09/29/20 09/29/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new w york, thisis is demomoacy now! >> i think we are cigna convergence of a class rerellion with racism and racial terrorism at the center of it. in many ways, we are in uncharted territories -- territory in the united states. amy: as president trump and joe biden face off tonight in the first presidential d debate, we speak to princnceton professor keeanga yamahtta taylor about

the multiple crises facing the country today including the pandemic, police brutality and racism, mass unemployment, and the battle over e supreme court. us, we will speak to pulzezer ize winng report david c hnston othe bombell repo at presint trumpid not p any fedel incomeax in teof the past 15 years. in 2016, he e paid just $7. >> "the new yoyork times" popose about t donald trump's income, s taxe andnd his dadad's chosose t why he shshows a lot mores is not a businessman, but a criminal. what does that mean to you? a lot. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to d democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'i'm amy goodman. the global death toll from covid-19 has topped one million

and d the woworld health organization says the actual death toll is lilikely far high. in the united stateses, more thn 205,000 pepeople have didied and over 7.1 million cases have been reported -- by far the highest figures in the w world. more than half of all reported covid-19 deaths have occurred in just four countries -- the united states, brazil, india, and mexico. on monday, india became the second country to top 6 million cases. public health officials in the united states are expressing alarm as 21 states reporort a rising number r of new covid-19 cases. hospitalizations are surging in the midwest. in the dakototas, more than 25%f all covid-19 tests are coming back positive, the highest rate in the country. meanwhile, "the new york times" is reporting top white house officials pressured the centers for disease control and prevention to downplay the risks of sending children back to the

-- back to school. the pressure campaign was confirmed by olivia troye, who served as vice president mike pence's lead staffer on the task force until july. meanwhile, nbc is reporting the head of the cdc, dr. robert redfield, was overheard onon a recent flight disparaging prpresident trump's new coronavirus advisor dr. scott atlas saying, "everything he says is false." atlas has faced widespread criticism from public healalth specialists for prpromoting a -- questioning mask use and promoting a controversial hererd immunity strategy that couldld lead to the deaths of millions of americans. atlas is a neuroradiologist with no background in epidemiology. meanwhile, another immigrant has died in ice custody from the virus -- the 21st immigrant prisoner to die this year, the highest death toll since 2005.5. he died from coronavirus. in otherer news, the n nation'ss largest nurses union, nanational nurseses united, has criticizedd federal anand state govevernmenr failing to protect medical workers during the pandemic.

at leastst 1700 healththcare workers, including at least 213 registered nurses, have died from covid-19. kentucky's attorney geneneral danielel cameron agreed momondao releasase the recording of grand jury proceedings in breoeonna taylor's case to the court on wednesday. a judge ordered the release, but it is not yet clear whether the tape will be made public. earlier on monday, an anonymous grand juror sued in order to unsealal the court t transcript, accusing daniel cameron of using the grand jury "as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility for those decisions." the juror also said jury members should be granted the right to speak freely about the case and be allowed to share "any potential charges and defendants presented or not presented." this all comes as vice news revealed interviews with louisville swat team members show they raised concerns with

the deadly raid that killed breonna taylor on march 13 -- both before and after it happened. on monday, fired detective brett hankison pleaded not guilty to three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into the walls of breonna taylor's neighbor. he and the other officers involved in her death have not been c charged for killing breoa taylor after raiding her home. in maryland, the family of a black man killed in january by police while handcuffed d in a police car reached a $20 million settlement monday. the sesettlementnt is believed e one of the largest ever for a police killing. 43-year-old william green was shot six times. police said there was a struggle but investigators found no evidence to substantiate the claim. michael owen jr., the black police officer who shot green, has been charged with second-degree murder. green's daughter said d at a monday news conference some of

the money would go towards combating police brutality. green's cousin said of the settlement -- "this doesn't bring justice. this doesn't bring peace." president trump and joe biden are facing off tonight in cleveland, ohio, for the of first three presidential debates. trump is expected to face questions about the bombshell report in "the new york times" that revealed he paid no federal income tax in 10 of the past 15 years and just $750 in 2016 and 2017. in a follow-up report, "the new york times" reveals trump made $427 million in connection to the hit reality tv show "the apprentice," providing him a financial lifeline as other investments lost money. "the times" reports -- "mr. trump's genius, it turned out, wasn't running a company. it was making himself famous -- trump-scale famous -- and monetizing that fame." to hear or watch that

