07/09/19 07/09/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> announced the unsettling of sex trafficking charges against jeffrey epstein. the charges allllege that e epsn sexuxually abused d young girlsy enticing them to engage in sex acts for money. amy: billionaire hedge fund manager jeffrey epstein has been charged in a manhattan federal court with sex trafficking and conspiracy. after the billionaire received a lenient plea deal from alexander

acosta, who is now the nation's labor secretary. calls are mounting for acosta across this resignation. plus, we go to brazil to speak w who stillreenwald, under investigation himself and facing death threats for exposing a a massive political scandal involving brazil's justice minister, the f former judge who jailed luiz inacio lula da silva, paving the way for jair bolsonaro's election. commander ofthe the prosecutorial team and walking into court as though he were sitting judging lula's case and others as a neutral arbiter. everything may be a merely denied to the public they were doing, in fact they were doing for yearss as these documents show. amy: we look at the ongogoing fallout from the trump administration's decision to pull out the iran nuclear cord

out t it as the i internationol atomic energy agency confirms iran's is enriching iranian above the agreed deal. all of that and more coming up. , welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. billionaire hedge fund manager jeffrey epstein was charged in a manhattan federal court monday with sex trafficking and conspiracy. he is accused of sexually assaulting and trafficking dozens of underarage girls betwn 2002 to 2005 at his homes in manhattan and palm beach, florida, where he paid them hundreds of dollars to perform sex acts and help recruit other girls for him to abuse. epstein has pleaded not guilty. prosecutors seized a trove of photos of nude or partially nude young women and girls from epstein's manhattan townhouse on saturday -- the same day he was arrested at new jersey's teterboro airport. more accusers are continuing to come forward, prosecutors say.

official william sweeney. >> we estimated dozens of victims as young as 14 years old at thehe time of recruitment, children who provided epstein massages while they were veja or partially nude. engage ine asked to sex ask for money. children and us to do all of these things at the hands of a man more than or nearly three times their age. amy: epstein previously received what's been described as one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history for abusing and trafficking potentially hundreds of girls by the u.s. prosecutor in florida. that man, alexander acosta, is now trump's labor secretary. new york prosecutors say their case is not bound by that deal. house speaker nancy pelosi has called for acosta to resign.n. attorney general william barr said monday he has recused himself from the case because his former law firm kirkland & ellis has represented epstein. he did not mention that his

father, the former headmaster of new york's private dalton school, hired epstein to teach there in the 1970's despite his not having a college degree. prosecutors are asking that the judge tonight epstein bail, as he may b be a flight risk. we'll have more on this story after heheadlines with thehe mii herald's casey frank. attorney general william barr says the trump administration has found a pathway to add a cicitizenship questionon to the0 census that would be accepted by the supreme court, though he did not offer any further details. the justice department also announced monday it was replacing members of the legal team charged with arguing the administration's case. experts say it's unclear whether the administration will even be able to amend or add to the constitutionally mandated census at this stage. when asked about the battle over the census, house speaker nancy pelosi said the white house is trying to "make america white again." new york governor andrew cuomo signed a bill monday which would give three key congressional committees access to president trump's new york state tax

returns. the new rule, which require new york tax officials to release the returns for any specified and legitimate legislative purpose, will also apply to the president's staff, as well as new york elected officials and judges. house democrats have so far been unsuccessful in obtaining trump's financial records through subpoenas or other means. the e ways and means committee sued the treasury y department d the irs last week over their refusasal to hand over the docucuments. congressional democrats issued dozens of subpoenas to trump businesses, including trump organization, monday, as part of a lawsuit into possible emoluments violations by trump. lawmakers say trump is profiting off his many businesses through the office of the presidency. the justice department asked an appeals court to block the subpoenas and the lawsuit. protesters in hong kong have vowed to continue their fight following chief executive carrie lam's announcement today that the highly contested extradition bill is dead. protesters have been demanding

lam withdraw the bill and accuse her of deliberately using misleading language and making non-binding promises to quell unrest. protesters have also been calling for the resignation of lam and say they want the government to listen to all of their demands. >> a lot of people are complaining about issues of the police abusing their powers and they are also fundamental questions s of institutional governance. the government does not listen to the will of the people. i think this is a good time to bring back the fight for genuine universal suffrage. amy: organizers say hundreds of thousands took to the streets again sunday, including a massive march in kowloon where many mainland chinese go to shop. that protest ended with several arrests and clashes with riot police, who at one point charged into a group of protesters witit batons. in china, a new report by the bbc found evidence that authorities are systematically taking muslim children -- many of them from the uighur community -- from their

