08/23/22 08/23/22 [captioning ma possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the international community should better understand finally high-level mexican govnment officiale being he responsible for eir volvement in the disappearance of the 4 students for fabricatinevidence, for inventing investigations,nd also doing everything in their

power to prevent the students from being found. amy: mexico's former attorney general has been arrested. dozens of soldiers and officers face charges. related to the disappearance of 43 students in ayotzinapa, mexico, eight yea ago. the charges come just days after a state truth commission says the disappearances are a crime of the state. we will go to mexico city for the latest. the two the political crisis in pakistan where former prime minister imran khan is facing anti-terrorism charges as tv stations are barred from airing his speeches live. >> i had called take legal action against police officers and judicial magistrates and the government registered a terrorism case against me. when we say we will take legal action, they register a case againste and take out an arrest warrant against me.

wh doe this show? there is no rule of law and our country. amy: we will speak to paktani british this trend and writer tariq ali about the charges agait imran khan as well as the devaating floods in pakistan whichave killed nearly 800 people over the past few months. plus we will look at today's prary in nork ere redrn congreional dtricts ha led to heated battles within the leadership of the democratic party. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the fbi seized more than 100 50 documents marked classified when it searched the residence of former president donald trump earlier this month. that is according to "the new york times," which reports the sheer number of top-secret documents held by trump ignited intense concern at the justice

department and triggered the criminal investigation that led to the august 8 raid. on monday, trump's lawyers asked the judge to appoint an independent arbiter known as a special master to review whether the documents were seized properly by the fbi. if the district judge canon approves the request, it could slow a federal, investigation into whether trump broke the espionage act and the presidential records act was to judge kate and was nominated to the u.s. district court the southern district of florida in 2020. by then, president trump. it is believed he now took more than 300 classified documents to mar-a-lago. ukraine's government has issued a curfew in the capital kyiv and banned public events commemorating the nation's 31 years of independence from the former soviet union. officials in kyiv cited the risk of russian attacks on the mass

gatherings that would normally mark wednesday's anniversary. this comes as the state department is warning u.s. nationals must leave ukraine, saying it expects russia to step up its attacks on ukraine's civilian infrastructure and government buildings. ukraine said monday some 9000 of its troops were killed during the six months that followed russia's invasion. fighting continues to rage in the east, where on monday residents of the front-line city of toretsk struggled to find water, power, and essential supplies. >> the situation is tense and very hard. very hard. they shall us every day -- shell us every day. there is no water or gas. there is electricity in the city center only, unless it is turned off. amy: in moscow, officials are blaming ukrainian special forces for the weekend assassination of darya dugina, the daughter of a

close ally of president vladimir putin. russia's fsb security service said monday the bombing was carried out by a ukrainian woman who arrived in russia last month and fled to estonia after the blast. ukraine has denied any involvement. meanwhile, officials in estonia, a former soviet republic turned nato member, deny they're harboring darya dugina's assassin. the united states has launched joint military exercises with south korea in a massive show of force against north korea. the exerciseare the laest such wgames in at least five years involving tanks, naval vessels, warplanes, and potentially tens of thousands of troops. th follows aeries of nth korean missile tests earlier this year and comeamid u.s. inteigence clas that pyonang is prering its fst nuclear weapons test since september 2017. iran says the biden

administration has not responded to its proposal to restore the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, which former president trump unilaterally withdrew the u.s. from in 2018. a week ago, iran submitted its response to what european negotiators called their final text of an agreement that would once again see tehran agree to stop enriching uranium in exchange for sanctions relief. on monday, an iranian foreign ministry spokesperson accused the u.s. of procrastination after it failed to respond to either the iranian or the european union proposals. this comes after axios reported over the weekend that the biden administration is seeking to reassure israel that it has not agreed to new concessions with iran and a nuclear deal is not imminent. in washington, state department spokesperson ned price denied the u.s. is delaying negotiations with iran. >> it is true and you all know

