01/04/19 01/04/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> so we're just saying, let's make it easy for you. do what you have already done. open up government. does anybody have any doubt that we are not doing a wall? amy: as the first and now second ever female house speaker nancy pelosi dabbles in the most diverse congress in u.s. history, refusing to fund trump's border wall, the

democrats pass a bill to end the government shutdown. we will speak with california congre member judy chu who has trtroduc legegistion t tshut down a tent cityn n tornlo,, where 23 immigra children were lked up over chrimamas. cloaked this is dangerous to house migrants out here. it is cold, doesn'look, not sustainable. theris a a mried o othings at go o he that we e cannot monitor these plalas. that is why they should not be here. they need to push back. amy: then, as one cabinet member after another is forced to leave the trump administration over corruption and other issues, will trump's labor secretary alex acosta b next? as a u.s. prosecutor florida, he cut one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history, multi-millionaire hedge fund has beeneffrey epstein

accused of molesting and trafficking hundreds of underage 13 months served just in a county jail. we will speak to miami herald investigative reporter julie brown, who interviewed survivors of epspstein's abuse. her bobombshell series is called "perversion of justice." >> we were u underage. we were little girls. i was 16. >> i was 16. >> i statarted going to him whei was likike 14 or 15. 14 turnining 15. at 14, 200 dollars, that is a lot of money at 14 years old. that is a lot of money now. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. incoming members of the 116th congress made history thursday, as the most diverse group of lawmakers ever sworn in.

over 100 women now serve in the house, along with the most lglgbtq, black, and latino m mes in history. meanwhile, democratic congressmember nancy pelosi of california was officially elected speaker of the house, regaining the gavel she lost after the 2010 midterm elections brought eight years of republican control to the house. >> our nation is at an historic moment. two o months ago, the american people spoke and amended a new dawn. the called upon the beaeay of our constitution, that our system of checks and balances that protects our democracy, remembering that the legislative , the firstrticlei branch of government, co-equal to the presidency and the judiciary. amy: 15 democrats, including some freshman lawmakers, defected against pelosi's speakership, either voting for an alternative candidate or

simply voting "present." as a first order of business, pelosi and house democratic leaders sought to end the partial l government shutdown, passing a package of spending bills that would reopen the federal government without meeting trump's demand for $5 billion for expanding the wall on the u.s.-mexico border. the white house immediately threatened a veto. house democrats also approved da rules package for the new congress that, among other things, imposes a rule known as "paygo," which requires that congress offset any new spending with either tax increases or budget cuts. only three democrats -- ro khanna of california, tulsi gabbard of hawaii, and alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york -- voted "no." critics say paygo is a conservative austerity measure that could hamper efforts to pass progressive legislation. the house also voted to create a new select committee on climate change, to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and to allow lawmakers to wear religious headwear on the house floor. that change will impact ilhan

omar, a somali-american democrat from minnesota who wears a hijab. meanwhile, washington state democratic congressmember pramila jayapal said thursday she's been given the green light by democratic leaders to hold hearings on whether to create a federal medicare for all single-payer healthcare system by lowering the age of medicare eligibility to zero. both the house rules and budget committees are expected to take up the issue. and democrats are pledging to use the power of subpoena to investigate president trump,p, e trump organization, and his cabinet. new york congressmember jerrold nadler, who chairs the house judiciary committee, said this week he may subpoena acting attorney general matthew whitaker over his role in seeking to derail special counsesel robert mueller's investigation. president trump made his first appearance ever in the white house press briefing room thursday, flanked by border patrol and ice officials. after congratulating nancy pelosi on regaining her gavel, trump repeated his demands for

$5 billion in new spending towards a wall on the u.s.-mexico border. pres. trump: without a wall, you cannot have border security. it won't work. you see what has just been put out on social mediaia where thousands of people are rushing the border. having a drone fly overhead -- and i think nobody knows much more about technology, , this te of technology, suddenly, then i do. having drones and various other form of sensors, they are all fine but they're not going to stop the problems that this country has. amy: all trump called d it a prs briefing, he would not take questions. house speaker pelosi responded to trump's demand by saying "how many more times can we say no, nothing for the wall?" on thursday, trump's instagram account posted a photo of trump's face appearing above a steel-slat border wall and the caption "the wall is coming." the caption's font is lifted from the hbo fantasy series "game of thrones" and references

