07/25/19 07/25/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i am announcing i will be resigning him the position of governor effective on friday, thomas -- august 2, 5:00 in the afternoon. has ricardo rossello resigned following mass protest. the demonstrations began after the publication of shocking misogynistic and homophobic text

messages between rossello, staffers, and advisers. some mocked victims of hurricane area. then to robert mueller's testimony on capitol hill. >> did you totally exonerate the president? >> no. >> your investigation found " multiple acts by the president that workable of exerting undue influence over law-enforcement investigations, including the russian interference and obstruction investigations." is that correct? >> correct. amy: britain's new prime minister boris johnson designed to leave the europopean union within 99 days. > we have a moment is task ahead of us, a pivotal moment tn our countries history. we are committed comome all of , to leaving the european union on october 31. amy: all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. puerto rico's governor ricardo rossello annouounced wednesday e will resign from office, less than two weeks after the release of shocking text messages showed the governor and his aides mocking victims of hurricane maria, joking about shooting san juan's mayor, and using language laced with misogyny, homophobia, profanity and violence. rossello's resignation sparked celebrations that lasted through the night, capping 12 days of massive protests calling for his ouster. speaking in a recorded video that was streamed live on facebook hours after he quietly left the governor's mansion, rossello said he would formally step down on friday, august 2. and he nameded his successor. >> the person who will assume that weight of the office will have the privilege to occupy it will need the support of the people and for each person to work tirelessly for dememocracy.

at this time, , in accordance wh ththe legal framework, this pern will be the current secretary of the department of justice wanda vazquez. amy: wanda vazquez is puerto rico's justice secretary. after headlines, we will have more on puerto rico with journalist ed morales, author of the forthcoming book "fantasy island: colonialism, exploitation & the betrayal of puerto rico." president trump has vetoed a trio of congressional resolutions, halting the planned sales of weapons to saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. wednesday's vetoes came a week after the house of representatives voted to block trump's move to sidestep congress by allowing the sale of $8 billion worth of raytheon precision-guided weapons systems. similar weapons have been used to target civilians in the saudi-led war on yemen, which has sparked the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. opponents of the sales also point to saudi arabia's gross human rights abuses and the murder and dismemberment of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi at a saudi consulate in turkey

last year. congress does not appear to have the two-thirds majority needed to override trump's vetoes. special counsel robert mueller testified on capitol hill wednesday for the first time about his investigation into russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections. over seven hours of hearings, mueller stressed to the house judiciary and intelligence committees that, despite the donald trump's claims, he had not exonerated the president of obstruction of justice. this is house judiciary chair jerrold nadler questioioning mueller. >> the report did not include that he did not commit obstruction of jusustice, is a correct? >> that is correct. >> what about total exoneration? city totally exonerate the president? >> no. >> your report states it does not exonerate the president. >> it does. a maker we will have more later in the broadcast with ryan grim d.c. bureau chief for the , intercept. a federal court in california

has blocked prpresident trump's ban on most asylum-seekers seeking refuge at the u.s.-mexico border. the preliminary injunction from -- the trump administration will be required to continue accepting asylum claims at least for now. trump's rule seeks to bar anyone who passes through a third country from exercising their right under international law to seek asylum in the u.s., including at the southern border with m mexico. baher azmy, the legal director of the center for constitutional rights who helped challenge trump's asylum policy said -- "the court correctly decided that decades of u.s. asylum law prevent this administration from attempting to deny wholesale, asylum protections through this arbitrary and hasty regulation. this application of the law will also save lives of vulnerable refugees fleeing for their lives and safety." federal regulators have ordered facebook to pay a $5 bilillion

fine for massive breaches in privacy that saw tens of millions of users' data eded wiout their consenent. it is the largest fifine for a privivacy breach in u.s. histor, but critics say the $5 billion penalty was far too lenient for a company valued at over $580 billion. after the settlement was announced, shares of facebook rose on the nasdaq stock exchange by more than a percentage point, and the company reported nearly $17 billion in revenue for the three months ending in june. in the united kingdom, boris johnson has been sworn in as prime minister, pledging to deliver a swift brexit and spending his first full day in office packing his cabinet with hard-line brexiteers. speaking outside 10 downing street in london, johnson raised the prospect of a so-called hard brexit, dismissing the concerns of many who predict a no-deal withdrawal from the european union would be a disaster for the british economy. >> and to all those who continue to prophesy disaster, i say,

