♪ nermeen: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we are in urgent need. we have critical patients. we need assistance as soon as possible. nermeen: over 700 refugees were rescued in the mediterranean this weekend as they attempted to reach europe in what's been a deadly year for migrants fleeing

worsening poverty, violence and the climate crisis. we will get the latest from one of the rescue organizations. and we will look at a new book that alleges the nation's top general mark milley feared donald trump would wage a coup after losing the november election. >> ty became harrowing when millie saw parallels between trump and hiller and the information he was spewing about election fraud. he continued to be a boebert, a safegud in at he thought was preventing president trump from staying in power. nermeen: plu the latest on stopping palestinians from being infected from their homes but only if they pay an organization cannot all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh. amy goodman is off today. the united states has finally hit the biden administration's goal of administering covid-19 vaccines to 70% of u.s. adults one month later than it had , hoped. the milestone came as the us reported more than 135,000 new the highest number of daily cases infections since february. , on monday, louisiana governor john bell edwards re-imposed a state-wide mask mandate, as his state set a record for new infections and hospitals become overwhelmed with covid patients. governor bell edwards: we are the worst in the country with the delta search, and the fact is not enough people in -- have been vaccinated here in louisiana. nermeen: on monday, county officials across the san francisco bay area ordered new

mask mandates indoors, even for vaccinated people joining los , angeles which re-imposed similar measures last month. here in new york, mayor bill de blasio urged unvaccinated people to wear masks indoors but stopped short of a ordering a new mandate. meanwhile governor andrew cuomo said tens of thousands of new york transit workers must show proof of vaccination or face weekly testing. at the white house, jeff zients, the white house coronavirus said monday similar rules will response coordinator apply to , some 4 million federal workers. jeff: any federal employee who does not test, or is not vaccinated, will be required to mask no matter where they are, get tested once or twice a week, socially distance, and generally will not be allowed to travel for work. nermeen: the united states and the united kingdom have accused the afghan taliban of massacring civilians as they captured a town in kandahar province near the pakistan border. the u.s. and u.k. embassies in kabul both tweeted monday that

dozens of civilians were slaughtered in spin boldak in revenge killings that could constitute "war crimes. the statements came the u.s. as stepped up air strikes aimed at slowing a rapid advance by the taliban in several afghan provincial capitals. meanwhile secretary of state , tony blinken said monday the us would offer refugee status to afghans who worked for u.s.-funded projects and ngos in afghanistan. the state partmentaid "operation allies refuge" could resettle as many as 50,000 people. immigrant justice groups are suing the biden administration over its use of title a 42, trump-era policy that allows for the expedited deportations of asylum seekers arriving at the u.s.-mexico border citing , so-called public health concerns during the pandemic. the biden administration says it will continue enforcing the policy, which could bar entry to hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers.

human rights act says -- it has been the lawsuit was filed by the american civil liberties union, raices, and oxfam, among other groups, which denounce title 42 as cruel, illegal, and a violation of due process rights. in texas, the inspector general for the department of health and human services is launching an investigation into allegations of unsafe conditions at fort bliss a former military base , re-opened by the biden administration to detain thousands of unaccompanied migrant children. the probe comes after two whistleblowers last week warned about the dire and filthy conditions at the tent camp, saying children are also facing inadequate mental and health care. young washington, d.c., president biden and democratic leaders faced backlash monday from progressives who blasted them for allowing a federal moratorium on evictions to expire. at the white house, presidential adviser gene sperling said a june supreme court ruling prevented the centers for disease control from taking action to extend the moratorium

without congressional action, despite the worsening pandemic. >> to date, the cdc director and her team have not been able to find legal authority, even for a more targeted eviction moratorium, that would focus on counties with more higher rates of covid spread. nermeen: missouri congresswoman cori bush, who has been camped out on the steps of the capitol since friday in protest, spoke briefly with vice president kamala harris monday, and reportedly came page 2 away -- came away disappointed. joining the protest monday were new york congresswoman alexandia ocasio-cortez, and vermont independent senator bernie sanders, who teetered "it is outrageous that in the middle of a deadly pandemic the eviction moratorium has ended. we cannot allow people to be thrown into the streets."

