♪ amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> by sanctioning madero, the united states makes clearer our opposition to the policy of his regime and the support of the people of venezuela, who strive to return their country to a full and prosperous democracy. amy: the trump administration sanctions venezuelan president nicolas maduro. tensions escalate following a

vote to elect a new assembly. two opposition members were seized from their mom. the director of the cia hence pushing for regime change. we look at rising tensions on the korean peninsula. >> people are distracted by the trump reality tv show gogoing o. r radar, t the u.s. government is barreliling towars reregime change in north korea. that is not going to work. if you thought the middle east fora disaster, get ready this. amy: we will speak to dr. jill stein. trump, talk about korea, voting integrity, and you know that famous photo of mike flynn and a vladimir putin at a dinner in moscow?

jill stein is in that picture. we will find out what happened. all that and more, coming g up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the white house on monday fired communications dirirector anthoy scaramucci, just 10 days after he was hired, capping a tumultuous week that saw scaramucci repeatedly insult his colleagues in vulgar and sexually explicit terms. scaramucci's departure came just days after trump fired his white house rival, former chief of staff reince preibus, and less than 2 weeks after former press secretary sean spicer resigned in protest of scaramucci's appointment. on twitter, president trump dismissed reports of turmoil within his administration,n, tweeting a boast about stock market and employment numbers and adding -- no white house

chaos. sarah huckabee sanders speaking. >> if you want to see chaos, come to my house. this does not hold a candle to that. amy: scaramucci was reportedly fired by general john kelly just after he was sworn in as chief of staff monday. at the white house, president trump praised kelly over his brief tenure as head of the department of homeland security. >> this is our first cabinet meetin with general kelly. we a admire what he has done. at homelands, what he has done has been nothing short of miraculous. close to 80% stoppage. amy: as head of dhs, kelly has presided over major immigrations and customs enforcement raids against undocumented immigrants. ice has also been accused of

specifically targeting undocumented activists for arrest and possible deportation. in russia, staff said they were barred from retrieving their personal items from a property used on the outskirts of moscow. president putin has ordered 750 five u.s. staff to withdraw from the missions in moscow and elsewhere. russia said it will send up to 100,000 troops to the eastern edge of nato territory by the end of summer. viceensions came as president pence continued a tour of the former soviet state, threatening retaliation against any russian retaliation. russia to has called d on cease its destabilizing

activities in ukraine and elsewhere and to cease its support for hostile regimes. under trump, the united d states wiwill continue toto hold russia accountable for its actions. we call on our allies and friends to do the same. president pence travel to georgia, where he promised support for georgia upon integrity. meanwhile, in arizona, former maricopa county sheriff joe arpaio was convicted monday of criminal contempt of court for defying a court order to stop his deputies from acting as immigration enforcement agents. under the ruling by u.s. district judge susan bolton, arpaio could face up to six months in prison after a sentencing phase in october. the 85-year-old arpaio said in a statement he would appeal the ruling and press for a trial by jury. arpaio is a major supporter of donald trump, whose policies

have included racial profiling and detaining immigrants in a scorching outdoor tent city jail, which arpaio once referred to as his own concentration camp. in los angeles, california, long-time u.s. resident and father of four romulo avelica-gonzalez faces deportation as soon as next week, despite a national campaign seeking his release after ice immigration agents arrested him in lalate february. video taken by avelica-gonzalez's 13-yeaear-old daughter fatima shows her sobbing as her father was detained by ice agents as he was driving her to school. avelica-gonzalez has lived in the united states for more than two decades. immigration advocates fear the arrest signals a shift in ice's long-standing policy against conducting enforcement activities at so-called sensitive locations, like schools, churches and hospitals. president trump personally dictated a false and misleading statement, attributed to donald

