of the new cycle the big the environmental activist has 73 million more than kochs.da you complaining about? >> billionaire verses billionaire does not help the doesn't matter what side but george soros would gladly get out of politics to support campaign finance reform. john: because the government is in charge. >> because they believe money corrupts the political process. john: look at the spending most assume republicans are richer but look at the numbers from the last election democratic party and the about campaign spent slightly more than the republican. >> that is the first time in my lifetime i think we don't like it when democrats play the same game. >> with the koch brothers i have spent time with both david and charles and they have paid me to speak at a few of their even said they gave the money to charities. issing fehr doing something terrible david is a more visible brother and once ran for office and is in the society pages. charles stays in kansas to grow the company more than 100 fold that is real wealth creation with products that we want. and he m

some say he and his daughter rebekah out-koched the koch brothers. mercerses of the controlled the white house. we will speak with investigative reporter jane mayer about her new piece in the new yorker anad herere are excerpts, when a robt mercer's only public appearances. >> i'm wondering, what am i going to say? i left research 20 years ago. i have not really paid any attention to the world of dm's sinces or i then. i cannot talk really about what i do now. [laughter] amy: we will also look at dark money's role in the confirmation process as the supreme court am the neil gorsuch. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives is set to vote today on a republican bill to repeal and replace the affordable care act, a plan the congressional budget office says would add 24 million people to the ranks of the uninsured. president donald trump and vice president mike pence spent wednesday on capitol hill in a final pitch to republicans wary of the legis

but i think your organization is backed by the koch brothers. it smart of them to be so out front with this? it's putting serious pressure on the republican party when they should be riding high. >> we do not exist to compliment the republican party. we hold politicians accountable to the promises they made. this bill leaves in portion the cadillac tax, the medicaid expansion. we want to applaud conservatives to stand on principle and fight for full repeal. charles: their first major effort to govern in washington, d.c., and they blew it, are you concerned about that? all we say is do what you promised. the bill we are looking for them to pass they passed once before in the senate and they passed it duds of times in the house. a clean repeal bill. on thing that changed is there is a president in the white house to sign it into law. doing what you promised means repealing obamacare. this bill doesn't do it. let's move forwa and dwhat they have been promisior 7 years. charles: as soon as this was crafted the whispers became a chorus that paul ryan

these guys believe this is the koch brothers, that government should not play a role in helping people in need or working people. so it decimates medicaid. it will make medicare less solvent, cuts three years of solvency off of medicare and they're going to come back with more and more cuts to programs working people need. and remember this is from a president who campaigned, the guy who campaigned as a champion of the working class. this health care proposal -- their budget will be horrific for working class families all over this country. >> you say this is an embodiment of this koch brothers vision which is to strip away the social safety net, it's true. it will cap and cut medicaid, it will reduce medicare solvency but respond to the argument being made by the most politically potent force that threatens this bill, the house freedom caucus. they say this is republican welfare, that you're throwing money at the problem, you're guy who campaigned as a champion of the working class. this health care proposal -- their budget will be horrific for working class families all over this cou

lou: i'm talking about the koch brothers. fred: i thought the president looked resilient.oked pretty good. he insisted on going first, too. maybe it was paul ryan's first idea -- fred: you know who wanted to go first. fred: you act like president trump doesn't have a mind of his own, and i think he does. lou: who doesn't. fred: i think you do. lou: you told me throughout what a splendid fellow paul ryan was and i'm still waiting for you to tell me what the hell he ever succeeded at. fred: he was a good chairman of the house ways and means committee and he's the architect of the bill that will come out. lou: fred barnes, steve forbes. appreciate it. please roll the video. these snowboarders trading fresh powder for molten rock. this -- look at that. okay. we show you a lot of crazy, silly death defying mad stunts. this is in the top five. dust storms kicking up from the ash. all of it comes with a small price. the skis were destroyed. the skiers somehow were not. that's what we call a happy ending. president trump ready to move on to tax reform after speaker ryan dear predi

