11/08/18 11/08/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! wherean see a scenario jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment, and the attorney general does not fire robert mueller, but reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to an almost hold. amy: president trump fires attorney general jeff sessions, replacing him with matthew whitaker, a trump loyalist who has been called -- has called

special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation a witch hunt. will robert mueller be next? we speak with david cole, national legal director of the american civil liberties union and elizabeth holtzman, former -- the youngest member of the watergate committee that voted to impeach richard nixon, author of the new book "the case for impeaching trump." >> richard nixon did not care about the law. he wanted the special prosecutor out of the way. and while it i is not an exaxact similarity here because so far we don't know that there is a cover-up, but what we have is the same mentality of abusing power, of taking power into your own handnds and saying, "i'm first. not america first, i'm first." amy: then to new mexico, where deb haaland d has made history.

>> you are sending one of the very first native american women to congress! today we all came together and we said we still believe in the american dream and american democracy and in hope. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in southern california, police are reporting at least 12 people have been killed after a mass shooting at a bar in the city of thousand oaks wednesday night. witnesses say a gunman threw smoke grenades into the borderline bar and grill before firing into a crowd of a few hundred people. the crowd included d many studes who were there for a collelege country music night. the gunman was found dead inside the bar. the shootiting comes 13 montnths after a gunman shot dead 59

people at a a country music concert in las vegas. there were reportedly at least one survivor of the las vegas shooting inside the california bar last night when the shooting began. president donald trump fired attorney general jeff sessions wednesday night, replacing him with the trump loyalist who has called robert mueller's russia investigation a witch hunt. this comes a day after democrats won control of the house of representatives. the new acting attorney general, matthew whitaker, is a former u.s. attorney who spent years working at the foundation for accountability and civic trust, which was funded in part by the coat others. he became jeff sessions' chief of staff last directory begin speaking out against the probe. --a statement, the aclu said "jeff sessions was the worst attorney general in the modern american history am a period. at the dismissal of the top law enforcement official should not

be based on political motive." trump had repeatedly and openly attacked sessions for recusing himself from the mueller investigation. some experts are raising questions about the legality of putting whitaker in charge, rather than the department's number two, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who had been overseeing the russia probe. democratic leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer both called for whitaker's recusal from the mueller probe. in an interview with cnn last year, whitaker speculated about sessions being replaced and funding to the mueller investigation being withdrawn. >> i can see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment and that attorney general does not fire bob mueller, but reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to an absolute -- almost halt.

amy: it also raises the possibility the department of justice will go after hillary clinton. in 2016, whitaker wrote an op-ed for usa today in which he wrote he would have indicted hillary clinton, saying -- "fbi director's judgment was that 'no reasonable prosecutor' would bring the case. i disagree." the white house has banned cnn chief white house correspondent jim acosta, in a move widely condemned as an attatack on pres freeeedom. in a statement, cnn said -- "this unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy." jim acosta's white house press pass was revoked hours after he questioned president trump about where trump described the central american migrant caravan as an invasion. >> there are hundreds of miles away. they are hundreds and hundreds of miles away. that is not innovation.

pres. trump: honestly, i think you should let me run the country. you should run cnn. if you didn't welcome your ratings -- >> mr. president, are you worried -- pres. trump: that is enough. that is enough. that is enough. >> pardon me. pres. trump: that is enough. let's go. >> on the russia investigation, are you concerned you may -- nine pres. trump: i'm not concerned about anything with the russia investigation because it is a hoax. that is enough. the downy might. >> ari worried about the indictments -- trump: cnn should be ashamed of i itself having you working for them. you are a rude, terrible person. you should not be working for cnn. go ahead. folks i think that is -- pres. trump: you are very rude. huckabeeou treat sarah is horrible. the way you treat other people are horrible. you should not to people that way. go hit. >> i have traveled with him and he is a diligent report.

