10/06/23 10/06/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> narges mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. amy: one of iran's most prominent human rights activists narges mohammadi has won this year's nobel peace prize. but she will not be able to receive the prize and also personally since she is in

prison in tehran. we will also get an update on the civil fraud trial of donald trump. >> no matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you have, no is above the law. it is my responsibility and my duty and my job to enforce it. today in court, we will prove our case. amy: we will also speak to an attorney suing columbia university and its affiliated hospitals on behalf of some 300 more patients who say they were sexually assaulted by former columbia university gynecologist robert hadden while they say the university shielded the sexual predator. and we will look at the largest strike of healthcare workers in u.s. history. >> we're here because we want the world to know kaiser is being unfair to us. we worked to the pandemic and hard times, we are understaffed and underpaid.

they are not giving us what we need to take care of our patients properly. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden is defending his decision to waive 26 federal laws in south texas in order to speed construction of the u.s.-mexico border wall. biden's move to advance a central policy of former president trump's platform has prompted condemnation from immigrant rights, environmental, and indigenous activists. at the white house thursday, a reporter asked biden why he reversed his campaign pledge that "there will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration." pres. biden: the border wall, the money was appropriated for the border wall. i tried to get them to redirect that money. they didn't. they wouldn't. in the meantime, there is nothing under the law -- i can't

stop it. >> do you believe the border wall works? pres. biden: no. amy: democratic congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez slammed the policy, writing -- "a wall does nothing to deter people who are fleeing poverty and violence from coming to the united states. you do not risk your life or your children's lives going through the darién gap or traversing hundreds of miles of desert if you have any other options." meanwhile, secretary of state antony blinken, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas, and attorney general merrick garland were in mexico city thursday meeting with mexican president andrés manuel lópez obrador who condemned the border wall. >> this authorization for the construction of the wall is a step backwards. it does not solve the problem. we have to address the causes. amy: homeland security secretary mayorkas announced the u.s. will resume deportation flights directly to venezuela,

threatening venezuelan asylum seekers with harsher consequences if they cross the u.s.-mexico border. for years, the u.s. government did not regularly deport venezuelans because of tensions between washington and caracas. thousands continue to flee venezuela due to an economic catastrophe that's been largely worsened by u.s. sanctions. new york city mayor eric adams is in on a four-day latin american tour to discourage would-be asylum seekers from trying to reach new york. speaking from mexico city thursday, adams warned the american dream could turn into a nightmare. >> we are at capacity and many people believe when you enter new york city, will automatically have a job, automatically are going to be living in a hotel. it is a climate that is not a reality. amy: mayor adams will also travel to ecuador and colombia and visit the treacherous darien gap that many migrants are forced to brave on their journey to the u.s.-mexico border. adams' trip comes two days after he asked a judge to suspend new york city's 42-year-old policy of providing shelter to anyone

who seeks it. immigrant rights groups blasted the move, with the legal aid society warning, "street homelessness would balloon to a level unseen in our city since the great depression." asylum seekers in new york have already been facing barriers getting basic assistance. >> i come from honduras and i came here because they killed a brother and nephew of mine, so i was afraid and i came here. the truth is, i was waiting 24 hours for them to give me some clothing. ultimately, nothing came of it. amy: ukraine says 51 people were killed and six others wounded thursday as a russian missile struck a store and cafe in a village in the northeastern kharkiv region. president volodymyr zelenskyy said the russian assault was no accident. >> the russian military could not have been unaware of where they were hitting and it was not a blind strike.

people gathered there for a week. a christian memorial dinner. who could lunch missile at them? who? only absolute evil. among them was a child, six years old. amy: separately, officials said a russian strike on residential buildings in kharkiv killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother, while injuring 26 others. and russian drones attacked a port in ukraine's odesa region early friday, damaging a grain silo near the danube river. syria's health ministry says 89 people were killed and nearly 300 others wounded thursday as a drone packed with explosives struck a military college graduation ceremony in the city of homs. it was one of the deadliest strikes against syrian forces in more than 12 years of civil war. no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which syria's government blamed on unspecified terrorist groups. elsewhere, kurdish fighters say recent turkish airstrikes have killed at least 11 people across kurdish-controlled parts of northeastern syria.

