05/09/18 05/09/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: the fact is this was a horrible, one-sided deal that should never, ever have been made. it did not bring calm. it did not bring peace. and it never will. amy: president trump has declared the united states is withdrawing from the landmark iran nuclear agreement and re-imposing sanctions on tehran. former president obama warns the move could lead to another war in the middle east. european nations are scrambling to save the deal. >> the nuclear deal with iran is crucial for the security of europe and of the entire world.

amy: we will speak with trita .arsi and medea benjamin plus, it was primary day in four states tuesday. the coal baron don blankenship loses in west virginia, as does dennis kucinich, who ran for governor in ohio. but it is a big day for female candidates running for house seats. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. european nations are scrambling to save the landmark nuclear agreement with iran one day after president trump announced you will pull the u.s. out of the deal and reimposing to an's on iran. iss. trump: the iran deal defective at its core. if we do nothing, we know .xactly what will happen

in just a short period of time, the world's leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world's most dangerous weapons. therefore, i am announcing today that the united states will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. amy: the 2015 agreement was worked out by the united states and five other world powers, as well as iran. agreed to the international atomic energy agency, iran has continued to meet its obligations under the agreement. we will have more on trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 deal after headlines. "the new york times" is reporting that president trump's longtime personal lawyer michael cohen paid adult film star stormy daniels $130,000 in hush money using a shell company that was funded, in part, by a billionaire russian oligarch. the hush money, paid days before the 2016 election, was intended to keep stormy daniels, also

known as stephanie cliffords, from speaking out about her alleged affair with donald trump back in 2006. newly reviewed financial documents show cohen paid daniels through a shell company named essential consultants llc. this company later received $500,000 from a new york investment firm named columbus nova, whose biggest client is a company controlled by russian billionaire viktor vekselberg, who was stopped and questioned at an airport earlier this year by investigators for special counsel robert mueller. federal prosecutors are investigating cohen for possible election law violations and bank fraud. trump has admitted he reimbursed cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment to daniels. "the new york times" also reports cohen used the shell shell company essential consultants to collect a quarter of a million dollars after cohen brokered a separate hush money payment for major republican donor elliott broidy, who paid off a former playboy model to keep quiet about their affair, which resulted in her having an

abortion. other companies that contributed to essential consultants are korea aerospace industries, which was competing for a multibillion dollar contract to provide trainer jets for the u.s. air force, and at&t who is proposed urge with time warner's currently pending before the justice department. novartis pharmaceuticals also paid in. deputy cia director gina haspel is testifying in front of the senate intelligence committee for her confirmation hearing as cia director today. haspel was responsible for running a secret cia black site in thailand in 2002, where one prisoner was waterboarded 83 times and tortured in other ways. the former acting director of the cia has also confirmed that in 2005, haspel personally oversaw the destruction of videotapes showing torture at the black site. today's hearing will mark the first time haspel will be forced to speak publicly about her role in the u.s. torture program.

if the legislators ask her about it. among those seeking to testify about haspel's role is guantanamo prisoner khalid sheikh mohammed, the accused architect of the 9/11 attacks . he was held at secret cia prisons in afghanistan and poland. it is not yet known whether haspel was involved directly or indirectly in khalid sheikh mohammed's torture. he is currently at quantum on a mobile stop new york attorney guantanamo. two women, manning barish and tanya selvaratnam, say schneiderman repeatedly hit them, slapping them across the face, and choking them to the point they each sought medical attention. they both also accuse schneiderman of threatening to kill them if they broke up with him.

new york solicitor general will now service the acting attorney general of new york. five more executives have stepped down at nike, where a sweeping investigation into workplace harassment and misconduct towards women employees is underway. a total of 11 senior managers have left nike so far. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo is visiting north korea today to finalize plans for the proposed meeting between president trump and north korea's leader kim jong un. there is also speculation that pompeo may return to the u.s. with three americans who have been imprisoned in north korea -- kim dong chul, kim hak song , and tony kim. voters in four states headed to the polls tuesday to decide a number of key primaries. in west virginia can the republican attorney general patrick morsi one a closely u.s. senate primary, defeating commerce member evan jenkins and former coal baron don

blankenship, who served a year in prison after 29 miners died in an explosion at his upper big branch mine owned by his company massey. patrick morrissey will now face the conservative democratic senator joe manchin in november. in ohio, richard cordray to be did former commerce member dennis kucinich for governor. cordray served as the first director of the consumer financial protection bureau. you will now face mike dewine in november to determine who will replace outgoing ohio governor john kasich. in indiana, vice president mike pence brother greg pence won the republican primary for congressional seat in eastern indiana that vice president once sat in. female candidates are also big winners on tuesday. politico reports there were 20 "it house primaries with women on the ballot tuesday night, and voters selected a female nominee in 17 of them.

