08/13/18 08/13/18 democracy now! [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> what is the meaning of negotiations when you impose sanctions at the same time you go it is like some one pulling a knife to step a rival in the arm while at the same time finding we should be talking and negotiating. the answer on such a case would be to say remove the knife from the arm and put it away. amy: a nuclear stand off builds with iran as the trump administration re-imposes economic sanctions f following trump's decisision to withdraw from the iran nuclear deal.

we'll get response from ambassador seyed hossein mousavian, former head of the foreign relations committee of current special security, author of "iran and the united states: an insider's view on the failed past and the road to peace." then as more than 100 wildfires rage across the united states, we go to colorado, where prprotesters interrupted a speeh by interior secretary ryan zinke and asked him why he refuses to acknowledge the role of climate change. >> secretary zinke, what will you acknowledge that climate change is caused -- accelerating wildfires, even -- amy: we'll speak with the protesters who interrupted zinke as well as political reporter ben lefebvre who is been doing a series of exposes on the interior vases 14 investigations come almost as many as there

were against the disgraced former epa chief scott pruitt. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. south korean president moon jae-in has announced he will head to pyongyang next month for a third summit with north korean leader kim jong-un. moon will become just t the thid sosouth korean president to tral to the north koreaean capital. the meeteting comes at a time wn tension appears to be increaeasg again between the trump administration and north korea. last week national security adviser john bolton accused north korea of not taking the steps the trump administration feels are necessary to denuclearize. in washington, d.c. white , a supremacist rally outside the white house largely fizzled on sunday when just over two dozen people showed up for the unite the right protest. they were vastly outnumbered by counter protesters, journalists and police officers.

sunday's unite the right rally came a year after the deadly white supremacist protest in charlottesville. president trump marked the anniversary of charlottesville by writing on twitter -- "i condemn all types of racism." shortly after the deadly charlottesville protest last year, trump said there were "very fine people on both sides." a baltimore police officer has resigned after a video went viral showing him repeatedly punching a man in the face before taking him to the ground and continuing to beat him. officer arthur williams was initially suspended from the force but then resigned on sunday. the victim of the police beating, dashawn mcgrier, was taken to the hospital for possible fractures of the jaw, nose, and ribs. mcgrier's attorney, warren brown said -- "it seems like this officer had just decided that dashawn was going to be his punching bag. and this was a brutal attack

that was degrading and demeaning to my client, to that community, and to the police department." the baltimore mayor describes the video as "very disturbing." black lives matter activist deray mckesson tweeted -- "and this is why folks don't have any faith in the police." president trump is heading to fort drum, new york, to sign a record-setting $716 billion military spending bill. that's an $82 billion increase over the current year. the bill includes over $21 billion for nuclear weweapons programs, including $65 million for new submarine-launched, low-yield nuclear weapon. in afghanistan, a fierce battle is continuing over the control of the strategic city of ghazni four days after the taliban attacked the city killing more than 200 people including over 100 soldiers and police officers. many residents have fled the city. >> there were burning buildings

and fire and dead bodies everywhere. the fight was ongoing. the situation was very bad and all of the shops were closed. president ashraf ghani announced amy:president ashraf ghani announced today more troops would be s sent to the city whih is a two hour drive from kabul. israeli forces shot dead two palestinian stern protest in gaza friday, 307 palestinians were injured. the dead included a 22-year-old medic who was shot in the chest while treating another palestinian man who had been fatally wounded. he became the third medic to be shot dead in gaza since the great march of return protest began in march. one of his colleagues said "yes, he was armed, he was armed with bandages and surgical masks." the united nations has revealed it has received reports that china is holding over a million ethnic uighurs and other muslim minorities in what resembles a massive internment camp in the western xinjiang autonomous region. according to the group china

human rights defenders, more than 20% of all arrests in china last year occurred in xinjiang even though the region makes up less than 2% of china's population. china has rejected the internment camp reports, but an editorial in a state-backed newspaper said today that china's actions in xinjiang has helped the region from becoming china's syria or china's libya. in news from minnesota, outgoing -- nichols missouri said he will allow help. to drones loaded with explosives detonated over maduro as he given ashley televised speech august 4. maduro says hehe believes the plotters of the attack have fled to florida, peru, and columbia. in news from washington, d.c., the white house is looking at ways to legally prevent former staffer omarosa from releasing more audio recordings made boss you was a staffer at the white house. on sunday, "meet the press" aired a recording she made of john kelly firing her inside the

