05/24/19 05/24/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica this is , democracy now! >> is at the dangerous precedents in europe and around the world. this means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the united states for having published truthful information about the united states. amy: the justice department is indicting julian assange on 17

charges of violating the espionage act for publishing u.s. military y and didiplomatic dodocuments exposing u.s.s. war crimes. he now faces up to 170 yeaears n prison. press freedom advococates have denounced the charges. we will speak with his attorney jennifer robinson as well as alsol ellsberg, who was charged with violating the espionage act in 1973 and faced over 100 years in jail. the same case brought against me. unfortrtunately, bringing that againsnst a journalist is even more blatantly a violatition of the first amendndment, freedodof ththe press. amy: and we will speak with jeremy scahill a about trump's r on whihistleblowers. >> we're at an extxtremely dangerous s moment in the histoy of this country. donaldld trump is using ththe se rhetoric used byby nazi officias in the 1930's and d 1940's to attack thehe press.

he said he wantnts to jaill journalists who publilish storis and wielding the espionage act like a chainsaw against journalistic sources. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united states has charged wikileaks founder julian assange with violating the u.s. espionage act. on thursday, the justice department announced 17 new charges against assange over his role in the 2010 chelsea manning leaks in a case that many are warning poses a grave threat to the first amendment. this is the first time a publisher has been charged under the world war i-era law. assange faces up to 10 years in prison for each count of violating the espionage act. up to 170 years in prison. as the news broke, trevor timm of the freedom of the press foundation said, "put simply, these unprecedented charges against julian assange and wikileaks are the most

significant and terrifying threat to the first amendment in the 21st century." after headlines, we'll spend the dudutch speak with daniel ellsberg. theresa may said she will resign june 7, ending a three-year term that saw h her repeatedly try ad fail to usher through britain's plan to leave the european ununion. her ananuncement c came as brith voters are set to deliver a stinging defeat to her party with the newly formed brexit party expected to win when results are announced on sunday. prime minister may's department will come days after she is set to host an official state visit for president trump and his family june 3. prince charles has invited trump totea where he is expected raise the issue of climate change. this weekend, trump will travel to japan for a state visit where he will meet with prime minister abe and the new emperor.

senate democrats are warning the trump administration is preparing to circumvent congress to push through $7 billion worth of u.s. weapons sales to saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. secretary of state mike pompeo and other administration officials reportedly are pressing trump to declare e a national emergency, which would bar congress from halting the sale of the precision guided munitions and warplanes. the move follows public outcry over the massive civilian death toll from the saudi-led war on yeyemen and leicester's murder f saudi journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. last month trump vetetoed a congressional war r powers resolution ordering the u.s. to halt most you support for the war inin yemen -- u.s. support r the war in yemen. president trump has given attorney general william barr broad new powers to review how the trump campaign's ties to russia were investigated. the order will give barr

oversight to compel the cia, the fbi, and more than a dozen other intelligence agencies to declassify documents. trump's order came just hours after he claimed former fbi director james comey and former acting fbi director andrew mccabe were guilty of treason. last month, barr told lawmakers he believes intelligence agencies spied on trump's 2016 presidential campaign, echoing trump's repeated accusation, made without evidence, that president obama wiretapped trump's phones ahead of the election. president trump and his political allies launched an attack on nancy pelosi thursday, calling the democratic house speaker crazy. trump spoke one day after he left a white house meeting with pelosi and senate democratic leader chuck schumer in a staged walkout, demanding congress end investigations into his presidency. pres. trump: so i walked into the cabinet room. chuckd the group, brian,

am a crazy nanancy. i have been watching her and i i have been watching her prolongnd period o of time. she is not the same person. she has lost it. amy: trump's attack on the house speaker came after nancy pelosi accused him of throwing a temper tantrum during wednesday's aborted meeting at the white house. .> another tememper tantrum again, i praray for the presidet of the united states. i wish his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country. amy: this comes as a doctored video of pelosi went viral in right-wing social media circles. the video, editeted from an apaparance by pepelosi this week at the center for amererican prprogress, was slowed down n t% speed in order to make pelosi sound as though she was slurring her words. by thursday night, versions of the video had circulated to millions of social media users,

many of whom commented that they believed pelosi was drunk. the video was also shared by president trump's attorney rudy giuliani, who tweeted -- and later deleted -- the comment, "what is wrong with nancy pelosi? her speech pattern is bizarre." meanwhile, president trump re-tweeted a mashup video of pelosi edited by fox business channel with the caption, "pelosi stammers through news conference." president trump lashed out at former secretary of state rex tillerson thursday after tillerson spent seven hours in a closed-door session with the house foreign affairs committee. a congressional aide who was present for the testimony later told "the washington post" "we spent a lot of time in the conversation talking about how putin seized every opportunity to push what he wanted. there was a discrepancy in preparation, and it created an unequal footing." responding to tillerson's testimony on twitter, president trump called his former secretary of state "dumb as a rock" and "totally ill prepared and ill equipped to be secretary of state."

