And counting . Then, to trumps controversial socalled Election Integrity commission. I would like to make a suggestion that might possibly help overcome part of this problem, and that is think about applying the background check system that we use for in the systems for voting. Amy as the Election Commission faces lawsuits, controversy and the fallout from a second meeting on tuesday in New Hampshire, we will look at how the socalled Election Commission integrity Election Commission may be paving the way for a nationwide Voter Suppression effort. And finally, as the United States marks the 16th anniversary of the september 11 attacks, well look at new evidence filed in the 9 11 lawsuit against saudi arabia alleging the kingdoms embassy in washington, d. C. , may have funded a test run of the attacks. Andrew speak with writer cockburn. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On capitol hill, vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders is set to introduce a universal healthcare bill today that would expand Medicare Coverage to include every american. Under emerging details of the plan, everyone 55 and older and children under 18 would qualify for medicare during the programs first year, while the remainder of adults would be phased in over four years. The program would pay for doctors visits, hospital stays, preventative and Mental Health care, and prescription drugs, while expanding medicare to include vision, hearing, and dental care. To pay for the expansion, the bill would levy a new 2. 2 income tax on all americans, and a 6. 2 tax on employers who would no longer be required to provide Health Insurance to workers. The measure would also raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. Ahead of todays rollout of the bill, 15 senators comprising a third of the Democratic Caucus signed on as cosponsors. They include new jersey senator cory booker massachusetts , senator elizabeth warren, and california senator Kamala Harris. In the house, democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she would not support medicare for all and would instead focus on defending the Affordable Care act against republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care act. Well have more on senator Bernie Sanders medicare for all plan after headlines. In the caribbean, residents of islands devastated by hurricane irmas category 5 winds say theyre running out of food and water. This is sunil sadhwani, a survivor of the hurricane on the island of saint martin. We are running out of water, especially the drinking water. Survive. He water to hopefully, we pray to god that we get the water first and electricity can come a little later. The water is the main thing to survive on. Amy the desperate pleas for food, water and assistance came as the governments of france, britain, and the netherlands faced increasing criticism over their responses to the hurricane in their caribbean territories, after the storm leveled over 90 of buildings on some islands. In the u. S. , the death toll from irma rose to 22 as nearly 4. 5 million florida residents remained without power late tuesday. Fema reports at least 90 of homes in the florida keys suffered some damage, with a quarter of them destroyed completely. The u. S. Virgin islands have also been devastated. In texas, floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey that inundated houston and other coastal cities last month created a toxic soup of poisonous chemicals and pathogens according to a New York Times goes what investigation, which found levels of e. Coli at levels ranging from four times two 135 times the amount considered to be safe. Researchers also found floodwaters contained high levels of heavy metals, including lead and arsenic. Hurricane harvey dropped a record shattering 50 inches of , swappingd houston Sewage Systems and flooding superfund sites, petrochemical plants, and oil refineries. Go to our website at democracynow. Org as we take you on a toxic to her of the petro metro. That is houston. In china, authorities are set to evacuate a half Million People as a pair of typhoons bear down on chinas heavily populated east coast. Taiwan canceled flights wednesday and issued a warning to ships as typhoon talim threatened the island ahead of an expected landfall late thursday on chinas northern coast as a strong typhoon. To the south, Typhoon Doksuri threatens chinas southeast and vietnam, as it strengthens over the south china sea. Earlier this week, the storm brought flooding to the philippines capital manilla and surrounding provinces. In washington, d. C. , the Trump Administration insisted it is taking the issue of Climate Change seriously, even though it wont ascribe extreme weather events to human activity. This is white House Homeland Security adviser tom bossert speaking monday. Are these storms giving this administration some pause when it comes to the issue of Climate Change and Homeland Security . I was here in the 2004 cycle of hurricanes that hit florida. I think what is prudent right now is to make sure the responsibilities are there. Causality is outside of my ability to analyze right now. We continue to take seriously the Climate Change, not the cause of it, but the things that we observe. Amy the Trump Administration is reportedly considering whether to further reduce the number of refugees allowed into the United States to fewer than 50,000. That is according to the New York Times, which reports the plan has the support of Homeland Security officials and senior white house adviser stephen miller. President trump has already capped the number of refugees resettled annually in the u. S. At 50,000 less than half the 110,000 refugees admitted under president barack obama. The white house has