08/23/21 08/23/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new, york this is democracy now! >> the evacuations of thousands of people from kabul will be hard and painful no matter when it started, no matter when we began. would it have been true we started a month ago or a month from now. amy: president biden considering pushing back a deadline to remove view of troops from afghanistan by august 31, but the taliban warns doing so would

cross a redline. we will get the latest on afghanistan what journalist emran feroz. then we look at how a group of far-right anti-vaccine, i mask protesters, including at least one was at the january 6 insurrection, recently attacked journalists in los angeles. >> stop it! he started screaming "unmask them all." he shoved me a little bit. then i kept filming. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in afghanistan, violence and chaos continue around the kabul airport as the u.s. scrambles to evacuate more people. seven afghans were killed

saturday in a stampede, while the taliban were seen sunday beating back people who were attempting to flee. nato said at least 20 people died at or around the airport over the past week. harrowing video showed an infant being passed tu.s. marines over a bard wire fence fday in a move of desperation. the baby has since been reunited with its father. meanwhile, an afghan evacuee gave birth to a baby girl on board a u.s. evacuation aircraft shortly after the plane landed at the air base in germany. president biden addressed the ongoing evacuations sunday. pres. biden: we are bringing our citizens, nato allies, afghan news that help us in the war effort. we have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong. amy: biden suggested the u. may have to extend its presence beyond august 31 to continue

evacuations. the military has evacuated 28,000 people since last weekend. taliban co-founder mullah abdul ghani baradar arrived for talks in kabul saturday as questions loom about an incoming taliban government. meanwhile, the taliban says its forces have recaptured three districts north of kabul after they were seized by local militias last week. amid the ongoing turmoil, some kabul residents called on the taliban to improve the situation of ordinary afghans as they resumed normal daily activities. >> there are no jobs and we call on the taliban to bring a government that brings peace to afghanistan and create job opportunities for us. amy: meanwhile, the u.n. is warning of a humanitarian disaster in afghanistan. the world health organization says about one half of afghanistan's population, including nearly 10 million children, already need humanitarian assistance and the

numbers are expected to soar as the country's economic crisis intensifies. we'll have the test on afghanistan after headlines. as the delta variant continues to fuel another devastating covid surge, the u.s. is now averaging 1000 daily deaths for the first time since march. one in five intensive care units across the country are at or above 95% capacity as some states are seeing more hospitalizations than during the winter peak. the reverend jse jackson and his wife jacqueline were hospitalized in chicago after testing positive for coronavirus. the famed civil rights leader is fully vaccinated, and received his first covid-19 shot at a public event in january to encourage others to get the vaccine. the food and drug administration is set to give full approval to the pfizer-biontech vaccine as early as today.

the approval is expected to lead to more workplaces and educational institutions enacting vaccine mandates. in south carolina, republican party leader and trump loyalist pressley stutts has died of covid-19. stutts opposed mask and vaccine mandates and claimed that covid-19 was a man-made disease. meanwhile, former president trump was booed at an alabama rally saturday after telling his supporters to get vaccinated. bay area newspaper "the mercury news" is reporting the first u.s. covid fatalities occurred earlier, and in more locations, than previously thought. records now show covid listed as a cause of death in california, alabama, georgia, kansas, oklahoma, and wisconsin as early as january 2020. scientists say the virus could have been circulating in the u.s. in december or even november of 2019.

in international news, sri lanka began a 10-day lockdown friday after covid-19 cases surged to record levels, leaving hospitals overflowing with patients. about a quarter of sri lanka's population is fully vaccinated. australian officials have extended a two-month lockdown in sydney until at least the end of september amid australia's worst outbreak of the pandemic. india has thorized emergency use of another indian-made covid 19 vaccine after its producer said it prevented symptomatic infections in two-thirds of recipients. relators approved zycov-d even though there's no publiy available data on its performance in advanced clinical trials. in tain, president tsai ingwen has publicly received a shot of taiwan's home-grown medigen vaccine. regulators approved the two-dose vaccine last july even though a

