04/12/22 04/12/ [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i generally have no optimistic impression that i can report to you from this conversation with president putin. the offensive is big on a massive scale which is why i made clear stable access for the international red cross is needed. amy: after a meeting with vladimir putin, austria's chancellor warns russia is

planning a massive offensive in eastern ukraine. we will speak with the ukrainian-american journalist lev golinkin, from kharkiv, which has been under heavy russian shelling. then we will look at the saudi's -- saudi crown prince has invested $2 billion in a new private equity firm run by donald trump's son-in-law-jared kushner. the news comes as turkey suspends the trial of 26 saudis accused of assassinating jamal khashoggi. and since the trial to saudi arabia at the kingdom's request. we will get the latest. finally, "pandemic inc.: chasing the capitalists and thieves who got rich while we got sick." >> the focus of the book is on the people who saw an opportunity and our vacuum of leadership and our lack of preparedness to make money and

get rich at the cost of our pandemic response and our community. amy: we will speak to investigative reporter j. david mcswane. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. austria's leader met monday with russian president vladimir putin , warning after his visit to moscow russia set to intensify the brutality of its assault on ukraine. the chancellor said he spoke with putin for about 75 minutes, becoming the first european leader to meet with the russia president since the start of -- since latfebruary. tens of thousands of russian troops are amassing for a major new offensive in eastern ukraine aimed at capturing the entire donbass region.

on monday, the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy addressed south korea's parliament asking for military aid. he also said the death toll in mariupol was far higher than previously reported. >> mariupol has been destroyed. there are tens of thousands dead . even despite this, the russians are not stopping the offensive operation. they want to make mariupol a demonstratably destroyed city. amy: zelenskyy's claims could not be confirmed, as mariupol remains largely cut off from the outside world. on monday, mariupol's marital report is more than 10,000 civilians have died -- mayor said more than 10,000 cichlids have died. unconfirmed reports of chemical weapons used in the assault on mariupol. in russia, police arrested the prominent antiwar activist and opposition politician on unknown

charges monday after he called the russian government regime murderers. he previously survived two suspected poisonings that rights groups blamed on russia's federal security service. the united nations says it's investigating reports of sexual violence and rape committed by russian troops in ukraine. sima bahous, the executive director of u.n.-women, spoke monday to the u.n. security council. >> the combination of mass displacement with the large presence of mercenaries and the brutality displayed against ukrainian civilians has raised already flags. amy: bahous also warned of increasing risks of human and sexual trafficking of young women and unaccompanied teenagers. her comments came as human rights worker kateryna cherepakha testified her organization has documented nine cases of rape by russian soldiers involving 12 women and girls, something she called just

the tip of the iceberg. >> we know many of these cases who hardly or never have been disclose, fortunately, as many of the suffered have been killed. we want you to hear our voices that violence and rape is used now as a weapon by russian invaders in ukraine. amy: sweden's ruling social democrats said monday they will review their long-standing policy of military non-alignment after some lawmakers demanded sweden apply for nato memberip. this comes after finland's president said he's considering a plan to end his nation's long-standing neutrality policy in order to join nato. inoscow, kremlin spokesperson dmitry peskov warned nato against the inclusion of sweden and finland. >> we have repeatedly said nato remains a tool geared toward confrontation. it is not the kind of alliance that ensures peace and stability

and its further inspection not bring additional security. amy: earlier this year, swedish and finnish soldiers joined about 30,000 nato troops in northern norway near the russian border for arctic war games known as "operation cold response." china's covid-19 crisis deepened monday, as authorities announced plans to test 18 million people in the city of guangzhou, northwest of hong kong. officials sealed off the city to most new arrivals and canceled in-person classes for school children after officials tected just 27 coronavirus cases on mday. this comes amid growing popular protests against a sweeping lockdown in shanghai, where some 26 million people have been confined to their homes for up to three weekssometimes without access to food or medicine. some parents report they spent days separated from young children who tested positive for coronavirus. here in the united states, philadelphia has become the

