01/16/19 01/16/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> this is a catastrophic defeat for this government. after two years of failed negotiations, , the house of commmmons has delivered its verdict on her brexit deal, and that verdict is absolutely decisive. amy: the british parliament rejects theresa may's brexit plan in the worst defeat in british history. will she survive today's no-confidence vote? we will speak to british

economic journalist paul mason. then to the confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee william barr. >> i believe it is in the best interest of everyone, the president, congress, and the american people, that this matter be resolved by allowing the special counsel to complete his work. the country needs a credible resolution to these issues. amy: william barr vows to let robert mueller finish his probe meddling, but says mueller's report may neverer be made public. during the hearing, he was also asked about t the jailing of jojournalists. and where a resort, news organization has run through a red flag or something like that, knows they're putting out stuff that will hurt the country, there might be -- or could be a situation where someone would be held in contempt. amy: we will speak to the aclu's david cole and kristen clarke

lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in the worst the feet for a ruling government in british history, prime minister theresa may's brexit deal to withdraw britain from the european union was crushed tuesday by 230 boats. john barcow, the speaker of the u.k. house of commons, called the roll. >> the ayes 202. the nos, 432. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the house has spoken and the government will listen. it is clear the house does not support this deal but tonight's boat tells us nothing about what it does support. how -- nothing about how or even if it intends

to honor the decision. parliament decided to hold. amy: britain is scheduled to leave the european union in 10 weeks, but the rejection of the deal leaves uncertainty about what will happen next. shortly after tuesday's vote, labour leader jeremy corbyn called for a vote of no confidence in may's government to be held within 24 hours. outside the parliament, supporters of a second referendum on brexit cheerered tuesday's outcome. this is anti-brexit activist rebecca ireland. >> i am very happy. this is the first step. we need to have the people vote. eu a andin the ththeresa may's deal. amy: after headlines, we'll go toto london to speak with journalist paul mason about brexit. dublin estimate of how much the shutdown is likely to cost the economy of many independent economist's warning it could push the u.s. into a recession.

the warning came as president trump ordered nearly 50,000 furloughed federal employees to return to their jobs, without pay, as the longest government shutdown in u.s. history entered its 26th day with no end in sight. among those ordered back to work our food safety inspectors, aviation safety workers, irs employees who will process income tax refunds. on tuesday, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit brought by unions that would have required the government immediately pay workers who are required to work. on capitol hill, republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell block a senate vote on a house-approved bill to reopen the federal government. it was the second time mcconnell has blocked a vote on ending the shutdown. meanwhile, president trump invited a handful of rank-and-file democrats to the white house for a working lunch aimed at winning support for trump's border wall, but not a single democrat showed up. meanwhile, the shutdown continues to wreak havoc on the basic functions of the u.s. government. native american communities are reporting shortages of medicine

as the indian health service goes understaffed, while a federally-funded food delivery program to indian reservations has halted. immigration courts have seen 20,000 cases per week added to an already record-high backlog. and the transportation security administration said a man with a loaded pistol passed through airport security at atlanta international airport. tsa workers are being forced to work without pay and hundreds have been calling in sick as the shutdown drags on. a federal judge in new york city barred the trump administration tuesday y from placingng a citizezenship question on the 20 cecensus, sesetting a likikely battle over the issue at the supreme court. voting rights activists say the citizenship questition is aimedt deterring immigrants from participatating in the census, leading to a vast undercount in states with large immigrant communities, impacting everything from the redrawing of congressional maps to the allocation of federal funding. we'll have more on the 2020

census later in the broadcast. senate confirmation hearings began tuesday for william barr, president trump's nominee for attorney general to replace jeff sessions who was fired in november. barr served as attorney general for george h.w. bush from 1991 to 1993, but senators asked few questions about barr's past record while focusing heavily on his views about special counsel robert mueller's probe into russian meddling in the 2016 election. barr vowed to allow mueller to compmplete the probe, but suggested mueller's long-awaited report might not be made public. he also defended writing an unsolicited memo last year to deputy attorney general rod rosenstein in which he criticized mueller's investigation. we'll have much more on william barr's confirmation hearings after headlines. in kenya, armed men burst into an upscale hotel c complex in te capital nairobi tuesday, killing 14 people and launching a hostage crisis that stretched on for nearly a day.

