Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160705

Just a danger to america, but because were such an influence in the world, it is really a shocking threat to the world. Know, amy we will hear how donald trump learned at the knee of Joe Mccarthys former aide, attorney roy cohn, as well as how trump once tried to bribe Wayne Barrett with an apartment. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Across the world, people are mourning a string of attacks that have killed hundreds of people in iraq, bangladesh, and saudi arabia during the final days of the holy month of ramadan. The deadliest attack occurred in baghdad early sunday morning. More than 200 people were killed when a suicide truck bomb exploded in a busy shopping district. It was one of the deadliest attacks in iraq since the 2003 u. S. Invasion. Isis has claimed responsibility. Many of the victims were children and families who had gathered to shop for new clothes for this weeks eid alfitr celebration, which marks the end of ramadan. On sunday, a local resident decried the bombing. Is this eid . Every eid we celebrate. Is this our eid that everybody celebrates . Is this the eid that we should celebrate . People came to buy close to celebrate, now theyre buying coffins. May god punish those who are responsible. Amy more than two days after the attacks, the death toll continues to rise as more and more bodies are discovered in the rubble. Today, Major General kadim sahban spoke about the recovery effort. We are still searching for dead bodies. Today we were able to exhume remains, and we will continue searching for human remains at the scene. We found documents and mobiles belonging to the victims. Amy sundays bombing in baghdad came only two days after militants seized control of a trendy restaurant in dhaka, bangladesh, taking dozens hostage and ultimately killing 22 people. On friday, a halfdozen attackers stormed the holey artisan bakery in the diplomatic district of the capital, wielding explosives, guns, and swords. In the ensuing the 11hour siege, the militants killed 20 diners from around the world, including nine italians, seven japanese, one indian, two bangladeshis, and one u. S. Citizen. Two Police Officers were later killed when the authorities raided the restaurant and killed five of the six attackers. Authorities say the six attackers were all young men from bangladeshs elite who attended the countries top schools. Isis has claimed responsibility for the attack, although bangladeshi Officials Say they were part of local militant groups. On monday, hundreds gathered in dhaka to honor the victims. We have gathered here today in grief, and anger, in solidarity, in protest of the gruesome killings of innocent gone to haved just dinner. This kind of an attack in a public place with innocent civilians, many of whom were guests in our country, is something that is unacceptable to all people of this country. Amy meanwhile, monday, militants carried out three separate suicide bomb attacks across saudi arabia, including an attack in the holy city of medina that killed four Security Officers near the mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is said to be buried. The mosque is one of the holiest sites for muslims worldwide. Another separate attack near the u. S. Consulate in the saudi city of jidda wounded two Security Officers. No one has yet claimed responsibility for mondays attacks. The string of deadly attacks come only days after militants attacked the main airport in istanbul, turkey, on tuesday, killing 42 people. The airport is the 11th busiest in the world. In news from the campaign trail, president obama and democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton are slated to hold their First Joint Campaign event today in charlotte, North Carolina. Presumptive republican president ial nominee donald trump is also expected to also a Campaign Rally in North Carolina later today. Clintons First Campaign appearance with obama comes after the fbi interviewed clinton on saturday as part of its investigation of her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Unnamed sources told cnn the fbi is not expected to bring charges against clinton. This comes in the midst of continued controversy over a meeting on the tarmac at the Phoenix Airport between attorney general Loretta Lynch and former president bill clinton last week. Republicans say the meeting compromises the Justice Department investigation into clintons email use. Meanwhile, donald trump is facing criticism after he tweeted an image on saturday showing Hillary Clinton, a pile of 100 bills, and sixpointed star of david, along with the words most corrupt candidate ever the tweet immediately drew criticism for being antisemitic. Trump has called the claims of antisemitism ridiculous, but he deleted the tweet and later retweeted the same image, but with the star of david replaced by a circle. The news outlet mic. Com has reported the original meme shared by the Presumptive Republican president ial candidate came from a twitter user whose feed includes a number of violent and offensive images of african americans, muslims and immigrants. This comes as the council on American Islamic relations is warning that Donald Trumps comments are putting muslim women in danger. This is the question followed