Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, breaking news and international stories.
january of this year, the president's lawyers tell the special counsel robert mueller in a letter that mr. trump dictated the statement himself. fast forward to late last month, cnn reporting that michael cohen is willing to tell the special counsel that the president did know about the 2016 trump tower meeting in advance despite numerous denials from president trump and his team. and that brings us up to speed. the president now admitting the meeting was designed to get information on an opponent, but once again claiming he did not know about it. now jay sekulow admits he was wrong when he denied the president was involved in that first misleading statement. listen. >> i had bad information at that point. i made a mistake in my statement. i talked about that before. that happens when you have cases like this. i think it's very important to point out that in a situation like this, you have, over time, facts develop.
that's what investigations do. >> all right. joining us now to discuss all of this, cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto, our legal analyst and defense lawyer, ross garber, and cnn's chief political analyst gloria borger. it sounds like this is a pretty incriminating series of events. >> sure, it is, because the president effectively came out and said this was not a meeting about russian adoptions. this was a meeting about getting dirt on hillary clinton. we know that the statements that were made about the president dictating that statement on air force one were intentionally misleading. we know that. they've tried to correct the record. there's a question about whether the president would have to testify on this. will he talk to mueller about this? is this something in these negotiations that his lawyers would allow him to answer questions on? i kind of doubt it. maybe in writing.
and then there's also the other question. we have reporting from jake and kaitlan about him being worried about don junior. by the way, the cfo of the trump organization is also talking to the special counsel. so there's a lot of stuff unraveling right now. >> he's been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury. here's what the law says. i'll put it up on the screen. this is the specific law. it shall be unlawful for a foreign national directly or indirectly to make a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value or to make an express and implied promise to make a contribution or donation in connection with a federal sta federal, state, or local election. the key words here, other thing of value. quote, dirt, opposition research, which is clearly a thing of value. >> yeah, so in the president's tweets, he says it's not legal.
substantiate what support this gave, it will become a question for the congress and really the american public as to whether accepting help from a foreign adversary is something that a president should do. keep if min mind, there's histo here. other american presidential candidates have been offered things by russians. they've also been offered dirt on their opponents, if you go back to 2000, and they refused it and reported it to the fbi. >> campaigns pay for opposition research. that is a thing of value. the law says that a foreigner cannot provide, quote, other thing of value, in addition to money or a donation to a candidate for federal, local, or state running for office. so the argument is that opposition research is a thing of value. >> here's the issue. in the case of clinton, there's
no argument -- >> we're not talking about clinton. we're talking about donald trump jr.. donald trump jr. was offered a thing of value, and he colluded, if you will, he colluded with gold goldstone and the others to try to get that thing of value. is that conspiracy to obstruct the law? >> see, i think where we're going to wind up is on the question of conspiracy. >> which is the same as collusion. >> well -- >> a different word for collusion. >> in some ways, it is a different word for collusion. in terms of the thing of value, i do think that becomes a slippery slope, and there are first amendment issues there. >> what's the first amendment issue? >> people are the righave the rk to each other, to listen to each other. >> but you don't have the right to go to a representative of the russian government and seek that kind of dirt on hillary clinton. >> an adversary in the midst of an influence campaign on a u.s. election. >> again, i think ultimately under the law, that is not going to be considered a thing of value because of the slippery slope of it. >> but this is from a foreign
national, right? >> exactly. >> and that's not legal. >> well, but again, we should talk about the clinton situation because it's not dissimilar. in the clinton situation, there is information coming from russian nationals to the clinton campaign through somebody else. nobody's paying the russian nationals. but wolf, you hit on something that i think is going to be the key to it, which is conspiracy. what else, if anything, was happening here? what else did donald trump jr. or anybody else know about the russian government's efforts? >> donald trump jr. says in that e-mail to rob goldstone, the british publicist who's working as a liaison with the russians, if it's what you say, i love it, especially later in the summer. what does that say to you? >> it means, i want it, i want it later in the summer when we're closer to the election. you know, the question is how much of this was going on. if you were running a campaign,
say you're the general counsel of a campaign, okay. somebody in the campaign said, you know, we got these russians coming in, and they want to give us some dirt. wouldn't you expect to get a call as the general counsel, and what would your advice be? >> it's a terrible idea. >> so you'd say -- >> putting aside whether that particular act is illegal, it's a terrible idea. also because it raises tons of red flags about other issues. >> so you say don't do it? >> look, it is a terrible idea. but then it's a different question about whether it's illegal. again, i think in the broader context, you do have to wind up looking -- >> if you're the general counsel, it would be stupid. >> terrible. terrible idea. >> the other issue, look at the context. this happens in the midst of an influence campaign on the election where russia was trying to influence in a whole host of way, including stealing information from clinton aides, exposing them for maximum impact. also keep in mind the context of
this specific meeting. they ended up talking about just adoptions. what is that about? that's about the mack ngnitsky . that's something the kremlin hates because it imposes severe financial sanctions on oligarchs and other businessmen close to the government who are involved in human rights abuses, okay. so what you have in that context then is the quid pro quo. we're going to offer you dirt on the hillary clinton campaign. by the way, can we talk about these sanctions that we've hated for ages and which the russians brought up repeatedly? i think you have to look at the broader picture there to understand what the context of that exchange might have involved. >> then there's the next level, which is michael cohen says, well, the president knew. so the president says, i didn't know. does that add another level to the conspiracy? >> there are so many more things we would need to know to be able to size that up. all i'm saying is right now based on what we know, just that meeting, i don't think a court would say that just that meeting, even if there was dirt
or opposition research, i don't think it was a crime. i think the question is going to be all of the optics, all the things you and jim and wolf are discussing, what else was there? what else did the trump campaign know about, if anything? i think we're going to learn more about whether that stuff exists or not in order to be able to size it up. >> you made a good point earlier, gloria, who said the chief financial officer for the trump organization for 40 years, if not longer, has been called before a federal grand jury because he obviously knows a lot about what, if any, trump organization, business deals were going on with russians in the '80s, the '90s, and the 2000s and beyond. that's a source of enormous concern to the president of the united states. >> as would michael cohen. >> and michael cohen for 12
years. >> i know the president is deeply irritated, presumably one of the reasons he's been speaking out and tweeting angrily in recent days. guys, good discussion. thank you very much. moments ago, the trial of the president's former campaign chairman resumes. rick gates is set to testify fairly soon. stand by. plus, senator rand paul raising eyebrows again, this time you're going hear what he told russian lawmakers during a visit to moscow. and the president's criticism against lebron james is being called racist and hateful. now the first lady of the united states is contradicting her husband. we'll discuss. sometimes a day at the ballpark is more than just a day at the ballpark.