first major city to reinstate an indoor mask mandate after a sharp rise in new covid-19 cases. the move comes just six weeks after philadelphia officials dropped indoor mask requirements put in place amid record rates of infection last winter. meanwhile, several prominent u.s. universities -- including columbia, georgetown, johns hopkins, and rice -- have reinstat m ant form of coronavirus. israeli forces have killed six palestinians, including two women and a teenager, since in friday. one incident, israeli soldiers shot dead an unarmed palestinian mother of six who they claimed did not heed calls to stop at an israeli checkpoint near bethlehem in the occupied west bank. tension has been soaring in recent weeks between israelis and palestinians. 14 people have died in israel in attacks by palestinians over the

past three weeks. israel has responded by raiding palestinians neighborhoods in the west bank, setting up makeshift military checkpoints, and conducting mass arrests. the israeli prime minister naftali bennett, who recently lost his parliamentary majority, said, "the state of israel has gone on the offensive." in news from egypt, an economic researcher has died in custody after being disappeared in february. ayman hadhoud died in early march, but his family only learned of his death this weekend when they were asked to collect his body from a psychiatric hospital in cairo. hadhoud helped found the liberal reform and development party in egypt. on monday, his brother was summoned for questioning. meanwhile, the imprisoned egyptian activist alaa abdel-fattah has become a british citizen in a bid to increase pressure on authorities to release him. the prominent human rights activist has spent most of the

past decade locked up. back in the united states former , a police officer in virginia has been convicted on six counts for his role in the january 6 insurrection. thomas robertson had served as a police officer in rocky mount, virginia. a month prior to the insurrection, robertson called for a "open armed rebellion." he is the second january 6 defendant to be convicted by a jury. the white house has finalized a new federal rule that would regulate "ghost guns" more like regular guns. ghost guns are firearms without serial numbers that are usually assembled from kits, often sold over the internet or created in 3-d printers. the justice department reports about 6000 such guns are recovered at crime scenes each year. president biden announced the new regulation monday at the white house, where he was joined by mia tretta, a survivor of the saugus high school shooting in santa clarita, california. in 2019, tretta was shot in the stomach by a teen-aged classmate in an attack that killed her

best friend, 14-year-old dominic blackwell. >> dominic had died and so had another classmate, gracie ann, a 15-year-old girl with an infectious left. a community was left shattered. i literally we have been shot by a 16-year-old student for reasons i will never know. he brought his father's weapon to school, a firearm i would come to know as a ghost gun. ghost guns are untraceable, build it yourself firearms that look like a gun, shoot like a gun, and kill like a gun but it has not been regulated like a gun. amy: biden's new rule does not ban sales of ghost gun kits. instead, it would mandate serial numbers for weapons parts, as well as a background check for buyers. meanwhile, president biden has nominated former u.s. attorney steve dettelbach to head the bureau of alcohol, tobacco,

firearms, and explosives. biden's previous pick, david chipman, failed to win the support of three senate democratic caucus members and withdrew his nomination amid attacks from republicans and the nra over his gun control advocacy. the senate has confirmed just one permanent director in the last 16 years amid heavy lobbying from gun advocacy groups. state lawmakers in maryland have voted to expand abortion access, becoming the 15th state to allow health professionals other than doctors to carry out the procedure. the new law provides funds for abortion care training programs and allows nurse practitioners, midwives, and physician's assistants to become certified to perform abortions. the bill became law after maryland's house of delegates and state senate voted to override a veto of the legislation by republican governor larry hogan. and indonesia's parliament has approved a landmark bill aimed at preventing sexualiolence. the new legislation provides prison terms of to 12 years for crimes of physical sexual

abuse, both innd out of marriage, and criminalizes forced marriage and online sexual harassment. it ao sets up a trust fund and recovery services to help rvivors sexual olence. women's rights groups spent six years campaigning fothe legislation. outside indonesia's parliament, police fired tear gas and water cannons to clear hundreds of students who rallied monday to protest high prices for staples like cooking oil. the students are also demanding that indonesian president joko widodo back away from a proposal that he extend his tenure beyond the two terms in office allowed under indonesia's constitution. >> we are protesting the extension period for the president's tenure and increasing price of many other things that are hurting people. what is clear has how the elites are forcing the delay of the election. amy: and those are some of the headlines.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. austria's chancellor karl nehammer met with vladimir putin in moscow monday, becoming the first european leader to meet with the russia president since the start of russia's invasion of ukraine. the chancellor said he fears putin will intensify the brutality of the war as russia launches a major offensive in eastern ukraine. >> i generally have no optimistic impression that i can report to you from this conversation with president putin. the offensive in eastern ukraine is been prepared on a massive scale which is why i made very clear that stable access for the international red cross is needed. amy: thousands of ukrainians have been fleeing eastern ukraine ahead of the russian offensive. but many are afraid to leave by train after a missile attack on a train station in the ukrainian city of kramatorsk killed at