west wing. >> we have to talk to you about leaving the white house. it has come to my attention over the last few months that there is been some pretty, in my opinion, significant integrity. amy: she said she made that inside the situation room. up until her firing, omarosa was president from's most prominent african-american adviser in the white house and in her new book she discovers the president as racist and claims he is used the "n" word repeatedly. a jury i in california has orded monsanto to pay $289 million in damages to a school groundskeeper who developed cancer after regularly using the roundup weed killer. the 46-year-old dewayne johnson has non-hodgkin's lymphoma. doctors say he is unlikely to live past 2020. judge suzanne ramos bolanos read the jury's verdict. >> was the roundup pro or ranger pro design a substantial factor in causing harm to mr. johnson?

answer, yes. amy: monsanto faces more than similar lawsuits around the 5000 country involving roundup and other weed killers containing glyphosate. the airline industry is reexamining security protocols after an airport worker at seattle-tacoma international airport stole a plane on friday night, took off without permission, then flew it for about an hour before crashing. richard russell was the ononly person on board when he crashed the 76-seat horizon air plane. he died in the crash. in other airline news, the transportation security administration is considering a plan to eliminate security checkpoints at more than 150 smaller regional u.s.s. airport. in news from minnesota come outgoing democratic congressman keith ellison is denying accusations he abused an ex-girlfriend. on saturday the woman's son posted a message on facebook saying he had seen a video of ellison dragging his mother off a bed while screaming at her. ellison said in a statement -- "this video does not exist because i never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false."

on sunday, ellison's ex-girlfriend wrote on twitter -- "what my sons that is true. wasy statement he made true." compass member ellison is running to become minnesota's next attorney general. the democratic primary is tomorrow. and the egyptian-born marxist economist samir amin has died at the age of 86. he was considered to be one of africa's leading radical intellectuals and was one of the pioneers of describing modern human history from the perspective of the third world. -- of the global south. he appeared on democracy now! from tunisia in 2015. >> today, you have an oligarchy running the united states, union, and european countries of the european union. you have oligarchy is also from latin countries america, africa, asia,

everywhere, oligarchy. amy: to see the interview in its entirety, you can go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin with a look at the escalating tensions between the united states and iran. on sunday, u.s. ambassador to britain woody johnson wrote an op-ed in the telegraph urging britain to withdraw its support of the landmark 2015 iran nuclear deal. ambassador johnson wrote -- "america is turning up the pressure a and we want the u.k.y our side." johnson's op-ed comes after the trump administration re-imposed economic sanctions against iran last week following trump's decision to o withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. the sanctions increase tensions between the u.s. and iran, and the u.s. and its european allies. trump threatened other countries seeking to trade with iran, tweeting -- "anyone doing business with iran will not be doing business with the united states." iranian president hassan rouhani has condemned the sanctions as

psychological warfare, saying last weeeek he would not begin negotiations until the sanctions are withdrawn. the first step would be for u.s. president donald trump to show he generally was to engage in negotiations to solve the problem. what is the meaning of negotiations when you impose sanctions at the same time? it is like someone pulling a knife to stab a rifle -- rival or enemy and arm while at the same time claim we should be talking and negotiating. the answer in such a case would be to say to remove the knife from the arm and put the knife away. amy: just last month, president trump said he would meet with iranian president hassan rouhani whenever rouhani wants, without preconditions. this is trump speaking at a white house conference just two weeks ago. pres. trump: i do believe that able probably end up wanting to meet, , and i'i'm ready to meet anytime they want to. anand i don't do that fromom strength or from w witness. i thinink it is an appropriate thing g to do. if we could work sometething ou, that is meaningful, not the

waste of paper that the other deal was, i would certainly be willing to meet. >> do you have preconditioions r that meeting? pres. trumpmp: no. if they want to meet, i will meet. anytime they want. it is good for the country, good for them, good for us, and good for the world. no preconditions. amy: only hours later, secretary of state mike pompeo announced a slew of preconditions for a possible meeting, including iran being willing to enter into a new nuclear deal. well, for more, we're joined by ambassador seyed hossein mousavian, middle east security and nuclear policy specialist at princeton university's woodrow wilson school of public and international affairs. from 2003 to 2005, he's our best spokesperson for ran and it's no good negotiations with the european union. he is author of "the iranian nuclear crisis: a memoir" and most recently, "iran and the united states: an insider's view on the failed past and the road to peace."

