11/01/17 11/01/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! "justicia: berta" justice for berta. a shocking new report looks at who killed berta caceres. we will get an update from "new york times google reporter elisabeth malkin in mexico city. republicans cancel a hearing with san juan mayor carmen yulin

cruz who was set to testify alongside fema chief brock long today. >> we received a statement by the congressman thompson stating that the majority of the republicans for the second time in a row has canceled the with no date for it to be rescheduled. i'm just wondering, what are they afraid of? amy: than a federal judge blocked part of president terms transgender military ban. we will speak with the former trans marine who is the challenging the ban. all of that andore, coming up. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in new york city, eight people were killed and 11 more injured when a driver intentionally drove a pickup truck down a bike path along manhattan's hudson river tuesday. officials are calling it an act of terror.

police say the attacker was 29-year-old sayfullo saipov. he reportedly drove a rented home depot truck down the massacre will lane -- bicycle and killing at least eight people before crashing into a school bus. he then reportedly jumped out of the car, waiving a pellet gun and a paintball gun. police say he yelled "god is great" in arabic before being shot by police in the stomach. he survived the shooting. authorities say they uncovered handwritten notes in arabic near the truck that suggest saipov had declared allegiance to isis. authorities say sayfullo saipov came to the united states from uzbekistan in 2010 and has lived in florida, ohio, and most recently in patterson, new jersey. this is new york city mayor bill de blasio. >> it is a very painful day in our city. horrible tragedy on the west side. let me be clear based on the information we have at this moment, this was an act of

terror. and a particularly coward act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them. this moment, based on the information we have, we know of eight innocent people who have lost their lives. amy: in response to the attack, president trump tweeted -- join "n.y.c., looks like another attack by another sick and arranged person. law-enforcement is following this closely will stop not in the usa." when i did tweak -- "i've ordered homeland security to step our extreme vetting program being politically correct is fine, but not for this." among the victims were five argentines who had gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation. in afghanistan, isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the capital kabul, which killed up to eight people

and wounded many more. reuters reports seeing at least eight people who appeared to have died from the blast, and that all the victims were afghan civilians. the attack occurred in the heavily fortified green zone. afghan authorities say the attacker appeared to be as young as 12 or 13 years old. in more news on afghanistan "the new york times" is reporting that the u.s. military has begun keeping secret key information about the u.s.-backed afghan security forces. the figures redacted from the most recent inspector general's quarterly report include the size of the afghan army and police force and how many soldiers and police have been wounded or killed. this information used to be made public. since 2001, the u.s. has funneled tens of billions of dollars to the afghan security forces. in yemen, a u.s.-backed saudi-led airstrike has killed at least 26 people at hotel and adjacent market in the northern saada province on wednesday. the ongoing u.s.-backed, saudi-led bombing campaign has killed more than 10,000

civilians, sparked the cholera epidemic by destroying yemen's health, water, and sanitation systems, and exacerbated a famine that's left 7 million on the brink of starvation. on capitol hill, executives from facebook, google, and twitter testified to a senate judiciary subcommittee tuesday about how russia spread propaganda ahead of the 2016 presidential election using the major social media websites. on monday, facebook disclosed that as many as 126 million users were exposed to the political advertisements bought by a russian-linked company. this is facebook's general counsel colin stretch being questioned by delaware senator christopher coons about one of these ads. >> the ad claims that hillary clinton is "only one politician except barack obama who is despised by the overwhelming majority of american veterans." it says "if clinton were elected president, the army should be

withdrawn from her control according to them amendment of the constitution." the is nothing short of russian government directly interfering in our elections, line two american citizens ,duping folks who believe there joining and supporting a group of veterans and based in texas when in fact it is paid for in rubles by russians. it should -- should facebook be allowed to be a platform that foreign adversaries can use to run political ads, sir? advertisementat has no place on facebook. amy: that was facebook's general counsel colin stretch being questioned by delaware senator christopher coons during a senate judiciary subcommittee hearing on tuesday. this is colin stretch being questioned by senator al franken. >> how does facebookocess billis and instantly transform them

into personal connections for its user, somehow not make the connection that electoral ads paid for in rubles were coming from russia? those are two data points. andican political ads russian money, rubles. how could you not connect those two dots? amy: special counsel robert mueller is continuing to widen his investigation into whether president trump colluded with russia to influence the 2016 election, with plans to interview trump's current communications director, hope hicks, and multiple other current white house officials. hicks has already retained a personal lawyer. the expansion of the investigation comes after mueller announced the first indictments in the investigation, charging trump's former campaign chair paul manafort and his former business associate rick gates with 12

