072/21 07/02/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we the people have decided we don't like billionaires -- to light we have decided we don't like voter suppression. amico in a pair of major rulings, the supreme court guts more of the voting rights act while making it easier for billionaires to secretly bankroll campaigns. we will speak to ben jealous of people for the american way.

then the family business of donald trump faces criminal charges for operating a 15-year tax fraud scheme. the company's chief financial officer has surrendered. could this lead to charges against the former president? we will speak to pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnston. then we go to minnesota to look at the indigenous-led resistance to block the enbridge line 3 pipeline. >>heheft of land d labor -- all kw that tbe tru weee the mosvulnerab ople of is place who a on the fronlines -- bck,rown, indigenous, young, queer. the are no sacrifid people a mak a makwe will eak to ta houska, under ofheiniw coective. plus, weill look at aked doments shing soutdakota may ploy theational ard to suppre land anwater denders resting piline cotruction

in additn, the sth dakota goveor plans to ke money from aepublica billionaire to send the national guard to the u.s.-mexico border. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. supreme court has gutted what's left of the voting rights act by upholding two racially discriminatory voter laws in arizona. thursday's 6-to-3 ruling by the court's conservative majority will make it harder to challenge new voter suppression laws being pushed by republican state lawmakers across the country. in her dissent, justice elena kagan wrote -- "what is tragic here is that the court has yet again rewritten -- in order to weaken -- a statute that stands as a monument to america's greatness, and protects against its basest impulses.

what is tragic is that the court has damaged a statute designed to bring about the end of discrimination in voting." in a second major ruling thursday, the supreme court struck down a california law requiring nonprofit organizations reveal the names of large dors tohe state the ca was broht by th amicans foprosperi foundation, a right-wing group founded by the koch brothers. election law experts predict the ruling could lead to challenges of campaign finance disclosure landndndws and a surge in dark y spending on elections. the trump organization's chief financial officer allen weisselberg surrendered to the manhattan district attorney's office on thursday, charged with grand larceny for avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that he did not report as income. his arraignment came as the d.a. filed criminal charges against the trump organization, accusing it of operating a 15-year tax fraud scheme.

weisselberg pleaded not guilty. he was ordered to surrender his passport and was released without bail. his lawyer said the case against him and the trump organization was politically motivated. >> in 244 years, we have not had a local prosecutor go after a former president of the united states or his employees or his company. that is a significant line to cross. a mako weisselberg could face up to a decade in prison if convicted. many legal experts are speculating prosecutors targeted him with the hope he will flip and help investigators in other ongoing probes into the trump family business. we'll have more on this story later in the broadcast with pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter david cay johnston. the world health organization warned thursday that the african continent faces an unprecedented third wave of covid-19 cases.

more than a dozen african nations have reported their highest rates of deaths and new infections since the start of the pandemic, with more than 650,000 new cases recorded since may 3. with testing in short supply and just 2% of africa's population vaccinated, the true toll is likely far higher. in johannesburg, south africa, health care workers say hospitals are once again on the brink of collapse, with the fast-spreading delta variant driving most new cases. >> the funeral services see dead people. we see death. there is a difference. we try to get to the patients in time but unfortunately a certain times, we cannot get to them in time. amy, venezuela has begun using a new vaccine which cuban researchers say is more than 92% effective at preventing covid-19. the biden admistration h refused to share vaccines with

venezuela where officials blame harsh u.s.-let sanctions for delaying critical supplies needed for venezuela' vaccination drives. canada continues to bake under a heat dome that has shattered all-time temperature records, with heat warnings in effect all the way from british colombia to ontario. between wednesday and thursday, meteorologists logged an unprecedented 700,000 lightning events in western canada, driven by pyro cumulonimbus clouds from wildfires. the lightning strikes, in turn, sparked new blazes. they followed canada's all-time record high of 121 degrees fahrenheit set in the town of lytton on tuesday. the town was almost completely destroyed wednesday by a wildfire. in greece, authorities closed the acropolis to tourists on thursday as a scorching heat wave brought temperatures of up to 110 degrees. and in russia, the siberian

