Ukraine into opening an investigation into political rival joe biden. And that he obstructed congress by defying numerous subpoenas for documents and stimony as part of their impeachment probe. United in their opposition, publicans say democrats are rushing through the imanachment process d using it to overturn the results of the 2016 election. President trump has deinnded his dealgs with ukraine and called the investigation a quote witchhunt. Here to discuss this our republican consultant and senior contributed to bulwark tim miller. He is with us. And also whron aldinger joins us via skype from washington. Thank you for being here with us. Why just two articles of mo impeachment for the ats abuse of power and obstruction of congress over president trumps dealings with ukraine . Why not obstruction of justic in thMueller Report, there were 10 instances listed. Or bribery that the democrats were exciting even before this began. The democrats made a choice. They couldve reached to the shotgun, loaded it up and given the president both girls, as you suggest. There ths lots in Mueller Report are there have been a number of other subpoena conflicts between the two branches of government. There was much else they couldve done that they chose they chose what they thought they could make clear to the public in short form and say we looked at all of the other things and thought we coul. Tolerate th but now the whistleblower has come forward and made this so imperativeso we had to go ahead and concentrate on ukraine. Is herefrom tim, your thoughts on these two articles. Wh do you think . I think the democrats have tried to make a judgment that nancy Speaker Pelosi in particular did not want this to drag on, did not want this in impeachment. I thought this was a clean hit and wanted to move forward. Th i think there is if this gi was a mate attempt to try to remove the president , if the goal here was we really believe the presidvet should be re before the 2020 election, i think a longer effort looking into and investigating more of the president s taxes,ig inveing his actions in saudi arabia, turkey, ukraine would have been about to go in the hopes that something is uncovered that may be jostled some republicans through. Stled by this and i think we be will have what is pretty close to a partyline vote in both houses. Is tim says, just ho this is moving. With the fact ththere seem are to be two directly been viable cases here. Most people are focused on the holidays and focus on their own lives, as you would amexpec g those people who are paying a lot of attention, there seems to be a slight break in favor of impeachment for those who have formed an opinion. Moru people would rather their shoulders and concentrate on Everything Else in their life. We will see what happens when we get back aftethe holidays. They are talking about a fairly short trial. But even in a short trial, many people will be getting their rst introduction to so the evidence, some of the facts in the case and what else might be out there about presiden trump. Just toda the sueme court has decided to hear the case in respect to the president s withholding of tax returns. The have lost in a couple of appeals courts and is going to the Supreme Court for review. We will see what they decide to do as far as it comes to the ep president g his tax returns secret when they are under subpoena from several different sources. Senate trial, im curious to know what your thoughts are about the Senate Majority leader mcconnell already saying this is goung to come r the white house counsel, at least as far as hes concerned. They will be directing things. He said was coordinating everything he did with the white house counsel. That would not be normal behavior for a juror and all 100 senators arsworn in jurors to ispreside in case. He is going to get some criticism for that. But Mitch Mcconnell is used crt icism and used to withstanding it and he is more than glad to take the slings as and arrows long as it means he can be the leader of the republicans in the senate and therefore the leader of the senate and the closest ally ths. President trump at least on capitol hill. Tim, let me go back to you. Strategy of bringing up all the amendments that the republicans did that were obviously going to be shot downas maybe the president is going to be tried in the trial and that will be shut down by e democrats. I dont want to make a predictive tea reading here but the fact is when we look back on that, why those amendments . I think this was a quote for them 92 impeachment where they switch side or the republicans accuse the democrats are putting on a clown nose and putting a circus. That is it strategic for the republicans as well. Showcasing. Yeah, we will ll hunter biden. If you want to call Mitch Mulvaney we will call the ukrainian prosecutor. Trimng to make the achment implicated for the voters, but also seem like a ridiculous procedure. My issue on the democratic siem, it doesnt like they are really working, obviously mcconnell is blockading here. The democrats arent forcing testify, bpoena some of lton the higher level officials and the trump administration. That