pres. trump: i'm not a big fan of yours either. let me ask you. pres. trump: just sit down, please. news, whichort fake cnn does a a lot, you're the eny of the people. amy: that was president trump attacking jim acosta and cnn. it comes to weeks after the network was sent a mail bomb by a trump fanatic in florida. white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders defended the decision to strip acosta of his press badge, claiming he had "placed his hands on a young woman" -- referring to an intern who was trying to grab his microphone during the news conference. acosta quickly responded on twitter, "this is a lie." noto of the incident does show acosta placing his hands on the intern. trump also clashed with veteran african-american reporter april ryan, and repeatedly told her to sit down as she tried to ask a question about voter

suppression. when pbs's yamiche alcindor, who is also black, asked trump about his recent comments declaring himself a nationalist, he respondeded that it was a racist question. looks on the campaign trial, you called yourself a nationalist. so that the sum so that -- such a racist question. close some say now the republican party is seen as supporting white nationalists because of your rhetoric. what do you make of that? pres. trump: why do i have my highest numbers ever with african-americans? why do i have my highest poll number's? that is such a racist question. honestly, i mean, i know you have it written down and you're going to tell me, let me tell you, it is a racist question. amy: as final ballots from the midtdterm electionons get tallia handful of races are still too close to call or will head to runoffs, including three senate races, 12 in the house and georgia's governorship, where democratic candidate stacey

abrams is refusing to concede as a number of absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be counted. a non-profit group filed an emergency lawsuit tuesday to prevent secretary of state brian kemp, stacey abrams' republican opponent, from any involvement in election results, including a possible runoff or recount. turnout for tuesday's election was higher than any midterm election in the past 50 years, with an estimated 114 million people casting ballots. three senate races remain undecided. in a arizona, republican martha mcsally currently leads democrat kyrsten sinema in the senate race by around percentatage poi, one but over half a million votes remain uncounted. in florida, democratic incumbent democratic senator bill nelson has called for a recount in his race against governor rick scott

who currently holds less than a half percentage point lead over him. mississippi's senate race will head to a runoff later this month. meanwhile, in georgia's sixth district, gun control advocate lucy mcbath declared victory wednesday, but republican opponent karen handel has yet to concede and says she may call for a recount. mcbath's 17-year-old son was shot dead by a white man in 2012 in florida. he said he was in a car and the kids were playing the music too loud. two republican house incumbents who are currently facing federal indictments both won re-election. duncan hunter of california, who is charged with misuse of campaign funds, and chris collins of new york, who is accused of insider trading, were also the first congressmembers to endorse then-candidate trump. in a n news conference wednesda, president trump called it a victory. pres. trump: i think it was a

great victory. and some of the news this morning was that it was in fact a great victory. amy: trump also called out republican lawmakers who lost elections tuesday, blaming their -- including -- blamaming their losses on their refusal to him.ace" he said mia love gave me no love and she lost. states weighedal in on abortion rights measures tuesday. voters in alabama approved a sweeping anti-abortion measure that grants constitutional rights to fetuses, embryos and fertilized eggs. alabama amendment 2, which passed by 19 points, will codify "the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life" into alabama's constitution. meanwhile,e, in west virginia, voteters narrowly approved a

constititutional amendment to prohibit statete funding for women's health clinics that provide abortions. voters in oregon rejected a similar proposition. the measures are so-called trigger lalaws that anti-c-choie groups hopope will go into effet if, or w when, the supreme c cot strikes dodown roe v. wade, the landmark 1973 supreme court decision that granted women the right to abortions. in the philippines, a leading lawyer fighting against president rodrigo duterte's drug war was shot and killed tuesday in the capital manila. benjamin ramos was a founding member of a legal organization providing pro-bono services to poor people targeted by duterte's forces. last year, duterte told police they could shoot lawyers investigating his drug war. ramos is the 34th lawyer to be killed since duterte became president two years s ago. in poland, the mayor of warsaw

is banning this year's annual march of far-right groups. the march, which ostensibly celebrates poland's independence, was attended by 60,000 people last year with participants chanting sloganss including "f-- off with the refugees" and "pure popoland, ite poland." the march organizers vowed to go ahead with the event this sundndayn defiancece of the van. democracy now! will be broadcasting from poland next month for the u.n. climate summit. in cameroon, almost 80 students who were kidnapped sunday in the northwesest of the country, were released by their captors. the school's principal and a teacher are reportedly still held captive. no group has claimed respononsibility for the abductn but cameroon's government has blamed separatists who h have bn calling g for a secession of cameroon's anglophone regions in the majority french-speaking country. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. president donald trump has fired attorney general jeff sessions, replacing him with a trump loyalist who has called robert mueller's russia investigation a "witch hunt." matthew whitaker, formerly jeff sessions' chief of staff, will now lead the russia inquiry. trump announced the news on twitter just hours after the midterm elections, prompting questions about the future of the russia investigation and whether trump will target robert mueller next. some experts are raising questions about the legality of putting whitaker in charge rather than the department's number two, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who had been overseeing the russia probe. in a statement, the aclu said "jeff sessions was the worst attorney general in modern american history, period, but

