03/17/15 03/17/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica this is democracy now! >> this is beyond unfortunate. this is a betrayal of trust. some in who apparently had access to highly classified material. amy: that was general david petraeus five years ago condemning wikileaks for publishing classified information. earlier this month, the retired general plead guilty to mishandling classified information after you get the classified material to his girlfriend paula broadwell, who is writing his review. he let her access is cia e-mail account and other sensitive

material, including the names of covert operatives in afghanistan, were strategy," from white house meetings. unlike many other whistleblowers, david betrays is expected to avoid jail. does the administration have a double standard on leaking classified information? we will speak to jesselyn raddack of the government accountability project. then to the mysterious death of miriam carey. >> why was my sister shot and killed with her one-year-old daughter in the car and she was unarmed? why? my mother deserves to know why. amy: you may remember the story in october of 2013, miriam carey drove to washington, d.c. from connecticut with her infant daughter. she made a u-turn at a white hosue checkpoint. after a short car chase, she was killed after being shot 26 times by secret service and capitol police. was the use of force justified?

news accounts initially claimed she rammed white house and capitol barriers. but that turned out to be false. we will speak to her sister, the family's lawyer, and a "washington post" reporter who has attempted to uncover what happened. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. voting is underway in israel where prime minister benjamin netanyahu faces a tight race for re-election. polls show netanyahu's likud party lagging slightly behind the zionist union coalition, led by justice minister tzipi livni and finance minister yair lapid. netanyahu has emphasized his right-wing positions in recent days, visiting the har homa settlement in occupied east jerusalem and vowing to ramp up settlement construction, deemed illegal under international law. in an interview with a website owned by u.s. casino magnate sheldon adelson, one of his leading backers, netanyahu

unequivocally vowed never to allow a palestinian state, if he is re-elected. crooks i think whoever moves to establish a palestinian state or intends to withdraw from territory is simply yielding territory for radical islamic terrorist attacks against israel. this is the general and morality that was created in the past few years. those who do not understand that they're either heads in the sand. left-wing parties do it, bury their heads in the sand time and again. amy: the obama administration has pressed for a peace deal between israelis and palestinians which includes a palestinian state. netanyahu's closest rival, yitzhak herzog, has sought to capitalize on public frustration with netanyahu's hardline policies. >> the public is generally frustrated. they want a change. the public asked for a change and they aspire for hopes. it is revolted by an fed up with the status quo.

i am the only one who can change the country situation. i'm the only one who can get a mandate from the president to form a new government, to get a mandate from the president, i need to lead a clear majority over the coup a netanyahu. amy: running third place in israeli polls is the joint list, a coalition of four arab parties which could be decisive in forming a new coalition that would unseat netanyahu. the death toll from a category 5 cyclone that tore through the south pacific island nation of vanuatu has increased to 11, with thousands more displaced. the cyclone reportedly destroyed or damaged 90% of buildings in the capital port avila. aid workers who have reached the outer islands say the damage there is even worse. the hospital on the island of tanna is reportedly operating without a roof. the storm's devastation has unfolded amid growing pressure against the fossil fuel companies which are fueling climate change and extreme weather. alumni of oxford university in britain occupied a building on campus monday after the

university failed to make a decision on a student-backed call to divest from fossil fuel. the oxford university council said it needed more time to consider the proposal. meanwhile, one of britain's leading newspapers has launched its own fossil fuel divestment campaign. the guardian has partnered with 350.org to launch a petition calling on two philanthropic groups the bill and melinda , gates foundation and the wellcome trust -- to end their heavy investment in fossil fuels. the guardian's editor-in-chief, alan rusbridger, wrote -- "the argument for a campaign to divest from the world's most polluting companies is becoming an overwhelming one, on both moral and financial grounds." rusbridger said the guardian would also lobby its own parent company, guardian media group, to divest from fossil fuels. in news from iraq, u.s. officials say iran has sent weapons to help oust isil from the city of tikrit. u.s. officials told "the new

york times" iran has deployed advanced rockets and missiles to help shiite militias and iraqi forces fighting the militants. the report comes as president obama acknowledged to vice news isil rose out of the u.s. invasion of iraq. >> isil is a direct outgrowth of al qaeda that grew out of our invasion, which is an example of unintended consequences, which is why we should generally aim before we shoot. we have a 60 country coalition. we will slowly push back isil out of iraq. i am confident that will happen. amy: president obama, speaking to vice news. the white house has acknowledged top officials are still consulting retired general david petraeus for advice about the

