General's report says the f.b.i. Is rushing investigation is justified the attorney general disagrees I think when you step back here and say what was this little base it's not sufficient Plus a new lawsuit claims Disney isn't following Anaheim's new minimum wage law he warned his new cue ball group was marinated for the birds. And later why pilots and flight attendants are suing front tier airlines It's Tuesday December 10th the news is next. Live from n.p.r. News and Washington I'm Jack Speer House Democrats are bringing 2 articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump abuse of power and obstruction of Congress N.P.R.'s Brian Naylor says the articles were unveiled this morning on Capitol Hill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the filing of impeachment articles was a solemn act Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler a New York Democrat said the president was in Nablus words in danger in our democracy and national security today in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country the House Committee on the judiciary is introducing 2 articles of impeachment charging the president of the United States Donald j. Trump with committing high crimes and misdemeanors Nat'l are said the Judiciary Committee will take up the articles later this week in a tweet President Trump said he has done nothing wrong Brian Naylor n.p.r. News Washington Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the g.o.p. Controlled chamber will take up an impeachment and a new trade deal in the New Year Attorney General William Barr is taking aim at how the Russia investigation was carried out bar in an interview with n.b.c. News saying the investigation was based on what he called a bogus narrative that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia during the $26000.00 election Barres comments come after yesterday's release of a Justice Department inspector general report that while finding problems with how the invest. A Geisha was conducted found no evidence of bias in the probe bar says he disagrees the f.b.i. Had sufficient information to warrant an investigation President Trump is warning Moscow against meddling in u.s. Elections N.P.R.'s Frank or donors reports on the president's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov President Trump welcome to continue to engage with Russia on areas of mutual concern but the White House said the president also warned against any Russian attempts to interfere in u.s. Elections he urged Russia to resolve its conflict with Ukraine this is the 2nd Oval Office meeting between Trump and surrogate Lavrov the 1st meeting ended in controversy after Trump allegedly disclose classified information to the Russian minister about the Islamic state the White House issued a statement following the meeting saying trying to urge Russia to support u.s. Efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons he also asked for support ensuring the denuclearization of North Korea Franco or Donya as n.p.r. News the White House billionaire businessman a Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg says the next u.s. President should halt subsidies for fossil fuels entirely Bloomberg making his remarks at the u.n. Global climate change conference in Madrid by taking aim at fossil fuel subsidies Bloomberg is challenging both a major u.s. Industry and Republican president Donald Trump was been a supporter of oil gas and coal mining stocks edge lower today the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 27 points the Nasdaq fell 5 points today through listening to n.p.r. And from key p.c.c. News I'm Nick Roman with the stories we're covering and for 04 Disney workers in Anaheim are taking the entertainment giant to court and say Disneyland and its subcontractors are not complying with Anaheim's new minimum wage law we get details from keep E.C.C.'s David Wagner Tom Brady was expecting to get a raise to $15.00 an hour after Anaheim voters passed a measure l. In 2018 he's been a bellman at the Disneyland Hotel for more than 30 years we can't get. You know her case every week for the 1st month or 200. Going to players he's still making $1225.00 an hour he and 4 other workers are now suing Disney seeking back pay for themselves and hundreds of other workers labor unions pushed measure l. As a way to get Disneyland and surrounding resorts to pay their workers at least $15.00 an hour but Disney says it is not legally covered by the measure and Anaheim city attorney agrees that's because the minimum wage only applies to employers who get subsidies from the city proponents say Disney does in the form of a bond agreement that built a parking structure near the California Adventure theme park now it could be up to a judge to decide who's right covering the economy Hi I'm David Wagner 6 Catholic diocese in California expect to be subpoenaed by the state attorney general as part of an investigation into whether they've properly handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests a church spokesman says the subpoenas are expected for the 6 that have already provided documents since May l.a. Orange San Francisco Sacramento Fresno and San Jose we have an advocate p.c.c. News update in 24 minutes traffic and 12406. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include t. Rowe Price offering a strategic investing approach that examines investment opportunities 1st hand institutions advisers employers and individuals choose t. Rowe Price t. Rowe Price invest with confidence k p c c supporters include the little market a nonprofit supporting dignified income opportunities for under-served women around the globe the little markets shop features fair trade holiday gifts and home decor the artisans who create every product by hand include refugees women transitioning out of homelessness and survivors of trafficking and violence with a store in the Pacific Palisades and a holiday pop up at Fashion Island in Newport or at the Little Market dot com. It's All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Audie Cornish and I'm Ari Shapiro after months of investigations House Democrats today released the draft text of articles of impeachment against President Trump at a press conference this morning Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said Trump has violated the public's trust when he betrays that trust and puts himself before country he endangers the Constitution he endangers our democracy and he endangers our national security n.p.r. Political reporter to Makkah joins us now from Capitol Hill Hi Tim Hey there so 2 articles of impeachment spell out exactly what is in them so House Democrats announced 2 articles The 1st is for abuse of power that is that the president used u.s. Foreign policy for personal and political gain they're accusing the president of leveraging nearly $400000000.00 in congressionally appropriated aid and a meeting with the Ukrainian president for investigations into Joe Biden and a 26000 election conspiracy theory the 2nd article of impeachment is for obstruction of Congress now this relates to allegations that the president directed the White House and other executive branch agencies to defy