least 57 people. wounded at least 100. the crowded train station was packed with civilians trying to flee the area. unicef says nearly two-thirds of ukraine's children have been displaced by the fighting. earlier today, russian president putin defended his decision to invade ukraine saying it is needed to protect russian-speaking people in eastern ukraine. putin said, "it's goals are clear and noble. it is clear we did not have a choice. it was the right decision." we are joined now by lev golinkin. he is a ukrainian-american journalistho has reported extensively on ukraine for years. the author of "a backpack, a bear, and eight crates of vodka, a memoir of soviet ukraine." his article in "the new york times" last month was headlined "the ukraine of my childhood is being erased." he came to the u.s. as a child refugee from the eastern ukrainian city of kharkov in 1990. lev golinkin, welcome back to democracy now!

it is great to have you with us but under terrible circumstances. can you talk about your city, ukraine's second-largest, the city of kharkiv in the east and what is happening right now? >> the city, basically, it is in a siege mentality. the mayor says people are remaining calm but there's only so much calm you can have. there has been so much that only bloodshed, but symbolic attacks. for example, holocaust memorial outside the city where thenazis killed 15,000 jews in the space of two days has en bombed and the oil has been damaged. the synagogue that was shut down at the time i was living there, the soviets shut down the synagogue, they tamped down all religion and now there are stories of it being shelled.

here is moscow shutting it down for violence. and bear in mind, this is the city where the overwhelming majority of the population is like i am, primarily and originally russian-speaking. these are the people that putin is saying he is going to be saving. they have you further fled and are -- either flat and a refugees or the elderly, disabled, the work, the sick are the ones who are staying behind and these are the people now in terror of what putin's saint is liberation. amy: talk more about that. i don't think people quite understand. you grew up in kharkov, now called kharkiv, and putin is saying he is saving the russians in ukraine. talk about how many of the people who actually -- their first line which is russian in ukraine.

the president come he an ethnic russian. >> i don't even know -- it is very hard to compare. there is a lot of intermixed of the stern ukrainian part of it. put it this way, these people are citizens of ukraine, they were born in ukrainethe russians happen to speak their primary line which much like people in canada who speak french but are canadian citizens. these are the russian speakers that putin is saying are currently being oppressed and he is liberating. the problem with this narrative and what is leading the tour rather dark area is that putin needs this victory. he is saying people and eastern ukraine are our brothers, russians beakers, and they are being oppressed and held in ukraine. that we are liberating them.

the notion of that was that ople would open the city gates, welcome everybody and welcome the russians with flowers. they are not doing that at all because they are being bombed. why would they? the problem and becomes putin's narrative, wch is these people are our brothers and they are waiting for us to save them. why aren't they celebrating being saved? why aren't they rejoicing? the explanation they have been coming up with on russian propaganda websites and russian media is the people of eastern ukraine, the ones were supposed to be being saved, they actually have been brainwashed by russia -- by america, by george soros and western ukrainian nationalists. so these people now the story is they have been brainwashed and they need to be cleansed, the cleansing the operative word.

that opens you up to hold another level of war crimes. it is hard to justify bombing people were supposed to be your brothers and sisters but now that you're talking about these people have been brainwashed and are supposed danger, that opens up a whole lot of possibilities that are terrifying. because the construction of this doubt is that these people can be killed, which is exactly what they are doing. amy: if you can talk about the war crimes now alleged on both sides, russian and ukrainian? >> please understand, as someone who has been following this, russiaid not start this war crimes now. over the past eight years, the people of donbas, the industrial part of ukraine, have been the victims of war crimes on both sides. both sides used cluster bombs. both sides have used missiles

which are basically just have cash and will go up and just fall over a population. they are not aimed at anybody, they just kill people. both sides have unleashed gangs of psychopaths that have been raping, torturing, withholding supplies, blocking food from areas. russia is right now -- the entire invasion is a war crime. it is talking about specific -- none of this would be happening if russia did not invade. their primary invasion is the war crime. but just understand there has been horrors committed and often quietly on both sides. for example, don voss is now one of the most if not the most heavily landmine area in the globe, on the globe. this is incredible that people just don't understand but this