ambassador, welcome back to democracy now! thank you for joining us from princeton university. you have the u.s. ambassador to britain, woody johnson, pressuring britain to pull out of the u.s. nuclear deal following the united states, which trump did, and the imposition of sanctions by the united states last week on iran. know, the iranian nuclear deal was the result of 13 years of negotiation between iran and the world powers. the u.s. engaged in negotiation in 2013 and also had bilateral frequent intrusive, bilateral meetings, from 2013-2015. ultimately, iran and the u.s., iran, the world powers, agreed

on the nuclear deal. united nations accused the council passed a resolution after approving the deal. in two years later, iran has fully complied with all of its commitments. the iaea, international atomic energy agency, which is the sole agency responsible for supervising the nuclear program 11 times states, has since 2016 confirmed iran's full compliance with the nuclear deal. now, the u.s. is the only security -- un security council member, withdrew from the deal, violated the deal. this is bad. this is a big mistake. this is violation of international law and regulations by the united face of america. however, what you mentioned, the u.s. ambassador wrote an op-ed

in london pressuring the u.k. to the the u.s. to violate united nations a gritty counsel and to dish security council. they are doing this with every european member. the u.s. is pushing all international entity, all of the countries and this is really something very strange and perhaps unprecedented. the united states is the most powerful country in the world. and the most powerful member of the united nations security council, which all five permanent members are responsible for full implementation of the u.n. security council resolutions passed by themselves. now, not only the u.s. is violating the deal itself, but pushing the other international -- other countries, other

members of permanent security council, to violate the u.n. security council. this is really something unprecedented and very, very strange. and at the same time, very dangerous for international peace, order, and security. amy: and can you talk about the effects of the sanctions reimposed last week by president trump against iran? >> i would say there would be an effect on iranian economy. iranians definitely would be harmed. i have no doubt about it. already we have seen some negative consequences on the iranian economy. however, i need to mention perhaps three points. the first point is the fact that iran has been under u.s. sanctions for 40 years. therefore, i can say the iranians are the most experienced country and nation

on the u.s. sanctions. they have been able to handle the u.s. sanctions, multilateral continue and survive, their strategies. domestically or regionally or internationally. the second point is that during the first term of president --ma, the u.s. were able international consensus to bring u.n. security council sanction iran. international consensus. russia agreed. china agreed. it was because there were six u.n. resolutions on the iranian nuclear program which iran was not ready to accept. however, this time while the deal has been achieved, while iran has signed, the u.s.

signed, the other permanent members of the united nations security council signed, the u.n. passed resolution and moran has fully complied with every commitment -- iran has fully complied with every commitment. now the u.s. has practically isolated bringing new sanctions or re-imposing the sanctions, therefore, the other countries like russia, china, india, they're not going to violate the united nations security council and they're going to continue business with iran. therefore, does i believe president trump will not be able to create international consensus, reimposing the new sanctions. this is the second issue. the third issue, which i believe is more important, iranian economy y is under many, many difficulties like corruption, like dysfunctionality, like

inflation. and they have a lot of problems. these have been a problem since 1979 when saddam invaded iran and a rain had eight year war. and after work,k, the u.s. pushd for many, many sanctions against iran. 50%ver, i believe at least of the iranian domestic economic problem is not because of the sanctions. the domestic dysfunctionality of different system. but this is the government or other systems. therefore, if iran is going to resist the sanctions, they would the to -- dysfunctionality's of their own system. -- toore, this is one mystic economic system. the other reality is that the u.s. is not going to be able to

create international consensus and therefore, i believe iran would be harmed, but president trump would fail to habitually a ran -- iran to come to negotiations on sanctions under pressures. amy: let me ask about prpresidet trump and his threats against iran. last month he tweeted to rainy president assignor honey, never, ever threaten the united states again or you will suffer consequences like which few throughout history of ever suffered before." later, national security advisor john bolton doubled down, saying -- "president trump told me that if iran does anhing at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before." this comes after, in may, secretary of state mike pompeo used his first policy address to threaten iran with the strongest sanctions in histotory. this is whatat he said. >> we e ll apply u unprecedented financial pressure on the iranian regime.