leads me believe that they are rather happy with the fast process that impeaches the president and then gets blocked in the senate and they can accuse mcconnell of obstruction. We all know how it will turn out in terms of witnesses called for the senate trial. But im interested in finding out from yo you are a republican consultant but the the republicans try to talk about the president looking at corruption in ukraine and trying ttodo things ameliorate corruption . Where else does trump look for corruption in nation in the world . For the viewers that dont hostile to the president republican. It is the most absurd argument, the idea that he cares about rruption is absurd in the tr e, he never showed that anywhere else. But looking specifically at ukraine and that call, he never mentions any corrtion in any context aside the prisma issue and hunter biden. N it as if they president on this phone call also discussed, mentioned a whole list of oligarchs and Hunter Bidens boss wajust one of them. It was a very narrow request about biden and then the second request was on absurd Conspiracy Theory prking the ident to look into whether the dnc server was hidden somewhere in ukraine. There are moderate democrats talking about censure and other conservatives in swing states in a series problems because they had strong support of president trumpthat they had to buck. The president picked up 40 seats in the election in 2018. When you do thatu are suddenly taking over for a lot of districts that voted for donald trump for president and voted for a Republican Florida Congress as recently as 2016. So that is quite an achievement on one hand, but it also gives you a rather tenuous hold on ma of those 40seats. So a lot of these democrats are risk thatthey are probably ue going to vote for impeachment anyway, but they are going to take their me announcing it. They will consult with the people back in their district, they will try to think of the very best arguments to put rward for why they are doing this. But they know that many of their voters are going to be uncomfortable with that vote and they know this is going to make liffomore difficult them in 2020. Speaking of 2020, following some of the quick questions. What do you foresee asfar as the possibility and thinking about steve bannon and the former white house strategist who said there is a real possibility that democrats can lose the house majority. Ron appel for example show things were starting to swing against him to d some degree steve banner was worried they would lose the white house again and lothe house. That would be Steve Bannons opinion. But i would also say that if teesident trump is reel that automatically would mean that the pressure would be on the democrats in their effort to keep contl of the house and the president is being reelected, that should mean good news for republican candidates up and down e ot ba. Certainly in thna , certainly in the house of representatives. Tim, i know you want in here, the democrats have a tough time with their messaging, dont they . uparticularly in impeachment. I think right before i came over here i saw that representative arruda in orange coty, this is a prime example of someone in a tough spot. He came out and said he would be for impehment rather than center. He is representing a district that has been voting for republicans since the 50s. And so how trdo you to balance voters, people like me or maybe mitt romney voters are Republican Voters that dont like trump th flipped 2018 in Orange County and voted for representative arruda. They probably dont want somebody that goes to washington and is just anti republicanangenda, tied republican agenda for wapeachment. He wil the line. On the other hand i think hes stuck with this democratic lose support of your democratic donor base and grassroot base if you dont vote for impeachment. I th k the democratic reand voters in that are in a tough spot. I do have to say i think the bannon call to the house would y actulip back. As it stands today, seems to be a little bit of a stretch. I think the most likely tcomes are the republicans pick up backup seats in districts like Orange County but also oklahoma city, charleston, pl es that e very democratic and u where they picked up seats last time because of trrips unpopu that they are likely to give back. Et me think both of our guests for their expert analysis. Tim mill thank you for being with us, ron albee, thank you for being withanus. K you so much to both of you. Thank you. Last friday, pg e announced it released a 13. 