Mercerses of the controlled the white house. We will speak with Investigative Reporter jane mayer about her new piece in the new yorker and here are excerpts, when a Robert Mercers only public appearances. Im wondering, what am i going to say . I Left Research 20 years ago. I have not really paid any attention to the world of dms sinces or i then. I cannot talk really about what i do now. [laughter] amy we will also look at dark moneys role in the confirmation process as the Supreme Court am the neil gorsuch. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The house of representatives is set to vote today on a republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act, a plan the Congressional Budget Office says would add 24 Million People to the ranks of the uninsured. President donald trump and Vice President mike pence spent wednesday on capitol hill in a final pitch to republicans wary of the legislation. North Carolina Congress member mark meadows, chair of the rightwing House Freedom caucus, said more than 20 republicans said more than 20 members were prepared to defeat the bill because it does not go far enough to dismantle the Affordable Care act. At the white house, press Secretary Sean Spicer rejected calls by some republicans to postpone tonights vote. This bill represents the best chance of repealing and replacing obamacare and instilling a Patient Centric Health care system that increases choice and lowers cost and this is the only train leaving the station. Amy todays vote comes as americans for prosperity and freedom partners two groups backed by billionaires charles and david koch said theyve created a multimillion Dollar Campaign fund for republicans who reject the healthcare legislation in favor of a more stringent repeal of obamacare. Republican opposition to the bill appeared to soften Late Wednesday after President Trump reportedly promised that the final legislation would strip a requirement that Insurance Companies cover essential Health Benefits like emergency room visits, mental health, and maternity and newborn care. Meanwhile, supporters of the Affordable Care act rallied on capitol hill wednesday ahead of todays vote. Among the speakers california , governor jerry brown and dr. William barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the naacp. Ryan death bill is being pushed through congress. It is an unmerciful act of meanness. This is not about health care reform. This is about disease, death, and suffering. Mr. Trump, come down from trump tower. Walked the people and see the damage that this latest exercise wreaw political power will ck on the women, men, and children of this country. Amy inside the capitol, Police Arrested 54 disability rights activists many of them in wheelchairs after they held a protest that shut down the Capitol Rotunda for about an hour. Members of the group adapt chanted, rather go to jail than die without medicaid. Meanwhile, the u. S. Supreme court ruled unanimously wednesday that a Public School district in colorado violated the individuals with disabilities education act by failing to adequately provide for an autistic student. The high courts 80 ruling overturned a 2008 decision written by judge neil gorsuch in favor of the school district. The ruling was handed down as gorsuch testified to the Senate Judiciary committee for the Third Straight day of his confirmation hearings. This is illinois senator dick durbin, quoting the Supreme Court ruling. The court went on to say, the ide a demands more. It records an Educational Program reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child circumstances. It is a powerful decision. It is a unanimous decision. Is anyone suggesting are like a result of an autistic child happens to lose, it is heartbreaking accusation to me. Heartbreaking. But the fact of the matter is, i dent and soy prece was the panel of my court. Amy at this point, the Senate Judiciary committee is expected to vote in favor of judge gorsuchs nomination on april 3, and a Senate Floor Vote is expected later that week. Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has threatened to change senate rules to allow gorsuchs confirmation on a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 votes now required for confirmation. In london, a man driving an suv mowed down pedestrians on a bridge over the river thames wednesday before rushing onto the grounds of the British Parliament and fatally stabbing a police officer. Police say the attacker was shot dead following the afternoon rampage, which left three others two others dead and as many at least 39 injured. The assault put parliament on lockdown and suspended debate in the house of commons. It drew swift condemnation from world leaders, who called it an act of terrorism. Police say they arrested seven eight suspects in london and birmingham overnight, but said they believe the attacker acted alone. Priming is to theresa may said the assailant was reddish born and known to reddish intelligence. She did not identify the attacker. Back in the United States, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee said wednesday hes uncovered evidence that u. S. Intelligence agencies swept up communications by Donald TrumpsTransition Team and possibly from the president elect himself after the november election. This is California Republican intelligence chair head devin nunes. I recently confirmed on numerous occasions, the Intelligence Community incidentally collected information about u. S. Citizens involved in the trump transition. Details about u. S. Persons associated with the Incoming Administration and the details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence failure, were widely disseminated in Intelligence Community reporting. Amy intelligence chair nunes who served on trumps transition , team, said the surveillance unmasked the names of trump transition officials. He claimed none of the surveillance was related to the fbis investigation into whether officials in the Trump Organization colluded with russia to sway the 2016 election. President trump seized on nunes comments, saying he felt somewhat vindicated over his discredited claim that president obama ordered the wiretapping of trump tower ahead of novembers election. The House Intelligence Committee, meanwhile the ranking , democrat on the house nunlligence Committee Said es releasing classified toormation lets go congressman adam schiff. The committee has not received the intercepts or other information the chairman was referring to, therefore, it is really impossible for us to evaluate any of the emirates of what the chairman has said merits of what the chairman has said. But i can say this, the chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump Campaign and the russians or he is going to act as a surrogate of the white house. The guess he cannot do both. Amy meanwhile, cnn reported wednesday the fbi has information that indicates Donald Trumps associates communicated with suspected russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clintons campaign. Cnn cited unnamed u. S. Officials one of whom claimed , people connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready. President trumps second nominee to head the Labor Department declined to say wednesday whether he would enforce Labor Department regulations set by president obama governing overtime pay, health and safety, and retirement. Under questioning from Senate Democrats in his confirmation hearing, Alexander Acosta repeatedly said he would defer executivent trumps