an associate paul manafort was indicted thursday on bribery charges. new york city prosecutors say the former chairman and ceo of federal bank in chicago approved means of dollars to high risk was a manafort in order to win a position in the trump administration. prosecutors say that after receiving the loans, manafort made at least two calls to trump's transition team in late 2016 asking for calk to be appointed secretary of the army. calk faces up to 30 years in prison. he pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in a manhattan court on thursday. president trump promised thursday to spend $16 billion to relieve farmers and agribusiness companies who have lost revenue to the growing u.s. trade war with china. speaking to a crowd of farmers and ranchers brought into the white house, trump repeated his false claim that china would reimburse the u.s. for the lolosses. the moveve came as c china's retaliatory terrorists on u.s.

vegetables andnd meat prododucts have driven commodity prices to the lowest level in over a decade. president trump is preparing to name former virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli as an immigration czar to oversee the trump administration's hard-line immigration policies, in a new role that won't require senate confirmation. cuccinelli is a climate change denier who ran unsuccessfully for virginia governor in 2013. as a state lawmaker in virginia, cuccinelli authored legislation seeking to force employees to speak english in the workplace, and he unsuccessfully fought to eliminate the 14th amendment's birthright citizenship clause.e. meanwhile, the family of 16-year-old migrant carlos hernandez vasquez is demanding answers about how the teen died this week in u.s. border patrol custody after being diagnosed with the flu. this is the boy's mother, gilberta vazquez, speaeaking frm guatememala. >> there is no information about

how he died. that is what i want to know. and so what t i'm fighting force for them d doesn't me the body s soon a as -- to send me the body as soon as possible. why do they want him? they did not takake care of him. amy: at least six migrant children have died over the last eight months after they were arrested crossing into the u.s. from mexico. before last year, no child died in immigration custody in over a decade. in n nicaraguaua, opponents of president daniel ortega held a one-day general strike thursday to demand the release of hundreds of political prisoners. the nationwide strike came days after ortega's government saidd it would begin releasing another 100 0 prisoners swswept up in ms ararrests duringng protests thtt erupted a year ago after ortega tried to cut social security benefits. opposition groups say they're pressuring the government to meet terms of a peace deal requiring the release of almost 300 political prisoners by junee 18. back in the united states, a new

campaign is calling on 2020 presidential candidates to pledge to cut pentagon spending by at least $200 billion annually to pay for medicare for all, a green new deal, and other programs. the campaign pledge, called "put people over the pentagon," also promotes alternatives to war, and presses lawmakers to prevent the president from ordering military action without a declaration of war from congress. meanwhile, vermont senator bernie sanders has unveiled a bill that would apply a small tax on wall street transactions in order to raise hundreds of billions of dollars for social programs. the legislation would tax stock, bonds, and derivatives trades in order to fund job creation, medicare for all, free public college, environmental and climate change programs, housing assistance, and hiv/aids treatment and prevention. the bill was co-sponsored in the house by democrat babarbara leef california. >> with just a fractition -- and this is a vevery modest proposa, a fraction of a tax on wall

street, we can raise over $220 billion per year. that is $2.2 trillion over 10 years. just think what we can do with those resources and with that money. amy: the bill has the backing of another 2020 presidential contender, new york democratic senator kirsten gillibrand. on wednesday, gillibrand proposed a family bill of rights that would see the u.s. invest more in maternal and child health, paid family leave, affordable child care, and universal pre-k. harvey weinstein hasharvey weina tentative $44 million deal to settle a number of lawsuits, including a class action suit brought by alleged survivors of rape and sexual assault. "the wall street journal" reports the deal will see $14 million used to pay legal fees of weinstein's associates, including his former board members. the remaining $30 million will go to settle claims by survivors who allege sexual crimes going back decades.