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happening right now, the trial of president trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort has just resumed moments ago. the big question right now is will manafort's former business partner rick gates testify against him possibly today, possibly later this week. gate, as you might recall, pleaded guilty to two criminal charges and cut a deal with the prosecutors. he's now cooperating with them. we also know today's session is starting off with the cross-examination of manafort's former accountant who testified last week that she helped him prepare fraudulent tax returns. joe johns is over at the courthouse in alexandria, virginia. joe, is there new indications right now if we can expect to see gates testify today, tomorrow, later this week? what's the latest indication? >> reporter: wolf, it isn't clear right now. it could be today. it could be tomorrow. we may here a little bit more about timing in just a little bit. that timing could be affected by, number one, what you already mentioned at the top, the
testimony of the accountant. she testified on friday. her cross-examination continues today. that's the first thing. another thing that's going on is government has asked to put a couple fbi forensic accountants on the stand to read, essentially, the e-mails of paul manafort. the government is trying to make a case he was a very hands-on manager of his affairs. depending on how the judge rules on that, he's been really trying to push this thing through, if he says yes to those new witnesses, that could affect the timing on rick gates. now, of course, he's a critical witness for both sides, the prosecution and the defense here. rick gates was a top associate of paul manafort for a long time. he even served as the deputy campaign manager in the trump campaign around the time when
manafort was actually running the show. gates has pleaded guilty already to some related offenses. he's awaiting sentencing. he's cooperating with the government. so a star witness for the prosecution. for the defense, they see him as the guy they can pin the entire case on. the defense has already made it clear that in their view, gates is the person who was behind the scenes, pulling the strings, and, if you will, creating the underlying illegality that's at the root of this case. so hopefully we'll learn in just a few minutes whether this thing is going to go quickly with gates today or perhaps tomorrow, wolf. >> you'll keep us up to speed. we'll keep a close eye on this, of course. joe johns over at the courthouse, thank you. meanwhile, a democratic lawyer getting ready to respond live to the president's outright admitting that the purpose of that trump tower meeting was to get dirt on hillary clinton. you're going to find out what
this democrat says what should happen next. stand by for that. plus, senator rand paul is in moscow. he invites russian lawmakers to washington. we're now learning through russian state media what he allegedly told the russians, stand by. what's the #1 new skincare product in 2018?
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trump tower. president trump now saying the purpose of the meeting was to receive dirt from people with direct ties to the russian government on his opponent at the time, hillary clinton. joining us now, a democrat, member of the armed services committee. thanks for joining us. what's this revelation from the president, this latest tweet over the weekend from him, what does that say -- mean for the russia investigation right now? >> i think it's extremely important. it's one more piece of a mosaic that clearly spells out that during the 2016 election, the trump campaign was deeply involved in getting information from the russias, ans, and throughout that campaign, the russians interfered in the election. this mosaic is a very, very bad one. you add to that the continuing reluctance of the president to say anything at all bad about putin or the kremlin. you go, something is seriously
wrong here. one more piece of a very, very bad mosaic. >> the president claims that even if he colluded, he says collusion is not a crime. so what kind of jeopardy do you think his son donald trump jr. is in after this revelation from the president? >> well, i think you have a conspiracy here. and a conspiracy is a crime. it's based upon an illegal act that is obtaining information from a foreign government. opposition research is extro extraordinarily expensive. hillary clinton spent a lot of money on the steele document. that's another issue. let that be set aside. in this case, the opposition resear research, provided the meeting was about what the president said, adds up to an illegal act. if one or more people are involved, you now have a conspiracy. you have two crimes going on. you have an election law and a conspiracy. this is a very, very serious
matter. unfortunately, the house of representatives and the senate -- well, at least the house of representatives is simply in the going to go into this. that in itself is an affront to our democracy. we need to know exactly what happened. we need to make it very clear that henceforth, there will be no involvement by any foreign government, friend or foe, in the american election process. and here we are today with five of our intelligence chiefs all saying russians are here, they're involved yet again. and the president says that's fake news. this is just plain wrong. >> let me quickly get you respond to what the trump supporters are saying, that hillary clinton, by her campaign, the dnc spending money to get opposition research on donald trump through the christopher steele dossier, as it's called, going to fusion gps, the pr firm, and getting that, was that a violation of the law, trying to get that kind
of information? because a lot of that information in the dossier originated with russians. >> two wrongs do not make a right. if, in fact, it is wrong, it is wrong. and if there's a krcrime, it's crime. that should be dealt with separately. whether it is or not, i couldn't say. but i do know that in this situation in trump tower, we have evidence that, a, the russian government was directly involved, that their representatives were at the meeting, and that it was specifically to obtain something of enormous havevalue. that is dirt on hillary clinton. that's the issue at hand right now. if you want to take up the hillary clinton steele dossier as a crime, go ahead. take that up later in a different form. but right now we're talking about the president of the united states and his campaign. we have yet to learn -- and this is something that i think will be found out in the very near future, that the president
himself was aware that this meeting was going to happen, and he was given information about what happened at that meeting. the blocked telephone call from donald junior to whom? i'm quite sure mueller knows to whom that blocked call was placed. we'll see. all of this is going on. i think perhaps there's another thing underlying this, wolf. that is the president is beginning to clean up his statements because he is going to face mueller interview. i think he's in the process of trying to put aside all of the previous lies so that he doesn't put himself in perjury. >> let me quickly on a totally different subject, because you're in california, let me ask you about the tweet from the president blaming the california environmental laws for the current wildfires in your state. your district, as i said, just south of the largest of those fires. at least six people are dead.
what do you think of the president seemingly ignoring the death, the destruction, and taking a direct swipe at your state, california, a state that clearly obviously didn't vote for him? >> well, first of all, lake county, where this 250,000-acre fire is currently burning, is my district. those are my constituents, some 20,000 of them that have been evacuated. fortunately, not too many homes, but a lot of people whose lives are disrupted. one example, i was at the evacuation center a couple days ago. there was a woman sitting by herself at one of the tables at the center. i sat down next to her and chatted with her a while. she said, i think my mobile home is gone. i just came back from the hospital. i said, what happened? are you okay? she said, i just found out. i said, what did you find out? she said, i found out that my twins are actually triplets and i'm six months pregnant, and i don't know that i have a home. she gave a hearty laugh, stood up, and said, i'm going to go to dinner now.
very, very brave. extraordinary people that are in harm's way that are being cared for by their neighbors, volunteers for the red cross. 20,000 in my district. further north in the redding area, seven people have died already in that fire, and it's still going on. a thousand homes. it's very, very tough, very difficult. >> but what do you say the to president? the president is blaming california's environmental laws for a lot of the problem. >> wolf, it's one more display of his ignorance, his gross ignorance. water flowing down the rivers out to sea has nothing to do with these fires. if i'm ignorant, that's a problem. if the president is ignorant, it's a crisis. and it goes on and on and on. his ignorance not only about water flowing out to the sea but about the maintenance of the forest. we do have a new law in place that will provide better forest management in the future, but
the president's ignorance in this is just astounding. and when he's ignorant, it's a crisis for this nation and could very well be a crisis for the world. >> congressman garamendi, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, in a new interview, iran's president hasan rouhani says president trump's calls for direct talks are meant to create division inside iran. this as new u.s. sanctions kick in later today. and sources tell cnn there's a strong possibility of another summit between president trump and north korea's kim jong-un. but as north korea allegedly continues to develop missiles, what could come out of another summit? we'll discuss that and more. stay with us. stay at la quinta. where we're changing with stylish make-overs. then at your next meeting, set your seat height to its maximum level. bravo, tall meeting man. start winning today. book now at lq.com and it's also a story mail aabout people start winning today.