we will have more on the primaries later in the broadcast. in armenia, thousands of people took to the streets tuesday to celebrate after opposition leader nikol pashinyan was elected prime minister by armenia's parliament. the election followed weeks of anti-corruption and anti-government protests which toppled former president serzh sargsyan in april. the new prime minister is a former journalist and publisher. meanwhile, in hungary, thousands of people demonstrated outside parliament tuesday as far-right-wing prime minister viktor orban was formally sworn in for a third term. he led a xenophobic, anti-immigrant campaign and won two-thirds of the seats in parliament in april, giving him even more power to reshape hungary's constitution. the israeli government has ordered the deportation of human rights watch's israel and palestine director omar shakir. israel has accused shakir, who is a u.s. citizen, of promoting the nonviolent boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, which targets israel

over its treatment of palestinians. he now has 14 days to leave israel. this comes less than two weeks after two u.s. human rights lawyers -- columbia university's professor katherine franke and center for constitutional rights executive director vincent warren -- were detained for 14 hours at tel aviv's ben gurion international airport before being deported back to the united states. you can see the interview with them at democracynow.org. back in the united states, arizona republican senator john mccain, who is battling brain cancer, has indicated he does not want president trump to attend his funeral. he also says he wants former president barack obama and george w. bush to deliver the eulogies at his funeral. in new york city, dozens of journalists rallied outside the headquarters of alden global capital tuesday to protest censorship and layoffs imposed by the nation's second-largest newspaper chain, digital first media, which is owned by the new

york-based hedge fund. -- hedge fund alden. >> my name is george kelly. i'm a reporter in oakland, california. we won a pulitzer prize last inr covering the fire oakland were 36 people lost her lives. our breaking news reporters, our photographers and editors worked to hold institutions accountable. we need to know nothing like this could ever happen again. we won the prize and we had layoffs a week later. i flew 3000 miles today to give alden global capital a message -- invest or sell. amy: to see our full coverage of journalists protesting against alden global capital, go to our website democracynow.org. we interviewed reporters from the denver post and the boulder daily camera.

ruled thea judge has permit for the proposed 163 mile bayou bridge pipeline is illegal, meaning the pipeline's construction must now be halted as the permit is reconsidered. the proposed pipeline has faced mounting resistance from residents and environmental activists. it's being built by energy transfer partners, the same company behind the dakota access pipeline. in california, the granddaughter of bob marley is vowing to sue the rialto police department after she and two other friends were surrounded by a swarm of police cars and a police helicopter as they were checking out of an airbnb rental. the three women are all black. the police were dispatched after a white neighbor saw the three women carrying suitcases out of the rental home, and called the police to report a possible burglary. it's the latest in a series of high-profile incidents of racial profiling and racial discrimination, including two black men being arrested at a philadelphia starbucks for being inside the coffee shop while they were waiting for a third man to arrive for a business meeting.

and activists around the country have begun bailing black women out of jail as part of the second annual "black mama's bail free black mothers and reunite them with their loved ones ahead of mother's day on sunday. this is song's co-director, mark hooks, speaking on democracy now! last year during the first black mama's bail out. ofwe know that about 80% black women that are sitting in cages right now are single parents and caretakers. we know one out of three black trans women who have spent time in the case have experienced sexual violence in the cage. one out of nine black children have parents who are incarcerated. our goal is to be able to free our people from these cages using the traditions from our ancestors that bought each other's collective freedom to get our folks back home and to highlight the crisis around the cash failed system, put pressure

