01/04/23 01/04/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> no person having received a majority of the whole number of votes cast, a speaker has not been elected. following the procedure used by the house in 1923 and recorded in vibes six section 24, the clerk is prepared to direct the

reading clerk to call a role a new. amy: the new republican-let house adjourned day one without a speaker as kevin mccarthy looses three rounds of voting. we will look at mccarthy and the republicans blocking him with new york times reporter robert draper, author of the new book. we will speak with american prospect editor david dayen about how the house gop plans to try to cancel congressional staff unions in one of its first moves and why he says 2023 is the year for executive action after democrats frittered away the lame-duck session. then buffalo bills player damar hamlin remains incredible condition two days after suffering a cardiac arrest on the field monday night during a

game against the cincinnati bengals. >> it was such a surreal moment. i was scared. i was praying really hard that everything was ok. it is such a sad thing to watch. i felt the world just stopped at that moment. amy: we will speak with former nfl player donté stallworth who was at the game and saw hamlin collapse. and with longtime sports journalist william rhoden, author of "forty million dollar slaves: the rise, fall and redemption of the black athlete." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on capitol hill, far right lawmakers have blocked kevin mccarthy's initial attempts to become speaker of the house. in a dramatic day on tuesday,

the house held three votes to pick a new speaker. mccarthy fell short each time of securing the needed 218 votes even though republicans now hold a slim majority in the house. on the first two ballots, 19 republicans opposed mccarthy. on the third ballot, the number of defectors increased to 20 with many backing jim jordan to be the next speaker even though jordan himself nominated mccarthy before the second round of voting. this marks the first time since that voting for speaker went 1923 beyond the first round. after the third vote, the house voted to adjourn until today at noon. >> no person having received the majority of the whole number of votes cast, a speaker has not been elected. >> moved to adjourn uil noon

morrow. >> all those in favor say aye. although supposed, no. >> no. >> the ayes have it. the house stands adjourned until noon tomorrow. amy: it is unclear how long it could take for the house to pick a speaker, but until one is chosen the house cannot conduct other business, including the swearing-in of new house members. we will have more on the chaos in the house after headlines. in other news from capitol hill, senator patty murray made history tuesday by becoming the first woman to serve as senate pro tempore. this now puts her third in the line of presidential succession. the u.s. food and drug administration has announced retail and mail order pharmacies can now sell the abortion pill mifepristone directly to patients with a prescription. the american college of

obstetricians and gynecologists hailed the move. in a statement, the group said -- "although the fda's announcement today will not solve access issues for every person seeking abortion care, it will allow more patients who need mifepristone for medication abortion additional options to secure this vital drug." the russian defense ministry has now admitted at least 89 russian soldiers were killed in their barracks on new year's day in a ukrainian missile strike on the russian-occupied city of makiivka. russian authorities believe ukraine was able to determine the exact location of the troops by picking up signals from personal cell phones which were being used by russian troops without authorization. ukraine has claimed as many 400 russian soldiers were killed in the attack there. meanwhile, ukrainian officials are also claiming to have killed or injured hundreds of russian troops in a separate attack in occupied kherson on new year's eve. this all comes as turkish

president recep tayyip erdogan is expected to hold calls today with both russian president vladimir putin and ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. erdogan has offered in the past to mediate a ceasefire in ukraine. the united arab emirates and china have called for the united nations security council to meet after israel's new far-right national security minister itamar ben-gvir visited the al-aqsa mosque in occupied east jerusalem. his visit was condemned across the middle east. jordan summered israel's about or to protest the visit which jordan's foreign ministry described as scandalous and unacceptable violation of international law. meanwhile, israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old boy named adam issam shaker ayyad in a refugee camp outside of bethlehem on tuesday. according to the group defense for children international palestine, adam is the second palestinian child to be killed

by israel since the start of 2023. the u.s. embassy in cuba will begin processing immigrant visas in havana today for the first time in over five years. visa and consular services have been closed on the island since 2017. this comes as a growing number of cubans are trying to reach the united states as cuba continues to suffer economic fallout from decades of u.s. sanctions. over the weekend, more than 500 cubans arrived in makeshift boats in south florida. many landed in dry tortugas national park in the florida keys, leading authorities to temporarily close the national park. venezuelan president nicolas maduro has said he is ready to move toward normalizing relations with the united states. he also urged washington to stop engaging in what he called "foreign policy blackmail." maduro made the comments during an interew on jaary 1.

