05/15/17 05/15/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from san francisco this is , democracy now! >> recording devices in the oval office? >> there's nothing further to add. >> does he think it is appropriate to threaten someone like mr. comey not to speak? -- heceably stated a fact simply stated a fact. amy: the scandal over the firing of james comey grows. are we seeing the beginning of the end of the trump presidency?

president trump has suggested he secretly recorded his conversations with comey. we will look at the fall of president richard nixon, whose secret tapes led to his resignation, and we will speak with former congresswoman elizabeth holtzman, the young number to several the house judiciary committee that voted to impeach net send. we look at jeff sessions's collation on the war on drugs. >> going for, i have an hard our prprosecutors to charge and pure the most serious offense is i believe the law requires the most serious readily provable offense. amy: massive hunger strike enters its 28th day. we will speak to the son of strike leader marwan barghouti, who has been imprisoned in israeli jails for over 15 years. he has been called the palestinian nelslson mandela. my father come along with

1700 palestitinian political prisoners, start of the hunger strike for freedom and dignity in demand of humanitarian living conditions in prison. amy: all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from san francisco. a global computer hack, using a cyberweapon developed by the national security agency, has disrupted hospitals, universities, government offices, gas stations, atm machines, and more than 200,000 computers worldwidide. it is expected to grow worse as people return to work this morning. on f friday, the cyberattatacks ben n to rple e thugh momo than 15050 countries, locking medical workers out of the computer systems at dozens of british and indonesian hospitals, disrupting train schedules in germany preventing , chinese students from

accessing their final papers and , freezing government computers from russia's interior ministry to police stations in india. experts say it's the first time a cybeberweapon developed d by e nsnsa has been stolen and relead by hackers. the cyberweapon exploits weaknesses in microsoft software. it appears the u.s. government knew for years about this weakness in the software, but only told microsoft about the vulnerability recently, meaning microsoft had little time to fix the problem and for software users worldwide to update their systems. the cyberweapon is transmitted by email, and then encrypts a computer, locking people out of their data and then threatening to destroy it unless a ransom is paid. on sunday, microsoft president brad smith confirmed the cyberweapon used in the attack was developed by the nsa, writing -- "finally, this attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem. an equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the u.s. military having some of

its tomahawk missiles stolen." nsa whistleblower edward snowden tweeted -- "despite warnings, @nsagov built dangerous attack tools that could target western software. today we see the cost." on capitol hill, u.s. lawmakers are demanding president trump turn over any recordings of conversations he had with fired fbi director james comey. the demand comes after president trump threatened comey in a twitter rant on friday, writing -- "james comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press." late last week, trump acknowledged in an nbc interview that he'd fired comey, in part, over the investigation into whether the trump campaign colluded with russia to alleged -- allegedly hack the 2016 election. comey has been invited to meet with the senate intelligence committee on tuesday. democrats have said they will not vote on a new fbi director until a special prosecutor is

appointed to preside over the investigation into trump's ties to russia. on sunday, former director of national intelligence james clapper said trump's decision to fire comey represents an assault on u.s. institutions. many ways, our institutions are under assault, both externally -- that is the big news here, is russian interference in our election system. and i think as well our institutions are under assault internally. >> from the president? >> exactly. amy: the "new york times" reports senate republicans are starting to distance themselves from president trump amid increasing frustration about the firing of james comey. on thursday, maine senator susan collins said -- "it does seem like we have an upheaval, a crisis almost every day in washington." president trump threatened friday to end daily news briefings, suggesting he may simply host his own news conference every few weeks.

on twitter, trump also acknowledged white house press secretary sean spicer and deputy press secretary sarah huckabee sanders had issued false statements to the press last week, writing -- "as a very active president with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates toto stand at the podium with perfect accuracy!" meanwhile, lawn ornaments have begun popping up depicting white house press secretary sean spicer hiding among the bushes. after spicer spent several minutes tempting to hide himself in the shrubbery outside the white house while huckabee sanders and trump advisor kellyanne conway were doing interviews on tuesday about the firing of james comey. unnamed officials say the white house is close to finalizing a $100 billion worth of arms deals with saudi arabia ahead of trump's planned visit to riyadh on friday, the first stop on trump's first international trip as president. after riyadh, trump will v visit israel and then the vatican. north korea launched a new

ballllistic missile sunday morning. the missile flew 430 miles, and north korea says the unitedd states' m military bases s acros the pacific are now within strikiking range and that the ssile is d designed to carry a nuclear warhead. the test comes amid rising tensions between north korea and the united states, tensions that were also fueled by the u.s.'s massive spring military drills on the korean peninsula. in a major immigrant rights victory, immigration and customs enforcement officials have granted stays of deportation to two prominent undocumented denver residents -- jeanette vizguerra and arturo hernandez garcia. vizguerra sought sanctuary in the first unitarian society of denver church shortly after trump took office. she is one of the founders of the metro denver sanctuary coalition and was recently named one of "time" magazine's 100 most influential people of 2017. this is jeanette vizguerra speaking on friday morning after she left the church for the first time in 86 days.