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real. this is the first round. there will be another tougher round in 90 days. this is serious. it's going to hurt you. we're serious about this. but at the same time, we want to talk to you at any time without preconditions. so you can see that iran's reaction is exactly as expected. angry and saying, you know, what is this, this is u.s. hypocrisy. it's unclear how this can bring iran back to the table to give up something more than it already did in the actual existing iran nuclear deal, which by the way u.s. allies want to keep. >> the administration, the trump administration, karoun, insists they're not working for regime change in iran, but the country right now is going through some very difficult moments economically in particular. >> well, this is the difficulty when you're talking about
countries like iran that have, you know, people in power that have worked for the united states but not everybody in power really wants to. there's hardliners that would be more difficult for the united states to work with. you think that, okay, when there's uprisings, maybe things will liberalize. that's not always the case. pre situation. there's not really a regime change that would be in their interest to work towards. so they're basically trying to put the squeeze on iran. it's an opportune moment in a way because there's already internal pressures that make the economic situation very, very delicate in which case when sanctions are reimposed, they'd really feel it there more so than, let's say, maybe a place like russia would feel it directly. but you don't quite know where that's going to end up. you hear rouhani today saying come back to the jcpoa. everybody else wanted it but you. clearly that's not the way the united states is playing their cards. it's really not clear where this is going to go.
>> also, sanctions don't necessarily lead to regime change, which we've seen for such a long time with north korea, cuba. >> speaking of north korea, now there's talk a second summit between the president and the north korean leader kim jong-un. what are you hearing? >> there needs to be a second summit since the first one didn't really go anywhere and didn't really define what even the outlines of what each side wants will be. so it's possible that this could be before the end of the year. location is not established. would it be in pyongyang? would it be in washington? we know they've been communicating by letter. so it's possible this is progress. i mean, you know the administration wants to call even the fact they're talking progress. but if they do meet again, i mean, it's time for there to be some kind of structure around where this is going in both the short-term and long-term. >> what are you hearing? >> you have to kind of keep hope alive in these talks because there is so much buildup at the outset. nobody expected this could happen quickly. and nobody who's on the expert
side of it had much faith until they reached the point of which, okay, north korea is actually putting in a full list of all of their nuclear -- not just the places where they produce these things but all of the materials and parts as well. until we get to that point, this isn't really real. you're never going to get there over night. look at past administrations too. at this point, there was a lot of -- i don't want to call it bluster, but there was a lot of pomp and circumstance at the beginning about what would be happening here. it hasn't happened yet. you need to get people excited about another summit again, potentially to keep that pilot light going. >> maybe a do-over. >> we'll see if that meeting takes place. guys, thank you very, very much. coming up, the first lady melania trump contradicts her president once again, praising lebron james for his charitable work as her husband attacks him. also, the government accountability office is now warning the white house that it is at risk of wasting billions and billions of dollars on the president's border wall with
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they actually say that the dhs does not consider costs when it is building. but the harshest part of this report we have -- i want to put it on the screen here -- the watchdog report says that by proceeding without key information on costs, acquisition baselines and the contributions of previous barrier and technology deployments, dhs faces an increased risk that the border wall system program will cost more than projected, take longer than planned, or not fully perform as expected. as you can imagine, we are starting to get reaction in. one of the ranking members on the house homeland security committee thompson is saying that this is the perfect example of the administration being so committed to a campaign promise without thinking about costs. dhs, for its part, it wrote in the report that it disagrees with much of what is laid out here saying that they have been properly following policy as this process goes through. however, cnn did reach out to the department for additional
comment, and we have not yet heard back from them. >> the gao, likely trump administration basically has simply given up on this notion that mexico will pay for the wall. >> clearly. and they are not very happy with what they are seeing as far as the calculations being done as far as how much this will cost and whether the limited resources that dhs does have f they are using it in the most cost-effective manner. gao not convinced that is happening. >> we don't even hear the president insisting any long hear the mexico will pay for the wall. he did throughout the campaign. at least 12 people are killed, more than 60 people shot across the city of chicago over the weekend. another deadly weekend in chicago. we are going there. shocking story, indeed. also, cnn goes inside one of the world's biggest motorcycle gatherings and talks to bikers about politics and president trump. you are going to see what happened. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter
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believe that a dozen people are shot and killed over two days in the city of chicago. nearly 70 other people are shot. what is the mayor saying? what are they doing about this wave of shootings in a major american city? >> reporter: great question. we are outside of district 6 where they had this news conference. this is one of the troubled areas they had issues with over the week. i can tell you, 66 people shot. of course 12 dead. something i want to highlight here. there were 14 people under the age of 18 shot. two of those died. this has been a summer where they have had some sort of success. not only did they have success, some of the numbers dropped dramatically. but they had a we had where a lot of people have been talking about gang violence, mass shootings, people having parties outside. after a funeral someone showed up and started shooting. at some times some of the shooters just walked away, didn't even try to run. there was a lot of emotion at the news conference. listen to what the mayor had to
say in talking about the weed's violence. >> we can talk about the weather, but the weather didn't pull the trigger. and you can talk about jobs, and they count. but in parts of the city where there aren't jobs, people did not pull a trigger. there are values. there are too many guns on the street. too many people with criminal records on the street. and there is a shortage of values about what is right, what is wrong. what is acceptable, what is condoned, and what is condemned. >> reporter: wolf, think about this. they confiscated over 5,000 guns off the streets here in chicago. and there is still a number of illegal guns out there. on top of that, the mayor had a summer program where over 30,000 kids were attending the program just this summer. but still, despite all of that, one of the things that we heard
>> translator: in total, it's about 79. >> the constitution says the census must count everyone so that means noncitizens, too. >> as we head into the 2020 elections, can americans trust the system? or is the swamp too deep? that's a challenge in parts of >> drain the swamp! the country like this. where there's a fear of the government, a fear that only increased since president trump took office. >> what are the people so worried about? >> translator: because the i never thought in elementary school growing up families here are mixed. some of them may not have their learning about elections in documents. america that one day i would be some were born here. talking about the world's so you're giving your addresses, greatest democracy, vietnam. you're giving your personal >> vietnam has the best voter turnout. information, where you live. so i think that could be they put us to shame. intimidating to the community. >> vietnam, dominica, uruguay, malta, seychelles, ecuador, turkey, then on page, basically at the end, it's the united states. >> keep going. >> while it's always been hard to get an accurate census count here in south texas, activists keep turning the page. like martha and maria say 2020 >> the united states is could have been devastating. between -- that's because the trump administration wanted to add a >> bosnia, herzegovina, and question we have not asked since 1950. singapore. >> bottom line, is we have some problems. ♪
is this person a citizen of the united states? it's a question that career census officials have said could lead to a huge undercount in communities already living in fear of even the most routine contacts with the government, not to mention possible deportation. >> america is the most renowned democracy on the planet. >> i know families every day, a government that is supposed to they give blessing to the family members because they really be for and by the people. don't know if somebody's going to come back, they're going to be stopped by the constable, by the border patrol, by the police and, yet, so many of us take a pass on exercising our most department. fundamental right of all, all these departments can stop a voting. family for a blinking light, for a little more than half of the a wrong turn and the family can people in this country who can vote bother to show up at the end up being deported. polls, even when the stakes are highest, in a presidential election. >> and that's the reality of in non-presidential years, life here and the idea that the turnout is much worse. census bureau becomes another one of those agencies. >> so what's wrong with our democracy? u.s. commerce secretary wilbur as we head into the 2020 ross who oversees the census elections, that question couldn't be more urgent. voter turnout as well as trust bureau says the question was in the election system itself could play a huge role in deciding who becomes our next president. requested by the justice department to help enforce the voting rights act of 1965. voting rights activists weren't >> drain the swamp. buying that explanation.
