#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 5.22.19 RMU: Northam blackface probe unresolved; Trump's presser temper tantrum; Carson gets grilled

Episode Date: May 30, 2019

5.22.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: VA Gov. Ralph Northam blackface drama continues, Eastern Virginia Medical School investigation into the photos inconclusive; Daniel Pantaleo's partner admitted to falsifying police reports to exaggerate Eric Garner's crime; Donald Trump lashes out at Dems and has a temper tantrum in the Rose Garden; Sen. Elizabeth Warren talks about her plans to help Black America if elected; HUD Sec. Ben Carson gets grilled on Capitol Hill Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's

dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, folks. Roland Martin here. Today is May 22nd, 2019. This is Roland Martin unfiltered.

President of the United States, y'all. Oh, my goodness. He has a temper tantrum. Oh, we cannot wait to talk about what Donald Trump did today. Speaking of losing their mind, remember Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia, the blackface scandal? Now the university says they can't determine whether or not it's actually him on the pages. Really? We're going to buy that one? Yeah, we'll see. Also, we'll give you the latest update in the Eric Garner case of New York police officers. You ought to hear what they got to say now when it comes to his death.

Frankly, making up more stuff. Also, an actor on the shot loses his job, basically his whole career, because of sexual harassment. The whole lot we got to break down right here on Roller Mart Unfiltered. It's time to bring the funk. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling, best believe he's knowing

Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for pigs He's rolling, yeah, with Uncle Roro, yeah Yeah, yeah, it's rolling, yeah All right, folks. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam continues to have major issues when it comes to the blackface scandal. Today, the university, of course, where he went to school, the law firm released this report. That was pretty funny, the detail, what happened. Eastern Virginia Medical School released this report that was pretty funny that detail what happened eastern virginia medical school released this report they cannot conclusively determine that it was actually

ralph northern uh on those photos which is weird because he actually admitted to it and then he came and said well he wasn't so sure so what the hell are we supposed to believe all right so here's some of the video from that news conference today, which was actually kind of weird. Mr. President, quick question. James Gordon with the NAACP, of course. We had a conversation in February, you and I. I said to you, I said for the community to have some trust in what's going to happen here, that we had to make sure that it was independent of EVM,

that's in of Ralph North. here that we had to make sure that it was independent of even messing of Ralph Lauren and this is not an issue about politics this is an issue of government of a state in America being seen in the KKK and he came out and apologize not after political pressure we can argue whether or not he now wants to say like it was a mistake. But he came out and he admitted to me and to several other people. That was him in that photograph. And it sounds like Wildwoods is the attorneys for Ralph as opposed to investigators to try to get to the bottom of what happened. Going back to the independents, didMS pay McGuire-Woods to do this investigation? The answering question, yes we did. We did pay McGuire-Woods. It was an independent review.

I received the report yesterday at noon for the first time. They had full access to whomever they wanted to speak to, wherever their leads led them to, and develop their own independent conclusions. My focus for this investigation was more focused on the academic culture at the time so that we could ensure that we would not repeat the mistakes of the past administratively as part of EVMS. Notwithstanding that, More Wirewoods had full opportunity and authority to be able to investigate whatever they wanted to do, and they proceeded with the investigation

of the photograph in more detail. And I have to refer back to them, since they conducted that, and I have to assume that to them since they conducted that. And I have to assume that it was done in an objective and thorough fashion. Are we actually we supposed to actually believe they could not determine who was in the photo, how they get on the page? Joining us right now is James Boyd, the Portsmouth NAACP. He was the one asking those questions.

James, it's still sort of weird. It cannot ascertain who was actually on the photo. How does it get on the page? Come on. It was Ralph Norris. Exactly, bro. Let me first say it's an honor to be on your show and all the work that you've done in civil rights over the years. I'm honored to be a part of the show. Let me say what happened today was a PR campaign orchestrated by Ralph Northam, EVMS, and McGuire Woods to try to reconstruct Ralph Northam's image so that he can justify remaining being governor of Virginia. That's what happened here today. This was not an investigation. This was orchestrated, a hit by those who will power in Virginia to try to save Ralph Northam from his image problem. That's exactly what happened here today. And again, he admitted to the nation, Roland, that he was in those photos.

He admitted it. He came out. He called, as I said earlier today, he called civil rights leaders around the state and said that that was him and that he had an issue with judgment. But now all of a sudden he wants to come out and say it wasn't him. And that's concerned about civil rights and equality and racial sensitivity should be appalled by that press conference today. And that's actually, I think, what jumps out. On one hand, he says, it was me. And now, oh, it wasn't me. And we really don't know how it got on the page and then we also know that the last

couple of presidents of the school were donors to his campaign exactly exactly and then not only that we know and uh we said this in a statement the force of nwacp that we were concerned about mcguire woods doing the investigation anyway robert cullen, who was the investigator for the case, has ties to Senator Allen, who had the Makaka statement. And we made that clear to EVMS. And also, McGuire Woods is the attorney for Dominion Energy that has direct connection with Ralph Northam. And we cannot separate the connection that EVMS has, because here's the issue, Roland. Ralph Northam's downfall is EVMS's downfall. They know that, and so they tried to orchestrate this thing to try again and try to save him and to try to save EVMS. That's what

happened here today in that press conference. So what's next? No doubt was him. He admitted, and I guess you have to be the governor of Virginia, Roland, to be able to admit that you were guilty and that you get to take it back. I wish that some black folks in this country had that ability in the criminal justice system, but I guess you got to be a governor of Virginia and put out racist photos in order to have that kind of privilege in America. So, again, what's next for you? What's next for Ralph Northam? I think, again, based on what our CEO has said, the NAACP, we believe that Ralph Northam should resign.