counts, including money laundering and conspiracy against the united states. both men surrendered themselves to the fbi monday. they are now under house arrest. relation show manafort had three different u.s. passports, each with different numbers. rick gates has 55 different bank accounts with 13 different days, including some based in cyprus and britain. president trump is tried to discredit and diminish the significance of a third trump adviser, george papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty in early october to lying to the fbi and is cooperating with investigators in exchange for a more lenient sentence. on tuesday trump tweeted -- "few people knew the young, low level volunteer named george, who has already proven to be a liar." white house chief of staff john kelly is facing widespread criticism for his comments about the civil war during a fox news interview on monday. >> robert ely was an honorable man. the lack of ability to compromise led to the civil war.

and many women of good faith on both sides made their stand with their contents had them make their stand. amy: historians have denounced -- comment asrous dangerous. in response, award-winning author ta-nehisi coates tweeted an extended history lesson about the civil war and criticism of john kelly, which included coates writing -- "when the 'adult in the room' believes a war for slavery was honorable, believes that the torturer of humans, vendor of people, who led that war was honorable. you really do see the effect of white supremacy." amnesty is slamming the israeli government for refusing to allow raed jarrar, advocacy director for the middle east and north africa, to enter the israeli-occupied west bank. he was stopped at a crossing between jordan and the west bank while on a personal trip to visit family after the death of his father. amnesty said -- "the fact that raed jarrar was barred from entry after being interrogated about his work with amnesty international appears to suggest that this move was taken

in retaliation for the organization's work on human rights violations in the occupied palestinian territories." in iraq, kurdish journalist arkan sharif has been assassinated. eight men broke into his home in a village outside kirkuk and stabbed him to death in the early hours of monday morning. his killing comes only hours after armed men attacked a television crew in erbil. iraq is one of the world's deadliest countries for journalists. meanwhile, danish inventor peter madsen has admitted he dismembered the body of swedish journalist kim wall and dumped her cut up body parts into the sea. wall was last seen alive on august 10 when she boarded madsen's submarine. denmark's largest daily newspaper has called her death the most spectacular murder case in danish history. in peru, women competing in the miss peru beauty pageant protested violence against women by refusing to disclose their

waist, hip, and breast measurements, and instead presented statistics on the murder, rape, and harassment of women. >> i represent lima. i figures are 82 homicides and hundreds attempted from a site so far this year. >> by name is samantha. i represent luima. minutes as every 10 a result of sexual exploitation. i figures are more than 70% of women in our country are victims of street harassment. >> i represent -- i measurements are 6573 cases of violence against women have been registered in my region. amy: back in the united states, counts of sexual harassment continue to rock the u.s. journalism industry. mark halperin has been fired from nbc after a number of women

accused him of sexual harassment when he was at abc. the head of npr's top news department has been placed on leave as npr investigates he kissed tohat women without their consent while he was washington bureau chief of "the new york times." both women say they were meeting with him to discuss working at the paper when he kissed them and stuck his tongue in their mouths. in utah, nurse alex wubbels has won a $500,000 settlement after being violently arrested by police at the hospital for refusing an officer's demand that she draw a blood sample from an unconscious car crash patient. police body cam video shows the police attacking wubbels, arrested her, and forced her out of the hospital and into an unmarked car on july 26. after the footage surfaced, the hospital said police would no longer be permitted in patient-care areas, such as the burn unit where wubbels was working that day.

the police officer has since been fired. and new jersey's attorney general has sued purdue pharma, the maker of oxycontin, accusing the drug company of deceptive marketing that has fueled new jersey's opioid crisis. new jersey is one of 11 states that have now sued the pharmaceutical giant over the opioids. to see our interview about the sacklers, the secretive family that owns purdue and has made billions off the opioid crisis, you can go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show with shocking new revelations about the assassination of renowned honduran indigenous environmental leader berta caceres. on tuesday in tegucigalpa, honduras, a team of international lawyers released a new report that shows how the

plot to murder caceres was months in the making and went up to the highest levels of the company, whose hydroelectric dam project caceres and her indigenous lenca community were protesting. pushing back against the impunity with which the murder was carried out. juan: justice for bertha, they chanted. in 1993, berta caceres co-founded the national council of popular and indigenous organizations of honduras, or copinh. for years, the group faced death threats and repression as they stood up to mining and dam projects they said were destructive to their ancestral land. then on march 2, 2016, caceres was gunned down just before midnight in her hometown of la esperanza.

