Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160719

Here today, thed establishment squashing its people on behalf of the presumptive nominee who of the primary vote, which included a lot of nonrepublicans. Amy we will get a firsthand account of the Convention Floor fight and host a debate between a protrump delegate and a member of the never trump camp. Then we go to baltimore where the fourth of Six Baltimore Police officers to go on trial for the death of freddie gray last year has been acquitted. All that and more, coming up. Amy welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, this is breaking with convention war, peace, and the presidency. Im amy goodman. Here in cleveland, the first day of the Republican National convention was marked by discord and moments of chaos monday both inside and outside the convention arena. Hours before donald trump arrived on the Convention Floor, delegates opposed to donald trump attempted to stage a rebellion by calling for a rollcall vote to oppose Donald Trumps nomination. [chanting roll call vote] name is Dan Walters Dane waters. It is a fight for the country. Amy thats dane waters, cofounder of delegates unbound, which was seeking to change the partys nominating rules to allow delegates to support alternative republican candidates over trump. Monday afternoon, the antitrump forces rattled the Trump Campaign and Republican Leadership by producing signatures from a majority of delegates from 11 states and territories, far more than the seven jurisdictions needed to force an upordown vote on the conventions rules package. But the Trump Campaign and Republican Party leadership quashed the rebellious faction by instead opting for a voice vote, which quickly descended into a shouting match in which Trump Supporters overpowered the antitrump faction. Well have more on the attempted rebellion on the Convention Floor after headlines. Hours after the attempted rebellion, the Opening Night of the rnc kicked off with a speech by the controversial duck dynasty star willie robertson, who noted that both he and donald trump are reality tv personalities. The night was dubbed benghazi night by some, featuring a speech pat smith, whose son, sean smith, died alongside us u. S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in libya. Republicans have repeatedly denounced former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for her handling of the 2012 benghazi attacks, although a series of investigations have cleared clinton of wrongdoing. Father speaker was the of jamil shaw, junior, who was shot and killed at 17 by an undocumented immigrant in 2008 home in los angeles. Meanwhile, Milwaukee County sheriff david clarke celebrated the acquittal of Baltimore Police officer, brian rice, one of the officers on trial in the freddie gray case, who died from injuries sustained in Police Custody. There is some good news out of baltimore, maryland, as lieutenant brian rice was acquitted on all charges. What we witnessed in ferguson and baltimore and baton rouge was a collapse of the social order. Accents of the occupy movement and black lives matter transcend the protests and violate the code of conduct we rely on. I call it anarchy. Amy other speakers included former new york city mayor rudy giuliani, retired Lieutenant General michael flynn, and trumps wife Melania Trump, whose speech appears to have plagiarized parts of first Lady Michelle obamas speech from the 2008 democratic National Convention. This clip compares the two speeches, beginning with Michelle Obama. And ibama barack obama were raised on so many values, which is you work hard for what you want in life. Mrs. Trump the values, that you work hard for what you want in life. Mrs. Obama that your word is your bond and you do what you say you are going to do. Mrs. Trump that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. Mrs. Opera mrs. Obama we want all children to know that the only limits to your achievements is the reach of your trends and the willingness to work hard for them. Mrs. Trump because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievement is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them. Amy that was Melania Trump in her speech monday night at the opening of the Republican National convention and Michelle Obama in her speech at the dnc in 2008. In response to the allegations of plagiarism, Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort told cnn Melania Trump had not plagiarized Michelle Obama, and that these were simply common words. Who takes the fall for the speech of 2008 . These were common words and values, words about family and things like that. She was speaking in front of 35,000 people last night. She knew that. To take Michelle Obamas words, to think she would do that is crazy. This is once again an example that when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton. Amy meanwhile, outside the convention arena, both pro and antitrump protests continued monday, with thousands of people marching to denounce Donald Trumps presumptive nomination and gathering to hear a concert by prophets of rage, a new project of public enemys chuck d and rage against the machines tom morello. Other activists worked to construct a massive wall to use in a protest later