the somali-based militant group al-shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack on . in similar assault by al-shabaab 2013, a killed at least 67 people at a nairobi shopping mall. last year, the trump administration targeted al-shabaab with an unprecedented number of airstrikes across somalia. former mexican president enrique pena nieto accepted a $100 million bribe from drug traffickers. that is according to a witness who testified tuesday at the trial of the injurious drug lord known as "el chapo" said tuesday -- in new york city. the allegation came as a former associate of el chapo -- the colombian drug lord alex cifuentes villa -- took the witness stand in a federal district court in brooklyn. peña nieto has not responded to the claim, but has previously denied charges of corruption. at the hague, former ivory coast president laurent gbagbo was acquitted tuesday of cririmes agagainst humanity and will be t

free by the international criminal court. gbagbo faced charges of responsibility for the violence that killed more than 3000 people after he refused toto relinquish the presidency, despite losing elections in 2010. he was the first former head of state to stand trial at the icc. his acquittal follows similar failures of prosecutors to win convictions against in recent -- against other african leaders in recent years. in brazizil, newly inaugurated far-right president jair bolsonaro signed a decree tuesday making it easier for people to keep guns at home. critics say the move will worsen brazil's murder rate, already one of the highest in the world, with more than 60,000 homicides per year. the world food program has cut aid to palestinians in the israeli-occupied west bank and gaza, citing a critical lack of funds. the wfp said this week more than 25,000 palestinians will no longer receive aid. a further 165,000 palestinians will see their food aid slashed by 20%. last year, the trump administration eliminated more

than a half billion dollars in aid to the palestinians. aid groups are warning further planned cuts threaten new projects, including a playground for gaza children and new infrastructure to provide clean water to gaza homes. the house of representatives voted 424-to-1 tuesday to condemn white nationalism and white supremacy in a rebuke to iowa republican congressmember steve king. the vote came after king told "the new york times" in an interview published last week -- "white nationalist, white supremacist, western civilization -- how did that language become offensive?" tuesday's vote was not a formal censure of steve king, who's made similar remarks throughout his 16 year career in congress. elsewhere on capitol hill, democratic socialist congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez said tuesday it's time for democrats to embrace a marginal tax rate of 70% on the wealthiest earners. ocasio-cortez says revenue from shifting the tax burden onto those who can most afford to pay could fund progressive legislation like universal

healthcare or a green new deal. speaking to the hill on tuesday, ocasio-cortez cited new polling data showing a majority of americans support the idea. >> i don't think it is a case i have to make because it is a case the majority of americans have already made. this is a policy that is already popular. it is time that we embrace working americans and the democratic party fights for the working class in the u unitd states and to not support a marginal tax rate is to really -- allow kirsten gillibrand said she is joining the race for the presidency in 2020. she made the announcement on "the late show with stephen colbert." >> i'm going to run for the president of the united states because as a young mom, i'i'm goining to fight for r other people's kids as hard as i would fight for my own, which is why i

believe that health care should be a right and not a privilege. amy: senator gillibrand's aides say she'll run on a platform supporting a medicare for all health care plan. she has also pledged to fight for universal paid family leave and publicly funded federal elections. she was appointed as new york's junior senator in 2009 after hillary clinton left the post to become secretary of state. gillibrand since won two elections to retain her seat. she joined congress as a conservative so-called "blue dog" democrat with a favorable rating from the national rifle association, but has since backed progressive legislation including the green new deal. in russia, lgbtq activists are warning of a new crackdown on gays and lesbians, with at least 40 people arrested in december and reports of two people who were tortured to death. chechen officials have denied the reports, which are based on interviews of victims by the associated press and other outlets. in 2017, human rights groups said as many as 100 people, mainly gay young men, were swept up by police and tortured in what was labeled a "gay pogrom"

carrieied out byby chechen officials. second lady of the united states karen pence is working at a virginia private school that explicitly bans lgbtq workers and students. pence started work this week at the immanuel christian school in the washington, d.c., suburbs, where an employment application requires job applicants to pledge not to engage in homosexual activity or to violate the "unique roles of male and female." the application also advises women that "a wife is commanded to submit to her husband as the church submits to christ." and new york state lawmakers have approved a pair of bills aimed at protecting the lgbtq community. one bill bans licensed mental health professional from participating in so-called conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice that seeks to coerce gay youth into renouncing their sexuality. a second bill expands hate crimes to include attacks

motivated by gender identity or expression. david kilmnick, president of the lgbt network, said -- "banning the harmful 'practice' of conversion therapy will save lives. new york has sent an important message to the rest of the nation today that no matter who sits in the white house, progress and the fight for equality and justice will move forward." but some trans advocates are objecting to new york's expansion of the definition of hate crimes. chase strangio of the aclu argues hate crimes laws disproportionately target communities of color and could even be used to enhance sentences for trans and queer people convicted of what the fbi calls anti-heterosexual hate crimes. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. wewe begin today's show i in the united kingdom, where prime minister theresa may's brexit deal was crushed tuesday in the biggest defeat for a sitting british government in modern history.