late-stage clinical trial remains ongoing. in tennessee, at least 22 people were killed and 20 are missing after torrential rains and flash floods hit parts of the state saturday. one family lost twin babies after they were reportedly swept from their father's arms. a hard-hit town reported a record inches of rainfall in one 17 day. meanwhile, tropical storm henri lashed northeastern states with heavy rains and winds sunday after making landfall in rhode island. emergency declarations were issued for rhode island, connecticut, and new york. in mexico, hurricane grace slammed into the eastern state of veracruz saturday, killing at least eight people. among the victims were six members of the same family, five of them children. the category 3 hurricane also destroyed homes and businesses, leaving behind a scene of devastation. >> you can see the

municipalities destroyed. people are sick. there are a lot of needs. authorities need to come and take note. we have no one to help us. help a lot of people in a bad way with covid-19. there is a lot of need. many are in need of help. amy: over 50 people are believed to have died after a dingy carrying migrants and refugees from africa capsized en route to spain's canary iands last week. just one survivor was pulled from the sinking vessel. the u.n. says at least 250 people died on the perilous route in the first six months of 2021, though a local rights group says the number of deaths is eight times higher. in sia, four cldren were killed friday as russian-backed syri governmenforces leved homes in a village of idlib the tack came e day aftea similar asult south idlib killed five children. one day prior to that, kurdish fighters with the u.s.-backed

syrian democratic forces killed the civilian including child, ia rocket aack near e turkish-ntrolled cy of afrin north of aleppo. unicefeports sin july, at least 54 cldren were killed injured in syria. in gaza, dozens of palestinians, including a 13-year-old child, were wounded saturday after israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of hundreds of protesters along the separation wall with israel. protesters are calling for an end the blockade of thgaza strip and to allow for the reconstruction of the territory following the 11 day assault on the territory that killed 260 palestinians, including 66 children, earlier this year. palestinian groups have vowed to continue demonstrations despite repression from israeli forces. a new report by unicef warns near half of the world's 2.2 billion children are at

extremely high risk of flood heat waves, drought, and other impacts of the climate crisis. some of the highest-risk countries include india, nigeria,nd theentral african republic and other nations that are responsible for less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions. the first of its kind report was published in collaboration with greta thunberg and other youth climate activists on the third anniversary of her strike first outside the swedish parliament. in more climate news, a new report shows deforestation in the brazilian amazon has hit its highest annual rate in a dade. since august 2020 to july, the amazon has lost some 10,476 square kilometers -- an area roughly 13 times bigger than new york city. in bolivia, wildfires have burned over 690,000 acres, threatening the nembiguasu natural protected area and an indigenous autonomous territory near the border with paraguay. it is considered one of the

world's largest dry forests. this is bolivian environmental activist. >> in the last few years, bolivia s become one of the biggest do foresters in the world. the q great it can be used as grazing pastures for livestock instead of maintaining it as a virgin forest. amy: in mexico, press freedom groups are demanding justice for jacinto romero flores, a radio reporter who was shot dead outside his home in the state of veracruz last week. he is at least the fifth mexican journalist murdered so far this year. romero was covering politics and crime and hadeportedly received threats after reporting on allegations of abuse by local police. mexican journalists are calling for an end to impunity. >> one of the main reasons why olence against journalists don't stop is the aggressors know they will remain unpunished.

a lot of journalists, just as the ones gathere here, institutions have left us alone. government institutions don't protect journalists. amy: vice president kamala harris is in singapore as part of a southeast asian tour this week. harris addressed the unfolding crisis in afghanistan, saying the u.s. is focused on evacuation efforts. the visit, which was planned before recent events in afghanistan, aims to strengthen u.s. ties with regional powers that could help stem china's influence. harris will travel to vietnam tuesday, becoming the first u.s. vice president to visit the country. president biden has nominated former chicago mayor rahm emanuel as ambassador to japan. progressive lawmakers called out the pick, with missouri congressmember cori bush tweeting -- "rahm emanuel covered up the murder of laquan mcdonald. he must be disqualified from ever holding an appointed position in any administration. call your senator and urge them to vote no." meanwhile, veteran diplomat

