05/07/19 05/07/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amamy: from pacififica, this is democracy nonow! >> pressure gets counter pressure. instead of thinking maximum pressure will force the iranians to capitulate, all it does is it creates and escalatory cycle in which there will be a tit-for-tat. and if there are no exit ramps

from t this, then the tit-for-tt eventually will l lead to a military confrontation. amy: iran is accusing the united states of psycholological warfae afafter national securitity advr john bolton announced the u.s. is deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the region. we will speak with trita parsi. then as trade tensions between the u.s. and china ratchet up we look at how china has built a massive surveillance network to monitor millions of uighurs anad other muslim minorities. >> i inorthwestern china, 13 million muslims are e already endudung extraordidinary thrhres at the h hands of thee goverernt of the chihinese. authorities are building a surveillance state to build a track their every move. amy: and then to florida where civil rights groups are decrying what they say is a new poll tax after the florida senate passed a bill that would require formerly incarcerated people with felony convictions to repay

all fines and fees to courts before their voting rights are restored. this comes six months after florida voters made history by passing an amendment four to restore voting rights to 1.4 million people with nonviolent felonies who have fully completed their sentences. we will speak to the man behind the amendment, desmond meade. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. burmese authorities released award-winning reuters journalists wa lone and kyaw soe oo today after months of global outrage and pressure. the pair had been behind bars for nearly a year and a half. they reported on the systematic expulsion and murder of rohingya muslims from burma in 2017 and uncovered a massacre committed by the burmese military against a group of rohingya in the village of inn din. the two men were convicted to a

seven-year sentence last september fofor allegedly violating g burma's colonial-era official secrets act. just last month, burma's supreme court rejected the pair's final appeal. they were awarded the pulitzer prize in april and were honored in last year's time magazine person of the year feature. this is wa lone speaking shortly after he was freed from prison. >> i am very happy and thank you so much to everyone who helped us while we were in prison and who wished for our release. i want to say thank you very much. >> i am really happy and excited to see my family and my colleagues. i can't wait to go to my newsroom now. amy: in the united states bipartisan group of over 550 , a former federal prosecutors have signed on to a statement saying president trump's actions would have resulted in obstruction of justice charges were trump not the sitting president of the united states.

the letter elaborates on actions by trump uncovered by special counsel rorobert mueller's repo, falling under the categories of -- "the president's efforts to fire mueller and to falsify evidence about that effort, the president's efforts to limit the scope of mueller's investigation to exclude his conduct, and the president's efforts to prevent witnesses from cooperating with investigators probing him and his campaign." special counsel mueller's report did not come to any conclusions about obstruction, saying instead it could not exonerate trump. however, attorney general william barr concluded in his summary of the report that there is insuffificient evidence too pursue obstruction charges. the house judiciary committee has scheduled a vote wednesday to determine whether they will hold attorney general william barr in contempt after he failed to meet monday's deadline to hand over special counsel robert mueller's unredacted report to lawmakers. the move also follows barr's no-show at a congressional hearing before the committee last thursday.

lawmakers have set a tentative date of may 15 for mueller to testify. on sunday, trump tweeted that mueller should not testify bebefore congress, reversing an earlier statement saying the decision was up to barr. in more news from capitol hill, the treasury department failed to comply with a congressional request to hand over six years worth of president trump's tax returns monday. in a letter to the house ways and means committee, treasury secretary steve mnuchin said the request "presents serious constitutional questions" and "lacks a legitimate legislative purpose." ways a and means chair r richard neneal said he is consulting wih lelegal counsel to determine the appropriate response to mnuchin's refusal. secretary of state mike pompeo met with russian counterpart sergey lavrov monday at the arctic council meetings in finland. after the meeting, lavrov again warned against a reckless military solution in venezuela. russia has stood by the government of president nicolas maduro during ththe ongoing

political crisis, while the u.s. has supported opposition leader juan guaido and calls to overthrow maduro. the trump administration has refused to take military intervention off the table. while at the arctic council meetings, pompeo celebrated the shrinking levels of sea ice in the region, saying it opened up new opportunities for trade. he also called for the exploitation of natural resources in the arctic. >> the arctic is at t the forefronont of opppportunity and abundance. it has 13% of the world's undiscovered oil, 30% of its undiscoverered gas, and no unundanc of uranium, gold, diamonds, and millions of square miles of untapped resources. steady redeductions in c eyes e opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade. amy: pompeo added "arctic sea lanes could become the 21st century suez and panama canals."

