08/27/19 08/27/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new yoyork, this is democracy now! >> the opioid crisis has ravaged the state of oklahahoma. it must be abated immediately. for this reason, i am entering an abatement plan that consists million to$572

remediate the nuisance. amy: in a landmark ruling, an oklahoma judge orders johnson & over foro pay half $1 billion contributing to the state's opioid crisis. this marks the first time a drug company has been held responsible for the crisis, which has led to more than 400,000 overdose deaths since 1999. we will get the latest. then to "kochland: the secret history of koch industries and corporate power in america." is theland in one sense history of one corporation, andd it hapappens to be one ofof the largest corporations in the indndustries. cokok this compa h has revenenues evey yeyear tt arare rger t than that of facebook, goldmdman sachs,, s beall combined.. it touches on most every aspect of modern life from energy to the food system to building materials. amy: following the death of

billionaire right-wing donor david koch, we look at how he and his brother charles koch transformed the american economy and political system from funding climate changege deniers to fighting organized labor. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a judge in oklahoma has found johnson & johnson helped fuel the state's opioid crisis and ordered the pharma giant to pay half $1 billion, $572 million. it's the first major ruling against a drug company as part of the opioid epidemic, which has triggered hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths around the country. although hailed as a victory, the damages are much lower than the $17 billion oklahoma had sought in the case. some 2000 other lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and

distributors are pending around the country. a massive federal lawsuit brought by almost 2000 cities, counties, , annanative ameriricn tribes is scheduled to begin in october. this is oklahoma attorney general mike hunter speaking after the ruling. >> johnson & johnson motivated by greed and avarice, is responsible for the opioid epidemic in our state. johnson & johnson will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addictions caused by their activities. at the end of the day, you can't sit in a corporate suite somewhere for the last 20 years an oversupply the country 10 times more of the struggle coming i in, and then you had 15 times more people dying frorom opioid overdoses. there is no quesestion in my mid these companies knew what was going on at the highest level. amy: johnson & johnson has vowed to appeal the ruling.

we'll have more on this story after headlines with mother jonenes repoporter juliaia luri. brazil is rejecting g a pledge y g7 n nations to prprovide $22 million to help combat the raging amazon wildfires. on m monday, brazil's far-rightt president t jair bolsonanaro acd french president emmanuel macron and other g7 world leaders of treating brazil like a colony or no-man's land. bolsonaro's chief-of-staff suggested the funds could be used for reforesting in europe instead. he also said macron had d no ple intervening after he failed to prevent t a destructive fire earlier this year that burned down a l large part of notre dae cathedral in paris. many have called out the g7 for not putting nearly enough resources towards the mountiting economic -- thehe mountnting disaster, with some noting that $1 billionon was raised wiwithin just two days of t the nototre e cathedral fire.. ththe disputbebetween presesides bolsonaro and mamacron took a personal turn after bolsonaro commented on an image posted by

a supporter on facebook suggesting macron was jealous of bolsonaro because his wife is 30 years younger than french first lady brigitte macron. bolsonaro's comment expressed amusement and read, "do not embarrass the guy." president macron called the comment incredibly disrespectful. in more news from brazil, federal prosecutors from the state of para have launched an investigation after revealing they warned the brazilian environment m ministry agriculturalists were planning a "fire day" in the amazon, but governrnment authorities did nothing to stop it. one farmer told a a local news site they y were planning the action to o send a message to president bolslsonaro that the only way they y could work was o clear the landnd by cutting down and burning treeees. some environmement officials say they requesteded help from the central govevernment oncnce they learned of the plan, but that they were ignored. public outrage over the record-breaking amazon fires has focused on bolsonaro's anti-environmental policies and his supporort for agribusisines, logging, andnd mining.

as the g7 summit wrapped up in france, trump yet again dismissed when the power as beieing effective, despite his n energy secretary touting energy source. pres. trump: we're the number one energy producer in the world. soon it will be by far the number one -- its tremendous wealth and lng is being sought after all of the world and we have more of it than anywhere else. i'm m not going to lose that we. i'm not going to lose it on dreams come on windmills. amy: president trump has falsely said previously windmills cause cancer. trump told a number of lies during his time at the g7. on monday, he claimed china called him to make a trade deal but china denies any calls took place. the white house had to clarify comments from trump claiming first lady melania trump had gotten to know north kokorean leader kim jong-il and extremely well. the white house press secretary confidessident trump