this, it has lang wished at times for months and months because of the action were oftentimes was the case in action from iran. the notion that we have delayed this negotiation in any way is just not true. amy: in haiti, thousands of people continue to take to the streets demanding the resignation of prime minister ariel henry and protesting worsening gang violence, political instability, poverty, and shortages of food, water and gas. on monday, protesters set up barricades in the capital port-au-prince as they chanted, "if ariel doesn't leave, we're going to die!" this comes as the biden administration is still mass deporting haitian asylum seekers , including young children, back to haiti. in related news, in new jersey,

immigrant justice advocates are denouncing the deportation of patrick julney, a 38-year-old man from haiti who says he was kidnapped andhe biden administration deported him in june. julney had been fighting his deportation for three years as he had no memory of haiti and doesn't speak haitian creo. he says itian security forces imprisoned him without explanation the day he arrived on a deportation flight. since then, officers have repeatedly contacted his wife demanding thousands of dollars in exchange for his release. julney spoke about the torturous conditions he hasaced in a video taken inside the port-au-prince prison and shared by his family and attorney. -- family and friends. >> good afternoon. i am patrick julney. i am being held for ransom in a haitian prison. my ankles are swollen. my legs are swollen.

i have been sick since i've been here. i have no hel no cisterns, no family -- no assistance, no family. amy: in texas, at least one person was killed after a record-breaking storm system brought flash flooding to dallas/fort worth and other parts of the region. some parts of east dallas received up to 15 inches of rainfall over a span of just 24 hours. spite the deluge, dallas remains in exceptional drought, having posted 67 consecutive days with no measurable rainfall earlier this year. in china, an unprecedented streak of hot summer days has passed the 70 day mark, becoming china's longest and most intense heatwave on record. pfizer and biontech have asked the fda to approve a new version of its covid-19 booster vaccine that targets mutated forms of

the coronavirus. pfizer's updated shot is based on both the original coronavirus that first emerged in 2019, as well as the ba.4 and ba.5 omicron subvariants that now account for nearly all u.s. cases. pfizer submitted its application without completing a new clinical trial, meaning it's not clear whether the updated vaccine will provide more protection. mrna vaccines produced by pfizer and moderna remain highly effective at preventing severe disease and death from covid-19 but are much less effective at preventing infections and milder disease. meanwhile, top u.s. infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci said monday he will retire in december after a career at the national institutes of health spanning more than half a century. in the 1980's, dr. fauci advised ronald reagan on the hiv/aids pandemic. he has since advised six other

presidents on disease including ebola, zika, influenza, covid-19, and monkeypox. new york's health department has confirmed the state's first case of monkeypox in a person under the age of 18. the reported case came as new york health officials announced plans to administer one-fifth doses of monkeypox vaccine in order to stretch supply. on monday, new york governor kathy hochul called on the biden administration to accelerate vaccine shipments to new york city, where over 90% of u.s. cases have been identified. >> they are dealing with severe supply chain shortages as well. they are not necessarily was holding -- withholding. but we're continuing to press first in le. my hand is out saying, what more evidence do you need than the number of cases that we are saying right here in new york, especially in new york city?

amy: on monday, wyoming's department of health said it had confirmed its first-ever case of monkeypox, meaning the virus has now been detected in all 50 u.s. states. the u.s. has recorded over 15,000 cases, by far the highest toll in the world. in california, governor gavin newsom has vetoed a bill that would have allowed oakland, san francisco, and los angeles to establish safe drug consumption and injection sites, aimed at reducing the number of overdose deaths. newsom claimed the sites would have brought "a world of unintended consequences." but advocates have long said those facilities save lives and connect people to medical resources, including treatment for drug dependency. and a conservative, dark money group that's pushed a far-right agenda in the u.s. judiciary received a record $1.6 billion in funding last year from an obscure republican donor, the largest known donation to a