elsewhere, in washington, police arrested about 200 people monday as they held a nonviolent civil disobedience protest demanding that senate democrats end the filibuster and enact voting rights legislation. among those arrested were reverend william barber, of the national poor people's campaign along with his co-director, , reverend liz theoharis, and the long-time civil rights leader reverend jesse jackson. meanwhile, a new study shows democrats could lose control of the house next year thanks to republican gerrymandering in the states of georgia, florida, north carolina, and texas. an analysis by the data firm targetsmart shows republicans could win as many as 13 house seats simply by redrawing congressional districts in their favor. republicans need just five seats to regain control of the house. a fourth washington, d.c.-area police officer who responded to the violent january 6th insurrection at the u.s. capitol has died by suicide. dc's metropolitan police department says officer gunther

hashida was found dead in his home thursday. officers howard liebengood, kyle defreytag, and jeffrey smith also took their own lives in the wake of the assault by a mob incited by then-president trump. more than 100 officers were injured. a warning to our viewers: this headline contains graphic footage of police violence. in florida, five miami beach police officers haveeen criminally charged after they were filmed repeatedly kicking and bodyslamming a black man in handcuffs, before brutally assaulting a bystander who filmed t incident. the bystander, 28-year-old khalid vaughn hafaced charges of impeding a police investigation and resisting arrest with violence, but those charges were dropped when video showed he posed no threat to the officers who assaulted him. new york governor andrew cuomo was questioned for 11 hours by investigators from the state attorney general's office looking into sexual harassment

allegations against him. that's according to the new york times which reported the meeting , took place in cuomo's office last month. at least 10 women have accused cuomo of sexual misconduct, prompting new york attorney general letitia james to launch a probe. members of cuomo's inner circle have also been interviewed by investigators. israel's supreme court has deferred a ruling on the expulsion of four palestinian families from their homes in the sheikh jarrah neighborhood of occupied east jerusalem. the court instead offered the families a deal: they could stay in their homes for now if they began paying rent to a jewish settlement organization which claims ownership over the disputed properties. the palestinian families rejected the deal insisting they were the legal owners. the united nations has described the planned evictions as a possible war crime. later in the broadcast we'll go to east jerusalem for the latest. in climate news, chinese officials say say over 300 people were killed during record-shattering floods that

devastated henan province last month. that's more than triple the number previously reported. elsewhere, the eastern mediterranean is enduring a record heat wave, with massive wildfires continuing to spread across turkey. in greece, officials are warning of the potential for rolling blackouts with some forecasters predicting europe could soon surpass its all-time high temperature record of 40 degrees celsius or 118 degrees fahrenheit. >> we are doing with the worst heat live -- heatwave since 1887. create increased burden. nermeen: in minnesota, the giniw collective is reporting at least 20 water protectors were brutally arrested over the weekend including indigenous , lawyer and activist tara houska, as resistance against enbridge line 3 pipeline continues.

water protectors are denouncing the escalation of excessive force from state and local police, as they increasingly use tear gas, rubber and pepper bullets to repress line 3 protesters. houska on monday posted photos of herself with bruises on her arms and wounds from police rubber bullets. to see our interview with tara houska and our coverage on line 3 resistance go to democracynow.org. and in switzerland, some 30 climate justice advocates were arrested monday after peacefully blocking the entrances to two of the country's largest banks in zurich's financial district. on twitter the group collectif breakfree suisse, which led the demonstration, said quote "either phase out fossil fuels or face forest fires, famines, droughts and floods. cup this is one of the protesters. >> we are not here because we are stupid or we have nothing else to do. we are here because we no longer know what we can do. we have fought for two years. nermeen: and those are some of

the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh in new york. amy goodman is off today. i'm joined by democracy now! cohost juan gonzalez in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. over 700 refugees were rescued in the mediterranean this weekend as they attempted to reach europe. most of the rescues occued off the coast of libya and malta. rescue ships are now looking for safe locations to disembark the asylum seekers many whom need urgent medical care. this is anne dekker speaking from the sea watch 3 ship. anne: many of them are super exhausted, havfuel burns, are sick, dehydrated, and quite a number have diseases. we have required assistant and not received any reply.

