we want to hear from you on twitter at bpshow and we certainly want you to be our friend and talk to us on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. yes, a big day yesterday. on multiple fronts. where do we start? on the department of justice and it is going after those phone records by "the associated press." the white house still defends that but says at least department of justice did the right thing. but they've also come out and asked chuck schumer to reintroduce the media shield law which would protect journalists and their sources. on benghazi, the white house did what republicans and some reporters have been demanding for a long time and released 100 pages of e-mails back and forth on that issue. now republicans are going to have to decide what they're going to demand next. on the i.r.s., one head has finally rolled. does that mean this whole thing is over? we'll talk about that and more right here on current tv. to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is itcal? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right? >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. steven miller, acting head of the i.r.s. has resigned underfire. does that mean the problem goes away? one of the big questions today. what do you say, everybody? great to see you. here we go. it is thursday. thursday may 16. we're rolling into the next three hours here, the "full court press" where we will tell you all about what's happening with the big three scandals here in washington, d.c. and a lot of other news this thursday morning. here in our nation's capital around the country and around the globe. we'll take a little whirlwind tour of the events of the day and most importantly give you a chance to express your point of view to sound off about it and get it off your chest. what do you think about what's going on that you've heard here or seen elsewhere? 1-866-55-press is our toll free number. and of course, we're there on twitter. you can give us your comments on twitter at bpshow and we're there on facebook. befriend us on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. here we go on a thursday morning with peter ogborn and dan henning, along for the ride. >> hey hey. >> bill: alichia cruz standing by or will be shortly. i see her chair is empty at this moment. she'll be standing by to take your phone calls. cyprian bowlding never leaves his post. >> always there. always on the phone. lord knows who he's talking to. >> bill: always waving. he's like one of those cabdrivers, get in the cab. who's on the other end of that line? you could go cross country and that cabdriver would not be off the phone. would be talk on the phone the whole time in persian or something. never english. never, never english. >> i'll get into the cab and hear a guy say something in a completely foreign language and i'll go huh? thinking he's talking to me. >> bill: god forbid the cabdriver would talk to you. don't you wonder who is on the other end of that line? >> i don't think i want to know. >> bill: hey, what do you say? great to see you today. yes, indeed. it is a day of continuing scandals although we think some of them have been put to rest. we'll get into that but the scandals so lively, they, of course caught the attention of the late night talk show host, jay leno last night saying it's sort of like deja vu all over again. >> this week marks the 40th anniversary of the watergate hearings. for those of you too young to remember, back then, the administration had an enemies list. they were spying on reporters they used the i.r.s. to harass groups they didn't like. thank god those days are gone forever. thank god! can you imagine. [ cheers & applause ] >> bill: oh, yeah. good laugh there for leno. and other people who made the same comparison. we'll be talking about that this morning. and on the -- it's the i.r.s. scandal that particularly jay leno had a lot of fun with. >> this has become a huge story. you know this whole i.r.s. thing apparently targeting conservative groups, tea party. you know it's bad when president obama says hey why don't we talk about benghazi? [ laughter ] >> bill: or syria. let's talk about syria. it is like the prime minister of turkey is going to be in town today. he is in town and the president is meeting with him today and he's having a joint news conference in the rose garden where they're going to -- one of the topics is going to be how turkey can help us in syria. you know it is a bad day when the president yesterday said i'm look forward to taking your questions tomorrow about syria. >> ain't that the truth. [ laughter ] >> bill: anything else. that we've been talking about. so yes. we'll bring you up to date on all three of the latest so-called scandals, by the way. congresswoman jackie speier from california in studio with us this morning as well as melanie sloan from citizens for responsibility and ethics. they've had their own issues with the i.r.s. and new member of congress, we can still call him that, mark from wisconsin making his first in studio visit with us today. very excited about that. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> some other stuff to talk about as you wake up this morning, bill, do you have your powerball ticket that you bought this week? you can throw it away because nobody matched all six numbers to win the $360 million. >> bill: i got it. >> you didn't win. >> bill: but out of five tickets -- i have two numbers. but they're not on the same ticket. >> $360 million jackpot nobody won it. >> bill: i can't believe it. >> it has rolled up to $475 million. you can go out and buy more for this saturday night's drawing. it will be the second highest powerball jackpot in history. two people did win $2 million last night and 16 people did win $1 million. >> bill: i would have been happy with a million. >> you get like four plus the powerball or something like that you get $1 million. >> i thought you only play when it gets in the triple -- over $100 million. you said you would be okay with a million. >> bill: i would be happy with $1 million. i don't want to be greedy. here's the question. am i dumb enough, not having won yesterday, when it gets bigger and your chances are even slimmer, am i dumb enough to buy another ticket? >> absolutely you are. >> bill: thank you for your vote of confidence. >> well, if you have extra money to -- if you have extra money to put into your paycheck by mistake, would you keep it? not if you are san francisco giants relief pitcher jeremy. he's giving back $500,000 to the giants after a clerical error on a $4 million contract deal a couple of years ago. "usa today" reports someone typed in $4.5 million into the computer by mistake. he noticed his paychecks were higher than they should be. even though after checking with three separate sources who said he could keep the money because of the way the contract was written even though there was a mistake he said he couldn't sleep at night. they gave the money back to the boss. >> bill: an honest man. >> sucker! he should have given it to charity, not back to the organization. >> bill: it wasn't his money. >> they screwed up. i'm not saying -- look, i would have kept the money but i'm a scumbag. he should have given it to charity. they could have agreed to do that. >> officials have figured out why they've lost out on so much parking ticket revenue up in keen new hampshire. nbc reporting it is a case of robin hood. six bloggers have been actively going around the town feeding expired parking meters so no one has been getting tickets and the city is on to their scheme and the robin hoods who call themselves free teen have been harassing the town's free ticket writers as well as the city has filed a lawsuit against the six people. >> bill: you know, i salute those people. >> absolutely. >> bill: this story has come up before over the years. parking meter has expired and they put money in it, that's a good citizen. that's a good friend and good neighbor, as far as i'm concerned. >> they're now harassing them. >> how are they harassing the ticket writers? >> they're yelling at them. they have to stay 50 yards away. >> bill: i love the fact that they organize and made an effort. they would patrol the streets and look for expired parking meters and put some money in. god bless america. >> i'm with him. >> bill: absolutely. we were in full time, here we go friends, we were in full time damage control yesterday. i'm telling you there is nothing like the power of the white house bully pulpit and when they want to use it and they want to respond and they know how to do it, man. watch out! because it is just like a bulldozer coming through. the question i have for you this morning is did it work? did it work on the i.r.s. mess? did it work on the benghazi -- in continuing benghazi controversy. did it work on the department of justice and going after the e-mails of "the associated press." let's look at them one at a time. first of all republicans have been beating this drum about benghazi and as i told you i'm absolutely convinced this is nothing but an effort to try to stop hillary clinton 2016. that's what it's all about. we know what happened in benghazi. there's no sense trying to blame it on president obama or hillary clinton or susan rice. tragic what happened. what we should be doing is making sure our embassies are secure enough in the funeral so it doesn't happen again. but at any rate, the republicans say we want to know. it is a cover-up, it is a cover-up. even john mccain. shame on him. i mean, come on. cover-up and we'll never know until we see all of the e-mails. we need to see all the e-mails. guess what. yesterday, the white house released the e-mails. called their bluff after -- and they did so after a republican operative on the hill where they had been shown the e-mails privately, took one of the e-mails, doctored it and then gave it to abc news in its doctored form and jonathan karl from abc news was dumb enough to report the docket everied e-mail. got it wrong. at any rate, the white house released the e-mails yesterday and the e-mails just show that there was -- the e-mails, the c.i.a., the fbi the white house, the state department, the defense department everybody involved in responding to the attacks of benghazi and what it really showed is not susan rice, not hillary clinton the acting mike morrell, number two guy at the c.i.a. at the time said please, take any reference to al-qaeda or terrorist out of the initial -- the initial -- whatever we say initially to the media because we don't want to tip off the -- that we know they were involved. they could blame the c.i.a. benghazi's over. it is over. there is no scandal. that car has run out of gas. on the department of justice -- let's go to the i.r.s. next. the i.r.s., the president -- the inspector general report came out. the president read the report. he said he was outraged by the report. he called treasury secretary jack lew into his office yesterday afternoon. he left the meeting and went right to the east room of the white house and said first of all, i read the report. i can't accept it. >> obama: i've reviewed the treasury department watch dog's report. the misconduct it uncoveredcovered is inexcusable. americans have a right to be angry about it and i'm angry about it. >> bill: the president says we've already taken the first step to fix the problem. >> obama: today, secretary lew took the first step by requesting and accepting the resignation of the acting commissioner of the i.r.s. given the controversy surrounding the audit, it is important to institute new leadership that can help restore confidence going forward. >> bill: now so steven miller is out but -- and you know, no tears shed for steven miller. maybe should have been a little more -- he didn't make this decision to go after the tea party. it wasn't his decision. wasn't his policy. but maybe it didn't do enough to stop it. but i think we have to admit that that kind of takes the i.r.s. scandal out of the news. they're going to fix the problem internally. it shouldn't have happened in the first place. but what is really needed here is a new policy to crack down on these groups, 501(c)(4)s like karl rove's group which are getting -- which have a tax-exempt status and should not have a tax-exempt status. so until we do that, fix that law, this problem here is not really going to go away. on the third front the department of justice the white house yesterday came out and said you know what? we want to prove that we really do care about the first amendment. we do support it. we want reporters to be able to do their job. we've asked chuck schummer to reintroduce what was called the media shield legislation in 2009 which would allow reporters to their job without fear of having to go to jail. would allow reporters to not to reveal their sources without fear of having to go to jail. and if somebody like the department of justice came in and wanted their records, they could go to court and the judge would decide whether the national security threat was real enough that they had to release their records. that media shield law was shot down by republicans in 2009. the president said he supports it fully. and wants chuck schumer to reintroduce it. does this solve this problem? 