i'm thuy vu. coming up, thousands of people convicted of marijuana related offenses in san francisco are cheering a decision by the district attorney to c criminal and we'll talk with a california activist who attended president trump's state of the union address. he represents undocumented black immigrants. and we'll hear from lieutenant governor gavin newsom why voters should back him as california's next governor. earlier today, house republicans released a memo that alleges the justice department and fbi abused their surveillance powers. several democrats on the committee, including congressman adam schiff, are accusing

congressman devin nunes of manipulating the contents of the classified memo. president trump allowed the release despite objections from the justice department and fbi. this morning, he accused the two agencies of politicizing the investigative process. joining me now with more on this latest twist is congressman eric slawwell from the east way. what is your reaction to the release of this memo? >> it's disturbing that the republicans in the house would to protect the president. they're asserting facts not supported by the evidence to protect the president in this russian investigation. they're doing it over the objection of the fbi and in a first world democracy where never before have we seen political leaders use police to attack our leaders. >> so from where you sit on the house intelligence committee, what will you do at this point?

>> the best way we can clean up the distortions that their memo has made is for the democratic memo to be released on monday. so we'll force a vote on monday when we return and have a committee hearing. if our memo were released, you would see ten pages of details that lay out the true timeline here, that put into focus that this investigation occurred long before the steele dossier lande. it point out that fbi deputy director andy mccabe, that his characterization in the gop memo is just flatly wrong and mischaracterized. and that the fisa application is mischaracterized. i think the a will walk away seeing new, unseen evidence from our memo. but also the fbi's credibility will bolstered. >> you already tried to get that memo released last week. the republican leaders on the committee said no. what do you think will change that this time? >> now they have the public to answer to, and the public

sentiment right now i believe is outrage. outrage that they would trample all over the rule of law, and that they're going to want to see, as i said, the evidence that corrects the record. >> president trump was asked today, what is his reaction to this, would he try to fire deputy attorney general rod rosenstein? and he said, you figure that one out. what do you think that means? >> president trump has shown a willingness clear out of his way anyone who has been a part of this investigation. you thin individuals who no longer at doj or fbi from sally yates to james yocomey, and now, of cour, andy mccabe retiring this week or being forced out, he has an enemy's list, and he, one by one, is removing them from this investigation. we must do all we can in congress to protect bob mueller. there's legislation from republicans and democrats to do that. and if this is not an alarm for

us to do that when we get back, i don't know what is. >> do you think he would fire rosenstein? it looks like he's set the circumstances to fire rosenstein. people may ask why does it matter if he fires deputy attorney general rosenstein? because he set the parameters of mueller's investigation. he approved the -- he's technically the person who would have to fire bob >> so let's just say hypothetically, rosenstein is fired, what would you do? you also sit on the house judiciary committee, which would take up impeachment for these proceedings if it were to happen? >> i and with the supp of others, would move to the house judiciary committy to take up impeachment proceedings. i believe that would be clear obstruction justice and the house must act. >> is that an effort you would lead? >> i would work with my colleagues and the leaders of the judiciary committee and our ranking member. having -- i'm the only democrat

that serves on the intelligence committee and the judiciary committee. i had a real look into the evidence that exists here. and i believe this would be a clear case of obstruction. but i believe our house leaders have already said that's a red line he can't cross. the republ this is a case where there was abuse of surveillance power by the fbi and the justice department, that carter page's constitutional rights were violated in this case. is it possible that proper procedures and vetting procedures were not followed in this case? >> i haven't seen that. the fbiw and we should look at all of their investigations to make sure civil liberties are being protected. sure civil liberties are being protected. but what it looks hike he the president is trying to go after the fbi to taint their investigation so that the public sentiment or approval of the fbi is reduced. so if more indictments come against the president or his team, the public reaction could not be as condemning as it

probably likely would be. one other point, thuy, by the republicans referring over to the white house this classified memo, before it became public, they essentially gave the white house pieces of evidence in the russia investigation that the white house and the president they not have otherwise seen. that's important, because they're essentially allowing them now to tailor their testimony, the president or the white house counsel, around evidence that they know -- now >> well, there's so much more to discuss on this. but i can't let you go without asking you about the budget. ne deal is february 8, next thursday. democrats agreed to reopen the government after the shutdown last month with reassurance from republicans there would be good-faith negotiations on immigration. has that happened? has been made? >> negotiations are under way. i think it's reckless for us to continue to comp two to three weeks at a time. it's not fair to the american people. we should be able to solve our