families in the far western region of xinjiang. according to the report, china is rushing to build boarding schools where children are deliberately removed from their language and culture. meanwhile, an estimated one million adults from the uighur community are being imprisoned in camps that china claims are vocational training centers, designed to combat extremism. many of the children who have detained parents or other families are more vulnerable to removal. the author of the report concludes "t"the evidence points to what we must call cultural genocide." two indigenous rights activists and land protectors were murdered in eastern guatemala isidro perez and melecio ramirez friday. were attending a peaceful action organized by the peasants' rights group codeca when 15 armed men stormed in and started shooting at the group. codeca's leader thelma cabrera ran for president in last month's guatemalan elections, placing fourth in the race. last year, six members of codeca were murdered for their activism in guatemala.

no one has been arreststed for e crimes. in italy, 24 people were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in operation condor, inhich southth american six countries conspired to kilil tens of thousands of political opponents in the 1970's and 1980's. 23 italians were among those killed as part of the campaign of coordinated terror and assassinations carried out by the u.s.-backed dictatatorshipsf chile, argentina, bolivia, brazil, paraguay, and uruguay. operation condor was coordinated out of chile, then under dictator augusto pinochet, and with the knowledge of the u.s. government, and in particular, then-secretary of state henry kissinger. among those sentenced were former peruvian president francisco morales bermudez, the formrmer bolivian interior minister, the former uruguayan foreign minister, and a former top chilean intelligence chief. all but one of the 24 werere sentntenced d in absentia. a german rescue ship has picked up 44 people, including babies and children, off the libyan

coasast todayay after they were stranded at sea. the charity vessel, operated by sea-eye, recently transferred another 65 migrants to malta after italaly refused to let the ship enter its ports. this comes as human rights grgroups and german officials blasted italy for arresting carola rackete, the 31-year-old german captain of a refugee rescue ship, as she tried to bring dozens of asylumum seekers to safety. she has since been freed and says she plans to sue italian and interior minister for defamation. over the weekend, thousands marched in german cities in support of rackete and to call out the criminalization of humanitarian aid. president trump said monday the u.s. would no longer deal with british ambassador to the u.s. kim darroch, following a recent leak of diplomatic cables in which the ambassador calls the trump administration inept and dysfunctional. in cables going g back as fafars 2017, darroch quesestioned whehr

the trump administration "will ever look competent." trump also attacked outgoing prime minister theresa may for creating a mess around brexit. theresa may's office said in a statement it contitinues t to support darroch. the u.n.'s high commissioner for human rights, michelle bachelet, condemned the dire conditions in which jailed migrants are being held in the u.s. and the ongoing separation of children from their families. in a statement released monday, she warned that the detention of migrant children may constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment that is prohibited by international law this is u.n. human rights spokesperson ravina shamdasani. >> what we appear to be seeing in the u.s. are policies that are based on detection, detention, and deportation of migrants without much regard for their huhuman r rights. this appears to b be taken on aa policycy of deterrerence. however, this is completely a

breach of the state's human rights obligations. amy: senator bernie sanders and congressmembers alexandria ocasio-cortez and earl blumenauer are introducing a jojoint resolution tododay declg a climate emergency. if passed, the resolution in itself would not compel any but it aimstions, to push congress towards enacting a "national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization of the resources and labor of the united states at a massive-scale." speaking to the guardian, a spokesperson for senator sanders's office said, "president trump has routinely declared phony national emergencies to advance his deeply unpopular agenda, like selling g saudi arabia bombs tht congress had blocked. on the existential threat of climate change, trump ininsistsn calling it a hoax." the resolution comes one day after president trump gave an address touting his administration's environmental leadership. trump reportedly made the speech after consultants from his 2020 campaign said he was lacking support from several key

demographics who are concerned with climate change. environmental groups and scientists have repeatedly condemned trump's attacks on the environment, which include leaving the paris climate agreement, cutting clean water and air protections, and promoting coal production. last year saw a hike of 3.4% in greenhouse gas emissions -- the biggest rise since 2010. in arizona, a man admitted to fatally stabbing a 17-year-old boy on july 4 because the teenager's rap music made him feel unsafe. 27-year old michael paul adams was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. he has previously been charged with assault, theft, and drug violations and had been released from prison just two days prior to thursday's deadly attack. the victim, elijah al-amin, was two weeks shy of his 18th birthday and had plans to move to seattle and work in hotel management, according to his father. and in new york city, the queens district attorney democratic