we are in urgent need of safety as soon as possible. we need safety as soon as possible. nermeen: another rescue group, sos mediterranee, has over 550 refugees on board its ship after conducting six rescue operations this weekend. this comes as the number of refugees trying to reach european soil continues to grow due to worsening poverty, violence, the climate crisis. and the climate crisis. according to the united nations, over 1,100 refugees have perished crossing the mediterranean so far this year. we are joined now by laurence bondard, spokesperson and operations communications officer for sos mediterranee based in paris, france. she's been on 4 rescue missions in the mediterranean, most recently march-april of this year. welcome to democracynow. if you could begin by talking

about these rescue operations, what they entail, and why this particular crossing, libya to malta or libya to italy is as dangerous as it is. laurence: thank you very much for hosting me. the migration -- it is the most difficult root in the world and it is due to a lack of maritime assetsn the area. there a very few rescue ships. several ships are being hindered from operating. the people that are fleeing and are on tremendously -- they are left without enough food or

water. they are in extreme danger and they cannot always be rescued. there are no maritime assets in the area to rescue them. in addition to them, when we are present and we performed the rescues this weekend, we performed them without maritime coordination, and this is despite the fact that we would ask for maritime law. we received no coordination, no instruction and we had to perform the rescues on our own. juan: and how have the european countries responded when your boats or other rescue boats attempt to dock in your country. are there any countries in particular that are more hostile than others? laurence: first, this is not

really the question. we did ask for places of safety, and a place of safety meet specific criteria where basic needs are met for people rescued at sea, which means they can seek medical care, have fd, water, and where their life is no longer threatened. for example, we would never rescue in libya because it is not a place of safety. we have not requested several times for a place of safety to the maritime authorities and to the most able to assist maritime authorities. right now we are awaiting answers. we have not yet been given positive answers. it is essential to understand

that european solidarity here is crucial. coastal states must be supported by european solidarity, and the number of people crossing is not that huge compared to the number of people living in europe -- a population in europe. it is really jusa question of litical will. juan: and how has the covid pandemic changed the rescue operations? laurence: we have had to adapt, and since the outbreak of the pandemic we have them cemented very strict covid-19 protocols in order to guarantee the safety of operatis, the safety of survivors on bod and our teams. our teams are wearing personal protective equipment. they do that entering rescues and on the deck of the ship, and when survivors arrive, they are

explained the preventive measures, they are given masks, there is temperature checked -- all of them, upon arrival, and we are asking them also to wash her hands as much as they can. we are important -- wash their hands as much as they can. we are implement and very strict protocols on board. nermeen: could you explain, even as the eu -- various countries and eu have been cracking down on voluntary rescue missions such as the one that your organizations -- organization runs, they continue to support the libyan coast guard and monitoring these crossings, these water crossings. can you talk about the significance of that support, and what groups like yours are calling for? what are the conditions inside of libyan tension centers where the libyan coast guard takes

migrants? laurence: indeed, since 2018, libya is responsible for search d rescue missions off of their coast. this is supported by the eu. ey have been pvided with patrol vessels, training. sometimes they allow them to intercept people, and these past years, typically this past month, specifically this past month there has been a huge increase in the number of interceptions by the coast guard, and the coast guard's then return the survivors to libya, and this is absolutely legal, and they are forcibly returned as libya, as we

explained, is not a safe place to be. the rescue operation only and one people are disembarked in place of safety. then, many many reports due explain how people have been inspected by coast guard, and are returning to a saturn -- pattern of violence. we have read and heard on board testimony from survivors that have attempt to cross the mediterranean several times before they can rescue them. they have been risking their life -- how they have been risking their lives because