nicholas burns has been tapped as ambassador to china. so far, just one of biden's ambassador nominees has been confirmed, former colorado senator ken salazar, who will be the u.s.'s top diplomat in mexico. in immigration news, the supreme court has temporarily suspended the reinstatement of the contested trump-era remain in mexico program. the moves comes after the fifth circuit court of appeals last week rejected a biden administration challenge to a ruling that allowed for the revival of the 2019 policy, formally known as the migrant protection protocols. the full supreme court is scheduled to hear the case on tuesday. the program forced some 68,000 asylum seekers to wait in often dangerous conditions in mexico while their cases made their way through u.s. courts. in labor news, a california judge ruled friday that prop 22 is unconstitutional. the case was brought by the service employees international union and drivers for

ride-hailing companies. prop 22, which passed last november, exempts companies like uber and lyft from having to classify their workers as employees instead of independent contractors, depriving gig workers of basic wage and labor protections. defenders of prop 22 vowed to appeal the ruling. and more than two dozen democratic lawmakers are calling on president biden to halt construction on the enbridge line 3 pipeline in northern minnesota until a thorough environmental review is undertaken. meanwhile, indigenous leaders winona laduke and tara houska met with the u.n. special rapporteur on human rights defenders last week to share the police violence suffered by water protectors at the line 3 construction site. actists say w enforcent rampedp their bral attac last wk, disloting one pers's ja t land a water denders s theyill contue their resistance. >> we really need to be all

standing beside each oer and behind the leadership in this vement that has so mh to teach us how to walk on this earth and move fwardn a world where we actually want to raise our children and live. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, as president biden is considering pushing back a deadline to remove u.s. troops from afghanistan, the taliban warns doing so would cross a "redline." we will get the latest on afghanistan with journalist emran feroz. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

president biden and other g7 leaders are holding an emergency virtual meeting today to discuss the crisis in afghanistan as the u.s. and other nations continue to airlift thousands of people trying to flee after the taliban seized power. on saturday, seven afghan civilians, including a two-year-old girl, died in a stampede as they attempted to enter the airport. earlier today, an afghan soldier was killed in a firefight at the airport. the united states is coordinating with the taliban to keep access to the airport open, but there are numerous reports of taliban fighters beating crowds trying to flee. u.s. national security advisor jake sullivan appeared on cnn sunday and warned the islamic state, which is an enemy of the taliban, may try to attack the airport. >> it is something we are placing paramount priority on stopping or disrupting, and we

will do everything we can for as long as we are on the ground to keep that from happening. but we are taking it absolutely deadly seriously. amy: president biden has suggested the u.s. may have to extend its presence in afghanistan beyond august 31 to continue evacuations. but the taliban said from doha where there negotiating with united states doing so would cross a redline. biden spoke on sunday. pres. biden: altogether we live in approximately 7000 people out of kabul in less than 36 hours. it is incredible operation. let me be clear. the evacuation of thousands of people from kabul is going to be hard and painful no matter when it started, when we began. would it have been true if it started a month ago or a month from now. there is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss, heartbreaking images you

see on television. it is just a fact. my heart aches for those people you see. amy: while the international media is focused on the crisis at the kabul airport, concern is growing over a broader humanitarian crisis across afghanistan. the world health organization says about one half of the country's population, including nearly 10 million children, already need humanitarian assistance and the numbers are expected to soar as afghanistan's economic crisis continues. last week the united states blocked the taliban from $9.5 billion held by the afghan government in u.s. banks. the international monetary fund has also suspended afghanistan's access to funds. earlier today, the who said it has been unable to fly 500 tons of medical supplies into afghanistan due to restrictions at the kabul airport. we are joined now by emran

feroz, an austro-afghan journalist and author. his most recent book has been published today in germany, called "the longest war: 20 years of the war on terror." we are speaking to you about two hours from the air force base in germany where the united states is now evacuated thousands of afghan refugees, also americans as they make their way out of afghanistan. can you first respond to what took place in afghanistan over these last few weeks? then we will go back further. >> of course. first of all, thank you for ving me. what happened in afghanistan during the last weeks was that we saw a very surprising taliban surge taking over the capital, taking over more ground all over

afghanistan. at the end, about one week ago, the taliban were in front of kabul. many people were surprised. i think the cia said it would take 30 to 90 days until the taliban will take over kabul. at the end, it was just 24 hours. at the same time, we saw the installed regime in kabul, president ashraf ghani running away with his close circle. according to some reports, also taking a lot of money with him. some of them are confirmed. there was a rumor spread. this is just a small detail. it is down these people are very corrupt. he fled and the taliban took over. at the same time, we saw all of these dramatic scenes at the