by just toass answer. Make quickly, Homeland Security and jobs. Why arent we putting our military retirees on that order hibi psa . Get rid of these jabis. Thank you. We are looking at that. Amy meanwhile, police are investigating at least two attacks against muslims. In houston, texas, a muslim doctor was ambushed, stabbed and shot multiple times by three men as he was on the way to a mosque for morning prayer on sunday. He has survived. This came one day after a man in florida was beaten outside a mosque in fort pierce on his way to morning prayers. The Florida Branch of cair says the attacker said, you muslims need to get back to your country. Meanwhile in ohio, avon mayor bryan jensen apologized has apologized after police handcuffed and pinned an emirati tourist to the ground outside his hotel after a hotel worker called 911 alleging the man had pledged his allegiance to isis. In fact, the man was simply standing outside the hotel in a formal white robe speaking on his cell phone in arabic. The police pointed their guns at him and then pinned him on the ground before realizing he was unarmed. The man later collapsed and had to be hospitalized. The Obama Administration has released its internal assessment of the number of civilians killed by drone strikes in pakistan, yemen, somalia, and libya. The longawaited reported claims between 64 and 116 civilians have been killed since president obama took office. However, reporters, researchers and monitoring groups estimate the death toll from dronerelated killings is as much as 10 times higher than this estimate. Even former Drone Operators disputed the Obama Administrations estimates. Brandon bryant, who worked on air force drone teams from 2006 to 2011, told the New York Times the civilian death toll was significantly higher, saying officials were just deluding themselves about the impact. In toronto, canada, black lives matter activists shut down canadas largest pride parade on sunday, demanding event organizers ban police floats at the parade and commit to hiring more black, trans, and Indigenous People for future pride events. After successfully stopping the parade for about a half hour, the pride director met with the activists and agreed to their demands. And writer, holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner , elie wiesel has died at the of he was born september 30, 87. 1928 in romania. When the nazis invaded, he and his family members were deported to auschwitz, which became the subject of his most famous book, night. He went on to be an outspoken human rights activist on many issues can all the generated denied israels role in the expulsion and continued oppression of palestinians. In 1986, wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This is part of his acceptance speech. I know that as long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our lives will be filled with anguish and shame fry have seen children hungry for i have seen children hungry. All these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone, that we are not forgetting them. Amy elie wiesel died in his home in manhattan on saturday at the age of 87. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. With the Republican National Convention Opening in cleveland in less than two weeks, the partys presumptive nominee donald trump is facing a new round of controversies. On saturday, his campaign tweeted an image showing Hillary Clinton, a pile of 100 bills, and sixpointed star shaped like the star of david along with the words most corrupt candidate ever the tweet immediately drew criticism for being antisemitic. Trump later deleted the tweet and then retweeted the same image, but with the star replaced by a circle. The original image shared by the Presumptive Republican president ial candidate came from a twitter user whose feed includes a number of violent and offensive images of african americans, muslims, and immigrants. This comes as the council on American Islamic relations is warning Donald Trumps comments are putting muslim women in danger after his comments last week at a town hall when he was questioned by a supporter about muslims working for the tsa. Homeland security and jobs. What are we putting our retiree military retirees on that border war in gsa . Get rid of these hibi jabis they were tsa. We need the veterans to take it. They fought for this country and defended it. They will still do it. And we are looking at that. Were looking at a lot of things. Amy at that same rally in new hampshire, donald trump joked about mexico attacking the United States. I respect mexico, i respect their leaders. What theyve done to us is incredible. Their leaders are so much smarter and sharper. It is incredible. In fact, that can be a mexican plane getting ready to attack. Amy we turn now to part two of our indepth look at donald trump. Last week, democracy now cohost Juan Gonzales and i visited Wayne Barrett, considered the preeminent journalist on donald trump. He has been tracking trump for decades. His 1991 biography of trump was just republished as an ebook with the title trump the , greatest show on earth the deals, the downfall, the reinvention. On we aired part one of our thursday, interview. Today we bring you part two. Barrett at hise home. He talked about trumps longtime lawyer and mentor