meit is a special day for because i will be able to celebrate mother's day with my children and my grandchildren. amy: arturo hernandez garcia spent nine months in the same sanctuary church two years ago. he was recently arrested by ice, even though the obama administration had told him he was not considered a priority for removal. meanwhile, in vermont, 23-year-old activist and dairy worker cesar alex carrillo has been deported. carillo was arrested in march, along with two other activists with the group migrant justice, enrique balcazar, and zully palacios. he was deported on the so-called voluntary departure order, which will give him a better chance of winning the right to return to the u.u.s. to reunite

with his wifife and their 4-year-old daughter solmarie. to see our full coverage of jeanette vizguerra, arturo hernandez garcia, and cesar alex carrillo, go to democracynow.org. meanwhile, in atlanta, another immigration activist, dreamer jessica colotl, is fighting her possible deportation after the trump administration revoked her daca status, which gives her permission to live, work and study in the united states. in 2010, while colotl was a student at kennesaw state university, she was arrested, jailed for 37 days, and threatened with deportation for driving without a license. after a successful campaign by her fellow students to win her freedom, she became one of the faces of the movement to pass the dream act to protect undocumented students. colotl is now working as an immigration paralegal, and she's suing to get her daca reinstated.. in yemen, officials have declared a state of emergency in the capital sanaa over a cholera outbreak that has already killed 115 people.

yemen's hehealth, water, and sanitati s services hahave been severely impacted by the ongoing u.s. backed saudi led war on yemen. thisis is dr. hussein el h hadd, the didirector o of one of the w hospitals in sanaa t that is stl functioning. >> thehe situation is very bad. the children are suffefering frm chololera and there are not enoh beds. the technical know-how in the hospital is insufficient to deal with the situation we are facing. amy: in pakistan, at least 25 people were killed and 30 more were wounded in an attack targeting the convoy of a senior pakistani politician in the southwest province of baluchistan friday. isis claimed responsibility for the attack, but local officials have blamed local militants. in the democratic republic of congo, the world health organization says ebola has killed at least three people e n the past three weeks, raising fears of another widespread outbtbreak on the e continent. in 2014, ebolaililled more than 11,000 people e across west africa.

in northern mexico, an activist for parents s whose children hae gone missing was assassinated by armed gunmen on wednesday, mother's day in mexico. miriam rodriguez was the director of the san fernando collective of missing people. her own daughter, karen, had gone missing in 2012. meanwhile, in the southern state of guerrero, a group of reporters were attacked, robbed and threatened by a group of , armed men saturday. the attack occurred outside iguala, where 43 students were disappeared from the ayotzinapa teacher's college in 2014. the jojonalists, w who all survived the attack, said the men threatened to burn them alive. in hong kong, three families who offered refuge to nsa whistleblower edward snowden when he was in hiding in 2013 are facing possible deportation after their asylum claims were rejected. the families are from the philippines and sri lanka. their lawyers say hong kong authorities intentionally

targeted the three families for expedited immigration screening. and in charlottesville, virginia, dozens of torch-bearing white nationalists gathered saturday for two rallies to protest plans to remove a confederate monument. white nationalist richard spencer led the protesters, who chanted "we will not be replaced." while the torch-bearing mob evoked the long, bloody history of white terrorism against african americans, some took to twitter to mock spencer and the other white nationalists for using party store-style tiki torches at the rally. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are on the road in san francisco. i will be speaking today in santa cruz and in palo alto. fallout continues to grow over president trump's firing of fbi director james comey last week. the firing came just days after comey requested more resources to probe russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