fighting the self-proclaimed islamic state in iraq, even though he has pleaded guilty to leaking classified information to his biographer and lover, paula broadwell. he gave her access to his cia email account and other sensitive material, including reportedly the names of undercover operatives in afghanistan. but white house press secretary josh earnest said no measures are in place to prevent future security breaches. >> i think he his legitimately -- he is legitimate regarded as an expert when it comes to the security situation in iraq. it makes a lot of sense for senior administration officials two, on occasion, consultant for advice. >> in a particular security cautions you take, given his legal entanglements? >> not that i am aware. amy: later after headlines, we will speak with attorney jesselyn radack, who has represented a number of whistleblowers who have faced much more serious charges and

jail time, unlike general petraeus. in egypt, a court has sentenced 14 people to death, including mohammed badie, leader of the muslim brotherhood movement of ousted president mohammed morsi. badie has been sentenced to death before and had the sentences reduced to life imprisonment. a final decision is due next month, and the defendants can still appeal. the united arab emirates, another close u.s. ally, has barred a new york university professor from the country after he criticized the monarchy's exploitation of migrant laborers. andrew ross said he learned of the van after arriving at the airport in new york where he was set to board a flight to continue his research in the uae. nyu recently opened a campus in the united arab emirates. the construction of which relied on migrant workers laboring under harsh conditions. the american civil liberties union has sued the obama administration over the secrecy of its drone wars overseas. the lawsuit seeks basic details

about the administration's so-called targeted killing program, including records on how the government selects targets, determines the risk of potential civilian casualities and assesses who was actually killed. the aclu filed a freedom of information act request for the information in october of 2013 but has not received any records. one of mexico's leading investigative reporters has been fired from her popular radio show in a case that has ignited protests over freedom of the press. carmen aristegui recently exposed how mexican president enrique peña nieto and his wife possess a $7 million mansion built for them by a contractor who received lucrative government contracts. last week, the broadcaster mvs fired two reporters on her team, accusing them of using the company's name without permission in the launch of a new whistleblowing website called mexicoleaks. after aristegui defended the reporters on her broadcast and demanded their reinstatement

she was fired. speaking to reporters, she vowed to fight back. >> we have spoken with our lawyers and they tell us they have no right to do it they're doing. our lawyers tell us we're going to fight. our lawyers tell us this is an affront to freedom of expression and there are a set of irregularities and condemnable situations. amy: the obama administration has criticized senate republicans for stalling the nomination of loretta lynch, president obama's pick to succeed eric holder as attorney general. white house press secretary josh earnest called the delay "unconscionable." >> it certainly disappointment that after 128 days since they nominated to be the next attorney general, that loretta lynch, professional independent career prosecutor, has not yet gotten a vote in the united states senate. it is unconscionable delay. she ascended to more than eight

hours of testimony before the senate judiciary committee answered more than 600 written questions from senators. to say nothing of the count was other conversations she has had a more private settings with individual members. amy: republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said he will delay a vote on lynch's nomination until the senate passes a bill to create a restitution fund for trafficking victims created by fines from people convicted of trafficking-related crimes. but democrats have objected to an anti-choice measure tucked into the bill, which they say republicans failed to adequately disclose. critics say the provision could force trafficking victims to carry unwanted pregnancies, and genetically increase future abortion restrictions by expanding restrictions on federal taxpayer funding for abortion to include private funds. oregon has become the first state in the country to pass an automatic voter registration law, potentially adding 300,000 voters to its rolls.

the so-called motor voter law automatically registers eligible voters whose information is on file with the department of motor vehicles. potential voters have a 21-day period to opt out of the voter registry. missouri is set to execute a man diagnosed as mentally ill and disabled, unless the state's highest court ends its longstanding refusal to intervene. cecil clayton is missing one fifth of his frontal lobe as a result of an accident at a lumberyard where he worked. years after the injury, he was arrested for killing a police officer, and sentenced to death despite his apparent confusion over the crime. psychologists have repeatedly concluded clayton's execution would violate the constitution's ban on executing insane or intellectually disabled people. but the missouri supreme court has refused six times to hold a hearing the case. unless they change course, he will die today at 6:00 p.m. missouri time. the u.s. bureau of prisons has

reportedly cancelled its contract with a private company for the running of a prison known as "ritmo," or the guantanamo of raymondville texas. about 2,000 immigrant prisoners staged an uprising at the willacy county prison last month to protest inadequate healthcare at the facility, which is also known as "tent city," such many of the prisoners slept in kevlar tents. the prisoners have been evacuated and the facility will no longer be run by the management and training corporation. the facility was one of 13 privately run so-called criminal alien requirement prisons. it housed mostly undocumented immigrants convicted of nonviolent crimes. the aclu called the closure "a welcome but long overdue move," and called for the government to end the use of private prisons. state senators in new jersey have voted to condemn a 220 $59 settlement reportedly pushed through by the office of republican governor chris christie, which saved exxon mobil billions of dollars.

