today on "kqed newsroom" what does trump know about hush money paidn to a p action? we'll here from congressman adam shift. a rule by the courttan disrup economy. plus the california gop convention kicks off this week with the focus in f up voters and a potential endorsement. hello and welcome to kqed newsroom. we begun with lics. this week president trump acknowledges a series of tweets thatis he repaid h lawyer for $130,0 payment made to storm damages. e tweets contradict an earlier

statement when trump stated het know about theayment. one of trump's newest attoneys rudy giuliani revealed therc so of the story on wednesday. congressman ad shift joins us from burbank. nice to see you again. >> thanks. >> what is your rthction t trump administration now saying three u.s. prisoners held by north korea may soon beas re? >> i don't think they should be talking about it until the deal is sealed.e i'd e that in order for the president to sit don with kim joimg-un to give that meeting he's always wanted with the u.s. president to sit on the same stage that at a minimum we'd get our stages back. i don't think you should send out the apresident'ser giuliani to make this announcement when it's in the clear the deal had been ndruck don't think the president should be suggesting it either.

i think itnrmines his own lever ranch. >> is there any reason to be ptimism right now in terms of the overall strategy north korea has released prisoners in the past and issue to that to violent threats and confrontation. are you optimistic there's a signal here any long-term strategy but kip jong un? >> there'san opening. i think we need to test to see whether the north koreans a serious. you are right there's a history here followed by confrontation again. they're coming to the table, i think it's a great advance on what the presiutnt -- no one should expect this is going to be easy or thenorth koreans are simply going to walk away from theiruclear weapons and ballistic program. it's going to be a tough negotiation they're going to seek to divide us from our allies and south

koreans and nap needs. the president's going to need to make sure there's no daylight between us. he h notbeen very good at that and he needs to realize things are going to get mo difficult before this is done. we should give it a collapse and test whether the nors koreans arious. also wanted to get your thoughts on the stormy daniels situation as well? what's the reaction that president rmbursed his attorney to keep stormy daniels from going forward on a alleged relationship with stormy daniels? >> it shows where we e. our defense is you can't believe the president of the united states. when he said earliere hadn't been aware of this payment, he wasn't telling the truth. that's our defense. that the not much of a defense. this is why they're trying to awalk giuliani now, if the president was aware of this president, did reimburse michael

cohen. that payment, that loan of money was a company finance law, that means the president is now that.ed in the more fundamental problem is they're not committed to telling the truth. >> let's say there's no violation of law found here, are there ethical violations? >> there certainly are lot of ethical violations. if michael cohen was making this payment to stormy daniels and not telling his client about it thad put his legal license in jeopardy. if stormy daniels was threatened to get her to take the deal, that's a very different probled hen of course there's the problem of the president's he's paying hush money to porn stars, he's not being truth about it, coming up with different explanations. all of this, i thinkeact from the standing of the

president of the united edates. and inur standing around the world. meanwhile the mueller investigation is proceeding. the new york edmes releas a list ofn four douestions that robert mueller, the special counsel would like to ask president trump. you're aormer prosecutor yourself, what do you think mr. mueller is trying to determine through these questions? >> so many questions dealt with obstruion of justice and collusion. there's some thing bob muler feels there's work that need to be don on other issues. did he intend to instruct the russian investigation by firing he person who was leading that investigation for the fbi, that about fbi director? did he basically tell the fbi director to drop theim cal case against michael flynn? was that also an act of obstruction of justice? but thepresident's intent is really key and so many of the quesctons go to e that. >> let's talk about the head of

the environmental protectiwe agency as ll. scott pruitt facing allegatis of his practices. resign?hink he should >> she should absolutely resign. he should have never been appointed in the first ple. he knows little about the environment. given all the misconduct in office, and it just keeps multiplying every day. a the new problems, new alleges, new of propriety, the m.ministration ought to get rid of i can think that this is the president deciding that firing him this would be another admission of guilt. they are quite far from gaining the swamp. they seem to be licensing the swamp and branding with big gold letters that say "trp." i think he's a real problem for the administration and also is a problem for the rest of the

country. just this week california filed a lawsuit the -- to enforce auto standards. this is more than 30 lawsuits the state has file against the trump administration. do you feel like they're making a deference, needs lawsuits? >> i do. thank g odness for governor, the attorney general and just the degree that california has stepped in. the global leader of california is a climate for change. we needto fight thesesa rev policies.onmental a higher fuel emission standards are part of the solution. it's employed f our state and the other states that are also suing the federal government an it's goor the planet.