>> wh t united states we are and virtually trapped in a policy of venezuela that makes no sense. supporting institutions that don'txist, and interim presidt. we keep on supporting. in one way or another, the foreign policy, black know florida, miami, and the white house and department of state. it is unfortunate. venezuela is prepared to take a step toward the normalization and regularization of diplotic consular and political relations of the united states and subsequent governments. amy: president maduro's remarks came just days after the opposition legislature in venezuela voted to terminate the interim government led by the u.s.-backed opposition leader juan guaido who declared himself to be the interim president of venezuela three years ago. in california, incarcerated people are now able to make and receive free phone calls.

the keep families connected act went into effect january 1. the nonprofit worth rises estimates that at least one in three california families went into debt to maintain regular contact with incarcerated loved ones as prison telecommunication corporations made millions of dollars in profits. california is only the second state in the united states to enact such a law after connecticut. several major cities, including new york and los angeles, have similar policies in place at a local level. this comes as new federal legislation could curb the cost of prison phone calls nationwide following its passage by congress last year. the bill is now on president biden's desk. on average, a 15-minute prison call costs over $5, with some prisons charging $1 or more per minute. in missouri, amber mclaughlin died by lethal injection tuesday night, becoming the first openly transgender woman executed in

u.s. history. her plea for clemency was denied despite detailing a history of childhood abuse and struggles with severe mental health issues as an adult, evidence that was ignored in her 2006 murder trial. the jury was deadlocked over her sentencing, but missouri law allows the trial judge to issue a sentence in those cases, including the death penalty. in a final written statement, she said, "i am sorry for what i did. i am a loving and caring person." she was 49 years old. here in new york, sam bankman-fried, the disgraced founder of fallen crypto exchange ftx, has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges. bankman-fried was arrested by u.s. authorities in the bahamas last month but was released on a $250 million bond and allowed to temporarily live at his parent'' home in palo alto, california. bankman-fried is accused of violating federal campaign finance laws and orchestrating a massive scheme to defraud

stomers d lender x's llapse inomber has been cpared tohe ponzi scheme orseen disgrac financr bernie moff. deral election commsion dat showed he was a second largest campaign contributor in the 2022 midterm elections, with nearly $40 million given to democratic campaigns and super pacs. bankman-fried's trial is tentatively scheduled for october. he faces up to 115 years in prison if convicted. buffalo bills player damar hain remains in critical condition in a cincinnati hospital two days after he suffered a cardiac arrest on the field monday night during a game against the cincinnati bengals. the 24-year-old african-american player collapsed after making a tackle. according to his family, hamlin is sedated and on a ventilator after having been resuscitated twice on monday.

a large vigil was held for damar hamlin in buffalo in tuesday. we will have more on this story later in the broadcast. in brazil, mourners lined up for over a mile on tuesday to pay respects to soccer legend pelé who died last week at the age of 82. pelé was buried in the city of santos in the world's tallest vertical cemetery, which overlooks the stadium where peée first rose to fame. brazil's new president luiz inácio lula da silva spoke at pelé's funeral tuesday. >> pelé represents everything we could rise from the human species. he was a young player, the most fantastic thing that pelé never tried to be something he wasn't. it was always humble. he was a person who spoke as an equal to everyone. in the interviews you realize he

is an ordinary citizen and he was not carried away by his brilliance but the glory the whole world came today. amy: and google highlighted the legendary egyptian writer ihsan abdel kouddous on tuesday with one of its honorary doodles on its homepage. kouddous was an egyptian journalist and author who wrote over 20 novels and 600 short stories, making him one of the most prolific and popular arab writers of the 20th century. he was jailed several times by successive egyptian rulers and faced multiple assassination attempts. he died in 1990 but his work remains widely read across the arab world. he is also the grandfather of democracy now! correspondent sharif abdel kouddous, who wrote about his legacy on the google doodle page. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