kabul airport, seeing other crowds of afghan people trying to leave the country. crowds which were attacked, harassed, and everything -- you know, very bad things as we can imagine. u.s. forces on the one side and the taliban on the other. this did not stop until today. amy: in your piece in the american prospect that his headlined "the whitewashing of the afghan war," you right -- "too many western journalists and analysts are contemptuous of and insensitive to the people of the country that the u.s. had invaded. their eyes focus only on the violence of the 'other' -- the taliban or isis or the broad catchall term 'terrorists' -- while simultaneously ignoring the bloodshed and violence wrought by a western occupation."

can you talk about what is missing in the coverage of the west? >> yes. as i just said, too many people, it was surprising what happened in afghanistan during the last days. to people who followed it closely, it was not such a surprise. captured in the last weeks, the taliban did not come from nowhere. they were in these areas for many years. they were in that districts, rural areas, close to the provincial capital. it was a matter of time until they showed themselves and revealed themselves from the shadows. the taliban had in all of these areas so-called shadow governments. they had their parol structures. everything was already there. a lot of people did not focus on it they just wanted to ignore it.

it was the same in kabul because it was just a short drive from the capital to -- like 20 minutes, 30 minutes or something like that and you would have already noticed taliban influence. in many rural areas of afghanistan, the taliban could manifest themselves and they could also find a lot of support. this is something i mentioned in the piece because now we all see e scenes of american soldiers evacuating children, women, all of these emotional pictures. it is a painting a black-and-white, but things are rather complex on the ground. all of these rural areas where the taliban were able to gain ground in the last years were heavily affected by the u.s. war the war that took place during the last two decades and afghanistan and cause a lot of

civilian casualties. many people -- afghanistan was the most -- country in the world for almost two decades. almost nobody talked about it. you already mentioned the airport in germany and other states, especially germany, where accomplices supported the brutal war on terror that took place in afghanistan and elsewhere. and now what we often see is in the media, in my opinion, very privileged afghans who talk about the failure of the west, blaming them for all of the mess. many people within afghanistan to suffer the loss, victims of corruption, mass corruption that took place in kabul, which was

fueled by the americans and the regime -- which was never a democratic regime. the victims of all of these developments, a lot of them became radicalized. they became angry. not all of them, but i think a lot of them as i have seen on the ground in many different areas of the country. also joined tell and supported their calls. amy: some descriptions with the taliban in the first vettors of the afghanis who want to get into the airport right outside, working with the u.s. forces -- the first vettors other documents. mind you, these people from afghanistan are fleeing them. can you talk about the relationship between the taliban and the united states, who have been negotiating for months in doha.

that last statement from the taliban saying you cannot go past august 31. the u.s. -- but the afghan government come ashraf ghani was completely excluded from all of these negotiations. so was such a surprise that in the end he ran? >> exactly. what the taliban did in the last years, especially with the help of u.s. special envoys in the trump administration was designed this deal about one year ago, a year and half ago. this was a huge success for the taliban on the political field come internationally. they gain a lot of legitimacy through this deal. actually, it was sometimes surprising how the americans

reacted, how donald trump reacted back then. for example, the taliban said "we don't want you talking with the kabul government, we want to talk to the puppet masters." the americans agreed to that. they agreed to that. we also had this very strange phone call of donald trump who called the taliban leader in doha and started to talk with him without any protocol, it seems. afterwards, the headlines were somehow funny, actually -- amy: wooded trump make the call? >> i think -- it seems his relationship to ashraf ghani was kinda broken. he did not respect ashraf ghani. he did not respect the guy who wanted money from the u.s..