presidential debate tonight at 9:00 eastern standard time, you can go to democracynow.org. an investitition by channel 4 news in britain has revealed t trump campaign actively sought to deter 3.5illion a aican american voters in battleground states from voting for hillary clinton in 2016 by targeting them with anti-clinton ads on facebook. the networork obtained a a leake copy of an e election datatabase used by the e trump campaiaign d the data firm cambridge analytica that contained detaileded records of f nearly 0 million amerericans. many africican americansns were categorirized in a groroup labed "deterrence." in london, chinese dissident artist and filmmaker ai weiwei staged a protest monday in support of wikileaks founder julian assssange in front of the courthouse where assange's extradition hearing is ongoing. --threatened to be putt away

he is such a genius in that way and i think the fight is part of his life and of course i'm here supporting him. amy: assange faces almost certain conviction if extradited to the united states and up to 175 years in prison. julian assange has been charged under the espionage act. u.s. prosecutors allege he conspired with whistleblower chelsea manning to illegally download hundreds of thousands of war logs from iraq and afghanistan, along with a huge trove of classified cables from the state department. ininther news s om britain, , a court ruled mondnday uber can kp operating in london after regulators last yeyear refused o renew uber's license after it founund some drivers were operating illegally. uber has around 45,000 london-based drivers.

secretary of state mike pompeo has threatened to close the u.s. embassy in baghdad unless iraqi forces can prevent rocket attacks on u.s. targets. several sources say the u.s. is already preparing to withdraw diplomats from baghdad. iraqi officials are calling on all parties to avoid an escalation over fears such a move by the united states could be a precursor to conflict with iran, which it blames for the attacks. on monday, the iraqi army said a rocket fired at baghdad airport, where u.s. troops are stationed, missed its target and killed five civilians -- three iraqi chilildren and two women, all fm the same family. the united states is ramping up pressure on sudan to become the next country to normalize relations with israel, but negotiations have reportedly stalled over the amount of a financial incentive involved in a potential deal. the agreement hinges in part on the trump administration removing sudan from the u.s. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which could happen before election day.

the united arab emirates and bahrain both signed u.s.-brokered agreements to normalize relations with israel earlier this mononth at the whie house. chinese president xi jinping -- on saturday, xi to the policy has been correct. there have been widespread reports ofof surveillance, f fod labor, imprisonment, cultural repression, as well as forced sterilizations and chihild separations of muslim populations in xinjiang. a new report from "the new york times" reveals thousands of religious muslim sites in xinjiang, including mosques, have beeeen destroyed inin recet years. on friday,y, a meeting of the u. human rights council in geneva, switzerland, raised the alarm over china's actions in xinjiang, as well l as their assault on human rights in hong kong. a uighur activist whose family is in chchina spoke at the gathering. held hostage in

china's concentration camp. my brothers forced to symbol charges as a slave labor. 3 million uighurs been detained in concentration camps. imagine the e population of bern or c chicago looked at as slave. amy: commerce secretary wilbur ross said monday census cocountg will end next week on october 5, in defiance of a federal judge's ruling last week which said census operations should carry on as previously planned through the end of october. the trump administration last month moved forward the deadline by one month to september 30. on monday, the california judge overseeing the case that she was disturbed by the announcement and order the government to respond by today with its justification for shortening the census count. in california, at least three people were killed and tens of thousands forced to evacuate as

wildfires continue to rip through napa, sonoma, and shasta counties. governor gavin newsom declared a state of emergency monday, warning the zogg fire, which has burned over 30,000 acres since sunday, could converge with the nearby august complex fire -- the largest in california's history. in a victory for native american voting rights, a montana court has abolished a state law that imposed severe restrictions on ballot collection in rural indigenous communities. the law limited the number of ballots one person could collect and restricted who was allowed to collect ballots. in philaladelphia, a top electin official warned a loophole in a recent state supreme court ruling could cause as many as 100,000 mail-in ballots to be rejected statewide. the ruling concerns the issue of so-called naked ballots -- ballots which could be rejected by poll workers if they are received without a second secrecy envelope.

