07/05/16 07/05/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! ,> mexico, and i respect mexico their leaders, what they have done to us is incredible. their leaders are so much smarter and sharper. plane upbe a mexican there. getting ready to attack. amy: from joking about mexico attacking the united states to tweeting an anti-semitic image showing hillary clinton against a backdrop of cash and a star of david, republican presumptive nominee donald trump is facing a new wave of controversies.

we spend the hour with investigative journalist wayne barrett who has been covering trump for over 40 years. >> i think he represents not just a danger to america, but because we're such an influence in the world, it is really a shocking threat to the world. know, -- amy: we will hear how donald trump learned at the knee of joe mccarthy's former aide, attorney roy cohn, as well as how trump once tried to bribe wayne barrett with an apartment. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. across the world, people are mourning a string of attacks

that have killed hundreds of people in iraq, bangladesh, and saudi arabia during the final days of the holy month of ramadan. the deadliest attatack occurrern baghdad early susunday morning. more than 200 people were killed when a suicide truck bomb exploded in a busy shopping district. it was one of the deadliest attacks in iraq since the 2003 u.s. invasion. isis has claimed responsibility. many of the victims were children and f families who had gathered t to shop for new clots fofor th w week's s eid al-fitrr celebration, whichch marks the d of ramadan. on sunday, a local resident decried the bombing. >> is this eid? every eid we celebrate. is this our eid that everybody celebrates? is this the eid that we should celebrate? people came to buy close to celebrate, now they're buying coffins. may god punish those who are

responsible. amy: more than two days after ththe attacks, the d death toll continues to rise as more and more bodies are discovered in the rubble. today, major general kadim sahban spoke about the recovery effortrt. >> we are still searching for dead bodies. today we were able to exhume remains, and we will continue searching for human remains at the scene. we found documents and mobile's belonging to the victims. amy: s sunday's bombing in baghd came only two days after militants seized control of a trendy restaurant in dhaka, bangladesh, taking dozens hostage and ultimately killing 22 people. on friday, a half-dozen attackers stormed the holey artisan bakery in the diplomatic district of the capital, wielding explosives, guns, and swords. in the ensuing the 11-hour siege, the militants killed 20

diners from around the world, including nine italians, seven japanese, one indian, two bangladeshis, and one u.s. citizen. two police officers were later killed when the authorities raided the restaurant and killed five of the six attackers. authorities say the six attackers were all young men from bangladesh's elite who attended the countries top schools. isis has claimed responsibility for the attack, although bangladeshi officials say they were part of local militant groups. on monday, hundreds gathered in dhaka to honor the victims. >> we have gathered here today in grief, and anger, in solidarity, in protest of the gruesome killings of innocent gone to haved just dinner. this kind of an attack in a public place with innocent civilians, many of whom were guests in our country, is something that is unacceptable

to all people of this country. amy: m meanwhile, monday,, militants caieied out threree separate suicide bomomb attacks acroross saudi ararabia, includg an attack in t the holy city of memedina that lllled fousesecury ofofficers near the mosque whehe the e prophet muhammad is said o be bururied. the mosque is one of the holiest sites for muslims worldwide. another separate attack near the u.s. consulate in the saudi city of jidda wounded two security officers. no one has yet claimed respsponsibilility for monday's attacks.s. the string of f deadly attacksks come o only days after militants attacked the main airport in istanbulul, turkey, on tuesday, killing 42 people. the airport is the 11th busiest in the world. in news from the campaign trail, president obama and democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton are slated to hold their first joint campaign event today in charlotte, north carolina. presumptive republican presidential nominee donald trump is also expected to also a campaign rally in north carolina

later today. clinton's first campaign appearance with obama comes after the fbi interviewed clinton on saturday as part of its investigation of her use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state. unnamed sources told cnn the fbi is not expected to bring charges against clinton. this comes in the midst of continued controversy over a meeting on the tarmac at the phoenix airport between attorney general loretta lynch and former president bill clinton last week. republicans say the meeting compromises the justice department investigation into clinton's e-mail use. meanwhile, donald trump is facing criticism after he tweeted an image on saturday showing hillary clinton, a pile of $100 bills, and six-pointed star of david, along with the words "most corrupt candidate ever!" the tweet immediately drew criticism for being anti-semitic. trump has called the claims of anti-semitism ridiculous, but he deleted the tweet and later retweeted the same image, but with the star of david replaced by a circle. the news outlet mic.com has

