Latest / The Real News Podcast / Rep. Jamie Raskin: ICE is Acting Like a Secret Paramilitary Police Force for President Trump

Transcript

Rep. Jamie Raskin: ICE is Acting Like a Secret Paramilitary Police Force for President Trump · The Real News Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: At the Real News Network, we have been covering the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: threat to midterm elections. Now we came to the Netroots
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Conference here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to speak to Congressman Jamie Raskin,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and what he told us about what he thinks might
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: happen in November should scare all of us. You know,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: you introduced a Blanche Act, is that what it was called. Yeah,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: So the Senate just passed the Reconciliation bill and did
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: nothing to So what are your thoughts at this moment
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: that can be done to prevent and what are your
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: concerns about this slush fund that has been proposed by
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the Trump administration.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Well, the vast majority of Americans reject the idea that
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the Trump regime should be able to take one point
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  Speaker 2: seven to seven six billion dollars of taxpayer money and
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: give it to convicted criminals, proud boys and oathkeepers and
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: other extremists who tried to store or who stormed the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Capitol and tried to overthrow presidential election. It's outrageous and
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: it violates about a dozen different federal laws and constitutional provisions.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: So we need to pass legislation to block it and
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: also to block the other part that they're trying to
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: sneak through, which is a lifelong immunity from criminal civil
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: tax prosecution of Donald Trump or his family or his
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: businesses for crimes in civil offenses that they've committed up
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: until this point.
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  Speaker 1: Is this personal for you? I mean, you were there
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and the idea they would pay the people that you know,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: try to overturn the election. This is affect you in a.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Personal Democracy is personal to me, and fascism is personal
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: to me, and I think it should be personal to everybody.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, they want to destroy our basic institutions in
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: the country. They want to destroy the freedom of press.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: They want to control the media, so they put minders
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: and spies into CBS in sixty minutes. They want to
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: take over. You know, they denounced the mainstream of media
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: just so they could take over the mainstream media and
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: make it their official state propaganda apparatus. They're trampling the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: freedom of press. They're attacking the separation of church and state.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I was on the floor. One of their guys got
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: up and said, the moral downfall of America was nineteen
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: sixty two when the Supreme Court banned prayer in the
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: public schools, and I got up and I said, the
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Supreme Court never banned prayer in the public schools. As
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: long as there are pop math quizzes, there will be
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: prayer in the public schools. Anybody can pray whenever he
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: or she wants to. But what they want is the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: government writing out religious scripts and then compelling your children.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: To participate in it.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: So literally, our entire Constitution and Bill of Rights are
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: being demolished by these people, and they want to turn
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  Speaker 2: us into a mafia state, a gangster state.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Now, looking forward to the midterms, there's a lot of
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: pretextual stuff that Trump administration is subpoena in ballots in
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Wayne County or sub taking ballots in Bulton County. Is
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: that a playbook they're trying to roll out by having
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: all these pre elections sort of, you know, cast enough
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: doubts so they can so chaos. What are your concerns
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  Speaker 1: about the mid election and Trump administration interference?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean people ask me like, are they going
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  Speaker 2: to try and steal the election? I say, no, They're
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: not going to try and steal the election. They're trying
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: to steal the election every day. We've got lawyers all
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: over America from the NAACP Legal Defense run ACLU Market
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: lives fighting every one of these operations, which is an
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: attempt to steal the election. When they say, oh, we're
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: going to throw everybody off the rolls who missed voting
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: an election, or when they're closing polling places throughout Texas,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: all of these voter suppression mechanisms are an attempt to
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: steal the election. But I also want to say we
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: have never been better mobilized, and we've never had better
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: lawyers engaged out in the field. We've never had a
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: stronger civil society infrastructure fighting back, which is why they're
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: attacking the civil society infrastructure. We just had a hearing
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: two weeks ago. We've got another hearing this week. They're
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: trying to bring down the Southern Poverty Law Center, which
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: is our major group fighting the Ku kuks Klan in
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: the Area, Nations and the Nazi Right. They're trying to
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: destroy it, saying that the Southern Poverty Law Center defrauds
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: its own donors because they send people under cover into
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: the extremist groups to find out what's happening so they
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: can prevent the next attack on a church or a
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: synagogue or the Oklahoma federal building or what have you.
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  Speaker 3: That's who. That's who the Trump Department of Justice is
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  Speaker 3: going after.
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  Speaker 2: That's who Todd Blanche wants to attack, the anti clan fighters.
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  Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you a question. We spent a
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: lot of time covering this reconciliation. They gave ICEN CBP
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: seventy billion dollars with no explanation. We ask Republicans, why
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  Speaker 1: what do you think that money's for? Because I still
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: has like seventy billion dollars in the bank. Why do
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: they need seventy billion dollars? What are your concerns about that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is what's very concerning, because if you talk
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: to historians of fascism, they will tell you that what
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: authoritarians do, what fascists try and do, is build up
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  Speaker 2: a paramilitary force within the government and also one outside
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  Speaker 2: of the government. So that that's the meaning of this
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  Speaker 2: one point eight billion dollar political slush fund meant for
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the extreme right political foot soldiers who attacked our police
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  Speaker 2: officers are on January sixth, twenty twenty one, attacked the Congress,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: attacked the Vice president.