its signature slogan "winter is coming." it's trump's latest reference to "game of thrones," in a cabinet meeting on wednesday, trump placed a large poster on the table in front of him with the words "sanctions are coming november 4," referring to u.s. sanctions on iran. the poster went unremarked on, and the white house later declined to comment on it. hbo has protested against trump's use of its trademark. this comes as the department of homeland security requested that the pentagon send more troops to string concertina wire along 160 miles of existing border fence. the move would extend the military's presence on the u.s.-mexico border until at least the end of september. the pentagon's border mission, which trump ordered ahead of the midterm elections, had been set to expire at the end of january. brazil's newly inaugurated far-right president, jair bolsonaro, held his first-ever cabinet meeting thursday as defenders of the amazon warned his administration is moving to

hand vast swaths of rainforest over to brazil's powerful agribusisiness sector. just hours after taking the oath of office, bolsonaro transferred decision-makaking overer the regulation and creation of indigenous land claims from the justice ministry to the agriculture ministry. the move threatens indigenous groups who live on 13% of brazilian territory. meanwhile, bolsonaro has dropped lgbtq protections from the mandate of his human rights ministry. he's pledged to speed the privatization of publicly-owned industries, to roll back pension benefits while raising the retirement age, and he is seeking to toughen prison sentencing guidelilines. inin mexico, human rights groups and family members are demanding justice after the mayor of a town in the southern state of oaxaca was gunned down on new year's day, just hours after taking office. alejandro aparicio was surrounded by supporters and publicly touring city offices when he was shot on the street. the gunman was pinned to the ground until police could arrive to arrest him. he's been described as a 34-year-old former police officer from northern mexico.

aparicio's widow, victoria feria, believes the killer did not act on his own. >> we want to do everythihing possible to clarify this murder becacae therean be no impunity. that i is what we're asking fors a family, to clarify the killing and to support us. amy: aparicio was a member of the progressive party of mexican president andres manuel lopez obrador. his death came as human rights researchers said 175 mexican politicians s were killed over a 12-month period ending last august. the trump administration is warning iran s space agency against laununching satellites, calling its space program a pre for a ballistic missile program. secretary of state mike pompeo said thursday that three planned iranian rocket launches would violate a u.n. security council resolution aimed at preventing iran from developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. iran's foreign minister fired back on twitter, saying it had the right to a civilian space

program, arguing the u.s. is in breach of u.n. resolution 2231. that resolution saw the security council officially endorse the 2015 iran nuclear deal, which the trump administration unilaterally pulled out of last year. back in the united states "the , washington post" reports that recently-departed interior secretary ryan zinke faces a justice department criminal probe into whether he lied to his agency's inspectors general. the alleged lies came as zinke faced inquiries into his role in reviewing a proposed casino project in connecticut and over real estate dealings in montana. zinke is also the subject of more than a dozen other federal ethics investigations. newly revealed tax filings show google shifted $23 billion to accounts in bermuda in 2017 as part of a complex tax avoidance scheme that saved the tech giant billions of dollars in revenue. the scheme involved funneling money through google ireland holdings and a dutch shell company based in bermuda, where

corporations pay no income tax. the scheme, known as the "double irish, dutch sandwich," is legal, although ireland's government has said it will close a loophole allowing the arrangement in 2020. president trump is reportedly preparing to alter federal anti-discrimination rules in a far-reaching rollback of civil rights protections. the changes would impact so-called disparate impact regulations meant to fightht practices that harm people of color, women, members of the lgbtq community, and other groups. the rollback could impact education, housing, and other aspects of american life. in response, jeff robinson of the american civil liberties union said -- "it is shameful that this administration is considering dismantling tools to fight discrimination rather than using its power to foster respect for the dignity and equality of all people." in texas, a manhunt is underway for the killer of jazmine barnes, a seven-year-old

african-american girl gunned down while in a car with her mother and three of her sisters. jazmine's mother, laporsha washington, was injured in sunday's drive-by shooting near a houston-area walmart store. >> i did not even see him. i did not see the truck. i did not see anything b but shatteredd glass and bululle comomg toward m my car. she did not deserve it at all. we were going to get coffee. coffee and my baby lost her life. amy: on thursday, police released a sketch of the killer based on the eyewitness accounts of jazmine's mother and two of her older sisters. he's described as a white man with blue eyes and a thin build in his 30's or 40's. police also released a video showing a red truck that was allegedly driven by the killer. the shootiting has drawn international attention with family members concerned it was a hate crime. the nfl star deandre hopkins of the houston texans said this week he will donate his $29,000