trump won pennsylvania by only 44,000 votes in 2016. meanwhile, in new york city, a large number of voters in brooklyn said they received absentee ballots with the wrong name and address on the return envelope. in otherer election news, trum's former campaign manager brad pascale has been arrested and involuntarily hospitalized for a mental health evaluation in florida after his wife told police he might be suicidal and that he had hit her. police seized 10 firearms from his property. pascale was replaced as trump's campaign manager in july. he has been his digital strategist. and new york's parole board has granted the release of former black panther jalil muntaqim afteter he served nearly h halfa centy y in pson n for the 191971 killlling of two new york polile officers.. 68-yr-old muntaqim became infected witcocovid- in n ma under thteterms hisis pole,

heust be reaeased boctober 20. the group release aging people in prison said in a statement muntaqim was "one of thousands of incarcerated older people in new york state who was repeatedly denied parole despite his excellent record. let us hope that his release brings inspiration for more change." in a 2018 interview, muntaqim told filmmaker messiah rhodes what gives him h hope. >> a new generation mamakes me e hope most of we fund younung pelele steppining up. would i see in many respects is at was happening back in t 1960's. evolving outf the cil righgh moveme. yosesee thevel of resistce. amy:ndnd tho are somof the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i am amy goodman in new yorork joined by my cohosost juan gonzalez f from new jejersey.. juanan: welcome to all of our

listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy:y: president donald trump ad democratic challenger former vice president joe biden will faface off tonight in ohio in te first of three presidential debates. host chris wallace of fox news says the 90 0 minute s showdownl focus on both candidatates' records, the supreme court, coronavirus, the economy, race, and the integrity of the election. each topic presents a pressure point in an unprecedented election season. just five weeks before november 3, the global coronavirus death toll has topped one million worldwide. the virus continues to devastate african american, latinx, and indigenous communities across the e united states. as the economic crisis sparked by the pandemic shows no sign of abating, a wave of evictions looms. and more than four months after the police killing of george floyd, protests against police

brutality and in defense of black lives continues. just last weekek, people poured into the streets in protest after a grand jury failed to charge any of the white police officers who shot and killed breonna taylor in her own home with her death. the presidential debate comes as more than a million americans have already cast their votes and millions more are being urged to vote early to ensure their ballots are counted amidst unprecedented attacks on the democratic process by donald trumanand hiadmiminirationon th comes as senate republicans are cicing t confirm right when dge amy coney barrett t fil juste rutbader giburg's se on the preme cot. for morewe' joined histian keeaa-yamaht tayl, contriting wrir at "the new yorker," where her latest column is "the case for ending the supreme court as we know it." she's also the author of several books, including "race for profit: how banks and the real

estate industry undermined black homeownership," which was a 2020 finalist for the pulitzer prize for history. she's joining us from philadelphia,, penennsylvania. profofessor, thank y you so mucr joining us. let's start with this latest piece in "the new yorker." "the case fors ending the supreme court as we know it." can you tell u us why you belile this? >> thank you for having me on. -- the history of the supreme court has been one ofof really enforcing a conservative social ordrder in e united states for most of its

century, and in the 20th chief justice earl warren presidedvever the court because the l late 1950's through the late 1960's,s, is ts ment of ththe supremee couourt depending freedom and rights and all of these things, reallyly is an outlier in the courts history. and even within those instatanc, it has come at tremendous pressure from eieither social momovements or shiftfting international political dynamics where the united statetes need to project itself as a beacon of democracy and really cover-up and hide what was happening too african-americans in thee south. and so i thi that the court

and the e other wings ofof government s sort of defefend te cocourt as an apololitical bodyt is sort of mutually making decisions about legal c cases based onon legal precedents and all of this -- reaeally, nonsen. the court is very much a political body. and now with trump on the verge of being able to place an absolute reactionary justice on this court, giving it a 6-3 -- ore were in balance imbalance led by conservatives, the political nature of the court, but in the process by which this is happening and also by the potential of what -- the way this kind of courts decisions may reverberate, i think removes anany allusion tht the supreme court is anything but a political body doing the

work of the right in a very undemocratic a authoritarian wa. in any society i think that purports to o describe itself aa dedemocracy cacannot have nightt unelelected people or even an expanded courtrt of 1313 unelecd people or 15 unelected people making such consequential and categorical decisions that impact the lives o of millionsnf people.. system, this type of institution i think has no place in a democracy. juan: professor taylolor, part f the reasoning i i guess for the establblishment of a supreme cot not only in this s country but n many c countriesroround the wor, is to check the powers s of an executive e branch or en of a legislative braranch. how would d you envision --