trump, jr., about a meeting the president's son arranged with a russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign. that's according to the washington post, which reported president trump's decision to withhold important details about the meeting came over the by his senior advisers, who wanted to provide a truthful accounting case later accounts emerged. in fact, trump, jr. agreed to the meeting after receiving an email describing it as an attempt by the russian government to peddle information incriminating hillary clinton. thee statement dictated by trump described the meeting as short and not focused on campaign issues, but the issue of adoption. in venezuela, two prominent leaders of the right-wing opposition, leopoldo lopez and antonio ledezma, were reportedly

taken from their homes early this morning by security forces. both men were alreadady under housuse arrest. their arrests came after the trump administration announced new sanctions on venezuelan president nicolas maduro and branded him a dictator. maduro claimed victory in sunday's controversial election over whether to create a national constituent assembly, which the venezuelan right-wing opposition says is an attempt by maduro to further consolidate his power. the u.s. sanctions were announced at a white house press briefing on monday by treasury secretary steven mnuchin and national security adviser h.r. mcmaster. of the sanctions, all assets of maduro subject to u.s. jurisdiction are frozen and u.s. persons are prohibited from dealing with him. >> he is not just a bad leader. he is a dictator. the united states stands with the people of venezuela in the face of this administration. amy: it's unclear if the u.s. will impose broader economic

sanctions on venezuela, as the country suffers from high inflation and chronic food shortages. after headlines, we will host a debate about the crisis in venezuela. in syria, convoys of buses have arrived near the lebanese border ahead of a plan to exchange 9000 rebels with the nusra front and their relatives for imprisoned members of lebanon's hezbollah militia, who support syrian president bashar al-assad. the exchange came as heavy fightiting continued to rarage around the isis-held city of raqqa in northern syria. the journalistic monitoring group airwars reports a u.s.-led coalition leveled a home in raqqa frid, kikilling 1515 membs of the al-zana family, including eight children. airwars also cited separate u.s.-led attacks in deir ezzor that killed 5 civilians. in iraq, airwars reported a u.s.-led assault killed ten civilians from a single family sunday, when an airstrike hit their home in the town of hawija. airwars cited a local source who reported the dead were mostly children.

meanwhile, great britain's high court ruled monday that former prime mimister tony blair should not facece prosecution f for leg britain into the 2003 invasion of iraq. the court's chief justice declclared there w was no cre ef aggressionon in english law undr which blair could be charged. the ruling came despite a 2016 report that found blair deliberately exaggatated the threat posed by saddam hussein in the leaead-up to war,r, and t intelligence agencies s warned blair that the invion n would inincrease the threat posed by al-qaeda and other militant groups. in saudi arabia, authorities have freed prominent women's rights activist mariam al-otaibi from prison after she was held 104 days without trial. al-otaibi was arrested in april after she accused one of her brothers of domestic abuse, prompting her father to have her locked up on accusations of disobedience. at the time of her arrest, otaibi was protesting the monarchy's harsh laws prohibiting women from

participating in civic life and requiring women to travel with a male guardian outside of the home. she was released sunday without the permission of her family, and without a male guardian present, as typically required by saudi law. her release was haileded by saui women's rights activists, who drew attention to otaibi's plight with an online campaign using #iammyownguardian. in kenya, a senior election official was found murdered and bearing signs of torture monday, just one week before kenyans head to the polls for a hotly contested presidential election. christopher chege musando, who was tasked with overseeing kenya's electronic voting system, had been missing three days before his body turned up in nairobi. the murder stoked fears of a repeat of violence after an election ten years ago, which saw about 1200 people die and more than a half million displalaced in fighting among different ethnic groups. in baja, california, journalist

luciano rivera salgado was shot in the head at a seaside bar early monday, becoming at least the eighth media worker killed in mexico this year. it's not clear whether salgado was killed because of his work as a journalist. camera footage from inside the bar rereportedly showed other patrons becocoming angereded whn salgado defended a a group of wowomen o were beieing harassed. the committee to protect journalists has named mexico the western n hemisphere''s most dangerous cocountry for reporte. back in the u.u.s., two protests in richmond, california, were arrested monday outside the gates of a kinder morgan oil terminal, as they y locked themselves to oioil barrels in a nonviolent protest against the company's plans to build a new trans mountain pipeline in canada. the project would triple the capacity of an existing tar sands pipeline in british columbia to 890,000 barrels per day. opponents also want the company to halt shipmentnts of tar s sas oil to refineries in the san francisco o bay area.