named hope hicks, a 28yearold longtime adviser to donald trump, as the administrations communications director. Hicks formerly served as trumps director of strategic communications, where she was known for a handsoff approach on allowing the president free reign to use twitter and other social media. Hicks is the fourth person to hold the position of disposition, replacing anthony scaramucci, who lasted just 10 days on the job. In hong kong, President Trumps former chief political strategist steve bannon praised chinese president xi jinping as a wise leader tuesday, as he delivered a keynote address on economic nationalism and populism to a group of Hedge Fund Managers and investors. Outside the forum, a group of protesters chanted, no bannon, no racism and held a banner reading, nazis are not welcome here. This is sally tang, one of the demonstrators. Why is he here with all of the bankers . It is not for us. It is not for the majority of the people in hong kong, it is just for the rich people. On the one hand, we are fighting in solidarity with the u. S. Against donald trump. On the other hand, we want to fight in unity against racism and nationalism. Amy in saudi arabia, human Rights Groups warn an execution is imminent for a man who claims he was tortured as a teenager into confessing to crimes he did not commit. Amnesty International Reports the family of 21yearold abdul kareem alhawaj was told monday the Saudi Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for the young man over his alleged role in antigovernment protests during arab spring uprisings in 2011 and 2012. Amnesty says alhawaj is among at least 33 members of saudi arabias minority Shia Muslim Community who are currently facing the Death Penalty for alleged activities deemed a risk to national security. Meanwhile, a panel set up by the saudi monarchy has cleared the u. S. Backed Saudiled Coalition of any wrongdoing in the deaths of civilians following a string of deadly airstrikes in yemen. This is saudi Legal Advisor Mansour Ahmed al mansour. Until the moment of preparing this report, we have not Found Service international violations in yemen. The presence of innocent civilian victims in the war is because of mistaken bombardment and the presence of mistakes. This exist and we have previously said that. Amy on tuesday, Human Rights Watch accused the u. S. Backed Saudiled Coalition of committing war crimes, blaming it for the deaths of 39 civilians in just the last two months alone. The war in yemen has killed more than 10,000 people has exacerbated a famine thats left 7 million on the brink of starvation. Yemens health and Sanitation Systems have been left devastated amid a cholera epidemic thats sickened more than 600,000 people. In bangladesh, refugees whove fled governmentled violence in neighboring burma say theyre running out of food and that no more aid is coming. The dire warning came as the u. N. Refugee agency said 370,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled since burmas military began slaughtering civilians on august 25. This is rahamat, a rohingya refugee who arrived in coxs bazar, bangladesh, this week. They killed many of my relatives in bournemouth him and i come here with three of my sons. They slaughtered many people in the village. One third of the people of my village. They slaughtered them and threw them into a river. Amy on monday, the u. N. High commissioner for human rights warned the burmese militarys widespread violence against Rohingya Muslims is a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Back in the United States, the department of justice announced tuesday it will not bring federal charges against Six Baltimore Police officers over their roles in killing freddie gray, an African American man from baltimore who died after sustaining massive spinal injuries as he was transported in the back of a police van in april 2015. Six baltimore officers faced charges from the States Attorneys Office related to the death, but prosecutors dropped all remaining charges in july 2016 after failing to win convictions for any of the first four officers to go on trial. In seattle, washington, mayor ed murray resigned tuesday after a fifth accuser stepped forward with allegations he sexually abused teenage boys years ago. In the latest allegation, a younger cousin says murray molested him in new york in the 1970s. Murray insists hes innocent of the charges, but said he would step down as mayor to prevent a disruption to city services. In new york city, incumbent mayor bill de blasio easily won the democratic nomination tuesday in a primary election that saw very low voter turnout. De blasio campaigned on a platform that includes affordable housing, rent controls, a tax increase on wealthy new yorkers to pay for the citys ailing subway, and an expansion of his administrations free preschool program to include children three years old and up. To see our extended conversation with Juan Gonzalez about his new book reclaiming got them, go to democracynow. Org. Pioneer ine equality Edith Windsor died tuesday in new york at the age of 88. She was lead plaintiff in a 2013 case the u. S. Supreme Court Challenging the defense of marriage act, which defined marriage as between a man and woman. She had been forced to pay additional estate taxes because the irs did not recognize her marriage to a woman, who passed away in 2009. In a landmark five to four decision, the court ruled doma unconstitutional, meaning legally married samesex couples are entitled to claim the same 1100 federal benefits as heterosexual couples. This is edie windsor speaking in june 2013 just after the Supreme Courts ruling. I am honored and humbled and overjoyed to be here today to represent not only the thousands of americans whose lives have been adversely impacted by the defense of marriage act, but those whose hopes and dreams have been constricted by the same discriminatory law. Children born today will grow up in a World Without doma, and those same children who happen to be gay will be free to love and get married asthea and i did, but with the same federal benefits, protections, and dignity as everyone else. Pioneerriage equality Edith Windsor, dead at the age of 88. Later in the broadcast, we will bring you video of her marriage ceremony. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin todays show in washington, d. C. , where vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders is slated to introduce universal healthcare legislation today aimed at expanding Medicare Coverage to include every american. In a New York Times oped published today, sanders writes this is a Pivotal Moment in american history. Do we, as a nation, join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee comprehensive health care to every person as a human right . Or do we maintain a system that is enormously expensive, wasteful and bureaucratic, and is designed to maximize profits for big Insurance Companies, the pharmaceutical industry, wall street and medical Equipment Suppliers . Under sanders legislation, all children under 18 and all adults 55 and older would qualify for medicare during the programs first year. The remainder of adults would be phased in over four years, until everyone is covered by medicare. 15 senators have already signed on so far as cosponsors, including new jersey senator cory booker, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, and california senator Kamala Harris. This is senator sanders speaking at the peoples summit in chicago in july. Sen. Sanders think back five years ago. There was at that point widespread belief that the Affordable Care act, socalled obamacare, was about as far as we could go as a nation in health care. That is about it. Has obamacare, cant do anymore. , as you know, that view is radically changing. Nurses, thank you for your help on this. Country, ther our American People understand that there is something profoundly wrong when we remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And there is also something profoundly wrong when millions of americans cannot afford the prescription drugs that their doctors prescribe. And what the American People from coast to coast are catching on to is the function of health care is to provide quality care to all people, not to make billions in profits for the Insurance Companies or the drug companies. Amy the introduction of the medicare for all act comes after republicans repeatedly failed to push through their legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act. The republicans efforts sparked sustained grassroots protests, led by disability activists and health care professionals. For more, we go to washington, d. C. , where were joined by Michael Lighty, director of Public Policy for National Nurses united and the california nurses association. National nurses united has long advocated for a medicare for all system. Michael, welcome to democracy now talk about what has happened just in the last two weeks from zero senators cosponsoring two, what are we at now, 15 and counting . 15 and counting. It is a beautiful and exciting day for this movement to guarantee health care for all. We have literally seen in the last two weeks the ascension of approval oft for medicare for all. It is not something we have seen, even going back to the hillary care days, where this groundswell is organic, a prairie fire across the country. We have seen, one example, 2 million impressions on twitter. So this groundswell we had town halls in california this week. We have had hundreds of people this reform. Nding it is extraordinarily popular. I think we have overcome an the political establishment on the democratic side and certainly on the republican side, did not want this to happen and yet here we are. It reflects the fact that medicare for all is more popular than the Affordable Care act and more popular than the repeal of the Affordable Care act. Medicare works. Here we are. I think it is an amazing day. Americans should have a lot of hope, i think. Amy i want to go to who is supporting this. Senator sanders introduced singlepayer healthcare legislation three times before, but this is the first time hes had any cosponsors. California senator Kamala Harris was the first to sign on, and at that seemed to break the ice. And at last count, 15 Senate Democrats have cosponsored the legislation, including cory booker, kirsten gillibrand, richard blumenthal, jeff merkley and elizabeth warren, al franken, tammy baldwin, ed markey, sheldon whitehouse, brian schatz, mazie hirono, and chris murphy. However, democratic leadership has yet to jump on board. Senate minority leader Charles Schumer and house Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have both declined to support the bill. So talk about the significance and whether it matters whether the leadership leads or simply follows and gets on board if it gets support. Well, i think what is extraordinary is that the majority of the Democratic Caucus and the house has signed on to hr 676. 