after months of build-up, may's plan for withdrawing britain from the european union was voted down 432-to-202, fomenting political uncertainty about the future of britain as well as may's leadership. john bercow, the speaker of thte u.k. house of commons, called the roll. >> theayes, 202. 432.os, >> the ayes to thye right, 202. ayes, 202. nos, 432. so the nos have it. the nos have it. boys of order. speaker, the house has

spoken and the government will listen. it is clear the house does not support this deal, but tonight's vote tells us nothing about what it does support. how does nothing abouout how or even if it intens to honor the decision the british people took in a referendum parliament decided to hold. and people, particulararly youth citizens who h have made her hoe here and the others is a clarity on these questions. amy: the u.k. is scheduled to leave the european union in ten weeks but the rejection of the brexit deal leaves ambiguity about what will happen next. shortly after tuesday's vote, labor leader jeremy corbyn addressed parliament, calling for a vote of no confidence in theresa may's government. >> the results of tonight's vote is the greatest of feet for the government since the 1920's in

this house. this is a catastrophic defeat for this government. after two years of failed negotiations, the house of commons s has delivered itss verdictt on her brexit deal him and that verdict is absolutely decisive. i therefore, mr. speaker, inform you i have now tabled a motion of no confidence in this government. and i am pleased that motion will be debated tomorrow. so this house can get its verdict on the sheer incompetence of this government and pass that motion of no-confidence in the government. and it go that was tuesday. today, labor leader corbin said he misspoke when he called the vote the largest defeat since the 1920's, saying in fact it is the largest defeat in the u.k.'s democratic history. parliament is currently debating corbyn's no confidence motion

and will vote at 2:00 p.m. eastern time today. the future of britain's relationship with the european in limbo.hangs if may's government survives a no confidence vote, it will have the option of introducing a milder brexit deal or proposing a new brexit referendum all together. if the no confidence vote passes, it could trigger a general election. 71 labor members of parliament have signed a public statement calling for a new brexit referendum, arguing that a brexit renegotiation, which corbyn has been pushing for, is unrealistic. their statement said -- "no dealal would be a catastrope which we must resolutely oppose." meanwhile, the guardian reports theresa may has not invited labor leader jeremy corbyn to cross-party brexit talks despite her epic defeat t tuesday. well, for more, we go now to london where we are joined by paul mason, new statesman contributing writer, author and filmmaker. his latest piece for the new statesman is headlined "to avoid a disastrous failure, labour must now have the courage to

fight for remain." mason's most recent book is titled, "postcapitalism: a guide to our future." paul mason, welcome to democracy now! please explain what happened. you could explain, paul, just exactly what happened yesterday. how historic this vote was. i think you're having trouble hearing me. we're going to go to break and thenen we're going to come back with paul mason in london talking about this historic brexit defeat. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "should i stay or should i go" by the clash. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are joined by paul mason new , statesesman contributing writ, author and filmmaker. his latest piece for the new .tatesman prime minister theresa may's brexit thiel was crushed in the biggest defeat for sitting british government in history. why do you think the deal was rejected, paul, and the significance of what is now taking place, the debate over no-confidence? >> amy, let me put this into context for american viewers. imagine trump said, let's leave nafta. leaving naftae're but we're following nafta's so

canada and mexico will get to determine america's trade policy, there would be uproar on both sides of your house of representatives. that is effectively what happened last night. the far right of the tory party and on the other progressive parties combined together to defeat may. -- it leaeaves are not only facing the worst defeat the government has ever faced, but this is the only piece of legislation her government was elected to do. it is a one trick pony and the trick just failed. that is why she is facing now the vote of confidence. i don't think jeremy corbyn is going to be able to defeat her jeremy corbyn is going to be able to defeat her tonight because those same right-wingers who voted against the deal have no interesest in putting jeremy corbyn into powerfulul stuff you have a government that needs to fall, but cannot fall. amy: for people who don't exactly understand what brexit is, please explain.