playoff bonus check to help pay for funeral costs and to bring jazmine's killer to justice. and in maryland, a salvadoran mother has taken sanctuary as she fights hostile deportation. she entered -- took refuge in the church and the d.c. suburb of bethesda on december 10, the same day immigration and customs enforcemenent ordered her to lee the u.s. >> under the obama administration, i only which report every year and gave my name, my addressss, and everything. and then i would go back the next year. on thehe contrary, undnder donad trump to administration, i received an ankle bracelet, which was very frustrating for me. it hurts my soul because i'm not a criminal. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the 116th congress made history

thursday, swearing in the most diverse group of lawmakers ever with more than 100 women, including the first two native american women, the first two latina women from texas, and the first two muslim women. the first ever african-american women congressmembers from connecticut and massachusetts, as was the colorado's first african american congressman ever in congress. nancy pelosi and house democrats sought to end the government shutdown as their first order of business, passing a package of spending bills that would reopen the federal government without meeting trump's demand for $5 billion for expanding the wall on the u.s.-mexico border. >> what we're asking the republicans in the senate to do is to take yes for an answer. we have -- we are sending them back exactly word for word what they have passed. so we're just saying, let's make it easy for you.

do w what has already been done. open up government. let's have an adult conversation about how we protect our borders , and let's listen to people who know what they're talking about. the president cannot hold public employees hostage because he wants to have a wall that is not effective -- not effective in terms of its purpose, not the-effective in terms of federal dollars, and the president has said mexico is going to pay for this. come on, let's anchor ourselves into reality. mexico is not going to pay for this wall. amy: the white house immediately threatened a veto. on thursday, president donald trump held a surprise press briefing where he did not take questions, but continued his call for a border wall. surrounded by icice and border patrolol officials. it a trump: you can call barrier, call it what everyone,

but essentially, we need protection in our country. .e are going to make it good the people of our country want itit. i've never had so much support as i have in the last week over my stance for border security, , and four,control frankly, the wall or the barrier. i have never had anything like it in terms of calls coming in, in terms of people writing in and tweeting and doing whatever they have to do. i have never had this mucuch support, and we of done some things that have been very popular. amy: as the government shutdown moves into its 14th day, we go -- with 800,000 federal workers either being forced to work andout pay or on furlough they won't be paid, we go now to capitol hill where we're joined by d democratic congress member judy chu of california. she is the chair of the congressional asian pacific

american caucus. congressmember chu is also a member of the committee on ways and means. along wiwith democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon, she has introduced the "shut down child prison camps act." her recent piece for "the pasadena star news" is headlined "shut down trump's child prison camp." congressmember judy chu, welcome to democracy now! congratulationons on your swearing-in yesterday along with the most diverse congress in u.s. history. your thoughts being in that room and the comparison of the diversity in color, religion, onnicity, sexual identity the part of the democrats versus the republicans? >> oh, it was just so incredibly exciting to be there with the now majority in congress. you could see the stark difference just when you entered the room as the preceding started. and that is on the left side of the room where the democrats said, there was tremendous diversity.

we have a record number of women in congress. women in are over 100 congress, but most of them are on the democratic side. but there is also a tremendous diversity. we have the greatest number of latinos, african-americans, and let me also say, we of the greatest number of asian pacific islanders elected to congress now. we have gone from 18 to know 20 asian pacific islander members of congress. but it is so exciting that we now have the first two native american women in congress in the first two muslim american women in congress in history. so the change is happening, but the change is happening on the democratic side. and i am so proud of it. of course, the most exciting ourg is that we now have woman speaker nancy pelosi who once again makes history as our speaker, as our speaker for this

incredible session that we have ahead of us. amy: talk about the legislation you pass on the first day. was to be abley to change the rules so we have greater transparency in congress, and it was also to pass bills that would end the government shutdown. on the rules issue, yes, unfortunately since the last few commerce is, since republicans took over, we have had a lack of transparency so our whole goal was to changes so -- for instancece, so we could have a bill 72 hours before it is voted upon so we can actually read it and contemplated so that we can conflict ofto these interest. for instance, members of congress cannot be on corporate boards. and also so we can have greater diversity amongst our members, allowing religious headgear on the floor. so those werere our rules

