future. this is abc 7 news. hi, there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." we're asking experts your questions everyday at 3:00 to get answers for you in realtime. even on presidents 'day. we talk about bay area assemblyman dave schuh to stop hate crimes gensen americans. we'll talk to abc's francis dinglasan. because she was on the abc show the bachelor. and we'll get her take on the controversy right now as host chris harrison steps down. but first we all watched as seven republicans voted to convict former president donald trump this past weekend. the largest number of lawmakers to ever vote to find a president

of their own party, if you will, guilty at an impeachment proceeding. but ultimately mr. trump was acquitted. so now what? joining us to talk about this is churchill professor at uk berkeley. former u.s. secretary of labor under president clinton and author. of the big "who rigged it and how we can fix it." . professor thanks for joining us. >> good afternoon abkristen. >> i have to say as a cal grad i'm indicated to talk to you. i've always wanted to sit in on your lectures. i will pretend this is the opportunity. professor ruch what do you think is the biggest take away from the impeachment trial and the acquittal. >> i suppose the biggest take away is actually the details of what happened on january 6th, kristen. i don't know about you, but i thought i knew everything that had happened. but watching the trial and specifically watching that 13-minute videotape that was put together by the impeachment

managers was just heart wrenching. and i think that historically that video and a lot of of the other facts that came out are really going to be the most important things that people understand and remember. and the most important consequences. >> all right. well, the vote ultimately was an acquittal. perhaps not, unexpected. so now what, right? because nancy pelosi says congress could establish and will establish an independent september 11 style commission to look into the deadly insurrection. what could this actually accomplish, in your opinion. >> obviously the more facts the better for the historic record. but i'm also interested in the possibility of the congress using the 14th amendment, section iii, which bars anybody who has taken an oath of office from ever holding office again if they have been found to have been involved in insurrection. now, that doesn't require

anything more than a 51 vote of congress. and after mitch mcconnell said his hands were tied, that he would actually have in many ways voted for impeachment -- this is mitch mcconnell saying it -- if the president could be impeached after somebody was president. mitch mcconnell consistently, if he is sincere about that particular statement -- and that's a huge if -- would go along with the 14th amendment section iii. if he mitch mcconnell and say, chuck schumer were willing to cosponsor that kind of a statement or proposal, that would do a lot to end the big lie, to mend the nation in terms of people understanding what actually happened. >> and would near impact of that be to take away any perks that are afraided to mr. trump as an ex-the president and what is

author perks. >> i think the perks ought to be taken away. there is a $200,000 per year for presidents. mlgds in travel expenses. office expenses. i frankly don't see that somebody who has been impeached as president twice should get all those perks. >> all right. you mentioned mitch mcconnell, of course. the political gymnastics that he was doing at the same time vote not guilty but also saying, look, clearly president trump incited this. and make no mistake, and the speech afterwards. it was interesting, because you see republicans are so deeply fractured and tormented. and the fracture is between those who want to break away from trump and those remaining in lock step with him. what do you think the gop struggle for the soul of the party, what does that mean for the biden administration and what it wants to accomplish? >> well, in an ironic way, kristen, i think it aleasts the

biden administration from the pressure of having a united gop with a united message and a kind of coherent world view. the gop right now doesn't have a united message. it's badly fractured. also much of the gop at the state level is basically a cult of donald trump. i mean, it has no message. it has no separate integrity. and so that in some ways frees up the biden administration to be much bolder than it might otherwise be, if there were a coherent message on the other side. >> and when you say the biden administration can actually be bolder right now, i take it this means you're urging president biden not to go small with the stimulus. in fact, i think you are saying he should just try to restructure the entire american economy at this juncture in time. explain that. >> well, he certainly has an opportunity now. and a large mandate. the country has not been in in degree of difficulty since the

great depression of the 1930s. he has a $1.9 trillion proposal that's now being put in legislative form in congress. he has the votes. he can put this through the senate on something called reconciliation, which doesn't require more than 51 votes. he has the votes. he doesn't need republicans right now. and then he also have a very popular plan, popular according to the polls for major jobs and infrastructure bill coming up next. i think the country is ready for this. i think the country wants to get covid behind it. it wants to cure. it wants to have enough survival bifurcates -- and any really are survival benefits, so people don't have to worry about what they're going to be living off of after march 14th. biden has the wind at his back. i think he can do a lot now. he should do a lot. he will do a lot. >> this doing a lot, is this in part stemming from lessons

