democracynow.org 03/17/17 03/17/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] now! amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> regarding the question as to climate change, the president was straightforward that we not spending money on that anymore. amy: in what the trump white house is calling an america first budget, it calls for an unprecedented $54 billion increase in military spending while slashing environmental, housing, education, diplomatic programs as well as spending for national and we'll get

response from ralph nader, longtime consumer advocate, then, is president donald trump's top counter-terrorism adviser sebastian gorkrka a memr of a hungarian far-right, nazi-allied group? leaders of "vitezi rend" -- which the state department says was under the direction of the not the government of germany -- say gorka took a lifelong oath of loyalty to their group. gorka wore the group's medal on his lapel at a presidential ininaugurationon ball. hehe's defefended it as a w wayo remember his fatheher. [indiscernible] althouggh he passed away 14 yeas ago, i wear that middle and remembrance of what my family went through what represents to me to be an american. amy: if gorka is a member of vitezi rend but did not disclose this on his immigration application, it could make him inadmissible to the country

under the immigration and nationality act. we will get the response from the jewish-american forward, the reporter who broke the story. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on his first trip to asia, secretary of state rex tillerson said the united states will consider taking military action against north korea. >> let me be very clear. the policy of strategic patience has ended. we are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, and economic measures. all options are on the table. amy: this morning, tillerson also visited the demilitarized zone on the bordrder between noh and south korea. this week, the u.s., japan, and south korea carried out a

massive military traraining exercise the same area where , north korea fired four missiles a week earlier. the u.s.'s elite seal team 6 took part in the war games for the first time. the war games coincide with a u.s. military build up in the region. overer the lasast few weeks, t t u.s. has beeeen deploying a missile defense system known as thaad, the terminal high altitude area defense system to south korea. the u.s. has now also announced it will be deploying unmanned attack drones to south korea. during tillerson strip he , endorsed the proposed dramatic cuts to the state department budget, despite warnings the cuts would decrease the u.s.'s ability to carry out diplomatic efforts to resolveve conflicts. defense secretary james mattis once famously said while serving as the commander of u.s. central command -- "if you don't fund the state department fully, then i need to buy more ammunition." secretary of state tillerson's trip to the demilitarized zone came after he visited japan where he also called for a different approach to north

korea, saying diplomatic efforts so far had failed. ahead of his visit, protesters again rallied in okinawa to protest u.s. military bases on the island. house speaker paul ryan lost or support on the health plan with top leaders admitting thursday thehey do not have enoh votetes to push the legigislatin through the full house. the budget committee narrowly approved the bill thursday in a 19-to-17 vote. all democrats on the committee voted against the legislation, as did three republicans -- virginia republican congressmember dave brat, alabama republican commerce member garry palmer, and south carolina republican congressman mark sanford. top republicans and the white house have admitted they may make changes to the bill in order toto pass it through t housuse, altlthough speaker ryas facing a a divided republican opposition, with members of his party calling for medicaid to be cut even faster, while others are calling for medicaid and

other protections for low-income constituents to be protected. president trump's proposed budget came under fire thursday from both democratic and republican lawmakers. the 2018 budget calls for an president did $54 billion increase in military spending while slashing environmental housing, diplomatic and educational programs. it also calls for a 31% cut to the environmental protection agency and the elimination of 32 hundred jobs. if approved, the epa's budget would become the smallest it has been in 40 years. on thursday, office of management and budget director mick mulvaney called funding, change programs a waste of money. as toarding the question climate change, i think the president was fairly straightforward that we are not spending money on that anymore. we consider that to be a waste of your money to do that. trump's proposed budget would also cut spending to the state department by 28%

billions of dollars in funding for the united nations at the time with eu and says the world is facing its biggest too manager in crisis since world war ii. on thursday, human rights watch called on trump to continue funding human rights programs worldwide. many conflicts have their roots in human rights violations and abuses. for the u.s. to pull back with innsbruck -- instability coming to an increase in abuses. congress has t the opportunity o step in and certainly they should stetep in and make sure e u.s. does not shy away from the commitments that it is had to maintaining internrnational humn rights system that has been in placee since world war ii. including the u.n.. the community development block

grant program, which partially funds among other things meals ,n wheels to feed the elderly the poor, veterans, and disabled people. we will have more on trump's proposed budget with ralph nader after the headlines. president trump is continuing to stand by his unsubstantiated claims president obama tapped his phones at trump tower durirg the 2016 election, even as top legislators from both parties continue to reject the allegation. on thursday, senate select committee on intelligence chair richard burr and vice chair mark warner issued a statement saying -- "based on the information available to us, we see no indications that trump tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the united states government either before or after election day 2016." the statement came only hours after trump told fox news' tucker carlson he'd be providing evidence soon, and that his allegation was based, in part, on a report he'd d seen on fox