is both sides have been spreading minds everywhere without leaving maps and villagers on either side of the complex have been blown up quietly over the last eight years. report here or there, but it is millions of people who have been -- had their lives destroyed between this fighting. amy: lev golinkin, you keep talking about over the past eight years. let's talk about the history as it becomes clear the austrian chancellor meeting with putin for over an hour and coming out and saying it is going to be brutal, we can't stop this, it is going to be in the east, and he did not just take him saying this. talk about the last eight years. for people who don't understand the donbas, what it means, why it is distinct from the rest of ukraine. >> the people of donbas have mourned, with western pennsylvania and ohio than they do with moscow or kyiv or washington or anyplace else.

they are proud to be miners. they are industrial. they are steelworkers. you can tell a lot by but people call their sports teams. there are certain places in america would you would guess where he would have the steelers and the packers. they are seen as honorable occupations. my city kharkiv, the soccer team is called the metalworkers. donetsk is called the miners. these people would rather have just been left alone. that is pretty much all they wanted. they have little to do with kyiv or moscow or anybody else. there has been an insurrection since 2014 where the uprising -- it was the winter of 2013-2014.

the ouster of the elected president. he was a president elected by eastern ukrainians, people like in crimea, donbas. after he was ousted, there was a lot of unrest because -- he was a spectacularly corrupt politician, but he was their spectacularly corrupt politician. there was a lot of unrest. russia provided web, provided guidance. this led to an uprising in donbas. ukraine which had already lost its territory went to suppress the uprising. from that point on, donbas, this industrial heartland, turned into -- if you look at it, it turned into an apocalyptic wasteland with both sides funneling psychopaths,

mercenaries, weapons, bombs, mines, and just destroying the entire area. what has been frustrating to me, i would watch russian media and the russian media would be weeping about the horrible things that kyiv is doing. i look at that ukrainian media, and kyiv is weeping about the horrible things that russia is doing. on a daily basis, both sides decimating these people a donbas wild simultaneously pretending to care. amy: let's talk about this battalion within the ukrainian national guard. sometimes you can watch cnn, for example, and in the upper right when they're showing video of destruction, and says azov. i was wondering if you could explain what this battalion is

and what role it is playing right now in places like mariupol and other areas in the east. >> sure. was formed out of several neo-nazi gangs in the time of the uprising when the separatists in donbas rose up. ukraine did not have an army post of the army was decimated after two decades worth of corruption. i think there were something like 6000 soldiers, that's it. the people who stepped forward to fight when the radicals. they're always the ones were most prepared to kill in the most prepared to die. asov was the battalion that was formed out of there and became one of the battalions, one of the far right battalions that started fighting on behalf of kyiv. pretty soon, acquired a record of war crimes, a violence, and

also attracting far right figures. they are extremely effective, extremely well organized, have a wonderful propaganda wing that whitewash is then. -- whitewash neo-nazi symbols. if you look at their insignia, it is modeled after several neo-nazi symbols. ones that have been seen in charlottesville. this is a battalion that should not be -- the news organization should not use them. all of this is giving them legitimacy, which they absolutely should not be getting because they are white supremacists. it is shameful to see news organizations use videos from asv. it is shameful that financial times interview the leader who is a committed neo-nazi and they gave him a platform. he is extremely disturbing to see this grouping legitimize.

japan just took them off the list of their terrorism. that a list of terror groups and they just took them off the list. i cannot express this enough, support ukraine, support those who are not white supremacist. that is the overwhelming majority of ukraine do not support this formation. they are white supremacists. there wonderful for putin's propaganda. they're seeking to get international fighters to come to ukraine and learn how to kill. and you could use the mujahedin of afghanistan where the u.s. supported them, gave them weapons, then they turn those weapons on the united states? the same thing here, at this massive, unprecedented and out of weapons going into ukraine right now step does asov battalion get them? >> short story is yes.

