05/01/19 05/01/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the political leaders of the extreme rigight, promoters of ts adventurous coup, go from embassy to embassy, falling between embassies and subjecting the whole country to this anxiety,y, the anguish of uncertaintnty. circumstances that could have been very serious. amy: venezuelan president nicolas maduro is claiming

tuesday's coup attempt has failed, but u.s.-backed opposition leader juan guaido is calling for a day of mass protests. the trump administration is openly backing guiado's efforts to topple maduro's government. >> this is clearly not a coup. we recognize one guaido as let legitimate interim president of venezuela. just as it is not a coup and the president of the united states gives the order to the department of defense, it is not a coup for juan guaido to trying take comommand of the venezuelan mimilitary. amy: we wi s speak to vevenezuen historian miguel tinker salas and economist jeffrey sachs who just co-authored a shocking report that estimates 40,000 venezuelans have died as a result of u.s. sanctions. then we go to capitol hill to speak with congresswoman ilhan omar, who has been the target of a series o of right-wing attacks that has led to numerous death threats. >> they cannot stand that a

refugee, a black woman, and immigrant, a muslim, shows up in congress thinking she is equal to them. amy: ilhan omar will join us live. plus, we will hear excerpts from tuesday's rally outside the capitol when angela davis and other prominent african-american women gathered to show support for omar. including her colleagues rashida tlaib and ayanna pressley. all that and more, coming up. welcome to d democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. venezuelan president nicolas maduro says he's defeated a coup attempt launched by opposition leader juan guaido, the president of the venezueuelan national assembly. on tuesdayay morning guauaido , apappeared i in an online vid, standing among heavily armrm soldiers, calling r r the

military to oust maduro but the venezuelan military appears to have remained largely behind maduro. during the day, clashes broke out between backers of guaido and the venezuelan government. ththere are reports more than 10 people were injured. on tuesday night, venezuelan president nicholas maduro gave a televised address and denied claims by u.s. secretary off state mike pompeo that he had prepared to flee the country. >> the skirmish and venezuela has beenen defeated a mrmr. trup set up a thousand expletives and lies. my god, how far the men in the united statates government are willing to go. amy: maduro and guaidodo have bh called on supporters to take to the streets today. we will have more on venezuela after headlines. in britain, a judge has sentenced wikileaks founder julian assange to 50 weeks inn jail for skipping bail in 2012 to avoid extradition to sweden on sexual assault accusations,

charges that were eventually dropped. he was afraid he would be exextradited then to the united states. lastonth, , itish police forcibly removedssssange fm the ecuadoreanan embassy, whwhee had d taken asylumum for almostt seven n years to figight his possssible extradidition to thee united s states. after hihis arrest, u.u.s. authoritities unsealeded an indictment accusing assange of conspiri with army whistleblower chelsea manning, who leaked a trove of sensitive documents to wikileaks, including evidence of u.s. war crimes. a london court is set to hear an extradition request by the ununited states on thursday. "the washington post" is reporting special counsel robert mueller wrote to attorneyy general william barr in march misled the barr american public when he summarized the mueller report's findings in a four-page memo sent to congress. according to "the post," mueller said barr's summary "did not fully capture the con, nature, and substance" of his work, adding, "there is now public

confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. this threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel -- to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations." the revelation appears to directly contradict barr's sworn testimony to congress in when april barr was questioned by democrat chris vanan hollen of e senate appropriations committee. >> did bob mueller support your conclusion? >> i don't know. amy: democrats are demanding an immediate investigatioion into whether attorney general barr deliberately sought to mislead the public over mueller's findings. on capitol hill, a 30 five-year-old lawywyer and activist who is dying of terminal als testified tuesday in a a historic first of its kid congressionanal hearing onn medicare f for all. spoke to the house