scientists warn that melting sea ice in the arctic due to climate change will have catastrophic effects on coastal cities, biodiversity and the global economy. president trump has called climate change a chinese hoax. mike p pompeo was scduduled to meet with german chancellor angela merkel in berlin today after leaving the arctic council gathering. however, the u.s. . state department announced the meeting had been canceled due to pressing issues. no further details have been made available. turkish election authorities announced monday a redo of recent elections in istanbul. president recep tayyip erdogan's ruling ak party claimed fraud in the election, which saw opposition candidate ekrem imamoglu claim victory and be sworn in as the new mayor of istanbul. local elections in turkey at the end of march dealt a major blow to erdogan and the akp, which lost control in both of turkey's largest cities, ankara and his home city of istanbul. the supreme electoral council, which made the decision to scrap the election results, is dominated by the akp.

a new vote in istanbul has been scheduled for june 23. in syria, intensified air raids by government forces killed at least 17 civilians i in aleppo d idlib provinces over the past few days, and local reports says dozens of people have been killed over the past two weeks as a bombardment campaign pummels what is believed to be the last rebel stronghold around idlib. the syria civil defense, also known as the white helmets, have reported several attacks by russian warplanes on hospitals and medical facilities in the past few days. in panama, voters elected a new president sunday. laurentino "nito" cortizo of the centrist democratic revolutionary party won a narrow victory over his opponents in an election dominated by voter concerns over government corruption and growing economic inequality. in his victory speech, cortizo pledged to root out corruption and impunity for leaders involved in misconduct. to not steal or

pay favors to economic or political groups, nobody. today i reviewed come in panama, there will be no intangibles -- no untouchbalbes. amy: acting defense secretary patrtrick shanahan has called fr an overhauaul in the m milary''s handlingng of sexual assault and harassment following a report showing a whopping 38% increase in reported assaults from 2016 to 2018. the report finds thahat the majority of survivorors of military sexual assasault knew their atattacker personally and that alcohol was involved in many of the cases. in march, arizona republican senator martha mcsally revealeld she was raped by a superior officer when she served in the u.s. air force. she made the disclosure during a congressional hearing on the epidemic o of sexual assault in the u.s. military. in media news, new orleans' oldest newspaper, the times-picayune, has been sold to the advocate, a rival publication.

the paper was sold by parent company advance local media to john and dathel georges, millionaire business owners who bought the advocate in 2013. john georges has previously made unsuccessful runs for governor, as well as mayor of new orleans. the times-picayune has been in operation since 1837. it has received several pulitzer prizes, including for its reporting on hurricane katrina. all of the paper's staff is reportedly being cut and the publication will be merged w wih the advocate. the new head of the national rifle association, carolyn meadows, has apologized after coming under fire for attacking fellow georgian, democratic freshman congressmember lucy mcbath, claiming in an interview with the marietta daily journal that mcbath only won her seat because she is a minority female. not because she advocated for gun control reform. congressmember mcbath, whose african-american 17-year-old son jordan davis was shot dead in 2012 at a florida gas station, campaigned on a gun-control platform and said she was inspired to run for office after

witnessing the student activism following the massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. previous nra had oliver north was ousted last week after he threatened to reveal evidence of corruption against longtime nra chief executive when lapierre and after new york's attorney general opened an investigation into the nra's tax exempt status. new jersey senator and 2020 presidential hopeful cory booker and build a -- unveiled a 14-part plan to combat gun violence monday. the plan includes a nation-wide gun licensing program, which would involve a background check, fingerprinting, an interview, and gun safety classes. the plan also includes more funding for research on gun violence, a ban on assault weapons, high-capacity ammunition and bump stocks. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. iran is accusing the united

states of psychological warfare after national security advisor john bolton announunced the pentagon is deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the region. in a statement on sunday night, bolton said the move was intended to "send a clear and unmistakable message to the iranian regime that any attacks on united states interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force." on monday, acting defense secretary patrick shanahan said the deplmement was m made becace of a "crediblele threat by i irn regime forces"s" but he offefero detatails. axios is r reporting the t thres based on i information p passedn from israel. amy: thehe trump adminisistratin hahas been ratchcheting up prere agagainst iran following washington's withdrawal from the landmark iran nuclear deal last year. last month, the u.s. designated iran's elite revolutionary guard as a terrorist organization. the trump administration also said it will end a waiver program that allowed some nations to circumvent u.s.

