donald trump has hadad so many involvement with them involving the trump soho hotel, the sale of property, and other things jim can talk about. then we get wilbur ross, the commerce secretary, who is in bed with these guys up to his eyeballs. amy: we're going to talk about that in a moment. us, they johnston with pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter, author of "the making of donald trump." we will be back with him and jim henry in a moment. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue our discussion about the trump administration facing a new scandal as a justice department has acknowledged attorney general jeff sessions met twice last year with russia's ambassador to the united states, contradicttig sworn testimony, sessions gave during his confirmation hearing. we are talking to david cay johnston, the investigative reporter, pulitzer prize-winning journalist, as well as james henry, economist, lawyer, who has investigated trends ties to russia. his most recentt report is titld "another cabinet picked w

point was he was walking away. >> that's true, he has pulled out of brazil, and he is still in trump sohopartners are gone. >> so if the deals are dead, should that be satisfying? >> the reason the people are looking at the deals now is a fact pattern and history in terms of trump the businessman to get a handle on his business making decisions. >> what you are talking about, where the sons might open a hotel in dallas. or nashville, or something like that. is there anything illegal or unethical about what they are doing? >> well, there's nothing unelt k -- unelt kul about the plan they have. they will just license the trump or scion game, and the question is who are those people and are they using the deal they set up with trump's sons to influence president trump, and there is scrutiny about who those partners will be, and we don't have anything to say about how those deals will look. >> when you are looking at the reporting, what is the concern driving the digging right now, david. we know there are always questions to be asked but that doesn't mean you will get satisfying answers or t

vladimir putin, the question is, do they have something invested in his projects from everywhere from trump sohoto his buildings when he could not get credit extended from banks because he is declared bankruptcy so many times and had so much financial problems of the oligarchs supported him and deep concern about what his financial obligations are to them and how this fits into this bigger story of him not releasing his tax returns and not the transparent, white people are so concerned -- what people are so concerned, separate from whether russia hacked the elections. >> i think that is something that people should -- there are distinct issues, she pointed out, people should remember they are distinct issues. what we're talking about with those business concerns -- and it is not just russia. this is an area where we should have as many questions about china, if not more so, than russia. although, some of his closest associates, you talked about the soho project, our tie to russia and to have ties to the mob will stop that is a very fair question that we should be of to get answers to. does he ha

trump's soho hotel into the icelandic scandal? there is a lot -- >> hey, i'm sorry. there is a ring of bad weather along the east coast of the united states. this got to us last night as well. and between us and rochester, we have a band of bad weather so bad that it is interfering with our ability to talk to david cay johnston by satellite. we apologize for that. we'll take another break and see if we can reestablish. lots of wrinkle creams believe the more mysterious they sound, the more... powerful you'll think they are. it's time to see what power really looks like. new neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair with accelerated retinol sa. clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in just one week. wrinkles? your time is up! rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots. rapid tone repair. neutrogena® see what's possible. >>> welcome back. so there we were talking with journalist david cay johnston when the weather moved in to rochester, new york. and david, i'm told fitfully we have you back. let me ask you a question about something that will never happen, and maybe along the way

trump's soho hotel into the icelandic bank zma ii iic scand? there is a lot -- >> hey, i'm sorry. there is a ring of bad weather along the east coast of the united states. this got to us last night as well. and between us and rochester, we have a band of bad weather so bad that it is interfering with our ability to talk to david cay johnston by satellite. we apologize for that. we'll take another break and see if we can reestablish. at invisalign®, we use the most advanced teeth straightening technology to help you find the next amazing version of yourself. it's time to unleash your secret weapon. it's there, ght under your nose. get to your best smile up to 50% faster. visit invisalign.com to get started today. hi, i'm frank. i take movantik for oic, opioid-induced constipation. had a bad back injury, my doctor prescribed opioids which helped with the chronic pain, but backed me up big-time. tried prunes, laxatives, still constipated... had to talk to my doctor. she said, "how long you been holding this in?" (laughs) that was my movantik moment. my doctor told me that movantik is

trump's soho hotel into the icelandic scandal? there is a lot -- >> hey, i'm sorry. there is a ring of bad weather along the east coast of the united states. this got to us last night as well. and between us and rochester, we have a band of bad weather so bad that it is interfering with our ability to talk to david cay johnston by satellite. we apologize for that. we'll take another break and see if we can reestablish. my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis made a simple trip to the grocery store anything but simple. so i had an important conversation with my dermatologist about humira. he explained that humira works inside my body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults taking humira were clear or almost clear, and many saw 75% and even 90% clearance in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, s

that's a live picture looking at right now from new york outside the trump soho hotel.hey're rallying against the discrimination and division they say the president espouses. here we go. >> i think it's important that the country know that women are standing together against hate and division and discrimination. >> what we have to do now is do what we can is protest and stand up and let the country and our elected leaders know what's important to us. and so that's what we're doing. >> in washington, several female democratic lawmakers symbolically staged a walkout in support, there they are, in red. 21 members of the congress. >> we know one thing for sure, that when women succeed, america succeeds. >> well the other end of pennsylvania avenue, donald trump honored the day by dropping in on his wife's luncheon and tweeting on international women's day, join me in honoring the critical role of women here in america and around the world." and "i have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy." th

