06/02/17 06/02/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy y now! pres. trump: i was elected to represent the citizens of pittsburgh, not paris. amy: america first or america alone? president donald trump announced thursday he will withdraw the united states from the landmark paris climate accord that was signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015 and heralded as a rare moment of international collaboration to avert imminent

climate disaster. pres. trump: as of today, thee united states will cease all implementation of the nonbinding paris accord a and the draconian financncial and economomic b bus the agreement imposes on our country. amy: donald trump's decision through swift condemnation from world leaders and climate activists around the world. we are fully committed. wherever we are, we all share the same responsibility -- make our planet great again. >> i think some -- i've never seen so much of my life. we do not have much time.

amy: we will host a roundtable discussion with climate scientists and activists from around the world. on the very same day trump announced he is pulling the united states out of the landmark climate accord, oil began flowing through the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline. a new investigation by journalist antonia juhasz reveals more details about how the private military contractor tigerswan carried out extensive military-style counterterrorism efforts targeting the indigenous led movement against the pipeline. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president donald trump announced thursday he will withdraw the united states from the landmark paris climate accord that was signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015 and heralded as a rare moment of international collaboration to avert imminent

climate disaster. trump spoke in the white house rose garden, surrounded by supppporters. pres. trump: in o order to fulfl my solemn dututy to protect america and its citizens, t the iteded states will w withdraw fm , butaris c climate accord begin negotiations to reenter into the paris accord or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the united states, its businesses, its workers, it's people, taxpayers. amy: president trump's decision drew swift condemnation from leaders and climate activists in every corner of the globebe.

a spokesperson called it a major disappointment. france joined germany and italy and issuing a joint statement expressing regret and trump.ting us rejecting term back in the us, former secretary state john kerry, who led the u.s. into the paris deal, said president trump could have simply reduced u.s. pledges to reduce carbobon emissions, which are voluntary under the paris agreement. -- no country is ququired by ththis agreement too anything e except what that country dedecided to do for itsf . so dononald trump is not t tellg the t truth to the american peoe when hsasays we haveve this hu burdrden that h has been n impon us b by other nations. no.. we agreed to what we e would do. we design it. it is voluntary. the presidedent of the united states could simply have changed that without walking away from the whole agreement. amy: the former president

ireland said trump's decision had turned the united states into a rogue state. we will have more on president trump move to withdraw from the paris accord after headlines. in washington, d.c., the trump administration says it has granted retroactive wavers to senior staff to allow them to skirt ethics rules aimed at preventing conflicts of interest. the disclosure came in undated memos by the counsel to the president that were made public wednesday evening. one of those benefiting from the move is trump's chief strategist stephen bannon, who has reportedly maintained contact with the far-right website breitbart media in violation of a white house ethics pledge. bannon formerly headed breitbart, which frequently publishes racist, sexist, xenophobic news. the director of the office of government ethics, walter shaub, told "the new york times," the move was invalid, saying -- "there is no such thing as a retroactive e iver. if y you need d a retroactivive waiver, you have violated a rule." in russia, president vladimir putin denied allegations

thursday that the russian government meddled in the 2016 u.s. election. but putin suggested for the first time that independent russian hackers may have played a role in undermining the campaign of hillary clinton. >> hackers are free-spirited people. they are like artists. if they are in a good made in the morning, they wake up and paint. it is the same for hackers. they wake up today, they read something is happening in interstate relations, and if there patriotically minded, they start to make up their own contribution to what they believe is the good fight against those who speak badly about russia. amy: putin's comments came as two democratic senators said they asked former fbi director james comey to investigate whether attorney general jeff sessions perjured himself when he testified to congress in january that he did not have any communications with the russians ahead of the november election. senators al franken of minnesota and pat leahy of vermont say they were expecting comey to brief them on the matter on may 12, but say the briefing never

happened because president trump fired comey on may 9 after sessions and his deputy attorney general recommended comey's termination. comey is scheduled to testify publicly to the senate intelligence committee next thursday. president trump senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner took advantage of a federal program aimed at helping low-income communities to build a gleaming, 50-story r residentl totower in a wealthy neighborhod in new jersey. that is accordining to "the washington post" which reported that kushner and his real estate partners drip a map -- similar to a gerrymandered congressional district -- that falsely claimed the areas around the tower at 65 bay street in jersey city are blighted. in fact, the map stretched miles into areas of south jersey city where poverty and unemployment are high, while avoiding affluent neighborhoods just blocks from the residential tower. the move gave kushner's companay access to $50 million in low-cost financing under a program aimed at promoting