sanctions and continue buyuying iranian oil without suffering penalties. for more, we go now to washington, d.c., where we're joined by trita parsi, founder of the national iranian american council. author of "losing an enemy: obama, iran, and the triumph of diplomacy." trita parsi is an adjunct associate professor in the center for security studies at georgetown university. welcome back to democracy now! can n you talk about the significance of this u.s. military deployment to the region of iran? >> the deployment of this woworship toto the persian gulfs in and of itself not very significant. it is everything else that has taken place around it. we talked about it on the show before that t john boltonn has n trying to move matteters towarda military confrfrontation with in . hehe appears to be getting closr and closer to that. we have to keep in mind john bolton has been trying to start a war with iran, has advocated a war with iran for more than 20

years. in those 20 years, his best shot yet is probably the one that exists right now because we have a public that is much more focused on tax returns, the mueller investigation, russia gate. we have no secretatary of defene right now at the pentagon. we have a president that is pretty occupied with other things and beyond that does not seem to understand geopolitics that much. the pathway for john bolton to be able to aggressively escalate matters toward war with iran is more open now than it has been before. that is exactly what he seems to be taking advantage of right now when making statements about this deployment of the warship, making it sound as if it wasas aimed at this so-called iranian threat when in reality it was scheduled to go there long before. juan: you talk about the two decades after bolton. good you talk a little bit about his role during the iraq war?

>> this is very important to keep in mind. we can have a debate and discussion, a legitimate discscsion as toto what donanald trump's s true intentitions with iran may be. becausehe isis doing this he ultimelely believes this will leadad to a nenegotiation. we cannot have much of a discussion about what john bolton's true intent is because he is a ready made that veryry clclear. he has written about it in public for more than 20 years. he once wore with iran. you played a significant role in the fabrication of lies in the run-up to the iraq war and pushing for thahadisastrousus w. i think one way of putting it, just as much as i don't think any reasonabable person would te donald trump statements on climate change seriously, john bolton's lack of credibility on foreign policy is equiuivalent o donald trump's lack of credibility on climate change.

amy: this is all happening at a time when the trade talks are ramping up with china and president trump is threatening china by tariffs on friday from 10% to 25%. and you have this situation where china is pushing back against the united states decision to broaden its crackdown on iranian oil exports, saying countries like china will no longer receive a waiver but a large portion of china's oil is from iran. talk about this geopolitical issue. >> so whwhat the uninited stated ththe trump administration is doing with these waivers is there e trying to take allll ofn ''s oil off the market in the hope of a sensiblyly collapsing the iranian economy -- ostensibly collapspsing thee iranian economy. bolton, i i'm ofof john pretty convinced he thinks this will lead to an iranian counter reaction that he can then use as

a cost to start a war. what is also taking place is the trump administration essssentiay is fororcing countries to not oy leave iranian oil, but replace and with american oil change the refiners from the type of crcrude oil which is muh exporterr than thee earnings -- that the iranians export to the lighter crude that the u.s. exports. it is not based on competitiveness oror anything le that. it is the trump administration strong-arming these countries to forcing them to buy american oil instead. juan: what has been the reaction of the iranian government to these latest announcements of bolton and also, what, in your view, should -- what is the role of congress? what should congress be doing at movetime to rein in this by some members of the trump administration to push for war?

, formerly with the cia, had an important piece yesterday that he poininted out for the et are e the iranians have shown se trtremendous displpline and restraint because they have not responded to these provocations fromom the trump administration. they are still adhering to the nuclear deal from 2016. but there are signs that patients on the iranian side is running out. they are clearly not getting any of the major were important benefits from that nuclear deal and the united states is continuously violating that deal , even punishing countries who are trying to adhere to that deal. i think we're starting to reach a point in which it is quite likely the iranian will start walking away from some of theirr commitments as well. that will be a very, very dangerous scenario. what has congress done? so far very am a very little. i think this is worrisome. it goes back to the fact so much of our focus is on domestic issues or some of the other major crisis t the trump