i know that you know that since you are all studying this issue, which developed a trump soho condominium tower in new york. how about alexander maskovich? he was a source of money for the soho project in new york, a project according to a bay rock investor pamphlet. peter, a ukrainian businessman, who owned two condominiums with his daughter at trump international -- >> your time has expired. >> put those in your reports that you hung up. >> thank you. you're recognized to strike the last word. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to yield. >> thank you, mr. paulson. again, it's amazing where this committee has gone. we have now come back to talking about mobsters and privately-held companies which will never show up on a tax return again. after 30 years of practicing, i have never seen a mobster's name. i've never seen a privately-held -- these things don't show up on tax returns. the request from tax returns, we have moved from there to now saying for us to do tax reform we need to see his tax return because he's going to be one of the people who have to approve it. >> you got it.

around madly, and another thing is, you know, trump clearly -- at least his lawyers are really good money launders, at least allegedly. this whole bay rock and sohod the russian stuff. we may never get to this stuff. once they started looking into how richard nixon paid off the burglars into shutting up at their trial, the things started unraveling within seconds. and finally, you know, trump takes three and a half weeks to do something that's so insane he gets the blood hounds on his tail. nixon, at least we had three and a half years to wait. >> well, and this is -- i mean obviously trat jekt ri of all this seems like it's extremely accelerated with that, that's because the personality is at issue or the times we live in. to me, i just got chills from reading about this short of level of paranoia, michelle, because like there is this -- you know, this is one of the things nixon pioneered in a certain kind of part of the conservative self conception which is as victims, persecuted, and there's an establishment in the country, and it's fundamentally opposed to the ideals of conservatives and therefore surrounds them and must be destroyed. and whe

there's several transactions in new york city, a condo bought at trump tower for $3.6 million. two condos in soho, both $3 million. a brown stone in queens for about $3 million. mr. manafort issued a statement saying each of these deals were set up for his clients for many ukrainian deals. >> paul manafort, the charm of trump's campaign. >> that's correct. >> let's go to kimberly atkins. she's a columnist for "the boston herald". they talk about there being a lot of smoke. ther is. look at the difference that the senate has made in comparison to the house side in looking to this. those financial connections are certainly going to be one of the issues than the senate intelligence committee looks at very carefully. as of now, they're playing it completely differently than on the house side, not even taking questions on the house side today to really separate themselves of the adults in the room as the probe goes forward. >> shepard: historically speaking, the senate intelligence committee and others have been very good at bipartisan investigations that are important for the american people. not for

trump has quoted by the financial times said this in 2008 saying, quote: russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, saying dubai is certainly with our project in sohorump jr., excuse me, told e turbo news in 2008 we see a lot of money pouring in from russia. so that's donald jr. in 2008 saying they have a lot of money pouring in from russia. so if you have a server in trump tower that the reports say somehow was connected to or communicating with banks, could this have nothing to do with politics? >> it certainly could, eric. it's all conjecture at this point. you don't know. and a lot more information has to be available before, you know, somebody such as myself who has a little bit of experience in this, before we could make a judgment as to where this is coming from. but, yes, if it's a criminal case, it doesn't necessarily have to go to a fisa court, it can go to a federal judge who would let the order stand to intercept communications on some device whether it be phone or some other device. so this is -- i think it's all conjecture at this point because there's no hard evidence of anything. it's just kind of rash, some cases irrational words t

trump, jr. was scwoatd saying quote, russians make up a disproportion amount in cross section of a lot of our assets in dubai and our project in sohohe said we see a lot. money pouring in from russia. the president said he doesn't have investments or loans in rurve. but is it possible there could be russian funds, russian investments in the trump organization that this subpoena had something to do with? >> it's certainly possible there are russian investors in various trump end prizes like there are in the hedge funds, venture capital, private equity funds whose executives supported barack obama's campaigns in the previous two election cycles. i think the hype and hysteria has gone the totally out of hand. people are asking me when was the last time i talked to sergey kislyak. i don't remember when it was. i talk to russians all the time. how about that? i think there needs to be some mechanism to bring it to closure. and i hope the house and senate intelligence committee investigations and allegations of russian interest force in the election might be that vehicle. now perhaps they need to be given this additional asignment as wel

trump's executive vice president for acquisitions and development and his business said, quote, russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets, say in dubai and certainly with our project in soho and anywhere in new york, we see a lot of money pouring in from russia, unquote. so, mr. president, if one takes all of these reports together plus the ones i have entered into the record, and we won't review in detail here today, you have to ask yourself what's going on, what's going on with all of this information? that's why my constituents and i have questions. that's why we need an independent commission and a special counsel in the justice department or appointed by the justice department. the administration owes the american people answers. we cannot allow my constituent pam's warnings to come to fruition. we cannot allow russia to exploit political differences to shake confidence in our democratic system. the united states has a proud tradition of rule of law and checks and balances. these are things that distinguish us from the autocratic and corrupt regimes around the world. the longer it takes to get to the bottom of this, the bottom of these questions, the longer it will b