new jersey quietly agreed to accept less than 3% of the $8.9 billion it had initially sought from exxon over pollution at two refinery sites. on monday, lawmakers asked a judge to reject the deal calling it "grossly inappropriate, improper and inadequate." one of the national football league's most promising rookies of the past season has announced he is retiring from professional football over concerns about the impact of repeated head injuries. san francisco 49ers linebacker chris borland, who is 24, said he made the decision after careful research into the links between football, repeated concussions, and neurological disease. borland told espn -- "i just honestly want to do what's best for my health. from what i've researched and what i've experienced, i don't think it's worth the risk." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman with aaron mate. aaron: welcome. with prosecutions of whistleblowers like chelsea manning, edward snowden, thomas drake, john kiriakou and several others, the obama administration is by far the most aggressive in history when it comes to punishing leaks. but its handling of leakers in -- but is there a double standard? that is the question being raised after a lenient pleaded for david traders, the retired four-star journal and former head of the cia. unlike the others, petraeus did not release information to expose a perceived government wrongdoing. instead, petraeus gave classified material to his mistress, paula broadwell, who was writing his biography. petraeus let broadwell access his cia email account and other sensitive material, including the names of covert operatives in afghanistan, war strategy and quotes from white house meetings. petraeus also lied to the fbi telling investigators he never gave broadwell any classified information. after an investigation that

raised eyebrows for its slow pace, the fbi and federal prosecutors recommended felony charges. but unlike other leakers petraeus was not indicted. instead, earlier this month, he reached a plea deal admitting to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified information. prosecutors won't seek prison time, but instead, two years probation and a fine. his sentencing is next month. meanwhile, after being forced to resign in 2012, petraeus remains an administration insider, advising the white house on the war against isis. amy: on monday, josh earnest defended the administration's ongoing consultations with petraeus. >> i think is legitimately regarded as an expert when it comes to the security situation in iraq. so i think it makes a lot of sense for senior ministration officials two, on occasion consultant for advice. >> in a particular security

precautions you take in a situation, given his legal entitlements? >> not unaware of. amy: as petraeus avoids jail time, a lawyer for imprisoned government contractor stephen kim is accusing the obama administration of blatant hypocrisy and demanding kim's immediate release. in a letter to the justice department, abbe lowell says -- "the decision to permit general petraeus to plead guilty to a misdemeanor demonstrates more clearly than ever the profound double standard that applies when prosecuting so-called 'leakers' and those accused of disclosing classified information for their own purposes." kim was convicted earlier this year for speaking to a reporter from fox news about north korea. the famed lawyer abbe law -- abby lowell says prosecutors dismissed his offer to have kim plead guilty to the same misdemeanor they ended up offering to petraeus. he writes --

"you rejected that out of hand saying that a large reason for your position was that mr. kim lied to fbi agents." but since petraeus also lied to the fbi, lowell concludes -- "lower-level employees like mr. kim are prosecuted under the espionage act because they are easy targets and lack the resources and political connections to fight back. high level officials (such as general petraeus) leak classified information to forward their own agendas (or to impress their mistresses) with virtual impunity." the lenient treatment of petraeus falls in line with similar responses to leaks from other administration insiders. cia director leon panetta helped provide secret information to the filmmakers of "zero dark thirty," the hollywood film about the raid that killed osama bin laden, but never faced punishment. and just last week, it emerged that a long-running investigation of a former top-ranking pentagon general for leaking the information that publicly exposed a u.s. cyberwarfare operation against iran has stalled.