five civilians are among the dead. turkey has carried out cross-border raids since sunday when a pair of attackers detonated a bomb outside government buildings in ankara. turkey blamed the attack on the outlawed kurdistan workers' party and the closely-affiliated kurdish ypg militia, which is allied with the u.s. in its fight against isis. on thursday, the pentagon said one of its f-16 fighter jets shot down an armed turkish military drone as it approached u.s. forces in syria and ignored commands to change course. it was an unprecedented direct military exchange between turkey and the u.s., two nato allies. in iran, activists are demanding justice for 16-year old armita geravand who remains in a coma after an unexplained incident sunday on the tehran metro. officials say geravand suffered a medical episode, causing her to collapse and bump her head on the train door. her friends and other eye witnesses say members of the so-called guardians of hijab force entered into an altercation with her for not complying with iran's strict dress code. this comes one year after the

death of mahsa amini while in custody of iran's morality police, which set off a nationwide uprising. in related news, this year's nobel peace prize has been awarded to imprisoned iranian human rights activist narges mohammadi, deputy head of the defenders of human rights center, for her fight against the oppression of women in iran. we will have more on the nobel prize after headlines. here in new york, a prisoner at the notorious rikers island jail was declared dead after he was found unresponsive in his cell thursday morning. manish kunwar was just 27 years old. he is at least the ninth person to die in the custody of the new york city department of correction this year. in other news from new york, frank james, who opened fire on a crowded subway train in brooklyn in april of last year, received 10 life sentences thursday. each life sentence corresponds to an injured victim. no passengers were killed in the shooting. the judge said as he delivered the sentence, "each mass shooting constitutes an act of raw evil." in a victory for voting rights, a federal court has selected a

new congressional map in alabama after the u.s. supreme court rejected a republican-gerrymandered map that diluted black votes. the voting-age population of the new district is nearly 49% black and could send another democrat to the u.s. congress. and actor julia ormond is suing harvey weinstein for sexual assault. she is also suing disney, miramax, and her former talent agency caa for negligence. ormond, whose lawsuit comes as part of the adult survivors act, says weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. when she told her talent agents bryan lourd and kevin huvane about the rape, they told her reporting it would damage her career and that she would not be believed. the caa went on to drop her as a client. ormond accuses miramax and disney of enabling and covering for weinstein. julia ormond headlined major films in the 1990's, but her career waned in the years after the assault and her complaint to her agents. weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in new york for rape. earlier this year, he was sentenced to 16 years for

separate rape and sexual assault charges in california. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show looking at the nobel peace prize. the chair of the norwegian nobel committee in oslo announced this year's winner earlier this morning. >> women, life, freedom. the norwegian nobel committee has decided to award the nobel peace prize for 2023 two narges mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. her brave struggle has come with

tremendous personal cost. altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 clashes. ms. mohammadi is still in prison as i speak. this year's peace prize also recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who in the preceding year have demonstrated against the regime's policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women. amy: that was berit reiss-andersen, the head of norwegian nobel committee in oslo, announcing that the imprisoned iranian human rights activist narges mohammadi has

been awarded this year's nobel peace prize. the announcement comes just a year after the death of 22-year-old mahsa amini who died in iranian police custody september 16 last year after she was arrested by iran 's so-called rally police. to talk more about this year's nobel peace prize laureate, we are joined by negar mortazav. she is an iranian-american journalist, host of the iran podcast, and senior fellow at the center for international policy. thank you for being with us. can you talk about the significance of this year's nobel peace prize? >> sure. this does not come as a surprise most of after one year of protest by women and young girls and activists and citizens putting their lives on the front line, risking their lives --

about 500 protesters losing their lives protesting for more freedom, part of the feminist uprising. narges mohammadi is one of the most deserved activists in it comes to the fight for rights for women, freedom for all human rights. she has done a lot of campaigning against the death penalty, execution, and so many other part of her long-term activism. also as it was discussed come at a great personal cost to herself and her family. i think it is welcome news. it is going to get fresh energy to the activists in the protest movement inside iran. amy: tell us the story of narges mohammadi, how she now is in prison, how she got there. >> she is a longtime human rights activist that has worked with several organizations, human rights defenders. the previous nobel peace prize