reported the original meme shared by the presumptive republican presidential candidate came from a twitter user whose feed includes a number of violent and offensive images of afafrican americans, muslims and immigrants. this comes as the council on american islamic relations is warning that donald trump's comments are putting muslim women in danger. this is the question followed by just toass answer. >> make quickly, homeland security and jobs. why aren't we putting our military retirees on that order hibi psa? get rid of these jabis. thank you.

>> we are looking at that. amy: meanwhile, police are investigating at leastst two attacks against muslims. in houston, texas, a muslim doctor was ambushed, stabbed and shot multiple times by three men as he was on the way to a mosque for morning prayer on sunday. he has survived. this came one day after a man in florida was beaten outside a mosque in fort pierce on his way to morning prayers. the florida branch of cair says the attacker said, "you muslims need to get back to your country." meanwhile in ohio, avon mayor bryan jensen apologized has apologized after police handcuffed and pinned an emirati tourist to the ground outside his hotel after a hotel worker called 911 alleging the man had pledged his allegiance to isis. in fact, the man was simply standing outside the hotel in a formal white robe speaking on his cell phone in arabic. the police pointed their guns at him and then pinned him on the ground before realizing he was unarmed.

the man later collapsed and had to be hospitalized. the obama administration has released its internal assessment of the number of civilians killed by drone strikes in pakistanan, yemen, somalia, anad libya. the long-awaited r reported clcs between 64 and 116 c civilians have been killlled since presidt obama took office. however, reporters, researcherss and monitoring groups estimate the death toll from drone-related killings is as much as 10 times higher than this estimate. even former drone operators disputed thebabama administration''s esmamates. brandon bryant, whwoworked o air force drone teams from 2006 to 2011, told the "new york times" the civilian death toll was significantly higher, saying officials were "just deluding themselves about the impact." in toronto, canada, black lives matter activists shut down canada's largest pride parade on sunday, demanding event organizers ban police floats at the parade and commit to hiring more black, trans, and indigenous people for future pride events.

after successfully stopping the parade for about a half hour, the pride director met with the activists and agreed to their demands. and writer, holocaust survivor and nobel peace prize winner , elie wiesel has died at the of he was born september 30, 87. 1928 in romania. when the nazis invaded, he and his family members were deported to auschwitz, which became the subject of his most famous book, "night." he went on to be an outspoken human rights activist on many issues canan all the generated - denied israeael's role in the exexpulsion and d continued opprpression of f palestiniansn. in 1 1986, wiesel l was awardede nobebel peace prize. thisis is part of his acceptance speech. >> i know that as long as one dissident is in prison, o our freedom will notot be true.

as long as o one child i is hun, our livives will be f filledd wh anguish h and shame fry have sen children hungry -- for i havee seen children hungry. alal these victims need above al is t to know that they are not alone, that we are not forgetting them. amy: elie wiesel died in his home in manhattan on saturday at the agage of 87. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. with the republican national convention opening in cleveland in less than two weeks, the party's presumptive nominee donald trump is facing a new round of controversies. on saturday, his campaign tweeted an image showing hillary clinton, a pile of $100 bills, and six-pointed star shaped like the star of david along with the words "most corrupt candidate

ever!" the tweet immediately drew criticism for being anti-semitic . trump later deleted the tweet and then retweeted the same image, but with the star replaced by a circle. the original image shared by the presumptive republican presidential candidate came from a twitter user whose feed includes a number of violent and offensive images of african americans, muslims, and immigrants. this comes as the council on american islamic relations is warning donald trump's comments are putting muslslim women in danger after his comments last week at a town hall when he was questioned by a supporter about muslims working for the tsa. >> homeland security and jobs. what are we putting our retiree -- military retirees on that border war in gsa? get rid of these hibi jabis they were tsa. we need the veterans to take it. they fought for this country and defended it. they will still do it.

