tonight on news room, the battle over the next supreme court justice and here in the bay area, the mayor of a divided city and the scrambleo reunite separated family as u.s. immigration authoritieserace anodeadline. plus as alta bates pla close its berkeley emergency room, how some residents in richmond are reacting. welcome to kqed news room we begin with politics this morninu ice department issued indeemts for 12 officers for offenses related to the meddling in the 2016n. elect it comes a few days before president donald trump is scheduled to meet with russian president vladimir putin this arlier this week the president

nominated brett kavanaugh who has a conservative record and has expressed strong support for presidential immunity. his confirmation would push the court to the right and ais showdow under way. and here in the bay area, london brie made history when she was sworn in as mayor on wednesday, the first african-american woman to hold the post. during her speech, she had a message for the trump administration. >> we are going to the president that here in san francisco, we don't put childrin cages. we put them in the classroom. joining me to discuss the week's legal and political developments ar s nyuhool of law professor melissa murray. kqed politics and government senior editor,cott schaeffer and political consultant, shawn walsh. let's start withig news, the justice department issued 12 indictments against russian intelligence officers for offenses relate to the hacking

of the democratic national commngtee, the targets du the 2016 election. shawn, what are the legal consequences of thca? se it's not like russia is going to extdite these guys. >> new york city there's not much they can do. i was looking at the president's statement he put out. it was all defenses, we didn't do anything wrong. it doesn't look like any americans knew what was going on and i think he lost a real opportunity to hammer putin and hammer the russians before he goes to meet with them saying it's outrageous, you're try og to interfere in our electoral process. from a legal perspective there's not much i thinkhe that.s. government can do to access people in russia. >> i guess to the other question, what are the political optics? you said lost opportunity are there other political consequences here as wel? >> this will loom large in the comarg nominations hgs for brett kavanaugh. one of the issues on the table are his views on executive power

if it looks like there's been some kind of collusion between the trump administration or the trump campaign and the russians, ste idea that a potential supreme court jce would take a broad view of executive power and excuse the president from answering to those charges would be a fair games.for democr >> i think republicans are test practice the to change the subject off of other things and the hearing yesterday with the fbi agent. former fbi agent. >> peter carzok. >> ins that they really want to take attention off the other things, like some of theat family sepn issues, down at the border and there's, to keep on e eag this issue. i'm not sure voters, i think it's a little fatigue among voters, even among democrats. the number of democrats who think it's time to wrap this up is going up. partlyeecause of the su i think that republicans are having in convincing the public that thitois gone on long. i think the indictments today dy remind everythat there may

be some fire with all the smoke. >> it's something that democrats are seizing upon as we talk about the battle for thenf mation hearings, right? for brett kavanaugh and you are referring to the law journales artihat he's written in the past, suggesting that a sitten president should not be indicted. suggesting that the president should not be distracted by criminal proceedings, so is this issue subpoenaing a sitting president, going to reach the supreme court and if kavanaugh is in place andrm con how could it play out? ? the audacity of a political k, ha talking to legal expert, i'm audacious, i believe fundamentally that saiding president cannot be indicted. i think talked about a deci mon hee at one juncture that the sitting vice president could. there's a process in place to go after a president and remove a president from office and that's the impeachment process. impeach in the house, convicted in the senate.

once the presiden is out of office, if there are criminal charges to be filed. those criminal charges can be filed. i think mr. kanaugh will be consistent with that view, think with an executive power perspective, he has a long history going back to jefferson and others where a president sitting in office can't for political rposes, or even for criminal purposes, be indicted. >> i think all of that may be fair game. one of the things l at wme up that the democrats will make hay on this is the idea that any president, particularly this president could be above the law. and if there is someone on the supreme court who isucproviding l vote for excusing the president while he is president, i ink that's going to raise some issues both for the public and for the democrats who have to vote for is. and again, this is going to be a tight nomination, every vote is going to count.o getting or 51 will be a huge haul. these questionare going to loom large. >> i think democrats want to run

