05/06/20 05/06/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic, this is democracy now! >> time after time i was pressure to ignore or dismiss expert and scientific recommendations. trumka reopening our country. whoever thought we would be saying that? reopening. amy: as president trump says he is winding down the coronavirus task force and re-opening the country, a top government vaccine specialist says he was

forced from his job after he resisted the administration's promotion of untested treatments for covid-19. we will look at what is next with pulitzer prize winning science writer laurie garrett. she predicted this pandemic. then we look at an incredible story unfolding in venezuela of a failed cuba to him. two americans have been arrested in venezuela. president maduro claims the u.s. is behind the plot. fib use rate was launched. >> mike pompeo is betting on this attack and believe this attack would end the revolution in the constitution to overthrow the government and kill me. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the whitite house said tuesdsdat

mamay windown n its cororonavirs task force by the end d of the month, even as a draft government report projects covid-19 cases in the united states are expected to double by august, with more than 3000 deaths per day. the announcement came as the official u.s. coronavirus death toll passed 71,000 -- more than a quarter of all reported deaths from the disease worldwide. new data shows that once the new york city metropolitan region is factored out, the u.s. coronavirus infection rate continues to climb. despite the grim figures, president trump said tuesday he's ready to move the u.s. to the next phase of its recovery. pres. trump: thanks to the profound commitment of our citizens, we have flattened the curve and countless american lives have been saved. our country is now in the next stage of the battle, a very safe phase in gradual reopening.

the reopening of our country. whoever thought we would be saying that? reopening. amy: president trump made the remarks during a trip to arizona, where he toured a honeywell aerospace plant that's now producing n95 face masks. trump wore safety glasses but no mask during the tour, ignoring a sign in the factory ordering everyone inside to wear a facial covering. as a honeywell executive showed president trump n95 masks, loudspeakers blared a cover of the song "live and let die" by the band guns n' roses. >> this is the material that traps the particulates. ♪ amy: trump also wore no mask during a roundtable discussion tuesday with native american leaders. at the meeting, trump promised to send a half-billion dollars

to the navajo nation, which has been devastated by covid-19. more than a month after trump signed the cares act into law, tribes still haven't receivived some in promised relief fufunds. $8 million top government vaccine specialist dr. rick bright filed a whistleblower complaint tuesday with the office of special counsel, saying he was forced from his job after he resisted the trump administration's promotion of untested treatments for covid-19. dr. rick bright directed the biomedical advanced research and development authority, or barda, until he was abruptly removed from his post last month and reassigned to the national institutes of health. in his scathing 89-page complaint, dr. bright says he was pressured to sign off on untested treatments for covid-19 -- like the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which was aggressively promoted by president trump as a panacea for the disease, despite no evidence of its efficacy and serious, sometimes life-threatening side effects.

bright spoke to reporters in a teleconference tuesday. >> time after time, i was pressured to ignore or dismiss expert and scientific recommendations. and instead, to award lucrative contracts based on political connections. in other words, i was pressured to let politics drive decisions over the opinions of the best scientists we have in government. amy: dr. bright also says he repeatedly and urgently demanded action in january to address the looming pandemic, including a critical shortage of personal protective equipment for doctors, like n95 face masks, but was ignored. president trump is lashing out against a w w adveisememenby a repuican-ledroup cald the lincn project calling out his mismanagemenofof theorononavus ndemic. the one-nunute ais title ourning america a spin rona r reag's 84 camamign slogan. in americmourning

unr the leadership of donald trump, our country iweweakernd sier and poorer. , ifnow americans ar askg we havanother ur yearsike this, ll thereven be in america? y: that add speedm "ournin urning." in a series of angry tetets post j just ter r miight esday y rning, trump attacked ththe mars o of e ad, , ngling out george conway, long-meme trump cricic andusbabandf white house counselor kellyanne conway. trump tweeted -- "i don't know what kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, moonface, but it must have been really bad." a new study finds the novel coronavirus that emerged in china mutated in europe in february to become more contagious, speeding its spread around the globe. the report from the los alamos national laboratory also warns the mutated strain could leave people vulnerable to a second fection of covid9.9.

