12/19/19 12/19/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy nonow! aren this vote, the yeas is, the nays r 197, present 1. is adopted. amy: the house of representatives impeaches president trump, making him only the third president to be formally charged with high crimes and misdemeanors under the constitution.

we will go to capitol hill to get response f from congressmemr pramila jayapal. >> the founders entrusted us with the awesome responsibility of protecting our democracy, which gets its power not from the bloodlines of monarchs, but people. vote of we, the today, i have pulled my oath to constitution and country, i will vote to impeach donald j. trump. amy: we will also speak with constitutional law expert john co-founder of free , speech for people, which has long called for trump's impeachment, and co-author of "the constitution demands it: the case for the impeachment of donald trump." then, the justice department inspector general says the fbi used false information to obtain approvoval to wiretap a trump campaign adviser. >> he found, and as we outlined, are deeply concerned that semi any basic and fundamental errors were made by three separate hand-picked investigative teaeas

on one of the most sensitive fbi investigations amy: we will speak with the aclu. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in a historic vote wednesday, the house of representatives impeach president trump, marking only the third time in u.s. history a president has been impeached. this is house speaker nancy pelosi, opening the impeachment debate on the house floor wednesday. >> are founder vision of a republic is under threat from actions from the white house. that is why today as speaker of the house i solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the united states. if we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. it is tragic the president's reckless actions make impeachment necessary.

he gave us no choice. amy: lawmakers voted 230 to 197 in favor of the first article of impeachment against trump abuse , of power. they voted 229 to 198 in favor of the second article of impeachment against the president, obstruction of congress. the two articles center on how president trump withheld military aid from ukraine to pressure the ukrainian president to investigate trump's political rival, joe biden, and then how trump tried to cover up his actions. following the votes, house speaker nancy pelosi said she would hold the articles back from being sent to the senate until democrats were convinced the senate trial would be fair. senate majorityty leader republican mitch mcconnell has said he is not an "impartial juror" and that he would closely coordinate a senate impeachment trial with the white house counsel's office, leading democrats to accuse mcconnell of trying to preside over a sham trial.

we'll have more on the historic impeachment vote after headlines. on the same day as the impeachment vote, president trump gave his longest rally speech to date in battle creek, michigan. he lashed out at democrats, the impeachment proceedings, the fbi, and the late michigan congressmember john dingell, whose wife, congresswoman debbie dingell, voted for trump's impeachment wednesday. this is trump speaking about how congresswoman dingell called him to thank him for honoring her husband after his death. pres. trump: she calls me out. it is the nicest thing that has happened, thank you. john would be so thrilled. thank you so much, sir. i said, that's ok, don't worry about it. maybe he's looking up, i don't know. and it the late congressman john dingell was the longest serving member of congress in u.s. history and he served in world

war ii. while the rest of capitol hill was focused on impeachment, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell push through 11 federal district judge nominations. his deal with democrats to expedite the nominations of the judges is part of the trump administration's sweeping effort to reshahape the judicial system pushing courts to the right. justice department inspector general michael horowitz says the fbi should have considered halting its surveillance of trump campaign aide carter page, during testimony to the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee wednesday. his testimony comes after the highly secretive court known as the fisa court issued a public order accusing the fbi of misleading the court to gain approval for the wiretap and ordering the fbi to propose changes in how its investigators seek permission for domestic surveillance of u.s. citizens. we'll have more on this story

later in the broadcast. seven democratic presidential candidates will participate in a televised debate tonight at loyola marymount university in los angeles. the debate will be co-hosted by pbs newshour and politico and will begin at 8:00 p.m. eastern standard time. the candidates on stage will be bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, joe biden, pete buttigieg, amy klobuchar, tom steyer, and andrew yang. the democratic national committee has come under fierce criticism for its debate criteria, which excluded prominent candidates of color senator cory booker and julian castro. booker and other presidential candidates have signed a letter to dnc chair tom perez urging the dnc to change its qualification criteria for upcoming debates in january and february. tomorrow on democracy now!, we

will play highlights of the los angeles debate. in new orleans, federal appeals court has struck down a central part of the affordable care act, ruling that requiring people to have health insurance is unconstitutional. the appeals court did not invalidate the rest of the law, although, the ruling leaves the future of president obama's major health care law in limbo. 17 million americans could lose their health care coverage through the affordable care act if the law is thrown out entirelyly. in australia, protesters have set up tents outside the prime minister's homeme to demand urgt action on climate change as austraralia recorded its hottest day ever on record. on wednesday, the average temperature soared to 107.4 degrees s fahrenheit -- beating ouout the previous record, which had been set on tuesday, only 24 hours earlier.

