Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240714

The rule of law and you must face impeachment proceedings. Impeachment of the president will be cosmetic. In fact, probably exacerbate e e very antagonisms and divisions that are running apart the country. Amy we will speak with journalist chris hedges. His latest article the problem with impeachment and john , one of the organizations calling for trumps impeachment. Then we turned to the water crisis in newark with mayor ras baraka. The plan is never altered. Restlan now and we wont until every lead service line in the city is completely replaced. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. House democrats have subpoenaed president Donald Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani seeking documents related to his work in the ukraine. Last week, giuliani admitted on television that he had urged the Ukrainian Government to investigate trumps political rival joe biden. This comes as House Democrats continue to build their case for impeaching the president following a whistleblower complaint filed by an Intelligence Officer working in who was detailed to work in the white house at one point. The whistleblower complaint focused on a july 25 phone call during which trump asked the ukrainian president to do him a favor by investigating the actions of democrats including joe biden and his son hunter. On monday, the wall street journal revealed secretary of state mike pompeo was among the Administration Officials who were on the call. Meanwhile, evidence is growing that the Trump Administration pressured other nations including auaustralia, britain, and italy to take steps to help trump politically. The New York Times reports trump personally pressed australias Prime Minister to help attorney general william barr with a probe aimed at discrediting the mueller probe. Barr also traveled to italian italy last week where he reportedly pressed italian officials to help his probe. Secretary of state mike pompeo is in italy today. This all comes as President Trump is continuing to threaten lawmakers pushing impeachment. On monday, trump suggested house intelligence chair adam schiff, should be arrested for treason. Trump also publicly admitted he is trying to find out the identity of the anonymous whistleblower, in possible violation of whistleblower protection laws. Pres. Trump were trying to find out about a whistleblower. When you have a whistleblower that reports things that are incorrect. Amy attorneys for the whistleblower are saying they have serious concerns for the clients safety. Mitch mcconnell on monday said the senate would hold a trial if the house impeaching is the president. Hong kong protesters returned to the streets today as china marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the peoples republic of china. Hong kong police fired live ammunition at protesters for the First Time Since the street protests began 17 weeks agago. One protester was shot in the chest. Police also fired tear gas and Water Cannons while protesters were seen throwing molotov cocktails. This comes as reuters reports there are now up 12,000 chinese troops in hong kong twice the number is when the protests began. Meanwhile in beijing, china held what has been described as one of the countrys Largest Military parades ever to mark 70 years since mao zedong declared the creation of the peoples republic of china on october 1, 1949. President xi jinping spopoke eaearlier today in tiananmen square. On our junior forward, we must peaceful reunification for one country, to systems, maintain stability of hong kong, push for peaceful development, unite all Chinese People to continue to work hard for the complete reunification of our nation. Amy antigovernment protests are continuing in haiti. Much of the capitol Port Au Prince has been locked down for the past two weeks. At leastst four people have been shot and killed in recent days after Haitian Police Office Opened fire on protesters using live ammunition and tear gas. The protesters are demanding the resignation of president moise jovenel. This is a haitian activist. Peoplple are fighting and the government is repressing it. A solution to hunger. To dismiss it, means murders. Being on the street is a political battle against the system. Amy in somalia, the mililitant grououp alshabaab is claiming responsibility for attacking a u. U. S. Drone base and an Italian Military cononvoy on mondaday. Meanwhile, Amnesty International is accccusing the united statatf killing ththree somali civiliann farmers in an airstrike in march. The u. S. Claimed the strike had targeted members of alshabaab. Meanwhile in nigeria, the imprisoned journalist and former president ial candidate Omoyele Sowore pleaded not guilty to treason and other charges on monday. He has been jailed since early august after calling for protests against nigerian president muhammadu buhari. Sowore, who founded the new yorkbased news outlet sahara reporters, briefly spoke to reporters on monday before being pulled away by Nigerian Security agents. [indiscernible] amy to see our interview on the imprisonment, go to democracynow. Org. The Trump Administration has blocked cubas Health Minister from attending a regional meeting of the World Health Organization in washington. This comes as part of an increasing crackdown by the Trump Administration on cuba. Last week the u. S. Placed sanctions on forormer cuban president raul castro along with his children foror supporting te venezuelan government. The United States also recently expelled two cuban diplomats assigned to the united nations. Meanwhile, cuba is facing a severe fuel shortage due to crippling u. S. Sanctions. New york republican congressman Chris Collins has resigned. He and his son are expected to plead guilty today to accusations of Insider Trading involving an australian Biotech Company on which collins served on the board. Collins was the first republican congressmembers to suppoport Donald Trumps run for the white house. In campaign news, Bernie Sanders has announced he raised a massive 25 million in the third quarter, the biggest fundraising quarter for any democratic candidate so far this year. Sanders now received donations from 1. 