congressional subpoenas for documents and interviews it's obviously a really historic moment if the president is impeached he would be just one of a handful ever to face this rebuke from the House of Representatives now you've been covering some discussion within the Democratic Party about whether the party should go bigger and include things in these articles of impeachment related to the mall or investigation into Russia on the 2016 election what happened to that well ultimately Democratic leadership made the decision not to go broader not to include the Moeller investigation in these articles but Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee makes the case that his work is alluded to all of the information that we've secured over a 2 year period. Reflected in particular my references to patterns of behavior so what she's saying is that in the abuse of power article de allude to the Russian vest a geisha when they allege that the president's actions were consistent with his quote previous invitations of foreign interference in the United States elections now one criticism from Republicans has been the Democrats are rushing this through and party leaders today said that the House Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the Articles of Impeachment this week why is it important for them to move so quickly see you right to observed this Congress almost never moves this quickly on anything the House Judiciary Committee will begin conserving these articles to morrow with a vote in committee on Thursday and then a full House vote on the articles of impeachment next week one of the arguments Republicans have been making is that that a complete and comprehensive investigation would have included going to court to enforce subpoenas against figures like John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney that's a process that could take months House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said that the nature of the alleged offense requires urgency the argument why don't you just wait a mouse does this. Why don't you just let him cheat in one more election and 10 Republicans have of course been very unified in their opposition to the impeachment process at every turn what are they saying today well House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said that this all has to do with Democrats not accepting the results of 2016 back in 2016 the Democrats called those who supported Donald Trump deplorable and now they're trying to disqualify their votes Democrats still cannot get over the fact that the president won the election and they lost the president for his part said he never pressured the Ukrainian government and White House spokesperson said he fully expects to be exonerated in a Senate trial Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he doesn't expect that trial to start until January N.P.R.'s to mack on. Capitol Hill thanks Jim thank you House Democrats are eager to show progress on something other than the impeachment inquiry just an hour after unveiling the formal charges against the president House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a deal she said Democrats had reached an agreement with the White House on an updated trade pact with Mexico and Canada this is a day we've all been working to and working for on the path to Yes that yes on a new NAFTA marks a rare moment of bipartisanship in a deeply divided capital as N.P.R.'s Scott Horsley reports for the trip of ministration getting Mexico and Canada to sign a new trade deal was hard enough winning support from House Democrats may have been even tougher House Speaker Pelosi says her party went along only after the new NAFTA was modified to include enforceable protections for workers and the environment there's no question of course that this tell you going that is much better than NAFTA it is infinitely better than what was initially have proposed by the end ministration Democrats also insisted on stripping out of the trade deal certain patent protections which they called a giveaway to big pharmaceutical companies House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal says there were a lot of hard fought negotiations with the White House I think we set a world record for hanging up on each other myself from the trade rep but at the same time we also knew that this was an opportunity that we couldn't get away from us Neil says the talks came to a head this past weekend the Massachusetts lawmaker was watching the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady when he was interrupted by a phone call all of a sudden I looked at my phone and said Alosi for caller id long wisdom tells me to help Brady take the call Manhattan as final details were ironed out Neil was also in regular contact with a.f.l.-cio President Richard Trumka who checked in from a hunting trip Trumka endorsed the agreement after promise of factory inspections if necessary to verify compliance in Mexico. His union backing is an important green light for Congressman Neil and his fellow Democrats but this is more than a triumph for organized labor it's a triumph for workers everywhere across America it's also the 1st major trade agreement for the president who spent much of the last 3 years disrupting international trade how at a signing ceremony in Mexico City this afternoon u.s. Trade representative Robert light hisor hailed the agreement as a win for all 3 countries and if something is going to break North America richer it's going to make America richer riskier make Canada richer and it's going to make Mexico rich the new agreement which Trump calls the u.s. M.c.a. Provides important updates for things like digital commerce that barely existed when NAFTA took effect a quarter century ago it also requires car companies to use more North American parts if they want to sell cars here duty free and it includes a 16 dollar an hour minimum wage for some auto production that could shift some manufacturing from Mexico to the u.s. And Canada on the whole though the u.s. M.c.a. Is more of an update to NAFTA than a wholesale replacement it's estimated to increase g.d.p. By only about one 3rd of one percent Christian g check of the Center for Automotive Research says what the deal does do is avoid the hit to the economy that would have happened had made good on his threat to scrap NAFTA with nothing to take its place it means an end to uncertainty around what the future trading rules will be in North America the agreement also gives House Democrats an accomplishment they can point to other than the impeachment inquiry that's especially important to moderate lawmakers from swing states like Cindy actually of Iowa farmers in her state depend on a continued flow of North American Free Trade I'm very happy to see where we're at with this and moving this agenda forward we know how important this is for states like Iowa and the Midwest and the country in general so this is a great day congressional leaders say the updated version of the trade deal could come to a vote on the House floor and. Surely as next week Scott Horsley n.p.r. News Washington. Economists traditionally measure global inequality by looking at the gap between