uncontrolled wildfires are raging across australia, sending thick black smoke billowing across the continent, with smoke alarms going off in homes and offices across sydney. on tuesday, abc news journalists --australian broadcasting were forced to broadcast the nightly news outside after smoke from the nearby fires set off the studio's alarms in the capital canberra. this is 14-year-old ambrose hayes speaking at the protest outside e the prime ministerer's home. >> we want to be listened to. we want a future. and if our government does not act, there will be more protests like this. there have been 70 recently andd it just shows how much of an issue this is. amy: a new study has found united nations peacekeepers stationed in haiti between 2004

to 2017 fathered and abandoned hundreds of children. the study is based on interviews with over haitians who l lived 2000 near the u.n. peacekeeper'' bases and who spoke about the sexual exploitation and abuse of haitian women and girls as young as 11 years old. the study is the latest evidence of international peacekeepers' pattern of s sexual abuse in haiti, which included trading food for sex with women and children in desperate poverty. in the democratic republic of congo, families are suing some of the world's biggest tech companies after their children were killed or injured working in the country's cobalt mines. the lawsuit accuses apple, google, microsoft, tesla, and others of knowing that the cobalt used in their products could be linked to child labor. the families say extreme poverty drove their children to work in the dangerous mines, where they were paid as little as $2 a day.

some of the children were buried alive in tunnel collapses, while others were paralyzed or maimed. democratic republic of congo produces 60% of the global supply of cobalt, which is used to produce the lithium batteries that power electric cars, laptops, and smartphones. a former argentine police officer accused of carrying out torture and crimes against humanity during argentina's dictatorship has been extradited from france to argentina. mario sandoval lived in france for more than 30 years, where he lectured at new sorbonne university. he was finally extradited monday, more than a decade after his role in argentina's brutal dictatorship was revealed by an investigation in the newspaper. the committee to protect journalists says at least 25 journalists were killed in 2019 and over 250 are in jail in relation to their work in countries around the world.

the deadliest countries for journalists in 2019 were syria and mexico. the biggest jailers of journalists are china, turkey, saudi arabia, and egypt. in bolivia, prosecutors in the -- have issued an arrest warrant for longtime bolivian president evo morales, accusing the ousted leader of sedition and terrorism. morales was forced to leave bolivia after being ousted in what he and many others describe as a military coup. morales says he has a right to return to bolivia and help his movement toward socialism party campaign in upcoming elections. this is morales speaking from argentina. >> they need to let me enter bolivia. i'm not a candidate. ii won't be a candidate in these elelections, but i've a right to participate in politics like any politician. amy: back in the united states, the supreme court has upheld protections for people who sleep or camp outdoors, after refusing to hear a case over whether cities could crimiminalize homelessness. the supreme court's refusal to

hear the case leaves in place an appeals court ruling that says the constitution does not allow cities to prosecute peoplele for sleeping or camping outside unlessss the city provides shelr for every single unhoused person in their jurisdiction. the legal decision comes as soaring rents and deepening economic inequality have led homelessness rates to soar in some u.s. cities. to see our full report on the homelessness crisis in san francisco, california, go to democracynow.org. in news on voting rights, new jersey governor phil murphy has signed legislation to restore voting rights to more than 80,000 residents on probation or parole. the measure will take effect in march. meanwhile, in georgia, officials have removed more than 300,000 registered voters from the rolls. georgia officials say the voters were inactive and that the move is part of a routine maintenance. but voting r rights activists sy the purge only three months before georgia's primary election is undemocratic and

part of a longer history of voter suppreression in georgia. uber has agreed to pay $4.4 million to settle sexual discrimination charges. the settlement stems from an investigation by the equal employment opportunity commission that found uber "permitted a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation against individuals who complained about such harassment." the video surveillance footage of serial pedophile jeffrey epstein's first reported suicide attempt in july is reportedly missing. prosecutors say that missing video of the area around epstein's jail cell inside the manhattan correctional center on 23rd cannot be located. authorities have brought separate criminal charges against two prison guards who were on duty in augustst on the nighght epstein reportedlyly hug himself. in wisconsin, a teenager is facing life in prison after she confessed to killing a 34-year-old man who she says raped her and trafficked her for

sex. randy volar began sexually abusing chrystul kizer when she was 16 years old. he filmed the abuse. in february 2018, volar was arrested on charges of child sexual assault, but he was then released without bail. volar, who is white, remained free despite police having evidence he was sexually abusing about a dozen black girls. in june 2018, chrystul killed him after she says he attacked her when she refused to have sex with him. chrystul is now facing charges of first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a mandatory life sentence in wisconsin. 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. in a historic vote wednesday, the house of representatives impeached president trump, marking all of the third time in history a president has been impeach.