1-866-55-press it's good. it is a good step. the media shield law is a good step. but i still say there was no justification for the department of justice seizing the records of 20 phone lines and over 100 reporters and editors for over two months' time at "the associated press." i don't care whether he recused himself on that issue or not eric holder is the attorney general where that happened and i don't think this problem is going to go away until eric holder resigns number one or is fired, number two. and until the white house backs off a little bit on this prosecutorial obsession to get anybody who may have leaked any information to reporters. so there you go. benghazi i.r.s., department of justice. white house damage control in full gear yesterday. have all of these problems gone away or maybe two out of three? let's talk about it this morning on the "full court press". >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. 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(vo) only on current tv. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." here we go. 26 minutes after the hour. the white house on full damage control yesterday on three fronts, releasing the e-mails on benghazi. firing the acting head of the i.r.s. and getting chuck schumer to reintroduce the media shield law in the united states senate. does that do the trick? 1-866-55-press. you tell me. peter? >> we're on twitter at bpshow where t. vegas says -- we asked the question did barack obama, the president do enough to sort of quiet the critics on the i.r.s. he says yes especially since the whole tea party profiling occurred under a bush appointee who retired in november. >> bill: good to remind ourselves. >> mas says it doesn't matter what the president does. the g.o.p. will continue to find fake scandals. >> bill: they will. but at some point, just like the benghazi thing i think they run out of gas. i think with the i.r.s., they've run out of gas too. it was certainly no widespread conspiracy to go after republicans. pretty clear. it was just a few people in the cincinnati office who bungled this and took the easy way out. and went after the little tea party groups instead of going after the big players like karl rove. larry is calling from new briton connecticut. what do you think? job done here? >> caller: you know, of course, these things aren't going to go away. bill isaac gets his marching orders from fox news. you can expect this to play out all the way up until 2016 as far as i'm concerned. >> bill: well, certainly the hillary clinton -- the benghazi thing, they're not going to drop. but i don't know that the american people have any patience for either benghazi and maybe even for the i.r.s. anymore, larry. >> caller: but of course, bill. but then again, you think they're going to deal with the sequester or they're going to deal with jobs? it is not going to happen. >> bill: they would rather do anything than deal with sequester or jobs, you're right about that. craig is in niceville, florida. hey, craig. >> caller: yeah, i don't think the i.r.s. thing is going away until people go to jail, until people are fired not resign and i would start with the spokesperson who said in 2011 there was nothing going on and then fire the head of the ig who should have started investigating this in 2011 and 2013. >> bill: craig i think you can be sure that steven miller didn't resign. he was fired. i believe he's the guy that said there was nothing going on or maybe it was the bush appointee who is already out of office. you can't fire him if he's no longer there. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. 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(vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. thursday may 16, 2013, the "full court press" here on current tv on your local progressive talk radio station and on sirius x.m. this hour only. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. we're brought to you today by the united steelworkers and their international president leo gerard. the one and only colorful leo gerard head of north america's largest industrial union representing 1.2 million active and retired members. how about that. find out more about their good work at usw.org. we're talking about efforts on the part of the white house yesterday to resolve and to move on from three scandals that have been dogging them all this week. hasn't been a good week for the obama white house. but they did release the e-mails on benghazi to try to put that to rest. they did fire the acting head of the i.r.s. make no mistake about it, he was fired. he didn't resign. steven miller. tried to put that one to rest and they asked chuck schumer to reintroduce the media shield law to show that they really do love reporters after all. after having subpoenaed the department of justice subpoenaed the phone records of "the associated press." did that do the trick? that's the question. 1-866-55-press. back to your comments in just a minute. how about this? on identity theft this story out of massachusetts a man stole tens of thousands of dollars from his former girlfriend while she was suffering from cancer. he now has to pay $64,000 back to her daughter once he gets out of prison. used his girlfriend's identity to open credit cards up in his own name. another case of identity theft. another reason to go out and get protection against it. like lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made and the protection that i have. lifelock services can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. visit lifelock.com or call and mention press 10 and you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. that number to call is 1-800-356-5967. for lifelock ultimate. peter? >> bill, say hello to james parum. he is 75 years old. he lives in new jersey. >> bill: hi, james! >> james is in a little bit of trouble. he lives in a senior citizen housing complex. >> bill: but he's not old enough to qualify? >> he's 75 but he's been charged with running a prostitution ring that employs some of the elderly residents as sex workers within the actual complex. so, you know, i mean -- >> bill: there is so much to say about that which i will simply refrain from saying. >> the youngest person of the accused is 66 years old. he is 75. >> bill: he was pimping them inside the senior living community. >> yep. the older the berry the sweeter the juice. >> bill: i will refrain from any comment on that. >> that's the only one i'm making. >> bill: i personally think the benghazi thing is over and done with and was a long time ago. i think the i.r.s. thing has been made too much of. i doubt that congress will do what is really necessary. which is change -- clarify the law so we know who qualifies as a tax-exempt organization and who does not. but i think the department of justice one is the real scandal. that's the one where restill need some answers from the white house and from the department of justice. what say you? allen in battle creek, michigan. >> caller: good morning, bill. i was watching lawrence o'donnell last night. he made a statement that he's been reiterating all week long about how the i.r.s. had a law passed in 1959 giving them the ability to do what they're doing with the tea party and that and he said nobody else was saying anything about that. do you know anything about that? >> bill: well, the problem -- yeah, there is a law that clarifies what a 501c3 and a 501(c)(4) but i guess there is a law that sets that up, right. but it doesn't really clarify what standards you have to meet to get a tax exemption. as a result of which you and i both know, allen, there are a lot of organizations that have been given a tax-exempt status that don't deserve it. i keep coming back -- look at the church of scientology. i mean, look at -- i would reason say look at the catholic church right? some bishops out there telling people you can't vote for john kerry because he's pro-life, right? or pro abortion or pro-choice. but you can't vote for geraldine ferraro in those days. they're hiding under a tax-exempt status. karl rove. there's no way his crossroads is not a total political organization. but he qualified for a 501(c)(4). so that's a problem. without the law being more clear then the i.r.s. agents just sort of decide how they apply it from one year to the next. the real answer is to change the law. which congress probably won't do >> caller: yeah. i guess that's what the president was talking about yesterday. they're going to put new safeguards in. >> bill: two things. one, they're going to try to do some things by executive -- number one he fired steven miller. number two puts new safeguards in internally within the i.r.s. but the ultimate solution -- remember the third thing the president said was work with congress to fix the problem. that's the third thing which is we need new legislation making a very tough test as to who qualifies as a tax-exempt organization. because understand, i'm sure you all do but we have to remind ourselves, if they're not paying taxes, they're basically stealing money from us. we're saying that your educational work, your social welfare work is so important that we will let you -- we will give you a free ride and you don't have to pay taxes. well, there ought to be a really tough test to get that tax-exempt status. we should not be giving money away. otherwise, we're just getting suckered. >> bill: chris from buffalo new york. hey, chris. >> caller: good morning. >> bill: hi. >> caller: i pretty much agree with everything you said except i would add a number four to your list for the department of justice. we need a little bit more common sense reporting from the journalists in regards to national security. need to start policing yourself better. we keep hearing that journalism is going to be policed better but it doesn't happen. and if you want the protection of the first amendment, you've got to start respecting it. and the example i would give is valerie plame. >> bill: you know you won't get any disagreement from me about valerie plame. it was bob novack, right who wrote that column and it was members of the bush administration who leaked her identity. they committed a federal crime and they were not held responsible for it. >> caller: but you have to agree there has been some loose and frenzied reporting lately. >> bill: look, kris, i'm sorry but nobody's -- i'm as critical of the media i think as anybody in the media. if you watch or listen to the show, you should know that. i'm not always defending the media but in this case, eric holder says that this was the most -- one of the two or three most serious national security issues that he had ever seen and this was leaked. well, the fact is i don't buy that. in this case, this was an attempt to blow up an airliner coming to the united states, our intelligence agencies found out about it. they got the guys. they thwarted the attacks. they saved hundreds of lives. and the administration was about to report this and then a.p. reported it first. so you know, why does that justify seizing their phone records? >> caller: they can't use that man anymore because they outed him. and maybe put his family in danger. now, that shouldn't have been done. >> bill: well, if the administration was going to release the story anyhow, chris i don't see the difference. i think it might have been maybe they were just pissed because the a.p. got there first. gotta think about that, too. i'm telling you any time any administration says we're not going to tell you or you can't do this and then they say why? national security. i think all of us should be very, very leery very suspicious about that and ask tough questions. eric calling from atlanta georgia. hi eric. >> caller: bill, i think the republican with a curveball. all of these appointees, all of these that happen on obama's watch, the atf the i.r.s., all of these were bush appointees. every one of them, you look at the i.r.s. scandals, these were bush career appointees. they had nothing to do with president obama. and the reason why this investigation was carried out it was because of a resolution 489 john mccain issueed 29 g.o.p. senators on june 5 2012. basically, what i'm trying to tell you is this. this is the same thing that happened to bill clinton. after he got his taxes raised, grover norquist pledge went into effect. do not let them -- scandalize, do whatever you can in order to break him down. this is what's going on. the number one issue, all of these scandals come up from the bush administration. >> bill: eric, you got it. that is their m.o. no doubt about their m.o. also no doubt that it is a problem for president obama. but i think he's handled it well so far. except for the d.o.j. he has more to do there. >> one comment from twitter, larry bonds says the i.r.s., the a.p. and benghazi are all g.o.p. distractions to take away focus from jobs, immigration infrastructure gun safety. >> bill: i agree. i think president obama ought to say that. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. 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(vo) current tv gets the >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: the "bill press show," now on current tv. >> bill: 12 minutes to go before the top of the hour here. the media having really, a field day this week with not one not two, but three white house scandals to deal with. at least three reported scandals, i guess. how has the media reacted? and one of these issues, of course impacts the media directly. to find out how they've acted and what they're kind of -- what their big take on these various scandals are, we turn to jack merkinson, media editor with "huffington post" joining us on our news line this morning. hey, jack, thanks for getting up early for us. >> thank you for having me. >> bill: let's start with a comparison that we've seen on several fronts that obama is -- just like nixon or maybe even worse with his enemies list through the i.r.s. and beating up on the media. true? >> um, i think probably overblown in some ways. i feel like with the i.r.s., to really be like nixon, he would have to have been personally overseeing that and there's no evidence he has been. >> bill: and directing the i.r.s. against his political enemies, right which we haven't seen. >> right. exactly. in terms of his stance on the media, you know, i feel like one-to-one comparison are sort of faulty because the times have changed so much. but i think it is true that his policy toward whistle-blowers and toward leaks and his aggression in going after people who are exposing information about the government has been pretty unprecedented and he has come under a lot of criticism throughout his time in office for that. and certainly the justice department investigation into the a.p. is really quite a big deal, i think. and pretty scandalous, actually. >> bill: we have to remember, too, that during the nixon administration, he unleashed spiro agnew to attack the media right? with all of those lines written by pat buchanan. my friend, pat buchanan. so they were really going out like almost declared war on the media. and with a lot of success among right-wingers at the time. but you do raise the issue which i think is a very troubling one. about the department of justice's aggressive investigation to say the least of "the associated press." which really stems from the obama administration's almost obsession with prosecuting leaks, right on any front. more so than any other administration. >> yes. he is -- has prosecuted more people under the es poonage act -- espionage act than any other president that came before him. the justice departments look into the a.p., if you look around, i haven't seen anyone who says that they've seen anything like that ever happen. just the breadth of it, the scope of it. the secrecy of it. people are very, very shocked and stunned that something like that has occurred. and so we will have to see -- i'm wondering what obama will say about it. if he's asked about it at his press conference today actually. >> bill: he may be. i think one of the things he may say is look, we respect the work of the media and we want to help them do their job. and not be intimidated and so we are supporting the media shield act. right? which -- and they've asked chuck schumer to reintroduce that act. does that sort of absolve them of any guilt, if you will? >> uh, i don't really think so. first of all i think that the reintroduction of that bill with a certain amount of skepticism. it seems a pretty cynical thing to do to introduce it while all of this is going on. and also nowhere near clear if it would have protected "the associated press" journalist from this investigation. if there had been a shield law in place because their version of the bill that they're introducing would probably have a broad national security exemption, meaning that they wouldn't really have to follow the rules of the bill. if they said national security was at risk. and in this case they did say that national security was at risk. the a.p. might have had their records looked into anyway. >> bill: but as i understand it at least with the media shield law if that were the case, the reporters or the institution like "the associated press," could go to a judge and have a judge decide whether the administration was correct in his insistence that national security release their sources at that time. >> which would an difference. >> bill: one quick thing. just about 30 seconds jack. the three scandals means the obama administration's second term is all washed up already six months into it because he said his whole thing is you know, you can trust your government to work for you and now you can see that you can't trust your government after all. peter baker's got a lead story in "the new york times" on that angle this morning. a little overreach don't you think? >> i think this early into a term, it is always -- probably a little mistaken to define the entire term already. but the media has never been known for its hesitancy to immediately place a broad definition on how the past, present and future will be redined by it -- will be redefined by this moment in time >> bill: you can follow jack michiganenson at the hoverington post.com. >> thank you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." out for us. this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> announcer: taking new e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. here we go in the next hour, congresswoman jackie speier from california in studio with us. e-mails on many fronts, barbara says guess what. nobody cares about you newsies and your arrogant, self-imposed right to endanger our country for your scoop. well, guess what, barbara. we ought to care about the constitution of the united states and we ought to care about the first amendment and we ought to care about freedom of the press and if we weren't around, what would happen. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had to do something. once i started taking the lyrica the pain started subsiding. 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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, what do you say folks. good to see you today. happy thursday, thursday, may 16. here we go. with the "full court press." pardon me. on current tv. welcome, welcome to the program this morning on a very busy day here in our nation's capital. on many fronts, the white house yesterday in full damage control mode. and they took strong action to address every one of the so-called scandal -- every one of the three so-called scandals they're dealing with right now on benghazi, the white house released over 100 pages of e-mails back and forth between the c.i.a., the state department the defense department the white house fbi, anybody else involved in responding to the attacks on our embassy in benghazi. on the i.r.s., the president arrive he read the inspector general's report, he got called in to secretary treasury and demanded that the acting head of the i.r.s. be fired and some new safeguards be put in place to prevent any targeting of political groups. and on the department of justices's seizure of phone records of "the associated press," the white house asked chuck schumer to reintroduce the media shield law from 2009 in order to protect journalists and enable them to do their job. things have got son bad at the white house that the president said he is actually looking forward today to taking questions from reporters in the rose garden about syria. all right. we'll bring you up to date right here on current tv. support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the head of the act -- the acting head of the i.r.s. is out of a job this morning. fired. or allowed to resign or forced to walk the plank however you want to put it. does that solve the problem? good morning everybody. what do you say? here we go. it is the "full court press." this thursday morning. thursday may 16. good to see you today. thanks for joining us. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. washington, d.c. where there's fireworks on many fronts today. just to show you i guess how crazy it is these days, there is for three days, the last three days has been a hearing all day long in the senate judiciary committee about the immigration legislation put forward by the so-called gang of eight. and we have not heard one bit of news about how that bill is faring or whether it's going to survive or what amendments are being offered or what's happening to it, right? that was the number one issue like last week. haven't heard a peep about it. it has been going on but there's so much other crap going on, that we're not even talking about that. nobody is talking about it. everybody is talking instead about e-mail, about benghazi, about i.r.s. and about "the associated press." that's the focus here, too, on the "full court press" this morning and we want to talk about and what you are definitely going to want to talk about. you can do so by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. look for comments on twitter at bpshow and facebook facebook.com/billpressshow. team, are you ready? >> yes sir. >> good morning. >> bill: we're ready. >> happy thursday. >> bill: alichia cruz is ready to take your calls and cyprian bowlding always ready to keep us looking good. [ laughter ] >> bill: what did he do? >> pay attention. >> he's on the phone don't know who he's talking to. >> bill: i'm tellin' ya. you know what we need? we need a department of justice investigation to tap cyprian's phone. >> tap that phone! >> bill: seize those phone records. i don't know that -- do we want to know? >> bill: i've been tough on eric holder lately. i think the president should tell him eric, thanks for the first four years and i'll get somebody else in there who will not cause so many problems. i think he's run out the clock there. and i don't think he's served president obama well. but i do have to say he was in good form yesterday. he was in front of house committee and there were a couple of crazies on that house committee who tried to give him a hard time. darrell issa, he took him on. and then the crazy louie gohmert from texas who came out with some say -- fbi you know, blah, blah blah, and holder basically told him, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. >> you don't know what questions were put to the russians or what was responded to. you simply do not know that and you have characterized the fbi as being not thorough or taking exception to my characterization of them as being thorough. i know what the fbi did. you cannot know what i know. >> bill: so i know, dude! because that's -- i'm the attorney general. you don't know what the hell you're talking about. which is true. louie gohmert doesn't know what he's talking to on any issue. he takes offense. how dare you insult my -- well, let him say it. >> when you attack somebody's integrity and say they made statements that were not true, then, of course, that is -- raises a point of personal privilege but the attorney general failed to answer my questions -- >> mr. chairman -- >> my asparagus. >> bill: aspersions on my asparagus. >> aspersions on my asparagus. >> bill: that's so funny. so he can attack holder but then when holder fights back, oh, no, point of personal privilege. how dare you cast dispersions on my asparagus. >> that's so good. >> bill: we got it here. congresswoman jackie speier coming in the studio with us in a little bit here. to talk about the media -- the military's continued and unbelievable refusal to really get serious about the problem of sexual harassment. sexual assault, i should say in the military. mark, the new member congress from wisconsin is here in studio with us as well. in the next hour with melanie sloan, executive director of citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington about the i.r.s. and what about, of all the scandals, what is the most serious of the three? i'll tell you. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other stuff you need to know as you head out the door on this thursday in sports, two nba teams advancing to the conference finals last night. the miami heat beating the chicago bulls 94-91 in game five. they'll face either the indiana pacers or new york knicks and in the west, it wases also a close game. grizzlies defeating the thunder 88-84. memphis' first ever trip to the conference finals. they will play either golden state or san antonio. >> bill: i was going to ask how is san antonio? >> they play tonight. >> they have a chance to close it out tonight. the grizzlies look scary. the memphis grizzlies. every year they sort of flirt in the playoffs of making a run and they never actually get this far. they destroyed one of the better teams in the nba. the thunder. and they're done. thunder are out. that's it. grizzlies move on. i think they're the team to watch right now. i mean look, obviously the heat are the team to watch but if there's going to be a team that can knock the heat off it is the grizzlies. >> we might see sarah palin back on tv. news max reported that mark burnett, also behind her reality show era palin -- sarah palin alaska has approached the failed v.p. candidate to host a syndicated daytime tv talk show. palin reportedly turned down the first offer but said in a statement she liked working with mark burnett in the past so "never say never." >> bill: i gotta tell you so what she's going to be the next ellen degeneres or katie couric or the next oprah? no freakin' way! can you imagine? >> i'll tell you one thing. i would watch. >> bill: i would watch for the first day or so. >> i would watch for all of the wrong reasons but i would watch. >> bill: same thing. you slow down to watch a train wreck. >> exactly. >> bill: that would get old so fast. can you imagine five days a week? >> prince harry did something he's good at for his last hurrah. the royal saddled up for an exhibition polo match up in greenwich, connecticut. he played to raise money for an african children's charity that wraps up the week-long trip. he was in washington, colorado, new jersey new york, never made it to vegas and kept his pants on. >> bill: prince harry. the charm tour here. i think they had to send him back to show this time, you better be behave. don't you think? i think grandma had a little talk with him and said you're out of the will, right? get it together. take a quick look again at the top of the hour. about where we are with respect to the three big topics we've been talking about and the three big problems or scandals as they're called that the white house has been dealing with this week. and we saw the white house in full damage control yesterday. i think basically they took care of two of them. there is still one problem left. and i'll tell you why. love to get your calls at 1-866-55-press. on benghazi, this thing ran out of gas a long time ago. but certainly even more so yesterday when the white house finally said all right, you want the e-mails here they are. take the damn e-mails and spend the next three days reading all of these 100 e-mails. it is what's called a document dump. it is one of the most effective ways of dealing with a crisis like this. it is just give them what they want. the republicans by demanding the e-mails and the white house by refusing to give them up, had left the impression there was some deep, dark secret about benghazi. there's not. they released e-mails. i haven't read them all yet but i've read many accounts of people who have. saw jake tapper last night on cnn who had read all of the e-mails. basically, what they say is that even four days after the attack on our embassy in benghazi, our intelligence agencies still didn't really know what the hell had happened and they showed that it was the c.i.a., not hillary clinton not susan rice, not barack obama nobody at the white house. it was deputy director of the c.i.a. mike morrell who said please take any reference to al-qaeda or terrorist out of the first public statements that -- are made from the white house on this issue or from the administration on this event. because they didn't want to tip off the terrorists that we thought they were involved. again, the last -- kind of the last act on benghazi for republicans. i don't know what they're going to demand next. but it's not the scandal that they've tried to make it out to be. it is a tragedy that our ambassador was killed. three other americans killed. now, let's make sure our embassies in the future are more secure and nothing like this could happen again. on the i.r.s., the president yesterday took some dramatic action after reading the inspector general's report and confirming that, in fact, there had been a policy to target these tea party groups. the president outraged, called in the treasury secretary demanded and got the head of the acting head -- acting chief of the commissioner of the i.r.s. steven miller. he's out of a job today. and the president has put -- told jack lew to put new safe guards in place so that there is no possible targeting of any particular political groups either on the right or on the left. i think it kind of does it for the i.r.s. as well. of course, what we really need and what i would think both in "the new york times" makes that point this morning in an editorial, i would think both republicans and democrats in congress would want to do is to come up with some new policies and new guidelines for the i.r.s. on what exactly constitutes a 501(c)(4) and what do you have to do to get a tax-exempt status from the federal government? this issue may go away. that still leaves people like karl rove or that phony church of scientology have a tax-exempt status when they shouldn't have which means we're losing money. they're stealing money from us and we're letting them get away with it. until we solve that policy issue. not just this personnel problem. that is going to be a -- we'll still have tax cheats out there. the up with issue the -- the one issue, the one area where i think the administration still has a prorks i think we still need to ask tough questions and still need some answers is on the department of justice's investigation of "the associated press" and the seizure of their phone records which i still haven't heard a justification for. i can keep coming back to eric holder, attorney general saying this was one of the most serious violations of national security that we had ever -- we have every right to trash the first amendment basically. and demand to know -- find out by subpoenaing the phone records, who these reporters were talking to. in so doing, we know the department of justice violated its own rules. they didn't even notify the a.p. that they were subpoenaing the records which they're supposed to. they didn't narrow the focus of their search which they're supposed to. instead, they went after 20 phone lines 100 reporters for two months' time. about as broad as you can get. and they didn't use a subpoena of the phone records as the last resort. and again, i come back to say i don't know -- i don't think they've even proven why this was such a breach of national security that it merited this wholesale violation of the first amendment. the story was again terrorists had targeted an airliner coming to the united states with some advanced underwear bomber. our intelligence agency infiltrated the group found out about it, they stopped the attempt. they saved hundreds of lives. the a.p. found out about it. they sat on the story for four days because the white house asked them to. the a.p. found out the white house was about to release the story themselves. so the a.p. reported it. what was the breach of national security? what was so serious to quote eric holder that it would put all of the american people in jeopardy? i don't buy it. i think they're trying to cover their ass. this is still a big problem for the administration. 1-866-55-press. two out of three scandals, i believe, have gone away. still got one. we need some answers to. >> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show." on facebook. this is the "bill press show." >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. make it 26 minutes after the hour. jackie speier, congresswoman from california coming up in the next segment to tell us how the military's doing, dealing with the issue of sexual assault. doesn't look like they're doing very well. right now, we're talking about the one remaining issue i think the white house has to deal with is, again, the justice department's aggressive pursuit of "associated press" as part of their criminal investigation into who leaked details of that terrorist attempt to blow up an airliner out of yemen. 1-866-55-press. your calls welcome. peter, what have we got? >> we're on twitter at bpshow where we're getting comments on this story as you can imagine. rich dahl says i'm sick of you calling for holder to be fired. he followed the rule of law whether you like it or not. he's just doing his job. which is not much of a defense if you ask me. >> bill: well, he didn't do his job in going after dick cheney for breaking the law. he didn't do his job in going after george bush for breaking the law. >> good point. >> bill: but instead he's going after "the associated press." i just don't think he served obama well. he's had four years. get the hell out. >> tina says there you go, bill. holder isn't in charge of handling the a.p. story. you sound like louie gohmert. at least you haven't cast any aspersions on hiss a pair grouse. -- asparagus. >> caller: i think you're totally wrong. first thing, i think the press has -- you know, they control the things and when the press says things and when they attack seems like you all attack the person that's attacking the press. they have should be investigating. if the government think that they're doing something that's wrong, they should be attacking. i don't understand why the president has a free hand to say anything they want do anything. they lie. but when they are attacked, seem like all y'all i'm surprised at you, truthfully. you sound more like a republican, you know, you do. you sound more like a republican -- >> bill: j.j., look, i make no apologies for standing up for the first amendment and standing up for the freedom of the press. remember what thomas jefferson said if i had to choose between a free government and a free press, i would choose the free press. it is up to the media, it is our job to let you know what is going on. if we can't do our job if government interferes with our doing our job or scares us out of doing our job then the american people are really going to be in bad bad shape. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now on a thursday. how about it. thursday march 16. it is the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital brought to you today by the american federation of teachers. the good men and women of the aft, under president randi weingarten making a difference in america's classrooms every day. you bet. you can find out more about their good work at aft.org. well, we've been so consumed with talk about benghazi and about the i.r.s. and about the department of justice and "associated press." we forget sometimes there are other things going on. there are other important issues in the news and one thing that almost got lost this week is a second officer of the military who had the job of cracking down on sexual assaults and sexual abuse has been, himself now found guilty or at least charged with sexual abuse. what the hell is going on? can we trust the military to police itself and correct this problem? congresswoman jackie speier from california has been out in front on this issue. more than anybody, as much as anybody else i should say. >> for two years. >> bill: for two years. talked to us off been it. congresswoman, always great to see you. >> great to see you. >> bill: you and i talked about this the last time you were on, the air force guy found in a parking lot accosting a woman, assaulting a woman in arlington, virginia. what's the latest? >> so, the latest appears to be a case where a sexual assault prevention and response officer they call them sarp officer was soliciting women to become part of his prostitution ring. actually gotten one to join his ring and was approaching another woman who refused and then he sexually assaulted her. and what's most egregious about all of this, these are the best of the best. the tip of the spear as they refer to them. this is someone who was going to be moving quickly up the chain of command. he's a noncommissioned officer sergeant. it was pointed out to be someone who had great talents. had 80 hours of training. had a background check. and -- >> bill: good lord. >> it is almost like the sexual predators are seeking to get these jobs so they can prey on the vulnerable. it just underscores why the military is ill-equipped to police itself, as you termed it. in these kinds of situations. why so many of us believe we have to take them out of the chain of command. >> bill: why do you believe -- what is it about the militaries militaries -- military, as a profession, that generates this kind of behavior? >> i don't know if there's anything particularly different about the military but because it is a closed system, much like the catholic church was a closed system and you kind of police yourselves, you have your own rules. there's an opportunity to sweep a lot of bad conduct under the rug. and that's what's happened in the military for a very long time. and because the chain of command creates this embedded conflict of interest because sometimes the assailant that you're supposed to report this crime to is the actual abuser or the friend of the abuser or is looking for a promotion and sees that if he actually identifies this as a rape going on under his, you know, kind of control that somehow it is going to reflect poorly on his ability to get promoted. so for all of those reasons they do things like nonjudicial punishment. you commit a felony crime and it is nonjudicial punishment? or they do things like not pursuing it. they have the ultimate authority to determine whether or not it is going to go to court-martial whether or not it is going to be investigated. they can choose not to do it. >> bill: this is why it's important to take it out of the chain of command. >> correct. >> bill: if you take it out of the chain of command, then how is it -- how are the issuens resolved? >> so, you create -- in my bill, you create an office within the military made up of experts in prosecution and investigations. they -- you file a complaint with that office. they evaluate it. if they think it should go forward to court-martial, it moves forward. if not then it is bumped back to the commander who can then take steps to offer some other kind of punishment. >> bill: it is handled still within the military. are these ever taken outside the military to a criminal court? if the event happens you know, among military personnel inside the military. >> no. if you recall in the arlington virginia case, the air force lieutenant, there was actually an effort to try and take the case internally and the request was made. the local d.a. said no, they weren't going to allow that to happen. >> bill: back to this -- it just puzzles me as to why -- your analogy to the catholic church is right on. there's also some sort -- has always been, right sort of a macho mentality right to the military for so long. still is male dominated. for so long, it was almost exclusively male. women were considered secondary and maybe therefore meant to take advantage of in many ways. >> so, it is a male dominated environment but it is really important to point out that there are men who are assaulted actually in larger numbers than women in the military. because it is about power. it is about asserting power over someone. >> bill: larger numbers? >> only because -- >> bill: more men in the military. >> they are about 50% to 0% of those -- to 60% of those who are assaulted are men. >> bill: it comes down to power. that's what it is all about. so in the congress -- do you think we will see some action on this? i know congress is really busy. we have to have more hearings on benghazi. now we have to have hearings up the gazoo on the i.r.s. >> with good reason, too. >> we should be putting our focus on the i.r.s. and not on benghazi. >> bill: also on other things like gun safety and climate control and all of the others. how about this issue? do you think we're going to see some action? >> there are a number of us who are pushing hard to make sure there is action. it is interesting. some people want to say they want to do something but they truly want to keep the status quo. because you know, it is really -- seeing almost unpatriotic to take on the military. so believe it or not i mean it's like -- to me, patriotism is about protecting every person that goes into the military. just not a particular group. and i want men and women to be able to enlist in the military and know that it is not a haven for sexual predators. >> bill: that seems to me that should not be a hard sell to make. but it apparently is. 1-866-55-press. love to get your comments on that. so what kind -- so you're saying even inside the congress, it is hard to get the votes right? >> my bill has 122 cosponsors right now. and we will gain many more. the bill was just introduced a few weeks ago the second bill that i've introduced. and there is -- there is growing sentiment that these cases need to be taken out of the chain of command but this is -- when you say you want to take these cases out of the chain of command you are challenging the essence of the military structure. and yet, if you look at our system which is based on the british system code of justice which congress created in the '50s is based on the british system. if you look at the u.k., look at canada and australia they have taken these cases out of the chain of command. >> bill: they have. >> they have. since 1996. and they've had good success with taking those steps. and you know i talked with secretary hagel last night. can we at least have you look at the british system? we've actually studied it. i've sent staff over to london to really evaluate it. and i think that if they really look at what's being done and how successful it's been, they may be more apt to try it maybe on a pilot program basis. >> bill: you've been the lead in the senate, working closely with gillibrand and murray and others in the senate as well. so when you talk to military officers, do you get any support for this? privately maybe? officially right as you just indicated, the official position of the department of defense and the secretary of defense is no, we need to leave it. >> you know where i get a lot of support is? from retired military because they feel like they can speak without fear of -- some kind of act taken against them. i think they get it. i think many of them are starting to understand it. the case in aviano, italy where a lieutenant colonel was court-martialed, three-star general called on the court-martial to take place actually appointed the jurors. 5-0 conviction, the three-star general overturns the conviction. so the attorney from the air force who flew over there. chief general counsel to try the case was in disbelief. >> bill: yeah. i've read about that case. again, makes it all the more imperative that something be done, that something like your bill be enacted and may the law of the land. 1-866-55-press. welcome to join the conversation. or your comments welcome on twitter at bpshow. love to hear from some of you members of the military or veterans. men and women on this issue. we'll be right back with congresswoman jackie speier from california. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. it is 13 minutes now before the top of the hour here on the "full court press." congressman, one of your colleagues, mark polcan is going to be with us. >> oh, good. >> bill: we're visiting visiting with jackie speier. happy birthday. continuous celebration of your birthday here. >> thank you. >> bill: so we were talking about -- i want to ask you about some other issues. we were talking about this macho mentality that's dominating the media. when we think that, you know, people have grown up now and they recognize more the rights of women and the place of women that we've moved on as society then you hear somebody like pat robertson on the "700 club," he's responding -- love to get your response to this. he's responding to a viewer who complained about her husband was cleteing on her and she was upset about it. pat robertson basically is saying it is your own dumb damn fault. >> so, like it or not males have a tendency to wander a little bit. and what you want to do is make your home so wonderful that you don't want to wander. >> bill: so it is your fault. >> where are the ten commandments? in his preaching huh? >> i'm a married man. you're a married man. try using that logic on your wife at home for all of the married gentleman out there and see what kind of reaction you get. >> bill: this coming from pat robertson. >> he's kind of stuck in the mad men mentality. >> bill: he ran for president at one time, too. let's say hello to john calling from worcester. >> caller: good morning, bill and happy birthday, representative. >> thank you. >> caller: bill, i'm wondering how much of a problem moral waivers are as far as -- enlisting goes. and how much of a problem are contractors in a war zone regarding sexual assault. >> bill: okay. congresswoman? thanks john. >> the moral waiver issue, there was a period of time when we were building up the surge in iraq that moral waivers were being granted. >> bill: i don't know what that means. >> you might have an offense criminal background check shows that you have some kind of a violation, sometimes. >> bill: put that aside. are they still in place? >> these waivers, no. they're not using the waivers at all. i would think a good part of that universe of people has since left the military. but that is a concern. his second question was about contractors. and yes there's been plenty of incidents of contractor sexual assault and abuse. >> bill: but they're not subject to the military code of justice. >> they are not. i don't believe they are no. >> bill: chuck is calling from jacksonville, florida. hi chuck. >> caller: good morning. i have an assumption i'm going to make and senator can correct me on this. if bill press is the ceo of apple or exxon mobil he's going to make absolutely positive sure that none of this happens in his organization because if i'm on a jury and something does, the punitive damages will be so severe that isn't going to happen. so i'm assuming that the military doesn't have the people in the military don't have the right to sue. >> that's absolutely correct. >> caller: and the lawsuits -- that's the difference. the people in the private sector are no more different than the people in the military. the people in the private sector again if bill press is the ceo of a corporation, he's going to make damn sure that nobody in his organization does that. if they do, they're out the door and gone. >> bill: all right. thanks chuck. >> absolutely right. >> called a ferris doctrine and it basically provides that when you're in the military, anything -- any hazard, any occupational hazard, you can't sue for it. so the fact that you're in the military, you get sexually assaulted, that's considered occupational hazard. >> bill: i do want to ask you about the i.r.s. the president -- we have the inspector general's report, the president has made sure that the acting head of the i.r.s. is out there. he said put some new safeguards in place. has that resolved the issue in your mind? >> i think this is an issue that really does require oversight and government reform committee to do something. drill down and because you know, the problem at the i.r.s. is there's incredible discretion. i don't think we kind of focus on it at all. but they do have a remarkable purview and it is witnessed here by the kinds of steps that were taken by civil service personnel. and we're going to also see how the civil service system works in the next months and years because of course, that process is long and tedious. >> bill: i think this is the chance wrsh an opportunity and i think requirement -- congress really has to help define exactly what constitutes a 501(c)(4) and who should be able to get the tax exemptions and who should not. >> the original law said exclusively for social welfare purposes. then it was the i.r.s. that interpreted it to be primarily for social service purposes and then define primarily. so this is why we're in the situation we're in. >> bill: some people that are 100% political like karl rove and he gets the tax-exempt status. let's focus on that and on to the other stuff. thank you for your leadership on this important issue congresswoman and for your time this morning. i'll be back to tell you what the president is up to today in the rose garden. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right? >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: okay. two important guests in the next hour here on the "full court press." melanie sloan from citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington on the i.r.s. and what the i.r.s. should be doing. and mark, new congressman from the state of wisconsin. at the white house today for president obama, it is turkey day. turkey day. i don't mean thanksgiving. no. the prime minister of turkey, prime minister is in town today. and he will be meeting with the president and the vice president this morning at 10:00. then at noon, the president and the prime minister will hold a joint news conference in the rose garden. i'll be there. and this evening the president will be hosting a working dinner. not a state dinner. working dinner with the prime minister of turkey at the white house. in the residence. you know things are bad when the president looks forward to talking about syria with the prime minister of turkey. anything but talking about the i.r.s. or benghazi. we'll be back with another hour of the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody and welcome to the "full court press" on current tv. this is the good way to start the day every day here on our little town hall of the day. where you find out what's going on and most importantly, have a chance to give us your point of view on what's going on here in our nation's capital around the country and around the globe. we're coming to you live from our studio on capitol hill. on current tv. across this great land of ours and ready to take your calls at 1-866-55-press. love to hear from you on twitter at bpshow and on facebook, at facebook.com/billpressshow. the white house in full damage control yesterday on three fronts. first of all on benghazi. they did what republicans and reporters have been asking for a long time. they released 100 pages of e-mails, all of the e-mails back and forth on what happened at our embassy in benghazi, e-mails between the state department, the c.i.a., the defense department the white house anybody, pentagon, anybody who was involved. and all they show is nobody really knew what was going on. on the i.r.s., the president fired the acting head of the i.r.s. and put some new safeguards in place. and on the department of justice's investigation of the a.p., the administration has asked for a new media shield law in the congress. we'll bring you up to date on all of that right here on current tv. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of out for us. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama release 100 pages of e-mails about benghazi. you think that will make this problem go away? not if you ask john boehner or darrell issa. good morning everybody. what do you say? it is thursday. thursday may 16. this is the "full court press." we're coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our nation's capital. and booming out to you on your local progressive talk radio station. how lucky you are if you've got one. hope you recognize that and give the station and the sponsors your full support. enthusiastic support. come to you live also on current tv. this good thursday morning. with a lot to talk about. we'll bring you up to date on all that's happening and invite your calls at 1-866-55-press. invite your comments on twitter at bpshow and invite your comments on facebook. be our friend on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. we've got the whole team here this morning and a person who is back so often she almost qualifies -- i think she is an honorary member of our bill press team. >> i'm honored to be. >> bill: part of the woodwork here almost. melanie sloan is head of citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. nice to see you. >> always nice to be back. >> bill: also a neighbor. we say we are now expanding our group of neighbors so pretty soon -- unless you live on capitol hill, you're not -- >> 75% of our guests live within blocks of this studio. >> really? >> it is amazing. >> that's funny. >> bill: here we are. the team here, peter ogborn and dan henning. hello, guys. >> hey hey. >> bill: with alichia cruz on the phones and cyprian bowlding on the video cam. and you know, melanie i've been very critical of attorney general eric holder even before this latest "associated press" scandal. and i think president obama would be better served with a new attorney general but i have to say eric holder did more than hold his own yesterday at his hearing. where he was confronted by both darrell issa and the crazy louie gohmert from texas. and eric holder just didn't take any crap from them at all. so here's the exchange first with louie gohmert where the congressman was attacking the fbi saying they didn't do this. they didn't to this. they didn't ask this question and eric holder finally said you don't know what you're talking about. >> you don't know what questions were put to the russians, whether those questions were responded to. you simply do not know that. and you have characterized the fbi as being not thorough or taking exception to my characterization as being thorough. i know what the fbi did. you cannot know what i know. >> bill: and now here's why i wanted to play this. so louie gohmert takes personal offense. his reputation now is on -- >> what reputation? [ laughter ] >> bill: so he calls a point of personal privilege in a colorful way. >> when you attack somebody's integrity and say they made statements that were not true, then, of course, that is -- raises a point of personal privilege but the attorney general failed to answer my question -- [talking on top of each other] >> apersians on my asparagus. >> bill: he cast aspersions on my asparagus. [ laughter ] >> bill: no doubt. >> aspersions on my asparagus. >> what does that mean. >> what other word could he have meant? i don't understand. >> not a lot of things rhyme with asparagus. >> i think that shows you something about louie goalert. >> wow. >> bill: and now we have mark sanford back in congress. another clown. melanie sloan with us here to talk about the i.r.s. and we'll be joined a little bit later by congressman park from wisconsin. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> quick check of other headlines making news on this thursday. a former republican congressman from arizona is getting married this weekend but he can't legally marry in his home state of arizona so he's doing it here in d.c. instead. the hill reporting that former representative jim kolbe who retired back in 2007 is marrying his partner of eight years. he's marrying his partner of eight years hector alfonzo. kolbe is 70 years old. became the second openly gay republican to serve in congress. he came out back in 1996. he's getting married saturday. >> who knew there was such a thing as a gay republican? >> bill: james kolbe was way ahead of his time. >> you look at republicans now. >> bill: yeah. >> sports desk, the sacramento kings will not be moving to seattle. the nba board of governors ruling yesterday that the kings have to stay in california by way of a 22-8 vote according to "usa today," the family that owns the kings had been trying to off-load the team for some time and found a buyer in a group led by the ceo of microsoft in seattle. but the nba will not allow the move. seattle has been without a team since the supersonics left there in 2008. >> bill: how the hell they can do that. >> the nba i'm not sure what exactly they're trying to accomplish by trying to dominate how teams run their businesses. they tried to do this in the off-season. wouldn't allow certain trades. if you own a team and you find another buyer, how can the nba step in and say you can't do that? >> bill: i'm mixed on it. i hate it when some teams -- i've never forgiven the dodgers. [ laughter ] although i was a dodgers fan in l.a. at the same time, how can you -- like if the people of sacramento know they were trying to get out, what are they going to think about their team? they're only there because they're forced to be there. >> encourage people to come out and cheer. >> and pay money for tickets. >> if you had extra money put into your paycheck by mistake would you keep it? not if you were san francisco giants relief pitcher jeremy affeldt. he's giving back $500,000 to the giants after a clerical error on a $4 million deal a couple of years ago. "usa today's" sports reporting that someone typed in $4.5 million into the computer instead. he noticed his paychecks were higher than they should be. even after he checked with a couple of different legal sources who said he could keep the money because it was the team's mistake he said he couldn't sleep at night because he knew it wasn't right so he gave them the money back. >> half a million here, half a million there. >> bill: i'm going to go back and check my contract. i admire him. >> ethical and good thing to do. >> that's right. i'm here to be a proponent -- >> i would take the money and run but i'm a dirt bag. >> bill: no decisions. melanie, you have written on the i.r.s. so-called i.r.s. scandal. the real problem at the i.r.s., i was so glad to see this article because this is what's missing in this case, i think with all of the hullabaloo with the fact there are some real abuse going on in the i.r.s. tell us about it. >> so, the real problem at the i.r.s. goes back all the way to 1959. congress passed a statute governing the 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations that everyone is now learning about. and the law said that these organizations must be exclusively engaged in activities promoting social welfare. well, lo and behold, despite that fact, soon the i.r.s. issues a regulation in 1959 saying these organizations can be engaged in social welfare activities as long as that's their primary purpose. so here we have a regulation using the word "primarily" versus a statute that says "exclusively." anybody can check as they thesaurus. they're not the same. and ever since 1959, the i.r.s. has been aware this is an on-going problem. there was a general counsel memo in the 1960s. issue resurfaced in the '70s. it doesn't mean primarily and there is a lot of confusion. a lot of the i.r.s. agents, you can see this in the ig report that was issued in regard to the scandal, i.r.s. agents who are trying to look at the 501(c)(4) organizations are trying to figure out what kind of political activities they're engaged in and are they going to be engaged in political activities as their primary purpose, whatever that is because the i.r.s. has never defined what a primary purpose is. so these poor i.r.s. agents in some respects, while obviously they shouldn't be targeting people just because they're conservative, they really don't know exactly what it is to be a political party, how much political activity is permitted from those organizations and what we really need to do is go back to the word as congress passed it which is exclusively. in february, cruz sued the i.r.s. pending lawsuit with us as a plaintiff and former congressional candidate dr. david gill from illinois. we sued the i.r.s. saying hey your regulation doesn't match up with the statute and this is a big problem and you need to fix it. we also have a rule making petition into the i.r.s. again. i.r.s., you got a problem. you need fix it. now, all of a sudden, people are recognizing wow there really a problem here. >> bill: so congress