on all of these institutions were making money off of our peoples suffering, but most important, restore the life that this cash failed system is taken from our people. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. european nations are scrambling to save the landmark nuclear agreement with iran one day after president trump announced he would pull the united states out of the deal and reimpose sanctions on iran. pres. trump: we have also consulted with our friends from across the middle east. we are unified in our understanding of the threat and in our conviction that iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon. after these consultations, it is clear to me that we cannot prevent an iranian nuclear bomb

under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. the iran deal is defective at its core. if we do nothing, we know .xactly what will happen in just a short period of time, the world's leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world's most dangerous weapon. therefore, i am announcing today that the united states will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. the 2015 agreement was worked out by the united states, five other world powers, and iran. former president obama described trump's decision to withdraw as a serious mistake and warned it could lead to another war in the middle east. the iranian president rouhani responded by saying iran would continue to abide by the

agreement and would not renew its nuclear program for now. trump's decision was praised by israel and u.s. allies in the gulf, including saudi arabia. but widely criticized across much of the world. earlier today, the top european union diplomat federica mogherini urged the international community to stick to the iran nuclear deal despite trump's decision. >> the nuclear deal with iran is a culmination of 12 years of diplomacy. it belongs to the entire international community. it has been working and it is delivering on its goal, which is guaranteeing that karen doesn't develop nuclear weapons. the european union is determined to reserve it. we expect the rest of the international community to continue to do its part to guarantee that he continues to be fully implemented for the sake of our own collective security. let me conclude with a message to the iranian citizens and

leaders. to each and every one of them, do not let anyone dismantle this agreement. it is one of the biggest achievements diplomacy has ever have builtand we this together. amy: we are joined now by two guests. trita parsi is founder and president of the national iranian american council. most recent book "losing an , enemy: obama, iran, and the triumph of diplomacy." and medea benjamin, co-founder of codepink. her brand-new book is titled "inside iran: the real history and politics of the islamic republic of iran." also author of "kingdom of the unjust: behind the u.s.-saudi connection." we welcome you both to democracy now! begin with, let's you. so president trump he would do this repeatedly. john bolton has said for years .e wanted to bomb iran and now yesterday at 2:00 eastern time, president trump made the announcement he is pulling out of the agreement. the significance of this for iran in the world?

>> i think we need to stop underestimating trump. people are going to think he was going to win the election -- people did not think he was going to win the election, he did. people did not think you would pull out of paris, he did. people did not think he would dismantle many of these other agreements that he has been talking about, and he has done that. now he has also walked out of deal, impose the muslim band. all of the things he said he would do he has done. as a result, we should be very careful not to underestimate the risk of war now, mindful of the warlike language that trump now has begun to use john bolton standing right behind him. i think this is extremely dangerous situation. much more dangerous than we had in 2011 and 2012. because even though the u.s. was inching closer to a war with iran back then and iran was moving forward with its nuclear program, back then there was still a diplomatic option that had not been exhausted.

there was political will on both sides to pursue that diplomatic option. thep has eliminated all of diplomatic options and clearly does not have any political will to pursue diplomacy. so as we are now back in the situation in which we're inching closer to a war, we're in a worse situation because we don't see any exit. of thise of the aspects is not only that he is pulling the u.s. out of the agreement, but that also threats to punish european companies who then violate sanctions, reimpose sanctions by the u.s. come of the impact of this on the other u.s. allies? will bempact of that that it will become very difficult for the rest of the world to essentially ensure this deal survives. because even if the governments make something that many people don't expect them to be up to do -- which is to actually put forward blocking mechanisms encounter sanctions in order to

protect their companies so they can continue to trade with iran because that trait is legal -- even if they do that, there's a high likelihood many of the companies will choose not to enter the iranian market because they do not want to lose access to the american market. as a result, the iranians will not end up getting what they have been promised as a result of them restricting the nuclear program. so there is a great difficulty seeing how this deal can survive unless there is a massive international mobilization to make sure that these extraterritorial sanctions imposed by the u.s. on the rest of the world, including u.s. allies, are just completely rejected on the principle that the united states is not in a position to pass laws on other countries. amy: interestingly, rex tillerson,ormer secretary of state, closed down the sanctions office in the state department and the sanctions office in treasury -- the two places that

enforce sanctions -- the head of it for the last three years john smith just left on friday. i wanted to ask you about a rainy president rouhani, his statement that iran would remain committed to the agreement formally known as the jcpoa, joint conference of plan of action. i have instructed the foreign ministry to carry out over the next few weeks all necessary discussions and consultations with european signatories to the jcpoa and two other key countries, russia and china. that is in order to court big issues with them. if at the conclusion of these talks, which will be held over a short and specific period, we can see that we can work with these five countries minus the united states and the commitment outlined in the jcpoa that are of benefit to the iranian nation, then we will remain in the agreement despite the wishes to the contrary of the united states and the zionist regime.