>> and we are looking at that. we're looking at a lot of things. amy: at that same rally in n new hampshire, donald trump joked about mexico attacking the united states. -- i respect mexico, i respect their leaders. what they've done to us is incredible. their leaders are so much smarter and sharper. it is s incredible. in fact, that can be a mexican plane getting ready to attack. amy: we turn now to part two of our in-depth look at donald trump. last week, democracy now! co-host juan gonzales and i visited wayne barrett, considered the preememinent journalist on donald trump. he has been tracking trump for decades. his 1991 biography of trump was just republished as an e-book with the title "trump: the , greatest show on earth: the deals, the downfall, the reinvention." on we aired part one of our thursday, interview. today we bring you part two. barrett at hise

home. he talked about t trump's longte lawyer and m mentor roy cohn who once served as the top aid to the red-baiting senator joseph mccarthy. i knew him very well. you just cannot understand how donald could have been this ,lose -- i write in the book they talked 15 times a day. one of the two stories i cannot remember which one, said it was five times a day. it is probably somewhere in between. roy himself told me he talked with him 15 times a day. there's no question at next to fred trump am a roy cohn with physical greatest influence in donald's life. , evil.incandescent i mean, i would sit with him and, you know, it was enough to make you rush back to church. the city annexed feeling he would give you. he would eat with his fingers. we would be at 21 and he would eat with his fingers. he carried a little glass in his

jacket that he would take out and drink in this little glass. he would pop a white pill when he didn't think you were looking. his house was filled with frogs. he was the weirdest guy. he was into the strangest stuff. he was a chicken hawk after little boys, yet he was the most weily anti-gay guy could imagine. that was donald mentor in constant psychic who represented all five of the organized crime families in york. amy: for young people who do not know roy cohn's background back to mccarthy, can you explain who he is and who does what it meant for donald trump to learn at his knee? >> i think he was 23 years old when he was the chief counsel of joe mccarthy doing all of those hearings. he was extremely wired into the

reagan white house. he helped make donald trump's sister mary and a federal judge in 1983. fixer, powertimate player in new york for a whole period of time. he died of aids in 1986. time, hecular block of was extremely influential with the administration. even more so than fred trump, he was totally wired into -- because he is knocked a popular arithmetic congressman out of the race. roy leaked he had been before a federal grand jury. initially, br she denied it and ultimately, it was established that he had been and that is why he could not run and that was roy getting biage out of the

race. beam was incredibly beholden to him. yet enormous influence in the city. i would write stories about his parking lot. strangely enough, his cash cow was city-owned parking lots by the water. he controlled the companies that had the parking lot that were city-owned. it was an enormous amount of money. he never paid any taxes. he pretended to have no income. empire.ncredible casash the guy who actually least those parking lots to him wound up under federal investigation. they found his body in the trunk of a car. all he did was give parking lots to roy cohn. that is whatat he did for a living. you just l look -- as i said, yu

know, he was the middleman between donald and all these mob guys. you asked about the apartment at trump tower. john cody gets an apartment at trump tower. is a gambino crime family associate who i had lunch with while i was doing the book. i have lunch with him at windows on the world. amy: on top of the world trade center. >> yes, and it must have been under federal surveillance because two weeks after the lunch, they busted him for trying to kill the guy who had taken over local 282, which was his union that was the concrete delivery men. they delivered all of the concrete to all of the sites in new york. totally mob controlled. so they busted him for trying to kill the guy. he had already been in jail. he goes back to jail. he denied it was a mistress, but he certainly told me that they

were very close. i talk about her in the book. she got not only an apartment in trump tower -- the only apartment with a pool, rightht underneath donald's apartment, right? and all of it built for john cody because trump towers is a total concrete structure. it was the first concrete structure like that built in new york. john cody had complete control over this. so he gets this apartment. he invested in the apartment himself, as i establishshed in e book. ickson is there. she used to meet meet in central park. she did not want to meet me in trump tower, but we talked many times. out ins john hanging trump tower all the time, rightt underneath donald trump's apartmenent.