the tentative settlement will not affect a criminal case against weinstein in new york city, charging him with rape and other sex crimes. weinststein has played not guil. his trial is scheduled for september. launched aists have one-day climate strike that could rival the march 15 action that saw estimated 1.6 million participants. organizers inspired by the 16-year-old swedish high school student greta thunberg say they're planning more than 1357 rate strikes in every continent today, including two strikes in antarctica. activist 19-year-old from madrid, spain. >> it is estimated we have 11 years before climate change is irreversible. if we don't take up necessary measures, we will and up without a planet. amy: and those are some of the headlines.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in an unprecedented move, the justice department has indicted wikileaks founder julian assange on 17 charges of violating the espionage act for his role in publishing u.s. military and diplplomatic documents exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. the documents were released by chelsea manning. the espionage act has never been used to prosecute journalist or a media outlet. the new charges come just over a month after british police forcibly removed assange from the ecuadorean embassy in london, where he took asylum in 2012. initially, the trump administration indicted assange on a single count of helping manning hack a government computer. but assange faces up to 170 years in prison under the new charges -- 10 years for each count of violating the espionage act. press freedom advocates have

denounced the new charges. ben wizner of the american civil liberties union said, "for the first time in the history of our country, the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication of truthful information. this is an extraordinary escalation of the trump administration's attacks on journalism, and a direct assault on the firstst amendment."." joel simon, the head of the committee to protect journalists said, "press freedom in the united states and around the world is imperiled by this prosecution." the legendary journalist seymour hersh told "the new york times," "today assange. tomorrow, perhaps, 'the new york times' and other media that published so much of the important news and information assange provided." assange is being held in a british jail but faces extradition to both the u.s. and sweden, where authorities have reopened an investigation into sexual assault charges. later in the broadcast, we will

be joined by pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg who is charged with espionage in 1973, and the award winning national security journalist jeremy scahill of the intercept. but first we go to london where we are joined by jennifer robinson, an attorneney for juln assange. can you start off by talking about these new charges, the julianlity that if assange were extradited to the united states come he could face 170 years in jail? said, these are unprecedented charges. since 2010, we been warning about this very possibility. the obama administration open's criminal investigation in 2010 and we have been warning since then that any prosecution under the espionage act would be a direct attack on the first amendment and all media organizations in a precedent that can be used against journalists and publishers everywhere. since the trump administration has come to power, they have been more aggressively pursuing

the investigation. it is a great threat to press freedom and should be a cause for concern. join assange is not an american. everything he did was outside of the united states. this is a concern for all who are publishing truthful information about the united states. amy: the united states has the death penalty. what does this mean for assange and what agreement to the ecuadorian government make with the british authorities who removed julian assange from the embassy where he had political asylum for the last almost seven years? >> of course the reason julian went into the embassy the first place was to protect himself from extradition to the united states to face prosecution. it was to protect him from t ths very outcome. publishers foror publishing truthful informationon should nt be facing criminal prosecution at all. the u.k. government has given an

assurance against extradition to the death penalty. does notassurancece cover off his extradition to the united states. that is what we have been asking for for a long time. it is not appropriate a publisher should phase criminal prosecution in this way. 170 years, for a publisher who has won jouournalism awards the world over for having revealed government wrongdoing, human rights abuse, war crimes. this is a direct attack on the press and democracy itself. amy: can you expxplain what espionage means, what exactly julian assange faces? met, you look at the end ii while it is the espionage act, publishing classified information damaging to the u.s., but if you look at the indictment and the way it is being described, effectively what this is is a journalism publisher having a conversation.

this is what journalists do all the time. it is criminalizing the investigative journalism process and will face -- place a massive chill on journalism in the u.s. and elsewhere around the world will stop michaelnt to turn to ratner. it was the former head of the center for constitutional rights. this was michael speaking to ♪ in 2012 about the espionage act. >> whether someone like julian assange was not a u.s. citizen,, can be indicted under the espionage act. what does he owe the united states, vis-a-vis, the espionage act? documentsw i surface ththat have to do o with the sot union or russia, rather, , and what it is doing in chechnya, that were classified, could russia actually get my extradition from the united states because i put outut

classisified documents on russi? i don't think so. but that would be -- if they actually have an indictment and if they go after julian assasane in a way they were have indicateted they want to, t that will be an important issue. go tooes julian assange the united states? >> i i want to turn to an inteterview i i did with julian assange in 2012 in the ecuadorian embassy posted oh, this is when he was speaking on skype to us, when he talked himselelf about the espionage a. the n new interpretatioion of e espionage act that t the pentagn is trying to hammer in to the legal system m in which t the department of justice is complicit in, , would mean t thd of national security journism not onlyited states, the unitited states beususe the itentagon is trying to apply

extrataterritorial it, why would it be the end of natioional security journalism? because the interpretation is if any documents that t the u.s. government claims to be classified is given to a journalist, who then makes any part of it public, that journalist has commimitted espionage and the person who gave them the m merial hass committed a crime, communicating with the enemy.

