01/04/21 01/04/ [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> today we are swept away by our joy but the fact -- [cheers] willact that julian shortly be with us. amy: in a stunning decision, a british judge has blocked the extradition of wikileaks founder julian assange to the united

states, saying he would not be safe in a u.s. prison due to his deteriorated mental state. could julian assange soon be a free man for the first time in nearly a decade? then as georgia prepares for two senate runoff elections on tuesday, president trump has been recorded on tape threatening georgia's republican secretary of state to overturn joe biden's victory in the state. pres. trump: look, all i want to do is this. 11,780want to find votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. amy: we will go to georgia for the latest. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

a british judge has blocked the extradition of wikileaks founder julian assange to the united states where he could have faced up to 175 years in prison. in an extraordinary decision, judge vanessa baraitser said assange would not be safe in u.s. prisons due to the state of his mental health and the increased risk of suicide. judge baraitser said -- "i find that the mental condition of mr. assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the united states of america." supporters of assange celebrated outside the london courthouse. theo celebrate that american prison system is so bad that even this judge would not send julian assange into it. amy: in 2019, julian assange was indicted in the united states on

17 counts of violating the espionage act related to the publication of classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq, afghanistan, and elsewhere. we laugh more on the story after headlines. president trump repeatedly pressured georgia's republican secretary of state brad raffensperger to change the results of the presidential election in georgia during an hour long phone call saturday. "the washington post" published audio of the stunning phone call in which trump suggested raffensperger announce that officials recalculated votes. raffensperger responded to trump, "the data you have is wrong." this is an excerpt of that call. pres. trump: i just want to find

11,780 votes, which is one more the we have because we won state. this is a faulty election result. honestly, this should go very fast. you have a big election coming up and because of what you have done to the president -- you know, the people of georgia know this was a scam. because of what you been to the president, a lot of people are not going out about vote. amy: president trump tried to get raffensperger to agree that thousands of ballots had been destroyed, threatening consequences if he did not support the baseless claim -- a possible attempt at extortion. the audio was released just two days before the two georgia runoff races tuesday which will determine control of the u.s. senate. over 3 million georgia residents have already cast their ballots, in a record turnout for runoff elections. on thursday, incumbent republican senator david perdue

said he was quarantining after possible exposure to the coronavirus. he is facing off against democrat jon ossoff. incumbent republican senator kelly loeffler is running against reverend raphael warnock. trump is campaigningn the conservative stronghold of dalton, georgia, today while president-elect joe biden will be in atlanta. vice president-elect kamala harrisampaignein savanh on sund. in more election news, as many as 140 republican congressmembers and a least 12 senators plan to contest the official counting of the electoral college vote wednesday. ted cruz is spearheading the effort among senators in the latest desperate attempt to overturn joe biden's victory and buoy trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. congress will still have a majority of lawmakers to certify

joe biden's win. on sunday, the 117th congress was sworn in amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic and trump's attempts to overturn the election. cori bush, a black lives matter activist and formerly unhoused single mother, was sworn in to represent missouri's congressional district. first she tweeted -- "i've survived sexual assault, police abuse, domestic violence, and being unhoused and uninsured. that's not a unique pain i carry. it's one that so many of us live with each day. today, i take my seat in congress to fight for a world where nobody has to endure that pain." nancy pelosi was reelected as house speaker by a narrow margin, with democrats holding the slimmest majority in 20 years with 222 seats to republican's 211, with two seats undecided.