roy cohn who once served as the top aid to the redbaiting senator joseph mccarthy. I knew him very well. You just cannot understand how donald could have been this ,lose i write in the book they talked 15 times a day. One of the two stories i cannot remember which one, said it was five times a day. It is probably somewhere in between. Roy himself told me he talked with him 15 times a day. Theres no question at next to fred trump am a roy cohn with physical greatest influence in donalds life. , evil. Incandescent i mean, i would sit with him and, you know, it was enough to make you rush back to church. The city annexed feeling he would give you. He would eat with his fingers. We would be at 21 and he would eat with his fingers. He carried a little glass in his jacket that he would take out and drink in this little glass. He would pop a white pill when he didnt think you were looking. His house was filled with frogs. He was the weirdest guy. He was into the strangest stuff. He was a chicken hawk after little boys, yet he was the most weily antigay guy could imagine. That was donald mentor in constant psychic who represented all five of the organized crime families in york. Amy for young people who do not know roy cohns background back to mccarthy, can you explain who he is and who does what it meant for donald trump to learn at his knee . I think he was 23 years old when he was the chief counsel of joe mccarthy doing all of those hearings. He was extremely wired into the reagan white house. He helped make Donald Trumps sister mary and a federal judge in 1983. Fixer, powertimate player in new york for a whole period of time. He died of aids in 1986. Time, hecular block of was extremely influential with the administration. Even more so than fred trump, he was totally wired into because he is knocked a popular arithmetic congressman out of the race. Roy leaked he had been before a federal grand jury. Initially, br she denied it and ultimately, it was established that he had been and that is why he could not run and that was roy getting biage out of the race. Beam was incredibly beholden to him. Yet enormous influence in the city. I would write stories about his parking lot. Strangely enough, his cash cow was cityowned parking lots by the water. He controlled the companies that had the parking lot that were cityowned. It was an enormous amount of money. He never paid any taxes. He pretended to have no income. Empire. Ncredible cash the guy who actually least those parking lots to him wound up under federal investigation. They found his body in the trunk of a car. All he did was give parking lots to roy cohn. That is what he did for a living. You just look as i said, you know, he was the middleman between donald and all these mob guys. You asked about the apartment at trump tower. John cody gets an apartment at trump tower. Is a gambino crime family associate who i had lunch with while i was doing the book. I have lunch with him at windows on the world. Amy on top of the world trade center. Yes, and it must have been under federal surveillance because two weeks after the lunch, they busted him for trying to kill the guy who had taken over local 282, which was his union that was the concrete delivery men. They delivered all of the concrete to all of the sites in new york. Totally mob controlled. So they busted him for trying to kill the guy. He had already been in jail. He goes back to jail. He denied it was a mistress, but he certainly told me that they were very close. I talk about her in the book. She got not only an apartment in trump tower the only apartment with a pool, right underneath donalds apartment, right . And all of it built for john cody because trump towers is a total concrete structure. It was the first concrete structure like that built in new york. John cody had complete control over this. So he gets this apartment. He invested in the apartment himself, as i established in the book. Ickson is there. She used to meet meet in central park. She did not want to meet me in trump tower, but we talked many times. Out ins john hanging trump tower all the time, right underneath Donald Trumps apartment. He is a total wiseguy. A total wiseguy. Amy a mob guy. Yeah, he said to me he used roy is the gobetween with donald. Roy was the guy who set us up. This is the relationships that flowed through you know, the fbi did an affidavit saying the commission, the heads of the five crime families, would meet in roy cohns office because the government cannot eavesdrop. It was a lawyerclient relationship. That is what they did. You are talking about the five families in new york, but of course, Donald Trumps Signature Developments occurred in Atlantic City where, as i recall, the philadelphia mob was in charge of whatever happened in Atlantic City. You talk about his relationship there . No question. Nikki scarfo, the bloodiest crime family in the history of the United States, it is undervalued because it wasnt based in new york. It did not get the coverage. But they controlled local 54, which is the Hotel Workers union. This is not me talking, this is a finding on federal court that nikki scarfo controlled the Hotel Workers union. And when they would strike all the casinos in Atlantic City, they would not strike donald. When he first goes down there im a into