packages. at the most important thing was that we do not continue the suffering of these federal workers, these 800,000 federal workers who either will not be paid or will be paid later and do not have a paycheck now. this is unnecessary suffering. we know the senate already passed a bill -- and fact, we pass the very same belt as a -- that they gave to us before trump to the turnabout for his demand for $5 billion for the border wall. so we passed two versions of our bills that will end this government shutdown. we know there is a solution. thenow trump promised people that his border wall will be paid by mexico. now he is trying to cheat the taxpayers by having the taxpayers pay for it instead. and that is wrong. that is why we are going to send ,he bill back and we're saying

trump, signed this bill. amy: so you pass a continuing resolution that actually the senate had passed when trump said he was going to sign it. of course, you pass this but it was the republican house that did not sign off on his $5 billion wall. but i wanted to ask you about the rules package for the new congress that, among other things, opposes the role known as pay go, which i know is controversial, which requires congress offset any new spending with either tax increases or budget cuts. only three democrats, your colleague held 20 congress ,ember ro khanna, tulsi gabbard and new york's alexander acosta of cortez -- alexandra cortez voted no. commerce member jim mcgoverern s said he won't allow pay go to the real progressive causes like medicare for all. but why when the democratats are in power adopt what they call really republican legislation?

goi did vote for the pay provision in the rules because it can be easily waived. it will not stop us from contemplating hills such as medicare for all because all it takes is the majority of those who are voting to be able to paygo requirement. at the same time, i think the paingo statute should be changed and eliminated. let me just say that the two chairs of our congressional progressive caucus also voted for the rules package, which go because of this provision. those same members are going to introduce a bill to eliminate paygo is a statute. why would they do that? paygo was a rule before in years past. and it makes sense.

if you have a new bill, you should f find some way to bebe e to pay for the provisions, but there are times when it is impossible, especially if you want to pass some progressive legislation that can benefit the american people. it wasn't until 2010 that it became a statute, an actual law. and that is what i think does need to be changed bececause unr who was law, the person president can actually order the payment for any bills to be implemented by those in his administration. and because we have someone like president trump in office, he could order his administrators to cut anything that is in existence -- i mean, medicaid, food stamps, any of our progressive programs that pay

.or our affordable care act he could actually order a cut to all of f those things. and we don't want at that situation. amy: we're going to ask you to stay with us because we want to talk about what you are ,roposing for the tornillo where 2300 children at least are being held right now. we're talking to pasadena california congressmember judy chu. she's the chair of the congreressional asasian pacific american caucus. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "we are not alone" by carla devito. as the government shutdown heads into its 14th day and trump doubles down on his demands for a wall, we continue to look at the ongoing crisis unfolding at the u.s. border and the protesters on the ground fighting back. in west texas, immigrantigights actiststs arstaging ilyy actis s to st dodownhe

tornlolo prin cacampwheree thousands ofmmmmigra yououthre being tatained the organirsrs calthememsees the christmainin torlloo occupation. on new ye's e, t theshut down the entncnce of the sprawling prison camp, wrere 2300 cldldren e bebeinheld i i more than 150 tes.s. >>, dallas county mmmmunit organizer. porthere at the tornillo of entry in onont of teenagersn camp, betweeththe ag of 12 and 17. this is the only w w we arto sh this ple toto dn full -- shut this place down. were tired of this. this suld not be happening in amera. w're the most incarcerateded country in the world. it is sad we celebrate frdodom. amy: tornillo has beco a a fla poinin the fight agastst the trump miministtionon's migratatn policies and the growing numb o of deineded chchildr in the s. the t tent isonon opepened operatnsns in ne with pacicity

for 360 children and h s since expaeded to ld thousds o of ildren. in novbeber, arump administrationememo realeded thatigigoroustafaff ckgrouou chec at tornlo were ived. the facity was sposed to closdedecemb 31,1, b it wiwi remainpepen in 201019 cordinin dhs, thdepartme of heal and hun servic. r more weo now tol paso, , texa where 're jned by juan ort, immigrts and indigeno rights tivist a le organiz with th chrimas in tnillo occupati. still wi us and tchnd, d c,- washinon, d d.c commerce meer jududchu. along with jeff meley, shes rump'sed t shutdown ild prison cam tells what ts would . >>t wld be so tt this cannot hpen agai i was shked when went i decembern a congssional trip ledy senatojeff merkley.