in his wife on many issues, including the details but strong relationship with chairman kim. while the first lady has not met him, the president feels like she has gotten to know him, too. tensions are mounting across the middle east following multiple air attacks ovover the weekend that were blamed on israel. hezbollah held funeral services for two fighters who died after two drones crarashed in beirut sunday.. lebanese p prime minister saadad hariri accused israel of violating lebanese sovereignty whilile president michel aououn likened the attack to a declaration of war. meanwhile, iraqi shiite leaders called for the u.s. to withdraw its troops in the country and said the u.s. bears responsibility for israeli airstrikes that targeted an iranian base in iraq over the weekend, killing at least one fighter. israel has only claiaimed responsibility for an attack on syria saturdayay, which they sad targeted an iranian-operated base that was preparing to launch a drone assault on israel.

in sudan, more than 60 people have been killed by major flooding, which has affected nearly the entire country. tens of thousands have been displaced and thousands of homes destroyed. the u.u.n. calleled the situatin sudan a humanitaanan emergencyc. torrrrential rains and flash floods are expected to continue until october. iran has sentenced journalist and activist marzieh amiri to 10.5 years in prison and 148 lashes, charging her with "collusion against national security, propaganda against the state, and disturbing public order." amiri was arrested along with other labor activists as they protested in tehran on may 1, international workers' day. the committee to protect journalists condemned the harsh sentence and said -- "iranian authorities are escalating their threats against journalists who report on economic issues amid the country's ongoing crisis. amiri's reporting on the economic hardships of iranian citizens is not a criminal act nor does it warrant this vindictive and violent response. she should be released immediately."

back in the united states states , 19 and the district of columbia sued monday to blocock the trump administrationon's recent move to roll back limits on detaining child migrants and migrant families. the 1997 flores agreement caps the jailing of migrant children and families to 20 days before they must be released or transferred to a licensed care facility. california's attorney general becerra said -- "this new trump rule callously puts at risk the safety and well-being of children. no child deserves to be left in conditions inappropriate and harmful for their age. we're taking the trump administration to court to protect children from the irreparable harm caused by unlawful and unnecessary detention." in new york city, the judge overseeing the case against accused sexual predator and former movie mogul harvey weinstein will allow three more accusers to testify against him. one of those is "sopranos" actress annabella sciorra.

the accusers will testify as "prior bad acts" witnesses, allowing prosecutors to get around statute of limitations on rape charges. also on tuesday, weinstein pleaded not guilty to two new sexual assault charges. weinstein's trial has been delayed to january. up to 30 women are expected to testify at a hearing tuesday against jeffrey epstein, the accused serial sexual predator who apparently took his own life in a manhattan jail cell earlier this month. u.s. district judge richard berman scheduled the hearing after prosecutors asked that he drop the case because epstein is dead. he said that he would offer survivors, prosecutors and epstein's lawyers a chance to speak. bradley edwards, a lawyer representing some of epstein's accusers, told nbc news the hearing marks a historic day for crime victims in the united states.

the nationonal hurricane c centr has issued a hurricane watch for puerto r rico todays trtropical stororm dorian moves for t island, , picking up strengt the e dominican repupublic alsos sued -- issued a warning. some still do not have solid roofs following hurricane maria. the electrical grid also remains vulnerable to power outages. the u.s. and france have reached a compromise on a new french digital services tax the targegs internet giantnts like google,, amazon, facebook, and apple. under the deal, france would repay those companies the difference between its digital tax and taxes levied under an upcoming mechanism set by the organization for economic cooperation and development. french president emmanuel macron said that france will eliminate the 3% tax as soon as an international agreement on didigital taxation is reached. in newark, new jersey, protesters came out tuesday to

call for action in the face of the city's mounting water crisis. they demonstrated in front of the prudential center where mtv was hosting its annual video music awards. police made several arrests as protesters chanted, "we want our water clean! we don't want no mtv!" earlier in the day, new jersey officials announced a plan to replace newark's pipe system within 24-30 months. essex county will take out a loan to complete the project, which the city of newark will reportedly have to pay back at a cost of $6.2 million per year over 30 years. studies show newark's water has some of the highest levels of lead contamination in the country. meanwhile, inse e the ardsds remony p star taor s swi , won video of t y year r heher songngyou need to calm down." the video featur c cameofromom well-known lgb f figur andnd endorses theququalitact,t, which, if paed, woulamamend civil rightsawaws toxplicitl

proteclglgbtq oplele ainst discriminaon. this is s taylor swift accepting her award. >> at the end of this video, there was a petition, and there still is a petition for the equality act. which basically just as we all deserve equal rights under the law. i want to thank everyone who signed that petition because it now has half a million signatures, which is five times the amount it would need to warrant a response from the white house. amy: supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg was presented with an honorary degree by the state university of new york in buffalo monday evening. it was her first public appearance since she recently completed a a three-week c courf radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer.r. it was her fourth battle with cacancer. her doctors say she does not require further treatment for now.