. >> the koch brothers and their cronies. >> i think they should be in jail. >> private property. john: mob rules, that's our show tonight. . john: today, the worst mob in the world is clearly isis. their fanaticism reminds me of threats posed by the nazis 80 years ago. if we talk about mobs, little compares to the nazis or is. but this show is about american mobs, they're not as deadly but do plenty of harm. we start with political mobs. did you know that the democratic party activates mobs, depends on mobs, coddles mobs, publicizes and celebrates mobs? that's what ann coulter's book demonic is about. she says a liberal mob endangers america. come on. a mob? >> yes! the way they gin up their base with the slogans and the repetition, bush lied, kids died, and you have the image of paul ryan pushing the old lady in the wheelchair off the cliff. republicans, the party of wall street. all these sorts of slogans, republicans are terrible at slogans. john: republicans have drilled baby drills, secure the border. peace through strength. >> i think those actually mean something, unlike b

he worked at the republican national committee at the time, and with the koch brothers at, americansh prosperity. he will join the institute executive director for a wide range of conversations. presidentdiscuss trump's style, his character, and ability to deliver on promises made during the campaign. it is an honor to have somebody so connected to the white house, and we are honored to have corey should be ahat terrific conversation. welcome. [applause] >> thank you. good to be home. he spent more time here than any other place but trump tower corey: in the past two years. corey:my wife can attest to that. say, i want to ask the question, how does a kid from the wrong side of the single raised by a mother in laurel, massachusetts, going to manage this morning -- and create this when campaign for president? corey: qa cup and you do not know. is work hard, which i think a value that was instilled in me very young. when they tell you you cannot do something you do not listen to them. when they say you will ever be .uccessful, disregard that on some level, there is a chip on your should

>> the kochs, the trumps -- >> the kochs created that wealth. >> they inherited a fortune at birth.re in the lucky sperm club. >> now he gets it. people actually produce. people create, people make choices. the kochs inherited a lot of money and made a lot more money. the steve jobs, the bill gates created their wealth, and all of your viewers are beneficiaries, enormous beneficiaries, the vast majority of the 1% are people that have worked hard, have created something, have built something and deserve it. >> that is absolutely preposterous. there are people who live in my building who go out and clean apartments all day who work ten times as hard as most ceos who are dirt poor. meanwhile, ceos sit by -- they own a capital stock, they sit by the pool waiting for the butler to come out with a tray -- john: jesse, you told us everyone deserves a dignified life. >> absolutely. john: -- in which their material security is a guaranteed right. and that includes a college education, healthy food -- >> if people want a college education -- john: comfortable housing and health care. >> free

the koch brothers financing the republican conservatives in the midterms coming up. they paid a quarter billion last election. they're saying you have a prepackaged mandate of government-sanctioned benefits of ten or so, that drives insurance costs up. point here is, kurt, there's a battle royale what it means to be a free market in terms of insurance, even under obamacare, you know this, there was no cross state lines of getting insurance sold across state lines. obamacare allows for that. >> this is a terrible, terrible bill. terribly presented, ineptly managed. i can't believe this was dropped on us out of the blue with no real warning. no gathering of consensus. we should have seen paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, president trump, the freedom caucus, the tuesday club, everybody saying this is the plan we put together. this is what it's going to do for you. we didn't see anything like that. i'm not surprised what happened today. liz: kurt makes a great point, eric. the republicans have been at it seven, eight years, they knew this was coming. nancy pelosi's approval ra

this is driven by the dark money of the koch brothers. this is the powerful behind-the-scenes put up master -- puppet master telling the senate what to do. they can't afford to have a justice that hasn't been properly vetted on think tanks on how they will vote on citizens united possibly get on the supreme court. no one knew how merrick garland would vote on citizens united. on the democratic side we were worried that he might sustain it. on the republican side they worried that he might strike it down and be a we the people justice. but instead of engaging in responsible senate action required by our oath of office, for the first time in u.s. history, the majority, driven by a powerful special interest, the koch brothers, decided to steal the seat. that's the setting in which next week's debate will occur over merrick garland. we've heard some very self-righteous words coming from the majority side saying -- look how qualified he is. how could you possibly say there is anything wrong with this nomination. i ask my fellow colleagues to r