doesn't have to pass a new law. >> congress does not have to pass a new law. we have a law that says exclusively. the i.r.s. has so say exclusively and all of the social welfare organizations that are engaged in political activities like karl rove's gps and like priorities u.s.a., those groups can't be engaged in political activities. if you want to be engaged in political activities, you have plenty of opportunity. set up a 527. the reason people don't want to do that, then they have to release the names of their donors. >> bill: it is a combination of that and the lax regulation and citizens united, really, which spawned -- which allowed corporations to give unlimited amounts of money and those donations -- those donors are still -- can be kept anonymous. >> one of other things you have to look about the timing of the scandal, this all starts happening in 2010 to 2012. well, it is post citizens united suddenly the number of 501(c)(4) applications rockets in that two-year period. there are very few i.r.s. agents who are responsible for reviewing the applications. this also coincides with the rise of the tea party. most of the new applications would have been conservative at that time. so the i.r.s. with the very few number of staffers is suddenly deluged with this number of applications that looks like folks who will be engaged in politics which would be a violation of the c4 law. >> bill: you can understand how they got into it. >> you can. >> bill: but it comes back to the fact that under their regulations, somebody like a karl rove who was clearly 100% political, i mean it is not just him. priorities u.s.a. bill burton is a good friend. total, political organization. >> exactly. >> bill: and yet they have 501(c)(4) status. >> right. >> bill: also, the i.r.s. -- why would it go after the little tea party groups and not somebody like a karl rove? just because karl rove has more money and more lawyers? >> i think that's a good question. it is true that karl rove's gps i think they didn't apply for c4 status. they're a little bit different. crossroads which is super pac then crossroads gps the 501(c)(4). as of at least a year ago they haven't put in an application for the c4 status. but one of the biggest players in 2012 for example got its i.r.s. application for c4 at lightning speed. it was about a month. it is not they're sitting on the applications. some of the biggest guys got through. the american future fund. all of these got through. >> bill: priorities u.s.a., too, did it? >> i'm not sure priorities u.s.a. filed its application. >> bill: like karl rove. >> bill: right. so where does this -- you filed a lawsuit against the i.r.s. so now the burden you believe lies on the i.r.s. >> well, the i.r.s. filed a motion to dismiss our lawsuit and in fact, tomorrow, we're filing a response to that. and their argument is we don't have standing to bring the suit. that we can't argue about this. we can't tell the i.r.s. hey you need to fix this. this is why there is room for congress to do something. congress can insist that this regulation be changed. congress can get rid of this. congress can insist that 501(c)(4) organizations no longer be involved in political activity and say hey, move it over to a 527 if that's what you want to do. >> bill: last night the president steps into the east room and he said they've accepted the resignation of acting commissioner steven miller. and they put new safeguards in place. does that fix the problem? >> it doesn't remotely begin to fix the problem. you've still got the primary purpose language in the regulation. you still have no definition whatsoever of primary purpose. even if you put in the definition of primary purpose, it still conflicts with the statute which says exclusively so really this regulation has just got to go. >> bill: steven miller, maybe we don't shed any tears for his departure but he's not the guy responsible for this. >> no. the truth is he probably had no idea what was going on. somebody has to take the fall. it is a big scandal but really unlikely he knew about this. another key issue while this seems so huge to everyone, the regulation of 501(c)(4)s is a tiny portion of what the i.r.s. does. the i.r.s. is a revenue-collecting agency. it is not an organization that's intended to be deciding whether somebody's involved in political activity or not. so they really didn't have a lot of people on this. they had apparently one staff person who was responsible for an awful lot of this. so when we've looked at the list of i.r.s. priorities for the years, 501(c)(4)s are never on that list of priorities. it is not something they pay much attention to because it is such a minuscule issue concerning the revenue issues the i.r.s. has to worry about. >> bill: what's the real problem with the i.r.s. and how to fix it? 1-866-55-press your comments welcome here. melanie sloan with citizens for responsibility and ethics in studio with us. we'll be right back here on this thursday edition of the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right? >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour here on the "full court press." this thursday morning. visiting with melanie sloan. dynamic -- i shouldn't say ceo -- executive director of the citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington or crew. the web site, crew -- is it crew.org? >> no. citizens for ethics.org. >> bill: that's what i thought. >> that's my fault. it is crew crew on twitter to follow them on twitter. >> bill: it is citizens for ethics.org. >> we talked about how man santo and the supreme court came down in favor -- >> bill: sort of. unanimously! >> if you want to fight back against monsanto, there is an app for that on the iphone, an app called buycot and what it does is you pull up a scanner on your phone and you can scan items in the grocery store the bar code and it will tell you whether or not it contains monsanto ingredients. things that they've manufactured and it just tells you right there who's involve and whether or not you want to actually buy it. >> bill: fight back. >> you've got it right here in your hand. >> bill: i want to ask you -- well, let's first say hello to bonnie calling from chesterfield michigan. hey, bonnie, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill and crew. topic at hand is perfect for me. i've been trying to get through all morning. >> bill: okay. >> caller: i think the i.r.s. should have handled it, i understand they're understaffed and they're probably more understaffed because of the sequester. however, rather than going after people applying for 501(c)(4)s because they have a certain name like tea party et cetera in their name, they should have gone after them based on the fact that they are applying for a 501(c)(4). so this covers everybody. left right extremists on either side. it covers everybody. >> bill: i think that's the issue though, melanie. is they didn't just go after everybody, right? >> right. they clearly were targeting certain groups and they were requesting a great deal of information, too much information and unnecessary information from certain groups. there's no question that that's wrong. >> bill: and it was like they went after the easy targets. tea party. a lot of them are small organizations. a lot of staff. they don't have a lot of lawyers >> they were called on it. they were told to change their criteria. then they went back to the same criteria. >> bill: if you got the right issue, let's get congress to enforce that. thanks for coming in. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. it is the "full court press." 33 minutes after the hour now. good to have you with us this morning. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by our good friends the international association of ironworkers, good men and women of the ironworkers union under president walter weiss, the i sky is the limit for them. you can kind out more about their good work at their web site ironworkers.org. another good friend of the program. the machinist's union. i was over at the unit itty conference -- unity conference on tuesday morning at the hyatt regency hotel. i walked in and there was this rip-roaring talk being given by a new member of congress. telling the labor union members that we've got to get back to focusing on jobs, jobs, jobs. getting americans back to work. i couldn't agree more. i said to the guy standing alongside me, who's that? he said that's the new congressman from wisconsin mark pocan. i was delighted to meet him then and more delighted to welcome the congressman to the studio in morning. good to see you. >> good to see you, bill. >> bill: that was a good group there, the machinists, they were fired up. >> it is a great group. i'm one of the few une member bees in congress. i'm a member of allied trades and had a printing shop for years. really glad to work with the people who are trying to get us talking about jobs in the economy. >> bill: you have a new president, right? >> yes ken. >> bill: i haven't met him yet. so it is doubly good to have you here. >> bill: congressman, i know you sit on the government representing wisconsin's second congressional district. which includes madison and all of our good friends at 92.1 the mic out of madison proud to be part of their line-up. here you sit on the government oversight and responsibility committee and so you were there for all of these benghazi hearings. yesterday, the white house releasing 100 pages of e-mails. so -- which republicans have been demanding a long time. does this put this issue to rest? >> i thought the issue was put to rest the last eight congressional hearings quite honestly. i think the last week, what came out of it, we had emotional testimony about what happened on the ground. nothing new. there is no smoking gun. as i said, there wasn't even a lukewarm slingshot. it was a hearing talking about those things but no really pointing to anyone higher up. that's what the republicans are trying to do. this is about trying to go after hillary clinton and what happened yesterday with the e-mails, very clearly, this was c.i.a. decisions not state department decision. it keeps taking this farther and farther away from the obama administration from hillary clinton. >> bill: the e-mails if they showed anything, it showed it was the c.i.a. who said you know what? we better not reference talk about terrorists or al-qaeda in the first talking points because we don't want to tip them off that they might have been involved. it wasn't susan rice or who did it. it wasn't hillary clinton who did it. it was mike morrell at the c.i.a. >> hopefully what we get out of yet another hearing on benghazi is the fact that congress still hasn't acted on providing enough funds to make sure embassieses-- embassies are secure so that people still don't have the funds they need to make sure they're waking sure another benghazi doesn't happen. maybe that's the positive by-product of another benghazi hearing. >> bill: and yet the chairman, chairman darrell issa has promised yet another -- at least one more benghazi hearing. >> i'm sure there will be at least one more benghazi hearing from the committee. it is a shame because i think congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. we should be dealing with jobs and the economy which we're not. this week we're going to vote for the 37th time to repeal affordable care act but we're not dealing with substantive jobs legislation. we haven't passed a national budget. all of the things we should be doing, we get lost on issuens like benghazi. >> bill: tomorrow, i believe it is the ways and means committee, not your committee that will be holding the first hearing on the i.r.s. and the latest troubles, shall we say, at the i.r.s. this is something that probably your committee ought to be taking a look at, would you agree? >> absolutely. clearly we should be investigating this. i saw the president made some very decisive action yesterday in dealing with making sure that the person who. >> now acting in charge of i.r.s. is not going to be there anymore. they obviously knew about this based on the report we saw. more importantly to me is, you know, i think when you talk about the need for campaign finance reform and the lack of clarity in the law that's part of, i think why maybe some of the i.r.s. agents, again what they did was completely wrong. but when you don't have clarity or campaign finance laws, you lead to situations like we saw with the