the richest and poorest countries a new report from the United Nations says that misses something significant the growing frustration among people in the economic middle the report argues economic inequality within countries is far more likely to cause conflict than the gaping divides between nations N.P.R.'s Jason Beaubien explains most of the world's population 76 percent live in middle income countries these are places where per capita income is between $112000.00 a year by comparison per capita income in the United States is $63000.00 a year Hakim Steiner the administrator of the u.n. Development Program says inequality is now causing discord inside these middle income countries is still have the challenge of the extremely poor. But on the back of many successful policies in reducing extreme poverty. Seeing is an over new generation of inequalities and he says these inequalities are being felt most by people who view themselves as part of the expanding middle class the latest edition of The Human Development Report from u n d p looks at the problem of the frustrated aspirations of people in the economic middle the poor have long known that they have few opportunities to advance but now members of the emerging global middle class are also starting to recognize that the system at times is stacked against them Steiner says that spurs complaints like this I know today that my child born into my family into my neighborhood already starts life at a significant disadvantage technological advances with smartphones and the Internet are making people more aware of the disparities around them and this is happening Steiner says at a time when people are losing faith in social mobility because what people perhaps 3040 years ago well led to believe and often Saurabh is that if you work hard you could escape poverty you could graduate. And yet in many countries today that story of development that escape from poverty into a next generation income bracket sin did not occur like that and then I heard who teaches at the Doha Institute for graduate studies says inequality and the decimated middle class were part of what spurred the Arab Spring uprisings and she says these trends continue to fuel protests movements in the region via Skype from Qatar a Kurd says domestic conflicts that in the past were view solely as sectarian problems young people now are viewing as being more about the entrenched political elites rather than religion now what we're seeing in the protests that that emerged in Iraq recently as like people recognizing and opposing this idea that actually it's local It stops at anybody but themselves the u.n. Human development report goes on to predicts that climate change will exacerbate global inequities as people with fewer resources have a harder time adjusting to environmental disruptions Jason Beaubien n.p.r. News. You're listening to all things considered it's on 89.3 p.c.c. I'm Nick Roman the nonprofit agency that helps local foster children and says it needs more volunteer advocates to guide them through the court system costs a lot Sandler's trains adults to a comedy for a car a company foster kids to court visit them at school or their foster home and connect with their caregivers Casa stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates Wendy Julians in charge of Casa Los Angeles she says being a volunteer offers a much lower time commitment than becoming a foster parent volunteers average between 10 and 15 hours a month so it's an opportunity to make a huge difference in. Well I went out that 24 seventh's when you Julian says there are about 300 foster children who need a casa volunteer but don't have one and only county has about 30000 children in its posture care system that's more than any other county in the u.s. Trafficked on south at Lakewood Boulevard there's a crash they've cleared it over to the center divider traffic is backed up to Long Beach Boulevard. To many other problems going on but plenty of slow traffic as usual 60. Just before the 6 o 5 and you're pretty good. Until the merge with the 57 freeway in Diamond Bar considered on. 20. Extinction rebellion started last year in the u.k. In the protest movement is spreading fast. Climate Crisis tomorrow on Morning Edition from n.p.r. News with 89.3 k.p.c. . Supporters include national geographic feature documentary a Syrian woman risks or life in an underground hospital to treat the victims of an ongoing war. Stand with. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from see free. Software enables organizations to. Solving previously unsolvable business problems learn more it see 3. And from the y.m.c.a. a Nonprofit working to fill gaps and bridge divides in 10000 u.s. Communities details about the impact of donations are available at y.m.c.a. Dot net. Why. This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Ari Shapiro And I'm Audie Cornish just before President Trump hosted Russia's foreign minister at the White House today Secretary of State Mike pump issued a warning I made our expectations of Russia clear the Trump administration will always work to protect the integrity of our elections period should rusher already for an actor take steps to undermine our democratic processes we will take action in response Russia's foreign minister used the occasion to once again deny that his country meddled in the 26000 vote N.P.R.'s Michele Kelemen joins us now from the State Department and Michelle to start Was there anything new from Russians in terms of these specific allegations of interference not really I mean what we heard was a very lengthy denial by Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov Let's take a listen. So what he's saying is that joint work has been hindered by what he calls this wave of suspicions about Russia he said there are no facts to back up those allegations and he called on the u.s. To release the communications that Russia had with the Obama administration at the time. What did Secretary pump say in response to all this well he didn't make any promises about that but he would only say this with think we shared plenty of facts or show what happened in the 2016 election with our Russian counterparts we don't think there's any mistake about what really transpired there and President Trump who's been skeptical of the findings of the u.s. Intelligence community had a meeting a private meeting afterwards with Sergey Lavrov the White House said that he also warned Russia in that private meeting not to interfere in u.s. Elections and the backdrop to this of course House Democrats announcing articles of impeachment against President Trump including obstruction of Congress how did pump a.o. Talk about that today if at all well he said that you know he has complied with all the legal requirements he points out that a number of State Department officials did testify under oath though his department has not complied with congressional subpoenas for documents and that's about all he would say on the topic it's a subject that he tends to avoid but Ukraine did come up more broadly Peo repeated that it's u.s. Policy not to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea and to push Russia to end the