i was ocked th such cas existed. and leme say somhing abo what s. we dro for an hr past cilization pasdead con feels -- it seems like there was nothing -- and then emerging out of nowhere w was a whole tent cy of these gigantic white tents. as it turned out, these tent cities were started because it was a way of getting around the floor is agreement, which required that children should not be detained for more than 20 days. so it was set up as an emergency facility. they did not have running electricity or running water. everything had to be turned in and brought in. there was a deliberate reason for it. that was so ththat they could he

this detention facility be deemed an emergency facility where they could keep these children in prprison-like settis indefinitely. these children did not know when they were going to leave. actually, way out, 1300 of them already had sponsors and yet they were being kept there because trump come at that time, had increased the requirement for these children to be able to leave. but there they stayeye indefininitely until the point that they could be released. amy: i would like to bring in juan ortiz, and immigrant rights activists, indigenous organizer from el paso, lead organizer with the christmas in tornillo occupation. we are way past christmas. so what are you doing are? what are you calling for? doingically what we're

now is occupying space. but since it originally started under the auspices of being there during the christmas season and doing actions of resistance there are it wild up morphing into something greater walkeked into a human to turn crisis. we were there at the greyhounds they show more people were dropped off in the cold without to defendy to be able the weather or the conditions in which they were released. we wound up becoming a camp that was also, aside from resistg, alsossistinghe community in theumanitarian needththey ce up during atat tim andow we're occyiying sce t to make sure closes and to be prenent and to assist the commity ongoi in terms of whatever iis t thacomes up dungng wh our network of partrs. caususe esehings -- dh contues to dp people off a not onlyren-- now

greyhound stations, but also hotels and other facilities that have been brought up just to be able to deal with the overflow -- the massive overfloofof oplele tt are e ing released ininto the strtreets at thiis goingo be an ongoinproblem. are dirting fol and sosourcefromom o base in tornrnlo to the city, but we're also doing acts of resistance like the day we shutdown the toft change in tornillo highlight how many come as a senator was saying before, how unsustainable and remote it is that they y have to bringngingn 25 different busloads of persononnel every single night fromom all over the area a justo be able to sustain it in the cost oflflow o water, possible ter, just toe able to maintain theacility because is tt remote thconditio are tha draconn. is that isolatefrfrom the restf elel po that jt to ve a prence ththe is r really taxing even to us s who are from the city, justst to be able to

camp out there. lots of our people have gotten sick. the conditions are harsh. and that is from just outsiside the cain. y: juan tiz i you can scribe, mean, inhis last month,wo childn have dd th we know of in u. custody --ctually,n a remo area of new meco. weeardbout theumping of hundredsf pple by t u.s. border offials inl paso. you werehere. descri what yosaw in t condion of t childre yesi, and dene who spe eaier, and elizath, who e from fguson n d differt pass o o texasnd alicewe all coerged tre on thday that everyo arrivedecause ware rt of netwos they ge us a

ads up wn these manitari crisisre happeng, so i le notoo farrom the eyhound statio what wran intohere was situion in wch dhs a ice haleft a l of peop at the greyhod statio. it was becoming increasingly colder. there were a lot of people already sick. they had not eaten probably in days, from what we can tell. the children were thirsty. all abuse different conditions on top of people -- all of these offerent conditions, on top copper my's immune system's. i recognized what it was. in essence, it was the exact conditions that dhs were denying existed in their facilities and under their custody that caused the deaths of jakelin and felipe . after jake lean died, -- after jakelin died, the rest of the migrants were abandoned, and she died after a long battle of

exposure. and that for r reaffirm m the what the, proved -- administraration was d denying,t they were creating conditions in which children died. anyone that was there that day, and we were there that day assisting, could understand the structural violence that was enacted against those children and continues to be enacted against those children and places like tornillo, that was proof positive for us and anyone there who was there to witness those conditions are indeed real and they are indeed ongoing. congressmember judy chu, now that the democrats are in charge of the house, though the cosponsor senator merkley is in the republican senate, how are you going to push the closing of tornillo legislation? >> we need to make sure that the american public knows that this is going on so that they have

the same outrage that there was when the child separation was occurring. i think that most americans do not know about this kind of tent city. the outrage so far has resulted in at least the trump administration saying that they are going to close it down mid-january. but we do not trust it. and the shut tornillo coalition does not trust it. it spring just have up somewhere, just like they did with this in which they started with hundreds. but by the time we got there, there were 2700 children that were being detained and that particular facility. we want to make sure there is a permanent solution to this problem. we want to have hearinings on ththis. we want to create as much pressure as possible so that we can ensure that this will not

happen again. amy: according to the associated press, the government plans to house more teenagers in another temporary facility in homestead, florida, expanding the told number of beds from 1300 to more than 2300. is going on. what there just simply moving these facilities around and the very same thing could occur in homestead, florida, where you have thousands of children that are being detained. it is inhumane. tornillo, isil these children walking route single file with a guard in the front and a guard in the back just to go to the restroom. they have to have a guard with them. even in prisons, i've not seen that kind of strict control over the children. these are children. intolerable.

