dr. bandy lee, the yale psychiatrist who edited the book "the dangerous case of donald trump: 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president." >> we are pushing for in a valuation. we are warning about dangers. we are trying our best to educate the public so that people will be aware, they will be affirmed in what they are seeing, they will be educated on the depths of what they are seeing, and also that there is a way of dealing with the situation . amy: we look at the duty to warn movement. all that and more coming up. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's democracy now! special by looking at the growing movement of people calling on president trump to resign over multiple claims of sexual misconduct, harassment and assault. the renewed calls come amid the international #metoo movement, in which women across the world have come forward to accuse a slew of powerful men of sexual harassment, assault and rape. in decem

what these secret visits to capitol hill might mean. >> when dr. bandyinished up more than six teen hours of private meetings, she apparently convinced some it was time to invoke the 25th amendment saying the president was mentally unfit to fulfill the duties of the office. she indicated that getting republicans to sign on would be trickier. dr. lee acknowledges it's unethical for a psychiatrist to diagnose from afar but she believes it's her duty to warn the public about their leaders psychological instability which is why she and 26 of her liberal colleagues wrote the book "the dangerous case of donald trump." the president is compared to an american hitler, showing signs of impulsivity, recklessness and paranoia. here is dr. lee. >> when silence contributes harm to the public health, we have a duty to speak out. and the duty to warn and the duty to protect is pervasive in our practice. >> not all mental health experts feel that same sense of duty. in fact some say the dangerous case of donald trump is nothing but in fatuous, tawdry tabloid psychiatry.

but there are many that would dispute that on the line now from new haven connecticut in the us is dr bandy professor of psychiatry at yale university she's editor of the book the dangerous case of donald trump and last month she proved a group of congress members on trump's mental health dr lee you said in recent months that donald trump state of instability put the world at extreme risk how can you assess him without having met him. hello first of all thanks for having me i would like to make clear that i do not represent the views of yale university all of them are my own. yes in terms of. instability i was mainly referring to. the effects on public health that his mental state into. effect and. i'm actually an expert on violence as well as a forensic psychiatrist and having studied. studied predicted and prevented violence as. the focus of my career i have watched him display many signs of danger. now assessing dangerousness is different from making a diagnosis to make a diagnosis you have to have all the information including in my view a personal interview. but in order to assess dang

. >> it took place november 5th and 6th when dr. bandi lee met with lawmakers. there was one republican senator in the room and a mix of both representatives and this meeting came about after a former u.s. attorney who we don't know connected dr. lee with these members of congress after reading the book that she edited, which outlines the issues that she sees with the president's mental health. we're told that the members that attended this meeting were very res receptive to her findings and very concerned about the president's mental instability poses to the country. they had a lot of questions for there lee and those questions continue. >> you had a chance to talk to her. what did she say? >> she said, first of all, this is not a diagnosis. if it were a diagnosis, that would run contrary to the standards of any medical professionals, including the american medical psychiatric association. she said it was just her view from afar about the president's conduct and it's her duty to come forward and she's worried the president is unraveling and that could lead to im

there is a yale psychiatrist dr. bandy lee who briefs lawmakers about the president's mental state and the editor of a book tielted the "the dangerous case of donald trump", that book includes testimonials from about 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts trying to assess the president's level of dangerousness, went on to cite behaviors of the president as you heard from allen, the book talks about him going back to conspiracy theories, denying things he admitted to before, he's being drawn to violent videos and goes on to say we feel the rush of tweeting is an indication of his falling apart under stress. le get worse and become uncontainable with the pressures of the presidency. so what do you make of her statement? what do you make of what allen had to say here? >> well first of all, bad behavior doesn't necessarily prima fascia mean you are mentally ill. there are other leaders in the country that behave very badly and if they subjected to a medical evaluation, they probably wouldn't have a diagnosis. the authors o

this week, came news that in early december, the book's editor yale university psychiatry professor dr. bandy. lee met on capitol hill with more than a dozen members of congress concerned about trump's recent behavior. now several quotes and episodes in michael wolff's book have thrown fuel on the fire of this debate including steve bannon who says "trump has lost." on friday when asked about trump's fitness on the "today" show, wolff said this. >> let me put a marker in the sand here, 100% of the people around him, they all say he is like a child, and what they mean by that is, he has a need for immediate gratification. it's all about him. >> that some have questioned the president's fitness is not new. in fact, one election day poll found that 36% of all voters thought that he lacked temperament to serve effectively as president, that included 19% of those who voted for him, and those numbers have not improved in the last year, but i don't think we should encourage this sort of speculation. first, it's inexact and subjective. second, it's unfair and unseemly. just as i said it was when some

you and several colleagues met with the psychiatry professor from yale, dr. bandy lee. told cnn, as the president sun raveling, he seems to be losing his grip on reality and reverting to conspiracy theories. there are signs he is going into attack mode when he is under stress. he has the potential to become impulsive and very volatile, unquote. did she say that to the assembled congress people? >> well, i think that dr. lee and other psychiatrist who've been up to meet with members of congress have been predicting increasingly delusional and paranoid behavior on the part of the president. of course, we're not mental health professionals, we're not psychiatrists, that's not our role, but we do have a very defined and important role under the 25th amendment to the constitution which is to set up a body that could act with the vice president in the event of an emergency when the president becomes unable for mental or physical reasons to successfully discharge the powers and duties of office. so the bill just sets up the body that would be able to go to work if there were a

i spoke with one of the psychiatrists that briefed these lawmakers, dr. bandy from yale university. when i spoke to her today, she said the lawmakers in that briefing were engaged, they were asking questions, interested, and specifically in that briefing she said she believes according to her professional opinion that donald trump is showing signs of impairment is what she told them. she believes he's become very unstable very quickly, that he is unraveling. again, in her opinion. and that she believes he seems to be losing his grip on reality. and she left that meeting, erin, with the impression that many lawmakers were legitimately concerned about president trump's mental health. a big side note to all of this, one that dr. lee did emphasize in my conversation with her today, she said she's not in a formal position to formally diagnose his condition given that there are certain protocols for medical professionals and given that she has not examined him herself. >> thank you very much. i want to go to maryland congressman jamie raskin who met with the doctor.

next week, and i know there's a meeting, but the yale psychiatrist that i understand is involved, dr. bandi lee, she edited a book called "the dangerous case of donald trump" which includes more than two dozen psychiatric experts asset z assessing his mental health. not just lee. neither lee or these other experts have actually treated the president. does that concern you? i mean, that's -- that's really unprecedented in a certain sense. certainly i've talked to doctors who are willing to weigh in on what they thk, but to come out and do so publicly, is that an overstep? >> it's downright frightening. this man is a very public person. he's on television, he's tweeting, he's talking. he's not writing, but he is constantly out there in the public and people are capable of assessing who he is and what he is. and based upon that, not necessarily having him on the couch, but in a very public and in a very way that's quite open, they've made an assessment that there is a very serious problem with the president. >> all right. congressman, i appreciate your time. congressman garamendi. i thank you