the leaders in tehran will have no doubt about our serioususnes. thanks to our colleagues at the department of treasury, sanctions are gogoing backck inl efeffect and it was are coming. last week we impose sanctions on head of iran's central bank and other entities that were funneling moneney to the our gc kuds force and hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. amy: that is mike pompeo. ambassador seyed hossein mousavian, talk about what this means and also the possibility that president trump might meet with rouhani in a kind of site meeting in new york at the u.n. generalissimo and when world leaders come. >> let me respond to your questitions. you two questions. the first one is about threatening. i believe threatening is really

bad, is against the united .ations charter if iran is threatening the u.s. or the u.s. is threatening the iranians. this is actually a violation of the u.n. charter. thater, the fact is president trump has starred and desk started to threaten iran. the first threatening was the threatening of the nuclear deal, violation of the united nations security counsel resolution, violation of 11 resolutions of the iaea come international atomic energy agency. the second threat came by president trump administration was the official statement by john bolton and pompeo for regime change in iran. they frequently mention the iran

regime change. the third threat from the u.s. side was when the u.s. said they are going to bring iranian oil export to zero. alreadye, i think president trump started the trend of threatening by regime change strategy, by all options on the table, including literally a strike on iran by sanctioning iran, by violating the nuclear deal, and by, for the first time it was a statement from the united states of america to say that they are going to bring iranian oil export to zero. even during the war, saddam's invasion in 1980 to 1988, when the u.s. was supporting saddam in war against iran. never the u.s. said, i'm going to bring iranian oil export to

zero. that is why i believe president trump has gone beyond threatening iran. president trump publicly has announced economic war, political war with iran. therefore, a ring is also will respond -- iranians will respond and they will threaten the u.s. by closing the strait in order to not let any other country to is notoil if iran permitted to export oil. that is why a thread is against -- threats came for the first time from the u.s. side. now, about y your second questi, whether a negogotiation would be possible or not. is that whililee iran and the u.s. already agreed violated and the u.s. it, how iranians can trust the u.s. to enter a new negotiation?

let's say there would be a new negotiation. let's say there would be an agreement with president trump. who can guarantee the next u.s. president would not come and would not violate? it president obama agreed. it was not a bilateral agreement. it was an international agreement. it had u.n. resolution. despite all of this, president trump after obama publicly said it is a bad mistake and i am going to kill it. how the u.s. can assure iranian's if there is a negotiation, if there is an agreement, the next u.s. president is not going to do what president trump did with obama's negotiation? this is the first question. second, what is the base? president trump, if you really wants a normal relation with iran, then we have three criteria. the first criteria is the treaty

inween iran and u.s. signed 1955, which is for economic relations and consular rights. yes, the u.s. and iran have any problems about their citizens in iran and in the u.s. and there is a ready treaty between iran and the u.s. resolving all consulate issues. yes, president trump is willing to have a share of the nuclear deal to have economic share, to have some share for the u.s. them up but 1955 treaty has defined excellent economic relations between iran and the --. line iran recently had filed a lawsuit against the new sanctions imposed by the u.s. at the international court in amitybased on treatyty of 1955. when iran is filing a lawsuit

thisst the u.s. based on amity treaty, it has been iran practically recognizes this amity. now, this can be a criteria number one for president trump to go back to the treaty of amity 1955 between iran and the u.s. the second is 1981 accord between iran and the u.s. after 25 years of u.s. support for the shaw in iran, dictatorship dominating koran, there was a resolution. iranians took some americans hostage in iran. there was a big problem. ultimately, iran and the u.s. in 1981 met each other in all jerry a and they signed -- algeria and they signed an accord to finding how iran and the u.s. can have normal relations based on mutual

respect and noninterference. this accord was signed between iran and the u.s. right after the semester, iran freed the hostages and the u.s., rather than implementing this accord for a normal relation with iran, the u.s. cut the relation with iran and went to support saddam hussein invading iran, participated in a war against iran. the third criteria is the nuclear deal, signed by the u.s., approved by united nations security council. president trump should tell iranians, each of these treaty agreements, records, going to be criteria for the future of iran and the u.s. i think the iran and the u.s. have two major chords, which relation,d rate a new can be foundation for a new relation between iran and the u.s. mother president trump