there is been proof they have gotten, for example, rifles, sniper rifles. this group they have been getting training -- this has been happening the past eight years while myself and others have been writing say, listen, this group is to bdisbanded. it should not be operational in ukraine. it hurts ukraine. they have received training and weapons. a t of the times, unfortunately, the people training -- i talked to people who are training them on the ground. they don't know who is innocent or not. they don't wear t-shirts that say they are asov. it turns o when people lo at social media figure who was who, they say, we do wind up training people. they sent peoplerom nato to come over and train with them and it is a horrible -- support ukraine, don't suprt the tiny part of it that happens to be an actual white supremacist

battalion. amy: now let me ask you about putin reportedly appointing this to army general to head the next phase of the war in ukraine, served in chechnya in the 1990's, 2015 become the first russian commander to leave military operations in syria, since 2016 has overseen the southern military district which includes crimea, the ukrainian peninsula seized by russia in 2014. what do you know about him? >> i know everybody knows, this is a person who takes a total war approach whom civilians are part of the war and has certain just under lack of restraint -- well, lack of restraint -- he has shown just a willingness and a strategy that involves hurting civilians.

the fact that he is on there and has such a track record should tell you exactly what is in store for eastern ukraine. amy: finally, if you can talk about what you think needs to happen right now as you see, as you described it in "new york times" column, your country being erased? >> as much sanctions as you can. sanctions of an extremely wk. it is only now that sections are starting to hurt. the real sanctions, the ones that have an impact, also wind up hurting us. there's a sacrificthat needs to be done and that is the number one thing. the number two think of as stupid as it sounds, if you have done everything you can from just sitting there and don't know what to do, learn a little bit about ukraine. because putin's premise and his entire war effort is to say

ukraine does not exist, ukraine is basically this backwards area of russia that is wayward and a bunch of peasants. what he is trying to do is sing the ukrainian language is just a alogue. the ukrainian culture is not a culture, it is just a backward folklore. learn a ttle bit about ukraine, ok? if you're sitting there and have nothing else to do, learn about the culture. we have these wonderful headdresses, for example, gorgeous, that the national dress -- learn about the history. kyiv was an empire that had trading from scandinavia to afghanistan. this incredible islamic empire before moscow was known to anybody back when moscow was just a pile of mud. putin wants to erase uaine a in an existential way.

if you donated, if you called your member of congress you know what -- if you have a little bit of time, if you want to go against putin, learned about the culture, learn about this land. amy: lev golinkin, thank you for being with us, ukrainian-american journalist who has reported extensively on the ukraine crisis. we will link to your piece in "the newer times" and the author of "a backpack, a bear, and eight crates of vodka, a memoir of soviet ukraine." next up, we look at a fund led by the saudi crown prince that has invested $2 billion in a private equity firm run by donald trump's son-in-law jared kushner. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "the new york times" is reporting a fund led by the saudi crown prince has invested $2 billion in jared kushner's new private equity firm. kushner is the son-in-law of and former top advisor to donald trump. while working in the white

house, kushner helped push forward a $110 billion weapons sale to saudi arabia. he also maintained close relations with the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman even after mbs was accused of orchestrating the assassination jamal khashoggi in the saudi consulate in istanbul in 2018. public citizen described the financial deal between kushner and the saudis as "extremely troubling." the saudi fund also invested $1 billion in a fund run by trump's treasury secretary steven mnuchin. in related news, turkey has suspended the trial of 26 saudi men accused of killing and dismembering jamal khashoggi. the spects were being trd in absentia. turkish officials say they'll now turn over the case to prosecutors in saudi arabia. just what the kingdom asked for. human rights groups say that will lead to a cover-up of the assassination plot, whose alleged masterminds, including crown prince mohammed bin salman, have not faced justice.

to talk more about both stories, we are joined by sarah leah whitson, executive director of democracy for the arab world now, or dawn. welcome to democracy now! can you start off by talking about the suspension of the trial and a turkey and moving into saudi arabia? >> the suspension of a trial in turkey is something that we were expecting an anticipated given some remarks by the advisor to erdogan in turkey last year. [inaudible] in a particularly volatile situation with the turkish economy is in freefall, really doing everything they can to

mend ties. the main obstacle for saudi ties with turkey was a resistance of the trial. this is something the government wanted to wrap up and erdogan by coming up with this pretense of moving the trial to saudi arabia, which has no meaning given they have already had a trial there. basically, the turkish government has decided that good relations, investment in trade in particular was saudi arabia, is more important than pursuing justice for the murder of jamal khashoggi on turkish soil. amy: explain who these people are and also the context that this is all happening in. clearly, mohammed bin salman, was been accused by u.s. authorities of personally masterminding this murder according to the u.s. intelligence agencies, the context of this happening during russia's were in ukraine.

