06/09/22 06/09/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i think what happens with ese hearings, voters have a choice. what type of future of the unit states to they want? do they want one where the wil of the people can be overthrown or would they like to continue to have fair elections? amy: after 10 months of meeting in private, the house committee

investigating donald trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the deadly january 6 insurrection is holding its first public hearing tonight in primetime. democracy now! will be livestreaming it. as members are indebted for seditious conspiracy, we will speak to the head of right wing watch. but first, a top u.n. official is warning reports of sexual violence by russian troops in ukraine is rising fast. >> although there is not accurate bookkeeping of the battlefield, in the context of ukraine, although warning signals for the commission of atrocity crimes, including sexual violence -- amy: we will speak to the pramila patten, the u.n. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, as well as

the head of amnesty international in ukraine. and we will air shocking testimony from a house hearing gun violence. speakers included an 11-year-old girl who surved the school massacre in uvalde, texas. >> he shot my friend. i thought he was going to come back to the room so i grabbed the blood and put it all over me. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives has approved a package of limited reforms to federal gun laws. the protecting our kids act passed wednesday by a vote of 223-204, mostly along party lines, with five republicans in support and two democrats voting against it.

the bill would raise the minimum age for purchasing semi-automatic firearms from 18 to 21, ban magazines of more than 15 rounds, and toughen penalties for gun traffickers and straw purchasers of firearms. the house approved rorms after lawmakers heard hours of harrowing testimony from survivors of gun violence. 11-year-old miah cerrillo described how she survived the uvalde school shooting by covering herself in the blood of her friend and playing dead before using heread teacher's cell phone to call 911. also testifying was zeneta everhart, the mother of a survivor of last month's domestic terror attack on african americans in a buffalo supermarket. >> to the lawmakers who feel we do not need stricter gun laws, let me paint a picture for you .

my son h a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back, and another on his left leg. caused by an exploding bullet from an ar-15. as i clean his wounds, i can feel pces of the bullet in his back. shrapnel will be left inside his body for the rest of his life. i want you to picture that scenario for one of your children. amy: police in maryland have arrested a man they say wanted -- plotted to kidnap or kill supreme court justice brett kavanaugh. 26-year-old california resident nicholas john roske was found carrying a knife and a gun outside kavanaugh's home in montgomery county. prosecutors say roske was having suicidal thoughts and was upset by a leaked draft opinion showing the court's conservative majority is prepared to strike down abortion rights under roe v. wade. attorney general merrick garland promised a swift response. >> threats of violence and

actual violence strike at the heart of our democracy. we will do everything we can to prevent them and hold people who do them accountable. amy: senate republican minority leader mitch mcconnell on thursday demanded the house pass and go for spring court justices and their family. he continues to support republican filibuster of gun controls proposed by democrats and the ways of the massacre in uvalde. after 10 months of meeting in private come the house committee investigating donald trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the deadly january 6 insurrection will hold its first public hearing tonight in primetime at 8:00 p.m. eastern. democracy now! will livestream the hearings at democracynow.org . it will be the first of eight congressional hearings, modeled in part on the 1970 three watergate hearings. we will have more on the january 6 committee later in the broadcast with the head of right wing watch.

in eastern ukraine, russian forces have seized most of the devastated city of severodonetsk, but ukraine's litary says its troops are fighting to hold the city's industrial zone. earlier today, russian forces fired on a severodonetsk chemical plant where officials say civilians have been sheltering against russia's assault. in chernobyl, ukrainian officials say nuclear radiation detectors are up and running for the first time since russia briefly occupied the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. this comes just days after a security camera at the south ukraine nuclear power plant captured video of what appears to be a russian cruise missile flying at low altitude almost directly over the plant's three active nuclear reactors the united nations is warning the number of people facing extreme food insecurity could soar to more than 320 million unless ukraine is allowed to resume shipping grain, cooking