news. pres. trump: i watched your friend brett bare the dayy befoe were he wawas talkingg about certainn very comomplex sets of things happening in the wiretapping. as it, wait, there's a lot of wiretapping being talked about. amy: white house press secretary sean spicer also tried to defend trump's unsubstantiated allegation during a contentious 20-minute exchange with reporters during thursday's press briefing. >> are you saying the president still stands by his allegation that president obama ordered wiretapping or surveillance of trump tower, despite the fact the e senate intelligence committee says they see no indications that happened? stands byf all, he it, but you are mischaracterizing what happened today. no, no, -- >> [inaudible] >> i understand that. at the same time they ballot

that not been in contact with the department of justice. i i go back to what i said at te beginning. amy: president trump is meeting with german chancellor angela merkel today at the white house. they're planning to hold it joint news conference, the first since trump offered -- trump's first since he clalaimed, withot offering any evidence, that president obama tapped his phones at trump tower. afafter the press conference, trump will head back to florida, for his fifth trip to his mar-a-lago resort. the hill reports trump has now spent nearly a quarter of his time in office at his private resort. president donald trump's top counter-terrorism adviser sebastian gorka is facing calls to resign after the jewish-american newspaper the forward reported gorka is a sworn member of a hungarian far-right nazi-allied group. the forward reported thursday that members of the "vitezi rend" have confirmed gorka took a lifelong oath of loyalty to their group, which the u.s. state department says was under the direction of the nazi government of germany during world war ii. if the report is true, it means

gorka may have lied on his u.s. immigration application, which requires people disclose ties to such organizations. gorka has denied reports of his involvement with the nazi-allied group telling tablet magazine -- "i have never been a member of the vitez rend." we will have more on sebastian gorka later in the broadcast with the forward reporter who broke the story. in syria, atat least 40 pepeople have died after an airststrike struck a m mosque in thehe middf evening prayer in the village of al jina thursday night. the pentagon has confirmed it carried out an airstrike thursday night in the same area, but it denies hitting the mosque. instead, the pentagon claims its strike hit an al-qaeda meeting that was being held 50 f feet ay from a mosque, which the u.s. military claims is still standing. syrian activists and on-the-ground journalists reject the u.s.s. mility's accocount. this is s journalist bilal abdul kareem. >> when yo look juju behind me,, this was all a part o of the

compound.. now, the u u.s. government has admitted they y launched an airstrike hehere just lastst ni. but they said they did it 50 feet from the acactual mosque. you can look and you can see the mosque is right here anand all f this, which has been hitit behid me, is all a part of the mosque compound. amy: in new york, a second hearing has been scheduled in the case of two indigenous namibian tribes that are suing the government to demand compensation for germany's genocide of 100,000 herero and nama people between 1904 and 1908. the killings were carried out by german imperial troops when the region was a german colony. the killings are considered to be the 20th century's first genocide. brazil's largest city, sao paulo, ground to a halt thursday as transportation workers, teachers and other public sector , workers staged a 24-hour general strike to protest brazilian president michel temer's proposed pension reforms, as well as widespread corruption and impunity for

politicians. brazil's attorney-general is currently seeking to investigate 83 lawmakers over allegations of corruption. this is one of the protesters. >> it angers me to see the country in ruins because of their politicians. now we have to fix things. the privileges they've always had, pensions for their children's they have, and now we have to pay for this. i am not going to pay this bill. i will pay for my build. amy: back in the united s state, the fafast-food giant mcdodona's briefly apappeared to take on president trump on when the thursday corporate account tweeted out -- "@realdonaldtrump you are actually a disgusting excuse of a president and we would love to have @barackobama back, also you have tiny hands." the tweet was swiftly deleted within 20 minutes and mcdonald's later apologized, claiming its account had been hacked. mcdonald's head of global

communications robert gibbs previously worked as president obama's press secretary. an epa official is facing allegations he sought to stop an investigation into monsanto's roundup. official jess rowland was in charge of testing the cancer risks of the herbicide. but according to a court filing, rowland reportedly told a monsanto manager on a conference call in 2015, "if i can kill i should get a medal," in reference to an investigation into the chemicals in roundup. a federal judge says rowland appeared to have a "highly suspicious" relationship with monsanto. rowland also oversawaw committee that found there was not enough evidence to conclude glyphosate, onone of the key chehemicals in roundup, causes cancer. in florida, the top prosecutor for metropolitan orlando has annonounced she will not seek te death penalty in any first degr m murder cacases. c consideration of the n new