>> but not everybody in california agree with what the state is doing. an increasing number of communities are now taking legal action or enacting resolutions, officially stating their opposition to the sanctuary laws. hat are your thoughts to this backlash? >> i think what california did aakes a lot of sense. it basically we're not going to turn our law enforcement into the arm of the border patrol yes, we'll work with immigration authorities when there are people e here who are undocumented and who committed very serious crimes. we're not going to simply become an arm of the president's regref immigration poli wes. thn't going to please everybody, even in a progressive state like lifornia. so, you see some of the very conservative communities say, no, we're with trump on hispr ressive policies. that's not where californians or americans are. i have to say, this is thee firt dent in my life time who

simply don't seem to understand tharta big p of his job is to make us a more perfect union. this president is determined to eply e us and that is so d destructive. >> all right. congressman adam shift joining us from burbank, thank you for your time. this speak the supreme court issued a big victory for those who work in the so-called gig economy. the lawsuit was originated by cure your and a company called dinah max. in its ruling the core said company must prove -- as independent contractors. the ruling could grant state workers benefits such as rest breaks and over time pay. joining us now to discuss this issue are silicon valley reporter sam hornet. you see any of -- visit that

devaul and eduardo escobar who drives for uber, welcome to you all. professor duvall how big is this moment? >> it's huge. it shift the burdens on employers to hire entities to prove the thewoers are -->> it's a three-prong test? >> yeah shifted the test from this idea that whether or not theiring enti controlled the worker and it said, okay, we're going to put then burden the employer. we're going to presume these people are employees and new employer, you prover to us that actually you have hire an independent contractor and the test is amazingly simple., moved away from the common law test and it says, you have to prove t three thing us if you want us to believe that this worker is an independent contractor. you have to proveou do not control or direct this person at

all. yohave to prove thi person is not a part of your every y business. they're doing something different than what you do. and that this person is sort a customarily independe contractowork. and the second prong in particular is huge because you can imagine with uber. the question would be is uberdrivers doing somethingha different what uberis ing. >> so, eduardo you drive full-time for both uberandlyft. do you think of yourself as an independent contractor or employee? >> well i'd like to think i'mn independent contractor but we're being treating less than the employees.

that's not requiring them to contribute their fair share contributiono the worker-safety net and that's not fair, just of equitable. >> so , would you take legal acrion and challenge y status as a contractor and try to get employee status? >> of course. it em powerfulings us to unite and speak up for our rights. >> and, sam how are the companies responding? >> well, since the againingll thes companies have said that they're platforms. uberhas always said we're not in the platform we connect our drivers. i -- trying the service rep for elves. >> i wonder if going back to whur point, edward about driving

for uber, do you do that? do you enjoy the freedom? the work? >> well, i think there's this phony treatment that' bein sold to the public that the drivers are able to earn a living. i look at it as earning a surviving and that's whe it's gone to. i started driving four years ago and sin then it's nose dived. so, i think there's some serious concerns here addressed regarding the drivers' rights. heet's put owners and responsibilities back on the tech firms because uber and lyft are basically spear heading this abuse of the worker safety net. >> there's some who would argue that you have freedom and flexibility by d this type of work. y still geto decide when you work and how many hours a day you work. >> t freedom andflect is not true because you have to work when the demand is there.