learned from the obama and clinton administrations? would you say there were mistakes of having gone too small. >> i think so. i think everybody looking back on 2009 and the package that the obama administration came up with looks back and says, well that was really too small. that's why the recovery was very, very slow. it didn't really take off. it was a very, very modest recovery from the depths of the terrible great recession. and even going back to the clinton administration, i was, you know, happy to be a member and proud to have been a member of the clinton administration in the cabinet. but even there i think bill clinton was too cautious, trying very desperately to get republican votes for a lot of measures. ultimately did not succeed. and, you know, the first two years of both of those presidencies, clinton and obama,

both presidents had democratic houses of congress. both houses of congress were democrats -- democratic houses of congress and could have done presumably a lot more if they had just had the courage and not worried about the republicans. i think right now joe biden has learned those lessons. >> um-hum. how important is the $15 an hour minimum wage to you. >> well it's not a question of how important it is to me. it's important -- humanly important to millions of americans who are now working for still the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. hasn't been raise the since 2009. this is the longest stretch where you have not had any kind of increase in the federal minimum wage. if it were raised to $15 an hour that would mean tens of millions of workers would get a raze. now, i know people are concerned about doing it right now where you have massive unemployment. and we don't want to put an unreasonable burden on small

businesses. that's why the proposal now in congress would be phased in. it couldn't be applied right away but phased in. and that's a responsible way of doing it. >> all right. and this takes us to the point where i would love to sit in on your lectures some day. but you teach a popular class at uc berkeley focusing on wealth and poverty. if you could distill the course into a singular main point, what would that be. >> i hate to give it away because i might have students watching appear they will not go back to class, krinlts. >> it's the teacher, they'll come back. >> the most important point and see with great wealth comes great political power. and that power needs to really be restrained. one of the reasons that so many people feel the game is rigged against them is that you've got so much wealth and power that is compounding itself at the top. >> all right. professor robert reich now at uc berkeley after serving in the clinton and oob administrations and author of the book, the

system, who rigged and how we can fix it. thank you for your siem. >> thank you, kristen. bye-bye. >> bye-bye. coming up, folks, local lawmakers trying to make a change on the state level to stop hate crimes and help support victims. that's coming up

welcome back. our goal is to to not only flory and look at issues statewide and across the country. but also to find solutions. some lawmakers are trying to do that when it comes to stopping hate crimes. a lot recently against asian-americans in the wake of recent attacks on video. a few have sadly resulted in the death. joining us to assemblyman david

schuh. happy lunar new year to you. >> happy lunar new year to you too. not as happy to all in the asian-american community. >> because of the attacks that have increased levels of fear in the community at a time we are supposed to be celebrating. let's talk about that. because your legislation is aimed at doing something. you introduced it or you unveiled it but you will introduce it in the assembly tomorrow officially. talk about how that's going to fight hate crimes. >> sure. well, as you well know ---en a i think the public knows, we have seen a really disturbing spike in anti-asian hate crimes in the last year. by the last count of asian-american non-profits. close to 3,000 around the country. more than 700 in the bay area. and what a colleague of mine from los angeles and i both of us have seen a huge jump in the incidents and in the areas, we are proposing that the california department of justice

establish a hotline for the reporting of hate crimes as well as an ability for these communication channels to direct victims to local law enforcement, connect them to resources and services. and really educate the public on what is possible when it comes to the law enforcement in this area. we have to do better. we can't just rely on a couple of asian-american non-profits to track this and for the press to cover it. we have to make sure that our state law enforcement agencies and everyone is involved in addressing the fear in our streets right at this time. and making sure we're all safe. >> yeah, i mean that statewide tracking will be great. because right now you have certain counties or cities have thiso have their own. but to butt it together and offer resources, no doubt that's helpful. what kind of services would victims be referred to when they call this hotline? what kinds of help available? >> we need to make sure that victims know both what legal assistance they're going to receive from law enforcement as