If he's truly apologetic and wants to heal and heal Virginia, he will move out of the way to allow the government and allow the state to heal. Another part of this orchestrated plan, Roland, was not only did Ralph Malcom is trying to do this apology tour. And again, I would say, if you didn't do anything, why are you on an apology tour? But now they're continuing trying to attack the black lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, to give people some cause in terms of calling for his removal. But in terms of the NAACP, we maintain our cause for his removal. And also, we think now that there needs to be a true independent investigation

into EVMS and the image around Ralph Northam. So we're going to continue to push for that investigation to happen. James Boyd, I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Absolutely. Thanks, Zach. I want to bring my panel, A. Scott Bolden. Of course, he is the former chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee. Michael Brown, former vice chair of DNC Finance Committee.

Dr. Niambi Carter, Howard University, Department of Political Science. All right. I'm going to start with you, Niambi. All right. Ralph Northam is not resigning. He did admit it was him. Now he says it's not him. What does this do for him? Frankly, I think what it does is it keeps showing that Virginia being a laughingstock. Well, for sure. I mean, he gets to hold on to his job in the meantime. I think that had always been his plan, which was to wait it out and see what was going to happen. I don't know who takes a picture of another person in blackface in a Ku Klux Klan uniform and puts it on their yearbook page for medical school for giggles.

So I think this was his plan all along. He wanted to stay the governor, and he was going to stay the course. There's no crime here. It's distasteful. It's unethical. And I think it's a slap in the face of the people of Virginia that he represents. But this is what he planned to do all along. He had already said when this all came out, when he first apologized, that he had no intention of leaving that job. And I think this gives him enough deniability, if you will, to continue to say he can represent the people of Virginia in a fair and even-handed manner. I don't think the people of Virginia believe that, but for sure that's what he's suggesting by staying in that job.

All right. Scott Bolden. Well, I don't think it changes the game at all. I'm not sure we even needed an investigation to determine whether the governor was in the photo or not. He said he did, he was, and then he denied it. And then he said, but I have worn blackface before and I've done all these other things. And so I'm not sure that should be the subject of an investigation. The inconclusiveness doesn't change anything.

If you ask me whether the governor is a racist and whether he's been in blackface and made fun of black people and offended them and been oppressive of them in his younger days, the answer is yes. I don't think that's going to change anything with the voters of Virginia, Republicans or Democrats. And then lastly, this doesn't change anything in regard to him being a deeply wounded governor. He can move around the state, I guess. He can go through the motions of being governor and do what he's supposed to do. But the reality is he's deeply wounded politically. You only have one term in Virginia, and then you move on. So it's not like this is a reelection issue. And so I think he's part of the walking, wounded, politically dead. And we just need to get him out of office either by term, if you will. And it does say that, that he will finish the term.

Mike Brown. Roland, not much to add. I think I have to co-sign with what the doctor said, what Scott said. He should have been gone a long time ago. Clearly the needle has not moved. It's not going to move. And as Scott just mentioned, even if this, let's say it's not his picture. He still said he did it about Michael Jackson. And as Scott just mentioned, even if this, let's say it's not his picture.

He still said he did it about Michael Jackson. So, I mean, I don't even know where we go, what the whole point of this was. He should resign and move on. Well, Michael, I think what they were really trying to do was say that the medical school, they didn't want this to go on at the medical school. And how could this go on at the medical school in the 80s? And so that's where they tried to focus their attention. They actually interviewed a lot of people, but none of them could say conclusively the only one that said conclusively it was him was the governor and then he backed away so uh we we got our answer

uh we just uh you know his supporters just don't like that answer exactly all right folks let's talk about eric garner case the trial uh act of the hearing of the officer who killed Eric Garner, Daniel Pantaleo, continues. And testimony has been quite interesting. His partner, police officer Justin D'Amico, admitted to falsifying the police report to exaggerate Garner's crime. Garner would have had to have had 10,000 cigarettes for it to be accurate. He actually only had five packs. The trial resumes June 5th. And I got to tell you, Scott, I mean, what we're seeing here,

lying police officers making stuff up. Pantaleo said that he actually saved Garner's life by him not falling through a plate glass window. This, what is exposing, I think what this disciplinary hearing is exposing is the facade of police officers holding each other accountable and how they will lie if necessary. How in the hell can you say 10,000 packs is close, 10,000 cigarettes is close to five packs? Well, it certainly is a lie, but I got to tell you, I'm not surprised at all.