oil, and fertilizer through ports on the black sea. on thursday, russian foreign minister sergei lavrov met with his counterpart in ankara, where the two discussed the kremlin's plan to provide for a safe shipping corridor. after the meeting, lavrov said the onus to act was on ukraine. >> we have explained today grain can be transported freely to its destination. brush isn't putting any obstacles in the way. this requires mr. zelenskyy to give the command come if he is still in command of anything there, to allow ships to go into the black sea. amy: ukraine was not invited to the talks and officials in kyiv have voiced skepticism over the plan. on thursday, the head of the ukrainian grain union said it could take months to clear sea mines from areas around oda and ukraine's other black sea ports. a banking trade group warns u.s.- and european-led sanctions are set to shrink russia's economy by up to 15% this year. the institute of international finance said wednesday the sanctions "are unraveling

economy, wiping out more than a decade of economic growth, and some of the most meaningful consequences have yet to be felt." the biden administration says it has secured 10 million pediatric covid-19 vaccine doses and is prepared to make them available to children under the age of five before the end of the month. an fda advisory group will meet next week to discuss pfizer's application for use of its pediatric vaccine. if approved, the first shots for children as young as six months old could begin by june 21. a panel of vaccine experts has recommended the fda allow emergency use of novavax's covid-19 vaccine. experts say there had a protective against severe disease and death. this comes as nbc news reports u.s. states, territories, federal agencies, and pharmacies have wasted over 82 million covid-19 vaccine doses. that's enough to vaccinate a majority of adults in congo -- a country where only 1% of people

are fully vaccinat. former president donald trump and two of his children, ivanka and donald jr., have agreed to be questioned under oath next month by new york attorney general letitia james' office. this comes after the new york court of appeals ruled the trio must sit for depositions as part of james' civil investigation into the trump organization's business practices. the questioning will begin july 15 barring a court intervention. the state of arizona has put 66-year-old condemned prisoner frank atwood to death after the u.s. supreme court rejected calls for a reprieve. on wednesday, prison officials strapped atwood to a gurney and injected him with a lethal dose of pentobarbital, stopping his heart. jimmy jenkins, a reporter with "the arizona republic" and former democracy now! in turn who witnessed the killing, said the execution team struggled to find a find a vein for around 30 minutes, prompting atwood to twice suggest new places on his

body for the team to try. jenkins tweeted afterwards -- "i just watched frank atwood direct the state of arizona on how to insert iv's into his veins properly so they could administer the drugs that would kill him." atwood was the 39th person executed in arizona since 1992 and the second in less than a month. workers at a trader joe's supermarket in western massachusetts have filed for a union election with the national labor relations board. if they're successful, the workers will create the first union at trader joe's, a company with more than 50,000 employees nationwide. workers want health and safety concerns addressed and want to reverse recent cuts to their benefits. the employees seek to form an independent union called trader joe's united, rather than affiliate with an established labor organization. belgium's king philippe has expressed his deepest regrets for belgium's abuses in the democratic republic of the congo during the colonial era.

king philippe made the comments in congo's capital kinshasa wednesday during his first official trip to the country, where he was welcomed by congo's president felix chisikedi. but the king stopped short of a formal apology. >> the colonial regime was based on exploitation and domination. it was a regime of unequal and unjustifiable relationships marked by discrimination and racism. it led to violent acts. on my first trip to the congo, here in front of the congolese people and those who are still suffering from it, i wish to reaffirm id boost regrets for these past moons. amy: congolese opposition senator francine miyumba wrote in response -- "in the face of the crimes committed by belgium, regrets are insufficient. we expect an apology and a promise of reparations from him. it is at this price that we will definitely turn the page."