village known as the coldest inhabited place on earth -- is baking in record heat with a high temperature of 89 degrees fahrenheit. siberia's heatwave is rapidly melting permafrost, releasing huge stores of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. house speaker nancy pelosi has named bennie thompson to chair the house select committee on investigating the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol. six other democrats will serve on it, including impeachment managers zoe lofgren, adam schiff, and jamie raskin of maryland. >> we need to figure out who organize the violence of january 6, how did they organize it, and why did they organize it. what were the purposes of the different critical actors who were present on that day. a mako speaker pelosi also said republican congress member liz cheney will serve on the january 6 committee, one of 10 who voted to impeach donald trump for

inciting the mob that attacked congress. kevin mccarthy said he was shot chain excepted pelosi's invitation and suggested republican leaders might strip her of her houseommittee assignment. attorney general merrick garland has ordered a halt to all federal executions while the justice department conducts a review of its policies and procedures on capital punishment. in a memo dated thursday, garland cites the "arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color, and the troubling number of exonerations in capital and other serious cases." attorney general garland also ordered a review of the lethal injection drugs used to kill condemned prisoners. the justice department, however, has not changed its position that convicted boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev should remain on death row. beginning in 2020, the former trump administration carried out a killing spree of 13 death row prisoners after then-attorney

general william barr ordered the first federal executions since 2003. in afghanistan, the u.s. military has left bagram airfield after nearly 20 years -- a key center of command in america's longest war. an afghan official said u.s. forces did not coordinate the departure with local authorities, resulting in a period of looting at the airbase before afghan forces took over control. as the u.s. winds down its withdrawal from afghanistan, at least 650 troops are expected to remain to secure the embassy in kabul. taliban forces have taken control of dozens of districts in recent weeks. in ivory coast, a court sentenced 10 burkina faso nationals to one decade in prison for trafficking children and forcing them to work on cocoplantation the group trafficked at least 40 children between the ageof 10 and 17 years old. the ivorian prosecutor said the conviction is part of a shift in how the legal system treats such crim.

>> say ivory coast justice system is changing. we are breaking away from impunity for good. children's place is in school and not in the field or gold mines. amy but many international : corporations continue to be shielded for their role in child trafficking and slave labor. last month, the u.s. supreme court ruled in favor of nestlé and cargill, dismissing a lawsuit because the abuses took place overseas. the case was brought by six men trafficked to the ivory coast from mali as children to work on plantations. in turkey, thousands took to the streets as the government officially withdrew from the istanbul convention, a landmark international treaty aimed at preventing gender-based violence. turkey was the very first country to sign the convention when it was ratified 10 years ago. this is a protester in istanbul, where police deployed tear gas on some of the demonstrators.

>> i am sure women are exposed to violence, rape, and it elsewhere in the world, in the end, they know those people will be punished. the state will protect women. but i cannot say this year. there is nobody to protect me and this is really awful. a micco at least three undercover sites were recorded in turkey last year. -- amy: at least 300 femicides were recorded in turkey last year. the nfl has issued a $10 million fine to the washington football team following a probe into widespread sexual harassment, which was perpetuated by the team's managers and executives. the nfl found repeated instances of bullying and intimidation, with many women employees reporting harassment and a lack of respect while at work. the reports of misconduct date back as far as 2004. the boy scouts of america has reached an $850 million settlement with tens of thousands of people who were sexually abused as scouts. it's the largest settlement of a child sexual abuse case in u.s. history.

more than 84,000 people have joined lawsuits against the boy scouts, with claims that sexual abuse was an "unspoken norm" within the organization since the 1960's. and in canada, protests and vigils replaced many of the usual festivities marking canada day following the recent discovery of graves and remains of first nations children at government-run schools. in saskatchewan, protesters laid backpacks covered in orange handprints on the steps of the legislative building representing the unmarked graves of indigenous children found near the marieval residential school in late june. >> no pride in genocide! [cheers] amy in manitoba, protesters : toppled a statue of queen victoria in front of the provincial legislative building.

