03/26/24 03/26/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! close the result of the voting is as follows, 14 in favor, zero against, one abstention.

amy: israel is continuing to attack gaza despite a vote monday by the u.n. security council calling for a temporary ceasefire during the month of ramadan. the u.s. abstained, sparking outrage from israel which wanted the u.s. to veto the measure. we will speak to craig mokhiber, a former top u.n. official who resigned in protest over israel's assault on gaza. but first to london where a british court has put the extradition of julian assange on hold until the u.s. provides more assurances about how the wikileaks publisher will be treated in u.s. custody. >> today's decision is astounding. the courts recognize that julian is exposed to a flagrant denial of his freedom of expression rights, that he is been discriminated against on the

basis of his nationality -- an australian -- and that he remains exposed to the death penalty. amy: we will hear from julian assange's wife and then speak to the british mp, former labor leader jeremy corbyn. plus, a judge in new york has decided the first of donald trump's four criminal trials will begin april 15. we will speak to pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnston. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the high court in london has put the extradition of julian assange on hold until the u.s. provides more assurances about how the wikileaks publisher will be treated in u.s. custody. the court asked for u.s. assurances assange will be permitted to rely on the first

amendment, that he will not be discriminated against because he is australian, and that he will not face the death penalty. the court ruled assange may be able to file additional appeals to fight the debt extradition but it will depend on how the u.s. response to the courts request. he has been held in belmarsh prison for five years awaiting possible extradition to the u.s. where he faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. we will have more on this story after the headlines. the u.n. security council approved a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in gaza and the release of all remaining hostages. the resolution passed 14 to 0, with the u.s. abstaining. nearly six months into israel's war on gaza, it's the first time the security council successfully passed a ceasefire resolution after four previous attempts and continuous

obstruction by the united states. after the resolution passed, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu blasted the u.s. for what he called retreating from its "principled position" and canceled a planned visit by an israeli delegation to washington, d.c. u.n. secretary general antonio guterres said a failure to implement the ceasefire "would be unforgivable." palestine's u.n. ambassador riyad mansour spoke after the vote. >> this must be a turning point. this must lead to saving lives on the ground. this must signaled the end of this assault of atrocities against our people. a nation is being murdered. a nation is being dispossessed. amy: we'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. despite the ceasefire resolution, israel has continued to pummel the gaza strip.

a bombing of a house in rafah killed at least 18 people earlier today, including at least nine children. this is one of their surviving relatives. >> nine children, the oldest was eight years old. they all had nothing to do with this. they fell asleep with the news of the ramadan ceasefire only to wake up -- they did not wake up. they are not here anymore. i have noah left in this world. no one. amy: the u.n. human rights council published a draft report monday that found "reasonable grounds to believe" that israel is committing genocide in gaza. u.n. special rapporteur francesca albanese writes -- "the overwhelming nature and scale of israel's assault on gaza and the destructive conditions of life it has inflicted reveal an intent to physically destroy palestinians as a group."

in baltimore, maryland, search-and-rescue efforts are underway after multiple vehicles plunged into the patapsco river following the partial collapse of the francis scott key bridge in what local officials are calling a mass casualty incident. two people have been rescued so far, one severely injured, but some 18 others could still be trapped in the freezing cold water. the bridge is 1.6 miles long and a key commuter route. the governor has declared a state of emergency. the bridge collapsed after a large cargo ship collided with it early this morning. the 948-foot vessel was just minutes into its journey to colombo, sri lanka, when it hit a column of the bridge. the bridge was built in 1977. in senegal, bassirou diomaye

faye has declared victory in sunday's presidential election. his main rival, former senegalese prime minister amadou ba, called faye to concede monday after provisional results put faye at over 53% of the votes. faye, who turned 44 on monday, will become africa's youngest elected president. he has vowed to fight corruption and poverty and to direct senegal's revenue from natural resources to provide better economic opportunities for residents. faye spoke monday from the capital dakar. >> you senegalese people have chosen to break with the past. i hope our vision of society has given substance to their aspirations. i pledge to govern with humility and transparency and fight corruption at all levels, devote myself to fully rebuilding our institutions. amy: bassirou diomaye faye is backed by the popular opposition