yes, there will be difficulties, yet i believe there will be far less serious than some have claimed. amy: johnson's first day as prime mininister was marked by massive street protests. thousands marched through central london despite a scorching heat wave, and activists from greenpeace briefly blocked the new prime minister from reaching buckingham palace to meet with the queen by forming a human chain to in the path of his motorcade. the demonstration was quickly dispersed by police. later in the broadcast, we will go to london to speak with ash sarkar, who was in the streets at yesterday's protests. north korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea of japan early thursday, the first such tests since early may. south korean military officials said one of the two missiles tested appeared to be a new design.. the test came as the pentagon continued prepeparation for joit war games with south korea's military scheduled for next

trump held a surprise trip to meet with north korean leader kim jong-un at the demilitarized zone separating the north and south, where trump pledged to restart denuclearization talks. the house of representatives has passed a bill opposing the boycott, divestment and sanctions, or bds movement, a global solidarity campaign with the palestinian people. the non-violent movement seeks to use economic and cultural pressure to force israel to end its occupation of palestinian lands. tuesday's vote of 398-17 saw just one republican and 16 democrats oppose against the resolution. one of them was michigan representative rashida tlaib, who in november became the first palestinian-american woman elected to congress. >> i stand before you, the daughter of palestinian immigrants, parents who experienced being stripped of their human rights, the right to freedom of travel, equal treatment. so i can't stand by and watch this attack on her freedom of speech and the right to boycott the racist policies of the government and the state of israel. amy: the house resolution passed just days after hundreds of israeli troops demolished palestinian homes in a village at the west bank/east jerusalem border, clearing the way for

israel to build more illegal settlements. international observers said the demolitions amounted to o a war crimime. chinese military leaders signaled wednesday they are prepared to intervene againstt pro-o-democracy protesters in hg kongng. this is wu qian, spokesman for china's ministry of national defense. extremeehavior of some protesters have challenged the authoritiess of the e centraral government, tested the limits of the one country, two systems principles, which are absolutely intolerable. we will not allow the pearl of the east to be stained. amy: the threat came just days after hong kong police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as protesters again took to the streets calling for pro-democracy reforms and for an investigation into police abuses during earlier protests.s. in mozambique, the world food program is warning some 1.6 million people are facing food insecurity months after two cyclones left hundndreds dead in

one of the worst w weather-relad disasters ever to hit the southern hemisphere. meanwhile,e, much of europe is being hit by a massive heat wave sending temperatures into record-setting and life threatening terrain for parts of the continent. temperatures were forecast to reach 104 degrees fahrenheit in many german cities, with highs in paris expected to top 107 degrees. it's the second major heat wave this year in europe, where many countries recorded their highest-ever temperatures just one month ago. this comes as new research published in the journal science finds the climate is changing faster, and over a wider area of the earth, than at any other time in the last 2000 years. the current rate of change far outpaces climate variations seen centuries ago during events like the "medieval warm period" and the "little ice age." former vice president and 2020 presidential contender joe biden defended his support for the wednesday 1994 crime bill, which imposed mandatory minimum sentences on nonviolent offenders, directed billions of dollars toward prison construction, and led the united

states to become the world's largest mass incarcerator. biden's defense of the law, which he co-authored while serving as a senator from delaware, came as the annual convention of the naacp wrapped up in detroit. 1994 crime bill, we had a giant epidemic in america of violence, partrticularly in african-n-american committees. jessie and i disagreed a little bit but in my community, the notion was overwhelmingly supported. amy: biden was referring to commenents by the civil rights leader reverend d jesse jackson, who said biden wednesday had some obligation to address the 1994 crime bill. on tuesday, biden rolled out his criminal justice reform proposal, which would reverse many of the provisions of the 1994 crime bilill he helped author. another presidential candidate appearing at the naacp's convention, new jersey senator cory booker, took aim at biden's proposal. >> for a guy who helped be an architect of mass incarceration, ththis is an inadequate solution to what is a raging crisis in