It goes on every day in the criminal justice system. I spent five years in New York as a state prosecutor and at intake, if you will, where the police come in and tell you the story, if the attorney, if the prosecutors, the assistant U.S. attorney or the assistant district attorney isn't testing that story and using logic, nine times out of ten, the prosecuting attorney or the ADA, as you will, signs off on it and just moves it forward. And so the value of having really strong prosecutors, people of color who are prosecutors is that they test those stories for for uh credibility and and if you're really good uh being a prosecutor is about justice not about prosecutions and getting convictions and you just don't have that in this in this particular case but what's really unusual is that you have sworn testimony now from a fellow police officer

i don't know whether he had a deal or not or whether he's trying to save himself or not, but whatever the dynamic is, he admitted that he lied because he thought that the 10,000 cigarettes would mean that they had greater latitude in how they were trying to restrain him. To have a more serious crime meant perhaps that we had to have the chokehold because he was resisting more because he had 10,000 cigarettes on him as opposed to just five packs. That's the dynamic you're working with. It's awful, but unfortunately, in this country, in our criminal justice system, it goes on every day. And there's no way to unpack that, if you will, because of that thin blue line where they support one another and nobody was there on the scene but them.

And so they create the narrative, they defend it. And very oftentimes people go to jail because of that false narrative. The way to do it, Dr. Carter, is that if an officer lies on a report, they're fired. Absolutely. But I think oftentimes we see that police departments, fellow police officers, are willing to pay the civil penalties for lying police officers and the things that they do. Whether he had 1,000 cigarettes, 100, or 10,000, that man should not be dead today for that offense or any other, really. I mean, what they did, that lie, just sort of furthers the narrative that Eric Garner

was somehow dangerous, that Officer Panaleo and the others were in danger when they were not. And it allows them to continue to harass the citizens of New York, right, harass the passerbys and others who took video of this illegal search and then this now illegal use of chokehold that led to this man's death. I mean, I think for me, we all agree that this does not help anyone. These kinds of crimes that police officers commit erode public trust, erode public faith, and they are hurtful and detrimental to those who get caught up in the legal system as a result of these lying actions or who are dead because of their actions. But the fact of the matter is there is sort of no political will in these departments to really take on this poor culture. I mean, all the shows that we get, the officers who get arrested from time to time, even this trial.

I mean, I think it's all political theater and it's really not going to amount to anything unless we're talking about the things you're talking about, Roland, which are real reforms in the police system, in the way we do policing, in the ways that we don't reward officers who actually do harm the public. Mike, again, what we're facing here is we have to confront the reality where our cops are consistently lying. They will make things up. They will cover for each other. And that's what this is exposing. And frankly, that officer who is admitting he lied should also be disciplined. And again, I believe that if cops lie on police reports and make things up, they should lose their jobs. And keep in mind, I think supposedly Mr. Gardner knew one of the officers. So you can't even use, oh, I had a relationship

with him. Everything should have been fine. It wasn't like that. It's always, that's why we don't see this happening in the white community. We don't see white men walking down the street getting tackled by cops unless clearly he or she was the aggressor. Mr. Gardner was not an aggressor. And even then you don't. And even then you don't. Mr. Gardner clearly was not. Two shooters get counted. But what we've talked about before, Roland, I know Scott and I have talked about it, until

you change the standard of what's held for a police officer in a courtroom, these particular things are going to continue to happen because all they have to do is say they were in danger and they've met the standard. Yeah, Michael. Until that standard changes, we're going to continue to see this. And you know, Michael, the other thing that we ought to be talking about is why politicians, elected officials are so afraid to hold the police lobby, state by state, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, accountable for these actions.

They are terribly afraid of the police lobby because the police lobby is charged with protecting and serving our community. It really is. And until, and the police lobby holds elected officials hostage, right, because if they don if they either don't get the endorsement or if they do a work slowdown where people are not protected in their communities, there's always that underlying or outright threat that, well, if you handcuff me and you don't let me do my job and deal with the bad guys, then I'll just stop dealing with the bad guys altogether. And it's that constant threat and that danger, political danger in the minds of elected officials that really means that they're not going to hold the police accountable. They're going to allow the police to do their business the way they want to do their business out of pure fear, not just political, but community fear. We've got to figure out a way to get behind that and eliminate that too.

The real deal is this. You're absolutely right when it comes to endorsements. But here's the other real deal. White voters believe cops. Exactly. And if white and if white voters say, oh, this candidate got the police department endorsement and got the police union endorsement and got the firefighters union endorsement, then we're going to go with them. That's why for all of these years, Michael, you know, this Democrats have always had to play. I got to be tough on crime because the Republicans always said they were soft on the crime and was Republican candidates who always would get the endorsements of conservative of the unions. And that's you see Donald Trump doing it as well. That's the game here. And it makes no sense, even when district attorneys are involved, how DAs appeal to the endorsements of the unions when they're the ones who are going to be deciding whether or not a cop can actually

be tried or indicted. and that makes no sense. And that's why the cold criminal justice reform conversation, and yes, the First Step Act was very important. Yes, I know it was the first step. I get it. But let's see how hard they fight on sentencing reform, because until you do that, you do not have full criminal justice reform. And let's see how Attorney General Barr handles that. He won't even look at sentencing reform, I guarantee you. Neither will 45. So yes, First Step Act was important, but until you deal with sentencing reform, criminal justice reform has not occurred. But the bottom line is the First Step Act only applies to the federal level,

where you have a little more than 200,000 people in prison, Dr. Carter. You have 2 million people who are in state prison. More people are impacted by what is happening on the state and the local level, not the federal level. And so we can tout the First Step Act all day, but more people are going to be impacted on state levels. And the issue we have here is whether or not you have district attorneys who have the credibility in order to go after these cops and hold them accountable for lying. The Staten Island district attorney refused to indict Pantaleo. In fact, he operated more like a defense attorney as opposed to the person who was seeking justice. Dr. Carter, last comment on this story. Yeah, I mean, I think we have to really be clear that crime goes both ways, right?