5 billion Settlement Agreement with wildfire victims. The deal would solve claims made against the utility by victims of the 20 17th northbay wildfires, last years campfires, and other recent blazes. It also launched a turning point in pg es efforts to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Year to tap into the Wildfire Insurance Fund established by lawmakers to help utilities pay for future wild re claims. Joining me now is kq and government corresndent murrays marissa lagos. Always happy to be with you. Lets talk about the settlement its self. D who is eligible how are they going topay it what we are talking about thousands of wildfire victims th and actuallyghost ship fire from oakland is also part of this settlement. Some past buyers as well. Ppessentially what will is if the government finds off and the judge signs off in the coming days there will be a 60 day period for wildfire survival to file an additional they had to file a claim by december 31 with the Bankruptcy Court but then they get to vote on this fund. They will really have the last decisionmaking power over whether to accept this proposal. And if they do, i e ink you right, this will be, pg e will be well on its way out of bankrupt. We will talk more about the victims and so forth, but who is getting rich off of this or making money off of this . Monday, stoc pg e went up and that was the most in two months. Thats right, stock prices wi have fluuately this year. Stock prices fluctuating as poa unity to make money. People trading on the stock or making money. Interestingly, the settlement is offered , half cahave stock. Victims would own 20 of the company at this goes through. This was also a big win for a group of shareholders i have really been struggling, along with pg e management to maintain control of pg e when it exits and pepsi. They have been fighting with ndholders who so obviously are part of the pg e infrastructure and they, we have seen a net of being made on the stock market and also through the legal fees of this bankruptcy. Its h pening and i haa big story coming out next week that ys people are making money on e wall street. Other than gubernatorial disapproval, what could unsettle the settlement here . What could disrupt it . If victims e not happy with it that could certainly end the settlement and really spell big problems for pg e. As i said, they do get a vote. But i dothink this is the biggest piece of this bankruptcy. Previously there was a lot ofh concern overfact that Insurance Companies had also reachedsettlements with pg e. There was a concern that 11 billion settlement would undercut the victims. I think what are seeing here since this number is bigger, is a pretty good likelihood that it goes forward. What about the likelihood of privatization or municipal station . The governor talked about taking over pg e, mayor san jose has been talking about going on a private path to public utility did is the settlemeving much impact as you see it questi make i do think that this is, again if everyone at the table agrees that the framework here, it really undercuts the argument of people like mayor locarno who would like to see a customer owned coop or even edSan Francisco who wato buy pg es infrastructure. Theres a lot of problems with places that are quitfrankly ban Bigger Customer base and easier have the same wildfire t liability sort of issues to sepate from the rest of the grid. So i do think this is going to make it a little harder for people who woul like todrsee a tic change in this company. Although, to be fair, we could still see them looking up into ana gas and Electric Company or even into smaller utilities. I think the idea of a public power is not going to be as ttractive if you have wildfire victims lining up with all these other stakeholders. Times poll . L. A. Yeah, people are definitely not pleased with the company but i think they also dont have, there isno consensus among voters or even repairs of what they uld like to see happen. I think honestly making something public makes a t of people nervous for a lot of reasons. Fema is looking for about a 4 billion payoff on all of this in the oes is looking for money. Therare a lot of places that are at least trying, to some extent commit to take from the money available to victims and the victims are upset about this. In yeah, i again, its not surpsing the Government Entities are going to try to after a private utility to bat to feel what they are owed. I think when you end up hitting a fema and operation Emergency Services against wifire victims and becomes more complicated. The truth is, a lot of detailre of wthis 13. 5 billion goes are still going to be sort of left to a trustee that will be e appoto oversee the nd. So we dont know if the government will be at all succsful or if individu victims will see the lion share, i would guess it would be the latter. We will have anto wait see. In the meantime, they are talking about achieving confirmation in the Organization Plan in advance of the 2020 deadline and they seem to be on track for at. I think if everything moves forward, if the government signs off, the judge signs off, victims sign off, they cou exit bankruptcy before june. Can abu talk t the audit . Yeah, we saw an audit that said essentially pg e s taken 123 million that they were supposed to use under grounding power lines and used it for est priori. You know, i ink this is par for the course with this company. In some ways it raises bigger questions about the regulators d state oversight than even pg e itself. We know they have always sort of moved around money, we saw that with the sabruno explosion and the problems with the gas lines. I think the issue here is does this add more fuel to the fire re oversight, to