09/13/17 09/13/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! country,all over our the american people understand that there is something profoundly wrong when we remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. amy: calling today a "pivotal moment in american history," vermont senator bernie sanders is unveiling the medicare for all act to expand medicare into

a universal health care system. the bill is co-sponsored by 15 senate democrats. and counting? then, to trump's controversial so-called election integrity cocommissionon. >> i wouldld like to make a suggestion that might possibly help overcome part of this problem, and that is think about applying the background check system that we use for in the systems for voting. amy: as the election commission faces lawsuits, controversy and the fallout from a second meeting on tuesday in new hampshire, we will look at how the so-called election commission -- integrity y electn commission mayay be paving the y for a nanationwide voter suppression effort. and finally, as the united states marks the 16th anniversrsary of thehe septembm1 attacks,s, we'll look at new

evidence filed in the 9/11 lawsuit against saudi arabia alleging the kingdom's embassy in washington, d.c., may have funded a test run of the attacks. andrew speakk with writer cockburn. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on capitol hill, vermont independent senator bernie sanders is set to introduce a universal healthcare bill today that would expand medicare coverage to include every american. under emerging details of the plan, everyone 55 and older and children under 18 would qualify for medicare during the program's first year, while the remainder of adults would be phased in over four years. the program would pay for doctors' visits, hospital stays, preventative and mental health care, and prescription drugs, while expanding medicare to include vision, hearing, and dental care. to pay for the expansion, the bill would levy a new 2.2%

income tax on all americans, and a 6.2% tax on employers --who would no longer be required to provide health insurance to workers. the measure would also raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. ahead of today's roll-out of the bill, 15 senators comprising a third of the democratic caucus signed on as cosponsors. they include new jersey senator cory booker massachusetts , senator elizabeth warren, and california senator kamala harris. in the house, democraticic minority leader nancy pelosi said she would not support medicare for all and would instead focus on defending the affordable care act against republican efforts to repeal the affordable care act. we'll have more on senator bernie sanders' medicare for all plan after headlines. in the caribbean, residents of islands devastated by hurricane irma's category 5 winds say they're running out of food and water. this is sunil sadhwani, a survivor of the hurricane on the island of saint martin.

>> we are running out of water, especially the drinking water. survive.he water to hopefully, we pray to god that we get the water first and electricity cacan come aitittle later. the water is the main thing to survive on. amy: the desperate pleas for food, water and assistance came as the governments of france, britain, and the netherlands faced increasing criticism over their responses to the hurricane in their caribbean territories, after the storm leveled over 90% of buildings on some islands. in the u.s., the death toll from irma rosose to 22 asas nearly 45 million florida residentss remained w without p power lat tuesday. mama repts a at least 9090% of homes in the florida keys suffered some damage, with a quarter of them destroyed completely. the u.s. virgin islands have also been devastated. in texas, floodwaters from hurricane harvey that inundated

housuston and other coastal cits last month created a toxic soup of poisonous chemicals and pathogens according to a "new york timimes goes what investigation, which found levevels of f e. cololi at leves ranging from four times two 135 times the amount considered to be safe. researchers also found floodwaters contained high levels of heavy metals, including lead and arsenic. hurricane harvey dropped a record shattering 50 inches of , swappingd houston sewage systems and flooding superfund sites, petrochemical plants, and oil refineries. go to our website at democracynow.org as we take you on a toxic to her of the petro metro. that is houston. in china, authorities are set to evacuate a half million people as a pair of typhoons bear down on china's heavily populateted east coast. taiwan canceled flights wednesday and issued a warning to shipsps as typhoon talim

threatened the island ahead of an expected landfall late thurursday on china's northern coast as a strong typhoon. to the south, typhoon doksuri threatens china's southeast and vivietnam, as it s strengthehenr ththe south china sea. earlieier this week, the storm brought flooding to the philippines capital l manilla ad surrounding provinces. in washington, d.c., the trump admininistration insisted d it s taking the issssue of climimate change seriously, even though it won't ascribe extreme weather events to human activity. this is white house homeland security adviser tom bossert speaking monday. are these storms giving this administration some pause when it comes to the issue of climate change and homeland security? >> i was here in the 2004 cycle of hurricanes that hit florida. i think what is prudent right now is to make sure the responsibilities are there. causality is outside of my ability to analyze right now.