well as if there is restitution they can avail themselves, if there are medical services or other social services if they're available that they can receive. we need to make sure that we are embracing anyone who is victimized by anti-asian hate, by a hate crime during this time. i'll note, this is not just for folks experiencing hate crimes in the asian community. i actually proposed this four years ago, right ar donald trump was elected. because we were seeing -- starting to see a spike in crimes against immigrants, against lgbtq community and african-americans we want to make sure everybody is safe. >> this hotline you propose, like if someone is latino or spanish speaker or speak vietnamese or chinese, if there is that barrier, is that barrier dress addressed do you have people speaking that language. >> that is our hope. i will say that government has not been perfect when it comes

to language access. this is another issue i've been championing. but certainly on a hotline like this our hope is that if someone calls and a particular language other than english we will have is the ability to help them in the language that they're speaking. >> but how about the overcoming the barrier of not wanting to report things, not wanting to reach out? because culturely that is sometimes an obstacle. >> and that's part of what we are trying to break through with this hotline. we are letting the commune know, it's not only okay for you to call. we want you to call. we need you to call, because if someone is perpetrating violence against you, they're likely going to victimize someone else tomorrow. so we want to send a very strong message to the community that this behavior, this violence, is absolutely unacceptable, and that the state with all of the authority and the powers that the state department of justice can bring, will -- will bring their resources to bear to both obtain justice and protect our community.

>> and assemblyman chu. i think the uptick so naked for all to see has been so stunning in part because in california we've always believed we're this place where we can all oexist with love and peace. and i think that part is surprising. but i did some research in the southern poverty law center finds 72 hate groups operate here in california. the state is not as we would like it to be yet. >> tts has been incredibly disturbing. i mean this past year throughout this year we have seen the numbers go up and up and up. and we had all thought and hoped that after donald trump lost his race for re-election that this would subside. but it seems like things are getting worse. the cases are not just discrimination cases or vandalism, but now we are seeing really terrible physical assaults and in some instances murder. and we have to get a handle on this. we have to make sure that law enforcement is working with communities of diversity,

everyone lifting us up during this time. >> we have about 40 seconds left, assemblyman. but i want to pinpoint ou wrapped up your tenure as chairman of the asian-pacific legislative caucus after two years. what are some of the other efforts that happened during this time to ensure that asian-americans, all americans feel as safe and secure as any other group in the place we love? >> during this pandemic and recession and during what has been a very intense time period when it comes to social unrest and conversations around race, there is so much that all of our communities need at this time. and as the most recent outgoing kmar of the legislative cactus we've been focused on on the health, educational needs of our community. we have more work to do. and that's what my colleagueless in the legislature we are a thousand percent making sure we are dedicated to meeting needs in all communities. >> david chu, thank you for your time today. and we look forward to hearing

more about the bill in the days ahead take care. >> thanks, you too. >> coming up next abcen 7's own francis dinglasan. she was on the hit show the bachelor. that's right, we'll get her unique perspective on the recent

welcome back. you've heard about the controversy surrounding the host of the bachelor. chris harrison has stepped down for now after he initially defended a contestant who was found to have attended an ante e bellun li m themed party. but joining us to talk about the bachelor and challenges with regard to diversity is our own resident expert of the show, because she was a contestant on the show a long long time ago. abc 7 meteorologist francis dinglasan. >> hi, kristen. hi, everybody eeveryone. it was a long time ago. i was on season two of the bachelor filmed in 2002. and when i met chris harrison my brief interaction with him is i

found him to be a really nights era nice guy. . i do think the bachelor does need to progress and provide for diversity and more voices on their show. for example, we finally have our first black bachelor until 2020 is when it started. and we've been airing this show for 18 years. and we had our first black president in 2008. so i would like to see the bachelor evolve and progress and include more diversity and more voices, and bring more people to the table. because they have the power to do that. >> by the way, francis, while you've been talking, we've been seeing pictures that you sent us. they are of you and fellow contestants. some of whom have become good friends. but if we have the group picture still, you were one of the few minorities. there weren't a lot of minority faces. >> no there weren't a lot of minorities. i was one of three. and there were 25 women in our group. i had not ever seen the show before when i was on.