this is ruth bader ginsburg accecepting the award. >> it was beyond my wildest imagination that i would onene y becocome the tottori is rbg. for the first time in history, it became possible to urge before courts successfully that reqequiresce under law all arms of government to regard women as persons eququal in stature twoo men. and indonesia knows plans monday to relocate its capital city from jakarta to the island of borneo post jakarta, which is home to over 30 million people, has been steadily sinking into the java sea. a study found that over a quarter of the city will be under water within the next 10 years. excessive extraction of

groundwater and poorly managed environmental policies have led to jakarta's surface water resources becoming polluted and unfit for consumption. rising sea levels from climate change further compound the issue. this is indonesian president joko widodo announcing the planans. >> the ideal location for the new capital is part of it in part in the north and part in the e east province. the place has a minimum risk of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunami,, forest fires, volcanoes, and landslides. secondly, , the location is strategic as it is located in the center of indonesia. and thirdly, it is close to the other developed cities. amy: moving indonesia's political center will cost an estimated $33 billion in construction and infrastructure projects.

it is not clear what will happen to the millions of jakarta residents at risk of losing their homes and livelihoods as jakarta is submerged in coming years. conservationists warn the plan could threaten borneo's tropical rainforests if efforts aren't made to respect protected areas and the area becomes over-developed. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in a landmark ruling, an oklahoma judge has ordered johnson & johnson to p pay $572 million for contributing to the oklahoma's opioid crisis. oklahoma district judge thad balkman announced the ruling on monday. anthe opioid crisis is imminent danger and menace to oklahomans. my judgment includes funding the fact and conclusions of law that the state met its burden that the defendants johnson &

johnson's misleading marketing promotion of opioids created the nuisance as defined by 50 os section1, including the finding those actions compromised the health and safety of thousands specifically,-- defendants caused an opioid crisis that is evidenced by increased rates of addiction, overdose deaths, and neonatal absent syndrome in oklahoma. this is a temporary public abated. that can be as i just stated, t the opioioid crisis hahas ravaged the state f oklahoma. it must be abated i immediately. for this reason, i'm entering an abatement plan that consists of tots totaling 572 million

immediate or mediate the nuisance. amy: oklahoma judge thad balkman speaking on monday. johnson & johnson has vowed to appeal the ruling. this marks the first time a drug company has been held responsible for the opioid crisis, which has triggered more than 400,000 overdose deaths since 1999. according to court documents, more than 6000 people have died of painkiller overdoses in oklahoma alone. the state of oklahoma had sought a $17 billion judgment but oklahoma attorney general mike hunter still celebrated the ruling. >> today judge balkman has affirmed our position that johnson & johnson motivated by greed and avarice, is responsible for the opioid epidemic in our state. johnson & johnson will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addiction caused by ththeir activivities. there is no question in my mind that we had to bring this case,

that it had to be tried, that these facts had to see some light. that has been accomplplished he. at the end of the day, you can't sit in a corporate suite somewhere for r the last 20 yeas an oversupply the country 10 times more this s drug wasas cog in, and then youou had 15 times more people dying from opioidd overdoses. so there's no question in my mind that these companies was going on at the highest level. they just could not quit making money from it, and that is why they are responsible. amy: the oklahoma ruling sets the stage for the more than 40 states that are currently pursuing similar claims against the pharmaceutical industry lawsuits targeting drug makers and distributors. a massive federal lawsuit brought by almost 2000 cities, counties, and native american tribes is scheduled to begin in october. well, for more, we go now to san francisco, california, where

we are joined by julia lurie, a senior reporter at mother jones. her new article "johnson & , johnson was just found liable for fueling the opioid epidemic in a historic trial." julia lurie, welcome to democracy now! you have been following this trial very closely. talk about the significance of the ruling. >> so this ruling is huge. this is the first time that a case like this has gone to trial. honestly, we did not know what was going to happen. there's not really a precedent like this for a pharmaceutical company being held liable for its role in this crisis. so you had all of this evidence that was being put out over the past several weeks and still we did not know how the judge was going to come down. thehehe news yesterdayy that state was going to be receiving millions of dollars from johnson & johnson was really impressive.