out the clock and try to get this as close as they can to the election. i think it will be tough given they don't have contrse of the te this is an issue that motivates the base, women, suburban women i think, which is going to be key to democrats winning bseck the h but you know in the end, i think he's going to be 'snfirmed. if ot there will be another conservative nominee who comes forward. democrats are hoping they might get control of the senate which is a long shot. >> let lee me do a babe ruth analogy. he's going to confirmed. of the six major candidates, he's the most appealing to theo est base of republicans and i would argue the democrats. he's the most reasonable, prably the most moderate. the swampiest of the candidates, because he's a waington insider. i don't think there's any way that the democrats are going to be able to unwind mr. kavanaugh unless there's something in his background we haven't seen yet. other than america's favorite

pt-time, which is consumer debt and baseball tickets. they should save their powder for ruth bader ginsberg >> they're doing a hail mary as well suggesting that mr. if cavanaughe's confirmed, he should recuse himself from any cases coming up that involve mr. trump. but president tru, what are e chances of that? because there's, doesn't that usually require so o kind obvious conflict of interest? >> yeah. >> i think it's very unlikely th came up a lot with justice scalia. when he was on the cower. should he recuse himself. it's come up in terms of justice thomas and h wife who is an operative with a conservative think tank in it never goes anywhere but it's a lot of political theater. >> it's strictly up to them to decide whether to recuse themselves. >> scott, we know that on the republican side, we have sue colins of maine and lisa ky murkothey're perceived as key swing votes. what about democrats, what kind of pressure is democrats running for

on-election in states that president trumpin 2016. >> joe manchin, jim donnelly in indiana. idi heitkamp, these are all states that trump won. they're going to h if they've got the votes to confirm him. can i be the 51st, 52nd, 53rd vote. why should i take all the flack for votingagainst him, then you lose it both ways. so it's tough for thec dets, because they don't want to disspirit their base by having one of their own vote for somebody who they fear is going de.roll back roe v. >> i want to touch on a bay area election. with the elections over, london maeed was sworp in as mayor this week. history, first african-american woman to hold the pos inn san francisco. >> homelessness is the number one issue on voters' minds, she's going to have to show progress in terms of cleaning up

encampments on the streets and she's got tne your know what's going to happen in terms of a crisis, she's got a sw at she's in control. she's got good people around her. if she does, think she probably won't have a serious challenge next year. >> she's got to hope it's a relatively smooth 1 months. he's up for the task. she's very inspiring. went to her swearing in this week. a lot of excitement and goodwill. fen among people who didn't vote her. she the want to give her a chance and they want her to hasucceed. >> i know you have a perspective on this, on san francisco, the direction it's headed in. what's your perspective on london breed? >> well the tist of s, the worst of times. you just had a report that came out that says that san francisco, the bay area economy alone, will be the 19th largest economy in the entire world. it has an $11 billion budget. it isng glea

and tech things are booming. yet you've got 16-pound bags of fecal matter on the streets, you see people walking a line of heroin addicts shooting up. getting off the b.a.r.t. station. medical conferences that are canceling in san francisco. this image is projected not just around the country, but around the worl so youknow, if she takes some decisive action with regards to nss just home issues, but drug addiction, mental illneua, ty of life issues, i think she can make a dramatic impact fairly quicklon the ques is some of the real liberal activists in thewi city ing to let her do it? or not have very talented liberal lawyers stop her? >> i think this is her biggest problem. the attack from the left that she's inevitably going to get. her challenge like jam kim and mark leno are right there. >> theajority on the board of supervisors she's going to be battling them as well anything she wants to get done. >> thank you all. scott schaeffer, nyu law school professor melissa marie and