investment in areas of high unemployment. kushner and his partners are attempting to use a similar map to secure $150 million to build a pair of luxury towers in jersey city's journal square neighborhood. in the philippines, at least 36 people are dead after a gunman stormed a manila casino resort and lit the building on fire. the gunman reportedly fired shots into a television screen and set gambling tables on fire with gasoline, setting off a stampede and suffocating guests. police described the attacker as a white english-speaking , foreigner. they reported he died after he fled with more than $2 million in stolen casino chips, holed up in a nearby hotel room, and committed suicide by setting himself on fire. friday morning's attack was falsely labeled terrorism by president donald trump, but police say it was a failed attempt at a heist. the attack came after

philippines president rodrigo duterte declared martial law in mindanao, as his forces battle isis-allied militants in the city of marawi. on thursday, 11 philippines soldiers were killed in a so-called friendly fire airstrike aimed at the fighters. duterte has threatened to declare martial law nationwide if the insurgency continues. in iraq, the journalistic monitoring group airwars reports more than 20 civilians were killed, most of them women and children, after airstrikes or artillery attacks struck their homes in western mosul. among those reportedly killed were resident hussein abbas and 11 members of one family. most sources blamed u.s.-backed iraqi forces for the deaths. in venezuela, gunmen shot and killed a judge wednesday night at a caracas checkpoint set up by opposition protesters hoping to topple the government of president nicolas maduro. local media reported judge nelson moncada may have been targeted for assassination because he sentenced opposition

leader leopoldo lopez to nearly 14 years in prison for inciting violence during mass protests three years ago. this is venezuela's interior minister nestor reverol. >> we have not ruled out that this was done by an assassin, a hitman contracted by right wing terrorists aimed at creatating more terror. amy: with the killing, the death toll from two months of clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters rose to 62. on thursday, president nicolas maduro said he would hold a national referendum on his plan to create a new constituent assembly that would have the power to rewrite venezuela's constitution. in colombia, massive protests are growing in the port city of buenaventura, despite violent repression by the police and colombian military. the government has deployed thousands of soldiers and riot police amid the uprising in the majority afro-colombian city.

residents launched the ongoing general strike o on april 16 to protest the lack of basic services, including clean drinking water, health care, and primary school education. dozens of protesters have been wounded by soldiers firing live ammunition at peaceful marches. hundreds more demonstrators have beenen arrested. in mexico city, journalists gathered outside the offices of the atattorney general thursday demanding an investigation into ththe abduction of salvador adae pardo, a journalist who was kidnapped by gunmen in the state of m michoacan on may 1818. the abduction came amid a wave of murders of mexican journalists. this is frida urtiz, salvador adama's wife. >> all journalists in mexico are scared. they go to this constantly. today we should not be separated. we should be united. we have different opinions, but we should be united so no other salvador goes missingng. amy:y: mexico's national

commission on human rights reports over 120 journalists have been killed in mexico since 2000. also in mexixico, the uniteded nanations has lalaunched a$1$18 million campaign to support central american unaccompanied migrant chchildrenen. the offifi of the u.n.n. high commissionerer for human rights says the fund will help protect children escaping g sexual violence, extortion, and forced conscription into criminal gangs. this is ema, a honduran child who fled to mexico. >> we can't live in honduras anymore. there are many people leaving the country for the same reason -- crime. the gangs are bad. there are deaths of innocent people, children. we cannot live in honduras anymore. amy: the unhcr says more than 180,000 children fled central america in 2016, a tenfold increase over the last five years. back in the united states the , trump administration has further restricted rules on

applicants for u.s. visas, rolling out a questionnaire this week that will require them to provide five years' worth of social media handles and 15 years of biographical information. the administration calls the questions voluntary but the new , form says applicants who don't provide ththe information n migt see their visas delayed or denied. the restrictions came as the trump administration asked the u.s. supreme court to reinstitute its ban on refugees and travelers from six majority-muslim nations.s. federal judges have enjoined the travel ban, ruling it likely violates the first amendment's establishment clause, which prohibits religious discrimination. and princeton university professor of african-american studies keeanga-yamahtta taylor has canceled all her upcoming public appearances amid a wave of death threats that followed a fox news report critical of her comments about president donald trump, which she made at a may commencement --