more than a dozen states filed lawsuits to block the question, >> with our most basic saying it was a blatant attempt democratic process in crisis, to give republicans an advantage katy and i are wading back into by undercounting traditionally the swamp to see just how deep democratic communities. it goes. from allegations of a rigged the case eventually made it all the way to the docket of the system, to alleged election supreme court. around the same time, fraud -- >> if you're confident that you won, don't you want to call for another election? congressional democrats called a hearing to demand answers from ross. >> sir, why won't you answer any questions? >> to the folks who think the swamp in washington, d.c., runs >> thank you very much. >> ross stuck to his story. >> doj sought census block level citizenship data for use in voting rights act enforcement. >> and supporters like try to find out what we're doing wrong. republican representative james excuse me. are you a delegate? what country are you from? comer of kentucky argue the citizenship question is necessary. >> every working taxpaying uruguay. you're the third highest voter citizen should want to know how turnout in the world. many people are living in the 97%. united states. >> 97%. >> why? your tax dollars go to things to build infrastructure, to do things like pay for education, pay for law enforcement. >> australia also has compulsory we need to know how many people voting. are living here. >> people who work, career professionals, within the census and a voter turnout rate almost bureau, have already said that
during the last census in 2010, 1.5 million african-american and twice as high as ours. latino people were undercounted how does it feel to have better by the census and this will only voter turnout than the greatest democracy in the world? increase that number. >> well, i think a lot of people look at the u.s. and wonder why you have that system. so why do you support it? >> where are you from? >> denmark. oh, please, talk to us. >> oh, my. >> i believe that every american is supposed to fill out the >> such an honor. census. >> you do a great job. i believe that we should know if >> are you from sierra leone? people that fill out the census you're 18th place in the world. you know what our turnout is? >> no. >> 122nd place in the world. are citizens or not. >> whoa. >> why? people ask me all the time, when you're talking about the wall, which is a huge subject. >> why are we -- i'm talking >> we all learn, even in about the census, sir. >> listen. listen. when we're talking about the wall, people say, how many kindergarten, to try to learn children in making decisions. illegals are here? i don't know. >> there you go. nobody knows. we can take a census every decade and hopefully we can >> yeah, because our elections determine how many illegals are are on tuesday. here. >> yes. >> what days are your elections? and the census isn't going to say go out and hunt out people >> on saturday. >> go figure. >> if you were to give us advice, what would it be? that are here illegally or not. that's misinformation. >> start from the young ones. the democrats are trying to use >> so start with this guy? >> start, yes. scare tactics and play the race >> are we a democracy? card. and let me say this. >> i'm not so sure. it's not just minorities. >> wow. there are people in my district, they don't like filling out the wow. census. they don't like the government knowing their business, but it's important to know how many >> andy! >> hi. people are living in the united states. >> as the debate in congress >> u.n. elections consultant continued, a bombshell dropped andrew reynolds helped organize shattering the trump
elections in countries around the world. according to reynolds, america's administration's entire explanation for adding the citizenship question. voting problems aren't exactly a secret. >> after you. >> thank you. when you're overseas helping set >> dahlia lithwick, senior up democracies, say this is the editor and legal correspondent way they do things in america, for "slate" has been following using america as examples, are the census story from the start. you met with pushback, why should we listen to what happens when i sat in that house oversight committee hearing and in america? >> many times. listened to wilbur ross saying the reason they wanted to put and people are sort of angered census was because of the voting that the u.s. would come and tell them what to do. rights act, at the time it >> are we just giant hypocrites when it comes to democracy that seemed very suspicious and it we're able to go around the turned out that there was good world and set up democracies, reasonor that. >> yeah. i mean, it was beyond suspicious. yet ours is sort of in shambles it was audacious becaus at home? >> the real challenge of all the a trump administration that has expertise in the u.s. is to take not done anything in any other it to other places and to offer context to enforce the voting rights act. they treated it as though it's an inconvenience. choices and options and don't do the notion that suddenly there's some of the things we do but this burning need to protect copy some of the good things. >> would it help if more of us minority voting in america from turned out to vote? >> absolutely. this administration. but people turn out when they it's not only short of feel invested in the process, paradoxical in light of how they they think it makes a difference. treated minority voting, it's and they have access to voting. also just a flat-out lie. >> with another election around the corner, the questions about >> that lie was exposed when gop our electoral system are more
critical than ever. >> the majority of people in strategist tom hallford died and this country abide by the rules of this democracy, they pay his daughter discovered taxes, but they don't participate. documents among his private they don't have a say and they choose not to have a say. possessions. >> his daughter finds these zip >> well, that is the question. do they choose not to have a drive with information that say? shows he had engineered this as i think most people feel like their votes don't matter but what does that mean? a plan explicitly to suppress minority votes. does it mean they don't have faith in the elected leaders that come here to washington, d.c.? >> in the files, he calculated a so much alike in the republican, democratic party, their lives never change no matter who's citizenship question would help representing them? republicans in the redistricting process by discouraging hispanic communities from responding to or is it people have legitimate the seine cuss. he even drafted talking points gripes about systemic abuses to support his argument. getting to the polls? some of those same points were >> voter suppression. later used by the justice department in an official letter >> they don't believe the electoral college, think russia asserting why the citizenship interfered in the question. question was needed. >> so the biggest question is how does it get better? >> if i knew, we'd have 100% voter participation by now. >> let's figure it out. >> it's right there and quite literally they are scooping up language that he had used. so, boom, suddenly we have kind >> in north carolina, people of a smoking gun. have good reason to think their votes don't matter. >> with a looming july 1st that's because even though there deadline to print the census questionnaires, voter rights was an election for congress advocates presented the documents in a last-minute in 2018, it took halmost a year filing before the supreme court. they're getting ready to print