the way it goes now is that tojereremy corbyn were able win a vote of no confidedence against theresa may, there would have to be a general election. that is something that is not only politically unpalatable to the right and of course the corporate elite here in britain, but this crisis we're living through here in britain with brexit is the end point of a 40 year period of neoliberal economics. it has become very focused on xenophobia, white nationalism, free trade -- all of these things are there. and basically, the corporate elite cannot afford to see this tory government fall when the only alternative is the most radical and most left-wing labor party we've ever had. that is why you have this complete stasis and pararalysisn

british politics. we're not the only players. we're dealing with a consonant with 5 million citizens, europe, which is waiting for an answer. the press here in europe, we have been awake for four or five hours on the side of the atlantic, is appalled by what has happened. we are one of the most powerful governments in the world, a key nato ally, just in chaos. amy: interesting you mentioned nato because n new discussion is taking p place in the united states about revelations that president trump has repeatedly wanted to pull the united states out of nato. >> yeah, and look, here in europe, the far right are being heavily, heavily funded and promoted by vladimir putin. at the same time, -- america is an unreliable ally because of these revelations about trump. my opposition to brexit is not -- many of us on the left of the

labor party, yes, we want to go the extra mile to try to honor that referendum, but it cannot be honored -- a cannot be done without destroying the country, wewe're notot going to do it. not just for economic reasons. we need, and a very unstable world, to create alliances here on the continent of europe that ensure stability and the rule of law and democracy. in:, the mayor of a major city was murdered. we have political violence now in our consonant. we want to call things down kabila to do it in a way that speaks to those poor communities who are being dragged toward right-wing populist xenophobic politics. we cannot really do it by abandoning our values. headlines, in your alexandria ocasio-cortez. inspired by her because here we see a left politician fighting from the

heart with values. we want to be doing some of that. i personally want to get this brexit thing concluded. i want to get rid of this theresa may government, but brexit concluded because we need to try to win back some of those dislocated communities. we need to do it from the heart, not with technocratic language and parliamentary maneuvering. amy: you mention the murder of the mayor. his dear friend seemed to urge britain to cancel brexit. in a tweet tuesday it read -- "if a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?" paul mason? >> look, the problem we have here on the left of politics, we are somewhat similar to the democrats but in another where we are not. hillary clinton used to be accused of being the wall street candidate. we have no support amongst our

own corporate elite. what we achieve in the british labor movement will be achieved wiwith the working class and lor middle class votes only. our electoral alliance will never be with power wall street and london. it will always be -- let me put it this way, an alliance between brooklyn, chicago, and west virginia. those kinds of demographics. ,e have to keep west virginia our equivalent of it, and our alliance. that is quite hard when they voted to leave europe. amy: paul mason, i'm going to interrupt because -- >> there's no form of brexit that is going to help them. amy: jeremy corbyn is speaking right now and we want to go to the floor of parliament to hear what he is saying. >> our nhs is in cririsis. i'm talking about waiting times in action emergency and for cancer patientnts that have not been met since 2015. and they have never been met under the government of this

prime minister. not yet. the nhs has endured the longest funding squeeze in its history. leaving a shortstaffed to the tune of 100,000. overerne billionon in deficit. the humann consequence is clear, life expectancy is now goingg backwaamy: that is the labor ler jeremy corbyn in his arguments for a nono-confidence vote -- fr a vote of no confidence for theresa may. clearly, this goes beyond brexit as he is talking about the national health service and just the state of britain today, paul mason. >> what he was talking about is the health care system. it is s being destroyed by austerity, by government spending cuts. we know because we are out there on the doorstep of working-class

communities that one of the things that drove some of them to support brexit was the idea that in a world of limited resources, and we don't want to share those with migrant people who come from europe. this is the xenophobia guard gimmick. what corbyn is doing is turning the argument back to were the real blame is. the blame is we bailed out the banks with the money of the taxpayer in the taxpayer had to make a choice -- bail the banks or fund the health care system. that is the argument that we in the movement and the trade union movement are having every day of the week to try to bring back because we're determined not to abandon these blue-cocollar, rut belt h have communities to far right politics. we're going to win them back. that is what corbyn is trying to do there. -- a brexit. amy: could we see british prime minister jeremy corbyn, paul?