at the time of her death, she was organizing indigenous communities to resist the agua zarca dam on the gualcarque river, saying it threatened to contaminate her community's water supply. amy: now a team of five international lawyers have found evidence that the plot to kill caceres went up to the top of the honduran energy company behind the dam -- desarrollos energeticos, known as desa. the lawyers were selected by caceres' daughter bertha zuniga, and are independent of the honduran government's ongoing official investigation. they examined some 40,000 pages of text messages and say the conversations are proof that the orders to threaten copinh and disrupt its protests came from desa executives. the investigation also revealed desa exercised control over security forces in the area, issuing directives and paying for police units' room, board, and equipment. in their new report, the lawyers write -- "the existing proof is conclusive regarding the participation of numerous state

agents, high-ranking executives and employees of desa in the planning, execution and cover-up of the assassination." for more, we go to mexico city where we're joined by elisabeth malkin, reporter for "the new york times." she has read the new report and details its findings in her article, "who ordered killing of honduran activist? evidence of broad plot is found." elisabeth malkin, welcome to democracy now! talk about who did this report and what this broad plot is. >> welcome a first of all, thank you very much for having me. the report was compiled by five international lawyers from the united states, colombia, evidence, who reviewed that was given to the family of honduraneres by the public ministry. and really combed through these

text messages. the text messages were found on phones confiscated, seized by the honduran government as part of their investigation. , basically, there are three phones. one taken from the desa headquarters and two from suspects. the suspects are in environmental manager for desa bestformer security security chief for desa who had worked for the company until 2015. and what these messages show our are notany executives in been the report because they have not been indicted, were in close contact with these two suspects. toing the months leading up the murder in march 2016 and in

the days afterward. so what this is suggesting is that this was not the actions of rogue employees and ex- employees. this was a much more concerted action. and what the family hopes is that the report will push honduran authorities to investigate further. juan: elisabeth malkin, for those who have not followed the berta caceres case, who is currently in custody in relation to her murder and what is the status of their arrest? -- fourwere arrested people were arrested a couple of months after her murder. then additional people were arrested a few weeks later. there are eight people in custody. out,wo that really stand

the company's environment and community manager. in effect, the person in charge of relations with the community. been -- as, who had in the report which details their movements. days before the murder. are you many texts

talking about were in the phones of -- in the phones that were taken by the authorities, but never dealt with for year and a half? is it something like 40,000? pages ofwere 40,000 messages. up" are "what's conversations. it is widely used in latin america. what the lawyers were able to do is they use the metadata company that was able to analyze these. it is an awful lot of material to go through. that theion is honduran authorities have had this data themselves. whether they have enabled or willing to analyze it is the question. -- whether they have been able or willing to analyze it is the question. why they haven't moved more aggressively to investigate other people in the company who are on this messages.

remember, these people are not named so we don't know exactly who they are. it is the job of the honduran prosecutors to investigate. amy: they are amazing. you quote from the new report about the plot to kill berta caceres and you write -- "an attempt to kill ms. caceres was planned for early february but called off, the lawyers said. "mission aborted today," mr. bustillo wrote to a desa executive. "yesterday, we couldn't." mr. bustillo returned to la esperanza for several days at the end of february and arranged to meet with the same executive on march 2. early on march 3, after ms. caceres was killed, mr. bustillo called him again. after the killing, mr. rodriguez, the environment manager, forwarded details of the crime scene report that police had provided to one of the company's executives. "sergio, relax," another executive wrote through whatsapp, a few days later. "everything will come out ok. you'll see. don't panic and pass that on to other people."