their efforts to undermine the deal and the inappropriate words and i from trump. we will take steps toward keys and security in the region and the wider world. if we see our interest cannot be guaranteed that i will address the iranian nation and i will inform them of the government's decisions. tonight the united states officially announced that it does not respect international treaties. esther trump, even before taking hadon against jcpoa, rejected the paris, the court and decided to leave it agreement which is of great benefit and imports to the world environment. amy: that is the iranian leader rouhani. medea benjamin, cofounder of codepink, your book has just come out this week "inside iran: the real history and politics of the islamic republic of iran." talk about what he is saying and also who this serves, who wanted arabia, israel,

uae -- who did not want it? the european countries and iran. and who president trump is aligned with now. you set it, amy. president trump is aligned with sliver ofrow countries, and that is basically israel and saudi arabia. he is talking about iran as the spreader of terrorism in the middle east. but look at who has been the qaeda, hasis and al been saudi arabia, not iran. you look at who has been meddling in the internal affairs in the middle east. first of all, it is the u.s. the u.s. has no business to be in the middle east, but we have been since the time of the invasion of iraq, destroying country after country. you look at the issue of who has nuclear weapons. i think it is important just to

say incredible hypocrisy first of the united states that has thousands of nuclear weapons, as does russia, but then of netanyahu being the one to --pose iran," went israel israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons. israel refuses to join the nonproliferation treaty post up refuses to having the international inspectors. this is the person that donald trump is listening to about supposed iranian violations. let's be clear, iran does not have nuclear weapons. israel has hundreds of them. iran has called for nuclear weapons free middle east, which i think we should all get on board for. amy: we're going to go to break and then come back to this discussion with medea benjamin. her new book, "inside iran." and trita parsi, head of the national iranian american

council. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the headline, the banner headline across the full front page of "the times" -- "trump abandons iran pak he long scorned." guests, trita parsi and medea benjamin. i am amy goodman with juan and zealous. about i wanted ask you sheldon adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who was donald trump's biggest campaign contributor. also a major critic of the iran deal in 2013 suggested u.s. the lunch a nuclear strike in the desert of iran as a warning shot before holding negotiations.

and president trump is scheduled to meet with his biggest campaign contributor today. >> yes, indeed. i think one of the problems with trying to analyze donald trump is people have tried use a regular models of trying to the geopolitical calculations behind various moves he is making. but this is an individual who doesn't not understand geopolitics, does not think along those lines. it is much easier to get an understanding of what he is thinking and seeking to do by looking at who is paying him and looking at where those type of interest are. it is clear that sheldon adelson has argued not only for war with iran more than anyone else, but arguing for nuclear strike against iran and the main funder of many, many of the groups that have been pushing the u.s. to go in this direction and have a military confrontation with iran . amy: let's play a clip of sheldon adelson to hear it directly what he has to say.

>> i would say, listen, you see that desert out there? i want to show you something. you pick up your cell phone. what do they:? roaming charges. you pick up your cell phone and you call somewhere in nebraska and you say, ok, let it go. there is an atomic weapon that goes over ballistic missiles in the middle of the desert that does not hurt a soul. maybe a couple of rattle snakes and scorpions or whatever. and then you say, see? the next one is in the middle of tehran. we mean business. you want to be wiped out? go ahead and continue with your nuclear development. juan: sheldon adelson, the billionaire casino magnate a major republican and trump donor in his own words talking about the united states sending a