should assure around about the about the foundation, the other criteria. u.s. violated 1955 treaty of amity. the u.s. violated 1985 accord will stop and the u.s. violated the nuclear deal 2015. then what? amy: what about president trump threatening any country that does business with iran, saying u.s. won't do business with them? said,s is exactly what i a new and unprecedented phenomenal international relations. has -- the nuclear deal clearly states -- you would see the nuclear deal, stating all member am also majorities are committed to facilitate normal economic relation with iran. therefore, based on the nuclear deal, all signatories, germany,

european, u.k., france, russia, china, and all other countries, including the u.s. -- which is a signatory of the deal -- is responsible for facilitating normal economic relation of other countries, which in other countries -- between other countries and direct. the u.s. withdrew from the deal, violated that agreement, imposed new sanctions. this is one big issue the united nations security council is violating its own resolution, the u.n. resolution, and the second unprecedented phenomenon is that the u.s. is pushing the other member state of the united nations security council to violate united nations security council resolution to stop business with iraq. therefore, the u.s. also should

say, should tell its own people, international community is really the united states of america responsible for implementation of united nations security council resolution or blocking of implementation of united nations secured council resolutions? amy: ambassador seyed hossein you teach at princeton university, what do you think is the greatest misconception americans have about iran? u.s., they'vee had no relations for many years. therefore, it is normal, it is natural that there are many misunderstandings, miscalculations, it misperceptions on the mac inside and even on the iranian side, to be fair. iranians also really cannot understand exactly what is going on in the u.s.

more, the realities of iranian domestic situation, political situation is not known to americans. unfortunately, president trump administration has relied on enemies of iran like terrorist froms getting their agenda these terrorist groups. terrorist groups like isis and al qaeda. the biggest misperception and misunderstanding is that they afteriran is destabilizing the region while iran is really after stabilizing the region because it needs a stable region, iran will be the first among the most important countries to suffer. invested in iraq and syria to fight isis in order

to bring stability. iran cooperated with united states of america 2005 after the u.s. announced war on terror and attacked afghanistan. iran shaped hands with the united states to cooperate with taliban in fight afghanistan. and after the fall of said dam, practically iranian allies supported, they cooperated with the u.s. to bring a new structure in iraq which was based on the rule of majority, power-sharing, new constitution. it was exactly what the u.s. and iraq in aienced in joint cooperation. and they have been fighting isis together, despite all hostilities.nd

therefore, this is very important for the united states of america to understand what is real, legitimate security concern iran has in the region in order to understand iranian behavior. the second big misunderstanding about -- on the u.s. policy is of thel administrations united states of america, they had the dual track policy, pressure and sanction, kosher and strategy, and at the same time, asking for negotiation. they were thinking iran would capitulate under pressures and sanctions and they would come to the negotiation table and they the unitedt whatever states is asking. this has been experience for 40 administration, democrat and republican, and all

have failed. and now the main u.s. concern today, after 40 years of war, economic war, political war, intelligence war, covert wars, cyber war against iran, now the that why complaint is iran is the most powerful, most influential country in the region? now i am telling president trump, if the united states has experienced every coercion strategy against iran and field after 40 years, now why you are again thexperience policies which already have failed? therefore, it is better to go back to the treaties already signed. amy: i want to thank you so much for being with us, seyed hossein mousavian, middle east secured and nuclear policy specialist at princeton university's woodrow wilson school of public and international affairs.

serveded as spokesperson for irn and its and's of european union from 2003 to 2005. author of "the iranian nuclear crisis: a memoir" and, most recently, "iran and the united states: an insider's view on the failed past and the road to peace." when we come back, more than 100 wildfires raging across u.s., we go to colorado to speak with two protesters who interrupted a's each by the most investigated secretary of the trump administration currently sitting, enter secretary ryan zinke. they asked why he refuses to talk about the link between fires and climate change. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "today in charlottesville" by dave rovics. this is democrcracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to colorado, where interior secretary ryan zizinke was coconfronted friday while he spoke in rural steamboat springs at the freedom conference, which has featured conservative thought leaders like former vice president dick cheney and fox news host laura ingraham. just a as zinke began his addre, jesse brucato stood up and raised a sign that read "corruption cream ale" and ask zinke a series of questions.

before fellow diners grabbed him from behind and removed him from the room. >> [indiscernible] hey, secretary, zinke you. why'd you care more about breweries than our public lands? >> sit-down. >> don't touch me. >> it is rude that you care more about our fossil fuel than our public lands. >> shut the[bleep] and go away.