many indigenous people in canada already long rejected the annual july 1 holiday. lawyer lori idlout said on twitter -- "today, i celebrate canada's failure to eradicate indigenous peoples, coast to coast to coast. we are here, we are strong." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in a 6-3 ruling, the u.s. supreme court has further gutted the voting rights act by upholding two racially discriminatory voter laws in arizona. the ruling is a major setback for voting rights and comes at a time when republican state lawmakers are pushing sweeping voter suppression bills across the country. in her dissent, elena kagan wrote -- "what is tragic here is that the court has yet again rewritten -- in order to weaken -- a statute that stands as a monument to america's greatness, and protects against its basest

impulses. what is tragic is that the court has damaged a statute designed to bring about 'the end of discrimination in voting'." in a statement, president biden criticized the ruling, saying -- "in a span of just eight years, the court has now done severe damage to two of the most important provisions of the voting rights act of 1965." legal experts say the court's ruling will make it harder to challenge new voter suppression laws in court. just last week, the justice department sued the state of georgia saying its new voter law discriminates against black voters. in a second major ruling thursday, the court struck down a california law reqring nonprot ornizationreveal the nameof largeonors to the state. the case was brought by americans for prosperity foundation -- a right-wing group founded by the koch brothers.

election law experts predict the ruling could lead to challenges of campaign finance disclosure laws and a surge in dark money spending on elections. jeffrey st. clair of counterpunch summarized the court's rulings by writing -- "in two decisions today, the supreme court restricted the ability to regulate the influence of dark money in politics and gutted voting rights. in other words, it made it easier to buy an election and harder to actually vote in one." to talk more about these cases, we are joined by ben jealous, the president of people for the american way. he is the former president of the naacp and a professor of practice at the university of pennsylvania. welcome back to democracy now! let's start with the first 6-3 decision because they both were, getting section two of the voting rights act. can you explain what the laws were in arizona that the supreme court upheld? >> the most important part here

is what this completes. the shelby decision gutted section five which made it possible for the u.s. department of justice to stop discriminatory voter laws before they went into effect. this decision goods section two. section two makes a possible to stop discriminatory law after it is proved to be discriminatory. what this completes is the gut ting the most important piece of democracy legislation created in our country. what we should all be concerned about is -- both of these decisions together, it is true legacy of the trump administration -- not so much

the insurrection on january 6 as it was the takeover of our courts. we now have six very conservative justices. they are stealing up our democracy. they are hijacking our democracy from the top to aid and abet these republican governors who have sought to hijack it from the bottom. and that is where we find ourselves. so what is most important here is section two has been gutted , the last chance, if you will come to really use the federal courts to stop discriminatory voting laws -- but the good news is we have the for the people act, the john lewis voting rights act. both are moving and there is reason to be hopeful both will be passed on it is congress. it does mean that joe manchin and kristin cinema will have to find the courage to stand up and

join their party in doing the right thing. a micco "the new york times" describes one of the measures about the supreme upheld requires election officials to discard pallets cast at the wrong precinct. the other makes it a crime for campaign workers, community activists, and most other people to collect ballots for delivery to polling places, a practice that critics call ballot harvesting but it is often used in places like on native american reservations. cayou elaborate? >> yeah, and it is also used with the most -- most commonly with senr citizens who are shut-ins. this is an old tradition in our democracy. the republican party has for decades now and trying to make an argument about voter fraud.

every time there is an investigation, it has found statistically there is zero, there is like one case here, two cases there, and millions of votes cast but the impact on any election is zero. where are they doing that? when you look around u.s. history, those who are pushing photos of russian have always talked about voter security push voter suppression. they said, for example, women should not be voting. this was back and the 18th and 19th century, the early part of 20th century. why? that would give a man with the wife to votes. -- two votes. they made that argument because they wanted to keep women from voting. go doing way back, they said white men did not only should not be able to vote because they

were not tied to a place and they could still elections wherever they went. again, they're making these arguments to push voter suppression. the good news is, the majority of the people in this country -- i'm talking by a level of about 80% -- are opposed to voter suppression and are in support of the for the people act and support also of the john lewis voting rights act. our hope come our prayer has to be that congress and the senate will do the right thing. it seems like joe manchin is heading that direction. kyrsten sinema has to have the courage to make it possible her to go for that bill. an equal and the whole issue of dark money in politics and a california, not profits having -- nonprofits not having to reveal who their vendors are, why this could so grievously affect elections?