in the week. This is lj, and i am here with mejente in cleveland, the art space, and we are doing an action called wall off trump, so were building thousands of feet beautifulwall that is and has messages from our communities. We are encircling the gop and the convention center, and were going to show trump to keep his hate out of our communities. Amy hundreds more people rallied in support of donald trump. Well have more voices from the streets later in the broadcast. In baltimore, the fourth of six Police Officers to go on trial for the death of freddie gray has been acquitted. Lieutenant brian rice was the highest ranking officer charged in the death of gray, who died after sustaining spinal injuries in Police Custody in april 2015. Rice was charged with involuntary manslaughter, Reckless Endangerment, and misconduct in office. Two other Police Officers have also been acquitted. A fourth trial resulted in a hung jury. The trial of a fifth officer involved in the case is expected to begin later this month. Well go to baltimore for more later in the broadcast. Meanwhile, a judge has found a baltimore activist guilty of failing to obey an order from Law Enforcement during a protest last year. Police arrested kwame rose at a protest in december after a jury failed to convict william convict Police Officer William Porter, the first of six officers to go on trial in the death of freddie gray. Kwame rose received a fine of 500, although the judge did not sentence him to a year of probation, which is what the state prosecutor was asking for. Well speak with kwame rose later in the broadcast. And baton rouge, louisiana, police say the former u. S. Marine who killed three Police Officers there sunday was in the city specifically to target police. The shooter, 29yearold gavin long, recorded videos that were posted online under a pseudonym , cosmo setepenra, before he shot six Police Officers, killing three. In the videos, long discusses Police Shootings of African Americans, including the death of alton sterling, who was shot and killed by Police Officers in baton rouge earlier this month. Speaking at a conference of African American Law Enforcement officers monday, u. S. Attorney general Loretta Lynch sought to assure Police Officers the federal government is trying to help ease tensions after the killings of three Police Officers in baton rouge, louisiana. Lynch said agents from the fbi and other federal agencies were in baton rouge to help local authorities. Former attorney general eric holder also spoke. He spoke about the need to control americans access to deadly firearms and called on the police to join the movement for gun control. It is far past time for those in Law Enforcement to join with other responsible americans intake on the mindless, industrydriven gun lobby that illogical thought that regular americans should possess them. Speak up. Amy and news from turkey, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will reinstate the Death Penalty in turkey after a failed military coup. As many as 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or , suspended since fridays attempted coup. Turkey abolished the Death Penalty in 2004, but erdogan is pushing for lawmakers to vote to reinstate it on the parliament meets wednesday. The attempted coup has also strained u. S. Relations with turkey. Erdogan has accused fethullah gulen, a turkish cleric living in the poconos in pennsylvania, of masterminding the coup. Erdogan has demanded gulens extradition. U. S. Officials say they will consider any official requests for extradition but that none have so far been made. The syrian observatory for human rights says airstrikes by the u. S. Led coalition have killed more than 100 civilians in one town in less than two months. The observatory says at least 21 civilians in the northern syrian town of manbij on monday. Were killed by the airstrikes on monday alone. The u. S. Backed syrian militia have been trying to take the town from isis control since the end of may. And a dedication ceremony takes place today for san franciscos newest museum, the mexican museum, which will house the United States largest collection of mexican and latino art. The collection at the 60,000square foot museum will include 800 works of mexican folk art, including pieces by mexican muralist diego rivera. The museum is the realization of the dream of mexicanamerican artist peter rodriguez. He opened san franciscos first museum for latino art in a Mission District storefront in 1975. He died on july 1 at the age of 90. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Yes, we are breaking with convention war, peace, and the presidency. Ohio, in cleveland, covering the National Convention, inside and out, from uites to theto the s Convention Floor. On monday afternoon, the rnc briefly erupted in chaos when some opponents of presumptive president ial nominee donald trump stormed off the Convention Floor and others chanted in protest at their failure to win a symbolic vote opposing trumps candidacy. The highprofile floor fight pitted the Trump Campaign and Republican National Committee Leadership against a faction of delegates from the never trump movement, shattering any notion of a unified Republican Party. The antitrump forces wanted to change the partys nominating rules to allow delegates to support alternative republican candidates over trump. They rattled the Trump Campaign and Republican Leadership by producing signatures from a majority of delegates from 11 states and territories, far more than seven jurisdictions needed to force an upordown vote on the conventions rules package. The delegates said the signatures qualified them for a rollcall vote, a lengthy process that would allow every state to have their vote count. However, when the time came to present the proposed rules to the full convention, the Trump Campaign and Republican Party leadership squashed the rebellious faction by instead opting for a voice vote, quickly declaring the opponents lacked enough votes. Pandemonium erupted on the floor with shouts for a roll call vote being drowned out by Trump Supporters chanting u. S. A, u. S. A. While trumps detractors acknowledge they were unlikely to be able to vote down the rules, they say they were seeking a roll call vote to register their dissent over a trump candidacy. Democracy now s deena guzder filed this report. My name is dane waters, cofounder of delegates unbound. I am hopeful the rnc will follow the rules, like we do, and the delegates will have the opportunity to vote their conscience. These delegates are everyday people, like lori hack from arizona, mother of three, here for the first time. Most people are not used to this tub of its imitation that takes place. We are hopeful the Trump Campaign will respect the delegates. But we have heard reports over and over again about the intimidation and pressure. There are a lot of delegates that were pushed back on this that are trying to show that they should be strong and push that. It is tough. It is intimidation of delegates, ongoing and relentless. Several of the delegations have to stand up and say that we make the following motion because we submitted so many signatures from so they states that there vote. Be a roll call are they going to gloss over that . Are they going to turn the microphones off . I have no doubt that they will try to say there is something wrong with the signatures. So many people signed the petition in the last 24 hours. They are trying to keep the delegates silent. It is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and for the country. If donald trump wants to unify this party, he needs to say, hey, vote freely for me. [chanting roll call vote] i am a delegate from texas, and we are trying to force a roll call vote on the rules. My name is anthony. I am a delegate to the convention from button county, new york. What do you think of those calling for a roll call vote . Not going to happen. Rules were adopted. What happened right now with the roll call vote . There is not one. It is all done. Those in favor of the rules package will say aye. Aye. Those opposed shall say no. No. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes havfe it. Point of order, mr. Chair. Vote]n[chanting roll call point of order. Is anybody seeking recognition . Right here. Order. What is your name, and where are you a delegate from . Alabama. My name is ann eubanks. They want to approve the rules without a vote. The state of alabama is not unanimous. To prove people do not want the rules, we want to vote no, because theres for a five there is four or five in they give the rnc power topdown and the trump people, and the rnc wants the rules package as it stands. You feel it is important that there is a roll call vote at the moment . A lot of people seem to be chanting usa and trump. That is what trump does. He overrules everything against what he wants specifically. And we want a voice. The chair recognizes the delegate from utah. I am the chair of the utah delegation. I make a motion that we have a roll call vote on the rules. I second the motion. Secretary received request from a total of nine states requesting a roll call vote on adoption of report on the committee of rules. Subsequently, the secretary received withdrawals, which caused three states to fall below the threshold required under the rules. Accordingly, accordingly, the chair is found insufficient support for the request for a record vote. My name is scott hawkins, and i am with the utah delegation. What just happened here on the floor . We were just cheated out of our right to vote. Why do you think they would not allow a vote to happen, the rnc . Because the rnc has obviously made a deal with trump. They feel that they can control trump and make deals with him. The rnc is kind of like a party of capitalists, and were like freemarket capitalism, the real thing. Which candidate did you support before donald trump . Cruz. If donald trump becomes the official nominee, will you support him . I will have to see it i have not made up my mind yet. What are some of your concerns . Hes encouraging people to support whoever the nominee is, but i find trump so repulsive, it may be difficult for me. What about him do you find so repulsive . His divisiveness. Well, he makes fun of people who have disabilities. He makes fun of people of different colors. Has a bigoted attitude. That is not the party, not the Republican Party. Amy that was from the first night, the opening of the Republican National convention here in