this is richmond activist andres sota of communities for a betttr environment. >> t t higher sououl for leads o thatr corrosion of deal, leads to things like the explosion in augustst 6, 2012. also, it creates s more greenhoe gases and pollution. the grnhouse gasases are dedestroyingng our atmososphere. the pollution is creating a death and disease. amy: monday's protest came as a nenew study found there's only a one-in-twenty chance the planet will avoid warming by at least 2 degrees celsiuius, or 3.6 6 degs fahrenheit, byby the end of the century. the study, published in nature climate change, finds it's extremely unlikely countries will meet the goals set out by the paris climate accord in 2015, especially since the trump administration has promised to withdraw the u.s. from the deal.

meanwhile, a separate study published monday by the university of north carolina estimates climate change will cause 60,000 deaths globally in 2030 and 260,000 deaths by 2100. in tennessee, three cheatham county sheriff's deputies are on administrative leave after video emerged showing them tasing an 18-year-old repeatedly while he was strapped in a a restraint chair. the jailhohouse video shows jorn elias nonorris, whwawas arrested on marijuana and weapons charges, bound to the chair by the hands and fe, , writhing inn agony while the officersrs jab m in the ribs and electrocute him. one officer is heard telling nonoris - -- i'll k keep on doit until l i run out of batteterie. norrisis has filed a a federer l rights lawsusuit, saying he wass left wanting to die as he was tortured for over 3 3 hours. norris says he was left t with

more than 40 taser burns on his body. in washington, d.c., a police officer has been suspended after he wore a white supremacist t-shirt while on duty. the shirt shows a grim reaper holding a rifle with the washington d.c. flag attached to it. above the flag are the words "powershift," which refers to the officers assigned to areas with high amounts of crime. on the "o" in "powershift" is the image of a type of cross that the anti-defamation league says is the same symbol used on a neo-nazi website. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> welcome to our viewers. we turn now to venezuela, where two prominent leaders of the right-wing opposition leopoldo lopez and antonio ledezma were reportedly taken from their homes early this morning by security forces. both men were already under house arrest. this comes as tension is

escalating in venezuela after voters went to the polls sunday to elect a new national constituent assembly which will have the power to rewrite venezuela's constitution. the right-wing opposition accused president nicolas maduro of attempting to consolidatete s power. according to the official tally, at least 8 million people, or 40% of eligible voters, cast ballots sunday despite an opposition boycott. on the same day of the vote, at least 10 people, including a candidate, died during widespread violence and protests. on monday the trump administration placed sanctions on maduro, barring all u.s. individuals and firms from doing bubusiness with him. this is nanational security adviser h.r. mcmaster. >> madero is not just a bad leader. he is nonow a dictator. the united states stands with the people of venezuela in the face of the suppression. we will work with our partners

to hold accountable those responsible for the escalating humanance and ongoing rirights violations. the preresident palm -- promised strong and swift actions if they went forward opposing the national constituent assembly on the people. amy: on monday night maduro criticized the new u.s. sanctions. >> why am i beingg sanctioned? for facing fascism, hatred and intolerance? for not letting our natural wealth fall into the hands of the magnet -- the magnatatwho financed m mr. emperor donald trump. that is why i am being punished. to d defend the resosources of e land, which will never fall into the hands of the u.s.s. impeperialism. amy: well, to talk more about the situation in venezuela, we're joined now by two guests.

in philadelphia, pennsylvania, we are joined b by george chickarello maher. he is the author of "building the commune: radical democracy in venezuela" and "we created chavez: a people's history of the venezuelan revolution." he teaches at drexel university in philadelphia, and previously taught at the venezuelan school of planning g in caracas. in new york, we are joined by francisco rodriguez, chief economist of torino capital. he's the co-author of "venezuela before chavez: anatomy of an economic collapse." under hugo chavez,z, he headed e national assembly's economic and financial advisory office. we welcome you both to democracy now! can you describe what is happening in venezuela? have a political crisis. the government is unpopular. the government was hit by an economic crisis. maduro's rating has fallen..