this is house speaker auntie pelosi. article i is adopted. nermeen: in a vote of 230 to 197, the house passed the first article of impeachment that accuses trump of abuse of power. the house also approved the second article that charges him with obstructing congress by refusing to cooperate with the impeachment investigation. the vote split along party lines after a debate that lasted the entire day, as congress members from both parties argued their case. this is democratic congressman john lewis of georgia. >> today, this day, we did not ask for this. this is a sad day. it is not a day of joy. our nation is founded on the principle that we do not have

-- we we're presidents have presidents. and the constitution is our compasses. when you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, in is a moral obligation to say something, to do something. our children and their children will ask us, what did you do? this vote may be hard for some. we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history. nermeen: meanwhile, republicans were dismissive of the charges against trump. this is georgia republican barry loudermilk, who essentially compared donald trump to jesus. >> the sixth amendment guarantees the right of the defendant to face their accuser, but not only have the democrats prohibited republicans and the president from questioning the so-called whistleblower, his identity has been kept secret. before you take this historic

vote today, one week before christmas, i want you to keep this in mind -- when jesus was falsely accused of treason, pontius pilate gave jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. during that sham trial, pontius pilate afforded more rights to jesus than the democrats have afforded this preresident and ts process. amy: following the vote in the nancy pelosi said she would hold the articles of impeachment until they were confirmed it would be fair. rich mcconnell says he is not an impartial juror and that he would closely coordinate the senate impeachment trial with the white house counsel's office, leading democrats to accuse mcconnell of trying to preside over a sham trial. meanwhile, president trump continues to deny any wrongdoing. trump gave his longest rally speech to date in battle creek, michigan, lashing out at

democrats, the impeachment proceedings, fbi, and john dingell -- whose wife congressmember debbie dingell, voted for trump's impeachment. this is trump speaking about how congresswoman dingell called him to thank himim for honoring her husband after his death. pres. trump: she calls me up. it is the nicest thing that's ever happened, they so much. john would be so thrilled. he is looking down. he would be so thrilled. thank you so much, sir. i said, that's ok, don't worry about it. maybe he is looking up, i don't know. michigan congress member john dingell was the longest serving member of congress in. his wife, debbie dingell, responded on twitter, writing -- "mr. president, let's set politics aside. my husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. i'm preparing for the first holiday season without the man i love. you brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder."

at least two people in the packed arena at trump's rally were removed after they held up a banner that said "don the con, you're fired!" trump also called a heckler a "slob" and a "disgusting person" and urged security officers of being politically correct and called o on them to be stronger than that as they escorted her out. pres. trump: you're about to hear the greatest speech you have ever heard and that is going to be the publicity because all the fake newsfactor will say, massive riots -- fake news back there will say, massive riots, fake news. amy: well, for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by congressmember pramila jayapal, democrat from washington state. first, this is congress member jayapal speaking on the house for wednesday. >> our founders entrusted us with the awesome responsibility of protecting our democracy, which gets its power not from the bloodlines of monarchs, but from the votes of we, the

people. and so today, to uphold my oath to constitution and country, i will vote to impeach donald j. trump. amy: congressmember pramila jayapal, welcome back to democracy now! your thoughts on this historic day and what this means for the country? was an important moment for the constitution, for our country, for accountntability, d for defending democracy. our really proud of all of democrats, including many of them in tough districts that trump won who put country over party and said, if we do not hold this president accountable fofor his abuses of power, we essentially let democracy die. that is not going to happen on our watch. amy, it was s surreal, thougugh. just sitting in the chamber yesterday, the 18 hours in judiciary committee when we marked of the articles of

impeachment, the months of testimonies before that, listening to republicans literally rerefused to look at e factcts, refuse to acknowledge that this president invited a foreign govevernment to interfee in our elelections. not once, not twicice, but three times that we know of. ukraine unfolding right in front of us. and that he himself is the smoking gun. he came onto the white house lawn and told us exactly what he wanted from president zelensky of ukraine. and the idea that he would withhold this critically needed congressionally approved military aid to ukraine my very fragile country fighting russian aggression, desperately needing that aid, is really an affront. in the final piece is his unprecedented obstrucuction of congress where unlike even makes -- i can't believe we are comparing and a a good way -- ia