the findg has nobebeen pr reviewedanand thdirerect the nation institus s of hlthh urged cautio saying e e stud draws sweepi c conclionsns aut the virus th m mightot h holup further scrutiny. the auths of the study said eyey relsed d thstudyy early so th peoe who arworking vacces couldee the rults. heren new yo, an employee at a massive amazon fulfillment center in staten island has didd of covid-19. it's the same warehouse where employee chris smalls was fired in late march after he led a wildcat strike of amazon workers demanding safety and sanitation measures. in wisconsin, the state supreme court heard arguments tuesday in a case seeking to end limits on public gatherings and business activities during the pandemic. the wisconsin court's conservative majority appeared to agree with republican state lawmakers who argue wisconsin's health secretary exceeded her authority by issuing remain-at-home orders. in flint, michigan, prosecututos

have charged three people in the shooting death of a security guard who reportedly told a customer to wear a face mask, as required by law. 43-year-old calvin munerlyn was shot in the head friday after a verbal altercation in which he demanded shoppers at a family dollar store cover their faces to stop the spread of coronavirus. in colorado,o, the fbi says it arrested a 53-year-old anti-lockdkdown protesteter aftr finding four pipe bobombs in his home. before his arrest, bradley bunn was spotted carrying firearms at the colorado state capitol in denver as he ignored social distancing guidelines to join protests against remain-at-home orders. in missouri, 422 workers at a triumpmph foods pork plant have tested positive for the coronavirus, but all of them were asymptomatic according to state health officials. meanwhile, the smithfield foods south dakota pork plant partially resumed operations monday without testing all of its returning workers.

the sioux falls plant was forced to shut down last month after at least 1000 workers tested positive for the coronavirus and at least two people died. on t tuesday, wendy's said it ws running out of meat for hamburgers at t hundredsf f its restauras s around the u.s. and grocers, including costco and kroger's, have begun limiting the amoununt of meat customers can n buy amid mountig shortages. in washihington, d.c., senators have returned to work despite concerns of an outbreak on capitotol hill that has prompted the house of representatives to extend its recess. over the weekend, the capitol's attending physician warned there aren't enough covid-19 tests available to screen all 100 u.s. senators, let alone a small army of workers and support staff accompanying their return to the capitol. the republican-led senate intelligence committee appears set to support texas congressman john ratcliffe to be the next director of national intelligence. ratcliffe, who is a close ally

of president trump, was first considered for the job last year but withdrew from consideration due to bipartisan concerns over his lack of qualifications. senate democrats blasted ratcliffe's nomination. senator ron wyden of oregon said -- "he has little experience in intelligence, and already had to withdraw his nomination once after lying about his resume. the pandemic has shown how putting unqualified loyalists in critical jobs leads to disaster." in immigraration news, a federal judge e in miami is allolowing immigration and customs enforcement, ice, to transfer prisoners to other immigration jails across the u.s., rather than releasing them to reduce overcrowding at three ice jails in south florida. immigrant rights advocates have continuously urged officials to suspend transfers, which have been linked to spreading covid-19 from one ice jails to another. in mexico, tens of thousands of factory workers in the northern border state of baja california are being forced to return to work after the local government reclassified maquiladoras as

essential.l. workers sasay the u.s.s.-owned factories are failing to provide them perersonal protecective equipment, triggering massive coronavirus outbreaks. in el salvador, hundreds of people detained in government facilities, allegedly aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, held a protest monday demanding to be freed and be given the result of their covid-19 tests. at least 300 people have been held in two centers in the capital san salvador for over a month as the salvadoran government has been apprehending residents accused of violating el salvador's strict coronavirus lockdown. in the philippines, the country's largest television network has been forced off air, after congressional allies of president rodrigo duterte refused to renew its 25-year contntract. abs-cbn has done groundbreaking reporting on duterte's brutal war on drugs -- that has killed thousands of people in the philippines -- and is the first major broadcaster to shut down as part of duterte's ongoing attacks on news outlets that are

critical of his government. this is long time news anchor noli de cast s signi offff f the st time esday nht. family,e have been togher for ny dedes. we oweou a debtf f gratude foacceptinus into ur homes ever night. have beme a big part o yourives. we wer there wh y in time of camities and hardipip. honoror us thave rved as e bears stors and be the watdog of those in power. its ao an hon to have served y, our feow countrymen. althoughour franise was t rewed and were order to st broadcaing, we omise uthat we ll not kp silent the f fe of this attack on r democra and on eedom of theress. news,ew studyate

warns that by 2070, up to 3 billion people could be experiencing nearly unlivable levels of heheat unless currenet global greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly reined in. the findings were published in proceedings of the national academy of sciences as new data showed last month tied for the warmest april on record worldwide. in another record, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels topped 418 parts per million this w week. in georgia, disturbing video h s emerged showing two white m menn georgia shooting dead an unarmed 25-year-r-old african-american n named ahmaud arbery in february while he was jogging. the video shows arbery running down a narrow road in brunswick, georgia, when he was confronted by the armed men, a former police officer gregory mcmichael and his son travis. travis was waiting for him in the road with a shotgun while