leader ousmane sonko. until recently, the two men were sitting in prison cells, but they were released just 10 days before the election after outgoing president macky sall granted the pair amnesty. in ecuador, the mayor of the coastal city of san vicente was found shot dead in a car sunday. brigitte garcía was 27 years old and ecuador's youngest mayor. her communications director was also killed in the same attack. ecuador has been under a state of emergency since january due to rising violence by drug and armed groups linked to the drug trade. this is ecuadorian president daniel noboa. >> the assassination of the mayor and her communications director remind us this fight is not over. it gives us a warning and precise information there is narco terrorism within public institutions and there is narco terrorism among public officials which we are cleaning up. there he soon this will come to

light. amy: nbc news has come under fire by its own star anchors for hiring former republican national committee chair ronna mcdaniel as a political analyst. on monday, msnbc hosts including mika brzezinski, joe scarborough, and joy reid, all called out the decision on their live shows. rachel maddow, msnbc's highest-rated, devoted a 30 minute monologue to the news. >> the person who is the head of the republican party during donald trump's time in office and during his effort to throw out the relet cash election result and stay in power and during his effort to run for election again after having done that is ronna mcdaniel. she pitched in and helped. she helped set in motion the part of the plot that involve sending fake trump electors to

congress. amy: rachel maddow added, "you are priming the american public to not accept the results of the next election, either." chuck todd also fiercely attacked his own network. a new york appeals court on monday reduced donald trump's bond to $175 million in his civil fraud case, down from $464 million, and gave trump an extension of 10 days to pay it as he appeals the case. the ruling means new york attorney general letitia james will not be able to enforce the judgment against trump just yet, including the seizure of his assets. separately monday, a new york judge rescheduled the start of trump's hush money trial for april 15. trump's lawyers had sought to postpone his first criminal trial, arguing the recent release of over 100,000 pages of evidence made it impossible to prepare in time. the judge harshly disagreed. we will have more on that story with david cay johnston, the

pulitzer prize-winning journalist. the u.s. supreme court is hearing arguments today in a case that could severely limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which is used for roughly two-thirds of all u.s. abortions. last year, the 5th circuit court sided with a right-wing texas judge who ruled the fda improperly eased regulations on the pill to make it more accessible some 20 years ago. the supreme court that overturned roe v. wade in 2022 will now decide whether to reverse the fda measures, which made the pill available through the mail and via telemedicine. it could also roll back the fda's decision to lengthen the window within which mifepristone can be taken, which is now through 10 weeks of gestation. and here in new york, home health aides ended their six-day hunger strike monday, during which they called on the city to end the grueling 24-hour workdays. the home health workers, the majority of whom are women of color and immigrant women, have been demanding new york city council speaker adrienne adams

bring the "no more 24 act" to a vote. democracy now! spoke to some of the hunger strikers outside of city hall. >> for many of us working 24 hour workdays, we are forced to work these kinds of shifts because if we refuse, then a company won't assign is work. only 24 hours were very few hours. so we really need to stop this kind of practice. >> we will continue to fight against the 24 hour workdays until adrienne adams passes the no more 24 act to stop it. otherwise she will have to step down. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. the high court in london has put the extradition of julian

assange on hold until the u.s. provides britain with more assurances about how the wikileaks publisher will be treated in u.s. custody. the court asks the u.s. for assurances that assange will be permitted to rely on the first amendment, that he won't pace discrimination at trial because he is australian, and that he won't face the death penalty. the london high court ruled assange may be able to file additional appeals to block the extradition but that will depend on how the u.s. responds to the court's request. julian assange has been held in belmarsh prison for nearly five years awaiting possible extradition to the u.s. where he faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. julian assange's wife spoke outside the courthouse just before our broadcast. >> today's decision is

astounding. the courts recognize that julian is exposed to a flagrant denial of his freedom of expression rights, that he is being discriminated against on the basis of his nationality -- an australian -- and that he remains exposed to the death penalty. and yes, what the courts have done is to invite a political intervention from the united states to send a letter saying it is all ok. i find this astounding. five years into this case, the united states has managed -- that their case remains an attack on press freedom, and attack on julian's life.