administration h has started. you do have dick durbin and tom udall who just had an op-ed in "oppose" as well as introducing bills try y to prevent a war. we n need to have a a national conversation about this. almost done of the progressive domestic programs and reforms, the democratic candidadates are discussing right now, and will be debating as soon as debate starts for the presidentntial nomination, , can take place ify the e john bolton n has starteda wawar with iran. war with i iran will be much moe devastating than with iraq. we're s still living with the rubric of's of the disastrous iraq war. amy: the defense secretary patrick shanahan, former boeing executive for decades, said that deployment was made of the military carrier strike group and bomber task force because a

credible threat of iranian tryry torces -- 40th spacace on information passesedn from israel. what is israel's interest in this? >> the israelis have been pushing for a mimilitary confrontatation with iran n for quite some time. giveven that net know who has prided himself on being the foremost advocate of a military confrontation with iran. you just dated a couplple of w s ago outside the warsaw conference, bringiging the arab states and w what is referring t iran and the uae, brbringing togetheher commonon interest with the war with iran. they do not have the capacity of taking on iran on the roads of the pressure is on the united stateses to startrt a warar witn and essentially fight it foror them. as former secretary of defense robert gates said, they want to fight the iranians until the last american. it is interesting about this report. it is not intelligence that was the united states

about what the iranians are doing, but rather an analysis of d doing iranians may be in t the region. so we are now in a situation in which john bolton wants to use in israeli analysis written by some analysts in israel about do as the smokingng gugun t to starart his war. this is not only a repeat of the iraq scenario, b but a farcical version of the iraq war scenario. amy: we want to thank you for joining us, trita parsi, recent book, "losing an enemy: obama, iran, and the triumph of diplomacy." coming up next, as trade tensions between the u.s. and china ratchet up, we look at how china has built massive surveillance networks to monitor and otherf uighurs muslim minorities. and what does joe biden's son hunter have to do with this? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: china's top trade negotiator is traveling to washington this week as tension over trade intensifies between the two nations. president trump is threatening to impose a 25% tariff on nearly all chinese imports after the u.s. accused china of backtracking on trade commitments. talks are expected to resume on thursday, but the trump administration is fafacing criticicism for refusing to address china's human rights record as part of the trade talks. amy: the united nations and a number of human rights groups have accused the chinese government of setting up massive camps in the far-west xinjiang province to hold an unknown number of ethnic uighurs andnd other muslims. estimates of the population of the camps range from hundreds of

thousands to over a million. perhaps millions. china says the camps have been built as re-education and training centers and are needed to combat extremism in the region. "the new york times" reports the trump administration has shelved proposed targeted sanctions over the mass detentions out of fear it could derail a potential trade deal. last week, human rights watch revealed new details about how china is carrying g out mass survrveillance in n xinjiang int thanks to a a mobile app t thate authorities monitoththe musl popupution. thisideo proced by han rights watchegegins with a a uighur sdent. >> i used to be one of those people, like of got nothing to hide, i'm just a student. but i was very wrong. they are targeting everyone. as long as you're going outut of your house, y're bng surveied..

>> in northwestern china, 13 million muslims are already enduringng extraordinary susuppressn at the hands ofof te chinesese govementnt.

amy: that is a video produced by human rights watch. we are joined now by two guests. sophie richardson is the china director for human rights watch and it appears in a video.

she edited the new report report "china's algorithms of repression: reverse engineering a xinjiang police mass surveillance app." we are also joined by the uighur-american activist rushan abbas. she is the founder and director of campaign for uighurs. after she spoke out against china's repression of the uighurs last year, her a aunt ad sister disappeared. her aunt has since been released but there is still no news of her sister. we welcome you both to democracy now! exactly,xplain n further first, who made this app and how china is using this, particularly against the muslim uighur population. >> the app itself was designed by a company that was at the time a subsidiary of a very large chinese conglomerate called cetc. the goal really was to build a system probably that could

integrate multiple different streams of data from everything from police used apps to facial recognitition software.e. this partiticular app w w desigd for police to use on a mole vices, both to o gather infoformation abouout people but then to receive directives from the central system a about whetr they wermemeant tooo out and carry out further investigations of people and what sort of information they were to gather. juan: rushan abbas trita parsi, the pentagon is estimating is perhaps as many as 3 million uighurs are in concentration camps in china. could d you talk about the currt level of repression whether it has been increasing or what the status from what you know of of the people of your group? >> the chinese government is getting away with this mass atrocity. what they're doing is increreing