this thing and then the supreme court weighs in. to fill the seat. what happened? >> it's a rigged system, folks. it's a rigged system. it's a rigged system. it's a rigged election. >> since the 2016 campaign, >> so there are four solid votes donald trump has been promising to say this is absolutely fine. wilbur ross did nothing wrong. to drain the swamp of what he claims is rampant voter fraud on john roberts who writes the the part of the democrats. majority opinion, he says, i don't believe him, he's lying. but here in north carolina, it's the republicans who are accused of election fraud. he doesn't use the word, "he's >> mr. elias. >> how are you, sir? how are you feeling? lying," but he essentially says i believe the reasons given are >> on the morning we arrived, pretextual. poll workers were getting ready i have no problem in principle with what he was trying to do. to testify at a hearing to see but the way it went down makes if a new congressional election me feel kind of queasy, so he should be called. >> was this a fraudulent election? >> we'll have to see, won't we? >> what do you think? >> there's new political drama sides with the liberals. in north carolina tonight. >> soon after, trump announced he was dropping the citizen question from the 2020 census. >> back in november of 2018, gop house candidate mark harris beat >> it's deeply regrettable, but it will not stop us from his democratic rival dan collecting the needed mccready by a razor-thin margin. but right away, allegations of information, and i think even in greater detail and more ballot tampering emerged. accurately. so basically, this whole thing >> while activists were successful in getting the is about whether or not this question blocked from the 2020 election was decided fraudulently. like a 900-vote margin in the campaign. census, lithwick warns it might not be a total victory. >> the sad part of the story is >> the harris campaign was that if the point of this was to terrorize hispanic voters into
accused of illegally going door to door to collect mail-in not voting, the damage is done. ballots and altering them to whether or not that question help the republican ticket. appears on the census, what matters is you are in our sights and until it was sorted out, the and you should be afraid to congressional seat remained participate in this democracy. empty. >> is there evidence that harris >> we don't know yet how the knew about this? >> that's what we're trying to fallout from the census fight will affect the 2020 election, find out. but what if the government made it easier to vote? >> while jacob and i were talking, harris and his team two civil rights leaders have a took a break from the hearing. >> let's go that way. >> we wanted to get some answers straight from the source. novel idea to get more people to the polls. >> mr. harris, what do you have to say about the illegal ballot >> we call it the trump card. harvesting by people associated with your campaign? i handed it to him. >> did you know about it, mr. harris? >> did you know about the illegal ballot harvesting? >> you actually took his picture >> if you're confident that you won, don't you want to call for and you put it on there. another election? >> sir, why don't you answer any any comments doug? questions? >> harris declined to comment, yeah. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. but we did speak to the only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. con liberty mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. dallas woodhouse, executive director of the north carolina only pay for what you need... only pay for what you need. republican party. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ even though he counted 22 cases of ballot tampering to favor republicans, he said mark harris was still in the lead. a lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesn't get everything clean. i tell them, it may be your detergent... >> so you still say -- that's why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum... >> so you still say harris is -- >> dallas, if this was happening ...with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. on the other side -- >> exactly.
for sparkling-clean dishes, the first time. >> it's interesting that you say that. cascade platinum. >> we constantly are hearing republicans say that democrats (make-a-wish volunteer) ok, he's coming,y) c'mon c'mon...ing! are engaged in voter fraud. there's almost never any evidence of that and right here, here we go... you're holding a board that has ♪ at least 22 cases of voter fraud in the state of north carolina. (little santa) somali...alika? >> in one district. (little santa) where's kiara? >> executed by republicans in one district. >> in one congressional district. (little santa) i got this for you. in one election. >> so 22 cases of voter fraud by a republican. (vo) when you grant a child's wish, you change lives. where are the democratic cases (vo) you can choose make-a-wish to get two hundred and fifty dollars from subaru when you get a new subaru. of that because i'm interested in mark harris' lead. (vo 2) get 0.9% during the subaru share the love event. here's what i would tell you. if people did illegal things, and i think there are people that the testimony shows, they [sneezing] ♪ should be prosecuted. you don't want to cancel your plans. >> mark harris maintained he did [sneezing] cancel your cold. not know anything about improper the 1-pill power of advil multi-symptom cold & flu collection of ballots. but on the next day of the knocks out your worst symptoms. hearing, harris' son, john, a cancel your cold, not your plans. advil multi-symptom cold & flu. federal prosecutor, took the stand and revealed that his dad cake in the conference room! not only knew about the plan but showing 'em you're ready... to be your own boss. that he warned his dad that it that's the beauty of your smile. was against the law. crest's three dimensional whitening... ...removes stains,... >> i told him that collecting ...whitens in-between teeth... ballots was a felony.
...and protects from future stains. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. >> it was a stunning admission that by the end of his son's testimony had the congressman-elect in tears. the following day when mark try eucerin advanced dry srepair lotion. harris took the stand, he agreed it helps stop dryness from recurring the election results should be thrown out. by going beyond ceramides with natural moisturizing factors found in skin >> through the testimony i listened to over the past three eucerin advanced repair lotion days, i believe a new election should be called. for healthier looking skin. i need all the breaks, that i can get. >> a new election was held in at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. september 2019, but mark harris was not one of the candidates so you only pay for what you need. this time. denying any wrongdoing, harris only pay for what you need. dropped out, citing health ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ issues. instead republican state senator dan bishop ran against mccready. >> republican dan bishop defeat mccready in last night's election. >> this small district might be an extreme example of electoral dysfunction, but it makes you wonder if this is why so many of us don't think our votes matter. hey, how are you guys doing? do you guys vote?
