Transcripts For WHYY PBS NewsHour Weekend 20141221

Corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support is provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios in Lincoln Center in new york, hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan good evening. Thanks for joining us. President obama has decried the murder of two new York City Police officers in brooklyn yesterday. And so did the families of Michael Brown and eric garner, africanamericans whose killings by white Police Officers set off nationwide protests. But former new york city mayor Rudolph Giuliani said today the protests send the message that the police are bad, the police are racist, a conclusion, he said, that is completely wrong. Meanwhile, the investigation into yesterdays incident is continuing. The newshours William Brangham reports. Reporter mourners gathered today at the scene of last nights killing of the two new York City Police officers, res dents last night expressed shock and anger. At the end of the day, two families were missing somebody for the holidays and its wrong. What, are we living in dd city or Something Like that t doesnt happen, who does this. Officers rafael ramos and wenjian liu where were shot at pointblank rang in their patrol car saturday afternoon in brooklyn. Our city is in mourning. Our hearts are heavy, we lost two good men who devoted their lives to protect all of us. After shooting the officer,s suspect 28yearold Ismaaiyl Brinsley fled to a near bisubway station and shot himself fatally in the head. Earlier ned brinsley who had a long criminaleobr ujuc shot and wounded is girlfriend outside baltimore before traveling to new york. He then posted a photo on instagram of the gun we later use to murder the officers indicating the shooting would be revenge for the killings of eric garner and Michael Brown, two black men killed by white Police Officers earlier this year. He wrote, quote, they take one of ours, we take two of theirs. Shoot the police. The killings of brown and garner and the decisions by grand juries not to indict the officers involved lead to nationwide demonstrations and in new york lead to a public fallout between new york city mayor bill de blasio and the police union. After the garner grand jury decision earlier this month, de blasio said he had been warning his mixed race son dante to be wary of the quote dangers he might face in interactions with police. We have had to talk to dante for years about the dangers that he may face. Reporter that prompted new York Patrolman Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch to say police have been quote thrown under the bus by the mayor. Lynch tried to get de blasio barred from attending police funerals. And then last night, following the killing of the two officers, lynch said protestors and Public Officials had quote blood on their hands. That blood on the hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor. Reporter last night, when mayor de blasio went to the hospital where the officers had been taken, Police Officers turned their back on him. Our city is in mourning. Our hearts are heavy. Reporter meanwhile, Police Continue to investigate published reports that brimsley may have had ties to a militant prison gang known as the black guerilla family. Earlier this month, new york police were reportedly warned that members of the gang were looking to shoot onduty Police Officers. Most of his ptings and rants are on the instagram account. And what we are seeing from this right now is anger against the government. Sreenivasan well have more on t investigation aer the news smary. In an interview broadcast today, president obama said the cyber attack on sony pictures, which his administration blames on north korea, should not be considered an act of war, but he promised to retaliate just the same. I dont think it was an act of war. It was an act of cybervandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionally. Sreenivasan in a separate interview, the republican chairman of the house intelligence committee, mike rogers, described the incident as a nationstate attack and said the president could have retaliated already. The problem here was not the fact that we didnt have the capability to do something nearly in immediate time, we just didnt get a decision from the present of the united states. Sreenivasan five c. I. A. Employees, being investigated for secretly searching computers used by Senate Intelligence committee staffers, reportedly will not be punished. This, according to the New York Times. At the time, the Senate Staffers werinvestigating the c. I. A. , and its interrogation and detention programs after the september 11th attacks. The tentative decision was reached by a panel headed by evan bayh, the former democratic senator from indiana. Documents suggest the c. I. A. Employees, in some instances, were acting at the behest of c. I. A. Director john brennan who appointed the members of the panel instigating the c. I. A. s actions. The united stes tay struck isis targets in iraq and syria. These are some of the locations hit during 13 airstrikes in iraq and three in syria, according to the combined joint task force. Prowestern Kurdish Forces have made gains recently against isis fighters in northern iraq. There has been a fatal Taliban Attack on police inorthern ghanistan. Authoriti say seven policen re killednd five more wounded during the incident late last night. In a separate incident, seven civilians, including a number of children, were killed when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. Back in this country, the price of gas continues to plunge. According to triple a, the average price of a gallon of regular is now just below two dollars and 41 cents a gallon. That more than 40 cents less than it was only a month ago. And more than 80 cents less than it was a year ago. The Saudi Oil Minister said today his country will not cut production, even if other countries do. And in what is being hailed as the first in a new class of