obviously, the power the court currenyy has somehow or other devolved into other r sections f gogovernment and l leaving peope open possibly to even more demagogic leaders t that presidt trump. remember, , still 40% of the american people back and no matter whahat he d does. how w would you envisionon a che that would move moren the rection ofof democracy rather ththan the direction of a demagogic influence or more authoritarianism? >> first o of all, i wouldld say that is -- in some ways, that is rerepresentative of hohow the ct has bebeen working. in my article,e, i looked throuh a series of actions a and c cass throughout the 19th century. far from being a check on a slslide toward undemocratic rule byby state and federal legislatures. the supreme c court millie reflected what w was h happenin-

merelyly reflected what was happening in those bodies. i think when we e look at the wy ththat trump has b been able to circumvent more lelengthy and problematic legislative courses, that he i s simply appealed courses to the supreme court in expectatitions that he will h have favavorable ruling. he has said in the last several ifs t that his hope is thatt therere is a conteststed electi, that t the supreme couourt, whoe has handpicicked the last t twod now potentiallyly third justice, will make the determination. i think we havee already slilid dodown this slippery slope intoa body thahat hardly serves as a check but is simply reflecting the sort of political imbalances that already exist. in terms of what should replace it, i think that is up for a

public discussion. part of the intent of my article was to say that we are in the midst of a national reckoning about systemic racism in this country, about the way that thingsgs are g governed,d, the y this country fununctions -- they're all sorts of f thingsgs being thrown up for question that at one point or another been assumed to be the natural order of things. from a for-profit health care system, whichch has now beeeen thrown intnto question, do somethining even like e the sans campaiaign. somemeone openlyly identifieieda socialist oror democratic-socialist garnering williams of vovotes. to me that i is reflectctive of people wanting to rethink basic assumptions s about what americn society should look like. and i think in this case, things like the supreme court, the electoral college, all are e opn

for debatate and discussion as e are talking about what our country looks like, what it could d look like, what it shoud look like, how do we have a more democracy, or voioices of ordiny people dictating the course of things. to me, that is at the heart of some of the demands of the demonstrations that have been going on over the summer and now into the fall, is that the ststatus quo is no lononger wor. and now is the time to throw it all open for discucussion. throw it all open for debate. this is an opportunity to be rethinking what kind of society that we want to live in. isn't thein essence, growing right-wing g and faisist movement in the country also seeking to rethink and refashihn

the kind off c country thawe ar? and in effect, practicing some ofof that under donalald trump? so how do you see putting together the kind d of coalition that could actually strtructuray change the n nature o of americn society to bee able to implement some of the changes that t you'e hoping for given the realityty that therere is this substantial group of americans who support the current movove toward aa moe authoritarianism? >> it is a struggle. it is not a cakewalk. the e country y right w isis dpy polarized, but i thihink -- i thinkprorobably -- i don't it is polarized that have thehe countries on one side e and half of the country is on the other. we are talking about 43% of

trump, and wek can look at the numbers of people who actually voted for trump, can look at the 100 million people who did not participate in the last election who were never counted in anything and who trended toward being younger, more of color who would be classified as democrats in a classical way. so i think part of the issues that we have is that there is such a myopia with donald trump that every sentence, every breath -- everything he does absorbs the entirety of public attention. partly because of the mainststrm media, but i think i in doing s, it really minimizes the extent inopposition that exists

the country where there are all ,orts of organizing movements of demonstrations of things that belowue to percolate just the surface. whether it is teachers who are mobilizing to protect themselves from the dangers of covid, as government officials try to force them back into school buildings -- the ongoing struggle around the rights of immigrants in this country. you know, just 10 days ago, the lead story was about the forced sterilization of immigrants in detention, immigrant women in detention in georgia and trump says boo and we move onto the next thing income as if that is not a story that is deserving of deeper investigation. there is ongoing struggle around climate. obviously, the ongoing movement

around black lives in the struggle against police brutality. the struggle around health care. ththere are all of thesese thins thatat are the k kind o of dispe thatts of a mass movement has the tetentiato develop in this countryry -- juan: i would agree with you u n all of that and i would agree with you the majoritity of americans who what progogressive change, but again, i get back to this 40%0% of americans -- that gunsas five times s as manany and mumuch more sort of, at this point,t, core of people who aree willing to result in violence eo imposese theirir will. the question is, how does the progressive movement deal with that? >> i think part of the point i wawas making iss that we have te parts of a mass movemement. what we need are the politics to

try to connect these disparate parts together.. we need organizations -- not just little organizations working on their own, but we need orgrganizations thatt reflt -- the potential of the mass movevement that i think is in development. the right has always had more gunsns. left, the majority of people who suffer from oppression and expectation in this country and other countries, has never had the guns to force our agenda under 81. we have always had the mass of our movement is that which is the vehicle for social transformation. and i don't think any of that has changed. ishink part of the issue there's a way in which the over