the dismissal of the top law enforcement official should not be based on political motives." trump has repeatedly and openly attacked sessions for recusing himself from the mueller investigation into alleged russian interference in the 2016 election. this is trump on fox and friends earlier this year. pres. trump: jeff sessions recused himself, which you should not have done. or he should have told me. even my enemies say that jeff sessions should have told you that he was going to recuse himself, and then you would not have had him in. he took the job and then he said, i'm going to recuse myself . i said, what kind of a man is this? amy: in 2016, matthew whitaker wrote an op-ed for usa today in which he wrote he would have indicted hillary clinton, saying -- "fbi director's judgment was that 'no reasonable prosecutor' would bring the case. i disagree." whitaker is also a close friend and former campaign chairman for

sam clovis when clovis ran for public office in iowa in 2014. clovis, who was the 2016 trump campaign national co-chairman, revealed earlier this year that he had been interviewed by mueller and testified for the mueller grand jury. in an interview with cnn last year, matthew whitaker speculated about sessions being replaced and funding to the mueller investigation being withdrawn. whitaker was then the executive director of the foundation of accountability and civic trust, an organization with ties to the conservative billionaire koch brothers. >> i can see a>> i can see a sce jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment, and that attorney general does not fire robert mueller, but reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to an almost halt. amy: democrats, who won control

the house in the midterms, have vowed to protect the mueller investigation. democratic leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer both called for whitaker's recusal from the mueller probe. for more on the implications of sessions' departure, we're joined in new york by two guests. david cole is the national legal director of the american civil liberties union and professor of law and public policy at georgetown university law center. his most recent book is "engines of liberty: the power of citizen activists to make constitutional law." his piece on sessions out earlier this year in the new york review of books is headlined, "trump's inquisitor." and also with us, elizabeth holtzman, former u.s. congresswoman from new york who served on the watergate committee, the youngest member. the committee that voted to impeach richard nixon. her new book is out this monday. it's titled "the case for impeaching trump." welcome both to democracy now!

david cole, why don't you lay out what happened yesterday. it was about an hour after trump held his news conference where he called the midterm elections theeat success, attacked press, attacked republicans who had not supported him fully. people ask about the mueller probe. he sort of woburn around it and then the announcement came that sessions, the attorney general, has been asked for his resignation and he was out. folks this is something trump has been threatening repeatedly over t the course of his term, t he waited until the midterms happen, presumably concerned if he did beforehand, it would be to his detriment. and then also seeing the house is now going to be in the control of the democrat and he is more vulnerable with respect to investigations into his

personal misconduct. he demanded sessions resignation. nermeen: as you point out in the article, it is especially surprising because on the one hand sessions was one of trump's earliest and most loyal supporters, so it was really and affect the russia probe and sessions recusing himself that is responsible for the decision trump took. >> absolutely. sessions was as about as loyal to trump as you could find anybody. he was the first senator to back trump will stuff you defended trump about the campaign, even when the access hollywood to came out, he said he did not think what trump bragged he could do to women constituted sexual assault. and then as attorney general, he implemented every one of trump's conservative agendas -- targeting immigrants, family separation, increasing criminal justice enforcement, increasing

incarceration, reviving the war on drugs, eliminating protections for lgbtq individuals, supporting boater suppression, ending inquiries into policing abuse in cities across the country. so he is and was, i think, the most effective cabinet member for donald trump. the one thing he did not do for donald trump was to violate the rules of ethics and oversee an investigation in which he himself was implicated because he was part of the trump campaign. aide when he was a senator, stephen miller, who went on to become trump's chief -- one of his chief advisors an architect of anti-immigrant policies, miller came from sessions. so what was it that he did? what was the reason he recused

himself. >> he recused himself -- this is an investigation of russia's alleged interference in our election and the trump campaign's potential collusion with that investigation. sessions was a member of that campaign. he was a leading senior member of that campaign. he also lied about his involvement with russian -- or russians in the hearing or his confirmation. so when this investigation launched, he went, as you were supposed to do, as attorney general, he went to the ethics advisor in the justice department and said, here is a situation. we have got an investigation into the trump campaign's possible collision with the russians. i was part of the trump campaign. can i oversee that investigation? the answer is pretty obvious. no. that is the answer he got. you follow the other -- ethics