war in eastern Ukraine those are also topics that came up in the White House meeting another topic arms control is that something that came up today the relationship between u.s. And Russia on that front yet Russia is offering to extend what's called the New Start agreement it expires in 2021 an arms control experts say without that the world's 2 largest nuclear arsenals will not be in under any limits for the 1st time since 1972 so they really want to see the Trump administration accept this Russian proposal to extend the treaty Peo though wants the agreement to be more expansive he wants it to include China as well. The problem is they haven't started those negotiations the Russians say that China isn't interested and the clock's ticking the term administration talks a lot about getting us prisoners home I know there's a high profile case in Russia now did either Lavrov or pump a address that yeah it's up all we'll and he's a former u.s. Marine Le Bron said Whelan has made arrogant accusations against Russian officials at a prison where he's being held and I asked State Department officials about that and they say the u.s. Has serious concerns about allegations of mistreatment and a lack of evidence in the case N.P.R.'s Michele Kelemen thanks so much thank you the Affordable Care Act was before the Supreme Court once again today a Democratic Congress passed the a c. a In 2010 the law promised to partially reimburse insurers if they lost money by covering people with preexisting medical conditions that in 2015 Republicans took over Congress and they refused to appropriate money for these payments n.p.r. Legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports did these cases about something called risk orders designed to encourage insurance companies to enter the market to cover previously uninsured people the premise is that competition will keep prices down think of the risk corridor as a road operating in the center is the ideal charge too much and the law requires the insurance company to pay some of that money back charge too little and the government promises to cover some of the insurance company's losses but after Republicans won unified control of Congress they refused to appropriate the money to fulfill the a.c.s. Payout promised to ensures the consequences were profound by 20173 quarters of the original providers in the insurance exchanges were out of business several others stopped participating leaving just 6 providers and skyrocketing premiums the insurers went to court contending the government had cheated them out of $12000000000.00 in promised payments one of those insurers is main community healthy. Options a nonprofit on the steps of the Supreme Court today c.e.o. Kevin Lewis said that since 2015 the government has failed to live up to its promise to cover $59000000.00 of the company's losses and the failure to pay has hurt badly we had to pull back from New Hampshire we had to do certain things that bad at the company and injured our members and we have only been able to crawl back from that inside the Supreme Court lawyer Paul Clement representing the insurers told the justices that the case involves a massive government bait and switch when the government makes a promise to pay money he said it has to keep its word Justice Alito asked caustically why there should be a special solicitude for insurance companies Chief Justice Roberts chimed in You claim that the insurance companies were basically seduced into this program but they have good lawyers why didn't they insist on an appropriations provision in the law before putting themselves on the hook for $12000000000.00 Clement replied that when the law was enacted anyone who looked at the money mandating language would have thought that was sufficient now could it have been better belt and suspenders sure but it's good enough he said the tenor of the argument turned dramatically However when the Trump administration's deputy solicitor general Edwin Kneedler rose to defend the refusal to pay justice Brier this is day $1.00 of contracts law I say to you my hats on the flagpole if you bring it down I'll pay you $10.00 How does this differ why does the government not have to pay its contracts just like anybody else needler replied that without an appropriation by Congress the government can't pay Justice Ginsburg pointing to language in the way said Congress didn't repeal that language saying that the government shall pay there weren't sufficient votes in Congress to repeal that obligation she noted Chief Justice Roberts you don't dispute that these. Amputees would not have participated in the risk corridor program but for the government's promise to pay just prior The government says we shall pay you Mr private citizen if you do x. He does x. But the government doesn't have to pay him justice Cavanagh Congress knows how to pass a law that prevents a promise to pay from being binding in the future it can promise to pay subject to future appropriations in fact it does that often Justice Kagan that language puts people on notice it says this is not a guarantee and when that language is not there the government says we are committed under this program she asked our insurance companies obligated to pay into the program if they have excess profits yes replied the government's needler So you pay and that's obligatory Kagan shot back but if the government commits to paying out it turns out it's only if we feel like it what kind of a statute is that a decision in the case is expected before summer Nina Totenberg n.p.r. News Washington. And this is n.p.r. News and it's on 89.3 k.p.c. C l A's n.p.r. Leader coming up next the Justice Department's inspector general says the f.b.i. Was justified in opening an investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia back in 2016 but there were errors made We'll look at that report 1st though sports news only hockey on the schedule tonight Doug skate in Minnesota against the wild in about 30 minutes ducks of last war their last 5 games the only win was last week against the Kings and speaking of the Kings their home tonight against the New York Rangers kings of Lost 4 in a row all of them close one or 2 goals but in losses just the same kings still in last place in the n.h.l. Western Conference it's or 30. 