and at the same t time, the stae had requested a lot more money. it is definitely i think a mixed bag, but overall, it sets the tone for future cases like this -- of which there will be manan. amy: it is not as if this was the only drug company that contributed to the opioid crisis. but to other companies, purdue , had settledva with oklahoma before at less than well under half the amount that this judge has now found johnson & johnson liable for. correct. johnson & johnson was basically the state gamble that could not find a single company, namely johnson & johnson, liable for the entirety of the opioid crisis. that their role was so miniscule that they would not be found responsible. and that strategy really ended up backfiring because as you

said, they ended up paying far more than purdue and teva combined. amy: on monday, , johnson & johnsoson's attorney sabrina strong about it to a appeal the ruling. >> we have sympathy for all who buter from substance abuse, johnson & johnson didid not caue the opioid abuse crisis here in oklahoma or anywhere in this country. we d do not believe that the fas or the law supports the decision today. we have many strongrounds foror to pursued d we intend those vigorously. amy: that is johnson & johnsns's attorney sabrina strong vallen to appeal the ruling. main lurie, one of the

arguments of johnson & johnson's, we did not prescribe these drugs, doctors did. that is true and at the same time, johnson & johnson played a big role in getting those doctors to prescribe these doctors. what we now know from the evidence that was laid out in this trial was that johnson & johnson was a pharmaceutical company that went about a massive and misleading and false advertising, effectively marketing campaign, in which they had sales representatives target high-volume prescribers. so doctors they knew would be amenable to prescribing more and more opioids and encouraging those doctors to prescribe higher doses of opioids, and also trying to convince folks -- doctorors and patients alike -- that these were safe and effective drugs, that addiction was not a problem, that it was perfectly fine to take them at high doses for a long.

of time. one of the things they came out over the course of this trial was that johnson & johnson representatives, sales representatives, may i think 150,000 calls just across the state of oklahoma, sales calls, to dococtors, pushing them to prescribe these opioids. it is correct that ultimately the doctors are the ones prescribing these drugs, however, johnson & johnson played a huge role in influencing those doctors. and another thing we know that johnson & johnson did was patients,e pain advocacy groups specifically, advocating on behalf of pain patients. went a message is coming from a doctor or from a patient advocacy group, it seems much more trustworthy than a message coming from a pharmaceutical company. they leverage those messaging techniques.

as a result, the prescribing of opioids in oklahoma and across the country skyrocketed. amy: oklahoma also argued that johnson & johnson targeted young children in its efforts to expand opioids market. ththe state compared the c com's recruiting tactics to those of the tobacco industry. julia, tell us more. >> so it seems like there was no population that was sort of off-limimits for johnsonon & jon to basically push these opioids on to. perspective, it makes sense. if you can get more people hoped on these drugs, especially people from a younger age, then yoyou'll have lifetime customer, as it were. hohowever, as we know, thesese s are extraordinarily addictive and ththere are all sorts of negagative effectsts prescribing these drdrs.

we have all of this mamarketing ininformation now that if you ae just taking g an economimic perspective, you would say, oh, yeah, target as many populations as you can. target people with canancer pai, noncancer pain, target old people, young people. in reality, that kind of targrgeting has dedevastating consnsequences. piece not arote a little while ago called "inside johnson & johnson's quiet domination of the opioid market." explain how he johnson & johnson was and how this market and the epidemic developed simultaneously. how do they do it? there is so much that is not known about the way these companies operate with their secret documents that now come out in trial. >> sure.

the company's role was multipronged. on the one hand, they had her own opioid products they were selling and marketing and they had a whole salesforce of folks who are going to doctors and encocouraging doctors to prescre those medications. but also, andnd this is somethig that i think mosost people don't know about johohnson & johnson, johnson & johnson had two subsididiaries t that were responsible for manufacturing the majority of active ingredients in opioids that were markrketed and s sold in the und states - -- not just johnson & johnson opioids, but all sorts of opioids. so the way they did this was back in the 1990's, they had type of opioid used i in a lot of pain killers. back in the 1990's, they wewere able to connect with what is now

purdue pharma to basically say, look, we have all of these poppies, this active ingredient, and we can help you to make this we canpainkiller and supply as much of it as you want. ovover the years, johnson & johnson subsidiaries ended up providing pharmaceutical companies across t the country with 60% of the active ingredients that are in painkillers. on the one hand you have johnson & johnson with its own painkillers and with itsts own sales force, but they also were quietly playing this massive role in providing the entirety of the united states and itits pharmaceutical companies with the active ingredients that ined up in painkillers medicine cabinets all across the country. amy: i want to ask about pururde pharma's role in the opioid crisis. again, they settled earlier and did not go to trial in oklahoma.