advisor's advice. you follow the law in that situation. the problem was, he was not willing to put his personal loyalty to the president over his obligation to follow the law. and that is essentially why he got fired. nermeen: let's go to his replacement, matthew whitaker, and what we know about him. in an opinion piece for cnn last year am a whitaker argued that special counsel robert mueller was "going too far" in his investigation of russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. he wrote -- "it does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself to conclude that investigating donald trump's finances or his family's finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the russian government or anyone else. that goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel. the trump organization's business dealings are plainly

not within the scope of the investigation, nor should they be." he goes on to say that if mueller continues along the same lines, there will be reason to conclude that his investigation was "a mere witch hunt." and during the 2017 radio interview, whitaker dismissed the possibility of the president being charged with obstruction of justice out of the mueller investigation. >> there is no criminal obstruction of justice charge to be had. the evidence is weak. the reasonable prosecutor would bring a case on what we know right now. it all boils down to what the president's intent and we really don't have any evidence of what the president's intent was. the investigation continues on. he did not stop it. nermeen: that is matthew whitaker in 2017, who has -- is temporarily taking charge of attorney general jeff sessions'

position. he will now be overseeing the russia probe. this is a guy who has come out explicitly to say the russia probe goes too far and that there is not likely to be any evidence of collusion or trump being implicated. talk about some of the concerns. whole purpose of having a special counsel is to ensure there are some independence and investigation of high-level .xecutive branch official and now trump has fired the person who followed the rules of ethics and stepped aside to ensure that inindependence, and has put in place a man who got his job by being loyal to the president. in that race really serious concerns. the law provides the attorney general cannot fire the special counsel except for dereliction

of duty, misconduct am a good cause, and the like. see you can't fire him just because you disagree with what he is doing, but there is no appeal, there is no opportunity to take that to a court. there is a bipartisan bill in congress that would put that protection in place, but unlikely that is going to go anywhere. so number one, he could fire him. number two, even without firing him, he can put constraints on the special counsel's investigation by funding limits -- the special counsel is supposed to consult with and inform the attorney general of any significant development. amy: he already said on cnn, the question, just reduce the funding and you will stuff the investigation. >> he said that before he was in office. the question is now the he is in office and taken the oath, will he in fact undermine his oath to undermine this investigation? i think we all have to pay

incredibly close attention to every step that he takes. it is incumbent on the people and congress, incumbent on the house particular to hold this president accountable and make sure we get an accurate response to the question. amy: the democratic leaders schumer and pelosi have sent letters demanding that no evidence be tampered with, no emails, no whatsapp, tweets, texts, around the whole issue of the choice of whitaker. then you have the size having around rod rosenstein. he was the number two man. you have whitaker who is the chief of staff who reportedly, clovis, trump campaign manager, , clovis told his pal whitaker, get on tv, get trump's attention. so he started saying these things on cnn about ending the mueller probe.

so now he moves into the justice department. he is chosen as the attorney general by trump as he fires sessions. rod rosenstein is the one who was in charge of this investigation -- even if whitaker was made attorney general, he could've been in charge but he is not. talk about the significance of that and even the legality of this. >> i think it is formally legal innocence the president has the power to dismiss sessions, has the power to appoint a chief of staff as the acting attorney general. and once you have an acting attorney general who is not recused, it is legal for that acting attorney general to be involved in overseeing the investigation. but i think it is an abuse of that power if, was a really pierced to be, it is designed to obstruct justice. that is the thing. there is lots of things one can do legally, but if you do them for the purpose of obstructing justice, it is a crime. so firing comey -- it is legal head of the

fbi, but if it is to obstruct justice, it is a crime. if he fires sessions to obstruct the investigation, that is a crime. amy:y: we're g going to go to bk and will become back, we will be joined by elizabeth holtzman as well, the youngest member of the watergate committee. the obvious question, does this echo back to the watergate times, to richard nixon? we are talking, some 45 years ago, saturday night massacre and what that exactly was. we are here on democracy now! talking about the trump administration, president trump firing attorney general jeff sessions. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh.. nermeen: democrats have seized control of the house of representatives, flipping more than two dozen seats in a historic midterm election that gives democrats subpoena power for the first time since president donald trump was