today we look at the republican house adjourning day one without a speaker. back in a minute. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "missed the boat" by modest mouse. the bands co-founder and drummer jeremiah green died at the age of 45 of cancer on saturday. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show on capitol hill, where far right lawmakers have blocked kevin mccarthy's initial attempts to become speaker of the house. in a dramatic day on tuesday, the house held three votes to pick a new speaker. mccarthy felt increasingly short of the needed 218 votes even though republicans now hold the slim majority in the house. on the first two ballots, 19 republicans opposed mccarthy. on the third ballot, the number

of defectors increased to 20. this marks the first time since 1923 -- years ago -- that voting 100 for speaker went beyond the first round. during the historic second round of votes, republican jim jordan nominated kevin mccarthy for house speaker for that historic second ballot and after this, tuesday. republican matt gaetz rose to nominate jordan instead. >> i rise to nominate the most talented, hardest working member of the republican congress who just gave a speech with poor vision then we have ever heard from the alternative on -- i am nominating jim jordan. in go congressman gaetz is the subject of an ongoing justice department probe into allegations he was involved in sex trafficking, prostitution, and statutory rape. after the third vote, the house voted to adjourn until today at

>> -- at noon. >> the total number of votes cast is 434, of which t honorable hakeem jeffries of the state of new york has received 212 -- [cheers] the honorable kevin mccarthy at the state of california has received 202. [cheers] the honorable jim jordan of the state of oo has received 20. no person having received a majoty of the whole number of votes cast, a speaker has not been elected. amy: congressman mccarthy said late tuesday he has no plans to

drop his bid and was inspired to fight to the finish to become house speaker after a phone call with former president donald trump. but what trump actually told mccarthy was, "we'll see what happens." among hardline republicans who say they will continue to vote no on mccarthy is lauren boebert, who spoke to reporters tuesday. >> if you go to the american people and ask them if congress is doing a good job, if they like the way things are run in washington, d.c., you're probably going to get a big hell no. we want to change the way things are done here. amy: meanwhile, republican marjorie taylor green openly attacked her former ally lauren boebert, matt gaetz, and others over the speaker vote. >> i have not asked for one thing for myself and i am the only republican that has zero committees. you would think i would be the one in there asking for something, but i've not done that. but i find out it is my

colleagues and my supposed friends that went and did that? they asked nothing for me. nothing. that is what i found out in there. i am furious. amy: it is i'm clear how long it will take for the house to pick a speaker but until they do so, that house cannot connect other business, including the swearing that of new house members. public representative elect george santos said he was sworn in and later had to delete the press release. earlier in the day, santos sat alone as his colleagues in the busy house chamber avoided him. cameras showed republican matt gaetz approached them a credit commerce member alexandria ocasio-cortez to ask if democrats would bailout mccarthy as mccarthy reportedly told republicans. she said there would be no deal. democrats reunited in their nomination of congress never hit keene jeffries as house speaker, making him the first black lawmaker in history to lead a

party in congress and be nominated as house speaker posted jeffries actually won more votes than mccarthy in the first round. this is democratic congress member pete aguilar. >> today, that clark, house democrats are united. a nickel for more on republicans -- amy: for more on republican shaping congress, we are joined by robert draper,. author of "weapons of mass delusion: when the republican party lost its mind." his recent new york times magazine story is headlined "inside the january 6 committee: power struggles, resignations and made-for-tv moments -- the untold story of the most important congressional investigation in generations." robert draper, thank you so much for joining us. can you talk about this group of

far right republicans who have stopped mccarthy from becoming house speaker -- at least at this point? you have written an entire book about this. >> i have written a couple, actually. this is a train that has been coming down the track for a while. , principally members of the house freedom caucus, who are determined to show the sort of maga being -- base that still forms the backbone of the republican party. they're fighting against kevin mccarthy, they have never altogether trusted or liked. mccarthy has offered himself up as someone who will help conservatives get what they want, but does not possess similar ideology and they're all too aware of that.