our country. amy: and i in pennsylvania, an appealalcourt has s thrown out a guilty verdict against the popular rapper meek mill, who was convicted in a nonjury trial in 2008 on drugs and weapons charges based on the false testimony of his arresting officer. philadelphia d district attorn's office, led by larry krasner, supported mill's bid to have the conviction overturned. krasner's office has not yet said whether prosecutors will proceed with a retrial. the conviction has dogged mill ever since his conviction 11 years ago, keeping him on probation for over a decade. this is meek mill speaking in a video releasased on twitter this weweek. >> i've been on p probatition i think 10 or 11 years. i can't really couount no more. like, , few made these policicis upup? try to k keep peoplple like me . straight to o prison, straight o hang cups, straight to a cell with a metal toilet seat. amy: meek mill's jailing sparked widespread calls for his freedom,m, including from m jay, colin kaepernick, and activists across philadelphia. and those are some of the headlines.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show in puerto rico. celebrations were held throughout the night in puerto rico after governor ricardo rossello announced he would resign following 12 days of massive protests. the demonstrations began after puerto rico center for investigative journalism published close to 900 pages of text messages between rossello, staffers, and advisors. the group chat messages were riddled with misogyny, homophobia, profanity and violence. some of the messages mocked victims of hurricane maria and joked about shooting san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz. amy: throughout the day on wednesday, puerto rico was on edge over whether rossello would

resign. thousands of protesters had gathered outside the governor's mansion. the puerto rican legislature threatened to impeach rossello if he did not step down. but until just before midnight there was no news. then rossello posted a pre-recorded video message on facebook. >> despite having the mandate of the people who democratically elected me, today i feel that to continue in his position represents a difficulty for the success of the country. after listening to the demands, speaking to my family, thinking about my children, and prayer, i have made the following decision. with sadness, i am announcing that i will be resignining from the position of governor effective on friday, august second, 2019 at 5:00 in the afternoon. in these coming days, i will be attending issues to facilitate

an orderly transition. the person who will assume the weight of the office will have the privilege to occupy it will need the support of the people and for each person to work tirelessly for democracy. at this time, in accordance with the legal framework, this person will be the current secretary of the department of justice wonder vasquez. i am confident that puerto rico will continue united and move forward as it has always done. i hope this decision serves as a call for the record liege and of the people, which is what we need to continue moving forward for the well-being of puerto rico. amy: the four is -- the facebook video was right has just before midnight throughout the area of thousands cheered when they watched it. the governor had quietly left the mansion a few hours before. celebrations broke out across san juan. many stayed in the streets late into the night. fair.is completely

late, but he finally did it. we are super happy. the people can do it when they unite. they can. >> ricky is leaving not just for all of the insults on chat, but also for corruption. good that he is going. amy: to talk more about puerto rico, we are joined by longtime journalist ed morales, author of the forthcoming book "fantasy island: colonialism, exploitation & the betrayal of puerto rico." you look tired. i think you're probably up through the neck right around midnight when this announcement came. no one knew whether the governor was going to come out and speak or what he would do at that point. apparently, reaching some agreement that he would speak before 5:00. they were going to begin impeachment hearings they said today at 2:00. the significance of the governor of puerto rico resigning, again, effective next friday? are twonk there important levels of significance. first, it represents a a victory for the people of puerto rico, which is extremely important.

it is s an intersectional coalition of people who have fused identity politics and class conflict struggle. that is really important for puerto rico moving forward. on the other hand, it also represents a weakening of the puerto rican government. there are all of these cabinet positions to be filled. the judge who oversees the bankruptcy proceedings has suspended all activity for 90 days because he wants to see how things settle down and it is -- as much as we dislike what is going on with rossello, it is a difficult moment that the government, which is basically the vessel for democracy in puerto rico, is right now staggering and there is a fiscal oversight and management board that is poised to take more control. nermeen: could you give us some background? the many reasons for the opposition to rossello which

proceeded these text messages, the revelation of these text messages? >> about two weeks before the messages came out, his secretary of finance resigned and then he gave an interview to the newspaper that said there was an institutional corruption. and then after that, his son came out and said he had this stuff on the governor and that he was g going -- something waws going to happen soon. we don't know who the source was for releasing the chat. i think it is interesting to take a look at the fact that role model not a had are ready donado and thenl his son, two weeks later, the release of these chats. the secretary of education and the secretary of health

insurance in charge of health insurance were also arrested by the department of justice. significance of julie kelleher, who actually made more money than betsy devos, the federal secretary of education? doing was hell-bent on massive privatization of schools. she closed many schools. she was involved in these plans of granting contracts, which is endemic to the whole administration, this paper plate stuff andd taking -- pay for ply stuff and contracts that did not go through proper procedure. there is an enormous amount -- that are two major figures. and mysterious lobbyist consultant who is in on the chats and possibly violated the law because he was not contracted by the government and he was in all of these government maneuverings which were being done in the chat. and this other guy who was a