we just cannot let this continue. amy: juan ortiz, your message to people around the world from the border as president trump has shutdown the govovernment? we're now entering the third week, 800,000 workers not beieig paid, on furlough, demanding $5 million for a border wall. your thoughts? that is important to note this is part of a procecess, lie the senator was mentioning, tornillo is there because a family separations. family separations are there because of zero tolerance.e. zeroro tolerance is there becaue of the criminalization of immigration. what is not part of the process is the humanitarian aid that border communities have had to step up with our partners in immigrant families together -- we have all been taxed, microsoft dared he, communities in el paso have had to step up double of their amount of humanitarian aid that they are able to assist folks in

community's like ours are being overstretched. the system s should not depend n humanitarian aid to be a able to save lives. that is proof positive the system in the state apparatus is broken, and that we as a community are tired of all of these policies are being enacted with no infrastructure and all of these remote and is a little plplaces along the border were t built to house and don't have the capacity to be abable to hoe human beings in the way that is sustainable. and so you will have more deaths, more people on the border will have to sacrifice more and more. and it is all part of a process which is due to all of these reactionary and d xenophobic and racist policies directed at our community on bototh sides. and we recogognize that. i think all of the border communities and the rest of our partners that have helped us out through this process because we are being overwhelmed. ananour communities are showing

their true nature, are stepping up to the plate to fifill in the void that they should not have to b because the state apparatus should not have to depend on charity and the charity of people along the border who arae already impoverished, who come from communities that are challenged, to be of the function in the system that is simply not functioning. tornillo is proof positive of a system -- the system itself is in chaos, not the border. the border is the one that has been stepping up and filling in the void in the chaos and ordering the chaos the administration is creating. amy: juan ortiz, thank you for being with us, indigenous and immigrant rights activists, speaking to us from el paso, one of the lead organizers with the christmas in tornillo occupation. and thank you to congress member judy chu, chair of the congressional asian pacific

also an caucus come member of the ways and means committee. has introduced legislation to shutdown child prison camps. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. when we come back, one secretary after another, one cabinet member after anonother, has been forced out of trump's cabinet. will alex acosta, the labor secretary, the next? a number of congreressmembers ae calling for an investigation into his past activities. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. one cabinet member after another has been forced to leave the trump over corruption and other issues. leaving trump's cabinet the most unstable since he has assumed office. the environment protection agency, department of justice, in t the interior are all being

headed by acting officials. we turn now to look at whether alex acosta will be the next have -- cabinet member to go as u.s. prosecutor in florida, he cut what has been described as one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history. multimillionaire hedge fund manager jeffrey epstein, friend to bill clinton, donald trump, and others, has been accused of molesting and trafficking hundreds of underage girls in florida, but served just 13 months in a flood a county jail. 15 congress members have called for a probe into trump's labor secretary. "the miami herald" recently published a series of articles exposing epstein's crimes and the high powered people who protected him. in the wake of the investigation, epstein settled a defamation lawsuit against the lawyer of some of his accusers, avoiding testimonies from survivors who were expected to take the stand. a separate case to overturn the original 2008 plea deal is still pending. for more, we're joined now by

julie brown, longtime investigative reporter at "the miami herald," past winner of the george polk award and the robert f kennedy human rights center award. heher series exposing multimillionaire jeffrey epstein sex crimes is called "perversion of justice." welcome to democracy now! this is epic. explain why you focus on jeffrey epstein, how you learned about his story come and give us the babaground. had covered a number of stories about the florida prison system and i knew that sex trafficking was a big problem here in florida. i started to do a straight up sex trafficking or do homework on it, mr. epstein's name kept coming up. and the more that i read about it, the more i thought, you know, this is somethinghat i don't understand and i'm s surea lot of people don't understand how in a state that has a high rate of sex trafficking, how does someone who has trafficked

all ofofhese g girls -- these we young high school, middle school girls -- over quite a long period of time, how do someone like that get away with it? at the time that this happened, alex acosta, the us attorney in miami, was going headstrong inio prosecuting people who were purveyors of child pornography, sending them to prison for decades. and here is a man who had trafficked a number, some estimates as many as hundreds of girls, and he gets away with just serving 13 month jail term, really, in a very cozy area of the county jail where he was allowed to leave most of the day on work release? amy: explain who jeffrey epstein is. and about his rise to power