4 million individuals, more than any other democratic candidate. In news from missouri, lawyers for a death row prisoner scheduled to be executed tonight are urging the missouri governor to halt the execution. Lawyers warn the execution of Russell Bucklew may be especially gruesome. Bucklew has a rare condition which causes unstable, bloodfilled tumors to grow in his head, neck, and throat. His lawyers say the tumors may burst during the execution, causing him to possibly suffocate. In seattle, washington climate prototters shut down four chas Bank Branches on mony y to prototesjpmorgrg chases funding ofofhe fossil fuel industry. 11 pple e we arresesd. Accoining tone c cou, jp moan chase h loaned 96 billion to fsisil fu coororatio sinincehe sigigning of t thearis agreement i202015. In san francisco, Police Arrested 37 Animal Rights activists monday after they occupied a Whole Foods Market for more than three hours. The group direct action everywhere accused whole foods and its Parent Company amazon of purchasing food from factory farms where criminal animal abuse has been exposed. During the protest, activists erected a 15foottall cutout of amazon Ceo Jeff Bezos head on top p of the stores roof. California governor gavin newsom has signed the nations first law to allow for College Athletes to be paid for endorsement deals and to hire agents. The law is set to go into effect in 2023. In a statement, Governor Newsom said colleges and universities reap billions from these student athletes sacrifices and success but block them from earning a single dollar. Thats a bankrupt model one that puts institutions ahead of the students they are supposed to serve. Anand this week marks the 100th anniversary of the elaine massacre when white vigilantes in arkansas massacred hundreds of africanamericans in one of the deadliest incidents of racial violence in the nations history. The massacre began after black sharecroppers attempted to organize with the progressive farmers and Household Union of america to demand higher pay for cotton. A new memorial to the victims of the massacre was recently unveiled in the county seat of helena, arkansas. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show with the growing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. House democrats subpoenaed trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani monday, seeking documents related to his work in the ukraine. Last week, giuliani admitted on television that he had urged the Ukrainian Government to investigate trumps political rival joe biden. This comes as House Democrats continue to build their case for impeaching the president following a whistleblower complaint filed by an Intelligence Officer working in who was detailed to work in the white house at the one point. Whistleblower complaint focused on a phone call were President Trump asked the ukrainian president to do him a favor by investigating the actions of democrats including joe biden and his son hunter. On monday, the wall street journal revealed secretary of state mike pompeo was among the Administration Officials who were on the controversial july 25 phone call. Meanwhile, evidence is growing that the Trump Administration also pressured other nations, including australia and italy, to take steps to help trump politically. The New York Times reports trump personally pressed australias Prime Minister to help attorney general william barr with his review of the origins of the mueller probe. Barr also traveled to italy last week where he reportedly pressed italian officials to help his probe. Amy President Trump is continuing to threaten lawmakers pushing impeachment. On monday, trump suggested house intelligence chair adam scschiff should be arrested for treason. Pres. Trump adam schiff made up a phony call and he ready to congressss and he readady to the people of the United States. It is a disgrace. This whole thing is a disgrace. There has been tremendous corruption and we are seeking it. It is called drain the swamp. Amy trump also publicly admitted he is trying to find out the ididentity of the anonymous whistleblower, in possible violation of whistleblower protection laws. Pres. Trump were trying to find out about a whistleblower. When you have a whistleblower reports things that were incorrect. Amy in a series of tweets over the weekend, President Trump accused the unnamed whistleblower of spying on the prpresident , p promising big consequences. He also threatened civil war if impeachment proceedings move forward. 2020 hopeful senator Kamala Harris did monday look, lets be honest. Donald trumps twitter account should be suspended. Well, for more, we host a debate on impeachment. Joining us here in new york city are two guests. John bonifaz is an attorney and political activist specializing in constitutional law and voting rights. He is the cofounder and president of free speech for people, one of the organizations calling for trumps impeachment. John bonifaz is the coauthor with ron fein and ben clements of the constitution demands it the case for the impeachment of donald trump. Chris hedges is a pulitzerprize winning journalist, awardwinning author, and activist. He is a columnist for the news website truthdig. His latest article is headlined the problem with impeachment. He h has written numerous books, including most recently, america the farewell tour. We welcome you both to democracy now john bonifaz, lets begin with you. Why do you feel donald trump should be impeached . Donald trump is a threat to our republic. He defies the e constitution and the rule of law almost on the daily basis and really