bad way to nixon, but unlike even nixon or clinton, this president refused to allow a single witness, single document to come to us or to be released to us as we conducted this investigation. that he was impeached on y yesterday by the house of representatives, for the third time only in the history of this country. that will be his shame, his stain, his legacy. that will be the first line of every article that is written about him. and i know it bothers him regardless of what the senate may do, regardless of whether senate republicans actually choose to put coununtry over pay and to think about the effect, not just on them, their political districts, the reelections, or even on this president, but on the fututure f our r democracy. jayapal,representative there was only one democratic congressmember who happens to be the only democratic presidential

candidate who abstained from the vote for impeachment, tulsi gabbard. could you talk about your response to that? was not ay think it smart choice for her politically and i don't know how she could do that. if she can't make a decision about whether to vote yes or no on these articles of impeachment, i'm not sure how she intends to make those decisions in the whitete house. i thouought that was disappointing. i lilike tulsi gabbabard, but i thought that was very disappointing. frankly, a copout. these votes are votes of courage, votes of conscience. and i think that every single one of us, regardless of our districts, regardless of the popolitics, has to think about e oath we sworore to t the constititution and of the county when we took office. i don't think are looking for a "present" vote at this moment. nermeen: the explanation she gave her why she could not vote,

just to be clear, she says for impeachment, she said while she believes that trump is guilty of wrongdoing, she could not vote yes because the process was too partisan and "fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country." know what she said, a and i don't want to continue to talk about her decision. i think k she has to do that. i cann just tell you i think ths moment calls for us to make a judgment call, immoral call, a call of conscience to what we think is necessary going forwarard. the idea it is too partisan -- and this is something republicans upset as well -- i would say we have to put that on republicans. to sit and listen to these republicans make excuses for this president a and his abuse f power to me is unconscionable. thee bipartisanship in previous

impeachments, the e brakes of party, have come from the minority party. i think k this is very, agrium orton for us to look at that there e are republicans who i believe know that asking a foreign government to interfere in our elections -- remember, what i said on the floor, that clip you played, we don't derive our power and our democracy through the bloodlines of monarchs. it is through the votes of people. you,u, me, everybody who is watching right now. if we arare inviting -- if the president of the united states is using his office to invite a foreign ally y to or coerced, i should say in this case with ukraine, to coerce a foreign ally to interfere in our elections, that is undermining our elections. we have a lot of work to do to make sure our elections are free and fair in this country, but inviviting a foreign ally, coercing a foreign ally depending on which country we are talking about, to i interfee

in our elections, i is absolutey takiking away the votes of the people. obstructing congress on top of that is saying, i am about the checks and balances that the framers puput into the constitution. amy: i want to go to texas democrat al green, the first congress member to call for trump's impeachment from the 2017.floor and this is congressmember green yesterday. >> shall any man be beyond justice, this is the question mason at1787 by george the constitutional convention. shall any man be beyond justice. madam speaker, if this president is allowed to thwart the efforts of congress with a legitimate impeachment inquiry, the president will not only be about the law, he will be beyond justice. we cannot allow any person to be

beyond justice in this country. in the name of democracy, on behalf of the republic, and for the sake of the many who are suffering, i will vote to impeach and i encourage my colleagues to do so as well. amy: that was texas democrat al green speaking on the house floor, standing next t to a lare picture of a migrant child weaving next to her mother. on wednesday, congress member green said he believes trump can be impeaeached a again if neces. >> content i can only be impeached once and therefore i can do whatever i want now and that you won't be able to impeach me. that is ridiculous. it is as ridiculous as a lot of the other things that border on an entity that the president continues to wallow in. yes, this may not be the end of it. i don't say it is or is not. i do say the constitution allows

us to impeach a president multiple times if the president commits multiple impeachable acts. amy: congressmember pramila jayapal, what do you say to this? congressmaman green has s been calling this car for the impeachment of trump for two years, giving many different reads. chief among them, and he wrote this letter on december 4 two his fellow congress members like you and everyone else, saying he should be impeached for racism, for inciting violence. what about this possibility that trump could be -- now it is very narrow, these two articles of impeachment the house has just voted on, but that he could be impeached again? >> well, is certainly is procedurally posossible. i think what we will see is more more evidence coming out not only on this charge, but on other things. we will see some of the court