order asking agency heads to review pending regulations. In iraq, a medical aid group said wednesday tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing fighting in western mosul and are in urgent need of medical care. Doctors without borders described ambulance teams unable to cope with the number of, victims caught in the crossfire of u. S. Backed assault on the city, which is partially controlled by isis. Arrivingsome children in camps where those displaced by fighting arrived with acute symptoms of malnutrition. In afghanistan, taliban fighters overran government offices wednesday thomas seizing control of the district that has been contested for over a decade. The u. S. Handed over control of the city to Afghan Forces in 2013 following a bloody campaign that saw more british and u. S. Marines killed than in any other district in afghanistan. The taliban victory came despite the support of American Special operations soldiers in a fierce bombing campaign. In new york city, police say racial hatred drove a 28yearold white army veteran to fatally stab a 66yearold black man. James Harris Jackson surrendered to police early wednesday after Surveillance Video identified him as the killer of timothy caughman. Police say jackson traveled from baltimore to new york to commit a high profile hate crime. Picked newon why he york is because it is the Media Capital of the world. He wanted to make a statement. It is believed he was specifically intending to target male black for us all. Say he is a known number of a hate group in maryland, though they did not identify which group. In argentina, tens of thousands of teachers marched through this up to the capital wednesday as part of a nationwide strike demand pay raises to keep pace with high inflation. The teachers are outraged over recent comments by president Mauricio Macri disparaging Public Schools in argentina. The figure of the teachers being demonized, when reality it is the state responsible for what is happening because they said in their campaign that education is the priority, but in they do not act on that. While . Because what is going on today is that we cannot negotiate. We cannot sit down in dialogue. Amy teachers are set to return to classes today, but warn they could join a general strike called for april 6 if their demands arent met. Puerto ricans held protests in seven u. S. Cities wednesday demanding and and tossed 30 measures that have devastated the island territories economy. The protest came as a federal reported control board press for sharp cuts to public spending and a strategy to pay the islands that the bondholders. Protesters rallied outside the offices of a bank in new york charging its executives profited from predatory loans and bonds sold to puerto rico. My name is david and im with the Labor Council for latin american advancement. Today we are here with a bunch of people representing all different sectors to hold this thing another banks like it responsible for the economic crisis affecting puerto rico. It is also the day we commemorate the abolition of slavery in puerto rico. And what this make another banks like it in the physical control board that has been imposed on puerto rico by the u. S. Government, what they are basically doing with this fiscal control board in these transaction that banks like this have created in puerto rico is another form of slavery, just a diabolical and just as damaging to the people in puerto rico. Amy workers and allies rallied outside the tomkat degree in new york city would say to protest a threat by the company to fire dozens of immigrant workers. Managers say the department of Homeland Security ordered an i9 audit of employees immigration status, but some employees questioned whether managers initiated the demand for immigration papers independently. Last week i got called into the office and i was only given 10 days notice to submit my working papers. We are fighting for our rights. Given us theyve only to the 28th of this month. After that, we are fired. News, wereg the devastated to have given so many of our lives to this company. Amy the workers were joined by new york city councilmember arc living who said tomkat degree should offer its employees a work visa sponsorship to allow them to remain at the company. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nermeen and im nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We turn now to look at the man said to have outkoched the koch in the 2016 election. His name is Robert Mercer, go along with this daughter rebekah is credited with many of playing in his germinal role in Donald Trumps election. Trumps chief strategist steve bannon said telling the mercers laid the groundwork for the trump revolution. Irrefutably, when you look at donors in the past four years, they have had the single biggest impact of anybody, including the s. Ch before bannon and Kellyanne Conway joined the Trump Campaign, both worked closely with the mercers. The mercers bankrolled bannons Breitbart News as well as some of his film projects. Conway rayna super pac created by the mercers to initially backed the candidacy of ted cruz. The mercers also invested in a Data Mining Firm called Cambridge Analytica, which claims it has psychological profiles of over 200 million american voters. The firm was hired by the Trump Campaign to help target its message to potential voters. While the mercers have helped reshape the american political landscape, their work has all been done from the shadows. They do not speak to the media and rarely even speak in public. Amy during the entire president ial campaign, they released just two statements. One was a defense of donald trump shortly after the leak of the 2005 access Hollywood Tape showed trump boasting about sexual assaulting women. The mercers wrote were completely indifferent to mr. Trumps locker room raqqa. Co. America is finally fed up and disgusted with its political elite. Trump is channeling this disgust and those among the political elite who quake before the boombox of media blather do not appreciate the apocalyptic choice america faces on november 8. We of a country to save and theres only one person who can save it. We and americans across the country and around the world stand steadfastly behind donald j trump. Robertere the words of Rebekah Mercer one month before trump won the election. Robert mercer through a Victory Party of sorts at his long island estate. It was a hero and villains costume party. Kellyanne conway showed up as superwoman. Donald trump showed up as himself. To talk more about the mercers, were joined now by jane mayer, staff writer at the new yorker. Her latest piece is headlined, the reclusive hedgefund tycoon behind the Trump Presidency how Robert Mercer exploited americas populist insurgency. Jane is also author of dark money the Hidden History of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right, which has just come out in paperback. Welcome back to democracy now the beginning of the peace talks about a former colleague of mercers saying in my view, trump would not be president if not for bob. Explained who Robert Mercer is. Well, as you mentioned, he is a new York Hedge Fund tycoon. He is a computer scientist, kind rd a math genius and uber ne who figured out how to games by using math. Calleda fund that is Renaissance Technologies. He is the coceo. It just mints money. He is enormously wealthy. What he has done is he has tried to take this fortune and reshape , first, the republican party, and then at america along his own