in its last major act, the 116th congress voted on new year's day to override president trump's veto of the $740 billion military budget bill. senate republican leaders did not allow an up-or-down vote on a house bill to increase coronavirus stimulus checks to $2000 per person. this all comes as the u.s. has topped 351,000 covid-19 deaths and 20.6 million known cases as hospitals brace themselves for an even greater surge due to holiday travel and social gatherings. california remains an epicenter in the united states with 45,000 news cases reported sunday. ambulances are reporting waits -- wait times of up to eight hours to transfer patients to hospitals, which are already near their breaking point, in turn leading to a shortage of

paramedics and longer 911 response times. los angeles morgues say they cannot keep up with the mounting daily death toll, which has averaged 178 over the past week -- or one death every eight minutes. funeral homes have had to turn away grieving families. shelters and services for unhoused people in l.a. are reporting being overwhelmed by new spikes in cases. in tacoma, washington, police evicted housing activists who had occupied a travelodge motel since christmas to shelter over 40 unhoused people. the group tacoma housing now has been requesting city officials take advantage of a federal funding program to cover the costs of housing people in unused hotel rooms during the pandemic. baltimore recently announced it is extending contracts with hotels to accommodate unhoused people using fema funds through march.

meanwhile, the coronavirus variant first identified in britain, which is believed to be significantly more contagious but not more deadly, has now been reported in over 30 countries and three u.s. states -- colorado, california, and florida. as frustrations mount over the slow rollout of vaccines, the u.s. will consider cutting moderna doses in half for adults up to the age of 55. the u.s. has vaccinated over 4.2 million people, falling far short of its original goal of vaccinating 20 million by the end of 2020. in international news, india has approved two vaccines against covid-19 -- the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine and domestically develop bharat

biotech's covaxin. some health expertand liticians expressed concern ov its approval with the publication of its efficacy. india aims to inoculate 300 million frontline workers, horribled will people out of its 1.35 billion population by august. britain became the first country today to start administering doses of the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine. in related news, the world health organization listed pfizer-biontech's covid-19 vaccine for emergency use thursday, which should allow less wealthy countries to expedite their own regulatory approval for the vaccine. in the middle east, over one million israelis, or over one -10th of the population has already received their first dose of the pfizer-biontech shot, the highest rate of vaccination against e coronavirus in the world. but human rights groups say israeli authorities are excluding palestinians in the occupied territories from the

vaccine rollout, even as settlers in those regions receive the shots. palestinian authorities say they plan to use covax -- the u.n.'s mechanism to ensure fair distribution of vaccines -- to vaccinate some of its population. a deadly blast at the aden airport in yemen wednesday killed at least 26 people and injured dozens. the attack came as a plane carrying membe of a neyw formed saudi-backed cabinet was landing at the airport. three international red cross workers and at least one journalist were killed. yemeni officials blamed houthi rebels, who denied they were responsible. saudi air raids were launched in houthi-controlled sana'a following the blast. on friday, an explosion in the port city of hodeidah killed five women at a wedding hall. government and houthi forces both blamed the other side for the attack. in afghanistan, bismellah adel

aimaq, a 28-year-old radio journalist from ghor province, was shot dead in a car ambush on friday. he is at least the fifth media professional to be killed in afghanistan in under two months. no group has claimed once ability -- responsibility for the killing. in a separate attack, civil society activist abdi jahid was also reported killed. intra-afghan peace talks are set to resume this week in doha amid an ongoing surge in violence. in pakistan, the islamic state has claimed responsibility for saturday's attack on a coal mine in the western province of balochistan, which left 11 miners dead. the killings sparked protests among members of pakistan's hazara shia muslim minority. this is hazara lawyer mohammad raza. >> the government has failed to control these terrorist. both are responsible for this. amy: in iraq, thousands of

protesters flooded baghdad's tahrir square monday to mark the anniversary of president trump's first assassination of qassem soleimani, the iranian general killed in a u.s. drone strike near baghdad international airport. the protests came as iranian leaders warned the trump administration may be planning an attack before joe biden is sworn in on january 20. the u.s. has flown b-52 bombers over the persian gulf at least three times over the past month, and over the weekend, the pentagon reversed plans to withdraw the uss nimitz aircraft carrier from the region. in nigeria, prominent journalist and activist omoyele sowore was beaten and arrested along with other protesters at a peaceful new year's eve gathering in the capital abuja. the protesters were airing grievances against the nigern president muhammadu buri when members of a police unit known as the rapid response squad