statute under my admininistrati, i will n not be seseeking death penalty's in cases handled in my office. amy: state attorney aramis ayala's announcement thursday sparked outrage because she was set to prosecute the case of markeith loyd, who is accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, who was an orlando police officer. following her announcement, florida governor rick scott first called on ayala to recuse herself from the case and then, when she refused, he removed her from the case and reassigned it to another prosecutor. meanwhile e in los angeles, a judge has vacated the murder conviction of a man who spent 32 years in jail for a crime he always maintained he did not commit. the former sheriff of los angeles county has been found of obstructinges an fbi investigation into the abuse of prisoners in l.a. county jails, including the beating of prisoners who were handcuffed. lee baca ran the l.a. county

sheriff's department for 15 years and was one of the most powerful sheriffs in the united states. he now faces up to 20 years in federal prison on charges relalated to his attempt t to tt the fbi's investigation and then cover up his efforts. and boxing legend mohammad ali's son, muhammad ali, jr., says he was questioned at a u.s. airport for the second time within a month. this time at the airport in washshington d.c., where he was seeking to board a flight to fort lauderdale, florida. muhammad ali jr., or muhammad ibn ali, says he was flagged by tsa and then asked for his social security number, his place of birth, and a u.s. passport to board the flight, even though he had already shown his u.s. driver's license. muhammad ibn ali was also stopped and questioned for over two hours about his name and his religion in late february when he flew into florida from jamaica.

this is muhammad ibn ali speaking on democracy now! >> the first question they asked me, what was my name. the second question was, where did i get my name from. the third question was, what religion are you. i answered, my name is mohammed ibn ali. i got my name for my mother and father. they raised me. they came in the name muhammad ali from birth. i said i am muslim. obviously, i think they did not believe me so they took me into another room in the back. they asked me to same series of questions. it struck me as a surprise, shock, and awe because i'm an americanan citizen so i dodon'tw why he even stopped me in the first place. and he could to see the whole interview of muhammad ali's oldest son as well as his mother

, who also was taken into custody and questioned the first time around, go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump has officially unveiled his budget proposal which calls for an unprecedented $54 billion increase in spending while cutting environmental housing, diplomatic and educational programs. the budget would cut spending for the state department and usaid by 28% and cut billions of dollars in funding for the united nations. the office of budget and management director describes the proposal as an america first budget. the big winners are the military and the department of homeland security. trump is requesting a $2.8 billion increase in funding largely to pay for expanding the border wall and hiring 1500 new border patrol and ice agents. despite the fact for over a year, he said mexico would pay

for that wall, which mexico has emily refused to do. the big losers are almost every other sector of government. the national institutes of health with the its funding cut by 20%. trump is proposing a 31% cut to the environmental protection agency and the elimination of 3200 jobs. if approved, the epa's budget would become the smallest it's been in 40 years. the budget calls to end funding for the clean power plan, international climate change programs, climate change research and related efforts. it also reduces superfund cleanup funding and eliminates funds to clean up the great lakes and chesapeake bay. meanwhile trump's budget calls , for the outright elimination of 19 agencies, including the corporation for public broadcasting, which supports public radio and television stations across the country the , national endowment for the arts and the national endowment for humanities. the education department would see a $9 billion cut. even the so-called "school

choice" programs would receive $1.4 billion more in funding. -- even as so-called "school choice" programs would receive $1.4 bilillion more in funundin. trump's education secretary betsy devos has been a major babacker of such programs, which include vouchers for private and religious schools that divert public funding out of the public school system. numerous programs to help the poor are on the chopping block including the low income home energy assistance program, which helps the poor pay for heat during the winter, the legal services corporation, which funds free legal aid nationwide, and the commmmunity development block grant program which partially funds, among other things, meals on wheels to feed the elderly, poor, veterans, and disabled. during thursday's press conference, omb head mick mulvaney described the budget as compassionate when he was asked about cuts being made. >> just to follow-up on that, you were talking about the steelworker in ohio and the coal miners in pennsylvania and so on, but those workers may have an elderly mother who depends on the meals on wheels program, who