rules committee using a computerized system that tracks his euye movements and turns them into spoken words. in this emotional testimony, he described d how even with a comparatively good health insurance plalan, he still pays about $9,000 a month for medical care. .> all of us need medical care and yet in this country, the wealthiest in the history of human civilization, we do not have an effective warfare or rational system for delivering that care. i will not belabor the point because you and your constituents are well aware of costs, buts -- high outcomes, mind-boggling bureaucracy, racial disparities, bankruptcies, geographic inequities, and seemed profiteering. the ugly truth is this. health care is not treated as a human right in the united states of america. this fact is outrageous and it is far past time that we change it. say it loud for the people in

the back. health care is a human right. amy: in north carolina, two people were killed and four wounded tuesday when a man with a pistol opened fire at the university of north carolina-charlotte on the last day of classes. the shooting sparked widespread panic across the campus, with students and staff huddling in offices while police locked down buildings for hours. exams were canceled through sunday. police later arrested 22-year-old student trystan andrew terrell, saying the suspect was "not somebody on our radar." there was no apparent motive for the shooting. according to the gun violence archive, there have been over 100 mass shootings in the u.s. so far this year. in minnesota, a jury has found former minneapolis police officer mohamed noor guilty of third-degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of justine ruszczyk damond, an australian woman who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. noor, who was seated in the

passenger seat, shot ruszczyk through the open driver's-side window of the vehicle as she approached his police cruiser in her pajamas. this is justine's father john ruszczyk speaking after the verdict. >> justine was killed by a police officer, an agent of the state. we believe he was properly charged with a crime. the jury has returned a verdict of guilty on murder three and manslaughter two. we are satisfied with the outcome. amy: the shooting is a rare case in which a black police officer killed a white woman. it sparked widespread protests and the resignation of the minneapolilis police chief. on capitol hill, black women leaders gathered tuesday in defense of congresswoman ilhan omar, one of the first two muslim congresswomen in history and the first member of congress to wear a hijab.

omar says death threats against her have spiked in number since president trump tweeted a video juxtaposing her image with footage of the 9/11 attacks. democracy now! was at tuesday's "hands off ilhan omar" event. we'll play excerpts from it later in the broadcast and then go to capitol hill to speak with congressmember omar. democratic leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer emerged from closed-door talks with president trump at the white house tuesday saying they've made progress toward a $2-trillion plan to reinvest in u.s. infrastructure. news of the meeting prompted republican lawmakers to express skepticism. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell rejected calls by democrats to pay for an infrastructure bill by rolling back republican tax cuts that overwhelmingly favor the wealthy, calling the proposal a nonstarter. and in new york city, police arrested seven nonviolent protesters tuesday as ththey peacefully blocked access to democratic senator chuck schumer's manhattan office. the youth activists with the sunrise movement are calling on the senate minority leader to

endorse the green new deal, a resolution calling for a transformation of the u.s. economy by funding renewable energy while ending u.s. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. >> i'm willing to put my body on the line for the green new deal because it means the bodies of all of the people who are being affected by the climate crisis. we're here demanding that senator schumer sign onto a green new deal. stand with us, chuck schumer. amy: activists with the sunrise movement say they've asked senator schumer to convene town hall meetings to discuss his climate plan, but say their requests have been rebuffed or ignored. this is aracely jimenez, a resident of brooklyn's sunsetet park neighborhood. >> i have lived in sunset park since i was four years old. it is a low income, immigrant community of color. and it was ravaged by hurricane

sandy. what the climate crisis is going to do, what it is already doing to communities like mine all across this planet. and when a senate minority leader refuses to cosponsor the only plan on the table that is going to address the crisis at the scale that science and justice demands, then that is unacceptable. i will not stand for it, and neither should you. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. venezuelan president nicolas maduro is claiming to have defeated a coup attempt launched by opposition leader, juan guaido, the president of the venezuelan national assembly. on tuesday morning, guaido appepeared in an onlinine video, standing among heavily armed soldiers, calling for the mimitary to back what he cleled the fifinal phase of an effort o topple madaduro's government. guaido appeared alongside leopopoldo lopez, a longtime