2 there's basically 3 major takeaways. From these documents and the 1st and probably the most important is that the architecture and the ideas behind this crackdown come from Chinese President Xi Jinping himself unlikable of our own that's today on the daily from the New York Times tonight at 730 on 89.3 k p c c. K d c c supporters including Netflix Participant Media and the Obama's Higher Ground Productions presenting the documentary American factory culture splash when a Chinese company reopens the shuttered g.m. Factory in Ohio the Washington Post called it exquisite awards eligible. Live from n.p.r. News in Culver City California and Wayne Brown representatives from the u.s. Mexico and Canada signed it updated free trade agreement today in Mexico City as N.P.R.'s Carrie Kahn tells us the New Deal called the u.s. M.c.a. Took more than 2 years to hash out in a signing ceremony in Mexico's presidential palace the 3 officials praised the new agreement calling it a more modern pact that will strengthen prosperity workers' rights and development in the region Mexico's president and rest Manuel Lopez Obrador who oversaw the signing repeatedly thing President Trump Lopez Obrador said there were some who said Mexico and Trump couldn't agree on anything. Was a 1000000000 going to come from they said we were going to fight we were going to confront each other and look how things turned out the u.s. Had insisted on toughening labor standards and raising wages in Mexico Mexico's chief negotiator said without giving specific details that there was no hard pill for Mexico to swallow and the agreement is good Carrie Kahn n.p.r. News Mexico City the Federal Reserve is holding its final meeting of 2019 after cutting interest rates 3 times this year Fed chair Jerome Paul and his fellow policymakers are reassessing economic and financial conditions with the market expecting the central bank to hold interest rates steady. Steve Becker reports the Fed is due to get its last policy statement of the year on Wednesday after cutting rates a 3rd time in late October the Fed paused with Powell saying it would stay on hold unless the outlook changes materially the Fed is likely to leave rates unchanged this time but next year's rate path is in doubt strong job figures dim hopes for lower rates and some officials could project higher ones Steve Bechler reporting stocks finish lightly lower on Wall Street as investors await news about the u.s. Delaying a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods this weekend the Da lost 27 points 110th of a percent this is n.p.r. And from Cape p.c.c. News I'm Nick Roman with the stories we're covering at 43301 Alice's says many early childcare programs in Los Angeles are getting by with little spare cash on hand for emergencies financial or otherwise the story from k.p.c. Sees Marianna Dale the report from the nonprofit finance find analyze the financials of $26.00 nonprofit child care providers in Los Angeles have had less than one month of operating cash on hand only 12 percent had 3 months or more in reserves the reports co-author any change says early child care providers tight budgets can prevent them from expanding care to more children organizations need profits even though they're called non-profits and that's the way that they can invest back in themselves and be able to build out healthy reserves to support their operations The report also found that early childhood workers in l.a. Earn an average of only $21000.00 a year provider said low government reimbursement levels and the complicated streams of funding that Hafer subsidized care make budgeting a challenge covering early childhood I money on a daily l.a. County won't buy cars or trucks from General Motors Chrysler Toyota or any other automaker challenging California's clean air regulate. Since the boycott suggested by supervisors Sheila kewl and Janice Hahn mirrors one that will be enacted by the state next month May County supervisors say the county spends $20000000.00 to $30000000.00 a year buying vehicles last week we told you that Yucca Valley State Assemblyman Chad Mays said but the Republican Party will run for re-election next year as an independent Republicans once dominated California politics but no more no Republican serve in statewide office the g.o.p. Holds only 29 seats in the state legislature versus 90 for the Democrats today on k.p.c. Sees take 2 with some of them in Maine says he is fed up with the 2 party system labels matter and I wish the labels didn't matter but one way of being able to deliver a message for my next election is to say you know what I am done with this 2 party Republicans are as bad as Democrats it is silly state assemblymen and former Republican Chad Mays the Yucca Valley independent lawmaker says he wants the political conversation in California to focus on solutions to the housing crisis we have another news update in 24 minutes we have traffic in 12 for 35. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from little passports a monthly subscription service for kids each package includes games souvenirs and activities from a new country designed to spark Yury all city and cultures around the globe have little passports dot com slash Radio one from Total Wine and more where in-store teams can recommend a bottle of wine spirit or beer for any occasion shoppers can explore more than 8000 wines 2500 beers and 3000 spirits more in Total Wine dot com. It's All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Audie Cornish I'm Ari Shapiro attorney general Bill Barr is casting doubt on a key finding in the mammoth report the Justice Department inspector general released yesterday the report fine. Signs there was enough credible evidence for the f.b.i. To launch an investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016 in short no political witch hunt bar took issue with that finding in media appearances today speaking on n.b.c. He described the evidence that led to the f.b.i. Investigation as quote very flimsy I think when you step back here and say what was this well based on. It's not sufficient remember there was and never has been any evidence of collusion and yet this campaign and the president's administration has been dominated by this investigation into what turns out to be completely baseless the Justice Department's inspector general Michael Horowitz will defend the report before a Senate hearing tomorrow head of that we wanted to speak with someone who has held that job Michael Bromwich was the Justice Department's inspector general in the mid 1990 s. He's now in private practice and we should say he represents former f.b.i. Deputy director Andrew McCabe whose actions were examined in the report asked Bromwich what he made of the attorney general's public criticism of the report I think it's a really encourage an on the independence of the inspector general for the attorney general to essentially seek to undermine or raise doubts about some of the central conclusions in the i.g.s. Report the i.g. Found that this investigation was authorized under relevant regulations and rules and that there was a valid factual predicate for launching the investigation there's nothing in the i.g. Report about launching an investigation based on quote the finished suspicions and so it's very troubling that the attorney general's comments really do seem to try to undermine some of the core conclusions in the i.g. Report the inspector general is the Justice Department's internal watchdog and is supposed to be independent how calm. Is it for somebody in that job to be caught in a political fight of this size I think the political fights for Mr Hurwitz have been larger and more frequent than the political fights that I experienced from 194-1909 or that my successor Glenn Fine experienced and he held the job for something like 11 years we're living in just a much more politicized environment and Mr Woods has had to deal with the political currents in a way that I think just didn't exist for us and yet in the last day since he released his report even though people have characterized the