who his associates are, leading right up to the president --two president of the united states from donald trump to bill clinton. >> the way he obtained his money has always been a mystery. it is almost as though no one has ever examined how he got his money. it is surprising the federal authorities did not look into that because he seemed to have just a never-ending cash flow. he was able to hire some of the biggest and most costly lawyers in america to defend him. amy: he was a new york city schoolteacher. neverwas, but he graduated from college. very, very smart. he was into physics and mathematics and biology. he worked for bear stearns. then he managed to ingratiate himself with some very wealthy him a powerfrful people.

he managed their money. as a result of managing a lot of famous people in wealthy people's money, he himself made a lot of money. as i said, it is really a mystery exactly how much money he has and where he came from, but he has, it seems, like a never-ending source of cash. he was able to really hire the best defense his money goodbye. amy: i want to go to a video that accompanies your piece, this "miami herald" expose a, thee we hear the voices of young woman, now older, describing what happened to them. g girls.ere littltle >> i was 16. >> i was 16. >> i started going to him when i was like 14, , 15. 14 turning 15. >> at 14, $200, ththat is a lotf

money. that is a lot ofof money now. she''s like, i think i if you $200. there is this ololder guy and pm beach. he gets a lot of mamassages from girls. >> they were r recruited by someone who was adept at finding girls that would be willing too go to a house for a few hundred giving a- started out man a backck rub. in manany cases, i it turned i t turn into in some cases sexual battery. folks my life would have been different if i never got to jeffrey epstein's house. it was just a dark turning point in my life. looks on june 30, 28, jeffrey , hedge of palm beach fund manager, received what might have been the most lenient plea deal for a serial sex offender in u.s. history. the miami herald identified over 60 of his victims.

just young girls at the time of the abuse. more than a decade later, several of them are talking for the first time about how they were molested by epstein and believed they were betrayed by the very prosecutors who were supposed to hold epstein accountable. >> they came from fairly different -- disadvantaged backgrounds. there was some dysfunction in their families. waslure of a lot of money more than they were able to resist. >> i went from an abusive situation to being a runaway to living in a foster home to just a hard life on the street. the other r rls that i i pepersonally know ththat went te ming from m trailer parks, hahaving gun shootings, drugs. >> my mother was on drugs at the time. she could not provide for me. i was s prettyty much homeleles. >> onene child would be lured over, paid substantial sums of money, would be offered the

further inducement of being paid a bounty for anybody else that she was able to bring to epstein. a network developed where many young girls in the same kinds of circumstance wound up being victimized. >> at three of usus slid into te backseat of a cabab and we drove -- a remembered a striving down okeechobee boulevard and thinking how i had never been from palm beach island before in my whole entire life. >> for the time i was 16, i brought him up to 75 girls, all of the ages of 14, 15, 16, peoplele from eighth grade and school parties is where i would recruit them from. >> his appetite was insatiable. he could not stop. he wanted new, fresh, young faces every single day. >> the sheer volume of girls, the frequency, sometimes several

or many in t the same day. the age of the girls. in some cases, they were victims that did not k know each othere, had never met each other, but they had basically the same story. >> i i remember there e was a staircase. it was kind of like a spiral almost. >> she would bring us up the stairs. it was spiral stairs. >> you walked into his bedroom around his bed to almost like a very little hall, and then it was another door. that is where everything would happen, in the background.d. >> he e would have a dresser and it was filled with just the first or was lotioion and a thtd for down was sex toys.s. a massage tableke out and set it up in t the midde ofof the room. >> he would come in with a towel. >> and he just laid down in his towel on his stomach and he was just talking to people on the phone. when he flipped over, that is when he said, ok, you can go ahead and take off your

shirt and pants, but you can stain or underwear. >> he would want us to stand next to him and he would ma sturbate. >> to pull his nipples. he was very aggressive. >> and then he tried to put his finger in my underwear. and i jumped backck. i pulled back. i was like, whoa. ok.as like, no, no, it's i'm sorry. i won't do that. and then he went back to doing that. he was like, just on the outside. >> it ended with sexual abuse andd intercourse, and then a pattern on the back. he said, "really good job" like "thank you very much and here is $200." before you know it, i am being lent out to politicians and

academics and royalty of people that you would never think like, how did you get in to the first place if you are this disgusting , evil, decrepit person on the inside? waspstein, in his 50's, suspected of organizingg sex in theities in york and caribbean. >> you'rere talking about hundrs world.dreren all ovover the >> victims that were alllleged x slaveses of jeffrey epstein that they bought from eaststern bloc coununtries. >> i've seen hundreds of girls going throrough his ever revolvg door. >> he knows people that know people that know people. >> flight logs from his plane and his address book read as a who's who of the most powerful and famous people inin the woro.