from the moment he took the oath of office, he showed this disregard for the constitution, refusing to divest from his business interest all over the world and directly colliding with the anticorruption provisions of the constitution, foreign and domestic im im its clauses. Enforcement, the Impeachable Offenses did not stop there. He repeatedly has been abusing his power and the oath of office beach meant proceedings. Juan and yet the house is looking basically at one issue, what hapappen with the phone cal in ukraine and chris hedges, you said the fatal mistake that trump made is trying to take down a fellow member of the ruling elite. It reminds me of the watergate hearings where the activities that were carried out by the Nixon White House against the democratic headquarters in watergate were directed at t the elites. All of those activities have been carried out before, including breakins into Daniel Ellsbergs psychiatrist office, against antiwar activists. But it is when those activities were targeted i think that ts what we have seen and that is what has triggered quickly from nancy pelosi, who up until now has been reluctant to carry out impeachment. But what they have done or what the Trump White House has done nominee byhe favored the democratic donor class. That is not necessarily an argument to not proceed with impeachment t proceedidings. It is s an argument to expand to cover all of his Impeachable Offenses from obstruction of justice, from giving aid and comfort to White Supremacists and neonazis, racists abuses of power, placing children and their families in prison uncoconstitutionally at the southern border. All of the Impeachable Offenses need to be covered by these proceedings, not just the ukraine scandal. I agree with that. I am not against impeachment. The problem is that and use the phrase a rule of law from the very moment trump took office, he was violating the emoluments clause. Very clear evidence he attempted to obstruct justice during the mueller investigation, inciting violence and racism, using taxes to punish people he considered political opponentnts jeff bezos in particular, amazon. But what has been disturbing for me is the shredding of the rule of law. The inability on the part of the ruling elites on both sides of the aisle to stand up for the rule of law until now. And that gets to the much deeper issue that there are centrally we live in a twotiered ecosystem where poverty has been criminalized, we live in a city where eric garner was strangled to death by new York City Police for allegedly selling loose cigarettes, which he wasnt, on the day he was killed. In fact, he was not dodoing ananything. And then wall street, which has essentially rewritten the rules. So my worry about impeachment which im not against impeachment is that people see it as a panacea. I think many in the democratic party, in particular in the liberal class, have personalized our problems in the figure of donald trump. In fact, the malaise runs much deeper this is what i spent the last two years doing in my book the rupturing of what the sociologists call the social bonds. The disenfranchisement of well over half the country, the inability of them to actualize themselves, and acting out in selfdestructive pathologies, whether that is he groups, the opioid crisis, gambling, sexual sadism, et cetera. Go ahead with impeachment, but if we dont begin to address the underlying malaise and disenfranchisement and rage and legitimate rage on the part of the White Working Class, however much trump lies of course, he lies like he breathes the clintons also light and far more damaging ways to the working class and in particular the White Working Class and donald trump. And we know from polls that right before the election in 2016, you had 55 of those who said they were voting for trump. It was because they disliked hillary. Trump was kind of weaponize. He was the middle finger to the establishment. He was weaponize against the man. If we dont begin to deal with those issues, impeachment itself will rent the fabric of society itself into and tested antagonistic tribes and we have to acknowledge the fact we are a country awash of weapons, 300 million weapons, Mass Shootings on the average of one a day we side, pipewith cesar bombs. Amy i want to go to texas congas member al green. He is the first one to have called for impeachment several years ago. On monday, he tweeted trump maliciously attacking a whistleblower and promoting civil unrest to avoid impeachment wont save you. You should have already been impeached for your bigotry, corruption, and disloyalty to our country. Civilwar2 impeachnow democracy now spoke to rep. Al green last week. We have a responsibility to the country and to the future. Onefuture is going to be that will allow a president to assume there are no guard rails if we dont act now. We have to demonstrate that congress will honor the constitution and that we have principles that we will place above politics, that we will place the people above our political parties. I think if we do this, we will consider democracy and not democrats. We will consider the republic, and not republicans. Amy Houston Congress member al green speaking just after nancy pelosi had announced the impeachment inquiry will go forward, something he has called for for several years. A lawyer, canas you explain now theyre going after trump for ukraine and for pressuring the cranium president to investigate his political rival joe biden and his son hunter. How does this expand . We know the same thing happen with clinton. It started with whitewater, but ended up around his relationship an intern. An inintern. I thihink we have to o firstk at why congress s s started these impeacachment proceedings. The narrative right now among conventional thinkers is it started because of the explosive evidence that emerged from the ukraine scandal. Fact, that is not really true. For many