laureate from iran also worked with her. she continued that line of activism. she has been very vocal against the death penalty. she has what -- launched many campaigns against change and the laws of execution and trying to abolish the death penalty. she has fought for iranian women's rights, political prisoners, for families, and herself as a political prisoner has been arrested many times, jailed two decades in prison in total and separated from her family. her family has been pushed into exile, including her two children. she has been living separate from them, not being able to travel to see them. they live in exile and are not able to travel to see her. it is a great personal cost. she has been a longtime activist and has been detained, pressured, and sentence for her activism many times and

currently is serving a sentence. amy: she has fought for women's rights and campaign for the abolition of the death penalty and improvement of prison conditions. when issue expected to be out? what kind of pressure do you think this puts on the iranian regime? >> well, this will be essentially -- first, it will generate anger from the iranian regime. more and more attention is given to someone that they have been trying to portray as someone who is threatening national security and has been essentially arrested for these security charges as they bring against the activists. at the same time, i think will generate global solidarity, sympathy, and it will raise the cost for keeping someone so high profile in prison, continuing to detain them.

the attempt to try to silence people and pressure them in the dark without much attention. this essentially will bring more attention, i would say more power to narges and other activists. hopefully at the end of the day, it will empower her and help her with this kind of attention and solidarity it will bring. amy: this comes 20 years after shareen a body the women's rights activist in iran, was also awarded the nobel peace prize. do you think there has been progress? >> i think if we look at it essentially along a linear line, iranian society has changed a lot. looking at the protest in the past year of women and young girls, really -- it has come at a deadly price for many activists and protesters. but i think what we see, for example, the transformation of

the iranian public space when it comes to the issue of hijab, which is also something narges has been opposing, the mandatory laws, is changing. journalists and activists inside iran -- just so many women and girls define the mandatory hijab. essentially gaining their bodily autonomy after the death of mahsa amini, so i think overall, there has been a step backward and a step forward. in general, the women's rights and the various rights of women have been pushing forward, pushing the state back in demanding more rights. amy: i want to thank you, negar mortazav, for being with us, to talk about this year's nobel peace prize going to narges mohammadi, the iranian human rights i've is currently

in prison. negar mortazav, iranian-american journalist, host of the iran podcast and senior fellow at the center for international policy. coming up, we speak to david cay johnston on donald trump's civil fraud trial, on why this may mean more to trump that any others but the trusted judge could be leading to the dismembering of donald trump's financial empire. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: music by iranian musician marjan farsad. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to donald trump's civil fraud trial here in new york. trump's attorneys are expected to file a motion today to stay the trial pending an appeal of a judge's ruling last week that trump and his two eldest sons , eric and donald, had committed fraud by vastly overstating the assets of their company. the pre-trial ruling puts the future of the trump organization's real estate empire in jeopardy.

trump voluntarily attended the first three days of the trial. during comments to the press, he repeatedly attacked new york attorney general letitia james for bringing the fraud case against him. on monday, trump assailed james, who is african american, as a racist and called the trial judge arthur engoron a disgrace. on wednesday, james denounced trump's comments. >> what they were were comments that unfortunately that i would describe as race-baiting, comment that appeal to the bottom of our humanity. i will not be bullied. mr. trump, the donald trump show is over. this is nothing more than a stunt stop a fundraising stop. amy: on tuesday, judge engoron placed a gag order on trump , the first on the former president come after he falsely claimed on social media that the

judge's law clerk was the girlfriend of senate majority leader chuck schumer. the judge barred trump from posting, sending emails, or making public remarks about members of the judge's staff. to talk more about the opening week of the trial, we are joined by david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter who has reported on trump for decades. he is the author of three books on trump, including "the big cheat: how donald trump fleeced america and enriched himself and his family." johnston is also a distinguished visiting lecturer at syracuse university college of law. david, it is great to have you back with us. if you can start off by talking about the significance of this trial for donald trump. this is a civil trial. he did not have to show up. though he falsely alleged he was being forced off the campaign trail. >> unlike the four indictments where donald trump is at risk of incarceration, going to jail, this is a civil trial. but donald trump is his money.