what the courts have not agreed to look at is the evidence that the united states has plotted to assassinate julian, to kidnap him because of his -- because if it acknowledges that then of course he can't be sent to the united states. julian is a political prisoner. he is a generalist. he is being persecuted because he exposed the true cost of war in human lives this case is a retribution. it is a signal to all of you that if you expose the interests that are driving war, they will

come after you. they will put you in prison and they will try to kill you. julian is just a few days away from the fifth anniversary of his arrest and imprisonment in belmarsh prison. he has been in belmarsh for five years without conviction. and the charges against him are to punish him for publishing the truth, for publishing evidence of the war crimes committed by the country that is trying to extradite him. now, the u.k. courts have invited the united states to issue assurances. the biden administration should not issue assurances, they should drop this shameful case that never should have been brought. julian should have never been in prison for a single day. this is a shame on every democracy. julian is a political prisoner. he is a publisher and he is

being punished for expressing his political opinion, for expressing freedom of the press in its purest form. free julian. i ask everyone to rally behind him and call for his freedom, call for the biden administration to drop the case and support house resolution 934 before the u.s. congress to drop this case. thank you. amy: that was attorney stella assange, the wife of julian assange and mother of their two young children. we're joined now by british mp, british member of parliament jeremy corbyn who served as the leader of the labour party from 2015-2020. he is standing outside the high court. welcome back to democracy now! if you could start off by responding to the court's decision and if you could explain it in lay terms? >> thank you.

it is a real pleasure to be on the program with you. this morning there was a decision by the court which as stella pointed out, effectively invites the u.s. to give assurances. but it also gives the opportunity for further appeal by julian against his removal to the usa. the reality is, the pressure needs to now go on to the biden administration, go on to president biden to say, look, you are trying to get somebody extradited under the espionage act to be put into a super max prison for the rest of his life, a death penalty. why? because he told the truth. about afghanistan, about ira. because he told uncomfortable truths about many other issues around the world. if julian goes down for this,

every serious journalist around the world is going to be slightly more cautious about exposing war crimes, exposing corporate greed and so many other things. i appeal if i may 3 you and your audience on democracy now!, we need the maximum pressure all across the usa on the biden administration, on the candidates in the forthcoming election to say, drop the charges against julian assange. we had a big crowd outside the high court here. the date has been set for may 20 and we will be back here. support for julian's growing. we got good decisions out of european parliament, the european union parliament. we also have good out of the concert of europe -- council of

europe. we've also got support out of a good number of governments throughout the world, mexico, brazil, colombia, and someone all around the world. we have got through today. we have a slight move forward but it is now up to all of us to believe in democracy, believe in freedom of speech and put that pressure on the biden administration. and in the case of britain, my own government here where the home secretary ultimately has the right to decide whether or not and extradition goes ahead -- whatever the courts say come ultimately, it is a political decision by the government. there is a growing number of us in the u.k. chrome and who will continue putting that pressure on as well. juan: jeremy corbyn, you mentioned the support for julian among institutions in the european union. how likely would it be, regardless if the british authorities and the courts

decide to extradite him that the european court of human rights might intervene in the case? >> the next stage would be to take the case to the european court of human rights. the european court of human rights is not -- it was founded in the postwar settlement when the european convention on human rights was set up. it is the court that meets in strassburg and has judges selected from every european country and pretty well all of them except russia and belarus are in the european council of europe's and therefore in the european court of human rights. the case goes there under the convention rights. it is significant, the number of members of the parliamentary assembly that have shown their support for julian assange. obviously, that would be a political expression. this would be a judicial decision. but if it goes there, in my view, that would be a good thing.

the much better option would be if president biden recognize that within his job as president of the united states to defend the u.s. constitution, desi was constitution not protect the rights of free speech, the right of assembly, the right to publish? that is what it is really about. juan: there have been some media reports that the biden administration was considering a plea deal which would end up with julian pleading guilty to a lesser charge but they not having to serve any time in prison. your reaction? do you think this is another fallback position that the biden administration is considering? >> well, it shows if the biden administration administration is even thinking about that, they're having second thoughts about their decision to pursue the espionage act against julian . i don't know what negotiations have gone on or not gone on. what i do know is that julian