huge public relations figure in puerto rico. nermeen: you mention earlier t e fiscal control b board. what do you anticipate happening now? >> well, since the bankruptcy itcedure is temporarily -- is temporarily suspended, the fiscal oversight and management board is, i guess, waiting to see who they are going to be working with because another thing about rossello leaving, not only is he not advocating for puerto rico from his office, but also his nonvoting representative also had to quit. he made the most offensive chat, referenced the one talking about cadavers and holsters going to vultures going to be them. there is no one to talk about

the next economic plan. they have to fill out the entire government to be a little resume these kind of activities. one of the reasons this happened is the government had beenen put in this position o of having alalmost no power because of the fiscal oversight and management board. they could suggest economic plans, but it ultimately hadad o be approved by the fiscal oversight and management board. and they often sort of fight back in this sort of theatrical make anywas -- did not sense. they were just playing a role, which i think you can see a lot in the chats, too. they thought the whole thing was a joke. they would fight back and say, no, we're not going to cut the pensions. they were advocating for not cutting the pensions. but in the end, they would give in. amy: and those who profited off the hurricane and money that came in, the money not actually going to the victims of hurricane maria, the frustration

of the people before -- of course, this did not start 12 days ago. perhaps the mass visual manifestation of the protests of the thousands and then hundndres of thohousands. there were many protesting in .he streets before and even those who did not, the pain and discontent in puerto rico. >> i would say you had a hard-core of demonstrators that theack to 2010, 2011 when first governor who try to implement austerity measures was really phed backgainst b univsity stunts and bor unions. that iwhwhen t harard-re restancecen puerto rico. s, the emotional weight of dealing th the hurricanend t having electricicity f mohs andndot being able to take ahower and worrying about your led onehang the the moralig eleling at e eveone wawaed to lee. really, came out in a burst of emotion that was the huge ount of

peoplehoho joid this core of sistance, some of which formed b by people who are in ts that is the major figures be of d d on he before -- you have had on rere befe. they've done a t t of invevestative e search about sancz z in the edwin miranda scandal. ththese oplele a advdvocing fofo a new politics and puerto rico th i isn't t ju conceceed with status, but once to really deal -- amy: statehood or independee. >> newew forms omaking new kinds of pitics for puerto rico. and they might emerge in the 2020 election. nermeen: who do you think is likely to succeed rossello? a number of issues that you point out are structural, ongoing issues. whoever succeeds him will also confront the same. >> well, that is a big battle.

vasquez, she is in the secession according to the coconstitution who will become governor. amy: because the secretary of state resigned. >> right. but since rossello said he would be leaving at 5:00 p.m. august 2, and i doubt he will make it to 5:00 p.m. because of what has been happening, there is a lot of speculation that he will be naming the secretary of state, which is actually ahead of the secretary of justice. amy: so he would appoint that person and then they would become the governor. already on social media, it was on twitter last night with calls -- wanda ask as to resign basque as to resign. this dangerous moment, an incredible opportunity but when you have a momoment like this, e question is, as all of the powers realign, who comes forward? was raising this

issue. naomi klein has written extensively about disaster capitalism and who moves in. you bring about the intersectionality of the protest. you talked about the importance of the different movements that have come together to force out the governor. but what do you think about that echo especially going back to the issue of the vulture capitalists have to be positioning themselves right now. >> it is these risks and yesterday jennifer gonzalez, who is the pro-trump resident commissioner, announced that she and ime -- sean duffy think one of the senators -- i forget. they are considering asking trump to name a kind of government fund czar, to me, harkens back to appointed military governors in puerto rico. this czar would havavthe

ultimatete power. fightan interesting between the executive branch and congress because congress controls most of the affairs of puerto rico and the promesa act and oversight board is a creation of congress. so all of that is very threatening, but i do think the people of puerto rico -- they are together now. they are intent there's going to be another march today. they're trying to show they are united. it will be interesting to see what happens with this people power. amy: we want to thank you for longtimes, ed morales, journalist, author of "fantasy island: colonialism, exploitation and the betrayal of puerto rico." ofn we come back, ryan grim the intercept. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "in my old san juan" by

jose feliciano. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: democrats are vowing to continue their probes into robertnt trump following mueller's testimony on wednesday. but efforts to impeach the president appeared to be fading. mueller spent seven hours testifying before the house judiciary and intelligence committees about his report on russian interference in the 2016 election. but the former fbi director offered little new information about his two-year investigation and refused to answer scores of questions from both democrats and republicans. he answered many other questions with just single words. amy: during the hearing, robert mueller rejected trump's claim the probe was a witch hunt, he warned russia is still actively trying to interfere in u.s. elections, and he refused to exonerate president trump of obstruction of justice. during his opening statement, mueller laid out some key findings of his report. mueller: first, we found the

russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systematic fashion. second, the investigation did not establish that members of the trump campaign conspired with the russian government in its election interference activities. we did not address collusion, which is not a legal term, rather we focus on whether the evidence wasas sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy, and it was not. nermeen: house judiciary chairman jerrold nadler began the questioning of robert mueller at wednesday's hearing. nadler: the president has repeatedly claimed your report found there was no obstruction and that it completely and totally exonerated him, but that is not what your report said, is it? mueller co. correct. that is not what the report said. nadler: now, reading from page 2 of volume 2 of your report that's on the screen, you wrote, quote, "if we had confidence after a thorough investigation

of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment." now, does that say there was no obstruction?n? mueller: no. totallydid you exonerate the president? mueller: no. nadler: now, in fact, your report expressly states that it does not exonerate the president. mueller: it does. nadler: and your investigation actually found "multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the russian interference and obstruction investigations." is that correct? mueller: correct. amy: robert mueller responding to jerred nadler. for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by ryan d.c. bureau chief, author

of "we've got people: from jesse jackson to alexandria ocasio-cortez, the end of big money and the rise of a movement." welcome back to democracy now! your reaction to what took place yesterday in washington, d.c.? the democrats putting all of their eggs in the mueller basket. was it everything it was hyped up to be? >> it was strange theater because it was undercut the entire time by this really aggressive insistence by house democrats l leadership p and specifically by speaker nancy pelosi that the partyty not pure impeachment proceedings. and so thehe entire time you are watching thihis unfold, you know in the back of your mind, well, the party leadership dodoes not want to impepeach the prpresideo what exactly is going on here? what is the point of what we're being told? why are we going back through the mueller report if it is not leading toward some top of impeachment proceedings?

if you read the second volume of the mueller report, his efforors to obstruct t the i investigatin and his lack of respect for the rule of law w that under lied tt effort, arare extraordinary. this i is somebody who is a dangerouous disregard for r thee of law, anand that is quite patt report and comes through in his testimony. at the same timime, democrats don't want to move forward with impeachment proceedings. so it leaves a viewer quite confused about what is trying to unfold here. do you think was the democratic strategy and the republican strategy in the kind of questioning they put forward, and your response to the fact answeredler evaded or very briefly almost 200 questions? >> my sensnse of the broader strategy, and ththink i evenen said this on this program several months ago, that nancy

pelosi wants to o run out the clock on this two-year cycle. they could have moved forward trump's tax retururns as soon as they w won powower in house of representatives, for example. they delayed until just now. anand the congressional clock hs a way of speedingg up as it gets closer to the summer. we are very close now to the august recess. and to people who live and work in capitol hill, the first august recess in some way represents kind of the end of the legislative session because when they come back for september, they will just have a couple of weeks and then have thanksgiving and then chchristms and then all of a sudden, people are going to the caucuses in iowa. soso the entire next year is tan up by the presidential election. it seems like the broad strategy into theow off this

presidential campaign because democrats felt like they were kind of ahead. that trump was on his heels and far, ifthey pushed too they overreached, there would be a backlash against them so better to just sit and do nothing and let the next election come to them. but that has not unfolded i -- as well as i think democrats hope they would. amy: i want to go to ted lieu questioning former special counsel robert mueller. >> we have heard the president ordered former white house counsel don again to fire you and then create a false paper trail and now we have heaeard te presesidentt ordered corey lewandowski to tell jeff sessions to limit your , you,igation so that he stop investigating the president. i believe a reasonable person looking at these facts could conclude that all three elements of the crime of obstruction of justice have been met.

and i'd like to ask you the reason, again, that you did not indict donald trump is because of olc opinion statating thahayu cannot indict t a sitting president, correct? mueller: that is correct. amy: so a few hours later in the second of the day's hearings, mueller sought to correct the record. go back towant to one thing that was said this morning by mr. ted lieu who said "you did not charge the president because of the olc opinion." that is not the correct way to say it. as we say in the report and as i said at the opening, we did not reach a determination asoo whether the prpresident committd a crime. amy: explain the significance of this, ryan grim. slate thatit was described this b back-and-forths a kikind of metaphor for the entire mueller proceedings where you have a huge exexplosive momt where mueleller essentially say,

yes, i a agree that he met the elements of the crime of obstruction of justice and i i would have c charged him but for the olc opinion that says you cannot charge a sitting president. that is an explosive allegation ,oming from mueller saying, no we found evidence that we could have indicted him but we did not because you cannot indict a president. democratsr or so, account of celebrating that announcement from him. then he comes before the next committee and says, well, let me clarify that. this happened over and over the last year and a half. let me clarify that. we did not come to a determination over whether or not we could charge him even before they get to the olc opinion. amy: olc being the office of legal counsel. >> right. even if we are gotten to the place where we decided we could have charged him, then we would have but we did not get to that place. there was contemporaneous

reporting that were prosecutors whode mueller's team disagree on this question. there were some that thoughght e elements were absolutely there and there were others who said they were not quite there and there could be kind of reasonable alternative explananations for trump's behavior. i think a a viewer can make ther own judgment on n this. that is the other thing that is so interesting about thihis is u have members of f congress and u have muellller notot only talkig about t a report that is public, but talking about behavior that significantly y was carried outn public or was reported o oin real time. "the new york times" reported trump ordered don mcgcgann to fe mueller. this was known before the report came out, as was a a lot of thi. it is s also indisputable that e asked don mcgann to cover upup e fact that he t tried to fire robert mueller. the other elements are fairly

easisily met. did he h have intent toto s subt the investstigation? did he know there was an investigation underway? yes and yes. all of the elements seem pretty obvious to be there, but there were some people inside the mueller team who did not believe it was therere, so mueller then had to come out and clarify that , actually we did not reach a full determination that we could have indicted him for this. nermeen: let's go back to the hearing. this is ken buck of colorado questioning robert mueller. boko you believe you could charge him with obstruction of justice after he left office? mueller: yes. olc opinion says the prosecutor cannot bring a charge against a sitting president, nonetheless --

continue the investigation is the of other persons who may have been drawn into the conspiracy. nermeen: ryan grim, your responsese to that, chararging esesident trump p after he leavs office for obstruction of jujustice? >> this is another test for the mueller investigationon. what muellller appppears to be answering is does the olc opinion allow a prosecutor to charge a preresident -- charge e presidident afterer he leaves office? and mueller says yes.. he specicifically says later hes referrrring to the findings of h office of legal c counsel opini. that is just statement of fact. if the president committed crime and there is evidence of that crime, then the prosecutor can charge the president after he leaves office. there were people hoping what he meant was we had the elements of the crime and were just waiting until he leaves office and then we can charge him. and it one point, book refers to

trump bubut c cuts himself off d refers back in general to a vavague president. again, it leaves people -- believes it open to interpretation of wherere you ththink he is heading but if mueller had said otherwise that they didid not conclude that thy could charge him before the even got to thehe olc opinion, seems clear he is tatalking in general terms. once a president leaves office, they can be chararged. ththat is why ford pardon the ad so he would not be charged after he left office. or iteither a bombshell is just an obvious reading of the law. amy: let's go to trump giving his response to the hearings. pres. trump: we had a very good day today. the republican party, our country, there was no defense of what robert mueller was trying to defend in all fairness to robert mueller, whether his

perforormance was a bad one or a good one, i think everybody understands that. i think everybody understands what is going on. there was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witchhunt that is bebeen goingng on for ag time. amy: trump was on his way to a campaign rally in west virginia. to what heespond said? he also said in the same statement that the hearing proved the democratic party is essentially an ruins and that nothing was added to the report itself from the hearing, the seven-hour h hring. >> i cannot think of anything that was added that we did not already know. democrats may have an hoping -- democrats were hoping that mueller would say he believedd that trump should be impeached and you would not touch that

question. he would n not even say when he was asked, when you said earlier that congressional a action or there should be other venues for this investigation to be carried out further, what were you referrrring to? he would n not even geget into . soso they could not t get hihimo spspeculate further about impeachmhment, and therere weret a a whole lot of new facts i i e out. he merely confirmed what was in the report. i believe for trump, he feels that every piece of this that he him behind him is a win for . this was something h he thought was going to end his presidency. it docked him promised two yeaes or more than two years. hasn't killed him, he believes it has made them stronger. amy: and you said that mueller was faltering, that he was tripping -- not remembering a lot of the report because it was not based on something over the

last two years, he said. ryan grim, i want to end with puerto rico. we just see the puerto rican governor has announced he is resigning because of mass protest for almost two weeks. in your book you revealed an interesting aspect of what is taking place in puerto rico, fitting it into democratic politics in the united states. when you said that tom perez, headad of the dnc, thehe democrc national c committeeee, actualln his position based on a deal he made with puerto rican republicans. can you explain? >> the islands partisan politics are extraordidinarilyly scrcramd and republican and democrat don't mean the same thing there as they do here. and the parties are more divided alalong statehood or not statehood. but they still have the babasic apparatuses of party struructur, so they have delegates toto the democrcratic national committee.