race is headed for a recount after a tally of paper ballots last week left borough president melinda katz with a lead of just 16 votes ahe of newcomer, 31-year-d d publ defefenr and democratic siaialistiffafany cababa caban igiginal dececlad victy y on ectioion ght, a a rly resus put heahead of tz by arnd 1000 tes. can, who ibacked b ngressmeer alexaria ocio-corteand bern sanders, ran on a progressive platform of ending cash bail, stopping the prosecution of low-level offenses, decriminalizing sex work, and going after bad landlords, cops -- police ofcecers, d imgratatioand cucuoms enforcemt. cab's ppororters say o or 2000 affidat t balls wewerehrownn out anarare caing g fothose e counted in the nal tally. anthose arsome of e headline thiss democry now!, democrynow.orgthe war d peace report. i'm amy odman. an: and'm ju gonzale welce to allf our lieners and views from aund the countrand arou the wor. billionae hedge nd manag jeffreepstein s chargein a maattan feral courmonday

with sexrafficki and conspira. he is acsed of sually assaulting and trafficking dozens of underage girls between 2002 to 2005 at his homes in manhattan and palm beach, florida, where he paid them hundreds of dollars to perform sex acts and help recruit other girls for him to abuse. epstein has pleaded not guilty and is b being held in jail untl a july 15 bail hearing. prosecutors say he poses an extraoinary flight risk and shou be denied bail. theyre also mong to seiz his opulent $56 million manhattan townhouse, where prosecutors seized a trove of photos of nude or partially nude young women and girls on saturday -- the same day he was arrested at new jersey's teterboro airport. amy: on monday, u.s. attorney geoffrey berman unsealed the epstein indidictment. >> we announce the unsealing of sex trafficking charges against jeffrey epstein.

the charges allege that epstein sexually abused young girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts for money. the victims come all underage girls at the time of the alleged conduct, were given hundreds of dollars in cash after each encounter, either by e epstein r by onene of epstein's employees. the underaged girls were initially recruited to provide epstein with massages and often did so nude or partially new to. these massages became increasingly sexual in nature and typically would include one specified incts as the indictment. as alleged, epstein also paid certain victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused. this allowed epstein to c create an ever-r-expanding web of new victims. amy: u.s. attorney geoffrey berman also made an appeal to other women abused by epstein to

come forward and seek justice. several accusers were present in federal court in manhattan on monday. lawyer sigrid mccawley read statements from two of epstein's victims. >> this is a great day for victims and i am humbled and inspired brother voices and i'm gratified to get to read a statement on behalf of of virginia and sarahah ransome, ,h ofof whom are victims and clien. this is virginia's statement. after years and years of trying my best to shine light in the dark place of sex crimes, that jeffrey epstein and maxwell and their circle of powerful people committed against me and girls just like me, finding the words adequate enough now to express how i feel is a tall task. but i can say without hesitation that i am deeply plpleased that the federal prosecutors in new york have arrested jeffrey intein and our case is taken

a serious way. it is time for jeffrey epstein and the super dissipated in these sex crimes to be brought to justice. and this one is from sarah ransome. news of my abusers arrested a is a step in the right direction to finally hold epstein accountable for his crimes and restore my faith that how are an money cannot try up over justice." juan: those were the words of virginia giuffre a and sarah ransome, both victims allegedly of jeffrey epstein. epstein was previously accused of molesting and trafficking dozens, and potentially hundreds, of underage girls in florida. but he ended up serving just 13 months in county jail after the u.s. prosecutor in florida -- and now president trump's labor secretary -- alexander acosta cut what's been described as one

of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history. a growing number of lawmakers are calling on acosta to step down immediately. house speaker nancy pelosi has called for his resignation twitting -- don "he engaged in a questionabl --eting epstein has counted presidents donald trump and bill clinton among his friends. trump told "new york magazine" in 2002 -- "i've known jeff for 15 years. terrific guy. he's a lot of fun to be with. it is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as i do, and many of them are on the younger side." in 2000, trump was photographed with epstein at his mar-a-lago club in palm beach, florida. amy: epstein's arrest after more

than a decade of accusations is in part being hailed as a feat of local investigative journalism. in november 2018, "the miami herald" published a series of articles by investigative reporter julie brown exposing epstein's crimes and the high powered people like acosta who protected him. in the wake of the investigation, epstein settled a defamation lawsuit against the lawyer of some of his accusers, avoiding testimonies from survivors who were expected to take the stand. for more, we go to "the miami herald post quote in miami, florida, where we're joined by casey frank, the senior editor for investigations at "the miami herald." he has helped lead the paper's coverage of jeffrey epstein. casey frank, welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. can you talk about the significance of the indictment unsealed in the charges against epstein yesterday? and then go back to what has caused this all to unfold. clearly, your investigation, the

reporting of julie brown. >> the significance i i believes the victims are finally being heard after years of being ignonored and disregarded, in fact, abused notot only by mr. epstein bubut also many of them felt abused by the justice system in the state of florida. the u.s. attorney's office. how this came about is the direct result of two dogged journalist, julie brown and emily show. julie, for years, was involved in exposing some of the abuses in the florida prison system. she zeroed in particular on one inson for female inmates lowell, florida.