becacause theibebeing able t to cover-up were being able to manipulate the information with information -- they are able to increase the numbers. back in december, it was 800 to about 2 million the estimation. now it is more than 3 million. my sister is s still being incarcerated somewhere that we don't know. i am just one example of millions of other innocent uighur people being held. the uighur muslims are being collateral damage between communistchina's hunger for power and the other countries trade deals. amy: i wanted to ask sophie richardson, when it comes to the uighur population, what does

china explain that it is doing and how does it justify this app? how much is known about this app, for example, inside china? >> the chinese governments broad justification for its policies really revolve around national security. the chinese government insists it is grappling with threats of terrorism and that since it began its latest strike hard against extremism campaign in 2016, there have been no major attacks. now, we would responded advising there have been no major attack since the provinces under and near total lockdown regardless of whether someone is detained in a political education camp or outside where there is so pervasive restrictions on movement, religion, people interacting with one another. the app is reasonably well-known across the province. we had come across it in the course of doing research on

other kinds of surveillance technology. but then we found more discussions on police-run accounts and then actually had interviewees who had been released from political education camps describe to us that when they were detained, police were gathering information and entering it into this app, and then making decisions those people should be subject to further detention. then we actually found the app, which of the time was publicly available, and downloaded it and said to work reverse engineering it to show -- dozens of different kindnds of behavior, a of thehem perfectly legal, that are now considered essentially evidence of problematic or suspicious behavior by the authorities. juan: you mentioned even such an otherwise normal act as going outside the backdoor of your home as opposed to the front door of your house could be a trigger for the chinese authorities to gather information on these apps?

>> yeah. some of the behaviors described reallygged are ludicrous. front door versus backdoor. if you're 70 talking cure never more or less. if asian yougnition software log into a car that does not belong to you. perfectlybehaviors legal under chinese law, yet there now considered grounds for investigation or in some cases, harper terry detention. amy: i want to turn to al jazeera maggie hassan who recentlyly interviewed thehe che professor c charles lu whwho wos as an informal adviser to the chinese government. >> your country, the government you support and have advised ravage her, a u.n. human righghts watchththe u.s., plenty of jojournalists, and may others, , are believeded to have dedetained maybebe a million p e or m more manly frfrom the uighr -muslim peoplple in these c cam.

a million people. folks innocently not grabbing headlines in china. >> because you do not have a free press in china. >> no, because there are five national minorities in china. uighurs population is in total -- >> applet t between 9 mimilliond 10 million.. >> 0.7%. >> if f you lock of a a million people, the world pays attention. >> 1 1 billion p people need toe fed and clothed. .> that must concern you >> sure. how do we establilish it is true or not? >> why do you let people in and let them count and then we would know for sure? >> they have. >> know, they have b been to select camps. lastrs were taken arounund year and were allowed to meet some people and the people saying "if you're happy and you

know it clap your hands." amy: that is mehdi hassan at the oxford union in britain, along with the chinese professor.. rushan abbas, you are a uighur- american activist. her sister is still disappeared. your response? >> well, since april 2017, all of the uighurs in diaspora are unable to contact their family members. currently, the chinese government arranged another supervised tour to selected camps. pulled -- told the reporters they are here voluntarily and being able to return home over the weekend. in reality, the people disappeared for more than two or three years now and nobody knows

where they are. they are not coming home. they are not in contact with their family members. my sister, doctor, she is a medical doctor bring. she does not need vocational training. she speaks fluent mandarin chinese. my sister is just one example of hundreds and hundreds of thehe uighur intellectuals. being reported as being incarcerated now. the university president, professors, famous writers. they are all taken and nobody knows where they are. they are not there voluntarily as the chinese government is announcing to the world were showing the other reporters -- or showing the other reporters. the: could you talk about china's built-in road relationship and its relationship to the strategic location of the province in