report very differently they've really refrained from attacking him or accusing him of partisanship Yes that's right and I think that's because a reading of the report suggests that a tremendous amount of work went into it 170 interviews a 1000000 pages of documents it's an extraordinarily detailed and granular report and I think people are taking a big risk if they start to criticize someone based on the the amount of work that was done and now the quality of the presentation of the report finally we're speaking to you as a former inspector general but as I mentioned you do represent the former deputy director of the f.b.i. Under McCabe who was fired from the bureau and this report found 17 instances of Arizona missions and distortions with the F.B.I.'s application to serve ala Trump campaign aide does your client take responsibility for this well I heard him say on t.v. And I knew before he said it on t.v. That he does take responsibility for it in the sense that he was a senior manager in the f.b.i. At the time that these errors and omissions took place that's as we know a very different issue from his actually having knowledge of those errors and omissions at the time so any good leader takes responsibility for the errors omissions and problems that arose on his watch it's very different from saying that he knew about the he did not Michael Bromwich former Justice Department inspector general and founder of the Bromwich Group thanks for speaking with us thank you Art . Female pilots and flight attendants had friends here airlines say when the time came to start their families they faced discrimination at work and a pair of lawsuits filed in federal court in Colorado today employees say the low cost airline failed to accommodate the needs of pregnant women and nursing mothers they argue it's part of a long history of sex discrimination in their industry N.P.R.'s Sarah McCammon reports after she had her kids Shannon get a Roski had to navigate something most airline pilots frankly don't have to worry about breastfeeding on the job to draw ski says her plan to continue nursing after she went back to work raised some eyebrows among her colleagues at Frontier Airlines and even got her called in to each our 1st of all they questioned why I was pumping why I felt the need to breastfeed my child implying that it's. You're a pilot and really there's no place for you if you need to pump at work there's other options such as formula only about 5 percent of u.s. Airline pilots are women so there wasn't a lot of precedent to follow generosity says she thinks the airline may have been concerned about the safety of comping in flight but she says it's common for pilots to take breaks to use the restroom while a copilot stays at the controls it's not as though we're going to be pumping during takeoff and landing her kids are $8.00 and $6.00 now but could Roski is part of a group of friends here pilots and flight attendants who are suing their employer accusing the Denver based airline of violating state and federal laws protecting the rights of pregnant and nursing women they say the company failed to provide time and space to pump breast milk and forced pregnant women to stop flying months before their due dates leaving many without paychecks flight attendant Melissa Hodgkin says she began dipping into her unpaid leave around 34 weeks into each of her 2 pregnancies I was going to use up a lot of that precious stash of days before you know my children were even born with the long hours and lack of space to Pomp Hodgkin says she quit breastfeeding months sooner than she wanted to a decision she calls heartbreaking you know it sort of feels like Here's your 1st shot as a mom. Or a failure the lawsuits on behalf of the pilots and flight attendants out front to or follow similar complaints submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a statement from Tir denied the allegations saying the company offers quote a number of accommodations for pregnant and lactating pilots and flight attendants within the bounds of protecting public safety Sara Nelson is with the Association of Flight Attendants Union She says the lawsuits reflect a larger problem in the industry where pregnant employees often lack paid maternity leave and few have protections for breastfeeding Nelson says there's a long history of sexism in aviation going back to weight restrictions and other rules for flight attendants in the early years we couldn't be married or have. Children and so these have all been issues that we have and fighting and eating back to scream a nation and the issue of breastfeeding and being a mother is more work that needs to be done Nelson knows that Frontier's most recent contract now allows up to 6 months of unpaid maternity leave more than required by federal law she says she hopes to see more flexible schedules paid time off and other accommodations for moms who make their careers in the sky at Frontier and across the industry Sarah McCammon n.p.r. News. Considered from n.p.r. News. The new prime minister of Finland began her term today at age 34 she is now the youngest sitting prime minister in the world and that got commentator and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me panelist made Higgens thinking now I do not own a 3 year old so I haven't yet seen Frozen 2 but I've been following a different story from another icy Country Fire away where a different young woman steps into her power to try and save the world from an eternal winter that's today in Finland found that the rain was sworn in as prime minister making her the world's youngest she is just 7 years old Oh sorry no she's 34 but still it's not extraordinary and as far as I know she doesn't even have cryo kinetic powers and she doesn't have an inexplicably cheerful snowman who's going to help her through the land I'd say she probably does have trolls though but from my point of view living in America where we've never had a woman in the highest office and our current president is the oldest one we've ever elected Well it seems impossible that we would ever get this chance and Miss Marines position in her society it really does seem magical She's now at the helm of Finland's coalition government which is made up of 5 parties 4 of which are led by women and 3 of those women are under the age of 35 now Miss Marine herself says that age is not important and she's Rice you know I always say back to I'm pretty 8 years old and I'm constantly telling my 22 year old boyfriend age is not important and I don't look at my passport Fana Marion is not keen to talk about her age and her gender she prefers to be identified by her actions you know just by her work she's a social democrat She's a left leaning liberal a former transport minister who wants to protect Social Welfare and to prevent further global climate chaos Wow. That's what I think I just think. I also think hang on we do have young women raising their voices right here in America stepping into their power too and people are listening and these women they're not princesses they're not cartoons they're very human I'm talking about women like 30 year old Alexandria Tez from the Bronx and 45 year old London breeds she's San Francisco's 1st black woman mayor and 12 year old Mari cope and he is still actually a child but she's been fighting for clean water in Flint for almost 4 years now. So I watch them work and I know that the power of young women is more than a fairy tale it's already reality and it's about time what's happening in Finland is not magic to make it real here all you have to do is believe and that's commentator may have Higgins You can hear her as a panelist on N.P.R.'s Wait Wait Don't Tell me. All things considered is a production of n.p.r. 