04/03/23 04/03/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> it is unusual for former president to be indicted but that is because it is unusual for a president to commit a crime. if donald trump did not want to be indicted, he should not have done the things. amy: donald trump is expected to be arrested in new york on tuesday. he will become the first former u.s. president to ever be charged with a crime. we will speak to elie mystal on

trump's indictment and much more. then a former guantánamo prisoner says like the presidential candidate florida governor ron desantis personally watched him be force-fed and tortured while desantis was working as a navy attorney. we will speak with mansoor adayfi. he was imprisoned without charge at guantánamo for 14 years and seven months. >> force-feeding was used as a torture to break the hunger strike. while i was being for-fed, ron desantis and medical staff are watching me while the nurses used to po ensure io defeating back one after another as i was screaming andhouting and crying. he was smiling and laughin with

the officers and medical staff. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ukraine's military says russian forces are very far from seizing the eastern town of bakhmut ter russia's wagner mercenary group said sunday it raised the russian flag over the decimated city's administration building. this followed a weekend of heavy fighting in bakhmut and other parts of eastern ukraine. in the nearby town of kostiantynivka, at least six people were reported killed from russian shelling. this is a 69 yeaold survivor. >> me and my neighbor ran to the hallway. she is bigger than me and we stood there while everything was shaking because of the explosions.

i had no idea we survived. six people just died. amy: in russia, authorities say they arrested a woman, darya trepova, in connection with a bombing sunday which killed prominent pro-war military blogger vladlen tatarsky in st. petersburg. the russian ambassador to belarus said moscow will station tactical nuclear weapons near belarus' western border with nato nations. nato members will meet this week in brussels, including finland, which will officially become the newest member of the military alliance on tuesday. meanwhile, russia has assumed the presidency of the u.n. security council for the month, in a move blasted by ukraine, as president volodymyr zelenskyy accused the body of bankruptcy. the last time russia held the rotating presidency was in february 2022, the month it invaded ukraine. in finland, prime minister sanna marin has conceded after her center-left social democratic party came in third in sunday's

election behind right-wing and nationalist rivals. the national coalition party, finland's main conservative party, won the most votes though not enough to rule on its own and will have to form a coalition government. the ncp ran on promises of fixing the economy. a series of severe storms fueled an estimated 11 tornadoes across the southern and midwestern u.s. over the weekend, killing at least 32 people. al least one million customers lost power. homes, businesses, and other structures we destrod or badly damaged in states including arkansas, alabama, indiana, mississippi, tennessee, and iowa. an arkansas high school teacher surveyed the damage in her classroom sunday. >> i have taught here 25 years and this is my classroom. when i walked out yesterday, i did not realize that would be the last time i would teach in

this classroom. we got out at 1:30, which was such a god blessing from our superintendent because otherwise, kids would have been on buses and teachers would have still been here. that would have been even more devastating. amy: more severe weather in the affected regions is forecast this week as scientists and the biden administration worn such events are worsening in gravity and in frequency. in afghanistan, the taliban has shut down a women-run radio station for broadcasting songs and music during the month of ramadan. sadai banowan, which means women's voice in dari, was the only station led by women founded a decade ago. it's the latest rights attack from the taliban as women and girls have also been banned from education beyond the sixth grade and most jobs, with the united nations warning the growing discrimination and systemic violence may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity.

he's really poorly shot and killed a palestinian man at the entrance to the alaska mosque saturday. witnesses say soldiers fired more than 20 rounds in less than a minute after them and try to prevent police from harassing a woman who they had stopped on the way to the mosque. the victim, a 26-year-old, was a palestinian citizen of israel who had just finished medical school. in the occupied west bank, palestinian man was fatally shot by an israeli soldier hours later. witnesses say forces would not let maddox access the injured 24-year-old who bled to death. the killings came as the cabinet of israel's far-right prime minister benjamin netanyahu said it had approved a plan to establish a new national guard under the control of israel's ultranationalist national security minister who once was

convicted of racist incitement against palestinians and supporting a terrorist group. in syria, state media is reporting he's really strikes on homs province wounded five soldiers early sunday, at least the night strike since the start of the year. in iran, police have aested a mother and daughter after a viral video showed a man attacking them in a store for not covering their hair in public in the northeastern city of shandiz. the video shows the man confronting the two women as they wt in line at a shop. the ma who later was apparently arrested, appears to shout and then pours what appears to be a tub of yogurt over their heads. the women have since been charged with committing a forbidden act and flouting iran's dress code, whh requires women wear a hijab.