he is a total wiseguy. a total wiseguy. amy: a mob guy. >> yeah, he said to me -- he used roy is the go-between with donald. roy was the guy who set us up. this is the relationships that flowed through -- you know, the fbi did an affidavit saying t te commisonon, the heheads of the five crime families, would meet in roy cohn's s office because e government cannot eavesdrop. it was a lawyer-client relationship. that is what they did. you are talking about the five families in new york,k, but of course, donald trump's signature developments occurred in atlantic city where, as i recall, the philadelphia mob was in charge of whatever happened in atlantic city. you talk about his relationship there? >> no question.

nikki scarfo, the bloodiest crime family in the history of the united states, it is undervalued because it wasn't based in new york. it did not get the coverage. but they controlled local 54, which is the hotel w workers union. this is not me talking, this is a finding on federal court that nikki scarfo c controlled the hotel workers union. and when they would strike all the casinos in atlantic city, they would not strike donald. when he first goes down there i'm a into atlantic city and acquire his first parcels, he buys them at a premium, overpays from under bosses of the n nikki scarfo crimeme family. he is a relationship with these guys throughout the early days of his time down there. it was really a pretty remarkable set of deals that he did. i add, mike matthews was the

mayor of atlantic city who was totally proven in court, went to jail, totally owned by the nikki scarfo family. and he was donald's number one ally. they were feeding him money, contributions -- legal contributions, but feeding matthews money. that was just one part of this intricate relationship that gave worth -- gave b birth to donal's casino empire in atlantic city. amy: can you talk about this casino empire and what it meant? unlike most people in this country, you got to see donald trump's tax records? >> yeah, i did. amy: how did you? >> they were part of the record of the casino control commission in the 1970's. he would have to submit his tax returns for the first casino he did down there, at least, trump plaza. one of the great ironies is his

second casino, trump castle, was actually built by the hiltons and the hilton family out of licicense byenied a the casino control commission -- which was all done to benefit donald. donald then get trump castle. and the rationale foror denenyig it, which h is what they statedn their decision, was that the hilton family was represented by a mob lawyer out of chicacago. here he has roy cohn, and that is no bar at all. no bar at all. so the irony -- that is how he got his second casino. so the casino empire there -- what is so interesting to me is, you know, when we had the nevada primary, he was owes at the trump hotel in las vegas.

but that is only a hotel, you know will step there is no casino there. what is there no casino their? his partner already owns a different casino, so he can qualify for a license, but they build a hotel without a casino in the heart of las vegas onlyse -- i mean, my conclusion is, he could not get a license in nevada. the guy might be president of the united states, but here they have this hotel without a casino in the heart of vegas, right? i had -- when my book came out, i started getting visited by these state troopers from missouri because he had applied for a riverboat casino license in missouri. these guys were so thorough. they met me at my house in ocean city, new jersey. they would call it the house

that trump what with the book advance. they would meet me at my office at the village voice. they would go through -- they came back and forth. they denied him. they were about to deny him, i should say, a riverbrboat licene in missouri. you realize, he has not gotten a casino license since he got one for the taj. he had the division of gaming enforcement in the casino control commission in new jersey fixed. it was rigged for donald. i don't think there's any question in my mind about that. and what wouldn't be -- it is a company town. the only thing in it is casinos. he owned four of them. he was only legally allowed to own three. when you buy the fourth one, that has become a hotel. they closed down the casino and just ran it as a hotel. m m there is s no other explanatation that i can find as to whyhy he does not have a caso

in his h hotel in las vegas othr than he could not go through the licensing procedure. he was given in 2004 some kind of a clearance by the casino regulators of suitability, but that is just a preliminary step. if you're actually going to get a license, you have to go through an intensive background. he withdrew before he was going to be denied in missouri, and he never applied for a license in nevada where he has a giant hotel. it is kind of ironic to me that a guy who wantsts to be presidet of the united states is afraid to go through a gaming commission licensing procedure. amy: wayne barrett, donald trump offered you an apartment, the man who dogged him for decades? >> that was early. i had not started dogging him yet. that was to induce me not to dog

him. when i started out on the trail of the hyatt, i filed a freedom of information request with both the state and the city. i was at the state urban development corporation offices reading all of the files, which was a table full of documents related to the hyatt. i was alone in a conference room and the phone starts ringing. i don't know whether to pickup or not. i finally picked up. wayne, this is donald. i understand you're going to write a story about me. i never met the guy in my life at that point. it was like we were old friends. early in the him reporting process. i always use this with journalism students as an example of what not to do if you are circling a subject, you