push the h governor to exercise more power over the utility. Back to the victims which i prome we will talkmore about to find out who is eligible they are talking about things like mental anguish. Pedont know how ople prove the legitimacy of that. And paying for vernal funeral expenses can can you prove dying because of the wildfire. Sometimes i can be ambiguous. Ma one filed a claim for a 200 Million Dollar emerald he said he lost in the campfire. That will be up to the trustee to sort of sort out. The fund victims attorneys ll have me oversight of that trustee decision. Theres a lot of people involved and i think there will be an effort to make sure that the money is spread around as evento as possible and the people that need it. The deadline for filing is one . Deny the deadline for filing for a claiat all is december 31 and in the new year we will see a 60 day period where the victims who have filed for those claims will beable to essentially exercise a right and vote on the settleme w. Have a little time left, can you talk about the effects this will have on the insurance indury . We e seeing huge problems with the insurance industries, nt to issue insurance but dot they have also been paid out a lot in their claims against pg e and they have reached this 11 million settlement. I think there are open questions out that market and really what the state can do to make it more even moving forward. Likely that pg e, a result of the settlement, will move forward on a loof things they have been, shall we say, not exactly up to stop i think that will be a key question for the Bankruptcy Court and governor right frankly. Beyond the dollars and sense of this bankruptcy, what kind of changes is pg e willing to put i in place forward around their management and the management instructor r the safety structure. Back to regulators, they have been sitting on a lot of these problems and i e think there some real key questions about what controls they need to exercise moving forward on safety questions, wildfid safety, ite frankly broader safety. Blackouts . I dont think those are ending anytime soon. We have a lot had a lot of rain lately so we are not in that situation right now. But again, if they dont make l of significant investments and changes to the way their business is done, they warn those could go on defor a de. The government doesnt want to see that, no onwants tosee that. But its hard because we have had a much more successful season in terms of the loss of property and life than we did the st two years. Always great to talk to you, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me, ts michael. The gi first world series victory in 56 years gh the deadly ost ship warehouse fire. The bay area has seen a lot of ups and downs over the past decade. Srupted the traditional my workplace. Devastating wildfires brought new urgency and attention to living with climate change. In the 2018, oaand emerged as a filmmaking talent with hits like black panther. The kqed team who reviews how the last 10 years have redefined the bay area in our turbulent decade joining me now is kqed lead editor of the project nausea bonus gaia. Welcome. Thank you. A tabby with us lets begin with finding out how you curated this. I think it is difficult to pick 10, one om each yearwhen you have so many things that happened through the decade. Absolutely. I think anyone that has been living in the bay area the past decade thinking back on everything that happens can yo almost givewhiplash. There have been these crazy highs with the sports victories in black panther in the bay area this big hollywood moment. But under that there has also been mass displacement, the widening wealth inequality. We really want to select a wide all these events that have impacted culture and daytoday life for most People Living here. You mentioned ththings that rocked the bay area. For ex, plepoint to the occupy movement in oakland and how that had such an extraordinary effect. Im just wondering, if you can look in the tea leaves a little for us, do you think that inequality if you weredoing things tenure from now would still be the case for arctics and activists who find pl themselves ded with nowhere to go . By the way things are going, i would inc. Yes. Afrdable housing is not being built up or being made th available at rate that it needs to be to accommodate all the people that need. There is a growing homelessness crisis ere there is no end in sight. In the bay area, houses that were affordable are not fordable any longer. I think unless drastic measures are taken, then yes this is a problem we will be looking at mo and 10 years. Its grim. And artists being this waste, not only artists, but you talk about thspace is difficult to find for galleries in any kind of art shows period. Absolutely. I think inaddition to the shortage of affordable housing, the mmercial rents are so expensive there are not many places where artists can express themselves. I think we saw that in the 2013 story in the series that kicks off. At the same time, we have these skyrocketing commercialan and residental ins in San Francisco. A lot of artists left the city and the