shawn lsh. political consultant. thank you. >> thank you. now to immigration. this week the federal government habeen working to reunite children separated from their families at the border under a zero tolerance policy. officials had faced a court ordered deadline it reunite fichildren under with their parents. the trump administration said there are about 100 separated children under five and roughly half of them could not be reunited for various reasons. meanwhile, a d biggereadline is looming on july 26th. to reunite the nearly 2,000 other children who were recently separated from their parents at the border. >> joining us to sort through stis, are the of kqed's california report. john sepulveda, leaning "times" recorder cindy from santa ana. and torney tal inlander who represents mothers seeking asylum in the u.s. who joins us via skype from los angeles. happy to have all three of you on. thank you.in

john, let's b with you, give us a status update at of this moment wat is the trump administration saying about why some of these families with very young children can't be reunited? >> well, they're essentially saying a couple of things. the first is that some of these omrents have committed crimes. in fact one man guatemala is wanted for murder. another man is supposedly allegedly had a d.u.i. case that's been verified. there's a lot of other reasons besides these ten or so parents who have had committed crimes.o er reason is that 12 of these parents have been deported. that means tat their children are in this country, but they are in their country of origin. and there's no clear reunification pathway for those people. one man a communicable disease and two other people, it's been determine reasonable doubt not actually the parents, the grandparents so the trump administration says it's hard it make reunification happen withthese particular cases, because they don't meet the judge's dinition of the parents that are needed for

reunification to happen. >> so the aclu filed a lawsuit that led to these various deadline force tireunifin. john, fewer than half of the really young children are back with their parents. what's the outlook then forde grade school children and teenagers to be reunited by th second july 26 deadline down the road? >> well the government actually said in hearings headed into the weekend that they have a plan which is the first timet that y've said that they might have some type of organization for these 900 other children. who need to be reunified. at least 2900. the plan is still needs to be evaluated. the aclu is going to look at itn and they've quick to note that the government has said they've had plans before, onl to have some unfortunately spectacular fails in these reunificatioot. there's ahat remains to be seen about what the government's plan is. but it is notable that for the first time the government has presented some type of evidence to a plan j to thisge. >> talia, you represent three mothers from central america, who are separated from their

daughters. why did they cross the border? and what is their situation now? they crossed for similar but slightly differenttreasons. of them are fleeing severe domestic violence at the hands of theirpa ners. one of whom was a member of the military in the home country. the other lost her husband to ang violence and the gang was then going after their son. but all of them claiming severe violence in their home country. and when they crossed the border here instead of fnding safety. they were separated from their children, torn apart f m them and sent states away. so one of the mothers is detained here in california, and two up until yesterday in the afternoon when we secured their release were detained up in washington statehe the children have two of the daughters in texas and the third in the state of arizona, they're being kept very far if one another. >> you've filed a federal lawsuit on their behalf. what are you claiming inha suit? >> that's correct.

we filed a federal lawsuit on their behal we filed late last night. seekintrauma informedare for these parents and family, care for their children as well. >> what does that mean. what is trauma-informed care? >> relief and reunification is the first step to get these folks out of custodynd into a safe environment. given the trauma that they have suffered and our clients have suffered severe trauma in their home country.fe also sd trauma anew at the hands of our government. who tore them aay from their children. and we believe that because the government acted in that way and inflicted that harm on these individuals that they have a rig for the government to help remedy that harm. >> cindy, you've been speaking with families at the u.s./mexico boarder in tijuana, has the president's zero tolerance policy andil f separation slowed the flow of people trying to cross the border seeking

asylum? >> i think it's too early to tell. >> i can tell you what i've seen on the ground and the people that i've spoken with. have actually told me that really not going toop them. they're very pragmatic about it. i spoke with a woman who was going to give herself up, san ysidro port of entry for alum. she was weaning her 6-month-old daughter from her breast, stop breastfeeding her in were to be separated. she says i can't go back to my home country. because my abuser is there. and he might kill >> so those kinds of stories, also another woman who i spoke with who is escaping gang violence. they think she says, i'm going to give myself up at the port of entry because even if it means being sparated if m child, because if i go back i might be killed and that's separation