state voters, mostly republicans, pulled off a coupup were they p put a tiny announcement in a newspaper there was going to be a dnc meeting, which satisfied the requirement for a quorum. none of the previous dnc people showeded up, and they elected themselves to be thee dnc delegates. so they y reached out to tom m z and said, look, if you come out for statehood at some point, then we will give you the entire island's dnc votes for dnc chair. he w was currently runnig against keith ellison. ellison reached out saying, can you connect me to some islands and the iteris found out, well, there's been a coup. all of our people have been tossssed off. all of t these folks are now wih perez. the dnc had never i in the past come out with a position on statehood.

perez waited about six months the dnc chair race until he officially came out on behalf of statehood. outas actually him coming for statehood that was criticized by a former new york city councilwoman whoo w was thn called a puta in his telegram text messages by rossello. that was o one of f the key this that people were o objecting to windows textxtessages came out -- windows texext messages came out. in a bizarre way, goes back to thisis range dnc coup that helpd elevevate tom perez to become dc chair. amy: i want to thank you, ryan grim, for being with us, washington, d.c., bureau chief for the intercept. edited and wrote the introduction to a volume titled "the mueller papers" and the author of the new book "we've got people: from jesse jackson to alexandria ocasio-cortez, the end of big money and the rise of

a movement." when we come back, we go to todon where thousands took the streets yesterday to protest the new prime minister boris johnson. we will be back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: amy: "plastic machinery" by the charlatans. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: boris johnson was sworn in as the new british prime minister wednesday, pledging to deliver a swift brexit and spending his first full day in office thursday packing his cabinet with hard-line brexiteers. johnson address the house of commons for the first time earlier today. brexit on the 31st of october for the purpose of uniting and reenergizing our great united kingdom and making this country the greatest place on earth. nermeen: boris johnson's election was the first time that a party's membership directly chose the prime minister. the membership of the conservative party who voted for johnson represents less than 1% of the british population.

johnson, who previously served as mayor of london and foreign secretary, replaces outgoing prime minister theresa may. half of may's cabinet have resigned or been pushed out since johnson was named prime minister. amy: boris johnson is a highly contentious figure in the united kingdom who has built his career on controversy. he is a close ally of president donald trump known for outrageous political gafaffes. he has vowed to cut taxes for the rich and positioned himself as a friend to big banks. this is jeremy corbyn addressing the house of commons after boris johnson's initial remarks earlier today. >> no one underestimates this country, but the country -- country is deeply worried that the new prime minister overestimates himself. he inherited a country that has been held back by nine years of austerity.

anddren -- hit young people children the hardest. the youth centers have closed. school funding cut, college budgets/. and with the help of the liberal tripled., fees have housing costs are higher than ever. their jobs are lower paid. opportunities and freedom have been takenen away. austerity was always a political choice, never an economic necessity. people do not trust this prime minister to make the right choices for the majority of the people in this country when he is also promising tax giveaways to the richest a big business, his own parties funders. amy: that is jeremy corbyn. thouousands marcrched throughh central london despite ththe

scorching heat wave. activists briefly blocked and from meeting with the queen by forming human chain in front of his motorcade. the demonstration was quickly dispersed by police. well, we go now to london where we're joined by ash sarkar, senior editor of novara media. shshe was in the streets of lonn at yesterday's protest. ash, welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. it was boris johnson himself his head back and something like 2016 that he is more likely to be decapitated by a flying frisbee ththan to become prime minister of england. your response and what this all means for your country? >> well, one can only hope about the flying frisbee thing. but i think that was a classic piece of boris johnson disingenuousness. he has candidly crafted a public persona for himself, which is ineffectual,ing,

but actually what it concealed is someone who is -- has always been a very ambitious man from when he was a little child, the first jockey ever wanted, was to be world king. he then went to eastern, one of the most prestigious private schools in u.k., and has produced crime ministers that have governed for 101 years of our parliamentary history. , anotherent to oxford engine for the elite. he very much feels entitled to power simply because of the circumstances of his birth, perhaps than actual he could do for the country. nermeen: as we mentioned, he was selected by an inventive small percentage -- and intestinal percentage and even among them, tory mps also i want to quote a has a toure -- group