70 of minority leader pelosis constituents support improved medicare for all. I think she just doesnt get it. The only way to maintain the gains of the Affordable Care act is to extend and build on that foundation by eliminating the Insurance Company premiums, deductibles, and copays, and really guaranteeing health care for all through the medicare system. That and the fact she has not signed on yet, i think it is a matter of time. Amy Michael Lighty, lay out what you understand have you spoken to Bernie Sanders what you understand he is doing today, what exactly this bill calls for. This bill calls for a system where we literally take the Health Care Industry model of revenue and profits and transform our health care into a system based on the morality of caregiving. And that is a fundamental difference. Where, as he said in the clip you showed, amy, these health care players, the pharmaceutical companies, the Insurance Companies, hospital corporations, medical device streetturers, and wall are profiting on human suffering. End becausegoing to were going to guarantee health care regardless of ones ability to pay. Yes, everyone contributes, but the patient care that you get will be based upon what you need , not what you can afford. And that is a fundamental transformation in the Health Care System in this country. And people are desperate for that security. Frankly, one third of the country or more has to doctors greater than 2000 he year. This bill will illuminate that. The costsharing endemic to medicare will be gone. Hose are barriers Insurance Companies looking over your shoulder if youre a doctor or nurse caring for a patient or deciding how long they should stay in the hospital, that is gone. That kind of interference. Doctors and nurses put in charge of health care, patients getting the health care they need, people having Health Security that is what senator sanders is doing today. In. Talk about the phasing were talking about medicare for all, the idea that this extremely Popular Program of people 65 years and older have medicare, just dropping that age to zero to include the entire population. But it is not happening all at once. Well, it is important to recognize that part of the issue within health care is that we have a lot ofeople concentrated in medicare who need lot of seices. So iis a very od idea to include young people who have le intense heah care needs. Birthto 18yearolds in the plan is a really good thing to kind of stabilize the system initially, and also cover those who are 55 and older. Those are the ones with the greatest need to have the hardest time finding insurance that connection to cover what they need as health care. Those two things make sense. That is a huge chunk of the population. When you g beten 18 and 55, youre dealing with the employerbased insurance system. It is appropriate to take some time to unwind that. We hear a lot about how invested people are or how complicated that might be. I dont think it is necessary complicated, but it takes time to unwind the system that has been the basis of health care since world war ii. I think if you years to do that is perfectly reasonable. Amy i want to turn to President Trump speaking about health care in july during a lunch with senate republicans. Pres. Trump we have no democrat they are obstructionists. That is all theyre good at, is obstruction. They have no ideas. Theyre gone so far left theyre looking for single payer. That is what they want. A singlepayer will bankrupt our country. Because it is more then we take in for just health care. So singlepayer is never going to work will stop at that is what they would like to do. They have no idea what the consequence will be. And it will be horrible Comparable Health care where you wait in line for weeks to even see a doctor. Amy Michael Lighty, your response . Michael . Your response . We are talking to Michael Lighty , director of Public Policy for the National Nurses united and the cowboy nurses association. Im going to give it one more try to see if michael can hear us. Michael, can you hear me . Yes, sorry. Amy can you respond to President Trump . I can hear you, yes. Amy can you respond to President Trump . We will go to break and come back to you will stop President Trump said he likes australia. This is similar to the australian system. No cost, guaranteed health care for all, elimination of the rule of the Insurance Companies. So this is something that in fact President Trump should welcome. This is not the Affordable Care act. This is not something that we have obviously instituted before, so it is an opportunity for him to do something actually positive for the country and for evernes a whole. So ihink the opportuty here ring folks together. This is a publicly financed, privately delivered reform that actually represents kind of the bring tohat we can this issue because we are going to be putting doctors and nurses in charge. That is what we hear from the right all the time, we need doctors and nurses, clinicians in charge and we need patientcentered care. This is exactly it. This is the kind of great Health Care System that we could create in the u. S. Amy Michael Lighty, thank you for being with us. We will follow up on this tomorrow because senator Bernie Sanders, former president ial candidate, is introducing medicare for all today at least, expected to. A couple of weeks ago, as usual, he had no cosponsors. He is introduced it a few times before. That in the last few weeks, began with Kamala Harris from california, one after another, Democratic Senators signed on. At last count, it is 50 Democratic Senators supporting the medicare for all 15 Democratic Senators supporting the medicare for all. Michael lighty is the director of Public Policy for National Nurses united and the california nurses association. Thank you for joining us. When we come back on the second meeting of the socalled Election Integrity Commission Takes place in New Hampshire. We will get the latest. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to the growing controversy over President Trumps socalled Election Integrity commission. The Commission Held its second meeting tuesday in manchester, New Hampshire, even as it faces a series of lawsuits and calls for the resignation of its vice chair, kansas secretary of state kris kobach. President trump convened commission to look into his allegations of voter fraud during the 2016 president ial election. But many Voting Rights advocates worry that the commission aims to lay the groundwork for a nationwide Voter Suppression effort. At tuesdays contentious meeting, the witness list was comprised of 100 white men, including the farright progun activist john lott jr. , who proposed requiring voters to first pass a background check. I would like to just make a suggestion that might possibly help overcome part of this problem, and that is think about applying the background check system that we use for purchasing guns for voting. Long beenhave concerned about Voter Suppression. But they also long lauded the background check system on guns. Amy that is john lott jr. , the author of the 1998 book more guns, less crime, which some call the bible of the gun lobby. At tuesdays meeting, the commissions vice chairman kansas secretary of state kris kobach also claimed New Hampshires 2016 Election Results were tainted by people flooding across borders to cast ballots there. Kobach was reiterating a false claim he also made in a recent article for the far right news outlet breitbart, where he is a paid columnist. In the article, he claimed voter fraud elected democratic senator maggie hassan, who beat out republican kelly ayotte, citing people using outofstate licenses as evidence. In fact, New Hampshire allows residents who have outofstate licenses, such as college students, to vote. Many residents without a state licenses who voted legally have come for to refute kobach austrias claims. His false claims drew criticism both from the host of tuesdays meeting, New Hampshire secretary of state bill gardner, as well as maine secretary of state matthew dunlap, who called the comments absurd. Making this an equation that somehow people not updating their drivers license is an indicator of voter fraud would be almost as absurd as saying that if you have cash in your wallet, that that is proof you robbed a bank. Recklesst is a statement to make. Amy both the maine and New Hampshire secretaries of state are on that Election Commission. Were joined by two guests. Here in new york is ari berman, Senior Reporter at mother jones. Hes the author of give us the ballot the modern struggle for Voting Rights in america. His recent piece, lawsuits falsehoods, and a lot of white , men trumps Election Commission meets amid growing controversy. And in washington, d. C. , were joined by kristen clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law. The group has filed a complaint against kansas secretary of state kris kobach. Ari berman, you are tweeting like crazy yesterday. Talk about what happened. It is important to note this commission is predicate a gigantic life. Which is that millions of people voted legally in the 2016 election. There is no evidence of that. If donald trump had made that statement, there would be no commission. Hasndly, this commission been steeped in controversy from the very beginning. First with the makeup of the Commission Like kris kobach who along history of suppressing votes and leading the have the fact that you have a request to the voter data of every single american. There have been at least seven lawsuits filed against the commission. Theres been evidence a are using personally else to conduct their business, the very thing that the republicans criticized Hillary Clinton for. This was the backdrop to the meeting and New Hampshire. We heard a number of extremely radical things. First off, the idea of a background check for voting from john lott, the nras go to expert, was the craziest thing ive heard yet from this commission. And that is saying a lot. You have kris kobach, the commissions vice chair leading the meeting, saying that voter fraud could the election in New Hampshire. There is no evidence of this stuff nonetheless, he is still making this claim. He is a paid columnist for breitbart, the socalled platform for the altright which likely violates government ethics clause because hes using his platform as head of the commission to then profit for websites like breitbart. They have all sorts of other experts on this commission making lots of falsehoods about voter fraud. He at this up and what is happening is that there are all of these lies about the voter fraud length the groundwork for a massive Voter Suppression campaign. What i am concerned about is the radical things were hearing are becoming normalized by this commission. Itple are going to say seriously because it is a president ial commission, even if it has no legitimacy to begin with. Amy lets turn to tuesdays meeting when the vice chair of the socalled Election Integrity commission, kobach, claimed people are flooding across borders to vote come suggesting we will never know the legitimacy of the election, his comments that provoked criticism from New Hampshire secretary of state bill gardner who is hosting the meeting in manchester. This is kobach followed by gardner. Last week, the speaker of the New Hampshire house of representatives issued a letter roughlyng that 5000 of 6500 people who registered under the same day registration role on the day of the election on november 8, 2016, about 5300 of them as of 10 month later still had not obtained a New Hampshire drivers license which is required a residence within 60 days of moving, nor had they registered a vehicle. So this is subject of concern because there have often been anecdotal reports of people driving into New Hampshire because of the same day registration day stoked and voting because it is a battleground state. We will never know the answer regarding legitimacy of that particular