address in massachusetts. >> the president of the united states, the e most powerful polititician in the world, is a racist, sexist, megalomaniac. [cheers and applause] benignot a observation. from the terror inducing ragagen the communities of undocumented immimigrants to his disparagingf refugees in search of freedom and respite. amy: professor taylor said she would not give speeches planned for seattle and san diego this week out of fear for the safety of her family after she received a torrent of vile comments and threats to her life. in a statement, taylor wrote -- "we have to change this dynamic and begin to build a massive movement against racism, sexism and bigotry in this country. i remain undaunted in my commitment to that project."

and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president donald trump announced thursday he will withdraw the united states from the landmark paris climate accord that was signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015 and heralded as a rare moment of international collaboration to avert imminent climate disaster. he spoke in the white house rose garden, surrounded by supporters. pres. trump: as of today, the united states will cease alall implementatition of the nononbig d draconian and the financial l and economic burdens the agreementt impmposes on ouor country. this includes ending the implementation of the nationally --ermrmined conontribute in

contribubution, and ve important, the green comment fund, which is costing the fortune.ates a vast a maker the united states is the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. as part of the accord, a committed to providing financial assistance for pollution controls in developing nations. by pulling out of the agreement trump stuck to his campaign promisise of putting a america first. pres. trump: the citizens of pittsburgh, not paris.. it is time to put youngstown michigan, andt, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, along with many, many otheher locatios within our great country, b befe paris, france. it is time e make ameririca grt again. amy: in fact, the city of

pittsburgh has a climate action plan committing to boosting the use of renewable energy, and pittsburgh mayor bill peduto, a democrat, has been an outspoken supporter of the paris accord. he tweeted after trump's announcement -- "as the mayor of pittsburgh, i can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the paris agreement for our people, our economy and future." the response from world leaders was similarly defiant. france joined germany and italy in issuing a joint statement expressing regret and rejecting trump's claim he would renegotiate the deal. french president emmanuel macron also responded with a televised speech that marked the first time a french president has ever given a speech in english from the elysee palace. >> we will succeed because we wherever wemmitted are, we all share the same responsibility. make our planet great again.

amy: meanwhile, germany's chancellor angela merkel pledged ongoing commitment to the paris climate accord and said trump's decision would not stop it from moving forward. -- would not stop germany from moving forward. >> germany will supppport the fi islands in preparing the next climate conference and we will do that together with france. yesterday i spoke with the french president macron about the e paris agreement to the conference in november which will go further on that path of climate control. amy: now new diplomatic alliances appear to be forming in the wake of trump's announcement, with europe, india and china all pledging to uphold their end of the deal. china chinese premier, li keqiang, joined with european commission president jean claude juncker at an eu-china summit in brussels on friday in a show of solidarity. the former president of ireland, mary robinson, said trump's decision had turned the united states into a rogue state. former mexican president vincente fox tweeted that the

"united states has stopped being the leader of the free world." on twitter, , critics noted that in 2009 the trump family, including donald trump, took out a full page ad in "the new york times" urging international action on climate change. following trump's announcement, landmarks in cities around the world were lit up green in support of the paris climate accocord. here in new york city demonstrators gathered near city , hall to protest. changeing about climate is an issue of economic justice. if trump thinks is going to undermine what we have been building here in new york city, he is wrong. >> climate justice. when we won it? >> now. >> my name is sean williams. you look at his executive order

that he is signing and even with this paris accord and pulling out of it, you see that everything he wants to do is taking us back to all of the things that we fought against and that we fought to get out of. >> my name is lola. i am a student at nyu. it is not a valid argument, the jobs argument him especially because lives are at risk. millions of lives are at risk. refugees are at risk. >> now is the time. we need to stop them. we do not have much time. we do not have much time. >> i am charlotte with a powerful movement to change the energy supply to renewables for all of new york city. i think trump is some kind of diabolical wake-up call because i've never seen so much civic engagement in my life. i've never seen so much local