cleveland, ohio. Special thanks to deena guzder , Elizabeth Preston and sam , alcoff. When we come back, a debate between two of the republican delegates, one for donald trump and one against. Stay with us. [music break] amy ghost rider by suicide. The bands singer alan vega passed away last weekend at the age of 78. Amy welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org this is breaking with convention war, peace, and the presidency. Im amy goodman. Are in cleveland, ohio, covering the Republican National convention, inside and out, and the streets to the corporate suites to the Convention Floor, as we will be next week in philadelphia the democratic convention. Our daily hour broadcast expanded to two hours. If you do not get to see both on your station or listen to, go to transcript,. Org for audio, video. To talk more about donald trump and the floor fight at the Republican National convention, were joined by two delegates. Kendal unruh is colorado delegate at the Republican Convention, leader in the National Never trump movement. Raju chinthala, indiana state delegate who backs donald trump. We welcome you now. Kendal unruh, can you explain what took place, with the chaos and the fight was about . Chaos was with the overreach in the power grab at the rnc and the establishment lead in tandem with donald trump now, where they made it very evident that they did not want any conservative voice or any of the grassroots that are active in the party being active anymore. They busily set themselves up they basically set themselves up authoritarian dictatorship in they did not allow full debate and they did not have a fair process. He put all the power into the , basicallye rnc silencing the voices of the grassroots delegates. They can make any decision they want at any given time they want and between conventions, without anybody having votes. Doing athing we are the convention and as delegates is basically irrelevant. If they want to mitigate the fact that you have a convention, do not have one. Why bring it into the picture just to be staging . Amy explain what the call was for a roll call vote. Simple. We wanted to have our votes counted. Is in the hearts of every american, they want their votes to be counted. We followed the procedure to submit additions, and the problem is, they said three states withdrew. We do not have access to see if that is true. When we were looking, we had solid votes. We do not know of that narrative is true or not. Based on history, were suspecting it is not. They had a lot of state. If we had vote on that, we would have been kicked back to the 2012 rules, and the rules would have had a different outcome most likely. Amy how many delegations were calling for it . 10 00 p. M. Washington, idaho, utah, colorado, iowa. We submitted 10. Amy let me ask, Raju Chinthala, you support donald trump. You are from the state of indiana, where governor pence is from, his running mate. Why did you not want this to take place yesterday . Of the time, especially in a large Convention Like this, asking for every vote is difficult. There are so many thousands of people, and in the past, if they did a roll call, i am not sure, i do not know the history of the convention, but usually most of the convention in the past, the rules, it is approved. Call vote takes about 15 minutes. It goes to the delegation and back to the chair. To say would take too much time to reflect a vote, i do not buy that. Going back to 2012 when john boehner, the convention it ripped it and it was on the carried,ter, the eyes and he slammed the gavel down and that was that. They were told to shut the microphones down and manipulate the microphones. So we already anticipated we would never be recognized. Amebody had to go up to make motion. All those microphones, once again, were just staging. We had senators and congressmen strategically placed to make the motion, once again proving, hence the black because i am in mourning, the power grab from thursday rules going into votesdays silencing the of those who want an accurate count truly signifies the death of the conservative grassroots movement, because they now have all the power and control. There is nothing we can do but sit back and smile pretty. Amy lets talk about what motivated this. Your anger against donald trump, you do not respect him as the republican president ial nominee. Why . Because he is not a republican to people ask if i would have done this if it was another nominee, and this is my aids convention. The last seven, i canvassed my neighborhood for the nominees. He is asking the base to mobilize for him and go out to work, and we are being treated like this. You go out and knock on doors and make phone calls, that is how you get elected to it rather than earn our support with messaging and work to earn our support and our vote, he did the opposite. He says, i do not need conservatives to win. It is not the conservative party at it is the Republican Party, and it will be the workers party. Ok. He says, i do not care about you. I will not listen to you. If i hear you, i will ignore you. Raju chinthala, what do you think of donald trump . Process fora elections. We have this long process, almost a year. Primary. E vote for a if the democratic process works and