may have kids in head start. yesterday are the day before you describe this as a hard power budget, but is it also hardhearted? >> i don't think so. i think it is probably one of the most compassionate things we can do -- >> [inaudible] >> you are only focusing on half the equation. you're focusing on recipients of the money. we are try to focus on the recipients of the money and the folks who give us the money in the first place. i think it is compassion to say, look, we're not going to ask you for your hard earned money anymore. in detroit, of two give us your money. we're not going to do that anymore unless we can guarantee -- let me finish. unless we can guarantee to you that money is being used in a properer function. that is about as compassionate as you can get. amy: on capitol hill, house minority leader nancy pelosi responded to the budget proposal by accusing the trump white house of attempting to deconstruct the federal government. thehis is a budget of

deconstruction of the federal government. deconstructionists. that have sasaid that. listen to what they say. there is clarity. they want to deconststruct. in this case, you see what ththey're doing i in terms of infrastructuture. amy: pelosi appeared to be referencing a recent comment by white house chief steve bannon. >> if you look at the lines of work, i break it down into three verticals of three e buckets. the first is national security and sovereignty, your intelligence, the defense department, homeland security. ththe second line is economic nationalism. is therd, broadly, what construction of the administrative state. t trump'st response to budget, after the break, we will speak with longtime consumer advocate, four time presidenentl candidate ralph nader. stay witith us. ♪ [music brbreak]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. to get response to president trump's 2018 budget proposal to congress, which calls for an unprecedented $54 billion increase in military spending while slashing scores of other programs in eliminating whole agencies, we go to ralph nader, four time presidential candidate am a longtime consumer advocate and corporate critic. ralph, your response? >> so much for donald trump's campaign promises to the forgotten men and women of america. they are the ones who are the big losers, as you pointed out with your many examples of these budget cuts. overall, this is a budget that reflects corporatism, militarism, and racism. the mask is off, donald trump. promises, his

assurances that everything will be safe and people will have -- all people will have health insurance and that will be plenty of jobs. the mask is off, the fangs are out. and he is collaborating with what is on the record, the most vicious, ignorant of republican party and its history since 1854. senator robert have to, conservative in the senate -- robert have to, a conservative in the senate in the 1950's, would have been astonished at the corporatism, the militarism, the racism of these republicans with few exceptions. when you go into this 50 page or , the details will all come out, amy, in may, a bigger budget. when you go into it, you see that sean spicer's daily assurances that they want to go after what he calls

inefficiency, waste, and government duplicity, leaves out hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate fraud on the taxpayer. for example, they talk about the need to cut health care in this way and that way and push 14 million people off the health insurance roles in a year and 24 million by 2026, according to the congressional budget officer thereabouts. just look at this. he says he does not want to fund programs that don't work. ok. almost $10 billion a year since ongan, a year, is spent boondoggle project independent on called ballistic missile defense. it doesn't work. we're talking about the intercontinental ballistic missiles. the society a physicist, which includes those who consult with

the pentagon, has said it won't work, it is too easily decoy by balloons. there are a lot of other easy or ways to get nuclear weapons -- easier ways to get nuclear weapons and a country than this way. corporate welfare program for raytheon, boeing, and others, goes on every day. this is a budget inside the pentagon that is bigger than the entire budget of the environmental protection agency. so you see, they are not going after the corporate crime, the corporate waste, the corporate fraud that lathers itself throughout the federal budget. imagine. they talked about health insurance programs, ok. so they are going to squeeze medicaid. they're going to threaten to corporatized medicare. they are cutting taxes on the drug companies -- which was going to pay for obamacare. on health insurance companies, on medical device companies.

if you little taxes on the rich -- a few little taxes on the rich. getting rid of all of those in the pursuit of efficiency. look at what they don't talk about. they don't talk about what the accounting office of the u.s. congress said years ago that 10% of all health care expenditures in this country goes down the train because of computerized building fraud and abuse. that is considered a conservative figure of the expert on this professor sparrow at harvard university. billion this40 year down the drain. if they're interested in efficiency, wider they go after corporate crime? corporatecririme.org and you will see this. the second thing that is tragic, or they talk about health care, inefficiency, they're not talking about the huge numbers of p people whoo die because thy cannot afford health insurance

to get diagnosed and treated in time. and now it is about 35,000 year. that is based on extrapolation from harvard medical school study that appeared in the journal of public health in 2009. they never talk about that. they never talk about 60,000 people losing their lives every year due to air pollution. epa figures. they never talk about 58,000 people losing their lives due to workplace related diseases and trauma. osha figures. so we know what their game is. so this whole corporatism, militarism, racism is a huge opportunity for just 1% of people becoming active and focusing on the one branch of government that can have beneficial consequences for the 2018 election, as well as stop the trumpsters in their track,

