President Donald Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen returns to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a fourth day of testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee. The hearing will take place behind closed doors and is likely to focus on Russian interference and Trump’s finances. Also possibly being raised is the issue of Presidential pardons and whether Trump Administration officials dangled a potential pardon to Cohen when he was first in the Special Counsel’s crosshairs.

Meanwhile in New York, the state’s Department of Financial Services has issued subpoenas for Trump’s insurance brokers on Tuesday. The move was unrelated to other investigations and indicates that Trump’s finances in New York are also under scrutiny. The Washington Post summarized that, “Tuesday was a case study in Trump’s new reality of besiegement as multiplying investigations by state authorities, federal investigators and congressional Democrats began to dig into his business, charity and presidency simultaneously.”

The rate of immigrants arriving at the US-Mexico border has sharply increased in recent months, breaking previously set records. There are nearly twice as many people attempting to cross the border as there were a year ago. In February alone, there were 76,000 people who crossed the border without papers – a number that defied the harsh anti-immigrant policies being enforced under Trump. It is the highest such number in 11 years and indicates the increased insecurity facing Central Americans especially. At a press conference on Tuesday, Kevin K. McAleenan, Customs and Border Protection commissioner spoke to reporters.

In other news, JP Morgan Chase has decided to back out of financing private prisons and detention centers. The big bank is one of several that had financed such notorious private prison companies as GEO Group and Corecivic. Wells Fargo has also apparently pulled back from financing private prisons. Both banks had faced strong political pressure from grassroots activists demanding they divest from the private prison industry. Late in his tenure President Barack Obama had decided to phase out the industry altogether but only one month after becoming President, Trump reversed that order.

In a related story, the investigative media outlet Axios has determined that of all the non-profit shelters that house undocumented children in the US, only 3 are linked to more than half of all recently revealed sexual abuse allegations. Facilities run by Southwest Key were the sites of 65 accusations of sexual abuse of undocumented children, while Baptist Child and Family Services had 23 accusations, and International Educational Services had 14. These three organizations have received two and a half billion dollars of federal government contracts over the past four years.

In Alabama, reproductive justice and women’s rights advocates are up in arms over a judge’s recent decision to give an aborted fetus the same rights as a person. A man named Ryan Magers of Madison County, Alabama had learned that his girlfriend had a medication-induced abortion at 6 weeks into her...

FEATURING PROF. RICHARD WOLFF – ‘Socialism’ has become the new old bogeyman of the conservative monied classes in the US. The fear of socialism stems directly from its growing popularity among those left behind by our current capitalist system.

The ideas behind socialism and capitalism go back centuries and most of us today lack a clear understanding of these systems. Now, one of the leading Marxist economists in the US has written a new book exploring the ideas of Karl Marx.

It has been more than 200 years since Marx’s birth, more than 170 years since the publication of his book The Communist Manifesto with Fredrich Engels, and more than 150 years since his own seminal and influential book Das Kapital. Yet Marx remains misunderstood to this day.

Richard Wolff, visiting professor at the New School University, New York and professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, author of a number of books including ‘Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism’, ‘Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism’, ‘Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA’, and ‘Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown.’ His latest book is called ‘Understanding Marxism’.

More details have emerged about the sweeping House Judiciary Committee investigation into President Donald Trump and his associates. Committee chair Jerrold Nadler sent letters to 81 people publicly requesting documents. Among those who received document requests are the White House, two of the Trump children: Eric and Donald Jr., as well as the Trump Organization and Trump campaign; Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kusher and his company, former Administration members such Jeff Sessions, Sean Spicer, and Steve Bannon; as well as organizations like Wikileaks and the NRA. In an interview on CNN’s Outfront Mr. Nadler explained that while Trump’s daughter Ivanka was not on the initial list for document requests, she too could become part of the investigation. 

Hours after Nadler’s document requests, Representatives Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Elijah Cummings, chair of the House Oversight committee, and Eliot Engel, chair of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee, requested more documents from the White House and the State Department on conversations between President Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. The same three committees had in late February sought answers to their questions about Trump-Putin communications but the White House did not meet their deadline. Monday’s demand expands on the earlier requests. In their letter requesting documents the committee chairpersons wrote, “According to media reports, President Trump, on multiple occasions, appears to have taken steps to conceal the details of his communications with President Putin from other administration officials, Congress, and the American people… The President reportedly seized notes pertaining to at least one meeting held with President Putin and directed at least one American interpreter not to discuss the substance of communications with President Putin with other federal officials.”