power, local government stand up on issues that normally they don't. >> what do we want? >> climate justice. >> would we want it? >> now. >> what is going to have a with the planet? there would be no one left. what they're not realizing is there going to go down, too. the last time i checked, there is no other planet. this is it. is, trump, bannon, are you suicidal? is that what this is? because you're going to gogo, t. amy: some of the voices of protest against president trump's announcement thursday that he is withdrarawing the united states out of the landmark paris climate accord. when we come back, we host a roundtable discussion with michael mann, kumi naidoo, asad

rehman, and antonia juhasz. this is democracy now! back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. you can sign up for our daily newsletter at democracynow.org. we turn now to a roundtable discussion on president trump's announcement thursday he will withdraw the united states from the landmark paris climate accord signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015, and heralded as a rare moment of international collaboration to o of her i immt climate disaster. collegete pennsylvania, we're joined by michael mann. his latest book he co-authored with political cartoonist tom toles is titled "the madhouse effect: how climate change

denial is threatening our planet, deststroying our politi, and driviving us crazy." and video stream from south us,ca, kumi naidoo rejoins south african activist and the former head of greenpeace. he is chairperson of "africans rising for justice, peace and dignity." and outside of london asad , rehman, executive director of "war on want." and antonia juhasz is an oil and energy journalist. her latest piece is headlined, "paramilitary security tracked and targeted #nodapl activists as "jihadists," docs show." let's go to michael mann and your response to just what happened yesterday in the white house rose garden. >> thank you. it is good to be with you. what can be said that hasn't already been said. i thought you laid it out well. the u.s. through the actions of

donald trump as an international outlaw. we literally are on the sidelines with syria and nicaragua is the only -- and nicaragua has not signed onto the paris accord because they think it does not go far enough. as the only countries now that are not respecting the commitments of the paris accord. of most dangerous aspect that action is the potential ripple effect with the second largest emitter of carbon on the face of the planet, the u.s., withdrawing, the fear is this will create a snowball effect, a ripple effect where other countries like india might say, well, if the u.s., which has had 200 years of access to free dirty energy isn't willing to do their part, then why should we come a country trying to develop its economy, go along with this?

that is the real danger is the message it sends to the rest of the world. as you have alluded to, thus far there appears to be a solidarity among the remaining nations, france, china come and india. so that is a good sign. amy: can you talk about, professor michael mann, the science around this climate accord? throughout his speech, trump repeatedly claimed that the accord puts the united d statest an economic disadvantage in relation to the rest of the world. >pres. trump: this agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the uneded states. ththe rest of the world applaudd when we signed the pariss

agreement. they went wild. they were so happy. for the simplele reason that it put our r country, the united states off america -- - which we all love -- at a very, very big economic disadvantage. amy: trump repeatedly claimed the paris climate accord is hurting american workers and costing them jobs. pres. trump: the pararis climate accord is simply the latest example o of washington entering into an agreement thatt disadvantatages the united stat. to the exclusive benefit of other countrieses, leaving amererican workers -- - who i le -- and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories , and vastly diminished econonoc prproduction. mann,n, professor michael

yoyour existing was professor of atmospheric science. he did not address the science. he talked about the issue of jobs. i am wondering if you can talk about both, in particular as he talked about his love for coal miners. >> sure. first on the science. he did wade into that terrrritoy a bit t when he claimed the pars accord would only shave 1/10 of a degree celsius of temperature rise off of the trajectory that we are on. that is pretty good for donald trump. he was only off by a factor of 10. it will shave at least a degree celsius. with proper ratcheting up, it will literally cut the projected warming in half, getting us onto a path where we could see stabilizing the warming below two degrees celsius, what most scientists who study the impact of climate change will tell you it constitutes sort of the level of dangerous interference with

the climate. on the jobs side of things. again, he gets the numbers wrong. first of all, there are only about 70,000 jobs in the u.s. in coal. and energy experts recognize this is a dying industry. there were nearly a million jobs in renewable energy in the u.s. last year. we are on a trajectory where there is tremendous growth in renewable energy. look, the rest of the world recognizes that that is the economic revolution of this century. china, for example, is cleaning our clock when it comes to renewable energy. in fact, producing so much for solar energy technology that they have literally flooded the cheap global economy with solar panels and brought down the price of solar technology