everyone is armed in libya, or many people are armed, and women go out as little as possible, only to get food and come back because they are too afraid because they are afraid of getting killed, or face sexual violence. i have heard harrowing stories of a woman that explained she was in a detention center with her few months old baby, and some guards head doug -- had dug a hole, the baby was crying, and started to put sand in the baby over the hole, the baby was crying, the mother was crying, and eventually they gave it back to the mother. this was more of a psychological

trick, but this kind of event, physical violence and psychological violence is daily and reported to us by the survivors on board. when i think most of the survivors say, if not all of them, that libya is hell on earth and they would rather die on seat -- at sea then die in libya. it is taking a tremendous risk. they see no hope. juan: i wanted to ask you -- there have been over what -- 1100 refugees that have perished crossing dangerous sea routes this year. where are the refugees coming from? are they largely from libya or other north african countries, and why are they fleeing their homes? laurence: so, the number you are giving here is the number of

ople that are known to have died in the mediterranean. maybe there are more that unfortunately perished without any witnesses. most of them died in the central mediterranean. since the binning of the year, 990 people died in the central mediterranean. where the people we rescue are coming from -- some of them -- a minority, but some of them are fleeing from libya directly, and most of them are in the migration journey. currently on board, you have the majority of bangladeshi people. we have 22 nationalities on board coming from west africa and sub-saharan countries of africa, nigeria, many countries. we also have a few people currently on board coming from yemen, syria, and crises are

plenty in the world, and people will try and flee, and when they are -- what they call trust in the media, some of us -- some of them tell us they were not willing to come to libya, but were trying to flee all jury, and they were abducted, and they would realize they are in libya, and explained they had no way out. nermeen: thank you so much, laurence bondard spokesperson and operations officer for sos mediterranee based in paris, france. she has been in four rescue missions in the mediterranean, most recently march, april this year. next we go to occupied easter

resume where the israeli supreme court's have allowed palestinian residents to avoid being forcibly evicted from their homes, but only if they begin paying rent to a jewish organization. we will speak with one member who has rejected the office -- offer. [music brick] -- "-- [music breaklosed bracket ♪

♪ everything will truly be fine. kuti. [529]lede >> ♪ one day people will rise ♪ nermeen: "the way our lives go" by femi kuti. this is democracy now. democracynow.org. i am nermeen sheikh with juan gonzalez. we go now to occupied east jerusalem and the neighborhood of sheikh jarrah where palestinian families are trying to block jewish settlers from forcibly expelling them from their own homes. on monday the israel supreme court offered a dl to four of

e palestinian families facing eviction they could stay in . their homes for now if they began paying rent to a jewish settlement organization which , claims ownership over the disputed properties. the palestinian families rejected the deal insisting they were the legal owners. the israeli supreme court has not yet set a date for its final ruling. the united nations has described the planned evictions as a possible war crime. u.n. rights office spokesman rupert colville said in may, "the occupying power cannot confiscate private property in occupied territory." we are joined by mohammed el-kurd, a palestinian writer and poet who is organizing to save his family home in sheikh jarrah. he was in the courtroom on monday.

could you describe what the response has been? mohammed: 2i-4 have me. figuring we had -- thank you for having me. the hearing we had was mostly like the ones we have had. we were spoken to in hebrew and most do not speak hebrew, but the court is aware of the international media pressure and explicitly made a remark about the media pressure, so they wanted to reach a "diplomatic" solution, so they are evading its possibilities, pressuring us to reach a settlement with the sellers instead. the way this is being reported or conveyed might sound like a good deal, buthat is happening