these quotes and text and enough are incredibly damming. are, indeed. the question is, why honduran authorities have not moved more aggressively to investigate. andway the case looks now it is going slowly through the courts, which is normal for hundreds, but the way the case looks now, you have one rogue -rogue employeex just kind of acting on their own. and these texts show that is free difficult to accept and that more needs to be done. i did speak with berta's daughter and that is what they're hopeless, this will push authorities to move and investigate the company more whooughly and determine ordered this. it is very common in latin america for the material authors

be tried. to but the intellectual authors are somehow succeed in remaining at large. juan: did the decision of the board not to name the executives that were participating in these text messages -- why was that? rights, these are human investigators. they are not prosecutors. so they determined it was not appropriate to release those names. amy: can you talk about the significance of berta caceres? talk about her work and why the company may have wanted her dead. >> this is what is very strange. i was talking with one of the investigators, one of the lawyers about this. this is not a large dam. this was a dam being built on

the gualcarque a river. beginning, the company was very determined to push forward with this dam. ,nder international law indigenous community's, there is a requirement to consult with the community before any project like that. ignored or widely simulated across latin america. think became a test case. berta was a very strong leader. the organization that she let and that her daughter now leads is called copinh. there was a great deal of violence against copinh before the murder. hadprotest by copinh

succeeded in driving away the construction company, a chinese construction company. forced desa to move the dam to the other side of the river. have foreignid funding from european development days, central american development bank, so it became a kind of battle of wills. the015, berta caceres won goldman prize, which is kind of the nobel prize for grassroots environmental activistss. the hope was that it would protect her and it didn't come obviously. really a sign of how far companies are willing to go to push through projects like this.

-- itndreds, it is a sign is a test case of impunity. honduras is a country where a very small number of people control large parts of the economy, and they have strong links to the government. there also in the government. the question is -- in these economic actors, basically, have been able to do what they want to do. 'srta caceres --copinh resistance was a sign that, no, you can't do exactly what you want to do. we will try to stop you. and so this investigation is really a test case for whether there is impunity -- if there is a way to counteract this impunity. in 2015, hondurans marched in the streets across the country,

not in tegucigalpa only, to protest corruption and infinity. it was a massive outpouring. demanded an international panel similar to what water mullah now has, to investigate corruption -- guatemala now has to investigate corruption. juan: i want to ask in relation to those mass protests, hundreds is scheduled to have elections later this month. i'm wondering your sense of whether the berta caceres case is going to have, and with the lack of resolution by the government is going to have any impact on those elections? >> i don't think it will have a strong impact. is leading president . he faces a number of candidates

who oppose him. the leaving group is an alliance of different parties. -- the leading group is an alliance of different parties. the issue of corruption and poverty are those that predominate. ' case isrta caceres part of that, but i don't think it is going to be the key factor. amy: i want to go to her to customers in 2013 speaking to democracy now! --berta caceres speaking to democracy now! >> the population today, they are from l theibr party, challenginge the absence of the real power from the community's but now these people are voting enthusiastically for the libre party that we hope will be distinct from the other parties. manyis playing out in areas.

we all know how these people have been hard hit, spially the journalists from lgbtq community and indigenous communities. this is part of what they have done to create a climate of fear. it is to punish the honduran people so they don't stop for the other way to look for changes -- opt for the other way changes. amy: that was berta caceres speaking in 2013 to democracy now! one person who helped with this report is a criminal justice expert from guatemala and a visor and judicial reform. we only have 30 seconds, but, elisabeth malkin, can you talk about the lessons to draw from hundreds now as we see the same kind of fight -- fighting impunity, the very powerful elite tied to the government and their murky military ties? >> compared with water

molecules to guatemala has really been a model for the region and hundreds -- honduran to protested one that model. with a littleup less power, but they're beginning to make their voices heard. they've begun to investigate desa. win ae wait was able to lot of contracts. so this is perhaps the first this for hundreds in impunity. amy: d you see any agua zarca da investigators now that the information is out? i couldn't say. there will be pressure for an investigation. but it is hard to tell whether the government is willing to move forward on this. amy: thank you for being with this, new york times reporter.

we will link to your piece "who ordered the killing of honduran activist? evidence of broad plot is found." must be usalkin works for "the new york times" and writes from mexico city. we will be back on why the san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz went to washington to testify before congress and then the hearing was canceled. stay with us.