We saw this in Philadelphia. We've seen it in Staten Island. We've seen it in this city. Officers lie. Officers abuse their power. Officers commit crimes all the time. And so we have to acknowledge that police officers' words are not law. And I think Scott was exactly right.

We have to question the statements that they're making. Just because the person says it doesn't make it so. I mean, we had a case here where a young man found himself back in prison, right, for a parole violation over a charge that should never have happened in the first place. It was thrown out. But because he had contact with this officer, he's in violation of his release. And these are the kinds of things that are really egregious. This is the stuff that we really need to look at and acknowledge that this system and this fetishization of police officers and the truth of that badge are all up for questioning. Right. When we're talking about justice and seeking justice and seeking the truth. All right, folks, let's go to our next story. I would dare say if the child of one of you watching acted a fool in public, you would probably spank their ass for throwing a tip or tantrum.

If y'all want to see what a 72-year-old man looks like throwing a tip or tantrum, this was Donald Trump today who was just upset. He was supposed to have an infrastructure meeting with Senator Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He walked in, wouldn't even sit down. He was so mad at them. He said, how dare you keep investigating me? And then the little brat went out to the Rose Garden and did this. Good morning. Okay, thank you.

So I came here to do a meeting on infrastructure with Democrats. and did this. Good morning. Okay, thank you. So I came here to do a meeting on infrastructure with Democrats, not really thinking they wanted to do infrastructure or anything else other than investigate. And I just saw that Nancy Pelosi, just before our meeting, made a statement that we believe that the President of the United States is engaged in a cover up.

Well it turns out I'm the most, and I think most of you would agree to this, I'm the most transparent president probably in the history of this country. We have given on a witch hunt, on a hoax, the whole thing with Russia was a hoax as it relates to the Trump administration and myself. It was a total horrible thing that happened to our country. It hurt us in so many ways. Despite that, we're setting records with the economy, with jobs, with the most people employed today that we've ever had in the history of our country. We have the best unemployment numbers that we've had in the history of our country, in some cases 51 years, but generally in the history of our country. Companies are moving back in,

things are going well, and I said let's have the meeting on infrastructure, we'll get that done easily. That's one of the easy ones. And instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk in to look at people that had just said that I was doing a cover-up. I don't do cover-ups. You people know that probably better than anybody. This was very sad because this meeting was set up a number of days ago at 11 o'clock. All of a sudden, I hear last night they're going to have a meeting right before this meeting to talk about the I word, the I word. Can you imagine? I don't speak to Russians about campaigns. When I went to Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, I don't say, oh, let's call Russia. Maybe they can.

It's a hoax. The greatest hoax in history. I respect the courts. I respect Congress. I respect right here where we're standing. But what they've done is abuse. This is investigation number four and the same thing. Probably five. And it really started, I think, pretty much from the time we came down the escalator in Trump Tower. So I say to you that we're going to get everything done. We're doing a lot without them. Let them play their games. We're going to go down one track at a time. Let them finish up and we'll be all set. How dare they investigate me? This is number four. This is not fair. This is not fair. I'm the most transparent president ever. Lying. Absolute liar. I mean how many benghazi hearings did we have during the

obama administration right how many did we have but literally michael he's standing there whining like a child hey my god you're investigating me this is is not fair. This is not right. And so, guess what? You don't investigate me. You've got to pick one thing. Either investigate me, or we're going to work together. Either one. And how dare you talk about me before you come to the meeting? When this is a man who trashes people

on Twitter all day. Trashes his own people. Oh, I'm transparent. Oh, I love this here. I respect Congress, but you're ignoring the subpoenas. trashes his own people oh i'm transparent oh then i love this here i respect congress but you're ignoring the subpoenas your minutiae is supposed to turn over your tax returns you told him don't do it this man is the biggest lying sack of you know what to sit in the oval office yeah and it's unfortunate because he also campaigned

on telling us how strong he was and how he's a dealmaker. Speaker Pelosi has just been running game on him. She's punking him almost every day. She punked him today. And she's going to continue to do that because he can't take it. When you have thin skin,

you can throw it all, you can be the big bully all you want to, but when somebody hits back, because that's what they always say, that he's a counter-puncher. But when he starts talking about people and people punch back at him, that's what he can't take. Right, right. That's pretty obvious too, Roland.