that is the most important thing to understand about donald. his money is always being inflated. he claims buildings are bigger than they are, he claims more money. in this case, the judge has ruled that donald committed repeated calculated fraud. the principal issue of this trial is how much must he disgorge because his frauds resulted in ill-gotten gains that he must give up. amy: talk about why this is so important. another civil trial, the sexual assault trial of e. jean carroll, he did not show up for. >> that's right. e. jean carroll similarly got a judge to rule it such overwhelming evidence, there is no need to try the merits of the case. donald trump is a rapist.

that has been established by another judge. he already owes $5 million to e. jean carroll and now there's a second defamation case she has brought. there will be a trial only to determine how much money he owes. in this trial, before judge engoron, donald has had all of his business licenses revoked. at least 500 trump legal entities, mostly limited liability companies, no longer have business licenses. you cannot do business without a business license. the judge has appointed another judge, a retired judge, as a monitor to make sure trump and his sons and the two executives who are in the case don't abscond with any of the money until it is determine how much is there. ultimately, we will see the trump organization, his umbrella

group, turnover to a receiver. this is similar to bankruptcy when you dissolve a company but it is under new york state business laws. his properties will be sold. creditors and the government will get paid first. if there's any money left, it will go to donald trump. amy: you are talking properties stop that is donald trump's residence in the trump tower on fifth avenue. that is one of the buildings. is that right? one of the ones, to say the least, he inflated from 10,000 feet to 30,000 feet. and why that matters? >> he claims it was larger so he could claim it was worth more. trump does this all the time. he owns a mansion on a large wooded area in westchester county, a short drive from

manhattan. he claims it is worth as much as $291 million. the most generous appraisal was $30 million. and it was based on the idea who could carve it up in a smaller estates and sell them off. the local authority said, no, we won't allow you to carve it up. the property is worth more something around $10 million and donald's claims are 29 times that amount. amy: samuel bankman-fried is on trial nearby here in new york. he was jailed before the trial for violating a gag order. president trump has just had a gag order imposed because, among other things, of what he just tweeted out in the midst of the trial that the clerk, who was sitting just feet from him, was having an affair with chuck schumer.

can you talk about the significance of what it would mean if the judge found him guilty of violating that gag order? could he end up in the same position as samuel bateman freed? >> he absolutely could end up remanded to jail. donald, i believe, for political reasons, trying to provoke one of the judges in his criminal or civil case to send him to jail so he can rally his supporters and say, see, the system is rigged, they're out to get me, i did not do anything wrong but they are going to shut me up. he threatened general milley who just retired as a general chiefs of staff. that is not going to result in being remade into custody because general milley is not being intimidated by donald trump. amy: he sickly said millie should be -- he essentially said milley should be executed.

>> the judge's clerk has nothing to do with the merits of the proceedings and the judge made it clear if you write or say anything about any person on my staff and there will be consequences. i think he has made it pretty clear trump might get one more chance but if he does it twice, i assure you then he is going to be remanded by this judge. amy: for people to understand how a decision has been made in parts of this trial -- it is a bench trial, it does not go to a jury. oh, and president trump lied when he said he wanted a jury trial because his lawyers never asked for one. >> right. donald, i'm confident based on his public remarks, would be very concerned that a new york city jury, manhattan jury could be very bad for him. they might rule heavily against him. his lawyers accepted a bench trial, whether they did it by incompetence or intentionally,

they agree to this. no question about that, he has been denied nothing by the judge. the facts in this case are so overwhelming that letitia james put before the court showing again and again and again every time trump's -- they overvalued the property. if now and then and there were reasonable, that would be different. amy, imagine you own a $300,000 house. maybe it is worth $270,000, maybe 330 thousand dollars. if you go to a bank and say, loan money, this house is worth $3 million or $30 million, that is fraud. so all of this trial is about, primarily what it is about, is how much in damages does donald trump own for his and his son's years of fraud. amy: david cay johnston, you have written several books on