on saturday, iranian president ebrahim raisi reiterated that women must always wear the hijab calling it a religious necessity. the order came even as millions of iranian women and girls continue to routinely ignore the requirement, especially in iran's big cities. this is melika, a 16-year-old in tehran. >> you can't throw a tub of yogurt on a woman's head and think you did something right. it is that person's business. she wanted to dress like that and she dressed however she wanted. it is no one's business. amy: twitter's billionaire owner elon musk has ordered the social media platform to remove a badge showing verified status for "the new york times" after the paper's editors refused to pay for its twitter blue service. this comes after twitter instituted a pay-for-play system in which companies, nonprofits, and government institutions have

to pay $1000 a month to keep check marks showing their accounts have been verified. so far, only a few dozen accounts have seen their badges removed. musk signaled he'd removed "the times'" check mark over its coverage, which he blasted in a tweet as propaganda. other promenade account reportedly including those of white house staffers have refused to pay for twitter blue which has led to fears of misinformation and hate speech by imposter accounts on twitter ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. donald trump's 2024 presidential campaign raised over $4 million in 24 hours following the news last week of his indictment by a manhattan grand jury connected to a 2016 hush money scheme. trump released a fundraising video sunday, two days before his excted arraignment in new york. pres. trump: the election was rigged and stolen but now we're

going to take back our country in 2024. if you are doing well because all of the things have done have brought youealth and prosperity for at least you are extremely comfortable, it would be really great if you could contribute to our campaign. amy: trump is expected to speak from mar-a-lago tuesday evening following his arraignment. invitations have already gone out. over the weekend, trump lashed out against new york supreme court justice who is overseeing his casing "he hates me." it is the same judge who -- meanwhile, former arkansas governor asa hutchinson announced sunday he will run for the republican presidential nomination. hutchinson called on trump to withdraw from the race due to his legal troubles. as governor, hutchinson signed a trigr law banning abortion in 2019 and made arkansas the first state to impose work requirements on medicaid recipients, costing over 18,000

people access to the program before a court blocked the requiremt. millions of u.s. residents are poised to lose free health insurance under the medicaid program as protections put in place at the start of the covid-19 pandemic begin to lapse. under a bipartisan deal reached by congress late last year, states are allowed to remove medicaid recipients from the rolls as early as april 1 unless they prove they still qualify. some residents of five states -- arizona, arkansas, idaho, new hampshire, and south dakota -- have already been kicked off medicaid, part of what the biden administration estimates will ultimately be 15 million people losing benefits, including millions of children. the fda has approved the opioid overdose drug narcan to be sold over-the-counter. narcan, a quick-acting naloxone nasal spray, could become available in pharmacies as well as convenience stores and gas stations by late summer.

opioid overdoses killed over 81,000 people in 2021. it's not yet known how much manufacturer emergent biosolutions will charge for narcan. advocates are calling for the life-saving drug to be distributed for free. democratic senator john fetterman of pennsylvania has checked out of walter reed hospital after receiving in-patient treatment for depression since mid-february. fetterman is scheduled to return to the senate avril 17 -- after april 17 the two-week holiday recess. in a statement, fetterman urged others having mental health challenges to seek help. he spoke candidly about his depression during an interview on cbs's "sunday morning." >> it is like you just won the biggest race in the country and the whole thing about depression is that objectively, you may have won but depression can

absolutely convince you that you lost. that is exactly what happened. that was the start of a downward spiral. and because senator fetterman had a stroke while he was running for the senate against minute eyes but still. -- against dr. minute eyes but still one. amy: california will require half of all heavy trucks sold by 2035 to be electric as it moves to phase out diesel trucks and clean up the state's air. the environmental protection agency on friday granted waivers for california to set its own truck pollution standards that are stricter than federal ones. last year, califnia passed a measure requiring all new passenger vehicles sold to be fully electric by 2035. transportation accounts for some 40% of california's greenhouse gas emissions. supporters of political prisoner mumia abu-jamal are raising alarm after a judge on friday denied his request for a new trial. philadelphia judge lucretia clemons dismissed evidence the