out.venezuelans want him that happens when you have economic deterioration. constitutionalal procedures by which you could have -- early elections, whahate call referendums. some courts are controlled by the government and they stopped the recall referendum last year. the opposition has been calling for early elections. the government decided to press ahead with the constituent assembly. decides its own rules to elect a candidate. it is very biased in their favor. municipality with the same number of representatives as rural municipalities. delegatesthird of the are elected from lists and it

was not clear where those lists were coming from. the opposition boycott the election. the turnout was an indicator of the government's strength. we did some individual pulling. had,ast election you uncontested, it would be difficult to believe he has regained 2.5 million votes. venezuelan gdp is set to shrink by 35% to 40%. that is the -- in latin america and it is typically seen in countries that are not -- wars. juan: when you say the 40% isn't is questionable,

there a way to tell for sure whether that many people voted or not? is no way to tell for sure. the council is controlled by the government. one is from the opposition. -- there was a decision by the opposition to boycott. when you participate in an election, you have witnesses and you can contest the vote. all we have is an announcement of tururnout. we don't know how credible it is. we carried out independent exit polling and we got a turnout figure of about 19%. as with any polling, there is a conference --.

the number could have been 42. assessment ofyour what has been happening in the last few days with this votote over the weekend? >> venezuela is in a deep and sustained economic and socialal and political crisis. venezuelan opposition took control of the national assembly. you have had deadlock between the executive, judiciary, and national assembly. we are talking about a situation in which a government was being asked to do something to break out of this crisis. to bring people to the table, to work on a revision of the constitution in a way that might help them break out of this crisis.

the goal of the government was to put forwaward a legitimate process and the refusal of the opposition to participate in this election to boycott it, this is a strategy that has hurt them in the past. are trying toy delegitimize the process entirely. juan: the reports, most of the commercial press are showing what is going on, people protesting in the streets and scores of people being killed. reporting on who is being killed and who is doing the killing.

many as 20 people have been publicly burned by opposition figures. orlando, on may 20, burned on the streets. thought to be a shop as supporter -- thought to be a chavez supporter. is it in some cases the protesters against the chav istas? some are dying at the hands of security forces, some are being cared -- killed around protesters. when people try to get to work, they are attacked. if you look poor or dark skinned, you are likely to be attacked. these cases, to be lynched, and you have had this campaign of sniper attacks which have cost several lives.

we are talking about a battle in the streets. it i is not a matter of protests being lynched in the streets. that is whynt -- these protests have gone on for so long. if you ask people, they want the protest gone. political warlong in the streets. it requires a solution early. >> there is a confrontation. the violence is not one-sided. it is difficult to come up with tallies. there are snipers. who are these snipers? when there is political violence of this time, you cannot find

out what happened until you have investigations and can understand the process that led to it. i don't disagree with that characterization. -- there aret allegations, serious allegations about torture. the whole district, a district of central caracas is a district in which opposition demonstrations cannot occur. becauses them to occur there is an opposition government there and they would have less authority. caracas, theyinto don't allow them to go into the city. haveimes the protests turned violent. the democracy and any well functioning society, people should be able to d demonstrate

they are against the government. not just a is concern of security. there are serious limitations ' lives.t on venezuelans have the right to decide whether they want to revoke their president. faced that, hez went to the referendum and he won the referendum. maduro has not allowed the referendum to go through. there is nothing resembling a normally coherent argument about why it was that the referendum was stopped. the government alleges there was fraud, but they point to signatures which had already

been accepted from the tally. there were enough signatures, thehe presumed fraud signatures, to move forward. maduro would lose a presidential election right now, according to every poll. the government knows that. that is why they don't want to hold elections. once we get restrictions on the ability to elect your leaders, we are talking about a -- of what we call democracy. it was a quick slide between the ability to recall your leaders, a rare phenomenon in the world. there has never been any restriction on the abibility t o