elected two years ago. a day after the election, trump fired attorney general jeff sessions. manyiring has led to comparisons between trump and former president richard nixon. on wednesday, cnn's jake tapper called sessions ouster another chapter in "a slow-motion multi-monthed saturday night , massacre." he was referencing the infamous saturday night massacre in 1973, when then-attorney general elliot richardson and his deputy resigned after president richard nixon ordered richardson to fire the special prosecutor investigating the watergate scandal. amy: for more, we continue our conversation with elizabeth holtzman, former u.s. congresswoman from new york who served on the house judiciary committee that voted to impeach richard nixon. for over 40 years,s, she had the record of eating the youngest woman ever elected to congress. her new book "the case for

, impeaching trump," is out on monday. still with us, david cole. massacre.ay night as you are watching this unfold yesterday, liz, you must have -- you must have been flooded with memories. >> oh, yeah. it is not just happy memories. these are very troubling memories. in fact, you can s say that you get a tingling up and down yourr spspine from the repetition her. what triggered richard nixon's impeachment was his view that he was above the law, in particular that he could not be held accountable. he and his staff and his cocolleagues could not be held accountable under the criminal law. so in the special prosecutotor asked for his tapes --nixon had white house tapes -- and the tapes could prove whether or not he had ordered a cover-up, nixon

said, no, you're not getting the tapes and you're going to be firered. and he ordered the special prosecutor fired. the attorney geral resigns, deputy aororney neraral reresign,, then theumber three fired m. the arican pele knew at thtapes could pro whher the presidt of thenited states had engaged in a cover-up or whether john dean was line. who was telling the truth? they said, congress can't you have to do something about it. amy: and these were tapes that richard nixon had secret ordered himself, the taping of the white house. >> correct. at that point, the impeachment inquiry started. have a president of the united states who waited deliberately until after the midterm elections so there would be no adverse political impact on him, to fire the attorney general of the united states. why did he fire him?

there is nothing that sessions did that was contrary to his political view or political agenda of the president, except that he would not take control and he would not oversee and he would not supervise and he would not interfere with mueller's investigation. ,his president, just like nixon once to control the criminal process that is going to take place against him and his friends. and that -- if we go down that road, we are becoming a banana republic. that is not the united rates of america. we are a country committed to the rule of law, and the president cannot put his finger on the -- his thumb on the scale of justice. that is not going to happen. if it does happen, then god help america. nermeen: bernie sanders has warned that any attempt at obstruction on trump's part, obstruction of the russia probe, would be an impeachable offense.

he tweeted wednesday -- don "any attempt by the president or the justice department to interfere anh mueller's probe would be obstruction of justice and a p trouble offense -- impeachable offense." >> no question about it. one of the grounds for the impeachment vote against richard nixon. so it a -- you don't even need to go much farther, i think, than even the appointment of mr. whitaker because it seems apparent that mr. whitaker is there for one purpose, which is to control and interfere with this investigation. congressurns out -- can investigate that. if it turns out the purpose was to interfere with the investigation, than that in and of itself becomes not only a basis for the rest becomes a baseless for the removal and impeachment of donald trump.

" the national archives released information related to the indictment against president richard nixon. a draft document known as the watergate road map show plans to charge nixon with bribery, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and obstruction of a criminal investigation. nixon was never charged with the crimes, though a number of his aides were. and someone to jail. ththe documents were released after a lawsuit requested they be made public citing their relevance for special counsel robert mueller if he decides to issue a report to congress as part of the ongoing probe into whether the trump campaign colluded with alleged russian meddling in the 2016 elections. so talk about -- you know well what this indictment was of richard nixon. >> let's make one point. richard nixon was named by the grand jury as an unindicted co-conspirator. that is ththe only time this has ever happened in the history of the united states.