hyperfocus on every single thing that trump does and says magnifies his mesmerizing abilities. he creates an impression that he is popular and he is not. he creates an impression that the forces gathered around him are more massive when they are not. i thought it was interesting that proud boys were supposed to have a mass turnout in portland, oregon, where thousands of people were predicted to show up in only 200 did. not be200 and should tataken lightly,y, but it is alo not indicative e of a mass movement i i think and every ple where there e has been p predics of some masassive outpouring off e rightht, , the actual reality has s been underwhelngng. anand we compapare that to whate new york timimes" reported d ine or july in t the aftermath of 15 million to 26 million peoplee participating inlalack lives

matter prorotests, the l largest number o of participants in political protest in american history. and we look at the number of gatherings t that have happened over the course of the trump presidency. i think it is clear that the other side, that our side, has millions of people who are lookining for some direction, wo aree looking for a pololitical alternative e to the status quos it exists right now. so the challenge is, how do youu unite the didifferent aspects of that, the different segments of that -- both in protest and organizationon -- how do you developp solidarity? all of these queststions are the challenges that we face. amy: professor taylor, we have to go to break and then we will come back. we will link to your latest piece "the case for ending the supreme court as we know it." democracy now! is live streaming

the first presidential debate at 9:00 eastern standard time at democracynow.org. when we come back, we will look with professor keeanga-yamahtta taylor at the breonna taylor case and also what is happening in her city, philadelphia. unhoused people rising up, demanding and getting some housing. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "golden" by jill scott. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. less than a week aftfter a grand jury failed to charge the police officers who shot breonna taylor with her death, kentucky's attorney general daniel cameron agreed monday to release the recording of the grand juryy prproceedings toto the court.. on monday, an anonymous grand juror sued in order to unseal the court transcripts, accusing cameron of using the grand jury "as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility for those decisions." the juror also said jury members should be granted the right to speak freely about the case and be allowed to share "any potential l charges and defendas presented or not presented." the grand jury's only

indictments were three counts of wanton endangerment against former louisville police detective brett hankison for shooting into the apartment of a neighbor. the two officers who shot breonna taylor six times on march 13 were not charged after the grand jury deemed their actions justified. on monday, brett hankison pleaded not guilty to three counts of wanton endangerment. this all comes as vice news interviews with louisville swat team members have revealed that concerns about the deadly raid that killed breonna taylor were raised both before and after it happened. still withth us is historian keeanga-yamahtta taylor in philadelphia, contributing writer to "the new yorker," professor at princeton university. you have b been writing and tweeting a lot about the breonna taylor case. the decision came down from the grand j jury. clearly, the grand jury is upset saying they were only presented with wantonn endangerment and none of these three officers were charged with brbreonna

taylor's death. your comments? think there are a couple o of things. clear -- aait is grand jury is vevery kind of procedural formalility. and d the facact this took overo days and it t appears as if it s rigged in such a a way as s to t raise e the question o of murder asslalaughter but t to advance -- - sorges as possible ththe fact thehe proceedings may , as youo be pubublicized said at the top, it is not clear if the recordings will be made public, but i i think it speakso two things. ones that it is imporortant to remember t that without the

protest movement that exploded around the death of the killing of george floyd at the e end off may thatat nothingng would haven done i in this case. breonna t taylor was shot and killed on mamarch 13. and the second thing, which i think is really i important, is that t this kind of case reallly contribubutes to whai i think is an unfolding dynamic i''ve radical is a in n the united states.. wh i m mean is for millions of people -- i don't t think thousands, i think millions of peopople have been w watching ts case across the c country and indeed a across the worldld. to h have it go through the "proroper channnnels" and stille out with a rigged decision raisises existential questions r people about the legititimacy of

the instititutions of governance in t the united states, certainy in k kentucky, b but in the couy at lararge because it maps o ono those same questions being asked of other institutions. again,n, we are told the suprpre court is not a political body when we are watching in real me i it being used in the most grotesque political ways. we arereold the crcriminal jusce system iss blilind to black anad white, colorblind. and hehere we can n see where is funcnctioning fully color-conscience. so i t think for m millions of people i in this countntry, peoe who h have participad d in t dedemonsatations against police brbrutalitity brutalality, raiss fundamental l questions about wt isis happening in the e united statates were evenen when you do whatat you'rere supposed d do a case goes toto the couourse that is supposed toto go throuough an invevestigation goes througugh e chanannels it is s supposed to o arough and it still producess