You know, these are mutually exclusive issues. And I think Michael's right. She punked him today. Right before 11 o'clock, she said, he's engaged in a cover-up. Well, they're ignoring subpoenas. They won't turn over the tax returns. They're telling their people not to show up. They have to go to court to get the court to order his tax records turned over by his tax preparers. They've lost that. They'll probably appeal that. But he's being transparent in his view of the world, and it just simply doesn't make any sense. So now, what does infrastructure meeting and going through with

it and having a substantive discussion on it, if you are a sophisticated individual versus what they said before at 1030 on a completely different topic, you may not have liked it, but you know what? You could get a great deal in infrastructure, maybe in working with the Dems, which would be great for this country. We need infrastructure improvement and reformation in an amazing way. You could have done that meeting and then said whatever you wanted to say about the whole cover up piece. But newsflash, stop acting like you're covering up. Stop acting like you're guilty. And you could move the country forward. Oh, but you know what? I'm sorry.

It's about Donald Trump. It's not about the country. I keep getting that wrong. It is really about Donald Trump with Donald Trump and not about this country. But when you run the country like it's your own personal reality TV program, this is what you're going to get. Exactly. I mean, the fact of the matter is people are going to say things about you all the time.

I mean, that's what happens when you're in the top seat and you can't be bothered by everything that's said. And really, investigation is a huge part of what Congress is supposed to be doing as its job. It's their job. It has oversight functions. He doesn't have to like it, but he should respect it. But we're talking about Donald Trump. The man doesn't understand governance. He doesn't want to govern. And look, there's nothing that looks like the truth anywhere around this man's heart. He has a very dim view of facts. He's demonstrated over and over again.

He likes to lie. If he can't lie, he'll try to cajole. If he can't cajole, he'll bully. So there's nothing that he won't do to push a story that there's nothing to see here. But I agree with Scott. I mean, there's clearly something to see because he doesn't want us to see anything. Not business relationships. I mean, how many times did he have to amend um his

his forms talking about his conflict of interest right because he doesn't want us to actually know anything about him not his finances not much money he's lost how many bankruptcies he's had he doesn't want us to know any of that but here's the deal every president there have been investigations absolutely reagan george h.w bush george bush bill clinton you go down the line investigations they still dealt with congress no his this guy is such a child such a petulant child i'm taking my ball go home so you're gonna investigate me so that's not right so i don't like this this is is unfair. This is just unfair. You shouldn't be doing this.

And I'm like, he is a 72-year-old, big-ass baby. This is the most whiny. He is the whiner in chief. But this is what happens when you think you're the king and not the president, right? And I don't think he understands the distinction between the two or democracy, that he's not a dictator. He's a dictator. He wants, he's a wannabe dictator in a democracy, but here's the other thing, right? If he's so innocent, if he's so, if he's, he's so put upon, then why does he keep driving the narrative that he is covering something up? You know,

innocent people just cooperate. Mute your going in there and talk to them, right? Turn over my records. Show them everything. We've done nothing wrong. I don't have any knowledge of us doing anything wrong. And just cooperate. You could cut an investigation in half, three quarters.

You could get all of this behind you quicker if you just cooperated. The only reason you don't cooperate is because you have something to hide. You know you've done something wrong or things haven't been done accurately, that there may be some criminal exposure or some civil exposure to you, because otherwise, inherent in cooperating is have I done something wrong or not?

But if I have, let's get it out there. Political politicians, true politicians, good ones, get it out there and get out front. And he doesn't. He luckers down. Oh, my God. I got to deal with this. If y'all thought Trump was one big ass baby Huey, what can we call Uncle Ben Carson?

Oreo. Oreo. Y'all, they had a hearing yesterday. Uncle Ben. Oh, my word. Let's first start with Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. She got up. She got up. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Secretary Carson, I've waited a long time for this moment. But the residents of my district, the 7th Congressional in Massachusetts, have been waiting far longer for your agency to do its job. Colleagues across the aisle earlier were critical of the passion and even the outrage that we've expressed on this side of the aisle. I make no apologies for that. This matter is very, very personal. Let me be clear. Housing is a fundamental human right, and the displacement of families should be regarded as the public health crisis that it is. Mr. Secretary, your pioneering work in pediatric neurology is historic, and it is something to be commended. And so it pains me that your gifted hands and mind

are doing the bidding and carrying the water of what I believe to be one of the most morally bankrupt presidents in our nation's history, increasing rents, evicting families. You mentioned that the operating room was a safe haven away from all the troubles of the world. Safe haven. That's exactly what a home should be and what every single person, in particular our children, deserve. Today, you are not here as a doctor or even as our Surgeon General, which I think might be better suited for your talents, but as the official tasked with leading the agency overseeing our nation's crumbling housing stock. And for that, I do believe you are unqualified. You said this was not a political matter, but it does seem that political views are being played

out in the policies that are being rolled out every single day. When you imply that people are living in public housing either because of a desire to be self-sufficient, questioning a work ethic, when we are eliminating a stock but not increasing supply, people in the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District would have to work 84 hours to afford a decent one-bedroom at fair market rent. Doris Bunty, who's a former Massachusetts state representative in my district and was the first African-American woman to hold the position of head of BHA, the first public housing tenant to lead a public housing agency in a major city. She said being poor is not a character flaw. I agree. But again, given your medical background, perhaps you could weigh in on the health consequences of failing to invest

in safe housing. Mr. Secretary, since I am short on time here, yes or no, is stable and safe housing a social determinant of health? Sounds like you have not been here and heard most of my testimony. Please just answer the question, I'm reclaiming my time. Yes or no, is stable and safe housing a social determinant of health? There is no question that housing is an important part of health. Yes or no? No question that it's a part of health.