case was tainted by judicial bias, police, and prosecutorial misconduct, and that key witnesses were bribed or coerced. mumia abu-jamal is 68 years old. he suffers from numerous health problems. the journalist and former black panther has maintained his innocence for the four decades he's been in prison after being convicted of murdering a police officer. a federal court blocked tennessee's highly contested law targeting drag performance just hours before it would have gone into effect. the temporary injunction came in response to a lawsuit filed by lgbtq group friends of george's, which argued the legislation is overly broad and violates the first amendment. the measure is the second major legislative attack on the trans community in tennessee. the state also banned gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth last month. and queer and trans youth led actions across the united states friday marking international

transgenr day of visibity amid iensifying discrimition, violence, and anti-trans laws pushed b republicans. here in new york, ndreds took to the streets in a rch organized by nyc youth for trans ghts. democracy now! producers tey-marie astudilland maría tarana were there. they spoke to 17-year-old raven. >> it is amazing to look around and see people who look like me, who know what it is like to be trans. it is so great to watch everybody be happy and be themselves. >> i am the happiest i have been in a really long time in this space with these people. i think is so good for people who think they are allowed to know there are people out there fighting for them, fighting with them, people on their side. a lot of them don't have that. they go through so, so much. gathering around and being a look at people and hug people

and talk to people that are like them, it is something that can really go to hard. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming out, the nation's justice correspondent elie mystal on donald trump's indictment, is coming to new york today, his arrest tomorrow, and much more. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "burn this statehouse down" by mya byrne & paisley fields. just released in response to anti-lgbtqia+ legislation. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on tuesday, former president donald trump is expected to be arraigned in new york on undisclosed charges related to paying hush money to adult film star stormy daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

just before election day. trump will become the first former u.s. president to ever be charged with a crime. he is reportedly facing about 30 criminal counts related to business fraud, but manhattan district attorney alvin bragg has yet to release the exact charges. the charges reportedly include at least one felony. many expect many more. trump's indictment comes as he is campaigning again for the 2024 presidential race. he has reportedly raised over $4 million in campaign donations since the indictment was announced. it was reported that he raised $4 million in the fst 24 hours and en another at least $1 million since. on friday, trump decried the indictment as a "wit hunt" and attacked judge juan merchan claiming that he "hates me." the judge had previously

presided over the trials of the trump organization and cfo allen weisselberg, who remains in prison today. police in new york have already barricaded the court building and trump tower ahead of the possible protests. republican congressmember marjorie taylor greene has said she is heading to new york to take part in protests against trump's arrest. he will fly into new york today. after he is arrested, he is expected to fly back to mar-a-lago and on tuesday night, just after 8:00 p.m., expected holder primetime news conference from his estate at mar-a-lago. or at least give a speech. invitations have already gone out to his supporters. we are joined now by elie mystal, the nation's justice correspondent, author of "allow me to retort: a black guy's guide to the constitution." his recent articles include "donald trump has been indicted. don't get your hopes up."

why not? >> this indictment which we don't know all the details about , two -- present or real account ability is a long process and one we don't know how it is going to turn out. as you pointed out, donald trump is likely to be indicted for charges relating to his hush money pavements actress stormy daniels in 2016. but 2016 is an important date becausthe statute of limitations for campaign finance fraud, which is potentially one of the charges that will be in the indictment, is generally five years. that brings into 2021. we are in 2023. there are some timeline issues with these charges that we have to be concerned about that will -- here's the important thing. there is nothing i know about the statute of limitations that

da alvin bragg does not know. there are a lot of things alvin bragg knows that i don't know. but everything i am saying is what trump's lawyers are going to say. there will be grounds for his appeals both before trial and certainly if we ever get to the point where there is a trial and conviction. these will be opportunities for trump to further delay the process, delay accountability, and ultimately delay justice. amy: were you surprised by this indictment, both the timing but also what you understand -- as you pointed out, it has not been unsealed. it could be unsealed at any point through to tomorrow when he is arraigned, when is expected to be unsealed. >> was i surprised? i'm surprised it did not happen in 2021. that donald trump allegedly committed these tribes is

basically a matter of public record. we know he paid hush money to daniels. we know he lied about it in public. it is easy to infer he lied about it on his business record based on the testimony of his former lawyer michael cohen. all of these charges come allegations, have been a matter of public record for some time now and i have yet to hear a credible explanation for why the southern district of new york now bring the federal law enforcement body in manhattan -- why they did not bring these charges in 2021 when bill barr, we assume, did not allow charges to happen under his watch but once merrick garland took over, why weren't these charges brought in 2021? we don't have a good explanation why the former manhattan d.a. did not bring these charges in