according to "the washington post," general james cartwright had authorization to speak to reporters, and defense attorneys -- "might try to put the white house's relationship with reporters and the use of authorized leaks on display, creating a potentially embarrassing distraction for the administration." for more we are joined by jesselyn radack, national security and human rights director at the government accountability project. she is former ethics adviser to the united states department of justice. she is one of the lawyers for edward snowden, thomas drake ,and john kiriakou -- three whistleblowers all charged under the espionage act. she recently wrote a piece for foreign policy magazine headlined, "petraeus, snowden, and the department of two-tiered justice." why don't you lay out what that two-tiered department of justice looks like, jesselyn radack. >> well, i think the two-tiered justice is simply that if you are powerful or politically

connected, you can leak regularly with impunity. and we have seen that because the top three past cia directors, including leon panetta, including general david katrina us, including brennan, have all leaked covert identities and suffer no consequence for it. and meanwhile, the victims in obama's war on whistleblowers have all been low-level employees and again, people who have been whistleblowers, whose disclosures were not meant for the purpose of self and grand eiseman, but to reveal fraud waste, abuse and legality. and all of whom revealed far less than ever --petraeus ever did. aaron: i imagine when

investigators and prosecutors are looking to the case with petraeus they took into account what his intent was, which was to get material to his girlfriend. but someone like edward snowden -- it makes no difference to the espionage act, whether he can document's mr. journalists versus whether he had given them to a foreign intelligence agency -- which he did not do. >> that is exactly right. the espionage act is effectively a strict liability offense meaning that you can raise no defense. it does not matter whether you were leaking secrets to a foreign enemy for profit or whether you're giving information to journalists and the public interests to get back to the people who have a right to know what has been done in their name. the fact the espionage act has been used on tom drake and edward snowden and john kerry a coup, stephen kim, chelsea

manning, to suddenly have petraeus charged under completely different law just smacks of hypocrisy. moreover under the espionage act -- technically, petraeus should be charged under the espionage act but also with one count of making false statements and three counts under the intelligence identities protection act. and instead, he is not charged under the espionage act and in fact, he is not charged or indicted at all. he is able to strike a sweetheart plea deal under section 1924 which is far more lenient, far less punitive, and under which he is able to mount a defense unlike any of the people that i have represented. amy: i want to turn to general qatari is in his own words. in 2010 at the time, nbc david

gregory interviewed him on "meet the press." >> there's another developing story that military is unhappy about, and that is the leaking of secret war documents that were put on the internet by wikileaks. there's another 15,000 documents that are coming out. what is in those documents? how damaging will they be? >> first of all, this is beyond unfortunate. this is a betrayal of trust. someone apparently had to have had access to highly classified material -- albeit, not top-secret, i don't believe. in fact, a lot of this, when you first looked at it we saw it as what we call first reports. it is undigested, not the final analysis. however, as we have looked through it more and more, there are source names and in some cases, there are actual names of individuals within we have partnered and difficult missions and difficult places. obviously, that is very reprehensible. amy: so that is david katrina us

in 2010 -- david petraeus in 2012. his biography came out in 2012. your response to what the general was saying? >> the general has also made similar to the critical statements. my client john kerry ought to. it does not matter if harm occurred. nevertheless, the government has gone through great links in every single case of whistleblowing to claim that great harm occurred from the disclosures of chelsea manning. the general resort for a to the manning leaks in particular, so i went to the desk was referring to the manning looks in particular, i want to the marshal. when it came to present damage assessment, it could not come up with one. so although in all of these

cases, snowden, tom drake said he was going to have blood of soldiers on his hands john kiriakou was said to have caused untold damage now into the future. the government waives its hands and screams and cries about damage when none has occurred. as the government well knows the way the espionage act has been interpreted, it doesn't in fact matter if damage happens. amy: were going to take a break and then come back to this discussion. we're talking to jesselyn radack , national security and human rights director of the government accountability project will stop she is former ethics adviser to the united states department of justice. she is the lawyer for edward snowden, thomas drake and john kiriakou. she recently wrote a piece for foreign policy magazine headlined, "petraeus, snowden, and the department of two-tiered justice." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. our guest is jesselyn radack national security and human rights director at the government accountability project. she is former ethics adviser to the united states department of justice. she is the lawyer for edward snowden, thomas drake and john kiriakou. aaron: i want to turn to comments from senator dianne feinstein speaking earlier this it, urging the department of justice not to bring criminal charges against general petraeus . >> this man has suffered enough, in my view. he is the four-star general of our generation. i saw him in iraq. he put together the army field manual. he put together the awakening and how it worked out.