historians estimate that up to 10 million congolese were killed during the first 23 years of belgium's rule beginning in 1885 as king leopold the second ruled the congo free state as a personal fiefdom. communities that missed their rubber collection quotas were made to provide severed hands instead, and king leopold had congolese people imported back to europe for his human zoo. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, we speak with the top u.n. official just back from ukraine who is warning reports of sexual violence by russian troops are rising fast, and we will also talk to the head of amnesty international ukraine was been investigating war crimes since the invasion began. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners

and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the united nations is demanding an independent investigation into charges of rape and sexual assault committed by russian soldiers in ukraine. pramila patten, the u.n.'s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, told the u.n. security council monday about an increasing number of reports about abuse and human trafficking. on monday, she addressed bot the u.n. security council and the u.s. institute of peace. >> we have all heard the horrific acts of sexual violence, reports of gang rape, rape and a of family members, sexual assault at gunpoint, women who have become pregnant as a result of rape, as well as the reports of refugee women and children being exploited by traffickers and predators who view this turmoil not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to

abuse the vulnerable. we have debunked the myth that sexual violence in a conflict is inevitable. now we must demonstrate proactive protection and impairment efforts that it is indeed preventable. it is time to move from best intentions to best practice. to catch the women and girls who may otherwise fall throu our safety nets. let us not forget all the eyes of the world are on the ukrainian women and girls who are caught in the crossfire, who are living in terror in occupied territories, and who have been deported or forced to flee their homes and homeland, they are looking to us. we must not and cannot fail them. amy: russia has rejected the accusations of its troops committing sexual violence in ukraine. this is vasily nebenzya, russia's ambassador to the u.n. >> the ratcheting up of

accusations of russian service personnel committing crimes of a sexual nature since the very beginning of our special military operation in ukraine has become a favorite tactic of the u.k. regime and our western colleagues. we all recall how in the ukrainian and western media and also in this room are soldiers were repeatedly accused of sexual violence with reference to certain reports containing allegedly reliable data. however, no evence was provided. amy: we are joined now by two guests. pramila patten, the u.n.'s special representative on sexual violence in conflict. she recently returned from ukrae. also with us is oksana pokalchuk. she is executive director of amnesty international ukraine. she has been investigating war crimes by russian forces since the full-scale invasion began in february. pramila patten, you are just off your address to the u.n.

security council. talk abo what you found in ukraine. >> well, youill recall it was only a few days after the russian invasion of ukraine that the first reports of sexual violence began tsurface. as the conflict passes, unfortunately, we continue to receive reports of sexual violence. i was inkraine from the first of may and i also wento poland and moldova. i did not need -- i was in lviv and kyiv. i'm that was civil society organizations who were frontline service providers who have engaged with victims. i so met with families of victims. of coursei met the government officialsnd signed

a cooperation agreement. but what i can tell you is the credible reports from civil society organizations, but also from government officials like the office of the prosecutor general or the vice prime minister -- signed the framework of cooperation -- shared a lot of information with me about brutal sexual violence being committed significaly against women and girls, but also against men and boys. nermeen: could you talk about the fact is many have pointed out, the number of sexual incidents -- incidents of sexual violence is likely, massively, underreported because a representative of the ukrainian women's fund for example said sexual violence in particular is a hidden crime because many

women and girls will likely never come forward and report what has happened? >> you are absolutely right. and that is why i did not wait for accurate bookkeeping, hard data. that is why i went to ukraine because we are dealing with a crime which is chronically underreported. and that is my concern. for me, going to ukraine was to send a small message, especially to victims, to urge them to break the silence. because there sence is the perpetrators' license for rape. as the third of june, only 124 reports of sexual violence verifiable nature and are being looked into by the human rights.

and that verification process is ongoing. you can imagine due to security and access constraints, the verifition process is taking time. at 120 -- 102 cases, perpetrators are reported to be russian armed forces and two cases of russian affiliated groups. but for sure, we are only dealing with the tip of the iceberg. this is why i signed the framework of cooperation and discussed with the government in ukraine but also in moldova and poland the need to establish safe spaces, which would be to provide a conducive environment for the victims to report. because due to stigma, this crime is very much visible. nermeen: i would like to bring

in oksana pokalchuk, a representative, the executive director of amnesty international ukraine. your organization and you yourself have been carrying out an investigation on possible war crimes, including sexual violence, but broader war crimes in and around the area ofhe capital kyiv. could you tell us what you found? >> sure. the patterof crimes committed by russian forces in kyi region, we have documented includes both unlawful attks and killing of civilians. we have to face itt a lot of killings, and most of them were