earlier today, the investigative news organization propublica published a previously unseen video of dr. richard sackler giving a deposition in a 2015 lawsuit in kentucky. the company waged a three-year legal battle to keep this video secret. , ter allg here tod u have ce to lea as a witness,o you beeve pdue' coniin markeng and pmoting oxycontiin kentuy cause any of therescriptn drug addictio probls now plagug thcommonweth? i don't belie so. >> sitti your toy after l yocome to arn to w is as a witnes do bieve produ has d to excsive or necessar amou ofpioids been located througho the comnwnwealtof keuckyky? >> i don't beeve so.

do belie that a of rdue's conduchas led an crease ipeople bng addicted in the commononwealth f kentucky? >> no. sacklert is dr. richard the makerpharma, of oxycontin, part of a deposition he gave. they did not want this video made public. julia lurie, as you listen to this for the first time, can you talk about the significance of his testimony in this affidavit? seemsthe one hand, it completely absurd that he would say that. and on t the other, that t mpany isis really step to those lines that we are not responsible for this crisis and are responsible for this overdose crisis. in that way it is very on brene.

with t this crisis overall it is complicated d because you have o many differerent companies that were playing a role in this from purdue pharma and johnson & johnson another from suitable companies to the pharmaceutical distributors who were responsible for taking pills pharmaceutical companies s and disturbing themo pharmacies across the country. and then you have the pharmacies who were not responsible with making sure that these pills got into the right hands. you have doctors who were overprescribing. there are so many places where the system failed. purdue has basically stuck to the line, look, we just man asin your desk manufactured one drug, how can we be responsible for this entire crisis that is subsequently unfolded? nextso you now have the series of lawsuits -- we are talking about thousands and thousands of lawsuits. one case that is going forward in cleveland in october is

actually 2000 lawsuits brought together brought by cities, coununties, and native american tribes. talk about the significance of this coming up and what this trial and verdict means for the cleveland trial. >> sure. over the past few years, municipalities -- cities or counties or tribalal lands -- hs been paying financially for the cost of this crisis. it is very, very expensive to put people in treatment, that the emergency services necessary when someone overdoses, down the urts that folks go to when they're dealing were using drugs. for all of those things they take a lot of money and a lot of counties are struggling. they do not have the financial means to deal with this or it is cutting into budgets that they had for other things. so over the years, a number of places has sued pharmaceutical companies for causing this

crisis and basically said, look, you're costing us all of thihis money, costing us is widespread devastation, and you need to pay up and be responsible for this. so a lot of those cases have been sort of rolled together into one big multidistrict litigation that is going to trial in october. this is going to be a huge case. like you said, it is about 2000 municipalities suing, and there are a ton of defendants. a lot of from suitable companies as well as distributors. just pharmaceutical companies as well as distributors. a number will come out during this trial will stop we don't know yet where things stand, it some places are going -- if some defendants are going to settle, if this is going to lead some companies into bankruptcy, if it is not when you be a big deal. we don't know. what we do know is this trial that just happen in oklahomoma

ne and precedent for what this multidistrict litigation could be like. forklahoma, the lawyers oklahoma, the prprosecutors, w e was ally saying that this public nuisance. they were basing their argument on the idea that the public nuisance that was created by johnson & johnson was so expensive, the company had to pay up. that is a strategy -- we did not know if that was when a up in court or not. in this one case it did. and it is expected that the lawyers for the defendant in the multidistrict lilitigation wilil also stick to that strategy. amy: just t to be clear, this ws a nonjury case. this was a judge who made this decision. these pharmaceutical companies, it seems, are terrified of a jury of someonone's peers, of a victim'ss peers.