political advocacy group in u.s. history. that's according to a joint investigation by "the new york times," propublica, and the lever. the donor is barre seid, a nine-year-old conservative -- 90-year-old conservative industrialist from chicago. over the past two years, seid funneled billions of dollars through secretive transactions to a nonprofit led by leonard leo, the co-chair of the right-wing federalist society. leo has been instrumental in the rollback of federal voting rights and reproductive rights. leo also directly helped select judges to be nominated to the supreme court, including justice amy coney barrett, brett kavanaugh, you'll gorsuch, and -- neil gorsuch, and organized

massive media campaigns to see them confirmed. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now! co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: mexico's former attorney general has been arrested and dozens of soldiers and police officers face charges related to the disappearance of 43 students at the rural college for teachers in ayotzinapa eight years ago. murillo karam, who served as mexico's attorney general from 2012 to 2015, was arrested on friday, a day after a truth commission formed by president andrés manuel lópez obrador said the students' disappearance was a crime of the state. mexican authorities also issued over 80 other arrest wrants. those facing charges include 20

military commanders and troops who were from battalions in the city of iguala. charges have also been filed against local officials, police officers, and members of the drug cartel guerreros unidos. on monday, president lopez obrador described the disappearance of the 43 students as shameful ansaid the truth must be exposed. >> i what to ask, i know you already did, but i would like to ask everyone who has a chance and has access to the internet to search for the files. it is not in vain to read everything that happened because this is one of the most shameful , pitiful, painful events in recent history of our country and we have to expose it so that it never happens again. amy: we go now to mexico city where we are joined by andalusia soloff. she is an independent journalist and author of the graphic novel "vivos se los llevaron," or

"taken alive," about the disappearance of the 43 students. she has reported on the ayotzinapa since the students disappeared. welcome to democracy now! start off by talking about what happened eight years ago and why this is such a historic moment in mexico with the arrest of the former attorney general and so many others. >> thank you for having me on. this is one of the most horrible crimes that is happened in mexican history. september 20 6, 20 14, a group of students from the ayotzinapa teacher school were attacked by police and members of organized crime in the city of iguala and from that moment, it was unclear what happened to 43 of these students. six people were murdered that night, including one person who

was found with his face ripped off oan abanded road. since then, 43 of the students, there been no trace of them and theiparents have marched all over the country and even the world loong for tir sons and their government that me tried to close the case in november of this same year with what was known as the historical truth, sang all 43 students were taken to a nearby garbage dump where there were killed and incinerated and there was no trace of them. this was fabricated by the attorney general at e time, murillo karam, and that is why now, eight years later, he has been detaid for the fabrication of the case and historical truth and on investigating the disappearance of these students. juan: andalusia soloff, when lópez obrador was running for

president, he vowed or his campaign pledges was to get to the bottom of what had happened at ayotzinapa. how do you feel he has fulfilled his pledge until now or do we still have two it given the weaknesses of the judicial system for actual conventions -- convictions and sentences here? >> president obrador has promised to the families he would get to the bottom of this and he really had a change and attitude toward them, the former president pena nieto always said they should just get over it, that their sons were dead and they need to move on. he has said he will investigate it. they have invested tons of resources and time over the past three years with this truth and justice commission to get to the bottom of it, but there are still a lot of questions remaining. there is evidence based on few testimony saying there are no longer indications the students are alive. but both the independent group

of experts who have been investigating this case for the past eight years, as well as the families and human rights organizations, say they still don't believe there's enough evidence to say all the students were murdered that night. and also while murillo karam has been apprehended, there are other key players who have not. the head of the criminal best occasion is israel and protected by the government of israel in mexico has tried to extradite him and it seems without him, they may never know what happened, as well as last year the head of the army was arrested in the united states and then was accused of being involved in drug trafficking, brought back to mexico and then not investigated in mexico. with this investigation, the army is being investigated and why is the head of the army not being investigated and also why is who was president at the