we continunue to take seriously the climate change, not the cause of it, but the things that we observe. amy: thehe trump administrations reportedly considering whether to further reduce the number of refugees allowed into the united states to fewer than 50,000. that is acaccording to the "new yoyork times," whichch reports e plan has the support of homeland security officials and senior white house adviser stephen miller. president t trump has already capped t the number ofof refuges resettled annually in the u.s. at 50,000 -- less than half the 110,0,000 refugees admitted undr presesident babarack obama. the white house has named hope hickcks, a 28-year-old lonong-te adviser to donald trumump, as te administration's communications director. hicks formerly served as trump's director of strategic communications, where she was known for a hands-off approach on allowing the president free reign to use twitter and other social media. hicks is the fourth person to hold the position of disposition, replacing anthony scaramucci, who lasted just 10 days on the job. in hong kong, president trump's

former chief political strategist steve bannon praised chinese president xi jinping as a wise leader tuesday, as he delivered a keynote address on economic nationalism and populism to a group of hedge fund managers and investors. outside the forum, a group of protesters chanted, "no bannon, no racism" and held a banner reading, "nazis are not welcome here." this is sally tang, one of the demonstrators. >> why is he here with all of the bankers? it is not for us. it is not for the majority of the people in hong kong, it is just for the rich people. on the one hand, we are fighting in solidarity with the u.s. against donald trump. on the other hand, we want to fifight in unity against racism and nationalism. amy: in saudi arabia, human rights groups warn an execution is imminent for a man who claims he was torortured as a teenager into confessing to crimes he did not commit. amnesty international reports the family of 21-year-old abdul kareem al-hawaj was told monday the saudi supreme court upheld a death sentence for the young man over his alleged role in anti-government protests during

arab spring uprisings in 2011 and 2012. amnesty says al-hawaj is among at least 33 members of saudi arabia's minority shia muslim community who are currently facing the death penalty for alleged activities deemed d a rk to national security. meanwhile, a panel set up by the saudi monarchy has cleared the u.u.s.-backed saudi-led coalalin of any wrongdoing in the deaths of civilians following a string of deadly airstrikes in yemen. this is saudi legal advisor mansour ahmed al mansour. >> until the moment of preparing this report, we have not found service international violations in yemen. the presence of innocent civilian victims in the war is because of mistakenn bombardment and the presence of mistakes. this exist and we have previously said that. amy: on tuesday, human rights watch accused the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition of committing war crimes, blaming it for the deaths of 39 civilians in just the last two months alone. the war in yemen has killed more

than 10,000 people has exacerbated a famine that's left 7 million on the brink of starvation. yemen's health and sanitatation systems have been left devastated amid a cholera epidemic that's sickened more than 600,000 people. in bangladesh, refugugees who've fled government-led violence in neighboring burma say they're running out of food and that no more aid is coming. the dire warning came as the u.n. refugee agency said 370,000 rohingya muslim refugees have fled since burma's military bebegan slaughtering civilians n august 25. this is rahamat, a rohingya refugee e who arrived in cox's bazar, bangladesh, this week. >> they killed many of my relatives in bournemouth him and i come here with three of my sons. they slaughtered many people in the village. one third of the people of my village. they slaughtered them and threw

them into a river. amy: on monday, the u.n. high commissioner for human rights warned the burmese military's widespread violence against rohingya muslims is a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. back in the united states, t the department of justice announced tuesday it will not bring federal charges against six baltimore police officers over their roles in killing freddie gray, an african american man fromom baltimore w who died afte suststaining massisive spinal injujuries as he w was transpord in the back of a police van in april 2015. six b baltimore offfficers faced chararges from the s state's attorney's office related to o e death, but prorosecutors dropped all remaining chcharges in juluy 2016 after failingng to win convictions fofor any of the fit four officers s to go on trial. in seattle, washington, mayor ed murray resigned tuesday after a fifth accuser stepped forward with allegations he sexually abused teenage boys years ago. in the latest allegation, a younger cousin says murray molested him in new york in the

1970's. murray insists he's innocent of the charges, but said he would step down as mayor to prevent a disruption to city services. in new york city, incumbent mayor bill de blasio easily won the democratic nomination tuesday in a primary election that saw very low voter turnout. de blasio campaigned on a platform that includes affordable housing, rent controls, a tax increase on wealthy new yorkers to pay for the city's ailing subway, and an expansion of his administration's free preschool program to include children three years old and up. to see our extended conversatitn with juan gonzalez about his new book "reclaiming got them," go to democracynow.org. pioneer ine equality edith windsor died tuesday in new york at the age of 88. she was lead plaintiff in a 2013 case the u.s. supreme court