again, it is unclear how this ends but it has been inevitable. it is been quite apparent to those of us following what has been going on on the hill. this speaker battle was going to happen and mccarthy was not going to get 218 votes. amy: tell us individually about these people. they supported him -- surprising to see marjorie taylor greene attacking her colleagues who she has so often banded together with. and who they are, like paul gosar of arizona. >> you are correct probably the most remarkable development in all of this has been the alliance that marjorie taylor greene has forged with mccarthy. not because she is deeply affectionate toward the guy, but because she believes the republican party has to stand

for something and has to try to accomplish certain things and can't do so without a speaker and can't do so without a speaker who has some legislative chops, who has been around the block. she finds herself in opposition with fellow members of the house freedom caucus, such as paul gosar, who is been around since the tea party days. he was elected in 2010 and has always been something of a marginal catcher in the house. but when the stop the steal began following trump's defeat in 2020, gosar led the forefront of it, the first person to stand up with you a senator and basically reject the certification of the electoral votes in his state of arizona. so you have people who are natural allies who are now against each other. it has gotten quite personal. greene is upset with her

colleagues. she feels they're doing things for their own personal benefit and have excluded her from that process. and there is no end game except to get plum committee assignments. amy: who is kevin mccarthy? >> mccarthy joined in 2006 i believe and has been a very ambitious guy, climbing up the leadership chain from really the moment of his arrival. he was the house majority whip when the republicans took power back from the democrats following the tea party election in 2010. it has been evidence for those of us on the hill that mccarthy has had his eye on the speaker's gavel for quite some time and came close in 2014, failed, and now is his opportunity. the problem with mccarthy is, as i referenced before, he doesn't

have a particular ideology. it is unclear what he believes in other than his own desire to wield power. he has tried to stay close to former president trump, acting under the belief if trump should oppose the republicans, that he could really flutter the party for all time. he tried to bring trump into the fold, and that is part of the reason why he has remained close to marjorie taylor greene who is sort of the proximate warrior on capitol hill to the american movement. it appears right now mccarthy -- maga movement. it appears mccarthy is trying to play game of chicken with the far right. if i were mccarthy, i would be concerned in particular about the level of support he has shown for donald trump who spoke with him on the phone last night, mccarthy, emerged from that phone conversation saying trump gave him his support and we have not heard trump say that himself.

i think what trump dislikes more than anything is losing losers and does not want to be associated with a loser. if it appears mccarthy is going to go down in defeat, trump will distance himself from mccarthy very quickly. he is not going to spend whatever is left of his political capital supporting a guy who does not stand a chance of winning. amy: most of the people voting against mccarthy supported insurrectionists. can you really separate kevin mccarthy from that? although at the time you could tell he was opposed to what was happening on january 6, he immediately went down to mar-a-lago and kiss the ring of donald trump and try to prevent an investigation into what took place. he really is together with them. it ihard to separate it. >> at the same time, trump recognizes mccarthyist and everything you just described out of political calculation,

not particular belief. there's is very little evidence to suggest kevin mccarthy believed the election was stolen, believed trump should remain in office through any and all means necessary. there is evidence instead to believe mccarthy was deeply alarmed by what took place at the capitol, as i reported in my book. he said to trump on the phone that afternoon, you are effing trying to kill me. trump's nose mccarthy's alliance is of political calculation and not loyalty. even if mccarthy were a true diehard loyalist, that means nothinin the world of donald trump. trump is going to stay with someone who makes him look good, who supports his agenda, his unswervingly loyal to him. mccarthy can be all of those other things but if it appears he's going to be defeated, then

trump will back away. amy: i want to bring into this conversation with robert draper, david dayen, executive editor of the american prospect, where his recent pieces are headlined "2023: a year for executive action" and "democrats frittered away the lame-duck session." in the executive branch, the biden administration -- let's look at what has happened and also what isn't being paid attention to, david dayen. you have at the same time that all of this is happening, new house rules under republican control. can you lay out what they are? >> obviously, they have not voted on them yet until they vote for speaker but there is a rules package th has beeset up. therare many things in it, some of them ornamental,