>> take me out. i'm not fighting. amy: after jesse brucato was taken out, zinke continued his speech focused on the management of public lands. it was not long before zinke was interrupted again. this time by sallie holmes, who had more questions for him. , what willy zinke you acknowledge that climate wildfiresaccelerating ? what are you cutting the what are you cutting the amy: this is how secretary zinke respsponded to sallie e holmes r she asked him why he won't acknowledge that climate change is causing and accelerating wildfires. >> you have not served in you don't understand what energy is.

childd like to see your have to fight for energy. amy: secretary zinke served 23 years as a navy seal and served as a u.s. congressmember from montana. but since he became interior secretary, zinke has emerged as one of the most ethically challenged members of president trump's cabinet. compared to disgraced former epa director scott pruitt, who faced a record 16 federal investigations into alleged this conduct before he was forced to resign, zinke has faced 14 federal investigations into his behavior r as secretar. we'll talk more about the latest allegations he faces soon. but first, we go to steamboat springs, colorado, where we are joined by the two people you just heard interrupting zinke. sallie holmes and jesse brucato are both residents of steam boat springs who describe themselves as concerned citizens. holmes is a graduate of colorado mountain college with a degree in sustainability studies, and jesse brucato is an avid rafting enthusiast. welcome both of you to democracy now!

talk about your message, how you got into this event, what the event was, in your a assessmentf zinkee''s resesponse. >> i got into the event by buying a a ticket, both jesse ad i decided that we needed to be a little more assertive if you're going to come to steamboat and only speak to wealthy donors and wealthy citizens, then we decided that we needed a seat at the table as well. his response to me was incredibly angry and and tense. i really threw him off guard. he did not stay on my topic. he was talking about energy at the time. he immediately went to "i have served in the military" i don't like anything about energy and my child is one have to fight through war. the reason we were there was to ask the question, you can't beat responsible lan manager unless you acknowledge the issues at hand, which include climate change and listening to your

stakeholdersrs. amy: your own county has been fighting wildfires? we have a fire burning to the east of steamboat that is only about 5% contained right now. the smoke is been billowing into the valley for the past couple definitely diminishing air quality. we already have a stage one fireman here as well. , talk aboutrucato your concerns, w what you raised with him. explain ththe sign you were holding. >> so the sun held up said "corruption cream ale." wantedly, the message i to get out what thatat is zinkes clearly a corrupt politician. using private meetings with halliburton to get something he has always wanted, a brewery, instead of focusing on protecting our public lands, which is something i deeply care about. i did not really think you

should be subject to personal ains through just having position of power in office. amy: i want to bring ben lefebvre into this conversation, who is been doing a series of exposes in politico around the inter-secretarary. on this issue of a brewery in whitefish, montana, his hometown. can you explain what it is that jesse was so concerned about? explain with this brewery is, with a c connection is too halliburton,n, and what it has o do with the issue of public lands ,ben. developers in whitefish, montana, including the halliburton chairman and until recently the ceo dave proposed ofkrolling element that would include a microbrewery that is -- the development would be adjacent to own, runat the zinkes

through foundation they set up about a decade ago. the worries are that through a land deal that the foundation is offering with the developers, including dave lessard, the zinkes avid transit -- mayng a microbrewery have a chance at operating a microbrewery. 's office whereke they discuss the developing. zinke was that it is 90 minutes talking about the enters history. but then after the meeting at the headquarters, they went out to dinner. tourok them for a p private of lincoln memorial. it raises questions of private -- c contact of interest. amy: and this land the foundation got, the foundation was set up to serve veterans? >> the land was given to the railroadrough the

about a decade ago. the land was supposed to be used to build a park to honor veterans. the zinkes said they would look into doing educational programs for kids with this foundation. but having visited there twice, there's nothing really there. it is just a bunch of weeds and grass. there is a rail line, like one of the major rail lines going adjacent to the park. about 40 trains a day go by. do bandes say they will concerts. good say that is not a idea. there are questions about what their plans are for this land. there is a retention pond that eads that most of the available space. i think the latest i have heard, secretary zinke's wife saying it is a great doc run. it is a vacant lot. would imagine any vacant lot would be a great dog run. amy: in the business halliburton has before the secretary of interior, or is the interior department?