journalist and publisher outside the country for having published this information. as michael rightly pointed out, what would it mean if russia or china are trying to seek the extradition of american journalists for having published chinese or russian secrets? this is a an incredibly sererios precedent.t. for r the depapartment off justo to justice would not be used against other media organizations and journalists i think is naive at best. amy:y: ecuador has seized some f wikileaks founder julian assange 's possessions left behind when the british authorities took him

out of the embassy. wikileaks says ecuador is allowing u.s. prosecutors to help themselves to his belongings. is this the case? >> ecuador did receive a request from the u.s. to seize control of wikileaks property inside the proroperty.julian's ecuador has provided that. we are concerned, both about the fact ecuador has allowed the embassy staff to be questioned by u.s. prosecutors and a handing over this mataterial. in circumstancnces where there s no chain of custody, we don't know w who has been ininto the embabassy and who o has accessed that room, access the belongings. it raises concerns about our ability to defend ourselves and defend him in this case and serious concerns about the nature of the evidence and the process by which it was obtained. amy: what about sweden also reviving, reopening their case,

the allegations of rape against julian assange? when they had dropped all of the charges, both of sexual assault and rape before. swedenes this mean, calling for the extradition of julian assange? >> he has never been charged in sweden. this is the third time a different prosecutor has reopened this investigation after it has been closed. it was first closed in 2010 because the first prosecutors said there was not evidence of any crime. it was reopened again by a prosecutor who dragged it out for years despite our offers to cooperate. after finally questioning him inside the embassy, that case was dropped. the entire matter was dropped again and now we have at their prosecutor reopening the case over a decade. stretch, anany abuse of process. he has always been willing to answer the allegations. he has given his testimony.

now there is a serious question that will arrive in the u.k. as andhich of the requests will have to make a decision about whether to seek his extradition. if they do, raises questions about which extradition request will take precedence. julian assange is in a very difficult position with respect to both extradition request. amy: in which one takes presidents, u.s. or sweden? if sweweden were to extrtradite, and you just said he actually has never officially been charged come even now, with rape or sexual assault, they are reopening the investigation and that has been going on for years. if you were extradited to sweden,'s original concern was that he would then be extradited to the united face. do you still fear this? >> of course. that is the reason he sought asylum in the first place. we were seeking assurances come sweden if you were to return to

face any process, with respect to those allegations, he would not be sent to the united states. sweden refused to give that assurance. , onceuadoran government he got asylum inside the embassy, also sought that assurance from sweden and they refuse to give it. now we are in a situation where we have an indictment on the record from the u.s., and will be a matter for the home secretary here to determine if sweden also request his extradition, which of those cases will take precedence. we are concerned about the risk he will face if he goes back to the united states. it will raise massive free-speech questions, irrespective of whether he goes to sweden first or not. amy: jennifer robinson, how is julian in prison? he was an ecuadorian embassy for almost seven years, taken out by british authorities. where is he currently jailed and how is the? >> he is in belmar's prison in

southeast london, high-security prison in the u.k. we were very concerned about his was forcibly time removed from the embassy. he has been denied medical treatment for more than seven years. a are concerned it is had permanent impact on his health. we recently had a visit from the on. special rapid tour torture who came with medical experts to assess his health. i am concerned about the ongoing health issues that he has and whether he is getting adequate medical treatment. he is finding a very difficult. he is isolated. a very long of extradition fight and potential expedition rush extradition to the u.s. is of roe concern but he has resolved to fight these. torefused to consent extradition to the united states because he would not be extradited for doing journalism. fundamentalises questions of free speech, which

is why he has resolved to absolutely fight this extradition. amy: finally, as we speak today, it has just been a few hours since the british prime minister theresa may announced she is resigning. will that make a difference in julian's case? seen whoains to be will become the prime minister after theresa may's resignation. we have already seen the british government should not extraditie julian to the united states to face prosecution for having revealed war crimes. i think there would need to be a change of government here to see the british government positions change because the conservative government has made very there their position on this and that it is a matter for the british courts, but have not said they would prevent any extradition if it were ordered. it depends on what happens and we still have a long fight ahead of us. amy: do you think of jeremy corbyn word to ascend to the premises ship he could free julian assange? >> of course it is a matter for

the courts but they retain the discretion of whether to extradite a person or not. jeremy corbyn has already made clear in a public statement and through diane avatar julian assange ought not be extradited to the u.s. for publishing truthful information. it remains to see what would happen if he comes to power and in the processs at that time. and to explain the sentence he is now serving and what will happen after that sentence. of a has been c convicted bail offense for having sought asylum when he did going into the embassy. he was given a sentence of 50 weeks, which he is currently serving in prison. the extradition process will carry on shortly. the u.s. issued a provisional warrant back in april when he was first arrested. now that there is no additional