region. Me ghost ship bea metaphor for this too. There were no places to go so ghost ship and then the fire of course, it was the main highlight of 2016. Yes, 20so in already in the years leading up to that, these types of unpermitted artist where hearses were already being evicted because you know, landlords saw opportunities to bring in rip really cemented that trend where these unpermitted warehouses became more of a liility for landlords and it really accelerated displacement of artists at the lowest end of the income spectrum. There siwas a ve thing that you highlighted, lets focus on those for the moment. Talking for example about films, it was a big year for films. You write about this and also right about the empire of empire building. Empire is a recocompany and suddenly becomes major in San Francisco and changes the whole terrain. Yeah, empire has been a huge positi addition to the bay area Cultural Landscape in the st 10 years. I think historically there has been this narrative of bay area artists being overlooked by major labels so i think als incredible that causation only, the founder of it, a San Francisco nabuve, evenlyt this business from the ground up and created this really smart divisional tragedy at a time where digital labels did not know adhow to t to streaming and he harnessed the baste of bay area talent and the majorlabel systems so thats huge. Talk about film a little more, sorry to bother you but the film last black main San Francisco, we had lots of things tat were really pretty exciting as far as San Francisco is a film city. Think especially starting with black panther and the films that followed, it really put a spotlight on the baea as this hub of filmmaking t talent. Same time, kind of similar to music, the bay area is not represented in ollywood veen. I think these filmmakers really took that opportunity to Say Something deeper often about displacement and inequality. U, its all about kind of how the workforce is being exploited. And then black panther in San Francisco and blind spotting as well. They deal with gentrification n francisco and oakland. There were nods to that in black panther especially at the end when they come back to build the wakonda science center. Let me go back to the ghost ship for a moment, that not only itomizes the struggle of artists finding a place, but whse did it represent as arfar as you concerned . I think it represented a huge cultural loss. The 36 people who passed away ghost ship were really pillars of the Arts Community in oakland and more broadly in the bay area a lot of them were making work that may not mainstream or commercial, but it did have a lot of impact just on the region. They created this really tightknit community where people could makeexperimental work that is really pushing the envelope in a lot of ways. In onaddition to the pe loss of all the people that were affected by these 36 deaths, it was a great cultural loss for the region as well. In 2016, you spotlight e problem with release, racial shootings, deaths. Talk about turbulce and devastating things that occurred in the rast attacks put up by the police. But there was an upside to that. The Hunger Strike brought some serious changes. Not only resignation of the police chiri but s reform in the police department. It really did. That was one of the stories i was very excited tohighlight with the Hunger Strike. It started in 2016 when the wrapper clipped out brought four other activists together and they camped out in front of the police station. Before long, thousands of people joined them in protest and they waged one of the longest Hunger Strikes in San Francisco history. I think at the time it was a little unclear what effects it would have and where it was going t shortly after itdid lead to the chief resigning from spd and shortly after, the department of justice gave thli department 272 accommodations for reform. As of now, they have only completed about 10 of em. Although there was a pretty significant drop in officer involved shootings, especially in 2019, there hadnt been one until a couple weeks ago when there was a nonfatal shooting from s d. It certainly has been a turbulent decade but thank you so much for outlining it for an the work your team has done. Appreciate it. Thank you. That will deliver us. You can learn re about the milestones and movements i had impacts on the bay area in 2010 by going to kqed. Org r de turbulent de as always, you can find more of our coverage at kqed. Org newsroom. I ammichael krasner ian, thank you for joining us. Captioning sponsored by wnet sreenivasan on this edition for sunday, december 15 the house of representatives prepares for a historic vote w thk. And in our signature segment, a return to riace, ita once a ilcome haven for migrants, now the global villa practically vacant. Next on pbs newshour weend. Pbs newshour weekend is made possible by bernard and irene schwartz. Sue and Edgar Wachenheim iii. Pthe cheryl and philstein family. Rosalind p. Lter, in memory of george oneil. Barbara hope zuckerbg. Charles rosenblum. We try to live in the ment, to not miss whats right in front of us. At mutual of america, we