i.r.s. >> bill: absolutely. in fact, we just finished half an hour with melanie sloan whom you met on the way out from citizens for responsibility and ethics, pointing out that in -- i'm sure you know, in 1959, congress passed a law that said you can get a 501(c)(4) status, tax-exempt, if you are exclusively education. the i.r.s. regulation that came out that said primarily education. so under that kind of loosey-goosey definition, a lot of people who do get a tax-exempt status don't deserve it. and so i think this is the place maybe where the real answer to this problem would be for congress to come in and step and say this is what it means right? and it's got to be exclusively. >> defendtively -- definitively. it goes back to the lack of clarity in the campaign finance laws lead to potential situations like this in the future. >> bill: citizens united just made it worse. >> completely. >> bill: congressman, when you're not usually in that seat, it is usually keith ellison who is from minnesota. i know the two of you have introduced special legislation on a new amendment to the constitution, guaranteeing what? >> a right to vote. most people, i think have always thought that somehow the constitution has a right to vote in it but it doesn't. we have protections against discrimination. we don't have an affirmative right to vote. a guarantee that every person who is of voting age has that ability. >> bill: everybody assumes that's in the constitution. >> exactly. because there are different amendments that specifically build discrimination in the area but no affirmative rights. so what happens with is we've had 80 laws this year alone introduced in states to take away people's right to vote. whether it be through i.d. situations, early voting, et cetera. across the country. and in wisconsin what's interesting is we actually have a right to vote in our constitution. so when we passed a very restrictive photo i.d. law, the reason that it was held up by the courts was because of our constitutional provision in there. so representative ellison and i got to talking about it, we decided this was an important way to go to talk about this. it is not just problems we've had in wisconsin but completely across the country where they don't have the protections. >> bill: 20 some states, 20, 23 states or so where there were attempts made to suppress the vote. what you're saying is if i understand you correctly that where a governor or state legislature tries to do such things as getting away with sunday voting or early voting or photo i.d.s whatever. whatever attempts to suppress that if there is a constitutional protection, guaranteeing the right to vote, that can make it more difficult to suppress the vote. >> exactly. the burden is now on that legislature to explain why they're doing a law that would inhibit the right to vote rather than on the individual who says i've been wronged by this legal change. it is an affirmative right to vote in the constitution. most people assume that's always been there. >> bill: what's the progress? >> we literally introduced it this week. we've got a number of original cosponsors right now. but especially with the court decisions, they'll come to the supreme court this year. we want to start having this very large public debate about those fundamental rights at the very core of our democracy. >> bill: you have to get the resolution passed through congress and then it goes out to the states, right. >> there's no question it is a lengthy process. but i think having that conversation is really crucial because again, i think the average person assumes that is there and it's not. we need to talk about why the state laws that are so restrictive are taking away people's fundamental right in a democracy. >> bill: and if there's any -- it seems to me, i'm always a little nervous about amending the constitution. but if there's any reason to do so, it is really so expand rights and to i guess reaffirm rights. certainly not to restrict them which some people -- >> precisely. in wisconsin the last constitutional amendment took away my right to mare as an openly gay member of congress. in the state of wisconsin. so there's no question -- i'm not one who wants to just amend the constitution for any reason. however, on the fundamental rights, it is extremely important we have this conversation. >> bill: minnesota this week, huh? >> fantastic. hopefully illinois coming down the pike very soon as well. there's no question the public is way ahead of the so-called leaders on this issue. 58% of the american public support marriage equality. among 18 to 29-year-olds, 81% support marriage equality. it is not a question of if but it is a question of when. i think we're moving completely in the right direction. >> bill: what's it going to take in a state like wisconsin because there are so many -- most passed these constitutional amendments banning marriage equality. does it take the vote of the people? the legislature do it? >> depending on the process of that state in wisconsin we have to go through a fairly complicated process. i think it is takes elected leaders being leaders or followers from the public because the public is there for marriage equality. now it is time we fix that. i can even tell from talking to folks, this is no longer the tissue used to be. this was an issue to try to bring out a certain type of electorate. but in wisconsin when we passed the constitutional amendment, it was for all of the wrong reasons to get out conservative voters. we actually picked up five state legislative seats for the democrats on college campus districts because this is such a popular, intense issue marriage equality for people who are younger. so a lot of generational issuens around marriage equality. >> bill: now this is your first term. and a lot of friends of mine who are members of congress, how do you find the workload this year. is this really too tough on you? they're making you work too hard. >> today, i think is the 37th vote to repeal the affordable care act which is 36 times too ridiculous. i can see one vote if they really want to do that. but the week before we left for a period, we spent two days on helium reserves. a bill up to talk about the coin blanks for commemorative coins. we don't have a budget. we haven't done anything to create jobs or fix the economy. we haven't invested in infrastructure or research and development. we haven't done any of the things weshed be doing to get the economy back going. >> bill: not to mention climate control gun safety, immigration reform, on and on and on. it is really pathetic. thabaneer and cantor -- talk about a do-nothing congress. >> there is a reason why people think cockroaches are better than congress and head lice and traffic jams. we beat out the ebola virus and the kardashian family. >> thank you. >> although i think they're closing in on us. >> bill: congressman great to hear from you. come back again soon. >> absolutely, bill. thank you. >> bill: keep the pressure on there. maybe we'll get something done. >> we're working on it. >> announcer: like politics then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, it is 11 minutes before the top of the hour here. it is the "full court press." and we're coming to you live, of course, on current tv and your local progressive talk radio station. president obama today welcoming the prime minister of turkey. prime minister to the white house. for a meeting this morning then a joint news conference in the rose garden. i'll be there and this evening a working dinner at the white house. jay carney telling us yesterday that syria will be a big topic on their agenda. because of the proximity, of course. of turkey to syria. neighbors. because of the refugee problem. and also shoring up the support of turkey in providing support for the rebels in syria. you know things are bad around the white house, by the way. it has been a bad week for the obama administration dealing with sort of a perfect storm of scandals. you know things are bad when the president is looking forward to talking about syria. 1-866-55-press. peter, you have a story wanted to throw in. >> this morning cbs broke the story -- it wasn't pete williams who broke all of the news during the boston marathon bombing but cbs reported this morning that dzhokhar tsarnaev wrote a note on the wall of the -- wrote a note on the wall of the boat that he was hiding in. he scrawled it in pen sort of on the inside wall of the boat. it said that the actions that they took were retribution for what the united states did to muslims in afghanistan and iraq and it said -- the quote was when you attack one muslim, you attack all muslims. and he put that on the boat and police have sort of leaked it to cbs. >> bill: probably because -- as we know now he did not have a gun. he had a pen and he probably felt he was not going to get out of that boat. >> yeah. >> bill: right? >> that's the thinking. >> bill: interesting. well, you know, things get pretty crazy sometimes. particularly when you're in the world of the "700 club" and pat robertson. you could have a whole dvd collection of crazy things that pat robertson has said. and yet they keep getting crazier. now, yesterday, on the "700 club," gotta share this with you. a woman who writes in and asks about how she's going to deal with the fact that her husband has been cheating on her. and pat robertson basically says well, forget that. that doesn't really count. think of all of the good stuff. >> focus on why you married him in the first place. on what he does good. does he provide a home for you to live in? does he provide food for you to eat? does he provide clothes for you to wear? is he nice to the children? do you have a happy family? does he take the kids to sporting events? does he watch their little league games? does he share with you stuff that's going on? and is he handsome? or is he -- you know, what is it? start focusing on those things. >> focus on all of the good stuff. >> bill: after all, you know, he provides you three square meals a day and a roof over your head. what more do you want? right? >> holy crap! >> bill: pat robertson yes. he goes on, right pat robertson, to say again, put this in perspective now. >> so, like it or not males have a tendency to wander a little bit. >> yeah! >> make the home so wonderful that he doesn't want to wonder. >> yeah, honey. you need to make my home a better place that way i won't go out and sleep with someone else. >> bill: it's your fault. >> yeah, sweetheart! maybe you should try a little harder next time. try that on your wife, guys! who are listening and watching. >> bill: i want to know where in the bible pat robertson -- what does he base this latest nonsense on? all right. pat robertson, i don't know. life will would be a lot more boring without him. i'll be back with today's parting shot. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: as they say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. president obama certainly got tough and got going yesterday. we witnessed remarkable display of damage control on three fronts on benghazi. the white house released 100 pages of e-mails from everybody involved in responding to the terrorist attacks on our consulate, the c.i.a., the fbi the state department, the white house, the pentagon, right down the line. and having demanded release of the e-mails for six months, that leaves republicans now trying to figure out what to demand next. on the department of justice's raid on "the associated press" phone calls, the white house announced it had convinced senator chuck schumer to reintroduce his media shield legislation, shot down by republicans in 2009. and on the i.r.s. targeting of tea party groups, president obama read the inspector general's report got angry met with treasury secretary jack lew and then fired the acting head of the i.r.s. and put new guidelines in place. all in all a very effective response. now, maybe we can get back to work on things that really matter like gun safety, for example? congressman earl will be with us tomorrow. [♪ theme music ♪] >> stephanie: chris what? why didn't you tell me jacki schechner emailed me? this is worse than watergate. hi, jacki schechner. >> we have a hot off of the press script here. >> stephanie: all right. here we go. >> what did i'm you? >> stephanie: just kidding. john dean is going to be on the show to talk about why each of these scandals

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