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  Speaker 3: That's the outside version.
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  Speaker 2: But ICE is acting like a paramilitary secret police force
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  Speaker 2: reporting to the president of the United States, and they
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  Speaker 2: have killed American citizens like Renee Good and Alex pretty
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  Speaker 2: and just like we know dozens of people have died
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: in ice detention. So that is not a decent, sane,
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  Speaker 2: civilized immigration policy. We've got to make it a lot
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: harder for people to get into the country illegally, but
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: a lot easier for people to get into the country legally.
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  Speaker 3: And we cannot use.
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  Speaker 2: The immigration crisis the Republicans have created as the excuse
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  Speaker 2: for them to set up a paramilitary police force inside
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  Speaker 2: our government.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: So from the Epsteam perspective, Estein files, you've been intimately
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: involved in that. What do you think we haven't seen yet?
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: What do you think could become? That crucial testimony coming
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday be swore the Oversight Committee.
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  Speaker 3: What do you see?
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  Speaker 1: What do you think we haven't seen it? What's to come?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we need further legislation to strengthen the Epstein Viles
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Transparency Act. We need legislation that is going to actually
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: make them turn over the documents and to stop hiding them. So,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: you know, we have to keep passing laws to try
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: to get them to comply with the law. It is difficult,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: but we've got to keep this very much in the
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: forefront of people's consciousness.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Yes, there's a culture to authoritarianism. There's a politics, but
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: there's a culture to it.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: And the culture to it is all about authoritarian misogyny
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and sexual violence and sexual harassment and sexual assault. And
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: this administration has been doing everything in their power to
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  Speaker 2: dismantle the infrastructure that we have to try to support
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  Speaker 2: victims of sexual violence and victims of sexual assault and
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: sexual harassment.
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  Speaker 3: So the Epstein case, is it critical for us.
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  Speaker 2: To keep moving forward on exposing this culture and then
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  Speaker 2: standing by the victims and the survivors of sexual violence
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: and sexual assault.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: And do you think there's something in the other three
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  Speaker 1: million files that is going to be important for the
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: public to see, And do you think there'll be evidence
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: there they're hiding right now?
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, they were supposed to turn over six million files.
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  Speaker 3: They've withheld three million.
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  Speaker 2: There are completely scandalous and outrageous things we're finding the
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: three million they did turnover, But the files that they
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  Speaker 2: haven't turned over undoubtedly contain more information that will implicate
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: this administration and lots of names that we know in
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: truly shameful and scandalous actions. But We've got to make
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: sure that the victims are heard, and the victims and
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: the survivors have been critical in moving this process along.
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  Speaker 2: That's a model, by the way, for every sector of
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: public life. We've got to hear from the people who
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: are being hurt, the millions of people being hurt by
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: being thrown off of Medicaid or being thrown off of.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: The Affordable Care Act tax credits.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to hear from the people in the media
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  Speaker 2: about the crackdown, like at ABC with Jimmy Kimmel.
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  Speaker 3: People have got to speak up.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: The victims and the targets of government oppression have got
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: to strike the first blow against this onslaught.
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  Speaker 1: Last question, grand Planter, did you endorse him? Are you
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  Speaker 1: going to endorse him? And if so, why do you
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  Speaker 1: think people are You know a lot of progressives Democrats
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: get skittish about progressives. You have not been How do
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: you feel about grand Planter? Now, what are your thoughts?
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I've not made formal endorsements there. I would say
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I think that grand Platner's politics are right for this time.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: They are a working class centered politics of progressive change.
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  Speaker 3: That's what we need.
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  Speaker 2: He has spoken about how damaging his time was psychologically
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: and emotionally, and he came back a damaged person and
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: damage people, damage other people, and so there have been
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: problems with that. But having said that, this is really
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: a question for the people of Maine. Has Graham been
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  Speaker 2: able to show people that he's been able to learn
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  Speaker 2: from the experiences that he's had and the transgressions that
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: he's committed, And you know, that's what we can demand
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: of him, that's what we can expect from him. I mean,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: he's said he's interested in transformational politics, and that means
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: not just for society but for each person, and he
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: is pledging to continue that process of transformation for himself.
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  Speaker 2: So the people of Maine have got luckily they've got
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: a small state. They can go out and talk to him,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: and he's been nothing if not open to taking questions
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: and he's at I think like eighty town hall meetings,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: and so I hope that he continues on that journey
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  Speaker 2: and the people of Maine reached the right solution for
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: the rest of the country, because it's.
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  Speaker 3: A critical race.
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  Speaker 1: Just so, you have you ruled out endorsing him or
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: would you consider endorsing him in the future.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't know that I've been specifically to endorse him,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: and I would not rule it out. If he's our
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Democratic nominee, I'm certain I will endorse him and do
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: everything in my power to get him elected. But you know,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: at this point, I think I think their elections coming
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: up in a week or two.
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  Speaker 3: The people are working
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  Speaker 2: It out and I'm following it closely, and I really
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: wish the best for everybody involved in this situation.