elect the venezuelan leader, but there has been an expansion of electoral freedoms. to have seen a recall referendum. the opposition was very halfhearted. the supreme court stopped the process on the basis of these claims of fraud. you don't slslide from t that io saying you have a dictatorship when i cannot recall trump, several leaders who are less popular than nicholas maduro. is r referring to the leaders of various other countries because their term has not been completed and maduro's term is completed next year. there will be electionsns. any reform that comes out of the assembly will go to a public vote. they have had more verified anywherections than

else on earth. it is difficult to hear anyone, much less the trump regime refer to this as a dictatorship. amy: we will come back to this conversation. this is democracy now. ♪ [music break]

amy: to see the full performance, go to democracynow.org. goodman with juan gonzalez. i want to turnrn to mike pompeo, , talking abobout veneza last month at the aspen institute. aswhen n you havee a countryry

large as venezuela, americaa has an interest in m making susure s stable. we are working hardd. i am careful when we talk about them. i wantnt to be carefeful with wi say. are h hopeful there can b be a transitionon in venezuela. the e cia is doing its b best to understand t the dynamicic s son commmmunicate to our state dedepartment and others. i was in mexico city and b bogo, talklking abouout this issssue,g help p them understand so they can get a better outcome for their part of the world. that was mike pompeo talking at the aspen institute last month. he has been talking with key leaders about what to do.

thecisco, your sense of role of the united states in this. we seem to be portrayed as an observer rather than participant. >> the u.s. has taken an active role in the sense that the u.s. has been pushing for strong sanctions. we know from yesterday, the sanctions on president maduro, it is also imposed sanctions on a number of --. all of these things appear to be on the table. they are under discussion. the u.s. has been coordinating with other countries to make this a bit multilateral. sanctions imposed on government officials, these sanctions are not allolowing u.s. firms to do business with them.

there were announcements by panama and colombia that they and they wouldte also frees the economy and individuals. up until now, individuals, it to the firm that generates most of the nation's. serious effect. >> your response to the world -- to the words of pompeo? >> it is unsurprising. this is nothing that changed dramatically. we have seen a desire to have an active role in removing the government from power, the question is how to do so effectively.

bush was an attempt by the administration and it failed. the obama administration people into fund that. it is knows surprise to find this happening now. this has been the role for so long. any question of sanctions is only going to help maduro and stabilize the legitimacy of the government. it only burnish his the credentials. also, to be attacked by someone with low moral credibility such as trump is a gift to any political leader. you are being attacked by someone with no credibility or ability to say anything about anyone. arresests last the

night? we see the video of them being taken out of their homes by venezuelan intelligence. >> these people were under arrest, they had been charged with a number of things, from conspiracy to inciting violence. whether the evidence is there for them to be held or convicted , it is a question. they have been charged with serious crimes. these are people who have been involved in mobilizations in the streets that have turned violent and continue to encourage these mobilizations. surprise to see this happening now. i am not sure it will help the but ital to waste and,

is not as simple as the narrative being put forward. to talk about what is going on. the question is going to be how to deal with these questions and get people together to discuss these situations. i am sure these actions in the middle of the nigight will help. >> can you talk about the criticism of maduro from the left, not just the right? the attorney general who has now become an outspoken critic of the current policies of the maduro government. what is the nature of the criticism from the left? >> it isis wide range. some of these figures you have heard about and also, more

importantly, we need to be clear about the fact this is a revolutionary process that has a range of social movements and revolutionary ggrassroots organizers. these are people who have not broken with the government, but are trying to figure out a way to press the government from the left. people are directing and managing the production on the local level. way toto figure out a leverage this government, to press it to the last and do it -- press it to the left. on the one hand, supporting , whileots organizers trying to ststabilize the political and economic system in ways that are distasteful to foreignrning to