challenging the defense of marriage act, which defined marriage as between a man and woman. she had been forced to pay additional estate taxes because the irs did not recognize her marriage to a woman, who passed away in 2009. in a landmark five to four decision, the court ruled doma unconstitutional, meaning legally married same-sex couples are entitled to claim the same 1100 federal benefits as heterosexual couples. this is edie windsor speaking in june 2013 just after the supreme court's ruling. >> i a am honored and humbled ad overjoyed to be here today to represent not only the thousands of americans whose lives have been adversely impacted by the defense of marriage act, but those whose hopes and dreams have been constricted by the same discriminatory law. children born today will grow up in a world without doma, and

those same children who happen to be gay will be free to love and get married asthea and i i did, but w with the same federal benefits, protections, and dignity as everyone else. pioneererage equality edith windsor, dead at the age of 88. later r in the broadcast, we wil bring you video of her marriage ceremony. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in washington, d.c., where vermont independent senator bernie sandnders is slateted to introde universal healthcare legislation today aimed at expanding medicare coverage to include every american. in a "new york times" op-ed published today, sanders writes -- "this is a pivotal moment in american history. do we, as a nation, join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee comprehensive health care to every person as a human right? or do we maintain a system that

is enormously expensive, wasteful and bureaucratic, and is designed to maximize profits for big insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, wall street and medical equipment suppliers?" under sanders' legislation, all children under 18 and all adults 55 and older would qualify for medicare during the program's first year. the remainder of adults would be phased in over four years, until everyone is covered by medicare. 15 senators have already signend on so far as cosponsors, including new jersey senator cory booker, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, and california senator kamala harris. this is senator sanders speaking at the people's summit in chicago in july. sen. sanders: think back five years ago. there was at that point widespread belief that the affordable care act, so-called obamacare, was about as far as we could go as a nation in

health care. that is about it. has obamacare, can't do anymore. , as you know, that view is radically changing. nurses, thank you for your help on this. country, ther our american people understand that there is something profoundly wrong when we remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. and there is also something profoundly wrong when millions of americans cannot afford the prescription drugs that their doctors prescribe.

and what the american people from coast to coast are catching on to is the function of health care is to provide quality care to all people, not to make billions in profits for the insurance companies or the drug companies. amy: the introduction of the medicare for all act comes after republicans repeatedly failed to push through their legislation to repeal and replace the affordable care act. the republicans' efforts sparked sustained grassroots protests, led by disability activists and health care professionals. for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by michael lighty, director of public policy for national nurses united and the california nurses association. national nurses united has long advocated for a medicare for all system. michael, welcome to democracy now! talk about what has happened just in the last two weeks from zero senators cosponsoring two,

what are we at now, 15 and counting? >> 15 and counting. it is a beautiful and exciting day for this movement to guarantee health care for all. we have literally seen in the last two weeks the ascension of approval oft for medicare for all. it is not something we have seen, even going back to the hillary care days, where this groundswell is organic, a prairie fire across the country. we have seen, one example, 2 million impressions on twitter. so this groundswell -- we had town halls in california this week. we have had hundreds of people this reform.nding it is extraordinarily popular. i think we have overcome an -- the political establishment on the democratic side and certainly on the republican side, did not want

this to happen and yet here we are. it reflects the fact that medicare for all is more popular than the affordable care act and more popular than the repeal of the affordable care act. medicare works. here we are. i think it is an amazing day. americans should have a lot of hope, i think. amy: i want to go to who is supporting this. senator sanders introduced single-payer healthcare legislation three times before, but this is the first time he's had any co-sponsors. california senator kamala harris was the first to sign on, and at -- that seemed to break the ice. and at last count, 15 senate democrats have co-sponsored the legislation, including cory booker, kirsten gillibrand, richard blumenthal, jeff merkley and elizabeth warren, al franken, tammy baldwin, ed markey, sheldon whitehouse, brian schatz, mazie hirono, and chris murphy. however, democratic leadership has yet to jump on board. senate minority leader charles schumer and house minority

leader nancy pelosi have both declined to support the bill. so talk about the significance and whether it matters whether the leadership leads or simply follows and gets on board if it gets support. >> well, i think what is extraordinary is that the majority of the democratic caucus and the house has signed on to hr 676. 70% of minority leader pelosi's constituents support improved medicare for all. i think she just doesn't get it. the only way to maintain the gains of the affordable care act is to extend and build on that foundation by eliminating the insurance company premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, and really guaranteeing health care for all through the medicare system. that and the fact she has not signed on yet, i think it is a matter of time. amy: michael lighty, lay out

what you understand -- have you spoken to bernie sanders -- what you understand he is doing today, what exactly this bill calls for. >> this bill calls for a system where we literally take the health care industry model of revenue and profits and transform our health care into a system based on the morality of caregiving. and that is a fundamental difference. where, as he said in the clip you showed, amy, these health care players, the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies, hospital corporations, medical device streetturers, and wall are profiting on human suffering. end becausegoing to we're going to guarantee health care regardless of one's ability to pay. yes, everyone contributes, but the patient care that you get will be based upon what you need , not what you can afford.