months, there has been a Peoples Movement building demanding impeachment proceedings along all of the Impeachable Offenses this president has already committed. And this was the last straw. This evidence coming from this scandal finally pushed congrgre, those who wewere sitting on the fence, including speaker pelosi, to do the right thing and start impeachment inquiry, which is why we should not let up now with this movement. We need to pressure members of congress to expand the scope, to include the very racist abuses of power congressman greene has talked about, the emoluments relations, the obstruction of justice, and so forth. I dont disagree with chris we have a twotiered traditional system here, but that doesnt mean we dont hold this president accountable for his abususes of power that began frm the moment he took the oath of office. Amy were going to go to break and come back to this discussion. John bonifaz is an attorney and political activist, for impeachment. Hedges, awardwinning author, questioning is impeachment the way to go now. Then we will be joined by the mayor of newark, ras b baraka. Stay with us. [music break] amy you can tell the world by Jessye Norman and new york philharmonic. The legendary opera singer died monday at the age of 74. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan were continuing our debate on the impeachment of President Donald Trump with john bonifaz, attorney and political activist, and chris hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, awardwinning author, and activist. Chris, i want to ask if we could go deeper into what is going on. You mention this whole issue of the potential for even deeper conflict in the United States. But i want to ask you a someone who has studied the systems at length over many years, are we reaching the point where capitalist democracy has reached its limits . Were seeing a many countries around the world, total paralysis of governments in britain, peru the president just recently suspended the national assembly. The similes refusing the assemblies refusing to listen to his orders. In the u. S. , were seeing a virtual paralysis of our government as a result of this response to an authoritarian dictator. Hugemocracy, given the polarization of wealth,h, has reached its limits in what it can accomplish . I think democracy has been destroyed by global capitalism, that we have the facade of democracy. Lobbyists write our rules. The Supreme Court inverts constitutional rights. The whole idea that unlimited Corporate Cash is defined by our Supreme Court as the right to petition the government is a form of free speech is an inversion of constitutional rights. The fact that we are the most spied upon, watched, monitored population in Human History and i covered east and i think e of unfetterednce were unregulated capitalism which as karl marx pointed out, a revolutionary force. I think when you hit i think you hit on a very important point. The capitalist class essentially , which h has orcheststrated ths largest transference of wealth locally upwards and Human History, is determined to beat call them i would modern figures like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, essentially new deal democrats and they will turn to support demagogues like trump, like boris johnson, et cetera, that we are seeing a rise rather than carry out policies that will and will your rate the vast disparity and power and wealth. The new yorkin times and there was an article about Elizabeth Warren and how the donor class within the democratic party, which of course backs joe biden, which gets back to the whole reaction, i think, by the democratic leadership over this issue of ukraine, that they have made it very clear they will swing to trump rather than support, particular warren or sanders. Yes, there is a complete breakdown within the Democratic Institutions that once made piecemeal and a criminal reform possible and criminal reform possible. This goes back to when i covered yugoslavia that when there is that societal breakdown, the capitalist class, they may find they do find a figure like trump older and repugnant, but they will back him as opposed to, i would even call them political moderates like warren or sanders, who talk about writing the gross inequality in terms of power and in terms of economics that has taken place. Juan john bonifaz, what about trump retreating the statements pentecostalemist minister from texas that civil war may be possible if people try to impeach trump . There are people on the right in america that are willing to fight to keep trump empower . A harvard professor responded to that tweet saying that is a separate dependent ground now for impeachment proceedings for the president to retweet that kind of statement and try to incite violence. But we also inking somehow this president has not already done that kind of incitement violence. Shooter citedl paso his rhetoric in regards to that terrible mass shooting. In this president will continue to engage in destructive behavior and abuseses of power regardless of whether or not we are somehow claiming that he should be held accountable during the election. That is why impeachment needs to move forward because he is a direct and serious threat to our republic today. That is why the framers placed impeachment power in n the constititution. The other popoint i would make here is that wewe cannonot coweo the threats of violence by saying that mob rule gets to rule the day. We have to lift up the constitution and the promise that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States. Amy this impeachment proceeding is moving fast. You have at least the plan of the House Intelligence Committee next week to bring in the former u. S. Ambassador to ukraine who was pushed out and then on thursday, the former u. S. Special envoy to ukraine just quit, and michael atkinson, the intelligence Inspector General will