election. Unlike my state of kansas, that does not have people flooding across the border to participate in primaries possibly cast a vote. In New Hampshire, it is a swing state. Everybody comes here. I remember when i was at harvard, i came up to work on the primary for bob dole. There wasnt send a registration back then, but if there had been, i know a few people who would have been tempted to say, well, im living in a hotel for a week for my maybe i will cast a vote. The question of whether our election, as we have recorded it valid. Al and and it is real and valid. And [applause] and because of that is to hamsher secretary of state bill gardner refuting the claims the vice chair of the commission kris kobach. There are a lot of calls from the hamsher for gardner to quit this commission, saying no matter what he does on the commission, he is legitimizing it. Kristen clarke, you have a complaint filed around this commission. Your response to what they are saying and your concerns about what you heard yesterday . One thing that deeply concerns me about the commission is the way that it is structured. It is indeed stacked with individuals who that made a career out of pushingtry. But yesterdays meeting was not one that allowed for a real or robust discussion about some of the false claims and data that have been put on the table by kris kobach, by john lott, and others. You had gardner in their who rightfully rejected,s claims kobachs claims about fraudulent votes as reckless, but he truly was a lone voice of dissent in that room. The commission put together a panel there were about 12 people that the public had an opportunity to listen to a very longross day. Every single speaker that presented to the commission yesterday was a white male. What i find problematic about that is that voting is something that is central in american democracy. Voting, at the end of the day, is about inclusion of all voices. It is about having the voices of all people heard. This is a commission that has a preconceived agenda and is its existence is solely to lay the groundwork for what will ultimately be an Aggressive National push of laws like photo id requirements, burdensome proof of citizenship uirements, john lives john lotts suggestion we use guntype background checks on voters. I mean, this is what the commission is racing towards. It once a world in whi we normalize boaters suppression. It once a world in which we make the norm, restrictions on access to the ballot box. One of the reasons why the Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law is fighting this administration in court and working to push back against this commission is because we see its agenda as ultimately dangerous to american democracy. When we were in court two weeks ago, the judge was scolding of the administration for its. Ailure to be transparent during their first meeting, they failed to disclose the documents and materials they relied upon in their entirety. And the administration had to beg the court for forgiveness. In the lead up to yesterdays meeting, we saw a little more disclosure this time, a little more transparency, but a lot of those materials that the commission is marshaling our falls data false data, like s concept thousands voted fraudulently in the hamshers election. We know that is not true. We know kobachs summit is was targeted students, targeted africanamericans and latinos throughout his career with voting restrictions. And is somebody who has made a career out of making it harder for one rubble vulnerable communities to vote. About whatvealing this commission plans to do. First, he takes a fact, which is that thousands of people used outofstate travels licenses in New Hampshire, which driver licenses, which is legal, and misconstrues it as evidence of fraud. He repeats that in a breitbart column. It was covered everywhere on the right as proof of fraud and it was nothing of the sort. Then he is using that false claim to attacks and day put her registration, which is really important because election day registration, the ability to register and vote on the same day increases voter turnout more than any other thing you can do. And a lot of people dont register before the election. Remember in new yorks primary . You had to switch parties like six months before the election. Registration allows many people who might otherwise not participate, to be able to cast a ballot. These are the kind of things theyre going after. Going after policies that make it easier to vote and then trying to put in place all of these policies to make it harder to vote. Look at kansas. Of electionnstead day registration, theres a lot requiring proof of citizenship meaning you have to show your certificate, naturalization papers, or passports to vote. That has blocked one and seven kansans from being able to register to vote. Over 30,000 people. Kobachs homestay is a microcosm he is trying to export these all across the country. Amy i want to talk about the significance of an gmail from the Heritage Foundation sent to attorney general Jeff Sessions. Writing talk about his significant and is enough. This is such an incendiary enough a smoking go. He is at the Heritage Foundation, really the leading voice pushing the myth of voter fraud and pushing Voter Suppression efforts both inside and outside the government. When he was in the george w. Bush Justice Department and the Civil Rights Division, described by former lawyers as the point person for undermining the Civil Rights Division history of protecting Voting Rights. Is a very controversial figure. He sent any now to Jeff Sessions in february 2017, before the commission had been constituted, saying they should exclude democrats, exclude mainstream republicans, saying they should exclude