the candidate has strategy and gets the majority of the bill gates or the votes around the states, and of course, in indiana, at of 13 or 16 candidates, he showed up. He has his own strategy to campaign. Theakes his voice to American People to its of these people and the primary elections, they vote. Amy did you vote for donald trump . Yes. Amy why . In the democratic in the republican voting process, what we have is a strategy, a campaign voice, and safety is the most important. Right now, we have fear. ,merica is attacked many times and we have not done anything. Secondly, we have to stop Illegal Immigrants coming into this country. Third is jobs. I came here for a job here it i came here 20 years ago for a job, from india. I wenty job in michigan through the process. It took 13 years for me to get the passport to become a citizen , which is a dream come true. This is a land of opportunities. At my kids, grandkids, how wereose, you see going to, as america, where we used to have all this 20, 30 years ago, we all come here because of all these opportunities. Amy kendal unruh, why are you opposed to donald trump . Sure, lets talk about the economic policies and he has actually been a strong per strong proponent for terror. And theyalk about free trade. When your step slapping a 25 tariff on consumer goods being imported, the consumers pay that. I brought that up in a simple economic 101 lesson, and they said, i am willing to pay that. You are not willing to pay 120 for a 60 pair of shoes. He is going to penalize the companies when they come back here he will force them to come back. They have left america because of regulation and taxation. The promise was, if you come that, i will be increasing the Corporation Tax rate to 14. 25 . Corporations do not pay taxes, consumers pay taxes. It will not make America Great again. It will drive america broke. Amy who did you support . I supported ted cruz. Amy talk about the theme donald trump has doubled down on, building the wall with mexico. Your thoughts . It is not just the wall and what is more important is how to secure our borders so that the drugs and Illegal Immigrants does not cross the border. Amy and add to that, barring muslims from coming into the country. I do not agree with all those things. Inbound you mean, you do not agree with all muslims being barred . Correct. There are countries were terrorism is more active. Those countries are not able to do anything to it we should identify those countries were terrorism is more and the activities is more so that they do not come just on tourist visas. Amy let me go to donald trump during a debate in january on fox business. Donald trump reiterated his plan to bar all muslims from entering the country. Your comment about banning muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to facebook, it was the most talked about moment online with your entire campaign. More than 10 Million People talking about the issue. Is there anything you have heard that makes you want to rethink the position . Mr. Trump no. [laughter] [cheers and applause] mr. Trump we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that is not going to have the kind of problems that we have had with people flying planes into the world trade centers, with the shootings in california. With all the problems all over the world. I just left indonesia. , bomb. Omb amy kindle en route, your response . It is concerning to hear the crowd cheering, the fact that he wants to ban an entire segment of people. The Founding Fathers had the sole purpose to make sure you could never apply a rule keeping anybody fromoming into america. He things he needs to have a hand the government. Christiann desk my friends, fill in the blank and some with christian. If you give the man that much power and control, youre next. Is a different subject. Everybody that comes into our nation needs to be vetted here at we need to secure those borders. The fact that he wants to ban everybody is ludicrous on its face. It is demagogy to the fear people have against muslims. Vetting people coming in is a different story. Amy the issue of abortion. Muslims, back to the and yesterday, we see mrs. Trumps speech. It is clear there are good muslims and bad muslims. We always have, and every religion, good or bad. Religion oftake the politics, religion plays a Critical Role in politics, not just this election, whether it is the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. To win elections, they always talk about religion. Yesterday when they said good muslims needs to take care bad muslims in their own countries with more of a muslim population. Amy abortion . Abortion amy i am asking you, especially given that governor pence is the Vice President ial running mate. Now he and donald trump fiercely opposed to abortion, although donald trump was not always opposed to abortion. Do you share their views on this . You are close to governor pence. I am in the middle of those two. I come from a hindu faith. We believe in the protector of every life, and life starts when they are conceived in the womb. I am also a medical professional. It all depends on how the mother needs to be done. If it is to protect the life of , medical conditions, that should be done. Too that was a flipping point