tremendously. so, you know, the rest of the world recognizes that this is the great growth industry of this century and the u.s. risks getting left behind if it does not get on board. so whether we are talking about the science, whether we're talking about economic competitiveness, whether we're talking about jobs, everything that trump said yesterday was wrong. tweetedfessor mann, you -- i want to ask asad rehman, who is in london right now, who is head of war on want, your reaction and the reaction in europepe right now to donald trump's historic removal -- withdrawal of the united states from the paris accord? >> thank you, amy. first of all, let me just say there has been a long tradition

of u.s. weakening of climate action is a go back to the kyoto agreement, that was very weak. a week pledge from the united states, full of loopholes. that was to accommodate the united states. the paris agreement was nonbinding. it was voluntary. the pledges would lead to a warming of at least three degrees. it is to be strengthened. that was under president obama's watch. to accommodate the united states, i think one of the powerful lessons of this is that long is a tradition in a history of american exceptionalism within climate action. and the rest of the world has to move faster and more ambitious, and leave the u.s. behind. the reaction you're seeing now has been strong and positive,e, both from governments, but also social organizations and civil society where people are committed and recognizing the real change will come not necessarily from donald trump, but from the grassroots within the united states.

this is that for the people of the united states. the temperature increase of one degree warming around the world 's leading to killer floods and droughts all of the world. the arctic melting, coral being bleached. , nothas huge implications just on the poorest parts of the world. the impact serving felt around the world. this is absolutely the donald trump astounded the united states climate criminal and put itself outside of multilateralism and global society. i think it is also part of a bigger trend of donald trump. i would say this is a reflection of a real mindset to the neocolonial white supremacist mindset. if you take it into context with the muslim ban, building walls and fences, then walking away from climamate change e where te ununited statates has histstoriy beenen the greatest and responsible for the greatest amount of co2 in the atmosphere -- it's pledge is so weak, it is

doing less than 1/5 of what it should be doing. he was absolutely wrong on his comments about climate finances. the fact the u.s.'s only pledging about $1 billion, which is a drop in the ocean of what the impact is happening around the world d and what is needed r poor countries to develop cleanly fielded tackle -- we have to remember billions of our cities are still without access to energy, still living in subsistence and facing party. i am originally from pakistan where four out of 10 people face multiple indices of poverty and just last week, we're temperature levels recorded a 53.5 degrees centigrade. that is literally the upper level of what a human being can tolerate in the open. this is the same country where one flood impacted 30 million people, covered 1/5 of the country, and costs the country billions and billions of dollars. these are real and live in

packs. what he has done is that only turned his back on the international community, he is basically saying, black lives, poor lifestyle matter. they don't matter and the rest of the world and they don't matter in the u.s. because it ts the poorest and most avoidable people in thee u.s.s. w who face these impact -- vulnerablee people in the u.s. who face these impacts. former secretary of state john kerry, who led the u.s. into the paris accord under president obama thursday, blasted president trump for withdrawing from the deal. speaking to cbs, he noted u.s. commanders to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are voluntary under the pararis accord and sad trump could have simply scaled back. >> no coununtry is required by this agreementnt to do o anythig exexcept what that countrtry ded to do for ielf. so donald trump is not tellingg the truth to the american n peoe wh he e says we hahave this huge

burden i imposed on us b by othr nations. no. wewe agreed to whahat we would . wewe desigigned it. it is voluntntary. the presidentnt of the united states could have simply changed that without walking away from the whole agreement. amy: asad rehmanan, your respon? >> he said it himself clelearly. weak a voluntary early agreement. the united states could have stayed in and done eveven less. at one level, i think it is a useful signal from the u.s. because now it must spur people elect european union who have aided the united states in weakening the agreement, , they must now say, absolutely we have a r responsibility. we have to live up to our fair share. european union is also not doing its fair share. climate scientists tell us it is about a decade if we want to keep temperatures below the critical 1.5 degrees threshold where impacts will be absolutely devastating for the poorest

countries in the world. in that, now we hahave an talksunity -- the clclimate take place i in germany this ye. there's an opportunity for richer countries to come there and increase their targets. that would be the best response to donald trump. it would be saying what we need is a legally binding agreement, but one that is based on the science and not what rich countries want to do or feel they are able to do. that absolutely is disastrous both for the planet and its people. amy: i want to turn to south africa right now. , chair of kumi naidoo africans rising for justice is and dignity, we talked to you about the imminent announcement. we were not sure what was going to happen. p.m.rday just after 3:00 eastern time, president trump take to the rose garden, speaking to his supporters and announced the u.s. withdrawal from the climate deal. now, fromnse right