signal that we mean business. >> i think what we should see here is that this decision, this decision to kill this deal as trump has now made, this is the moment that the situation was turning to a crisis. we had a triumph of diplomacy. the deal was working. the only thing not working was the u.s. under trump was cheating on it. if we now, six month, nine months, 12 months from now and up in a military confrontation with iran as sheldon adelson wants, we should remember that conflict was started yesterday when donald trump to cheat on this declare deal and pull the u.s. out of it. amy: i want to turn to president trump's new national security adviser john bolton. last your before he joined the trump administration, he addressed mek, a group of iranian exiles who have called for regime change in iran. the mek was once on the state department's list of foreign terrorist organizations before

reinventing itself. this is what john bolton said than. >> i have said for over 10 years since coming to these events that the declared policy of the united states of america should be the overthrow of the regime in tehran. [applause] the behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change. therefore, the only solution is to change the regime itself. [applause] that is why before 2019, we hear will celebrate tehran in. thank you very much. amy: john bolton saying "we hear will celebrate in tehran? on saturday, trump's new attorney rudy giuliani spoke at a conference organized by a group that is allied with the exiled iranian dissident movement mek, which was once considered a terrorist organization by the u.s. state

department. >> we have a president who is tough, a president who doesn't listen to the people who are naysayers, and a president that is as committed to regime change as we are. amy: that is rudy giuliani and john bolton. medea benjamin, can you respond to what they're saying? john bolton, that is just one of the later comments he made, it continually over the years he is push for bombing iran. clear thats for a for him this is about regime change, just as a spectacle of giuliani speaking at this iran freedom convention that took place over the weekend and washington, d.c. where he spit on his piece of paper as if it were the iran nuclear deal and talked about meeting with the mek in tehran, that they were going to somehow miraculously take over from the government in power now.

let's be clear. this is a group that was not only on the terrorist list until 2012, but a group that has probably about zero popularity inside iran from the time is sided with saddam hussein against the iranian people during that brutal eight-year war from 1980 to 1988. this is a cult-like group that would in no way be a group that could take over from the present government iran in iran, but this is the delusion of people that are surrounding donald trump. so it is so dangerous that we pulled out of the nuclear deal, but it is also so incredibly dangerous that the person in the white house has no sense of history of how we have metal in iran's affairs, overthrowing the democratically elected government in 1953 that paves the way for the islamic revolution in 1979, interfered internally in aransas years in all kinds of ways from hundreds

of millions of dollars spent on covert activities and crippling sanctions. and in some ways, this only strengthens the regime in power. so i think the pulling out of the nuclear deal strengthens the hardliners in iran, makes people feel they have to rally around the flag, rally around the government. and it certainly does not help anyone inside iran who wants to see more gradual kinds of reforms for a more democratic government inside iran. i'm: trita parsi, wondering if you could talk about black cube, the private intelligence israeli intelligence firm that the trump administration reportedly hired to target former u.s. officials who support the iran agreement. >> so we have this in addition to what is going on here come the situation in which apparently, the trump administration has been using a foreign intelligence firm filled with former mossad agents to spy

and try to trap american individuals and organizations. target of, i was a this as well with one person contacting me pretending to be a journalist and then trying to goad me into saying things that would be problematic for the obama administration in order to put the iran nuclear deal and a bad light and uses later on to discredit the people who were behind the nuclear deal and the people who were supporting it will stop i think it shows the desperation that some of these elements have gone to to try to create this crisis and to try to then drive it toward a military confrontation. amy: the significance of this, black cube made up of former mossad agents targeting you -- and i would ask you know that -- and also targeting obama's top national security aide ben rosanne vice president joe biden, national security advisor: call. how did you find out you are among those targeted? >> i was first informed late last week by a journalist that

had come across the list of target. he told me i was one of the primary targets. i think it was a day later i got a call from another journalist who read to me the transcript of one of my conversations with one of these black cube pretending to be a journalist. and that is how i realized -- they are not tapping my phone, but they are calling the and taping those conversations. amy: we should say the guardian and the observer say it was a black cube.ho hard "the new york times" says it is not clear who hired them. >> my understanding based on conversations with these journalists is it was very clear to the people who were working at black cube and were outsourcing this to some people that the actual client was the trump administration, whether it was trump himself or some of his aides or people around him. that may not be as clear, but