on me for donald trump. Child towho lost a disabilities, he brings the message that it is into determine this entity of life. I was so repulsed. At that moment, i decided i will do everything i can to make sure he does not get this nomination. It reveals his heart. Believe that a candidate and what he values and who he is is reflected in the hearts of his supporters. I will tell you, when we have been highprofile and vocal against donald trump, elegance, committee members, etc. , the backlash is nothing like i have ever seen in politics. I call them soft thugs. There is amazing threats, coalition, and intimidation. I say, look, once again, he cannot do that to voters in a general election. It running do against Hillary Clinton. Amy last night, donald trump was on the floor of the convention, on the stage, because he was introducing his wife melania, who was giving her first major speech. I think 90 seconds was the longest speech she had given before. She got up on stage and spoke to give the keynote address, but the speech was not without controversy. Have accusedtors Melania Trump or her speechwriter, not clear who did this, but plagiarizing parts of Michelle Obamas speech she gave in 2008 at the democtic National Convention there. This clip compares the two speeches, beginning with Michelle Obama. And i were barack raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. Mrs. Trump the values that you work hard for what you want in life. Mrs. Obama that your word is your bond and you do what you say you are going to do. Mrs. Trump that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. Mrs. Obama that you treat people with dignity and respect. Mrs. Trump that you treat people with respect. Mrs. Obama because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limits at the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them. Mrs. Trump because we want our children in this nation to know that the elite limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them. So amy so here you have Michelle Obama 2008 and Melania Trump today, 2016. Clearly, the words are the same. Kendal unruh, your response . Well, i am a teacher. If there is plagiarism, she gets a zero. Amy unfortunately, the buzz should have been about the speech itself. It shows that the inner workings of the Trump Campaign are in disarray. If youre going to plagiarize, why not plagiarize a conservative icon and not Michelle Obama . This is a problem. When you shift the debate from sending your supposed to be , yet,g about, a bump heres the criticism of it. That is what he wanted to avoid. I heard she wrote the speech itself, which makes this even more troubling if she thought cutting and pasting was actually the way to communicate to an audience. Created a blowback theyd probably did not anticipate. Campaign manager, Paul Manafort, spoke up this morning and said something about this is not plagiarism, these are common words. What is your response to this . Mrs. Trump spoke very well. Being an immigrant from another country, she explained how she came here and worked hard and met trump. That itself was big for america, what america is for, an immigrant coming here and raising up to potentially first lady. She wanted to bring all the people together within the party. She talked about education and about jobs. She talked about how good her husband is as a person. Amy were you concerned about this, using the exact warning of Michelle Obamas speech . No. I mean, it is true, every kid needs education and needs to be taken care of and provide the lifestyle what we all have. Also, she said amy do think she should have just quoted her, said to quote Michelle Obama. i do not think it is the exact words. Amy but we heard the exact words. It is the content. It is showing her potential and what she will do. Those are things the first lady will be doing. Heart of theto the donald trump is anyway. He has defended the way he makes a living through eminent domain, stealing other peoples property. So this is par for the course. World gotat the whole to see. Amy we are going to leave it there. Thank you both for being here. A dollar of the test is a colorado delegate. Is it over . No, we will be challenging vote delegations, the tallies submitted to the chairman of the convention. We get to challenge it because they will not be accurately reflected of the votes of the delegation. It means we should just take up the primary election. Delegates should come to the convention and vote at the do notion so that we have this process, do not have this many candidates, spending all this money. Amy he says it would nullify the primary. That is what it is. Why should we have a primary and spending taxpayer money . , and then the candidates who won a majority of the delegates a majority of the votes on the country, and now were saying no trump. I mean, he is the nominee of the Republican Party. Now he selected a Vice President ial candidate who will add value. He is different, they say, but that is what we need it Republican Party needs a good candidate. Right now, we have the best candidates in the party. It. Ention is part of wants, thet rnc delegates want, so they need to change not this to change not this election, but coming election, maybe 2020. They can change and