don't want -- you know, go face-to-face with them because you never know whether you're going to get a second shot. you don't want to go face-to-face with them until you have got all of your ducks in a row. but because he interrupted very early the reporting process, i met with him before i really had many of the ducks in a row. i can only ask softball questions. you loved me then. was walking round the apartment. it was on a saturday or sunday -- i know it was a weekend. thea's walking round apapartment on fifth avenue, but long before trump tower. so in ththe midst of that, i had not told him that i lived in ocean hill, brownsville, which was the poorest community in the city of new york. it would be unfathomable to him that i lived there by choice

because i wanted to livee there. so he said to me, wayne, you don't have to live in brownsville. i have plenty of apartment. it was at another time, not at the first interview, but sometime subsequent to that, he started talking to me about how he had broken this other journalist by suing him and driving them into bankruptcy. so it was the carrot and the stick and they were both jokes. amy: wayne barrett, investigative reporter to who worked for the village voice for 37 years. his 1991 biography has been republished as an e-book with the title "trump: the greatest , show on earth: the deals, the downfall, the reinvention." we will be back with them in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue our look at donald trump. about 1000 housekeepers, cooks, and omens at his casino in atlantic city when on strike friday and through the weekend, demanding reininstatement of health, pension, and other benefits illuminated during one of the bankruptcy proceedings.

we return now to our conversation with wayne barrett, considered the preeminent journalist on donald trump. waynyne barrett has been trackig trump for decades. his book has been republished as an e-book titled, "trump: ththe greatest show on earth: the deals, the downfall, the reinvention." to gonzalez and i spoke wayne barrett at his home where he largelyly has been confined e to his battle with lung cancer. we asked wayne barrett about donald trump's unkempt promise -- and kept promise. >> i think that is one of the stories. times" andthink "the "the washington post" have been excellent stories -- and politico, excellent stories on his atlantic city debacle, really, but he made a commitment in atlantic city and tony wightman was the city's housing commissioner who went to work for donald. housing was his specialty and

gliedman helped negotiate these. four out of five mayors went to jail during the time that donald was dominant. he had incredible relationships with most of them. but he signed these agreements because he was getting city-owned property near the taj . he was getting all kinds of agreements regarding roadways and access to trump castle which is at the marina, not on the boardwalk. so for these favors in the city government, he agreed to build low income housing. and he had the guy to do it. he had a guy who had done it in new york, and they made all kinds of commitments that were written right into agreements with the city of atlantic city. then he failed on all of them. people don't realizize it, but, you know, you drive into atlantic city, you can go right

into -- trump plaza is right off the highway. it is really the best site in atlantic city. you can drive e right into the garage. you walk out of the garage, they have this moving platform that will carry you right into the casino. it doesn't exexist anymore,e, bt i'm talking about when it did. there are no windows. so you don't even have to look out at this poverty that is just cataclysmic. it is right outside the window. it is like an alternative universe located right within the city that is decimated, that is desolate, and with so poverty-stricken. he never built any of the units. he leaves town from being the king of atlantic city, a guy who now lasts about how he got out, you know, with all of his cash flow, got out just in time.

juan: want to ask about a subject that has been raised quite a bit during the campaign, even by some of the top republican leaders -- mitt romney for one. donald trump's tax returns. why do you thihink he is resistg so much being able to make his tax returns public?c? >> i don't think we have to speculate about it. and the reason i say that is tim o'brien, who is my research assistant on my boat and subsequently wrote his own "trump nation," and he is now at bloomberg, the editor of the opinion section of bloomberg media, and he has seen the tax returns. now, he is not seen them for the most recent year, but he's all them for a number of years. donald trumpmp sued him over his book. when my book came out, he

publicly threatened to sue me, but he never did. ofamed 25 mob associates donald trump or whatever, and that doesn't motivate him to sue. but if you say he is not worthth what he clalaims to be worth, tt is whatt -- he sued tim because tim said he was worth only $200 million or $300 billion. he was a young guy, just got an mba from columbia when he was my assistant, but he is an incredible business head. that.d tim over the litigation when on for six or seven years and tim prevailed. during the course of litigation, tim's lawyers demanded that donald make the tax returns available. and they did for a number of years. so tim signed a confidentiality agreement so he cannot specifically reveal what is in

