The Leslie Marshall Show

Trump Tax Returns; Trump-Ukraine and Impeachment

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by David Cay Johnston, a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, an IRE Medal, and the George Polk Award. He's Author of "The Making of Donald Trump," and is an expert on Trump's taxes, having covered him as a Journalist for 31 years. Additionally, David is the Founder of DCReport.org, a unique, nonprofit news service that reports what the President and Congress DO, not what they SAY. His website is DCReport.org and his Twitter handle is @DavidCayJ.

The two discuss Donald Trump's tax returns, his history as a conman, and how he was able to con so many Americans in the 2016 election.

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with two guests who discuss the latest on the Trump-Ukraine whisteblower story, impeachment, and Greta Thunberg's United Nations' climate speech.

The two round table guests are Kimberly Scott and Mark Grimaldi. Kimberly is the Founder and Publisher of DemList, LLC, a free national daily political column, calendar and resource site for Democrats and allies - a unique, central source that connects people to the who, what and where of Democratic events, issues and activism.

You can find out more about them at DemList.com and follow them on Twitter @TheDemList.

Mark Grimaldi, or 'Marky Mark' as Leslie Marshall calls him, is the Executive Producer of this show and a Democratic Activist. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.

Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago.
You can read Brad's columns at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His Twitter handle is @BradBannon.

The Trump Administration's Dangerous Attack on Clean Water

Today's guest hosts are Charlotte Hancock, Communications Director for Generation Progress, and Brent Cohen, Executive Director of Generation Progress and the VP of the Center for American Progress.

They discuss the Trump administration's new rollback of a major Obama-era clean water regulation, the Waters of the United States rule, which placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands and other bodies of water. The rollback will likely take effect in the next few weeks, and will result in polluters no longer needing a permit to discharge potentially harmful substances into many streams and wetlands. This is just the latest example of the systematic effort by the current administration to dismantle environmental protections put in place by the Obama administration.

The rollback is extremely dangerous—and we know this because many places in this country, like Flint, Michigan, already lack access to safe, clean drinking water, which has been disastrous for those communities.

To talk about this water protection rollback and who stands to gain and lose the most from it, Brent and Charlotte are joined by Andrew Grinberg, the National Campaigns Special Projects Manager at Clean Water Action, and Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, the Executive Director at the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN).

The website for Clean Water Action is CleanWaterAction.org and their Twitter handle is @cleanh2oaction. Andrew's handle is @AndrewBGrinberg. CEHN's website is CEHN.org and their Twitter handle is @CEHN.

The website for "The Center for American Progress" is www.AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @amprog.

Charlotte Hancock's Twitter handle is @CharlatAnne and Brent Cohen's handle is @BrentJCohen.

Biggest Takeaways from 3rd Democratic Debate

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by Shawn Zeller, Deputy Editor of CQ Magazine, and host of the 'CQ on Congress' podcast. Shawn's Twitter handle is @ShawnZeller.

The two discuss the third Democratic Debate, which took place this past Thursday night.  They highlight the moments that stood out to them and explain why they found them important in the race.  This includes the discussion on Healthcare Reform, a potential reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, and a proposed mandatory buyback program for assault rifles like the AR-15 (the weapon most frequently used in mass shootings in the U.S.).

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with two guests who continue the discussion on Thursday's debate.

The two round-table guests are Anisha Singh and Mark Grimaldi. Anisha is an attorney turned organizer and Democratic Strategist. Her Twitter handle is @Anisha_S113.

Mark Grimaldi, or 'Marky Mark' as Leslie Marshall calls him, is the Executive Producer of this show and a Democratic Activist. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.

 

During the round-table, Anisha highlights how problematic it is that neither the attacks on reproductive rights, nor Trump packing the courts, were brought up once during the debate.  Her hope is that, once the number of candidates on the debate stage decreases, the extra time gained by the remaining candidates will be used to take a deeper dive into the issues that were not addressed during Thursday's debate.

Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago.
You can read Brad's columns at MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His Twitter handle is @BradBannon.

Migrant Children Face Dangerous and Abhorrent Conditions at Trump's For-Profit Detention Camps

Leslie is joined by Hope Frye, an internationally recognized immigration lawyer focused on disadvantaged populations, especially women and children. She is also the Co-founder and Executive Director of 'Project Lifeline,' a nonprofit focused on children who are or were in immigration detention in CBP jails, ORR shelters or ICE family detention facilities.