>> this is really pushed by the koch broers. arlesoch is leading the charge tattack the for the people act that would require disclosure most of he founded afp that brought this lawsuit. the manufacturer things that most of the country guys. what they don't wing to know is thekochs stand behind the effort to suppress the vote and they're trying to keep that quiet. what is also concerning is many of these groups trained judges. so you see the coldness -- boldness of the corruption. when you go back and any right-wing judge in history, they typically have been to one of these trainings likely -- they keep quiet the donors who paid for them to be trained, like coke industries.

a micco you have been a long anti-death penalty activist as head of the naacp and more. i want to ask you about the news that the justice department is positing federal executions while it reviews its policies. attorney general merrick garland cites "arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color, troubling number of exonerations and capital and other serious cases." he ordered a review of the lethal injection drugs used to kill condemned prisoners. can you comment on this? >> look, it is good news. it gets us in line with every other western democracy and most countries on planet earth. the other thing is we really have to really be concerned about poor people of all colors. when you visit death row -- and i have been many death rows. disproportionally people of color,lmost exclusively people who were too poor to afford their own lawyer.

when you go down the list of people who are likely innocent when they were executed in this country, virtually all of them were too poor to afford their own lawyer. this is good news for everybody who believes whether you are rich or poor, black or white, male or feme, or simply -- no matter what zip code you were born in because there is great discrimination there, too, deserve equal justice in this country and we should lead the world in human rights. it is an embarrassment we still have the death penalty. a amy: ben jealous, president of people for the american way, former president of the naacp. next up, the family business of donald trump faces criminal charges for operating a 15 year tax fraud scheme. could this lead to charges against the former? we will speak to pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnston.

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the manhattan district attorney's office has charged former donald trump's family business partner with operating a 15-year tax fraud scheme by help executives evade taxes by giving some of their compensation off the books. the company has been charged with criminal tax fraud, falsifying business records, and committing a scheme to defraud. the chief financial officer of the trump, allen weisselberg, was also charged with grand larceny for avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that he did not report as income. weisselberg surrendered thursday and plead not guilty. he could face up to a decade in prison if convicted. many legal experts are speculating prosecutors targeted weisselberg with the hope he will flip and help investigators in other ongoing probes into the

former president's company. during arraignment thursday, the prosecutor said " put it two bluntly, this was a sweeping and audacious illegal payments scheme." prosecutors accuse the trump organization of helping executives avoid paying taxes on fringe benefits, including cars, apartments, and private school tuition. we are joined by david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter who has followed donald trump and his taxes for more than 30 years. he was previously with "the new york times," now co-founder and editor of dcreport.org. his most recent book, "it is even worse than you think: what the trump administration is doing to america." david, can you explain with these charges are about against both allen weisselberg and the trump organization, which was the trump family business? >> this indictment lays out a calculated scheme over 15 years

to pay large sums of money, one point $7 million, to allen weisselberg that was not included in the compensation he reported for tax purposes. also for him to claim he did not live in new york city when he did, which help to motivate 220 thousand dollars of new york city taxes over the period in question. it shows donald trump, while not named in the indictment, is all over the document in terms of the actions you to take including in the very last count . the alteration of records just before the 2016 election to remove any indication of illegal act. amy: this is a lawyer for the trump organization criticizing the prosecutor's case. >> people across the country we

believe have heard of corporate -- all of this is on the records of the company. that is how they know about it. in my view, my personal view, it is not appropriate and quite frankly, it sets a precedent i think in 244 years we have not had a local prosecutor go after a former president of the united states for his employees for his company. that is significant line to cross. amy: talk about that line to cross any says the reason the government knows this because we kept the books. but in fact, they had two sets of books? >> they had two sets of books, which is the classic site of tax fraud. the prosecutors had to go to the

u.s. supreme court twice to get access to these records. fundamentally, neither donald trump the statement he issued to the trump organization or his lawyers are saying we did not do it. what they're saying is, we are special and we are privileged. there is, in alabama serving a life sentence stealing nine dollars. there was, and in california sentence two consecutive 25 year terms because he was broke and hungry and he strolled a slice of pizza from some children. 55 years under the u.s. supreme court said that is ok, that is a reasonable sentence. but donald trump and the people around him believed they should not be subject to the law. it is ok. everybody does this. everybody doesn't do this. but what an awful position for some who took an oath to uphold the constitution and faithfully execute the law. amy: the indictment alleges that allen weisselberg evaded more