descended on their candlelight procession. sowore reported he suffered a broken nose and was denied bail for allegedly violating covid-19 protocols. wore is a rmer presintial candidate in nigeria and the founder of the new york-based news outlet saha reporters was arresd in 2019 charges including treason after he organed peaceful nationwide protes against neria' government. to see our last interview with him, go to democracynow.org. a1 hr audience, this story contains disturbing footage of a police raid. police in minneapolis have released body camera footage of the killing of dolal idd, a 23-year-old somali american who was shot to death by officers in a gas station parking lot last wednesday. it was the first killing by minneapolis police since the death of george floyd on may 25. the minneapolis poce

department says the video shows idd fired at the officers first, but the footage is inconclusive and family members dispute the claim. about eight hours after the shooting, just past 2:00 a.m. on new year's eve, hennepin county sheriff's deputies raided the home of idd's family, bringing -- where they zip tied the hands of adults as terrified children looked on. video of the raid shows officers did not explain the reason for their search warrant and did not tell the family that dolal idd had been killed as they were making their exit. the killing has sparked new protests in support of black lives in minneapolis. a panel of federal judges has reinstated the execution of lisa montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, for january 12. the decision reversed a ruling one week earlier allowing for the postponement of montgomery's execution because her lawyers contracted covid-19. montgomery's attorney is asking

the court to reconsider the ruling. she was convicted for the gruesome 2004 murder of a pregnant woman, but advocates have been asking for clemency and say montgomery suffers from mental illness caused by a life of abuse. if the execution goes ahead, lisa montgomery will be the first woman to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years. samuel little, a serial killer who confessed to committing 93 murders between 1970 and 2005, died last week at the age of 80. little's victims were mostly young black women who were estranged from their families or struggling with poverty or other issues and their deaths did not receive widespread attention. many of the murders were attributed to overdoses or accidental or undetermined causes. the fbi described little as the the most prolific serial killer in u.s. history. in texas, authorities are investigating the death of drill sergeant jessica mitchell, whose body was found in a

bullet-riddled car in san antonio on new year's day. and the census bureau missed its december 31 deadline to produce its final counts for 2020. those numbers will determine representation in congress and the number of electoral votes in each state. if the results are not ready before trump leaves office, his attempt to exclude undocumented people from the final count is expected to fail. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, a stunning decision by a british judge. wikileaks founder julian assange will not be extradited to the united states. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "i hear voices" by m.f. doom. on new year's eve, it was announced that the seminal rapper had passed away in october at the age of 49. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a british judge has blocked the extradition of wikileaks founder julian assange to the united states where he would have faced up to 175 years in prison. in a stunning decision, judge vanessa baraitser said assange would not be safe in u.s. -- u.s. prisons due to the state of his mental health and the increased risk of suicide. judge vanessa baraitser said -- "i find that the mental condition of mr. assange is such

that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the united states of america." the united states that it would appeal the ruling. supporters of assange, including former british ambassador craig murray, celebrated outside the london courthouse this morning. >> today we are swept away by -- joy of the fact [cheers]murray celebrated the fact that julian will shortly be with us. judge makes an excuse to deliver on the, an excuse based appalling conditions in american prisons, excuse based on the effect it would have on american mental health and perhaps a sign

the authorities are not prepared to follow through the persecution and instruction of unmanned political reasons. amy: julian partner stella after also spoke shortly thjudge's ruling. >> i had hoped today would be would comet julian home. today is not that day. but that day will come soon. has to endureian suffering in isolation as an convicted prisoner in belmar's prison and as long as our bereftn continue to be of their father's love and affection, we cannot celebrate. we will celebrate the day he comes home. today is a big three -- victory for julian.