the biggests one of frack risen the world. anything they do on public land is going to be regulated by interior's. we have seen interior trying to roll back or they have roll back the fracking rule at the obama administration put in place. that wouould s save copies like halliburton quite a a bit of moy . the interior is still trying to roll back a rule that would -- the obama a administratation pun place that would have cut down the methane emissions from pipeline and oil rigs on private lands. the interior department has considered rolling back were in the process of rolling back safety rules for offshore drilling rigs, which would be another thing that serve companies such as halliburton would save money from not having to it here to stricter regulations. amy: so this brewery that the in -- the business

partners the ceo of halliburton? own the brewery. there brewery has been proposed. zinke has been trying to get a brewery off the ground since 2012. he first proposed it than along with the bed-and-breakfast for the town. but he has been pursuing a pretty much nonstop since then. even the was congressman in montana a few years ago, he was sitting on the planning board committee with the whitefish city council and attending meetings to talk about his microbrewery idea. those plans got shut down because the residents protested saying this is not something we want in our residential neighborhood. microbrewery, you look at the development maps, marked off as a microbrewery, this raises questions of is the halliburton chairman bankrolling a project that the zinkes within be in charge of, or who knows

what halliburton gets out of this? if your head of the inter department, you things to offer, so does raise at least the appearance of conflict of interest. sallie holmes, can you respond to what interior secretary zinke said about fighting wars for oil? >> i think that he just basically removed the smokescreen about fighting wars for democracy and freedom and are for oilt they and i think it is extremely irresponsible for him to not only say that, but for him to admit that they're not looking at any type of alternatives. there are other ways renewable energy come always the, but we do not need to be sending more americans, more of our family members and friends across the world to fight for energy when we have the scientific technology to change that here. amy: as more than 100 fires rage in western united states, a number of them in colorado interior secretary ryan zinke

, wrote an op-ed last week in usa today about forest management on public lands, saying -- "radical environmentalists would have you believe forest management means clear cutting forests and national parks. but their rhetoric could not be further from the truth. they make outdated and unscientific arguments, void of facts, because they cannot defend the merits of their policy preferences year after year as our forests and homes burn to the ground," zinke wrote. his op-ed came after confusion about t president donald trump's claim in a tweet that california's water, which could be used for firefighting, was instead "being diverted into the pacific ocean." which experts criticized completely and debunked. your response? >> i think that regardless of what he thinks about environment the left or anything like that, this is a political spectrum standing issue. the majority of americans care

about our public lands and i think we really only one acs the table and responsible mean -- lan manager is not going to make an enemy out of f anybody and oe a listen to the scientific community and the citizens as well. amy: who took you out, sallie holmes? was it the diners you are around or was it security? >> it was actually an attendee who got up from the seat and came over and grabbed me around the neck and brought me back to the door to the exit where i was met by security. amy: do you call yourself a protester, jesse brucato? >> i would not say i am particularly a political activist, but when i heard zinke was coming through town, i figured somebody had to do something. you know, it was a good opportunity to put my money where my mouth is and stand up t i believe in. amy: i went to thank you both for joining us.

sallie holmes and jesse brucato, standing up at a dinner for interior secretary zinke in steamboat springs. ben lefebvre, i would like you to stay with us. after break, we will be joined by former interior department employeeee for years who ultimately left under the trump administration. stay with us. ♪ [mumusic break]

amy: lyla june, dine activist and performer, singing at the stand for our land rally in steamboat springs, colorado, last friday. it is estimated around 1400 people came to this as interior secretary ryan zinke was speaking at $1000 per person gathering at the steamboat springs ski resort.