cases starting to go t through aroundnd his tax returns, around , and weuments clause intend to continue to have hearings on those things in the judiciary committee. i know the intel committee also will likely continue to have some hearings. ishink what you to look at the case we have presented now to the senate, how do we strengthen that as much as we possibly can? at the end of the day, this president should be removed for abuse of power and obstruction of congress at a mininimum, butf he is removed, he is removed. we don't need five articles to remove him unnecessarily. i think that what we need to focus on is how do we strengthen the case we have? how do we make that the strongest possible case, the most unity? yet some of the republican senators -- remember hearing jeff flake say if this was a secret ballot in the senate, there would be 35 republican senators who would vote against

the president. i would just say that is a stunning statement that people actually believe the president has done wrong and should -- is corrupt and should be impeached, and yet they are not willing to have the courage to do that because of their own political futures. what occurred to me over the last, i don't know, eight months i guess as i have been involved in all of this and i have gone back and read all of the documents around the framers and how they were thinking about the constitution and as imperfect as it was, all of the fixes to the constitution thahat have been fought for and won a lot of folks of color, a lot of people who were the most vulnerable, the most left out. we have gotten soft on what we think it takes to sustain a democracy. we have forgotten this is not something sustained on its own. the constitution is a connective and protective tissue that has allowed democracy to sustain. but if we refuse to uphold the

constitution, the switch from a democracy to a dictatorship or a monarchy happens very, very fast. i think americans and the u.s. senators who are representing aboutave to really think what this means for our children, our children's children, and the future of this country. this is far more than about donald trump. nermeen: following the votes for impeachment on wednesday, house speaker nancy pelosi said she would hold the articles back from being sent to the senate until democrats are convinced the trial would be fair. set a leader republican mimitch mcconnell has said he is not an impartial jerk and he will closely coordinate the senate impeachment trial with the white house counsel's office relating democrats to accuse mcconnell of trying to preside over a sham trial. could you respond to that and what the key differences are between mcconnell and schchumern

how this i impeachment trial should proceed in the senate? >> it is absbsolutely outrageous and an affront to democracy, to the coconstitution, to the peope of the united states s for mitch mcconnell -- essentially the forereman of the jury, the guyuo actually makes all of the rules for how the trial is going to proceed in the senate -- to be coordinating with the defendant. i don't think there is an american out there who would think that is fair. i just saw a poll late last night that says 71% of americans across this country believe that we should have witnesses in t te senate. they want a fair trial. they want to hear from some of these people who trurump has refused to allow to come and testify. and they have not done what other career foreign service people did in coming to testify. essentiallyell is

allowing for a sham trial to occur. and yet all of them are going to have to swear an oath that says they are impartial, which means they will be lyingng because so many of them have said already they believe we don't need to hehear from witnesses, that they are coordinating with defendants. what nancy pelosi is saying is -- she is under no obligation to immediately send d over the articles of impeachment. what she is sayiying is she wans to make sure this is actually going to be a real trial with witnesses, with the facts presented, with adequate time. and those were some of the thinings that t senator schumerd out in his letter. at the endnd of the day, it is going to be the folks who are out there who have to demand from their senators -- and there are some vulnerable senators.

if mitch mcconnell wants to preserve a any kind of senate majority, i don't think he can afford to have a shaham trial, although he certainly seems to be trying to do that. that is why nancy pelosi is sayiying we are going to hold oo the articles of impeachment for littlele bit. wewe are going to see e what the senate comes back within termsms of agreed-d-upon rules of how ts trial isis going to be conductcd before i name e impeachmhment managers and send them in. if she does not know what she's going to be arguing and what context, it is absolutely, i believe, the right thing for her to do. you make of this is clearly unchartered territory. this obviously, this historic moment, the impeachment of donald trump. in an odd way, democrats are pushing for what trump wants. he did not want to be impeached, but he wants a long trial that not only acquits them, but somehow in his mind exonerates him. mitch mcconnell has said, no, we want a short trial, we want to

just acquit him at the beginning. this issue of witnesses, both lindsey graham, mcconnell, all called for witnesses when it came to the impeachment of president clinton but now are saying they're shutting it down and won't have witnesses. how does nancy pelosi get any kind of guarantee? you're talking about these two sovereign bodies. this has n never happened bebef. >> yeah, really excellent points. the hyhypocrisy here. i will tell the democratic side, too,o, you see some democrats fm previous impeaeachments making arguments and ararguing the othr way. but never in the historyry of ts cocountry hahas the president fd impeachment and been so obstructionist to congress. that is a fact. is goingitch mcconnell to have to be pushedd by his senators to do something t thats