testify on friday. Then also on friday, subpoena deadlines for mike pompeo, who is in italy right now. Rudy giuliani also has been subpoenaed. The process of how this will work. On monday, Mitch Mcconnell told cnbc the senenate would have no choice butut to take up trumums impepeachment if the house chahs the president. Rule to a Senate Impeachment that would take 67 votes to change, so i would have no choice but to take it up. How long you are on it is a whole different matter. But i would have no choice but to take it up. Based on a central on impeachment. Amy that is senator Mitch Mcconnell, Senate Majority leader. What does that look like . You have studied the impeachment process. It goes from the house to the senate. What does a trial look like . John roberts would preside over it . Yes im in the house. There would be house managers that were present the articles of impeachment with the evidence to thehe senate and the senate sits as the jury in this instance. It is significant senator mcconnell mamade this statement becaususe he is s facing reelecn or potentially not in the state of kentucky, and he s sees where the public is moving on this. We have already seen a huge spike just in the last week in terms of public support for this impeachment inquiry. Cbs news had it at 55 of the public supporting this. Senators, both republican and democrat, are going to need to cast their vote on this historic question and decide where they stand. They will face consequences if they do not uphold the constitution. Amy chris hedges, i want you to respond to alexandra cossey of cortez who told reporters friday it would be much worse if congress doesnt move forward with impeachment proceedings. What were saying with ukraine, surely serious. We can ask ourselves about whether we want to move forward the president has committed several Impeachable Offenses. What he has admitted to his already impeachable regardless of future developments. What he has already admitted to is an Impeachable Offense among others, i anticipate, and i believe there will be discussion of when we draft or the judiciary examines the question on filing potential articles of impeachment. What those articles will include. I think we have to hold this president accountable. We have to protect our democracy. And i believe we will be doing so right now. Amy alexandria ocasiocortez was a major force in pushing House Speaker nancy pelosi to conduct an impeachment inquiry. Im not against impeachment. The problem is impeachment divorced from confronting the decay and disintegration of our Democratic Institutions and the vast social inequality that has fed the rage on the part of the White Working Class will potentially make worse. I think, yes, we do have to honor and we should have 2. 5 years ago began to honor the rule of law, but there are millions of Trump Supporters who look at him as primarily a cold figure. Who see in his power an extension of their own power. A way to compensate for their own sense of disempowerment. It is very clear that they will react. They already have attempted to react with violence. Ocasiocortez herself has been the recipient of death threats. In this violence against her has beenen stoked by the president. That somehows people think that impeachment is the panacea. Removing trump noam chomsky, probably correctly, points out pence will be worse because he comes out of the community of christian fascists. It is very dangerous for those heretics . Jesus did not come to drop the blessed or bless the white raise. I think it has been perhaps one of the greatest failings of the liberal church. Our problems are far more severe. Trump is the product. He is what vomited up from a. Ailed democracy like in yugoslavia. We have to begin to address the fundamental root causes that have created the political crisis and economic crisis, social, even cultural crisis that we are in. And ifif we dont confront that crisis, impeachment may very growing g gasoline on the antagonisms and violence that is besetting this country. , if nancysonifaz close if Nancy Pelosis decision to move forward based on the phone call with ukraine president , i feel like im in casablanca, surprised there i is gambling at this establishment. The ability of president of the United States or pressure for leaders to do what they want sort of in part of the process of how the United States wields power . Or is it just the situation here that the president did it directly himself rather than have one of his minions exert the pressure . No, the issue is he solicited for interference to help with his election campaign, not that he solicited pressure or forced a country to do something that he claims was for the you and ones people convinced iran will back the release of the iranian hostages until the president was an ungraded. I dos no history want to comeme back to t this ia that impeachment is a panacea. No onene in the impeachment movement, and has been a Peoples Movement pressuring foforeign no one is suggesesg it is a panacea. What is required is that congress do its job and hold this president accountable for his abuses of power. That doesnt memean we cant wak and chew gum at the same time. Free speech for people has been around for 10 years. Given taking on corruption in government we have been taking on corruption in government, but we did not believe we can be treated that made it without also taking on the unprecedented corruption of this presidency. I do want to add, becacause of s the peoples s movement, the pressure needs to continue and will continue on congress to expand the scope of the ininquiy beyond the ukraine scandal. October 13, therell will be a national day of action called by one of our organizational alalls by the people for marches all across the country. Already a number of marches have been organized on the eve of congress returning from its recess. People can find out more about that by going to