>> yes, and you could see it within two weeks if he wins one of these votes. he is going to move this no-confidence motion -- look, you can move one any day of the week. if he loses tonight, he can wait and do it again. in the interim, we are going to see the middle of parliament, the center of both parties, try to cobble together a solution. they may do it, but then that has to go back to a negotiation with brussels. brussels will only negotiate with the government, not parliament. ultimately, every solution leads to a new election will stop and in that election, he will be very hard fought. we already have steve bannon's money pouring into british politics. the dark money of russia and the money of people like bannon is out there. they're going to try to fund the same thing they did in your country, but we have one thing -- we have a mass active party of progressive and left-wing people, and we're going to fight for the soul of britain if that

election comes. in the cup what do you mean the money of bannon? >> look, bannon in europe has been tried to set up across national are, a multinational movement of european right-wing parties that once to change european politics in the coming european parliamentary election. there probably won't be a european parliamentary electctin in the united kingdom, but we're hearing all caps of things about bannon, the leader of the far right party for roche, and now some people like boris johnson. he's a right-wing member of the conservative party, but interestingly, in parliament this week, for the first time he used the words deep state. he is saying the deep state is stopping brexit. where does the rhetoric come from? it is the rhetoric of bannon, of the alt-right in america. society,ch in civil face-to-face, but in our social media, my goodness, we are inundated with the fake news and the rhetoric of the breitbarts

.nd those info wars it is all over social memedia. and that will be unleashed if there is a new brexit referendum. amy: what is h happening now wih ireland? how is this being viewed in ireland and northern ireland? >> ok, hopefully, some of your viewers know that the united kingdom is the united kingdom of britain and northern ireland. northern ireland is a six county enclave separated off from the rest of ireland after a civil war. it has a big religious divide. the catholic community in northern ireland does not send its mps by large to parliament. unionistents the into does anti-unionist. the union is part of that society is represented by a religious right party called the dup. they hold the balance of power. theresa may does not have a majority in the british

parliament come only with his right evangelical christian type party the dup. they are backing her even though they do not support last night steel. they, too, cannot afford a progressive government because they have this very, very sweetheart kind of deal with the conservatives just to keep theresa may in power. but ireland as a state, one of the 27 states of the european union of course the republic of ireland, is a very successful, momodernized, liberal, small capitalist country. they're just looking across the irish sea i think in despair. we are destroying -- not just her strength or reputation, we are destroying our own democracy. we have allow the dark money into our democracy. behind the you can see parliament. the biggest problem right now is politicians trying to cross the street with people -- the trump make america g great h hats, literalllly, those have, chasing them and shouting all kinds of

fascist rhetoric at them. this is a new phenomenon in british politics. the sudden irruption of weird -- your option of weird tactics. the hours are looking at that and say, how did that happen? you were supposed to be one of the most richest and powerful countries in the world. amy: do you think there needs to be a new referendum, paul? >> i would. if we could -- the alternatives are a softer former brexit is when you get your parliament behind me. i'm not so much in favor of that. we can't stop brexit without a referendum because the legitimacy of the first referendum has to be canceled out by another one. jeremy corbyn is playing very clever because he has to be seen to go to the hill, to the final mile of trying to tatake the old referendum, i.e. brexit, to work, to get more palatable, to make it less damaging for

working people and the families. that is the phase we are in. i agree with that. the argument comes inside the labor movement -- we are going to have to take with is a lot of progressive people, young people, people of color. and most of them what a second referendum. we also added take the working class communities a small industrial town's come and a lot of them wanted brexit. as i said before, we don't have a wall street supporting, faction in our left, just the working class. so we have to, as it were, he both parts of it together. if we end up with a second referendum, that is g going to e fought as a class struggle and fanfare kind of huge for how great europe is. europe is a neoliberal construct. it is a right-wing construct. leaving it is worse, that being in it is also o not great. you cann imagine the communication challenge that creates for corbyn, but he is

only person who could have done it. all l of the preredecessors, the centrirists, the weak, bland, classic middle-of-the-road politician would be at sea by now. as you saw in the commons, corbyn is commending the situation. that is why people at me continue to support him to the hilt. amy: paul mason, thicker being with us. -- thank you for being with us new statesman contributing , writer, author and filmmaker. his most recent book "postcapitalism: a guide to our , future." we will continue to cover t this in the no-confidence vote in theresa may. when we come back, the william barr attorney general confirmation hearings. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. senate confirmation hearings began tuesday for william barr, president trump's nominee for attorney general to replace jeff

sessions who was fired in vember. barrrr served as attorney generl for george h.w. bubush from 1991 to 1993. during that time, he was involved in the pardon of six reagan officials for the iran-contra scandal and oversaw the opening of the guantanamo bay military prison, which was initially used to indefinitely detain haitianan asylum seekers from haiti. barr also openly backed mass incarceration at home and helped develop a secret drug enforcement administration program, which became a blueprint for the national security agency's mass phone surveillance effort. he went on to work as general counsel for verizon. but on tuesday, senators asked few questions about barr's past record, while focusing heavily on his views about special counsel robert mueller's probe into russian meddling in the 2016 election. barr vowed to allow mueller to complete his probe. >> when is your jim mattis moment, when the president has asked you to do something but