to the grand jury wanted to indict richard nixon. draftasn't hypothetical indictment. the grand jury said, we want to indent richard nixon. there wewere told by the special prosecutor, you can't indict sitting president -- i don't necessarily agree with that. so as an alternative, the charged him as being an unindicted co-conspirator. the roadmap pointed -- these were criminal charges thahat wee going to be made against the president of the united states and the supporting evidence. impeachment is not a criminal proceeding. impeachment is a civil proceeding by congress to preserve and restore our democracy. it doesn't require a criminal standard of proof. it doesn't require any of the trappings of a criminal proceeding. what it's purposes is to take a president who is a threat to democracy and remove that president from office. that is what the framers put impeachment into the

constitution for. and that is why the house judiciary committee voted to impeach richard nixon, in part because he obstructeded the investigation into the break-in into the watergate hotel cocomplex, thehe democraratic committee headquarters. donald trump has tried to interfere with this investigation. he has not succeeded i in derailing g it. she is put whitaker there. clearly, the appearance is to shut it down. amy: what does that mean? what if whitaker shut it down or start it of funds? what does mueller need to have in place now? what would h happen if you are fired? could the indictments be made public if there are some already sealed? >> that is an interesting question. i think we would have a national crisis. the american people at that point don't rise up to protect our democracy, then maybe nothing can preserve it. because that is what happened in

watergate. the american people forced -- democrats were in control with the president that wass repupublican, but they did not want to bring impeachment proceedings. the american people forced them to do it. and so why didn't they? >> becauause -- amy: this is a critical issue. nancy pelosi said she is going to run for house speaker again and famously said impeachment is off the table. >> because it is an unknown process. because the first time that congress ever did in impeachment of her president was against andrew johnson. that was done in a partisan way. impeachmentixon process in a bipartisan way. we did it in a fair way. that should have given the american people a sense that this process works to preserve democracy. within the the clinton impeachment, which was an abuse of power, as the andrew johnson impeachment was. but the issue is -- i was that privy to why the speaker of thee

house and the majority leader, both democrats, did not want to proceed with impeachment proceedings until the saturday night massacre. i think it is because we just did not know what was going to happen. the proceeding itself had a bad taint historically. they did not know how the public was going to react. take down a president? richard nixon, unlike trump who squeaks through in his election, richard nixon was elected in one of the biggest landslides in amererican history. amy: in 1972. >> so for in impeachment to take place, you would have to change the mind of f the majority of american voters. democrats werere not se that could ever happe s so th werere worrie about the polical coequencnc for theelves stead ofhinking out ththe country. but the american people dedemand. they said, congres y you g too protececour democracy. ancocongre didid.

we did not take a sese cou bere we e arted. i member wn we staed the impeachmt pceedingsnobody even knewhat a hh crime misdemeanor was. what is the standard for impeachment? amy:y: so explaiain what happenn the end, what richard nixon left. >> richard nixon left because the house judiciary committee proceeding in a methodical, fair, transparent, open and bipartisan fashion voted that he engaged in impeachable offenses. ultimately, every single republican on the committee -- initially will be voted, there were 11 or 12 republicans who did not join. you had seven or eight who did. there was a tempered cording that showed nixon himself orchestrating the cocover-up from the very bebeginning, a all of the republicans joined with all of the democrats in sayining, richd nixon should be impeached, including the most conservative. at that point, the handwriting was on thehe wall. it was c clear. every single member of the house

supportedcommittee impeachment. the house was goioing to suppord overwhelmingly. and he would be removed -- convicted d in the senenate and removed.d. he saw the handwriting on the wall and did not want that humiliation. he became the first american president to resign. but t it was fair, open, and won the respect of the amerirican people. most of whom had supported richard nixon in the election just a year and half before. so it can be done. amy:'s a richard nixon resigned and did not get impeached. >> there was a vote to impeach and house judiciary committee. that was enough for richardd nixon to get the message he had to get out because otherwise, he would be forcibly removed. back to let's go sessions' replacement matthew whitaker and his comments on another issue in an interview with cnn last year.

he said about the constitution emoluments clause that "the ethics laws and the conflicts of interest rules do not apply to the president or the vice president." david cole, could you respond to that and also if whitaker were to impede or entirely halt mueller's investigation, is this likely to institute a crisis like some say it will? >> on the emoluments clause, it is a conference of interest provision and it is directly applicable to the president. he says the president can't intermix his private monetary interests with the power of his office, which is exactly what he is doing. two courts have ruled that cases against the president for violating the emoluments clause can go forward against the justice department's efforts to