his father stood in the back of the pickup truck with a revolver. after a brief confrontation, arbery was shot three times. the video appeared to have been taken by a third person who was following arbery. brunswick police have reportedly had a copy of the shocking video since february, but no charges have been filed against the mcmichaels -- who claimed they chased arbery because he looked like a burglary suspect. on tuesday, a local prosecutor announced he would bring the case to a grand jury. the arbery's family attorney, lee merritt, said tuesday -- "the series of events captured in this video confirm what all the evidence indicated prior to its release -- ahmaud arbery was pursued by three white men that targeted him solely because of his race and murdered him without justification. this is murder." in election news, a federal judge has ordered the new york state board of elections to restore the democracy presidential primary which had been canceled. the ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by former

democratic presidential candidate andrew yang. the board of elections says it plans to appeal the ruling. the supreme court heard arguments over the telephone tuesday in case to determine the constitutionality of a 2003 law that forces overseas affiliates of u.s.-based nonprofit groups to denounce prostitution in order to be eligible for federal funding to fight the aids epidemic. aid groups have long said the law hampers the ability of their overseas affiliates from providing advice to sex workers about the risks of hiv infection. in other supreme court news, 87-year-old d justice ruth bader giginsburg w was back k in the hospital on tuesday for non-surgical treatment for a gallbladder condition. she is still planning to take part in today's telephone oral arguments in a case about the affordable care act and birth control. and indigenous activists and allies on tuesday commemorated the national day of awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls from

home as the pandemic put a hold on t their emblemamatic public rallies and vivigils. the annual event is aimed at protesting the high levels of violence faced by indigenous women and girls in the u.s., canada, and around the globe, and honoring the thousands of lives lost. the day of awareness and action comes as domestic violence shelters in navajo nation, the cacash say pandemic lockdowns he led to an increasese in domestic violence calls. and those are some o of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. whenen we come back, w we will e joined by pulitzerer prize winng scscience wrwriter laurie garre, who o predicted this pandemic. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "live and let die" performed d by guns n' rososes. the sosong was playing on the speakers when prpresident t trup toured a honeywell plant in

arizona on tuesday that is now producing n95 face masks. trump or safety glasses but no mask during the tour, ignoring a sign in the factory ordering everyone inside to wear a facial covering. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, the epicenter of the pandemic, joining me, my co-host, juann gonzalez, from his home in new brunswick, new jersey, the state with the second highest number of reported infections. juan: hi, amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewews from around ththe country and around t w world. amy: as a new report indicates the coronavirus death toll could reach 3000 deaths a day by june 1, president trump said tuesday he was winding down the coronavirus task force, claiming there has been tremendous amount

of progress in fighting the pandemic, which has already claimed more than 71,000 lives in the united states alone, with nearly 1.2 million confirmed cases. pres. trump: due to the profound commitment of our citizens, we have flattened the curve and countless american lives have been saved. our country is now in the next stage of the battle, very safe phase and gradual reopening. reopening of our country. whoever thought we would be saying that? i reopening. reopening. amy: president trump made the remarks during a trip to arizona, where he toured a honeywell aerospace plant that's now producing n95 face masks. trump wore safety glasses but no mask during the tour, ignoring a sign in the factory ordering everyone inside to wear a facial covering. a reporter asked him why he was winding down the taskforce now despite an expected spike of deaths in the fall.

pres. trump: we can't keep our country closed for the next five years. you can say there might be a recurrence and there might be. most doctors or some doctors say it will happen and it will be aa flamame and we will put the flamameout. we have leararned a lot. we have learned a lot about the coronavirus. we have learned a lot about this hidden enemy. it is a dangerous enemy. it is a bad enemy. we are saying people that are over 60, 65, but even 60 we are saying, stay back for a while. we recommend you stay back for a while. at the same time, with young children and children, we would like to see the schools open early next season and on time. amy: vice president mike pence said the task force is expecectd to disband b by the end d of ma. this comes as the white house has blocked dr. anthony fauci, the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, the cheap

coronavirus doctor at the white house, from testifying in front of a house committee. the institute for health metrics and evaluation at the university of washington estimates there will be nearly 135,000 deaths in the u.s. by the beginning of august. well, fofor more, we're joined y laurie garrett, formerenenior fellow for global health at the cocouncil on foreign relations d a pulitzer prize winning science writer. author of several books, including "ebola: story of an outbreak," and "the coming plague: newly emerging diseases in a world out of balance" and "betrayal of trust: the collapse of global public health." if you could go through what is happening now just as the president insists on opening the country, he is disbanding the coronavirus task force when you would think you would need it more than ever if you wanted to see any y kind of successful,l, cautious opening? it,ell, youou just summarized