so i really didn't know what i was getting myself into. but there was another indian woman on the show and another black woman on the show. and i would have liked to have seen more diversity then as well. >> but did you think race was a factor in any way during your appearance on the show in terms of casting, or who gets featured, preferential treatment? >> i wasn't sure if there was -- i didn't feel like there was preferential treatment based on race. but i almost felt like they had to cast at least one asian person, whereas maybe there could have been more asians, and more minority groups that were qualified to join. but as -- not knowing what the producers thought, i did feel like they could have added more diversity. and i felt like they just wanted to squeeze at least one in. and i met that quota. >> well, you were there. but let's just say you didn't stick around for very long.

tell us about that. that was kind of a bold move. you chose to leave after, what, in episode 2, right? >> any, i chose to leave in week two. because i actually went on the show thinking i could find love. and i think any time you meet someone, you know pretty quickly if it's going to work out or not. and i knew that it wasn't going to work out. so i thought i should go. and it was kind of that simple. it was, like, could this be the one for me? no, okay i'm out of here. >> you're out of there. daniel santero on fischer wants to know is how staged is is the show in terms of the producers telling wlau to say or do or to sway you? >> i think that's a great question. all of the words that come out of my mouth are my own words. but the producers definitely can control the scenario and the situation that you're in. for example, in the first rose ceremony, you don't realize that we've been up all night without

anything to eat but with lots of alcohol just waiting to find out if we get a rose or not. so in that sense it's manipulated. but in another sense, too, it's not like they would force you to say anything that you a didn't want to say. >> got it. okay. again, folks, if you are wondering, a francis will be joining us in the 4:00 p.m. show to a today to talk more about the chris larz era harrison controversy we're divrpg more deeply into that during that time. but i want to ask you, right, we've all ac noojd that the show as popular as it's been has been a little slow to reflect the diversity of america, right? we did have dr. joe park, the asian-american dr. in the season of bash bachelorette. but i want to ask you if you feel frustrated we don't see men and women, other types of diversity, but like different body types. maybe someone a little overweight or someone with a disability, things like that? >> right, i think that's a great idea, kristen. we need all races and shapes and

types on the show. and we had bob guiny one of the bachelors he was on the bigger side. and i don't want why they didn't have women on the bigger side as well on the show, because i think we can find all things attractive. and it's not just your body shape but it's who you are, what you believe in. i think the universal desire of finding love will appeal to all races, and even all ages. i think the bachelor is actually coming up with a new show where they have seen your citizens looking for love. and i think that's a step in in the right direction. >> absolutely. there is always the question, would people want to see real people on tv? or do they want that glam orrized fantasized version of themselves? and that's where the debate comes in over whether a show like this should represent real people in reality? what's your fake? i'm sure you and your girlfriends from the show talk about that. >> yeah, we do watch the shoep. and it's hard not to judge people based on looks. and we have our own prejudices

that we should also check. and i think it would be great if -- because bachelor has the power and the platform to show the different types of people, i think we would find that people would want to watch. and i would want to see these qualities in different individuals that make them attractive, and not just their physical appearance. >> francis thank you so much. we'll continue on facebook live pvrp remember francis will be back on the

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>> i got to go. see you at 4:00 francis. >> sorry. okay. >> all right we are back thank you so much for joining us for this interactive show getting answers. we talked about what happens now

the that the kbreechment trial is over. legislation for the hate crimes hotline tonight, the deadly storm on the move at this hour. and already, another one coming right behind it. 200 million americans on alert. millions already without power tonight across texas and oklahoma as the storm moves from the south right up into the northeast tonight. then, another cross-country system wednesday into thursday. more than 40 states under winter weather alerts tonight. heavy snow, dangerous ice and life-threatening cold. and tonight, the ice storm warnings from the first system from mississippi right up into new york. multiple crashes in texas and oklahoma. record snow and cold. families tonight facing no power and no heat and the coldest temperatures in decades. the roof of a super market collapsing. wind chills in parts of the country more than 30 degrees below zero.