opposition leader, who was reportedly released from house arrest by renegade officers. guaiaido has b been attempmptino topple the venezuelan government since when he declared himself january to be venezuela's interim president. the trump administration, as well as brazilian president jair bolsonaro and others, openly supported the coup attempt. earlier today, u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo told fox business military action in venezuela's possible "if that's what is required." intuesday, clashes broke out the streets of caracas and other cities. there are reports that one person has died and 100 people were injured. on tuesday, night venezuelan president nicholas maduro gave a televised address and denied claims by u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo that he had prepared to flee venezuela. mike pompeo said in the

afternoon maduro had a plaintiff leave to cuba and the russians got him off the plane and for bait him from leaving the country. mr. pompeo, what a lack of sincerity. to bolton also gave orders military and silly personnel in venezuela to join the coup. the skirmish in venezuela has been defeated mr. trump set off a thousand expletives and lies. my god, how far the men in the united states government willing to go. amy: maduro and guaido have both called on supporteters to take o the stres s today. at the united nations, venezuela's u.n. ambassador samuel moncada accused the united states and other nations of backing the coup attempt. >> this was not a domestic event growing from within. this came from abroad, without the e power of the united state, the cia, with the intelligence apparatus, without the money from the united states, without the economic war, without the government of president in

columbia, this would have been impossible. without the help of government of chile, without the help of the brazilian president mr. internationals is conspiracy. amy: in washington, national security adviser john bolton repeated the trump administration position's on venezuela saying that all options are on the table. he also insisted tuesday's eventsts were not a cocoup. >> we want, a as our principal objective, the peaceful transfer of power. i will say again, as thehe presidident has s said from the outset, nicocolas maduro and the supporting him, particularly those who are not venezuelans should knonow, all optptions arn the table. this is clearly not a coup. we recognize juan guaido the legitimate inner president of venezuela. and just as it is not a coup when the president of united states gives in order to the department of defense, it is not a coup for juan guaido to try to take command of the venezuelan military. amy: to talk more about the

situation, we are joined by two guests. miguel tinker salas is a venezuelan historian and professor at pomona college. he is the author of "the enduring legacy: oil, culture and society in venezuela" and "venezuela: what everyone needs to know." he joins us from claremont, california. and here in new york is jeffrey sachs, leading economist and director of the center for sustainable development at columbia university. he recently co-authored report for the center for economic and policy research on the deadly impact of the u.s. sanctions on venezuelan. the center is estimating more than 40,000 venezuelans have died since 2017 as a result of the sanctions. we welcome you both to democracy now! miguel tinker salas, what do understand is happening on the ground right now in venezuela? what has taken place? and the significance of juan guaido standing together with leopoldo lopez? >> what took place yesterday was intended coup.

the problem is, you would normally have the generals and the admirals standing at your side. obviously, that did not happen. it was an attempt on the part of guaido and lopez and his faction within the right-wing opposition to try to create greater divisions within the military. it was obviously that he did not have that support. what happened was they had a handful of lower ranking officers from the national guard. they had one general from the military intelligence service. but they did not have the core within the army or the navy or the air force. they tried to leverage that. it f failed. it failed miserably. here we are once again with the crisis scenario in venezuela. but there are two audiences. one is internal to venezuela to support ando's consolidate his support within the opposition, which was beginning to seem shaky. the other is the audience internationally, a killing to donald, pompeo, appealing to do gay.

the internal one failed. today we have protest on both sides for march 1, which again could repeat a cycle of violence. the expectation is they wiwill e separate marches and hopefully peaceful marches. amy: i want to turn to mike pompeo. this is in an interview with cnn's wolf blitzer on tuesday, secretary of state mike pompeo was asked what the u.s. would do if maduro arrests guaido and and also asked about russia's role in keeping maduro in the country. >> i'm not going to get into specifics, but we have said we will make that a major escalation. we have watched throughout the day. it is been a long time since anyone assume maduro. he had an aiairplane on the tarmac. he was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it. the russians indicated he should stay. we have made clear all along that maduro is surrounded by byans and has been supported