care saying the groups, including heritage action, freedom funded by ganization charles and david koch, are troubled by notion of refundable credit to help consumers pay for health insurance, tenant of plan, president donald trump appeared to endorse and addressed to congress last opposed to commitment to maintain expanded form of medicaid as numerous are demanding.s from the "wall street journal" and also from the "wall street they highlight the president's travel ban, newly signed, executive order expected to be signed today. expected to on still ban travel from several muslim majority nations, but will leave iraq off the list. several are familiar with the 600 other aid yemen, es iran, syria, remain.and sudan will host: democrat's line, thomas, go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. me just say this about donald trump. a corpora ishing orporate -- he is let nothing corporations, c.e.o.'s, titans in positions. and what i mean by that, you see raised hised when he membership from $100,000 to $200,000 businessman's mentality. you see cabinet positions, these titans of industry. o

. >> the koch brothers and their cronies. >> i think they should be in jail. >> private property.n: mob rules, that's our show tonight.

the koch brothers, billionaire funders for different republicans, they are also opposed.do have a lot of clout and money to spend. they donate a lot of money to different campaigns. especially for people, members of the house freedom caucus, they could be very hesitant to go against something that the koch brothers oppose. remember, this is the same group that basically blocked the health bill from getting a vote. vonnie: what about moderates? they also played a part in blocking the health bill. will they be for or against that? laura: they have not, on the border adjustment tax, is that what you're asking about? yeah, they've not come out as a group. neither has the house freedom caucus. there's members that like it, some members don't, and there's a lot of members in the middle who are undecided, and this would be a big sea change, so they're hearing arguments from economists on one side and the other and still making up their minds. vonnie: what will some of the sticking points be? you can easily see a way for them to get maybe not to 15% in corporate tax, but maybe 20

dagen: we found out that the koch network, organizations associated with the conservative koch brothers, americans for proper city and freedom partners announced yesterday that they are creating a special fund, potentially millions of dollars to support house members who vote against the healthcare bill. so it's not just some elected members of congress, it's people outside the club for growth, running ads, no vote, heritage action. >> you know steven moore works with 32 advisers, what he talked about yesterday freedom workers is against it, heritage is against it. they're going to change -- the discussion being had now supposedly with the freedom caucuses really changing a lot of it where it is out of government hands and therefore when it goes to the senate you will see a lot more republicans say no to it. dagen: to that point, one of the things that the freedom caucus won't change have the mandates for coverage which are a carry-over from obamacare where insurance has to provide say maternity care. they want that change. if those coverages, mandates are removed it will help drive dow

i don't know the koch brothers so well. i don't think george is as extreme as he is made up to be.is interesting to polarize people and point out extreme things. i don't know. i think what we should do is harvest the best idea and we shouldn't just blindly follow any of them. brian: here is another video of another man named michael milken. [video clip] financed over 3000 companies. i have only had one ceo tell me they were in it for the money. i think it is about creating jobs and empowering an individual. end video clip] brian: why would someone say that they are in it for the money? sandra: people in finance have to say they are in it for the money. you wouldn't trust a banker if they weren't in it for the money. i think most of the superhubs are not just successful because of the money. that doesn't give you the motivation to go that far to the very top. the difference in the kind of money they make, a hedge fund can make a couple million a year. make $20ceos can million. the differences are pretty great. brian: a bank ceo, they are investment banks, these are all names you kno