>> no. >> you don't? how come? liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i looitaly!avel. yaaaaass. with the united explorer card, i get rewarded wherever i go. going out for a bite. rewarded! going new places. rewarded! anytime. rewarded! getting more for getting away. rewarded! learn more at the explorer card dot com. if we learn nothing else and get... rewarded! from former special counsel robert mueller's testimony to congress, it is that our election system is vulnerable. >> in your investigation, did you think that this was a single attempt by the russians to get involved in our election or did you find evidence that suggests (man and woman) [burst of t♪lking to animals] (vo) it feels good to give back. they'll try to do this again? >> oh, it wasn't a single
(attendant) thank you so much. attempt. they're doing it as we sit here. (woman) oh, you are so welcome. (vo) you can choose the aspca to get two hundred and fifty dollars >> even after mueller's warning, congress hasn't done much to from subaru when you get a new subaru, make our electoral process more secure. like the all new outback. (vo 2) get 0.9% on a new outback and that is in large part because senate majority leader during the subaru share the love event. mitch mcconnell won't bring the most recent election security you get more than yourfree shipping.ir, bills to a vote. >> oh, i'm not going to let you get everything you need for democrats and their water your home at a great price, carriers in the media use the way it works best for you, russia's attack on our democracy i'll take that. wait honey, no. when you want it. as a trojan horse for partisan wish-list items that would not you get a delivery experience actually make our elections any safer. you can always count on. >> even if we make our elections you get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule. more secure, the fact still remains only about half of us will likely go to the polls. you get fast and free shipping on the things that but as discouraging as that make your home feel like you. that's what you get sounds, we were able to find when you've got wayfair. some signs of hope. so shop now! yeah. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. >> texas historically has some only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. of the worst voter participation in the country, but it turns out con liberty mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. that's only part of the story. only pay for what you need... ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i'm meeting with rice university
political science professor mark jones, who researches what drives voter turnout. we're in a neighborhood in houston where most people do vote. >> this is a very high turnout area, one of the highest turnout areas in the entire houston metro area. >> in this neighborhood three-quarters of people voted. >> right. >> in other neighborhoods -- >> one-quarter. >> one of the biggest cities in the country, one of the most diverse populations in america. where was everybody? >> i think there's a large portion of the population that doesn't feel that elections affect them and feel somewhat alienated from the political system and, therefore, they don't turn out to vote. you have another group of people that simply are too busy with life. >> you're talking about survival. >> yeah. they care about survival. they care about the children being able to go to school in a safe way. they care about jobs. they care about effectively having enough to eat. they don't care about donald trump. they don't care about russia. if anything that drives them away from politics because it's so much noise and so much negativity that it just leads many people to turn off.
>> professor jones says it is possible to boost turnout among the historically disenfranchised. it just takes some work. and that is exactly the work >> if we measure the health of a democracy by how many people vote, then america is in serious voting rights advocates michelle trouble. houston is the biggest city in and brianna brown from the texas organizing project are doing. texas, but here in the suburb of what is the texas organizing project? bel-air, onlyabout one in four people is likely to vote. this has some of the lowest >> at election time we ran large voter participation in all the city like around 27% of people showed up here in the midterm election when they had a record turnout. hey, guys. scale voter programs. can i ask you a quick question? can i ask you a question? so we found 3 million people hi. of color who currently sit out are you a voter? elections who could be voting. do you vote? >> in 2018, we turned out over >> no, i've never been. >> never in your life? 270,000 unlikely voters. >> that's a big number. do you guys vote? >> no. >> we run a highly intensive >> you don't? program. how come? we do a minimum of three knocks on the door. >> politics is a deep thing, i don't want to get into it. usually, at least three phone >> in this area, not many people vote and i'm trying to calls. >> and on election day -- understand why. >> and on election -- >> it's going to be only one >> no, during early vote and election day. >> so, yes, if you made a vote, your vote. commitment to vote, we will continue to call you and knock on your door. i don't know. >> you don't feel like it makes a difference. >> exactly. >> just didn't get a chance >> basically you ask people -- >> um -- >> inspire people. because i got a restaurant >> we inspire people. business and i -- stuck in there >> to the polls. all the time.
>> you have a restaurant business and you're stuck in the restaurant all the time. do you feel like the politics >> all joking aside, when it that goes on day to day, the comes to getting out the vote, things that we vote for, affect your life? >> yes. inspiration and voter engagement eventually, it will, but, like, are critical. but equally important, we need things take a lot of time. to remove the barriers that keep so many voters away from the polls. >> trying to convince people that voting is worth the time >> back in new york city, we met and effort is a challenge. with civil rights activists bill and martin luther king iii. and that's at least in part their fathers fought together to expand voting rights. because so many potential voters feel disconnected from the >> dad used to say that a process, especially when it voteless people is a powerless comes to the unique way we choose our president. people and one of the most important steps we can take is >> we are the popular vote! >> because of our electoral that short step to the ballot college system, we don't vote box. directly for the candidate. >> now the sons are continuing their legacy and are looking for instead, each state is assigned a solution to one of the a number of electoral votes obstacles many voters face. on martin luther king day 2017, based on its population. 4 days before donald trump's the candidate that gets 270 inauguration, the electoral votes wins. president-elect invited king and wachtel to trump tower. but is this really the best way to elect a president? they saw the meeting as a chance to pitch trump on what they believe is a novel idea. >> hello. hello. >> we said, mr. president, what are you open for business? we have here is an idea that's going to make it easier for all americans to vote. >> for you, we're never closed. presidents carter, president
>> oh. clinton, president bush, have i'm hoping that election night all said it's a great idea and guru, steve kornacki, might have you have the opportunity to some answers. prove that you can be bipartisan what's the point of electoral college? and do something for all >> that goes all the way back to americans. we call it the trump card. the founding of the country, right? i handed it to him. this idea that the interest of >> this looks like a picture of each state would be represented in an electoral college. a social security card with >> we saw for the second time in donald trump's picture on the front and the back. recent history in 2016, the >> 35 states require voters to show some form of i.d. at the person who won the electoral college was not the person who won the popular vote. polls, and their pitch is that why? every citizen had easy access to >> well, i mean, take a look at a free photo i.d. then more this map right here. people would be able to vote. right, for 2016. what you got, you got areas wit you actually took his picture and put it on there. >> he said -- populations, tend to be blue >> great idea. collar white voters. >> said, let me make it easy, this is a group you saw donald you own hotels. trump, he inspired huge turnout. as president, you're going to so it allowed clinton to win the own voting booths. you got to fill it with voters. popular vote nationally but for you're a businessman. you understand the practical trump to pick off a pennsylvania, a michigan, a common sense solution to getting wisconsin. people into voting booths and >> and you need those states along with florida. that is a photo i.d. >> you can lose the national >> so far, president trump popular vote in trump's case by hasn't turned king and wachtel's upward of 3 million votes but idea into action. because you had such a >> but, look, the reality is concentration of your type of voter in those places, that's that no one is really interested
electoral vote rich. in trying to make it more that's 46. that's -- that's what made him convenient for people to vote. president. >> to get more people to the >> an nbc news/"the wall street journal" poll shows 53% of polls, we'll need to do more to restore faith in a system that has left so many disenfranchised americans want to elect our president with a popular vote. and disillusioned. before he won the presidency, but sometimes, before you can donald trump was one of those people. build a better future, you need he called the electoral college to look back at our past. a disaster, but after his have you ever seen this picture victory? of your grandparents? >> a few minutes ago, my dad was explaining it to me. >> the electoral college is genius. it's genius. >> so you guys tell us about this picture. i'm telling you, it's genius. >> sure. this is the group that went to the nobel peace prize in >> not surprisingly, several of december of 1964 and it's the 2020 democratic presidential basically the starting line of candidates would like to see the the civil rights movement. electoral college abolished. >> if we got rid of the electoral college, we'd get a >> do you feel like looking back little bit closer to one person, one vote. on this photo and all that your >> if democrats think getting parents were trying to do that rid of the electoral college will give them an advantage in they would be happy with where we are today? or disappointed? frustrated? 2020 and beyond, steve warns they should think again. >> i think there are areas where >> it feels like it's this permanent thing that only helps republicans. you look and you see great things happening and i think my in 2012, the talk was it might mom and dad will be happy about help democrats. it. i'm not at all convinced there's i think everyone who takes a a permanent long-term republican moment and looks at where we are advantage there. >> i wonder if our system works, and what is happening in our though. world should be very concerned
we were talking with some folks at the u.n. from various at this particular moment and i countries and when we asked them believe dad and mom would be. about our politics, a lot of but they'd be out there challenging us. them expressed total shock that >> for most of our history, we could have a candidate who wins the popular vote but america has struggled to live up doesn't win the election. to the ideal of a government for >> yeah. oh. welcome to u.s. politics. and by the people. but we, the people, have to do our part, too. >> democracy shouldn't be this complicated, right? we need to stay informed. and if we want more people to hold our elected officials accountable. participate, shouldn't we make it easier to vote? and, yes, vote. we're heading to washington, d.c., to ask a seemingly simple that will at least give us a chance to strengthen our question and it turns out even democracy and get out of the that is complicated, too. full disclosure. swamp. before i was a journalist, i was an election reform advocate. the question i always liked to ask first was, why do we vote on tuesday? next time on "american swamp" -- roads getting better or worse? >> i'd say getting worse. quick question for you, >> the crumbling states of congressman. america. >> do you know why elections are held on tuesdays? >> fix the damn roads. >> i really ihould know the >> politics and potholes. >> why washington lo answer. >> i don't have a clue. so the gridlock is a welcome >> you can call my office. >> about why we vote on tuesday? thing for most lawmakers. congressman nunes.