The two first discuss the newest report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), which found the Trump administration’s policy changes in 2018 exacerbated the mental health needs of “unaccompanied alien children” in their custody. The OIG found two particular policies — separating children from their parents and prolonging the time children are in custody — as being especially harmful to the children’s mental health.

The report states, “Facilities reported that children with longer stays experienced more stress, anxiety, and behavioral issues, which staff had to manage. Some children who did not initially exhibit mental health or behavioral issues began reacting negatively as their stays grew longer.”
The OIG report also found that some clinicians were treating as many as 25 children, despite ORR guidelines calling for one clinician per every 12 children. This meant less time for counseling and less individual attention.

To close out the interview, Leslie and Hope discuss the massive conflicts of interest presented by CBP and ICE holding over 70 percent of the immigrants they have in their custody in privately owned, for-profit facilities.

Adding to the conflicts, GEO Group and CoreCivic, which contributed to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and inauguration, received $985 million from their contracts with ICE. To give you an idea of how significant of an amount that is, it comprises more than a third of what ICE spends on custody each year.

Hope Frye is active in projects with the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), and has testified before the House and Senate about the conditions of confinement and treatment of children held in CBP facilities at the border.

The website for 'Project Lifeline' is ProjectLifeline.us and their Twitter handle is @ProjLifeline. Their mission spans the child’s experience with the goal of providing continuity of care. They are the only nonprofit with a medical and legal programs.

Gun Violence Prevention: How Communities and Lawmakers Can Take Action

Today's guest hosts are Charlotte Hancock, Communications Director for Generation Progress, and Brent Cohen, Executive Director of Generation Progress and the VP of the Center for American Progress.

They discuss the three gun violence prevention bills that the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee advanced last night. At a high level, these bills are 1) an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) bill that would allow judges to order guns taken from people thought to be a public danger, 2) a bill that would outlaw large-capacity magazines, and 3) a bill that would bar those convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime from owning a weapon.

For a majority of the episode, they are joined by an expert on the legislation, JP Thomas, Senior Program Manager for Brady’s Team Enough.
Their website is TeamEnough.org and their Twitter handle is @Team_Enough.  JP's handle is @Organizer_JP.
The website for "The Center for American Progress" is www.AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @amprog.

Charlotte Hancock's Twitter handle is @CharlatAnne and Brent Cohen's handle is @BrentJCohen.

John Bolton Out as National Security Adviser; Trump's Intelligence Mishaps Led U.S. to Extract Top Spy from Russia

Leslie begins this episode with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment, where she gives her own take on the freshest political news of the day.

For the remainder of the show, Leslie is joined by John Amato, Founder of CrooksAndLiars.com, an award-winning site for progressive news and media criticism. Started in 2004, Crooksandliars.com was the first website to feature audio and video online, revolutionizing how political news is consumed and distributed on the Internet.

Leslie and John discuss the significance of, and fallout from, President Trump ousting his third National Security Adviser, John Bolton (who says he was not fired, but resigned). Trump will become the first President to have 4 national security advisers in his first term, per CNBC's Kayla Tausche.

They finish the hour by exploring the alarming CNN story that Trump's intelligence mishaps led to the U.S. having to extract our top spy from Russia in 2017.

As per the CNN Exclusive, "The (spy) was considered the highest level source for the US inside the Kremlin, high up in the national security infrastructure, according to the source familiar with the matter and a former senior intelligence official.

According to CNN's sources, the spy had access to Putin and could even provide images of documents on the Russian leader's desk.The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel."

Visit www.CrooksandLiars.com for more of John Amato's work, and follow him on Twitter. His handle is @JohnAmato.

CNN Climate Town Hall Recap; Democratic Debate Preview

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by Emily Ngo, Newsday National Political Reporter covering 2020.

The two recap CNN's recent series of town halls on climate change, which included all 10 of the Democratic candidates that will be on Thursday night's debate stage. They also analyze the differences in the climate proposals that each candidate is proposing.

Emily's Twitter handle is @EmilyNgo.

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round table with two guests who discuss climate change, and preview Thursday night's Democratic debate.