and that is a fundamental transformation in the health care system in this country. and people are desperate for that security. frankly, one third of the country or more has to doctors greater than $2000 he year. this bill will illuminate that. the cost-sharing endemic to medicare will be gone. .hose are barriers insurance companies looking over your shoulder if you're a doctor or nurse c caring for aa patienr deciding how long they should stay in the hospital, that is gone. that kind of interference. doctors and nurses put in charge of health care, patients getting the health care they need, people having health security -- that is what senator sanders is doing today. in. talk about the phasing we're talking about medicare for all, the idea that this extremely popular program of people 65 years and oldlder have medicare, just dropping that age to zero to include the entire population. but it is not happening all at

once. >> well, it is important to recognize that part of the issue within health care is that we have a lot of people concentrated inn medicare who need a lot of services. so it is a very good idea to include young people who have less intense health care needs. birth to 18-year-olds in the plan is a really good thing to kind of stabilize the system initially, and also cover those who are 55 and older. those are the ones with the greaeatest need to have the hardest titime finding insnsurae that c connection to cover what they need as h health care. those two things make sense. that is a huge chunk of the pulalation. when you get between 18 and 55, you're dealing with the employer-based insurance system. it is appropriate to take some time to unwind that. we hear a lot about how invested people are or how complicated that might be. i don't think it is necessary

complicated, but it takes time to unwind the system that has been the basis of health care since world war ii. i think if you years to do that is perfectly reasonable. amy: i want to turn to president trump speaking about health care in july during a a lunch with senate republicans. pres. trump: we have no democrat -- they are obstructionists. that is all they're good at, is obstruction. they have no ideas. they're gone so far left they're looking for single payer. that is what they want. a single-payer will bankrupt our country. because it is more then we take in for just health care. so single-payer is never going to work will stop at that is what they woululd like to d do. they have no idea what the consequence will be. and it will be horrible comparable health care where you wait in line for weeks to even see a doctor. amy: michael lighty, your response? michael? your response?

we are talking to michael lighty , director of public policy for the national nurses united and the cowboy nurses association. i'm going to give it one more try to see if michael can hear us. michael, can you hear me? >> yes, sorry. >>amy: can you respond to president trump? >> i can hear you, yes. amy: can you respond to president trump? we will go to break and come back to you will stop -- >> president trump said he likes australia. this is similar to the australian system. no cost, guaranteed health care for all, elimination of the rule of the insurance companies. so this is something that in fact president trump should welcome. this is not the affordable care act. this is not something that we have obviously instituted before, so it is an opportunity

for him to do something actually positive for the country and for everyone as a whole. so i think the opportunity here ring folks together. this is a publiclyly financed, privately delivered reform that actually represents kind of the bring tohat we can this issue because we are going to be putting doctors and nurses in charge. that is what we hear from the right all the time, we need doctors and nurses, clinicians in charge and we need patient-centered care. this is exactly it. this is the kind of great health care system that we could create in the u.s. amy: michael lighty, thank you for being with us. we will follow up on this tomorrow because senator bernie sanders, former presidential candidate, is introducing medicare for all today -- at least, expected to. a couple of weeks ago, as usual, he had no cosponsors. he is introduced it a few times before. that in the last few weeks,

began with kamala harris from california, one after another, democratic senators signed on. at last count, it is 50 democratic senators supporting the medicare for all -- 15 democratic senators supporting the medicare for all. michael lighty is the director of public policy for national nurses united and the california nurses association. thank you for joining us. when we come back on the second meeting of the so-called election integrity commission takes place in new hampshire. we will get the latest. stay with h us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to the growing controversy over president trump's so-called election integrity commission. the commission held its second meeting tuesday in manchester, new w hampshire, eveven as it fs a series of f lawsuits and calas for the resisignation of its vie chair, kansas secretatary of ste kris kobach. president trump convened commission to look into his allegations of voter fraud during the 2 2016 presidential electionon but manyny voting rights advocas worry that the commimission aias to l lay the groundwdwork for a nanationwidede voter suppression effort.. at tuesdayay's contentiouous meeting,g, the witnessss list ts comprised of 1 100% whitmemen, including the far-right pro-gun activist john lott jr., who proposed requiring voters to first pass a b background d che. >> i would like to just make a suggestion that might possibly help overcome part of this

