether trump's associates, including a son-in-law and senior adviser jerk kushner, have committed in the financial crimes, including money laundering aimed at hiding possible financial payoffs that might've been part of a cooperation between trump associates and russian

conyers around emoluments and suing the president of the united states. to you respond to all of this? >> it is important is investigations continue. robert mueller, we wanted a special prosecutor, but we also wanted independent commission. i'm a plaintiff in the emoluments lawsuit. it is important we know if this president has benefited monetarily or otherwise from foreign governments. that clearly is against the constitution. i believe we have 200 plaintiffs in this lawsuit. of these investigations are extremely important because the american people, first of all, need to know the facts and we need to see be presidents tax returns -- president's tax returns. why isn't allow the public to look at his tax return? something is going on that is very serious and these investigations are moving ford. we also need an independent commission to conduct an independent bipartisan investigation. amy: barbara lee, we thank you for being with us, democratic california chair of the congressional progressive caucus, peace and security task force. also former chair of the congressional black caucus. this is democracy now! 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!] -on this episode of "eat! drink! italy!"...

tony verdoni and i visit carmignano, the ancient home of one of italy's earliest superstars. then i make one of italy's fun dishes -- tortelloni. and tony and i return to tuscany to taste a 1931 carmignano. my name is vic rallo, and i eat and drink italy. follow me, and i'll prove it. -"eat! drink! italy!" is brought to you by... wine enthusiast magazine and catalog -- for wine storage, glassware, and accessories. the historic count basie theatre in red bank, new jersey. the atalanta corporation -- importing authentic italian products and more for over 50 years. coffee afficionado -- artisanal roasters of sustainably sourced coffee.