dismiss them. whitaker is wrong on that one. on the second one on what are this will provoke a constitutional crisis, i think it depends on the american people. in some sense, depends on whether there is a smoking gun. facts do matter. i'm hoping in n the social media world, that facts still matter. if you look at what trump has done, these are the actions of a man with something to hide. if you have nothing to hide, then you don't mind the fact there is an investigation. you welcome and investigation. an investigation into russian interference with our democratic process? anyone who did not have anything to hide would say, absolutely, let's look into that. in fact, he has looked -- at every stage has tried to obstruct it. mueller has been incredibly disciplined about this. i think mueller will reveal whatever is there that trump is seeking to hide, and then the

question is, will be a mecca people -- most importantly -- will the republicans in the senate hold country over party loyalty? amy: the miami new times reports matthew whitaker was also involved in a miami-based invention marketing company, the federal trade commissssion shut down last year after calling it a scam. the paper reported whitaker not only sat on the board of world patent marketing, but also once sentnt a threatening them at a former customer who complained after he spent thousands of dollars and did not receive the promised services. i mean, we're just learning about matthew whitaker right now. is hisall we really know number one qualification for the job was loyalty to president trump and criticism of the mueller investigation. and that is not a justification for being the highest law enforcement officer in the country. amy: before we break, deb

haaland is our next guest and she is made history. she is one of two native american women who will be going to congress -- this is for the first time ever in this country. she is from new mexico. you made history as the youngest woman ever elected to congress, and you held that record for over 40 years. suggestion for her? you, elizabeth holtzman, and author of "the case for impeaching trump." all, congratulations to her. secondly, while all of these terrible things are happening with regard to the president of ththe uniteded states and interference with the rule off law andd justice, the dream of america is still pretty strong. if we can have people who have been excluded, native american women who have never servrved in congress, now can reach for that high position, that is great and i am excited. read my book. americans should rely book. understand how the process works.

we don't need a smoking gun to started. we do need a sense that the president is interfering with the rule of law. the minute that happens, then congreress has to acact and the american people have to act and start the investigation. amy: we want to thank you both holtzman,with us, liz 31, the youngest woman elected a conversation held that record for 40 years until 2014. she is former u.s. congresswoman and her new book is "the case for impeaching trump." and david cole, the legal director of the aclu. when we come back, we go to new mexico to speak with deb haaland, made history as one of two native american womomen elected to congress for the first time ever. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we end the show with the historic victories for women in tuesday's elections, particularly women of color. for the first time in the nation's history, there will be more than 100 women in the u.s. house of representatives. rashida tlaib in michigan and ilhan omar in minnesota became the first muslim women elected to congress. in new york city, 29-year-old democratic socialist alexandria ocasio-cortez has become the youngest woman ever elected to congress. and two native american women made history by becoming the nation's first native american congresswomen. democrat sharice davids won third congressional district

in kansas, unseating republican kevin yoder. and in new mexico, democrat deb haaland won in the first congressional district, defeating janice arnold-jones. this is haaland speaking at a victory party tuesday night. >> 70 years ago, native americans right here in new mexico could not vote. can you believe that? growing up in my mother's pueblo household and as a 35th generation new mexican, i never imagine a world where i would be represented by someone who looks like me. tonight, new mexico, you are sending one of the very first native american women to congress. amy: deb haaland campaign on covert aggressive -- progressive issues including climate change, renewable energy, universal health care and a $15 minimum wage. congresswoman elect deb haaland,

congratulations and welcome to democracy now! >> thank you. i'm so happy to be here. thank you for inviting me. amy: why don't you start off by talking about what this means? you are true path breaker. you made history. davids have sharirice both become the first native american woman to enter congress -- this year's end like it happened in paris. the first two muslim women to enter congress. but talk about what that means to you. you are pueblo? >> yes. that.bout and how you brought that into electoral politics. >> first of all, i am, of course, extremely proud to be elected as one of the first native women. at last we do have native women representation in congress. i would like to stress that i

started out in politics as a phone volunteer andnd just workd extremely hard and came to the point in my political career, so to speak even though i was mostly a volunteer for many campaigns, to run for congress. i really want folks to know other native women to know, that you don't have to have had a political connections to serve your community. you can n volunteer. you can work hard, you know, and have opportunities to represent your communities. that myy proud volunteers and my team, we work extremely h hard to win this election. proud to, it would be make sure that native americans have a voice at the table.

