01/12/21 01/12/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what is happening rig now is not the end of the affair, but it might just be the beginning of the move of the far-right to try to catapult itself to power. amy: as house democrats move to impeach president trump for inciting an insurrection, the fbi is warning of armed right-wing protests at all 50

state capitols this weekend. we will speak to the filipino scholar walden bello, author of "counterrevolution: the global rise of the far right." his latest piece "america has entered the weimar era." then we look at president trump's race to execute more prisoners before his term ends in an unprecedented lame duck killing spree. >> i think it is the callous brute force of the mentality of the trump administration that he just believese can use force and kill people. he can use violence and force to make his point. there is no need for these executions to happen. amy: on monday, a federal judge granted a stay of execution for lisa montgomery, who was set to become the first woman executed by the federal government in 67

-- almost years, but the trump 70 administration is appealing the decision. two men are also scheduled to be executed this week. we will speak with longtime death penalty critic sister helen prejean. stay with us. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. house democrats are inching toward removing president trump from power after he incited his supporters to attack the u.s. capitol last wednesday. on monday, the house adjourned for the day after republicans objected to a voice vote on a measure calling on vice president mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment. the house is set to hold a vote on the measure today. pence has signaled he's unlikely to declare trump incapable of executing his duties, and such a move would also require a majority of trump's cabinet members. democratic leaders have scheduled an impeachment vote for wednesday. more than 218 lawmakers have

already committed to passage of the single article of impeachment charging trump with inciting violence against the government of the united states. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell has adjourned the senate until january 19, all but ruling out a senate impeachment trial ahead of joe biden's inauguration on january 20. biden on monday questioned whether the senate could bifurcate its business during his first 100 days, suggesting senators could hold off on an impeachment trial in order to get cabinet members confirmed. meanwhile, at least 47 lawmakers are co-sponsoring a resolution by freshman missouri democrat congressmember cori bush calling for the removal of republicans who encouraged last week's insurrection at the capitol. the fbi is warning that armed protests are being planned in all 50 state capitals and in washington, d.c., before and during joe biden's inauguration

next week. in michigan, authorities have banned the open carry of firearms inside the state capitol building, hoping to avoid a repeat of last april when heavily armed militia members menaced lawmakers during a vote to extend public health meases during the pandemic. in washington, d.c., pentagon officials say up to 15,000 national guard members could be deployed to protect against a replay of last week's insurrection. washington mayor muriel bowser is calling on the department of homeland security and other federal agencies to dramatically increase security for the inauguration but says the event should remain public. president-elect biden said monday he will take the oath of office publicly. this comes as "the washington post" reports that during wednesday's insurrection, republican leaders tried repeatedly and failed to get trump to call off the mob he incited. trump reportedly could not be reached because he was too busy

watching the crisis unfold on live television for hours. connecticut democratic senator chris murphy said monday trump is continuing to thwart attempts to secure the january 20 inauguration. >> president trump is still in charge and part of the reason why congress is talking about impeachment right now is because he is not being helpful in trying to guarantee the security of the inauguration. in fact, he seems to be doing more harm than good. amy: washington, d.c.'s attorney general said monday he's considering riot incitement charges against donald trump, jr., as well as his attorney rudy giuliani and republican congressmember mo brooks, for inciting trump's mob to violence. he is considering charges against the president. on monday, acting homeland security secretary chad wolf resigned, becoming the third

cabinet secretary to quit since trump's mob attacked congress. in his resignation letter, wolf did not refer to the capitol hill assault, instead said he was quitting because of legal challenges to his authority to run dhs without senate confirmation. authorities are still looking for those responsible for planting pipe bombs outside the republican and democratic national committee headquarters last wednesday and for fatally wounding capitol police officer brian sicknick, who was struck in the head by a fire extinguisher. the u.s. army is investigating an active-duty psyops officer who led a contingent of insurrectionists to washington, d.c., last week. captain emily rainey of the 4th psychological operations group says she led 100 members of a conservative group to d.c. to "stand against election fraud." meanwhile, the capitol police department has suspended several -- two officers for their