>> it is really y disappointingo look as a lawyer at the circumstances and say, how did this happen? one individual commits one abuse of a minor and -- one instance of abuse of a minor and there held accountable years and years to the criminal justice system. this individual abused hundreds of girls and nothing happened. it is really unfortunate. we look at that was say, how to the criminal justice system failed these girls in such a significant way? how has ththat happened?d? ande was ample evividence witness testimony to support the girls tetestimony, including nas and d phone numbers s along with phone records. despite the corroborating evidenence, itas only chcharged with a a misdemeanor. > a and once thatatappened, t was clear to me that justice wowould not be s served by thehe attorney. fbi.s referred toto the there were many, many more victims after that time.

>> epstein hired someone that would impress the state attorney to drop the investigation. >> the u.s. attorney's office got involved with this case with list ofepstein's a defense attorneys that are exextremely well-k-known and extremely powerful. i think these attorneys were able to ninipulate the s sitting u.u.s. attorney y and the asasst u.s. attorney workining the cas. a few things happened in this case that during my law enforcement career i've never seenen before. ththere was no indictment t andy were sending them back and forth jeffrey's lawyers to change it. >> i started getting somewhat of an inclination that this is a situation where somehow or for some reason the defendant and the government are workingg together against the victims. although, that kind of conspiracy there he sounds so preposterous that i didn't know what to believe it. based on julie brown's

investigative reporting. julie brown is with us now. story,uch an astounding julie. it actually goes through this day. take it from there and what happened to him and alex acosta's role, the current labor secretary. to be clear, donald trump quoted a new york magazine in 2002, said -- "i've known jeff for 15 years. terrific guy. he's a lot of fun to be with. it is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as i do, and many of them are on the younger side. no doubt about it -- jeffrey enjoys his social life." referred to as the lowly to dish lololita express. explain what happened with alex acosta and where this all goes from the repeport we just heard. acosta was a republican who was nominated in the justice department under president george w. bush.

he was also at one point in the administration, in the bush administration as the second in charge of the department of civil rights in the justice department. and from there he was nominated to become u.s. atattorney in mimiami. so at the time that this case popped up in west palm beach, epstein was very much affiliated with democratic causes. he was friends with the clintons. he had donated money to governor richardson in new mexicico am awaware he alslso owns a prorop. -- where he also owns a property. a lot of important friends on both sides of the political said, he knew at the time that since it was a republican administration and acosta was a, that it was very important dish acosta was a

republican, that it was reported thathem to hire lawyers had republican connections. that is what he did. he hired jay lefkowitz and kenneth starr, who were both with the well-known law firm kirkland and ellis. and who acosta new from his days working for that same law firm. so they all had rubbed shoulders in the same kind of legal circles as well as political circles. andpstein was pretty shrewd who he hired as lawyers, even though he was more aligned with democrats. he knew what he needed to do was hire republicans. essentially that is what he did. he hired people who knew acosta and who acosta looked up to. kenneth starr, of course, was someone that acosta would have looked up to. so i think it made it very hard feel like heta to

was going to go up against all of these people. he was ambitious. he wanteted to go further in his political career. and there is the school of thought out there that if he acquiesced to a lot of these lawyers demands because he knew that if he went against these lawyers, you probably woululd he heard his political career. amy: and now congress members are calling for an investigation into his role -- what has happened at this point with jeffrey epstein? we just have 30 seconds and then we will depart to and post it online at democracynow.org. >> well, he served just 13 months quite a number of years ago. he was released in 2008. he has basically just gone on to live his j jet setting life. amy: and there are civil lawsuits now. close yeah, he is affiliated with them. the two mosost recentnt ones wee settled as soon as my story ran. there is one that he is not a

party to that several of the girls are suing the u.s. government, hoping to overturn that plea agreement. amy: we will post part two online at democracynow.org. julie brown

[birds chirping] [alararm clock blaring] [alarm fadades] man: as soon as i start my sake productionon, i have toe here every single day. that part i wasn't quite ready for. sake-mamaking is a lot about the