removing the security machinery to go under the house floor that was put in place after january 6 , things of that nature. but one consequential thing, at least for members of the congressional staff, is that a series of unions at congressional offices that were put in place after a resolution in may that implemented regulations of the 1995 law that allows congressional staff to organize, that the rules package attends to eliminate those unions. there are about 10 offices that have either voted to unionize or set up an election to vote on that -- on whether or not to do so. these are all democratic offices , about 100 staffers. this is a republican party,

being newly emboldened to be for the working class, people like senator josh hawley said we have to make a workers party. in the first thing they're going to do after they elect a speaker is put forward a rules package to eliminate unions within your own workplace. so i think it is an interesting contrast -- it is not entirely clear that the rules package could even do this and might be subject to litigation down the road. amy: going back to robert draper, in addition to her book just out "weapons of mass delusion: when the republican party lost its mind," you also have a major piece in the new york times magazine. in it you talk about the january 6 committee. one of the decisions the republican leadership, if they end up -- if one of them ends up being house speaker -- who knows

at this point, hakeem jeffries is the one with the most votes although he does not have the majority. you wrote -- talk about -- summarize -- it was a massive piece, but what we should understand about what this investigation and this committee was all about. >> i would say at its baseline, the january 6 committee was set up to understand how the capitol right took place, what elements were involved in it in an effort to attempt insurrection from occurring in the future. but as the hearings involved, became quite clear that the focus, the principal target was the president of the united states, the timedonald trump,

because it was believed and the evidence was supporting this, believed trump was the principal actor. that the insurrection would not have occurred were it not -- but for his deeds in the weeks leading up to and on the day of january 6. that is the evidence that was marginal. now it has disbanded, republicans are intimating that they are in essence going to investigate the investigators, that they are going to look into the files of the january 6 committee gather but did not promote in an effort, to suggest nancy pelosi was the one who is really responsible for the security failures on january 6. this is a double-edged sword. it is certainly true the so-called blue team of the january 6 committee to develop a lot of information relating to

security lapses. it was not emphasized in the final report. at the same time, for this republican congress to continue to labor over the misdeeds of donald trump however they wish to explain it, it is something just going to mean an inability to turn the page and to move away not even so much from donald trump but from a conversation about malfeasance that occurred principally by republicans up to and on january 6. it is not a good look for them. and i think it is a classic case of "be careful what you wish for." amy: robert, before you go, there was an astounding moment yesterday where you saw this image of aoc, the congressmember from new york city come sitting with paul gosar, the arizona congressman, who tweeted out a cartoon where he murdered her.

he was censured for this. if we could end our conversation with you by you talking about what you think this group that does not want mccarthy as the house speaker will represent and push forward and do you think they will gain enormous power in this new house? >> briefly, what apparently that conversation was about between gosar and alexandria ocasio-cortez was there have been intimations from kevin mccarthy and his allies that they had secured pledges from certain democrats at a certain point to peel away from hakeem jeffries and simply vote "present" which would enable mccarthy to gain more votes. what else ebay was a partly telling gosar was, no such deal -- what alexandria ocasio-cortez was apparently telling gosar was, no such deal.

some of the others, what they will hopefully hope to get is jim jordan as speaker. jordan has made clear that he not only supports kevin mccarthy but he is not interested in being speaker. who would? this is a very unruly republican bunch and to have to wake up every morning knowing you're going to be whipping votes, going to try to accommodate is very committed very fractured republican conference is a real headache. it is what patrick mchenry, mccarthy ally and has been talked about as a fallback option, would rather be chairman of financial services. these guys have taken themselves out of the game because they recognize what it would be to try to herd the cats in this republican party. amy: accused by one young man after another of knowing about

the sexual attacks on these young men within the wrestling team. >> that's right. that controversy has followed jordan for years. it does not seem to have uprooted any support for him within the republican party. i don't think that is the principal reason why jordan wants somewhat out of the limelight. in fact, there's plenty of evidence to suggest he rather enjoys having a lot of attention focused on him. i think it is more he recognizes that this republican party -- to answer your question -- isn't sure what it wants. what they're end game is in try to oppose kevin mccarthy suggest more of a political performanc art than it does any actual purpose or any actual ideological intent. amy: and those young wrestlers who accused congressman jordan were accusing him of knowing