the real client was the trump administration. juan: medea, you are very involved in the peace movement against the iraq war. i'm wondering what your senses of what needs to be done now to further deterioration of relationships between the united states and iran and what you think bps move it should do -- especially in light of the fact that some polish oh as much as 62% of the american people believe the packed with iran should be maintained? >> that's right. we have to mobilize the public opinion. we have put out a letter to the people of iran, an apology from the american people. we would like hundreds of thousands of people to sign that. that is on codepink.org. we're reaching out to iranians as people to people ties. we're reaching out to our

colleagues in europe to see how we can strengthen their efforts and actually impose sanctions on the united states. we have to push our congress to be speaking out against what trump has done and change the congress come november. we have to tell the iranians and the world community that trump is hopefully not long to be in the white house, and that we want to get someone in there and people in congress who represent the american people, as you say, overwhelmingly are in support of the iran nuclear deal and certainly do not want another war in the middle east. we of seen how devastating the last 16 years have been to the people in the region, but also to our own economy. we see right now even from what trump has done, the price of oil going up. this is going to affect every single american. we need to mobilize people left, right, independent to stop trump from taking us into war with iran. solutions to no

any of the conflicts in the middle east without iran. we need iran to work together to end the violence in the middle east. amy: also i want to talk about .hat this means for north korea when the president of the united states pulls out of a packed come this multicountry packed with iran, i want to go back to trump speaking yesterday. pres. trump: sends a critical message. united states no longer makes empty threats. when i make promises, i keep them. in fact, at this very moment, secretary pompeo is on his way to north korea in preparation for my upcoming meeting with kim jong-un. plans are being made. relationships are building. hopefully, a deal will happen. and with the help of china, south korea, and japan, a future

of great prosperity and security can be achieved for everyone. amy: president trump says "when ."make promises, i keep them when the u.s. makes promises, he breaks them. what does this mean for north korea? you have been extremely involved in trying to fight for peace on the korean peninsula. you are part of women cross the dmz. what message is this sending on the eve of apparently the summit that will take place between kim jong-un and trump? >> is certainly since the message that trump cannot been trusted. it says to the world community that you're are in a better position to negotiate if you already have nuclear weapons,'s are you better get them quickly. oneke we have to recognize of the saving graces around the issues of korea is the people of south korea and how much they have mobilized and how much

pressure there is from the south to have a deal. i am on my way to south korea with women across the dmz to meet with those groups at the end of the month. i think, at least in the case of the korean peninsula, the north and south, no matter what donald tomp, are determined to come be still. amy: we're going to leave it there as we move on to the primaries that took place in four states around the country. we want to thank medea benjamin. her book is "inside iran: the real history and politics of the islamic republic of iran." and thank you to trita parsi of the national iranian american council. this is democracy now! of course we will continue to cover the fallout of the u.s. pulling out of the iran nuclear agreement. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman and juan

gonzalez. juan: voters in west virginia, ohio, indiana, and north carolina headed to the polls tuesday to decide a number of key primaries. in west virginia, the state's attorney general patrick morrisey won a closely watched u.s. senate primary defeating u.s. representative evan jenkins and former coal baron don blankenship. blankenship had served a year in prison after 29 miners died in the 2010 upper big branch mine disaster. he faced intense criticism after releasing an ad attacking senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and his "china family." patrick morrissey will now face the conservative democratic senator joe manchin in november. in ohio, richard cordray defeated former congressmember dennis kucinich in the state's democratic primary for governor. cordray served as the first director of the consumer financial protection bureau. he will now face mike dewine in november to determine who will replace outgoing ohio governor john kasich.

amy: in indiana, vice president mike pence's brother, greg pence, won the republican primary for a congressional seat in eastern indiana. it was once, welcome to vice president pence's. female candidates were also big winners on tuesday. according to politico, there were 20 open democratic house primaries with women on the ballot and voters selected a female nominee in 17 of them. in ohio, rachel crooks, one of the women who is accused trump of assault, won. to talk more about these races another primary results, we are joined by two guests. here in new york is tim murphy. he's a senior reporter at mother jones. his latest story is headlined "donald trump's attacks on the justice system are helping this ex-con coal baron's campaign." and in washington is kevin robillard, senior political reporter for huffpost.