today's victory is the first step toward justice in this case. hasre pleased the court recognized the seriousness and inhumanity of what he has endured and what he faces. but let's not forget the indictment in the u.s. has not been dropped. we are extremely concerned the u.s. government has decided to appeal this decision. he continues to want to punish disappear make him into t deepest, darkest whole of the u.s. prison system for the rest of his life. happen. never thatll never accept journalism is a crime in this country or any other. amy: stella morris, julian assange's partner, the mother of

two of his children. in 2019, julian assange was indicted in the united states on 17 counts of violating the espionage act related to the publication of classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq, afghanistan and elsewhere. press freedom advocates campaigned against his prosecution saying it would set a dangerous precedent for prosecuting journalists. assange has been locked up at belmarsh, one of britain's most high-security prisons, since his arrest in april 2019. he had spent the previous seven years inside the ecuadorian embassy where he had been granted political asylum. in a statement, amnesty international said "we welcome the fact that julian assange will not be sent to the usa but this does not absolve the u.k. from having engaged and it is politically motivated process at the behest of the usa and

putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial." we are joined by two guests. joining us from sydney, australia, is jenner robinson, a human rights attorney who has been advising julian assange and wikileaks since 2010. and here in new york is jameel jaffer, founding director of the knight first amendment institute at columbia university. last year he submitted expert testimony to judge baraitser in the assange extradition proceeding. jennifer, let's go to you first in australia. can you respond to this stunning decision of the judge? it is a welcome dision and a th is the jue recognized in her judgment pending that julian should nobe extrated to the united states. but on the narrow grounds not for press freedom concerns, but because of specific medical

condition and declining medical help and prison conditions he would face when returned to the uned states. thus measures which effectively, soliry confinement. thiss still concerning. free-speech groups should still be concern. we will be looking me closely at the judgment in the coming days. [indiscernible] the fact that julian would not get a fair trial once returned to the united states. while we are pleased with the outcome and the lead for his partneand this has been a long 10 year battle for us, the fact she has decided not to extradite is a positive one but i think for free speech journalists groups, this is not the end of the road. i think it shows this is still as terrible precedent. amy: the u.s. as they will appeal this. what does this mean?

on the one hand, the possibility of him being freed this week but could that appeal mean he remas in jail? >> we will be making a verification on wednesday morning. that was decided this morning. of course u.s. has two weeks to appeal and alrea indicated they will appeal and will liky oppose any bail application. the right and correct position is now that we have one this first battle, he ought to be released on remand pending any appeal outcome. if the u.s. is great permission to appeal, because they must apply for permission, this could be pushed out several months. he has already spent, as i said, somet over a decade under form of confinement. it is time united states puts an end to this. this is an extreme prosecution that never should have been charted in the first place.

the obama administration chose not to indict. this case these to be put to a close and julian should be allowed to get on with his life. amy: for those who are not familiar with what he released, can you explain this case and -- in was inside political exile in the ecuadorian embassy for so many years and then taken by police and put into this super max bill marsh prison? >> the indictment and the prosecution from the united states and the extradition case, publications back to 2010, 2011, including the publication of the afghan war logs, iraq war logs -- logs, the famous videos. what we saw were evidence of war crimes, human rights abuse, and what was important about the extradition proceedings we had

evidence from human rights lawyers from around the world about the importance of wikileaks disclosures and human rights accountability efforts, whether we talk about wonton above a, the iraq war, and so on. the iraq war,bay, and so on. what is troubling about today's decision is the judge has found he could have been extradited had it not been for his medical condition. terrifying precedents for journalists. amy: jameel jaffer, if you could respond? you filed expert testimony in his case to this stunning decision that was made by the judge in britain this morning. >> i do think the decision is important and surprising, very significant victory for julian assange. s arenk the press freedom more complicated.

while the judge holding assange can't be extradited to the united states on the basis of his mental health and conditions under which he would be held if you were extradited here come the judge largely endorses the u.s. prosecution theory. that theory is based on an indictment that sweeps very broadly. that basically the indictment is an effort to hold assange criminally responsible for acts all journalists engage in the time. it does not matter whether assange himself is properly characterized as a journalist, legally it is completely irrelevant. the important fact is assange has been indicted on the grounds that he engaged in activities like cultivating confidential sources, maintaining the confidentiality, or maintaining the confidentiality of their shedties and publiciz

secrets. those are integral to national security journalism. is press freedom theory here the prosecion of assange -- even the indictment itself -- will deter journalism that is , thatant and necessary ould be regarded as protected by the first amendment. i think this ruling is, again, victory for assange, but insofar as endorsement of the u.s.'s prosecution theory and of the underlying indictment, i think that indictment is going to continue to cast a kind of shadow over investigative journalism. amy: in 2014, interviewed julian assange inside the ecuadorian embassy. he talked about the challenges whistleblowers face in u.s. courts. >> not possible for national security whistleblower now in

the united states to have a fair trial. it is not possible because all of the trials are held in alexandria, virginia, the jury pool comprised of the highest density of military and government employees. not possible to have a fair trial because u.s. government as a precedent of applied state secret play ridge dish privileged to prevent the defense from using material that is classified in his favor. not possible have a fair trial because as a defendant in a national security case, or held under special ministry to measures that makes it very hard to look at any of the material on your case to meet with your lawyers, to speak to people, etc. system simply not a fair . amy: that is julian assange inside the ecuadorian embassy where he had political asylum in 2014. we may have one of the most extensive global tv-radio broadcast interviews with

assange a number of times inside the embassy, also before that when he was under house arrest. you can go to democracynow.org for that. jameel jaffer, last wee you tweeted -- don "it is crucial to understand the case isn't just incidentally about press freedom. the whole point of the case is to criminalize national security journalism." let's talk about that. if you are listening to the judge today before the end, and i want to ask jen robinson about this, when she talked about his mental condition and what this could mean in u.s. prisons -- a real indictment of u.s. prisons, it did sound like she was going in another direction on the issue of press freedom. think -- you have to understand here the trump administration or the department of justice could have indicted

assange on much narrower grounds and they d initially indict him on a violation of the computer fraud and abuse act. that prosecution would have raised some press freedom concerns, to come over the press freedom concerns what have been much less significant than the ones raised by this espionage act indictment. there was a decision made at some point to indict assange on his broader grounds even though narrower grounds might've been available. the decision was made even though the obama administration decided that there was no meaningful way to distinguish assange's activities from the andvities of journalists mainstream media organizations in the united states. so there was a very deliberate decision to go after assange with these very broad claims -- charges, even though the justice department itself had concluded

under president obama that distinguishing assange from journalists and main street news organizations was difficult but not impossible. i think the only way to explain to understandis the whole point of the prosecution, the whole point of the indictment is to cast a shadow over investigative journalism and national security journalism in particular. the point of this prosecution is not so much to go after assange, because they been invented under narrower grounds. i understand that sounds extreme, but i really don't think there's any other possible explanation for the decision to go after assange in this particular way. the point is to get at the activities that journalists are engaged in all the time. again, protecting confidential themes, communicating with

confidentially, cultivating sources, publishing classified secrets. these are the pillars of investigative journalism, of national security journalism in particular. and those things are the target of the indictment. jen robinson, re-able to see him belmarsh? we have not been able to >> >> see him since the beginning of the year comes as the covid restrictions were implemented. i thinit is important to talk about the present conditions he is facing in the united kingdom so far. not able to visit him in prison since march. he has not been able to have social visits. it has been vocal to prepare our case. the isolation he has suffered already because of the is and conditions in the u.k. and the covid pandemic, there has been an outbreak of covidn his prison block in recent weeks. he has effectively been 24/7 in his cell and even allowed to

leave to wash. we are very concerned about what would happen to him given his ongoing medical condition as a result of the many years in nfinement. the complications he would suffer. amy: jen, when joe biden was the u.s. vice president, he likened wikileaks founder julian assange to high-tech terrorist. that was the strongest criticism from the obama administration, reading a piece from "the guardian" is as "biden claimed by leaking diplomatic cables, sasha had put lives at risk, to mo difficult for the u.s. to conduct business around the world." that presidentle trump would pardon julian assange and with that matter this point given he will not be

sent to the united states -- at least at this point, the u.s. as appealed. >> it is conceivable -- president trump still has the power to pardon julian at this white. from -- thes julian indictment is still in place. i agree with everything jameel jaffer had to say about the impact in the united states with respect to first amendment protections but also concerning for journalists outside the country because let's not forget the impact of this ruling is that she would have extradited him had it not been [indiscernible] this is still a very dangerous precedent and one -- the fact we have one this 1st avenue does not mean it is going to be the end of the road. there will still be an appeal. i think operatives journalists -- i think all british journalists need to be looking at this as well to see the fact that they could still

potentially be extradited under the precedent and that is dangerous. amy: jameel jaffer, i asked jennifer robinson to describe what it was that julian assange had released, among them a video that he called collateral death wikileaks called collateral damage, which exposed the u.s. apache helicopter opening fire on a group of iraqi residents in new baghdad, an area baghdad. the opened fire from the apache helicopter, having gotten approval from back at the forward operating base. in addition to killing the iraqis on the ground, they --led two reuters employees an up-and-coming journalist, videographer, and his driver -- who often took reuters journalists around and they were

in iraq. he was the father of o. it was a horrifying image. reuters year after year demanded from the u.s. government if they had video, and it was that video that wikileaks released from among, welcoming millions of other documents. but the significance of this and organizationsnews , like "the new york times," like "the washington post" treated are back or did not back julian assange, though they certainly used the information he released? >> no doubt that particular disclosure was hugely significant. it is not the only disclosure that wikileaks has made that i think has made sort of dramatic contributions to public understanding of government policy and national secured policy in particular. i think it is important to think not only about the disclosures that wikileaks has made, but

rather the disclosures that other news organizations have made over the past 20 years that would not have been possible or would have been criminalized if one accepts the theory that the u.s. government is asserting and it is particular case. if it were in fact the case the publication of national security secrets was itself a violation of the espionage act not constitutionally protected -- which is the government's theory here -- virtually everything we know about the conduct of the so-called war on terror, we would not know it. we would not know about the cia's secret prisons but for disclosures of government insiders for "the washington post," which they published in 2005. we would not know about the war on the wiretapping program, which "the new york times" disclosed. we would not know about the abuses of prisoners in iraq and afghanistan, which "the new

yorker" and "60 minutes" disclosed. that was based on disclosures of government insiders to media organizations, which the published classifiedecrets. and that is precisely the bases in which the government is prosecuting assange. i know there are ftual distinctions between the activities that assange has engaged in, the activities some "new york times"ournalists have engaged in. they do not ultimately matter to the indictment. at the end of the day, the indictment charges assange with publishing classified facts. if you accept publishing classified facts, not just a violation ofhe espionage act, not custard usually protected, en you're endangering not just the kinds of disclosures that wikileaks has undertaken, but the disclosures that other media organizations engage in literally every day. amy: i want to ask you about the push department innocent is a

whistleblower edward snowden. during a news conference lester, president trump suggested he would consider granting edward snowden a pardon. pres. trump: there are many, many people -- it seems to be a split decision. many people think he should be somehow treated differently and other people think he did very bad things. i'm going to take a very good look at it. amy: that is president trump. your final thoughts? >> i think we should welcome a pardon of snowden. i would have welcomed it come from president obama and i would welcome it if it comes from president trump is the stone has contributed a huge amount of debate about government surveillance. they're all sorts of reforms to to law that can be traced snowden's disclosures. they helped us understand the extent to which government officials had misled the public about the scope of the nsa's activities. i think would be entirely appropriate to pardon him. that intolerable

whistleblowers who report to the public, gross abuses of several liberties and human rights pay this very high cost for those disclosures while the people, the officials who authorized those abuses are appointed to higher and higher posts. i think it is intolerable. for that reason, i would welcome a pardon. amy: i want to thank you for being with us. snowden just announced he just had a baby with his partner. they live in moscow now. i want to thank jameel jaffer, knight first amendment institute at columbia university. he is the director there. and i want to thank jennifer robinson, speaking to us from sydney, australia. she is an advisor to julian assange and wikileaks. next up, as georgia prepares for

two senate runoff elections on tuesday, president trump caught on tape threatening george's republican secretary of state to overturn joe biden's victory in the state. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "georgia on my mind" by las cafateras. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. we look now at president trump's extraordinary hour-long phone call to pressure georgia's republican secretary of state brad raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn joe biden's victory in the state's 2020 election. trump made the call on saturday, nearly two weeks before he is due to leave office and just days before tuesday's runoff elections in georgia that will

determine control of the u.s. senate. "the washington post" released audio of the call sunday after trump tweeted he had spoken to raffensperger and claimed he was "unwilling, or unable, to answer questions" about allegations of voter fraud. raffensperger tweeted in response -- "respectfully, president trump, what you're saying is not true." "the washington post" obtained a recording of the call in which trump both berates and begs raffensperger, and even threatens him with criminal charges if he refused to pursue the false claims and change the certified election results. during the call, trump also said he could tell he had won georgia based on "rally size." the sizes of his rallies in georgia. this is part of the exchange. pres. trump: we have one this election in georgia ice on all of this. there is nothing wrong with saying that, brad. having correct -- the people of

georgia are angry. these numbers are going to be repeated on monday night, along with others that we are going to have by that time, which are much more substantial even. the people of georgia are angry because of the people of the country are angry. there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you have recalculated. close mr. president, the challenge you have is the data you have is wrong. pres. trump: it is more illegal for you than it is for them because you know what they did and you're not reporting it. that is a criminal offense. you can't let that happen. that is a big risk to you and to ryan, her lawyer. that is a big risk. 11,780want to find votes, which is one more than we state.cause we won the >> mr. president, you people that submit information and we

have people that submit information, then it comes before the court. the court then has to make a determination. we have to stand by our numbers. we believe our numbers are right. law, are notunder allowed to give faulty election results, ok? you're not allowed to do that and that is what you've done. this is a faulty election result. honestly, this should go very fast. you should meet tomorrow because you have a big election coming up and because of what you've done to the president -- you know, the people of georgia know this was a scam. because of what you have done to the president, a lot of people are not going out to vote. a lot of republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president. they hate it. they're going to vote. if you would be respected -- really respected to this thing could be straightened out before the election. you have a big election coming up on tuesday. is president trump for

rating, begging, threatening republican secretary of state of georgia read. legal experts say trump's call to the secretary of state was possibly illegal, with former obama administration solicitor general, neal katyal, telling "the washington post" it "demonstrates an impeachable, perhaps criminal, offense." trump plans to address georgia voters this evening at a rally in the conservative stronghold of dalton, represented by the newly elected q-anon-supporting congresswoman marjorie taylor green. senator perdue is in quarantine and campaigning virtually after he said he was exposed for staff who tested positive for covid. meanwhile, president-elect biden savannah, andin vice president-elect kamala harris hit the campaign trail in georgia over the weekend to support democratic senate candidates reverend raphael warnock, pastor of ebenezer baptist church in atlanta where dr. king, jr. grew up and preached, and jon ossoff.

this is ossoff responding to trump's phone call during a speech to supporters. when thes moment president of the united states calls up georgia's election tries to and intimidate them to change the result of the election, to disenfranchise georgia voters, to disenfranchise black voters in georgia who delivered this state for joe biden and kamala harris -- [horns honking] is a direct attack on our democracy. amy: for more, we go to atlanta, where we are joined by nsé ufot, the ceo of new georgia project and new georgia project action fund, organizations that played a key role in mobilizing voters

for the 2020 election and now for tuesday's run-off elections. over 3 million georgia residents have already cast their ballots and record turnout for runoff elections. welcome to democracy now! can you first respond to this astounding audiotape of the president threatening, g theching, beratin republican secretary of state of georgia? >> it was astounding. and good morning. it is unfortunate that this appears to be a continuation of the sort of treatment that secretary of state and of the governor have been on the receiving end of -- since the november elections were called. i remember experiencing a lot of pressure to congratulate him and to praise him for sort of refusing the president's attempt

-- quite friendly, refusing the national republican party's attempt to engage in a criminal conspiracy to still the election. i don't pretend to be a constitutional scholar, but i don't know how this is unconstitutional. is has to be criminal. amy: you clearly are not a fan beat staceyp who abrams, one of your colleagues in the get out the vote campaign that has been astounding throughout georgia, a model for the republican secretary of state. you have problems, issues of voter suppression. but what was your response to how red raffensperger and his attorney who is on the call, ryan germany, what did trump say when he was talking to ryan germany? he said, what is wrong with you? i heard your lawyer is very difficult, but i'm sure you are a good lawyer. you have a nice last name. >> wow. that is my reaction.

this is absurd. circumstance,r this would be disqualified. i think my concern, one, the secretary of state's office knew they were recording the phone call so my response is, you know, they recorded themselves as if they knew this phone call was being recorded and they recorded themsels as if they knew they would eventually release at. again, they are doing their jobs but in some areas, they are attacking ourh elections infrastructure, constructing barriers to participation that georgia voters have to clear in order to exercisehe franchise and participate in our elections. amy: which are what? what are those obstacles, even still? >> well, we are talking about

they have cut the number of days for early voting during this runoff. they have cut the number of early voting locations and some major counties like cobb county, cut over half of the early voting locations. they cut the number of ballot box, drop boxes where people can in a covid-safeway drop off their absentee ballots. they have announced they intend to criminally prosecute any group or individuals that provides comfort to voters who are waiting in long lines. warmings of covered activities -- hot chocolate, pizza, water, scarves, gloves, participate,ups they are great by the secretary of state in his most recent demo with criminal prosecution. amy: i want to go to president

trump specifically attacking your colleague from the former gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams. pres. trump: and stacey abrams is laughing about -- she's going around saying these guys are dumber than a rock. what she has said to this party is unbelievable, i tell you. i only ran against her once, and that was with a guy named brian kemp. and i beat her. if i did not run, brian would not have had a shot. either the general or the primary. he was dead. dead as a doornail. he never thought he had a shot at either one of them. what a shoe like i was most of amy: there's trump doing what he does so comfortable doing, attacking and powerful woman of color. talk about what you stacey abrams, what all of these voter groups have done right now. tomorrow is election, even though millions have already voted. what do you see is the hope for tomorrow

thate hope for tomorrow is georgians will block out this information, disinformation, and show up at the polls in overwhelming numbers so that we can neutralize all of these voter suppression tactics that we see playing out in the state. that we can be reasonably assured the will of the people is reflected in the results of our election. and as per leader abrams, i think her intervention -- she's the architect of an ecosystem, right? that has exposed many of the deficiencies in georgia's elections and democracy infrastructure and has helped start and launch organizations that has invested in leaders that has helped us register almost one million georgians of color in all hundred 50 9th avenue georgia's counties. we have historic levels of turnout.

in the aftermath of the november general election, there were so much handwringing about the structural advantage the republicans had in a runoff election because their base is older and wider. is't you know mr. turnout 30%, 40% come is that we should not even bother. be therankly, this will most expensive senate race, the most expensive congressional race in the history of american politics. the enemies of progress have always had more money. what we have is people power. we are absolutely -- we have seen that during the early voting period with over 3 million georgians voting already, over one million of them in black georgians. we have seen historic youth turnout. i think we will see elevated turnout again on tuesday, tomorrow. amy: what does helping to prepare your mommy from nigeria

to georgia for his citizenship citizenshipou about , as we wrap up? cooks my mother and i became citizens together. so while she worked a second job , it was my responsibility to make sure we passed the citizenship exam. ,hat it has to is taught me one, the government of, for, and aspirationle is an and something we have to fight for every day is something we have to work for. to thisd allegiance country, to the constitution. i pledged to defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic. and we are witnessing a domestic attack on our country, on our constitution, on our way of life. i encourage all georgians and all the people within the sound

of my voice to join us in not only electing champions, people -- go out andvern vote tomorrow. amy: nsé ufot, thank you for

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