you think is inconsistent with youroath? doesn't a qb some's as you embark on this journey -- doesn't that give you some pause as you embark on this journey? >> it might if i was 45 or 50 years old, but it doesn't give me cause right now. i had very good life -- i have a very good life. i love it. but i also want to help in this circumstance. i am not going to do anything that i think is wrong. and i will not be bullied into doing anything i think is wrong. amy: that was senator dick durbin questioning william barr. now let's go back to william barr. >> i believe it is in the best interest of everyone, the president, congress, and the american people, that this matter be resolved by allowing the special counsel to complete his work. the country needs a credible resolution to these issues. and if confirmed, i will not

permit parartisan politics, personal interests, or any other improper consideration to interfere with this or any other investigation. i will follow the special counsel regulations scrupulously and in good faith. and on my watch, bob will be allowed to finish his work. amy: while attorney y general nominee william barr vowed t to let t the mueller prprobe conti, he did not promise to make mueleller's rereport pubublic. he also o defended writing an unsolicited memo last t year to deputy attorney general rod rosenstein in which he criticized mueller's investigation.n. attorney general nominee william barr was also asked about president trump's call to build a wall along the southern border. >> pointed out earlier, the major avenue by which drugs come into the countryhe. tynal, all the serious

drugs are coming across that border. again, i feel it is a critical part of border security that we need to have barriers on the border. we need a barrier system on the border to get control of the border. amy: during his confirmation hearing barr was also asked , about press freedom by democratic senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. >> my dad was a reporter, so i grew up knowing the importance of a free press. we office we have the tragic case of a journalist who worked right here at "the washington post," jamal khashoggi, of particular concern. i want to ask you something i asked attorney general sessions come if you are confirmed, will the justice department jill reporters for doing their jobs? -- jail reporters for doing their jobs? -- i know there are guidelines in place and i

can conceive of situations where , you know, as a last resort and where a news organization has run through a red flag or something like that, knows t tht they're putting out stuff that will hurt the country, there might -- there could be a situation where someone wouldlde held in contempt. amy: to talk more about william barr's confirmation hearing, we are joined by two guests. and washington, d.c. kristen , clarke is president and executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. here in new york 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 recent article for the aclu is headlined "no relief: william barr is as bad as jeff sessions -- if not worse." let's begin with you, david cole. did these hearings confirm your conclusion for them -- about

that? >> is certain he did not negate our concerns. this is somebody who has a long record. a day of telling senators what they want to hear does not refute the record. that long record includes arguing that roe v. wade should be overturned, that the most important right for women across this country -- amy: when did he argue that? his991 when he was up for first attorney general proceeding. she defended president trump's muslim band. -- he pushed for, as attorney general, more incarceration when people were criticizing the system of mass incarceration, he put out a report called the case for more incarceration. he said when he to lock up more people, not fewer. he said and the hearings yesterday that his views have evolved, but there's no evidence

of that. he has praised all of what jeff sessions did, which was reversed the efforts of eric holder and the obama administration to try to reduce the harshness of the criminal justice system. reformposed sentencing that would reduce the harshness of federal criminal sentences. on national security and surveillance, as you indicated in the opening, he introduced what was essentially the blueprint for the bulk collection of americans phone records. that point focused on drug enforcement, but still focused on massive numbers of people with gnosis patient. he argued there is no constitutional objection to doing that. and of course, he has an extraordinarily broad understanding of executive power. so while he says, "i'm not going to improperly interfere with the mueller invnvestigation, i will

scrupulously follow the regulatio regulations." the key is when he says executive privilege or executive power has been interfered with by what mueller has done, then he can say, well, i'm not improperly interfering with the investigation, i'm doing it on the basis of my view of executive power. he has an expansive view of executive power. i think that are grave concerns about this nominee. amy: and why worse than sessions? >> it is a low bar, worse than sessions. but worse than sessions in the sense -- he is probably a better the justicer of department and jeff sessions. jeff sessions started out as a lawyer, but spent his entire career basically as a politician, not in a minute straight or of the justice department will stop bill barr