just extrajudicial executions. so it was a straight will to kill people there. nermeen: explain the areas you were in, where all this amnesty conducted st occasns of this nature. >> our last report wasn't about kyiv region. we were differe areas around kvhich were in occupation for more than two months. bua, and ny, many other cities and villages around kyiv. for exale, in one we found at least 40 civilians were killed in indiscriminate attacks. let thousands of people

homeless. inucha, we documented 22 cases ofnlawful kiings by russian forces. as iaid before, most were extrajudicial executions. amy: and how do you respond, oksana pokalchuk, to russia's thing you have not provided the evidence? >> how i would respond? we have evidence. as far as i kn, there are a couple -- there are a couple of cases that are already under the investigation by ukrainian authorities. if you're talking about sexual violence, course. it is much more when we talk about other war cmes. but when we come back the sexual violence, as fr as i know, a couplef cases are under investigation so i hope soon we will see a open and

transparent court proceedings on the matter. [indiscernible] bring to justice. amy: pramila patten, i wanted to ask you about the whole debate within ukraine about how explicit to be -- you, i'm sure, have dealtith his around the world. i mean, there's been a firing of a human rights official in ukraine for being extremely explicit about the rape of children. and there is a whole discussion within the human rights and journalistic community in ukraine. can you talk about how to talk about this? >> well, this is one of the areas where office and the united nations system will be providing -- to the ukrainian government.

the framework of cooperation, which i have signed, that is providing support in the area of justice and accountability. we are dealing with a very sensitive issue. we know why we still do not come for to report and one of the reasons being the revictimization. there are guiding principles on how to engage the victims, on how to documentvidence, and how to investigate. and one of the fundamental principles is do no harm, which is extremely important. this is precisely why i will be deploying following the framework of cooperation that i sign on may 3 will deploy expertise on sexual violence, documentation, investigation, prosecution. they wilbe embedded not only

in the office of high commissioner's, human rights monitoring team, but also the office of the prosecutor general to support the investigation, to support the documentation, to support the collection of evidence before the evidence trail goes cold. this is crucial. there will be no justice if that stage goes wrong. we have seen a lot in the past [indiscernible] with all the inconsistency that comes along, making cases tenable in a court of law. we wt to rever the culture of unity to a culture of justice and accountability. -- five impunity to a culture of justice and accountability.

to bolster justice, to bolster accountability. nermeen:ou said exclusively that any peace agreement whenever it comes,hould state explicitly that there will be no amnesty for perpetrators of sexual violence. could you explain why you think sexual violence should be treated differently from other war crimes and in what instances amnesty has been granted in areas of conflict were sexual violence has been prevalent? >> well, history has taught us that during multiple peace negotiations, the first item that has been on the negotiation table where women -- lacking, sexual violence has always been on the table.

there context where the option where women [indiscernible] as usual, women get sacrifice. i'm very encouraged by the fact the ukrainian government was receptive to myuggestion of th area in the framework of cooperation, in the event of agreement or peace agreement it will be specific provisions to ensure that there is no amnesty for sexual violence. because war has limits and international military and law makes it very clear -- humanitarian law makes it clear. sexual violence will never be excluded. never framework with resolutions of the security couil on the question of amnesty. nermeen: oksana pokalchuk, there

have been, as you know, accusations of alleged war crime, although of course much fewer in number, by ukrainian forces. what you know about those allegations and what have you found in your investigation, alleged war crime by russian forces but also by ukrainian forces? >> we are now in a situation when a lot of territories were legedly some war crimes were committed are now under occupation. we need to wait for the moment when we as amnty and uainian an international investigators will be able to reach this area and do investigationn the ground. because without being on the ground, without collecting prop idence, it is