tim, i want to begin with you and west virginia. because while don blankenship did not win, the man who went to prison related to the deaths of hisiners at one of messy energy coal mines, he did rock the republican party. i want to go right now to his ad. this is one of don blankenship's ads or he attacked mitch mcconnell in a so-called "china family." mcconnell, who has opposed the senate run, is meant to secretary of transportation elaine chao. cooks and candidate for u.s. senate and i approve this message. mcconnell has greeted millions of jobs for china people will doing so he has gotten rich. in fact, his china family has given him tens of lanes of dollars. images one people now running

false negative ads against me. there also child asleep calling me -- childless legally despicable. ditch be joe manchin and cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. amy: cocaine mitch and the china family and elaine chao's father referred to as the china person. you might just say, well, he lost, that is the point. but this was very significant and republican politics. >> is important to note don blankenship loss last night but these kind of attacks has worked for republicans in the recent past. you don't have to look any further than president trump. it worked for roy moore to a point. there is reason to think it will work again. don blankenship happened to be uniquely fatally flawed for a state like was for junior. he had just come out of federal prison.

he has described himself as the most hated man in the county. ironically, one of the county won last night. amy: his probation? on wednesday so he can finally drive out of the state of west virginia if you wishes to. he was a longtime resident of las vegas until he came back to run for senate. perhaps he will return home. this has worked for republicans in the past and might work again in the fact blankenship came as close as he did. wasn't part of that that he had a few million dollars of his own money to throw into the campaign? otherwise he would not be able to have all of these ads. >> that gets into the new era of area.publican he loaned his campaign about $2

million and spent that on some of the lowest quality campaign ads you will ever see. ,e just pumped in ad after ad all basically on the level you just saw. if it was not cocaine mitch, it was attacking opponents, attacking president obama, african-american judges, you name it. not he refers to negroes, african-american. >> he ran an ad where he just showed the faces of the judges on the fourth circuit court of appeals who upheld his conviction for african-american judges so people knew. amy: he is not -- he is saying it is not that he referred to the china family or cocaine mitch, he is saying it is because trump refused to endorse him. >> yeah, and when trump said vote for anybody else, blankenship said, well, i am trumpiper than trump. at the end of the day,

that probably made a pretty big difference. it wasn't that his opponents really went after him because up until the final days, they did not really touch don blankenship at all. juan: i would like to bring in kevin robillard to the discussion. your big take away from the voting around the country, especially the ohio race with richard cordray and dennis kucinich, two stalwarts of the sort of progressive or liberal wing of the democratic party going head-to-head against each other? >> that quite close and it ended up basically being a pretty much wrong by cordray. he even won in kucinich's hometown. it really ended up being cordray was sort of backed by elements of the left ava probably say the democratic establishment in the state. yet the backing of elizabeth warren, the massachusetts senator who came up with the

idea for the consumer financial protection bureau. yet the backing of ted strickland. ournich had the backing of revolution, which is the political group that came out of bernie sanders campaign, but not of bernie sanders himself, which may have made a difference here. it ended up being a pretty big sweep by cordray and really just shows the democratic establishment is still pretty good at winning these gubernatorial primaries. at this point they have won the last several in a row dating back to last years virginia gubernatorial race. they also won in new jersey and illinois recently. really, shows the democratic establishment still has a pretty big hold on these democratic primaries. and that for the most part, all of this liberal energy we are saying has not necessarily theslated into wins for most progressive candidates on the ballot. no one is saying richard cordray is not progressive, but clearly dennis kucinich was on the left of him. amy: dennis kucinich ran along

with terror samples whose thecan-american to be his jenna governor. i want to turn to richard cordray delivering his victory speech last night. >> i have spent my entire career fighting for ohio consumers, retirees, and families. i've taken on powerful interest and got your money back when people mistreated you or tried to take advantage of you. meanwhile, mike dewine has been serving those at the top, enabling kovel interest to have their way in washington and now in columbus. instead of being an advocate, he let ohioans be taken advantage , undermining our future. amy: that was richard cordray who you may remember was first director of the consumer financial protection bureau. let's go one, kevin robillard, to other major races and the significance and the democratic primaries across these four