considered more fair. is it going to b be perfectly fair? i don't think so. it is ironic that president trurump probabably is the persoo would not want these articles to be held for too long because what he wants, as you said, is to be a acquitted. we are not going to allow for witnesses to be called who havee nothing g to do o with the mattt hand, anand that is what presidt trump one small step i don't know how this will l all play o. it is really a charter territory. extreme bully,t the most extreme shredder r of r constitution and our democracy, and one of the most cruel people that i've seen, a person who only think of himself, in the white house. obviously, these articles are narrow, but there is a pattern moralduct, there is a so manyt crosses over of these things from his

policies -- which is not what we are imimpeaching him on -- to hs abuse of power and his obstruction of congress -- whihh is what we are impeaching them on. nermeen: before we end, i want to ask about what appears to be a somehow paradoxical response to this impeachment inquiry, which is that as new gallup poll revealed just yesterday morning before the impeachment vote happened found that trump's approval rating has been increasing. it has gone up from 39% to 45%. also showed support for trump's impeachment and removal 46%. your from 52% to response to that and the fact that some are saying that long drawn out impeachment inquiry is actually strengthening president trump? >> two things. one, i think polliling is not static.

i look at it because it is interesting to look k at. but it is ofoften changed by how leaders lead. -- even were enough just a handful of republicans who were willingng to do what is right fofor the country and lea, i think you would see that polling shift pretty q quickly. rememember, when richardrd nixos impeached, it was not until the final days that polling dramatically shifted. here we have a very odd situation where the first and best witness to our case came on very early i in the process, wet on national television and told the american people exactly what donald j. trump did and wanted, and that was donald j. trump. he is the smoking gun in the situation. people are looking for more evidence somewhere else should ,ust look at his words consistently, as well as his actions and the corroborating testimony. i think polling does change. at the other thing i would just

remarkables a statement that half of the country wants to see -- just under half the country once does he president trump removed from office. those are stunning numbers. i think sometimes we look at the opposite and we say, how come the numbers aren't greater? how can these people stick with the president? but that is a remarkable number of people who want this president impeached. remember, 2018, the american people voted in a house majority of democrats because they wanted checks and balances. i think theyey are smarter than what donald trump gives them credit for. i'm not going to say this is going to be easy, whether he is removed or not, if we have to go through a 2020 election because the senate refuseses to be courageous. the reality is, we have to continue to emphasize to the american people that if you

don't have checks and balances, you don't have a democracy. if you don't have free and fair elections, you don't have a democracy. if we want a democracy, we have to be willing to stand up for it. there may need to be people in the streets consistently. i am an organizer and an activist and i believe that matters. we have to hold this president accountable. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, representative pramila jayapal, democratic congress member from washington state. when we come back, we will continue to look at impeachment with constitutional attorney and political activist john bonifaz who is co-author of a book on the impeachment of donanald tru. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "calling all angels" by jane siberry and kd lang.

this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: the house of representatives impeach president trump, marking only the third time in u.s. history a president has been impeach. by about of 230 to 197, the house passed the first article of impeachment that infuses trump of abuse of power. it also approved the second article that charges him with obstructing congress by refusing to cooperate with the impeachment investigation. amy: for more, we're joined by john bonifaz, cofounder and president of free speech for people, co-author of the constitution demands it: the case for impeaeachment of donald trump. he is joining us from his home in amherst, new hamsher. so often when history is told, it is written by those in power. of course, it is the house that just impeached president trump. you have been part of the movement for years that has been

demamanding this.. can you reresponded to whwhat hs happenened and what you want to see next? >> thank you, amy, for having me.. we certainly have applauded members of congress for standing up for our constitution and our democracy y at this crititical moment in history following their oath to preservrve and protect the constitution. but this is a movemement that hs led to this moment. millions of f americans all over the nation who have demanded ththat their members of congress do the right thing and stand up to defend our constitution. we have e launcheded our campai, co. launched it on the day y of the inauguratition of donald trp in january 2017 because of this president's rerefusal to divest from his b business interests al over the world and engaging in treating the oval officice as a profit-making enterprise at the public expense. he is going on to commit many other impeachchable offenenses. anand this pattern of abuse of power is why this president must

be held accounblble. while we the artrticles of impeachment that thehe congress has -- the house has just pass, , we also belieieve it t s important to holold this presidt accountable for all of his high crimes, not just those associated with the ukraine scandal. nermeen: there seems to be almost near universal consensus that the senate will not affect vote to impeach him. could you talk about what the effect on him and his reputation might be with this long,, drawnout peach been inquiry? > first of a all, it is impot that the precedent that no president is a about the law and that this president come this lawlwless president who so deded our constitution a and engaged n this p pattern of abubuse of po, must bee h held accountable. that accccountability begins wih the house of representativives issuing ththese articles of impeachment. i do agree we need to o demand a full and faiair trial out of the united states senate and that we cannotot allow the kangaroo cout