your position in johannesbururg, south africa, what this means for the african continent? asad and myself who did not think this deal was as ambitiousus as it needed to , it i is quite interesting situation b because yesterday after i was interviewed by democracy now!, some right-wing publication i think said come all of the critics of the paris agreement announcing, oh, dear, such a bad thing that donald trump has pulled out. this is cognitive dissident at its worst. where there is denial that they are close to the climate -- as one newspaper put it, donald trump's message to the world, the front page said "message to the world: drop dead." that is how it is being

reported. for us and half, we are already seeing brutal and the first impacts of climate change. we think this is not only a bet rayel -- betrayal for poor just unjust. but what i think is clear is that the successful nations, compmpanies, societies of the future are not going to be those of the space race or any other race, it will be the green technology race. i think apart from the harm he is done globally through this decision, the biggest threats and biggest damage he will do to the american people itself. and i think the positive thing about it is what i have heard in the last 12 hours is that it has

really energized the climate movement. so there are people right now, for example i'm looking at proposal right now being sent to me for coalition of activists were talking about a strategic boycott of united states, targeting services and products of the unit is eighth, something we have never heard about -- of the united states, something we have never heard about. you're seeing mayors, progressive governors, progressive businesses in the united states saying to trump, we are moving ahead anyway. our call from africa and the so-called global south, what people call the developing countries, to the people of the united states right now is that we did not judge you on the basis of what a crazy president -- we will judge you by how you trump. to president and we call on the people of the

united states today to mobilize the biggest ever civil disobedience against the presesident of the united state. we have seen some inspiring things already since the election. and i think right now we have to call on the people of the united states to muster the boldest, peaceful, strongest civil disobediencece to put pressure to behat he might have humbled to go back and reverse his decision. amy: i want to bring antonia juhasz into the discussion, oil and energy journalist speaking to us from california. your spiegel had a remarkable cover, the german magazazine. it said "america first, earth last." your response to donald trump's announcement? >> i think the announcement shows not the independence that donald trump is trying to put just butbut who he has

who he is captured by and who he is been responsive to. so you have the domestic oil industry and fossil fuel industry -- and just to be clear, donald trump says he loves coal miners by coal miners do not love him. he was not endorsed by the coal workers union, united mine workers of america. they have never liked him. donald trump is standing with coal companies and fossil feel companies who have been very successful in making his domestic agenda be one that would not adhere to our commitments in any case, limiting regulations, and opening up new areas to production so that we would increase our already high carbon emissions and pollution and health effects, etc. but also, let's recall this is coming quite shortly after trump's first foreign trip to saudi arabia. ini reported from paris

newsweek and we discussed on the show from paris, saudi arabia has desperately been trying to stop the climate accord process for years, and does not want, for obvious reasons, the world to declare its lack of intent to continue to use carbon-based fuel. trump came back from saudi arabia and announced that the u.s. would be eliminating its commitments and pulling out of the paris climate accord. another country that would very much like e to see the world not make a commitment to move off of is russia,sil fuels a country where there is a great deal of concern about the relationship with donald trump putin and to russia. trump can do a great deal of damage, even in the four years of the withdrawal period. as you use in your headliner,

the paris climate accord had a lot of weaknesses, but one of its strengths with the global $500 billion commitment to helping those countries that are suffering the worst consequences of climate change right now to help deal with those immediate cost and triried to some adaptation. this was not enough money, but it was still $500 billion. the obama a administrationn pledgedd $4 billion, only put forward $1 billion. trump is essentially saying the u.s. is not going to find and help put money forward, which is something that we have, doubt address the immediate impacts right now of thehe climate cris. amy: in the green climate fund. >> that's righght. and he is slashing come in isis alreready proposed budgeget that came outut prior to ththis announcement, for akoni and cut -- draconian cuts through international agencies, including the united nations.