the senate democrats are now threatening to refuse to vote on a new fbi director unless a special prosecutor is named to investigate possible ties between the trump campaign and russia. on sunday, senate minority leader chuck schumer appeared on "meet the press.s." > a special p prosecutor appointed by ththe justice department has the ability to actually prosecute people for violations of law. and they go in tandem. one should not step on the other. i know they are talking to each other right now. the fbi was with the intelligence committee to make sure no one is granted immunity, but it is two separatessues. we very much need a special prosecutor, chuck. we need someone who is independent of the justice department to get to the bottom of this. amy: on the same program, secretary of state rex tillerson admitted russia did in fact interfere with the election.n. >> i have seen the intelligence

reports, chuck will step yes, i don't think there's any question that the russians were playing around in our electoral process. those intelligence reports also indicated it is zynga inclusive as to what if any effect it had. amy: meanwhile, pressure is growing on the administration to reveal whether trump has been secretly recording conversations at the white house. on friday, trump tweeted -- "james comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" lawmakers arare now calling on trump to hand over any such tapes. on friday, white housese press secretary sean spipicer refufuso rule out the existence of the tapes. >> moving on to the news of the week, of the day, they president trump record his conversations with former fbi director comey? >> i assume you're referring to tweet. the president has nothing further to add. >> what should we interpret from

that? >> as i mentioned, the president has nothing further to add. >> are the recording devices in the oval office or the residents? >> there is nothing further to add. >> does he think it is appropriate to threaten someone like mr. comey not to speak? >> that is not a threat. he stated a fact. the week espresso. i am moving on. trump's possible recording of amy: white house conversations has s led many comparisonsns ben trump and former presisident richard nixon who resigned on august 8, 1974 -- three days afteter the rerelease of an audo recording n nixoniscucussg the waterge e breain.. nixon had ugught o congressiol l subpnas s to relee e the pe b butventuauay , the supre e courforcrcedim to hanit ovever. itater bece knowas the sming gutape. are joid now elizabeth hozman, foer u.s. ngresswon from n york wh rved on e house diciary mmittee th voted timpeach richd nixon. welcomome ck to decracy no

n you ta about t signicance o what present ump t thrtened inne of h tweet stms ainst jam comey aftehe fir him as i direct? >>ell, thehreat is an absuity. e presidenwas sayi that mey suld hopthe wano tape recorng beforhe talked abouthe meing? the prident knows wther theris a taprecording were not. he is the one who knows. this is just nonsense. if president trump once the truth out, if comey was lying about the meeting, the president should just release the tape. he is just playing games with the american people. the real connection with watergate is the firing of comey by president trump, which all of theb be given circumstance around it, an effort to cover-up and to prevent an investigation of whether russia colluded with him and his campaign over

interference in the american election will stop and whether he is still cocolluding withth e russians. what is involved in the firing is a question really of whether we have a president of the united states who is under the influence of and working in collusion with their president hostile foreign government. and we have to get to the bottom ofof that. attrump's actions prevent us this point from making sure that we can get the truthth. amy: i want to turn to an interview last week when donald trump, once again, changed his story about why he fired fbi director james comey, admitting on nbc that he made the decision in part due to comey's probe of russia's meddling in the 2016 election. trump's comment directly contntradicts numerous statemems by white house aides, as well as trump's own claims that he had fired comey over his handling of the investigation into hillary clinton and her use of private email servers. pres. trump: b but regardless sf

recommendation, i was going to fire comey. knowing there was no good d time to do itit. and in fact, when i decided to just do it, , i said to myself,i said, you know, this russiaia thing with trtrump and rurussiaa made-up story. it i is an excuse by the democrs for having lost an election that they should have won. this,an you talk about the astounding original story that president trump did not appreciate how hillary clinton was treated come although, throughout the campaign, he congratulated james comey for going after clinton? >> look, everything we have seen about trump -- in connection with the firing of comey -- has been one misstatement, one pretext, one lie after the other. it is s totally incredible to think that president trump was so concerned about comey's

treatment of hillary clinton that he fired him months later for doing that. nobody can believe that. what really was at stake, and we know that later, he said, i made up my mind before i ever heard from the justice d department. i was going to fire him anyway. what was on his mind? the russian investigation. trump has been attacking this russian investigation from the get-go. he even called the c cia nazis over that. we know he was not happy and wanted to stop it. and stopping it could mean we have in place are president of u.s. in cahoots with the russian government at this very moment. amy: i want to turn to senator mark warner, virginia democrat, speaking on fox news sunday about trump's threat of a tape of a conversation n with james comey. >> this susure seems to have reverberations o of past histoty whenen we have seen presesidento secretly tape, that ususually ds not end up being a good outcome for a president. the whole notion the p presidedt