♪ [music break] amy: "song for berta" by claudi acevedo. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to puerto rico, where the island's recovery after hurricane maria dominated a senate hearing tuesday and was supposed to be the focus of another hearing in the house today before it was canceled. san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz was set to testify at the hearing alongside fema chief

brock long. but republican lawmakers canceled the meeting saying cruz had been added to the event without enough notice. cruz took to twitter to respond tuesday night. landed. just i was invited by betty thompson, democratic from homeland security committee for a meeting. we were going to appear and testify. as to the effectiveness of fema. in my case, that wasn't going to be the case because, of course, you know that even though i have said in the past week in the we can have things have sped up, it was deplorable the weight fema acted against the puerto rican people. we just landed. byreceived a statement congressman bennie thompson stating that the majority --

republican majority for the second time in a row has canceled the hearing with no date for it to be rescheduled. i'm just wondering, what are they afraid of? the truth has been told. people have seen all over the world how the united states, i wass administration -- have to make a difference. there's a difference between the american people and the trump administration and how there could a puerto rico. and now if anyone had any doubt and washington, d.c., with this canceling of the meeting, perhaps they thought i was going to back out. well, i never back out from telling the truth. we're going to keep on fighting. we're going to use the time to visit people on capitol hill. those that aren't scared of the truth. those who can handle the truth so they will help us make things better in puerto rico. we're going to keep up the fight. juan: th's san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz speaking on

twitter to send up from washington, d.c. the hearing has not been rescheduled. well, earlier on tuesday, fema head brock long testified before the senate homeland security and government affairs committee, where he insisted fema had nothing to do with approving the controversial $300 million no-bid contract with whitefish energy, a tiny company based in the hometown of interior secretary ryan zinke. >> it was not a fema contract. prepa entered into this contract late in september. we were notified several weeks after the fact. we would not have agreed to that language in the contract of begin with. flag ind the red basically saying, we're not sure this is a sole source contract or competitive rate. there are many things wrong. there was language in there that

the federal government would not audit whitefish. there's not a lawyer in fema that would ever agree to that type of language. the bottom line is, as i understand, not $1 has gone towards the contract from fema. we are rectifying the make sure prepa has not requested any funding for that reimbursement effort. amy: that's fema head brock long testifying tuesday. the associated press reports a price list attached to the whitefish contract sets rates for more than $20,000 an hour for heavy-lift chinook helicopters, among other things. but the governor puerto rico announced on sunday -- while we were in the offices of the electrical workers union chief -- that they will try to cancel the contract with whitefish, $300 million. but it is not exactly clear what it means he said after paying

them for immediate work. juan: they're still going to have to obviously pay some penalties here in terms of the fact that whitefish has brought all of these folks to puerto rico and will have to -- they will have to be compensated and finish some work. but this is just part of the continuing problem not only of the corruption, unfortunately in puerto rico, but the failure of the entire oversight system that the united states has set up. i want to let folks know, the financial control board had a meeting this week. among the things they decided -- amy: over puerto rico. juan: yes. they had a meeting this week. among the things they decided, they now have reestablished a $10 million limit on any contracts that the government a puerto rico can issue without their approval. and they reserve the right to review any contract.

any contract above $10 million must first be reviewed and approved by the financial control board. they also appointed now an over theanager puerto rico electric company, former air force colonel who is now basically the emergency manager of the company. interestingly, there is another contract that hasn't received much attention, the army corps of engineers has given initially $240 million contract to the giant flor corporation to also get involved in fixing the electrical grid in puerto rico. at the may army corps of engineers announced that has million.840 viewers should watch this contract because flor is well known as a major infrastructure company that specializes in

privatizing water supplies, and being able to take over the public water utilities. amy: is at the cobra contract they're talking about? juan: know, that a separate. amy: which will we spoke to the san juan mayor in san juan on friday, she was looking at the 300 made other contracts in the $200 million contract. i mean, they're calling for the resignation, the firing of the head of proper, which is the public power union, who signed these contracts and this whole question of brock long, the head of fema saying, with nothing to do with this full juan: clearly, there is a morass that is developing in terms of recovering in puerto rico. the federal government is , thecated, the governor local government a puerto rico is implicated. and we are going to continue to

see huge problems, i believe, and the recovery effort in puerto rico because everyone is pointing fingers, but at the same time, lots of people are making money off of this recovery. amy: as the governor announced they're going to try to counsel -- cancel this whitefish contract, we were in the offices .f angel figueroa jaramillo we were asking him about you on musk's opposable -- elon musk's proposal to make puerto rico the model of sustainable energy. i asked him how to rebuild the devastated grid in a more sustainable way, and whether solar power has to mean privatization. first, the complexity of the electrical system of puerto rico , it is a totally isolated system. a system with a large amount of demand poses a major challenge in terms of looking at the

possibility of solar power for powering the whole country. it is very complex. it requires many studies. a lot of analysis. many valuations. ricohe people of puerto can't wait for all of that right now. now, that doesn't mean that puerto rico doesn't have to look very seriously at the possibility of the transformation towards solar power. nonetheless, the transformation ist -- most appropriate solar communities. the communities themselves should appropriate that system. it is not that we will become a commodity for renewable solar energy. amy: are you interested in meeting with tesla, elon musk, or his representatives to figure out what a solar solution or a sustainable solution would be for puerto rico?