drugs, the f. D. A. Has approved a new treatment for advanced Ovarian Cancer. The drug nparza, manufactured by astra zeneca, was found to shrink ovarian tumors in more than 30 of women who had a specific genetic mutation. Fridays decision came a day after the European Commission approved its use. According to the National Cancer institute, an estimated 14,000 american women died of Ovarian Cancer this year. For the latest about the murder of those two new york city poce officers, we are joined now by pervaiz shallwani. He is the criminal justice reporter for the wall street journal. So what are the cops are you talking to saying right to you. The top brass at the Police Department are telling officers, that you know, they need to do their jobs and not to take to social media and to mourn in peace. But there are unions out there who are expressing, you know, a very different sentiment. So the Police Departments union or a couple o them actually even went out of their way say dont make arrests unless absolutely necessary. And dont go out anrespod to any crime unless youve got backup with another car. There has been some rumor, that hasnt come out as an official statement but there has been behind the scenes rumblings about that. Okay. And so weve also seen former officials, former mayor, Rudy Giuliani recorded earlier in the story but also the former governor of new york, governor pataki. Really laying the blame squarely on the Mayors Office and all of the protestors. Yeah there have definitely been dissenting voices political as well as former nypd tellingsayi that this is becoming a rift between the Mayors Office and the Police Department. And how about the connections to what happened in baltimore at this point. Police have determined that the suspect had shot an exgirlfriend at about 5 45, 6 00 in the morning. And then a few several hours later learned that he had made postings on instagram saying he was looking to kill Police Officers. They were able to determine by cell phone that he was in new york city and as well as sent out and reached out to the nypd, sent out a wanted poster to the nypd that reached the nypd right as the shooting was occurring. So the baltimore Police Department got the message to the nypd just too late. Not necessarily too late. They got the first connection sounds like tween the baltimore Police Department and the nyd was about 2 10. By the time there was a wider connection and sent out departmenide was about 2 45 and the shooting happened at about 2 47. So it was happening right as this was curring. So what do you know so far abo the suspect in. At this point we know the suspect has a extensive criminal history in georgia. Has spent some time in jail. Hes originally from brooklyn. And appears to have been moving around quite a bit over the st several weeks. In that crinal past, any violent his industry history . The is quite bit of a violent history. There are also reports that he has a Mental Health history. The history includes everything from teristic threats as well as a pass gun possession charge. Thanks so much. Thank you sreenivasan and now to our signature segment. We hear a lot about how the federal government isnt working. The last session of congress was reportedly the second least productive in modern times. But tonight, our focus is on a law that most democrats and republicans agree is working, one that bught nearly six billion dollars into the federal coffers last year a record. Were talking about whats known as the false claims act. It incentivizes whistleblowers to come forward with the promise of a significant reward for themselve newshour special correspondent rick karr reports. Reporter for most of the eighteen years that she spent working for the medical device manufacturer c. Bard near atlanta, julie darity says she had unwavering faith in the companys integrity. Upholding it was part of her job. My eire career had been compliance, and making sure that things were done appropriately, according to the regulations. You believed in this company, you thought this company was doing the right thing. Oh, i did. Reporter but her faith was tested when she started working with a team that sold radioactive pellets used to treat prostate cancer. It was her job to review every transaction the team made and she began to suspect theyd developed a scheme to overcharge medicare, which paid for most of the pellets. She says sales reps persuaded customers to use bards product even though it was more expensive than the competitions by giving them free medical equipment, rebates, and grants. The incentives came at the expense of taxpayers, because medicare was paying the higher price bard set. There were instructions that i was given to do things that clearly were inappropriate, perhaps illegal, and so when those things would happen i would question management about it. My hope was that things would be resolved. Reporter she says they did nothing, so according to Court Documents filed later, she reported her concerns in an ethics complaint to bards corporate headquarters. The company sent investigators to visit the te and, at around the same time, she alleges her superiors began mistreating her. I came to feel thai was a problem employee. Reporter you came to feel that . Yes. Reporter after a year, c. R. Bard fired her the week before thanksgiving. Two days later, she began preparing a civil whistleblower lawsuit, because federal money was at stake in its allegation medicare fraud, she fed her case on behalf of the united states, as well as herself. The scheme she alleged was complex. Her lawr would need to nnect all of the dots and she had to provide the evidence. Shspent the next seven years finding it by poring over documents and the contents of a laptop that bard had sold to her. Is that like, the laptop . This is the laptop. Reporter got a bard sticker on it there. That information was only available from sales records that happened to be on this laptop. Reporter her lawsuit was filed under a provision of federal law that