2021 when the statute of limitations certainly had not run out yet. the surprise is the timing of the charges, literally, not the charges themselves. these are things many of us have already baked in that donald trump did, the question is, why wasn't he held accountable for that earlier when it might've been easier to do so. amy: thiis one of donald trump's lawyers speaking on abc's "this week with george stephanopoulos." >> he is gearing up for a battle. this is something we believe is political persecution and i think people on both sides of the i believe it, it is a complete abuse of power. he is a tough guy and someone who going to be ready for this fight. we are ready. i look forward to moving this along as quickly as possible to exonerate him. amy: your response? >> first of all, donald trump is not a suss guy.

he is a whiny little punk. if he was a tough guy, he would not be crying about political persecution. he would be like, i did not do it, let's go. that is what a tough guy would do. he would make the legal arguments and have his day in court. instead is like, the judges mad at me and i can't get a fair -- that is not possible. number two, the thing these people on the right keep pushing, this idea of if they ca go after donald tmp, they can go after you, too. yes. yes, if you pay hush money to any actress to cover up an affair and then lie about it on your taxes, they can in fact go after you, too. they would have gone after you if you were a regular person. the only reason why they haven't gone after trump to this point is political.

the idea that he is being prosecuted now, being indicted now because he was a president? no, he has a bit i indicted already because of his political stature -- he has not been indicted already because of his political stature. that is now coming back around on him and overly this is only the first of many indictments that trump will be seeing over the course of 2023. amy: i want to get to the judge. first, alvin bragg, that picture that donald trump tweeted of himself holding a baseball bat and a picture of alvin bragg, the first african-american district attorney. >> donald trump always has smoke for people of color and women. we try to hold them accountable. everybody knows he is going to try to dirty the waters to try to chum the waters with this

racially aggressive stuff. we know that works. the exact same people and marks and dupes that gauge this rich man -- gave this rich man $4 million the last week are the same people that go in for this kind of racialized tension that donald trump -- we know the play. i don't think that play, that play that goes back to 1850, i don't think that is going to work particularly well. i don't think it is going to matter very much in this case. alvin bragg is going to keep doing what he is doing. you've seen how yes responded to the ridiculous requests for information. i think you will keep on -- amy: for people who are not following this closely and the significance of the legislative branch of congress, of congressmember jim jordan

calling for alvin bragg to testify before his committee. >> let's go back to the constitution, which explains the separation of powers in this country. congress is a legislative branch at the federal level. alvin bragg is a local law enforcement figure. there is no covalent's there. there's no legislative purpose for congress to bring bragg -- to haul him into testify. dogmas that are unsealed -- that are sealed to this point, jim jordan doesn't even know what he is talking about. bragg made that point. there's no reason for bragg to show up and testify. it is trump supporters and trump sycophants trying to muddy the waters with the appearance of impropriety. trump has legitimate people

defenses here. if he was tough, if any of his maga bros were tough, instead of doing this stuff, they would simply find the charges as they are. they have an actual defense. they don't want to do that, they want to do this chumming that we have seen and jim jordan is one of the masters of that, of a person who abuses his power in congress to try to advance maga causes. i don't expect alvin bragg will respond. trump will will throw a lot of stuff against the wall. i don't think a lot of it will stick. where he is going to be benefited is from the fact this will take a lot of time to go from indictment to an actual trial and conviction. trump can most likely do what he

usually does, which is delay accountability until justice is denied. amy: donald trump wrote on truth social friday -- "the judge 'assigned' to my witch hunt case, a 'case' that has never been charged before, hates me. his name is juan manuel marchan, was hand picked by bragg and the prosecutors, and is the same person who 'railroaded' my 75 year old former cfo allen weisselberg, to take a 'plea' deal, plead guilty even if you are not, 90 days continues life in jail. he strong armed allen, which a judge is not allowed to do, and treated my companies, which didn't 'plead,' viciously." he spelled the judge's name wrong. talk about the significance of this.