it came to her attention that many of the women in that prison were there because they had been trafficked over the years and the subject was of great interest to her. she began to research the topic of human trafficking in the name jeffrey epstein kept coming up. so she decided to dig a lilittle deeper. that is when she discovered this deal enginineered in 2007 and 28 by mr. acosta when he was the u.s. attorney. concurrent with that, mr. acosta have been named as thehe labor by newry and designate president trump. she observed at his confirmation hearing that he got kid glove treatment by virtually all of the lawmakers who were there to grill him with one or two exceptions.

so she decided to take a very deep died into this topic, working with the visual journalist, and the result was a series of stories called "perversion of justice." i belieieve as a reresult of tht series is what we saw yesterday, the indictment of mr. epstein and finally some measure of justice, perhaps, for his many alleged victims. juan: i want to ask you about some of the communications that you uncovered, the internal communication, and also the role of acosta directly in meeting with lawyers for epstein and the his office, his prosecutors, to let this occur at the county level in a county court instead of a federal court. >> right. well, the communications you are referring to are in males that were -- emails that were brought

out during discovery from the various lawsuits that have occurred since the nonprosecution agreement was hammered out in 2008. one of those lawsuits brought out emails between mr. epstein's vevery powerful legagal team and members of the u.s. attorney's office for seven florida. waswhat t those emails showed the attorneys for mr. epstein were truly dictating the terms of this nonprosecution agreement. they were very friendly and solicitous emails. and as one of the lawyers representing the young women in this case observed at some point, this was a prosecution thee thehe prosecutors and

police and the prosecutors both theed to gang up against victims. it was very curious, very unusual. and as a part of that, mr. acosta held a private meeting with mr. epstein's lead attorney in the fall of 2007 at a local marriott in west palm beach, florida. and at that meeting, the two men worked out the framework of the nonprosecution agreement that was actually signed several months later. agreement and the as part of those behind the scenes communications, it is clear the attorneys for mr. epstein were insistent that the defendants not be told that this ,henceas being settled

the young women could not show up in state court where this was diverted back after the fed said they did not w want to hanandlet anymore. the defendants were not told the case was being settled. they could not show up to object. was sealed fornt several months until lawyers went to court and got it unsealed. 10 years later. amy: apparently, this filing of federal law, not telling the victims. i wanted to turn to julie brown herself, the reporter. we spoke to her earlier this year about her award-winning series "exposing epstein's crimes. i i asked her about alex acost's role in the case. >> at the time this case popped up in west palm beach, epstein was very much affiliated wiwith democratic causes.

he was friends with the clintons. he had donated money to governor richardson in new mexico, where he also owns a property. he had a lot of important friends on both sides of the political aisle, but that said, he knew at the time that since it was a republican administration and acosta was a republican, that it was very realized it epstein was very important for him to hire lawyers that had republican connections. and that is essentially what he did. he hired people who knew acosta, who acosta looked up to -- can kennethwas someone -- starr as someone who acosta would've looked up to. i think it made it very hard for to feel like you is

going to go up against all of these people. amy: said that his reporter julie brown, who broke the story leading to these indictments .esterday in manhattan court she is talking about the democrats and republicans. president bill clinton's press a statementsued monday reading -- "president clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes jeffrey epstein to do guilty to in some years ago or those which he is been reselling charged in new york. in 2002 and 2003, president clinton took a total of four trips on jeffrey epstein's airplane -- one to europe, one to asia, and two to africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the clinton foundation. he had one meeting with epstein in his harlem office in 2002, and around the same time made one brief visit to epstein's new york apartment with a staff member and his security detail. he's not spoken to epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to little st. james island, epstein's ranch in new mexico, or his residence in florida."