has already been the attorney general of the u.s., knows how that system works. i think will be very effective at using that system to advance the anti-civil rights agenda of this administrtration. amy: and is saying, yeah, no, i'm going to let this continue, the mueller probe. barrs aree muellers and close friends and we go way back. but this issue of rewriting the report? -- technically, special counsel's report under the statute goes to the justice department, not to congress or the american people. and in the justice department reviews it and if there is privileged material in it, you'll excise that material and issued something to the american public. but of course, what the american public sees, what we see will depend on the expansiveness of whoever is in that office, their

view of executive privilege. views is very, very broad of executive privilege. so i think you might see a report that is essentially one of those -- like one of those freedom of information act documents where half of the page is blacked out and there's a sentence and then the next half of the page is blocked out. we will see. when you are putting somebody in this office who has a very, very broad viewed of executive privilege and it will be his job to say what the american public ,an know about this report very, very troubling. amy: when william barr was attorney general, robert mueller was the director of the fbi. i want to turn to an interesting moment with republican senator john cornyn of texas bank questioning william barr. >> looking bacack to james com's ,ress conference of july 7 2016, where he took the step of

talking about t the evidence against mrs. clinton, talking about the legal standard that would apply as to whether she might or might not be indicicted for committing a crime under the espionage act, have e you ever seen a situation where an fbi would usurp the authority of the department of justice to make that charging decision and hold a press conference and talk about all of the derogatory information that the investigation hague leaned against a potential defendant and then say now we're not going to -- no reasonable e prosecutor would indict her? have you ever seen anything like that happen before? >> no, and i thought it was -- it was weird at the time, as i'i've said, james comey is an extreme the gifted man who is served the country with distinction in many roles. but i thought to the extent he actually announced a decision was wrong.

and the other thing is, if you're not going to indict someone, then you don't stand up there and unload negative information about the person. that is not the way the department of justice does business. amy: that was william barr answering republican senator john cornyn's question. i want to correct something, mueller was that the fbi director at the time that barr was attorney general. mueller was his assistant attorney general for the criminal division. i want to bring kristen clarke into the conversation president , and executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. this interesting conversation, a lot of democrats may been saying, oh, that is senator cornyn saying it was inappropriate for james comey to announce he was investigating hillary clinton. but i think the overall message was saying,en barr yes, it was inappropriate and that he should not have made this p public, that ifif there aren't charges, you don't unload information.

is he saying the same thing about mueller's probe, if he doesn't bring charges against the president of the united states? >> it is unclear but i will say from having been in the room for the hearings for the duration of the day that many of the senators, i think, went to great lengths to understand how mr. barr would handle this investigation if he is confirmed at the end of the day. and i think the verdict is out. he did express some commitment to allowing mr. mueller to see .ihis investigatioions through but whether there would be a change in the roles or policies that ultimately prohibit barr from disclosing the contents of the report to the public and whether he would resist efforts fail tou know, mask or disclose to the public the contents of mrmr. muelleler's rt i think mains s to be seeeen.

that said, i do think one of the most important areas for the senate to probe here is mr. barr's civil rights record. as we have talked about what we have is his record and what he did during his former tenure as attorney general. and one of the starkest things that stands out is indeed this book come of this government bible, if you will, that laid bare the framework for mass incarceration in our country. the report is called "the case for more incarceration. and there barr unabashedly made the case for mass prison construction. he talked about how to fund mass prison construruction. .e endorses harsh sentences and even since he left to the attorney general, we have seen consistetency in his approach wn it comes to criminal justice. verylet me go to this

point. it was when the new jersey democratic senator cory booker was questioning william barr. wouldasked me if i nonetheless m meet -- briefly go over the next day to meet with the president. and i said, sure, i will go and meet with the president. you brought me over and was squeezing the end. it looked to me like a was before the morning staff meeting because people were grouping by the door. amy: that was another point in the confirmation hearings. i want to go right to o senatotr booker questioning barr. >> durining your previous tenure as attorney general, who literally wrote the book on mass incarcereration -- or at least from m the caseortt for more incarceratioion. you argue we as a nation were "incarcerating t too few criminals." >> in thosose days. >> and the solution was momore incarceration for morere people. >> excuse me, f for chronic violent offefenders and gun offenders.

