Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140611 : vimarsana.com

Dropped out of school, you know theyre still engaged in hip hop and rap and drawing, and tagging and all the things that we see in our communities that are tied to the arts. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff more cities in iraq fell today to a rapidly advancing wave of Al Qaeda Linked militants. Today, it was tikrit, only 80 miles north of baghdad. Yesterday, the extremists took over iraqs secondlargest city, mosul. Jonathan rugman of independent Television News has this report from Northern Iraq. Reporter for a second day, militants of the socalled Islamic State in iraq and greater syria continued their rapid advance. Yesterday mosul fell to them. Today the fighters continued south taking the strategic town of baji and even advancing to tikrit. Tikrit, saddam husseins hometown looked empty. Apparently testament once again to the lack of government opposition to the extremists in their midst. In mosul itself, i. S. I. S. Consolidated its control. Parading the spoils of victory, u. S. Made military vehicles and hardware, abandoned as the iraqi army fled. Though the man notionally in charge of this country suggested a counter attack is coming. translated today, we are dealing with tackling the situation. We are making preparations and regrouping armed forces concerned with mopping up from those terrorists. Reporter but for all mr malikis talk there is little sign of any significant fight back. A stream of refugees continued to flee from mosul. According to one estimate half a million. Mostly sunni arabs heading for the relative safety of the kurdish controlled north and erbil, its capital. Weve come with absolutely no plan. We just came here because its stable. Were looking for stability. When is kurds of Northern Iraq were fleeing from saddam husain. The question is these extremists have made their gains so fast they cant hold on to the terrorist, they captured a vast terrorist stretching from iraq into syria. The sight of scores of fighters celebrating the capture of military booty not only embarrass baghdad but intensify concerns but intensify concerns that not just syria but iraq now pose the biggest threat to security in the middle east and beyond. Woodruff at the state department in washington. Spokeswoman jen psaki denied the situation in iraq showed a failure of western policy there, but acknowledged the u. S. Is concerned. Were focused right now on how we can assist the government at this point in time during what is a very challenging security situation on the ground and thats how were going to exert our efforts. Woodruff psaki also said the u. S. Has no confirmation of reports the militants are expanding their offensive closer to the iraqi capital, baghdad. Ifill in pakistan, more flights were canceled to Karachi Airport today, amid concerns over the security situation in the port city. Residents are still reeling from two attacks this week at karachis Jinnah International airport. Today, a group of ethnic uzbek fighters claimed to have played a role in sundays attack. They said it was revenge for airstrikes by the Pakistani Army in tribal regions. Woodruff here in the u. S. , a bill designed to let people refinance their Student Loans stalled in the senate today. Democrats said it would have permitted about 25 Million People with older Student Loans to refinance that debt at lower, current interest rates. Democrat al franken of minnesota cosponsored the legislation. You can refinance a home loan, you can refinance a car loan, you can refinance business debt. Why not allow our 44 Million People in america to refinance their student debt . Woodruff republicans argued the legislation was too expensive, especially on highincome americans who would have been levied a 30 tax to pay for it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said it was an Election Year ploy, and asserted americans are too smart to fall for it. Students can understand this wont make college more affordable and it wont reduce the amount of money they have to borrow. And students know it wont do a thing, not a thing, to fix the economy thats depriving so many Young Americans of the jobs they seek. Woodruff president obama signed an executive order on monday to make it easier for 5 Million People to pay off their Student Loans. Ifill the f. B. I. Has started a criminal investigation of the department of veterans affairs. F. B. I. Director james comey told a congressional hearing it will be led by the field office in phoenix. An inspector generals report last month confirmed the v. A. Hospital there had excessive wait times and inappropriate scheduling of patients. Woodruff the European Union launched an investigation into tax reduction deals that apple, starbucks and fiat have in some european countries. Its part of a wider push to keep multinational corporations from taking unfair advantage of tax loopholes. The deals are in ireland, the netherlands and luxembourg. The e. U. Says they may be improper if they give companies an advantage over competitors who dont get the same deal. Ifill on wall street today, stocks took their worst hit in three weeks, with the dow ending its fiveday rally. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 102 points to close above 16,843. The nasdaq fell six points to close above 4,331. The sandp 500 slipped seven points to close at 1,943. Woodruff still to come on the newshour shock waves from House Majority leader eric cantors stunning primary defeat; defense secretary chuck hagel faced tough questions over the prisoner swap to free Army Sergeant bowe bergdahl; we look at what to do with those left at guantanamo; plus, a Chicago School turns to art to inspire academic success; and in brazil, excitement mixes with frustration ahead of the world cup. Ifill todays announcement by eric cantor that he would step down as majority leader at the end of july sent an Election Year jolt through washington. The move opens up a battle to replace the secondranking republican in the house, even as the party tries to determine how the campaign was caught so off guard. Ifill cantor spoke with reporters after meeting with his republican colleagues behind closed doors late this afternoon. While i will not be on the ballot in november, i will be a champion for conservatives across the nation who are dedicated to preserving liberty and providing opportunity. Surely what divides republicans pales in comparison to what divides us as conservatives from the left and their democratic party. Ifill the richmond lawmakers decision to give up his leadership post came less than 24 hours after he became the first House Majority leader ever defeated in a primary. I know theres a lot of long faces here tonight. And its disappointing, sure. Ifill cantor was ousted in convincing fashion by a virtual unknown, Randolph Macon College Professor david brat, who had never run for office before. The loss was the biggest upset so far this primary season. As House Speaker John Boehners second in command, cantor had long been seen as the leading candidate to succeed, or overthrow, him. Internal polls showed cantor well ahead in the campaigns closing days, cantor was confident enough of a coming victory that he spent part of election day in washington, not in his home district. This is the happiest moment, obviously, of my life and i owe it to all of you in this room. Number one. Ifill brat, who was outspent by cantor 20to1, came out of nowhere, snubbed even by some National Tea Party organizations. The reason we won this campaign, if theres just one reason, thats because dollars do not vote, you do. Ifill brat will face democrat and fellow Randolph Macon College Professor Jack Trammell in novembers election. The Party Committee had only selected him monday. Although cantors defeat was a huge capitol hill surprise, there have been others. Former House Speaker thomas foley and former Senate Majority leader tom daschle, both democrats, each went down to shocking defeat, but in general, not primary, races. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the results should send a strong message to the g. O. P. His opponent said he was too close to wall street instead of main street that what weve been saying all along. Ifill another republican incumbent considered to be far more endangered, south carolinas lindsey graham, cruised easily to victory in a crowded field last night, defeating six challengers. He won with 57 of the vote. But in the wake of cantors precipitous fall, the republican majority in the house tonight, is in an uproar. Ifill we get the latest now on the flurry of activity on capitol hill today from ed okeefe. He covers congress for the Washington Post. Ed, almost 24 hours later, whats the gem accepted understanding of what happened last night . Basically he got thumped. Brat raised only about 123,000 to take the republican nomination in the 7t 7th Congressional District in virginia. Bottom line based on the reporting of my colleagues who covered virginia more closely than i can from here, it turned into a few things. One general tea party outrage at a Top Republican leader, two concerns that he was seriously considering moving the house into a broader debate about immigration with the Obama Administration and the senate democrats, and believe it or not the fact that there are more republicans now in his redrawn district that showed up and, for whatever reason, just didnt want to renominate him. Ifill so there was a turnout question in the end . It wasnt that there were too few people who showed up. 25,000 additional voters showed up than last time, the problem is they werent voting for cantor. They were tea party or conservative voters who felt it was time to turn him out, he hadnt done enough for the district and he was more cultivating his fellows on capitol hill and the republican conference than the concerns at home or the general concerns about republicans across the country. Ifill there was a lot of drama involving the House Republican conference. Lets talk about the guy who won, dave brat. What does anyone know about him . Hes an economist and College Professor inundated today now that the National Spotlight is upon him. He did National Television interviews this morning, got questions on policy he wasnt expecting, was planning on holding a News Conference with reporters midday and then abruptly canceled it. He said he was going to take off a few days to be with his family and regroup. The head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the group that elects republicans to house