casey frank, if you can talk about this relationship -- i mean, it is known that i think it is believed president clinton took something like 20 tririps n his plans, which i think jeffrey epstein himself calls the lolita expressed. and also talk about his neighbor in palm beach, now president trump, the relationship with trump and clinton. well, clearly, people like the former president andnd the currrrent president are going to be endeavoring to minimize any might havetext they had with mr. epstein over the years. and i guess the truth will possiblyly come out during court proceedings moving forward. , mr. epstein had a friendly social relationship with president trump before he

was the president. and clearly, he had a relationship of trust with the former president, which sort of got entangled with the former foundation. and i believe he may have also donated funds to mr. trump's foundation. it will be interesting to see whether those who have received large amounts of money from mr. epstein might be deciding to return some of that money in the future. one institution that comes to mind is harvard university, which has received billions of dollars from mr. epstein. i would expect that a lot of people who were friendly with jeffrey epstein, who visited his ,ouse, who received money

campaign contributions for mr. epstein are going to be running in the opposite direction in the coming weeks and months. juan: i want to ask you, terms time and and his first before the senate, as you say, he was treated with kid gloves, and you expect any further questioning of his role in congress? >> i would. i have been surprise so far he really has not been brbrought in an grilled on the thinking that went into this nonprosecution agreement. in the past, when he is spoken of it, and has spoken of it very little, he said "i was dealt a very weak hand. the victims would not have made and thehe defense team we were up against was

incrcredibly powerful." which does not seem like a very strong argument when you're part of the u.s. justice department. what is more puzzling to me and many others is that he has said this was a good deal. and yet he went along with the idea of keeping the deal secret. and if it was such a good deal, i dodon't know why he would not have been touting what a good deal it was afterward. amy: andnd when epstein was jaid in palm county jail, many did not even know he was in jail for the 13 months because he was allowed to go to his office every day and he would come back to the jail, apparently alone in this entire wing of the jail. talking about his lawyers and friends, i want to turn to of usn's arrest, as men high-profile friends and protectors on high alert. one of his accusers, virginia roberts, says epstein trafficked her to his friends for sex,

including high profile lawyer islanders with two vehemently has denied the claims. >> i don't allow my personal interests and values to intrude on my professssional -- i thinkf myself as a doctor or priest. if they wield j jeffrey epstein hospital, there would work on them.. >> you are being sued by one of the women who was involved in that original -- - >> that's right. folks virginia roberts claims he used her for sex and to his friends, incluluding you. now she is suingng you for defamation say you're falsely attacking her, tried to intimidate her into silence. you say you welcome this lawsuit will stop >> i do. i also welcome her coming on the show and accusing me face-to-face. she is never accused me acceptpt under the protection of the litigation privilege.

amy: this week the view co-host ana navarro-cardenas tweeted that trump's labor secretary alexander acosta should be fired offering epstein a plea deal that kept him out of prison for life. "miami herald" reporter julie brown responded, tweeting -- "your colleagues at the view owe it to epstein's victims to have their point of view on the show. having alan dershowitz on without giving the their point of view only serves to silence other victims. @theview @whoopigoldberg your show is crucial in reaching out to victims." casey frank, if you could respond to this. "thell end with a clip mimiami herald" puput out as sof those e victims. mr. trump sure with has been very loud in vehemently denying these accusations. i have spoken to him and i've heard those denials personally.

he did say in that clip he welcomed the lawsuit but thiss past month he also filed to o gt a lawsuit dismissed. i'm a bit puzzled about that. i guess the chips willll fall wherere thehey may as testimony comes o out in mr. epstein's upcoming trial. toe miami herald" has sought unsealed some of the sealed in one of the ongoing -- in one of the close lawsuits, i should say, and last week a judicial panel decided to release 2000 pages with posossiy more to come. we will be learning a lot more about mr. epstein, his associates, his s friends, and s activities i think i in the comg asteroid amy: very quickly, the

significance of attorney general barr recusing himself, saying he worked at the law firm, one of epstein's attorneys, but also is not being talked about as much and he did not race -- his own father was the headmaster of the private school in new york, the dadalton school. he hired jeffreyey epstein many couldago and what this mean as something came out, not that there's anything nefarious about that, but who knonows? >> i don't know what the significance of that is. i would say this. i have some confidence in the southern district of new york. i am impressed they went out of their way to reopen this case because it would have been much easier just to let it lie dormrmant, and they did not. as journalists, we're gratified when we see the work we do producuce results. amy: we will end with a video produced by "the miami herald"

were we hear the voices of some of jeffrey epstein's victims describing what happened them. it begins with michael reiter, palm beach police chief when epstein first came under investigation for sex offenses. >> the sheer volume of girls, the frequency -- sometimes seseveral or many y in the same. the e age of the girls. in some cases, there were victim sasaid did not know eaeach othe, had never met each other. they had basically the same story. >> i remember there was a oftaircase anand it was kind like a spiral almost. >> she brings us up the stairs and it was like spiral stairs. >> you walked into his bedroom around h his bed to almost likea very little hole in it was another door. that is where everything would happen. >> he would have a dreresser and itas --- the first or was lotionn the thirird toward downn was sex toysys. we would take the massage table