. >> reporter: the conservative koch brothers have set up a fund to support the re-election of any republican voting no on the bill but as the white house and republican leaders make concessions, moderates are rethinking their support for the plan. >> republicans vote to destroy healthcare coverage especially in this brutal form, well, that vote is going to be tatooed to their heads. they can't say donald trump made me do it. >> reporter: pennsylvania congressman charlie dent met with house speaker paul ryan late into the night. afterwards, he issued a statement saying he will oppose the bill and that he hopes the house can step back from this vote and arbitrary deadline to focus on getting healthcare reform done right. craig boswell, cbs news, capitol hill. >>> democrats are making one last effort to keep the affordable care act intact to mark 7 years since president obama signed it into law. u.s. senator kamala harris from california made a plea from the senate floor. >> before the aca, 48 million americans lacked health insurance. that's more people than the entire country of canada. befor

. >> reporter: the conservative koch brothers set up a fund to support reelection of any republican voting no on the bill. as the white house and republican leaders make concessions to conservatives, moderates rethink support for the plan. >> republicans do -- republicans are voting to destroy the coverage in a beautiful form and that vote will be tattooed to their heads. they can say donald trump made me do it. >> reporter: charlie dent met with house speaker, paul ryan, late into the night and afterwards, he issued a statement saying he will oppose the be can step back from the boat an arbitrary deadline to focus on getting healthcare reform done right. craig boswell, cbs news and capitol hill. >>> we will continue to follow the latest developments as president donald trump works to refill the affordable care act and you can, too, by downloading the wusa9 mobile app. >>> family and friends will say final goodbyes to a 15-year-old beeski of gang violence, she was from gaithersburg and police found her body last month at a park in fairfax county. investigators believe gang members held her

heritage action, the koch brothers, all of these.his is the dynamic has frustrated and why boehner resigned abruptly one day and a real problem for paul ryan and what the president grappling with. the moderate members charlie dent from pennsylvania is somebody who wants to be with the speaker, but at the end of the day, if they change this too far, it's basically going to put all of these moderate members -- these are the people who are really at risk of losing their jobs if they vote for this and suddenly people in their district can't get health care. frankly if they let too many of them go, this bill is still going to fail. so they could cut this deal with the freedom caucus and still potentially have a big problem. >> here is a message. first of all, if you are a moderate like charlie dented and you vote for this bill, you know and i know that people in your district are going to lose health care coverage and you're going to lose votes. moderates, there is nothing they can do for you. there is nothing they can do for you that wil

like the koch brothers? >> yes.ou have everything from google and microsoft, which are donors to the federalist society, as well as major energy companies like chevron for devon, especially devon, try to challenge much of the obama administration's regulatory agenda when it comes to the environment. you also have very conservative family foundations like the mercer foundation or the koch brothers foundation that see their giving, if you look at her donor patterns, as a way to try to influence american society. mean, the federalist society is a forum for these lawyers to discuss legal approaches that they can then use an to fine-tune them and they -- the federalist society argues it is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) that does not -- is not an advocacy organization. it is pretty clear they have a very conservative eagle philosophy when you look at the forms they hold in the debates they hold and the people that are members of it. you look at the judges that they align themselves with. almost has a medical status almost an i

i love the koch brothers and what they do. what they miss the tax credit is many powering individual the same way school choice empowers a parent. we'll create a marketplace. and it is going to work. i think they're being a bit too doctrinaire right now. we can't throw people out of the cold. we can't go from practically socialized medicine to what obamacare is to nothing, no safety net. it is polically nopossible. it is ethilly not feasible right now. so what makesense in the interim and what gets us more importantly to the real holy grail which is tax reform? melissa: yeah. >> we have to get through obama carefirst and quickly. i think we will. i'm very confident in my discussions with people in the white house tell me we're very, very close. melissa: we'll see. i hope you're right. thanks to both of you. david: violence breaking out at a rally over the weekend. trump supporters under attack beaten by a liberal protester, this is berkeley the birthplace of free speech so-called. melissa: right. the white house unveiling the