problem, and that is think about applying the background check system that we use for purchasing guns f for voting. long beens havee concerned about voter suppression. but they also longng lauded the backckground c check system on . amy: thatt i is john lott jr., e author of the 1998 book "more guns, less crime," which some call the bible of the gun lobby. at t tuesday's meeting, the commission's vice chairman kansas secreretary of f state ks kobach also claid d new hahampshire's s 2016 elelectn results werere tainted by pepeoe flooding acrcross boers s to cat ballots s there. kobach was reiterarating a false claim he a also ma i in a centnt article for the far right news outlet breitbabart, where e he a paid columumnist. in the article, he claimed voter

fraud elected democratic senator maggie hassan, who beat out republican kelly ayotte, citing people using out-of-state licenses as evidence. in fact, new hampshire allows residents who have out-of-state licenses, such as s college students, to v vote. many residents without a state licenses who voted legally have come for to refute kobach austria's claims. his false claims drew criticism both from the host of tuesday's meeting, new hampshire secretary of state bill gardner, as well as maine secretary of state matthew dunlap, who called the comments absurd. >> making this an eqequation tht somehow people e not updatating ththeir drivers license i is an indicator of voterraud woululd be almostt as absurd as saying that if you have cash inin your wallet, thatat that is proofof u robbed a bank. recklesst is a statement to make.

amy: both the maine and new hampshire secretaries of state are on that election commission. we're joined by two guests. here in new york is ari berman, senior reporter at mother jones. he's the author of "give us the ballot: the modern struggle for voting rights in america." his recent piece, "lawsuits falsehoods, and a lot of white , men: trump's election commission meets amid growing controversy." and in washington, d.c., we're joined by kristen clarke, president and executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. the group has filed a complaint against kansas secretary of state kris kobach. ari berman, you are tweeting like crazy yesterday. talk about what happened. >> it is important to note this commission is predicate a gigantic life. which is t that millions of peoe voted legally in the 2016 election. there is no evidence of that. if donald trump had made that statement, there would be no commission. hasndly, this commission been steeped in controversy from the very beginning. first with the makeup of the commission like kris kobach who

along history of suppressing votes and leading -- the have the fact that you have a request to the voter data of every single american. there have been at least seven lawsuits filed against the commission. there's been evidence a a are usining personally elslse to cot their bubusiness, the very thing thatat thee republicacans critid hillary clintnton for. ththis was the backdkdrop to the meeting and nenew hampshire. we heard a number of extremelely raradical things. first off, thehe idea of a babackground check for voting fo john lott, thehe nrara'ss go too expepert, was the craziest ththg i've heard y yet from this commission. and that is sasaying a lot. you have kriss kobach, the commission's vice chair leading the meeting, saying that voter fraud could the election in new hampshire. there is no evidence of this stuff nonethelesess, he is still making this claim. he is a p paid columnist for brbreitbarart, the so-called plplatform for the alt-right whh likely violates government

ethics clause because he's using his platform as head of the commission to then profit for websites like breitbart. they have all sorts of other experts on this commission making lots of falsehoods about voter fraud. he at this up and what is happening is that there are all of these lies about the voter fraud length the groundwork for a massive voter suppression campaign. what i am concerned about is the radical things we're hearing are becoming normalized by this commission. itple are going to say seriously because it is a presidential commission, even if it has no legitimacycy to begin with. amy: let's turn to tuesday's meeting when the vice chair of the so-called election integrity commission, kobach, claimed people are flooding across borders to vote come suggesting we will never know the legitimacy of f the election, hs commentsts that provoked criritm from new hampshire secretary of state bill gardner who is hosting the meetingng in mamanchester. this is kobabach f followed by gagardner. >> last week, the e speaker of e

new hampshire house e of representatives issued a letter r roughlyng that 5000 off 6500 people who regigistered unr the e same day regegistration re on t the day of the election o n november 8, 2016, about 5300 of them as of 10 month later still had not obtained a new hampspshe drivivers license -- which isis requirired a residence within n0 days of moving, nor had they registered a vehicle. so this is subject of concern because there have often beeeen anecdotal reports ofof people drdring into newew hampshirere becacause of the same day regigistration day stoked and voting because it is a battlegrground state. we wilill never know the answerr regarding legitimacy of that particular election. unlike my state of kansas,s, tht doeses not have people flooding across the border to participate in primaries p possibly cacast a vote. in new hamampshire, it is a swig