indictment, we are expecting a new extradition request that will include those additional charges. in the extradition process will begin. fighting extradition with respect to the u.s. can take anywhere between one year and three years. this is the beginning of what will be quite a long process. amy: do you think the u.s. press has come out strongly enough? times" in anw york editorial said "it is a marked escalation in the effort to prosecute mr. assange, one that could have a chilling effect on american journalism as it has been practiced for generations. it aims straight at the heart of the first amendment." important it is very that "the new york times" and other media organizations come forward and speak about this principle and stand against this prosecution because as you have rightly pointed out, this will have a chilling impact on all media organizations and is a concern of the precedents being set by the top administration be

used against other media organizations. we have been saying since 2010 the media needs to get behind wikileaks and acknowledge any prososecution was that the precedents and caused them risk. finally we are seeing in acknowledgment of that and i hope we will see that continue as this fight goes on. amy: jennifer robinson, thank you for being with us, human rights attorney, advising julian assange and wikileaks since 2010. when we come back, the legendary pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg. he faced over 100 years in jail for espionage. he will talk to us about julian assange. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. continue to look at the justice department's unprecedented decision to indict wikileaks founder julian assange on 17 charges of espionage for publishing u.s. military and diplomatic documents exposing

u.s. war crimes. he faces up to 170 years in prison. we're joined now by pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg. he was charged in the early 1970's with violating the espionage act for leaking a top secret report on u.s. involvement in vietnam to the otherork times" and publications. he faced over 100 years in jail. he was a military analyst who worked with the pentagon and the rand corporation. he joins us now from berkeley, california. welcome back to democracy now! your response to this unprecedented series of charges against julian assange? >> i was sitting here listening to your stunning litany of events going on now in the country. you started out with mentioning prime minister may in britain, efefforts and the failurure of r efforts to exit from the european union from brexit. it made me think of the other

news you're giving a president trump's two years ever to exit from the american constitution. you mention the 14th amendment under attack. yesterday is a day that will be -- live in the history of journalism, of law in this country, and of civil liberties in this country because it was a direct attack on the first amendment. an unprecedented one. there has not been such a significant attack on the freedom of the press, the first amendment, which is the bedrock of our republic, really, our form of government, since my case in 1971 48 years ago. i was indicted as a source. thatned news m men then would not be the last indictment of a source if i were convicted. i was not convicted. the charges were dropped on governmental's conduct in it t s another 10 yeaears before ananyy else face to that charge under the espionage act, , samuel morrison. it was not until president obama

that nine cases were brought, as i had been warning for so long. but my warning really was that it wasn't going to stop there. almost inevitably, there would be a stronger attack directly on the foundations of journalism against editors, publishers, and journalists themselves. and we have seen that as of yesterday. that is a new front in president trump's war on the free press, which he regards as the enemy of the people. amy: the trump administration saying julian assange is not a publisher, is not a journalist, that is why he is now protected by the first amendment? >> in the face of this new indictment, which let me correct something that has been said everybodytle wrong by so far. he does not just base 170 years, that is for the 70 -- 17 counts on the espionage act. he is still facing the five-year conspiracy charge that he started out with a few weeks ago.

i was sure the administration did not want to keep julian assange in jail just for five years. so i have beenen expecting these espionage act charges. i expected them after he was extradited because adding them now makes a little more complicated for britain to extradite him now, as i understand it. they're not supposed to extradite for political l offens or political motives, and this is also -- obviously for both. from jululian assange point of view, it makes extradition a littttle more difficult. why did theyeyring it riright n? well, cocoming back to the case that i faced, i faced only 11 felony act charges, each worth 10 years in prison, plus a conspiracy charge worth five years. i was facing exactly 100 fit teen years in prison. facing 175. that is not a difference that makes any difference, in both

cases, it is a question of a life sentence. i think the reason they brought these charges so soon, because they had until june 12, was to lay out the necessity to lay out extradition all the charges they plan to bring. i don't assume these are the lalast ones. they have a couple of weeks left to string up some new charges. they started out with the charge that made julian looks something other than a normal journalist. the hacking of passwords. it sounded like something even in the digital age, perhaps most journalist, would not do, and that is hope to separate him from the support o of other journaliststs. in this case with the head of the other larger charge, this is straight journalism. they mention that he solicited investigative material, solicited classified information. did not just passively receive it over the transom. i can't count the number of solicited foreen