It is well documented that health problems such as lead poisoning, asthma, and injuries from trips and falls, especially amongst our senior population, can be linked to substandard housing conditions. Combined, these conditions result in billions a year in health care costs. Many of those most at risk of developing these conditions reside in public and federally assisted housing. Yes or no? If left unaddressed, do you believe the substandard public housing conditions pose a risk to tenants' physical, mental, and emotional health? If left unaddressed. Yes or no?

Can you ask me some questions yourself? You don't get to dictate. Well, my line of questioning is reclaiming my time. You're a very smart man. You can reclaim it all you want. So you understand the question. Please answer it. Yes or no?

If left unaddressed, which I believe they are unaddressed because this budget does not reflect the need. Do you believe the substandard public housing conditions pose a risk to tenants, physical, mental, and emotional health? Uh, you already know the answer to that. Yes or no. You know the answer. Yes or no. I know the answer. Do you know the answer? Yes or no? I know the answer. Do you know the answer? Yes or no? Reclaiming my time.

You don't get to do that. The time belongs to the gentlelady. The evidence is clear that if we do not invest the necessary funds today, we will pay the price in people's health tomorrow. And what is this administration's response? Cuts. Cuts to crucial funding like the public housing operating fund and the family self-sufficiency program. Section 202 housing for Elderly and Section 811, Housing for Persons with Disabilities, and even the complete elimination of the Public Housing Capital Fund.

These policies are devoid of empathy and humanity, and you've been talking in the abstract, but I want to get specific. There's a Miss Northcross, a mother and a grandmother living in Brighton in my district. She's raised her children and now cares for her grandchildren in property with thick mold on the walls. Her son was recently hospitalized, look at the pictures here, because of bone tumors in his arm and leg. He needs surgery to save and improve his quality of life, but he won't get it because the family must have a sanitary, stable housing condition first. Their actual home literally poses a risk of post-op injury and infection. Her question to you is, what do they become? When you raise children in these conditions, what can they become? So yes or no? Do Ms. Norcross

and her family deserve to live in these conditions because they are poor? Yes or no, do they deserve to live in these conditions because they are poor? Would you let your grandmother live in public housing? Would you let your grandmother live in public housing? You know very well. Would you let your grandmother live in public housing, yes or no? You know very well. Under your watch and at your helm, would you allow your grandmother to live in public housing under these conditions? Would be very nice if you would stop. You stated that the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Lawson, is recognized for five minutes. Okay, now he was asked about REOs, not Oreos. R-E-O.

I think it was Oreos. I'd also like you to get back to me, if you don't mind, to explain the disparity in reo rates do you know what an reo is an oreo r no not an oreo an r e o r e o real estate what's the o stand for e organization owned real estate owned that's what happens when a property goes to foreclosure we call it an reo and fha loans have much higher reos that is they go to foreclosure. We call it an REO. And FHA loans have much higher REOs. That is, they go to foreclosure rather than to loss mitigation or to non-foreclosure alternatives like short sales than comparable loans at the GSEs. So I'd like to know why we're having more foreclosures that end in people losing their homes with stains to their credit and disruption to their communities

and their neighborhoods at FHA than we are at the GSEs. I would be extremely happy if you'd like to have you work with the people who do that. Well, Mr. Carson, respectfully, that was my day job before I came to Congress. So now it's my job to ask you to work with the people. Well, I'm talking about the people at HUD who do that. I spent a decade working with the people at HUD on this problem. So what I would like you to do is to take this back to FHA and to ask the folks at FHA, because since 2007, I have been writing about the problems in FHA servicing. I am a huge fan of FHA. I am a believer in their mission, and I am a champion for them.

Are you? Of course I believe in the mission of FHA. Wow. No, we ain't done, y'all. You really don't like us very much. Here's Amway. Are you familiar with Amway and what it is? With who?

Amway. Amway? Amway. Come on, Mr. Secretary. Now, I asked you this when you were here last year, and you asked me to be nice to you, and you turned to your staff, OMWI, and you have an OMWI director. And we wrote you a letter about it, and OMWI, Office of Minority Women and Inclusion. Do you have an OMWI director? Do you work with an OMWI director? Do you work with an OMWI director? Well, of course we

have an office of... OMWI, not AMWI, OMWI. Do you know who that person is? Do you know who that person is? I cannot give you the name. Okay. Would you do me a favor? Would you find out and would you send me a note back so we don't ever have to repeat this again? We can send you a note on that. Okay. Thank you. Come on, Roland. If y'all need any further example of how you can be an extremely smart person in one line of work and be utterly clueless and grossly ineffective in another line of work. We just showed you three examples, Dr. Carter.