amy. i don't know what i cacan add to that. we are on thee ascent -- at leat two differenent models, includig a g government model,l, predicte are almost going to double the size of ouour death toll betetwn now and d the enend of june, yee president has decided, let's roll up the tent, bring in the circus act. come on, everybody. you, theented to ask death toll. the uniteded states hass about % of the world's population, yet it has, wiwith a all of the momy spent onon healtlth care e in ts country, 25% --- more than 25% f the deaths worldldwide? a 90 recent days, it hahas gone as sh asas one third of all of ththe s of the world occurring right here in the u.s. from covid-19. what is your sen of f the reas for that? >> it is very obvious that we have a patchwork response. we don't t have a unified natiol

respononse to the virusus. we don't hahave any uniniform standards.s. no guidance. ththe cdc isis virtually mum, nunumbed, and silenceced. we are operating is every local mamayor and governor has equal capapacity to make a appropriate choices andd d decide hohow to t fightt this disease.. and that is ludicrous. you can n drive from one c couno anotother, from one state to another, comompletely didifferet policies being executed. and t they are all competing. they're comompeting to get their econonomies going, compmpeting o ppe,asks, compmpeting to get medicines,s, health-cacare work, ambulalances, buririal detail. it is ininne. we h have pitted eacach componef america againstst each o other r resourceces, for policy, for respon, , and now the president has raised the stakes and says, for r your economy.

amy: if you u can start at the beginning. we seeee countries like taiwan, which is right next to china, which dealt with this with extremely few deaths, immediately sing the need of the supply chain and making sure there was protective -- there was personal protective equipment, there was tesng right from the beginning. president trump continually repeats that he was the one against all advice that instituted travel ban against china very early on. but doesn't that undercut his very case for preparedness that if he understood early on what this was aboutut, what he did nt at the same time, or before -- dr. bright has been saying he was warning of this way before -- why he did not immediately gear up the teststing, gear up e making of the protective gear gather countries dead? take us back to the beginning

and talk about what happened from thehe beginning that led to ththis catastrtrophe in this country.y. us that went to the sars epidemic,c, and i was n china during that epidemic at hong kong, the w warning signs were o obvious andnd they were obvious s in that window of tim, roughly about three or four days before christmas going all the wa through to nenew year''s eve. it was very obvious a terrible epidemic was unfolding, that look like stars o or it was sisimilar to sars, that health-care workers were paninickin the sociall media all over wuhan wasas full of fear ad rumors and all the signals t tht thosose of us ththat follow chia had come to accept are the signalss that somethihing is ouf control in thehe country. if i c could see i it sitting he offfficeiving roomm or my

and just mononitoring what is avavailable on the internet -- f i c could see that this was happening, then certainlyly, the cia was saying it,t, the defense intelligence agegency was sasayg it, and a variety of otheher intetelligence o operationons wn the united stateses government were aware of it. we know in fact they were trying to brief the whihite housese. they were directlyly briefing te president, but he waigignoring it. he h had other things on his mi, inclcluding g the impeachment t. side,as u unfolding on th a kind of let's just ignore it will stop in onn the chinese sie what w was unfolding was a deliberate coverer-up. it extended outt until january 20. you had aboutut six to eight t s of t transmission of this virus going onon in and d it was basically beieing d about. they were reporting foror false figures -- false figigures to w. figurese distorting the

until they ordered transparereny on j january 19. you saw this h huge jump in the reported number of caseses betwn january 19 and january 20, tenfold increase because a all f a sudden,n, kay, bring alall of thosose hidden f files out of te shelves until l the world the truth or some sesemblance of the truth. institutedd our t travel ban as a primary tactic to deal with this minute plague. -- emiminent plague. it becomemes only policy that trump is willing to settle for.. it fits nicecely with an overarching policy, vis-a-vis china, in terms of tariffs, reducing their trade with the united states, holding their feet to the fire for our economic relationships. more flighthts from wuhan,n, no more flights f from china, was a a comfort zonone fr the president. as this unfolds and couountries

around the world are doing battttle genuine outbrbreak, ag, there is a sort of shrug on this side of the ocean, sort of, well, i iis not comoming here, ththat is over there, itit's no. ofof course, inside e the governmentnt, every agency thats responsible foforuch thingsgs hs their hair on fire saying, this x actually an i iinent threat our c countries that hahad been sasa. tataiwan, hong kong, singapore, south korea, vietntnam. these e countries all said, we have s seen this bad guy b befo. w woulds what yetet to do coronanavirus comes in the front dodoor. they took very strong steps, very immediaiately, and d they acactivated all of the networks,

said they had created a after ththeir sarsrs experiencee in 2r the mers expxperiencnce in n the of sououth korea in 2015, ththey said, all riright, let's get readady. this is how wewe respond. and the response of the testing, cocontt tracing, p placing peope under quarantitine. just aggressively bringingng -- keeping it small. don't let it spread outward. but this was not the response of the united states. by the time the president wakes up and is presented with two separate sets s of studies that have models projectining the sce of w what wewe are up against wh the possibility of julian dead ---- 2 million dead, w we've aly got -- the e horses out of f the barn, asas they say. wewe alrlready have cases s in e united statetes. in fact we are focused on the seattle area of whington state and the terrible outbreak in