>> i can't because none of what he said is true. none of it is true at all. that statement you just read, amy, there was nothing there. judge marchant was not handpicked i alvin bragg. it is a random system of assigning judges -- amy: in this case, the reason that he got it apparently is because he did preside over the case of weisselberg and a trump organization and bragg made the argument that this is related. so we did not go to the random system but it went because he randomly was judge -- chosen for that. looks but bragg did not pick him. i'm saying a random thing happened at the start of trump world indictments. he was randomly chosen for the initial -- therefore, since he is going to get -- but he did not pick them.

there's no ability for prosecutor to pick the judge that they have. maybe trump because of how he went through impeachment links as usual for people to be able to pick their own judges but that is not how it works. they're not going to pick him -- they did not railroad weisselberg into that plea. he took it because weisselberg did not want to flip on trump. that is how that went down. this is our normal process -- i can't say normal because it is not normal to charge former presidents but to the extent that trump is being treated like a normal defendant, this is what normal defendants face all the time and quite frankly, i bet a lot of other defendants would love to be arraigned and fly back to the golf clubs and give a press conference. they are already taking advantage of the system and the

way powerful white rich man can. the assignment process is against him is just not true. amy: it is interesting the attack on juan merchen because it reminds you of another judge, judge curiel when president when trump was running for president the first time. judge curiel was a judge overseeing the case against trump diversity in san diego. -- university in san diego. trump called him a hater who is being unfair to him because the judge is hispanic and trump was building a wall. u put that altogether. >> that works for his base. that kind of attack works for the people who are already on his side, which is why i disagree with a lot of the coverage that is coming from mainly mainstream media, mainly corporate media, that "charging

the president will rip the country apart." what won't. he has his crazy people and they will continue to support him and believe the things that come out of trump's mouth. the rest of us won't. that is already baked into the system. the idea that holding somebody accountable somehow further divides the country, are you kidding me? we cannot be more divided than we already are when we have 30%, perhaps 40% of people actually believing this man and the rest of us believing in like facts and truth and physics. amy: elie mystal, the call of a number of news organizations for judge merchen to allow cameras in this trial, that it is a serious public interest, the public is

extremely interested? >> i believe we should always have cameras in the courtrooms. courtrooms are houses of the public. i understand why some judges don't want them to be. i think they always fear the way the media circus can be created from these trials. again, legal arguments -- they are dry and technical and sometimes people who aren't knowledgeable about them can get the wrong impression and say the wrong thing, take the wrong lessons from them. that is why judges resist having cameras in the courtroom. but that is an argument, not a great one. i think in this one, as in every case, there should be cameras allowed in the courtroom. but it ain't my courtroom so we will have to see. amy: we are talking to elie mystal, the nation magazines

justice correspondent. he wrote an interesting piece about another topic. last thursday a texas federal judge blocked the affordable care act mandate for health insurance companies to provide preventive care. you tweeted -- talk about what is at stake here. >> one of the most lifesaving aspects of the affordable care act is the fact it forces insurance companies to cover preventative care was to people forget before the affordable care act it was hard to get insurance companies to cover preventative care. if you are poor or even middle-class, a lot of times it was more cost-effective for you

to get sick because then your insurance would kick in. trying to take steps to not get sick would be prohibitively expensive before obamacare. that is what obamacare fixed. because conservatives don't like obamacare, the fedsoc judges, particular this one, made it his life's mission to destroy obamacare have gutted that -- basically three agencies that determine what is preventative care or not. o'connor gutted one of them and i'm forgetting the acronym right now but the task force he gutted is the one that covers, among other things, cancer screenings, hiv transmission preventative drugs, and prenatal care. the hypocrisy of these people

who out of one side of their mouth literally force women to give birth, to bring pregnancies to term against their will, but then will not cover, won't force insurance companies to cover prenatal care -- amy: and we are talking about birth control, right? >> there are three institutions that determine preventative care. the one that pushed the country for -- contraception mandate, i'm talking about prenatal care and cancer screenings and the other does contraception and another does vaccinations. the contraception and the -- those were left to stand at this point so far, the one cancer and prenatal care, that one was knocked down. amy: so what happens next? it doesn't just come out right away for people who are afraid because obamacare is actually

forward funded, so if this funding goes forward for year or so before it could be -- that judge could be blocked. >> i don't know. i'm not sure about the timing. it could happen faster than you are saying. i am not sure about the timing. the point is this will be appealed and we will have to see if a higher court in the situation, which is an extremely conservative court, whether or not they stay or block the ruling pending the appeal of the case. we don't know that yet. hopefully, they do block it because this is a judge who doesn't just have a history of trying to take down obamacare, has a history of being wrong. this is one of the few conservative judges that is so far to the right, that even other conservative courts routinely overrule him. so one would hope this latest

conservative wacky doodle ruling is temporary block until there is an appeal where he will likely be overruled. amy: on friday, federal judge in memphis, tennessee, temporarily blocked and lost signed by tennessee gov. bill lee banning drag performances in public. meanwhile in an interview on "60 minutes" with lesley stahl, the far right republican congress member marjorie taylor greene said she stands by her claim that democrats are a party of pedophiles. >> the democrats are a party of pedophiles. >> i would deftly say so. they support -- >> they are not pedophiles. why would you say that? >> even joe biden the president himself supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries, sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children. >> wow.