Atlantic City and acquire his first parcels, he buys them at a premium, overpays from under bosses of the nikki scarfo crime family. He is a relationship with these guys throughout the early days of his time down there. It was really a pretty remarkable set of deals that he did. I add, Mike Matthews was the mayor of Atlantic City who was totally proven in court, went to jail, totally owned by the nikki scarfo family. And he was donalds number one ally. They were feeding him money, contributions legal contributions, but feeding matthews money. That was just one part of this intricate relationship that gave worth gave birth to donalds casino empire in Atlantic City. Amy can you talk about this casino empire and what it meant . Unlike most people in this country, you got to see Donald Trumps tax records . Yeah, i did. Amy how did you . They were part of the record of the Casino Control Commission in the 1970s. He would have to submit his tax returns for the first casino he did down there, at least, trump plaza. One of the great ironies is his second casino, trump castle, was actually built by the hiltons and the Hilton Family out of license by denied a the Casino Control Commission which was all done to benefit donald. Donald then get trump castle. And the rationale for denying it, which is what they stated in their decision, was that the Hilton Family was represented by a mob lawyer out of chicago. Here he has roy cohn, and that is no bar at all. No bar at all. So the irony that is how he got his second casino. So the casino empire there what is so interesting to me is, you know, when we had the nevada primary, he was owes at the trump hotel in las vegas. But that is only a hotel, you know will step there is no casino there. What is there no casino their . His partner already owns a different casino, so he can qualify for a license, but they build a hotel without a casino in the heart of las vegas onlyse i mean, my conclusion is, he could not get a license in nevada. The guy might be president of the United States, but here they have this hotel without a casino in the heart of vegas, right . I had when my book came out, i started getting visited by these state troopers from missouri because he had applied for a riverboat casino license in missouri. These guys were so thorough. They met me at my house in ocean city, new jersey. They would call it the house that trump what with the book advance. They would meet me at my office at the Village Voice. They would go through they came back and forth. They denied him. They were about to deny him, i should say, a riverboat license in missouri. You realize, he has not gotten a casino license since he got one for the taj. He had the division of gaming enforcement in the Casino Control Commission in new jersey fixed. It was rigged for donald. I dont think theres any question in my mind about that. And what wouldnt be it is a company town. The only thing in it is casinos. He owned four of them. He was only legally allowed to own three. When you buy the fourth one, that has become a hotel. They closed down the casino and just ran it as a hotel. Me, there is no other explanation that i can find as to why he does not have a casino in his hotel in las vegas other than he could not go through the licensing procedure. He was given in 2004 some kind of a clearance by the casino regulators of suitability, but that is just a preliminary step. If youre actually going to get a license, you have to go through an intensive background. He withdrew before he was going to be denied in missouri, and he never applied for a license in nevada where he has a giant hotel. It is kind of ironic to me that a guy who wants to be president of the United States is afraid to go through a Gaming Commission licensing procedure. Amy Wayne Barrett, donald trump offered you an apartment, the man who dogged him for decades . That was early. I had not started dogging him yet. That was to induce me not to dog him. When i started out on the trail of the hyatt, i filed a freedom of information request with both the state and the city. I was at the state urban Development Corporation offices reading all of the files, which was a table full of documents related to the hyatt. I was alone in a Conference Room and the phone starts ringing. I dont know whether to pickup or not. I finally picked up. Wayne, this is donald. I understand youre going to write a story about me. I never met the guy in my life at that point. It was like we were old friends. Early in the him reporting process. I always use this with journalism students as an example of what not to do if you are circling a subject, you dont want you know, go facetoface with them because you never know whether youre going to get a second shot. You dont want to go facetoface with them until you have got all of your ducks in a row. But because he interrupted very early the reporting process, i met with him before i really had many of the ducks in a row. I can only ask softball questions. You loved me then. Was walking round the apartment. It was on a saturday or sunday i know it was a weekend. Theas walking round apartment on fifth avenue, but long before trump tower. So in the midst of that, i had not told him that i lived in ocean hill, brownsville, which was the poorest community in the city of new york. It would be unfathomable to him that i lived there by choice because i wanted to live there. So he said to me, wayne, you dont have to live in brownsville. I have plenty of apartment. It was at another time, not at the first interview, but sometime subsequent to that, he started talking to me about how he had broken this other journalist by suing him and driving them into bankruptcy. So it was the carrot and the stick and they were both jokes. Amy Wayne Barrett, Investigative Reporter to who worked for the Village Voice for 37 years. His 1991 biography has been republished as an ebook with the title trump the greatest , show on earth the deals, the downfall, the reinvention. We will be back with them in a minute. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we continue our look at donald trump. About 1000 housekeepers, cooks, and omens at his casino in Atlantic City when on strike friday and through the weekend, demanding reinstatement of health, pension, and other benefits illuminated during one of the bankruptcy proceedings. We return now to our conversation with Wayne Barrett, considered the preeminent journalist on donald trump. Wayne barrett has been tracking trump for decades. Anook titled, trump the greate earth the deals, the downfall, the reinvention. Toonzeznd i Wayne Barrett at his home where he largely has been confined due to his battle with lung cancer. We asked Wayne Barrett about Donald Trumps unkempt promise and kept promise. I think that is one of the stories. Times andthink the the Washington Post have been excellent stories and politico, excellent stories on his Atlantic City debacle, really, but he made a commitment in Atlantic City and Tony Wightman was the citys housing commissioner who went to work for donald. Housing was hispecialty and gliedman helped negotiate these. Four out of five mayors went to jail during the time that donald was dominant. He had incredible relationships with most of them. But he signed these agreements because he was getting cityowned property near the taj. He was getting all kinds of agreements regarding roadways and access to trump castle which is at the marina, not on the boardwalk. So for these favors in the city government, he agreed to build low income housing. And he had the guy to do it. He had a guy who had done it in new york, and they made all kinds of commitments that were written right into agreements with the city of Atlantic City. Then he failed on all of them. People dont realize it, but, you know, you drive into Atlantic City, you can go right into trump plaza is right off the highway. It is really the best site in Atlantic City. You can drive right into the garage. You walk out of the garage, they have this moving platform that will carry you right into the casino. It doesnt exist anymore, but im talking about when it did. There are no windows. So you dont even have to look out at this poverty that is just cataclysmic. It is right outside the window. It is like an alternative universe located right within the city that is decimated, that is desolate, and with so povertystricken. He never built any of the units. He leaves town from being the king of Atlantic City, a guy who now lasts about how he got out, you know, with all of his cash flow, got out just in time. Juan want to ask about a subject that has been raised quite a bit during the campaign, even by some of the Top Republican leaders mitt romney for one. Donald trumps tax returns. Why do you think he is resisting so much being able to make his tax returns public . I dont think we have to speculate about it. And the reason i say that is tim obrien, who is my Research Assistant on my boat and subsequently wrote his own trump nation, and he is now at bloomberg, the editor of the opinion section of bloomberg media, and he has seen the tax returns. Now, he is not seen them for the most recent year, but hes all them for a number of years. Donald trump sued him over his book. When my book came out, he publicly threatened to sue me, but he never did. Ofamed 25 mob associates donald trump or whatever, and that doesnt motivate him to sue. But if you say he is not worth what he claims to be worth, that is what he sued tim because tim said he was worth only 200 million or 300 billion. He was a young guy, just got an mba from columbia when he was my assistant, but he is an incredible business head. That. D tim over the litigation when on for six or seven years and tim prevailed. During the course of litigation, tims lawyers demanded that donald make the tax returns available. And they did for a number of years. So tim signed a confidentiality agreement so he cannot specifically reveal what is in the tax returns, but he wrote a piece for bloomberg recently that said donald is not releasing his tax returns because the income will be far less than he claims it is, the assets will be worth far less than what he says it is, and his charitable contributions are virtually nonexistent. So those are the three primary reasons why he wont release these returns. Know, he is made a career when i say i dont know why he has never been prosecuted, maybe the prime time he couldve been prosecuted was at the time of his downfall in 1990 and 1991. Well, the banks kept him alive. The too big to fail. They kept him alive. I wrote in the book, he certainly did not sue