>> well, i don't know if it really pertains to russia's war in ukraine. as i said, the turkish government aid official statements last year talking about possibly ending the trial or moving the trial, although nothing happened. i believe this has been a process that has been underway since that time with the turkish government trying to find the quietest way to move that trial possibly the ukraine conflict is a massive global destruction, so there is less attention in terms of abandonment of the trump in turkey than there might have otherwise the. the really important development was president erdogan's travel to the uae to secure further investment. he was supposed to visit riyadh in february at the same time. that did not happen. late last year, the uae injected

massive amounts of cash into turkey's failing economy and committed to massive investments moving forward. the uae is really just -- the turkish economy. [inaudible] including egypt. as a result of which there has been a real crackdown on egyptian and subpopulation. inside turkey as well as the repression with israel. i think this was the main standing in terms of turkey being able to reestablish good relations with saudi arabia. amy: of course the courting of saudi arabia right now for its oil as the world tries to get away from russian oil and gas is a key time for saudi arabia to make demands in exchange.

>>. absolutely. turkey is not the only government that mbs is making demands on positive mbs has also made demands that he be given immunity from prosecution in the united states from our lawsuit as well as two other lawsuits pending against him including for an attempted murder. right now mohammed bin salman is reportedly holding oil output and the price of global oil hostage to his escape from prosecution. his escape from justice in the united states. it is a terrifying example of the export of authoritarianism to our country where he has no problem asking for an intervention in our judicial system in order to swap increased oil output. it is not easy for the biden

administration, to do with what is increased leverage for the saudi government because of the crisis in oil output in oil prices right now. amy: i want to ask about "then your piece" top story published monday that describes how a fund led by the saudi crown prince has invested $2 billion in jared kushner's new private equity firm. despite objections from the funds advisors about the merits of the deal. they weren't only objections, they talked about the inexperience of the fund management, the bulk of the investment in risk, said due diligence on the fledgling firm's operations found them unsatisfactory in all aspects. so the advisors said no and and when the whole saudi sovereign fund met, bin salman overruled

them. can you talk about the significance of giving $2 billion to the president's -- former president donald trump and son-in-law as well as $1 billion to steven mnuchin? >> i would say it exposes the corruption and lack of accountability in both the american system and the saudi system. in the saudi system, i think it is very significant the board members found away to link the information, to reveal the information in very rare display of challenge to mbs -- basically, probably just cover their own butts. aching clear they did not want this to happen. basically, this is george christer slush fund that mbs -- what must be the most expensive chaos for covering up the murder of jamal khashoggi here in

united states and the evidence of the cover was openly discussed -- cover-up was openly discussed in another that president trump. we know jerry christ had close ties to mbs. and link the names of saudis who had been in meetings with u.s. government officials, endangering them and preceding the murder of jamal khashoggi. this is something jared kushner has been involved in for a while. in terms of our own country, it is just appalling that there could be such a massive payoff for a former government official by a foreign government whose interest mbs or rather kushner was very, very handily representing here when he was in the united states. it speaks to a glaring lack of rules that should prohibit business dealings by former government officials, services, employment by former government

officials to foreign governments after their work. he creates a massive conflict of interest. clearly, the fact this find has just come into existence with the fact there is no experience on kushner's side for running any kind of fund and yet it gets billions of dollars from one principled investor, mohammed bin salman of saudi arabia, just reeks. congressional investigation about everything that transpired fund before the fund was set up and every thing happening now. amy: we should say our guests sarah leah whitson is not only had of dawn, but she has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the fiancée of jamal khashoggi that alleges mbs and his co-conspirators orders the murder, dismemberment, and disappearance of jamal khashoggi. the lawsuit seeking relief under the alien tort claims act and the torture victim protection act for jamal khashoggi's

murder. we spoke about that earlier and folks can go to democracynow.org . i want to ask about the news out of yemen. the u.n. brokered a two-month truce in yemen, now the second we. agreeing to halt all offensive rations inside yemen across its borders. can you talk about the latest and the significance of this? >> first of all, it is a tremendous positive development. the first truce over the past six years. so far it has held. it is a truce of two months. it is almost a complete truce. i say almost because while the guns are quiet, the siege of yemen has not stopped. the saudi led coalition blockade of the entire country -- air, land, sea -- has not stopped.