donald trump. is this case more important to them? he also fell off the forbes billionaire list. then you have the other ones -- than any of the other ones? >> is more important donald's mind because he grew up in housel with the father that was a complete monster, who taught him and his other children that all that matters is getting the money. as long as you don't get arrested, do whatever you need to do. there are no rules. the rules of law come the rules of decency don't apply to you. to donald and his psyche, this is much more important. the fact is in the other cases, particularly the effort to overthrow the united states government on january 6, he faces prison if convicted. but those are down the road a little bit. right now he is very concentrated on this. as i said in the beginning, to donald, donald is his money.

amy: david cay johnston, thank you for being with us pulitzer , prize-winning investigative reporter, co-founder of dc report. author of three books on trump, including "the big cheat: how donald trump fleeced america and enriched himself and his family." next up, we speak to the attorney suing columbia university and its affiliated hospitals as more than 300 patients had there were sexually assaulted by the former colombia university doctor. they say the university shielded the sexual predator. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "scars to your beautiful" by alessia cara. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. here in new york city, as minouche shafik made history wednesday when she was the first woman to be inaugurated president of columbia university, the ceremony was protested by well over 100 medical students wearing white coats who joined with survivors of sexual abuse by former

columbia obstetrician robert hadden. dr. hadden was sentenced to 20 years in prison this year for molesting his patients for over two decades while columbia ignored his patients who spoke out, undermined prosecutors, and shielded the sexual predator. >> i'm a second medical student. we are here to spread awareness about what happened with dr. robert hadden, the cover-up. it is disgusting and we're here to demand accountability by our institution and show as students a medical profession, we will not stand for this. >> you protected robert hadden! >> you protected robert hadden! >> one of the reasons were here today is because after november 23 -- victims of robert hadden

will not be able to get justice. they been silenced. i was a patient from 2002-2012 and i had to find other resources myself. luckily, some other women have seen me in the news and that is only reason why they know of robert hadden is in jail. amy: another hadden survivor who joined the medical students at the protest was evelyn yang, wife of the former presidential candidate andrew yang. she has said hadden sexually abused her during her first pregnancy in 2012. >> as soon as i walked in the gates, there were hundreds of medical students in their white lab coats in the aisles, in the walkways, on the lawn.

they were spreading the word about how columbia failed to notify dr. robert hadden's patient said he is convicted sex felon. i was overwhelmed with appreciation that they would take on this cause. i realize it is not necessarily for us, for the survivors of dr. hadden, although it is very much in support of us because we were harmed by him and we believe there are still hundreds if not thousands have hadden's patients who still do not know he is a convicted sex offender, sex predator. they deserve to know. wouldn't you want to know if your ob/gyn had sexually assaulted 500 other patients? but i also think it is getting

full that these are medical students because the prosecutors called dr. hadden a predator and a white coat. they are protesting in their white coats -- the harman's case was not just perpetrated by dr. hadden, it perpetrated by the university. it was expose how they covered up for him and enabled him for decades. that is really perhaps an even bigger betrayal. i came to support the students and their call for action. amy: everyone was chanting "notify the patients." why is that so significant? >> it is significant because of the adult survivors act, which we fought hard to pass. it opens up a lookback window

regardless of the statute of limitation, if you are a sexual assault survivor in the state of new york, you have until november 23, 2023 to file a claim. that window is closing soon. columbia has an an opportunity to turn the page, to show they care about patients, care about the community in a meaningful way. they can notify patients, then patients have a chance to take some action. amy: this significance of this been the inauguration of the first woman president of the university? >> president shafik has a gynecologist. she knows how vulnerable it is to sit in that chair and to, you know -- she knows what it is

like to be a woman, to be subjected to that. regularly. it would not cross your mind to be violated by a doctor in that way. she has a chance to reduce the harm that the previous administration perpetrated. we are very disappointed that to date she seems to be taking a page from the old playbook. she is giving us a lot of -- were sorry that you are hurt, we're heartbroken for you, but she is still failed to take any meaningful action to notify the patients or commissioned a third-party independent investigation into the cover-up that led to hadden abusing women