corporations for investments. there is contradiction going on. many are dissatisfied. how toestion is stabilize the economy, how to deepen this process, create a venezuela canhich become more socialist and not less. thinkrancisco, how you the country should move forward. you are head of the congressional budget office. appointed by a bipartisan appointed -- appointment. you are critical of mandir. >> i tried too advise the maduro

government to improve economic policies. as a venezuelan, the first thing i want to's the is to address these economic issues. been a a deteriorationn in living standards. there have been increases in mortality rates. a number of things are going wrong in venezuela. changes in policy could be carried out. we have a dysfunctional exchange rate system. the black market, these are sold for over -- for dollar. the government is trying to maintain an unrealistic price of foreign currency. with controlssive

on any type of economic controls. been anyen't mechanisms. nothing was done in order to of the country. you didn't have international reserves, anything to use as a buffer. errors in terms of economic policy. withthank you for being us. we will continue this discussion. he headed the national assemblies economic and advisory office. this is democracy now. when we come back, we look at what is happening in korea and here at home with dr. jill stein.

♪ [music break]

amy: el zapateado by las cafeteras singing here at our democracy now studio. to see the interviews and their performances, you can go to democracynow.org. juan: we turn now to the korean peninsula where tensions are again escalating between the u.s. and north korea. on friday, north korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts say may be capable of reaching the west coast of the united states. north korea says the test was a warning to the united states to stop imposing sanctions against

north korea. in response to north korea's test, the u.s. flew two b-1 bombers over the korean peninsula and again tested its alaska-based thaad missile defense system. the u.s. has deployed a similar thaad missile defense system to south korea, despite objections from local residents. amy: joining us now is former green party presidential candidate jill stein. she just returned from a peace delegation to south korea that was sponsored in part by the task force to stop thaad in korea and militarism in asia. dr. jill stein was the green party's presidential nominee in 2016 and 2012. welcome back to democracy now! >> south korea had their candlelight uprising. they impeached a corrupt and conservative president and have , whichtheir uprising

continues to focus on the impacts of militarism and the sad missile system. missile system. they are calling for a peace treaty. -- korean war is not beently, north korea has ring off t the intercontinental ballistic missile. it is very frightening to other countries around the world. they have developed their nuclear weapons capability. this provocation. doing mockeen attacks with nuclear weapons for decades.

we also o have a policy of a fit strike of f a nuclear attack against north korea. north korea has felt they have -- avelop a nuclear rapine nuclear weapon to stand a chance. it is dangerous. korea is in the crosshairs of this conflict. limited exchange of nuclear weapons could result in nuclear is prededicted to cause hundreds of millions of death around the world. it is not rocket science about how to fix it. andnorth koreans, russians, chinese have been clear about what they want.

juan: you mentioned the changing political system in south korea. is there a chance for them to take action in terms of moving forward? trump is the , are theytion predicated to trying to stop any reconciliation between the south and the north? dr. stein: the trump administration is doing what it does. they seem clueless about how to proceed and with the chaos going on, it is queststionable about what they can do. voices --s -- sane or

saner voices are beginning to be heard. is voicing a freeze for a freeze. freeze the war games in exchange for north korea freezing its weapons program. we have done this before. negotiations have worked in the past. freeze thee to weapons development program by sitting down and talking with north korea. george bush came in with his of evil. at that point, instituted a first strike nuclear policy against north korea and destroyed the trust and negotiations. we need to go back to that. it is like the cold war. we need to learn those lessons. the instincts are to fire up the missiles and bring in more of

them. missile defense system, it is like we are taking the regime change paradigm from the middle east and we are trying to apply it on the korean peninsula. if you think it was a disaster in the middle east, now, add nuclear weapons. this is not going to work. we are heading towards a mushroom cloud right now. this is not your regime change in the middle east, which has been catastrophic enough. this is on a nuclear dimension now. koreanen the new south thaaddent is against the missile system. he called for immediate negotiations with north korea. what happened? goodtein: it is a