In news from the Special Counsel’s investigation, Mr. Robert Mueller has notified a federal judge of a possible gag order violation by Trump associate Roger Stone. Stone has been warned in the past against making public statements about the investigation and was under a strict gag order by Judge Amy Berman in late February. On Monday Mueller filed a document detailing Stone’s new Instagram post titled “Who Framed Roger Stone,” that publicizing his legal defense fund.

The Senate is readying a vote on President Trump’s border national emergency declaration next week. With at least 4 Republican Senators committed to voting against Trump, and a number remaining on the fence, the White House on Monday attempted to do damage control. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said, “I think what is clear in the Senate is that there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president and then, in all likelihood, the veto will be upheld in the House.” The House needs a 2/3rds majority to override the President’s veto. Last week Trump warned Republicans voting against him on Fox News sayi...

FEATURING LISA EVANS – A report by a number of environmental organizations has found widespread contamination at the nation’s coal waste sites. An analysis of 250 coal-fired power plants around the country has found major toxic contamination into groundwater supplies including by such chemicals as arsenic, lithium, and chromium, at levels far higher than allowed by the EPA. More than 90% of coal waste sites that are required to monitor groundwater contamination were found to be releasing toxic chemicals at far higher levels than they are supposed to.

The analysis was based on data that was forced to be made public last year by legislation that passed in 2015 under President Obama. The EPA is currently headed by former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, who is unlikely to take action over the report’s findings.

Read the full report HERE, and for the map of coal ash contaminations, visit https://earthjustice.org/coalash/map.

Lisa Evans, Senior Counsel with Earthjustice.

FEATURING ARUN GUPTA – President Trump on Saturday gave the longest speech of his Presidency at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). During a rambling 2-hour address filled with lies and rants, Trump took aim at all his perceived enemies including Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Democratic Party presidential contenders, and some former members of his own cabinet. Some parts of his speech simply made no sense.He also slammed his former Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, implying directly that he Sessions to squash the probe.

Elsewhere on the East Coast at about the same time, Senator Bernie Sanders was giving his first campaign speech. Sanders spoke to a massive outdoor crowd of supporters in Brooklyn, New York, just a few miles from where he grew up.

Arun Gupta is a regular news correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. He’s an investigative journalist who has written for dozens of publications including the Washington Post, the Guardian, The Nation, Salon, and Raw Story. He is also author of the forthcoming book, “Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction.”

Two tornadoes in Alabama ripped through Lee County on Sunday so quickly and with so little warning that 23 people were killed. Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones described the destruction saying it looked, “as if someone had taken a blade and just scraped the ground.” Some resident had only a 5-minute warning time for the first tornado. The second one came within the hour with less than 15 minutes of warning time. Sheriff Jay Jones speaking to a CBS reporter discussed the deadly back-to-back tornadoes that killed at least 23 people.

In other news, Republican Rand Paul appears to be the latest Senator from President Donald Trump’s party to turn on him over the declaration of a national emergency to appropriate funds for a border wall. At an event on Saturday in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Senator Paul said, “I can’t vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president.” He added, “We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing.” If Paul votes no, along with Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Trump would have to veto the bill disapproving of his declaration and overtly go against some elements of his own party to get the funds. The House has already passed a bill to that effect.

President Trump on Saturday gave the longest speech of his Presidency at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). During a rambling 2-hour address filled with lies and rants, Trump took aim at all his perceived enemies including Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Democratic Party presidential contenders, and some former members of his own cabinet. Some parts of his speech simply made no sense.  He also slammed his former Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, implying directly that he wanted to squash the probe.  Associated Press released a fact-check of his speech saying it was, “so laced with fabrication,” that, “He got the unemployment rate wrong. He misstated his winning margin in the election. He reprised some of his most frequently told fictions and dusted off old ones, even going back to the size of his inauguration crowd.”

Meanwhile NBC News and the Wall Street Journal together released a new poll about the 2020 election finding that 46% of the electorate still approves of Trump. In fact nearly 90% of Republicans think he is doing a good job. Forty one percent of registered voters say they would vote for him again in 2020.  

The House Judiciary Committee has launched a broad probe into possible obstruction of justice by the President, announcing that it will request documentation from about 60 people in Trump’s orbit. Representative Jerrold Nadler who chairs the committee told ABC’s This Week, “It’s very clear that the president obstructed justice.” He said, “We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption … and into obstruction of justice…It’s our job to protect the rule of law.

FEATURING CONNIE HUYHN – Eclipsed by the bombshell testimony of President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, progressive members of the Democratic party on Wednesday unveiled a major bill expanding the Medicare program to cover all Americans.

Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington state gathered with hundreds of supporters to announce the introduction of the highly anticipated Medicare-for-All bill. The legislation has a whopping 107 co-sponsors in the House.

Public support for such a proposal has been surging among members of both parties. But politicians and media analysts have continually thrown cold water on efforts to expand Medicare saying it would cost too much. What are the prospects for Jayapal’s bill?

Connie Huynh, Health Care for All campaign director with People’s Action.

FEATURING STEPHEN GILPIN – Donald Trump, soon after he won the 2016 electoral college for President, agreed to pay the state of New York $25 million to settle a series of lawsuits over his educational venture, Trump University.

The lawsuit was based on multiple allegations of fraud and unfulfilled promises made to students about how they would learn high-stakes real estate sales expertise in exchange for thousands of dollars.

The settlement over Trump University was a humiliation for Trump who had derided others for acceding to legal settlements and boasted that he would never settle the lawsuit, and would eventually even reopen the school.

Now, a former instructor at Trump University has written a tell-all book and joins us for an exclusive interview.

Find out more about the book at www.orbooks.com/catalog/trump-u/.

Stephen Gilpin, taught real estate for more than a decade and was recruited to join Trump University as an instructor. He is the author of the new book, Trump U: The Inside Story of Trump University.

**This segment was originally broadcast on January 12, 2018.

North Korea is disputing President Donald Trump’s claim that it insisted on a lifting of all sanctions as a condition for a deal. Early on Thursday Trump walked out of talks taking place in Hanoi, Vietnam saying, “Sometimes you have to walk.” He explained, “Basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn’t do that.” But hours later at a press conference in the middle of the night, North Korean spokespeople said they had been asking for a lifting of sanctions imposed since March 2016 – a demand they had been making in lower-level talks for weeks and which should not have come as a surprise to the US. According to Associated Press, President “Kim [Jong Un] had asked only for partial sanctions relief in exchange for shutting down the North’s main nuclear complex.” In essence Mr. Kim was seeking a relief of those sanctions that have hurt ordinary people, not a lifting of sanctions on armaments. AP also explained that, “Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said the North was also ready to offer in writing a permanent halt of the country’s nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.” Before the summit Trump had said he would be happy to make a deal if North Korea agreed to stop all nuclear testing.

The GOP is upset with its president on the case of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died in North Korea in 2017. During his summit with North Korea Trump dismissed President Kim Jong Un’s role in Warmbier’s death, believing that Kim knew nothing about it. Trump had said, “He tells me that he didn’t know about it, and I will take him at his word…I don’t believe that he would have allowed that to happen, it just wasn’t to his advantage to allow that to happen. Those prisons are rough, they’re rough places, and bad things happened. But I really don’t believe that he, I don’t believe that he knew about it.” Republican Senator Rob Portman who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations committee responded angrily that, “We can’t be naïve about what they did to Otto, about the brutal nature of the regime that would do this to an American citizen.” Several other Republicans expressed similar anger.

President Trump is also facing push back from members of his own party on the matter of his declaration of a national emergency. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander on Thursday spoke on the floor of the Senate and hinted that he might become the 51st Senator to oppose Trump’s national emergency declaration in a bill that has already passed the House. Three of his Republican colleagues plan to join Democrats in the Senate and he could become the fourth, pushing the bill into passage. Senator Alexander on Thursday implied that he may become the 4th Republican in the Senate to oppose Trump’s emergency declaration.

The House Intelligence Committee held a closed-door hearing with Trump’s former Attorney Michael Cohen on Thursday. After the hearing Committee chair Adam Schiff held a press conference explaining that Mr. Cohen would be returning for more testimony on March 6th and that one of Trump’s other colleagues Felix Sater will be called in to testify.

The

FEATURING KATIE SULLIVAN – President Donald Trump’s former Attorney Michael Cohen spent a third consecutive day in hearings on Thursday, this time in a closed-door session with the House Intelligence Committee. Cohen’s Wednesday hearing at the House Oversight committee was public and widely televised. During his riveting 30-minute opening remarks Cohen accused the president of being a “racist,” “conman,” and “cheat.”

Many Democrats that questioned him afterward honed in on several of the points he raised about Trump’s business practices, the hush-money payments that Trump made while in office, his charitable organization, his taxes, and more. But Republicans focused entirely on whether Cohen was to be trusted since he had been convicted of lying to Congress.

How did right wing media cover the Cohen testimony, and what, if anything, will come out of these historic hearings?

Katie Sullivan is the deputy director for rapid response at Media Matters for America.