russians in venezuela. we're told the russians and the cubans that itit is unaccecepta. amy: that is mike pompeo, miguel tinker salas, saying that maduro was ready to leave with the plane on the tarmac to fly to cuba but got a call from russia and so he stayed. is this fake news? >> it is a false flag operation. why would maduro want to leave the country when by all accounts the so-called coup had already failed? yes, there's a side note. guaido has tried to provoke maduro, trying to provoke a crisis. because under these conditions, anyone leading a coup committed an illegal act. is touaido would like escalate the scenario and therefore, create the context in which the u.s. can operate either through direct action to enable blockade or through action by the part of columbia or brazil. as i said earlier, this is an effort to provoke this crisis,

to try to escalate it. we have already had three separate incidents is previously. guaido claims he can be president chen were 23rd. he was in. he claimed on february 23 from the border he would reenter the country assume the presidency. it failed. once again we have guaido claiming he will assume the president. this time it appears to have failed as well. in fact, there are criticisms within the opposition to the all or nothing strategy. your has to be a reflective period for the opposition to think of what they have done and consider the option was to get of negotiations ratherer thn this idea that through military action they're going to come to power. amy: can you talk about where in caracas this coup attempt took place? >> the coup took place in the center of caracas, what is called eastern caracas in a district that has been

historically the center of the opposition's base. they attempted to move down toward the air base that resides in the middle of caracas. personnel, military they said they were tricked. there were told to show up to receive a medal and were brought to guaido's by certain number of captains and kernels of the national guard. that is important because they do not represent the core of the military. there were several lieutenants in several clonels present. not the general staff of the military. not those individuals that command bases, not those individuals that command regiments or the giants. that was the most important thing. what we saw was a repeat of a series of actions that have been led by guaido and his opposition china topple the government,

which for the moment, have seemed to have failed. basically in the core area of support, which is the ease part of caracas. amy: we're going to go to break and come back for this discussion. in addition to historian miguel tinker salas, we will be joinind by leading economist jeffrey sachs.s. ststay with usus. ♪ [music breaeak]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. our guest is miguel tinker salas along with jeffrey sachs. jeffrey sachs recently co-authored report for the center for economic and policy research headlined "economic sanctions as collective punishment: the case of venezuela." so much is being used against the presidency of maduro, saying he has brought the country to an economic standstill. ,ou make a different case

jeffrey sachs. >> it is not an economic standstill. it is complete economic collapse, a catastrophe in venezuela. there was a crisis for sure before trump came to office, but the idea of the trump administration the start has been to overthrow maduro. that is not a hypothesis. trump was very explicit in discussions with the presidents of latin america where he asked him, why shouldn't the u.s. just invade? he said that already in 2017. so the idea of the trump administration has been n to overthrow maduro from the start will stop well, the latin leaders said, it is not a good idea. we don't want military action. so the u.s. government has been trying to strangle the venezuelan economy. it started with sanctions in 2017 that prevented,

essentially, the country from accessing international capital markets and the oil company from restructuring its loans. that put venezuela into a hyperinflation. that was the utter collapse. oil burning plummeted, the earnings used to buy food and medicine collapsed. that is when the social humanitarian crisis went spiraling out of control. then in this year, with this idea, very naive, veryry stupidn my view, that there would be this self-proclaimed president, which was all choreographed with the united states very, very closely, another round of even tighter sanctions, essentially, confiscating the earnings in the assets of the venezuelan government took place. now venezuela is in complete, utter catastrophe. a lot of it brought on by the

united states to liberally, creating massive suffering. we know therere is hunger. we know w there is increredible shortage of medical supplies. we can only imagine because we won't know really until the dust settles and careful studies are morortalityh excess ththere is, but surely, in the context like this, this is a catastrophe largely created by the u.s. as was said earlier, this is an all or nothing strategy. what trump does not understand and what bolton never agrees to is the idea of negotiations. overthrow.attempted it is not working.g. it is very cruel because it is punishing 30 million people. amy: how did you comee up with the number 40,000 dead as a result of these crippling u.s. sanctions? >> let me be clear. nobody knows. this was a very basic, simple calculation based on estimates

of universities in venezuela that mortality had increased by a certain proportion after the sanctions. i don't want anyone to think there is precision in these numbers. what is certain, though, staring us in the face, is there is a human entering catastrophe deliberately caused by the united states by what i would say are illegal sanctions because they are deliberately trying to bring down a government and trying to create chaos for the purpose of an overthrow of a government. amy: why? >> why are they doing that? right-wingmal foreign policy. nothing different. this is the same foreign policy we saw throughout latin america in the 20th century. it is the samame foreign policye saw caststrophicallyly in the mimiddle easast. thisis is mr. bolton.