can sell out these kikinds ofof claimsms and then nott either coconfirm oror deny them comemes outrtrageous in n my mind. if there is the existence e of tapes, i w want to mee sure, o , therere preserved and not destroroyed in the c coming day, and then, 2, 1 way or the other, congress will have to get a look at those tapes. amy: so that was senator warren. -- senator warner of virginia. elizabeth holtzman, take us back through what happened to richard nixon. there arare a lot of reeference, including the saturday nighght massacre and parallels have been made to what happened with the firing of james comey, but especially for young people, to understand what happened then. also, how long it took. explain the chronology when you were a young conongresswoman frm new york, the youngest member to serve on the house judiciary committee. >> i will try to do this in 25 words or less. 1972,lly, in june of

there was a break-in into the democratic national committee headququarters. arehended and they re c concted to richard ninix's s mpaign and to the whe hou. nin had a speal surveillance operation the white house ththatas illegal from the get go.. these people were ugught. nixon was terrified thathehey wouldd get to the presidey and at his ection in noveer wod be jeordized. they hathis bigover-up. and thatorked. 1 12 inreeleleed i in nonomber witone of the biggest margs s in aike e twrl story. after that, the burglgls cracked. weref tmaid thehere higher-ups involved in the start to have investigations. richard nixon had a taping system in the whitite house. of 1973, the taping system became public as you had a bipartisan senate

investigatation, wawatergate committee, and they asked, are ththere pes? the person who set t the tingg stem s sd, there were ti. -- tapes. recorded all of the convsatition at that time, the qutition w, d nixon participate in the cocoveup orr not? the tas could ove it. ere was special prosecur whwas appoted. e specia prosetor want to gethe tape f973as inn octob ththspecial osecutoraid, 'm tting the tapes. nin have the specia prosutoror fed. said, "you are t getting my pes." wasas on thew what tapepes. just as trump knows if there are tapes. over that. big fight

you supreme court, the supreme court ultimately required the tapes to be released. the tapes showed out of richard nixon's own mouth that he obstructed justice and he ordered the watergate cover-up from almost the day the break-in took place. so you have a repetition of a aesident claiming there was tape recording system and the tapes could exonerate him or not. my view is, comey, not only is a very careful prosecutor and never would have said things that were improper in n that meeting with trump, but i'm sure he suspected that heould havee been tape-recorded so he was doubly or trtriply careful. but the personon who knows whetr there are tapes and what is s on those tapes is the president. and why is he playing games with the american people over this issue? not so muchue is that he tapes, but that it was tapes,nating -- what he that is what he was concerned

about. let me ask you, does every president tape in the oval office? >> i hope not, but we know there are a few who did. we know nixon had the most elaborate system. i believe johnson had some kind of taping system. i do not know if it was as systematic as this, but he had some kind of system. i mean, systematic as nixon's. amy: i want to turn to a conversation we had in february with president richard nixon's white house counsel john dean. i asked him about where trump stood just over a month into his presidency in comparison with his boss richahard nixon.. about 900 days.an it went on for years, starting with a bungled burglary at the democratic national committee and right up to richard nixon's resignation followed by the conviction of his top aides. so it ran a long time. what we're seeing is very

accelerated. partially responsible because of the media and the technology today, but itit is also the ,ehahavior of trump and his aids as well as the media's vigilance on this. we're seeing thingsgs accelerat. what i see or hear are echoes of watergate. we don't have watergate 2.0 yet, but we have something that is beginning to look like it could go there. amy: that was john dean. your response? interesting, to say the least, you're on very different sides back in the 1970's when your congressman and john dean works for nixoxon. you may share a lot of use right now. >> yes, i think we're getting vevery close to watergate. i think donald trump i is deep n the watergate territory. i think the firing of james comey with the apparent intention to squelch an investigation into his campaign

activities and his activities resonates deeply with the issues and watergate. i want to make one point about what teens said. when richard nixon took office, it was only a matter of two or three months before he started into his illegal activities. the illegal bombing of cambodia started in march of his first year in office. crime and a crime against the constitution. unfortunately, nixon was not impeached for that. let's not get carried away with how nixon was really a good guy up to the very end. he wasn't. bad stuff started right away. illegal surveillance started right away. i think we have here a similar kind of idea that the president is above the law. and once you get that idea in your head, that is trouble, not just for the president, but for the american people. amy: the last question in ththis last minute, when the republicans turned on richard

nixon, the republicacans in congress, talk about what you are seeing today. many say with the republican majority in both houses, there is just no way that president trump would be impeached. >> i think what happened during watergate was that the checks and balance system worked. it worked for the judiciary. the first person who stood up was very conservative republican judge johnson riga who o smelled something wrong thth the burgrglary and imposed tough sentences because he knew w thee was s something fishy going on. as a result, one of the burglars broke and said higher-ups were ininvolved. that led to ththe whole rerest f the investigigation. the second thingng was when you had the senate select committee on w watergate. you had sam ervin, a democrat, southehern democrat, constitutional scholar, asas the chair. howard baker, the republican from tennessee, was the vice chair.