terms of that well-known effort by china to build trade talks across the world? >> since the chinese communist thernment occupation of uighur homeland in 1949, the chinese government relentlessly andto emanate the culture religion under a different label. but the reason the last two or three years, the deterioration of the human rights abuse at this massive scale, is directly connected to the road initiative. the uighur homeland relies on the strategy part of the initiative. to central gateway asia, to europe, to africa. therefore, the xinjiang

signature project to world domination, the uighur -- innocent uighur people are becoming the victims. me just quickly ask sophie richardson, why the discrepancy in number? this is a large discrepancy to say between one and 3 million uighurs are being held. why don't we know? >> we don't know because the chinese government is lyingng. for the first six months, groups like mine were documenting while the chinese government was denying these camps even existed. they then changed their tune and said they did exist but they were vocational training schools or boarding schools. we have argued hard that the only way to really ascertain the truth is for the chinese government to allow in independent international

inspectors who can visit the facilities freely and talked to people without fear of reprisal to get a sense of just how many people are detained and to argue hard they should be immediately released. amy: i just want to let people low, people reading ababout thi, uighur -- i s uyghur. to lookined by lee fang at the unexpected investor in chinese surveillance. .oe biden son hunter biden his most recent article is headlined "chinese fund backed by hunter biden invested in technology used to surveil muslims." lee, thank you for joioining usn democracy now! explain what you learn. >> thank you for having me. china's sprawling police state relies heavily on high-tech security apparatus to monitor,

track, and incarcerate those viewed as a threat to the chinese state but dissidents, activists, journalists, and increasingly the entire uyghur -muslilim population in western china and a key component of this secururity a apparatus is e collection of biometric data. this data collection comes from a number of private sector firms. one of the major chinese startups involved in this biometric data collection is a company called phase plus plus, a facial recognition software company and chinese company that provided the key license to the app that sophie has explained and also used in security cameras all over the country. in the last week we have seen a number of western reports scrutinizing the chinese investors thatat stand to profit plushave invested in face

plus. but in our story on friday, we revealed there were a number of american investors that also sent a profit from this mass surveillance there a also invesd in face plus plus, one of whom is hunter biden. juan: how and when did hunter biden for his chinese investment company? how did that come about? years, the last 10 hunter biden has been involved in a number of investment opportunities and business deals . in 2008, hede-registered as a lobbyist and transferred into this investment career. in 2014 come he traveled to china informed this very exclusive investor partnership with the chinese government, partnering with the bank of china, one of the largest state owned banks. in 2017, hunter biden and his and an for just upgraded investment round in face plus

plus them helping the company raise over four hundred million dollars, bringing its citation to currently over $3 billion. so he is far from a passive investoror. shows he has deal been given real exclusive access to investing in some chinese -- china's most largest technology companies. he certainly stands to benefit as his company continues to grow. amy: there are democrats who pointed out that this issue of hunter biden, joe biden, the presidential candidates son, is being pushed by the daily caller and fox to discredit biden. your response? look, the tactic by special interest, both domestic and foreign, to put politicians on the payroll of any interest grououp seeking to seek influene

politician is a bipartisan issue. it is not a r right-wing or left-wing issue. i can go through a laundry list of democrats and republicans in congress who have had family members, sons and daughters or spouses, that were added to lobbying firms or operations to peddle influence -- or corporations to peddle influence. , including don jr., have received exclusive agreements to expand hotels in indonesia and so on. has received d speciaial licenses to sell her products in china. we see the dynamic in this criticism in addition to the biden family coming from folks from across the ideological spectrum, and it is not particular to the china issue. in two dozen 3, 1 of the most controversial votes joe biden took him he joined with republicans to pass the 2003 bankruptcy bill.

at the time, one of the largest credit card issuers in the country was mbna, which was lobbying for the legislation. they hired hunter biden as a consultant at a time when they were lobbying for joe biden to pass that law. when joe bideden was engaged in high-stakes negotiations in ukraine at a time at the height of russian aggression in that region, hunter biden was hired and placed on the board of a major ukrainian fracking company, paid as much as $50,000 a month, and now with this china issue, we're seeing a lot of criticism, joe biden his son, because again, gained exclusive access to this very unusual investment vehicle with the chinese state at a time when joe biden was leaving negotiationss on traveling between beijing and washington, d.c., as the vice president. it will post there is conflict of interest as joe biden six the