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See I'm not Roman be in 1000 day old rhinoceros born at the San Diego Zoo safari park now has a name and then name is Future Me 193 pound calf is spending her days bonding with mom and rolling in the mud don't we all wish we could do that future is the 100 Southern white rhino born at the park in the 2nd conceived through artificial insemination process officials hope to use to save the northern white rhino which by the way only 2 northern white rhinos still remain take a look at the freeway on this Tuesday afternoon on the one to one north of Van Nuys Boulevard there's a disabled vehicle that's blocking the left lane traffic is backed up to Laurel Canyon Boulevard generally speaking the want to one is slow as you leave the 134170 split and it stays slow all the way out to about haven Hurst and then things do speed up going the other way as usual it slows right in about of Gura stays slow until you get to about the 405 and then continue slow out of the 134170 split just another day on the one to one in both directions in the San Fernando Valley for 50 k. I'm just in heavens and I'm an intern for key p.c. Season person team I operate the cameras a video switcher which means anytime you're watching one of our live events on the Facebook live stream or on the website and you see a different angle or camera movement my brain send a signal to my fingers to make that move for you I'll get back to my hand exercises some short for a next live stream but before I do please make your year end tax deductible donation to keep p.c.c. Right now at k p c c dot org because listeners power everything at k.p.c. C k p c c supporters including National Geographic presenting c Of Shadows from executive producer Leonardo Dicaprio a team of scientists journalists and conservationists mount a high stakes mission to save an endangered species ask around the table for best documentary feature. This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Ari Shapiro And I'm Audie Cornish president trumps new national security adviser warns that China is coming for your personal information Robert O'Brian says if you think Facebook and Google know a lot about you you could be worse that's the reason he says he's trying to convince key allies to stay away from the Chinese telecom company while way here to talk about this warning is N.P.R.'s White House correspondent Franco dharnas Welcome back thank you O'Brien's painting a dark picture here can you be specific about the danger he's talking about you know why is this Chinese tech company that has close ties to the Chinese communist government they make cell phones but they also build these highly specialized equipment for 5 g. Networks they are marketing their goods to the world but Robert O'Brian is questioning why some allies would even consider allowing Wall weigh in at all I spoke to O'Brien on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense forum in California he warns that it will open a back door for the Chinese government to access their most sensitive data so every medical record every social media post every e-mail every financial transaction of every citizen of a country with cloud computing and artificial intelligence can be sucked up out of wall way into massive servers in China given the stakes here is this avoidable Well the trumpet ministration has taken steps to block wall way and other companies with ties to the Chinese government from u.s. Systems the concern is about countries that accept wall way as a partner O'Brien says that the United States is going to be very wary of sharing intelligence with countries that use wall way and yet it's been difficult to persuade allies to do the same how come well frankly because it's so cheap Western companies like Nokia and Ericsson and Qualcomm they simply can't offer the same prices and still turn a profit now I should say that Australia New Zealand Japan they have agreed to block wall way but other countries other allies like painted in Britain said they're open. Into allowing the company to build some of their networks in kind of less sensitive areas again O'Brien says they're taking a great risk these are very serious questions that aren't being asked it's great to get a discount it's great to get something for free but at the end of the day there really isn't it really isn't free there's no free lunch he says allies need to think about the long term consequences how is President Trump talking about this with those allies trying to talk to leaders last week when he was in London for the NATO summit he talked about this but he also downplayed the chances that he would be able to convince everybody that I'm not working very hard and that I do think it's a security risk it's a security day here and I spoke to Italy and they look like they're not going to go forward with that or spoke to other countries that are going to go for everybody I've spoken to is not going forward. But how many judges could I speak to speak to the world you know he says it's a security risk but he's also as we heard he's saying he can't spend so much of his own time on the matter the backdrop to all this is this trade war between the u.s. And China so how does it fit into that larger relationship right it really just shows how sticky this relationship is not only is there the trade war but the u.s. Has imposed a visa restrictions on Chinese officials believed to be involved in human rights abuses and the u.s. Has proposed a $2000000000.00 weapons sale to Taipei which Beijing objects you claiming Taiwan is part of China O'Brien only a few months ago started on the job for that matter so as defense secretary Marc esper He also talked about this issue at the Reagan forum China's economic rise has a lot of to triple its annual military spending since 2002 with estimates reaching close to 250000000000 dollars last year like O'Brien Asper has also been crisscrossing the globe warning of the Chinese threat he wants to relocate military forces from the Middle East to combat China's military buildup in Asia and he's talking about. Moving troops from Afghanistan that's pretty significant that's Franco during his at the White House thanks for your reporting thank you and now to New Zealand where dozens of people are injured and at least 6 are dead after a volcano erupted there on Monday tourists from around the world were on White Island in the Bay of Plenty when plumes of ash and smoke exploded from the volcano there Lonnie Hopkins had just left the island with her father when the explosion began she is now back home in Hamilton New Zealand and joins us now thank you