classified information, starting with the pentagon papers, but long after that, and that is by every member of the responsible press that i dealt with. that is journalism. what they have d done is recognizable -- i think this time, to all journalist -- they are in the crosshairs of this one. they may not have known enough about digital performance to help a source conceal her identity by using new passwords, as julian was charged with, they may not be able to do that, but every one of them has eagerly received classified information and solicited it. so every journalist -- not only in this country and not only at the federal level -- brian carmody in san francisco has had his house broken into with sledgehammers to get all of his material, looking for his source in a local disispute. daniel hale, nsa, has been

brought, i think president trump has in effect open the doors to these kinds of constitutions and state and country jurisdictions, state and county,, to say, and undoubtably in other countries as well, that may not have a fifirst amendment but lookikingo someme precedent foror the unitd states, that is what it is able to do. so there is a full-scalee multi-front war going on not only in this country and president trump is leading the way. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to our discussion. first, we're one to play a video of jeremy scahill in the intercept talking about t trum's war r on whistleblowowers. we have been speaking with and will continue with genuine ellsberg, one of the world's most famous whistleblowers. in 1971, he was a high level defense analyst when he leaked a top secret report on u.s. involvement in vietnam to the new york times and other publications that came to be known as the pentagon papers and played a key role in ending the

vietnam war. stay with us. ♪ [music breaeak]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we continue to look at the justice department's unprecedented decision to indict wikileaks founder julian assange for violating the espionage act. we turn to a new video produced by the intercept titled "why you should care about trump's war on whistleblowers" featuring jerery scahill, who will join us after the video. 1918, the 16, prominent socialalist labor lear eugene d debs delivered a speech in cantoton, ohio most of he argued against u.s. involvement in world war i and praised activists who had been organizing against the military draft. at the time, he was one of the most prominent socialist in the united states. his speech came on the heels of ththe russiann revolutioion ande se o of global socialilist and

communist t movements.s. fight w working clalass who all l of the battles, the e worg class who make thehe supreme sacrcrifices, ththe workingg cls who freely shed theieir b bloodd furnish h their c corpses, hahae nevever yet had a voicece in eir .eclaring war or making peace >> soon after he delivered the speech, he was arrested and charged under a new law in the u.s. that had passed just a year earlier. it was called the espionage act. debs and his lawyersrs argued ds speech was protected by the first amendment of the constitution. they lost. debs was sentenceded to 10 years in prison.n. the case eventually went to the u.s. supreme court or the justices voted unananimously to uphold his conviction. i believe in free speech in war as well as in peace, debs told the jury in his trial, but the espionage law stands, thehen the constititution of thunited states is dead.

congress eventually amended parts of the act but the thrust of the law has remained in effect to this day. two were executed after b being convicted of t the law. it is been used as a weapon to attack free speech and dissent. and ththen came the pentagon papers casase for the e governmt charge t the whistleblower danil ellsberg under the espionage act. he faced more than 100 years in prison. > how can youou measurere the jeopopardy i''m and whether r is 10 years, , 20 years, 115 years. rarather lududicrous. to t the penenalty that has been paid a already by 50,0,000 amern families here andnd hundreds of thousands of vietnamese families? hopes the chargeges were ultimamately does best in 1973, mostly because of rampant misconduct and illegal surveillance b by the nixon administration. but it was thiss modelel develod by nixon's justice department

that would be passionately adopted decades later as the weapon of choice of president barack obama to wage attacks on journalistic sources andnd journalism. >> since i've been in office, my attitude has been zero-tolerance for these kinds of leaks and spececulation. >> obama's justicice department indicted a journalistic sources under the espionage act, more than all u.s. presidents before him combined. among these cases was u.s. army whistleblower chelsea manning, former c.i.a. officer jeffrey sterling, national security agagency whistleblowower thomas straight, anand nsa whistleblowr ededward snowden. in some of these cases, people were sentetenced to lengthy y pn terms and others, the government ruineded the lives of ththe tar. tos. trump: they're goingng have b big price for leaking. >> the donald trump medially bebegins u using the playbook re

and sharpepened by y his predecessor, president obama. donald trump is now surpassing obama's eight year record in just over two years in office. the first case trump p ought was against reality winner, accused of leaking a top s secret documt to a a news organizatition. that nsa document related to alleged russian intelligence operations, aimed at bridging software systems used in some u.s. voting systems. an fbi agent was indicted for allegedly leaking information about fbi sururveillance and informant operations to o a news orgaganization. the govevernment did not name te mediaa outlet in these cases, bt other news orgrganizations attributed the repororting to te intercept. and then in early may in the arrest of another alleged whistleblower, daniel everett hale. the justice department is accusing him of leaking documents on the global assassination program and drone prograrams run by the obama adadministration. this indndictment also doeoes nt naname a news s organization, bt

the trump administration officials in leaks to news orgagazations hahave claimed its the inintercept. i i want to be clear. nothing i say here should be understood as didiscussing the spececifics of thehale case. the intercept is not discuss confidential sources or alleged sours whoeverr they arere. but whoevever provided documents for the intercept reporting on u.s. assssassination operations should be viewed as a hero who did a major public service at immense personal risk. this whistleower provided the most detailed accounts ever published of what amounts to a secret legal system where in the president of united states and his advisers make list of people to kill, including u.s. citizizs who have not been charged with crime. esese documentnts we published showow at times s as many as nie out t of 10 people that the u.s. kills in its so-called targeted assassinations are not thehe intended targeget.