is we would be living at the mey of settlers, paying rent to live in our own homes, and dealing with all kinds of bitrary policies. i personally don't love the idea of having a landlord, let alone having a settler landlord. juan: and for our listeners and viewers who don't know the story of the history of your home, going back, actually, to 1956, and you wrote an article in "the nation," last summer that your grandmother, who was an icon of palestinian resistance, was one of the original people who settled in that particular home? mohammed: absolutely. my grandmother was among 27 other families that were expelled from their home upon the establishment of what is called the state of israel and

paleinian lands through ethnic cleansing, so they were made refugees, and theyent from city to city, and they found themselves in jerusalem, and there was a project to help them, but unfortunately they -- both of these entities never fulfill their promises of transferring the land ownership to the palestinian refugees because of the war with the israeli forces, so in the 1970's you began seeing israeli settlement organizations largely registered in the united states and funded by private donors in the united states claiming the property. to understand this commute have to understand the larger picture -- almost every neighborhood in occupied jerusalem is facing the same threa of ngos that are fabricating documents and using an inherently biased judicial system, an inherently colonial

judicial systems to expelled palestinians. we have a partnership to expel palestinians, and this is exactly what has happened since 1972. this has been 49 years of postponements, delays, cou cases. it is important for people that are listening to understand the punishment is not just in the act of expulsion. thpunishment is the process itlf -- it is losing your use, your hope, prospect of the future, to the lingering threat of homelessness at all times. the reality is not just for people and children -- it is for hundreds of palestinians all across palestine. juan: and in terms of -- what is your hope in terms of the still to be ruling to come from the israeli court? mohammed: i would like to see the court make a ruling -- i

dare the court to make a ruling could i know that these judges, these so-called justices have been evading the responsibility of making a ruling because they have a reputation in the legal world. they have universities to go and give talks to -- yolanda harvard, and places where they have to hold their head up, but i would like them to make a ruling, not that i would expect any willing to be in my favor or in the favor of palestinians because we know it is fundamental biased against palestinians. i would ke them to take their own settlements. i'm not going to compromise. i would like them to confront the potential international ramifications for their actions. nermeen: and could you say more

about the judge in this case -- you pointed out in one of your tweets that one of the judges himself lives in a settlement in the occupied west bank. mohammed: he is also not the only one of the supreme court justices who lives in internationally recognized occupied territory. this is a system that does not care about international law. there is a high court of justice. it is erected on the rubble on palestinians for the whole system cannot be in favor of palestinians nor able to deliver justice to palestinians here in jerusalem. nermeen: can you explain the ongoing oppression in sheikh jarrah as we spe, and the role of the settler organizations

involved in this case? mohammed: absolutely. you know, you had me -- amy had me on hearing month or two ago and i was talking about any legal blockade where forces blockaded our neighborhood, suppressed our children, tear gas thus, beat us with batons. this is still very much the ality. just yesterday we had to deal with israeli occupation. what is really interesting, and it is not just an anomaly, that clear, explicit, unabashed partnership that takes place beeen the police forces, the soldiers, and the settlers, where they combine efforts to repress palestinians. we have seen this in the west bank, where israeli settlers and soldiers work together to kill palestinians, and we saw "the intercept" to a report on it,

where they can point at which palestinians they would like to see brutalized by israeli police officers. i had a journalist come into the neighborhood a few months ago and i was telling her all kinds of things about this being a partnership and a -- this being a apartheid, and she did not believe me until they settler pointed at her and she was forced to leave the neighborhood. it is truly unfortunate to point out that when we say the system is made up of settlers, this manifest materially -- it is built by settlers to expel palestinians, and in every avenue it is doing just that, serving settler supremacy, working to expel paltinians. juan: you tweeted while you were in the courtroom, israeli soldiers stormed into homes in the neighborhood? mohammed: yes pan while we were

in the neighborhood, the majority went to the neighborhood. while we were outside, israeli forces raided three of our neighbors homes. one of the homes is my friend -- his onto his disabled and elderly, and they did not care to wake her from her sleep. they did not care to disrupt her, horrify her in her bedroom, saying the writers are hiding. -- rioters are hiding. nermeen: the times of israel reported the israeli government was hoping to postpone the hearing in bid to assuage the biden administration to uphold the evictions, and also, your response to that and the fact that the israeli prime minister is expected to arrive in the u.s. for his first state visit and meeting with presiden