when i said it, i did not say he is made cemented falls financial getements to the bankers to 1 billion and personally guaranteed loans, i said that he submitted fraudulent ones. And i lay out the case for that in the book. He was engaged in completely defrauding the banks. And the banks knew it, ok . They were giving him the loans anyway. They kept him alone alive, but even more so, the House Banking Committee wanted to do public angst about it and the banks would not cooperate. The District Attorney in manhattan was a big friend of donalds. Donald was the second biggest giver. Donald trump was the chairman of the Police Athletic league, which was morgenthalers biggest charity. He was extremely close. He animal and he was the u. S. Attorney in the eastern district. He hired maloneys brother. Rudy giuliani was the u. S. Attorney in manhattan and we know how close they got. I wrote a whole story about how the relationship developed. Giulianis first fundraiser when he decided to run for mayor, and there is donald at the main table. He is the cochair of the first Rudy Giuliani fundraiser for the mayor allergy in 1989. His relationships with prosecutors and the fact the bankers, they were embarrassed by what they had done. They did not want any investigation of this. The combination of the two gave them a pass. Amy you talk about his relationship with prosecutors. Chris christie, formerly a prosecutor what about this close alliance, so many republicans are running away from trump, Chris Christie has wrapped himself around trump. I dont think Chris Christie donald has had every relationship when he was the power unit donald had extraordinary relationships when he was in power in Atlantic City. Yet incredibly close elation ship with tom king. Advisor, his political all these years has been roger stone, who ran tomkins campaign for governor the first time in new jersey. So he is always had in. Roger is owes had a special relationship with jersey politicians. I dont know if he has one with Chris Christie. But he has a long history of that. Roger stone, who is really the walking son of stone, raised by roy cohn spent a great deal of time in the townhouse that roy cohn ran the law firm out of. Christie and donald, is sort of has surprised me. I cant quite figure out why this embrace. I think the ultimate thing, since he is already said Chris Christie will be his chief of rudy, i am predicting that giuliani will be his Vice President ial candidate and so then between the three of them, new have this, maybe figures in the summer. Rudy has already said he will be in charge of Homeland Security. This is a group the relationship with rudy is deep and very disturbing. Go back a little bit for the big picture. This is a sordid story of somebody who has been buying politicians, been involved with the worst criminal elements in american society. At the same time, crony worstlism of the worst sort. Why do you think he has been able to gather so much support in the public imagination . You say one point in your introduction, this is when trump was announcing for president , everyone else in the movie that donald is making with his life that morning and beyond is just an extra. Think the i thing that maybe disturbs me the ,ost about the Media Coverage particularly television, is to call him a populist. We are what happened in britain was supposedly a populist expression. Well, the whole history of populism is against elites. And what is driving the Trump Campaign and what i think drove the lexit outcome is not the animosity against elites. That may be a small part of it, but what is really driving it is antagonism toward immigrants, mostly minorities, that is what is driving the Trump Campaign. I thought it was pretty toarkable when you listen otherna bashes and the commentators on cnn. One election after another, when he carried all but texas of the old confederacy and they would one night after another say, isnt it remarkable that a kid from queens is winning in alabama . Instead of offering the logical explanation for it, which is that it is naked racism that he is appealing to, they instead say it is a thirst for an outsider, it is what is driving this is the thirst for an outsider when at the same day, they renominated Richard Shelby directly had a rightwing opponent and who is the chair banking in the senate and was getting all of his money from Goldman Sachs and every other house, you know, contributing to him, he is an embodiment of the insider and they nominated him overwhelmingly, so he did not even face a runoff. There were two candidates running against him. These people who were attracted by an outsider were all apparently simultaneously attracted by the ultimate insider. What explains that . I think it is so clear that race is the driving motive of this campaign, the driving cause for its success, the scapegoating of everybody who is not a white male is what is driving this candidacy. And it has led to a success. Whether or not there is enough of that to elect him president i mean, this still is the same country that elected barack obama twice. And after four years of experience with him, really to them in 2012. It is not a dramatically different country than it was in 2012. I got to believe there are limits to this race card. But that dealey explanation to me for