impossible to say about war imes. i mean, in my opinio we cannot resume it. of course, there'no world where one pay of the war would be --ill not violate international humanitarian law and another part will. of course we have to face that of course ukrainia arm -- i mean, we will find this evidence. but so far, we n't have enough idenceo talk about it in legal terms. so we have to wait for liberation of occupied territories, come to the territory, and gather information and gather evidence. amy: pramila patten, as we wrap up, ukraine was already one of the leading countries in europe when it came to human

trafficking. you also have addressed this issue. if you can describe what you saw and how this issue should be addressed? >> well, with the displacement of 14 million people in the past 100 days, mostly women and children, 6.8 million women and children mainly having fled across the border, what i see is human trafficking crisis within a humanitarian crisis. human trafficking is not a separate issue. it is a symptom of a refugee crisis. and like of better options. 20 come ukraine and the region had human trafficking post of

human traffiing is onef the most serious organized today. we also know creditors and human traffickers -- it is an opportunity. what i saw in moldova and poland where i visited centers, is the majority of the refugees are living with -- there are great security concerns in both countries. these reception centersre run by volunteers. there is complete lack of oversight in terms of accommodation by private citizen [indiscernible] the reception centers, although

the premises are run by the local government, they are being run by volunteers. from what i saw, they have little or no training or experience. because of trafficking or risk of trafficking. what is also clear, these refugee receiving countries are overwhelmed. they need to be able to allocate sufficient resources to support the responses, given service providers and ngos have limited capacity -- what is critical is international community mobilize to ensure effective protection systems are in place and all destination countries and border crossings. and given the challenges of the

transnational organized crime as well as very complex nature and multiple dimensions of human trafficking, the response requires an integrated and holistic response, a concerted cross-border response by humanitarian partners, law enforcement agencies, border forces, immigration officials, and political leaders. on monday when i brief the security council, i urged for a regional european compact to be led by the european council. i have the firm conviction this is what is required at this point in time. amy: pramila patten, thank you for being with us u.n. special representative on sexual violen in conflict. and oksana pokalchuk is executive director of amnesty international in ukraine. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the word peace report. we turn to survivors of gondolas that testified wednesday here in the u.s. on capitol hill before the house approved aackage of limited gun reforms that is virtually certain to fail in the senate where republicans have promised a filibuster. the house approved the reforms after lawmakers heard hours of harrowing testimony about the mass shootings in buffalo, new york, and you, texas. kimberly rubio broke down in -- really rubio testified with her husband felix describing the morning of the massacre at robb elementary school before her 10 year old daughter was killed, lexie was on of 19 children and two teachers who died that day. >> on the morning of may 24, 2022, i dropped lexie and julian off at school. a little after 7:00 a.m. my husband and i returned to the campus at 8:00 a.m. for julian's award ceremony and again at 10:30 a.m. for lexie's.

she received the good citizen award and was recognized for receiving all a's. we took photos of her before asking her to pose for a picture with her teacher mr. reyes. that photo, her last photo ever, was taken at approximately 10:54 a.m. we promised to get her ice grain and told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. i can still see her walking with us toward the exit. the reel in my memory, she turns her head and smiles to acknowledge my promise. then we left. i left my daughter at that school and that decision will hunt me for the rest of my life. somewhere out there there is a mom listening to our testimony thinking, i can't even imagine their pain.

not knowing our reality will one day be hers. unless we act now. amy: that is kimberly rubio, testifying about her 10-year-old daughter lexi who was killed. she writes for the local newspaper the uvalde leader. also testifying wednesday was 11-year-old fourth-grader miah cerrillo, who survived the mass shooting at robb elementary told the panel that after the shooter murdered her teacher and friends, she covered herself in her friend's blood in case the murderer returned. >> went out the door and he was in the hallway. made eye contact. and she would back in e room and us, go he. then we went to goide behind the teacher's desk behind the backpacks and then he shot one