biden. what do you expect to happen during that meeting? mohammed: it is really clear the battle against israeli ethnic cleansing has won cap the fact that we -- there were --won. the fact that there were journalists awaiting, example five that we have won. i sathis, however, knowing that this is a regime that has behaved, for decades and decades with such impunity, massacred, stolen lindsay legally for decades -- stolen lands illegally for decades and decades. like everyone else, i watch this from my couch and i wait to see what has happened, but i will say the general sentiment in

sheikh jarrah, alongside sleeplessness, and the fury that our fate and destiny is in the hands of colonizers, is at the mercy of laws made by colonizers to serve colonizers. nermeen: very quickly, before we conclude, you have said and you have said again now you have no faith in the judicial process, but what you do have faith in are the kinds of protests in the world, and as you said, they have already -- the sheikh jarrah have already won. could you talk about what you would like to see on the streets from people across the eu and here in the u.s., and people that have given unconditional support to the israeli state? mohammed: iould like to see politicians and policymakers be loyal to the wishes of their constituents, the people that

live in their country. it is very clear the people of the world, the tide is turning, the dam has already correct, and people are in support of palestinian liberation and decolonization, and it is about time that people take to the streets because this cannot sustain. this apartheid, colonialism is not sustainable, and the israeli government must be stopped before the entire palestinian population is wiped out. nermeen: thank you so much mohammed el-kurd, writer and advocate from palestine. next, we speak to the author of a new book that alleges mark

milley feared donald trump would stage a coup after losing the election. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ [music break] ♪

nermeen: "the dream" by the legendary -- ventura. we end today show with the authors of a new book that debuted last week at number one of the best sellers list, "i alone can fix it: donald j.trump's catastrophic final year." the book is by two washington post" white house bureau chief, reporters philip rucker, and , carol leonnig, a longtime investigative reporter. their book sheds new light on what happened during the early days of the pandemic, and how trump responded to the deadly january 6 insurrection, and

alleges the nation's top general, mark milley, feared trump woodway jaiku after losing the november election. rucker and leonnig are both pulitzer-prize winners, and also co-authors of the 2020 best-seller, "a very stable genius: donald j. trump's testing of america." welcome to democracy now! carol, let's begin with you. this is your second book on trump. you both reported extensively on the administration. tell us what you found in this book -- what was most striking? carol: yes, there were a lot of things that made our jaw dropped to the ground, but was most striking, people that wanted to serve donald trump, people that were ardent supporters in his white house, his administration, how much they were nearly in panic about the impulses of the

president, the degree to which he was willing to put american lives in peril, and actually how much he was willing to risk democracy, again, all for his short-term political gain -- his own personal profit. juan: and, phil, you write that trump told you it was his greatest regret that he did not deploy the military to shut down last year's protest over the killing of george floyd. saying "i think if i had to do it again i would have brought in the military immediately." can you talk about that? philip: that is right. when carolyn i sat down with former president trump earlier this spring for an extensive interview he said his only regret from that final year was how he handled the "black lives matter -- the black lives matter protest and he wishes he had followed his gut to send the

military immediately to portland, seattle, minneapolis, d.c., all the cities where demonstrationsake -- took place, he wanted active duty troops to combat protesters exercising their first amendment rights. it was pretty chilling for us to hear him say that and the book details a lot of reporting that happened behind closed doors were the attorney general the aforementioned chairman of the chiefs of staff were trying to persuade trump not to send in the military, explaining how that would be inappropriate and not justified, but trump said after the fact that he regretted not doing so. juan: and you also report, perhaps the most shocking revelation, is how the top generals in the u.s. military were responding to trump. you say that joint chiefs of staff general mark milley was so