for over 20, 30 years. amy: that's evelyn yang. one of the first to speak out against dr. hadden. i spoke to evelyn yang as the first woman president of columbia university was being an operator. columbia university irving medical center and newyork-presbyterian hospital reached two settlements with a does hundreds of -- with hundreds of hadden victims in 2021 and 2022. this week, 301 additional former patients of hadden who allege they were sexually exploited and abused by him filed a new lawsuit that argues hadden is "the most prolific serial sexual predator in new york state history." for more, we are joined by the attorney who has been suing columbia for over a decade to hold the university accountable for covering up hadden's abuse, anthony dipietro joins us from salt lake city, utah. thank you so much for being with us.

as this was playing out on this beautiful blue sky day on wednesday up at columbia university, the victims of dr. hadden, together with well over 100 medical students in their white coats, demanding that the university notified the patient s. anthony dipietro, you had just filed yet another lawsuit. columbia has already paid out something like, what, $250 million to patients of hadden? talk about this latest lawsuit. >> that is correct, amy. thank you. the recent filing that we made this past week brings the total victims and survivors of columbia university and robert hadden to over 538 patients. robert hadden abused single women, married women, pregnant women, recent mothers, he even

abused a 16-year-old who he previously had delivered at her first gyn visit. he is the most prolific serial sexual predator in the history of new york state. amy: explain. take us back to the beginning. on democracy now!, we have had a number of hadden'ss patients on. there are two issues here. what is that dr. had sexually assaulted -- was found guilty, sentenced to 20 years in prison perceptually assaulting patient s. then there issue of what columbia new and when the university knew it. talk about that, anthony. >> columbia knew from the beginning what they were dealing with with robert hadden. at every level. the chairperson, the risk-management people, they knew they were dealing with. but for the past 36 years, they

have been covering up this abuse from the public, from the patients, even from the state prosecutors. amy: so talk about the evidence that you have of this. in fact, you're in utah right now, salt lake city. wasn't it a patient now who is in utah who said they notified columbia decades ago? >> correct. one of our clients saw evelyn yang on tv a couple of years ago and reached out to us and said, hey, this guy abused me in 1993 and i wrote a letter to the chairman and the chairman wrote back step amy: the chairman? >> the chairman of the department of citrix and gynecology wrote back acknowledged she was abused and said he was going to take care of the problem but he was going on vacation the next week and

would deal with it when he got back step and he never did anything. amy: we also had a guest on, another of dr. hadden's patients. she is the patient who was in his office and to her horror she felt him licking her. she called her partner. she was very pregnant. her partner raced to where she was and was calling the police repeatedly. the police came to their home and then went right to the columbia hospital where dr. hadden was come his office, and had him arrested. so columbia absolutely knew at that point. can you talk about that case? yet he was back at work the next week after being arrested by police for sexual assault. >> amy, it is outrageous. this guy was arrested at 4:00

p.m. on a friday afternoon. every person at the university come at the hospital who needed to know, knew. their current and still is the current chairperson of abstract tricks and gynecology -- obstetrics and gynecology knew. james with, general counsel for columbia university, knew. they got their lawyers, they got the arrest vacated, and they let him back that next tuesday so he could continue abusing patients. five weeks later is when he assaulted evelyn yang. amy: so he came back and went on to assault. this is the question, how many people have been assaulted by dr. hadden? you heart attack columbia university protest the demand -- you heard at the columbia university protest, the demand, "notify the patients." talk about the significance of this. the only entity that knows who

all of hadden's patients are is columbia university. is that right? for all of the people he has seen for decades. what has been officially put out, aside from people seeing shows like democracy now! or reading propublica, the investigations, or seeing someone like evelyn yang on television -- how do people know whether they can come forward and the significance of this one year lookback that governor hochul signed off of of adult survivors being able to sue only if they report this by november 23. e. jean carroll, sexually assaulted by president trump, used this lookback to bring her lawsuit come to the case -- the attack took place decades ago. >> amy, make no mistake about this, these are columbia