he, i think, is a very brilliant man. people aren't perfect. he made a mistake. he lost his job as cia director because of it. i mean, how much do you want to punish somebody? aaron: that senator dianne feinstein. jesselyn radack, if you could respond to this man who a suffered enough? before the break, you mention the issue of damage. how does the damage created by petraeus's leaks compared to other damage from edward snowden, for example? >> in the snowden case, there has been no actual damage shown to have occurred from his disclosures to journalists, to print articles. in terms of petraeus whatever made it into product -- paula broadwell's book, there could be a lot of potential damage.

there could have been a lot of potential damage. i have not read her resume -fluffing book myself. i think what petraeus is accused of, disclosing, including codenames and conversations with the president of the united states, notes from the national security council, war plans that information is far more highly classified and could be far more dangerous to have been revealed to anybody. in terms of dianne feinstein statements and senator mccain's statements, which closely tracked dianne feinstein's, i think they are right that people have suffered enough and this is a life-christian thing to be charged with espionage or to be under any kind of criminal -- life-crushing thing to

been charged with espionage. no member of congress did anything. there were no crocodile tears for my clients. there were no public statements. there was nothing. there was nothing in terms of what -- amy: the white house is not seeking their advice as they are with general david trias --petraeus. >> not at all. what time jury and john kiriakou went through, they lost their careers. they lost their life savings their pensions, you know, marriages and families intact -- the same with stephen kim. people are paid a huge price and suffered tremendously far more than petraeus, as you have noted earlier, enjoys a lucrative speaking career, still has security clearance, and is in fact advising the white house on isis. he has suffered no damage from

this. john kiriakou and stephen kim have talked about being suicidal over having this over the heads for seven years. amy: let's talk about their particular cases for those are not familiar. last month, interviewed john kiriakou, retired cia agent who has been released from prison after blowing the whistle on george w. bush administration's torture program. in 2007, he became the first cia official to publicly confirm in detail the agency's use of waterboarding. i asked him why he believed he was jailed. he spoke from his home where he is still under house arrest. >> i am absolutely convinced, amy, that i was jailed because of the torture debate. people leak information in washington all the time, whether it is on purpose or inadvertent. we have seen people like former cia director leon panetta,

former cia director general petraeus leaking classified information with impunity. and that has convinced me that i am right when i say that my case was never about leaking. my case was about blowing the whistle on torture. amy: that is john kiriakou. jesselyn radack, he just came out of prison after two years under house arrest now for how much longe >> for 40 more days. amy: so talk about what he has just said and how what he has done compares to what general petraeus has done. >> i think john makes a very good point. he was the first cia officer to confirm that the u.s. had a torture program and that we were waterboarding people and that torture was a regular practice, not some rogue pastime. like john kiriakou, thomas drake

revealed surveillance programs in their embryonic stages, much like what edward snowden years later revealed in their full fruition. in other words, these people have revealed some of the biggest scandals of my generation, including torture and secret surveillance, and have also revealed information like in the case of jeff sterling and in the case of stephen kim, that was embarrassing to the administration. and that is precisely why they are being punished with drug connie and law -- draconian law but the espionage act, which is a antiquated, heavy-handed, world war i lawmen to go after spies, not whistleblowers. the very visible prosecution drake, kiriakou, kim, sterling, snowden -- these are meant to

send a message to people. do not reveal regular whistleblower information, which would be fraud, waste, abuse, or illegality or else you will be slammed. aaron: you mentioned thomas drake, another one of your clients. he was initially charged under the espionage act for leaking information at the national security agency. the case collapsed. we spoke to him in 2012 about his case. >> i was charged under the espionage act as part of an indictment handed down it will 10. there were five accounts under the espionage act for retaining not leaking, retaining national defense information. the government alleged was doing so for the purpose of disclosure . i was also charged with obstruction of justice as well as making postings to fbi agents. my first day on the job was 9/11. it was shortly after 9/11 i was exposed to the pandora's box of the legality and government

wrongdoing -- the illegality and government wrongdoing on a broad skill. yet the twin specters of fraud, waste, and abuse. in fact, there were alternatives that existed and fulfilled most all the requirements, even prior to 9/11. aaron: jesselyn radack, if you could explain what thomas drake in his status now working in an apple store after blowing the whistle. >>, strake is a classic whistleblower. he blew the whistle through every possible means available -- to his boss, to the general counsel of the nsa, to the department of defense inspector general, and to bipartisan 9/11 congressional investigations. and not only did they fail to redress his concerns, the department of defense inspector general turned around and sold him down the river to the justice department for

prosecution. he eventually went to a baltimore sun reporter with clearly, strictly, unclassified information which sparked a series of award-winning articles. but nevertheless, tom drake was threatened with facing the rest of his life in jail. those were literally the words the prosecutor used against him. in the end, once we were able to show that the so-called classified information against him was not really classified it had been seized from his home and stamped classified after the fact, the case soon collapsed and he pled guilty to a minor misdemeanor under the same provision that general trias was able to get his plea bargain. amy: i would like to ask about the case of stephen kim as well. last month, the intercept published information about his prosecution.