he respected the guy much more who bought against the was successfully and were alpha males like him and that is why he also said to the taliban leader, "you are tough people." all of these things lead to what we see now because at the same time as you mentioned, the afghan government was excluded from the talks and it was necessary to have all of these different players on the ground talking with each other because this would have been the aim of interact and talks. the u.s. was focusing on the withdrawal but the taliban also assured -- intra-afghan talks. these talks were sabotaged by both sides. continued attacking afghan forces and afghan civilians at the same time the afghan government ashraf ghani did not want to release more prisoners and the also found different

reasons to not participate in the talks and to not lose power and money, of course. but at the end, they lost all of it. amy: emran feroz, if you can talk about now, the warning issued by the taliban it u.s. cannot go past august 31. yet thousands of people making going to the airport come at the airport now. president biden has invoked a wartime act to get commercial airlines to come to evacuate people but it is not clear it can all happen in the next eight days. what you see possibly happening and how do you feel about the international financial institutions cutting off money to the afghan government because it is taliban right now, as the country continues to dissent into a humanitarian crisis? >> however let the moment is not just about my job, concerning my

job as a journalist but also emotionally it is difficult because of all of the things that i have happen. i think the taliban, they know any kind of afghan state in the future will be dependent on foreign money, which includes american money. otherwise, people of afghanistan and the state itself cannot survive. the taliban must be pragmatic and try to find a way to build a very inclusive government within a short time. otherwise, they will have a lot of problems -- not just with the donors, but also with their own population. because most of the afghans are not running to the airport to flee. most of them are forced to stay in the country. for them, it will be very difficult to live under these sanctions. i already talked to a lot of ople over there who don't have money. i cannot send money to my relatives.

i cannot support them at the moment because western union and these other money wiring institutions are shut down. they are not working at the moment and people are becoming more angry and much more helpless. so the international community and ngos and international organizations, the red cross, etc., they need to focus on the afghan population and not letting them along with the taliban. at the same time, i think the financial aid can be a very useful tool to use it also to put some pressure, political pressure on the taliban. if you wanted or not, a future will see more more governments working with them. amy: i want to thank you for joining us, afghan journalist and author. most recent book published today in germany titled "the longest war: 20 years of the war on terror."

next up, we look at how a group of far-right anti-vaccine, anti-mask protesters, including at least one who was at the january 6 insurrection in washington, recently attacked journalists and others in los angeles. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as covid-19 cases surge in the united states, with the country once again averaging 1000 daily coronavirus deaths a day, look now at how anti-mask, anti-vaccine protests are continuing nationwide, with some turning violent. in a shocking story out of california, at least one person was stabbed and two journalists were attacked while covering an anti-vaccine, anti-mask demonstration outside los angeles city hall on saturday, august 7. -- august 14. the protest was attended by members of the proud boys and other right-wing groups. kpcc radio reporter frank stoltze was assaulted while

doing an interview. he had his glasses ripped off, was repeatedly kicked. he said nothing like that had ever happened in his 30 years of reporting. "the huffington post" reports a southern california mortgage broker named tony moon was videotaped attacking the independent journalist tina-desiree berg. moon was also seen screaming, "unmask them all!" moon was also in washington on january 6 during the insurrection at the capitol. last week i spoke to tina-desiree berg, a reporter at status coup news in los angeles and asked her to describe the prott and what happened to her as she covered it. >> iwas aild day. i got there abou45 minutes before the violence actually started. i had just released a story that morning, saturday, where one of our gubernatorial candidate, sarah stevens, she had been involved with another press beating in front of a spot weeks ago. i had found that beating and coincidentally, the folks that person bodycam footage on social

media, so when i saw that, i knew who had been responsible. one of the persons in the vehicle was sarah stevens, running for governor right now. we were able to identify her not only through her license plate, but also through video surrounding the incident where you see her on the sidewalk. my intention was to go down and maybe try to talk to her about what happened to ask before because i think that is a newsworthy conversation to have if you're running for governor. but we never made it that far. initially on the sidewalk, a group of me and other reporters were standing there. there have been skateboarders going up and down 1st street and spring street, preteens and kids, maybe the oldest was 15. i did not videotape much because i generally do not videota children. at one point, one of the proud

boys, benmin, came across the street and started harassing one of the skateboarders and calling them antifa. these guys have a broad brush with what they say to be antifa. he started harassing one of the skateboarders and somebody that -- came to this kids defense and pushed benjamin away. benjamin ran across the street but came back over with adam keeferb, another proudoi, tony moon, and a group of other folks. that is when you have the incident of one of them came up to me and called me a b- i-t-c-h. tony moon have been hitting another woman with his water bottle and i tried to intervene a little bit while i was filming because i can see she had been