completely corrurupted, and just queststions about the legititimacy of all the institutions t that are involved in this.s. and people begin to o come to their own conclususions about wt needs to change anand whatat tht change should look like as a result.. so i think this decision is extremely consequential in the u.s. right now. amy: youou're in phililadelphia. your book "race for profit: how banks and the real estate industry undermined black homeownership" was a 2020 finalist for the pulitzer prize for hihistory. congratulations. i want to ask about the housing industry. city officials agreed friday to hand over 50 vacant homes to a community land trust following months of organizing by unhoused people, including protest encampments, and taking over vacant homes. 50 mothers and children who have been occupying 15 vacant city-owned houses will also be

permitted to stay as part of the deal. philadelphia housing action, the group behind the direct action campaign, will set up the community land trust. on monday, we reached community organizer jenn bennetch with philadelphia housing action at the camp teddddy encampment a ad asked d her to descrcribe th significance o of the victctory. win pressisis it a and d the p people and indian cs who can move into homes, but this is also 50 u units that wod have been soldo o developers.. they usedd it toto speed upp the process of ourur two tvacacation in our neighborhrhoods, we wille ab t to houspeopople fm the beampmpment and alslso we will stopping these utsts from beingg sold off to the private market and potetentially becomoming luy condos or s sdent housing in our neighborhoodod. if this works out, it could be a gogood place to go inststeadf allowing houousing authorititi o

sesell units and make e money of them afterer they intentitionaly neglecte them until they were too much forhehem to dl with, ththen allow community groups to take on thosose unit and r rehad them and use them for what the original use was, which is to house people in need. amy: that is housing organizer jenn bennetch. if you can talk about the significance of this victory and just in the bigger picture -- we are talking about tens of millions of americans face eviction. this is a key ararea that you focus on, keeanga-yamahtta tataylor. > sure. i think this is tremendously signifificant, not only isis tha vindicatation of a strategy that - --ocused on direct action people occupied d sections of downtown philadelphia. they refuseded to move. they actcted in solidarity with each other.

there are so many times over the last two months when the city threatened to shut down n the camps, when the city threatened legal acaction a against the organizers.. and throughout that,t, people stood tall. they did not cave into the pressure. they essentially called the city's bluff. the city w was reluctant to acactually move in on the c camp becaususe philadelphia has beena demonstrativee,, protests aroround police brutalitity. therere is a well organized legl protection as well a as activist netwtworks in the city that i think created somome pause and reluanance on thpapart of c city ofofficials. but i think even beyond its impact in philadelphia, which i think is tremendous, there is a bigger lesson to be drawn here.

because this dynamic exists all over the country, where you have both md housing and -- empty housing and houseless people. a rational expressssion of wha americ capitalalism means.s. e even more pernicious leigh, yeah public housing authorititis -- evevery city has o one -- whh isis either sitttting on p props that they y should be distributg to people inin need of housingnt they are sitting on properties wawaiting for thee rigight price popoint to flip those propeperts for profit.. and thatat is unconscionable for pupublic houousing authoririty engaged in that kind of predatory, g ginger frying behavior -- g gentrifying behahavior. what is happppening in philadadelphia is creaeating a l for what alternanate organizing and activist groups should be taking up, which is occupy the space, occupy thehe properties,

and put pressure -- political pressure on public housing authorities to do their job and have people who are unhoused. it is not that complicated. we should not be having empty housing and people in the midst of a pandemic -- at no time should we be having it, but certainly not expressing this in the midst of a pandemic. -- ank this is a model strategic model and tactic that should be generalized by housing groups across the country. now is the time i think to move on this because the emergency of housing insecurity is at its most acute point, but also there is a greater connection being made between housing, health care, housing is a right that has been demonstrated by the cdc's own moratorium against evictions, which really

demonstrates that housing is an isissue of health care as well s an i issue of shelter. amy: keeanga-yamahtta taylor, thank you for being with us, "the new yorker." writer at author of "race for profit: how banks and the real estate industry undermined black homeownership," which was a 2020 finalist for the pulitzer prize for history. an author ofof "from #blacklivesmatter to black liberation." and up, david cay johnston the bombshell report that president trump did not pay any federal income tax and a 10 of the past 15 years. trump not only faces the election and possible defeat, could he face jail time for tax fraud? stay with us. ♪ [ [music break]