that area, but indeed, the virus is alreadydy seeded all over r e unit states s anwe have a huge epidemic pouriring in from e eue from the east coasast to the united states. all l eyes are on n china and blocking travel from china, b bt in fact, it is pouring intnto nw york via mostly european tourists and we are being swamped. juan: i wanant to ask you specifically about that come about this recent report that has identified a covid-d-19 case in france as early as december of last year. the issue -- you menentioned all of the e epidemics of recent years, there wasas also wewest w virus, h1n1. whatat aboutut the early warning syststems of the advananced countries? i was the, the advdvanced countrtries haven't hit the hardesest. the u.k. recently has passed terms ofd italy in

the number of deaths from covid-19. what does this say about the early warning systems of the advancnced capitalist ununtries? well,l, we have been thinkingng about outbreaks as "ovover ther" this stereotype of an outbreak that it t was occurring g in a r coununtry, probably a afric and that it was in some reremote a a and enen it gottnto a c city i a veloping c country. and this was the model.. in t the rololof the cdcdc was o fly and prorovi a advice and help set up tesesting a and to l ththe thinings it isis supposed- we are supposed to b be doing he now and are t. appararus up a vavast under the obama administration thatat built on things s alady t up under the bush a admistration for trtrainingverseas,s, for building up infrastruructuresesr rapid disesease identification d

respsponse. and we had programss for doingng that herere in the united state. i haveve, for example, my shelf, excucuse me e for going g out of camera for a moment, this big monster. 2005. this is puput togeer under t the bush administratation. itit has a b blow-by-blow detaif how each agency in the united stat was supposed to respond if we had a leththal pandemic influenza in amemerica. so w we have playbybooks. we had to pull playbooks. every admiministration was settg themem u but the trump administration came in with a differerent attitude and most ofof the playbooks re thrown out, the agencies a and the subsets of departments were dismsmantled. the whole obama g global h healh security initiative that havee bebeen set up to train 194 countrtries in thehe world in no spond spot response toto diseasase, it was cometely dismanantled. the cdc c was cut back by 20%.

we can go on and on.n. yoyou have already articles now. you all know the scale of f this catastrorophic lack of prepeparednessss. the kind of huhubris issue.. italy has been wiped out, just devastateded by covid.. it is s t a coincidence it isis italy. this is a c country where t the anti-vacci movemenent has beenn enormous. for r members of thehe governmet haveve actctually en opposed t o vaccination anand have called fr scientntists to stop telliling s what to do. it was cut and prepared -- it was cutut i prepared and hadad a smug attitude that if they kept imimmigrants, the riffraraff, fm africa and the middle east out, they would not face these problems. we have a similar attitude anand much of europe and certainly hearing the united stateshat always associates the threat of

infectious disease with immigration. so if youou are barring immigration, or protececting yourself f from diase. this is ludicrous. the disease got into the united states, got into europe from business,is nest -- globalize businessss economy, al things that we promote. amy: what about this los alamos national lab study? it has not been peer-reviewed and they admitted. they said they wanted it out early and this goes to the issue of all those that are developing vaccines around the world. at this los alamos report that ththe coronavirus is actually wt is raging through the united states is not out of china, that it is more of you really and that it does not lead to when you get it having immunity that you can get it again. talk a about t the significacanf this, what you undererstand. that regardless of

particular report, we have had plenty of clues and causeses for coconcerns about whether or not havingng covid providedes the individualal with protective lifelong immunity y or longng-lasting i immity.y. if you s survived measles asas a child, y your highly unlikely, f not t nearly impossisie, that you're going to come e down with measles as an adadult. onon top of haviving had measles coming you also got vaccinated, now you're really truly immune to measles. that is why disease that in m my chchildhood was theumumber onee killer o of chilen under 12 in the w world is now vanququishedn mostst of the e worl b because e have crereated h herd immunity ththrough mamass immunization. early prognosticators in this pandemic tried toto convine their governments that the way virus to to allow the sweep across their natioion --

sure, some people would die but, hey, the rest would be herd immune. you would create e a massive population of people immune to future waves of virus comining through. amy: case in point, britain? >> case and point u.k., currently, sweden. it has often been talked aboutut for the united states. ththere are c certain p people l street that wowould prefefer wek this herd immunity approach so business could reopen. we saw the lieutenant governor of texas saying that he thought all old people should be willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the texas economy. that is almost a quote. we have seen civil or statements from wilbur ross and members of the president's economic account -- advisory councici increasingly we are getting evidence -- first of all, people whwho can t reinfected.