university's patients. these were not robert hadden's patients. these were patients of club university. they have the record, the list, the billing. in 2016 come the state of new york ordered hadden hadden that all of's patients be notified that he lost his license but columbia sang the burden is not on them, it is on robert hadden. that is outrageous. they were not hadden's patients, they were columbia's patients. they're refusing to contact them. that is why we're are pushing -- here's why this is important stuff it is not just about the adult survivors act, although that is important. i have gotten countless phone calls from women that happen to see this on the news or on social media and they called me and they're like, oh, my god, this happened to be 15 years ago and i've been carrying this around thinking i was the only

person -- like maybe i did something wrong to invite this. they need to know they are not alone. they should not be having to carry this burden around with them for their entire lives because columbia's administration refuses to send them a notification letter to let them know that robert hadden is a convicted sexual predator who they covered up for. amy: i want to turn to focus whole who i also spoke with -- belkis hull who i also spoke with. >> i was a patient from 2005-2010. i had asked my friends that had seen him if they thought there was something wrong and they said no, so i continued to go thinking it was natural. it was not until last december that i found out that i have been abused over and over. he loved to get paid to his patients.

we thought that was normal. let's not normalize it. if you ever feel there's something wrong, listen to your gut and speak out. keep speaking out. keep spreading the word because this is not over. amy: that was belkis hull speaking along with rory malden auto come another guest we had come a victim of dr. hadden, through a little bullhorn -- lori maldonado, another guest we had, a victim of dr. hadden, through i little bullhorn. the pain that dr. hadden put through, like lori malden auto, -- lori maldonado who went for a checkup. hadden kept calling her in. two months before she gave birth step as she lay on the examining table, he put his hand up her

and punched and these women at columbia talked about him inflicting pain, that that was part of his sickness and his crime. anthony dipietro, if you could comment on this? >> i've seen a lot of patterns. this is absolutely one of them. he had this sadistic streak where he would inflict pain on women. oftentimes he would do it if they were not compliant with other things. this was part of what he was doing. again, columbia knew the entire time. instead of protecting patients, they were protecting a predator. amy: at this point, how has columbia explained why they haven't sent a letter out to every one of the patients they know hadden had? >> there's no explanation for

it. we have been pushing them for years, for 5, 6, 7 years to send out a letter to the patients, notify them that they did not do anything wrong. they were exposed to this predator. but there excuse is the burden is on hadden. the order from the state was directed at hadden. again, these were not hadden patients. this columbia saying if robert hadden shows of the medical records opposites has given the name and home addresses of all of these women i've been abusing since 1987, that columbia's going to turn that information over to him? that is ridiculous. amy: i want to go to another clip when we did speak to lori malden auto. she described what happened to her and she was nine months pregnant.

>> i was sexually assaulted by robert hadden two days before the birth of my child. i went in for my checkup. my ex-husband was in the room with me. we were just excited. i remember that in the office room -- i went to the bathroom. my mucous plug had dropped so i was just minutes away from the birth and we were excited. hadden came in the room and he had a glimmer in his eye. i thought that glimmer was that he was excited like me for the birth. now i realize it was an opportunity for him to commit sexual assault. he said, one more thing, need to check you. he took me behind the curtain, away from my husband come and

put me on the exam table. what i thought was he was going to check my cervix to make sure the baby was ok, but that is not what happened. what did happen was hadden used his hands to harm me and he stuck his fist inside my vagina. it was so painful and i screamed. i cried out in pain. he abruptly left the room. my husband at the time came over to me, checked on the inside, are you ok? i was like, no, i'm not ok. then he asked me a really important question. he said, do you feel violated? i said, yes. and because that is lori malden