this is mr. bolton's idea of diplomacy. this is trump's idea of diplomacy. you punch someone in the face, crush your opponent, you try whatever way you can to get your way. it is very simpleminded. it is recruit. amy, it never r works. it just leads to catastrophe. amy: i want to bring miguel tinker salasas back to the conversation. professor at pomona college. as these protests were taking place or this good attempt was taking place in venezuela, in honduras, there were massive protest against privatization, also huge demonstrations in paris. you certainly don't get the same kind of coverage. >> you don't. the reality is, what is happening in honduras is fundamental. you have an effort of privatization. you hahave layoffs of doctors ad professors and teachers, and there is massive street protests happening in the major cities.

and the attention is on venezuela. the same thing is happening in other context for central america. the immigration that is happening as a result of failed u.s. policies. as a colleague was saying earlier, the reality is this was tried elsewhere. the regime change being tried in venezuela has been tried elsewhere in latin america and has led to humanitarian crisis throughout central america, honduras, what a mueller, -- guatemala, el salvador and mexico until recently. we know it does not produce the change that most people want. it aggravates conditions for the majority of the population. so you have in the case of venezuela, mistakes made by the maduro administration that are exacerbated by the sanctions and that take a toll on humans and on the population of a country. amy: we have been showing for our radio audience, video just to let you know, of the tear

gassing of people in paris and honduras. honduras is a u.s. ally. we're not getting as much coverage of this. finally, i wanted to ask jeffrey sachs about this issue y you raised of collective punishment and saying that collective punishment of the civilian population as described by both the geneva and hague international conventions to which the u.s. is a signatory, in that way. >> and i would say of the oas, which also explicitly prohibits this kind of hostile action against another countntry, u.s. sanctions are now being imposed to bring down governments everywhere. you have similarly in iran yesterday,y, a big annnnouncemef the collapse of the iranian economy and the imf attributed it to u.s. sanctions. this is what the trump administration is trying to do also vis-a-vis nicaragua. trump said yesterday, total

blockade on cuba if they do not smart up. this is pure bullying. it is completely against international law. it creates havoc. it is hard enough to achieve economic progress, but when the u.s. is using its political power to break other countries, the results absolutely can be devastating. we see it in venezuela, that it was the kick that pushed venezuela into this catastrophic spiraling decline and hyperinflatition. it is always blamed in our press on maduro, but people don't even look and understand how the u.s. has the instruments of sanctions blocking access to financial markets, pushing enterprises into default, blocking trade, confiscating thehe assets ownedy the e venezuelelan government -- precisely -- and with the design of creating this kind of crisis

because the idea is if the pain is enough in the thinking of people like bolton, t then there wiwill be military overthrow. so they are trying to create absolute disaster. well, what is so stupid d about ththese american policies, these neocon policies, is they do create disaster but they do not achieve -- even the political goals of these dusty people like bolton, it is not as if they're effectively nasty, they're completely ineffective and totally nasty at the same time. the congress, and our country, nobody looks. it is unbelievable that you have this basically one-man show of trump doing damage, rampaging around the world. there is no oversight at all. and in the international instititutions like the imf, the insured development bank, people are scared to even say the truth that this bully of the unitited

ststates, especialally with thed of president that we have right now, no one wants to speak the obvious facts of how much damage is being done, how many lives have been lost, how much suffering is being created, how many refugees are being created deliberately. and then of course you get "the new york times" or someone else saying it is maduro or whatever because they don't even look at the obvious process. amy: any of democratic leaders as well in congress saying the same thing. we're going to turn right now to a democrat in congress. we want to thank jeffrey sachs am a leading economist, director of the center for sustainable development at columbia university. we will lilink to your report yu put out headlined "economic sanctions as collective punishment: the case of venezuela." and miguel tinker salas, anchorage on his, professor at pomona college, in claremont, california. we turn now to congresswoman