time, pena nieto, not being investigated? juan: in terms of the significance of a former mexican attorney general from the party that was formerly in power, the significance of some -- such a high-ranking person actually being arrested in your view? >> yes, this is historic that the attorney general has been arrested. impunity is what rains in mexico. that is why they're so many violations of human rights. the students were getting ready at that .8 years ago to go honor a massacre from 1968 of students that have never been investigated. that massacre was never investigated. we don't know how many people were murdered but we do know hopefully with this crime that they have arrested a high-level official, that there will be more hope -- there will be

justice and we will finally know what happened to the 43 students. amy: this is population and migration subsecretary alejandro encinas at a new conference last week in mexico city, releasing the most recent findings from the commission of truth on the ayotzinapa case. >> the collusion and participation of a 30's from different government levels with local policemen has been fully confirmed and with the guerreros unidos crime organization to carry out the disappearance of the youngsters. there is no indication the students are alive on the contrary, all the testimonies and evidence proved they were cunningly killed and disappeared. amy: andalusia soloff, if you can talk about why it is believed these 43 young male

students at a teacher's college, what happened at that time? why they were disappeared? i want to go back to two relatives of the missing students who joined as in our democracy now! studio before covid in 2015. we asked antonio if he thought his son jorge was still alive. >> absolutely. 100%. like the rest of the parents, we are sure they are alive. independently that what others say that is completely false, we know that they are alive. we know they're holding them alive because they are being detained. we don't know the reason. we do not know the reason. amy: what has the mexican government told the family? why don't you believe it? >> because the government says

that it is a closed case. however, there is no evidence -- there is no evidence that shows us, that proof with the government says happened. while there is no proof, we maintain that they are alive 100%. amy: that is antonio talking about his son jorge, speaking to me and juan back, oh, seven years ago, believing his son was alive. so many of these parents still believe that. so talk about that and that theory of what happened and how high up it went. >> the parents have been searching for their sons for the past eight years with the hope

they are still alive because they have no evidence that they were murdered. so it is very difficult for anyone to accept that a loved one is dead without the proof. so that is why, especially in mexico where there's a long history of disappearance and sometimes people have turned up years later after being disappeared. that is also because they have been repeatedly lied to, as we have seen with this historical truth, and many other parts of the government investigation. that is why the parents have still had this hope their sons may be alive. there have been three remains of students that have been identified and confirmed by external to the mexican government forensic experts, and so there is a small bone fragment. that someone just has a bone of their son's foot that the family members have told me, how my

going to bleed my son is dead if all i have is this phone? as far as how far up this will go, as i mentioned, there are high-level officials being investigated but still not the highest level officials as in the head of the army and it is important to mention that lópez obrador, while he has had a very different strategy toward the family members and investigating this case and with more resources, he is still very protective of the army being investigated and has repeatedly defended the army, even though that night there was one student who was a soldier who infiltrated the school and was communicating with local battalion until he was disappeared and the army did not actually search for him and he is still disappeared until this moment. amy: but the theory of why they were killed or disappeared. why were these young students at a rural teachers college such a threat?

>> yes. there are various theories about why they were attacked. they have repeatedly suffered from attacks and repression and the government has wanted to close down their school, which is a rural school for poor students and many indigenous students that have no other access to education in mexico. and they are a leftist thinking. but there's also a theory that focuses on drug trafficking and guerreros is one of is one of the top producers of poppy for the world and it is believed one of the buses that they had taken that night had a secret compartment either filled with heroin or filled with heroin money. and all of the force used against them in the attackas because the police and military and members of the organized crime group were protecting that shipment and did not want to

lose their millions of dollars if that bus got out of iguala. juan: andalusia soloff, you mentioned before there is a history of disappearances, about 100,000 people have disappeared in mexico in recent years. what does this mean, this case, in terms of potentially solving other disappear -- disappearance cases? >> when the students what missing in 2014, it inspired people in the local city of iguala to go and look in the hillsides surrounding the town come in the rivers, and start digging. they have literally found hundreds of human remains and since the government has been searching, they have also found over 1000 human remains. over 100,000 people have gone missing. there disappearances have not been investigated. often when family members go to