and that is the u.s. congress. apart from the demonstrations in washington on january 21, thousands of people go to congressional town meetings and the republicans who were there came back to the congress and they were shuttering. they said, what is going on? something is changing. the seats are no longer empty. they used to have town meetings where sometimes the staff was more numerous than the attendees. there are three major recesses in congress. two coming up before the one-momonth august recess.s. phil those seats. the e compass people do not have town meetings, they're already considering cacanceling member having telephone townn meetings ---- so much for meeting the people- then you have your own townwn meetings. you announcece your own town meetings and you have a formalal summons to your senators and

representatives on a set date at a convenient public location where they have to address your agenda. that is why wrote this book, "breaking through power." 140 pages. it shows the way, how very few people have changed our country throughout the history. it never takes more than 1%, often, far less than 1%, to do so. this is a great opportunity. i've been so cruel, vicious, and blatantly apparent in trying to further transform our government into the kids of militarism, , itit canm, and racism become like a boomerang people take advantage of it. the summons is self, amy, is in this book. the formal summons other people the senators and representatives. amy: you certainly see the effect of this, for example, on senator tom cotton and the massive anger and response when

he held a town hall meeting with thousands there, you see darrell issa in california, perhaps for the first time we have seen him, changing as a result of the huge town hall meeting after he as we see all over the country -- people putting up "wanted" sites for the congressman and take out ads in the paper saying "wanted" or "have you seen?" >> not only that, but one of the worst members of congress and of the oversight committee and the house jason chaffetz from utah, found 1000 people at his town meeting with 200 to 300 outside that could not get in. they're trying to say these are professional organizers and they are paid. there was a 60-year-old couple in western new york that came in with a sign that said "we are not paid commerce men read, but yoyou are," which raises the

question, what's people back home say to the members of congress, don't you dare pass ,ny cuts for the vulnerablee poor, middle class unless you haveve to share the same one. so if they had a terrible health insurance bill that the members ofof congress have to o be unde. now w to have taxpayayer paid ne health insurance phil, nice life insurance -- insurance bill, nice health insurance plan, a nice life insurance plan. they even have housing assistance. almost 200,000 dollars a year. they have housing assistance and they have huge pensions. toif you force them basically say, what is good for the goose is good for the gander , you want to do it to us, your representatives, so-called, then you're going to have to adhere to the same standards. you have to have face-to-face interaction with members of congress. not just massive rallies where the energy often goes into the

ether on a weekend. you have to get them in to these public auditoriums or town halls back home where you confront them face-to-face. here's another -- amy: let me go to the clip of arkansas senator tom cotton who was confronted, to say the least, by an absolutely packed auauditoriumum with perhaps as y people o outside ass well oror . >> but that t is one reaeason wy somebody people come to the united states to get health care , becacause our hethth care sysm is the best in the world. s so my question is, if we are soso concerned about the defici, why are we building a wall that cost 20 billion -- [cheers] and it go so that was ararkansas senator totom cotton who was fes and taking on president obama, but he came back from this town hall meeting and he said, talking about the affordable, you have to do this slowly, you

have to start again, there is no rush. ralph nader, talk about what is happening specifically around the affordable care act 03/17/17 03/17/17 haveis happening is you left/right opposition to what republicans and trauma are doing. that is the big opportunity now. i think senator cotton was shaken because he looked at that auditorium and he said, some of these people are my supporters. and when you get a left-right alliance back home, it is politically ununstoppable. so you have this so-called health insurance system -- it is not health care. often it is confused. the health insurance system proposal that is going to throw millions of people off the rolls, it is soliciting corporate support by getting rid of these taxes i mentioned on the health-insurance industry and medical device, but the hospital lobby is upset with trump on this proposal. they see real problems down the

road and they are already putting ads in papers. they are going to be joining with a lot of citizens in opposing this. amy,there is an argument, that these crazy proposals -- they are so nutty. they're cutting further the irs budget so it cannot collect any isthe $430 billion that uncollected taxes in this country. how are they going to pay for all of this stuff, this infrastructure and so on? a lot of this stuff is really nutty. there are decreasing the homeland security budget, but the increase -- increasingly homeland security budget, but they want to decrease the coast guard's budget, which is providing security and rescue on the coastlines of america. what i think is going on -- these are trial balloons. trump has this idea throughout his business career and

bankruptcies where he says outrageoeous things and then he backs down a little people say, oh, he is much more reasonable. so i think we are seeing here a trial balloon situation to get the response. in may, they will probably moderate these cuts. but make no mistake about it. when you have steve bannon in the white house, when you have ,he roy: in the white house steve miller, basically, influencing or pushing the more extreme attributes of donald trump and terms of militarism, corporatism, and racism, there is going to be a lot of tension with some of the heads of the cabinets. and that is going to be in the news shortly. there will be a lot of tension, for example, between the secretaries of interior who does not want to sell off the public lands, who is looking at a