has suffered unbelievably also almost five years and is super max prison in britain. conditions are pretty awful. before that, five years almost in the ecuadorian embassy. my principal is that he is being published -- punished for publishing extremely uncomfortable truths about abu ghraib, afghanistan, and much more else around the world. he is an embarrassment to governments like those that have committed war crimes around the world. well, surely, those in democracy should be standing alongside julian. amy: jeremy corbyn, i wanted to switch gears for a moment though i would assume if julian assange were out of present and he were fully able to operate wikileaks, we would be finding out a little bit more about gaza. but i do want to ask about gaza and the u.n. security council

resolution that britain voted for, the u.s. abstained, calling for a temporary cease fire. your thoughts on the overall situation? what britain, what the u.s. should be doing right now and what you feel is real should be doing? >> the situation in gaza is obviously a global disgrace. 32,000 people dead come on top of the thousand people that were killed on october 7. eventually, the u.n. security council not being vetoed by the usa is a testament to the strength of all of those that have demonstrated all over the world in support of the palestinian people to demand a permanent full ceasefire. the british government eventually voted for the ramadan ceasefire, which is good, which is a step forward. that is only because of political pressure. we have had now 10 national

demonstrations and we have another one on saturday. we are an enormous growing force of people who what to see peace and what to see the withdrawal of israeli troops and an end to the occupation and justice for the palestinian refugees. netanyahu is now in a difficult position because in effect, he has been disowned by the rest of the world, even the usa who did not veto the u.n. resolution yesterday. i do appeal to those people in israel that have always oppose the occupation and continue to oppose the war to keep up whatever pressure they can. we need a ceasefire to save lives. 32,000 dead, half of whom are dead. famine, starvation. as the weather warms up in rafah, will be called a rub because of lack of sanitation. children dying on the streets. lack of food, lack of medicine.

a few feet away there is and water and medicine and unlimited supplies. the agenda i believe i've the netanyahu administration is to force the palestinian people of gaza through the rafah rossi into sinai and create another gaza. with that, another nakba. it is time to stand with the palestinian people. at least we made some progress at the u.n. yesterday but we have to go a lot further and a lot faster to stop the killing, stop the bombing come and get the food and medicine in urgently for the palestinian people. amy: jeremy corbyn, thank you for being with us, member of the british parliament, served as labour party leader from 2015-2020, standing outside of the london high court which has put the extradition of julian assange on hold for a few weeks until the u.s. provides more assurances about how the wikileaks founder would be

treated in a trial and to guarantee he would not face the death penalty -- though he does face up to 175 years in prison. coming up, we will look more at how israel is continuing to attack gaza despite the vote by the david cay johnston security council --u.n. security council calling for a cease fire ramadan. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. israel is continuing to attack gaza despite a vote monday by the united nations security council calling for a ceasefire during the remaining two weeks of rum on and calling for the -- ramadan and the gaza. 14 of the 15 nations on the security council voted in support of the resolution which was drafted by the non-permanent members of the council.

the united states abstained , ignoring a request by israel to veto the ceasefire resolution. the u.s. had previously vetoed three other ceasefire resolutions. israel denounced the u.n. vote as well as the decision to abstain. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu responded by canceling a visit to washington , d.c., by a high-level delegation to discuss israel's plans to attack rafah. at the united nations, palestinian ambassador riyad mansour praised the ceasefire resolution. >> this must be a turning point. this must lead to saving lives on the ground. this must signaled the end of this assault of atrocities against our people. a nation is being murdered. a nation is being dispossessed. a nation is being displaced.

for decades now, but never at this scale since the nakba. amy: israel has vowed to ignore the resolution. in a post on social media, israeli foreign minister israel katz said -- "the state of israel will not cease firing. we will destroy hamas and continue fighting until the every last hostage has come home." meanwhile, the united states is at its with the u.n. over whether that resolution is binding or not. deputy u.n. spokesperson said u.n. security council resolutions are "as binding as international law." but on monday, linda thomas-greenfield, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., described the resolution as nonbinding. >> we appreciated the willingness of members of this council to take some of our edits and improve on this resolution. still certain key edits were ignored, including our request to add a condemnation of hamas.