about an abusive ohio state doctor who sexual he assaulted them. robert draper, thank you for been with us author of "weapons , of mass delusion: when the republican party lost its mind." david dayen, i want to ask you a last question about the piece you wrote "2023: a year for executive action." talk about what you think needs to happen now. >> look, in the last 24 hours as we have been looking at this farce happening on the house floor come as you mentioned in the headlines, the fda approved the use of a drug to be puhased at pharmacies, next ordinary ruling to the office of legal counsel in the justice department saying the u.s. postal service could ship the drug even to read states where abortion is banned. the banking glitters put out a warning to various banks saying

cryptocurrencies if there are held in their portfolios would represent a lack of safety and souness in the banking system. governing happens other than in places like capitol hill. the biden administration and congress passed major laws like the upper structure bill, which biden will be speaking about today, like the inflation reduction act which has an extraordinaramount of fundi for greenhouse gas emissions, like the chip and science act for manufacturing. all of those have to be implement it. so it is not one to be about legislative action. the house can't even figure out who to run it. but it can be a time of real governing change if these laws get implement it.

if there are it in ways that have corporate interest or not is critical. aftethe passage of the dodd-frank law, lobbyists said this was halftime and in the second half they would go to the various regulatory and try to mold the rules that have to be written out of that law to their particular interest. and we are going to see that again. it is critical to cover this aspect of the story, the second half, to shed some light on the fact of what these lobbyists and corporate interests are doing to try to mold these various laws and whether or not they're going to meet the full potential that the biden administration wants. two me that is the story of the next year. amy: david dayen, thank you for been with us, executive editor of the american prospect, where -- and we will let you articles.

next up, buffalo bills damar remains and critical condition in a cincinnati hospital two days after he suffered a cardiac arrest on the field monday night. we will speak with former nfl player donté stallworth who's at the game, saw hamlin collapse, and longtime sports journalist william rhoden, author of "forty million dollar slaves: the rise, fall and redemption of the black athlete." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "walk on by" by dionne warwick. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. buffalo bills football player damar hamlin remains in critical condition in a cincinnati hospital two days after he suffered a cardiac arrest on the field monday night during a game against the cincinnati bengals. the 24-year-old collapsed after making a tackle.

medical staff administered cpr, used a defibrillator to restore his pulse before bringing an ambulance onto the field. the game and definitely suspended as other players wept. damar hamlin was rushed to the university of cincinnati medical center where he is now was to according to his family, hamlin is sedated on a ventilator after having been resuscitated twice on the field. i a large vigil was held for him in buffalo on tuesday. damar hamlin's injury can just minutes after the buffalo bills defensive back johnson left the game with a head injury and just days after the miami dolphins quarterback suffered his third head injury of the season following a concussion that left him hospitalized in week 4. we're joined now by two guests.

william rhoden is a longtime sports journalist and author of "forty million dollar slaves: the rise, fall and redemption of the black athlete." he was a columnist for the new york times until 2016 and is now a columnist with espn's andscape. and donté stallworth is a sports commentator and former nfl player who spent 10 years in the league. let's begin with you. you were watching the game, to say the least, highly unusual moments, though one athlete after another so often must leave for injuries. to see this happen on the field, talk about your response and what took place monday night. >> my initial response when this happened, i was horrified. i was watching it live from my couch. i had taken a nap prior to that and set my alarm to make sure i was awake to watch this huge game, two of the best teams in the nfl about to ay a vy

important game was huge magnitude. when i saw this happen to damar, i knew something immediately was amiss, something was different about this injury. we see players break bones, get concussed and those are horrifying injuries, but it is unfortunately part of the game we play. when you saw damar fall and we saw him collapse after he had already gotten up after what was a routine ay in the nfl -- it wasn't anything vicious or egregious or illegal about this play, was a routine nfl play. normal tackle. both players got up. damar collapsed to the ground. i immediately looked to the reaction of the players. as the minutes went by, you could not see what was happening on the field with damar but you saw the players visceral reaction to what was happening in front of their faces. and that to me told the entire