bytheptl. Org. That is why we are where we are today y because people have demanded this. Millions of people all over the country, that congress do his job and uphold the constitution. Amy we will continue discussions like this and i think about for being with us john bonifaz is an attorney and , political activist specializing in constitutional law and voting rights. He is the cofounder and president of free speech for people, one of the organizations calling for trumps impeachment. John bonifaz is the coauthor of the constitution demands it the case for the impeachment of donald trump. Chris hedges is a pulitzerprize winning journalist, awardwinning author, and activist. He is a columnist for the news website truthdig. His latest article the problem , with impeachment. He has written numerous books. The last america the farewell , tour. When we come back, we turn to the water crisis in newark with mayor ras bararaka. Stay with us. [music break] amy the healers by randy weston. Performing on democracy now in 2012. On sunday, in brooklyn, where he lived, codenamed randy weston way. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we end todays show with the water crisis in newark, new jersey, where city officials recently announced thousands of water filters handed out to residents have significantly reduced lead in Drinking Water to safe levels. Lead contamination has plagued the city for years. In 2017, more than 13 of new jersey children with elevated lead levels were in newark, despite just 3. 8 of the states children living there. But lead levels spiked even higher in 2019. Over the summer, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit against newark, accusing it of violating federal safe Drinking Water laws. The crisis came to a head last month following revelations that water filters distributed to residents may not have been effective. In august, the Environmental Protection agency ordered newark officials to distribute bottled water to 15,000 residents, saying water filters did not fully shield thousands of homes from lead exposure. Newark residents waited in line for hours to receive their water. The city then stopped handing out the bottles after discovering many of them had exceeded their bestby date. Last week, newark mayor ras baraka reassured residents the water filters are now working and removing lead below the federal action level. Only for the, not hundreds of thousands of residents of the city or the 18,000 homes that are affected or the 14,000 per chronic affected, but im happy because filters are used in my home may also be working. So it is good news that 97 of upon coming work out oft the the matter what and 99 if youap amy meanwhile, new jejersey officials have signed off on a 120 million bond with essex county to fasttrack the replacement of thousands of contaminated pipes in the city in the next 24 to 30 months. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the state would spend a Million Dollars on a Community Assistance program to help newark residents install water filters in their homes and collect water samples for additional testing. But new jerseys political leaders are e facing mounting criticisms for their handling of the water crisis. Advocates say the city downplayed the severity of the problem for years and has been slow on solutions, comparing newarks water crisis to flint, michigan. Newark is the largest city in new jersey with nearly 300,000 residents. Its water crisis primarily affects its low income and black community. Tomorrow, thats wednesday, newark mayor ras baraka will hold a state of the water town hall meeting. Well, for more, were joined now by mayor rasas baraka. He was born and grew up in newark and represented the citys south ward from 2010 until his election as mayor. Mayor baraka is a longtime educator credited with turning around newarks Central High School as principal from 2007 to 2014. His father, the late amiri baraka, was a global activist and noted poet. Newark mayor ras baraka, welcome back to democracy now it is great to have you with us. Lets get right to it. There were lead excesses two years ago and every quarter since. E. The concern is that you stated the water was safe when your data clearly showed it wasnt. It may have been clean at the source, but when the resident strike it, he wasnt. Why did you put on the city website the water is safe to drink . That has been the story people have been using since the beginning. I think it is a little disingenuous because it stops there. If you read the enentire statemenent, says not only begis with that, but ends with, if you have a lead service line you have a problem and you should call this number or get on the website and find out if you have a lead service line. People have been putting out the story that we are saying the water is safe, period, point blank, without reading the rest of it. In the residents to have the rest of that. It doesnt acaccount for the fat ththat based on the lead and copper was at the notice home to every resident in the city that said we had lead exceedances. Nobody would know except that we tested the water and reported it. It doesnt make any sense for us to put out one thing is a something absolutely different. It is also important to understand everybody in the city does not have this problem. It is important for us to make a distinction between those folks who do not live in those 14,000 homes that actually have the lead Service Lines and those who do not live in those homes. What has been happening is that is blurred, i think deliberately and purposefully, so the city can believe that every time they turn on the water, there is lead coming out of it. That is absolutely false. People who the next door to me juan when you say 14,000 homes, what is that in comparison to the overall number . About 25 of the homes, the the big buildings. This characterization the class of the people most of these homeowners