>> i'm not sure. >> why are you looking at me? >> katy -- >> well, jacob knows. jacob is the expert on this. >> jacob, tell us. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is >> because in 1845, we were an advised. agrarian society. it took a day or longer to get to the county seat to vote, a day to get back and you can't travel on sabbath, so tuesday was the only day. still today we vote on the tuesday after the first monday in november. just had an assault with injuries to the inmate. but it's not in the >> after an inmate is assaulted. >> the blood came out when his constitution. >> do you have any more obscure knowledge? >> that's not obscure. head struck the floor. >> the jail identifies a >> if i was elected on tuesday, keep it on tuesday. suspect. >> that's the problem. members in congress don't want >> he is a bully. to change the way they were elected. he likes to prey on the weak. >> but the violence doesn't stop there. >> he sucker punched me. >> maybe congressman king is kidding but every joke contains some truth. >> this ain't the first time you assaulted anybody. >> what is the evidence? the truth seems to be that those in power aren't too >> it's scary. invested making it any easier >> there are people over there for americans to vote. in some places, that can take an ugly turn. to get that story, we're headed to one of the biggest political battlegrounds past and present. >> they were pulling people over, they were stopping folks.
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>> the debate over election reform is nothing new. and throughout our history, the struggle for voting rights has exposed disturbing truths about one of the most complicated issues in america. race. >> we will dramatize this whole situation and seek to arouse the conscience of the federal government by marching by the thousands on places of registration all over. >> in the 1960s civil rights icon martin luther king jr. led marches across the south demanding equal rights, including the end of legalized discrimination at the polls. latasha brown, co-founder of black voters matter, says it's a fight that continues today. >> you know, while i wasn't quite born during the civil rights movement, a lot of my work was really around continuation of that work.
and what's really awkward and crazy to me is many of the stories that i heard that happened in the '60s, i'm dealing with that now. so our work with black voters matter is to engage black voters who we feel have, particularly in the south, but throughout this country, you know, have been marginalized and there's all of these layers of voter suppression that we see ongoing. >> hello. >> hello, how are you? >> commissioner. >> latasha is introducing me to a colleague who says he personally experienced a harrowing episode of voter intimidation in southern georgia. in 2018, he borrowed a limousine from a funeral home to drive people to vote. let me just stop you there. that's pretty creative, info innovative. you went to the funeral home, you borrowed their limousines from the funeral home to take people in style to the polls. does it work? do people show up and get in those limousines? >> it worked. it worked.
we were very successful. >> while he was driving people to the polls, roy said he had a run-in with state troopers. >> is it unusual to see state troopers in city center of cordell? >> most definitely. most definitely. >> right as the election is coming in. so they're present. they were pulling people over. they were stopping folks, asking for their driver's license. and so it appeared to be a tactic to really discourage folks and particularly to focus on the african-american community. >> royce was parked on the wrong side of the road when a state trooper approached him. >> the state trooper, he pulled up behind the car. i looked at him and said, you know what, i'm sorry for being parked on the side of the road, if you give me a moment, i'll move the car. and he yelled at me. he said, no, you're not going to move anything, you're going to stand right there. he hit the radio and called backup and probably seven, eight, close to nine troopers showed up. >> a woman shot this cell phone video from down the street. >> two police and the rest of them state patrol. that's a crying shame, on one little person. >> if there was, like, a bank robbery in progress -- >> exactly.
>> and then what? >> the commander instructed the guy that if he was going to give me a ticket to give me a ticket. if he wasn't, let's go. >> and? >> they give me a ticket and left. >> did you ever say, hey, look, i'm just trying to drive people to the polls today. >> they was aware of what i was doing. i pulled up beside people and said, hey, let's go and vote today. no, i don't want to have to deal with the police. >> that's crazy, i'm sorry to interrupt you, but that's crazy to me, that maybe it shouldn't be in the united states of america the first reaction to some folks before they go and vote is i hope i don't have to deal with the police. the georgia state patrol office said the trooper who gave the citation followed proper procedure and that he requested backup because there were so many bystanders on the street. >> we have to protect our democracy. this is a people issue. it's a citizenship issue. >> stacey abrams ran for governor of georgia that same year and lost by less than 55,000 votes. she believes that voter suppression and other tactics were at least partially to blame.