a short film called, "the surrender," accompanied the report on the intercept's website. it's directed by stephen maing and produced by peter maass and laura poitras, director of "citizenfour," the oscar-nominated film about ed snowden. this clip begins with stephen kim. >> in june 2009, i had a . i had recently gotten married. i was about to go work for the secretary of state on foreign policy. i had no inkling that the dark clouds would suddenly reappear. >> in the spring 2009, state department analyst stephen kim was introduced to fox reporter james rosen. the meeting was arranged by the state department bureau of public affairs. >> i remember meeting him

outside the state department. we talked about many things. the iranian revolution, fuel cycle. we did not know about south korea, let alone, north korea. i had to explain the basics. amy: that is stephen kim, serving 13 months in prison right now. abbe lowell a piece about his letter to the justice department is in "the new york times yesterday,. he wrote -- jesselyn radack? >> i agree with abbe lowell's

assessment completely. stephen kim is a modern-day horatio story. he has been an amazing man whose life has been completely ruined because he talked to a reporter about the idea that north korea might fire test missiles in response to u.n. sanctions. none of this was job dropping news -- jaw-dropping news. yet the government decided to retaliate against him. and he right now is serving a 13 month sentence in jail under the espionage act. like my other clients, i doubt that stephen kim will ever be able to obtain a security clearance again ever work in the intelligence community again, or on national security issues. and will spend years in debt

trying to pay off attorneys fees that he has accrued. and that is not to mention his own marriage he lost as a result of a brutal espionage act investigation. and his story of the effects of this are not unique at all. people literally and bankrupted doesn't end up like rep -- and up bankrupted and blacklisted. in the case of edward snowden they end up in an asylum in russia. this is a clip of the first video of edward snowden filled by laura poitras. >> regarding the outcome for america is that nothing will change. people will see in the media all of these disclosures. they will know the links the

government is going to to grant themselves powers unilaterally to create greater control over american society and global society. but they won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up to fight and change things, to force the representatives to actually take a stand in their interests. aaron: jesselyn radack we have 30 seconds. what is the latest with this case? he said repeatedly he would come home with you to get a fair trial. >> and the store means true. however, a fair trial is not an espionage act trial, which takes place largely in secret and under which he can raise no defense. if the government is interested in talking to us about a petraeus-type puff plea, i think

we would be glad to listen. but that is -- that is the governments move right now. i think edward snowden called sick directly. he watched -- called it correctly. she watched what happened to chelsea manning and tom oestreich and made his decision accordingly. and now that we have the petraeus model, at least we have a way to look at this through a different lens. it could be informative in terms of the edward snowden case and the sterling case. amy: the comparison is interesting, particularly we just learned that he is advising the white house because edward snowden advising the white house and the nsa on information policy could be very interesting and a positive benefit for this country. >> i agree with you completely. he has expressed an interest in doing so. in fact, other governments repeatedly expressed their interest in having him help them learn more about their

informational, operational security and what they can do to strengthen cyber. i think he would have a lot of helpful information. and like all of these whistleblowers, he is a very talented brilliant, prescient individual and these -- it is a complete loss to the united states if they are never allowed to be public servants again. aaron: quickly, as it terms -- is it true that the government's only sure and so far as they would not charge snowden with the death penalty? >> yes, they would not charge them with the death penalty and they also promised he would not be tortured. i think that is having a very low bar. aaron:amy: jesselyn radack, thank you for being with us national , security and human rights director at the government accountability project. former ethics adviser to the united states department of justice. lawyer for edward snowden, thomas drake and john kiriakou. she recently wrote a piece for