hit in the head. started screaming "unmask them all" and shoved me a little bit. i kept filming. right after that, you'll notice in the background of the video, there is a counter protester who was pro-vaccine who looks like he is getting beaten but it turns out that person had a shank of some sort in his hand and was trying to stab him. that is the second stabbing. the first stabbing happened earlier. i did not catch it on video, but i did see the gentleman coming from behind, walking toward the police officers. you can see blood on his shirt. then he collapses in the street. as far as i know, there are definitely two stabbings. there may be more. it was a very violent scene. it is interesting to me because some of these characters, including tony moon, incidentally at the same wi spa

event, also with a water bottle and he struck a counter protester with that. i think it is interesting, amy, this is a group that has been traveling around southern california and have been also in sacramento, also been in portland. they instigate violence wherever they go. these are right-wingers, part of the group that supported trumpet i don't think this is solely about trump necessarily anti-vaccine. i think they are latching on from one movement to the next and kind of coalesced around this idea of freedom. they have these gators trying to cover their face to not be identified. amy: talk about the direct attack on you and how you know who tony moon is and that he was at thensurrection jaary 6 at the capitol.

i know who tony moon is because he had been at tt wi spa event to ask ago. after i saw him hit the woman with the wer bottle, i started to research you he was. i saw he had been at the capitol january 6 because he had posted video of himself on social media showing he had been. there was also a clip in the parler archives were you see him in that video. he was definitely there. i think it bears mentioning that he identifies himself as ruth korean, very racist trope that goes back to the bting o rodney king. he is entifying himself as already racist doing violence. he was there at wi spa. we looked into who he was. when i saw him coming up tme, said there is tony moon from a couple weeksgo. he seems much more violent and

radicalized saturday morning. i think there's also a double meaning to unmask them because we were all wearing masks for protection. i think his idea is that not only are we unmasking you because we are anti-vaccine and anti-massacres and we see this as an infringement of freedom, but they're very vested in this idea of exposing abody thais against their beliefs. randomly, i use my al name so there's not much to docs but i think that is why he was screaming "unmask em all." not solely because the mask to prevent covid transmission. amy: i would have her to a clip of the attack on you that you yourself filmed. >> the first guy that came up and punched me was not tony

moon. it wasnother gentleman. he called me t "b" word and hit me, backed away. he targeted me for some reason. i'm not sure why that is. maybe 20 or 30 seconds later, tony moon was right there. when he came up to me, could tell his intention was to pull down -- and he did pull it down -- my mask. i had put up my goggles as well because somebody had been using bear mace. i think was the anti-vaxxers that was stabbed that used bear mace. i ve video of him earlier using it. this is a tactic the proud boys have depyed for many mths now. they pull it out and mace people. he did successfully pull my mask down. he was hting that other woman. she has a bloody head. as escalated from there -- just escalated from there. if you look at the video, see

they have orange armbands on and the water bottles are orange. obviously, orange is a significant color for them. you will see they have orange armbands. it is reminiscent of january 6 the capital because that day the proud boys had been marking themselves with orange beanies on their head. at that point enrico terrio told everyone to show up and dress not as they normally would in their proud boys attire, but empty but in disguise and that a marking themselves with the orange color. i don't know if there's crossover with the group that was with tony moon but i do think it is interesting they all d orange armbands on. amy: h did you personally feel when this was happening to you? this was that anti-mass, anti-vax rally. they are pulling down your mask. >> i was very concerned in the

moment because you know these folks are not vaccinated. i am fully vaccinated, but there is still a chance of transmission. i have been hit before. when you're in the field coveng things, this is something that sometimes happens. this is not the first time i have been hit doing my job. i was concerned they were willing to get so close to me and pull down my mask. higher chance they are infected with covid since they are not vaccinated. that is more scary to me then being punished. i do not want to get covid. it was a violation of personal space. i was very focused on getting the video in that moment. amy: tina-desiree berg, where we the police? you were in front of lmpd had orders? >> that's right. that is a significant part. city hall is stationed exactly across the street from lapd headquarters. where this happened is on the sidewalk and street area in front of headquarters. the police had been there all

morning. when i got there, probably five or six cruisers lined up with officers in them. they were aptly present. i don't know what the delay was as far as not responding to what was going on, but they did not initially respond. amy: attracted people, some of the people you saw athis protest along the coast from california to oregon to washington the main guy you see coming -- there is benjamin patino who camecross the street that messed with the skateboarder kid and went back. then you see another one. his name is adam keefer. he is part of a more violen group i have seen. related to this, i was covering another anti-vax test in west hollywd a couple of weeks ago and adam keefer came across the street toward me and two other journalists and started threatening us. i have video of that.