he started out ass a total partrtisan for richard nixixon. he c came up with a ries o of questions. what does ththe president know d when did he know i it? he thoughtht those questions wod show that ninixon had nothing to do with the break-in, with a cover-up. so he asked those questions of the witnesses. when he asked those questions, the answers repeated and repeated and repeaeated, , shows that nixon was aware, the whitee house wawas aware, and showed hs involvement. as a result of the facts, they curve became an advocate for the rule of law. on the house side, house judiciary committee, i think most of the republicans, if not all of them, were advocates for the president. but the facts came out. in the end, most of the republicanss voted for the articles of impeachment because they put country above party. in the end, all of them, when the smoking gun tape came out, all of the republicans announced

they were going to be in favor of impmpchment, eveven those who had voted against it. very conservative republicans. why? because the facts were clear, the constitution was clear, the law was clear. i'm hoping that will happen here. it may take longer for republicans to come to their senses on this, but they did in watergate. let's not lose hope. they take an oath to uphold the constitution. opportunity. amy: elizabeth holtzman, thank you for being with us former , u.s. conongresswoman from new york who s served on the house judiciary committee that voted to impeach richard nixon. this is democracy now! when we come back, we talk about jeff sessions' escalating the war on drugs in this country, the attorney general of the united states. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from san francisco as he continued to travel the country covering the movements changing america. now to the trump administration's escalation of the war on drugs. on friday, attorney general sessions spoke at the department of justice headquarters in

washingtgton and announceded thw sentencing guidelines. >> going forward, i have empowered our prosecutors to charge and pursue the most serious offense, as i believe the law requires, most serious, readily, provable offense. it means we're going to meet our responsibility to enforce thee law with judgment and fairness. it is simply the right and moral thing to do. and we know that drugs and crime go hand-in-hand. they just do. the facts prove that so. drug trafficking is an inherentlyly dangerous and vioit business. if you want to collect a drug debt, you can follow lawsuit in court. you collect it with a barrerel f a gun. amy: jeff sessions has long backed lengthy prison sentences and mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, including for marijuana use, which is now legal for either medical or recreational purposes in many states.

sessions' escalation of the so-called war on drugs was met with widespread al qaeda -- widespread outcry. former attorney general eric holder told msnbc in a statement -- "the policy announced today is not tough on crime. it is dumb on crime." under the gallllons of the obama administration, the number of drug offenders given mandatory minimum sentences plummeted, contributing to a 14% decline in the total federal prison population. the announcement comes at a time of growing bipartisan support for sentencing reform. in recent years, the liberal leaning center for american progress and the right leaning freedomworks have partnered with groups as varied as the koch industries and the naacp to bridge ideological dividides and push for reducuced mandatory minimums for low-level nonviolent drug offenses. well, for more, we are joined by two guests. anthony papa is the author of "this side of freedom: life after clemency." he's an anti-drug-war activist, painter and author.

,in 1985, anthony papa agreed to deliver an envelope of cocaine in a police sting operation in return for $500. his first and only criminal offense cost him a 15-year to life sentence. in 1996, papa won a sentence commutation from then-new york governor george pataki. in 2016, papa received a pardon from new york governor andrew cuomo. he's believed to be the first person in new york state history to receive both a sentence commutation and a pardon. and we are joined by carl hart, chair of the department of psychology and a professor of psychiatry at columbia university. he's the author of "high price: a neuroscientist's journey of self-discovery that challenges everything you know about drugs and society." professor hart just returned from the philippines where he participated in a two-day drug policy forum conference. tony papa and carl hart, welcome to democracy now! whatl hart, first responder