amy: "for the love of money" by the o'jays. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. when president trump and joe biden meet tonight for their first of three presidential debates -- and you can watch it 9:00on democracynow.org at eastern standard time -- trump

is expected to face questions about the bombshell report in "the new york times" that revealed he paid no federal income tax in 10 of the past 15 years and just $750 in 2016 and 2017. in a folollow-up reporort "the times" reveals trump made $427 million n off the hit t realityv show "the apprentice," providing him a financial lifeline as other investments lost money. "the times" reports -- "mr. trump's genius, it turned out, wasn't running a company. it was making himself famous -- trump-scale famous -- and monetizing that fame." the bideden campaign responded quickly on sunday with a video ad showing t the typical income taxes paid by workers compared to trump. teacrs paid $7239. firefighrs paid 283. nurses paid 0,0,216. donald tmpmp pai$75050.

while boasting he is a billionaire. "the times" report also detailed trump's questiononable write-o-s in tax f filings from major business losses anmassive debts, including more than $300 million in loans that will come due in the next four years. the revelations have raised national security concerns, with democratic senator elizabeth warren saying -- "he may be vulnerable to financial blackmail from a hostile foreign power and god knows what else." he paid more in taxes to the philippines and india than he did to the u united states. for more, we're joined by davavd cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winnnning investigative reporter who has reported on donald trump extensively and his taxes for momore than 30 years.. previoiously, he worked with "te new york times" and is now co-founder and editor of dcreport.org. his most recent book "it's even , worse than you think: what the trump administration is doing to america." you have written, david cay johnston, i think there's lots

of evidence that donald trump is a criminal level tax cheat. is this true? you think if you were not reelected, he could go to jail on these charges? jailll, whether he goes to is ultimately the decision of a judge after trial and coconviction. does he deserve to go to jail? absolutely. ththat on the federal level in this country where we have about 155 million tax returns filed each year, only prosecute about 1200 people and most of those are drug dealers or politicians who took bribes. there's no serious effort in the united states to prosecute tax crimininals. in fact, the irs is awarare of re than a hahalf million people who made high income, did not 2014,ile a tax return in 2015, or 2016, and they are not even trying to pursue them because they have no money. cocongress has cut a and cut the irirs. in the last 10 years, they've gotten rid of one e third of the auditors. if you make $1 million or more,

we have people that make several billion dollars a year, your odds of being audited are less than three in 100. juan: david, i wanted to ask you about "the times" piece not only yestererday but today as w well, because there's a lot of new information in t there, espspecy there was a mention of this $7$2 millionn t tax refund thatat trp claimed in the few yearsrs thate actutually did pay taxes. he apparently got a refund , iause he was clalaiming guess, c carryovers of previous losses to geget that mononey ba? coul you e explain t this issuef capital gains and how u ultra wealthyy people use losses in future years to not pay taxes? >> corporationons, but not

individuals, are allowed to smooth out t their income tax purposes. if a bususiness makes a profit n seven years and loses money in threes, they get to use the three yeyears to offseset the profits from others. trump is something different. when i got dononald's thousand five income tax return, he only paid $3 million of regular income tax on an income of over $150 million. he paid a lower rate than the poorest half of american taxpayers who that your made on average $16,000. he did pay another $35 million of what is called alternative miminimum tax. and for real estate deveveloper, that is not rereally a tax. what happens is the accounting rules cause you to pay the tax one year and then thee governmet gives it back to you in future years if you stay in the real estate business. essentially, t the govovnment takes from you z zero interest loan for a year. if trump's refund of $72 million

plus is supposed to be held back until it is reviewed by the staff of the congressional joint committee on taxation. any refund of more than $2 million is supposed to be reviewed first by the joint committee. trump got the refund. he got the check. it is not clear if there was a mistake madade or the joint committee passed on it. if they did come it is probably because it was seen as an alternative minimum tax refund. but donald's claimed that he pays a lot of taxes is based on not really paying taxes, it is based on this system in which real estate developers may end up loaning the government money for year or two and zero interest.. that is t a tax. juan: i i wanted to a ask you at in today's s article of "ththe times" deep in the story, but it begins to point t at what coulde a possible rurussia connectionnn adaddion to the mimiss universe

contest, they talked about yestererday, this s may rot gro- they rock grououp that rented officece is riright below thehep tower and the trump fifinanced h huge amount o of te foreign ventures of the trump decision. cocould you talk abobout them? they were basically being run by russian oligarchs. >> right. i've written a lot about this. interestingly, that is television.. they have done excellent work about this. donald trump has long bebeen connectedd with mobsters of all kind -- not just new york c city mamafia, but all sorts of rurussian-speaking m mobsters. office convicted violent felon who worked for him. trump is that, i would not recognize him if i was in thehe room. i have vidideo of them traveling all over the country and doing deals, none of which worked out togethther, some of whichh apper

to be scams. trump has very deep finanancial connections to the russian oligarchs who are essentially a criminal gang. this is the area of national security that should most worry americans about donald trump. the onlyly beauty pageant -- reremember, donald has boasted about howow he had the r right o walk in on halalf naked teenage girls because he owned them. that is the kind of crcreepy is. the only one of his beauty pageants that made money was the 2013 pageant in moscow. well, wasn''t really a p profit they m made or was it vladimir putin or one of his a agents putting money i in donald's poct in order to cucurry favor with him? remember, donald has never said a single negative worord about blender putin. as i come he said i trust vladimir putin but i do not trust the american intelligence agencies.

there's a lot more. amy: the times did find -- they made the point that the tax documents do not reveal any previously unreported connections to russia. however, they talk about the amount of money he paid to the philippines come the amount of money paid to india, and that a larger point that a number of people have raised is does this make him a national security risk? if these loans are going to come due, these debts of over $400 million, what is he going to do to deal with this? on lalaws assign off president t that benefit him personally? >> well, let's do the forthcoming loans. it is clear from "the times" reporting donald does not have ee resources to pay back more than 300 billion dollars of loans he personally guaranteed. if you are an actual billionaire, which donald d has never beenen, and you own valuae assets come you don't have to personally guarantee alone. you just pledge the assets as

collateral. that is the first thing that neveryou donald iss notot, has been, billionaire. just a fraraud, a hoax.. the loans would come due during a a second trump tererm. wewell, thee resolution of thati thinink is obvbvious. donald trump appoints the bankining regulalators in n the. he controls the regulation system. do you think any bank licensed by the government is going t to foreclose on the president of the e united statates? no. "we will extend the terms s of your loan, sir. perhaps you would like polity underpayments. could we lower the interest rate for you, sir?" you sai that t one of the crucial but unstated m messages from this portrt on trumump's taxes s is that americans arare" chumps" when it comes to own

income taxaxes. could you expand on n that? >>-try to get americans to understand what happens starting wiwith the r reagan administrarn at t the end of the new deal i s america devised two incomome tax systems separate and u unequal. orse e of us who are workers pensioners, as i am, our taxes are withheld before we get our money. the government knows how much money we got. eliminated theaw of deducuctions. can't get a doctrine for terrible gift or home mortgage or state and local taxes anymore -- you can't get a deduction for a charitable gift or home mortgage or state and local taxes anymore. the people who own their own business like donald trump, they're under a different system. congress does not trust us, that exes out tatakes first. and everyone like trumump come they will fully and faithfully rereport the agile income they have and then they will pay all of the taxes that they owe and

the only check on that our audit. what does congress do, particularly the george w. bush administration, the reagann admiministration -- welcome aa little bitit in the reagagan adadministration -- and under donald trump? they have been getting rid of auditors so your odds if you are million dollar plus income person of being audited are less than 3% a year. so even then, the i irs is badly underfunded and understaffed, at dcreport, we did a five-part story about the third koch brother, bill koch, getting $100 million year, no income taxes in a device is clearly improper, arguably criminal, we prefer the arguguments that's the e only kk who supports donald trump and a coupuple of weeks afafter donald trump became president, his next-door neighbor and criminalo built koch's

investigation suddenly stopped. amy: the firstst presidedential debate is tonight. what question n do you want to e raised about donald trump's taxes? >> i think t the biggest mistake joe biden would make is to somehow attack well. it doesn't sell l in americaca. i thinink you should press him n it, all right, you say it is fake news, just show us your 1040s back to the year 2000. one of them as outcome it was published by david cay johnston, just shohow those and we will se whether it is fake news or not. donald will dodge that. the emails i'm getting from people on the right are all designed to tell you joe biden is a secret croak with a $1 million fortune -- - $1 billion fortrtune, all of which h is utr nonsense. , thankvavid cay johohnston you for being with us pulitzer , winning best to get reporter

and editor of dcreport.org. to net we will be streaming the presidential debate live

♪ hello. a very warm welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we start this hour t u.s. where president donald trump and democratic joe biden are about toto square off in their first face to face debate. the two men will appeal to voters about