forever. so it's a -- the people i've spoken with have told me that this is not going to stop them. >> it's not deterrent. do you think that -- the opposite effect, meaning there's a mad rush since some people may feel this is perhaps their last chance to crosshe border as the trump administration keeps rolling back various avenues of immigration relief? >> yes. indeed. there are people who are, they're very desperate. they s thathere's a methodical closing of america's doors. asylum laws are being tightened. there are tolerance policy. all around them. they almost see it as okay i really ne to act now. if i'm ever going to get to safes. >> john, migrants are coming into the system, children and parents are in detentionrall ohe country. how is the immigration system handling all this. >> the first thing is that

migrants aren't coming into the country. we'r hearing abou asylum seekers, mothers trying to flee horrible situations, i've seen with my own eyes stoms and border patrol officers turn these mothers. aw which it is their legal right to seek asylum. the second thing isen that they do, are essentially coming into the port of reentry, the often threatened with family separations still to this day. my colleague kqu define alex hall confirmed this with a woman had was seeking asylum, threatened with family separation. he final thing is we have confirmed that there are still family separation cases happening, albeit much fewer numbers than it was a few weeks ago. just from that vantage point it's not working very well crics would say. the second thing is when people do enter the process of the system they're facedith quick ourt hearings, they're faced with not enough sleep. they complain about the condit'sns. so ther concern that these people are being coerced to essentially plead guilty to

crimes they didn't commit, including the misdemeanor of crossing the country alilly. that's what defense attorneys isll me in court here in san diego. he aclu taking any additional steps in that regard? asking the government to do anything to change that? >> the wacluts to hold the government accountable. that'sin the they keep pushing for in the court hearings. the aclu wants to have ahand in reunification. they've asked the government and the court to essentially be allowedo work hand in hand with i.c.e. to reunify som of these people who it's been very difficult for the government to find. people who were lost in the system because bad data was coreected or because they unaware that these were parents. sometimes children lie about who the parthts are. aclu has said that they want to really tgge a hand in using third parties and nongovernmental organizations. to reunify. >> this weekend officials with

i.c.e. qstioned the whole notion of reunification, saying there's no obligation to bring deported people back to the u.s. to be reunited wth their children. what's your reaction to that? >> t reason these folks were separated was because of the government's action and they do have a duty to reunify the parents. reunify give them the services that they need to recover from the government-inflicted harm and then allow them to proceed with their immigration case, win or lose. >> thank you to all of you. john sepulveda, ndy kackuma and talia inlander, we value your time. we turn our attention now to health care. in 2016 alta bates hospital announced it would close its emergency room in bierkeley and expand emergency services in oakland. it'sti generang dismay in many berkeley residents. further away in richmond are also worried about being

negatively affected by the change. we havert this re from uc berkeley journalism students. >> i don't see no chicken mcnuggatts in th ear. let me look in this ear. see if we have chicken mcnuggets. make sure there's no chicken mcnuggets. >> this doctor has patchup richmond residents for decades. >> my mission is and has alwa been to provide health care to this richmond community. >> listen to your heart, ma'am. there you got a good art. >> it's gotten harder and harder for doctors lke carson insure richmond residents get the care they need. carson worked for carson medica5 center nor years. it served a community of 400,00o west contra residents until it shut in 2015. the day it clod, they moved across the street to a newly opene urgent care run by life

lock.op ia waldron who runs the front desk says they're working with far less resources in a much smaller space. even though the community's needs are the same. >> you're the only hospital oparby for pe to get to. that cannot drive and there are needs here r aospital because we're congested, we have longer waits. >> the t closure o hospital meant richmond residents lost their one major emergency room. besides kaiser richmond. which only has so much capacity. the nearest emergency rooms the community relies on are more than 10 miles away. life lock's staff say they do what they can to get people back on their et. t it isn't an emergency room. >> we're struggling every day and if somebody comes in thrgh ur doors, with at gunsho wound or stab, we address it immediately. we call 911, we do whatwe have