afraid that trump would attempt a coup that he and other top officials discussed a plan to resign one by one rather than carry out orders from trump that they consider to be illegal. could you elaborate on that further? carol: you know, this was a very frightening moment for us to learn as well. remember, we were covering this administration in real time. we thought we did a good job in the first draft of history for "the washington post," then we excavated this time and found out there was a lot more fear within the pentagon, and at the highest level -- these ripple -- were people that had been to combat and they were quite worried about what donald trump might do. as chairman millie told confidantes and colleagues, he became convinced that president trump was trying to get his hands on the so-called guys with the guns, the agencies like the

fbi, the cia, and the defense department, and military leaders he worked with, the joint chief and he began meeting to talk about how they would block the president from something that was illegal or dangerous for the country -- some sort of deployment of the military that they thought was wholly inappropriate, and their plan or their plot, their counter plot was to essentially decide they would resign one why one, a reverse saturday night massacre -- one by one, a reverse saturday night massacre. each one had a legal duty to give the president their best military advice, and if they were to if he were to order something, they would give their advice and then resign. almost in slow motion. they were throwing their bodies in front of something dangerous. that was their plan.

nermeen: carol, i would like to go to another facet of the last year of trump's administration that you cover extensively in the book, beginning with this clip from your two-hour interview with former president trump in which he refers to the "loving crowd during the deadly january 6 interaction -- insurrection. president trump: i think it was the largest crowd i had ever spoken to -- it went from that point, almost at the white house, to be on the washington monument, and wide. and it was a loving crowd, by the way. i heard that from everyone. that was a loving crowd. nermeen: one capitol police officers testified last week, the capitol police sergeant aquilino gonell responding to trump's comment.

>> we should all go to his house and do the same thing to him. to me, it is insulting and demoralizing because everything we did was to prevent everyone in the capital from getting hurt, and what he was doing, instead of sending the military, sending the support, or telling his people, his supporters to stop this nonsense, he acted them to continue fighting. nermeen: meanwhile, as we reported in headlines, a fourth washington, d.c. police officer who responded to the violent , january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol has died by suicide. carol, could you respond to this latest news and also what trump said in his interview with you on the so-called loving crowd. carol: there could not be a more

stark split screen between the officer, the -- wh they experience, what they told the public the maliki -- medieval combat was like. as they try to protect staffers on the hill who were scrambling for their lives from donald trump supporters, from chants of execution for vice president pence. that is one side of the screen, and on the other side is president trump sitting down with me and mar-a-lago explaining this was a loving crowd, he was watching them on television and he felt supported by them, glad they were going to stop the steel, show their support for the fact that he believed the election was rigged, though there is no evidence for it, and they were going to help him stay in power. i thought that officer gonell's

remarks that he is still trying to cover from the hogs and kisses donald trump told us the protesters were given were on the market there were no capitol police officers posh weed these individuals as former president trump told -- ushering in these individuals as former president trump told me and phil. there were threats of death, chants of hanging mike pence, officer screaming for their lives, and as officer gonell describes, literally having a heart attack, having the wherewithal to call out to the people around him, please don't take my gun, don't hurt me, i have children. donald trump was in room watching television while that was happening. juan: and phil rucker, the first

section of your book deals with president trump's response to the clearest crisis of his presidency, the covid pandemic command he told you he thinks they did a great job on covid and it has not been recognized. can you talk about his paranoia on the drug manufacturers tried to delay the covid vaccine to hurt his election chances? philip: sure. trump seemed to think that all of his enemies, his perceived enemies were out to get him during the covid pandemic, in part because he saw the pandemic through the prism of his reelection chances. he thought he was on a glide path to winning a second term before covid arrived and that covid spoiled his chances of winning the election last november. he had particular disdain for pharmaceutical companies, drugmakers, in part because of tensions earlier in the administration between the