for speaking with us but so good I know that some of what you saw included people with serious injuries so I just want to warn listeners the parts of our discussion might contain some graphic details which you just begin by telling us where you were when the volcano exploded What could you see so I just left the island and I just got back on top by what you just moved around the corner of silence to see the criteria that we were about 200 meters away from the I don't want to interrupt it. Was there a sound did you just see a plume of smoke it was completely silent nothing there was no noise about the engine of the boat it was just a plume of smoke and ash rising a couple 100 metres into the sky and then it started to come rolling over the cliff towards the boat and when did you realize that there were people in danger on the island when it started rolling towards us on the boat we got rushed inside and within seconds the whole island was covered in ash we couldn't see the island at all so we headed back to where the boat was to then start rescuing people so you mediately went to start rescuing people I know that you and your father had medical training tell me what what you do. So originally we were all told to be seated and stay inside as the crew were rescuing people from the water on the shore as soon as that people on board and they saw the extent of their injuries that was a cool for any doctors anyone where the 1st day it's difficult and anyone with any medical background they needed help and there were 2 doctors on board as well as me and my dad who had our 1st States tickets or we rushed out to help people with extensive burns extensive burns so what kind of 1st aid were you administering so we were doing a lot of people were in and out of consciousness so checking pulse checking heart rate we were putting cold water and cold pieces of clothing that burns. You had head injuries so we were stopping the bleeding and just stopping people from going into shock covering them blankets preventing them from being in sunlight to get back to. And I'm sure it was going through your head that that could so easily have been you that you were just on that island yet 5 minutes earlier I mean my dad would have been on the island if it was half an hour earlier me and my dad would have been set on the edge of the crater I'm very glad that you are Ok can you tell us about the circumstances for your visit Why did you decide to go there so I'm studying at the University of white hat or so I'm starting volcanoes and rocks and my dad went to war Island 24 years. So it was something that I bought for his 1st guess birthday as a day out for the by swastika was there any part of you that thought wow this is a terrible human tragedy and at the same time the somebody who's interested in studying these things it is a natural phenomenon that people really get to witness firsthand so when it faster up to it I was so excited I was amazed I wasn't all but it was the moment I realized that people's lives are in danger of course and now that you're home how are you doing. I'm doing better shackling to slate but today I'm getting back to going back to uni and resuming with my own life which has been hot but yes actually some I'm so grateful that I'm not in Judge Lani Hopkins thank you for speaking with us I'm glad that you're doing all right. You're listening to All Things Considered We're live for local where Belize n.p.r. Leader they had a 9.3 k. P.c.c. Program note we bring you one day at 8 o'clock and tonight Joshua Johnson speaks with reporter Craig Whitlock with The Washington Post about his story taken from dozens of government audio recordings with top officials involved in the 18 year u.s. War in Afghanistan time and again they said the public statements that we were hearing that progress was being made were false it's a stunning report you'll hear parts of it tonight at 8 o'clock on one day some sun some clouds for the rest of the afternoon mostly cloudy overnight with lows in the low fifty's to upper forty's some clouds tomorrow more near the coast highs in the sixty's 5 o'clock. Support for n.p.r. He says 89.3. Pasadena Los Angeles community service at Pasadena City College rated one of the best community colleges in the nation dreams come do learn at Pasadena dot edu. 5 House Democrats balance impeachment with governance and sign off on a new version of. The. P.c.c. It's All Things Considered. Also coming up this evening civil rights groups to sue the University of California for requiring. U.c. Davis researchers wanted to see if salmon could survive warmer waters caused by climate change. And is one of the world's fastest growing apps but the Chinese own service is also making people in the government and Silicon Valley nervous. Time for news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer House Democrats are signaling their support for an updated trade agreement between the Us Mexico and China or Canada N.P.R.'s Scott Horsley reports the deal would represent a rare bipartisan accomplishment at a time of deep division in the nation's capital eager to show progress in something other than the impeachment inquiry Democrats are announcing their backing of a modernized version of the North American Free Trade Agreement that it was originally negotiated by the trumpet ministration Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal says Democrats signed on after winning added protections for labor and the environment as well as the backing of the a.f.l.-cio this is more than a triumph for organized labor it's a triumph for workers everywhere across America Democrats also stripped out of the trade deal a provision that would have locked in lengthy patent protections for certain pharmaceuticals ratification vote on the House floor could come as early as next week Scott Horsley n.p.r. News Washington Surely after Democrats on bail 2 articles of impeachment this morning the White House and Republican allies are dismissing them as a partisan sham N.P.R.'s Amy Held reports the president is facing charges of using the power of his office in obstructing Congress White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said President Trump expects to be fully exonerated of the false impeachment charges in a Senate trial question and House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy said House Democrats are just trying to overturn the votes of the Americans who elected Trump but in announcing the impeachment charges Democrat Adam Schiff said Congress could not wait to act because doing so would allow Trump to quote cheat in the next election N.P.R.'s Amy Held former Afghan president Hamid Karzai is arguing Washington helped to fuel corruption in this country by spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 2 decades without accountability in an interview cars are responding to findings from a recently released trove of documents Karzai says the documents obtained by The Washington Post confirm what he says were long running complaints on his part about us spending air and water in the Arctic continues to warm faster than the rest of the world that's according to the latest Arctic report card N.P.R.'s We're back.