yes, yes, of course. of course, yes. we have to meet and search for alternatives to transform the country. this doesn't mean that we are against -- i mean, in favor of this becoming privatized. i believe that we have to meet and have a dialogue. we have to search for alternatives. but we are very clear to all of the alternatives have to be owned by the community. amy: that is angel figueroa jaramillo, the head of the electrical workers union in puerto rico. in puerto rico, just before we got to his office on saturday night, we stayed in an apartment, like most of the country, had no electricity. when we got there in the middle of the night, it was dark. i just next door, there is a bed-and-breakfast they did have electricity because it was powered entirely by solar. this is tisha pastor, who runs

the casa sol bed and breakfast in san juan. you have a bed-and-breakfast. >> we have a bed-and-breakfast. panels.solar we have a well that we have this -- that we have cleaned water because we have filters. some of them came from the roof. thettle bit from the roof, water. amy: you got a lot of water during a hurricane. >> yes. we've been working since two weeks and a half or three, receiving firemen from new york, people who wanted to come and help. the first week was for neighbors that couldn't live without any water or electricity is so they to sleep.

withlped the neighborhood our refrigerator to reserve coolingd stuff, like, the water. amy: and you have solar panels? >> we do. we have 30 solar panels. we have them here. because of that, we can receive people and we can help the community. as much as we can. we do kind of -- everybody came take the take the ice, water and put the ice in the fridge. in the afternoon, take it back home.

amy: is another isn't clean water in this debra except for what you have. there is no electricity except what you have. >> we don't have electricity, but now we have clean water. since two days ago, they fixed our pumps for the neighborhood. and now we have the water. at least we have water since two days ago. amy: that you have electricity because of the solar panels -- >> not because of the city. amy: would you drink the water? >> yes, because we're filters. with the filters, we can drink the water. amy: that is tisha pastor who runs a bed-and-breakfast in old san juan. so right next to her, we stayed and there was no electricity, as in most of the island. but this issue of canada sustainable grid be built and does it necessarily have to mean privatization? require't think it does

privatization. but i do think the issue of solar panel or just power and wind power in puerto rico is key to the future of the islands, energy independence. right now puerto rico requires oil to power 50% of its electrical capacity. while in the united states, i think this was percent or 2% of the u.s. generated capacity comes from oil plus of 15% to 20% of particles generating gas and comes from -- imported coal. everything is imported. the oil, gas, and coal are imported. the reality is, as long as puerto rico depends on imported fossil fuels to power its electrical grid, not only is it polluting -- continuing to pollute the planet, but it is also being dependent on the

suppliers. so the energy independence for puerto rico is really a national issue that requires immediate solution, and the best solution is clearly solar and wind power. amy: that does it for today's report on puerto rico. we will be bringing you reports across the week just having returned from puerto rico. on monday, you and experts condemned the u.s. handling of the disaster in puerto rico saying the response was ineffective, that the mainland states of florida and texas had received farmer support after being struck by hurricanes than puerto rico. we will see what happens with stan wants mayor who flew up to washington, d.c., for hearing today which when she landed in d.c., was canceled. when we come back, a federal judge blocks part of presidents comes transgender military ban. we will speak with a transformer marine who is challenging the ban. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to a federal judge's decision to temporarily block president trump's proposed ban on transgender troops from serving in the u.s. military. on monday, federal judge blocked once directive, writing the proposed ban "does not appear to be supported by any facts." in your opinion, the judge wrote -- "there is no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effect on the military at all. in fact, there's considerable evidence that it is the discharge in banning of such individuals that would have such effects." the judge also blessed to president trump pronouncing the band via twitter. the ruling came after six active-duty transgender service members sued the trump administration. this is a senior old dylan cohere, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the ban. >> went in july just before oh

supposed to start my program at unh, i got a text for my best friends and president trump had just tweeted that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve. and i honestly did not believe it. i was angry and i was frustrated. i felt directly targeted. because of it, the military policy changes that followed, i cannot participate in rotc. not because i'm not capable, but because of who i am. unless these legal efforts to hold presidents comes ban are successful, i will be able to join the military, fulfill my dream, and serve my country. amy: that was one of the six active-duty transgender service members who sued the trump administration over the proposed ban. we're joined from massachusetts by the lead attorney in this lawsuit. jennifer levy.