eliminate the primary elections. But your candidate pushed through the rules for primaries, blanket primaries. He kills that. He major the very thing he benefited from, open primaries and blanket primaries, were democrat and independent. Now we as delegates have the job to either rubberstamp what was given to us or not. Amy you did not even have a president ial poll in colorado. It is nonbinding anyway. We have a system that has worked for 100 years. I spent thousands of my own dollars getting voters to vote for me. It was a series of four different elections. When donald trump had the chance to come in and establish some type of report with colorado, he stuck the knife in an light. When he was the voice got the nomination . Everybody votes for the Republican Party to put him on the ballot. That is where we should have a voice. Now it is too late. Trumptense. Trumppence. Amy i want to thank Raju Chinthala of indiana. Kendal unruh from colorado, leader of the never trump movement. When we come back, we go to baltimore, maryland, to the freddie gray case. Stay with us. [music break] old man trump performed by ryan harvey featuring ani difranco and tom morello. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Breaking with convention war, peace, and the presidency. We are going to baltimore, where a third Police Officer was acquitted for all charges in his role in the arrest of freddie gray, who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. Lieutenant brian rice, the highestranking officer on the scene, faced charges of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office, and Reckless Endangerment. Judge Barry Williams had dropped a charge of seconddegree assault at the trials midpoint. Baltimore defense attorney warren brown responded to the verdict. The state at this point is not just 04. , because when you add up the charges and varies indictment, that is how many counts were talking about. At some point in time, you would have to think that the evidence is just not going to support any further prosecutions of these Police Officers. Amy freddie gray died in april 2015 from a spinal injury sustained while being transported in the back of a police van. Grays family and attorney said his voice box was crushed and his and his spine was 80 seven at his neck. Lieutenant rice was one of six officers charged in grays death and the fourth to go on trial. Officers Caesar Goodson and edward nero were acquitted of all counts in two earlier trials. Officer William Porter was the first officer to go to trial, charged with involuntary manslaughter, seconddegree assault, Reckless Endangerment and misconduct in office. , in december, judge williams declared a mistrial in porters case after jurors were unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges after three days of deliberation. For more, were joined by two guests. Sheryl wood is a former federal prosecutor and legal analyst. Kwame rose is a baltimore activist and producer with the real news network. He was convicted for failing to obey an order from Law Enforcement while protesting the december mistrial of officer William Porter. Kwame roses appeal begins today. I want to start here in cleveland. Last night, the Republican National convention, one of the opening speakers was Milwaukee County sheriff david clarke who spoke about the recent Police Killings of africanamerican men, as well as the verdict in the lieutenant brian rice trial. News outis some good of baltimore, maryland, as lieutenant brian rice was acquitted on all charges. We witnessed in ferguson and baltimore and baton rouge was a collapse of the social order. So many of the accents of the occupy movement and black lives matter transcends protests that are peaceful and violates the code of conduct we rely on. I call it anarchy. Amy so that was at last nights convention. Today, were joined by sheryl wood and quantity rose. Wood, your response to the verdict into what sheriff david clarke said at the Republican Convention . First, with regard to the verdict, i was not surprised. I did predict an acquittal of all charges. That is only because the prosecution has not been able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge has really laid out, really without any motion, looking at the elements of the crimes these officers have been charged with, showing how the state has not been able to present evidence. Just violating a general order not to wear a seatbelt is not a criminal act, so they have to show something more about the conduct. They have not been able to do that. As far as the sheriff goes, i mean, that is unfortunate. They are really using everything happening across our country to blame black lives matter, and i do not agree with that at all. It is really unfortunate that that is happening and that these trials are being used to attack black lives matter. Kwame d quantity rose rose, interestingly, your trial, the verdict at the same time as the case of lieutenant brian rice he was acquitted. You, on the other hand, were to obey anfailing order from Law Enforcement during a protest lastear around the case of freddie gray, the first officer charged, William Porter, when a jury failed to convict him. Your thoughts on the verdict and also your own case. Well, why thoughts on the