and we did not agree with everything in the resolution. for that reason, we were, unfortunately, not able to vote yes. as i have said before, we fully support some of the critical objectives in this nonbinding resolution. and we believe it was important for the council to speak out and make clear that our ceasefire must -- any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages. as i have said before, the only path to a durable end to this conflict is the release of all hostages. amy: for more, we're joined by craig mokhiber, international human rights lawyer who formerly served as the director of the new york office of the united nations high commissioner for human rights, where he worked for more than three decades as a human rights official. he resigned in october over the u.n.'s failure to adequately address large scale atrocities in palestine and israel.

welcome back to democracy now! can you explain the significance of this u.n. security council resolution, the u.s. abstaining, and whether or not this is binding? >> thank you. nice to be with you again. it is significant. you picked the right adjective. this was a draft put forward by the nonpermanent members, the elected members of the security council, the so-called e-10. these members include representatives from around the world including some key allies of the u.s. which created i think the degree of political pressure that added to hopes the resolution would not be vetoed in this case. i have to say it follows just a few days after that council rejected a rather cynical draft that was submitted by the united states. the text just said is an anti-ceasefire resolution, did not order a ceasefire but effectively set out israel's

conditions for ceasing its violations of international law. that was a real problem because a lot of u.s. media outlet were reporting on that resolution as a ceasefire resolution what it was anything but. but yesterday's resolution was an actual ceasefire resolution. a rather weak one, but it is a ceasefire resolution. it calls for a brief ceasefire for access for humanitarian at scale for lawful treatment of prisoners, including palestinian prisoners come and for release of hostages. it is important because we are in the midst of the genocide. you have the security council that has failed for six months and finally succeeding at least in demanding a temporary cease fire. any pause will save lives. any aid that gets in as a result during an opposed starvation will make a difference, no doubt about it. it is also important because it is a signal of the very broad

consensus across the global community against israel's onslaught on gaza and it will be another legal tool to get help and holding perpetrators accountable after the provisional order of the world court on israel's dennis i. unfortunately, while it contains some hopeful aspirational language that may lead to a lasting ceasefire, it only domains a ceasefire during the month of ramadan which will end and just over two weeks. so it is a very short pause during this genocide. the no one of the u.s. is conditions for not vetoing the resolution was the deletion of the word "permanent" which changes the substance of the resolution significantly. despite all of this talk about tensions in u.s.-israeli relations and this rare instance of the u.s. not -- the u.s. is running interference on behalf of israel at the u.n. this says been made all the work

thereby the statements of that u.n. immediately after the adoption of the resolution which the u.s. has claimed, entirely falsely by the way, that the seas demand is conditional on the release of hostages and secondly that the resolution is nonbinding. linda thomas-greenfield made these claims in the session of security council after the adoption of the resolution. both of these claims are false and have no legal grounding. the u.n. charter and article 25 -- in article 25 had made this understandable. security council resolutions are binding on member states. this is black letter law in the charter that says all members of the united nations are bound to accept and carry out the decisions of the security council will stop confirmed by the international court of justice. the claim that the ceasefire is to be conditioned on other factors like the release of hostages, this is false as well.

this was a key central focus of the negotiations was to make sure these things were not conditioned one on the other, but are separate demands of this ticketed council. the u.s. knows this but it is cynically distorting the record in order on the one hand to be able to claim it has gone along and not blocked an international ceasefire because of pressure from domestic and international constituencies. on the other hand, making sure that nothing really changes on the ground. it shows how the u.s. -- how committed the u.s. has been undercutting the resolution even before the inquest -- eight was dry. the u.s. used it's hard to water down the text during the negotiations. it still did not vote in favor only abstaining. that immediately and falsely declared it is nonbinding and conditional. in the end, we know israel is unlikely to respect any of the terms of this resolution.