that mitch mcccconnell a appearo be preparing foror. d that demand needsds to be made again by week, the people. this cannot be e a bystanderr process whwhere we watch it on television or listen to it on the radio. we need to participate and be in the streets and demand our senators to the right thing and be on ththright sidede of histo. but even if the senate does not bode to convict and remove, the precedent that has been set is critically important. that these charges have been issued against this president and that he will be held accountable in history. we are facing a dangerous moment right now where we have a a lalawless president who so willg to rig the next election come to trample on their constitution, that we all have to be vigilant, and that starts with demanding there be a full and fair trial and conviction and removal of this president. amy: you are constitutional lawyer. very quickly, what nancy is doing right now, refusing to

transfer the articles of impeachment -- he has been impeached, the senate would decide whether he would be removed. but not even to let them -- how did she get a guarantee of what they're going to do? and then i want to ask you about al green, him saying we can impeach him again and again, who clearly was for come as organization has been for and the movement has beennor come artiticles o of impeachment that included many other issues? tospeakaker pelosi is right demand a f full a and fair triat of the senate, as we all are who care aboutut this constitutioio. and toto hold d back the articls til thatat is guaranteed i think is a w wise moveve. bubut not to hold them back forever. these articles must ultimately be submitted to ththe senate and every senator must b be put on record of whwhere they stand wih respect to thihis president'ss abuse ofof power as far as congressman greene, he is an american hehero.

he stood up first in the u.s. hohouse of representntatives to demand this president be e held accountable t to the impeachment process. we fulully agree with themem. there is nothing in the constitution that says thehe u.. housuse of representatives canan onlyly i impeach once during a presidentialal term. this p president has c committed multiple impeachablele offenses, including his cruel and unconstitutional imprisoenent of children and theheir families at the southernrn border, includidg his obstruruction of justitice. the list goes on.. this presisident ought to be hed accountable foror the full rarae of hisis abuse of power. if congressmanan greenene decids he's going toto ph h for new ararticles of impeachchment on e floor of the u.s. house of representatives, we will be right there by him to defend and support thatat. amy: john bonifaz, thank you for th g with us, co-author of "the constitution demands it: the case for the impeachment of donald trump." it is said the fbi used false

infoformation. stay with us. we will speak to the aclu. ♪ [music break]

amy: "yalla yalla" by joe strummer and the mescaleros. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. you can put this next-door in the category of while you may have been distracted by the historic impeachment that took place yesterday, this also happened in washington. nermeen: justice department inspector general michael horowitz said wednesday that the fbi should have considered halting its surveillance of a trump campaign aide after learning accusations against him mamay not be credible. hohorowitz made the comments whe testifying to the senate homeland security committee, accusing the fbi of using false information to obtain approval to wiretap trump campaign adviser carter page and raising wider concerns about the agency's use of surveillance. his testimony came a day after the highly secretive foreign intelligence surveillance court,

known as the fisa court, issued a public order accusing the fbi of misleading the court to gain approval to wiretap page and ordering the fbi to propose changes in how its investigators seek permission for domestic surveillance of u.s. citizens by january. the court first approved the fbi's wiretapping page in 20 and extended its order three times in 2017. week after the a inspector general michael horowitz first issued a report finding a series of inaccuracies and omissions in the fbi's surveillance application process. the american civil liberties union responded to the report, tweeting -- "the concerns the inspector general identifies apply to intrusive investigations of others, including especially muslims, and far better safeguards against abuse are necessary." well, for more, we're joined now by ashley gorski, staff attorney with the national security project at the american civil liberties union.

thank you so much for joining us again. while you are watching something else yesterday to the world, this other testimony happened. and while there are many who might be horrified at trtrump's issue thatrall, this he also has raised that the aclu joins in concern with. talk about the level of surveillance the fbi engageded with. talk about what happened with carter page and why you're so concerned. >> the surveillance at issue fisa.place under the it has inadequate safeguards. the horwitz report identified several significant errors and omissions i in the fbi's surveillance applications to the secret court that presides over the s surveillance, the fisa court. this is why the aclu is called

for fundamental fisa reform. we have been calling for it. decades but in many respects, this illustrates the dangers of this secretive one-sided process whereby the government applies to the court for surveillance and there is no sufficient adversarial check on the government surveillance activities. amy: explain what happened to carter page of who he is. >> he was an advisor to the trump campaign. he had been on and off the government's radar for several years preceding his involvement with the trump campaign. eventually saw an application on the foreign intelligence surveillance court to surveil his communications on the basis that the fbi believed he was a foreign agent for russia, an agent of a foreign power. as a result, it sought broad latitude to wiretap is communications. they did so shortly after he left the trump campaign.