seats and Speaker Boehner said they tried reaching out to brat, called and texted him and havent heard back, his voicemail box is full. Ifill thats interesting for someone whos possible to be the next member of congress. I want to talk about that poll. Not long ago we saw eric cantor come out after a meeting with members of his caucus and straightup say, hey, i got beat and i wish everybody the best. What is his mood, what is the mood up there . I have to tell you, shocking, stupefied arent proper descriptions. People are completely dumbfounded. It was about this time last night as polls were about to close that people began to realize this was a possibility and within hours others who would like to rise in the leadership ranks started texting their colleagues and saying, hey, if youre thinking about backing the new majority leader why do you consider me . Pete sessions of texas, the chairman of the house rules committee, he was doing that late last night and early this morning. Sessions would like to channel Kevin Mccarthy who is the top whip or vote counter in the republican conference. You saw cantor address republicans and said he thought mccarthy would make an outstanding leader and threw his support behind him but mccarthy expected to face sessions in the only vote up for grab the next week. The republicans essentially act like High Schoolers in a Student Council race. You have to ask your classmates, are you with me, against me . What can i do to get your vote . Instead of lunch meals in the cafeteria and less homework, its would you like a senior position on the committee or a deputy whip and help count the votes in the future or do you need extra money for your Reelection Campaign and it will be that kind of horse trading. You remember probably from the 90s and earlier this century, this is the First Leadership race weve had in several years. Ifill i want to talk to folks here with us a little bit about what cantors defeat and brats victory tells us about the future for Republican Party leadership. Joining us are tom davis, former republican congressman from virginia and past chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and adam brandon, from freedomworks, a conservative Grassroots Organization based in washington. How did dave brat pull this off an surprise everybody . Its a vote against the republican establishment. Eric cantor instead of going after the president when he became a leader, had to sit down, start passing bills, like the debt ceiling, we opening the government that are very unpopular with the republican base. On weekend instead of being home in his district, explaining votes, hes raising money for the Republican Party and electing other republicans and created basically a vacuum where david brat stepped in and filled it. The theme about the Midterm Campaign has been the republican insurgency versus the republican establishment. When somebody like eric cantor who has maybe 100 rating from conservative groups go down, how do you define establishment . Eric is probably the most conservative member of the Republican Leadership in the house. Thats pretty well documented. But the base is very, very angry at this point, that they dont want to sit down. They want someone whos going to express their anger and rage and when you sit down and compromise, thats not what they want to do now. Things are not going well for the middle part of this country. The wages have been stagnant 20 years, have had an economic bailout, bail out for wall street and nothing for main street and two wars go sideways and theyre angry. Ifill how much money did freedomworks invest in dave brat . Zero. I wish we could have. Ifill why not . Wish we could have invested in a lot of races across the country. We dont have the resources. Theres races in mississippi, oklahoma, runoffs in atlanta and georgia. Only so much money that we can spread around. Money is not the strong suit. What we have is energy. Ifill how do you think eric cantor stumbled . Democracy works and people in his district felt he got out of touch with them. I think the candidate, when you hear how he ran his campaign, he says grassroots, grassroots, grassroots and money cannot buy enthusiasm but going door to door and shaking hands, you can build a machine that way. Ifill what are the issues that drives this kind of grassroots, anger, activism, whatever term you want to use . Weve heard today maybe its immigration or weve heard today its this insiderness of washington. Are there policy reasons why people seem to be if you go back a few years ago, say 2010 starting people wanted to send people to washington to get the National Debt and deficit under control. Today the debt and deficit is 17 trillion and counting and theyre not seeing that progress. And for eric cantor, he was one of the people they were expecting to show progress and actually brig that debt and deficit down and that didnt happen, so theyre more than willing to find someone else to send to washington to advance the cause. Ifill tom davis, is eric cantor seen in the eyes of folks as an apiecer in any way on issues like immigration . By virtue of being in leadership, you have to produce a legislative work product. You cant just shut everything down indefinitely. If you dont have the senate and the presidency, what are y