of the windows. then he went to the other classroom a then he went to the door between our classrooms and he stood there and shot my teacher and told the teacher "good night" and shot her in the head. and then he shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard. when i went to the backpacks, he shot my friend that was next to me. and i thought he was going to come back to the room, so i grabbed the blood and put it all over me. >> what diyou do when you put the blood on yourself? >> just stayed quiet and got my teacher's phone and called 911. >>hat did you tell 911? >> i told her we needed help and

center video of the classroom. >> if there something you want people to know about that day and about you or things you want different, what would it be? folks do you feel safe at scol? do you tnk it isoing happen again? amy: that is miah cerrio. when asked if she felt safe at school, she nodded no. when she was asked if she things i massacre will happen again, she nodded yes. and this is dr. roy guerrero, the only pediatrician in uvalde, texas, who testified about arriving at the hospital to treat victims of the shooting. when he saw one of his longtime patients alive, he went outside to tell her parents and that is

when they asked him about their other child who was a student at robb elementary. dr. guerrero described what happened when he went back to check. >> as i made my way there, i prayed i would not find her step i did not find a lineup. what i did find was something no prayer will ever relieve. two children whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue their identities was of blood splattered cartoon clothing still clinging to them, cleaning for life and finding none. i could only hope these two bodies were a tragic exception to the survivors. but as i waited there with my fellow uvalde doctors, nurses, hospital staff for other casualties we hoped to save, they never arrived. all that remained was the bodies of 17 more children in the two teachers who care for them. amy: dr. roy guerrero, the l.a. pediatrician in uvalde, texas,

testifying before the house on wednesday. the senate is weighing whether they will pass any gun reform bills. next up, we will speak with the had of right wing watch about what to expect at the first public hearing tonight of the house committee investigating donald trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the deadly january 6 insurrection. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. after 10 months of meeting in private, the house committee investigating donald trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the deadly january 6 insurrection at the capitol will hold its first public hearing tonight in primetime at 8:00 p.m. eastern. democracy now! will live-stream the hearings at democracynow.org.

the next hearing is monday. but tonight will be the of eight first congressional hearings, modeled in part on the 1973 watergate hearings. democracy now! will be streaming the hearing at democracynow.org. in a moment, we will be joined by a researcher at right wing watch, which is a project of people for the american way. but first, let's turn to a video the group just released looking at one figure at the center of the coordinated effort to overturn the 2020 election. the video is narrated by kristen doerer, managing editor of right wing watch. >> public hearings begin june for the house select committ investigating the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. among those likely to figure prominently, republican political operative behind the so-called stop the steal campaign. right wing watch extensively investigated the stop to still campaign head of the january 6 attack. here is what you need to know. who is alexander? what is tough to steal?

on november 2020, donald trump falsely claimed mail-in ballots were being used to still the election and declared himself the victor. waiting in the wings was ali alexander. he launched a campaign to get right-wing activists to disrupt the vote counting and falsely accuse local officials of stealing the election. he served as the lead organizer. he called on his deep network of republican legislators, political strata live just -- strategists. this influential members include the likes of -- targeting several states. battleground states won by joe biden. ali alexander and his cohorts spread disinformation along with trump stop the steal said voter fraud was widespread even after trump's doj found no such

evidence. so how did ali alexander contribute to january 6? in mid-november, far right members of congress, because their superiors, christian nationalist of extremist groups, and trump's diehards came together under the stop the steal banner and washington, d.c. marjorie taylor greene, lauren boebert, madison cawthorn addressed the crd alongside organizers. radical conspiracy theorist alex jones brought info wars caravan. numbers of the proud boys roamed the streets looking for fights. white nationalists committed the crowd's attentions. violent rhetoric became a key feature of the events. during november softest rally, oath keepers called on trumpo invoke the insurrection act and declare martial law. >> if he does not do now while he is commander-in-chief, we're going to have to do it ourselves ler in a much more desperate, much more bloody war. >> late december, ali alexander

claimed credit for organizing the events that would take place on january 6 along with three congressmen. >> i was the person he came up with the january 6 idea with three congressmen. >> alexander spent weeks leading up to the attack: for rebellion. even appeared to call for physicalttacks on mbers of congress. >> what would you do if somebody broke into your house and stole something -- i don't want to say stealing your front yard because i know what we would do, let's say they made it out to the room. i don't want to be accused of anything yet yet. let them hear that. yet. >> january 5, alexander said the stop to still activists were starting a rebellion against the deep state and begin chants of victory or death. >> victory or death!