jeff sessions is doing come this escalation of the war on drugs in the united states. >> well, let's just be clear. i mean, one of the things -- we heard outrage about what jeff sessions is doing. let's be clear, everybody knows that the war on drugs as it has been fought since the 1980's has had a disproportionate negative impact on specific communities. black communities, latino communities. everyone knows that. what jeff sessions is doing is advocatingor he is being engaged in racial discrimination. so let's call jeff sessions what he is. jeff sessions is a racist if he takes on this action. it is clear. we know it, so let's stop lying around with it. anthony papa, what is your understanding of what the attorney general is calling for right now? ericy, i agree with holder, this is totally dumb on

crime. to go back to a failed proven toicy and two and the -- and tell prosecutors to convict people at the harshest possible sentence is totally wrong will stop myself as an example, first-time nonviolent offender, i was asked a sentence to two 15 a life sentences under the rockefeller drug laws which was mandated by mandatory minimum sentences from the same sentencing laws that became in the federal system that now sessions wants prosecutors to use to sentence even low-level, nonviolent drug offenders or even people who are addicted to years inmany, many prison. it is a proven fact that this oficy wastes billions dollars and more importantly, iny human lives are wasted

this action in the past.. amy: i want to go back to carl hart. attorney general jeff sessions has released this memo that tells justice department prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges for drug offenses. so explain exactly how this changes policy and what it will mean. >> what it means is that -- as you know, under eric holder -- eric holder has suggested or r s memo said that we shshould not - should not engage in the mandatory minimums. he gave judges flexibility, whereas jeff sessions is i in courage anand the judges to go back to mandatory minimum. that means people will get harsher sentences f for drug-related violations. ast that means ultimately papa i said, we all know the drug war did not work. that is not entirely true because the drug or did work for certain segments of our population.

and that is where the crux of this policy really needs to be interrogated. it allows -- jeff sessions is allowing or using drug policy to separate the people who we like from the people who we don't like. and it provides a way to go after those people we don't like , usually poor and minority folks, without explicitly saying we don't like those people. and that is how drug policy has been enforced in this country. so if we allow sessions to turn , thenhe hands of time shame on all of us. the blood is on all of our hands because we know the consequences of his proposed actions. ew onjeff sessions' vi drugs have a long history. he famously was quoted as joking in the 1980's about the white terrorist organization the kkk

ok until i found out they smoked pot. your response? >> that is an interesting thing because one of the things that is happen in the country since that time, we now have eight states that have legalized recreational marijuana use. in the states were concerned that jeff sessions percent after them on the one hand. jeff sessions has not come after them because there is a lot of money involved. there are a lot of wealthy white people involved. i don't want to pit white people against other groups such a, but let's be honest. he won't go after them. i know people have some anxieties about it, but jeff sessions is ignorant, but not stupid. he won't go after those folks. even though he made his comment about marijuana, we should see actually what his actions are. he can make these comments to kind of get a wink and nod to people supporting him so he lets them know i'm against drugs, but

he is not going after marijuana. he is going after all of the .ther sort of drug offenses and i hope the people who are engaged in the marijuana industry and this business make theirnnection about how substance was once vilified -- it is no longer vilified in the u.s., particularly as these aids liberalize their marijuana policy. i wish it would make the connection so they can to be how boxing. 42012, we were arresting people for marijuana in colorado and other states. we're no longer doing that. now we are saying it is ok. it was always ok. it is just that our laws were not in line. now weird arresting people for things like cocaine, here one does now we are arresting people for things like cocaine. this is not to say we should legalize drugs. that is not the argument. recently should not be sending people to jail for those extended periods that jeff sessions is advocating for. and he is doing so because he is

going after people who we don't care for in the united states. amy: in a statement, contact republican senator rand paul criticized sessions' change in drug policy. paul, who is a doctor, said -- "mandatory minimum sentences have unfairly and disproportionately incarcerated too many minorities for too long. attorney general sessions' new policy will accentuate that injustice." rand added -- "instead, we should treat our nation's drug epidemic as a healthth crisis s and less as a 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' problem." that is the republican senator rand paul. >> i agree with rand paul on know, wet, but, you have to be careful about our language in terms o of epidemic. because all of those sorts of things kind of provide cover for folks to behave like jeff sessions. if we're really concerned, for example, like the opioids and

oin, we need to tell people how to stay safe if we're worried about overdoses. we do not ban automobiles. we have regulations and we try to make sure that people stay safe. we have speed limits. we of seatbelts. we have these sorts of things. but with the opioids, we're talking about arresting people -- by the way, for the opioids at the federal level, 80% of the people arrested are latino and black. and we know this. or a went to be smart want to save our people or help people, we would not take the approach someone like jeff sessions, who wants to take us back to the 1980's and experience all of the bad things of the 1980's. amy: anthony papa, can you