congress had strengthened twenty years earlier to encourage whistleblowers. We didnt known that it was going to turn out to be the best tool that exists in government today for fighting fraud in government. Reporter Iowa Republican senator Chuck Grassley was a sponsor of the whistleblower reform in 1986. It came about after auditors discovered that the Defense Department had been buying 400 hammers and 600 toilet seats. Grassley thought individual americans might be able to stop waste and fraud that the pentagon failed to. Gives outside pssure and outside incentives, empowering people when government is not doing its job to do its job. Reporter the law had been on the books since the civil war. Military contractors had sulied the uon army with sick horses and mules, faulty weapons and ammunition, and tainted rations. Congress sent president Abraham Lincoln the false claims act which let whistleblowers file suit on behalf of the government and keep a portion of the penalties if a suit was successful. The law that lincoln signed was based on a legal concept that dates back to medieval england. Back then, lawyers used a latin phrase to describe it that means one who sues on behalf of the king as well as oneself. Today, lawyers still use the first two words of that phrase qui tam as the name of this kind of whistleblower lawsuit. In the fiscal year that ended on september 30, the federal government recovered 5. 69 billion under the false clai act. You cant argue with success. You cant argue with close to 6 billion this fiscal year, which is the largest amount weve ever recovered reporter joyce branda is in charge of false claims act cases at the department of justice. I think the success of the statute breeds success. So the more cases are filed and the more we recover under the statute, it gains that much more notoriety. Reporter the suits get attention thanks to the amount of money some whistleblowers have made, typically no mor than a quarter of the money that is recovered. Daritys share was more than ten Million Dollars when c. R. Bard paid more than forty eight Million Dollars to settle the case. Theres a self interest in this, if youre successful, this suit is successful, you get a chunk of money out of this, youre not doing this out of pure altruistimotives. My primary motivation for this was full vindication. Yes, i was compensated, but i worked very hard for the american people, who recovered almost 40 Million Dollars, then they got all my tax money, which was significant, my lawyers got a nice big chunk of it, and i got what was left. Reporter did you get rich off this . Were comfortable off of this, but were living in the same home we lived in for almost eighteen years, im still driving my honda civic hybrid, its a 2005 model, no maserati in my garage. Reporter daritys now working for the Social Security administration helping people appeal disability claims. Even though the false claims act worked out for her, a rmer Deputy Attorney general ss it needs reforming. What often follows lots and lots of money is, are problems of people who are pursuing marginal, frivolous claims, because theres potentially a big payday at the back end, and that is an issue. Reporter david ogden has worked on both sides of the false claims act, first at the department of justice, and now at a d. C. Law firm that defends companies in whistleblower suits. He aues that the vast majority of cases are dismissed or abandoned because so many are meriess. Hes beco the leading advocat in a campaign by the u. S. Chamberf commerceo reform the law. Ogden says the biggest problem with the false claims act is that it can impose penalties that are out of proportion to the fraud a company may have committed. He also says it doesnt give companies enough opportunity to fix problems before the federal government gets involved. I think the false claims act is extraordinarily useful and has really been innovative and important in helping to detect fraud after it occurs and punishing fraud after it occurs and then recovering money for the government. It very good at that and thats very important. What the false claims act is not good at and what i think needs to be fixed, and i think theres an opportunity to do it, is to prevent fraud before it occurs. He proposes amending the law to grant immunity to a company if independent auditors certify its Fraud Prevention and whistleblower Protection Measures and if the firm reports any fraud it finds to the government. If its a good company that cares, and wants to comply with the law, have the coanies stop it have the mpanies rert it, if they dont then lets whack them with the big penalties. Reporter Iowa Republican senator chuck grassl says that wouldut the false claims at. The only change he supports is one to prevent companies from defrauding the government a second time. Heads roll, you dont do business with the federal government ever or for a certain piod of time. Reporter hit em where it hurts on the bottom line, basically . Yes. If you like doing business with the federal government, you ought to do it in a honest way, not in a fraudulent way. And if you do it in a fraudulent way, there ought to be a price to be paid. Reporter for, c. R. Bard, that price was nearly 50 million. But julie darity says she paid a price, too. Did you think, at some point, oh my god im one of tse whistle blowers i hear about . I did, and its got such a negative connotation, but i would think most people are like me, and its a very painful process, its not easy, youre a pariah. Reporter no regrets . No regrets. Because it was the right thing tdo. Sreenivasan what were the biggest payouts to whistleblowers in 2014 . Find out on our webse at newshour. Pbs. Org. Sreenivasan yesterday we told you that the National Labor Relations Board filed formal complaints against mcdonalds and some of its franchisees. To unpack this story further, were joined now by steven greenhouse. Until this past week, he was a correspondent for the New York Times who covered labor issues among