academics all of the people who have expertise in this issue should be excluded. And this shows the fix was in from the very beginning. That mike pence at the first meeting of his commission said, we have no preconceived notions of preordained results. In fact, the now shows the exact opposite. The democrats chosen work near fig leaves, the power of the commission was always going to rest with the people i kris kobach who have lied over and over about voter fraud and that legitimate officials and the Republican Party who have studied this issue, secretaries of states, academics who of long look to this, have would be excluded from the beginning. We knew from the beginning this was illegitimate because it was predicate on a gigantic live. This imo concern proves what theyre trying to do. Amy i want to ask you about this report from reuters, the ideologically divided u. S. Supreme Court Tuesday handed a went to republicans in texas i putting on hold rulings by putting on hold that said it discriminated against minority voters. Talk about the significance of this. What is unfortunate is this means restricting maps that have been found to be unconstitutional will now stand in the state of texas. Texas is an interesting place. This is a state where multiple courts in 2017 has found state officials have acted with discriminatory purpose, with discriminatory animus when it comes to voting. And that is whether we are talking about by instituting a restrictive photo id law or in the way they are redrawn district boundaries in different parts of the state. It is remarkable in 2017 to have a court find that elected officials are acting with animus. The Supreme Courts decision yesterday means that residents across that state have to live in a world in which unconstitutional maps are in place. Thesemy hope that all of cases now pending in texas and across the country reach a resolution point soon. In 2013, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a case called Shelby County alabama that truly open up the floodgates of butter suppression across our country. We have seen voter discrimination at a rate and intensity that we have not seen in previous years. The Election Integrity commission is part of this nationwide assault that we are seeing on the right to vote. One other Significant Development yesterday was members of congress, including senator schumer, issued calls for defining the commission and have called for the commission to be disbanded. The Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law, that is something that we are fighting for because we deem this commission to be an unprecedented tool to promote Voter Suppression. We deem this to be a vehicle to incentivize state officials across the country to put in franchise. Ers to the and we should be at a point in american democracy where we are working on making it more inclusive, working to expand participation rates, and working to figure out how everyone can have their voice heard. At every turn, this a administration has made clear their hostility to the right to vote. Amy i want to thank you both for being with us, kristen clarke, Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law. The organization has filed a complaint against kansas secretary of state kris kobach, the vice chair of president Donald Trumps Election Integrity commission. Mother berman with jones, covering Voting Rights. Only come back, will the 911 case finally go to trial . We will speak with harpers editor andrew cockburn. Stay with us. [music break] amy go to democracynow. Org to see our full segment on it he windsor, the Marriage Equality claim their who died tuesday here in new york at the age of 88. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As the nation marks the 16th anniversary this week of the september 11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the pentagon, questions still swirling about the role of saudi arabia. 9 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers, 15 of them work from saudi arabia. 16 years later, 9 11 families and survivors are continuing their efforts to take saudi arabia to trial. Just this week, the New York Post reported new evidence presented in the case alleges the Saudis Embassy in washington, d. C. , pay for two saudi nationals living undercover in the u. S. To fly from phoenix, the washington, d. C. , in a dry run for the 9 11 attacks. The familys lawyers say the new allegations offer a pattern of both financial and Operational Support by the saudi government. We go now to washington, d. C. , where were joined by andrew cockburn. His latest piece in harpers is headlined crime and punishment will the 9 11 case finally go to trial . Welcome, andrew. Can you please layout that case . The case it is a consolidation of various lawsuits that were brought in almost immediately after the attacks. It alleges that the hijackers received Material Support and backing, financial and organizational, from agents of the saudi government acting and the capacity as agents of the saudi government. And therefore, the saudi government is itself liable for the attacks on 9 11. Amy and talk about who the plaintiffs are. Whole bunchy are a of people. 