going from one unbelievably manipulative, contrived, false statement after another, attacking a judge. I think attacking the judge may have been not a mistake on his part, but something very consciously done to say, look, even if a big guy like me, theyre screwing with even me, these mexicans. Look, i know it youve got. I know you got a problem back there, but they can even take me on. You know . Absolutek race is the undercurrent of this. It should not be an undercurrent. For a brief period of time when the mexican judge thing appeared, the Television Media seemed to be willing to talk about race. I think we are seeing that change again. But they have to keep Television People have to keep this thing alive. If she is had by 13 points, how many millions did they lose. Amy Wayne Barrett, Investigative Reporter, worked with the Village Voice for 37 years. His biography of trump was just republished as an ebook with the title, trump the greatest show on earth the deals, the downfall, the reinvention. We will be back with Wayne Barrett in a minute. [music break] amy the song written but never recorded by Woody Guthrie about his landlord, Donald Trumps father fred trump. Our first break was another Woody Guthrie song. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman we conclude our conversation with trump biographer Wayne Barrett was tracked the republican president ial nominee for decades. His biography has been republished as an ebook called, trump the greatest show on earth the deals, the downfall, the reinvention. Juan gonzalez. And i interviewed him last week in brooklyn. I asked wayne about those harmed by trumpss best practices from the polish workers who built trump tower to the investors in the casino he never built in mexico. s pathway to success is littered with bodies. I hear him talk about the thousands of latinos. Latinos he isf employed. I dont know what he talked about. Aware,e youre there always know latinos in Atlantic City. There are a lot of black people there, but it has no significant latino population. I was in and out of his casinos all the time and i never saw many latino workers. I dont know where these thousands of latinos that are supposedly working for him have worked for him, but you would not be Atlantic City. I dont know where else he ever employed thousands of people. The taj, for, example, which was at the time, you know, this he had this incredible downfall were his personal life, this is when he dumps his wife and children and goes with marla, the same time when he was on this fast track 1987, 19 88 1988 was the disaster year or he makes one bad judgment after another. So he is trying to get the city of new york to support the building of the tallest skyscraper in the history of the country on the west side yards for nbc headquarters. And at the same time, he takes on the taj, which would be the largest casino in the history of the world. So he doesnt get the approvals from koch, so he doesnt build the nbc tower on the west side but he goes ahead and tries to build the taj and he is so over leverages everything junk bonds, adding to costs all over the place. Just one after another. It was doomed from the day it opened. Could never make the payments. It could never make the bond payments. All of theffed bondholders, but they also stiffed all of the small contract ors in atlantic contractors in Atlantic Citys. You know, momandpop shops they did all of the work. I used to walk through it while it was under construction. The place was just filled with contractors. I talked to many of them. They did not know they were all going to get stiffed in the end, but they got . 20, . 30 on the dollar or nothing. Them. T stiffed so many of Small Businesses when out of business. Amy what about the polish workers at trump towers . Polish workers at trump towers became kind of a famous case. The bond would tell her build it was part of the site with tiller building was part of the site. This is the genius of donald trump, how he managed to assemble that site. I dont think he can find a better site in america, maybe in the world. The location he had. So that was part of his genius at the time was assembling these kinds of sites and making these acquisitions. But he was completely unconcerned about the workers who worked in the demolition of literally slept there. There were all immigrant polish workers, hundreds of them, many of whom got very sick as result of working on that site. He is always try to put some distance between but his office was right across the street. His office was how he could claim he did not know what was going on in that site, which has been his claim and there is no question that these workers were abused to an enormous degree. Amy Wayne Barrett, we want to ask about Donald Trumps wives. Ps mary three people. Anda trump, marla maples, millennia trump. Significantly in his campaign. Ivana trump accused him of raping her. Can you talk about the significance, especially as he moves into attacking bill clinton, not because of bill clintons behavior with his wife per say, but with other women . That he a real irony has the balls to do this. On thesehe children shows and they are given remarkable deference by television journalist. They treat him as if they are heidi cruzs kids. Appears to be a good father. But if you