state. evererybody comemes here. i reremember w when i was at harvrvard, i camame up to work n the primary for bob dole. ththere wasn't t send a reregisn back then, but if therere had enen, i know a f few people e wo would have been temptpted to sa, well, i'm living in a hotetel fr a week for my m maybe w will cat a votote. >> the queststion of whether our elecection, as w we have recordt valid.real and and it is real and valid. and -- [applause] and because of that is to hamsher secretary of state bill gardner refuting the claims the vivice chair of the e commission kris kobach. there are a lot of calls from the hamsher for gardner to quit this commission, saying no matter what he does on the commission, he is legitimizing it. kristen clarke, you have a complaint filed around this commission. your r response to what they are saying and your concerns about what you heard yesterday?

>> one thing that deeply concerns me about the commission is the way that it is structured. it is indeed stacked with individuals who that made a career out of pushing voter suppression efforts across our country. but yesterday's meeting was not one that allowed for a real or robust discussion about some of the false claims and data that have been put on the table by kris kobach, by john lott, and others. you had gardner in their who rightfully rejected,'s claims --kobach's claims about fraudulent votes as reckless, but he truly was a lone voice of dissent in that room. the commission put together a panel l -- there were about 12 people thahat the public h had n opportrtunity to listen n to aery longacross day. every singlgle speaker t that

presented to t the commissionn yeststerday was a whihite malal. what i find prproblematic about that is thahat voting is s someg that is central in a american dedemocracy. voting, at the end of the day, is abobout inclulusion of all voices. it is about having the voices of all people heard. thisis is a commission thahat ha precononceived agenda and is s - it's existstences solely t to ly the grgroundwork for what willll ultimately be an aggressive national push of laws like photo id requirements, burdensome proof of citizenship --uirements, john live's john lott's suggestion we use gun-type background checks on voters. i mean, this is what the commission is racing towards. it once a world in which we normalize boaters suppression. it once a world in which we make the norm, restrictions on access

to the ballot box. one of the reasons why the lawyers committee for civil rights under law is fighting this administration in court and working to push back against this commission is because we see its agenda as ultimately dangerous to american democracy. when we were in court two weeks ago, the judge was scolding of the administration for its .ailure to be transparent during their first meeting, they failed to disclose the documents and materials they relied upon in their entirety. and the administration had to beg the court for forgiveness. in the lead up to yesterday's meeting, we saw a little more disclosure this time, a little more transparency, but a lot of those materials that the commission is marshaling our falls data -- false data, like

's concept thousands voted fraudulently in the hamsher's election. we know that is not true. we know kobach's summit is was targeted students, targeted african-americans and latinos throughout his career with voting restrictions. and is somebody who has made a career out of making it harder for one rubble -- vulnererable communities s to vote. about whatvealing this commission plans to do. first, he takes a fact, which is that thousands of people used out-of-state travel's licenses in new hampshire, which -- driver licenses, which is legal, and misconstrues it as evidence of fraud. he repeats that in a breitbart column. it was covered everywhere on the right as proof of fraud and it was nothing of the sort. then he is using that false

claim to attacks and day put her registration, which is really important because election dayay registration, the ability to register and vote on the same day increases voter turnout more than any other thing you can do. and a lot of people don't register before the election. remember in new york's primary? you had to switch parties like six months before the election. registration allows many people who might otherwise not participate, to be able to cast a ballot. these are the kind of things they're going afterer. going after policies that make it easier to vote and then tryiying to put in placece all f these policies to make it harder to vote. look at kansas. of electionnstead day registration, there's a lot requiring proof of citizenship meaning you have to show your certificate, naturalization papers, or passports to vote. that has blocked one and seven kansans from being able to register to vote. over 30,000 people. kobach's homestay is a microcosm

-- he is trying to export these all across the country. amy: i want to talk abouout the significance of an gmail from the heritage foundation sent to attorney general jeff sessions. writing -- talk about his significant and is enough. >> this is such an incendiary enough a smoking go. he is at the heritage foundation, really the leading voice pushing the myth of voter fraud and pushing voter suppression efforts both inside and outside the government. when he was in the george w. bush justice department and the civil rights division, described by former lawyers as the point person for undermining the civil rights division history of protecting votininrights. is a very controroversial figur.