if the demand is early in the morning or later in the afternoon, late at night, so it's really not true. that is basically a spin job that's being done. >>mp i think it's alsotant to note this decision is not about all aspect of employee status, it's really about minimal wage and the minimal working conditions. so, just because someone is an employee under california law for minimum wage purposes dowse not make them an employee f other purposes. edward might still be an indpekt contractor under the national labor act. what the court did in its decision beautifully was to say, look, workerseed to make enough money to feed their families and in this esnomy thanot happening. we're simplifying this test we're going to unsure for basic wedge purposes that people are macing a minimum if they're working more than 40 hours a week that they're getting overtime. > i thought it was interesting,

in thecision the opinionis said this mischaracterizization of workers is a huge problem. it's costing tax payers billions of in loss tax but mischaracterizing workers. >> the numbers of people who do this type of work is growing, gh because there are studies that show in the past decade or so, that population has grown to the point where it's 16% of the work force and the nmbers will keep increasing. there are some freelancers t ere who look at this situation and say, you know what, when you work for some of these lyft, ies, there's uber, tax rabbit, there's many of om othernies out there. aside from your point they get some level of flexibility and freedoms, so, t isn'tre a trade off? >> sub standard living conditions right, that's the

idea here. i don't think there's about employment necessarily that necessitate lack of freblt and freedom. i'm an employee and i have a very flexible work schedule. i think that's sort of the company line that nrds to be unned. >> i think it's a false choice. would you like to be employed, have benefits, retirement and da a jobyou love and have freedom, i think people would go for that. a lot of lyft drivers entered for -- at the end of the day they're trying to make rent or -- >> survivor. >> yeah. >> so there's not a sustain toility factor being able to speaking that's a serious problem. you see this basic switch, they promise you the american dream but the workers a waking up to the american nightmare, that's the reality ofn dri >> i've never met a driver who describes himself as an

entrepreneur. they may say, oh i'm independ but not that i have my own business and building something for myself. >> the business side of this, converting contractor to employees could cost tem money. it could cost businessfr 45% worker. is the r is it could lead to smaller economy going out of business. >> if you change the rule and the model and everyone now has to abide by this, then,eah maybe venture capital in the cake a little more money. if you want to start a company you got to start paying people better to begin with. might change the model a little bit but if it's kind of across t board, it just might -- >> i think it's going to fair competition. >> meaning what? >> there needs to be certain requirements that are basic minimums on par with the tax industry and needs to be -- the

tax industry have the certain reqrements because it's been tested and proven for many years for public fety, for the environment. there's a lot of concerns that are impactg society. these are adverse. we need to address those now before it gets much worse. >> do you think companies like uber and lyft for example have gotten a free ride of n having to contribute to the social safety net to workers compensation, for example? >> absolutely. what they've been trying to do is experiment i different states with new market base workers' compensation model. in many ways they're ju putting band aids on what is otherwise a horrificound in the body of the working class. and this is a eat, great effort by the state of california to say, you know, there's some responsibility associated with being a big business and own up t those responsibilities. pay your workers.

>> and you're looking at privatization of public transportation. the target for them is not taxies, it's buses, bart systems. they're havi to reduce service. that are being impacted. >> so what do you think uber t need change? if you feel this way with uber why are you working for them? >> i work with. i work with. i'm an advocate and we're lobbying to effect chang. that's why i've stade in thech tre. >> wald you like to see uber change? >> uber and lyft i'd like to see them contribute their fair share to the worker safety net. and not build their unsustainable business models on the backs the drivers. >> could this provide another nudge for companies atoomate faster? >> i think the speed automation is driven by technology change. i thnk if uber and lyft had

cars that would operate well and nction they could go to that tomorrow. i would say the whole discussion about wha a company -- what kind of companies uber and lyft actually are, we're seeing all through technology companies.o what is face actually, is it a media company? what is airbnb? is it a hotel company. i think it's getting all scrutiny. >> and what are thet implins nationwide? could it extend beyond california? >> absolutely. i think we'll start seeing a blue and red state divide. washington, colorado, new york, these are stating that like to california to see how they're goingto redefine their laws. i would not be surprised at all in t next f years to see some of these shift in these states. >> you mentioned the -- whether someone's a contractor or an

employee. that's already in place in massachusetts. >> new jerse right. >> thank you all for wonderful discussions. nice to have you all here.nk >> tha you. >> likewise. e thlifornia republican parties convention kicks off this ek in san diego. delegates will decide to endorse or john cox to be the state's next governo both candidates have spoken out living in cooperation withl loca law enforcement and agcies. they also support -- and vehicle registration fees. ngrisa joins us via skype. >> thanks for havme. >> let's start with the california race this weekend. this gop theg ernor's race will decide will it be john cox or allen, what do you think?