their local police, especially when there women they say, oh, my daughter is missing, they say, she just ran off with her boyfriend and do not investigate. what happened with the ayotzinapa case, the parents insisted they search for them. they inspired hundreds or thousands of people of other people who had family members who were disappeared to go and look for them. so now all over the country they are combing the hillsides looking for loved ones. it is a horrible situation but there are now more investigations of disappearances, but really what we see also with this case is the first 24 48 hours are often the most important to know how to find someone who has disappeared. this investigation they came out this week shows a few of the students were kept alive according to them for a few days. so if the government had properly look for them, they could have found them alive but i did not happen.

hopefully, this case will help change this horrible situation were so many people disappeared in mexico. but importantly, mexico sees high levels of violence. just yesterday, journalist was murdered right near where the students had been disappeared from. the last column he had written was about the report and about the government's complicity. there's not much hope the situation will change,ut at least it is positive developments that high-level officials are being held accountable and that they are recognizing and charging these officials with the crime of disappearance. this was a crime they did not charge people with before. amy: andalusia soloff, thank you for being with us independent , journalist and author of the graphic novel "taken alive." she has reported on the ayotzinapa case since its -- since the 43 students disappred. speaking to us from mexico city. next up, the political crisis in

pakistan where the former prime minister imran khan is facing an anti-terrorism charges. television stations are barred from airing his speeches live. we will speak with the author and historian tariq ali. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to look at a political crisis in pakistan where the former prime minister imran khan has been charged under pakistan's anti-terrorism act. it is the latest escalation between the pakistani state and khan, who remains highly popular following his ouster from office in april in what he described as a form of "u.s.-backed regime change." khan has continued to give major rallies across pakistan. but over the weekend, pakistani authorities banned tv stations

from broadcasting his speeches live. then on monday, police filed anti-terrorism charges against him after he a gave speech accusing police officers of torturing one of his close aides who was jailed on sedition charges. soon after the charges were announced, hundreds of khan's supporters gathered outside his home to prevent police from arresting him. later on monday, khan responded to the charges in a speech in islamabad. >> i had called to take legal action against police an judicial magistrates in the government registered terrorism case against me. in the first place, we say we will take legal action, they register a case against mand take out an arrest warrant against me. what does this show? there is no rule of law in our country. amy: we are joined now in london by tariq ali. he is pakistan-british historian, activist, filmmaker, on the editorial committee of the new left review.

author of many books, including "uprising in pakistan: how to bring down a dictatorship," which came out a few years ago, and "can pakistan survive?" his latest book, "winston churchill: his times, his crimes." talking about this in the midst of these massive floods of pakistan and we will get to that in a moment. talk about the significance of the terrorism charges against imran khan, who was ousted in basically what he called u.s.-backed regime change. >> he has said publicly that the americans made a huge mess in that country and this is the result. then after the ukraine war was unleashed by putin, amerowas in moscow that day. he did not comment on it, just

-- he refused to back sanctions against russia and he was criticized for that ich he replies [indiscernible] china is not backing them. the bulk of the world stop backing them. -- is not backing them. he had become a nuisance. whether the united states put too much into it, we don't know. but certainly the military, which is dominic in pakistani politics, must have thought to please the united states, better get rid of them. no doubt without military support, he would not have been ousted. what they assume was that imran would lose all popularity.

there was talk of corruption. then something happened in july which is the most populist and important province and at the country, important in terms of power, there were 20 elections for parliament receipt. imran won 15 of them. he could have won two morehead's party been better organized. that showed support for him was to if it had evaporated, it was coming back because people were shocked by the government that had replaced him. that i think gave imran a lot of hope you could win the next general election quite easily and went on a grand tour of the country of which there were two prongs.