the tax returns, but he wrote a piece for bloomberg recently that said donald is not releasing his tax returns because the income will be far less than he claims it is, the assets will be worth far less than what he says it is, and his charitablele contributions are virtually nonexistent. so those are the three primary reasons why he won't release these returns. -- know, he is made a career when i say i don't know why he has never been prosecuted, maybe the prime time he could've been prosecuted was at the time of his downfall in 1990 and 1991. well, the banks kept him alive. the too o big to fail. they kept him alive. i wrotote in the book, he certainly did not sue when i said it, i did not say he is made -- cemented falls financial getements to the bankers to

$1 billion and personally guaranteed loans, i said that he submitted fraudulent ones. and i lay out the case for that in the book. he was engaged in completely defrauding the banks. and the banks knew it, ok? they were giving him the loans anyway. they kept him alone -- alive, but even more so, the house banking committee wanted to do public angst about it and the banks would not cooperate. the district attorney in manhatattan was a a big friend f donald's. donald was the second biggest giver. donald trump was the chairman of the police athletic league, which was morgenthaler's biggest charity. he was extremely close. he -- animal and he was the u.s. attorney in the eastern district. he hired maloney's brother. rudy giuliani was the u.s. attorney in manhattan and we

know how close they got. i wrote a whole story about how the e relationship developed. giuliani's first fundraiser when he decided to run for mayor, and there is donald at the main table. he is the cochair of the first rudy giuliani fundraiser for the mayor allergy in 1989. his relationships with prosecutors and the fact the bankers, they were embarrassed by what they had done. they did not want any investigation of this. the combination of the two gave them a pass. amy: you talk about his relationship with prosecutors. chris christie, formerly a prosecutor -- what about this close alliance, so many republicans are running away from trump, chris christie has wrapped himself around trump. >> i don't think chris christie -- donald has had every relationship when he was the power unit -- donald had

extraordinary relationships when he was in power in atlantic city. yet incredibly close elation ship with tom king. advisor, his political all these years has been roger stone, who ran tomkins campaign for governor the first time in new jersey. so he is always had in. roger is owes had a special relationship with jersey politicians. i don't know if he has one with chris christie. but he has a long history of that. roger stone, who is really the walking son of stone, raised by roroy cohn spent a great deal of time in the townhouse that roy cohn ran the law firm out of. christie and donald, is sort of has surprised me.

i can't quite figure out why this embrace. i think the ultimate thing, since he is already said chris christie will be his chief of r rudyi am predicting that giuliani will be his vice presidential candidate and so then between the three of them, new have this, maybe figures in the summer. rudy has already saidd he will e in charge of homeland security. this is a group - -- the rerelationship with rudy is deep and very disturbing. go back a little bit for the big picture. this is a sordid story of somebody who has been buying politicians, been involved with the worst criminal elements in american society. at the same time, crony worstlism of the worst sort. why do you think he has been

able to gather so much support in the public imagination? you say one point in your introduction, ththis is when t p was announcing for president, everyone else in the movie that donald is making with his life that morning and beyond is just an extra. think -- the i thing that maybe disturbs me the ,ost about the media coverage particularly television, is to call him a populist. we are what happened in britain was supposedly a populist expression. well, the whole history of populism is against elites. and what is driving the trump campaign and what i think drove the lexit outcome is not the animosity against elites. that may be a small part of it, but what is really driving it is antagonism toward immigrants, mostly minorities, that is what

is driving the trump campaign. i thought it was pretty toarkable when you listen otherna bashes and the commentators on cnn. one election after another, when he carried all but texas of the old confederacy and they would one night after another say, isn't it remarkable that a kid from queens is winning in alabama? instead of offering the logical explanation for it, which is that it is naked racism that he is appealing to, they instead say it is a thirst for an outsider, it is what is driving this is the thirst for an outsider when at the same day, they renominated richard shelby directly had a right-wing opponent and who is the chair banking in thehe senate and was

getting all of his money from goldman sachs and every other house, you know, contributing to him, he is an embodiment of the insider and they nominated him overwhelmingly, so he did not even face a runoff. there were two candidates running against him. these people who were attracted by an outsider were all apparently simultaneously attracted by the ultimate insider. what explains that? i think it is so clear that race is the driving motive of this campaign, the driving cause for its success, the scapegoating of everybody who is not a white male is what is driving this candidacy. and it has led to a success. whether or not there is enough of that to elect him president -- i mean, this still is the same country that elected barack obama twice.