immigration challenges, the challenges around also funding you know, health care centers in our community, and our but we shouldn't do this two to three weeks at a time. that's not fair to the american people. i've seen student councils in elementary schools budget out further than that. >> what would you need to see happen on daca, on immigration, in order to support a long-term budget bill? >> we can address the dreamer issue by giving certainty to the nearly 700,000 dreamers who already signed up under daca. if there are other issues around border security or reforming our immigration process, we should look at those. right now the president is proposing that we reform and fix daca and the tradeoff is that we end legal immigration that's existed, like family reunification our country for over 50 years. >> that's a non-starter for you? >> it's non-starter for me. >> would you back another

government shutdown if you can't reach a compromise? >> i'm not going to propose a shutdown, i'm going to propose we solve the issues we were sent to take care of. >> congressman, always great to have you on the program. >> my pleasure. today, president trump delivered first state of the union address. attending that was a young, undocumented immigration activist. joseph is the communications director for undocumented immigrants, a group that add slow kates for undocumented black immigrants. >> thank you for having me, thuy. >> what was that like to attend the state of the union speech? >> it was a very bittersweet experience. this was the largest delegation of undocument ed at the state o the union. but we had to listen to the vitriol being spread

>> well, tell us a little bit what your personal story is, because i know the mission is to get the stories of immigrants such as yourself. you came here at the age of 7. how did you get here? >> because my parents wanted me access to opportunities i otherwise wouldn't hav if i had remained in central america. it was one of those experiences as the eldest child they knew i would be the closest one to access institutions of higher learning, and they wanted me to get opportunities that they di. so as a result of that, they sent me to live with my maternal grandmother in the united states. >> you're part of the advocacy group that serves undocumented black immigrants. how big is that population and how are you getting your message out? >> we have 619,000 undocumented black people represented in the united states. as a result of that, we seek to

send our message by making sure that our voices are amplifieamp locally, statewide, and nationally. so we go about it by doing op-eds, interviews, videos that showcase the diversity for the immigrant community. something that we often don't talk about enough. so when you have comments that are made by the president and his administration about blank hole countries and he's referring to haiti and countries on the african continent, that's what it look for a lot of people to understand that immigration is a black issue. >> what has life been like for you as an undocumented immigrant living under the trump administration? >> chaotic would be an understatement. in that each day we definitely do not know what's going to happen. a few weeks ago, we had the trump administration, as well as leaders from both parties, give a press conference or have a meeting in the midst of a press circus, and they spoke about the importance of being able to pass a clean dream act. moments later, we heard rhetoric

they wanted to do so at the risk of family reunification programs, and almost the elimination of diversity visas. so we don't know what to expect. we hear rhetoric that says clean dream act, but we hear attempts to use the 800,000 daca recipients against the remainder of the immigrant population. >> the latest proposal, he made it clear that he is willing to offer a 12-year path to citizenship for daca recipients, but bare that with billions of dollars for a wall along the mexican border and tighter restrictions on legal immigration. what do you think of that? is there any part of that, that you could support in place of a clean >> it is a very problematic proposal that's being made, because for him to offer 1.8 million people, there's 11.5 million undocumented people in the united states of america. so to try to use 1.8 million or

800,000 daca recipients against the remainder of the population is creating an us versus them mentality, which you're trying to label the undocumented youth as coming here at no fault of their own, but crimina their parts and setting up families to be separated from one another. becoming susceptible to deportation and elimination from being able to provide for their families and create a sustainable lifestyle. while the pathway to citizenship is a great aspect, we're going to be addressing these longer term implications, which the remainder of the undocumented population is going to be less defense of themselves and that's something i can't get behind. >> there are a number of people, especially conservative republicans, by offering a path amnesty and feel that's wrong. they feel it's wrong to put dreamers ahead of the line. what do you have to say to snem >> first and foremost, there is

no line for immigrants like myself. if there was a line, it would have been something we would have gotten in the process of. as for somebody that has been here 15 years, daca is a merit based program. i have to submit $495 every two years to renew, i have to pay taxes. i'm asking the government permission in order to work in this country and pay taxes. that to me does not read as a handout. it's something that we worked very hard for. and not to mention undocumented people have contributed to the social, economic, and political fabric of this nation. but it's anything but a handout. >> we'll have to leave it there. thank you for joining us. >> thank you so thuy. it's been one month since recreational marijuana became legal for adults in california. now san francisco residents, we'll see this week their slate wiped clean.