The two round table guests are Thomas Oppel and Mark Grimaldi. Tom is Executive VP for the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), a network of businesses and business associations committed to the triple bottom line: People, Planet, and Profit.
ASBC's website is ASBC.org and their Twitter handle is @ASBCouncil. Tom's handle is @tpoppel.

Mark Grimaldi, or 'Marky Mark' as Leslie Marshall calls him, is the Executive Producer of this show and a Democratic Activist. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.

Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago.
His website is BannonCR.com and his Twitter handle is @BradBannon.

Trump Diverts $3.6 Billion Dollars from U.S. Military to Pay for his Border Wall

Leslie is joined by Colonel Cedric Leighton (Ret., Air Force) to discuss President Trump diverting $3.6 BILLION dollars from the U.S. Military and their families to build his border wall that he said Mexico would pay for.

Colonel Leighton is Founder and President of Cedric Leighton Associates, a strategic risk and leadership consultancy serving global companies and organizations.  

He founded the company in 2010, after serving in the US Air Force for 26 years as an Intelligence Officer.

Colonel Leighton can also be seen regularly on CNN, where he is a Military Analyst. 

His website is CedricLeighton.com and his Twitter handle is @CedricLeighton.

Hurricane Dorian: How Climate Change is Fueling Extreme Weather and Hurting Vulnerable Communities

Today's guest hosts are Charlotte Hancock, Communications Director for Generation Progress, and Brent Cohen, Executive Director of Generation Progress and the VP of the Center for American Progress.

They analyze how climate change is fueling extreme weather, like Hurricane Dorian, and hurting vulnerable communities. They also discuss disaster relief efforts, and policy changes that could make a difference in fighting climate change.

The three expert guests for these topics are:

1. Bidisha Bhattacharyya, Deputy Director of Climate and Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress.
Twitter handle: @bidisha_bb

2. Ali Lopez, University of Houston Student (Public Health), Combat Medic in Texas Army National Guard, Volunteer with Team Rubicon (International Disaster Relief), and partner with 350.org on "Houston Strong for Climate."
Twitter handle: @alirislopez16

3. Dr. Anna Scarbriel, Director of Grants and Programs at Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands.
Twitter handle: @CommunityFounVI

The website for "The Center for American Progress" is www.AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @amprog.

Charlotte Hancock's Twitter handle is @CharlatAnne and Brent Cohen's handle is @BrentJCohen.

NAFTA 2.0

Leslie is joined by Roy Houseman, Legislative Director for the United Steelworkers, to discuss NAFTA 2.0.

- Bad trade deals and especially NAFTA have a devastating legacy. Over the past 20 years, the United States lost 5 million manufacturing jobs and nearly 90,000 factories. Some went to China or Vietnam or India. But a lot went to Mexico.

- We hear about workers like those at Carrier and Rexnord, who’ve seen their jobs shipped to Mexico. But workers who have kept their jobs are also still threatened, like tire workers at Goodyear. Goodyear opened a huge facility in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, in 2017 .Workers there make the same products as Goodyear workers in the United States; meanwhile, in Gadsden, Ala., Goodyear laid off 175 workers earlier this year.

- When Mexican workers protested poor working conditions at the Goodyear plant with a one-day strike not authorized by the company-controlled union, they fired 57 of the participants.

- NAFTA was bad for workers in all three countries, pitting U.S. and Canadian workers earning family-supportive wages against Mexican workers subsisting low wages without the protections of real labor unions. In Mexico, unemployment rose and poverty levels remained the same.

- Part of the problem is that Mexican workers don’t have the protections of real unions. New labor laws passed in April would help remedy this, but right now, Mexico has no budget for implementation. And since this requires hiring hundreds of judges and reviewing hundreds of thousands of labor agreements to determine their validity, nothing has changed. Corporatists and other opponents already are attempting to thwart the labor reforms with lawsuits and other actions.

- This is why the renegotiated NAFTA as it currently stands is not acceptable. Without labor enforcement mechanisms built into the agreement, it is meaningless. There is an opportunity here to remedy a longstanding wrong, but we have to get it right.

The website for the United Steelworkers is www.USW.org and their Twitter handle is @Steelworkers. Roy Houseman's handle is @RoyHouseman.