the military and the united states. hundreds of thousands of people. he who is a friend of the united states is a traitor. that was a big charge in a very popular charge at the time. so he has no doubt lifted himself up again. i think that event, amy, in july, of showing popular support election [indiscernible] waging a campaig againstim. arresting him under the antiterrorism law is truly grotesque. he has attacked judges in the past. if you want to arrest him, use

contempt of court so he can go and fight against that [inaudible] instead they arrested him under the terrorism law. they worry if the aim is to keep him out of the next election because of the so-called terrorism charges, that could create more havoc in the country. he is not to worried at the moment. juan: given the massive protests that have erupted in support of him, is it your sense that even people who may have been opposed to imran khan are behind him, against a political and military establishment for the country? after all, the potential for continued disruption inountry that is the fifth largest country and in the world in terms of population. >> yeah. i think they are worried. and i think imran made a

significant remark in his speech over the weekend. he said, don't forget. listen to the bells that are tolling in sri lanka where there was a mass uprising which occupies the presidential palace and resulted in the president fleeing. [inaudible] we're not going down that road but we want to elections and we want them soon. now, when they took part, the new government said we would and elections by october, now they postpone these until august next year. juan, you have to understand at the same time, the new government deals with the imf has meant huge price rises under the country. there are many people now who cannot afford to buy the staples of the country. it has become --

the price of gas has shot up. for those who already have little lecture city and is a total trauma -- little electricity, it is a total trauma. the economic situation in the country is extremely precarious. this is also boosted imran's popularity without any doubt. the talk is where there to be an election held in the next four months, he would sweep the country. juan: you mentioned the role of the military in pakistani politics. what was the military's relationship to imran before this crisis erupted, before his ouster as prime minister? >> well, they approved him coming to power. no doubt about that. it may be embarrassing both for him in the present situation and at the country, but there is little doubt that military was

in fact behind him when he came to power. but like other politicians, he has used his power and built up a huge base for himself in the country, which was formally restricted to the regime -- electegovernment in the northern part of the country, but is now spreading even to parts of the punjab now seems to be a stronghold of one of the pti's in imran's party main stronghold. so the military and political establishment isn't having their way. they thought they could create a new stability with the sharif brothers. what is interesting, and hasn't been reported, is that prior to

sharif eagerly stepping into imran's shoes, there was a rift between the two brothers. the older brother, the former prime minister, who is a britain supposedly ill because he was released from a prison on corruption charges to go for an operation but has been here for seven years, he was supposed -- opposed to imran taking office, said better to go for general election while imran is unpopular and we might win that and would have years ahead. but his brother outvoted him or whatever, however and said, no, we need a new government now, the situation is bad. amy: i also want ask about the horrendous flooding taking place in pistan. over the last two months, normallyeavy monsoon rains

have led to the depths of about 800 people. the floods damaging over 60,000 homes. here are some of the voices of survivors of the floods. >> we were very worried. our elders are sing they have not seen such rains and floods in the past 35 years. this is the first time we have seen such rain. now we are concerned that, god forbid, this type of heavy rain that continues in the future. we are nervous about this. we are really worried. >> the rain destroyed my house. my livestock were all lost. my fields, devastated. only our lives were saved. nothing else was left. thank god we saved the lives of my children. now we are at allah's mercy. >> my property, my house, everything was flooded. we took shelter on the roof of a government school for three days

and three nights. around 200 people with kids. we sat on the roof for three days. when the water receded a little, we walked for two days until we arrived at a safe place. amy: maybe close to 1000 people are dead, tens of thousands displaced. the significance of this climate change in pakistan and how it is affecting politics? >> it is affecting politics all over the world, amy. pakistan can't be excluded, nor is it exceptional. but what makes pakistan to a certain extent different is floods on this scale, it is true what the person said, they have not been seen before, certainly not in living memories. not on this scale. even the city of karachi, which is the largest industrial city in the country, which has barely seen floods in the past, half