to do to make sure that that person gets the care they need. and are able to get to the place they need to onget. >> of those places is alta bates medical center in berkeley, a 20-minute drive without traf nc. bu that option is fading away. recently sutter health which unced ita bates an would close the emergency room in berkeley and move those services to its oakland dr. brian pots who runs the emergency room in alta bates says this move is a necessary development. >> you got to build to develop this newaampus. s going to take nine to ten years. there is no short-term switch that's going to happen. >> alta bates spokes people say the expanded oaklander would only be two miles further away. and ome east bay residen dmunt leaders argue the closure shouldn't happen at all.y >> to that we will not let our community become a hospita desert. >> alta bates were to close you're not going to have any emergency rm to go to. this is an issue that's beyond berkeley that affects the entire

east bay. >> without alta bates, this rich mpd i resident't sure she or her baby would bealive. after months battling a rare and ltngerous pregnancy complication, mi gave birth to her child mariah, born three months premature. > what is she thinking about? after mariah was born, milton drove 13 miles every day to visit her child in the intensive care unit a alta bates. >> all that traoiic. g down 80, it was our only option at the time. we didn't have a choice, we had to it. >> every day mariah gets a little bit stronger. but she still faces serious health risks. her mother fears what could happenin an emergency. being so far away. >> there's nothing close by or local where i can go get in right away. even if i call the ambulance. a probably won't make much of difference. >> like milton, residents in

west contra costa county feel they're being left behind. in theu.s. hospitals have been pull out ofpoor neighborhoods for years. of e the 1970s, the number hospitals nationwide has cut by nearly half mostly in or urban neighborhoods. more than 80% of doctor's hospital patients were medi cal recipients. >> in west contra costa. the schools are [ bleep ] up. and theospitals are [ bleep ] up. east of that, you have nordstroms and health care and good schools. where there's money, there's health care. >> in the case of alta bates, the community fears it's as imilar story. that the closure of the e.r. is about saving dollars. but dr. potts says it will benefit the community and physicians to have one big emergency room. >> we're looking at the largest emergency department in the easv

bay, s about 100,000 people a year. >> they argueaving things centralized is bettor for patient care. if you live in san pablo or el cerrito orrichmond. and driving on the i-80 corridor and it's backed up.ev y second counts? >> for dr. carson, it's a reality he's already come face to face with. when doctors hospital closed. >> a good friend of mine, his wife has a heart attack. i humbly,uly believe that if we were open, she would have had a fighting chance. >> time ismuscle. your heart is a muscle. if you could open the blood vessels that go to the heart, quickly then you could save the heart tissue. if you cat savehat heart tissue, you can't save the heart, the patient dies, my friend's wife had to go, she was dead before she got to alta bates. >> it's hard to say exactlyve h many l have been cut short because doctor's hospital wasn't

there. but dr. carson says he sees the impact every day. >> i can go on forever with who got shot, who h a stroke, who didn't make it to the hospital. who didn't have transportation. to the other hospitals around. we deserve to have a hospital. >> and that's the communityes contio grabble with changes to their health care options, alta bates has mphasized the move won't happen for anothern years. that will do it for us, as always can you find our coverage at kqed.org/news room. thank you for joining us.

♪ robert: bomhell indictment. the justice department charges 12y russian milit officers with election interference. i'mobt costa. inside the laters turns in the mueller probe and president trump's confrontational diplomacy. tonight on "washington week." >> charges 12 rsian military officers by name for conspiring interfere with the 2016 presidential election. robert: the justice department has charged 12 russian military officers with hacking intoto cls 2018 campaign. they directly link the kremlin with election interference that went beyon just targeting democrats. >> in a second conspiracy, they hack the website of a