budget which is going to facilitate the selling off of some of the public lands. amy: before we get the public lands, i want to ask about meals on wheels. during thursday's news conference, the omb head mick mulvaney described the budget as compassionate when he was asked about cuts thing made. >> just to follow-up on that, you were talking about the steelworker in ohio and the coal miner in pennsylvania and so on, but those workers may have an elderly mother who depends on the meals on wheels program, who may have kids in head start. yesterday or the day before you describe this as a hard power budget, but is it also? hardhearted? >> i don't think so. i think it is probably one of the most compassionate things we you're only focusing on half of the equation. you're focusing on recipients of the money. we're trying to focus on both the recipients and the folks to give us the money in the first place.

amy: he is saying the reporter is only focusing on the person who will lose meals on wheels, elderly, perhaps disabled veteran, ralph nader. >> look at the cruel asymmetry. he is a very glib guy, mick mulvaney, externally radical. extreme in terms of cutting budgets that deal with vulnerable, sick, powerless people. he is a bully, pure and simple. but there are budgets that will be cut. law enforcement on nursing homes are going to be cut. other transit support is going -- public transit support is going to be cut, like amtrak, that affect lower income people. we should also pay some attention to the democratic already, amy. can they rise to the occasion? look at the wabash talk you to showed -- wonkish talk i nancy pelosi. deconstruction.

that really excites people to get on the streets, doesn't it? they have to talk in common language. people are going to lose their lives because of this budget, here and abroad. they don't want our country to be as humanitarian power. just a military brute force power. we have got a situation where you have a regime that is going to be very soft on corporate crime. after all, you have a former businessman donald trump who shafted his consumers, his workers, his creditors, used bankruptcy in his terms as a competitive advantage, try to avoid all possible taxes. he has shut down casinos, unemployed workers in atlantic is increasingly does let do in part due is bad business acumen. democratiche party do? you have this group online that

tells you with their top meetings with members of covers back home, but what is the democratic party going to do? are they going to field candidates in all 50 states who are viable? are they going to spend her time delhi for corporate dollars or go the bernie sanders way in small contributions and big volume? forthey going to push single payer? their 64 members of the house, democrats, who signed on to john .onyers single-payer the gold standard. they're keeping quiet about it. they're not pushing a because nancy pelosi is saying, keep quiet about single payer supported by 60% of the american people already. according to a few polls. amy: ralph, let me take that for one example. how would you see that playing out if it this point when there is major questioning of obamacare, but clearly, the republican party is crumbling

over the repeal and replace of whatever ryan has put forwardrd. cleaearly, it is notot going toe the form he wants it. if you see this as a moment for single payer, for medicaid for all, how would you see it working? how would you see them strategizing to introduce it now? >> it is a good idea for some of the progressive press to start talking about it instead of getting mired into what is being done to obamacare. you'll must never see the questions talk todd and others so theyy tv programs, get it into the public dialogue. here is what i say. check out the wall street journal recently. there was a lead editorial on what is going on with obamacare and republicans, etc. and at the end, they said, if the republicans lose this battle to get rid of obamacare come a they might as well get on board with single-payer because that is

going to be the future of politics. by that was reaffirmed columnist in "the wall street journal" recently this week, who basically said the same thing. here you have these right-wing corporatists basically saying, if the republicans fall on this attempt to create this cockamamie system that deprives people of health insurance and gets rid of the ways to fund it by all of these tax cuts on corporations and so on, if they fail, then the only alternative left -- that is the way they talk in "the wall street journal." medicare for all come everybody and nobody out. tor andoice for docot hospital. the opportunity for the democrats is classic. this is the time to move. and what do you see? the chief issue of senator

bernie sanders is running for president last year was full medicare for all. has introduced a bill yet? he has done even introduced a bill yet in the senate. he was the leader of the single-payer movement. being told by chuck schumer and others, stay low, keep quiet, bernie, we have to deal with republicans try to dismantle obamacare. amy: let me go to foreign quality does policy. you have rex tillerson now in asia. theouth korea he goes to did militarized zone and says the u.s. is going to take a different approach, may well take a military approach. at the same time on the same trip, he endorses the massive cuts to the state department. we know the defense secretary james mattis once famouslyly sa, while serving as the commander of u.s. central command, if you