question. the people of south korea are disturbed by this. there are strong demonstrations going on against him. it feels like he has betrayed -- people because he was initially, as president, he did and he has done a real turn around since his summit with donald trump and he has backed off. what is exciting now, there is an international coalition developing among peace in democracy groups between south korea and the u.s. we are trying to work at both ends of the proroblem. it has been an occupied peninsula. it has been a battleground for

the past century. by japan andupied immediately occupied by the soviet union and u.s. of how peoplese regard the role of china? nottrump administration has stopped saying china needs to step forward and now, china has failed to step forward. approachects the u.s. to north korea. china does not want to see north korea destroyed. want a failed ststate don'their border and they want a u.s. client state onon their borderer, either.

people want to get rid of the thaad missile system because they see it as very provocative to china. they have a concrete sense of how they can begin a process, they had an economic development , a joint program with the north koreans. they want to go back to that, take a step-by-step approach, starting with the negotiations for a peace treaty. amy: tromped said it -- trump said it will be handled, we handle everything. that?ssessment of donald trump is a symptom of a sick political system. what we see going on in the

white house now, hearing -- youay, he reported reported lindsey graham is now instructing trump that if he continues to harass jeff sessions or tries to get rid of him, essentially, a get ready for impeachment hearings. to hear that from staunch republicans, that they are threatening him, lindsey graham is writing a bill to stop trump from dismissing robert mueller at the fbi. is a liability. he is a disaster. sparks are flying out of the white house now with the dismissal of the chief of staff. the incredible comments of the communications director.

they have really become the laughing stock of the world. they are becoming aa big liliability to republicans. donanald trump is digging his on grave. he has been a lame-duck president. a grave danger because of what the president can do. on his waym to be out, which is a wonderful thing. remember, he got elected by supporters who were not voting for him as much as they were voting against hillary clinton and the neoliberal legacy of the democrats that have been throwing people undeder the bus. the bottom line is we are in an unstable and transitional political moment. the democratic party not been able to step up to the plate and an internal self-assessmement.

is an opepen book right now. potentially a liberating moment. the democratic party has been trying to reform itself. it has not gotten there. the efforts to reform the dnc did not work. nancy pelosi is staying the course against single-payer health care. this would be the perfect time for democrats to push it forward. we need a political change. amy: there is a photo of michael

flynn and vladimir putin together at a dinner in moscow. you are at that dinner and you are in that photograph at that table. you had a birdseye view. what were you doing there? was there to deliver one of the main messages of my campaign, war has failed in the middle east and we need a piece of offensive comes -- a piece of offensive. at the time, russia had just begun to bomb syria. my message was russia was in the disastrous footsteps of u.s. foreign-policy in the middle east. amy: how did you end up at the head table? all be forereign diplomomats were seated at the head table.

there was no interpreter and no introductions made. celebration of 10 years of russia today? it was a celebration and a conference. there was media there from all over the world. to lift up aance onferent point of view policy. juan: you didn't get a chance to talk with putin. there was no interpreter. he walkeked in with people i thought were his bodyguards and they were his head of communications and chief of staff. dinner talking to the german diplomat to my right. he was the only person who spoke english. assessment of what has

been made of that? mike flynn has a many contacts to russia and was paid $40,000, which he accepted from the russian government. i was not paid a penny and declined sponsorship for my room and board. i went without any conflicts of interest. nothing happened at that dinner. michael flynn has his own issues going on witith russia. own part, that picture circulates withohout fact. i was there with peace advocates who, unfortunately, we have to turn to russian tv. there are very few stations that cover peace candidates. amy: we will do par two of this discussion and posted online at

democracynow.org. i am amy goodman. our website is democracynow.org. demo

>> this week, global 3000 0 haso argentina. can city-dwellers be enticed to move to the countryside? a sri lankan hotelier is determined to operate his business using solely renewable energy. but first we go to banda aceh in indonesia where young people in particular are literally suffering the seseverity of te islamic rule of law. islamic or sharia law is often perceived as oppressive by the west. and yet there are huge differences in how it's