nowhere in all of this, by the way, are we seeing these great rumors that rex tillerson is a great defender of paris climate accord. where is rex tillerson when donald trump is already proposing in his budget these cuts to address our commitments to paris and climate? where is rex tillerson when donald trump is proposing and enacting harsh cuts to the environmental protection agency and its ability to regulate fossil fuels? ine new york times reported this article how rex tillerson is trying to support the paris climate accord that of course the currency of exxonmobil just happens to be e sharing the same position and in a meeting where the current sealed exxon mobil barely conveyed deposition privately and he is joined others in doing so publicly, he was in a meeting, according to "the times," were they were discussing new offshore drilling

in the gulf of mexico. there is a public stance which could be -- we support paris and the paris accord, but there is a real policy piece that makes it meaningful. the damage that can be done in those four years is vast. to me it shows, as i said, the alliances trump -- and also sends important message. u.s. is not going to hold to its commitment, the federal government isn't, to paris. as is the world a message, you don't have to put in place policies that shift away from fossil fuels because her isn't going to be an international commitment that you do so. that is a very dangerous message, particularly for countries like saudi arabia and russia that would really like to make it clear fossil fuels are here to stay, oil is here to stay. that sends a message to the rest

of the world, you can continue on this path. fortunately, as we have heard, local communities, activists, many governments are not going to listen to that message. and the fact it is coming from andu.s. is deeply troubling is certainly a message the trump administration was hoping to convey on behalf of, as i said, the domestic oil and fossil fuel industry and his allies and allies he is hoping to continue toto foster, i would argue, most important link saudi arabia and russia. amy: antonio, i want you to stay. after break, i want to find out about your latest investigation into tigerswan, the company that has been surveilling the indigenous movements against the dakota access pipeline, news is that oil is now flowing through dapl, through this pipeline under the missououri river. i want to o go back to kumi naio

in south africa to talk about civil disobedience. that is what you're known for, former head of greenpeace, now chair of africans rising for justice, peace, and dignity. what you think people around d e world and in the united states, what do you think the responsibility is right now? >> well, i think it is clear that we put too much faith in political and business leaders over the last several decades, expecting them as parents and grandparents who have a vested interest in the future of the children, to do the right thing. the message that we get now out of washington and president trump one where we have to rereize that i if we as ordinary citizens do not stand up and take ownwnership of putting pressure on our political and business leaders in a much more stronger, peaceful, and bold way, we are not going to do the

results we need. we are literally five minutes to midnight. we are seeing the devastation being caused already by existing climate impacts. people seem to have short memories. i would think the president trump would recall hurricane sandy. , scientists totold us was calld by the level of arctic sea ice in the summer months when it happened. so where we are is we have to recognize -- and we as activists and in the climate movement have to take a very hard look at ourselves. as our einstein once said, the definition of insanity is in the same thing over and over again expecting to get different results. we now have toto say, well, what can we do differently? what can we do that makes it

irresistibible for corrupt, self-serving, captured by vested interests leaders -- how longngo we tolerate this behavior? i think right now, already over the last couple of years we have seen intensification o of civil disobedience around climate activism. everyd like to sake to parent and grandparent, if you care about your children, you should becoming a climate activist. you should be considering civil disobedience because that is the kind of pressure that we need what the to align science is saying we need to do, what mother nature is saying we need to do with extreme w weathr events and someone's, and what actions we tackle some amy: michael mann, what are climate scientists doing? it seemsms this announcement has brought out climate changnge

deniers that were not even being turned to before, people who are not willing to say this are now coming out talking about the questionable science on television and the netwoworks ae filled with those voices as well. >> that is right. sort of the coulter the donald thep hass created whehere leader of our country, the president of the united statetes anand has adopted, as is officil position, that climate e changes eitherer a hoax created by the chchinesee or at least something that we dodon't need to worrrry about. when the overwrwhelming consenss of the world scientists, which includudes the u.s. national academy of sciences and every scieientific societyty in the u. that has weighed in on the matter, is that climate change is real, human cosost, and alrey wreaking havoc in the form of unprecedented heat and droughtht and flooding events. in supererstorm's, record strait

hurricanes. it is already wreaking havoc. and if we e don't act now to reduce our emissions dramatically over the next 10 years, we will go right past that 1.5 degree celsius mark that was mentioned earlier. we will sell past that across the two degrees celsius mark, which is, again, where we have reason to think we will see the worst and potentially irreversible changes in climate. so we don't have time to act. we don't have time i if we're going to avert a crisis, we need to bring emissions back down now by withdrawiwing from paris, t p risks disrupting this process that hasas been put in p place,e onis treaty that will get us the right papath. but if w we d don't bring down r emissions now, we are not going to be able to stabilize below dangerous levels of warming. they can formann,