thousands of concrick shvi expunged going back to 1975. welcome. >> thank you >> what are you hoping to accomplish by automatically erasing about 3,000 misdemeanor marijuana convictions? >> there are three things. number one, we know that most of the communities were heavily impacted by the war on drugs and the war on marijuana, where people of color, the african-american community, poor people, and those people generally with the -- would be hard pressed to hire an attorney and go through the legal process to petition to have their convictions expunged or have a felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor. we also know the impact of a criminal record and it often f government assistance, loans.

on a felony case, you can't even vote. so we want to ensure that we right that wrong. we also want to encourage other prosecutors the state to do the same thing. so we're creating a blue print for this to occur in a way that it's painless to the individual. and then finally, we want to send a national message, we're in a time where we have the national administration, the attorney general, you know, talking about marijuana being almost an existential threat to our communities. we still have marijuana as a scheduled it's on equal par with heroin, and that's obscene. if you talked to high school kids 30 years ago, they would laugh at this obscenity that has put marijuana at that level. when the law is not credible, it becomes hypocrisy. >> some look at what you've done and say it was a crime back then. so if you committed a crime back then, it should stay on the

record, regardless of changes to the law. >> that sort of ignores the fairness of what it is right. it shouldn't have been a crime back then, and secondly, how arbitrary would it be that if you were arrested for a marijuana offense, december 31st of 2017, you were a criminal, but you engaged in the same conduct january 1 of 2018, you're no longer a criminal. >> you talked about this when you talked about racial discrepancies and the way marijuana laws have worked out with the enforcement. in 2011, african-americans made up 6% of san francisco's population. they accounted for half of the city's marijuana related offenses. so with this new policy, what do you think will be the impact on that discrepancy? what kinds of reform will it accomplish in the long run?

>> i think it's the beginning of reducing the harm of decades old policy that's decimated poor people, especially in african-american communities. there are many studies that tell you that drug use in this country is distributed equally among the racial groups. some will say that sometimes the white communities, marijuana use is greater than in the african-american community. but when you see who the people that were arrested, and convicted, that went to jail and prison, it always seems to be people of color. and the african-american community has suffered the most in this process. >> i wanted to ask you about immigration. federal immigration authorities would allow agents to go to courthouses and make arrests. they say they will only target convicted criminals, gang members, and not take in family or friends or witnesses, for example, for deportation.

what do you think of the directive? >> it's very wrongheaded, driven by phobic beliefs in the new administration. i think the reality is, courts ought to be a place where witnesses and victims can come in without being fearful they may be arrested because they're here without documents or someone they know may be arrested without being here not being legal. >> but they would argue the courthouse is a safe place to make these arrests because of the metal detectors. >> here's the problem. we've seen a drop in the number of violent incidents in the chinese and latino communities. we now have victims of domestic violence that refuse to come to court because they are afraid that they may be subject to deportation. so it doesn't matter what the federal government says, their

credibility with the immigrant community is nonexistent. i have my own doubts, and the problem is that this puts people out of >> and another immigration related issue, i.c.e. has just served 77 bay area businesses notices of inspection, demanding employment verification. what do you think of that move, and is this the sign of a tougher crackdown to come? >> it was very interested the bay area gets selected for this. it seems to be somewhat vindictive, given that the bay area has seemed to be in line with politics that does not seem to be what the president wants. when law enforcement engages in vindictive prosecution, nothing good comes out of it. >> is there anything your office can do to counter this if a crackdown happens? >> clearly the federal government has jurisdiction.