>> correct. the multidistrict litigation will be a jury. they will have a jury in that case. you julia lurie u.n., thank for being with us, senior reporter at mother jones. we willing to your new piece "johnson & johnson was just found liable for fueling the opioid e epidemic in a historic trial." when we come back, following the death of billionaire right-wing donor david koch, we look at how he and his brother charles transformed the us economy and political system from funding climate change deniers to fighting organized labor. we will speak with the author of a new book "kochland: the secret history of koch industries and corporate power in america." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.. i'm amy y goodman. we turn now to look at the legacy of billionaire conservative donor david koch who died on friday at the age of 79 from prostate cancer.

david koch, whwho was worth some $42 billion, and his brother charles koch poured massive amountnts of money into right-wg and libertarian causes over the past four decades, i including funding climate change denial through conservative think tanks and politicians. the koch brothers founded the political advocacy group americans for prosperity in 2004, which is credited with turning the tea party into a full-fledged political movement. the kochs also backed right-to-work efforts, which aim to weaken labor rights and quash union membership. the brothers made their fortune running koch industries, the second largest privately held company in the united states. they were oil barons. just last week, the business journalist christopher leonard published a major new book examining the business dealings of the koch brothers. it is titled "kochland: the secret history of koch industries and corporate power in america."

he just wrote a piece for "the new york times" headlined "david koch was the ultimate climate change denier." christopher leonard joins us now from kansas city. -- don't we start there with it wasn't really a synopsis of the book in any way because this is a tome --congratulations on writing it, chris -- by david koch was the ultimate climate change tonight. if he is one individual, that is his business. at this affected the entire country. explain what kochland is and how he and his brother had such a massive effect on the issue of climate change and denialism in this country. >> i will and maybe to start we could back up and look at the corporate empire that made david and charles koch the richest, some of the richest people in america. they own this privately held firm in wichita, kansas, for

decades, koch industries. koch industries is one of the largest corporations in america. its annual sales are bigger than , u.s.ok, goldman sachs steel combined. the kind of businesses that underpin civilization. you could not boycott koch industries if you wanted to. the company makes fuel people used to drive to work host of a mix of building materials and office building from the windows to the carpet and the material in our clothing like lycra, spandex, nylon, the stuff in diapers and exercise clothing. fertilizer,rogen one of these products must people don't think they even use but it is the bedrock of our modern food system. what you see is this corporation , it is sort of quietly working the gears and levers that make modern society work. and the results have been tremendously profitable for david and charles koch as they have owned t this company was up together the brothers own 80% of

the firm before david koch passed away last week. the important thing you asked me about is climate denial in the political impact of his empire. it traces back to the fact that charles and david koch for decades have been patiently working to reshape american politics. their brothers -- the best term you could probably use for them is libertarian. they hold a very vehement antigovernment view. they truly believe society needs to be organized as a marketplace with only privately run roads, hospitals, insurance. they don't believe in social security or medicare. they haven't steadily pushing back government regulations -- they have been steadily pushing back government regulations and programs like that. a primary concern to them is any the effofort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions because koch industries is deeply involved in the fossil fuel business.

it owns oil refineries, pipelines, trades global energy supplies around the world. and decades ago, this company realized that if the government regulates greenhouse gas emissions or even puts a price on emitting carbon into the sky, koch'sld really hurt profits for decades to come. the company has been, i think, unique and vitally important in derailing any action on climate change going back to the early 1990's. carbon you talk about being at the heart of koch's business and also koch's future. you talk about the refineries and how they built them around the country him and then the political wing of their operation, if you will, and having to ensure that carbon is not regulated. explain what they built.

absolutely, i will. i would like to say this came -- i did an interview a few years ago the former senior lobbyist to koch industries. i said, what got you up in the morning? what was your front burner issue? the answer was carbon. this is what motivated the company. fossil fuels put gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions into the sky every year for free, essentially. the cost of that pollution will be borne by society for decades. it is what we call in the business community in extra nalley. you get to externalize the cost of that pollution. if a prices put on a pollution, it changes the entire economics of fossil fuels production in the victory to companies like koch industries, exxon mobil, chevron is that this could hurt inand for fossil fuels future decades.. when that happens, all of these investments you have, billions of dollars sunk into oil refineries and pipelines, that investment becomes less and less