don't fund the state department fully, then i need t to buy more ammunition. is this budget in itself leading to war? >> is certainly diminishes the and whatc capability you think is going to take to fill the vacuum. but the state department itself under both republicans and democrats and hillary clinton, rice,ine albright, ms. they're all militarists. you begin to wonder, the militarist language coming out of the state department was often more militant than coming out of the department of defense. so even of the budget is going to be cut, the question is, is the culture of the state department going to be true to their ancient charter, which was, not just chilling with customs, but being the harbinger of diplomacy. the harbinger of soft impact on

the world, the harbinger of negotiation. for example, all of this talk on cyber warfare and cyber security , there is not a single moved by our federal government in the last 20 years to bring all of these nations together for an international treaty on cybersecurity and cyber warfare like was done in nuclear arms control with the soviet union and the chemical and biological warfare treaties. rex tillerson is sort of a .ilemma raft into a conundrum we don't know what is going on with him other than he is very, very low key. amy: not just low-key, but secretive, not allowing in a reporters on the play button reporter with it is organization must people don't know the name of that was set up by two republican consultants who has not cover the state department in any regular way before. of donaldwhole issue trump saying president obama wiretapped him. we just have less than a minute

right now before we move on to our next segment. >> first of all, it is been repudiated by his republican allies in the house intelligence committee. that is a pretty severe thing. second, he is in control of all of the classified information. he can say to the nsa, cia, the fisa gore decision, bring them to me and prove my point -- which was charging obama absurdly with wiretapping trump tower in new york. he has not done that. hedoes not want to see -- once congress to do so. already, his own republicans on the intelligence committee are repudiating him. i think this should be a national petition demanding that donald trump do what he is never done in his life, that is probably apologize to president obama. it is not as if president obama did not start six undeclared wars which donald trump is pursuing, but on this one point,

he has got to show some humility and remorse. amy: ralph nader, thank you for being with us longtime consumer , advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate. his most recent book is titled "breaking through power: it's easier than we think." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, why the increasing calls for a top white to resign. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. is president donald trump's top counter-terrorism adviser sebastian gorka a member of a hungarian far-right, nazi-allied group? that is what leaders of the group have told the forward. on thursday, the forward reported members of the vitezi rend elite order confirmed gorka took a lifelong oath of loyalty to their group, which is listed

by the u.s. state department as having been under the direction of nazi germany during world war ii. vitezi rend, was established in 1920 by self-confessed anti-semite and hitler collaborator admiral miklos horthy. questions first emerged about gorka's ties to the group after the website lobelog published photographs of gorka wearing a vitezi rend medal on his lapel at a presidential inauguration ball january 20. like many members of the vitezi rend, gorka has listed his name with a lower-case "v" in the middle -- sebastian l.v. gorka -- including during his 2011 house armed services committee testimony. gorka has denied reports of his involvement with the nazi-allied group telling tablet magazine -- "i have nenever been a member rf the vitez rend. i have never taken an oath of loyalty to the vitez rend. since childhood, i have occasionally worn my father's medal and used the 'v.' initial to honor his struggle against totalitarianism."

if gorka is a member of the group i did not disclose this in the us immigration application, it could make him inadmissible to the united states under the immigration and nationality act. the anne frank center is calling for gorka's resignation and says he represents a broader problem of anti-semitism within the trump administration. it released a statement that reads in part -- "how many ducks in the trump white e house must walk, talk ad quack anti-semitically before our country wakes up and sees the greater problem? this administration has staff with shockingly anti-semitic pasts, and it is harard to image they have nothing to do with the horrifically weak reactions to anti-semiticic hate crimimes the see coming from this administration." that is from the anne frank center. this revelation comes as jewish centers and synagogues reported another wave of bomb threats over the weekend. the jewish community center association of north america says it's documented 128 incidents at 87 community centers so far this year. forr more, we go to chicago whee

, we're joined by larry cohler-esses, the forward's editor for special projects. his report headlined "exclusive: nazi-allied group claims top trump aide sebastian gorka as sworn member." larry, explain what you found. >> well, i worked with my colleague in budapest and we were going off some of the work that was done at lobelog and others were people noticed that sebastian gorka were the middle whyhe vitezi rend and asked and he said it was a way to honor his father who spent years fighting fascism and spent years fighting communism. his father was born in hungary and its carrots fled after the revolution. sebastian was born in london. he wore these metals. he told the press it was just about his father. literally, my colleague in budapest, was able to find three senior members of vitezi rend in

budapest you said, no, he is a member. excuse me, hungary. became notable because i found the organization, because of its history, was listed by the state department and its current foreign affairs manual as a group under the direction historically during world war ii under the direction of nazi germany. because of this, the foreign affairs manual listed there was a presumption of in a miss ability to immigrants who are affiliated with this organization. to be clear, there are a couple of nuances and i should be clear about this, after world war ii under the terms of the treaty with hungary and the allies, the vitezi rend was forciblyy disbanded bubut it reconstituted itself outside hungary among exiles who were loyalists to admiral horthy with the same ideals, the same leadership, and the same ideology.