there's nothing that we can do. i'm not suggesting they shouldn't do the work. i just find it very odd that this region seems to be taking . >> thank you so much for joining us. >> my thank you as jerry brown serving out his final year as governor, there's a vigorous campaign to replace him. the early leader in terms of fund-raising and poll numbers, is gavin newsom. his campaign has raised nearly $20 million, but he's facing criticism from his rivals over issues such as his support for single payer coverage. scott shaffer sat down with gavin newsom earlier >> lieutenant governor newsom, thanks for coming in. >> great to be here. >> you are running to succeed jerry brown. it would hard to imagine two people more different than you two in terms of style, age, demeanor. so why are you the guy to replace him? >> i've known jerry my entire

life. there's a lot of truth to that. stylistically, step up and step in. not as passive on certain issues. the knock on me is that i was the 12th member of the board of supervisors i was major of san francisco. i tend to want to lead reforms, not wait for them to land on my desk. what is is an issue that you would be less passive in >> the issue of health care. in this country, 17.9% of gdp, conversation or pension conversation. can't have a convs it relates to issues of small business growth, unless you're having health care conversation. >> high speed rail, it is in trouble. it limping along. it is being built, but at the moment, it could be a train to nowhere. at what point would you abandon it? because there may not be federal or private sector money? >> i don't want to speculate.

the key is the private sector money. also continue to advocate for more federal dollars. we're patching this together and keeping it going. you have 1600 folks working as we speak. this is under construction, and the redesign of the first phase provides preyou fi s this for t. this is not a boondoggle, unless we abandon the vision. because we couldn't find funding. that's my commitment, to find the dollars. >> would you just see connecting the valleys and say that's all we can do? >> i have confidence we'll get mind. that will be a game changer up here. so the northern part of the state is best positioned to be well served, but i really feel a sense of responsibility to southern california that's been

left wanting in that respect, because getting those tunnels through and above into the san gabrielle mountains remains an open question an open wound for a lot of the elected officials that have been critical. brown shy to say no to democrats when it comes tospending. will you say no? >> that was a word i used often as mayor of san francisco. >> what would you say no to? >> you have to balance the budget. but at the same time, i want to recognize a fundamental fact that unless we deal with income and wealth disparities and social mobility, the state is going to chance on itself. 8 million people below the poverty line. 46% at or near the poverty line. those are stubborn facts that address. >> sexual has rocked sacramento.

when this sexual harassment began to happen with harvey weinstein and it all unfolded, what questions did you have? >> it was very personal. my wife was the second person to come out impacted directly by harvey. she had the courage to come forward and also to talk to me about what in ways she hadn't in the past, which was jaw dropping. as it relating to sacramento, all those women that came forward deserve affirmation, justice, and reforms. >> would you support penalties against legislators who are found guilty of harassment or sexual assault, and should the public be paying money for these settlements? i think the settle have to bring to light. it's unfortunate we've these ch asking questions. >> what questions would you ask? >> we are signing off ons

settlements to women c come forward. taxpayer dollars shouldn't be used for the malfeasance and offense that is occurring by legislative leaders or members of staff. there has to be personal accountability that respect. >> one of the problems with the operations is the cash. what would you do about that? >> for the last year and a half, we've been promoting the idea of a state bank, that's not going there are a lot of credit unions that are quietly accepting the cannabis cash, and are hopeful that the federal government stays pat and doesn't necessarily interfere with that. but this is not unique to california. you've got red states and blue states with medical marijuana that have the same open-ended questions. so i think eventually, and i hope in the near term, this will

be addressed, the federal level will remove the status and this. >> you win, you'll take office in 2019, 2020 around the corner. can you say you will not run for president? >> that is not my aspiration. california will be well served by having a governor working full-time on the state's business. and quite substantively, the one redret i hear more often privately of governor brown, he had his eye off the ball and was doing a lot of things, where he had a presidential lens and not a lens on california. what a contrast to what he's accomplished in the last seven years, versus being focused elsewhere in the previous seven years. we need a governor working full time. >> did i hear you don't want to be president of the united states? >> with all due respect, ex-president sounds like a great job. >> only one way to

>> looking ahead, here's a tape. you'll no. >> lieutenant you very much. >> you heard it here from gavin newsom. no for president. that does it for us. find more from our conference at our website. i'm thuy vu. thank you for

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