ilhan omar. she is the first somali american elected to congress, one of the first muslim women in congress. in february, ilhan omar question special envoy to venezuela elliot abrams on capitol hill. we welcome you to democracy now! congress member ilhan omar, before we talk about the remarkable rally held for you, in defense of you yesterday just outside the capitol next to the reflecting pool, if you can comment what is taking place right now in venezuela, the u.s.-supported coup attempt agnst president maduro. for havingu, amy, me. it is really great to join you all this morning. i concur with what professor sachs was saying. a lot of the policies that we have put in place have kind of helped lead the devastation in venezuela. forort of set the stage

where we are arriving today. this particular bullying and the use of sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not t help the peope of countries like venezuela and is not in the interest of the united states. i think finally we have folks in congress that see what professor sachs was referencing. amy: i want to turn right now to your questioning of elliott abrams, the man who president trump has made the special envoy to venezuela. elliott abrams, the person n who was convicted of lying to , ultimately was pardoned by president george

h.w. bush, but this is elliott abrams before you in committee. >> 1991, you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from congress regarding your involvement in the iran-contra affair, for which you are later pardoned by president george h.w. bush. why membersderstand of this committee or the american people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful. >> if i can respond to that. folks it wasn't a question. congress member ilhan omar, if you can talk about the significance of elliott abrams be made the point person on venezuela and what you do think congress can do? i mean, congressional leaders, including house speaker nancy others, a bipartisan

group, are supporting guaido, the man who simply announced he is president of venezuela. >> people like elliott abrams, neocons and warmongers, for so long have pushed for policies that are now -- we can see are not only in central america, but many parts of devastations they have had for decades. i could not pass up the opportunity to not only remind the american people that this was someone who was convicted of lying to congress, but also someone who had a heavy hand in some of the most devastating policies that we imposed on central america and that there is a direct correlation between the kind of mass migration that we are noticing right now from central america and south

america to this country. u used for so long we have muscle memory disorder generate our foreign-policy. and it is about time that we pause and look at the kind of implications that our policies have, what our ultimate goal is, what is being successful, and what are some policies that we should do away with. i remember talking to madame secretary albright and talking to her about the success of sanctions we imposed around the world and how some of them havee devavastating effects on the actual population and not on the governments that we see as our adversaries. and she concurred with me that many of the sanctions that we imposed ultimately lead to

devastations and we're seeing it now in venezuela. and ultimately, lead to having severe problems in that country, which doesn't stabilize life for the people and certainly puts ss here in the united states at risk. amy: we're going to go to break and then come back to talk about this unusual rallyly that was hd just outside the capital building next to the reflecting pull yesterday. black women from around the country came in led by, among others, angela davis. you stood with your sister congressmembers rashida tlaib, ayanna pressley, and people expressed their support for you, deeply concerned about the spike in a number of death rates against you. and president trump's singler attack on you. we will go to that in one moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman.

african-american women leaders gathered on capitol hill tuesday in defense of congress member ilhan omar, one of the first two muslim congresswomen in history and the first member of congress to wear a hijab. omar has been the target of numerous right-wing attacks since taking office, including by president donald trump himself. omar says death threats against her have spiked in number since president trump tweeted a video juxtaposing her image with footage of the 9/11 attacks. congresswomen ayanna pressley and rashida tlaib, civil rights icon angela davis, and others, addressed the crowd tuesday to urge congress to censure president trump -- who they referred to simply as the "occupant of the white house" -- for his attacks on omar and to send a message to both political parties, "hands off ilhan omar." this is congresswoman ayanna pressley. >> i h had to come here to lendy voicice and solidarity. yeah, i happen to bebe a congresswoman. before alall the titles, i'm a black woman.