ouout and set it up in the mimie of the room. >> he came in with this towel around him. >> he laid down in this towel on his stomach and he was just talking to people on the phone. when he flipped over, that is when he said, "ok, you can go ahead and take off your shirt and pants, but you can stay in your underwear." >> he would want us to stand next to him and he would masturbate while he stared at us, touched us. amy: the video room four produced by "the miami herald." cacasey frank, the senior editor for investigations at "the miami herald." thank you for being with us. he helped lead the paper's coverage of jeffrey epstein. when we come back, we speak to glenn greenwald, under investigation and death threats for exposing a massive political scandal involving brazil's justice minister, the former judge who jailed former president lula, paving the way for the election of president jair bolsonaro.

stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman, juan gonzalez. juan: we turn now to the growing political crisis in brazil in the wake of the intercept's investigation into a judge who likely aided federal prosecutors in their corruption case against former brazilian president luiz inacio lula da silva. the bolsonaro administration announced monday that brazilian justice minister sergio moro has been granted a leave of absence from july 15-19 to "deal with personal matters." leakeded cellphone messages amog brazilian lalaw enforcemement officials and other data obtained by the intercept point to an ongoing collaboration between then-judge sergio moro and the prosecutors

investigatining a sweeping corruption scandal known as operation car wash. lula was considered a favorite in the lead-up to the 2018 presidential election until he was put in jail and forced out of the race on what many say were trumped-up corruption charges. the leaked documents also reveal prosecutors had serious doubts about lula's guilt. the jailing of lula helped pave the way for the election of the far-right t former military offe -- officer jair bolsonaro, who then named judge sergio moro to be his justice minister. amy: the news of j judge sergio moro's leave of absence comes amid i increased calls for moroo step dowown after new w revelats of irrrregularities s were publd in brarazil's leleading conseree magazine.. the pupublication, i in partnerp with t the interceptpt, releasew details s into the extxtent of mororo's corrrruption. thpublicatioion had been one of moro's chief suorters, but editors say the eight-page cover story "reveals how moro abused his judicial function as part of a cabal, commanding the actions

of the prosecutors of car wash." the publication goes on to say -- "the communications analyzed by the veja reporting team are true and the story shows that the case is even more grave than previously known." the cover shows moro appearing to place finger on a scale with the line, "exclusive: justice with his own hands: new chats show that sergio moro committed irregularities, disturbing the scales of justice in favor of the prosecution in the car wash investigation." four more, we're joined by glenn greenwald, pulitzer prize-winning journalist and one of the founding editors of the intercept. he has faced deaeath threats due to his reporting on the scandal. welcome back to democracy now! talk about the latest revelations and the threats you face. >> the latest revelation was, as you noted, the cover story in the largest and most influential newsweekly in brazil, which is veja.

ands like "time magazine" that is what made the store so significant is as the editors themselves admitted, and they did the story in partnership with us, they had spent four or five years believing themyth of sergio moro, that he was this ethical figure combating corruption without r regard to idideology orr party in doing sn order to clean up brazil and strengthen and fortify its democracy. they believe that and played a leading role in helping to construct a by repeatedly putting him on the cover. the covers are influential because people who even don't read political magazines see it. it is on every corner. it is what helped destroy the revocation of dilma and lula. they did the opposite to moro. they built them into this myth. the editors began reading what

we have been reading over the last six weeks or seven weeks since we got this material, not just shocked but angered. they were betrayed this person they had really thought was this ethical, clean judge committed to principles of democracy was in fact not just on occasion, not just in sporadic and isolated episodes, but continuously corrupt in how he was conducting himself and abusing his power as a judge. i think that is the most important thing to realize. case, doesust lula's the entire operation of car wash that put so many people, dozens of people in jail, fundamentally corrupt because the whole time in secret, the judge who is presiding over the case who is now the most powerful person in brazil, even more powerful than the president, was engaged in corruption so severe that even the right-wing magazine that had been his against supporter has turned on him and is now in

partnership with the intercept resulted to a series of exposes on the cover, uncovering the person who was celebrated not just in brazil, but around the world, as the paragon of ethics but in fact was deeply corrupt. juan: last week sergio moro testified for seven hours before brazil's congress and defended his actions and tried to rebut your expose. could you talk about what happened? some members of congress nearly came to blows at one point? >> sure. it has been this cat and mouse game, sergio first 20 the senate and i went to congress and testified for 6.5 hours. he went to congress and testified for seven hours. i am now going to the senate committee on thursday where i will likely testify for many hours in the wake of his testimony. while he was there, with that the federal broken