he sent any now to jeff sessions in february 2017, before the commission had been constituted, saying they shshould excludede democrcrats, exclude mainstream republicans, saying they should exclude academimics -- all ofofe people who have expertisee in this issue should be excluded. and this shows the fix was in from the very beginning. that mike pence at the first meeting of his commission said, we have no preconceived notions of preordained results. in fact, the now shows the exact opposite. the democrats chosen work near fig leaves, the power of the commission was always going to rest with the people i kris kobach who have lied over and over about voter fraud and that legitimate officials and the republicican party who have studied this issue, secretaries of states, academics who of long look to this, have would be excluded from the beginning. we knew from the beginning this was illegitimate because it was predicate on a gigantic live.

this imo concern -- proves what they're trying to do. amy: i want to ask you about this report from reuters, the ideologically divided u.s. supreme court tuesday handed a went to republicans in texasas i putting on hold rulings -- by putting on hold that said it discriminated against minority voters. talk about the significance of this. >> what is unfortunate is this means restricting maps that have been found to be unconstitutional will now stand in the state of texas. texas is an interesting place. this is a state where multiple courts in 2017 has found state officials have acted with discriminatory purpose, with discriminatory animus when it comes to voting. and that is whether we are talking about by instituting a restrictive photo id law or in the way they are redrawn district boundaries in different parts of the state.

it is remarkable in 2017 to have a court find that elected officials are acting with animus. the supreme court's decision yesterday means that residents across that state have to live in a world in which unconstitutional maps are in place. thesemy hope that all of cases now pending in texas and across the country reach a resolution point soon. in 2013, the supreme court issued a ruling in a case called shelby county alabama that truly open up the floodgates of butter suppression across our country. we have seen voter discrimination at a rate and intensity that we have not seen in previous years. the election integrity commission is part of this nationwide assault that we are seeing on the right to vote.

one other significant development yesterday was members of congress, including senator schumer, issued calls for defining the commission and have called for the commission to be disbanded. the lawyers committee for civil rights under law, that is something that we are fighting for because we deem this commission to be an unprecedented tool to promote voter suppression. we deem this to be a vehicle to incentivize state officials across the country to put in franchise.ers to the and we should be at a point in american democracy where we are working on making it more inclusive, working to expand participation rates, and working to figure out how everyone can have their voice heard. at every turn, this a administration has made clear their hostility to the right to

vote. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, kristen clarke, lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. the organization has filed a complalaint against kansas secretary of state kris kobach, the vice chair of president donald trump's election integrity commission. mother berman with jones, covering voting rights. only come back, will the 911 case finally go to trial? we will speak with harper's editor andrew cockburn. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: go to democracynow.org to

see our r full segment on it he windsor, t the marriage equalaly claim their who died tuesday here in new york at the age of 88. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the nation marks the 16th anniversary this week of the september 11 attacks on the world trade center towers and the pentagon, questions still swirling about the role of saudi arabia. 9/11 attacacks were carrieded oy 19 hijackersrs, 15 of them work from saudi a arabia. 16 years later, 9/11 famimilies anand survivivors are continuing theieir efforts to take sasaudi ararabia to trial. just this week, the "new york post" reported new evidence presented in the case alleges the saudi's embassy in washington, d.c., pay for two saudi nationals living undercover in the u.s. to fly from phoenix, the washington, d.c., in a "dry run" for the 9/11 attacks.

the family's lawyers say the new allegations offer "a pattern of both financial and operational support" by the saudi government. we go now to washington, d.c., where we're joined by andrew cockburn. his latest piece in harper's is headlined "crime and punishment: will the 9/11 case finally go to trial?" welcome, andrew. can you please layout that case? >> the case -- it is a consolidation of various lawsuits that were brought in almost immediately after the attacks. it alleges that the hijackers received material support and backing, financial and organizational, f from agents of the saudi government acting and the capacicity as agents of thee saudi govevernment. anand therefor t the saudi governmement is ititself liabler the attacks on 9/11. amy: and talk about who the

plaintiffs are. whole bunchy are a of people. 6500, roughly, in all. they are the, first of all, the bereaved families, widows, parents, children orphaned -- not orphaned, but bereaved families whose husbands, sons, mothers were killed in the attacks. also includes survivors, people who were in the attacks but managed to at least escscape wih their lives, even if they were injured.d. and it a also includes insurance companies who had to pay out millions and billions of dollars in claims, but are now seeking toto get some of that money back from the people they allege actually caused the attack. amamy: last year i interviewed b graham, coach of the joint congressional inquiry. this is what he said. >> immediately after 9/11, the