you will see him say, "why are you throwing rocks at me?" which none of us were doing. i respond, "nobody's throwing rocks. we're just journalists." we ended up running into the trader joe's and seeking refuge. they had to shut down the store for a few minutes until they called the sheriffs's department to show up. i ve seen thn huntington beach as pt of a group at the rallies there. those were happening every week during the run-up to the general election. they were pro-trump. he has been in beverly hills assaulting people. they have weekly rallies right off of wilshire boulevard. i have found him in sacramento beating up people. this is somebody who has traveled around stop -- traveled around. it is interesting to me that these guys are very dedicated to what they are doing. i don't know if you haasked

them five or six years ago if they were a tie vaccine if they would have reonded in the affirmative. i think this is just one more because they have picked up cause they do see it as a violation of their freedom. amy: tina, how does this whole protest movement dovetail with the recall governor newsom movement? excellent question. because this was -- they cal this a freedom rally, part of the equation was we will also have candidates running for governor here that are against newsom. rell newsom is gaining speed in california. sarah stevens, the candidate i mentioned earlier, she was involved with another proud boy aaron simmons at this wi spa assault. she drove the getaway car. i was down in san diego a uple of weeks ago trying to film a month -- mike pompeo was here doingampaigning for larry

elder. it was an event that was hosted by a christian zionist group, jewish voice for peace, and another joining together for a counterprotests and rally. i covered the speeches and part of the march. it will we got to where mike pompeo was speaking, there was a group that had set up sort of a phony barricade in front of the street so we could not get further. as you approached them, in much the same way saw the menacing on saturday, they were egging people on and a very angry way. i researched some of those guys. there was one guy named mike was on oh, also a proud boy and member of the american guard, which is a designated hate group from the southern poverty law center. he maced me, hit my phone out of my hand. i'm sure there were others that

i did not see that traveled down from orange county, what have you. this was a widespread thing in california. i think it is shocking for a lot of people because i see california as being a liberal, progressive state. we do have an element of hard right folks here. they have become much more vocal under the trump administration. amy: can you tell us about what happened -- i believe it was at the same time as the insurrectionists were storming the capitol, there were local protests around the country. in the attack on the black trans woman in l.a., how this fits into the story? her name was erleinda, 25 years old, set a large group of pro-trump supporters attacked her. >> that is correct. i was there for that protest. my coworker was in the citol shooting that day. he was in the tunnel when the

police officer had his head -- i remember where i was, i called jordan's head, i just for the hate crime. jordan was like, of not you need to see what isappening today. i said, no, is it worth it? he said no. berlinda had been walking down the street because she lives in the area. they came up to her and held her bear mace. this is the first scalping of the new civil war." one of the most appalling things. they did mace a second black individual walking to the park. this is where it ties into the lapd and they bring their clear bias to the skirmish line. she went up to one of the commanding officers for that division and wanted to say,

look, i was just assaulted, this is what happened. stabile says to her, "well, you can file a citizens arrest." at that point, i interrupted because i thought that was pretty appalling. i said, that is what you do if there is no probable cause. we have the whole thing on video. how is this not a hate crime? to this day, the lapd has not investigated this -- as far as i know, buany charges regards to this. if you go to stabile's personal social media, is pro-trump talks a lot about wi spa --antifa in making posts regarding anti-mask. there's another one who also has a priva or separate instagram and twitter were he posts some of the same similar sentiments. i think there is definitely a problem being crossed over when