the city was underwater, including areas were middle and upper middle class people lived. so it has been a new charge. the question is this, in a question that comes up whenever there is an earthquake or flood or natural disaster, why has pakistan's government, military, not been able to construct social infrastructure, a safety net for ordinary people? it is fine for the rich and the well-off. they can go to the hospital. they have enough food. but for the bulk of the couny, this is not the case. this just highlights e social crisis eating white at pakistan that has been further devastated by the imf demands which are

wrecking the country. i mean, there is malnutrition and parts of the country. the floods wrecked one of the poorest parts of the country in a province that has been ignored for many, many decades by the government. we always talk and get worked up about particular natural disasters or climate change disasters, but the government should set up a plan to actually plan to build a social structure, social infrastructure for the country. thi doesn't -- this doesn't just apply to pakistan. other country should do the same. in pakistan, particularly -- the rich don't care. they just don't get it. amy: before we go, i want to ask you about the situation of julian assange. we just did a segment on julian

assange lawyers and journalists suing the cia and mike pompeo personally, the former cia director, for working with a spanish company in bucking the embassy, videoing, taking a visitors computers and phones, downloading them, interfering with client-attorney privilege. could this stop the extradition of julian assange who faces espionage charges in the united states? >> well, it should, amy. that is the first answer. because this has been a political case from the beginning. the fact officials discuss whether to kill a stage or not --assange or not, acting in collusion of sending him back --

this is in a political trial, it is deeply shocking. i hope this trial brings [inaudible] and some action is taken because this extradition really should be stopped. we are all trying but the politicians by and large, the australian prime minister and election campaign threatened to do something the minute he become as prime minister, he completely caved into the united states. in the meantime, julian's health is bad. we are truly worried about how he is being treated in prison. he should not be in prison even if he is going to be extradited. one should not have any illusions. amy: tariq ali, historian,

activist, filmmaker, and author. next up, we look at new york primaries. redrawn congressional districts have led to heated battles within the democratic party leadership. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. today florida, oklahoma, and new york have primary elections. we are focusing on new york, where the primary comes after a court-appointed special master drew a new congressional map after new york's top court rejected a previous new map it said was illegally gerrymandered to favor democrats. one closely watched race is in the redrawn congressional district 10 in new york city, which still leans heavily democrat. the race is crowded with several progressives running, including congressmember mondaire jones, who is endorsed by house speaker nancy pelo, new york assbly memb yuh-linniou, annew yo city cocilwoman carlina rivera. also running is dan goldman, who served as a federal prosecutor in former president trump's first impeachment trial. he opposes court reform, student debt cancellation, and medicare for all, and has a spotty record on support for abortion rights.

his largely self-funded his race , $4 million of his own arch and as heir to the levi strauss fortune. "the new york times" drew scrutiny when it endorsed dan goldman without noting it was making an exception to its usual disdain for self-funded candidates or that publisher a.g. sulzberger lives in ny10, has family ties to the goldmans and did not recuse himself from the endorsement process. this prompted a rare news conference last week where rival progressive candidates yuh-line niou and mondaire jones joined together to speak out against dan goldman. >> conservative democrat dan goldman cannot be allowed to purchase this congressional seat. certainly not in one of the most progressive congressional districts in the country. plus we can't let a candidate so out of step with this district values by themselves a seat. amy: this all comes as the former longtime congressmember for district 10 jerry nadler is

now running against longtime incumbent carolyn maloney in congressional district 12. these are two leaders of the democratic party in congress. for more, we're joined by alex sammon, staff writer at the american prospect, who is closely following all of this. alex, you wrote a piece "new york times faces backlash over dan goldman endorsement debacle." and your latest "could yuh-line , niou run on the working families party line?" talk about the significance of this new york primary nationally. >> it is an interesting primary. it is hotly contested. they're legitimately six candidates who are still within an arms race of winning this contest and one of the most progressive districts in the country. new york i think with the latest boundaries is i think plus 51, so one of the bluest districts in the country.