than 1.7 million dollars in taxes over a period beginning in 2005. instead of getting a direct payment, that he pays taxes on, he is getting his grandchildren's private school paid for, getting an apartment, and other things. can you talk about why this investigation took so long? and is this just a way to flip them to get to donald trump? and what do we know, since you've been investigating trump for 30 years, about donald trump and his children? >> well, first off, it is correct -- the taxes come to $880,211. the $1.7 million is the income. a big portion is city taxes in new york because allen weisselberg claimed to not live in the city of new york when he did. the investigation took so long for a very simple reason -- donald trump bought the release and examination of his records

from before he was president. in fact, his lawyer told a federal judge donald trump actually shot someone on fifth avenue -- remember he said he could do that and not lose about -- if you shot someone on fifth avenue, the new york city police will be the abued from investigating -- prohibited from investigating that murder. his position is entirely "i am about the law, i am special." the trump children are not named in the indictment but the older three are all executives of the trump organization and there's every reason to believe future indictments -- this is only the first indictment -- will involve at some point the trump children and perhaps allen weisselberg's son barry, for similar crimes. there are hints of that in this indictment. the effort by prosecutors is fundamentally to get allen weisselberg to break with donald trump after 48 years of working

for donald and his father. at this point, allen weisselberg is about to turn 74, is a wholly-owned psychological subsidiary of donald trump's criminal mind. it will be very difficult for him to break with trump. and the case currently pending, while he could get theoretically 15 years, there is no requirement of any sentence higher than probation. so i think it is reasonable to expect allen weisselberg and his lawyers at the moment are pondering running the risk of a trial and conviction and that a judge simply saying, well, go home report to the probation department once a month. that suggests there will be other charges that will have much tougher penalties -- and i think the record is increasingly showing something i've been saying for about a year is going to happen, eventually there will be an indictment for new york state racketeering enterprise.

the state has a rico law like the federal government's that requires showing three felonies -- this indictment shows numerous felonies. it would allow prosecutors to have a judge appoint a receiver to take control of the trump organization as a criminal enterprise. amy: before we end, can you talk about when your most recent articles have an open "dcreport uncovers a huge secret tax favor for super wealthy." tell us just to charles reddick is. >> donald trump appointed charles reddick to be the commissioner of the irs. he is the first person to hold that job who made his name, spent decades helping rich people avoid and perhaps evade taxes. and if they got caught, negotiating secret settlements that never hit the public record. for the taxes they cheated the government out of. he has said the actual tax cap

in the u.s. is more than twice the official number. it is probably over $20. the government does not collect $320 in taxes, so that makes it a huge number. most of this is among very wealthy people who own their own businesses. what has happened now is in the trump era, they got in to expand the number of offers for gift and estate taxes. there's plenty of evidence that massive, massive cheating in gifts and estates after people die. but the new hires will not need lawyers. they will get the same pay lawyers get, effectively the job is being downgraded from colo nels t corporals but at colonel pay. they will not have the legal knowledge to take apart the multilayered structures that

people like charles reddick have created so that billions of dollars appear to the irs to be mere pennies. the biden administration could stop this with one phone call. this whole scheme is based on the trump administration's legal advice that you cannot hear anymore lawyers to do this work. all they have to do is undo that decision. i have repeatedly email the white house and they tell me they don't know anything about it -- which is it surprising. but they have not gotten back to us about whether president biden willr his staff will see to it that at least this is stopped until they understand what is going on and hopefully permanently stopped because it is just a big giveaway the most aggressive efforts by people and their lawyers to avoid taxes, any. amy: david k johnson, thank you for being with us, we will into that article at democracynow.org . david cay johnston, pulitzer prize prize-winning

investigative reporter "the new , york times," now co-founder and editor of dcreport.org. his new exposé is headlined, "dcreport uncovers a huge secret tax favor for super wealthy." his most recent book "it's even , worse than you think: what the trump administration is doing to america." coming up, we go to minnesota come to block the in bridge line 3 pipine. ay with . ♪♪ [music brea