our country has the trust responsibility to indian tribes, and it seems like their voice has been lacking in so many conversations that we have had in this country. and so i would like to make sure that tribal leaders have that seat at the table. , can youdeb haaland talk about some of the policies you hope to pursue when you are in congress? >> yes. well, as you mentioned, i did run on fighting climate change, moving toward 100% renewable energy, making sure everyone has health care, funding our public schools properly. are so many issues out there. one that has not gotten enough attention over the years is missing and murdered indigenous women. -- that isepidemic something we need to work on. i will go to congress to make sure that we are paying attention to the issues that

folks care about. missing and murdered indigenous women, yes, we care about that in indian country, but women care about that issue all over the country. so those are the k kinds of this i would like to bring to the soefront of our conversation that we can solve those issues. amy: you were elected to congress on tuesday. within 24 hours, president trump fired his attorney general, jeff sessions. we just had this discussion about what this means and also the possibility of impeachment with elizabeth holtzman, who preceded you and congress, but from here in new york. what do you think ababout the ia of impeaching president trump? do you feel the issue is off the table or something that should be explored, perhaps s for this reason, or others? >> it absolutely should be explored. there has been an investigation that is ongoing. it looks to me that the president is working to make

some moves before the congress actually gets sworn in. it absolutely needs to be explored. options.o consider all we have to protect our democracy. -- i did not run on impeaching trump. i did not feel that was something, you know, was happening with this election. however, the reality is, if you did violate our constitution, if he did commit any crime, then that -- and if there are found to be impeachable offenses, then we absolutely have to protect our democracy and fight for the american people. amy: recently, senator elizabeth warren came under fire since releasing a dna test showing native american lineage in her

family tree. she released a video thahat told her family's stor >> myother was born ithe eaern oklama. it hadeen indi territo unl just aew years earlr when ibecame a state. my ddy said he fellead over heels wi my moth for the first me he saher. bumy dadd's parentsere tterlypposed ttheir moehri becausey mothe's family was pt native american. this sort of discrimination ss mmonon athe titi. so when my moment was 19 and my dadd was 20,hey elod. totogether they built a family. amy: elizabeth warren has at her mother told her family had ties to the cherokee and delaware tribes. but native americans across the country criticized her decision to use a dna test to assert her heritage. tara houska, national campaign director for honor the earth, recently spoke with democracy

the issue. can you talk about, deb haaland, your position onon this, on elizabeth warren's decision to take dna test? look, throughout our history, there have been so many instances where native americans have been adopted out of their families, where they have lost ties to their community, to the family because of the assimilation policies of the united states government. i can't blame her for wanting to find out more about her family history. me torse, it is not up to judge anyone however they choose to identify themselves. elizabeth warren has been a champion for working people. she has been a champion for native people. she has been a champion for education. and all of the things that we should care about in this

country. herpressed my support of when she came out with that test the guys i felt -- because i felt she found out something about her family that she do not seriously know, and i thought that was important to her. amy: your thoughts on nancy pelosi echo she just announced her intention to run for house speaker now that the democrats have taken over. will you be e voting for her? yes, i will. amy: and what do you feel about this new generation, including are of congressmembers who come a number of them, saying that what new leadership in the house? >> well, at a time like this, you know, we're talking about the possible impeachment of the president right now. i feel is is important that we have a leader who can navigate all of these complex issues and lead our party in the right direction. i think nancy pelosi is

extremely qualified to be speaker of the house because she has been speaker of the house. i trust her leadership. i trust her judgment. i think she is the person we need right now. forwardaps when we move and our politics isn't in a critical sort of era, that, yes, shes is ready to pass the mantle on, i will absolutely support another ququalified individual. but currently, i think she would do a good job. amy: deb haaland, we want to ask you to stay so we can continue our conversation and talk about the drought in new mexico and also the north dakota put her id laws and how they affect native americans. we will do that and post it online at democracynow.org.

news, karenlatest handel of georgia has conceded to democrat lucy mcbath, african-american, gun control activist whose son jordan davis was shot and killed in 2012 by a white man. i'm amy goodman

action. spike lee. aahhh! no one's gonna say, "we're gonna take a chance on you." i never thought that would happen. so out of frustration, i wrote "reservoir dogs." hollywood is not very alluring to me. i am not susceptible to swimming pools and porsches. i got a '79 chevy. it's runnin' good. i'm a film outlaw, and i think that's a good thing to be. annenberg media ♪ and: with additional funding from these foundations and individuals: