02/13/20 02/13/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> times up. times up on blaming drivers. times up on empty apologies without consequences. and times up on the pervasive culture of silence that has enabled abusers like weinstein. amy: closing arguments begin today in the trial of accused sexual editor movie mogul harvey

weinstein who faces up to life in prison if convicted. we will get the latest on the trial and speak to louise godbold who wrote a blog post titled "my encounter with harvey weinstein and what it tells us about trauma." then to canada were jojor antiti-peline protest her broken out acssss the country solidarity with wet'sut't' land defders fightg transcanada's 400 mile, $4.7 billion coastal gaslink pipeline. > we e here for humanity, f life. we a unarmed. we are pceful. yoare kills! mania!enocida guns inted at us .

amy: plus, did democratic presidential candidate amy klobuchar help send an innocent teenager to life in prison when she was ada? the minneapolis naacp and black lives matter twin cities are calling for her to suspend her presidential campaign following a shocking investigation. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. attorney general william barr is slated to testify before the house judiciary committee on march 31 as calls mel for his resignation after he intervened to lessen the justice department sentencing recommendation for president trump's longtime campaignd former manager roger stone. earlier this week, four federal prosecutors withdrew from the stone case and one resigned from his job entirely after senior

justice department officials demanded stone receive a shorter prison sentence than the initially recommended seven to nine years, even though the sentence range was based on federal sentencing guidelines. attorney general barr's intervention came after trump went on a late-night twitter rampage attacking federal prosecutors and calling the initial sentence a miscarriage of justice. after the intervention, trump "eeted in praise of barr, congratulations to attorney bill barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought." this comes as a judge has indefinitely postponed the sentencing former national security advisor michael flynn even though flynn has already pleaded guilty to lying to fbi agent's. and trump's former chief of staff general john kelly is now criticizing trump. during a speech i drew

university in new jersey, slamming the president over his policies on an array of issues including north korea, immigration, military discipline, and ukraine. in china, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus is skyrocketed thursday after authorities changed the diagnostic criteria for counting new cases of the deadly virus. the number of infections in hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, soared to nearly and set a new daily record. people have 1400 died in china so far. one of the world's largest trade shows, the mobile world congress in barcelona, spain, has been canceled amid fears of the virus's spread, which the world health organization says poses a grave threat to the world. democratic presidential candidate michael bloomberg has released his tax p plan, under which he would pay nearly $5 billion less under his wealth tax than he would under senators

bernie sanders's proposal. that's according to a cbs analysis, which found bloomberg's plan would also generate far less government revenue then sanders' plan. this comes as bloomberg continues to face questioning about newly surfaced audio in which he defends the new york city police department's controversiaial stop-and-frisk policies in 2015 at the aspen institute. this is bloomberg being questioned by reporters about the audio wednesday. >> i don't think those words reflect how i led the most diverse city in the nation, and i apologized for the practice and the pain that it caused. >> but why did you say it? >> it was five years ago. you know, it is just not the way i think and it does -- it doesn't reflect what i do every day. amy: "new york times" columnist charles blow writes in a new opinion piece -- "what bloomberg did as mayor amounted to a police occupation

of minority neighborhoods, a terroristic pressure campaign, with little evidence that it was accomplishing the goal of sustained, long-term crime reduction. no amount of democrats' anti-trump fear and panic will ever erase what bloomberg did. if democrats cast aside all of these candidates in favor of bloomberg and his wealth, i fear they will be making it harder to defeat trump in november." the united nations human rights office has released a list of more than 100 companies linked to the jewish only settlements in the israeli-occupied west bank, which are illegal under internnanananal naw. the long-awaited report included 94 companies basased in israel d 18 interernationalal companies, which is that are complicit in the violation of f lestiniansns humans rights.s. the companies include airbnbnb, the amererican israelili gas corporation, alta israel, the bank of jerusalem, expedia, general mills, tripadvisor, and

motorola. this is robert colville of the u.n. office for the high commissioner for human rights. >> the fact-finding mission highlighghd 10 sites of business activities as viewed as being of particular concern given the well-established illegal nature of the settlements in the occupied palestinian territory. anand their impact on the daily lives and the human rights of the palestinian people on whose land the settlements have been built and continue to be billed. amy: the u.n. port to static use the companies of violating international law, but does, ms. the global nonviolent boycycott, divestment, and suggest movement that calls f for the b boycotttf cocompanies l linked to the illl settlement. in mexico come outrage is growing over the murder of 25-year-old ingrid escamilla, who was stabbed to death and then mutilated and dismembered by her partner. her brutal killing comes as feminist activists have been protesting against the high rates of fememicides -- that's e murder of women -- across mexico. former guatemalan presidential candidate mario estrada has been

sentenced to 15 years in prison by a u.s. court after he was convicted of plotting to work with mexico's sinaloa cartel to import cocaine to the united states. prosecutors accused estrada of offering free access to guatemala's airports and maritime routes for smuggling in exchange for millions of dollars in campaign financing from the cartel. prosecutors also say estrada conspired to assassinate political rivals. he ran for president in 2018 with guatemala's center-rightht national change union party. the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill may have been 30% bigger than previously estimated. a new study published wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal science advances used three-dimensional computer simulations to track the spilled oil, finding the contamination reached the texas shore, the florida keys, the coast of tampa and parts of the east coast of florida. the 2010 bp oil spill was one of the worst environmental disasters in u.s. history, which killed 11 workers and dumped at

least 200 million gallons of oil into the gulf of mexico. a mamajor new study on air pollution found that new york state hahas the largest numbmbef premature deaths from out-of-state pollution. published in the journal nature, the study found that across the lower 48 states, about half of all premature deaths caused by poor air quality are linked to air pollutants that blew in from across state lines. the study also found commercial and residential emissions are now the leading cause of cross-state early deaths. in texas, the suspected shooter in the el paso walmart rampage that killed 22 people has pleaded not guilty. patrick crusius is facing more than 90 criminal charges, including federal hate crimes, for allegedly targeting latinos and mexicans in a racially motivated massacre. shortly before the august 3 shooting, crusius published a racist online manifesto echoing president trump's rhetoric about an invasasion of immigrants. he faces the death penalty. in north carolina, students and a professor at the university of

north carolina have won a legal victory in state court that reverses a settlement that would have allowed unc, the university of north carolina, to spend in $2.5 million university funds preserve the cononfedete monument kwnwn as ilenent m." protesters tore down t confederatmonumentn n 2018 amid a nioional ve o of oteststs against mbmbols racacisandd the confedery.y. isten clarke, prident ofhe lawyers' commieeee forivilil rightsndnder t lawaw, ich reprented thstudents, said the w ruling is "a rininder that we c't and d sint inn the face oininjuste oror toleratectctionshat t peetuatete dangerous racial ideogy." and aorrectio, ror stone s an advor to prident trump's campaig not his mpaign mager. and ose are me of th headnes. thiss democry now! decracynowrg, the r and peace report i'm amy odman. cling argunts are heduled begin tay in thtrial of accused sexual predator movie

mogul harvey weinstein. the jury is expected to begin deliberating on tuesday. weinstein faces five felonies putting rate, predatory assault based on his actions by two women. if convicted, he faces life in prison. the trial comes more than two years after initial accusations against the film producer were published in "the new yorker" and "the new york times," sparking the #metoo movement that swept hollywood and beyond. since then, more than 100 women have accused weinstein of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. weinstein has also been charged with rape in los angeles county. during the trial, six women told the jury in graphic detail about how weinstein had sexually assaulted them. weinstein did not testify but his lawyers described the sexual encounters as consensual. his legal team repeatedly attempted to discredit the claims of the women. last week, one of his accusers,

jessica mann, broke down and went into an apparent panic attack during questioning from weinstein's lawyers, forcing the judge to adjourn proceedings for the day. jessica mann was made to read past emails to a boyfriend, in which she disclosed she had been sexually assaulted before meeting weinstein. she accuses weinstein of raping her in new york and los angeles and said she had an "extremely degrading" relationship with him. while the trial centers on the accusations of two women, many other women who were victimized by weinstein have attended the trial. in early january, the actor rosanna arquette spoke outside the courthouse. >> as we stand here at the beginning of a new year and a new decade, times up. harassment inxual all workplaces. survivors. blaming times up on empty apologies

without consequences. and times up on the pervasive culture of silence that has enabled infuser -- abusers like weinstein. amy: we are joined now by two guests. here in new york j. clara chan, , media and politics reporter at "the wrap" where she's been covering the weinstein trial every day. and joining us in los angeles is louise godbold, the executive director of echo, which provides training to trauma survivors and those who support them. the group is hosting a conference for trauma survivors, including weinstein survivors, next month called "and still we rise." godbold wrote a blog post titled "my encounter with harvey weinstein and what it tells us about trauma." we're going to start with you, clara. you have been in the trial every day. if you can talk about the significance of this and exactly what he is being accused of. >> sure. as you mentioned earlier, this

is two years after the initial articles came out in "the new yorker" and "the new york times." and for so many cases, it is very rare for them to even make it to the trial stage, said that in and of itself is pretty historic. then of course, this is harvey weinstein, has become sort of the figurehead of part of the #metoo movement. that is pretty significant as a reporter sitting in my courtroom to see. there were five felony counts against him so that includes predatory sexual assault, first and third degree rate, and a forcible sexual act. amy: six women have testified but this case is particularly centered around two women. explain that. >> the two women are jessica mann and mary and her leg. jessica was a former aspiring actors at the time she met harvey once dean and miriam was a production assistant. essentially, even though the

jury has heard testimonies from a total of six women, the accounts of miriam and jessica form the basis of the charges against weinstein. so whether or not a jury finds the other women "credible or believable" remains to be seen but the charges were sort of specifically on their accusations. interestingly enough, anabella the first woman to testify, although her accusations fall outsiside the statute of limitations, or account is being used by the prosecutor to bolster the predatory sexual assault charge. amy: let's go to the testimony of jessica mann. explain what happened in court. >> i i think her testimony was e of the most -- included some of the most violent act as agents against weinstein. one being charged for a new york is that she has accused him of rate but for both of those accounts, she offered details that in many cases were

different from some of the other women in sort of violence that she's alleging that he used against her. so some of that included not letting her leave the room, slamming the door, taking her hand and forcing her to undress, andg injection in his penis not using protection when having sex with her. these are all things she is alleging her testimony. interestingly enough, compared to the other women who have come forward, her testimony and cross-examination was one of the longest. it spanned over three days i believe. the cross-examination took two days. the first day, it had to be cut short early because she told prosecutors she was having a pain attack on the stand. it was one of the most emotional i think to witness from the audience. amy: and miriam, the other woman in the case? >> she was a production assistant. she grew up in stockholm and basically she had been an

assistant on "the project will runway" and her accusation is essentially that she had been invited to meet up with weinstein and his soho apartment. they seem to be having a normal conversation at first and then she has alleged that he sort of lunged at her, backed her into a bedroom, and then eventually orally sexually assaulted her. amy: i want to turn right now to what happened tuesday. weinstein's attorneys resting their case and saying their client will not testify in his own defense at his trial. >> mr. weinstein has been a very good client. we did not have to restrain him, but he was ready, willing, able, and anxious to testify to clear his name, to clear up the facts of the case. but the new york team advised him that he did not need to do that because the evidence presented in this case was

anemic at best and his name was not harvey weinstein, it was john doe, the manhattan district attorney's office would have never brought these charges. the prosecutor has failed miserably to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. amy: that is weinstein defense attorney arthur aidala. talk about the approach of the defense in dealing with his case and specifically what it means for harvey weinstein not to testify in his own defense. comed one, the defense has toward this case saying all of these interactions or incidents were consensual. what they have been trying to prove through cross-examination and with their own witnesses that they called when it was their turn was that at the time, these women had consensual relationships with weinstein but now years later they are somehow relabeling or reimagining the situation. to make the argument that this

defense has pointed to a number of emails between the accusers and weinstein that appear friendly, that after the alleged incidents happen, still showed them reaching out and try to contact weinstein. the prosecution on the other hand has tried to rebut this argument that they were consensual by bringing on expert witness, a doctor who testified in the bill cosby trial as well, and she was going to the logic of actually is a rather common response for survivors of sexual assault to want to stay touch with the alleged abusers. it is not uncommon for them to send friendly messages, to even have consensual sexual relationships with them after. it is this kind of juxtaposed dynamics between how the two teams are trying to portray these incidents that at the end of the day, we will see which side the jury ultimately sides with. amy: last month, the group "silence breakers" held a press conference outside the manhattan courthouse ahead of harvey

weinstein's trial. the group represents more than 90 women who came forward to report weinstein's sexual misconduct. this is actress rose mcgowan. matter whatey, no lies you tell yourself, you did this. today, lady justice is staring down a super predator -- you. you brought this upon yourself by hurting so many. you have only yourself to blame. i came here today to see this through. i came here today to stand side-by-side with these other and toho you also harmed be a voice for the voiceless like i wasas for so long. you thought you could terrorize me and others into silence. you were wrong. we rose from your ashes. we rise together. amy: that is actress rose

mcgowan. ,e turn now t to louise godbold of echo, which provides training to trauma survivors and those who support them. the organization is hosting a conference for trauma survivors, including weinstein survivors, next month called "and still we rise." godbold wrote a blog post titled "my encounter with harvey weinstein and what it tells us about trauma." louise godbold, it is great to have you back. the first time we had you on talking about your experience and also focusing on trauma, and today that is what we want to focus on. this issue of trauma and how trauma victims respond. we just talked to clara chan testimonyica mann's and how she broke down as she was being questioned by the weinstein attorneys, having a kind of anxiety attack and the judge had to end the case at

that point, you know, just to give her space and then move on. talk about that response. >> well, it is hardly surprising, is it? unfortunately, the way that sexual assault cases are prosecuted in the criminal justice system, it is traumatizing from the get go. having to tell your story multiple times. the neurons in your brain fire when you are remembering something in the same way as if you are actually experiencing it. of course we know the difference between reality and remembering, but the body is going to react as if you were still under that same threat. you're still going to have that release of stress hormones. over a long period of time, that is really detrimental to your health. so if you think about it, your most frazzled moments, that is what is being repeated again and

again and again. the abuse that jessica suffered at the hands of harvey, the poor girl, my heart really went out to her. what you saw in the witness box was really a culmination of a series of re-traumatizing experiences. i know a couple of the people who have testified in a trial. of course they did not sleep the night before. on top of all of that, you have a hostile defense team who are throwing at you all of the worst possible motivations for your behavior and all of the names from the horrible voice in your own head has actually condemned you with. amy: you do not like the term "accusers," louise. explain why. >> it just makes it sound like a bunch of hair 10 standing around pointing bony fingers. the truth is, if we were reporting something like having

our purse snatched, we would not be called the present accusers. it seems to be a different standard when we are talking about sexual assault, especially when we are talking about rich and famous men who everyone is scared of. about theu can talk approach of the winds -- weinstein lawyers and the fact that harvey weinstein will not be testifying. a legal specialist, so i can't really say what that means and describe any significance to that one way -- amy: let me ask a question were specifically. the weinstein defense is pointing to the fact that these women kept in touch with harvey weinstein after their alleged attacks in an effort to discredit them. talk about that. certainly, in the case of jessica mann and others. >> i think it is really

egregious. the multiple motivations that people are ascribing to victims behaviors. here is what makes sense. and this is not speculation. this is from talking to survivors, harvey survivors. when the worst has happened, you try to mitigate the damage. and hardy held the key to the kingdom. and you do not want to have suffered sexual assault and then not be able to succeed in your chosen career. so it makes sense that -- there's nothing you can do, the worst has happened. you will try and make nice just to make sure that you don't lose everything. perspective,auma there are two other factors i would like to talk about. one is the forced survival response, which is rarely mentioned. we have fight and flight and freeze. but there's also a piece. and women, we produce oxytocin,

which is the love hormone. it happens under toxic stress. they did a study with abused teenage girls and found they have a much higher level of oxytocin, which is counterintuitive to what we had always known about trauma and toxic stress. so the effect of that oxytocin in your body, which is the same thing that gets released when a woman gives birth or during orgasm, is to bind you. we call that trauma bonding. you may know it as stockholm syndrome. you also have a biological imperative that is going on there in a psychological imperative called reenactment. you try to create the same situation and get a better ending. which makes a lot of sense to me . for example, jessica i know came from a very religious background. it must have made sense to her to try and put what happened in

the context of a relationship, but clearly, as harvey was so abusive, she could not even sustain that fiction in her head. amy: i want to ask about the cover of "new york magazine" with his very dramatic cover with the headline "100 women versus harvey weinstein." it is women all dressed in black. you are one of these women. arm in arm. can you talk about the making of this and the message that this sends, louise godbold. wasn't incredibly powerful experience. thank god for that because we are powerful, resilient women. we have bonded together and formed a sisterhood. and that is what i would really like to see celebrated. i resist the handwringing victim that we are often portrayed as.

i think this was a brilliant depiction of our strength, of our defianced of in the face ofof so many people who would shut us up. amy: can you talk about the suggestion of false memories? >> that one is hysterical. everybody in the trauma field is killing themselves laughing because it was such a misrepresentation of the research that has been done. first of all, trauma memory is stored in a different part of your brain and where you usually store memories. it is a very fragmented memory because this part of the brain is not designed to store memory. that is why you have vivid flashbacks, for example. thathat is lacking is chronological, coherent narrative that you would have in

normal memory. so people remember different beads and pieces at different times. that is quite normal. but nobody ever creates an entire false memory. and the research that was being ascussed is really within laboratory setting where, yes, somebody can be convinced that they remember a word that was on a list that they just read. but we are not talking about entire memories. amy: louise, or holding a conference of harvey weinstein survivors and others. talk about what you hope to accomplish in march and in los angeles where the next trial, by the way, will be taking place, the next rape trial against harvey weinstein against this one. >> it is a celebration. it is not just weinstein survivors. survivors, r. kelly survivors, trump survivors , you name it.

we have a survivor of aids, someone who is doing the nypd l andyft after gang rape. we have a lot of high profile trauma survivors who have all benefited from learning about trauma and resilience and they want to get back. our audience is usually a present women of color come up in people with very limited resources. so we are putting on this conference to share knowledge and skills that we have gainened as trauma survivors and experts within our various fields. in the idea is to inspire other trauma survivors to step in to the power and voice. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. louise godbold is the executive director of echo, which provides training to trauma survivors and those who support them. she wrote a blog post titled "my encounter with harvey weinstein and what it tells us about trauma." thank you so much to j. clara chan, media and politics reporter at "the wrap" where she's been covering the weinstein trial extensively.

thank you so much for stopping by before you had in for closing arguments in the manhattan courtroom today. when we come back, we go to canada where major anti-pipeline protest broken out across the country in solidarity with wet'suwet'en land defenders fighting transcanada's 400 mile coastal gaslink pipeline. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "tell me" by au revoire simone. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we go now to a major anti-pipeline struggle in canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with wet'suwet'en land defenders whose sovereign land in northern b british columbia was brutally raided last week d d overhe w weend by cadadian licece. dozens werararrest in n th da-long raid of undeded indigeno t terririeses, ere herediryry chis hahaveeen inin protracted battle to protect their land from the construction of transcanada's 400-mile, $4.7 billion coastal gaslink pipeline.

the raids took place about 700 miles noh h of vcouvuver this is a ndnd defderr nfronting armed lilice officecers last weweek. , for are here for humanity life. we are unarmed. we a peacefu you are kille! you are genocal mancs! you ve your gs popointed at us. amy: the raids havspsparke outrage across canada d the woworld. in o oario, a hawk s sidarity protest has ut down the canaan natiol railway for dadays, ltining avel f f tens of thousands ofasassengers. prime nister justin trudu calledor a qui resolutn to e protes on wednday. in fact, his o offices were occupied.. well, fofor more, we go to wet'suwet'en territory where

we're joined by land defender and matriarch molly wickham.m. her clan, the gidimt'en clan, was raided last week by 60 heavily militarized officers with assault rifles and dogs. and in toronto, we're joined by pamela palmater, mi'kmaw lawyer and member of the eel river bar first nation in new brunswick. chair of the indigenous governance at ryerson university. we welcome you both h to democry now! molly wickham, you are right there at the wet'suwet'en nation. can you talk about what is happening? explain what the conflict isis around this pipepeline. that hahas beent going on around this pipeline has been going on for years. master januauary 7 we were also raided with legal -- amy: royal canadian mounteted

police for the non-canadian audience. >> right. this is ththe second year inin w and actuallyly the raid happensn the exact same l location a year and a month after thehe raid tht happenedast year. this has been an ongoi battle but soso a bger r ise around indigenous sovereignty of ou nati.. we have a hereditary system that i in place that has never been extinguished. r r tradionanal vernanan systst is in place and this is a conflict between that goveance system and colonization andhe impositi of and in systems, actcame into the indian and are being us a again ourur own people to t and uermine our decision-mang and our inhentnt rig to make decisioions on protecting our territory.

amy: can you explain what happened during the most recen arrests of the matriarchs performing the ceremony for missing and murdered indigenous women? if you could talk about the wearing of the red dress has an exactly what happened. were you arrested as welell? happened, they are our neighbororing clan. c clans within the nation and each are responsiblbe for their own territory. they were e doing a ceremony because they havave a man cap tt is buiuilt on their territory, which is supposed to house 400 thatt 400 foreign w workers arare comingng from all didiffet andrts of so-called canada externally and they are e not fm our mmmmunity. we hava huhuge rate of murdered and ssining digenous women, especilyly in e north here

ere our territoryies. the highway that goeththroug our teititory called e highghway of trs becau o of th nunumb of murdered andissing indigenous women so they have been brininging attentiototo thafact that thesean camam bring increased rates of vionce, increased rarates murder ainsnst r men, increasedatates of domestic abusend vlence and drug abuse and aohol abuse in our mmunitie th is what they were perforngng there. i was not at the camp. i wa got arrested. i waonone of the ones arsted last yea currently, i am seven months pregnant andndasn't permitted to be out on our territory during the raids. amy: c can you talk about t whos coastall gaslink? what is this proroject? by tcs is a project owned energies.

they changeded their name aftetr lalast year. amy: that being transcananada? >> yes. they legallyly changed it to tc energy.. this project has beeeen ongoing for quite a while stop they have had different investors, mostly and theyall canada, jujust received investmenent, nw and thatt isy enco not quite finalid yet. but they are walking aigight linene iterms s companies that wa t to inst i in is proroct. lng canada is one of the bigge invemements. that is the terminal at is looking transpo and liquefy the natura gas where the fra ed gas. at project has not gotten n of the ground. erybody talks about it as if it is a done deal, but t the actual terminal itself has not been built.

amy: in ontario, a mohawk solidarity protetest has shut dn the canadian national railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. i want to turn to prime minister justin trudeau responding to the solidarity protests. >> we recognize the important democratic right and we will always defend it, peaceful protest. this is an important part of our democracy in canada. who we are also a country rule of law and we need to make sure those laws are respected. that is why i am encouraging all parties to dialogue to resolve this as quickly as possible. amy: that is canadian prime minister justin trudeau, whose own offices were occupied. usela palmater is also with mi'kmaw lawyer and member of the , eel river bar first nation in new brunswick. chair in indigenous governance at ryerson university. can you talk about the solidarity protest taking place across canada, including directly in the prime minister's

office? and respond to what he said. >> there is lots of solidarity protests. setting down rails and lots of people. there were youth and oththers standing i in solidarity at various legislatures preventing access, occupy ministers offices, also shutting down ports. there e were people shutting don bridges, shutting down highways because this is a repeat offense. you can't attack indigenous people in a worse way than sending in the royal canadian canadian --royal rcmp. mounted police. >> and how they are so heavily armed, how we found out there were authorized for "lethal overwatch" to use as muchch as

violence possible against the wet'suwet'en, to literally remove them from their homes. in breach of canadada so-called rule of law. in breach of international law. indigenous peoples all across the country feel this because manyhas happened in territories. the the rcmp tacked wet'suwet'enen, they also attked us. we raised in solidarity it is o oen categorized as an-pipelinprotest. it is firs tim but for most of us its about protecting rr ingegenous sovereign and our land right-- whichre the two issues that have never bnn relvlved and there aays breached despite how mancocourt cacaseor intntnational protections weave. for me, i find it rlllly

upsetting the prime minister, who is not en n in canada, who is actlllly trelining e world trying to campai f for aeat t on the united nations security council in order to maintain peace and security worldwide, n't that t follow the rule of lawere in c cana. ou know, t the rcmdenied memedia access to recorwhat was hahappening to be able to report on what was happeningng, remove media pepeople, arrerested somef the dia. they are reaching their own constitution, their own charter of rights, yet they espouse the rule of law. to my mind, what t he is reallyy taing about isis the l law of rulers. they picick and choose whi laws susuper economic and local puoses whi at the me time continuingoo commit genocide againsinindigeus p peoe because we know one of th ways to cmimit gecide agast t the indidinous people is t fororciby remove them fromheheir land -- whh h is sethihinghat isis coletely phibited der the united nations declaration on

the rights of indigenous people, which is supposed to be law in d.c. amy: can despite how the wet'suwet'en system of governance the mahout it has affected how hereditary y chiefs hahave tried to engage with the governments of canada and british columbia on this pipeline issue? ?apamela palmaterr >> i don't speak for the wet'suwet'en, but what i know from talkingng to wet'suwet'en peoples like molly and other hereditary leaders is that this isn't new. amy: let me put that question to molly. molly, if you can explain how the hereditary chiefs work and how that has affected their communication with both canada anand british columumbia and the company? >> we have 133 house chiefs. we have five clans. our house chiefs are the speakers on behalf of the clans

collectively.. we maintain a system. ouour laws a are solididified ad in a system that was bannnned by the fefederal government. this is the way w we have always governed ourseselves. this is the wayay we are moving forward with this movement is th it is o t tradionalal leadererip in our hereditary sysystem that are making speak n belflf of r dedecion-makaks, which is -- which are our clanns d cefs. the coany has actively undermeded theederal gornment -- they have activy unrminededur systeofof vernmenty gogoin to elected band cncils, wch were imposed by the iian act a the deral gornment. soso we are serting rselves, as we ways hav we havalwaways beeon our territorories. we have always occupd our terrorories. wewe he alwawa used th sysm

governance and collecveve decision-making to sayndnd discuss what is and is not alallowed our tertotory. wewe he veryry strong trespass la.. eney, theheinkpc federaraovovernmt are p pviding false authohoty and false permission, unauauthorized permission on lands we hold fu jurisdiction to to make decisions on. amy: to settle this, can you your nation? >> yes.. we are the wet'suwet'en nation and i belongng to the gidimt'en s of, one off the five clan the nation. amy: are the raids over? what is happening with the actual pipeline being built and what are you demanding of the canadian government? onne had three raids

acrosossenen cla tererritory ae five dayays. arrests of ourn 21 camps, of our tererritory. 15 of which are m moving forward with charges againstst our land defenders. heavily m militarized p police e coming in and removing everybody from the territory. so they were not susuccessfululn removing our entiree camp at gidimt'en where the we stilll have people that are therere. we have people that are moving back in. the e tactical teams have left e area, but there are still a huge rcmp presence and police presence on our territory. the chiefs -- t they served a an 4 twowo notice on january cocoastal gaslink ememployees on

22,000 square kilometers of our terrrritory. and that evivictionn notice stil stands. that eviction notice will continue to be enforced by the wet'suwet'en according to wet'suwet'en law. amy: molly wickham, thank you for being with u us land defend, , chief, and matriarch of the gidimt'en clan of wet'suwet'en nation. and pamela palmater, mi'kmaw lawyer and member of the eel river bar first nation in new brunswick. thank you so much for joining us as we continue to cover that struggle. we come back after break asking the question, did democratic presidential candidate amy klobuchar help send an innocent teenenager to life in prison whn she was ada? we will speak with the naacp in minneapolis. stay with us. ♪ [muc c brea

amy: special thanks to michael and melissa for the video footage. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we turn to the u.s. presidential race. after a surprising third place finish in the new hampshire primary, minnesota senator amy klobuchar is attempting to gain

ground in the national polls. but klobuchar is also facing mounting scrutiny over her record as a district attorney in minnesota. the minneapolis naacp, black lives matter twin cities and other racial justice groups recently called on klobuchar to suspend her presidential campaign following a shocking investigation by the associated press. the ap report centered on the case of myon burrell, an african-american teenager who was sentenced to life in prison over the 2002 murder of 11-year-old tyesha edwards. klobuchar led the case against myon burrell when she was hennepin county's district attorney. but the ap r report says she may have mishandled the case and that burrell could be innocent. the associated press report shows how prosecutors had no dna or fingerprints tying burrell to the murder and that they relied on jailhouse informants, some of whom have since recanted their testimonies. burrell has always maintained his innocence. on the campaign trail, klobuchar has cited the jailing of burrell as one of her achievements. she brought up the case during a

debate in september. >> w we found the shooter and we put him in jail. we did the same the killer of a little girl named tyesha edwards who is doing her homework at her kitchen table and was shot through the window. amy: on tuesday, senator klobuchar was grilled about the case by sunny hostin, co-host of "the view." >> i have reviewed the facts of that case, and it is one of the most flawed investigations and prosecutions that i think i have ever seen. [applause] it, you have at your homicide detective on tape offering and performance $500 apiece for names. when i looked at it, i also saw that mr. burrell's alibis -- alibi witnesses were not looked at. his surveillance tapes were not looked at. i mean, how d dyou defendnd that to someone

like me e who that t to someone like m me who is the mother of a black boy, a black teenager? this tape would be my worst nightmare. will start with this. i have been very clear, all of the evidence needs to be immediately reviewed in that case. the past evidence and also any new evidence that has come forward. i have called for that. amy: you are a u.s. senator now. you are a powerful woman. what do you intend to do to right this wrong? >> i have called for the office and the courts to review the evidence. that is what we must do in the justice e system i i have also workrked extensivy myh the innnnocence project in previous jobob, and we reviewed all of the serious cases we had that involved dna evidence. revieweddidn't. it we -- john >> it had no gun, no dna evidence, no fingerprints. >> exactly.