it already declared it will not do so. they have continued all of their military offenses and genocidal assaults on the gaza strip since the adoption of the resolution. we know the u.s. is very unlikely to use any leverage to compel israel to comply with the resolution. their language now trying to claim it is nonbinding is evidence that is their intent. forced starvation continues. the genocide continues unabated. juan: craig mokhiber, what would be the potential actions of the united nations to a member state that does not adhere to a binding resolution of this type? also, what is your response to prime ministers netanyahu's canceling of the israeli delegation to the u.s. over this vote? >> i think israel's intentions have been made clear. if you listen to the statements

of the prime minister and other leaders, they have been clear from the beginning they will not relent in their assault on the gaza strip until they have effectively accomplished the destruction of the entire strip. there attacks now on rafah in particular show the last piece of the gaza strip that has not been effectively destroyed is not only in their sites, but already under their bombs. israel never had any intention -- israel has the world record for violating security council resolutions in the united nations. that is unchanged. but this resolution can make a difference. on the one hand, there is an opportunity of israel -- if israel is a breach to bring a resolution for enforcement under chapter seven. as we have said, the united states is likely to block, to veto that resolution to prevent the enforcement just as they will continue to block any enforcement of the decisions of

the international court of justice regarding genocide in palestine. in this case, because the u.s. has not vetoed it, they have not blocked action in the general simile under the united for peace resolution where you could have seen some real meaningful action. you could have seen resolution with teeth, with substance. resolution that included diplomatic, military, political, economic sanctions. nonenforcement, but the call for the sanctions. the deployment of a protection force, the establishment of a tribunal, establishment of permanent mechanisms as was the case within the united nations during apartheid in south africa. so there are actions that could be taken here, but the non-veto has slowed action in the general assembly while at the same time allowing the united states to climb, yes, the resolution passed but somehow it is not binding. in the end, this comes down

first to the political will of member states across the organization which already after the provisional measures of the international court of justice are obliged to be taking action to rein in israel's assault on gaza. few have done so but i think there's pressure building. secondly, the obligation on all of us in civil society to make sure we keep up their pressure come as was the case in south africa, on our own countries, to make sure there are appropriate sanctions imposed on israel to force it to comply and end its genocide. amy: i want to turn to a displaced palestinian gaza responding to the u.n. security council vote in new york. >> we hope the decision is implemented and that it is taken seriously because we know israel is stubborn and does not pay attention to the security council or any western countries or arab countries.

you can see with the situation is like in the life we are living is very difficult with big massacres and genocides, not just one genocide, and the situation is very hard and we hope it comes quickly and the decision is implemented. amy: craig mokhiber, can you respond? we're getting all sorts of reports on whether the qatar talks are continuing, the negotiations. a spokesperson for qatar's foreign ministry says negotiations are still ongoing. he rejected israeli claims the u.n. security council resolution calling for ceasefire had an immediate impact on the talks. your response? and where you see this all headed at this point? even as we talked about whether israel will launch a full-scale invasion, i think in the last 24 hours since the u.n. security council resolution was passed,

something like 80 to 100 palestinians were killed, most of them in rafah. >> absolutely. this is the challenge of enforcement. it is clear as long as israel's sponsor, the united states of america, is not committed to reining in israel's assault -- the assaults will continue. regardless of what the international court of justice or the security council or legal mechanisms at the international level rule. they are blocked by the power of the united states. that is what we're seeing on the ground. this is an opportunity. it provides a diplomatic and legal tool to press for at least this two week plus pause on the ground. the clock is already ticking. nothing has changed so far. israel is been explicit and its rejection of the resolution and the u.s. has been explicit in his position the resolution is nonbinding, therefore, it

doesn't make any sense for them to take action to try to enforce it. the key elements of the u.s.'s engagement on this was to try to keep the security council and the united nations general at arms length so that all the center of gravity would remain with them and their diplomat -- so-called diplomatic efforts in the middle east together with the egyptians and the qataris. those talks have not borne fruit. israel has repeatedly boycotted portions of those talks. opportunities for a two week pause that the resolution provides is disappearing with each passing day. and so are the opportunities to try to turn that to week pause, as suggested in the resolution, and is something that is more lasting. the u.s. refused to allow the word "permanent" for something more lasting. the pressure is going to have to come from elsewhere.