. >> reporter: the conservative koch brothers set up a found support the reelection of any republicanoting no on the bill but as the white house and republican leaders macon sessions to conservatives, moderates are rethinking their support for the plan. >> republicans vote to destroy healthcare coverage especially in this brutal form, well that vote is going to be tattooed to their heads. they can't say donald trump made me do it. >> reporter: pennsylvania congressman charlie dent met with house speaker paul ryan late into the night. afterwards he issued a statement saying he will oppose the bill and that he hopes the house can step back from this vote and arbitrary deadline to focus on getting healthcare reform done right. on capitol hill, craig boswell for cbs3 "eyewitness news." >> the new jersey congressman frank lobiondo and as you heard pennsylvania congressman charlie dent announced they'll be voting against their party's healthcare reform bill. >> philadelphia mayor jim kenney and other city officials are speaking out against the repealing and replacing of the affordable care

as a candidate, president trump made fun of the beg-a-thon, to use his word, that the koch brothers run every year to bring candidates to their conference. they set up an array of benign-sounding front groups to both organize and conceal their manipulation of our politics. and supreme court justices socialize with this shawl -- with this small group. and then they go and tender -- render decisions that give that small group um menace hit walsh immense political advantage are, particularly the ability to hide the expenditure of their money, and then they go back and social eyes some more with that -- socialize some more with that group. and they even speak at the beg-a-thon political retreats. does that look right to you? how as a judge do you think as a justice of the supreme court should you comport yourself in terms of keeping a distance from interests that are before the court? >> senator, i have no information about anything you've just described. i don't know about that. >> and, wow, because guess what? you're going to be asked to make decisions on the supreme court that if you don

. >> reporter: the brain child of a former houston koch and green beret. >> all kind of the world.eriod. >> reporter: none of this is cheap. >> always wanted to say this, say hello to my little friend. >> reporter: this frame thrower sets you back $300. flattening a car, $1,000. firing the sherman tank, costs $3,000. for one group, the sky was the limit. >> their day was, over a $30,000 day. >> reporter: $30,000. driving tanks. wow. >> yeah, yeah, that's everything we had. >> reporter: the company's crown jewel, the 1944 sherman tank. the same type brad pit made famous in fury. >> you will let me drive this thing? >> absolutely. what i will do is get in there, get you basic skills. so you can drive it. i will be next to you. get too out of control, i will cut it off. think you are going to do great. >> stick or automatic? >> stick. >> okay. we are in trbouble. >> reporter: high slowly roll it mile-long war zone. that was absolutely amazing. so smooth, really. >> reporter: this is the only place in world you can fire a sherman tank. and they're not using blanks. the company's weapon

kochs are setting up a reserve fund to protect opponents from political harm in 2018. craigsaid earlier, caplan, our congressional producer tweeting out that the vice president will be joining the president, the white house today to meet with these members once again, with more arm twisting this morning at 11:30 a.m. eastern time. we are going to hear from the speaker of the house and get an update on where the vote stands this morning at 11:30 a.m. eastern time. and we will also hear from the minority leader, nancy pelosi, at around 10:45 a.m. eastern time. host: on top of that the house comes in at 9:00 a.m. this morning. the house rules committee could come in at 9:00 a.m. this morning as well. a lot going on today in washington. from the new york times to follow-up on what greta was saying, "even if mr. ryan manages to secure the bare minimum required, the bill that would pass the house would not become law. the senate expands significant changes, dragging out the process, deep into the spring if it can pass any version at all." back to your phone calls and voices,

koch brothers are pouring millions into stopping this because they say it just takes a bad mix of oursn make the worst. freedom partners executive vice president has one of those to himself. james, good to have you. you have heard from those who say it isn't perfect, but it did -- up to have to go ahead and approving a law that dirty out there and getting the tax cuts and other things that voters wanted for donald trump. >> well, first of all, teen! for having me on. the problem here is that it doesn't fix the problems with health care. it actually keeps all the bad elements of obamacare in place. it keeps the subsidies. it keeps the mandates and insurance regulation that lead to increased costs for consumers. it keeps 40% by attacks for the cadillac tax in place. it doesn't repeal the medicaid expansion fast enough. tree into the reason i'm trying to be clear here is you don't buy the argument some have been linked to go ahead and vote for this. the senate can clean us out. we control capitol hill right now. we can correct and revise a lot of this stuff, just as we have is processed i