>> trump had called for while protests at the u.s. capitol. alexander use that to promote his own stop the steal rally at the capitol. on january 6, ali alexander was a vip attendee. pres. trump: we will stop the steal. >> when trump told the crowd to march on the capitol, ali alexander with trump loyalists. retreated to the terrace overlooking the capitol. despite what you'd seen up close come alexander claimedt was peaceful. >>his is completely peaceful. >> but he did not stop there. >> the home of the rebellion against an illegitimate government. >> what happened since? ali alexander went underground following the attack on the u.s. capitol and got kicked out mainstream social media platforms and lost access to

paypal, cash out, claiming twitter taken every thing from him. last fall the house select committee issued three subpoenas, 12 alexander, and other to the stop the steal organization, and a third to nathan martin -- an associate of alexander's. in december, he testified for eight hours behind closed doors. this spring his lawyer said he would cooperate with the department of justice but the next day alexander joined alex nes on the m4 show to suest he wouldn't. alexander has denied wrongdoing and is called stop the steal beautiful. january 6 he said was a government site ups, conspiracy to prevent trump from winning in 2024. he used does she news there is time for legitimate balance when there is legitimattyranny. we are likely to see and hear more about alexander and his coronation with members of congress at the house select committee hearings. amy: that was the voice of kristen doerer, the managing editor of right wing watch.

she is joining us now to talk about tonight's historic hearing as proud boys leaders and four other leaders of the far right proud boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy over their roles and the january 6 insurrection at the capitol. also, one of the people who will be testifying tonight. we don't know everything that is going to happen at this first public hearing at the january 6 committee but a journalist embedded with the proud boys will be testifying tonight. kristen doerer, welcome to democracy now! you really laid a portion of this insurrection out right there. can you talk about what you expect to see tonight, what you feel needs to be raised, and the coming together of this very serious charge of seditious conspiracy against the leaders

of proud boys? >> thank you for having me. i think what needs to be immediately addressed is that this attack was not a spur of the moment event. i know select committee will be looking at not just the events that happened on january 6, but the step-by-step effort by trump republicans, trump himself, and far right activists to overturn the will of the people and overturn the 2020 presidential election. now, what i think we will see today is that, as you mentioned, we have a documentary film maker who was embedded with the proud boys. he will be testifying and he will be looking at video and footage that he took while he was embedded with the proud boys during 2020. now, the proud boys, five members of the proud boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy. the indictment by the fedel

government reads much like the indictment for the oath keepers in the since there was organized planning, they reached out to leaders of chapters, and they were willing to use -- there was discussion of willing to use violence. but we will see today is, particularly one moment, and that is the documentary film maker caught a moment when joe biggs, one of the leaders of the proud boys who is facing seditious conversing charges now, he was speaking with an individual on january 6 and a front of the barricades on the capitol. after that moment, that individual went and confronted a police and knocked over a barricade. so that moment is seen as the turning point for the events that happened on january 6. nermeen: kristin, could you elaborate on what you think the

public, what the committee hopes that americans will learn about the events of january 6 and whether those -- the opinions will be swayed by the information, new information, as reportedly will be disclosed in the course of these hearings? >> right. so i think what the committee is helping americans realize is that this was not a spur of the moment event. and as much as some trump republicans will claim that this was just a minor riot, this was a very violent attack. five police officers died as a result of that day. about 150 were injured. this was a very violentttack in which people -- these trump loyalists were calling for the hanging of mike pence.