and after four years of experience with him, really to them in 2012. it is not a dramatically different country than it was in 2012. i got to believe there are limits to this race card. but that -- dealey explanation to me for going from one unbelievably manipulative, contrived, false statement after another, attacking a judge. i think attacking the judge may have been not a mistake on his part, but something very consciously done to say, look, even if a big guy like me, they're screwing with even me, these mexicans. look, i know it you've got. i know you got a problem back there, but they can even take me on. you know? absolutek race is ththe undercurrent of this. it should not be an undercurrent. for a brief period of time when

the mexican judge thing appeared, the television media seemed to be willing to talk about race. i think we are seeing that change again. but they have to keep --- televisionon people hahave to kp this thing alive. if she is had by 13 points, how many millions did they lose. amy: wayne barrett, investigative reporter, worked with thehe village voice for 37 years. his biography of trump was just republished as an e-book with the title, "trump: the greatest show on earth: the deals, the downfall, the reinvention." we will be back with wayne barrett in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: the song written but never recorded by woody guthrie about his landlord, donald trump's father fred trump. our first break was another woody guthrie song. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman we conclude our conversation with trump biographer wayne barrett was tracked the republican presidential nominee for decades. his biography has been republished as an e-book called, "trump: the greatest s show on earth: the deals, the downfall, the reinvention." juan gonzalez. and i interviewed him last week in brooklyn. i asked wayne about those harmed by trump's's best practices from the polish workers who built trump tower to the investors in

the casino he never built in mexico. >>'s pathway to success is littered with bodies. i hear him talk about ththe thousands of latinos. latinos he is of employed. i don't know what he talked about. aware,e you're there always know latinos in atlantic city. there are a lot of black people there, but it has no significant latino p population. i was in and out of his casinos all the time and i never saw many latino workers. i don't know where these thousands of latinos that are supposedly workingng for h him e worked for him, but you would not be atlantic city. i don't know where else he ever employed thousands of people. the taj, for, example, which was at the time, you know, this -- he had this incredible downfall were his personal life, this is when he

dumps his wife and children and goes with marla, the same time when he was on this fast track 1987, 19 88 -- 1988 was the disaster year -- or he makes one bad judgment after another. so he is trying to get the city of new york to support the building of the tallest skyscraper in the history of the country on the west side yards for nbc headquarters. and at the same time, he takes on the taj, which would be the largest casino in the history of the world. so he doesn't get the approvals from koch, so he doesn't build the nbc tower on the west side but he goes ahead and tries to build the taj and he is so over leverages everything -- junk bonds, adding to costs all over the place. just one after another. it was doomed d from the d day t opened.

could never make the payments. it could never make the bond payments. all of theffed bondholders, but they also stiffed all of the small contract or's in atlantic -- contractors in atlantic city's. you know, mom-and-pop shops they did all of the work. i used to walk through it while it was under construction. the place was just filled with contntractors. i talked to many of them. they did not know theyey were al going to get stiffed in the end, but they got $.20, $.30 on the dollar or nothing. them.t stiffed so many of small businesses when out of business. amy: what about the polish workers at trump towers? >> polish workers at trump towers became kind of a famous case. the bond would tell her build it was part of the site -- with tiller building was part of the site. this is the genius of donald trump, how he managed to

assemble that site. i don't think he can find a better site in america, maybe in the world. the location he had. so that was part of his genius at the time was assembling these kinds of sites and making these acquisitions.. but he was complpletely unconcerned about the workers who worked in the demolition of literally slept there. there were all immigrant polish workers, hundreds of them, many of whom got very sick as result of working on that sitite. he is always try to put some distance between -- but h his office wasasight acrososs the street. his office was -- how he could claim he did not know what was going on in that site, which has been his claim and there is no question that these workers were abused to an enormous degree. amy: wayne barrett, we want to

ask about donald trump's wives. ps mary three people. anda trump, marla maples, millennia trump. significantly in his campaign. ivana trump accused him of raping her. can you talk about the significance, especially as he moves into attacking bill clinton, not because of bill clinton's behavior with his wife per say, but with other women? that he a real irony has the balls to do this. on thesehe children shows and they are given remarkable deference by television journalist. they treat him as if they are heidi cruz's kids.