it is not going to come from these key pressure points. it will have to come from civil society, private actors. as i said before, from all of us. juan: craig mokhiber, there has been for years now efforts to restructure the united nations, especially the security council, precisely because of the overwhelming power that the old european major powers exercised over the security council. do you think this war and inability of the u.n. act to end it will further fuel the move to reform the u.n.? >> one can hope, juan. i think what this genocide has done is it has revealed the weaknesses, the political compromises, the moral failings of the united nations and other international institutions. it has shown itself to be wholly

inadequate, unable to respond to a genocide being committed with western sponsorship. the sponsorship of powerful western states. if there's were happening in a developing country, in africa or asia, you would see a very different response. when the co-perpetrators are the united states, united kingdom, european powers, the united nations has shown itself unable to act. you see that even in the language of the resolution. we are talking about a situation a massive war crimes, crimes against humanity, and that cleansing, and genocide. because the security council is not set up to deal effectively with that, especially when one of its permanent war two of its permanent members at least are implicated in that genocide, it is forced to dust off language about conflict as if this were a war between two states rather than a campaign of annihilation by heavily occupied power against a besieged celine population.

that is not going to get the job done. to get a resolution that calls for ceasefire, even ceasefire language is not appropriate to a genocide as the world court has determined. and you get no language in here that condemns the perpetrators and ms. for accountability of perpetrator -- and moves for accountability are perpetrators. none of the things that would make a difference. it is not just a security council stop the political offices of the united nations that have been set up to deal with issues like genocide, like sexual violence, like children -- they have all failed visibly because they are politically compromised, politically controlled, unlike the human rights mechanisms that have done a terrific job in the humanitarian aid workers that have done a terrific job in the u.n. system. these inter-government bodies have shown themselves to be

wholly ineffective. it is certain he has increased the demand for reform. whether there will be a willingness among them -- amongst the p5 who said with special rights on the security council and a mechanism that belongs in a cold war museum, their lack of political will is what obstructs this. a still believe demand from the ground, a change. we start with apartheid in south africa and we can see it if we work for reforms in the u.n., which i think have to happen. on the other hand, were action against israeli genocide. amy: the question of u.s. stopping military sales to israel, an issue that certainly senator bernie sanders and senator merkley and others have called for, do you think that would make a difference? >> it would make a tremendous difference. the united states is not just

tolerating this genocide, it is, in legal terms, complicit because of its provision of military support, weapons, economic support, diplomatic cover of intelligence support, and the use of its official podiums to disseminate propaganda for genocide on behalf of the israelis. any piece of that puzzle that is removed, especially discontinuing the provision of military aid during the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, will make a much more significant change that in international resolution will be able to make. amy: craig mokhiber, international human rights lawyer who formerly served as the director of the new york office of the united nations high commissioner for human rights, where he worked for more than 30 years as a human rights official. resigning in october over the u.n.'s failure to adequately address the israel-palestine conflict and israel's assault on gaza. coming up, a judge in new york has decided the first of donald trump's criminal trials will

begin april 15. we will speak with david cay johnston in 20 seconds. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. a new york judge has set april 15 to be the start date for donald trump's hush money trial. the first of his four criminal trials. on that date, trump will become the first former u.s. president to ever a face criminal trial. he is accused of falsifying business records in violation of new york law to cover up

hush-money payments made to adult film star stormy daniels. trump was in court monday when the judge rejected requests to delay the trial. the judge directly criticized trump's legal team for alleging prosecutors had improperly withheld documents from them. meanwhile, in a separate case, a new york state appeals court has reduced trump's bond to $175 million, down from over $450 million, to cover a civil fraud judgment. the court also gave trump 10 more days to pay. letitia james could begin seizing some of his properties. to talk more about this and more, we're joined by david cay johnston. pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter and co-founder of dc report. has covered donald trump since the 1980's. his books include "the big cheat: how donald trump fleeced america and enriched himself and his family." his latest piece for the new republic is "today is the day that 50 years of grifting finally comes to an end." start off talking about the

significance of this reduction of money he has to pay. do you think he is going to post it in the next 10 days? and what exactly it means, david? >> it is not unusual for courts to lower the size of a bond from the entire amount owed to some lesser amount. there have been a number of cases of this. it is discretionary on the part of the court will stop the bond is not intended to be punitive. it is to guarantee payment. trump has other assets so i think that was a reasonable decision of this court, as much as it has upset many people were critical of donald. the appeal will probably not take all that long, a matter of months. having read carefully the judge's decision -- i am not a lawyer -- and many lawyers don't see any significant grounds for