this has been highly controversial. we don't know. did they ever really completely clear virus in the first place? in other words, is it like hiv where the virus seems to be gone from your body, retesting finds no virus, you feel ok, but actually it has just repeated into types of cells that are not easily found in blood or saliva tests so it hasas been missese-- nasal tests. so infected has reactivated, so it is not reinfection, it is reactive his age -- reactivation .. for the tests are lousy and you jujust missesed i it, it was thl along. for the third optionon is, did t about neutralizing antibody respsponse. th i is a phrase that g gets painted about and a lot of people donon't reallyly know wht means, couldn't pepeople saying it. let's be really clear. the immune s system is a theory

complex system of defense. it has a a cellulasysystem whehe therere are special cells that find enenemies and eat them up d send messages out signaling t to antibodies t tcome in, w which e not cells, whihich are moleculu. response. is a cellur there w what is called d innanate response, which i ithe kind of thing you have when you hahave hayfever and so on. then t there i is an antibody response. now, when you get a goodvaccine , what that does iss actctivate yo neutralizizing antibobody response in what is cocon memor. for the rest of your lifefe or however long it l lasts, you hae memory in yoyour immune syste and w when this e enemy showswsp again, you're into bodies that are neutralizi, meaning they latch on anthey bring in the respondingo of the system commit an attack and

destroy is activated. there reallyasas been quite a lott o of controroversy and from many different research teams around the world in proving there is neutralizing antidy response to this vivirus that i it survives for weeks,s, months come hopefulullr manyny y yrs. that has imimplications for manany thing. it has implications mamany indidividuals can geteieinfecte step you get c covid, you thihik u u are finene, you donon't take precautions. maybe that is not a good idea. and secondly, it has implicatioions for vaccine i would askt. juan: you specifically about t this issue a vaccccine development or potential for aa cure. the e.u. is leading an effort to raisise about t $8 billionon for development of a vaccine and treatments, but ththe u.s. has t

offered to be involved. could you talk aboutut the whole issue of t this raceowow to geta attemptor a cure in the to monopolize what would be an incredibly ludicrousus, obviousy advancee, , in medicalal scienc? >> i canan't think of any epepic in my lifetime where ththe unitd statates has taken the vaccine - backseseat and said, we are e nt papa of the world. excuse me,e, dry throat. here we have a situatition where not ly is the uniteted states saying we are only p protecting he with the rest ofll and are going t to pull our money away from t world h health ganizatition and when it comes to vaccine devevelopme, drug dedevelopment, w well, 're a about d developing for us, not r the worlrld. and we're a all about prorocting

the patetent rigs of ourur pharmaceutical indndustry and putting our companies first. no, we're not going to engage in any global effort. and we're not even more than not engaged, usually we would be in charge. usually the united states i is setting g the example e for the whole woworld. we are bringing forceses togethr that don't normally like each other and saying, look, butut yr animositieies to the site for te sake of thisis crisis and we're doing every thing we can to encourage collaboration between drug compapanies, collaboration between acacademic centers and private sector and so on. wewell, this administration is exactly the opposite. so we are saying to the whole world, you know, we are blalamig chinina. they made all l this. we think it came out of a chinese lab. with the second most powerful country in the world, instead of collaboratining tell bring the epididemic under control we are going to do this.

similarly, china is responding back to the united states and, we think it cacame out of one of your labs and you deliberatelely infected china. we have had d it with you. we're going to start cutting you off. so at a moment when a massive scale collaboration is necessary, and let's be clear, we're going to have to vaccinate 7.5 billion human beings, the largest vaccination effort ever much lessned, let' executed in our species. when that is being wrapped up in europe and there's a desperate desire to seek asian countries, latin american countries, all collaborating with a common mission, the united states is saying, buy, guys. amy: this down. you people l like -- coununtries like norway who are giving $1 billioion and is one pointnted , united states is not giving anything to the vaccine effort.

did witherview you "the new york times, headlined "shepherded toto the coronaviru, what does shshe perceive next?" you said that you see that the pandemic goes on for like 36 months. i think people are cringing all over who are hearing this right now. but if you can say lay out the scenario and what exactly does that mean? do you stay in your home for that amount of time? what would be the most logical, safe reopening, if that can happen, and alalso dealing w wih this pandemic -- why do you say 36 monthths? >> 36 months is my b best case scenio.. worsrst case is that it becomem new permanent feature e on the landscape for genenerations toto cocome. i thi we have t to firsof a all put asidede this image oa wave

as uniformrm tsuna wavave congng om, boom everyonene gets hit at oncece, we are on lockdown and the wave d disappes and we can now hit theeachch. it is not like that. ififou have not been payining attention,n, it is alreaeady noa single isolalated wave. parts s of the country are starting to get their first cases. other parts of the country are starting to have a downturn, such as here in new york where our horrible, horrible epidemic is beginning to come down. this is how it is going to be for months and months to come. sporadic outbreaks here and there, moving toward the southern hemisphere, coming back to the northern hemisphere. different parts of the world hit at different times. the movement of humanity is going to be the movemement of virus. sos peoe come o out of -- not just lockdown in their homes, but out of the countries and back on airplanes, out of sort

of trying to operate business via zoom into business via personal contact, as the supply chains try to restoto whole skskill operation with globalizd distribuon and t that meanans globalized human movement, then we are going to once again have sporadic outbreaks. so it is italy today, portugal, tomorrow. albania next week. rio de janeiro t two weeks later and so on anand so fororth. this is going to go on for a very long time step meanwhile, my 36say my 36 and -- month scenario is if we have good luck on a vaccine. let us pretend that we actually do come up with and varies -- very effective vaccine, totally it through theve first stage of development in human testing before the middle of this summer. is itit actually miraculously

a vaccine that, number one, can be used in a single dose, no booster required. number two, , you d't haveve to ususe arranges. he can be administetered nasall, ororally, witith a patctch. so w we donon't hahave to worryt the supply chain on syringe is an disposable -- safe disposal. number three, , does not need to be refrigerated so you don't have to woworry about how you're gogoing to use it in countries without electricity and refrigerators. number four, it can be mass-produced easily. it is not terribly difficult to make. there are not huge contamination problems and it is possible to rev up for production of hundreds of millions of doses right away. 2020, we wouldd of be in large-scale clinical trials. allarly 2021, i if those miraculolously turned out to h e no se effffects may be super effective and we have to figure out how we''reoing to determine sosomethinis super effective.

you don't to o deliver really infect people with covid. then all right, now we have a vaccine. groovy. who has it? where are the factories? who is going to get it? obviously, it is going to go to the rich countries first. it will go to the country that is making it first. so if china beats everybody to the mark, than chinese will get vaccinated. that is 1.4 billion people. that is a lot of doses to manufacture before anybody else in the world get a a vaccine. if it is here, we're going to make 300 millionon doses. it wilbe americans first. then we will help ouour canadian friends. and probably ththe bottom of the list will be micico. will playof scenario out. meanwhile, it is going to cost money. people will want to make a profit off of it. there is going to be patent disputes. ththere will be alsorts of distribution issueues that wiwil geget in the way. this o of the debacle keep poppg

up all over the world -- this epidemic will l ep popping up all over the world and we won't haveve a campaign forgetting 7.5 billion human beings vaccininat. and without vaccinating 7.5 billion human beings, we will continue to have covid in the world. if there's any frarailty in this herd immunity and this vexing protectition we have built, then we will h have waves ofof it cog back over and over agagain for years to come. mass e no indication of aa vaccine ththat would work what e did with smallpox. we could go on for a long time. if you're sitting here in the studio, i would hahave given you some water. isolatingare socially times. i am sororry i couldldn't help . thank you so much for being with us, laurie garrett, former senior fellow for global health at the council on foreign relations and a pulitzerer prize

winnining science writer. author o of a n number of books. we thahank you for being there. what is g goingk, on in venezuela. two amerericans arrested in a cocould attempt. was this masteininded by a former green beret? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: performing g together a ale in their own homes. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. with juanoodman gonzalezez. we are in the epicenter of the pandemic. we turn now to an incredible story unfolding in venezuela, where president nicholas maduro announced monday the government had detained two former u.s. special forcrces soldidiers whok part in a failed coup attempt, afafter 10 a armed men landed ia boatat near caracacas. venezuelan authorities killed eight of the men, whom they described as mercenary terrorists. two men were capaptured. speaking from his prpresidential papalace, , president maduro shd u.s. passpsports for the two me, identifieded as airan berry and luke denman.n. a a former green beretet named jordan goudreau has acknowledged the men were wororking with himn an attttempt to detain madaduro. mamaduro accuseded the u.s. ofog behind the p plot.

>> mike pompeo is betting on this attack and believed this attack would end the revolution me the constitutioion a and kil . god save us and protect us. amy: the former green beret, jordan goudreau, runs silvercorp usa, a florida-based private security firm. he told the associated press two special forces veterans he fought with in iraq and afghanistan were involved in the operation. goudreau posted a video on twitter sunday in which he called the attack "operation gideon." closed at 1700 hrs, a raid was launched on the border of columbia deep into the heart of caracas. our men are continuing to fight right t now. our units hahave been n activatn the south, west, and east of venezuela. me, andander is with one is on the ground fighting. amy: goudreau told the associated press his team was