states, 17 of 20 women who ran won. woman is noweing a an advantage in the democratic primary. the party has been trending that way for a few years now, but this is really -- this year has really come into its own. if you look, you can go back to the first round of primaries in illinois and texas and saw similar results. energy inuch of the the democratic party right now is sort of related to the women's march is related to the day feet of hillary clinton. and it is sort of interesting how now a woman in the democratic party symbolizes change in a way that when hillary clinton was running, they almost ended up symbolizing the status quo. that ship has been -- shift has been significant and helped a lot of women candidates when the democratic primaries around the country. juan: kevin, i want to ask about a race in north carolina that

may be considered a minor race, but really has perhaps major implications in durham, the race for sheriff for the candidate who pledged not to go operate with ice ended up winning and possibly will now become the first african-american county sheriff in durham. >> that is really interesting. what we've seen a lot of is progressive energy being put lawrd sort of basically enforcement position. this is a sheriff's race in north carolina where the incumbent democrat had worked with the trump administration, had worked with ice. the person who won and will likely win in november has pledged not to cooperate with ice. this in district attorney primaries throughout the country. in philadelphia last year. i think we could see it next month in california where there

are number of progressives running for district attorney positions. it has been an interesting place to see where this energy has gone. you have seen groups like the aclu, george soros who is a big liberal donor has gotten involved in some of these fights. it is a place where progressives are making progress ousting more established democrats in a way they are not necessarily doing a little bit further of the ballot, say at the human editorial or senate race. juan: let's go to hear the winner of the germ sheriff's race clarence birkhead speaking last night after winning the primary. >> we have to do everything we can possibly do to keep our families together. [applause] to not cooperate with ice. [applause] starts today. we have to do everything we can possibly do to clean up our jails. [applause] to treat individuals who are incarcerated with humanity and

dignity. [applause] make sure they have the services they need. we're going to keep our durham safe, get guns off the street, work together for a new durham. [applause] a safe durham for everyone. juan: that was clarence birkhead speaking last night after winning the primary that will likely propel him to become the first african-american durham county sheriff. the importance in terms of a state like north carolina, also possibly states like georgia and not only largeen african-american populations, but have seen influxes in receipt years of considerable number of people from latin america into those states. kevin? >> it has been interesting is sort of a way again for at a

very low level, to fight back against some of the trump administration's immigration policies. i think you are starting to see that sort of alliance come together or coalition come together to basically five these policies at the local level, and this is one example of that. amy: talk about what happened in indiana, kevin. >> in indiana, there were two big takeaways. first, greg pence, the brother of the vice president, won his brother's congressional seat would easily. did not seem to do much campaigning or media interviews. the other big raise in indiana was the senate primary to see who is going to take on joe donnelly in the fall. that was won by mike bronk, a sort of legislator that has built his career in business. he ran as sort of a miniaturized version of trump in some ways. been not nearly as sort of

mastic as trump's. does not have the penchant for saying as many crazy things as trump does but said i'm here to support the trump agenda. i am an outsider like trump. he beat to sitting congressman. this was a really bad night for sitting members of congress who are running for higher races. two lost.diana, on, but did not break 50% of the vote. amy: tim murphy, let's go back to west virginia and talk about the pro-marijuana, pro--- pro-coal democrat who voted for trump -- and now regrets it. he won the democratic primary for west virginia's congressional seat. >> we haven't had anybody in washington, d.c., in quite sometime that has oxley fought for the third congressional district. we have it. we are a state that is broke.

we're not really a state, we are a connolly. everything we have in the state has been sent out to make other people millionaires and billionaires. amy: tim murphy come your comment? >> at first glance, he looks like a unicorn in democratic does she got elected to a seat that donald trump carried with like 70% of the vote in 2016. riding a significant wave and was virginia and across the country. he was at the vanguard of the teacher strike last winter. he was sort of the paul revere of the teacher strike. he gave a speech that signaled this is something that was on the horizon. he has gotten a lot of momentum from teachers in west virginia. he has led the push for more teacher pay and led the push to build a marijuana industry in the state. he is running on a real kind of apulist wave -- sort of

counter to what we've seen from president trump. amy: we are one to leave it there and continue to follow election politics. tim murphy is a senior reporter at mother jones. thank you so much. i want to thank our guest kevin robillard, who is with huffpost. president trump says north korea has released three americans imprisoned in north korea. mike pompeo will return with them to the united states. that does it for our show. democracy now! is accepting applications for our paid video production fellowships as well as a variety of paid internships. find out more at democracynow.org. 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!]

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