amy: what you mean, foreign agent? >> essentially, acting on behalf of rusussia. amy: that t he was being paid by them? >> it would not necessarily have to involve payment, but acting on behalf of russia. nermeen: thehe fbi sayays the conduct is "unacceptable and unrepresentative of the fbi as an institution." your response? >> the conduct is certainly unacceptable, but it remains to be seen whether this conduct is actually unrepresentative. at this point -- the carter page investigation involved in incredibly sensitive surveillance target, an individual associated with the presidential campaign. when the stakes were highest, the fbi failed and failed repeatedly to ensure it surveillance application is accurate. it begs the question, what errors and omissions are looking in the fbi surveillance applications and more ordinary cases? the aclu has called for reform of this process, including

requiring disclosure to individuals who are prosecuted with the aid of fisa surveillance, requiring disclosure of the application so defendants are prosecuted using the surveillance have the opportunity to challenge the fbi's errors and omissions. without this kind of disclosure, it is impossible for any particular individual to know if there are misstatements in the surveillance applications most of amy: james comey was interviewed by chris wallace on fox and he said -- he was head of the fbi. he said "i was wrong. i was overconfident and the procedures that the fbi and justice built over 20 years. i thought they were robust enough. he was right. there was real sloppiness." explain what he means. he was in charge. the fisa applying to court. maker broader than carter page. talk about who usually gets brought before the fisa court, whether they know it or not. >> there is tremendous secrecy.

based on the government surveillance activities more broadly, we know muslims in particular are disproportionately targeted for fisa surveillance and increasingly chinese americans appear to be targeted for this kind of surveillance as well. think james comey is speaking to is more than sloppiness. he characterizes the as sloppiness, but these are profound errors. example, the initial surveillance application relied on reporting from christopher steele, a former british intelligence agent. in subsequent applications, the fbi did not reveal the fact it had interviewed steele's primary source and the primary source had contradicted his assertions. the fbi may know mention of that. he just said steele's primary source was triple and cooperative. without raising that to the fisa court, the fisa court has no way to second-guess steals

representations. that illustrates the importance of adversarial review which you would have a normal case. nermeen: you say it remains to be seen how representatives desk representative this case is of the fbi's actions. how will you find out whether it is representative or not? committed toas conducting an audit of traditional fisa surveillance of the targeted toward americans. one of the challenges of conducting that kind of audit is he is not going to be able to devote the same amount of resources into doing the kind of .eep dive in many respects, will be double checking the paperwork that already exists. that w will not necessarily revl the types of airs and omissions that will be revealed as a result of his deep dive into the carter page application. that is why disclosure to defense attorneys and defendants were prosecuted with the aid of

this surveillance is absolutely essential so there can be a more robust accounting for the fbi's surveillance practices and mistakes andnd the misrepresentations it is making in its applications for amy: is visor court essentially a rubberstamp to what the intelligence agencies are the fbi about when they appeal to them, do you think the fisa court should be abolished, the foreign intelligence surveillance court, the highly secretivive court?t? >> innocently a problematic institution. there is some degree of scrutiny of the governments applications and a process whereby those applications by be modified to some degree, but the real issue here is it cannot continue in its current form. it needs to be fundamentally reform. another criminal reform would involve congress requiring the appointment of an amicus, especially in cases involving sensitive investigation, in the case of implicating first amendment interest, individuals

who are with political campaigns. in that context in particular, you need to open up these proceedings to the light of some scrutiny from a neutral third-party at the very least. amy: to bring the specter president trump, though this is usually target against those he targets like, for example, muslims, this is when he said "i was wiretapped for r president obama" h?as stated, the night >> president trump said his wires were tapped and of course, the inspector general found no evidence that president trump was in fact a target of the fisa surveillance at issue. amy: we will continue to follow this. ashley gorski, staff attorney with the national security project at the american civil liberties union. and that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

thank you for joining us. i'm kyoko tahhiro. a gunman opened fire at the headquarters of russia's main security agency on thursday. the country's investigative company said one employee of the federal security service was skilled and at least five other people were wounded. [ shots fired ] the committee says the attacker was killed by a special forces unit at the scene. fsb officials denied reports that several p people carrieied