police, which is under the command of sergio moro as justice minister, similar to how the fbi is under the command of the attorney general, had initiated -- has initiated investigation into my finances. there is a division of the government which is designed to detect and monitor the movement of money of politicians and their families to see if there's brbribery going on or the like. since my husband is a member of congress, i fall under the purview of that agency. the federal police has asked for all ofof the reports of f my financial activities -- coincidentally, after living 15 years in brazil, suddenly as i'm doing this reporting is so that hearing it was at before congress is very tense for a lot of reasons. the veja article had just come out and people were indignant he so blatantly is abusing the police power to retaliate against me for the criri, and his mind, of reporting on his corruption.

after r seven n hours of testim, was scheduled to go another two or three hours, member of the opposition declared hihim to bea thief judge, a judge was a thief, and members of moro's toolsonaro's parties try physically a attacking a m membf cocongress and t they can closoa physysical confronontation in te hade oror the ministeter moro to be rusheded out in order to protect his s own securityty. that is hohow intense t the outt was in a couountry gives y you a sense for what the climate here is in brazil as a result of our reporting. juan: the potential impact a lula still being in prison as a result of the continued exposes about the railroading that he went through as a result of moro 's activities? obviously, the imprisonment of lula was incredibly controversial, both because he was leading the presidential to 25 pointsoints

at the time he was convicted by judge moro and rendered ineligible. becomes,ion now pending cases lula has brought alleging his process is unjust. obviously, the supreme court is taking a close look at the reporting we're doing. last week, issued a decision three to two denying lula's release or petition to be released from prison, but explicitly saying they intend to revisit this pending further revelations by the intercept. obviously, the reporting we're doing about the corruption endemic to this process as a result of sergio moro's misconduct is putting in doubt all of the verdicts that he issued. imagine in the u.s. if a judge, even in a traffic court case, got caught secretly collaborating with p prosecutots and encouraging them and instructing them aboutut how to prosecute the case -- of cououre

it would be unimimaginable that jujudge would continue in office or their verdicts would be upheld. that is the same situation that brazil faces. the problem is, it is causing a political earthquake because the cases where judge moro was corrupt has such profound consequences for brazil and even for politics internationally that now have to confront the reality of was also -- the byproduct of a corrupt procecess is r really cataclysmic. amy: the death threats you are receiving now? can you describe the threat you are under? >> i think one of the things people outside brazil don't realize is jair bolsonaro and is far right movement is not quite like say the right-wing movement that brought trump into office or has ushered in this new extremist right in western europe, which tends to focus more on fear mongering and demonization over muslims and immigrants. a big part of bolsonaro's movement has been demonizing and claiming we to bt's

are pedophiles who want to convert people's children. intensetimulating levels of hatred. the only lgbt member of congress prior to 2018 fled the country under really, really serious and specific death threats. my husband took his place. ironically, he was next in line in the election and is also openly gay. the threats we are getting are not the kind of death threats you get when you're a public official. everybody write you a quick note on the internet sing "i hope you die." they are death threats that data,e very personal resources security equivalent number, sometimes our address. information that only people in an official position could acquire. they are very graphic and directed at our r children, and our family, and at us

personally. they are the kind of threats that a lot of thought goes into and a lot of resources are behind. and that is why we take them very seriously and have been turning them over to the federal police. unfortunately, that federal police is committed by sergio moro him as our reporting demonstrates, is willing to cross every line and break every law in order to achieve whatever ends he deems just. our confidence in their ability or willingness to investigate those threats is not very high. we wish you all the safety and security. do you think this price is worth it, the work you are doing? yes, absolutely. when you go into journalism, this is the thing you do. journalists all over the war are covering wars and are killed covering the wars. uncovering corruption by police forces in small towns and are threatened or killed. this is the kind of risk you take on if you want to be not

just a journalist, but the kind that confronts power. the risks are not fine, but at the same time, it is gratifying to feel like you are using the guarantee ofof a free press s fr whwhat it is for, which is shing a light on the corrupt act carried out in the dark but society's most powerful actors. amy: glenn greenwald, pulitzer prize-winning journalist and one of the founding editors of the intercept, recently published the "secret brazil archive," a three-part expose revealing that the judge overseeing the case that put lula in prison, likely aided federal prosecutors in their corruption cases against him and other high-profile figures. please, be safe. when we come back,k, we look at iran. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman, juan gonzalez. juan: fallout from the trump administration's decision to pull out of the iran nuclear contntinues to grow. deal continues to grow. on monday,y, the international atomic energy agency confirmed iran has begun enriching uranium above the lelevel agreed to o be 2015 nuclear deal. iran's actions comes in response to devastating u.s. sanctions which have been repeatedly tightened even though iran had been adhering to the terms of the deal. amy: iran has threatened to continue to increase their production of enriched uranium if european signatories of the nuclear deal do not help ease the impact of the u.s.