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. resistance to construction of the enbridge line 3 tar sands pipeline continued thursday in northern minnesota as more than a dozen water protectors locked themselves to construction vehicles at two work sites and to the pipeline itself. just last month, 179 people were arrested when thousands shut downn enbrge pping station for o days apart of e trty peoplgatherin complet, line 3ould car

more tha750,000 rrels canaan tar sds oil aay acro indigous landnd frage ecosysms. this is a ne 3 water protector o cked tmselves to horizont directial drill and were arrested on felony theft charges. >> being charged with felony theft by companyhat is tivelytealing r cln wate our cleanir,nd our livablfuture. the stat and eridgene us to afraid. theyave the money and the courts to do the bidding they went to bully us into believing what we are doing is wrong. you haveade yourlf an ene a just d habable fute. amy:his comeas dozenof bbard coty sheris also barricad the camwhere water otectorsre stayi.

thenbridgeine 3 tasands piline hashe backi of the biden ministraon. and is week,ndigens leaders and clime justic activistblockadeaccess t the whithouse, cling on bideto stop fossiluel ojects a invest climate justicinitiatis in his infrtructu plans. meanwhile, two men working on construction at enbridge line 3 ha been arsted as rt of s sex trafficking sting operation. for more, we go to minnesota to speak with tara houska, indigenous lawyer and activist, founder of the giniw collective. she is ojibwe from couchiching first nation. welcome back to democracy now! just lay out the scope of this protest and what it is you're protesting with line 3, what it represents to you and what you hope to accomplish. >> good morning, amy. thank you for having me back.

where we are at, basically, all out grounds fight, people giving everything they have to defend this beautiful place and stand up for future generations. i have seen over 500 people now passing through the legal system of minnesota, over 500 arrests through the cold winter, through the pandemic. there were 800 people arrested at standing rock sioux. that is where we are at even though this resistance is not been 10,000 people. it has been something where we have seen young people especially really epping up to the plate. this is their futures on the line. sing 20-year-olds calling itp pipes when it is 20 degrees ouide, rking the own safety tstand up for the own fures and pse yet toome. this to mis an exnsionf the ght thats happeng all over motr earthprotecting

the last beautiful places, protecting the sacred as you're talking about in the beginning of the hour -- climate crisis is ravaging mother earth. the decisions we have made as humankind are coming back to us. this fight is happening in the meantime for these places while the decision-makers are talking, while the policy changes being pushed, while yet president biden talking about being a climate president line 3, of these other places that are fighting -- it is happening all over mother earth that we are standing up and defending the sacred. amy: this is another water protectors beginning from close to where you are right now, from the line 3 resistance site. >>he what really portant. emergenc to be he.

its importto be here, p our dies on e fntline that what we're dng is right. amy: if you can continue along the line of the description he has given. also, who owns line 3? what is it supposed to do? >> enbridge line 3 plans to send him is not hundred 50,000 barrels a day tar sands from alberta down to the mississippi river to the shore of lake superior. he plans to continue the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. the emissions equivalent of 50 coal-fired power plants and just in this territory alone, over 800 wetlands, 200 water bodies, 22 rivers -- that is what enbridge seeks to contaminate with its tar sands.

this billing it as a replacement project. it is brand new route. it ijustristine osystems that is at we artrying t prect. were procting the sacre we aretandingp fowhat i right. you haveone sot enorms persal cost and sf risk b we do so bauset is wt is right. w'retanding with theacred d are willing to risk everything to do it. amy: you have been arrested. can you describe the experience and can you talk about the authorities and what they are doing, particularly dozens of hubbard unty sheriff's barricading the cap where water protectors are staying? first, describe your experience. >> i was arrested back in the springtime. myself and several other native folks, we were directing a

worksite. we prayed and saying and we were arrested. i was put into a kenl and strip-arched. when was bught tthe crt, th put us in bly change. at is w ty eated us for misdeanor chges. experience s been tt of ny oth water protectors who haveeen arreed toughout this suggl as farshe sheris showin up aoudoorstep ononday, ah, we're talng about eggiou violationof basic propertyights. theyttemptedo yecause this little parl of cnty land, 0 feet o it -- witone of theuke, aley, we don' have the right to access the