involvement with or support with last week's insurrection. among them, an officer who put on a red maga hat who directed rioters around the capitol, and another who posed for selfies with insurrectionists. more than a dozen officers are under investigation. the united states recorded coronavirus cases monday and 223,000 more than 2000 deaths. the u.s. has averaged more than 3000 covid-19 deaths per day over the past week and could pass 400,000 deaths before president-elect joe biden is sworn in on january 20. arizona remains the worst-affected state, but republican governor doug ducey continues to refuse to issue a statewide mask mandate. on monday, hundreds of teachers in arizona's peoria unified school district staged a massive sick-out to protest unsafe classrooms. this comes as many bars and restaurants across arizona remain open for indoor dining. meanwhile, gorillas at the san diego zoo in california have tested positive for coronavirus,

showing mild symptoms. zookeepe say it's the first known stance onatural transmission of the vis to eat apes at least two members of congress have contracted covid-19 after wednesday's insurrection. democrat bonnie watson coleman of new jersey, a 75-year-old cancer survivor, believes she was exposed during protective isolation as trump supporters rampaged through the capitol. video shows several republican lawmakers in the cramped isolation space refusing to wear face masks. also testing positive was congressmember pramila jayapal, who has been quarantining at home since the riots. jayapal said that any lawmaker who refuses to wear a mask should be fined and removed by the house sergeant-at-arms. six lawmakers, all of them republicans, previously tested positive since the 118th congress was sworn in on january 3. most lawmakers have received a

single dose of the pfizer's covid-19 vaccine but have not yet received their second shot, which confers better protection against the disease. in delaware, president-elect joe biden received his second shot of the two-dose pfizer-biontech covid-19 vaccine monday. pfizer says it expects to boost output of its vaccine to 2 billion doses this year amid surging demand. the u.s. has secured contracts for 200 million of those doses, with another 600 million promised to the european union. in geneva, world health organization officials warned monday it's unlikely most countries will reach herd immunity through vaccination in 2021. the who adviser bruce aylward called on wealthy countries and drug companies to do more to provide vaccines to the world's poorer nations. >> over 40 countries have now begun vaccinating against covid

19 using five different covid vaccines. however, virtually all of the vaccination as the director general has emphasized, were in the high income and mid upper income country so far. amy: coronavirus cases continue to surge in southern africa. zimbabwe officials have banned traditional funerals amid a spike in covid-19 linked to funeral rites. in johannesburg, south africa, a government-run hostal has moved covid-19 patients into a parking lot after all available beds filled to capacity. in lebanon, officials have ordered an 11-day, 24-hour curfew. that begins thursday. the order sparked panic buying at grocery stores, with fears that crowded markets will lead to further community spread. meanwhile, portuguese president marcelo rebelo de sousa announced monday he tested positive for coronavirus and was isolating at his official residence in lisbon without symptoms. portugal currently has one of the highest infection rates in

europe with nearly 8000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. the trump administration has placed cuba back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, reversing an obama-era decision to remove the label over five years ago. secretary of state mike pompeo on monday accused cuba of granting safe harbor to terrorists and attacked the country's support for venezuela. cuban foreign minister bruno rodríguez condemned the move as hypocritical and cynical. on twitter, he said -- "the u.s. political opportunism of this action is recognized by anyone with an honest regard for the scourge of terrorism and its victims." yesterday marked 19 years since former president george w. bush sent the first post-9/11 prisoners to the u.s. naval base in guantanamo bay, cuba. the grim anniversary comes as human rights advocates continue to demand the closure of the u.s. military prison, where 40

people continue to be indefinitely detained -- most without being charged or receiving a fair trial. in a statement, the center for constitutional rights urged the biden administration to close the prison, saying -- "today marks the beginning of the 20th shameful year of muslim men being unlawfully imprisoned at guantánamo. even in a national landscape of brutal and extreme incarceration, the detentions of the men at guantánamo are unprecedented and yet largely invisible by now." israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has ordered the construction of some 800 houses for israeli settlers in the west bank. palestinian authorities have accused israel of racing against time to build illegal settlements before president trump leaves office next week. in 2019, the trump administration said israeli settlements did not violate international law, despite a

2016 u.n. resolution declaring the settlements a flagrant violation. this comes as a leading israeli human rights group, b'tselem, is denouncing israel's control of palestinian territories as a single apartheid regime that violently perpetuates the supremacy of israelis over palestinians. in a statement, the group says -- "israel is not a democracy that has a temporary occupation attached to it -- it is one regime between the jordan river and the mediterranean sea, and we must look at the full picture and see it for what it is, apartheid." a south korean court has ordered japan to compensate women who were forced into sex slavery by japanese troops during world war ii and japan's colonial rule over south korea, which started in 1910. the landmark ruling stems from a lawsuit filed in 2016 by a dozen survivors. japan has argued the two countries settled such claims in a 1965 treaty. some estimates say up to 200,000 korean girls and women were forced into sexual slavery by japanese soldiers.

a federal judge has granted lisa montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, a stay of execution scheduled for this evening. the court has ordered a hearing to determine montgomery's mental competency to face execution. the government has already appealed the ruling. she would become the first woman to face federal execution in nearly 70 years. this comes as four former corrections officers from indiana have issued a letter urging u.s. attorney general jeffrey rosen to postpone three federal executions scheduled for this week, citing safety concerns due to covid-19. the letter, released alongside the american civil liberties union, says executions at terre haute have led to a spike in coronavirus cases among prisoners and staff. two men scheduled for execution later this week, dustin higgs and cory johnson, recently contracted covid-19. later in their broadcast, we will speak to longtime anti-death penalty activist

sister helen prejean. and finally, colorado's attorney general is opening a grand jury investigation into the police killing of elijah mcclain, a 23-year-old black man from aurora. mcclain was stopped by police as he was walking home in august 2019, tackled, placed in a chokehold, and later injected with ketamine by paramedics. he died days later. in bosnia of refugees are taking , hundreds shelter in abandoned buildings as they try to protect themselves from snow and freezing temperatures. this is a 16-year-old refugee from afghanistan named ali. >> i have been slipping in the bus for about five to six months. i am living and a bad conditions. there is no one to look after us and the conditions are not staples of people who are supposed to support us have been coming and taking things from us and selling them inside the camp or other places. we have nothing.

i have explained what is going on and others have talked about what is going on but no one wants to listen to what we say. i'm asking if you can do anything for us, then please help us. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back come as house mocrats move to impeach president trump for inciting and insurrection, the fbi is warning of armed right-wing protests at all 50 state capitols this weekend. we will speak with walden bello, author of "counterrevolution." he says america has the weimar era. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report.

i'm amy goodman in new york with co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we're going to turn to what is happening in the capitol. the democratic-led house of representatives plans to vote to impeach president trump as soon as wednesday unless trump resigns or vice president mike pence first invokes the 25th amendment to remove him. which looks unlikely. on monday, house democrats unveiled a single article of impeachment against the president for incitement of insurrection against the government of the united states a week after trump's supporters violently attacked the capitol. trump is also accused of subverting and obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. the article of impeachment states -- "donald john trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with

self-governance and the rule of law." this comes as authorities are warning of more right-wing violence around joe biden's inauguration on january 20. the fbi has warned of possible armed far-right protests being planned in all 50 state capitols plus the u.s. capitol beginning january 16. in washington, 15,000 members of the national guard are expected to be deployed ahead othe inauguration. "the new york times" reports pentagon officials are preparing for a number of nightmare scenarios, including snipers targeting attendees of the inauguration, drone attacks, and suicide-type aircraft. authorities have also expressed concern about the number of active duty soldiers and vetens, as well as police officers, who took part in the insurrection last week. commanders at fort bragg are investigating the role of a

psychological operations army captain who led a group from north carolina to d.c. last week to rally for president trump. meanwhile, two capitol hill police officers have been suspended and at least a dozen others are under investigation for aiding the attack that left five people dead, including a capitol hill police officer who supported donald trump. for an international perspective on the crisis facing the united states, we go to the philippines to speak with walden bello, an acclaimed sociologist, academic, environmentalist, and activist. his latest column for "foreign policy in focus" is titled "america has entered the weimar era." walden bello is also a senior analyst at the bangkok-based focus on the global south, as well as an international adjunct professor at the state university of new york at binghamton. bello is the author or co-author of 25 books. part of his book

"counterrevolution: the global rise of the far right" looks at the social roots of trumpism. bello served as a member of the house of representatives of the philippines from 2009 to 2015. he is the recipient of the right livelihood award, also known as the alternative nobel prize. walden bello, welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. if you can talk about what youth i as the insurrection unfolded last week, iyou could put this in a global context? >> yes. amy, thanks a lot and, juan, for inviting me to your program. let me just say the first thing that came to mind was of course shock at this insurrection right at the very heart of the american political system.

on the other hand, having udied counterrevolution, it was sort of something that although i did not expect it to take this dramatic form, that this kind of warfare, the right wing or the far-right in the united states would resort to this. things that came back -- came to my mind work, for instance, the right wing gangs in chile that created the chaos that resulted in military intervention that ousted president allende back in 1973.

we had this group that pretty much were like the proud boys in the united states and other right-wing gangsters. another image flashed into my mind was mussolini, that took power first by taking over the streets. and because a socialists in italy at the time were becoming quite popular the ballot box, the ruling class fight back, mainly by promoting the fascist squads in their very violent ways of repressing the left. of course, the other image that came to my mind was in the late 1920's, the last years of the

weimar public, were basically -- there was a strong political polarization taking place and the fascists nazis, the stalemate of basically taking over the streets and beating up social democrats, beating up the communists. the other thing that surged from the streets, to be able to push hitler to power both through electoral as well as terrorist means. this is not something that is unusual that is happened in the capitol. right-wing groups when they begin to lose electorally, when they begin to see that their opponents are gaining the upper hand in terms of being able to

win elections and electorally, they resort to the streets and to violence in order to stop that process. so those are the things that came to mind. it was very dramatic. but on the other hand, it was something that i have studied counterrevolution's and expected something like this would hpen at some point in the united states, given the developments of the left last fears, which has resulted in this move to the far-right of significant sectors of the population that are allied to the republican party. juan: walden bello, in another article he back in may titled "the race to replace a dying neoliberalism," you right --

"cses do not always result in a significant change. it is the interaction for between two elements, objective one meeting a systemic crisis, and subjective one that is the people psychological response to is decisive." "unfortunately, it is the extreme right that is currently best positioned to take advantage of the global discontent." you mentioned in both the global north and global south. could you explain why that is? >> ok, i was referring to the fact that the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008 dragged on and on without any real resolution because the steps were not taken to really

control the banks. bring significant employment back to cre united states. that was a very alienating process so that neoliberalism, as i said, you know, helped create this situation. so in 2008, if you did not yet have the conditions for radicalization, by the time covid-19 erected --weru mayp 2020, the conditionsted were there for the polarization to increase even more. when i say the extreme right has been the one that has been able to benefit from this on the left, i mean mainly that --

several things. there was this appeal to racism, dog whistle type republican politics that started with richard nixon with southern strategy. so the second one was the impact of neoliberalism that's created so much unemployment, the industrialization, especially among workers, including white workers. you have significant unemployment in the indurializatioin their communities. and then the fact also that so muchf the working class, the white working class began to no longer see the democratic party, the party that was carrying their interests because of a sense that somehow the democratic party had beg to

buy intthe neoliberal naatives, starting with clinton, f instance, and up to obam so thereas thimass o people, ite worrs, thatas rey to b -someplacand it s trumpndhe right in th united states that took advantage of that, mobiliz them, buin a right wing, res direction. sically. so that is when basically you have this process of right-wing mobilization that was set -- you have liberals taking away what should be yours and giving that to the minority. so explaining the economic crisis of workers in racist terms. so this is the kind of base, the

kindf hidden mass that trump was able to cultivate. let me just say with respect to trumpism, trump is as much a preacher is the creator of that pace. synergy that is taking place there. on the other hand, when you look at the left, left was the one that recognized repeat of globalization. unfortunately, that came from the independent left. but the broad left, social democrats in europe, democratic party in the united states, was pretty much seen as complicit with neolibel, pro-wall street policies. and so an alternative that uld come from the mainstream left in

the democratic party, tt wasn't a comment at all. so what we saw happening in this process was, yes, there were great ideas coming from the left , big globalization, big growth. fantastic ideas for an alternative society. the unfortunate thing, it was not gaining any political traction. right under the grassroots desk right down to the grassroots, the progressives were just not gaining that kind of mass base that was necessary. anth is why said that, especially during that trump years, it was the right. it was people like trump that was cherry picking into globalization and other elements that have been offered by the left, cherry picking them --

juan: if i could ask you about another issue that you focused on, and you say the covid-19 pandemic has really accelerated the decline of the unit states as a worldwide power and the rise of china -- the continued rise of china as the industrial heartland of modern capitalism. >> yes. i think to link what i said earlier, so ch of industrialization, the shaping of jobs that took place, was carried out by corporate america and a lot of those jobs and industrial process were shifted to china. and it was the u.s. corporate transnational class that carry this out. of course china played a role

but china was seeking developmental objectives whereas the dnc's were used for exploitive purposes. what happened was basically trying became the workshop of the world. yet a massive industrial base that produced value and became the new center of global humiliation. what happened in the united states was the industrialization , people thrown out of jobs and the economy financialized. the economy basically began to run mainly on financial's agent and speculation. that core of a healthy economy that was centered on industry and the creation of value. that disappeared. this is the background of my comment that you had the

creation of strong center of -- in china that paralleled the collapse of the industrial capacityf the united states. juan: how has the failure of our government to do with covid aclerated that? >> well, when you look at what happened with covid was when it hit -- because so much of this applies even if personal protective equipment, had been sourced to china and united states was no longer capable of producing this because so much of the manufacturing capacity had been shifted over to china, you saw in addition to the pandemic, you also had this crisis of global supply chains

that began to stop becausehe chinese economy und the first two months of 2020 also stopp. so basically, you have this teraction of an ecomic crisis in a pandemic coming togeth, especially in e unit states, was ocourse celerateby the factrum ner took covid-19 seriously. syou had this culminaon of events, economic, political, eologica that ju created this tremendous cris of leadership in thenited states and onomic csis at the same time. amy: walden bello, you were a young student in chile on another september 11, september 11, 1973, when the pinochet

forces rose to power, overthrowing the democratically elected president of chile. if you can talk about -- i mean, are talking about the pandemic now, 3000 people die a day in the united states alone, by far the worst death toll and in the world. 3000 people, that is a 9/11 every single day in the united states. what does the pinochet years have to teach us in chile? what does the marcos years in your home country of the philippines and even what is happening with duterte, have to teach us about president trump and what you talk about as the crises to come in this country? the fbi just warned in the next days, we could face violent attacks in all 50 state capitol s. what lessons should we

understand? >> well, several things, amy. firstly, the lesson we ould unrstand here is that when the forces of reaion, when the right begins to lose at the ballot box, begins to lose in terms of voting, it results to straight warfare to be able to stop the democratic process. this is what happened inhile, basically. we had an elected government and the right tried to stop it in terms of legislatively and bureaucratically. when they couldot do that, the right-wing mob's came and basically took over the streets and beat up the left and created

a new situation. invited military intervention. that is where pinochet came in "for the sake of political stability," but really in a process that favor the right. the second thing that comes from that is chile at a very proud tradition of military and intervention in politics from the early days of the chilean republic. in 1973,hen you had a situation of political polarization, the military came and intervened in favor of the right. now, what i am saying here is that we should not underestimate or overestimate the strength of political instituons like civilian control of the military.

if there is great political polarization that takes place, then the sort of principles begin to become more loose and we should expect that there will be elements within the security forces, within the state that was say, hey, the civilians can't make it out. the political leaders are divided. we have to be the ones to stabilize the country, can we stabilize it by eliminating democracy? basically, the same thing that happened in the philippines in 1972, marcos basically said, democracy is now stalemated. we have to move forward. therefore, we have to declare an authoritian regime. that is what i'm saying at this point in time, do not overestimate the strength of american political institutions

because trump has shown over the last four years how he could easily violate so many u.s. traditions and we have not seen the end of that. in fact, at this point in time, since the demographic balance is gog against the qui population in the united states, since the polital balance is going against republican party and we just saw, for instance, how georgia and a number of other states, arizona, took political mobilization come have gone over to the democrats -- we saw how the popular vote was won by biden with over 7 million votes. so basically, the political, electoral weight is shifting

over to the left, to the broad left, to the -- this coalition of progressives, liberals, and minoriti. d i think given that, i think it should be expecting me street warfare being waged by the right at this point in time. i think this is something that people should just be prepared for because if they cannot win electorally, they will win to try to control the street. that creates then the possibility for the opening for military intervention. i think the u. is entering at i called the weimar period, which is basically the period of both electoral and street

struggle and chaos that characterized the last days of the weimar republic and ended with the elevation of hitler in 1933 to the chancellorship. of course, things may not happen exactly the same. we should always remember that history never repeats itself in quite the same way. but at the same time, there are lessons that we should be taking from the right of counterrevutionary movements in the 20th century. and in the century that the united states is not exempt from this. the united states is no longer the kind of exceptional society. the united states -- even to have shown or the last few years and especially the last fewmonths in the last few days is becoming more and more like the rest of the world. so this is the end of american

exceptionalism. amy: walden bello, thank you for being with us, claimed filipino scholar, activist, author of many books and putting "counterrevolution: the global rise of the far-right." we will link to your latest piece. we encourage people to go to our conversation with allan nairn last week who talked about what has happened in the capitalism mild version of what the u.s. has supported abroad, for example, in chile in guatemala and el salvador. billionaire casino owner and republican mega donor sheldon adelson has died at the age of 87. he was donald trump's largest single donor during the 2016 race. since 2015, he donated more than $250 million to republican candidates and right-wing super pacs. he was also an influential political power in israel he used his dues outlets to back

netanyahu. he will be buried in israel. next, we look at president trump's race to execute more prisoners before his term ends in an unprecedented lame-duck killing spree. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "god bless the child." this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. four former corrections officers from indiana have issued a letter urging u.s. attorney general jeffrey rosen to postpone three federal executions scheduled for this week, citing safety concerns due to covid-19. the letter, released alongside the american civil liberties union, says executions at the federal prison in terre haute have led to a spike in coronavirus cases among prisoners and staff. two men scheduled for execution thursday and friday, dustin higgs and cory johnson, recently contracted covid-19. a joint appeal now pending argues it would be cruel and unusual punishment to execute them while they are still recovering. this comes as a federal judge in indiana issued a stay in tonight's scheduled execution of lisa montgomery, the only woman

on federal death row. the government has already appealed the ruling. in a separate decision, the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit also issued a stay to . the government has not yet appealed that ruling at the time of our broadcast. the trump administration revived the federal death penalty last year. before then, there had not been a single federal execution since 2003, was 20 years. since july, the federal government has executed 10 people, more than in any presidency since 1896. in more than 120 years. government lawyers argue they can't wait to conduct the executions because of the inconvenience of rescheduling the private contractors that carry it out would "irreparably harm" the government more than the prisoners would be irreparably harmed by dying. if tonight's execution proceeds, lisa montgomery would become the first woman put to death by the

federal government in most 70 years. she was sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of a pregnant woman named bobbie jo stinnett. current lawyers argue that sexual abuse during her childhood led to mental illness. in november, attorney and advocate sandra babcock described the horrific childhood montgomery suffered. a warning, her answers are disturbing and graphic. >> she was a victim of incest, gan rape, of child sex trafficking, unimaginable violence for her entire life before she committed the crime for which she was sentenced for death. she is profoundly mentally ill. she began to dissociate when she was a teenager when her father, her stepfather built her a special room off the side of her trailer so he and his buddies could go in and rape her. her mother sold her to the plumber and electrician, told her she had to earn her keep.

so she obtained services after these men raped lisa. lisa was left from these experiences as somebody who has the most fragile grip on melody because she had to escape from her reality in order to survive. amy: ahead of lisa montgomery's execution, her sister diane mattingly begged for mercy. she, too, is a survivor of sexual abuse herself and describe the trauma they endured as children impacted their adult lives. >> people have to understand that children who gohrou childhood abuse, changes who they are. i went through that and it took me years and years to overcome it, but i also had a good undationhat helped me overcome it. lisa did not have that foundation. she was broken. please understand at.

now because of covid-19, i had visit scheled for last week ani could in. i have another visit scheduled this week. probably won't be able to g i won't be able to see myister , someone th i have loved since she was an itty-bitty baby, that i love today. but i won't be able to see her. amy: so there are now two court orders blocking tonight's execution of lisa montgomery, but as our next guest reports, the supreme court's conservative majority cleared the way to proceed in the middle of the night in previous executions by the trump administration. we go to d.c. where we are joined by isaac arnsdorf, reporter at propublica. his investigative report is titled "inside trump and barr's last-minute killing spree." also with us from new orleans, sister helen prejean jean. isaac, what is the latest in

lisa montgomery's case? is she expected to be executed tonight or will these stays whole? -- hold? joe biden is against the death penalty. >> time is running out for the trump administration to go through with these three executions, and they know that, which is why they're very insistent they happened this week and not after january 20. all indications are they are going to do everything they can to do them this week. i can't predict what the supreme court will do, all i can tell you ishat the situation that we are in today is very similar to a number of the previous executions were on the day of the execution, there were court orders in place blocking them and on appeal to the supreme court in the middle of the night after 2:00 a.m., the supreme court lifted those days and

within a few hours, the prisoners were dead. juan: i like to bring in sister helen prejean and ask you, there were five federal executions scheduled this lame-duck period, breaking proceeded from the past 130 years. could you contextualize for us what happened and why the trump administration is doing this? >> the reason why trump is doing this is simply because he has the power to do it. executions, whether at the state federal level, do not happen unless the prosecutor delirately seeks death and seeks it all the way to the end. trump's had the power alllong. for some reason, he decides starting in july to start killing people. for him companies like knocking cans off a fence. let's choose this one, this one, this one, and this one. it just goes to show why we cannot, why the death penalty

needs to be abolished completely. you have to take the power out of individual's hands to kill each other or not. his position arrived at after a lot of dialogue in the catholic church that under no circumstances can governments be entrusted with this power over life and death. juan: you wrote in recent article in "the washington post any op- pce tha80% america approd the dth penay in 199by jus6% vored li sentee -- 36% favored life sennce wiout parole insad of the deat penayy 2019. wh has contruted tthis chan in publ views othe deh and altoo? >>ducation, ucation, ucatn, persuasn. ving peoeacts, teing thembringinghem as witsses lemyself w witssed six

executions, bringg em into th chamberand teing the ories. ke the la montgory story speakae crime,illing a pregnant womannd cutng the by out. what could be worse than that? but then telling t wholetory of the pson. when irote "dead m walki" and came ou in 13, i thi 90%n the sohern state of louisia suppord the dea penalt so what you do? u get out on th road. you gonto chures, go int civigroups, into scols and u start talng to people. yojust tha let me ke you ose to this. have bn rlly hearned by the reonse of people, both my boo and m lecture most o the s, did not kno it le this. they wermade to ad in the 80'when we d the killinspree, w kild eigh

peop in 8.5 weeks louisiana. when people were made to be afraid, en the people tend to go to violence to end the social problem. they were told these people were the worst of the worst come these people were evil, cannot change, we can put them in prison even for a life sentence but iis in their nature, their character. they were made to be afraid. when people are educated, especially now saying 172 wrongfully convicted people have come off of death row, that we are making mistakes right and left, mainly because 99% of the people chosen for the death penalty are poor and cannot get a really crackerjack of defense. so truth does not come out at trial. make mistakes. 172. this is astounding. for every nine executions we have had in the united states,

the 1500 plus executions by gassing people, shooting them, lethally injecting them -- for every nine executions we have had to free one person. one in nine. that is ho big the mistake rate is. who would book an airline where they're going to tell you, ok, you have a one in nine chance of reaching your destination? that is impacting -- the american people are good people. when they are made to be afraid and they can't witness directly what is going on -- two court cases trying to make executions public. they have both been defeated. it is a secret ritual. we could all witnessed the violence of what happened inside the congress with the insurrection happened. we saw what happed with the guards been brought down to the floor and beat and stabbed and pummeled with the american flag. when you see the violence, you

can be aghast. but when you don't see it -- when lease is killed, if she is killed tonight, nobody is going to witness that. it will be inside behind prison walls. their site in -- my job is to bring people inside the execution chambers and to give them facts about the death penalty. education is what changes minds and hearts. amy: i want to for this question to isaac arnsdorf. when federal authorities used pentobarbital to execute alfred bourgeois last month on december 11, he appeared to gasp for breath for nearly 28 minutes. public radio reporter george hale witnessed the execution and said it "didn't go well" and took "almost twice as long as it took to kill brandon bernard one day earlier." hale shared his notes from that night about watching bourgeois' torso. they read, "not natural movement," "stomach rising,"

"stomach heaving," "stomach popping up," "heaving inside," "sucking inside middle," and "still heaving." hale tweeted -- "if alfred bourgeois was suffering that night, he suffered for a long time." can you talk about the significance of this and the battle of the trump administration to get any drug possible and to expand the realm of killings to firing squad and poison gas if they can't get the drug? >> the reason and took the trump administration until thevoire dire of the administration to start his executions is because it needed to find a new drug that he could use in the lethal injections. the previous drug became unavailable because of public pressure on the manufacture to stop making it. the administration is jealously guarding the identity of its vendor. it is using what is called a compounding pharmacy, which kind of remixes a custom version of the drug.

that raises some concerns because the first batch of the drug failed the quality test on an independent lab. the government took it to a different lab. what you described at the alfred bourgeois killing, execution, according to his lawyers the lawyers for several of the other prisoners, experience of lethal injection with this drug, which is a powerful sedative, the have medical experts who testified it is comparable to death by drowning. so i very painful and terrifying death. the government has argued any response with its own medical experts testifying that they think the prisoners would be unconscious during this process so they would not feel the pain. this is particularly -- in particul an issue for executions scheduled on thursday

and friday for prisoners who, according to the lawyers, have lung damage from covid-19. amy: isaac arnsdorf, we will link your remarkable piece and, sister helen prejean, thank you so much, world-renowned■?■?■;■■

take on. great to have you with us. from our studio in tokyo, this is nhk "newsline." we begin here in japan where the government is set to expand its state of emergency to seven more prefectures amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections. prime minister suga yoshihide is expected to hold a news conference wednesday evening to as for t public's cooperation. the seven additional prefeur