>> that is the challengege, sir. you argued against the bipartisan l legislation in 2015 quite strerenuously. >> i did? >> that is not the nature of incarceration in this country. in fiscal year 2016, only 7.7% of t the federal prison populatn was convicted of violelent crir. wasaselmingly, , what initiated in those timimes that led to an 800%0% increase i in e prison population, overwhelmingly that was nonviolent d drug offenders. offenders. right now our federaral prison popopulation is ovoverwhelmingly nonviolent. hearing your arguments then and hearing your arguments agagainst thee bipartisan legislation we broughtht out off committee in 2016 -- >> senenator, i think that is wrong what you j jussaidid. inn you have violent gangs the e city killingng people, mur and so forth and so one, sometimes the most readily provable charge is their drug

trafficking offenses rather than proving cululpability off the we gang for murder. so you can take out a gang on you can bees and tataking out a a lot of violent offendnders. youou think theheir murdeders n chicagago, they arere related to gagangs? amy: william barr being questioned by senator booker. kristenn clarke? >> there is an encouraging bipartisan movement underway for criminal justice reform in our country. and will you barr is an outlier when you think about efforts right now underway to reform our criminal justice system. his ideas, his way of thinknking are outdated. they are from a bygone era. what i was looking for yesterday was for mr. barr to unequivocally disavow the views outlined in that 1992 report, the call for more incarceration.

i was looking for him to distance himself from the work with alec, the american legislative exchange council, where he advocated for more tougher sentences and for more prison construction. i was looking for him to distance himself from the work that he did in virginia where he worked to abolish parole. i was looking for him to distance himself from an op-ed he wrote recently in "the washington post" where he condemns efforts under president obobama to address the need for police reform in our country. i think with william barr, we're going to get somebody who will only wreak havoc when it comes to criminal justice reform. we talked about what happened during sessions' tenure and all of the ways in which a sessions work to reverse the course of progress that we have made when it comes to criminal justice. he issued a directive for more

harsh sentences. he reversed the directive that would have phased out the use of private prisons. and i fear that we will see this justice department doubling down in ways that will cause great harm to communities in a but especially to communities of color. yesterday marked the 90th birthday of dr. martin luther king. by no means are these ordininary times in our country. we've seen congressional leaders having to take the extraordinary steps of issuing a resolution to condemn white supremacy in the country because we have a sitting member of congresess who espouses views and seems to embrace whihite nationanalism. we're gelling with hate crimes, police shooting crisis. whoeed an attorney general will not stay the course but will come in and undo all of the damage that occurred during the

sessions era. most important, , confront the great civil rights problems that we are confronting in the country right now. i'm not sure that william barr is the one up for that most important task. amy: i want to turn to the latest news of the federal judge in new york city barring the trump administration tuesday from placing a citizenship question on the 2020, setting up a likely battle over the issue at the supreme court. voting rights activists sang it is aimed at deterring immigrants from participating in the census, leading to a vast undercount in states with large impactingcommunities, everything from the redrawing of congressional maps to the allocation of federal funding. david cole, the aclu brought this case. >> we did because it was clear to us wilbur ross, the commerce secretary who made this decision, wanted to do was to undercount those parts of the

country where there are significant immigrant populations -- which happened to be overwhelmingly hispanic, which happened to be overwhelmingly urban, which happened to be largely democratic. he sought to do it by putting a citizenship question on the census, notwithstanding the fact that for the last 70 years, the census bureau has been unanimous that it is a disaster to put such a question on the census because it deters people from -- amy: and he lied? >> and knowing that was not a permissible reason to do it, he concocted a false reason, that is the department of justice needed this information to enforce the voting rights act. that is a joke to begin with. a secondly, the justice department has never sought this information to enforce the voting rights act under any administration. but he finally prevailed upon jeff sessions, a personal call

to jeff sessions to get the doj to write a letter in which they appeared to be asking for what wilbur ross in fact initiated. then he concocted a record that sought to conceal that. so yesterday, a federal judge here in new york issued a 277 page opinion after a three-week trial a finding veritable violationsof legal by wilbur ross and the commerce department in seeking to conceal the real reason why they are trying to distort the census. and go clearly, this will go to the supreme court, capital supreme court. how do you think they will rule? >> you have a very extensive set of factual findings by this district court, 277 pages. he is the one who heard the testimony. that makes it much more difficult for the court to overturn it. but at the end of the day, this is about democracy. knowing whorns on

lives where so that we know who should be representing them. i think every member of the court ought to be interested in an accurate census. and to a want to thank david cole of the a cell you and kristen clarke of lawyers' committee for civil rightsts und

hello. thank you for joining us on nhk "newsline." the united kingdom has a government but still no brexit plan. the british prime minister has narrowly survived a no confidence vote aftfter parliamt rejected theresa may's deal for leaving the european union. >> 306. the no's to the left, 325. so the no's have it. the no's