>> as far as allen he has a lot of grass root reports it seems like the party leadership some sort of folks at the top are going tocox. we saw house majority leader kevin mccarthy endorse him just thursday. we've seen congressional renés come out and support. it's up to the delegates. i think it could be close and, you know, they could not endorse anyone. >> well, john cox did pretty well in some recent polling. will that helpis chances, do you think? >> it might. i think sometimes we forget that the party and t general elect rat can be general constituentsi i in this case, you're right they're both for retaling gas tax, state law, both talking about taxeseing t high and democrats leading some of the problems that california

has. they're different people.vi tr allen is a lot more alie with donald trump. cox is a businessman. he hasn't run in californiat before n some ways he's the outsider being embraced by the insider. >> he was in a verttal tie with -- >> that's right and allen's been pulling pretty well, .c. berkeley from had -- we have a chance to getting into this november opason off. it's a two. they're not guaranteed a spot in november. i thinkthat they reallyeally want to see a gop candidate come out ahead,on which ever it is. >> on the congress fall front, democrats hoping t flip as many as half of the 14 congressional districts held by republicans in california. that would hel them winback control of the house. how heated is that battle right?

>> i think in the district people are probably starting to hear a lot more about it. tonight, friday night we'rexp ting representative walker to talk. nunes fm the central valley. they're definitely going to be here. one thing is a consideration is having again, a governor candidate in november would really he the rally folks and to come to the party and come to the ballot. i think it's all sortf tied together. >> only 25% of california voters are registered as a republican, s f asiom the candidates. which are the issues that are likely t energize gop voters? >> you can see behind you part of our poster to repeal the gas tax. i think that is a big part of their strategy. to get there on the ballot and reallk to voters about that tax and tie ithe to overall leadership of democrats. there's a really wide range of

potential ballot members for november. i think the candidate races are going to be very important to them. and again, to have -- both congressional rces up to the aepublican ticket -- governor's ticket, reallying about all of those issues is a big thing for them. >> it seems like they're getting a lot of national attention right? >> that's right, i think democrats think it's ironic since lot state legislatures are led by republicans. they see this as a winning issus and a way to raise money and awareness of their candidates. and repeal a tax they don't like. i think it is something that we are going to be hearing a lotn aboute coming months. >> what about california sanctuary state poweicies. re seeing a small but growing number of communities around the state that are opposing the policy.

how important this issue to gop party leaders? >> well, along with the gas tax this is the other thiar you talked about the most. it is a winner with more republican voters, 88% of republican likely voters in a ecent poll so they oppose the sanctuary alot. more than half of overall voters say they support it i think that's an interesting gamble coming into the primary is a great way to rally the ty. does that message play in the myt of 10 million democrats. >> more people added their name to the list, all county in california, past resolution against sanctuary policy. that is not begging the ques son amome critics. is this orchestrated by gop party leaders or a grass roots >> we sign -- sort of training session wheres fo from the former rnc, republican national

committee. folks and some people who are very involved in anti-immigrants group areffering sort of training for local officials and so thato caused blow backs. i think there's some things that are a bit of both. there is some coordination happening at the national level and with the party. there also a lot of anger among grass roots republicans about it. >> marisa largo reporting to us from g the state con veng. thank you. >> thank you. >> that'll do it for us. you can mind more of our coverage at kqed newsroom. thanks for joining us.

captioning sponsored by wnet for sunday may 6:n this edition the story of the porn star and the president continues to consume washington. adin our signature segmentng work requirements in exchange for government benefits vz back to word and that are incomes increase ed by 114%. this is part of this ideological policy, and only going to create more hardship. the ambitious government program launched today to collect health and genetic data from one million americans. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachen,