06/14/21 06/14/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> it was the evening of october 1, 1969, when i first smuggled several hundred pages of top-secret documents out of the rand corporation. the study contained 7000 pages. my plan was to xerox the study and reveal the secret history of

the vinam war to the american people. amy: 50 years ago this week, "the new york times" began publishing excerpts of the pentagon papers -- 7000 pages of top-secret documents outlining the pentagon secret history of the u.s. war in vietnam. the leak would help take down president nixon, helped end the vietnam war, and lead to a major victory for prs freedom. we will spend the hour with pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg. he turned 90 in april. >> i have been working the system that reflexively from the very bottom to the very top to the commander-in-chief to conceal murder. when i recognized that, my life changed. i said, i'm not going to do that anymore. amy: we will speak about the pentagon papers, the targeting of whistleblowers, then trump

administration spying on journalists and lawmakers. plus, a secret document recently exposed by dan ellsberg showing he was considered attacking china with a nuclear weapon in and 258. he says he is wiing to go to jail for the latest leak. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. benjamin netanyahu is out after 12 years as israel's prime minister. on sunday, lawmakers approved a new coalition government and swore in far-right nationalist naftali bennett as its leader. if their coalition holds, bennett will be succeeded as prime minister after two years by yair lapid, who first will serve as foreign minister. eight separate parties from across the political spectrum form the new government coalition, including the arab list, which represents

palestinian citizens of israel. netanyahu, who is still in the middle of a corruption trial, vowed to return to power with his likud party. >> we will be back amy: following the news of netanyahu's ouster, celebrations broke out in tel aviv. but palestinians remained skeptical of the new government and its hardline ultra-nationalist leader. he is the former chief of staff of netanyahu. this is wasel abu yousef of the palestine liberation organization. >> this extreme right-wing government, which include extreme parties, will not bring other than more escalation against palestinians and bloodshed. palestinian blood will be the fuel for this extreme right covenant. therefore, this government will not differ from netanyahu's government. amy: the g7 summit concluded in cornwall england, sunday, as

thousands of activists and protesters descended on the coastal town. world leaders failed to set firm goals on ending the use of coal and other measures to slow down the climate catastrophe. g7 members did agree on some funding goals to help the pivot away from fossil fuels and recommitted to a pledge of $100 billion a year for poorer countries dealing with the climate crisis. on the pandemic front, g7 members called for another investigation into the origins of covid-19 and committed to a series of actions to help prevent future pandemics. g7 leaders agreed to donate a collective one billion vaccine doses to less wealthy nations. but the world health organization and others have said 11 billion doses are needed to achieve global vaccination goals. g7 leaders also endorsed a u.s.-led plan to impose a minimum global corporate tax

rate of 15% and unveiled a major infrastructure plan designed to counter china's power and their multitrillion-dollar belt and road initiative. this is oxfam's max lawson. >> never before in the history of the g7 has there been such a big failure and a contrast to what needs to be done. we have a once in a centur pandemic, unprecedented. we have nine years to say the climate. amy: president biden is now in brussels for the nato summit where he is meeting today with the turkish president erdogan. later this week, he will meet with russian president vladimir putin in geneva. biden spoke from brussels earlier today. pres. biden: there is a growing recognition over the last couple of years that we have new challenges and we have russia

that is not acting in a way that is consistent with what we had hoped as well as china. amy: a study has shown novavax's covid-19 vaccine to be 90% effective. the maryland-based company is seeking approval from a half-dozen countries starting next month and has pledged over a billion doses to poorer nations through the covax mechanism. the two-shot vaccine is easily manufactured and can be stored in just a refrigerator. vaccinated people were found to be completely protected against both severe and moderate cases. covid cases and deaths continue to fall in the u.s., with just 2% of tests coming back positive now. california is set to fully reopen tuesday after over a year of restrictions. a federal judge has dismissed a

lawsuit by houstonospital employees who refused to comply th their employer's vaccine requirement in the first federal ruling on vaccine mandates. officials in the united kingdom are delaying the country's reopening for another four weeks to enable more people to get vaccinated amid a rise in cases linked to the delta coronavirus variant. in russia, the mayor of moscow has ordered non-essential workers just a home this week as the city registered a six month high in covid cases. meanwhile, in india, many areas are relaxing coronavirus restrictions, including in the capital new delhi, as new cases drop after the devastating spring surge. experts are warning against a premature reopening, though, as just 5% of its adult population has been fully vaccinated. in afghanistan, two separate bomb blasts killed at least seven people and wounded six others in the capital kabul on saturday. the explosions hit vehicles on a stretch of road in a

neighborhood that's mostly populated by members of the minority hazara shia community. similar attacks by a local isis affiate in recent weeks have killed scores of people, including nearly 100 people -- most of them hazara girls -- killed in an attack on a kabul school on may 8. in syria, at least 13 people were killed and nearly two dozen others wounded saturday as artillery shells hit a residential area and a hospital in the rebel-held city of afrin. among the dead were three hospital staff, a doctor, two women, and two children. it's not clear who launched the attack from syria's northern aleppo province, which came from an area where both syrian government troops and kurdish-led fighters are active. in tunia, hureds of presters cshed witpolice in workinglass neibooods of the capital tunis on saturday, capping days of denstrationsemanding an end to police brutality. the protests erupted after video emerged showing police officers civian clothestripping and viciouy beating young man.

thincident ce just a d after e funeral another m whe family ss was beat to death by police. protesters say tunisia has yet to see meaniful policeeform 10 yearsfter the rolution that tpled long-time dictator zine el abidine ben ali. in the occupied west bank, a 15-year-old boy, mohammad said hamayel, was shot and killed by israeli forces friday during a protest against an illegal jewish settlement. at least six others were injured as soldiers fired live rounds, tear gas, and rubber bullets at the protesters. on saturday, an israeli security guard shot dead a palestinian woman at a checkpoint. the woman was identified as 28-year-old ibtissam kaabneh and was at least the fifth palestinian to be killed by israeli security forces in the west bank over the past week. in nigeria, gunmen on motorcycles have raided several villages in the northern state of zamfara, stealing cattle, attacking farmers, and running down anyone attempting to flee.

residents said at least 53 people were killed in the assaults thursday and friday. elsewhere in nigeria, police fired their guns into the air and shot tear gas at anti-government protesters wot rallied in lagos, abuja, and other cities on saturday. the protesters were denouncing rising insecurity and economic policies that have left one-third of nigerians unemployed. police were seen smashing the cell phones of protesters who were denouncing a ban on twitter by nigerian president muhammadu buhari. this is a protester in lagos. >> [indiscernible] all this killing must stop. amy: the protests came on democracy day, a national holiday marking the date in 1999 nigeria's military dictatorship ceded power to a civilian government. in india, a massive fire destroyed a rohingya refugee camp in the capital new delhi,

leaving hundreds without homes. no casualties were reported. some 40,000 rohingya refugees in refugee camps across india but the hindu nationalist government has been arresting and threatening to deport members of the persecuted community. some refugees from the burned camp say the blaze may have been an act of arson. in guatemala, transgender and human rights advocates are demanding justice for two trans women assaulted and killed in recent days. 28-year-old andrea gonzález was shot to death in guatemala city friday. she was a leader of the organization otrans queens of the night, which denounced local media for dead-naming and misgendering gonzález when reporting news of her killing. in a statement, otrans said -- "the murder of our friend andrea has hit as deep inside. we've lost a fighter, an undisputed leader." cecy ixpata, also a member of queens of the night, died just

before gonzales, over injuries she sustained in a recent attack. here in the u.s., it was another weekend marked by mass shootings, which set off manhunts in savannah, chicago, and austin. according to the gun violence archive, the u.s. has seen over 270 mass shootings since the start of the year. at least nine people were killed in mass shootings this weekend alone. u.s. attorney general merrick garland on friday announced new measures at the justice department to help protect voting rights. >> within the next 30 days, we will double the divisions enforcement staff for protecting the right to vote. we are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access and where we see violations, we will not hesitate to act. we also scrutinizing current laws and practices in order to determine whether they discriminate against black voters and other photos of color. amy: at least 22 new laws restricting voting access have been passed in over a dozen states since the start of the

year as republicans and conservati democra continu to block ccial votg rights lls fromecoming w. in other justice department news, attorney general garland is meeting with cnn, "the new york times," and "the washington post" today to discuss the trump administration seizing records from reporters as part of a sweeping probe into government leaks. on sunday, reports emerged trump's justice department also seized the records of top white house lawyer don mcgahn and his wife shannon. in louisiana, an immigration and customs enforcement jail has been put on a communications lockdown after imprisoned women led a protest in response to a possible exposure to tuberculosis and medical negligence. women held at the south louisiana ice processing center in basile revealed to the intercept last week that a prisoner had reportedly tested positive for tb and that guards had ordered a quarantine. the women refused to comply, protesting the conditions inside the ice jail. in retaliation, guards took away their phones and tablets so they

wouldn't be able to communicate with the outside world. last year, the jail took similar measures against women who spoke out against its responseo the pandemic. in new jersey, activists who successfully halted the deportations of two ice prisoners earlier this month by protesting outside the bergen county jail are now facing rioting charges. record heat is set to grip the southwest this week, with excessive heat warnings issued in at least eight states and temperatures soaring to more than 120 degrees in some areas. the extreme heat is likely to exacerbate wildfire risks and the ongoing drought, which now effects over a quarter of the western united states. nearly 2 million people in northern california are under a water shortage emergency. utah governor spencer cox recently called on his state's residents to pray for rain. in southern oregon, water supply from the klamath basin was shut down to protect native fish

species, leading some farmers to threaten to release water by force. and the pulitzer prize board has awarded a special citation to darnella frazier, the teen who recorded the police murder of george floyd last may on her cellphone. frazier was just 17 years old when she made the recording that would go viral and trigger mass, global protests for racial justice. the footage was also used as evidence in the trial of convicted murderer and former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin. the pulitzer board also commended frazier for "highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists' quest for truth and justice." acclaimed late journalist les payne and daughter tamara were awarded a pulitzer for their book "the dead are rising: the life of malcolm x." les payne died in 2018 of a sudden heart attack while

working on the biography, which his daughter later finished. democracy now! spoke to tamara payne about "the dead are rising" in december. >> what he learned -- he's a journalist to his core -- you learned there's a lot about malcolm that we don't know. his family life. is this person? malcm is presented to us fully formed and angry. but that is not what happened. he has a family, lineage. where was that coming from? also, what was this world that malcolm was born into? amy: tamara payne who one the price along with her late father the great journalist les payne. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, 50 years ago this week, "the new york times goes will began publishing excerpts of the pentagon papers.

we will spend the hour with the on papers whistleblower dan ellsberg. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "thank you daniel ellsberg" by bloodrock. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. 50 years ago this week, "the new york times" began publishing excerpts of the pentagon papers -- 7000 pages of top-secret documents outlining the secret history of the u.s. war in vietnam. the leak would end up taking down president nixon, help end the vietnam war, and lead to a major victory for press freedom. "the times" exposé was based on documents secretly photocopied by daniel ellsberg and anthony russo while they worked as pentagon consultants at the rand corporation. ellsberg had been deeply

involved in the vietnam war, first traveling to vietnam as a pentagon analyst in 1964. but after turning against the war, ellsberg decid to risk his life in prison to reveal the truth about vietnam. the two men were charged with violating the espionage act of 1917, as well as theft and conspiracy. this is an excerpt frothe 2009 documentary "the most dangerous man in america." it begins with dan ellsberg. >> it was the evening of october 1, 1969 when i first's model to several hundred pages of top-secret documents out of my safe at the rand corporation. the study contain 47 volumes, 7000 pages. my plan was to xerox the study and reveal the history to the american people.

>> the fbi was trying to figure out who ve "the new york times" a copy of theentagon secret study. >> how like a thunderclap you get "the new york times" publishing the pentagon papers and the country is panicking. >> this is an attack on the integrity of government if file cabinets can be stolen and made available to the press, you ha orderly government anymore. >> a name has come out as a possible source of "the times" upon documents -- pentagon documents. it is that of daniel. >> i think it is time in this country to quit making national heroes out of those who steal secrets and publish them in the newspaper. >> the first year of marriage, we're talking about him going to prison for the rest of his life. >> wouldn't you go to prison to tell such a story?

>> we felt so strongly we were dealing with the national security crisis, henry kissinger said dr. daniel ellsberg was the most dangerous man in america and he had to be stopped. amy: an excerpt from the documentary "the most dangerous man in america." daniel ellsberg and the pentagon papers. the documentary was codirected by judith ehrlich and rick holtzman. the nixon administration would go on to take extraordinary measures to silence and punish ellsberg, including breaking into his psychiatrist office. but the government's misconduct led to charges against him and anthony russo being dismissed. to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of the pentagon papers, we are joined now by daniel ellsberg, who turned 90 years old in april. over the past five decades, ellsberg has been leading critic of u.s. militarism and u.s. nuclear weapons policy as well as a prominent advocate for other whistleblowers. oh, and he hasn't stopped

sharing government secrets. we will talk about one of those secrets that he said he is willing to be prosecuted for that he just leaked. but right now we go to berkeley, california, to the home of daniel ellsberg. dan, looking back to democracy now! this is such a significant milestone. it was half a century ago sunday that "the new york times" started publishing the pentagon papers. talk about how they got a hold of those papers and the decision you made, especially for young people come at what point you went from working for the pentagon, going to vietnam, being a part of the war machine, then turning around and saying, "i will spend the rest of my life in jail if i have to to stop this."

>>he firstrip i made to vietnam combat military officers advising vietnamese. in reading the reports, became very clear the were under a corrupt,o radical dictar -- tyrannical dictator, had elections in which he tended to when 102% of the vote in so districts, was failing. against a group that was led by communists who had evicted the french fm the nohern part of the country some years earlier and had that cachet of liberator's in the countries from occupation. and u.s. had artificially carved out a part of that country as anti-communist country, which we supported very lavishly. as if, for example, britain had supported the confederacy very lavishly in our civil war -- in fact, supplied all of their

uniforms, bullets, rations -- which is what we did for the puppet army in south vietnam. it was clear that was an extremely unpromising place to plant the flag against communism or for imperiasm in th country, as impru a a ant as itd be for the french to try to reconquer that country. and we had supported the french from 1945 until 1954 and they took over the burden of suppressing that country and effectively occupying it oursels. so i was very surpris in 1961 when i learned president kennedy had taken the alleged advice of the chairman othe joinchiefs of staff maxwell taylor and another major policy figure, that always needed was some advisors. that he did not need to send combat troops and that progress would be made if he simply went through the geneva conference of

1954, ceiling advisors to about 600, went up to 1000 and maybe several thousand andn the end, 12,000 advisors. but that was enough to keep that country in our control, essentially. that turned out to be a lie. when i read the pentagon papers years later -- that was a 1961. i was reading those documents in 1967 and particularly interested to see what their advice had actual been. it turne out the president had been lying and they baed him up in line and the advice was advisors would not be enough to stem the nationalist fces we were fighting and that the elite possibility was to send troops immediately and indeed those did not have a lot of promise we would do better than the french, but nothing less will do the job. in other words, i have been lied to cover the whole country had been lied to, congress had been lied to as to what the situation was. it was typical of the entire

30-year conflict from 1945-1975. the recent piece, series about the work, starts wita statement "it was begun by decent men with honest motives." that was not true for a single day of that war. however decent ty may have be in other contexts, these smart men, generally, as smart as we have today, managed to lie to the public every day of the war and in bad faith pursued a war that had little likelihood of helping anyone, but leading to an escalating stalemate -- which is what happened -- for the next 20 years from 1961 1975. when i became aware that was repeating itself, that history, which in the pentagon papers and in 1968 with president johnson's depaure and now we were a 1969

and i was made aware president nixon was following exactly in the footsteps of his predecessors, while telling the public in his election campaign wasetting out. in fact,e plned to g the u.s. tops out. u. troopout slowly thughout h first tm, hofully sooner, but i necessary, as there turned out to become over a mter of years, and to pursue the wk defitely throughis secon te in e a, backin uthe ppeteader, fmer gener in vietnam and his army, the army we supported and managed with u.s. airpower. he virtually achieved that. he almost did, actually. i 1973, he did get the american troops out. people thought the war was over. from the point of view of bombing, generating refugees, torture, deaths in vietnam, going on as before. and what have done so right

through 1977 and later had not the president been forced to resign for ask he took in the process assuring his policy and staying in office, namely, he kept his own policy of threatening nuclear war and threatening major escalation such as mining and bombing hanoi and going into so-called sanctuaries, other countries, sovereign countries laos and cambodia -- he did everything but the actual carrying out of of new clear weapons, which he discussed at the highest levels. and telling the people he was getting out of the war allhis time. another big lie as we started with. i put up in 1969 to the senate and into the newspapers in 1971, evidence of five previous presidents had made similar lies and escalations and threats in

the war had gone on. they prefer bloody escalating stalemate to the humiliation of ending the war the onlway it could be ended, which was granting the southern communist -led forces a roll under the government and stopping the bombing of the north. nixon was so beholden to the vietnam president, he had to keep himn evenhen that was silly thing dividing us keeping -- the only thing dividing us, keeping the were going. we learn much later that the vietnam president regarded himself as electing nixon and was right in doing so. the last days of 1968, nixon's people, and his orders, which we learned many years later, was telling him don't negotiate, we will give you better terms also indeed, he had in mind giving better terms and he did. we will keep you empower even though the kindness are

demanding as part of the negotiations that the vietnam president not be part -- what we are fighting for and that is what tens of thousands of americans and millions of vietnamese died to keep the vietnamese president empowers long as nixon was, which nixon did leave first. they would not have been that if nixon had not faced impeachment. crimes mainly to keep me from putting out document that would have been against him. he burglarized my former psychoanalyst of, sit 12 cuban assets of two incapacitate me totally on the steps of the capita on third, he heard -- iegal warrantless wiretaps.

this began to come out as a result of the true telling by john d2 the prosecutors, alex butterfield telling the office, by elliott richardson refung the president's orders are the special prosecutor, special prosecutoremding the tapes. the supreme court, including three nixon appointees unanimously had get them over. all these steps were individually essential facing the president with resignation or impeachment. and when he tries resignation, the war became -- that is why henry kissinger called me the most dangerous man in america because he feared i had documents -- dumentshat would tell the truth about the lies he and his boss re telling. amy: now, this was even after you had released the pentagon papers. i want to go back to that documentary "the most dangerous

man in america: daniel ellsberg and the pentagon papers." this focusing on how the nixon white house responded purely with john dean, former white house counsel to president nixon. >> i think there's probably some good justification for the strong feelings nixon had. he would make the decision in the next day read it on the front page of "the new york times" or some other newspaper. this makes it virtually impossible to govern. clubs just because some guys going to be a martyr, we cannot be in a position of allowing a fella to get away with this kind of wholesale thievery or it will happen all over the government. we've got to keep our eye on the main ball. the main ball is ellsberg. we have to get this son of a bitch. >> the nixon white house. what some of us called the beginning of a rough period. it was rough-and-tumble before, but he got down and dirty. it is really a defining event

for the nixon president. in this is one -- the so plumbers union. >> i was summoned the oval office by the president. john ehrlichman and i met with him. there was some suspicion that dr. ellsberg had access to the more recent war plans that have been developed by the nixon administration and would be able to release those documts. i came from that meeting feeling very strongly i was dealing with a nation security crisis and i was to take any means necessary to respond to it. >> [indiscnible] >> the president had decided to seup a speal investigations unit in the white house staff.

>> did daniel ellsberg work alone? was it part of the conspiracy? it was in that context a proposal was made i.e. howard hunt to get information that could be used to discredit dr. ellsberg. a covert operation to be undertaken to examine all of the files still held by ellsberg's psychiatrist. this would to john ehrlichman. there were two lines approved, disapprove. he wrote his large e after prude then put in "under your spirits it is not traceable -- "under your assurance it is not traceable." and that is an excerpt from "the most dangerous man in

america." "the new york times" had a special section called " uncovering the secret history of the vietnam war" on the publication of the papers you lead to them. they had it yesterday. and among the quotes they highlight which is so important, is the contrast of what was being sent publicly and what was being sent privately. so you have the secret in 1963, defense secretary robert mcnamara at a white house news conference says "we reviewed in great detail the plans of the south vietnamese and the plans of our own military advisors for operations during 1964. we have every reason to believe they will be successful." but on the same day, december 21, 1963, mcnamara said in a memo to president lyndon johnson, "the situation is very disturbing. current trends in this reverse

in the next two to three months will lead to a neutralization come at best, more like the communist controlled state. they need to 64, a johnson sank in a televised address, we still seek no wider but in the pentagon papers, says on february 1, 1964, the united states embarked on a new course of action. on the date under direction of the american military establishment, an elaborate program of covert military operations against the state of north vietnam was set in motion. i want to focus on your getting the pentagon papers, dan. explain what this was. this is before kissinger and nixon were afraid you're going to have another leak around nuclear issues. about the report in your safe that only a few people had and your decision to xerox them, to include your children -- i think robert ellsberg, or 13-year-old child at the time help you do this, and why you decided to do

this and include your kids? >> well, great journalist i have stone once had come all government officials lie in nothing they say is to be believed. that doesn't mean that everything they say is a lie. it means anything we say may be a lie and it is never the last word. there always misleading and yohave to back that up th common sense, back it up with other sources. nothing illustrates that better in writing than the ntagon papers. of course, it is still true today. what you're quoting could have been written about afghanistan -- in fact, it was. "the washington post" got the afghan papers a couple of years ago. somewhat lower levels. almost identical quotes about afghan during the 20-year war that we so far have experienced there and it could be another 20

years, even with u.s. troops out of the country, as nixon got u.s. troops out of the country in 1973 but played continue the war with airpower. i think also there is a plan right now to continue to work come afghan killing, creating refugees and definitely from bases outside afghanistan. in both cases, you have people speaking quite realistically inside, the lack of progress while outside the public is reassured boots and troops for our puppet allies over there indefinitely. when i learned that here by year and the pentagon, 1964, 1965 and was in vietnam from 1965 to 1967, it was very clear these lies were persisting in the interest of keeping the war going. there was always an aernative

as the joint chiefs tended to want with no real prospect of success for getting out somehow, lowering the cost. the president chose each time not to do the latter, but of keeping it going with some promise of winning. not confirmed on the inside. i saw from reading the pentagon papers that the president, president after president, had got quite realistic reports from people inside -- not from everybody, meaning liars, but a lot realistic after let him know he did have the choice of getting out. in fact, he would've had a lot of support for doing a. but he would have been the one who bore the brunt of charges he had lost the war had two with the joint chiefs wanted. he knew correctly, was very foolish, which would have led to nuclear war without chinese in the case of the vietnamese.

he chose not to do that and chose instead to stalemate, keep the war going. so i saw it no longer paid to be a president's man. he had that. he knew it was not a matter of speaking truth to power. power was getting the truth and chsing not to be the fall guy for ho chi minh city becoming saigon. it wasn't going to happen under his term. the only way i could see was having congress take steps -- in the end, by the way, they did under the extra near circumstances of waterte. for years, that did not seem promising, either. congressman after congressman whom i had shown the realities, chose to let me put it out evenally and not take the risk of going to prison or condemnation just could not get anyone to put them out.

finally -- amy: this is a critical point. the senators who were known as the antiwar senators, you went to one after another. while some apologetic, just said they could not do it on their own. looks well, yes. frequently said -- jus yesterday as i keep reading these things, i read every other time, they did not accept the papers. one of them said he could not accept them because they were illegal. amy: senator mcgovern. >> theyan for president. that was the opposite of the truth, what he said to me. each one of the presidents and commerce persons, fulbright, mcgovern, te mccaskey, senator matthias from ofhem antiwar within the coness, each enthusiastically said they would use the papers and then assured me my name did not have to come out and would pull the constitution off the wall and

say the clause here "i cannot be questioned about anything i get here" teach us said, "i prefer not to be named but that is not a consideration. i am ready to go to jail on these things if there's any reason you have to, to authenticate how you got the papers." each one eventually after thinking about it, turned back. looking back at it when neil sheehan from "the times", should not put it up in congress the way i wanted to, should only come out in "the times" and we had some conflict about that, i thought it should come out in the congress so could subpoena witnesses, get people under oath most of very much preferable to it coming up in the newspapers first. he kept saying, no, dan, has to come out in the newspapers. i thought, well, he is influenced by getting a pulitzer prize. i was not convinced. he was right, actually. later when the pentagon papers

did come out, but senator mansfield, the majority leader, senator fulbright, foreign affairs leader, said we have to have hearings. did not happen. it was nixon he nted hearings and try to get them held for reasons both sides did incriminate mainly democrats. nixon wanted it even though it also made presidents look bad. amy: we have so much to talk about and so little time. i want to get to that point where you and tony russo, or co-conspirator who is working at the rand corporation, said, let's do it. a you deced to xerox that 7000 page report. how diyou do it? how did you get the papers out? and then the story of going underground. >> i have told the story many times, but i asked tony if you knew someone with a xerox

machine. his friend played the crucial role of immediately saying, yes, you can use my xerox machine, charged $.10 a page. i used up all my savings at that time. i kept that going. tony helped me for a number of nights and i kept by myself. at first taking the suitcase's briefcase -- for briefcase, rath, past the guards was very rve-racking. all they had to do was open that briefcase and i would be in the soup. they did not ask then for briefcases very much. the crew people i think out thank you for the fact they do have to now open the briefcases. to get them out. xerox all night, made several copies of each. bring them back in the morning so the jury cannot be convinced in the end that is why i did it. but there was no significant

deprivation of any owner of such information -- i was only person authorized to read it at that point, though i was chged with the conversion and theft. so that went on -- tony stayed for seven or eight times and then he was doing other things. and then i did it by myself or a bunch of the next year on and off because i would always think, there's littlehance this will have anyffect onhe war. it ends in 1968, the were under nixon started in 1969 -- amy: you remember the report ended in 1968. >> nixon was that incriminated at all he is not mentioned in the eisenhower years, oddly. so he was happy to have those out. was not woied about what else i put up. he had reason to worry about that.

he had to try to stop me to do it that took illegal means in those days. amy: i want to jump forward to 1973 because i want to talk abt the new release that showed no must wait to new their work in 1958. and that was taiwan, china, particularly relevant now as biden makes his nato summit appearance and then goes on to meet with putin. i just want to end with a trial in 1973 of you and tony russo and how it ended up in a mistrial, the trial that could lead to you being in prison for life for treason, just like if julian assange came to the u.s. and paste a trough a step in the end, talk about what happened. >> i was facing a possible 115 years in prison. assange faces 175. it comes to about the same thing stop less for me now as i face

similar charges because what i've done in the last month is exactly as indictable as anything the obama or trump were biden administration has indicted for the last several months i put out information that was clearly held, continually held from the american people at a top-secret level. i said, here it is, let's test whether criminalizing the release of any or all top-secret material or covenantal material in a matter when, that is why the law exists, let's test whether it is constitutional in the usa with the first amendment. other countries have the law. they don't have the first amendment stop by the strong means comfort the supreme court were the first time to address this issue, it is very hard for them to find that brought

wordage of the first amendment. amy: we're going to get to that, but the trial, how it ended up. >> first of a, john dean revealed to the prosutors on april 17, almost the day the president had returned to bombing of vietnam and sent the order outcome he then gets the word john dean has revead a break in my former psychoanalyst's office, obviously, illegal at that time -- although now, after 9/11, it might be legal but then illegal. and then illegal wiretappings, which they have been denying for years, and eventually the judge himself had been offered during the trial by the president then by john ehrlichman, offered the post of the fbi directorship, which was in a transition state at that point -- nothing he

wanted all his life. we learned afterwards it really meant i was going to lose. he was not going to get that job if i was acquitted. so he would have given instructions that would have hung me up for some years, to say the least. we moved for a mistrial and was turned down saying he was influenced at all. foolishly. the trial went on. other things came out. the illegal wiretapping. they could not find the taps because the president had removed them from j edgar hoover's private files to the white house files, so they denied there were such tapes. they were afraid that hoover would use these illegal acts ordered by the white house to blackmail the white house to letting hoover stay. when the judge said, ok, overall

pattern vince a sense of justice , bizarre circumstances, and he dismissed all charges with prejudice, meaning we could not be tried again. that was the first te i thin a federal trial had been dismissed just before he went to the jury. amy: daniel ellsberg, pentagon papers, whistleblower, author of "the dooday mache: confessions of a nuclear war planner" and "secrets: a memoir of vietnam and the pentagon papers." when we come back, we look at the latest leg. a secret document exposed showing the u.s. considered attacking china with a nuclear weapon in 1958. he is willing to go to jail for the latest leak. stay with us. ♪♪ [musibreak]

one amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. this week marks the 50th anniversary since the first excerpts of the pentagon papers were published, leaked by our guest, daniel ellsberg last month he made headlines again after sharing a top-secret document with "the new york times" revealing the u.s. military in 1958 president president dwight eisenhower to prepare a nuclear first strike against mainland china during the taiwan strait crisis. the document shows u.s. military planners were ready to accept the risk that the soviet union

would launch its own nuclear retaliation on behalf of its ally china and that millions of people would die. can you talk about the document and why he decided not to release it, decades after it was actually written? and the significance of it today? could have gone to new their work in 1958. what it means as president biden ups the rhetoric against china and russia as he makes his way ,'s first international trip from nato to the summit with putin? >> it was clear given in 1958 -- one mile off the mainland could really only be defended if at all u.s. initiating nuclear war against china. nevertheless, the president and the joint chiefs all agreed if the chinese pressed their attack on the blockade, we would have to and we would use nuclear

weapons against china. at would mean they would have assumed, rightly or wrongly, i would guess wrongly, but they assumed the soviet union would respond, annihilating taiwan 10 years later we heard about destroying account to save it. but we were going to destroy it to save it from communist in 1958. and more recently, it seems people are talking that way. the japanese had not been told the soviets might respond against japan as well as pocono and guam where we had bases i don't think they were aware of the risk we were running in their name for them at that time. so when an issue arose -- this is not usually the program for breaking news. i will break some news, which i did not share with charlie savage, who did nderful job in

telling the story in context i "the new york times" last may 22. i did not want to prejudice him o much against telling about how close we come to nuclear war in 1958 as we are now doing. if i had told him were mentioned to him i had given that same full study, top-secret,o a former "times" man, very famous wonderful tomicker who had r reasons not known to me chosen not to print it, n to do anything with it, in order -- i did not want to discourage charlie. moreover, i had given the entire study to the japanese diet, who had translated into japanese in like two days with parliant tree capability. japan, not mention it all in the u.s.. interesting when they try me this how they explain why they did not bother to prosecute me for this top-secret release 40

years ago t that is e way they do. they do what is helpful to them. the reason i didn't now, now, again, we are faced with the possibility great quickly of initiating war with japan which once again, whether we can defend it ainst the newly armed chinese, without using nuclear weapons. let me make a prediction, which i hope is false. many people are advising treatment -- pardon me for saying that, many people e advising biden tonnounce no first use, along with putin at the coming summit, that neither will under any circumstances initiate nuclear war for any reason, even including taiwan. that is nothing other than that is saying that issane thinking.

that means the annihilation of taiwan, probably th annihilation of many, many other people, including japan. my prediction he won't say that and say i'm hope i'm wrong, but -- the open threat on the table of initiating war in hopes it will deter. and it may deter or it may not. we are carly facing prime minister xi who fears he would lose office if he accepted a status that many americans are urging taiwanese to assume, and that is to declare full sovereign independence from a country which up until this century, altered the last century, every chinese accepted was part of china. a secession like the 11

confederate states, secession not favored by the presidency at the time. we should not initiate nuclear war, in my opinion, but i am not in the decision. i think americans and japanese and taiwanese should have the full opportunity to examine and make sure the thinking that it's brought to bear in secret about their fures. amy: we just have a minute, but i want to ask you one last about a news headline, and then we will do a post-show on the other whistleblowers like daniel hale about to be sentenced, julian assange. attorney general merrick garland stated with executives of cnn, " the washington post" "the new york times goes with that they have been spied on, that they are reporters, that they were being watched email requested

the trump administration secretly sought email and phone records from their reporters. merrick garland told lawmakers he will prioritize investigating though the same time he said a massive tax leak to the news outlet propublica. but what message do you have to reporters in this time, this crackdown and now the vita administration said they will not go after reporters weave 30 seconds. >> i've certainly been led almost more than anyone to appreciate the necessity of our first amendment -- almost unique first amendment protection of the freedom of the pre, freedom of thought. you can't have democracy without it. not only now is the trump administration, now the biden administration, using the espiage act against a journalist -- no fedom of the press -- i'm talking about julian assange.

biden should drop the appeal to extradite julian assange. am we will continue the discussion after the show. daniel ellsberg, check out democracynow.org.

♪ hello and welcome to this nhk "newsline." i'm katherine kobayashi in new york. nato leaders have shifted their gaze. for decades members of the defense alliance worked to secure peace across europe. now they have agreed to pivot to a more confrontational stance towards china. nato leaders have spent little time in past meetings discussing china. now they say its behavior presents what they call systemic