you have police officers in command and ey want to bring their personal bias to the skirmish line. they are going you know, let these guys get away with a certain level of violence before they stepped in. we have seen it time and again. i can say it is -- if the reverswere happening, if this were blm, they would be pulling your weapons and making arrests and beating people. that is not a controversial statement. i think it is a problem inside the lapd at this point. amy: if you could elaborate on what happened in july, the korean spa called wi spa becomi the center of attacks. what is the significance and what happened? >> this is a signicant part of the story because, again, part of the same individuals. there had been a customer that had come into wi spa and you see a video that circulated, i think

tucker crossan at one point picked it up, but she comes out and claims theres a pedophile, trans individual in the dressing room and she is worried about children, this kind of thing. they staged a countprotests and protest in front of wi spa. i spoke to security at wi spa and they do have transgender clients that attend the spa but there was no transgender clients present at day when this video was shot so there's a general feeling -- this is also coming from the lapd -- that is not authentic video. i have not been able tverify that. that is just what i'm being told by security. we had a gro that have now combined with these other guys, and they're very religious. i have video of one gal screaming "your animals" "you're going to burn hell. there is one children who had a

weapon fashion -- you have to see the video of this. it looks like a giant rosary. the beads are very large, like an inch and a half in diameter. he is hitting people and screaming about at you are an abomination!." very violent and religious-motivated bigotry. then you have these other right-wingers coming in and joining the fray and bedding together with these guys. at the second protest, we saw person who's been subject of a vice article in portland wearing a trojan out that. he lives in southern california. i have seen him at manyrotests as well hitting people. the wi spa is significant and tony moowas there as well. again, he had a woman with a water bottle there as well.

these two violent situations i think are conjoined. so because of the sarah stevens elements, where she was part of the lead pipe attack against romano. she was driving the getaway car. it is wild to me, amy, that this is what 2021 bringing us. if you had told me six months ago, even three months ago, this would behe lev of escalation of violence, i probably would've thought, maybe not. but i feel very strongly that it is poi somebody is going to probably get shot because these arturning to full-blown sort of prison-level street brawls in the street. amy: let me ask you, do you think women reporters are being particularly targeted, like yourself? >> absolutely. i thinit is either smaller men or definitely women -- in fact, i was talking with adam rose from the press club about this because he has noticed an

escalationgainst female reporters acss the brd. industry mainly because i was hit twice in the period of two minutes and the male journalists were not. although, they did attack frank later in the day while he was doing an interview. the first brawl in front of lapd headquarters, theyere not necessarily going aft than males at the same level. they were punching all of the counterprotesters, male or female. amy: tina-desiree berg, thank you for being with us. final question, does this deter you from covering what is happening, especially among the proud boys? >> no, it doesn't. i will telyou why. people need to see what is going on. and i let them control what i do, then they when the conversation. that is the point of what they're doing, intimidate -- they do not want the price or ople filming them. they do not want to be exposed

for their violent actions. the intentionf what they're ing is ttry to silence me and other journalists like me from covering what they're doing. i am not deterred. i will be much more aware, take mark safety precautions. i go out know the full set of safety precautions that i ner d before. i never used to wear a flak vest or helmet. this did not seem necessary. i am not in a war zone. maybe this is wher the u.s. is headed rightow because i feel these groups are becoming more radicalized as time goes by. i think the next thing we will see, at lea in california, is stop the steal california edition. if newsom does prevail and he does not get recalled, i think we will see a whole host of these guys sayi it is a regular, the election results are false. it won't matter if there' any underlying evidence to prove that. amy: just to be clear, since you

have so much of this video and have tweeted it out and we've been showing throughout this interview, was anyone arrested for attacking you? >> no. amy: was anyone arrested for bloodyying the woman? >> no. amy: for the knifing? >> no. i know the lapd is looking for suspects in both stabbings. apparently, surprising to m they were saying yesterday during the police commissioners hearg theyere not aware of the second stabbing but they are now and will look for the attackers. but here's the thing that is troublesome about this. the attackers were there present that day and if they have been arrested, detained, or dealt with, we would know who they are. now who the difficult to chase them down -- now it will be difficult to chase them down because they were covered up. they have the gators over their head, hats on, goggles.

it will be hard to identify them. waiting to follow-up on these acts of violence is very detrimental to the investigation. amy: tina-desiree berg, the local los angeles reporter at status coup news. on sunday, proud boys attacked

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