valuable as demand for fossil fuels falls. it is not easy to change american public policy. that i learned reporting this book. and koch industries and charles and david koch have been remarkably smart, patient, and strategic in their approach to affecting u.s. policy. they built this machine to do it that is unrivaled in corporate america. when i started reporting this book, i thought it was going to be writing about campaign donations and super pacs. boy, was i wrong. the real action always starts the day after the election. that is where koch industries has its real expertise and that shaping public policy. to do that, koch as one of the largest corporate lobbying organizations in the u.s., located about a block from the u.s. white house. then it funds and support the consolation of think tanks and

washington, d.c., like the cato institute or the american energy alliance. what these groups do is they cede the ground in washington ideas made mainstream. they helped force the conversation, should the conversation. along with that, you have this network of campaign donors who cyclen an election sometimes give more money to political campaigns than the actual political parties themselves. hundreds of millions of dollars to entice politicians to embrace the koch point of view. and then finally, perhaps most importantly, koch has built a nationwide activist network called americans for prosperity. what this is is a boots on the ground operation. so americans for prosperity has chapters around the country. they can activate people to go knock k on doors, take petition, charter buses from was virginia, north carolina, missouri, you

name it, they will get buses and angry voters to come to washington, d.c., then go visit congressional offices that have been specifically identified by the big corporate lobbying shop where they can pressure lawmakers. koch put his political machine into full force. in 2009 and 2010 when it look like the u.s. was what a regular greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. back then there was bipartisan support to do something on climate change. the republican john mccain ran on doing something about climate change. but koch industries intervene and i think more than even at on or other companies -- exxon or other companies, a politicized the issue of climate change. koch went after any moderate republican whoho acknowledged climate change was ruled, supported in the effort to put a price on carbon. koch helped drive those people

out of office. it played a vitally important role in making it clear to republicans that they could not support any effort on clclimate change. topus?he koch >> in 2009 we were debating climate change, by book showed koch secretly supported a think tank report. regulatert said if we climate change, it will be a disaster for the american economy. d think tank-funde took the findings from that report, made political ads, targeted those ads at republican politicians like lindsey graham who supported climate change legislation -- so now lindsey graham has these horrible campaign spots running back home . in the corporate lobbyist from koch will be visiting offices of lindsey graham and explaining why they cannot support the climate change bill. s is this 360 degree

machine that affects the public debate around issues like this that have lobbyist who work on issues like this, and that can finally bring voters in, america's for prosperity -- i've been at these events where they bust voters into washington, d.c., give them glossy print to protest signs, be them a boxed lunch, take them to the congressional offices and they can stoke what appears to be a real public revolt against legislation like this. politicalpus, influence mission, really reflects koch industries business itself. it is involved in the granular complicated business of running our country that is sort of below the surface, and they are truly masters of operating complex systems whether it is pipeline networks or political

operations in congress. amy: chris leonard, we have to break. i want to ask you about -- well, there's a particular chapter where you talk about warehouse operations where they are tracking workers activity down to the minute and how they dealt with union organizingng i also want t to ask you about w they gained their wealth off of native american tribes in some of the people almost went to jail for it. christopher leonard is a business reporter and the author of the new book "kochland: the secret history of koch industries and corporate power in america." stay with us.. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. david koch d died last week of

prostate cancer. well-known right-wing donor, major climate changed in their along with his brother charles koch. they are the subject of a new book that was written by christopher leonard, our guest today called "kochland: the secret history of koch industries and corporate power in america." so let's go to that chapter on sorkers and how the koch tracked the workers. one of the big questions i wanted to explore going into this book is, why have middle-class americans been treading water economically for so long? we live in a country now were the economy can grow for 10 years, as it has for over the last decade, but most middle-class americans h have nt advanced economically. they of not kept the gains of the hard work. i was curious as to why that is the case. you cannot ignore the fact that labor unions in this country have gone from 33% of employees down to 7%.

the book shows labor unions sure as heck were not perfect. there were problems back in the 1970's. some union bosses were corrupt. they used violence and intimidation. but when you fast for two today and see with the world looks like when labor unions have become truly broken and marginalized, you see ththis picture that i think is frankly disturbing. kochnt years reporting on industries distribution center in portland, oregon, which is georgia pacific division. i interviewed many of his warehouse workers who had been there since the 1970's. they described a working life that is increasingly grueling and difficult. after koch bought this, they used the labor management system that tracks the warehouse workers every second of the day. they login at t work and the computer tells them where to go and what to do for the 10 hours there on the shift until they are done. not only that, but it tracks how quickly they are doing their

job. what koch industries would do for years is it would publicly post these rankings of the employees with green tea are doing the best, yellow in the middle, and the red doing the worst. if you performed at the bottom of your coworkers, you would be disciplined or even fired. what this did was it sort of systematically divided workers and made them compete against each other -- which went directly against the strength of the labor union, which is everyone bargaining together and having solidarity. you see a gram richer in this warehouse. i interviewed a woman named deborah roberts who was forced to work 30 days in a row without a day off. on the 30th day when she was told she would finally get a day off, she broke down in tears she was so exhausted. i obtained the labor contracts of these employees going back to the 1970's.