as well as z shane zaldivar. jennifer, if you could specifically address her emphasis of the judge, president trump's tweet? >> the court ordered the military may not and transgender people from serving, that there is still military reasons for doing so. explain what it is she was ruling on? in your lawsuit? >> president trump last summer issued a tweet that said transient of people would not be allowed to serve and yes follow that with the white house memorandum that said a specific date for discharging those currently serving. we challenged that on behalf of six people currently serving in the military, who have been serving for decades proudly and courageously. what this judge said is not only are there no military reasons for denying transgender people the ability to serve him a but

that the military itself, after exhaustively studying this issue, said that transgender people, allowing transient of people to serve strengthens the military. juan: the judge right in a ruling -- "many transgender service members identify themselves to the commanding officers in reliance on that obama administration pronouncement. then the president trump abruptly announced via twitter without any other formality the generally accompany the announcement of major policy that will greatly affect the lives of many americans that all transgender individuals would be precluded from participating in the military capacity. the circumstances provide additional support for plaintiff's claim that the decision to exclude transgender individuals was not driven by genuine concerns regarding military efficacy. jennifer, this is a stunning decision.

>> absolutely. what the judge recognized is that president trump precipitously without care or thought reversed military policy. transgender people have been allowed to serve openly and have been doing openly, courageously defending this nation . thetweets showed the harsh language that included the categorical and sweeping ban on the community reflected the fact this was intended to target a politically unpopular group of people and it had absolutely no basis in military judgment. they make a let's turn to president trump's tweets. in july he tweeted --

those were three separate tweets put together. , want to ask z shane zaldivar what was your response when those tweets came down in july? where were you? were you shocked? what you think now that they say "we have never institute any change"? for me, it was shocking. there's a lot of hard work that lgbt and trans individuals have done since the repeal of don't ask don't tell and before to help for our servicemembers to openly serve. a tweet is in disrespectful to folks who give their lives every day to protect this country in the right that

we have. juan: and your reaction to the judge's decision? >> i mean, this directly violates the fundamental guarantees of due process afforded by the constitution. this doesn't change policy. what it does is place the policy under review. trans service members are still protected under the current policy until this review is submitted. but even once submitted, this shows the president has buys against the marginalized communities of citizens. even if the review would come back and say, again, with the report show is trans service members and opened is not harm military readiness. it is taking trans service members out of their units is what actually does indeed harm military readiness and effectiveness. are the hotline

program director for lifeline. what is that? >> the trans lifeline is a suicide prevention and crisis management hotline for the transgender community. amy: and after president trump made this pronouncement in a series of tweets that apparently most in the pentagon did not even know are going to go down in july, did not even know what he was referring to when he first announced we are making a major change of policy, the first tweet. some thought it was going to be that we are going to bomb north korea. what was the response on the hotline? what kind of tension have you observed? as it increased among the trans community? >> is certainly has. this shows there is bias and prejudiced against a marginalized community. folks that want necessarily what itmembers nor become service members, never thought that they would be, felt directly attacked because, again, this is targeting the

transgender community. this is federal sanctioned discrimination against one of the most marginalized groups of people in this country. juan: z, you served in the marines from 2001-2003 during the period of don't ask don't tell. could you talk about your own experiences with that policy and then the impact of when the obama administration did away with don't ask don't tell? >> sure. community activism and social justice work because i was honorably discharged under don't ask don't tell. find first and foremost for myself to get back into uniform and to get back to my unit, who at the time, we were in a period of conflict and combat. after fighting for the repeal that even under the military readiness enhancement act, the still did not include

transgender persons. i knew then i was going to continue to have to fight to include trans folks in open service. we thought we had won the fight in 2015. and now we're continuing to have to fight for the fundamental constitutional rights to serve our country. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. former alabama chief roy moore just tweeted or just said in a statement issued on monday night calling for the removal of the judge who struck down trump's ban on transgender people in the military, saying her decision was "completely ridiculous" and a clear example of "judicial activism." he is now running for the u.s. senate out of alabama. that does it for our show. we want to thank z shane zaldivar for joining us and jennifer levi. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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