and newark are middleclass homeowners for the most part. The big buildings were the very low income folks live dont even have lead Service Lines. Youre talking about an array of people in the city that have this problem for many nationalities and classes of folks across the city. Arepeople around newark completely different demographically than the city altogether. We have to be clear on what exactly is happening. I think it has been very, very, very convoluted. Part of it because lack of information n and part of it because we have beenen in this fight with nrdc. I think that has taken our time as opposed to really trying to be clear about what the real problem is. In drinkingroblems water, especially in older citities in the northeast and midwest, it is not unusual. There was a history even before you became mayor. The previous mayor, cory booker, who is now running foror presidt , there are issues as to whether he did what he could apparently, there was a big Corruption Scandal in the water agency during his period of time . Six people into prison. It was or convicted as a result . You becameened before mayor and also, what direct steps did you do once you got the report about the excess lead levels . I cant speak on what happened before i got there honestly,m not sure, of what happened. I do know there was an organization that was running the Water Department when i became mayor that we took the water system completely back from. Ultimately, the reason people even know that we have exceededs is because we test her own water. We test and report it. The minute the epa told us our Corrosion Control was not working, we began giving out 39,000 filters that we paid for. The first exceedances we got in 2017 was about 11 oror 12 homes out of 100. We began to go to those homes to figure out what was going on. So we give these exceedances. We deal with the homes that have them until we can find out what the actual problem is. Andired a firm to come in look at our Water Systems and told us the water system m was fine, that they believe it may be Corrosion Control. We then send it to the epa and they confirmed what the company said, that it was the Corrosion Control inhibitor and we began handing ouout filters f from th. When we got our first exceedances, we lobbied the state to be able to get allows to changnge lead lead the service line. It belongs to ththe homeownerr d ththe state would not allolow uo change peopless lead Service Lines with public need, so we had to get the legislatoro chanange the law which is wht we were working not in 2017 to allow us to be able to change peoples lines. 10 they wanted us to change peoples lines and charge them for it. I thought that was completely ridiculous. We change the lines and then charge the people for doing it . We had to fight and say we did not want to do that. So they allowed us to pay 90 and the homeowner to pay 10 . With the new money, it allows us to pay for the whole thing and bypass and disregard with the state policy is around making homeowners pay for it. We are able to do it for every resident, even those who have lead Service Lines that are not effective. Juan when you say corrosion inhibitor, basically the lead pipes and many of the systems are decomposing so that some Water Systems put in chemicals all Water Systems. Juan basically inhibit the continued corrosion but then there were problems in terms of other chememicals that were addd to the water that reduced the ability y of this inhibitor to work . That is what people are saying. There is no real evidence of it. This is a hypotheses that folks are coming up with. I think that needs to be studied as well, when it happened and why. What we used is still on dps website is something you should use to inhibit corrosion from lead pipes in your water. No one knows why definitively it stops working and i think that needs to be studied and get off of the what we are guessing about so we can define what actually is the problem itself. Amy mayor, last month we talked to yvette jordan, teacher at central high where you are a principal before. She is a resident of newarks south ford. She commented on how you have handled the newark water crisis. I think it is is extremely poor understanding who he is in our community. You first and foremost is an activist. He was born and raised in newark. He came back as a teacher, as an administrator. Ofwas so revered in terms what he was doing, in terms of young people come in terms of those who are really in need. When he was approached with this and he said, no, everything is ane, really it was almost smack in the face of so many of us who supported him. So my husband and i even had him in our yard when he was campaigning and invited others over so he would come and share his ideas. So he is somebody i supported and in many ways i i still support. However, he really defined our public trust and that hurt. The guest yvette jordan. Orl you meet with h new caucus the nrdc or activists with the Newark Water Coalition to talk about the water crisis . None of them have ever tried to meet with me. The nrdc is like this huge behemoth, liberal organization who comes into our city and tells us they want us to signan mou amy a memo of understanding. So they could oversee our water sysystem. I woman said, no, we have our own oversight. Basically, if they wanted to give us best practices, i dont think taking us to court and suing us will be the best way to do that step they could have knocked on the door and said, like any other constituents and said, mayor, we would like to meet and have a discussion about the water issue and how it is being handled or what we think would be the best way to do it. Now they are saying we are in court which was the first part of it. We actually won because they were trying to make us say the entire water system was affected. And that is not the case, which is why we were going back and forth and what