and ilhan is my sister. i am changing the things i can no longer accept. and from r kelly to donald, what wewe can no longer accept is the silencing of black women! this is a reckoning. this is us assuming our rightful place as the table shakers, as the truth tellers, as the justice seekers, as the preservers of democracy. that you trustg black women, that you see black women, that you believe black women and onerous for the role we play as healers and preservers of this democracy and this nation. rashidawoman to tlaib. >> i grew up in detroit. many of my teachers, my mother's on the block all of them accepted me as a policy -- as a

woman. what i met when i talked about the pain of oppression from the pain of feeling less than. i remember ilhan saying that to me. rashida, i was born where i was the majority the you are born in a country where you felt like you are second class immediately when you were born, right? this is a woman speaks that way. is raw, is real. they continue to police her words, police our position. but i say hands off. hands off of the women of color that served in the united states congress. not only do we look differently, but we serve and we fight differently. and it also means we talked differently. we are allowed to be a great in this country. >> angela davis. >> it is about time that we

stepped up to defend those who represent our political vision on the front lines of struggle. i feel particularly motivated to becauses amazing group the attack against congresswoman ilhan omar, it is clearly directed at her as an individual is also designed to dissuade all of us from speaking out on issues that are considered controversial. imitating fromer the occupants -- that's right, 's twitter feed and the numerous threats of

assassination from white nationalists and his supporters are a way of sending messages to other black women, to all who hold radical and progressive political views that they, too, can be made into targets of vitriolic violent racism. be quiet or you will suffer the fate of ilhan omar. that is the message. that message.heed we refuse to be quite. amy: angela davis speaking in defense of congresswoman ilhan omar who has repeatedly been accused of being anti-semitic for criticizing the power of the israeli lobby in washington and questioning u.s.-israeli relations. despite the threats, she has refused to be silent and has continued to speak out against racism, islamaphobia, right-wing

violence and anti-semitism. ilhan omar, i want to ask you about, well, one of the many comets was tracy black men, saying that islamaphobia and anti-semitism grow from the same tree, that they are different branches of the same hate. can you talk about this? being of,enced it as you know, the two sides of the same bigoted coin. people that many of the who are targeting the jewish communities are also targeting the muslim community. we have to collectively work together to uplift our voices and say no to hate. we know both of our communities here in the united states are targeted by white supremacists

and we know the conservatives sort of are doing everything that they can to diststance thememselves, to just infororm e public about the monsters they help feed that are now causing andstation in mosques synagogues. and if we are not collectively rising to that reality, then we wiwill suffer the pain of it. amy: president trump recently ,aid in speaking to local media talking about you, "she is summit he that doesn't really understand life. real life. she is a way about her that is very, very bad for our country." if you can respond to this and tell us about your real life, where you were born, what you have survived. president,i like the

i don't it here to the believe that -- unlike the president, i don't it here to the believe of xenophobia. this is my country. this is our america. we collectively live in this country. i have as much of a right to do as he does and anyone else. so that is one. thisd, let me say this, president, who really was born with a silver spring in his ofth, who wrote the backs marginalized people to make his someoneo talk to me as who survived were, lived in refugee camp, learned english in six months, worked almost every single job that you can imagine from cleaning offices to being a

cashier to working my waway u uo now being a member of congress with only two decades of being in this country, to talk to me about real-life really tells you how demented he sounds and how goh he is really willing to in furthering the demonization and the silencing of minority thatnities who understand we have the power as people to stand up to him, to fight for the america we know we deserve, and to practice the kind of political joy that allows for all of us to participate and fight for prosperity -- not for the few, but for the many. amy: congress member ilhan omar, i know your time is very shortr. i wanted to ask, with the media painting you as a one issue cocongressmember, what you think

is being missed? for example, yesterday, the first-ever hearing on medicare for all, the emotional testimony is dying ofn who als and others. if you can talk about medicare for all, what you have come out in support of it and also whether you feel that president trump should be impeached. >> so medicare for all and the testimony of ady, the very impapassioned testimimony of soe and are really excited he gets the opportunity -- got the opportunity to speak at the first hearing of a policy he has been so passionate about, is one that i am really privileged enough to be the vice chair of the medicare for all caucus. it is important we recognize health care as a human right and that we make sure everyone,