while there has been limited fuel shipments do who the controlled areas, which is very important, overall the siege remains. domestically, it will remain to be seen whether the attempts by the international community to establish a new structure -- turning over executive powers to a new government structure, basically, [inaudible] except for the houthis in an attempt to defeat the houthis once and for all, whether that will hold remains to be seen. i think we'll have to realize the houthis will have to be included and excluding them will not be a recipe for success. nevertheless, this is a tremendously important respite for the yemeni people from bombs

and weapons that have been devastating them over six years. amy: sarah leah whitson, thank you. executive director of democracy for the arab world now, or dawn. next up, "pandemic, inc.: chasing the capitalists and thieves who got rich while we got sick." back in 30 seconds. amy: "shouf" by flugen. amy: "shouf" by flugen. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show with propublica investigative reporter j. david mcswane, whose

new book is out today called "pandemic, inc.: chasing the capitalists and thieves who got rich while we got sick." this week dave wrote a viral twitter thread about the book that began -- "let me tell you a crazy story. it's consumed 2 years of my life. as covid-19 shut down the world in april 2020, i decided to follow the money. i began with a call to a no-name federal contractor who'd somehow landed a $35m deal for masks. hours later, i'm on a private jet." again, those are words of j. david mcswane. welcome to democracy now! congratulations on the publication of your book. take us from there, why did you go on the private jet? >> these are the early weeks of the pandemic, late april -- early may 2020, really scary times, no vaccine, masks in

short supply, hoitals overrun, and this contractor who i had found in federal purchasing data had really come out of nowhere and had a really sizable deal that stood out. in addition to that, he was applying supposedly 6 million masks to the veterans administration, which oversees the largest hospital network in the country. so he had a pretty vital role in our pandemic response. just sort of doing the diligence, i wondered how he got this deal and called him and he ended up saying i could tag along on this private chat. in doing so, over the course of maybe 72 hours flying first to georgia and then to chicago, realized he did not have any masks. he claimed they were bought out from under him. next he had a new line on masks from interesting characters. slowly but surely, as i am observing this, i begin to wonder if the whole thing was made up and if in fact he had

conspired to defraud the federal government. we did not know everything then, but this is crucial information that i felt the american public needed to know so we reported what we knew. that set me off on more than a year of reporting, following around not just federal contractors, the people that entered this space, the chaos cascading down from the federal government through states and into cities. over and over, found these bizarre characters doing odd things and just trying to take advantage of our national emergency. amy: what happened with robert stewart? he did not get this money alone. he was given this money by the u.s. government. what happened to the masks? >> i should clarify, the federal government, like some states, was under -- working under the idea that, well, we will just hand out contracts all over the

place and we will pay if stock is delivered. which they said was sort of no harm, no foul. what they were dng is flooding the big contracts into this market full of brokers and investors and everyone and they are saying, well, the government is willing to pay six dollars for a mask that used to cost $1. he did not collect any money because he alternately did not deliver masks was ultimately charged on three counts of fraud, others did get paid for the delivery of subpar equipment. i have one example in the book of the contractor who stood up a company and by the end of the week, had a sizable deal with the federal emergency management agency to deliver test tubes. those test tubes were not test tubes, they were mini soda bottles that have been rounded up with literal shovels by tip workers in a hot and unsterile

warehouse in houston. the federal government ended up accepting them and paying this vendor even though the non-test tube test tubes were completely unusable. there was an array of folks who entered the space, some of whom managed to get paid and some who did not and some of whom ended up dealing with law enforcement. amy: i want to play short video you recorded and are sharing for the first time when you stop -- stopped by fillakit's warehouse outside of houston, texas, on june 10, 2020. you later reported on how this company got a $10 million fema contract for test tubes but gave them mini soda bottles instead. in this video, you approach the warehouse's loading dock after the garage door opens. you can see workers inside holding shovels and tiny soda bottles. then paul wexler, wearing an astros t-shirt, shouts at you to leave. as you respond, wexler slams the door shut. this is a clip.