briefly tell us what happened to you, the amount of time you served in prison and what this change could mean now? >> i spent 12 years in a 15 a life sentence for first-time nonviolent drug offense. an envelope of four ounces of cocaine from the bronx to mount vernon. i was roped into a police sting operation. 20 cups came out of nowhere, placed under arrest. i wound up getting sentenced to two 15 the licenses for first-time nonviolent drug offense under the mandatory provision of the rockefeller drug laws. sentencing is a poison that has broken the criminal justice system. this is a fact. under president obama, he tried to fix this broken system by incorporating changes.

eric holder, in his memo in 2013, said to prosecutors, don't use mandatory minimum sentencing laws. now sessions is reversing this policy. hard, longor a hard, road ahead because people are going to be put in prison, nonviolent offenders, the prisons are going to be flooded. they're going to break the banks of many states and the federal system incarcerating low-level nonviolent drug offenders. and many of those offenders has substance abuse problems and they need to be treated medically, not punitively. and to have sessions come out with this law is a travesty of justice. mistakehey realize this and they don't follow through on this memo that he wrote telling prosecutors to use mandatory minimum sentencing laws and to

throw the book at low-level, nonviolent drug offenders no matter how small the crime is. and dr. carl hart, i would ask about the philippines were you just came back from. president trump recently visited -- invited the philippine president duterte to visit the white house, despite massive criticism from human rights groups over duterte's so-called war on drugs, , during which thousasands of p people have ben extrajudicially killed by police and vigilantes. can you tell us what you found their? >> windows in the phililippines and d the thing that i -- when i was in the philippines, i discovered it was a lot worse than originally thought it was. duterte operate in a and so not only is he the problem, but there are other political officials afraid to speak out. they are the problem. duterte has taken a page out of the 1980's u.s. drug war in that he is using drugs to separate

people. the issue of drugs to separate the poor people from the people who have means. and he is allowing or providing the environment so people could kill, as you pointed out, kill people who are engaged in drug use and drug trafficking. and people are afraid to speak out against this wrong because duterte has no qualms about having people's lives be threatened. i discovered people are being $100. for his little as it ranges from about $100 to $500 to have someone killed. actually, i love the philippines early because my life was threatened because of me speaking out against what duterte was saying about drugs and what he is doing. so we have it that in the united states, but the philippines --

i've never seen anything like the philippines. amy: professor, explain more what happened to you and your response to president trump, to the shock of many, inviting the philippines president duterte to the white house. >> i gave a talk basically saying what duterte they had said, he s said methamphetamine showing sure brain. this provided justification for people to kill people who use methamphetamine. i said that was ludicrous, there is no science to support that. he was upset about it. he responded. his people online responded with threats and that sort of thing. i did not think my statement was controversial, but it turns out it was because this is justification for killing people. duterte trump to invite to the united states, given that this sort of thing is happening, it is just consistent with what trump has been doing. trump has shown himself to be

the most ignorant president that we have ever had. he has shown himself to be the one that disregards law more so than any other president we have had. so it is just consistent -- it would be nice if democrats and people who were in power, particularly people who know something about the law, to figure out a legal way to restrain him or get rid of him. it is just inappropriate for him to behave like that at that level. , thankpressor carl hart you for being with us the much of the department of psychology, professor of psychiatry at columbia university, author of "high price: a neuroscientist's journey of self-discovery that challenges everything you know about drugs and society." professor hart just returned from the philippines where he life.reatened with his and anthony papa, thank you so much for being with us. author of "this side of freedom: life after clemency." he's an anti-drug-war activist,

picture and author. ,when we come back, the massive palestinian hunger strike. we will speak with the son of the leader of that strike, the son of marwan barghouti who is been imprisoned by israel for more than 15 years. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: performed by terry o'neill. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. i amam in san francisco. i will be speaking in santa cruz

and then palo alto, then on to san diego and los angeles. the right now we're going to talk with a guest here in san francisco. it has been almost a month since over 1 1500 palestinian n prisos have b been on hununger strike inside israeli jails. the strike, which began on april 17, was called by marwan barghouti to p protest poor livg conditions in prison and the administrative detention law, which allows palestinians to be held without charge. barghouti is the most high-profile palestini i in israraeli detention. in a "new york times" op-ed announcing the strike last month, marwan barghouti wrote -- "having spent the last 15 years in an israeli prison, i have been both a witness to and a victim of israel's illegal system of mass arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of palestinian prisoners. after exhausting all other options, i decided there was no choice but to resist these abuses by going on a hunger strike."