regardless of their economic status here in this country or their employment status, should have access to health care. it is one i am very passionate about. i talked about how my aunt a young age in somalia died because she did not have access to insulin to take care of her diabetes. in minnesota, we had a very young man around the same age as aunt in his early 20's who died because he could not afford insulin. so to have something like that happen not in a country like somalia, but here in the united states, is one that we should be ashamed of and one that we should work really hard to make sure it doesn't happen again. amy: impeachment? >> on the question of impeachment, it is about time. we have had ththe investigation. mueller has clearly stated that

if he was giving a different opinion by the general attorney, that he would indict. and now he has kicked the ball to congress. we have an opportunity now to start impeachment proceedings for events that happened in the election. rashida, myself, alex, and others arere pushing to make sue that we can investigate postelection trump and many o of the obstructions and criminal activities t that might have t n place in his white house. amy: we want to thank you so much for being with us, congressmember ilhan omar, congressmember representing the and a soda fifth congressional district. somali american elected to the first u.s. house of representatives and one of the first muslim women in congress. i know you have to leave us but we're going to turn now, with your words, the words you shared

yesterday at the reflecting pool outside the capital, speaking at ththe rally in your support. that reallye thing offends a lot of people and the reason we are here. -- i was born as a very liberated human being. to a country that was recognized that they can colonize the land but they cannot colonize your mind. thateople who recognize all of us deserve dignity and that no human being was ever going to tell you that you are less than them. 13 people organize for our independence in somalia. so i was born and that brett of recognizing the -- they might be more powerful than you are, that they might have more technology

than you have him a they might think that they are wiser than you, they might control all of the institutions. but you control your mind and that is what sets you free. tv saidter of mine on the thing that upsets -- the thing that upsets the occupant of the white house, his goons in the republican party, many of our colleagues in the democratic , is that they cannot stand that a refugee, a black woman, shows upant, a muslim in congress thinking she is equal to them. [applause]

but i say to them, how us did you expect me -- how else did you expect me to show up? so here is the reality. i tell people every single day, i have a certificate that hanging inse has offices in congress. the same exact certificate of election. got more people who voted thane and sent me here 428 of them. does shehey say, who think she is, when they say, who does she think she is, i am the one that the people sent to be a voice for them.

so we have to always recognize that one marginalized voice represent many marginalized voices. but i don't only represent one marginalized voice. because in this country, being black is enough of being marginalized. but i also happen to be a woman. that is a second marginalization. i happen to be a muslim. happen to be a refugee and immigrant from what they go one of the shithole countries. the reality is shitohole country raised a very proud, dignified person. our circumstances might not always be perfect, but that doesn't let them -- lessen our

human to do. i'm not in the business of defending mind. so when this occupant of the to attack mehooses , we know that that attack is not for ilhan. continuations the of the attacks that he has leveled against women, against people of color, against imimmigrants, against refugees, and certainly against muslims. sayingare collectively -- we are collectively saying you are vile attacks, your demented views are not welcome here. this is not going to be the country of the xenophobics.

this is not going to be the country of white people. this is not going to be the country of the few. this is the country of the many. this is the country that was foununded -- this is the country that was founded on the history of native american genocide, on the backs of black slaves, but also by immigrants. and so as much as we need to remedy the history that we continue to neglect, we also must recognize that every -- every liberty that we enjoy here, every single progress we get to celebrate, came about because immigrants purchase of needed -- participated in it. so i know my place in this society. in of you know your place

society. and itit is one that is equal to every single person that walks in it. amy: minnesota congressmember ilhan omar speaking in front of the capital at a protest in her defense organized by black women leaders. sitting behind her, angela davis, congresswomen a ayanna pressley and rashida tlaib, urging congress to censure president trump, who they referred to simply as the occupant of thehe white house, r his attacks on omar and to send a message to both political parties, "hands off ilhan omar." she says she has suffered a spike in death threats against her since president trump pinned a tweet of a video that juxtaposed ilhan omar against the 9/11 attacks. this does it for our show. democracy now! has a an immediae opening for our paid, full-time digital fellowship here in our new york city studio. we also are accepting applications for paid six-month internships. learn more at democracynow.org.

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