being with us. asad rehman, in england, kumi naidoo from johannnnesburg, char of africans rising for justice, peace, dignity. and antonia juhasz, stay with us, because we want to find out your latest x was a on what has been happening in north dakota around the dakota access pipeline. stay with us. ♪ [music breaeak]

amy: where the afro colombiaian residedents are facing violent repression as they continue a two-week long general strike to demand clean drinking water and other basic services in colombia. , i'm amy goodman. we look at marx was a revelations abouout the dakota access pipeline. on thursday, the very same day president trump announced he is pulling the united states out of the landmark 2015 climate accord, oil began flowing through the $3.8 billion pipeline. president trump green-lighted the dakota access pipeline, along with the keystone xl pipeline, as one of his first environmental actions in office. the pipeline had faced widespspread resistance from the standing r rock sioux tribe, huhundreds of other indigenous nations from across the americas, as well as their non-native allies. now a new investigation by antonia juhasz reveals more details about how the private military contractor tigerswan carried out extensive military-style counter-terrorism efforts targeting the indigenous-led movement. published by the news outlets

grist and reveal, it's headlined, "paramilitary security tracked and targeted #nodapl activists as "jihadists," docs show." it exposes how tigerswan extensively surveiled water protectors across north dakota, south dakota, iowa, and illinois attempted to sow divisions , between various factions of the movement and may have even , illegally hacked into water protectors' social media pages. the article also exposes how tigerswan is linked to the now defunct mercenary firm blackwater and how tigerswan's , chair jim reese, a veteran of , the army's elite delta force, is now being pitched to be the next fbi director. antotonia juhaszsz lay out whatu , uncovered in your investigation. >> thank you, amy. about a month ago, someone had contacted grist with documents werere daily situation reports prepared by tigerswan, a

private military government contractor, that had been hired by energy transfer partners to provide overall security, erratically, for just the dakota access pipeline. we learned it was not just that. and these were reports that were prepared by tigerswan to be delivered each day to energy transfer partners. grist contacted me and said, yet reported on this for us befefore -- i reported from standing rock for grist -- can you tell us what you think? we spent a lot of time digging through confirming the validity of the documents, analyzing them, and interviewing people named in them, repororted upon y them, reaching out to the compmpanies abouout the documen, etc. it also turned out, as you had on the show, the intercept had also received a very lararge grp of similar documents from ththe exact same talkiking and reportd upon them. we did ourur story just y yeste.

this is shocking. as you k know, i have reported from afghanistan. i have seen private military contractors. tigerswan is a company that impact has a great deal of experience, particularly operating as a private military contractor in afghanistan and also in iraq, in war zones. it is composed of -- founded by retiree and imposed of many combat veterans. thiswere hired to perform private security function by energy transfer partners. it was a very disturbing set of revelations in reading these daily situation reports they put out. a clearly militarized counterintelligence program established by tigerswan too

adaddress a domestic, you know, protest situation. and what the report showed was an intent to gather information through all sorts of means, who weree those gathered in opposition to the dakota access pipeline, and to try to manipulate them and to try to increase risks between them and to try to increase tension. and also in the reporting that tigerswan was doing, it was quite clear based on those i interviewed, including lawyers i ininterviewed, that also i it ss what they were trying to do was protectors and those resisting the construction of the pipeline appear to be more dangerous than they were to increase a more stringent

response by law enforcement. as was said in the title of the peace, the framework that tigerswan used was also one that seemed to be much more years from its experience in war zones in iraq and afghanistan, referring to the water s andctors as jihadist essentially saying this as a war zone situation in treating it that way. amy: we have to wrap up this discussion, but i would like you to stay with us and we will post the continuation of the discussion, what this means for fossil fuel industry resistance, who is the founder of tigerswan jim reese and this question of whether he is being considered also theirector, and relationship between tigerswan and blackwater. we will discuss this and post it online at democracynow.org. antonia juhasz him a oil and energy journalist. we will link to her peace

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announcer: this is a production of china central television america. walter: music is one of the greatest equalizers. it can bring together people from different social and cultural backgrounds. the result is a shareded human experience ththat transcends all boundaries. this week on "full l frame," we'll mt ininnovators who a are connectig the world ththrough their r mus. i'm mike walter in los angeles. let's take it "full frame."