this is democracy now!, democracacynow.org, ththe war ad peace report. i'm amy goodman. than 100 fires rage in western united states, interior secretary ryan zinke wrote an op-ed last week in usa today about forest management on public lands. again, saying -- "radical environmentalists would have "radical environmentalists would have you believe forest management means clear cutting forests and national parks. but their rhetoric could not be further from the t truth. they make e outdated and unscientific arguments, void of facts, because they cannot defend the merits of their policy preferences year after year as our forests and homes burn to the ground," zinke wrote. it in went to northern california. he spoke again about wildfires and climate change in what he called extreme environmentalists. a clip from his interview with local station, kcra-3. >> i've heard climate change argumentnt back and forth. this has nothing to do with

climate e change. this hasas to do with active forest management, extreme enviroronmentalists haveve shutn public access. they talk about habitat, yet they'rere willing to let it burn off. amy: for more we are joined from maine by joel clement, who served as director of f the offe of policy ananalysis at the u.s. interior department until july of 2017. he worked at the interior department for seven years. he is now a senior fellow at harvard's belfer center for science and international affairs, and at the union of concerned scientists. and still with us and washington, d.c., is ben lefebvre, energy reporter for politico. his most recent report "interior , ig to scrutinize zinke's beer-making plans and "exclusive: zinke linked to real estate deal with halliburton chairman." ben, before we go to joel clement, formrmerly with the inter-department, is it true ,hat ryan zinke is currently now that scott pruitt is out, the most investigagad secretaray

of the trump administration with 14 investigations ongoing? >> correct. you said investigations almost from the start with this travel, use of charter planes and going to political fundraisers during his officialout by role as secretary. so he is had quite a number of investigations. it always averages out like one to two per month with his tenure there. amy: if you could d talk about this comment about radical environment lists and in the tradition of the trump administration his fears climate the nihilism. >> his remarks about the wildfires is interesting in that montana had a major wildfire not too long ago, a few years ago. if you go to glacial national park, you can still see the scars on the mountainsides were a lot of trees had burned down. and so the wildfires used to be

an issue among montana politicians. while i have been told the removal of the waste trees or the down trees from the forest, there's a policy. zinke is a mother montana republicans kind of use this phrase radical environmentalists quite often. what i've been told by folks in montana is that somewhat of a political dog whistle for zinke d andanes to reach out to far right constituencies in montana. some of the antigovernment folks out there, the folks that may be sympathetic to the monday incident with the rangers, kind of fighting with the government employees. it is kind of a way to shore up vote when they run for office. there's been speculation that zinke they run for governor of montana in 2020. this might be away from the usable lord to perk the years of

of those folks. amy: joel clement, you left the interior department under zinke. can you explain why? and if you can comment on is corporatete latest venture he wants to engage in, this brewery on public land? >> amy, i left the agency last summer dozenslast of senior executives were reassigned suddenly in a late-night you mail. i blew the whistle on that because it was, in my view, retaliation for my work on climate change issues. i resigned a few months later. i have to say i kind of pine for those days when we were just worried about discrimination and retaliation last summer because now it is rather -- we're getting into some unethical and potentially unlawful behavior.

things have changed quite a lot. amy: in your area of expertise, in this last minute we have come on this issue of climate change, if you can comment on what the secretary is saying and if it surprises you? >> it does not surprise me. that is where they're coming from. they're clearly not going to acknowledge climate change. the right answer to americans right now who are worried about safety in the face a wildfire or other extreme of his is to say, we're working on protecting americans. rid of theseo get extreme environmentalists and go logging out in the forest. we need to protect communities. we need to protect our inasastructurere. we n need to s start paying attetention to the impmpacts off climate change. we undnderstand most americans t it. climate changes no longer something they can just wish away in the administration. amy: joel clement, thank you for being with us, served in the departrtment of interior u untie quit last year. and i want to thank ben lefebvre . we will link to your articles

and politico, a series of exposes on the current secretary of the interior. that does it for our show. democracy now! has a job opening for a broadcast engineer here in our new york city studio. find out more and apply at democracynow.org. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

announcer: now please join me in welcoming sally kohn and julie lythcott-haims. [cheering and applause] julie: well, hello, everybody. welcome to tonight's program. i'm julie lythcott-haims, as marissa said, author of "real american" and "how to raise an adult." and tonight, it is my pleasure to be here in conversation with sally kohn. sally comes from a life of activism and organizizing, and she's now a political commentator, currently on cnn and formerly on fox. which we are gonna talk about that. she's a columnist, the host of the podcast "state of resistance," and most importantly for our present purposes, author of a brand-new,