presidential nomination. juan: that is one thing i wanted ask about. clearly, to some critics of the corporatate wing of the democrac party, this will definitely give them pause to raise that this is a repetition of the clinton families corruption issues over their dealings with foreign governments as well. >> well, that certainly may be a political issue. iiis also aa g genuine policy concern for any observer or any relations..s.-china look, it is not exclusive to the biden family. mitch h mcconnell, the senate republican leader, was once a big critic of china policy, china human rights. later he became a big proponent of trade relations with china and canada ended his very vocal

criticism of china. later after the 2016 election, mitch mcconnell sister-in-law angela chow was added to the board of bank of china. there are many instances both republican and democrat word .hina has sought to seek power joe biden has long been a friend ofof china. in 2000 10 is a major vote about normal trade relations with china, job rallili democratitic support -- joe rallied democratic support. say that china at the time e had the economy of the size of the netherlands and that china would never pose a threat to american manufacturing. so joe biden has then a friend of china for very long time. it appears china has beeeen very freely to the joe biden family as well. amy: sophie richchardson, i want to ask you about this foreign policy article that was out in march headline google u.s. firms

are helping build china's orwellian state." howyou talk about this and it relates to the mass surveillance, particularly of the muslim community in china? >> sure. i think american companies and funds and portfolios of investments that are engaged with chinese surveillance companies need to stop right now and d have a long, clolose lookt what exactly they are invested in, where they want to be putting money. we looked at one particular company, massachusetts-based medical technology firm, which we found to be selling dna sequencers to the xinjiang public bureau, which they did have the license for. what were doing at a time when we were documenting the xinjiang todayity's composing

samples from everyone across the region from the ages of 12 to 65 under the guise of a free public health care program. we went to this company several times and said, what is your due diligence strategy to make sure your sales and operations are not contributing to human rights violations? answer ththeally question. members of congress asked them and finally "the new york times" wrote about activities, and which what the company said, we're decided to stop selling this technology in that particular region. but we don't know what they continue to sell the other parts of the country. the reality is, we are not any more clear about what strategy they have in place to answer that do children's question. i think ththat applilies equalao any company, american, european, australian, anyone's company doing business in a region that has been labeled by u.n. experts as a right free zone. juan: i want to ask you about a separate china related issue.

last week tens of thousands of people i in hong kong marched peacefully against a proposal that would allow people in hong kong to be extradited to china for trial, where they obviously faced fewer protections and in hong kong, which is long operated under the one country, two systems mantra. could you talk about that and your concerns about that? >> sure. i think if this agreement goes ahead, we have gone really from one country two systems to one country one system because it gut some ofively that were available if they are to be extradited. also the ramifications for no evidence against you, having access to counsel. it has been seen widely in hong kong in the last couple of weeks as a series of encroachment, particularly in hong kong's judicial independence and

integrity. and that is an institution in hong kong that has always stood the territory a part fromm the rest of the mainland. and if it loses that kind of authority and integrity, it really is seen as hong kong just becoming another part of the mainland. amy: and finally, on this trade negotiations that is taking place this week, sophie, president trump announcing plans toincrease tariffs from 10% 25% from also threatening to impose news tariffs on another three under $25 billion of chinese products. your thoughts about this move regarding trade with china and just as the trump administration says they will not impose any kind of sanctions related to what we are talking about? >> we don't particularly have a view on things like tariffs. .e do on sanctions the sanctions meant to be

imposed on individuals or entities that are alleged to have been involved in human rights violations. some people like the current xinjiang party secretary would clearly be a target for precisely these kinds of sanctions. especially given secretary pompeo's and other administration officials willingness to be publicly critical of china's actions in xinjiangm the fact the administration is not going ahead with these kinds of sanctions is not just giving china a free pass and enabling it, it is really undercutting the very purpose of those sanctions at allll. is worth pointing out this a administration does that seem to have trouble sanctioning lots of different people and companies for different kinds of behavior. so the unwillingness on this particular matter is seriously problematic really effectively is saying to the chinese government, do what you will want and xinjiang and saying to the uyghurs, we're not concerned