parcel by vehicles. 12 people were arrested in our driveway on monday. amy: what you say to president biden? he has approved this pipeline. he put a stop almost immediately to the keystone xl pipeline, but when it comes to another pipeline that you are one of the leaders in protesting, the dakota access pipeline in north dakota, anenbridge, he i still supporting this. >> yes, in the dakota access pipeline is running illegally right now at this very moment. how many lives just that take? , lives does that revocable each change in the human rights crisis that was a fight at the code and against dakota access pipeline on the ground, the dog attacks in so many other egregious human rights violations that occurred and yet the pipeline is still running unr a so-called climate precedent.

the biden administration has declined to intervene when it should come including line 3. there is a clear road and pathway toward intervention which is ordering a review of the water -- under the trump administration. all of the wetlands from the water bodies described, considering climate crisis and climate emissions that come from this project. [indiscernible] that is what we are asking for. it is almost a playbook directly out of the dakota access pipeline, which is ordered the eis to at least do a review and there is no way it will pass the test. amy: in your comments as you alluded to earlier about the weather catastrophe this country and canada, not to mention the rest of the world like russia, are experiencing right now, a town has been wiped off the face of the map in canada, created

its own climate with the heat above 120 degrees fahrenheit leading to a fire that just engulf this town. >> yeah, so here in minnesota, we are experiencing extreme drought. the rivers and lakes are incredibly low. we are talking five feet low. then you have pump tracks all over rivers, including the mississippi river, pumping what now enbridge -- originally there ask was for 500 million gallons, 540 million gallons of water where they pull it out temporarily and try to put it back in the ecosystem because it is such a wet area. they had to apply for a variants because -- 5 billion gallons of water. while we are extreme drought. they're pulling water out and

loading into tracks and drilling under our rivers. i've seen rice that's completely bone dry and bear and sing something like that and knowing what is happening around the globe, knowing right here in miesota we set records almost every day o june because it is so hot and here we are expanding the fossil fuel industry. the mainstream society choosing to engage in self-destruction. that is what is happening and it is happening in real-time. in the meantime, their people pushing for something different and we are risking everything to do it. amy: i want to bring a second person into this conversation. i want to go from where you are in northern minnesota to south dakota. this week the republican governor kristi noem announced she is deploying 50 members of the south dakota national guard to the u.s.-mexico border at the request of texas governor greg abbott. but there is a twist.

the deployment is being paid for by billionaire republican megadonor willis johnson, who lives in tennessee. some critics have accused noem of turning the national guard into a private mercenary force targeting migrants. our next guest obtained documents that indicate this same force will be deployed to suppress land and water defenders resisting pipelines. we are also joined by bruce ellison, water protector and land back attorney in rapid city. bruce, can you talk about what these documents show that you have gotten a hold of? >> good morning, amy. than you for having me on. essentially what seems to be evolving is not just the militarization of our police forces, but particularly the active deployment and involvement of nation guard

oops in the suppression of resistance to fossil fuel industry and other activities. that is the site the private institute -- asi from the private institute that you referenced earlier. essentially, the documents had do with plans for the now ended k excel pipeline and how the south dakota national guard was going to be the main for to ensure the pipeline, 315 miles, was constructed and that they would be guardingot only construction operations, but also equipment and, interestingly enough, including the use of lethal force. what we're finding -- amy: wait, wait. and you talk more about what that means? the south dakota national guard can kill people to protect the pipeline? >> essentially, yes, they can.