sanctions. a top french diplomat is heading toto tehran today y to discuss e situatioion. they're trying to diffuse it. meanwhile, iran has criticized britain for recently seizing an iranian oil tanker last week. we're joined by trita parsi, executive vice president of the new think-tank, the quincy institute. his most recent book is titled "losing an enemy: obama, iran, and the triumph of diplomacy." welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about the significance of what is happening in the wake of president trump pulling out of the iran nuclear agreement, this latest french diplomat going to iran, the oil tanker of iran being seized, and iran in continuing and increasing enriching uranium? >> thihis was highly predictabl. ththere was no one who could expect that donald trump could walk out of this deal, or breach

it, violate it, force others to violate it, and then expect the iranians would forever live up to it. this is not a surprise. if there is anything that is a surprise, it is it has taken the iranians one year to start taking some of these measures. now, it is important to note these measures are obviously not in any way shape or form positive. we should not be in the situation in the first place. but they are also not a massive proliferation risk at this point. these are small steps. they are easily reversible. it is signaling the europeans to start living up to the deal rather than just making political statements in favor of it. whether that will work or not, remains to be seen. it is interesting the french are going to tehran. perhaps they should come visit washington where the actual problem lies and make sure they can convince the trump administration to stop sanctioning countries that are actually a hearing to a u.n. security counsel resolution.

juan: some u.s. experts have estimated aransas so-called breakout time, the time required for them to develop an of material for a bomb is perhaps two to three months. could you comment on that estimation? >> i've not seen any credible estimation that would put it at deal.nder the it was quite strict the iranians would only be able to have a breakout of mininimum one year. there's nothing that has changed -- what the iranians i find i'm rather s skeptical of that analysis s and it seems to smack of that type of threat inflation the administration is favoring in order t to constanty move this issue toward a confrontation. amy: can you talk about the significance of the oil tanker being taken by britain, apparently at the behest of the u.s.? >> this is the president of move.

the legality is quite questionable. the former swedish prime minister tweeted about that just the other day, pointing o out en if there weren't any s sanctions on the eururopean s side, europe does not impose sanctions in extraterritorial way. that is what the u.s. has been doing for the e last two dececa. ththe europeans do not impose their own laws on other countries outside of their territory. but it is clearlrly an escalatin now. we have a situation in the persian gulf in which some of the british tankers feel unsafe going into the persian gulf because of comments from some in iran that they will retaliate. nonene of this is anany way shar form good, but we have to remind ourselves we are only in the situation as result ofof donaldd trtrump on resolving a result issue. this issue was resolved. everything was working. the iranians were adhering to the deal and we're only in this crisis situation right now because of the very unfortunate decision of pulling out of the

nuclear deal. juan: and the impact, especially on the banking system of the country? theou can't sanction banking system of the country and then expect it not to affect everything else. everything goes through banking. as a result, the sanctions of the trump administration has imposed on iran in violation of the u.n. security counsel resolution is having a devastation on the iranian economy. as usual, it is the poorest people i in the coununtry that y the highest price because they're the ones who cannot protect themselves from these typepes of pressusures and sanctions. according to the trump administration itself, already 80% to 90% of iran's economy is under sosome form of american sancnction. this i cleararly as brbroad-basd of a sanctctions regime we have ever seen in the history of sanctions. very, very far from the type of targeted sanctions that has been more popular to o talking about. thisis is c clearly untargeted d affectining everyone in the country.

primarily, t the people e that e the poorest. amy: yeah president trump making history last week walkining into nonorth korea. negotiations with north korea, even know they shot off missiles and other issues. veryheld it as a real important mark of what diplomacy is all about. do you feel from is not taking the same approach to iran because north korea has nuclear weapons and that that is the lesson to o iran, that if you gt nuclear weapons you will be dealt with diplomatically, trita parsi? >> i think it is quite clear if the iranians had nuclear weapons at this point, trump would be treating them quite differently and would have pursued a very different approach than he is. this is a dangerous thing. what the trump administration is doing through its conduct on this issue and other issues, it is signaling a lot of countrieis in the world we are unpredictable, we are dangerous,

that we are not trustworthy, and that you actually need to find a way to protect yourself from us. unfortunately, that would mean for a lot of countries they need to have some form of an of the deterrence. amy: we have to leave it there. thank you so much. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]