they were trying to hunt down nancy pelosi. they built galas on the capitol grounds. this was a very violent event. i think what they will also be trying to make clear is this was not just a spur of the moment event. this was organized. the efforts to overturn the election was organized a month ahead of time. you know, they're going to focus on trump's own personal culpability, what some members of congress have done, along with those connections that trump republicans have with these extremist groups who carried out the attack on the capitol. amy: this is an incredible moment, kristen doerer. this has all been happening basically secretly, this investigation, privately. i don't think it makes a lot of sense to the american public, so what are the key points?

they interviewed like 1000 people and videotaped most of those interviews, if not all. ivanka trump, parent, they will be perhaps plain clips of her. she was alone with her father for much of that day. president trump. and was texting in saying "you've got to stop this" and he refused for hours. what do you think are the critical points that must come through tonight? it is been produced by former head of abc news. >> i think a critical points that will be coming through is the violent events, the fact this was planned. that is what we see in these indictments, thisas conspiracy and that this was a planned attack. i think we will see that trump

and congressional republicans and extremists like ali alexander, republican political eratives like roger stone, the proud boys, oath keepers, that all of these groups worked to overturn the election by spreading disinformation and by truly wanting to overturn the will of the people and they were willing to use violence to do so. add that they also had connections to some trump republicans. and i think what will happen is these hearings will provide voters with a choice between those who will want to continue to defend free and fair elections and those who want to take away the will of the people. nermeen: finally, the wall street journal has reported and you suggestethis earer, too, that the trump supporters ar plning a counterampaign, which will begin tonight, to

dismiss the hearing as politically motivated, as any attempt to distract from the failures of the biden administration inflation rising, gas prices, etc.. could you say a little whether you know what exactly they're planning to do or say this campaign, which is allegedly, reportedly, going to begin tonight? and also, if the republicans come as many say they will, take the house in the midterms, they are saying it will absolutely end this investigation, the january 6 investigation. >> yeah, so immediately after the attack on the capital, we saw this by those republicans were aligned with trump. they have been trying to downplay the event because it does not serve them well during elections. they have been trying to sweep it under t rug, move on,

forget about it, and critique democrats. but the fact of the matter is, this is an assault on our country and on our democracy. i think what we will see from republicans is, again, another effort to downplay it, deflect. they have claimed this is a partisan committee, even though you have two republicans on the committee, including liz cheney and adam kinzinger. they're going to claim it is partisan and a witchhunt, all things we have seen. they will try to focus on -- they will say it is a left-wing conspiracy of some sort. we have seen this language before. it is nothing new. a medial he aftethe attack on the capitol, a lot of republicans arted to claim it was actually antifa.

this wasarriedut by trp supporters who were fired up by trump himself and by other extremist groups. amy: finally, a parent, fox news will not be running this life that may be doing it as "news warrants" and the significance of that, that some of the population will see this and others will not? and that this is just the beginning of eight? and who is the audience? i mean, the american public, merrick garland, the question of whether the attorney general will move further and move to criminally indicted president trump? you have 20 seconds. >> first, i will say, yes, fox's running counter programming and it will be held by tucker carlsen and we know what type of news commentator tucker carlsen is. so he will deflect and claim this is a witchhunt. i want to go back and say the

bottom line -- amy: 10 seconds. >> it will provide voters with a choice between those who want to continue to defend free and fair elections and those who want to take away the will of the people. amy: kristen doerer, thank you for being with us, managing editor of right wing watch. ñcñcñcñcooooooo7ú oñoñoñoñoñoñoñ

man: iyou're wking on ean air issu, you imdiately start center on n beardino, e most of thenited stes. man 2: you can see it and you can smell it and youan sometimes taste it. n 1: the freightnd logistics industrys the primarcontribur. woman:hey tolde that mson harespiraty issues onof the dtors told me, , it has tdo with,ou know, e enviroent. whato we wan man: l's starto explor in o city.haening thnarrativversus t truth. itoesn't matter homuch the economicenefits e no one'around tspend it woman: sce it's stly peoe of col in thescommunits th turned blind eyto it. ma how farre we goa let is go? whave to t a stop t