they reveal how the watch listing system has spiraled ouot of control and how u.s. citizens have no right to know if oror wy they a are on watch lists w were killed list. ththis was improved - -- brief moment i in the history of f the post-9/11 secrecy and massss killing operatition in the fight against them. back in 2015, i discussed this on democracy now! this government has been relentless in his people of conscience who blow the whistle and characterize them as traitors and spies and in n the process has criminalized the ability to do independent journalism thahat is meant to hd them a accountable, ththe govevt accountable. we are a at an extrememely dangs momoment in the history of this countrtry. donald trump i is using the same o officialsd by nazi in the 1930's and 1940's to attack the press. he said d he wants to jail journalists who publish stories he does not like and he is wielding the espionage act like a chainsaw against journalistic

sources. what makes it so much worse is that it was the constitutional law scholar and trump predecessor barack obama teed trump of, who blazed the trail for this extremely to ranged man currently occupying 1600 pennsylvania avenue. bubut look at the e way the stos are covered in the broader media with a few n notable exceptionos come the lack of solidararity we basic understanding of how dangerous these casess are is largely absent. ininstead there are e attacks oe news organizations or the reporterss. for all the talk how dangerous trump is to a free press, why hasn't the reality winner case been covered more extensively? why is the cnn reporter losing credentials on national scandal anand threatening alleleged whistleblowers with 50 yearsrs n prison is a nonstory? my colleague j james risen knowa lot aboutt the espionage act. he foughght the bushsh and obama administrations for some seven yearars when they trieied to foe them to testify against an allegedd source b being prosecud

under the act. recentntly, jim wawas on democry nonow! discussing how many media organizations covered these cases.s. >> i think that is s a fundamenl flaw i in the weatheher press cs thesese things i is that they lk at it as a crime rather thahan s an attack by the justice department on the press in the united states, which is s what this is.s. facingel evererett hill iss 50 years in prisonon for his alleged crime of blowing the whistle on a secretet assassination program that regularly resulted in the killing of civilians, including anan american teenager. nonene of this is about t espio. it shohould be clear to o every journanalist in this country, every person of consciencnce, tt what this s prosecution is about is threatetening anyone who even thinks of leaking, say, a trump tax return. this is about criminalizing journalism. it is about increasing the secrecy and decreasing thee

transpararency. it is an assault on the very idea of a democratic society. at these moments, silence is complicity. everyone should care about what hahappened to reality winner and what is happening again to chelsea manning and his happened to edward snowden and, yes, what is happening to julian assange. we should all care what happens to daniel hale. this is a precedent setting moment, not jujust legally, but morally, because this is not t e end. this is the beginning. and they wilill eventually c coe fofor other news organizations r they will scare media outlets from doing high-h-stakes nationl securityty reporting. it doesnsn't t matter what you k of any of these individual whistleblowers.. it d doesn't matter what yoyou k of the intercecept, but it does matter that t we all r recognize that this is an a attack on her babasic rights to information about what the u.s. governmentnt does in our names and with our tax dollars. it matters that people who blblw ththe whistle e on crimes and wr crimes be defended, notot aband, c criminals a as valid

or traitors. all of us must ask ourselves where we stand. history will remember our answers. amy: "why should care about trump's were on whistleblowers come go a new video by the intercept featuring jeremy scahill, cofounder of the intercept, who is joining us now live in the studio. also with us, pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg. jeremy, you did this vidideo before these new charges of espionage were brought against julian assange for which he could face more than 170 years in prison. reminds so important to people that chelsea manning, the whistleblower in this case, is again in prison. why issue in prison? she is in prison indefinitely for her refusal to participate in a grand jury proceeding that had at its center an attempt by the trump justice department to criminalize national security

journalism. a lot of people will tweet as a trump is attacking thehe free press, w we need to stand up against this. st already?p again chelsea manning. she was put in gel for her refusal to participate in a grand jury. healthyy manning launcnched an all-out attack on ththe grand jy system in general, but alalso hs talked about this in the context of a war on press freedom toast of everyone who believes -- "the new york times" and others are saying the ongoing persecution of chelsea manning and immediately be ended and she be released from prison.. lookok what has happened. they're either digging up old cases, trying to further book and anyone who does critical natitional security reporting. this is not about julian assange , 2016 election, sweden.