are a good father, ok, youre going to go through a divorce. A lot of good fathers and mothers have gone through divorce is. Best sex i ever had stories to be plastered all over the tabloids while the 13yearold son is going to school. Amy expand what you mean. Donald milked the divorce, the breakup with part of his shtick, one of the reasons white mills love him so much, they think he is a stud, right . Marla maples was a beauty. Classic american beauty. He saidhole thing that during a divorce amy his divorce with ivana. Ugly. So incredibly it was damaging to the children. He got into a fight with ivana over who gets what in the end. Computer. Erics they fought over erics computer. Amy his son. So history when of of anna, the mother of his first three children, was deplorable. Dy has thea trouble for their marriage. When he breaks up with her, she sends a competent to coveted jelly agreement. When she thought he was running for president in 2011, she was doing an interview in london and she said, if he runs for president , im going to have to tell the world what he is really like. Trumpe lawyers of remedially going to court immediately go into court. They stood out after they got sort of order from the court and she is completely silenced. Never hear from her again. You know, they stood in front of the courthouse and said she had proven that she was a bimbo. That is what they said. The way in which he is treated is wives is just it deplorable. I wrote in the book that donald took the fifth amendment 100 times during the course of the divorce proceedings, his deposition, question by ivanas lawyers about other women. The division of gaming enforcement down in new jersey reviewed my book. They actually got his deposition, which i did not have. I had an estimate that came from a very knowledgeable source. So i said 100 and they corrected me and said, no, healy took the fifth amendment 97 times he only took the fifth amendment 97 times. Keep that in mind when you hear from donald trump about the deposition that bill clinton did about polar jones, which was the basis of the impeachment. Apparently,onald, not committing perjury, but refusing to answer 97 questions about other women which i think says an awful lot about his marital life. Amy wayne, you have been doing this work for decades. And here you are after following donald trump for almost half a century, publishing a book again, revised and updated book on donald trump. What keeps you going . Donald does, these days. I have been very sick. So i decided when he started emerging, which was a total surprise to me, really, that he if i open big my door, ive had 50 or 60 reporters through here. I kept on my old trump files. Most of them are in the basement, some are down and the house in ocean city. Reporters have come through here. One team of two spent three days in my basement. So i have been an open door to every reporter. I havent written much myself, one little peas, but i intend to write some. I think it is a civic duty. Amy why . Than that he is something unlike anything you know, im a democrat. I am a liberal democrat. Voted in my life for candidates on the republican line. Not often, but sometimes. Is i think this is a man who qualified toly not run the trump organization. He is not fit to run the trump, so he certainly is not fit to run america. Trump organization is a fairly substantial real estate company, surly not one of the biggest in manhattan as the times demonstrated, but it has some impact on some lives. And he is so unconcerned about the impact he has on some lives, whether there is any positive element to it that i dont even think he is fit for that, but i think he represents not just a danger to america, but because were such an influence in the world, it is really a shocking threat to the world. So i am in a sick bed a lot, but he gets me up out of it. Amy Wayne Barrett, Investigative Reporter who worked at the Village Voice for 37 years and continues to report. One gonzalez and i spoke to him at his home or his largely been confined due to his battle with lung cancer. Wayne barrett biography of trump was just republished as an ebook with the title of, trump the greatest show on earth the deals, the downfall, the reinvention. Visit our website at democracynow. Org to see part one of our interview with Wayne Barrett from last week. Inhave several job openings all fulltime jobs based here in new york city. Find out more at democracynow. Org. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] music playing i know lobster for a while was very expensive and very difficult to get. But luckily enough today i think you can buy lobsters in almost any supermarket, and the prices went down so thats the good news. How i like to serve it at fleur is very simple. I like to serve the lobster roasted with a delicate butter on it, and what i try to do on top is top it with a little bit of herb salad. So very simple, very delicate. That little delicate butter on it and that combination with the herb salad, i guarantee you its sensational. Youve got to try it. On todays show, i will be showing you step by step how to serve a roasted lobster with an amazing butter flavored with shallots, capers and mustard. Then i have the perfect dessert for you, a creamy ice cream made with fromage blanc and maple syrup