industry and his administration, but during covid, hehought they were slow walking the development of the vaccine. he thought it was imperative that they have a vaccine or multiple vaccines developed, tested, distributed before election day so he could get political credit for that, and when that was not a possibility he became enraged and was especially angry at pfizer because pfizer made the announcement about a week or so after the election that their first covid vaccine had met the mark, and trump thought that was intentionally delayed to hurt him politically. of course there was no evidence to support that claim, but it does show you a little but the paranoia in trump's mind that he thought individuals, but also countries, industries were plotting to undermine his political standing. juan: carol, i wanted to ask you about this -- his belief that he

was going to win on election night, and his reaction as the numbers came in that night and the days that flowed, and can you talk about the role of rudy giuliani. i covered rudy giuliani throughout his time as mayor of new york, and i always believed that there was something not right about him, but most people did not agree. talk about the relationship between giuliani and trump if you can. carol: of course. the conviction issue that you mentioned is interesting because what phil and i learned is in the days before the election president trump was warned this was going to be a hard slog and the odds were not great, and th people that were paid to tell him the odds were great were telling him they were not good. we learned that bill barr called

the defense secretary the night before the election to say that he had learned from white house sources that the president, whether or -- whether he won or not was planning to declare a election night that he had won before all the ballots were counted, that that was a plan that was being cooked up, and it is unclear where bill barr heard this, but it was from inside the white house, so the conviction that president trump had that he was going to win or had won really started to solidify after he lost. his conviction that it had been stolen from him is what got calcified as time went on. the reason is he basically shut out those people, those adults who were explained to him that he had lost -- people he had trusted and had confidants alongside them for years, people like hope hicks, who counseled him that he was ruing his --

ruining his legacy, that he need to think about graciously and appropriately conceding, people like kellyanne conway who said she did not to evidence and asked the president to produce it or think about a plan b for stepping away. what is interesting about rudy is he represents a group of individuals on that fringe who were spinning increasingly fanatical tales of how this election was stolen, though bill barr had a team of department of justice prosecutors and fbi agent ultimately underneath him investigating the claims. he warned the claims they looked into all of them -- they were nonsense, they were bs, but rudy kept insisting they were true. on election night he was the voice that said just declare victory, say you won, even as important swing states were coming down for biden and look

like they were going to go for biden pretty strongly. rudy was warned, actually, and this is sort of the most colossal fall from grace that i thk i have seen in covering politicians and government officials -- this was america's mayor -- one of the strongest, most revered federal prosecutors in the country -- chris christie, former governor of new jersey warned rudy in a phone call after the election that he was ruining his legacy and that he was becoming a joke on late-night television, and rudy hollered back i am fighting for now, fighting for today -- who cares about legacy, but everythi he was fighting for was a maras. -- maras -- mirage. nermeen: speaking of today, talk

about prospects for the future -- new filings show trump has raised more funds than other republicans during the first half of this year, and between july with more than $100 million from his 2021 political committee. some say trump is pursuing a shadow presidency as he plans to run again in 2024. on friday, mark meadows, former chief of staff for the white house, told newsmax trump is now meeting with people he called cabinet members in new jersey. mr. meadows: we met with cabinet members, had a follow-up meeting, and we are looking at what does come next. i am not authorized to speak on behalf of the president, but i can tell you this, steve, we would not be meeting tonight if we were not making plans to move forward in a real way with president trump as the head of th ticket. nermeen: philip brooker, your

response -- rucker, your response, on the question particularf continuing republican support for trump. philip: the republican support continues to be very strong for donald trump and he is by far the most popular figure in republican politics today. he has made no secret about his plan to run for president in 2024, and when carol and i sat down with him it was clear to us he wanted back in the game, had the itch to get back in the arena again has a lot of time left on making a decision to launch a campaign, but all signs point toward the likel possility that he does, and if he were to run, barring some change in the political environment, he would almost certainly become the public and presidential nominee. he is that popular in his party right now. nermeen: thank you so much, philip rucker, carol, authors of

"i alone can fix it: donald j. trump's catastrophic final year. i am nermeen shaikh.