government began to look for suspects who had helped these hijackers. and they focused on iraq. they even had a concocted story that a representative of saddam hussein had met with al qaeda progress the czech republic. that turned out to be false. isfeeling is what happened they wanted to go to war with iraaq, had wanted to, particularly people like cheneyy andd rumsfeld, and it t was embarrassing to find out that the information that was moreing available seemed to point to saudi arabia as having been a country that aided the 9/11, rather than iraq. so the response to that is, let's suppress the information about saudi arabia's involvement so we don't confuse the people in the congress as we push hard

inget authorization for war iraq. amy: the former u.s. senator bob graham. talk more about what he is saying, andrew cockburn. >> that's right. in a way, there is one thing the bush administration and senator theam agreed on, which was hijacking for the 9/11 operation to succeed, they had to have had the support of a nationstate. i mean, in terms of money and in terms of contacts, in terms of -- these were a bunch of most ofy sort of hicks, them, who arrived in this country into not speak english, did not knowow people. they were all taken care of and found placeses to live and d gin to flyingsteered lessons. it was a very sophisticated, well organized operation. that had to be, in grams of you and mine, too, had to have been done by a state.

the bush administration try to say it was a rat. they so wanted it to be iraq or wanted to be of the believe it was iraq am a that prisoners interrogators at guantananamo we under instructions to torture detainees in guantanamo into admitting, falsely, that this link between iraq and the 9/11 had lacking -- hijacking. iy: why was iraq the focus -- mean, if you polled most people in u.s., they would not know 15 of the 19 hijackers were from saudi arabia. why wasn't in the interest, do you believe, of the state to do this? all, theof relationship with saudi arabia ,s so supper saint in the eyes if you want to collect, the ruling apparatus in this country. it runs very deep. they're all sorts of aspects to it, most vividly, the huge financial benefits that flow at

least to the u.s. defense industry, the military industrial complex in terms of arms, c contracts, consultancy contracts for retired general officers. you know, there is a very close sort of symbiotic relationship for the whole relationship of the oil companies to saudi arabia. you know, things you would not think of. for example, every american -- i been informed every time an american military flight flies over saudi arabia -- which they really have to do to get to the big bases in the gulf -- that ask permission from the saudis. to jerk our cheney casually, refuse. there were subsidies on the price of oil. there was allegedly supporting worldwide net get -- network of mosques. this idea that even know they just attacked us, we would suddenly turn on the saudis just

did not compute. michael you talk about jacobson, who he was, and what he uncovered? >> he is absolutely key. investigator on the senate -- the joint inquiry by the house and senate intelligence committees, which was chaired by bob graham. it was set up right after the attacks. jacobson was investigator in that. early on, he noticed an odd discrepancy, a mention of the fbi files here in washington, that seemed to say that one of the hijackers had been in contact with an fbi informant. he thought this was quite interesting. he wanted -- he put in to go to san diego. i should say, this is a hijacker who been living in san diego. he pushed to go to san diego to look into the files on the local fbi office. interestingly, the head of the fbi, robert mueller, now

investigating the trump allegations brought by donald trump, pushed -- moved heaven and earth to stop jacobson going to san diego. nevertheless, the committee insisted he do so and he went there. he found most of what we know about the saudi connection. you found in the files, they had -- there was plenty of information about a saudi agent who everyone in the fbi believed was a saudi agent, who had been in close contact with the hijackers, who had found them a place to live in san diego will step had opened a bank account for them, had helped them does introduce them to people to get flying lessons, to get drivers licenses. basically, then their case officer, it seems. this was all turned out -- i could go on. there are other people.

indirectly, the pretty straight forward procedure, went to the hijacker or two the man looking after the hijackers. worked for alf company owned by the saudi ministry of defense -- on amy: we just have 20 seconds. the subtitle of your piece, "will the 911 case finally go to trial?" will it? >> yes. moving toward that. we have had the complaint, the motion to dismiss that will be answered. it looks like sometime next year we will actually get an actual trial going. in the saudis are freaked out about this. making every effort to derail this thing and try to get the law changeded so they can't be sued. amy: we have to leave it there but we will continue to follow it. andrew cockburn, we will link to

your piece "crime and punishment." that does it for today's broadcast. one gonzalez contending his speaking tour. you can check democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments t to

. so debate coming to from violence and live on facebook. since the cold war his german farm policies. sirius to in such a volatile period north korea and the new trump administration icy relations with russia and turkey. the failure to