this young lady sang on the television, i never told anybody the water was fine altogether i said it was fine unless you have led service line, which is the truth. Amy and how do you know if f u do . On the same document it says, call the Water Department and have your water tested. We have been testing water, testing children for years. You can find out. Or there is a website where you can type in your address. If you have a lead service line, your address pops up. Residents have beeeen doing tha. Amy the vast majority are renters inin newark. How do you get the owners to participate in this . Do you have an issue with the landlords . We do. We havave about 6000 signatures that allow us to change peoples lead Service Lines becauause the homeowner has to give us permission. Locally, we are going to pass a law, which they are voting on today, that allows us to go on peoples per property to change their lead Service Lines without their permission. That takes care of maybe 75 of the renters in the city who do not have a landlord who can come and sign a piece of paper for them. They can still type in their address and find out if that building or home they live in actually has a lead service line. Juan mayor, of also come under criticism by some press accounts, i think somewhat unfairly, that you appointed somebody to be in charge of the water system who had a previous criminal conviction for drugs and doesnt have the normal training to be in charge of a water system of this size. Your response to that . Obviously, someone having been convicted of a crime in the past doesnt necessarily exclude them from ever having any kind of a decent job. I call that the error of omission. In that same interview, it was pointed out seven different licenses he had that qualifies him to operate a water system. License water manager, license to operator, sits on the State Landing copper board. He was the second in charge of the Water Department under the previous water direcector who hd passed away in the middle of this. She thought much of him to give him that title as superintendent. I did not fire him or dismiss him during that time. I allowed him to continue dealing with this process. I thought he was doing a great job. I did not at his criminal record as a decider of whether i was going to replace him in the middle of this crisis based on what he was s doing and his knowledge of what was happening, we decided to keep him on. I did not go out in the street and find him, he was already employed and doing a great job and im glad he is there. If he keeps doing this, he will become the director. Amy i want to read from a letter jamel holley wrote to you in new jersey in august. In the letter, he wrote i am pleading and suggesting to you as the governor of this great state that a state of emergency be called. This request comes on the backs of each human being in new jersey that fears government has not appeared to show protection to them, nor has been transparent in this process that we together now face. What about calling the state of ememergency anand what wouould t mean . . Dealing thing a state of emergency wouldve done at that point is probably try to get as money that we were not sure we were going to get from the federal governrnment will step were still waiting for money now for hurricane sandy. At the end of the day, particularly with the government in d. C. , we were not sure what was going to happen without. Declaring a state of emergency did not mean anything to us in the city of newark. Andere giving out water filters for your nap. We raised our own 120 million. We are going to announce today to deal with the port authority, longstanding fight with port of authority, allowed us to r raise anan additional 155 million to pay the debt service we are going to use the money for, to pay some of the debt service down on the 120 lane dollars that we borrowed. Since thek beginning of this, people have been using this as an opportunity,y, even grandstandig to some instances. My head has been down trying to figure out how to solve this problem from the beginning. That is what we have been doing. Juan what about the federal government, the Trump Administration . Their policy toward you since this crisis emerged . There has been none. Here is no direct relationship nobody has offered us anything. Amy have you asked for federal relief . Sure. We wrote a letter to the white house a year and a half ago asking for assistance and help in infrastructure which is what we are doing now. Amy a lot of money going to build the wall on the border. Your thoughts . We should be using that for infrastructure, particulularly around his water issue. This is billions of dollars across the country. There are 70 cities in the state of new jersey affected by this in all 21 counties. Amy supporting a millionaires tax. Do you think this should be used to address infrastructure . I absolutely support it. It should be used to address a whole bunch of things, but this is one of them. Amy you are holding a state of the water town hall on wednesday. Where is it being held and what you expect . At the performing arts center. We want to do this, to update everybody on where we are and to talk about some of the things that people have on their mind. Really address some of these thingsgs that i think have been unfair or just straight out not trueue. I think there is a lot of misinformation out on the street, and we need to address it. More town halls we have done we have done a series of them. We have been doing them for at least two years on this issue. The more contact we come in with people, the clearer they become and leave with a different sense of what is happening in their mind. Amy ras baraka, thank you for being with us mayor of newark, new jersey, elected in may 2014. Juan gonzalez will be speaking this thursday. For details, visit democracynow. Org. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Or