Yes, and honestly, I think he should be ashamed. He doesn't even know his own agency. But it's been clear from the beginning that he was ill-equipped. He should have been Surgeon General, as Ayanna Pressley says. I mean, the representative was absolutely right. But more importantly, the disrespect that he displayed in this sort of flippancy. I mean, they're talking about people's lives here. I mean, the housing conditions that people are living in, these are on his watch.

And he's just sitting here, you know, kind of I don't know what he thought he was doing. I don't know if he thought he was being clever. But you're also talking about a man who seems to spend more time refurbishing his office. You know, he had a thirty thousand dollar table and a nine thousand dollar dishwasher and some new blinds. But he hasn't figured out who is actually working in his agencies. Right. And the other agencies under HUD. So, I mean, I don't know what we expected from Ben Carson. I don't know what's happened to Ben Carson over time. I suspect Ben Carson has adopted the ethos of the administration, which is to be as rude, be as unhelpful, be as unqualified and disinterested in your job and you'll be successful.

Michael, not only that, this is a photo that Ben Carson literally tried to make light of the Oreo. He posted this on social media. Oh, Oreo. Thanks, Representative Katie Porter. Enjoying a few hearing snacks. Sending some your way. You know, it's interesting. I mean, clearly his reputation is all jacked up now.

But more importantly, it's like everyone that gets involved in this administration that had any semblance of a reputation, it's getting messed up to defend this guy. Because I don't understand. You could get the same exact judges if Pence were president. You could get the same kind of policies if Pence were president. You could get the same kind of policies if Pence were president. Why do you want him in office unless you think like he thinks about people of color, about women, about the disabled? So I don't want to hear

the religious right talking, oh, it's because of the judges. Please, Pence would put in the exact same judges as this guy unless you think like he thinks. Yeah, but you know, Michael and Roland, he sounded like something was wrong with him. Either that he just didn't care, he wanted to be offensive, he wanted to take light of these questions, these very serious questions about residents and public housing, or he was just

completely uninformed. But the worst sin of all for this, I think, is the fact that he has an opportunity to be prepared, to get smart, to get better. If you are super smart as a surgeon, but you have to care about that. And he was his laissez-faire. He was his cavalier about this, like this really didn't matter, especially in talking to the women who were elected officials in Congress. But he sounded also like something was wrong with him. But if nothing was wrong with him, then he didn't know his own agency. He didn't know anything about HUD and what was going on. And that's downright offensive and dangerous. That's what's wrong with him.

He is grossly unqualified for the damn job. Yeah, but his speech, too. That's what's wrong. His speech was impaired almost. He had low energy. There's something wrong with him, man. He was a low energy candidate as well, remember. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Right. Okay, so let me give you the audio version of what was happening in the head of Ben Carson as he's being asked questions. Here we go. He was like, what the hell did I take this job for? I don't know what I'm doing. I am utterly clueless. I don't know anything about housing other than the houses that I own. I don't know what I'm doing. I am utterly clueless. I don't know anything about housing other than the houses that I own. I don't know what she is asking me. Did she just say Oreo?

Damn, I wouldn't mind having some Oreos with some milk right now. Oh, my goodness. Amway, you know what? I need to go buy me some washing powder and some dishwashing detergent. So let me call my Amway representatives. You know what? Let me go ahead and reclaim my time because I sure wish I didn't take this job because Donald Trump doesn't make me look like a dumb ass sitting here talking about housing.

I don't know jack about housing, but you know what is that is in it? Is that anybody brain I can go operate on? In fact, is it is it possible that I can operate on my own brain right now so I can place some of these critical facts inside my own brain so I don't look like a damn fool in the middle of this hearing? That was what he was thinking as he was answering questions. Yeah, but, Roland, look historically at these presentations by cabinet members. You know, usually they have briefing books. No, Scott, Scott, this is the dumbest administration we've had no these are these are purposely dumb people no but bill by i agree with you i'm trying to make a point

he wasn't even trying to be smart betsy devos like i said if you look at the rules no these are you have a grifter in chief a whiner in chief, a man who does not read, who purposely chose people who have no business in any of these jobs. But how any Republican could defend the level of incompetence that we are seeing is beyond me. And I'm telling you all right now, when Donald Trump loses next year, no Republican who stood by and defended this will be able to criticize anybody because they stood silent and defended some of the most clueless, dumbest, incompetent cabinet members in American history. And they don't want to be smart. They don't want to prepare. That's worse than just being dumb, Robert. Because you can get smarter if you gave a damn.

They don't give a damn. They don't. I'm sorry, go right ahead. I agree with you, absolutely. Like you said, you didn't have a staffer, you didn't have any briefings, you didn't have anything there. You don't even have an organizational flow chart of what is what in your organization. But more than that, it's their responsibility to actually decline positions that they know they're not qualified for.

Ben Carson had every opportunity to say, you know what, I can't do this. So this isn't even Donald Trump's fault at this point. This is his fault. He's the one that actually had a career and reputation. Speaking of dumb, I got to talk about actor Jason Mitchell, of course. He's in the television show, The Shot, on Showtime. He was in Straight Outta Compton. He played the Easy E character. Man, talk about nuts.