rarely comes up for grabs. totally up for grabs right now. it looks like it may go to the most conservative candidate in the field, which is dan goldman, which is something that beasley has raised a lot of eyebrows and getting a lot of national attention. juan: i wanted to ask you in terms of the race between jerry nadler and carolyn maloney, they both claim to be progressives but what is your sense of how their records and especially what will happen in a race where in t middle of august, very few people are likely to vote? >> right. obviously, the new york littoral process is been one long -- electoral process has been one long debacle, in late august rock-bottom levels of turnout, not very accessible show of the democratic process.

but it is interesting. jerry nadler has been in congress for almost 30 years. carolyn maloney has been in congress for almost 30 years. i think both would like to be seen as the progressive in the race. i think the reality is if you look closely at the records, you will see jerry nadler is someone who really does have a long track record of championing progressive's policies, building a progressive base in new york city. carolyn maloney does not really have that. she voted against the iran deal and has kind of a checkered record on some of these progressive priorities. most importantly, for this race, nadler is the chair of the house judiciary committee and has done really excellent work on antitrust legislation and taking on big tech and afforded some of these policies that are high priority for the party this moment. carolyn maloney as they had of

the house oversight committee, which has been notoriously weak in committee in congress. one tasked with obtaining president trump's tax returns. that committee is not very effective. if you're comparing the two of them, never has the record to kind of back up his claim, which is he is the new york progressive with a history and track record and should continue to be the person that new york sends to congress from this district. juan: there's another race in the 17th congressional district that pits a centrist democrat sean patrick maloney against a much more progressive state senator. can you talk about that race and how it is shaping up? >> this is another race, another token seat thrown into chaos by redistricting. maloney is one of the more

conservative members of the democratic delegation in congress, certainly one of the most conservative members of the new york delegation. he is in a high leadership operation but he has a pretty mixed record on climate and the environment. he was closely involved in the fossil fuel plant in his district that a number of activists were strongly against that ashley new york state decided was in violation of environmental rules in the state. he has a progressive challenger. maloney is backed by the democratic majority, a huge money super pac affiliad with aipac that is taking over the democratic primary process, especially the cycle. they spent millions of dollars in these races to protect more conservative candidates and ensure they get elected again.

biaggi is a progressive and has a track record on progressive issues but is facing a serious uphill battle because maloney has so much more money, obviously has the incumbency of having been currently in congress and a leadership position. it is what i think progressives literally would like to win. maloney has a lot of enemies by choosing to rent in 17 when he could have run in 18 where he currently is, which would have been more difficult. he chose to take the easier route and bumped a current commerce been out of 17 where he currently resides. it is a chaotic race. it is also a race that will be closely watched. it is a longshot for biaggi. amy: you co-authored this piece, "new york times faces backlash over dan goldman endorsement debacle."

new york times endorsing three white men in a very diverse primary race. sean patrick maloney and jerry nadler and dan goldman. can you talk about dan goldman and the person right up against him mondaire jones, the significance of yuh-line niou as well -- the significance of "the times" not revealing the close times of the publisher to the goldman family? >> absolutely. there are a lot of regularities in this endorsement and if you read the endorsement, says these three races could decide whether democrats, republicans hold the house starting next year and that is just not true. there's really no way the republicans are going to win any of those three c's. it kind of steps off on this inaccurate description of the political climate in these elections. the race in particular in 10 is

fascinating because the endorsement, if you read it, speaks glowingly of mondaire jones. if you read it without knowing who they were going endorse, you would assume at least jones would be receiving a co-endorsement. but it ends up endorsing goldman -- they end up endorsing woman. of the six candidates mentioned, goldman is the only one who hasn't held elected office. he is a white man in a race, a majority minority district, new york's most diverse, and they don't even mention two of the four, really, of the front runners of the six, yuh-line niou and carlina rivera do not even get mentioned in the text of the endorsement. those are very peculiar. on top of that, the fact the publisher did not disclose his close ties to the family going back decades, that is not disclosed. he did not recuse himself from

the endorsement process. the statement we were given said the israel board answers -- and amy: we have to leave it there. alex sammon thank you for beingc