>> do you think the vote was stolen from you, the election was stolen from you? >> i think the vote was stolen from the people of georgia. i don't know if empirically i would have won. but if you add together the thousands of people that faced extraordinarily long lines, who faced hurdles that should not happen in a democracy, the votes that we know were not counted, the secretary of state who was also my opponent in the race purged more than 1.4 million voters over basically an eight-year period. >> the opponent abrams is referring to is gop governor brian kemp. purging voters from the rolls is not illegal. in fact, the law that allowed kemp to do it was passed years ago by democrats as a way to remove people who had moved out of the state or died. but abrams says kemp's office purged voters in a way that disproportionately impacted african-americans. isn't there a law that defines how you get purged? >> but the aggressiveness and the fault in the database.
people were purged who had not matched any of the criteria for being removed from the rolls. >> the voting rights act of 1965 is supposed to guard against racial discrimination at the polls, but in 2013 the supreme court decision in shelby county versus holder erased a key provision in the act and weakened those protections. shelby versus holder, do you think 2018 would be different if that court decision -- >> 2018 would have been different. 2016 would have been different. >> why? >> in the wake of the i vis ration of the voting rights act in shelby v. holder. georgia passed many laws. we saw poll closures and purging that were to longer governed and regulated because there was no oversight. >> abrams accused the georgia election board of racially motivated voter suppression tactics and took the fight to court.
>> in the coming days we will be filing a major federal lawsuit against the state of georgia for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional action. >> is there going to be a point in our history where we can say, we've moved past those times? if it's 50 years later, are we not there yet? >> african-americans were denied humanity for the better part of 200 years and were denied agency for the long history of america except for the last 50 years. we cannot undo centuries of oppression and centuries of bad action with good intention and good will without actually putting in place laws to force our better angels. >> abrams' lawsuit is still ongoing. while the georgia board of elections is fighting the allegations. >> while voting rights activists fight back against suppression tactics, it turns out there are all sorts of legal ways for lawmakers to pick and choose the voters they want to show up at the polls. to get that story, we need to get back to north carolina. >> we are walking up on the line, the gerrymandered district. >> in a second, we'll be in another district. >> actually, you're already in another district. >> oh. need all the breaks that i can get.
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there are reports of an attack at a synagogue in new york. initial reports are of a stabbing in munsey. new york city's counter terrorism unit says they are closely monitoring. we will keep you updated as we get more details. updated as we get more details you might think a state with an equal number of registered voters for each party would have an equal number of officials representing them in congress, but that is often not the case at all. take north carolina. even though voters in the state are split almost 50/50 in terms of their party affiliation,
republicans hold 9 out of the 13 seats in congress. >> to understand why, jacob and i met with student leaders at north carolina a&t state university. they say their political power has been undercut by what's called gerrymandering. >> so we are walking up on the line, the gerrymandered district. >> so in a second we will be in another district. >> actually, you're already in another district. >> so if i'm over here, i'm in district 13. >> i'm in district 6. >> wait a minute. hold on a second. >> hold on. >> so katy's in the 6th district. >> and me and you are chilling in the 13th. >> 13th. >> gerrymandering is tactic used by state politicians to draw up congressional districts to help one party win, and it's legal all across america. >> north carolina is one of the most gerrymandered states in the union. >> where is the actual dividing line?
>> basically it's, like, where the sidewalk cracks. >> i would say that. >> so there has to be a good reason that the school has been split in half. >> they believe that the republican party is better for north carolina than the democratic party. >> who is "they"? >> the folks who -- >> the state folks. >> the folks who did the drawing. the north carolina general assembly. >> before republicans redrew the map in 2016, the 10,000 students here were all in one voting district represented by a democrat. that meant students here at the nation's largest historically black college or university also known as an hbcu could have had the power to swing an election. >> so you think the legislature is purposefully dividing the largest hbcu in half in order to dilute the power of the student body? >> yes. >> what was the outcome of splitting the university in half? you got a republican and democrat now, who democrat -- >> two republicans. >> two republicans. >> yeah. we're represented by mark
walkers and ted bud. >> jacob and i have been having this debate. what stops people from voting? is it things like voter suppression, is it too hard to vote, or is it voter apathy? or are they one in the same in some respects? >> i would say both. >> what would this country look like if everyone or the vast majority of people or even the majority went out and voted? >> i think it would look like a democracy and what it is supposed to look like in theory, which in theory a democracy is a participatory process where everyone is encouraged to participate. and, like, participating is accessible. right now, that's not the case. >> we asked to speak with republican representative david lewis who led the redrawing process for the current district map. in an email statement, lewis said dividing the campus, "was not done intentionally and no one on the committee, either democrat or republican, realized that the campus was now split."
>> it's not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of extreme positions, inconsistent with what the people want, when you see the greatest amount of gerrymandering. >> former u.s. attorney general eric holder sees gerrymandering as a national emergency and a moral threat to our democracy. do you think gerrymandering is at the root of the problem for voting issues in this country? if gerrymandering was fixed, that we'd have fairer elections? >> if gerrymandering were fixed, we would have fairer elections. you'd also have policies put in place that were consistent with the desires of the people. you would have more say in gun laws, more say in efforts with regard to climate concerns. you'd have better approaches to dealing with reproductive rights. it's not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of extreme positions inconsistent with what the people want where you see the greatest amount of gerrymandering. i'm here to end the practice of gerrymandering. >> shortly after the 2016 election, holder launched the national democratic redistricting committee which is
working to ensure districts are drawn fairly. this isn't just about democrats getting more power. you think this is going to be fairer for everybody. that's a hard argument to convince people of that are not democrats, that are happy republicans. >> so, yes, you have to have democratic participation. in the same way, i'd look at democratic-controlled states. what happened in maryland with the creation of the gerrymandered district that made republicans superfluous. that i think is equally wrong. >> now holder's job rtuled that partisan gerrymandering is legal and redistricting decisions should remain in the hands of state legislatures. >> we will be counted! >> and there's another battle threatening to impact every election in america from town council to the president of the united states. and this one has a twist straight out of the swamp. >> boom, suddenly we have kind of a smoking gun. as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchumal- cut.
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>> the way we vote for our representatives starts with a pretty simple question. how many people live in the united states? >> the census, which is taken every ten years, doesn't just count heads, it determines political power. if a state loses population, it loses seats in congress. and influence in the electoral college. a shift that could decide the next presidential election. there's a lot at stake as we gear up for 2020. and so far under the trump administration, the simple act of counting people hasn't been so simple. in fact, it is a swampy mess. >> i've come to the rio grande valley in south texas to find out why. >> martha and maria are members of lupe, a non-profit community organization which conducts outreach to encourage latinos to respond to the census.
On Thursday, Dec. 28, Dan Doerle was sworn in as the interim District 6 Rep. for the New Iberia City Council; one of the first votes he cast was to lower speeding fines.
Hopkins School Board member, community leader, and lifelong District 6 resident, Jen Westmoreland, has declared her candidacy for the Hennepin County District 6 commissioner special election on May 14, 2024.
A new edition of 'Past Disquiet', a testament to the prior efforts of artists in making the world a better place, can be seen at Cape Town's Zeitz MOCCA, writes Claire Keeton
As a 40-year resident of Sacramento and with more than 20 years of service working in various roles for the city's community-owned utility company, Rosanna Herber is hoping to take her experience to the California Legislature.
Paula Villescaz was one of the first candidates to launch her campaign in the now crowded field of people vying to represent Sacramento in the State Assembly.