this is a war on press. that newstal mistake organizations rerefuse to standp when they started coming for wikileaks and chelsea manning. they owe some of the responsibility for this. amy: i want to read chelsea manning's statement that she ont released from jail thursday. she said "this administration describes the press as the opposition party and then enemy of the people. today they use the law as a sword and have shown their willingness to bring the full power of the state against a very institution intended to shield us from such excesses." chelsea manning speaking to us from jail. >> again come every media organization in this country should be demanding the dropping of the charges against assange, particularly the espionage act charges, and the freedom of chelsea manning. in another recent case -- remember, the trump justice department under sessions, the

first indictment was against reality winner, allegedly for leaking a document that was dealing with russian military attacks or attempted attacks on u.s. software systems used to service the elections. then they go a after terri all very, an african fbi agent in minnesota on charges that he leaked information about their neil going till type gush cointel program, and then of a speed source that was indicted. there was a senate staffer who they went after. trump is blasting through obama scored record of a journalistic sources charged under the espionage act. this also happened to william barr, and obsessive compulsive added of the unitary executive, the notion the executive branch should be a dictatorship when it comes to national security. they're going after people who blew the whistle on were crimes and for the news organizations

that were publishing and selling their papers based on the riskss that chelsea manning took my based on the risks julian assange do, waited far too long. far too long. the famous speech that was given about when they came for the socialists, i did not speak up because i was in a socialist. when they came for wikileaks was not yesterday, amy. when they came for wikileaks started in 2010. where was the outrage? 2017i want to go back to when mike pompeo talked about wikileaks. this is not w when he was secretary of state, but this was in his first address as cia director. >> wikileaksks walks likike a hostile intelligence service, and talks like a hostile intelligence service. it has encouraged his followers to find jobs at the cia in order to obtain intelligence. it directed chelsea manningng to intercept specific secret information and overwhelmingly focuses on the united states

while seeking support from any democratic countries and organizations. wikileaks to call out for what it really is, a nonstate hostile intelligence service often embedded by state actors like russia. amy: t that is at the time cia director pompeo come now secretary of state. daniel ellsberg, your response and what it means to talk about wikileaks in this way for julian assange? >> why is julian assange selected by this it administration is the first target internanational history n the first target in 100 years of the espionagag act to use that act against a journalist? because he is not regarded with liking by many people. a lot of journalists are mad at him because of his actions in 2016 -- which, by the way, i'm not happy about,t, either. the reason for many people to , noteven julian assange me, his actions appeared and seemed to be motivated by a

desire to help donald trumpmp in the election. that is a serious charge for anybody. it is like all of those at fox news or stephen bannon. the fact is, i would be making the stand i am now against extraditing julian assange w war prosecuting him under the espionage act, which means he could not get a fair trial as a whistleblower or journalist anymymore than any of the others who have been subject to that, all of the ones beforore the recent ones, as jeremy mentioned, i met him in an effort to meet them as whistleblowers. i like them. i respect them. i identify with them. , you have warned the press are not going to end with whistleblowers. this is going to go after you. cannotn't the press before? frankly, they did not feel it was pointing at them, whose other sources. the only reaeal commitment i've didiscovered they feel to their sourceces is not to revealal thr

name, not to helelp them in ther trtrial even by comprehensive ad fair coverage of it in any way. but now this is them. if stephen bannon or fox news was sitting facing the charges that julian assange is facing now, facing the possibility of extradition, whether they werere american or nonot, i wouldld be dedefending thehem with the same words and the same vehemence as i do right now with julian assange because our first freedom is at stake. amy: jeremy, 30 seconds. the content of what julian released? >> evidence, clear evidence of u.s. war crimes, including the murder of reuters journalist and civilians to placenta, dirty tricks on the part of the u.s. government.. it is irirrelevant w whether you think julian assangege is a journalist. the fifirst amendment does notot just covover freedom of the pre.

it is all of our rights. this is not just about press freedom. this is about a democratic society and a major frontal assault on her basic liberties and free speech. amy: jeremy scahill of the intercept and legendary pentagon

>> this isis "al jazeera." ♪ hello, i am miriam tomasi. this is the newshour live from london. >> it is and will always remain a matter of deeper grit to me that i have not been able to deliver break serve. anchor: theresa may says she is stepping down as britain's prime minister. who will replace her and can they do any better? u.s. ist trump says the sending another 1500 troops to the middle east amidst heightened tensions with