they can be used to defense of hers force. it also defense of property. -- but also defense of property. the standards have to do with it other means cannot reasonably be used to stop destruction of property or someone is leaving believed to have destroyed property, lethal force can be used. what is happening is, we look at evolution say from standing rock with the national guard played a role, manned checkpoints, drove trucks around with food and other equipment. that hasn't evolved to current plans for the kxl pipeline that would be active deployment. not just civil disorder forces, but they would be backed up by regular troops who would be armed with automatic weapons. this was deployed about a year

ago around the protest your mount rushmore when trump was visiting by land back people who were trying to raise issues near mild -- not rushmore. we saw that real first combination of the activities of the military from being in the back to being in the front. amy: you have the first news that governor noem's boasting about that she got amy: donor republican donor, billionaire donor to pay for national guard's people to be sent to the border. will these people come the national guard used to protect pipeline and go after water protectors be paid for by the company? >> that is an interesting question because south dakota established what they call a peace fund and required transcanada to put up to $20 million into this fund to be

used for anything having to do with construction of the pipeline. it is a slightly different form, but still we are talking about the use of our national guard to sit multinational hazardous transportation and extction industries in the united state particularly the fossil fuel industry. what is unique about the chris situation with the private donor is, according to the rapid city journal, our local paper, he called up governor noem and asked her she wanted to send national guard troops to the border because they have similar attitudes about brown and red people who were seeking asylum are refugees and offered up to a million dollars to help that happen for 30 to 60 day deployment. there is discussion now about they can only be using volunteers -- you were the people within the guard were going to volunteer and went to go down to the border and engage

in these kinds of actions to prevent people just seeking a better life or even their own survival? and so it is a very dangerous precedents. privately funded use of our national guard essentially as cheap mercenary troops. what security contractor strongly get, that tax-free money, they're being paid the normal minimum wage jobsut there working for a billionaire who has an agenda -- like our governor who has the same agenda. amy: so from south dakota up northern minnesota, tara houska, is this the first you're hearing of this? does it surprise you? can you talk about not only the national guard being used, but the role of u.s. the line 3 water protector protesters? >> i'm not super surprised.

there was a bill that passed the house and it essentially provides both a method for private actors, private industry to dectly work with states and crte t securit polynd prides fedal fdingor stes toreat plans specifical aund crital infrtructurencluding pipenes and tractive indust. it sms like its responng direly to siations le he bridge corporaon in minnota, whi is engad in a public safy escrow tst where it is ying ouroliceirecy -- mean,ncentizing our police t target rass survlled wat proteor and reimrsement r the co of dog so. at is y we se50, 60 sad cars he on airt road cating uin our drivewa. the're gting pd by t

compy to do it. asar as thnationaluardnd al that, t militaration go, we have se customs border patrol drones ov our ca for yea. ere has bee department holist you hicopte over protts. dertmentf homendecurity helicopters over our private encampnt. sothing whe you e seeing very conrted eort to surveied, hara, target ditches ad movements amy: before i ask you a slightly different question about what has happened throughout canada yesterday being the canada day to protest, let me ask about the sex trafficking charges. two men working on the enbridge line 3 charged with sex trafficking. >> i know this is the second sex trafficking ring busted that has had enbridge in it in our

territory. i know we told and warned the state, warned the governor and lieutenant governor that this wod happen anit did. a 30 minuttrainingr even a day aining t empyees is just not enoug these pple are re in o ste, mosy from o odate. ere are 00 mostl out-of-state wkers herline consucting le 3. ere growing increasingly aggressi. yesterday at the demonstration, one of the workers attempted to drive his vicle, ruing over proteste. on t site. these pple are re toestroy the rritory. ey're not ierested develong relatnships o accountablto our cmunities cause ey are n. amy:he protes all over canada thursday on canada day, tara houska, you are

ojibwe. can you talk about this? >> it is -- it is a gut punch i think a lot of us already knew, but it is hard to see those numbers and to know all those lives and generations that are missing, all those voices and people that belong to us that were taken by the residential schools in the boarding school euro. it is a very stark reminder of what we have to come to terms with in terms of looking at the treatment at indigenous people by candidate in the united states and around the world, the attempts to eradicate as an a continued effort to do so through out of placement of children and destruction of our land, our territories.

so many different aspects of our people. amy: tara houska, thank you for being with us. indigenous lawyer and activist. founder of the giniw collective. and also bruce ellison, water prot

>> this is al jazeera. ♪ anchor: hello, you are watching the newshour live from london. in the next 60 minutes, more than 400,000 took ryan's are in famine and struggling to get aid despite the ethiopian governments cease-fire. u.s. troops quietly pull out of their main base in