martin fletcher writes -- "tory mps have watched johnson closed for years and they do test command. they know perfectly well and untrustworthy disorganized and egotistical charlatan h he is. can you explain why they nevertheless voted for him? why -- the tory selection process is a funny old beast. yet this battle royale where all of the candidates are voted on by the conservative mps. it is whittled down to just and those go head-to-head in the votes carried out by the membership. the reason why boris johnson got as far as he did through the parliamentary votes, even though he is incredibly disliked by a sizable number of his own mps, is because those mps are very, very scared at the moment of the fact their grassroots, their

core voters, but also their membership, have not been voting conservative, particularly in the last european parliament elections. they voted for the brexit party. they've also got another eye on jeremy corbyn who is either consistently you connect in the polls or just buy a couple of tippingo bring them -- into first place and there thinking they need someone who's got public recognizability in order to be jeremy corbyn. that is how humid it that far. in terms of why they would just like him, you just have to look at his record. he was sacked as the journalist of "the new york times" for making up quotes and then he spent about one billion pounds on the garden bridge which never happened, water cannon which was never used. as a foreign minister, he stumbled from one gaffe to the n fish made,endangered

it's that endangered a man who is still in an iranian prison. he is someone who time and again has shown a complete disregard for the standards set for those in public office. conversely, that is why a lot of the conservative grassroots quite like him because they see him as a maverick, someone who won't let the rules get in the way of getting something done. amy: so he is coming to power right nowow in an a absolutely critical juncture. you have the crisis with iran that it looks like the u.s. has now just ensnared britain in. irantook iran's tanker and took one of theirs. the tension is higher than it has ever been in years. he is s in charge. and you have him announcing a no don't brexit within 99 days. what does this mean on both parts? >> well, if you look at the state of government, not just

the ministry of defense, the ministry of education, ministry of justice, because of brexit, we have got a lot of ministerial real, and it meant that work with those departments hasn't really been done. so i'm not a big fan of militarism by any stretch of the imagination, but one example is you look at the amount of investment in the royal navy. the royal navy is the most significant of the armed forces for dealing with this conflict with iran. and some of britain's military capability for sininging into my donald trump and ratcheting up tensions, we have really -- we can't put our money where our mouth is. it's really does not help that are less defense secretary got sacked for leaking highly confidential information from the national security council, and then his replacement was only in place for 85 days, i

think it was, before she had to resign because of boris johnson coming in. there is a huge amount of governmental dysfunction across every layer of the government, every single department. and then you go to the business of the no don't brexit. boris johnson is ststill insistg hehe wants to get a deal from te european union. he's got a couple of problems in that regard, which is the one, the european union has said his idea of a deal is completely -- they will not countenance it. backif he tries to come with the same deal theresa may was able to negotiate and it was defeated three times, his own backbenchers will be up in arms about it will step and problem number three, he is in fact inherited a much weaker parliamentary majority than his previous theresa may. the fact is theresa may is no longer prime minister because

she lost her majority in 2017. and it meant she is been to be after to be on her flagship piece of legislation. because of external factors including the conservative mp being convicted of expenses fraud in another conservative mp who is currently being charged with three counts of sexual assault, boris johnson's a majority is even slimmer. he is going g to be in quite die straits. nermeen: can he be forced to call a general and -- an early general election? >> well, the mechanism for that happening because of something called a fixed term parliament act, which really is a dreadful piece of legislation, which has been specifically designed to prop up the week government, it means there would have to be a specifically worded motion of no-confidence in the government. and if that motion of no-confidence was passed by a simple majority, which means

half the mps plus one, then there would be 14 days in which someone else could form a different government. if that does not happen, then we go to a general election. the other method which we could have an early general election is by a two thirds majority of the house of commons. now, i have a feeling that boris johnson is looking at his options quite carefully. and rather than being forced into a general election by a motion that is put forward by one of the opposition parties, he just might go for an early general election himself. amy: ash sarkar, senior editor at novara media. we will do part 2 talk about taxing the rich and what will happen with the welsh election in august. go to democracynow.org for part 2 in our web exclusives. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

♪ hello. dpdplad to hahave you with us o "nhk newsline." it's 9:00 a.m. on friday in tokyo. i'm mikki yamamoto. north korea's says the lder oversaw the fires of a taqle weapon on thursday. state media adds the firing was a warning to south korea about bringing in new weapons and and carrying out military drills. north korea says kim was

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