appeal. the best trump can hope for is roughly $350 billion base award come the bond is for half of that, might be shaved back a bit but that is about all trump can hope for. juan: david, when he was asked how he would put up now the 175 million dollars bond in his fraud case, trump said in a news conference "i don't need to borrow money. i have a lot of money." your response to that? >> this goes to the heart of how there is no sense of objective truth or fax in donald's world. if donald says something, that means it is so. if you disagree, you know what? fake news. his lawyers told the court that he could not possibly get a bond for $450 million. he could not do more than $100 billion at most. then he turns around and says, i

have $500 million in cash. donald just makes this stuff up. he has done it his entire life. he has done it for the 35 years i have known him. he just makes it up. my guess is he is going to borrow this money somehow. he has another bond for $83 million from a swiss insurer in e. jean carroll second defamation case. and in this case, he has been meeting with at least once jeffrey yes, worth about $25 billion, and owns 7% of bytedance, the parent of tiktok. as president, donald issued an executive order banning tiktok. a court threw that out because he does not have the authority to do that. he said it was a national security threat. now he is saying we need tiktok. how interesting. he makes friends with the guy who has his fortune tied up in

tiktok and suddenly he is in favor of tiktok. amy: we have recently heard what is it steve mnuchin, one of his cabinet members trump trump,'s old cabinet members is trying to put together a team to buy bytedance. is that right? you have billionaires owning x, elon musk, right wing come also owning tiktok. >> what you're saying because of a series of supreme court decisions come the most important of which was citizens united, is the conversion of american democracy into a cash register business. whoever has the most money can buy the government policies they want. there is a desperate need to change this. steve mnuchin was trump's treasury secretary, became very wealthy by taking over a failed savings and loan and then enforcing the most trivial rules to force people out of their houses so he could get the value

of their houses. as treasury secretary, he used government money so he could fly a jet -- these are people who have no regard, amy, for the public interest. they have no sense of sacrifice. they just look at government ago, wow, how rich can i get off of manipulating the government? juan: david, your take on the significance of the most likely first trial now, criminal trial being on the hush money case in new york? >> the judge has made it clear he is fed up with the game plan by trump's lawyers. they put themselves in the position of seven who murders their parents and then pleads for mercy because they are important. they caused -- they were the ones who chose to wait until the last minute to seek certain documents. not from the state prosecutors, but federal prosecutors.

the case against donald trump in this matter is extraordinarily strong in large part because michael cohen, donald trump's fixer and lawyer at the time, went to prison for these exact same events. but when trump is convicted, and i think that is extraordinarily likely, he will appeal because there are 34 misdemeanor charges which are then put together under a federal charge, not a state charge, that trump was trying to subvert the 2016 election by paying off the poor and start stormy daniels. trump will no doubt go to court after the trial and say, that is not fair, can't do that. because anything where law enforcement or aggrieved party comes after trump isn't fair because donald is special. he is above the rules. in fact, he tells his audiences he is their savior. amy: i want to go to donald trump living the courthouse on

monday -- leaving the courthouse on monday. pres. trump: this is all bite and run things, meaning biden. it is a shame what is happening to our country. it is election interference. amy: we just have a minute to go. you have written three books on donald trump. you won the pulitzer prize for your reporting, cofounded d.c. report. where do you think this is headed? this hush money trial you think you will be convicted on, he cannot pardon himself if he becomes president because this is a state court. a state ruling. >> right. i don't take even the supreme court would uphold federal court. donald trump, if he does not get back to the white house -- he could do that even if he loses by 10 million bows as i expect in the fall -- donald trump does not get back to the white house

than what lies ahead for him is financial ruin, bankruptcy, and prison. multiple long prison sentences from both state and federal criminal courts because donald trump has committed serious criminal acts his whole life and finally, finally after a half-century of lying, cheating, stealing, plying 12 euros with liquor so they would gamble, doing extraordinary favors for one of the biggest cocaine traffickers in america, he is finally being held to account. amy: dedicate johnson, why isn't raise that laura trump, now helping to the rnc, married to eric trump, she benefits from money going directly to the trumps because he also has millions of dollars. >> years ago, amy, on your program, i sent donald trump is a want to be dictator. when you are a dictator, you surround yourself with people

you trust and the people you trust most our family. he has installed his daughter-in-law republican national committee, which is close to broke in terms parties should have, and has no money for down ballot which is that for the party. amy: david