i had an outside compensation exexpert look at thesese labor contracts. what he told me is that these employees are earning less money today than they did back in the adjust for you inflation. you see this picture of american workers being swapped by this pressure to increase productivity and increase profits and having less and less controrol over ththeir working . amy: christopher leonard, how ..ey made their wealth in many caseses, it was off the tribes. native american explain their business model and why native american reservations were so important to them. >> so this is a pretty remarkable story from koch's early years. this company has always been deeply involved in the f fossil fufuel business. back in the 1980's, koch was the largest collector of crude oil in the u.s. that means koch was the company

that will go to an oil well, collect it, and deliver it to market. what u.s. senate investigators discovered and the fbi discovered in the late 1980's was koch industries was systematically underreporting how much oil it gathered. to put it in simple terms, koch would show up at the well, take 100 barrels of oil, and leave a little ticket is headed had really taken 98 barrels of oil. it is getting two barrels without paying for it. formerviewed senior koch vice president or the oil gauger who collected the oil. i.e. reviewed -- i reviewed transcripts from senior koch executives. what it clearly showed is for years koch was systematically taking oil without paying for it. koch officials admitted in court they reaped roughly $10 million in profit a year from oil they

did not pay for. amy: so they stole theoil. >> i use the word stole the oil in my book. i think you take something without paying for it, it is still in. the public relations department disputeded that and we settled n thee term taking without paying for it. in the book i do say oil theft. the people i interviewed on the record told me they did it with prior knowledge. they knew they were taking oil without paying for it. again, it was a small percentage that it always made sure koch was on top. they put this on the scale and took enough to always be on top. what is so illuminating about this is it is a very complex this oil collection. you can never quite measure oil perfectly. koch when they were in a gray area like this, they would push her to the absolute limit. and often evade accountability

for actions like that. amy: so criminal charges brought were avoided, and how was that used as a model for how they operated in the future? >> the united states senate investigated this and just categorically showed koch stole oil as a set innocent report. the case was then shifted to the u.s. attorney's office in oklahoma city in 1989. i interviewed the senior investigators on that case. investigators were convinced koch had broken the law. they were trying to push the case higher. the case eventually fell apart. a big part of that was in 1989, koch industries realized they needed to become more politically engaged. charles koch was a libertarian. you try to let washington do it thing, but he realizes if he did not have a large political apparatus, he could be the target of investigations like this. this was when koch really build

the political network. koch began lobbying senators like kansas that then senator kansas bob dole. they begin actually lobbying the native american comommunities ad ofvincing the local leaders the osage community that coke had not stolen oil. osage leaders like troll jim and said koch and not stolen oil and then koch's political apparatus would amplify that an washington, d.c. i was told later that he regretted the same as because he really later realized koch had stolen oil. these little efforts helped cloud the picture and painted the federal prosecutors as being overzealous. you didn't see the beginnings of the playbook of this multifaceted 360 degree political effort that seeks to change the public conversation, lobby lawmakers, and help sort

of pushed the regulatorsrs back off the plate, if you will. amy: chris, i want to get to a, t made in your book in many ways es more of a post threat. >> donald trump has a different vision. it is this america first vision. donald trump has been clear he will intervene in markets. the koch political knower knows if donald trump wins reelection, he will shape the republican party for a generation. we will have in america first republican party, not a libertarian public party. that is why you see this tug-of-war between koch and trump. trump's efforts to deregulate, but fighting him onn his other fronts. who knows where this will end up. amy: we will do part two and post it online at democracynow.org.

, christopher leonard, author of the new book "kochland: the secret history of koch industries and corporate power in america." is a business reporter whose works appeared in "the washington post" fortune am a bloomber businesweek. this is mocracy w! thank u for joing us.

herman: i can only make about four steps forward before i touch the door, and if i turn in an about t face atat any place in this cell, i'm gonna bump into something.

i'm in the cell for 23 hours a day. i'i'm usesed to it, a and tt'