after the fall of communism in 1989, the e vitezi rend came bak to hungary and reconstituted itself there. it split into two factions based on personal leadership. sebastian gorka, we were told by the members of the group, is affiliated with the faction called the historical vitezi rend. gorkaked a lot it what has written. he is often written in publications that are notably anti-semitic. he is partnered to start a political party with known anti-semites from the far right party. we have not found he himself has ever said or written anything anti-semitic. the question is one about his partners and who he works with and whether he actually is a staunch support of anti-semitism when he works closely with groups like this. amy: after the website lobelog published photographs of sebastian gorka wearing the medal of nazi collaborators, gorka responded in a video posted on breitbart news.

>> i sebastian gorka wouould lie to t tell your s story about my father a and my family's history and d why i wore a medal that remis meme of whatat they sufffd under the e nazis come e under e commmmunists. in 1970 nine, mymy father was awarded a a declaration fofor hs resistan to dictatorship and alalthoughee p passed awayay 14s ago, i wear th mededal in remembrarance of what my family went through and what it represents today to me as an american. amy: larry cohler-esses, if you could respondnd to what he is saying. ththis was posted at breitbart news. he used to work for breitbart news under steve bannon, top aide to president trump. >> the vitezi rend has some pretty firm rolls -- rules. you do not get to where the metal and use the "v" initial unless you join. and joining involves taking a .ifelong oath

we spoke with a senior member of the group who took note of the "v" he used both on his doctoral dissipation in hungary and when he testified before congress. he said, no "v" without the oath. under these terms of the organization if he was trying to honor his fafather, he was dishonoring the roles his father was s honored by. i cannot read his mind. i was not in hungary, but we found three separate sources in the organization who said it did take the oath, he was initiated into thermal ceremony organization. amy: so, larry, if gorka was a part of this organization and he didid not disclose it when he ce to this country -- he was not born in the united states -- what does that mean? his status asat

an american citizen and as a legal immigrant could be undermined. i am not an expert in immigration law, but in our reportedly spoke to an immigration judge who now teaches immigration and nationality law at pepperdine university. perhaps most important for this unique situation, before that, he was deputy director of the justice department's office of special investigation. this was the unit in the justice department charged with finding and deporting nazis and members of other extremist groups who got into the united states by lying about or hiding their background. and he told us that someone who is asked, as you are asked in these applications for immigration of citizenship about the organizations you joined, and you don't write it down, is vulnerable to reversal of their immigration status or

citizenship status. he told us there would be defenses for gorka if you is prosecuted, but as a prosecutor with osi for that many years, he said this is a case i would take up, whichch is a legitimate cas, challenging one but winnable one. that is the state of the technical legal arguments they come from the fact that he was obligated if he was a member to disclose i it at the time of his immigration and citizenship application. amy: david duke hasn't been -- gorka online -- has defended gorka online writing -- >> yes, well, there's a phenomenon that we have commented on where you have the roleho because of israel plays in the middle east and because of their bias against muslims, they like

israel. and yet domestically, they can be anti-jewish. it is possible to anti-semitic and pro-israel. i do not know if gorka is that. as i said, we have never found a gorka wrote anything anti-semitic or anti-jewish. what we found are these troubling associationons. he said in his white house official statement that it was absurd and outrageous for anybody to say he was anything other than a post anti-semitism. i don't a hurried to find opposition to anti-semitism -- how you define opposition to anti-semitism, but groups like vitezi rend and the far right party wowould exclude many definitions of been a post anti-semitism. amy: larry cohler-esses, thank you for being with us. larry is the forward's editor for special projects. we will link to your article

"exclusive: nazi-allied group claims top trump aide sebastian gorka as sworn member." that does it for our show. happy birthday to ariel boone! democracy now! is looking for

announcer: this is a production of china central television america. mike: a genius is defined as one who has exceptional intellect or creative power or another natural ability. this week on "full frame," we'll introduce you to some of the world's 21st-century geniuses, from one of the youngest to one of the oldest. one man is being called the next albert einstein, and one was a child prodigigy. they each offer their own unique gift of high intellect. i'm mike walter coming to you from the heart of new york city's times square. let's take it t full frame.