appears to be a good father. but if you are a good father, ok, you're going to go through a divorce. a lot of good fathers and mothers have gone through divorce is. "best sex i ever had" stories to be plastered all over the tabloids while the 13-yeaear-old son is going to school. amy: expand what you mean. >> donald milked the divorce, the breakup with -- part of his shtick, one of the reasons white mills love him so much, they think he is a stud, right? marla maples was a beauty. classic american beauty. he saidhole thing that during a divorce -- amy: his divorce with -- >> ivana. ugly. so incredibly

it was damaging to the children. he got into a fight with ivana over who gets what in the end. computer.eric's they fought over eric's computer. amy: his son. >> so history when of of anna, the mother of his first three children, was deplorable. dy has thea trouble for their marriage. when he breaks up with her, she sends a competent to -- coveted jelly agreement. when she thought he was running for president in 2011, she was doing an interview in london and she said, if he runs for president, i'm going to have to tell the world what he is really like. trumpe lawyers of remedially going to court -- immediately go into court. they stood out after they got sort of order from the court and she is completely silenced.. never r hear from her again.

you know, they stood in front of the courthouse and said she had proven that she was a bimbo. that is what they said. the way in which he is treated is wives is just -- it deplorable. i wrote in the book that donald took the fifth amendment 100 times during the course of the divorce proceedings, his deposition, question by ivana's lawyers about other women. the division of gaming enforcement down in new jersey reviewed my book. they actually got his deposition, which i did not have . i had an estimate that came from a very knowledgeable source. so i said 100 and they corrected me and said, no, healy took the fifth amendment 97 times -- he only took the fifth amendment 97

times. keep that in mind when you hear from donald trump p about the deposition that bill clinton did about polar jones, which was the basis of the impeachment. apparently,onald, not committing perjury, but refusing to answer 97 questions about other women -- which i think says an awful lot about his marital life. amy: wayne, you u have been doig this work for decades. and here you are after following donald trump for almost half a century, publishing a book again, revised and updated book on donald trump. what keeps you going? >> donald does, these days. i have been very sickk. so i decided when he started emerging, which was a total surprise to me, really, that he -- if i open big

my door, i've had 50 or 60 reporters through here. i kept on my old trump files. most of them are in the basement, some are down and the house in ocean city. reporters have come through here. one team of two spent three days in my basement. so i have been an open door to every reporter. i haven't written much myself, one little peas, but i intend to write some. i think it is a civic duty. amy: why? than that he is someththing unlike anything -- u know, i'm a democrat. i am a liberal democrat. voted in my life for candidates on the republican line. not often, but sometimes. is i think this is a man who

qualified toly not runn the trump organization. he is not fit to run the trump, so he certainly is not fit to run america. trump organization is a fairly substantial real estate company, surly not one of the biggest in manhattan as "the times" demonstrated, but it has some impact on some lives. and he is so unconcerned about the impact he has on some lives, whether there is any positive element to it that i don't even think he is fit for that, but i think he represents not just a danger to america, but because we're such an influence in the world, it is really a shocking threat to the world.

so i am in a sick bed a lot, but he gets me up out of it. amy: wayne barrett, investigative reporter who worked at the village voice for 37 years and continues to report. one gonzalez and i spoke to him at his home or his largely been confined due to his battle with lung cancer. wayne barrett biography of trump was just republished as an e-book with the title of, "trump: the greatest show on earth: the deals, the downfall, the reinvention." visit our website at democracynow.org to see part one of our interview with wayne barrett from last week. inhave several job openings all full-time jobs based here in new york city. find out more at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]