It's been reported that three of his co-stars have complained about his behavior, but none of the people involved are commenting. Y'all, let me tell you how bad this is. He's gotten dropped from The Shot. he's gotten dropped from the sky he's gotten dropped from a netflix film desperados he was fired by his management company and fired by his agent for now in this world in this age of sexual harassment i don't know what he's been reading about me too but he i mean look this is a brother who was on the rise. I mean, doing well. All that's gone. When your agent, your management company, fire you.

When you lose the shot and you lose the movie, everything that he had now gone because of his behavior on set. I don't know when these folks, first of all, he black. Does he think he's a male Gibson? Well, if he's doing it, he may be. He was a male Gibson. Well, but I think that, you know, and I'm a fan of Jason Mitchell actually and the Shies, a show that I actually watch quite a bit. But I think he might have thought that, you know, harassing his black female co-star wouldn't necessarily result in the same level of penalty. But apparently this must have gotten out of hand. And I think at least initially before all of these allegations allegations came to light that they had released her to pursue his co-star on the side to pursue other opportunities and were going to retain him.

So even in that moment, he didn't necessarily face a consequence. I assume it was a cascading effect and there were multiple allegations across from the shy to the Netflix project that he's also associated with. And it just became untenable. Now, it's still been very light on the details about what happened, but they just said harassment to the point that his female co-star felt unsafe in shooting sex scenes with him and wanted her fiance on set, which is pretty egregious when you think about filming a sex scene on a show where there are lighting people and sound people and camera people and directors. So she still felt that

unsafe. Who knows if anything else is going to come out about this, but I think you're right. I mean, this is sort of one of those moments where people have to realize what moment we are in. What is he saying? Scott, let me have you out, Scott. It's different when you get fired from a show. But when your agent and your man's department drop you?

Yeah, that's pretty rough. This was called Major. Yeah, and he's a rising star, too. The question I had is, he's a rising star, but what has he said publicly about any of this nothing do you know nothing okay nothing well obviously this this this may be the best thing that ever happened to him though and maybe he can come back but that's a lot of losing in one week okay scott yeah it ain't the best thing to happen when you use the tv show you lose the tv show you lose the movie your agent and your management company.

No, this is one of those where, Mike, where you announce you are going into rehab. You've got a major substance abuse problem. OK. And maybe you got CTE. You lost your damn mind. But look, we're in a we're in a world now. I'm telling you, all these dudes out here here you can't be acting a fool on the jobs and think you're gonna keep as business as usual that that jig is up and all you have to do is

watch the news and you see that every day so i don't know why you would think except that you know obviously whether you're an athlete a star a politician whatever and you think you're above the law you're above penalty people aren't going to tattletale, people aren't going to say anything. In this new day and age, in the Me Too movement, it's just not true. And you have to respect women, respect people, respect their space. And if you don't do that, there can be consequences. And act like it. All right, folks, I got to do this story here.

Another black woman has gone missing, folks. Camila Russell is the mother of two, was last seen on May 15th. Folks, she has black and purple braids and was wearing gray leggings, a striped shirt and sneakers. She was driving a black Audi with tag numbers HBWJB0. A black Audi, HBWJ.B. zero H. a black Audi H.B.J. H.B. W.J.B. zero. If you have any information, please call the Miami Gardens Police Department. The number is three zero five four seven four. Force zero five four seven four six four seven three. And, you know, this is important to us because the bottom line is

white women come up missing. It's going to be on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, all the networks. And so we make it our point to ensure that when black women come up missing, they don't get the same level of coverage from mainstream media. That's why Roland Martin Unfiltered matters.

All right, folks. I want to thank Michael, Scott, and Dr. Carter for being on today's show. I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. I also want to thank all the folks who checked us out the last couple of days. We're off to the F.E. Anderson Golf Tournament. Hope you enjoyed Monday's show as well.

And so thank you so very much, folks. Tomorrow, I got a critical topic I'm going to talk about. And I'm going to have an honest conversation. Like, are we going to deal with the family this time? We need to talk about this reality of college tuition. But I'm going to talk about it from the perspective of we need to stop telling our kids, you can go to any school you want to go to. No, you can go to the school I'm afford to send you to.

So we're going to have a real conversation tomorrow about picking the right schools, picking the right majors to ensure that we are not drowning ourselves in debt for most of adulthood. It's a conversation as critically important that we're going to have tomorrow. And so I'm looking forward to that dialogue. All right, folks, be sure to support Roland Martin Unfiltered by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. You can go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. You can use Cash App Square or even PayPal. We certainly hope you support us in what we do, and that is bringing you the kind of information

and conversation you're not going to get anywhere else on a daily basis. All right, folks, I got to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Power! and conversation you're not going to get anywhere else on a daily basis. All right, folks, I got to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Power! Thank you. Outro Music I was recently in Atlanta for our school choice is the black choice town hall event. There was an elementary school in Atlanta, folks. This is a black elementary school. Five percent of the school students were reading on grade level. I'm going to repeat that.

In Atlanta, 5% of the children were reading on grade level. So you then have to ask the question, what's going to happen when they're in middle school? What's going to happen when they are in high school? Will they ever be able to catch up? Will they be consigned for the entire life of being behind? Rollin' S. Martin. And subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Rollin' Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there?

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We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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