6500, roughly, in all. They are the, first of all, the bereaved families, widows, parents, children orphaned not orphaned, but bereaved families whose husbands, sons, mothers were killed in the attacks. Also includes survivors, people who were in the attacks but managed to at least escape with their lives, even if they were injured. And it also includes Insurance Companies who had to pay out millions and billions of dollars in claims, but are now seeking to get some of that money back from the people they allege actually caused the attack. Amy last year i interviewed bob graham, coach of the joint congressional inquiry. This is what he said. Immediately after 9 11, the government began to look for suspects who had helped these hijackers. And they focused on iraq. They even had a concocted story that a representative of Saddam Hussein had met with al qaeda progress the czech republic. That turned out to be false. Isfeeling is what happened they wanted to go to war with iraq, had wanted to, particularly people like cheney and rumsfeld, and it was embarrassing to find out that the information that was moreing available seemed to point to saudi arabia as having been a country that aided the 9 11, rather than iraq. So the response to that is, lets suppress the information about saudi arabias involvement so we dont confuse the people in the congress as we push hard inget authorization for war iraq. Amy the former u. S. Senator bob graham. Talk more about what he is saying, andrew cockburn. Thats right. In a way, there is one thing the Bush Administration and senator theam agreed on, which was hijacking for the 9 11 operation to succeed, they had to have had the support of a nationstate. I mean, in terms of money and in terms of contacts, in terms of these were a bunch of most ofy sort of hicks, them, who arrived in this country into not speak english, did not know people. They were all taken care of and found places to live and given to flyingsteered lessons. It was a very sophisticated, well organized operation. That had to be, in grams of you and mine, too, had to have been done by a state. The Bush Administration try to say it was a rat. They so wanted it to be iraq or wanted to be of the believe it was iraq am a that prisoners interrogators at guantanamo were under instructions to torture detainees in guantanamo into admitting, falsely, that this link between iraq and the 9 11 had lacking hijacking. Iy why was iraq the focus mean, if you polled most people in u. S. , they would not know 15 of the 19 hijackers were from saudi arabia. Why wasnt in the interest, do you believe, of the state to do this . All, theof relationship with saudi arabia ,s so supper saint in the eyes if you want to collect, the ruling apparatus in this country. It runs very deep. Theyre all sorts of aspects to it, most vividly, the huge financial benefits that flow at least to the u. S. Defense industry, the military Industrial Complex in terms of arms, contracts, consultancy contracts for retired general officers. You know, there is a very close sort of symbiotic relationship for the whole relationship of the Oil Companies to saudi arabia. You know, things you would not think of. For example, every american i been informed every time an American Military flight flies over saudi arabia which they really have to do to get to the big bases in the gulf that ask permission from the saudis. To jerk our cheney casually, refuse. There were subsidies on the price of oil. There was allegedly supporting worldwide net get network of mosques. This idea that even know they just attacked us, we would suddenly turn on the saudis just did not compute. Michael you talk about jacobson, who he was, and what he uncovered . He is absolutely key. Investigator on the senate the joint inquiry by the house and Senate Intelligence committees, which was chaired by bob graham. It was set up right after the attacks. Jacobson was investigator in that. Early on, he noticed an odd discrepancy, a mention of the fbi files here in washington, that seemed to say that one of the hijackers had been in contact with an fbi informant. He thought this was quite interesting. He wanted he put in to go to san diego. I should say, this is a hijacker who been living in san diego. He pushed to go to san diego to look into the files on the local fbi office. Interestingly, the head of the fbi, robert mueller, now investigating the trump allegations brought by donald trump, pushed moved heaven and earth to stop jacobson going to san diego. Nevertheless, the committee insisted he do so and he went there. He found most of what we know about the saudi connection. You found in the files, they had there was plenty of information about a saudi agent who everyone in the fbi believed was a saudi agent, who had been in close contact with the hijackers, who had found them a place to live in san diego will step had opened a bank account for them, had helped them does introduce them to people to get flying lessons, to get drivers licenses. Basically, then their case officer, it seems. This was all turned out i could go on. There are other people. Indirectly, the pretty straight forward procedure, went to the hijacker or two the man looking after the hijackers. Worked for alf Company Owned by the Saudi Ministry of defense on amy we just have 20 seconds. The subtitle of your piece, will the 911 case finally go to trial . Will it . Yes. Moving toward that. We have had the complaint, the motion to dismiss that will be answered. It looks like sometime next year we will actually get an actual trial going. In the saudis are freaked out about this. Making every effort to derail this thing and try to get the law changed so they cant be sued. Amy we have to leave it there but we will continue to follow it. Andrew cockburn, we will link to your piece crime and punishment. That does it for todays broadcast. One gonzalez contending his speaking tour. You can check democracynow. Org. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or i am lidia bastianich, and teaching you about italian food has always been my passion. I want to always make it prettier and better and tastier, but this doesnt need a single thing. Now its time to learn the basics of the italian kitchen. So join me and master all things italian. 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