about what is happening to you or your family members. sophie richardson, thank you for being with us, china director for human rights. , investigative journalist at the intercept. when we come back, suppressing the vote in florida. the voting rights activist desmond meade. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we end today's show looking at republican efforts to suppress the vote in florida. civil rights groups are decrying what they say is the new poll tax after the florida senate passed a bill friday that would require formerly incarcerated people with felony convictions to repay all fines and fees to courts before their voting rights are restored. this comes six month after voters in florida approved a measure to restore voting rights to 1.4 million people with nonviolent felonies who have fully completed their sentences. overturning a jim crow era law aimed at keeping african-americans from voting. one in five african americans in florida and 10% of the state's adult population have been ineligible to vote because of a criminal record. 65% of voters approved a constitutional amendment to reinvent a's people former felony convictions in november. it was hailed as the biggest win

for voting rights around the country in decades with the potential to sway the 2020 election and beyond. the florida legislature's vote threatens to keep tens of thousands from the ballot boxes. florida democrats are urging republican governor ron desantis to veto the legislation saying in a statement "if the voter suppression measures go into effect, desantis will be known as the jim crow governor." we go now to desmond meade, president of the florida rights restoration coalition, chair of the floridians for a fair democracy. he spearheaded amendment four, which has re-enfranchised 1.4 million floridians, including himself. or so he helped. desmond, welcome back to democracy now! what is going on? the amendment passed overwhelmingng. explain what the governor and the legislature, governor has been assigned this yet, but are .ushing

>> first of all, thank you for having me back on your show. i will start off by saying what we were able to accomplish in november 2018 still remains intact. at the heart of amendment 4 was the fact we abolished 150-year-old jim crow law in florida. prior to the member 4 passing, anyone c convicted o of a felony offense faced a lifetime bar from voting. so we effectively remove that. no matter what the legislature comes up with, that victory still remains intact. about what people are calling a poll tax? how are they going to limit the 1.4 million people who potentially could become voters again? >> when you talk about the impact the restoration of voting rights would have even on future elections, when we look at the

impact of this legislation, we estimate that it impactss about 700,000 returning citizens. 7 700,000 whohoother would d not be impacted at a aly this legislation. and d as an organization that speaks on behalf of of returning citizens, what we'rere focused n mostly is s how can we engage those 700,000 people and get them registered to vote and get them voting? atat the end of the day, , you'e talkining about a statetement wh only took 30,000 votes to the sizeze of the governoror, 15,00r congressmaman, and about 100,000 to the side of the president of united statetes. as a relates to the legislation before the governor, there are ems that would allow the 700,000 that are impacted to have a much easier pathway to voting. in that legislation, they give

the judge -- a judge has the authority to waive those financial obligations or convert them to communityy service hour. so that is some bright spot in that legislation coming out. and that is what we are moving forward on. one coat in terms of -- juan: in terms of the impact of the original referendum vote, florida has 21 1 million people, the third-largest state in the u.s., clearly the largest battleground state. the impact on the presidential election of 2020 that could be had by those 700,000 at least getting registered, whahat has been thehe progress so f far in getting people registered? >> so one of the things -- first of all, our organization has already registered over 5000 returning citizens. there are multiple organizations that are out there registering folks and we have returning

citizens that are registering on their own. there are literally thousands of returning citizens that have already been added to the roster, myself included. i registered to vote in january. i received my voter registration card and looking forward to for dissipating. i think what is crucial, what is important for r us as returning looking is that we are to impact every election, alonog the linenes of the issues that impact people with felony convictions and their family members. we're looking to impact criminal based around justice reform. amy: why do you choose to use citizens"?returning >> when we first started, what we found was when you refer to someone as an ex-con or ex-felelon, you increase the a recidivism.lil

we're committed to increasing public safety. we are group committed to becoming assets inept community. returningsese the term citizen, you put a more poposite energy out there to encourage folks s who have made mistakes n the past that they are not less than humanan, that they are a citizen, that they are human being that can be contributing members of society. in novemberm tweeted "amendment 4 got one we more votes than me and a million more votes than governor ron desantis. the governor would be well advised to veto this poll tax. voters spopoke loud and clear. we believe in second chances." we have 10 secondsds. do you think desantis is signing off on this? >> chances are he is going to sign off on it. wewe know during his campaign, e called for implementation legislation. bebelieve they should not

implementation legislation. if this legislation -- we don'tt lilike it. but wewe know there are some ges in it and we're going to do our best to create a more inclusive democracy in the state of florida. amy: desmond meade, thank you for being with us. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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