other things. So, the labor board says that many of the franchisees around the country and probably retaliated against, spied on wokers who participated in this fight for 15 Campaign Workers demanding base wage at 15 an hour at fastfood restaurants around the country. So there is usually a distinction between mcdonalds, the owning franchise or i guess the brand and all of the franchisees. But why are they lumped together in this . Well, its really gotten under mcdonalds and the business communitys skin is the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board is saying mcdonalds is a joint employer with its franchisees. Its saying that a franchise that might have 30 employees and often acts as i the Franchise Owner am the only employer, the nrb is saying mcdonalds exercises so much influence over the restaurants, telling them, you know, with all sorts of requirements about how to cook, how to keep things clean, ways to handle your employees, the nrb said mcdold you are a joint employer and for mcdonalds that is quite bad news because it means if a franchisewner is charged with not paying overtime or if he is charged with retaliating against someone for exercising his rights to form anion, not just the Franchise Operator will be accused and charged, but mcdonalds itself can be held jointly responsible. So is has repercussns beyond mcdonalds then . Yeah so, this sent shockwaves through franise industries around the country. You know, restaurants, retailers, i guess auto lube companies, all sorts of companies. And then on friday there was this big News Conference with the chamber of commerce, the national retail, the International Franchise association and National Restaurant association. They are up set and they really want to persuade the courts. They want to persuade congress to do something about this nrb action. So now it goes in front of an Administrative Law judge what does that mean, what are the next steps in this fight . So these are only allegations. Civil, not criminal. So a judge will hear it and if the judge rules against mcdonalds, then the counsel will likely appeal to the five person nrb in washington and probably to the federal courts. Unions are very, very happy about what the they did becauset means that this gives them much more leverage pressure against mcnonnon and its franchisees. If mcdonalds is considered a joint employer, that mea will pressure its franchisees to comply with the law more. And unions are trying, the campaign is trying to unionize mcdonalds. And the fact th it could you know f it a oint emplyer, y could try to run a nationwide campaign to unionize all the mcdonalds around the country rather than just this franchise here in new york d this one in cincinnati, this in st. Louis. So it really is a boon for the unions but as i said, its notreat for donalds. Steven greenhouse, thanks so much. Sur great to be here. Sreenivasan and now to viewers like you. Your feedback about some of our recent work. Many of you wrote us about last nights signature piece describing the controversy about a mosque being opened in one georgia town. A few sympathized with opponents of the plan. Virginia lee said, cant help wanting to exclude muslim fundamentalists from our country. Eir rules concerning women are disgusting and seen to contravene our laws. Accept our culture or dont come. Bachcole added this, if the muslims do not pledge their belief in freedom of religion, then deport them. If they do pledge their belief in freedom of religion, then i dont care where they set up their mosque. One viewer said, Media Coverage of terror acts by muslim extremists overseas distorts americans views of muslims. This is what hpens when one terrorist group after another engages in mass murder and destruction in the name of islam. The media reports all of these atrocities and this is what is seen. The reason we have such backlash against muslims has to do with the narrative, and that is the responsibility of the media as well as muslims themselves. Good muslims need to work that much harder to educate others. Sreenivasan but most of you defended the right of american musli to worship, as they please. Angela morrison wrote, sorry folks. You either believe in freedom of religion and the constitution or you dont. You dont get to pick and choose. A. K. Said, we are full functioning hypocrites. We love free speech until we dislike what is being said. We love freedom of religion as long as it is our religion. And Greg Costello added this, ive lived next door, literally 20 yards away, from a mosque for the past four years havent had a single bad encounter. People fear what they dont know. They fear people whare different. As always, visit us onlinat newshour. Pbs. Org, follow us on twitter newshour, and visit the Newshour Facebook page. Sreenivasan some late news before we leave you tonight. New York City Police now say ismaaiyl brimsley, the 28year old gunman who killed two new york city pice officers yesterday, had no gang connections and had not been radicalized, though they have found several antgovement statements and the depictn of a flag burning on his social media accounts. They also said he had a history of Mental Illness and had tried preously to kill himself. Join us on air and on line tomorrow. Im hari sreenivasan. Have a good night. Captioning sposored by wnet captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org pbs newshour weekend is made possible by Corporate Funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support is provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. There is an immense amount of joy that seeps into the writing, and it is inescapable. It is impossible to play without feeling a tremendous amount of gratitude. I feel wonderful, wonderful p eace. His only quartet contains his most famous piece of music ever written, and one of the tragedies of the Second Movement being so spectacular is that the outer movements are often forgotten and it is a special sound. Greats of tomorrow today, onstage at curtis