foreign policy magazine headlined, "petraeus, snowden, and the department of two-tiered justice." we will be back in a minute with a case you may think you know all about. it certainly got a lot of attention. and in fact, all of the details of it may be entirely wrong. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. aaron: new details have emerged about two secret service agents accused of drunk driving into a white house security barricade. "the washington post" reports the agents allegedly drove through an active investigation, directly next to a suspicious package, which had been placed on the ground by a woman who claimed it was a bomb. while officers at the scene wanted to arrest the agents and administer sobriety tests, a superior ordered their release without the tests. the secret service's new director, joseph clancy, who was appointed last month after a scandal over a white house security breach, said he learned

of the incident five days later. the agents have been identified as mark connolly, the second-in-command on obama's security detail, and george ogilvie, a top supervisor in the washington field office who issued a statement last year touting the agency's zero-tolerance policy for driving. amy: we're going to turn to another secret service incident that raises disturbing questions. on october 3, 2013, an unarmed african-american mother named miriam carey drove to washington, d.c. from connecticut with her infant daughter in the back seat. a u-turn at a checkpoint followed by a car chase, led to secret service agents and capitol police firing 26 bullets at her car, eventually killing carey. while the shooting deaths of trayvon martin and michael brown have sparked nationwide protest against police brutality carey's case remains shrouded in a fog of misinformation. initial reports claimed she "rammed" white house and capitol

barriers and that she tried to breach two security perimeters. those reports have since been proven false. well, for more, we're joined now by three guests. here in new york, we're joined by valarie carey, one of miriam's sisters. we're also joined by eric sanders, a civil rights lawyer and retired new york city police officer who is representing the carey family in their wrongful-death claim. and in washington, d.c, we're joined by david montgomery, a staff reporter for "the washington post." last year, he wrote a piece for the washington post sunday magazine called, "how miriam carey's u-turn at a white house checkpoint led to her death." we welcome you all to democracy now! david, let's begin with you in washington d.c. describe that day come the day that if we all sort of remember back, we probably have heard about, it was an amazing moment that ended with, what was it standing ovation in the floor of the house of representatives for the secret service? >> that is exactly right. it was a fall day october 3. the capital was already edgy because just a week or four so

before, everyone was a little bit jittery at about exactly 2:13 p.m., miriam carey drives up to one of the one out -- one of the white house security checkpoints with her one-year-old baby in the back and goes through the kiosk. there is no gatewood barrier to rim. you asked a kiosk and was ordered by the secret service agents to stop and she didn't. she made a u-turn and tried to exit. that is when an off-duty secret service agent tried to put up sort of a bicycle rack-like sense to keep her in. she did not stop. she sort of rammed that gate -- amy: wait, wait. he put up a fence after she drove there to keep her in? was he in uniform? >> he was not in uniform. he was off duty and carrying a cooler. we don't know what was inside. amy: like a beer cooler?

>> or alledge cooler. we don't know what it was. amy: so all she saw with her baby in the back seat is he comes into it -- she comes into this area enemy has put up a fence against her in caring a cooler? >> yes. amy: she pushes through that and that is the first ranting of a barrier we heard about that they? >> according to one witness, she tried to steer around it and apparently the off-duty officer repositioned it in front of her and then she does ram it and you can see him tumble off the side of her car. yet, that is something that was not clear immediately. in a think it may not be clear even today to some people. the only barrier she rammed that day was the one put up to keep her from leaving this space. aaron: so what happens next? >> that didn't begin as the seven minute pursuit.

she drives straight down pennsylvania avenue. that is a straight shot to the capital. you can see the capital from there. it is unclear how fast she was going. the investigation later said she covered the distance in four minutes. i calculated that it is a 1.3 mile route and if she did it in four minutes her average speed was about 20 miles per hour. the police said she was traveling up to 80 miles per hour. at the average week, she could of gone very fast and very slow at some point, but that is one of the things we don't know. was this a high-speed chase or what? she gets to the capitol reflecting pool, there is that john reflecting pool in front of the capitol lawn, and there is a circle. that is where several secret service vehicles catch up with her and hem her in. this is the video, perhaps the

most insatiable video we have all seen. we have seen it because a media cameraman was on the lawn shooting video that authorities have released no video from this entire episode. and that is where you can see her hemmed in my course, secret service officers are out him and pointing her pistols at her. you can hear them yelling, get out of the car. she backs her car into one of the vehicles, seemingly, perhaps, we don't know but it gave her some room to the maneuver out of the situation. the camera turns away, but the soundtrack is still going. you can hear several shots. we know later eight shots were fired by two secret service agents in one capitol police officer, sort of as she was leaving. that is sort of the second point of encounter. in this tragic seven minutes. then she continues another, i think, poise seven miles to the