to talk more about the hunger strike and marwan barghouti, who has been described as the palestinian nelson mandela, we are joined now by his son, arab barghouti. he recently launched the salt water challenge, asking supporters to express their solidarity with the hunger strikers by posting videos online drinking salt water. welcome to democracy now! why drink saltwater? >> well, thank you, first of all, for having me. salt water is the only thing that these prisoners are living on as they have not taken anything other than salt and water. it is a symbolic act. we just wanted to be creative outside of the box to raise the awareness and let everyone know what is going on. it has been going well and it went viral. here it is growing more and more. amy: tell us about your father

marwan. >> my father is a politicacal leader that has been struggling and fighting for his freedom and his peoples freedom for more than four decades. he spent more than 21 years of his life in israeli jails. twice as a member of the palestinian parliament. he is a member of the centrist committee, the highest committee of the fatah party. my father is very well supported nationally and internationally. he is supported by icons like nelson mandela himself who met with my mother and showed his supppport to my fafather' campa, international campaign for his release. the former u.s. president jimmy carter happens to be e one of te biggest supporters of my father and sent us a video asking for

the release of marwan barghouti personally. my father is nominated for the times.eace prize seven laureates nobel prize did the salt water challenge and happen to be one of the main supporters of my father. amy: so talk about why your father marwan barghouti started this hunger strike. alls he said, he exhausted of the ways to negotiate with officials onrison their very basic human rights. this is exactly why the hunger strike is called freedom and dignity. my father was visited by my sister for the first time in one before the month hunger strike. she told him, dad, we can't do this anymore because your health is the only thing that keeps us

going. he looked at her and told her, i haven't seen your brothers in years. been there for your weddining, for your brothers weddings. i don't know your daughters. her daughter is four years old. he told her, this is exactly why i'm going for hunger strike. injustice that has been practiced against me and my fellow prisoners is something that we have to raise our voice four. amy: arab, when did you last see your father? yourften can you and brothers and sister see your dad as well as your mother? >> i was 11 years old when he was arrested. i used to see him twice a month until i turned 16. after 16, i i would seeee him me once every two years. i haven't seen my father in two years. amy: why? >> they don't give me permission to go. this happens also to my one year

older brother. my oldest brother has seen him only three times. imprisoned for 3.5 years for basically no reason, for being guilty of being the son of marwan barghouti. my mother would see him once a month, sometimes they just don't give her permission for three and four months. amy: the israel prison service released footage of marwan or could it were purportedly eating in his cell. barghouti supporters have said it is an attempt to discredit the hunger strike. his wife spoke out against the footage and warned that israel intends to defeat the hunger strikeke by all means. the level of the occupation is reached, my opinion, is a deterioration. instead of focusing on the video, the world should blame and punish israel for its ethical deterioration where they are fabricating -- jim i last visited him,m, i heard frorom hm that they will launch a serious

battle against a strike using all tools and methods to defeat it. amy: can you comment on this? today is your mom's birthday? >> yes, it is her birthday and i send her my love and energy. amy: where is she? >> and roma law. -- ramallah. she is the reason why my father is recognized internationally. hopefully, next year, i will celebrate her birthday with my father. regarding the video, let me tell am his son and i cannot tell it is him in the video. even if it is him, my father stands more than three years in solitary confinement. it could have been taken anytime. on the other side, this shows you the amount of desperation the israeli government got to to put such a cheap and low quality

video. and here i've just want to say that, they put him in solitary confinement to punish him for the "new york times" article and they did torture him. the only thing they did not do is just meet demands. amy: i have 15 seconds. the conditions in the prison? >> it is really bad. we have sick prisoners. minister detention, which is holdingng prisoners for years without even visiting the visitingrt with -- not the families. i have not touched my father in 15 years. this t tells you what the hunger strike is all about. arab or could he, thank you for being here the son of , palestinian political leader

and hunger strike organizer marwan barghouti. arab recently launched the salt water challenge, asking supporters to express their solidarity with the hunger strikers by posting videos online drinking salt water. that does it for our show.

♪ >> 30 minutes outside the bustling metropolis of jordan, a camp established in 1968. it remains the home toto nearly 100,000 palestiniafu