story, told me these players were witnessing something traumatic that they have never seen before. out of all of the injuries you have in the nfl, all of the egregious things we have seen, the emotions of the players let me know this was something dramatic they were experiencing, something unprecedented. amy: bill rhoden, i think the name, the title of your book is so telling, "$40 million slaves." you are covered unmanned, player with another injury, and how many people know right before damar collapsed, another buffalo bills player was taken off the field with a head injury, aaron johnson. if you can put this all together. talking about the violent game. >> happy new year, quote unquote.

i'm still trying to put this together. i think everybody still trying to process this. frankly, amy, i have been doing a series of pcs on lamar jackson and how he is injured and not himself. i have been spending the last 48 hours doing a lot of soul-searching because one of the things i realized is i have been covering this stuff almost 40 years. in the process of covering the nfl, guys who played, i realize as a journalist i have become a little to sensitize. as donté said, you are of used to honest every other play, guys going down, players get around him on one knee, sometimes he is up on his o power, sometimes carted off. fans will applied. then you're onto the next play.

i was following my story and watching this in a café and one commercial came by and two and three and i was like, oh, man. i always thought, what would happenf a player dd on the field in high-profile nfl game? because allf this -- we talk about the violence of the game but i think for a lot of people, the kind of violence is cartoon characters. not really real. you know -- and right now i think the problem is we don't really know. a, man, i hope this young man is ok. but moving forward and maybe donté can speak to this, how do you even begin to play again? remember, i don't know if you noticed it, but shortly after

the whole buffalo defense unit was getting ready to head back on the field. somebody had said, well, let's give them some warm-up time. somebody said, you cannot continue playing this game. you cannot continue playing this game. so now i think moving forward, how does this nfl -- nfl can print money. tv contracts, you have all of these things that hinge on outcomes, standings, the super bowl coming up, playoffs. hodoes the nfl begin to balance continuing to play the games? and how do the players process this? buffalo says, we can't play another game. my immediate concern and prayer is that this young man pulls out of this and there is some type

of good news. but then moving forward, what are the conversations we are having in the breach, in the silence? what kind of conversations are we having about this game? and let's talk about that. bill, yes secured not exactly joked but said, the coffer the venting of the game? why not? >> go ahead, donté. amy: ok, donté. >> i think when you look at the importance of the health of damar hamlin, i also want to reiterate to that we are honestly pushing for the best case scenario which is that he can resume a normal and healthy life, forget the nfl, forget playing again. if he is email able to do that, that is great and that is his decision. if he wants to do that, if he is able to post of the most important thing is he is able to resume a normal and healthy life

again. that is the best possible outcome here. these injuries that we have seen players take the past few decades, especially with all that we have learned in 2012, more of the research we have kind of learned through concussions, through brain injuries. these are tough injuries but these are injuries that happen in front of our eyes and these players are carted off and the game resumes. i do want to tip my hat to the nfl in general and i was a more specifically the head coacheof cincinnati bengalsnd the buffalo bills and subsequently the players. they were not going back out there regardless of whatever the nfl was going to say or not going to say about the game resuming, about the game and resumed in the next 24 hours or the next 36, 48 hours. the players were traumatized and

their coaches saw this and they both got together and said, we're going to the locker room and speak to the officials, speak to the officials in the nfl and basically read array to them that they are not able to mentally go back out. they have their own position. not really sure how the players from -- the cincinnati bengals as well. i don't know how they go out and play again this weekend. are really don't. we have this mentality in the nfl that is pretty accustomed to being an nfl player where you have this mentality, next guy up. a guy gets hurt, regardless of what the injury is, there has to be a next man up. th feel his role and fit that piece in the puzzle to help the team when the game. that is something we compartmentalize, mental health issues. we compartmentalize physical pain to be able to go out and