auto. to see the interview with her, when of hadden survivors, can go to democracynow.org. anthony dipietro, thank you for being with us, attorney representing women who were sexually abused by former columbia university obstetrician and gynecologist robert hadden. he has filed a new lawsuit against the university and its affiliated hospitals on behalf of an additional 301 patients who were allegedly sexually assaulted by hadden. also this related news, in california, george tyndall, the former university of southern california gynecologist accused of sexual abuse by hundreds of students was found dead in his home this week. usc agreed to pay over $1 million in settlements to survivors. survivors have said he raped or forcibly touched them, made racist and misogynist us comets while he sexually abuse them. he was out on $1.3 million bail.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show with one of the 75,000 healthcare workers with kaiser permanente who walked off the job this week in the largest strike of healthcare workers in u.s. history in california, oregon, washington, colorado, virginia, and washington, d.c. talks have failed to yield a new agreement as workers seek higher pay, better staffing, and improvements in their pension plans and other benefits. for more, we are joined in clackamas oregon, by keven dardon, a patient access representative and a member of the union's local bargaining team at kaiser permanente's sunnyside medical center in clackamas, oregon. and meg niemi president of seiu , local 49. can you talk about the strike and if you have gotten any concessions from kaiser permanente? >> this is an historic strike. 75,000 workers walking off the

job telling kaiser executives it is time to end the short step. amy: can you tell us where you are? >> i'm in front of the sunnyside center. our members are setting up their strike line this morning, getting ready to begin our picketing. amy: we want to bring keven dardon into the conversation, member of the union's local bargaining team at kaiser permanente's sunnyside medical center. can you talk about your demands and the significance of this largest strike of health-care care workers in u.s. history? >> good morning. we are here today to tell the executives to bargain in good faith with us, frontline health care workers. we have the proposals and solution to solving the short staffing crisis. we are asking them to come to us

and meet with us. we have the solutions and were hoping to bargain. amy: can you talk, meg niemi, about the strategy of doing this three-day strike? >> kaiser members are out here taking action to get kaiser to listen to is around patient care, make sure the patients are getting the care they need. our members made a decision to say, we're going to walk off the job. we want to do this for a short amount of days, three days, that we have let kaiser executives know if we cannot come to an agreement that solves the short staffing crisis that we will be out here again. amy: can you talk about the scale of the strike, who is involved? talking about nurses, medical technicians, pharmacists. talk about who is out on the strike. also, are concern about continuing to care for patients. >> right now out on the strike

across the country are health-care workers that have been essential workers from across hospitals and clinics. we have medical assistance, licensed practical nurses, housekeepers, pharmacists, dietary workers, there are dental workers. there are literally hundreds and thousands of different workers who are often the people that are closest to delivering patient care. they are the first people you see, the people that are right next to you at the bedside. all of them have come out here because they care so much about their patients. their concern about how they have seen deterioration of care, deterioration of patients getting access to care, and they felt like it was important they took this strong stand so that kaiser permanente executives will turn force and reprioritize patient care. amy: kaiser permanente is the largest nonprofit health

organization in the united states. just how big is it, meg niemi? >> kaiser permanente is a giant health care institution. we know that made over $3 billion in profits already this year. they have 114 million dollars invested in the stock market. they have a lot of resources for employees that are represented by a coalition of unions. there are 85,000 kaiser permanente employees represented. there 75,000 of those workers who had contracts expired and were able to take this action. amy: keven dardon, can you tell us the response of people in oregon around you in clackamas, the public officials, and what this three-day strike has meant? >> over the past two days we have been out here, we have had state representatives, out and join us on the picket lines. we have providers, nurses,

community members, kaiser patients come to us driving on this boulevard behind us, honking their horns, giving us a thumbs up. they know the struggle that kaiser is going through. they know they can do better. they're giving us full support. we are probably out here. we are here for our patients and community. kaiser can do better. amy: the level of patient support as you demand more staff so that more patients can be dealt with and wait and shorter lines? >> we sought in the northwest hours slashed. our members are feeling that. when they call to see their primary care provider, it is four to eight weeks out. that is a big issue. they need care. we are known for our five star quality care and that is what our community is demanding, that

kaiser go back to its roots and provide excellent care that they are known for. amy: keven dardon thank you for being with us patient access , representative and a member of the union's local bargaining team at kaiser permanente's sunnyside medical center in clackamas, oregon. and meg niemi is the president of sei