west side of the capital -- .7 miles to the west side of the capital. and that is where she is trying to leave capitol hill and there is a pop-up barrier all around the capital with security barriers that can pop up out of the pavement. she is sort of trying to pass the capital, past the supreme court, and we don't know where she was going, but there is a barrier so she makes a u-turn and comes back. she is actually driving in reverse at this time. she drives right at i believe capitol police officer who has to jumout of her way. that is the second time her car appears to go straight at an officer. back at the first encounter, you can see on the videotape, an officer scrambling out of the way as she tries to evade them. that happens again on capitol hill. two officers, 16 service among capitol police, each fire nine rounds into the car and she is struck five times. seven minutes said she is left

the white house. she is unconscious and instead have an hour later. her baby is physically unharmed and we don't know what she will remember from that. amy: in the house of representatives? >> if you follow twitter feeds it was dramatic and i think scary for tourists. tourists are hitting the deck on the west lawn. you can see agents with large guns, so there was a sense of fear and mystery of what is going on. shots fired, starting to get out on television, and congress reads -- brief societal relief. the immediate reaction was, this was a threat averted. i don't know the exact time that standing ovation happen, perhaps an hour or two or three later, to thank the officers for protecting the capital. amy: well, miriam carey is the

young woman who was killed with her baby in the back seat by secret service. valarie carey is with us, one of her sisters. how did you hear what happened to her sister and do you -- did you even know your sister had driven a washington? >> i had no idea my sister had driven to washington that day. how i initially found out that my sister may have been in washington and the reason why i say "may have been," week, the family of miriam the carey family we did not receive any police notification of my sister's death. my cell phone started to ring about 5:20 p.m. from numerous undisclosed numbers. i actually answered one of those numbers that came from the

connecticut area -- i thought it was my sister miriam. it happened to be a reporter. other calls were from reporters as well. they left numerous messages and text messages for me to call them in regards to my sister. amy: your sister was a dental hygienist? >> yes, she was. amy: she worked into the different offices? >> yes. amy: can you tell us, eric sanders, what you're doing about this? you yourself are a retired cop and now civil rights attorney. >> valarie is also a retired sergeant for the nypd. dylan thing we can do right now is get open disclosure. there are some people who believe we are trying to case through the media. we're not trying to do that. we want transparency. we believe -- just like eric holder said ferguson and president obama said in her corner case, we want full disclosure. we're not afraid of the facts.

we can see a step on our training is inconsistent what they're saying. it looks like they violated her civil rights. it looks like the police officers gone mad. we want answers. we want justice more than anything else. right now, we filed a federal tort claim in the next step is we need to follow lawsuit. more important we are not motivated by money, but by the justice. aaron: the shooting of so many bullets at her by these two officers, can you talk about that? >> that is one factor. when the police try to stop you there is a seizure within the context of the fourth amendment they have to have a basis. just because a police officer once tuesday stop you, they have no legal basis. -- once to stop you, they have no legal basis. he stops alumina says, when you have? he has nothing. cut them loose. you have to have a legal basis to fire a weapon, d's four seconds people, to stop people.

some people are under the misconception somehow washington is a special place. the constitution applies the same in washington, d.c. as well as new york. the amount of rounds and the fact that even fired any ammunition at her is inconsistent with their training. amy: you are a retired police sergeant as well? >> yes. amy: so your thought on how the police and secret service dealt with this? >> i believe they did not follow protocol. i don't believe that firing at a moving car, a moving vehicle is justifiable. my sister was unarmed. i don't believe the lethal use of force was necessary. aaron: there was the first anniversary event, marking the first year since her sister was killed. how did your family pay tribute to your sister? >> we traveled to washington, d.c. to actually follow her final steps of her life.

we did a butterfly release in her honor. amy: can you tell us in this last few seconds about what you believe her mental state may have been at the time? >> i cannot speak as to what her mental state was. i can say i believe my sister was in fear for her life. she was in fear for her daughter's life. my 13-year-old news, who was in -- amy: 13 months old. >> website, 13-month-old niece in the backseat of the vehicle which are more than certain the officers were able to see that there was a child in the car. they did not have any regard for my sister or my niece as they shot five times in my sister's back. amy: we will continue this discussion and posted online. valarie carey as well as david montgomery and eric sanders, thank you so much for being with

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