>> i'm trying to find mr. wexler. >> you have to leave. leave. >> are these sterile bottles here? how are you sterilizing these files? are these sterile? amy: can you describe what happened next and what was inside actually? >> sure. that wasn't exec we how i wanted to approach that story -- exactly how i wanted to approach that straight. i realized i needed some evidence to back up what we were hearing from sources so i turn on my cell phone, actually i'm holding my notepad and my pen and puttingn my mask so it is a little chaotic. i was able to observe and document this was a warehouse,

the only indication was some clipart on a piece of paper. these workers, some wearing masks and some not, or rounding up the soda bottles with literal shovels, moving them from one bin to another. some were sorting sailing, which is not the buffer you would like to see in the test kit which the pcr tests, the real deal test we were really needing at the time. her national response was incredibly behind. testing was a huge part of that. and seeing that, none of the protocols you need for this sort of test, including refrigerated trucks, were being followed. these were highly suspect tubes that were being sent to fema was for during -- forwarding them to all 50 states and territories.

amy: ultimately, what happened? >> ultimately, what happened is because the federal government, fema, accepted those soda bottles filled with saline as per their contract and delivered them to states, contract experts we talked to said it would be hard to make a case that the federal government did not get what they paid for because they accepted them and they were forwarded to many states. i talked to public health officials who said they sent -- this that after testing plans for weeks. the tubes come in addition to not being sterile, -- this would not have been hard to catch because the states noticed it right away. no one one of these things for the time but he paid -- the company was paid. to my knowledge, there is been no law enforcement action in terms of that particular deal. the owner is facing some lawsuits related to other

allegations of fraud. amy: can you talk about the respirator deal with airboss defense group that was directly ordered by the white house? you found the key trump adviser very much in the news right now, referred by the committee for criminal prosesecution, peter navarro, awarded the deal to airboss after it hired retired four-star army general john keane to reach out to him shortly after trump had awarded keane the medal of freedom. >> right. in the book, peter navarro in my research, he sort of stood out to me is a bit of a tragic figure. he was one of a few in the administration who takes the threat seriously early on. he's got bravado. he is brusque, i know bs kind of guy and the white house. he wanted to take charge of what he called trump type at the same time the administration was trying to ignore the pandemic altogether. behind the scenes he does

something remarkable. he takes federal government purchasing in his own hands and for obvious reasons, cannot have political appointees in political office at the white house deciding who gets multimillion dollar deals and who doesn't. this was sort of the first indication that i found and found it in an obscure injury and federal data that the white house was ordering these deals. this particular company is a real company, canadian control company, ultimately. they produce rubber products. these were for the sort of high-end respirators you saw like dustin hoffman wearing in outbreak. they got a pretty large deal. the white house was ordering the. that was our first indication that we think the federal response right now is to just throw money all over the place. and if you have some political connections, that helps. but i found a week later that you did not even need that, gestated in email and the

government would give you a deal for things you may or may not have. amy: to clarify, were talking about airboss, not airbuys. david, if you can talk about what this all means. we're not done with this pandemic yet and the billions of dollars as were spent? >> right. it is fair to assume from the outset we were going to spend a lot of money. we were not prepared. we needed to find supplies. health care workers were in danger and dine. you expect some of that, but i was really struck by how chaotic it was. even though this was the trump administration, i expected there to be some inertia within the government your greasy to ensure we were buying real things -- bureaucracy to ensure we were buying real things and not wasting our time with conmen. we were so flat-footed, so we

are prepared, our national stockpile as 1% of what we needed to address really that first wave of the pandemic. that is how bad it was. our national well-being rest for -- rested in the hands of these mercenaries who smelled blood in the water and really sought riches. i viewed the book as a blueprint of exactly what not to do and a call for better prepared when we are not in the situation again. but more than that, i am conscious that we are all feeling pandemic fatigue and would love to move on. i looked through the lens the whole time in writing the book and in my reporting -- to answer the question, what does this mean about us? at the end of the day, i think the book is a story about who we ar our worst impulses, what happens when we just sort of had this religious adherence to free

markets would experts that we should have had a very visible hand on this and directed supplies, figured out who needed things, and major our money was being used wisely. amy: j. david mcswane, thank you for being with us, investigative reporter at propublica with new book "pandemic, inc.: chasing