it must be reviewed. we go now to minneapolis where we are joined by nekima levy-armstrong. civil rights attorney, activist, head of the racial justice network and former president of the minneapolis chapter of the naacp. so if you can talk more about the significance of this case. now, very clearly, senator klobuchar brought it up herself --show her confidence competence in putting people in joe who killed an 11-year-old child. explain what you feel is wrong and the significance of this ap investigation. whiteis shocking at this that amy klobuchar is still in the race for president of the united states given the 'sgnificance of myon burrell case, that he was merely a child himself at the time he was

brought into the criminal justice system. when he was first interrogated by police -- eight hours, no attorney, his mother in the next room -- he asked for his mother 13 times. he was denied that opportunity to even consult with his mother. he has maintained his innocence from the beginning. in spite of that information, amy klobuchar has exploited this case. she has exploited the tragic death of tyesha edwards, the 11-year-old child who was killed in this situation through an accidental shooting outside of her home. she exploited burrell, using this case repeatedly throughout her career and to bolster her career. as a matter fact, when she ran for the senate in 2006, she put forward a commercial that included tyesha's mother and other victims of crime, demonstrating she was tough on crime. i do not feel she has any

remorse for what she did to myon and the impact to his family and the community. and she is continuing to d deflt away questions about her role in the unjust and wrongful conviction of myon burrell. beingou talk about myon interrogated as a 16-year-old, repeatedly asked for his mother. his mother was just outside the room, demanding of the police that she be inside with her son and they told her no. indictedefore he was and she was visiting him in jail, she was driving home and her car went off the road, she had a tree, it exploded, and she was killed? >> yes. did not get toon pay respects at his mother's funeral is something that still shocks me to this day. amy: she did not allow h him? > no, amy klobuchar did not

allow myon burrell to attend his mother's funeral, claiming he was a threat to public safety. i have seen people are incarcerated in prison be allowed to leave prison and go and pay their last respects to their family members at funerals, but amy klobuchar denied a child this opportunity. again, myon burrell has continued to maintain his innocence. the codefendants in this case have come forward -- in particular, the person who pulled the trigger. several years ago, they said myon burrell was innocent and taking responsibility for the crime, but his words have fallen upon deaf ears. so myon continues to pay the price, having been locked up for roughly 18 years for a crime he did not commit. amy: to be clear, he has been offered plea deals that would get him out now and he has said, no, i will not plead guilty to a

crime i did not commit? >> absolututely. he i is a strong man ofof faith. he does not believe he should have to plead guilty to a crime for which he did not commit. he said he is not only doingg this for himself, he is also doing this for tyesha. amy: so you are calling for the naacp, black lives matter twin cities, are calling for amy klobuchar to suspend her presidential campaign. can you explain why? burrell's caseon coupled with amy klobucharar's predatory behavior as a prosecutor should be disqualifying. you know with the current president and office, there have been a lot of concerns surrounding his questionable conduct, his ethics, his rhetoric. we are seeing similarities in the term -- in the way amy klobuchar conducted herself as a prosecutor and the way in which she is responding to this case. instead of accepting

responsibility, acknowledging her mistakes, rolling up her sleeves to help set myon free, she's continuing to sidestep these questions, absolve herself of responsibility, and minimize the significance of sending an innocent black teenage boy to prison for life. that is simply unconscionable. it is an acceptable. those are not the qualities that we needd t to see in our next president of united states. amy: let me ask about this was -- this report,, and criticizes for failing to bring charges against a signal police officer who killed a citizen and an eight year run as the top prosecutor in minnesota's most populous county. there were more than two dozen police involved killings in that period. nekima levy-armstrong, can you weigh in here? close absolutely. amy klobuchar received the endorsement of police unions when she ran her various campaigns. as a result, she did not hold

police officers accountable. she worked very closely with the minneapolis police department that has had a long history of corruption. as a matter of fact, about $4.8 million in lawsuits were settled against the minneapolis police 100 22 police misconduct cases during the time period in which amy klobuchar was they nipping county attorney. so she had a very close relationship with police. the black communitity called her out consistently for not holding police officers accountable. as a matter fact, shooting of a teenager happen and 2004 and that teenagers mother sent amy klobuchar a letter asking her to not use a grand jury and to charge the officers who killed her son. amy klobuchar did not even read on to that mother's letter. and this was an african-american woman simply demanding justice on behalf of her child. amy: nekima levy-armstrong, thank yoyou for being with us civil rights attorney, activist, , head of the racial justice

network and former president of the minneapolis chapter of the naacp. that does it for our show. democracy now! is accepting applications for a paid, year-long news production fellowship here in our new york