the koch brothers have their back. and also, the chattering classes of conservatives.laura ingraham and people like ann coulter. and interest groups like heritage action and the club for growth. they're all against this. so, with trump, you never saw him on the front end try to negotiate, try to build a consensus, try to build an eco chamber around this thing. they thought he could come in and muscle this thing and really by the force of his personality and the crowds that we saw, of course, in kentucky, they thought that would work, it hasn't work. >> there are a million sticking points on this right now, depending on who you talk to. but with the house freedom caucus, one of the big sticking points, first off, leadership aides say they moved the goalposts. but one of the things now is, they call them title 1 regulations. got to love the term, but it gets to some of the most important stuff, some of the most liked stuff in obamacare, like pre-existing conditions. now, if they're putting that on the table, everyone needs to remember exactly what the president has said

hill but we understand that the republican control of the house and the senate and the fact that the koch brothers are the public masters behind what happens in this body that those bills are not going to be considered but it will be a way also of rooting for, encourage and laying out the decision for every organization in america, every church board synagogue board, mosque board college in city to say let's do it ourselves. let's developed our own 100 by 50 resolution and a three to five year action plan on what steps we can take. >> senator the white house said clean power plan's depends on the endangerment -- automobiles. your response? the endangerment lining addresses the question of what co2 does in the atmosphere. whether the co2 comes from the tailpipe of an automobile or the smokestack of a factory is chemically the same and the finding has the same application across-the-board. we know that it does two things. we know to a certainty that it creates a greenhouse gas environment in the atmosphere and we know when it interacts with the surface of the sea that it satisfies the water

host: you have the koch brothers trying to go after the republicans who supported the so-called ryanill. this is trying to get republicans to support the legislation. [video clip] >> the american health care act versus obamacare. obamacare is full of job destroying mandate. the new plan eliminates them. obamacare puts bureaucrats and control. the republican plan puts patients and doctors in charge. the new plan provides more choices and lower costs. >> repeal and replace obamacare. >> vote with president trump. host: now that's health care is off the table for now and for the foreseeable future obamacare will be the law of the land, will congress ticket up before 2018? >guest: it depends on the state of the affordable care act over the next year and how people are contracting with it. if there is a rise in people's satisfaction, republicans good. there is not an appetite for it right now. they're going to move on to tax reform and other things. i would not rule it out. i have ruled out ruling things out in this business. there is a list of other agenda items that will come first. sea

he spent time at the republican national committee, also love with with koch -- lobbying the koch brothers for americans for prosperity. we will discuss not only the 2016 election and new hampshire primary victory, but president trump's's file, character, and ability to deliver on promises. it is an honor to have someone so connected to the white house here at this time in new hampshire. this should be a terrific conversation. so welcome. [applause] >> thank you. welcome back. mr. lewandowski: good to be home. >> i think you spent more time at the institute of politics -- as we get started, the apparent question is, how does a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, product of a single mother, go on to manage and create this winning campaign for president? mr. lewandowski: you wake up, and you don't know. hard, which is a value that was instilled in me very young. when they tell you you can't do something, you don't listen to them. when they say you will never be successful, you disregard that. onsome level, it puts a chip your shoulder to say, yeah, i can do that. my job with americans for

the koch brothers are spending seven figures, we don't know how much, to support republicans who say no to the plan during the vote today. they are looking at advertising and other grass roots efforts to help them get re-elected. >> a lot of people going to be affected by the vote. tracie potts, thank you. >> the het care bill isn't the only high stakes drama playing out in washington this morning. there are stunning new claims from the republican house chair devin nunes. he says communications from donald trump's transition team and possibly the president-elect himself were legally and incidentally collected by u.s. intelligence. and while nunes repeats there is still no evidence former president obama wiretapped trump, it is his decision to bypass his own committee, going to the white house with his new information that is making some republicans sound the alarm on the entire investigation. >> this back and forth and what the american people have found out so far that no longer does the congress have credibility to handle this alone, and i don't say that lightly. >> and democrats a