fill tt next man up problem that we have in the nfl. it is really difficult to tell how a player can go out and play that witnessed this firsthand, that was on the field watching the medical professionals and medical staff administer cpr for several minutes to damar hamlin. these guys are going to be chged forever. is going to be interesting to see how the nfl moves forward. amy: and how the nfl deals with issues like, for example, what is happening with tua. just a few days before, miami dolphin. the whole issue of a concussion protocol and how it has been enforced. that a game even needs this. it is a collision sport. you have soccer, a beautiful game. football, the violent game. bill rhoden, if you could talk about this, how players are diagnosed -- i mean, i am

repeating myself, but aaron johnson was taken off just a few minutes before damar went down? >> it gets the larger point. it almost becomes ash i keep mentioning the word "desensitized." yes, you had one or two injuries. taken off. ok. next man up. you know, the young man who was hurt -- amy: damar. >> damar was next man up. that is what he was in line because he was taking the place of fitzpatrick i believe, right? he was the next n up. whether it is football -- everybody is kind of replaceable. to the larger point, where does the nfl go?

they're not going to chan this nature of the game. you're really not going to change the nature of the game. is there again as we can? there will be guys who are not getting up, guysho are carted off, there will be serious injuries. the larger question is, what do you do? we are not banning the game anytime soon, you know, so like i said, i am the middle of soul-searching. i was at the kentucky derby when eight died. i've been very critical of the horseracing industry. after that happen i said, i am done with this, theay they shoot up horses. i was at "the new york times" for 34 years and at the end of 2016 with the concussions and what we are beginning to find out about what the owners do about concussions, i was almost

at the pnt tn, you know what? i'm done with this. i preciate the fact a lot of people are getting generational wealth. i leased the team my body. i get paid. ieep my fingers crossed i can have a tenure career and get out unscathed. the larger question now while we're waiting to hear what happens, where does the league go from here? i can see -- i would love to hear those conversations between the tv exetives, the nfl people about how do we ay ese games? how do we keep ourselves on schedule? ihink donté mentioned it. this is another conversation for another showbut to me, this is also about guaranteed contracts. the nfl is the only major league

whose players do not have guaranteed contracts. nfl players more than any other team sport deserve guaranteed contracts. if you play this game, you should be taking care of. your contract should be guaranteed. this really is nothing show to talk aut that, but i do think this is something worth fighting for. the owners are saying this is a hill they are going to die on, they're not going to do a baseball does. but if you look at what happens every single game, every single week, these players need to be protected and need to be protected -- amy: bill, interesting you use the term "this is the hill they are going to die on" while athletes are dying. i was wondering if donté could respond to that? in looking at a piece from last year, with the addition of the 17th game on top of the two extra gains, the league added last year, the nfl negotiated

substantially higher rates for its media rights. the new deals which total $100 billion nearly double the amount of the expiring contracts, what is at stake here? >> there's a lot at stake. the nfl being a multi-billion corporation, lots of money is at stake but i do in this moment with this incident being so unprecedented -- i am as skeptical as they come when it comes to multi-billion dollar corporatio. i still enjoy watching the game and still involved in the game by speaking with teams and things of that nature. but i do want toirst -- i want to give the nfl some kudos. they kind of earned the natural skepticism when anything like this happens, they have turned

that over the years. but the fact they canceled the game or postponed the game and said the game would be pla within a week, they are taking steps toretty much show this is an unprecedented situation. i think everything right now is fluid but i doant to say -- to mention kind of piggybacking about players and players health. damar hamlin was only in his second year. he is not a vested player. i believe you have to play three years plus three games. essentially to become vested. you have to play three games in three years to receive pension. you also have to play three years and three games to receive five years health care that the nfl gives to players after they retired. so he has not been a vested player, so there are a lot of things at play here. unfortunately for the nfl, for

the nfl players, that is something that can't be changed i guess until new collective bargaining agreement which they just had one last year or the or before. amy: we have to leave it there. i want to thank you donté stallworth as well as william rh

♪ ♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. russian president vladimir putin has entered the new year determined to press ahead with the war in ukraine. his invasion has not gone the way he had hoped. but now he says he has weapons that other countries can't match. putin met with some of his senior commanders to charge strategy. he announced he pl