-- goudreau's plan to oust maduro reportedly began when he provided security at a concert organized by british billionaire richard branson in support of venezuelan opposition leader juan guaido. the associated press reports goudreau had a connection to trump's longtime bodyguard, keith schiller, and goudreau reportedly accompanied schiller to a meeting with guaido's representatives last may in president trump has denied any involvemenent commit any u.s. involvement. for more, we're joined by miguel tinker salas, professor at pomona college, in claremont, california. author of "the enduring legacy: oil, culture and society in venezuela" and "venezuela: what everyone needs to know." welcome back to democracy now! can you explain what you understand took place? was this an attempteted coup against venezezuela and who exactly is it directed? >> it appears to be an attempted coup. again, eventnts are u unfoldingn

venezuzuela. at the same e time it looks lika real bad rambo movie or venezuelan telenovela. the reality is this involved disgruntled vevenezuela militar, former police, d deserters, political opponents s of the maduro g government, and wasas trending in columbia and somehow thought that by lalanding twoo boats, when next to the major airport and port, and the other in -- that t was somehow managed to get to cacaracas and capture maduroro and installll a new government. it is aa must fictional. unfortunately, it is operating in a very charged environment, one in which u.s. isis seeking reresume change and one in which the oppositition has adopted, in fact, susupport t for milita action a as it did in 202019 the support fofor a coup against maduro. it is operating in very troubled waters and the consequences for venenezuela can be very di g gog over.. juan: miguguel tinker salas, the

was a report out of venezueuela ththat there w was a contract tt surfaced, $200 million contract that supposedly the opposition leader juan guaido signgned with mr. goududreau i in late octobe? >> goudreau presented the contract and it o opposition broadcaster in florida and she reported it on her website and invited guaido and the person in charge of maduro's publicity and campaign and other individuals to come forward and deny it. none have come forward to deny it. long-term implicate not only the u.s. government, other and allows, some plausible deniability. they want to say if it succeeded, we would take credit for it. they would be part of the transition government. it ailed, well, we were not part

of it. the same way trump has plausible deniability or at least tries to climb plausible deniability but i insist it is the context in which pompeo, elliott abrams, and the trump white house have created that during the pandemic seeking resume change, imposing further sanctions, tightening the sanctions, and authorizing movement of u.s. military to the caribbean and others that says the context and the landscape for which this event happened. juanan: you mentioned elliott abrams. is it conceivable that the special envoy to o venezuela had no knowledge of what was going on here? >> it is difficultlt to imamagie that given -- they were training on the c colombian border,r, ana arhghly surveilled, an the militarye'e's active, ththat somehow they w would not havee pipicked upa information. trump in theuded activities.

what the u.s. would like as possible deniability, we may find outut later that, yes, , ty knew a about it, turned a blind eye, see if it would actually be ccessful a and eventually than tatake advantage of itit if it . i insist the contextxt it operas that i is the most fundamental because increase the conditionos for a attempted violent unconstitutitional resume change in venezuela when in fact what venezuela needs in this time period is negotiations between the different political forces,, where funds can be released, when thehey confide the cororonavirus, where they can ny to f find cocommon ground as opd to the continued conflict. amy: what more do you know about this for the secururity firm's f a core for president trump two years ago at one of his political rallies in north carolina. a photo shows goudreau wearing an earpiece in charlotte, north carolina at a coliseum, and echoes of, what is this, miguel tinker salas espspecially for

young people who don't know the u.s. involvementnt in the 1980's in latin america? >> it has echoes of the babay of pigs, psychological operations anand black ops operatations tht were done in l latin america during the entire 1970's, 1980's to 1990's and even harkens to whehen theyin 1806 and d didan invasion not have any support from the afro p population in thehe regi. the revovolt against him.. there e are shades o on many ths here, which is all vevery troubling to venenezuela because goudreau appeaears delusional. the appears to be aa blackwater want t to be. you provided security for a concert that was held on for -- out on the 23rd. he injected himself into opposition politics come into what was happening with guaido at the border.

it is a very dangerous figure, although he may have this delusional sense of himself and grandeur. he can play in that role because of u.s. policy. minutee have less than a left, about 30 seconds, but the ability to the maduro administration to continue to pepersevere in the facace of u.. embargo, in the face of now in indictment i thehe u.s. government, maduro himself. could you u talk about thehe aby of this administration to survive? >> the key is most u.s.s. policymakers continue to look at venezuela as maduro t teetering- their main informrmants are guao and d the opposition rather thtn open up days, rather than engage in conversatation in negotiatio. maduro still has military support. sundaythat once again onn . i think it is fundndamentatal to understand venezuela needs negotiations and conversation, not inpatients.

amy: miguel tinker salas is a professor at pomona college, in claremont, california. author of "the enduring legacy: oil, culture and society in venezuela." democracy now! is working with as few people onsite as possible. the majority of our amazing team is working from home.