verdict, it is completely that they this point charged the six officers only to stop protests and the unrest they feared would continue to happen if they did not charge. This is a crowd control, that is what this measure was. So i am not surprised that officer rice was let off. I will not be surprised if not one officer is convicted of one count. Because it is not illegal to kill black people in america, and that is what we are trying to change. That is what people are advocating and fighting for. Although i cannot comment directly on my case because it is open in court today, i will say that, even over the weekend city,scape in baltimore 65 protesters were arrested. So the Police Response to black people and our allies gathering in the street to demand that the Living Conditions of black people and Community Relations with like people improve, that has not become a reality in baltimore. Wood, you are a former federal prosecutor. Justabout what kwame rose said to it when the states attorney said she was charging six officers, i think it rocked the nation. She said that just it would be done and that people, especially young people, should have faith. She said something like, our time has come, she herself a young prosecutor. What do you think of how these cases have been conducted, one acquittal after another . Well, i think that i agree with kwame that the charges were rushed for whatever reason. I believe that 13 days from the day that mr. Gray died is insufficient time for a prosecutor to investigate a case and decide what charges to bring, decide who to give immunity to, who not to charge, becaus they are. We have learned that across the country. You want to bring forth the best case. I do not think it is good for our community to bring charges where you are not certain you can get a Convention Get a conviction. Not 100 certain, but not certain enough to get a conviction to now we have acquittal after acquittal. That is not good for our society or our community either. A lot of people are blaming the judge for what has happened as opposed to looking at the fact that the charges were brought quickly and the evidence has been insufficient, and the judge cannot just find them guilty because of what we are concerned about within our society. He has two be able to hear the evidence to find them guilty. I agree with the verdict the judge has rendered, but i am certainly concerned with the process and the like of time to investigate. They could have first said, i am going to fully investigate these cases, and if appropriate, i am going to bring charges. That would have given the team some time to put together cases where they might be able to get a conviction. Can youme rose, describe what you did back in december, what your protest was about, and why ultimately you were convicted yesterday . You have to pay a 500 fine, although you have appealed the case, and that trial opens today. Without going into too much detail, i will say that in december, i along with several other individuals gathered during the trial of William Porter, and i did nothing more than exercise my first amenent right to gather in peaceful protest, and demonstration and assembly outside the courthouse to let it be known that we were continuing to gather peacefully to demand that justice, let it be known to Law Enforcement, to the maryland state department, to let them know that the citizens of baltimore want justice, and we are demanding it peacefully, by peacefully demonstrating and exercising our constitutional rights. You think this country can move forward . I am speaking to you from cleveland, where tamir rice was killed by Police Officers just two years ago. The officers in that case of the 12 euros boy who had a toy gun in a park were not charged. And you know, i think that this country will move forward only if we as individuals it will not come inside of a courtroom. Justice will not be served there. Justice will become reality when we as individuals stop making excuses. We see sheriff clarkes comments, and he is being used as a puppet to perpetuate this myth that black lives matter is get Police Officers. Philando castile was a lawabiding citizen with a permit to carry a weapon. He was killed. Amy we have five seconds. Kwame rose and sheryl wood. Thank you for being with us. That does it for our broadcast. Special thanks to the denver open media crew. Open media crew. I am amy music playing over here i have a Bread Pudding made with some cherries, and were serving it with an assortment of ice cream. Sometimes it kind of makes me chuckle because when i grew up as a kid in france, Bread Pudding was called mendiant. Mendiant means beggar or force for the food, but we all loved it. I must say my dad used to have a great recipe that he used to do in his patisserie, and thats the recipe i want to share with you today. On todays show, i will show you how to make this delicious cherry Bread Pudding and all the secrets my father taught me to get the perfect results. Im also making another rustic dish i grew up with, stuffed eggs with smoked salmon, that stands out wherever you serve it. Our main course is a perfect rabbit braised in mustard sauce, a recipe from my grandmother. So great recipes from my childhood. Stay with me and i will show you