ok. amy: that was lesley stahl questioning marjorie taylor greene. elie mystal, your final cummins? >> that was lesley stahl laundering marjorie taylor greene and her wacky doodle theories. lesley stahl should have been prepared to come back with a senate republican -- the point is not lesley stahl. the point is tennessee's drag and was always against the first amendment. one of the things the republicans are trying to do is to directly attack the first amendment when it suits them to try to push the bigotry against the lgbtq community was always like is the first amendment.

even with our conservative court, expect generally that law do not pass muster and be blocked all the way up to the supreme court. amy: elie mystal, iq for being with us the nation's justice , correspondent, author of "allow me to retort: a black guy's guide to the constitution." we will link to recent articles, including "donald trump has been indicted. don't get your hopes up." go to democracynow.org. coming up, we will speak with former guantánamo prisoner mansoor adayfi who gives his first television interview about how likely presidential candidate florida governor ron desantis personally watched him before sped and tortured while desantis was working as a navy attorney at guantánamo. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "no war" by death from above 1979. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as former president and 2024 presidential candidate donald trump prepares to be arrested on tuesday, we turn now to look at a growing controversy about one of trump's likely presidential

opponents, florida governor ron desantis, widely expected to seek the republican nomination for president. prior to entering politics, desantis served in the navy as an attorney at the u.s. prison at guantánamo and in fallujah, iraq. desantis' time at guantanamo is coming under scrutiny after a former prisoner named mansoor adayfi revealed that desantis had personally witnessed him being force fed and tortured. other prisoners have backed up adayfi's account. last month, desantis tonight authorizing force-feeding at guantánamo. >> "the washington post" did a deep dive about what you did. one of the things they said is you authorize the use of force-feeding. force-feeding detainees who were on hger stke. was that true? >> was a junior officer.

i did nohave the authority to authorize anything. there may have been a command who would have done feeding if someone was going to dive. cook so that is wrong? >> absolutely. amy: that is ron desantis last month. in an interview five years ago in 2018, desantis admitted to cps miami that he had authorized force-feeding. >> i was a legal advisor. the thing you notice when you get down there, for these detainees, the jihad was still ongoing and they would wage jihad anyway they could. they were interfacility so it was limited, but they would do hunger strikes. you had detainees that committed suicide on hunger strikes. everything at that time was legal in nature in one way or than another. the commander was to know, how do i combat this? one of the jobs of the legal advisor is to say, hey, you can force-feed come here are the rules. amy: that was ron desantis in

2018. as he was running for governor in florida. with desantis expected to soon launch a run for the white house, we are joined by former guantánamo prisoner mansoor adayfi. at the age of 18, adayfi left his home in yemen to do research in afghanistan. shortly before he was scheduled to return home, he was kidnapped by afghan warlords and sold to the cia after the september 11 attacks. he was jailed and tortured in afghanistan, then transported to the u.s. military prison at guantánamo in 2002, where he was held without charge for 14 years, many of those years in solitary confinement. mansoor adayfi joins us now from his home in belgrade, syria. in 2021, he published a memoir titled "don't forget us here: lost and found at guantánamo." mansoor adayfi, welcome back to

democracy now! >> hi, amy. good morning, america. amy: it is great to have you with us. you are speaking to the world right now at democracynow.org. you were detainee 441. explain your connection to the current florida governor desantis. >> as you know, let me give why i was on hunger strike in the first place. we were transferred to guantánamo and spent years without -- until now, without any charges or someone. the end of 2002, they turned guantánamo into an experiment in level. the situation got worse every month and every year.

managed a mess hunger strike. they tried to negotiate with us on the hunger strike. we agreed. by the beginning of 2006, anyone can see -- one was a young handsome officer who came to talk to us. he was there to ensure we were being treated humanely. we talked to him about why we were on hunger strike, what were our demands. he said what always people try to turn our actions in guantánamo to jihad -- that happened all the time. these were our demands. stop the torture. we were asking for living conditions. he was assuring us that the thing would change and he would

make sure that we were treated humanely. i think less than two months, we were dragged to solitary confinement. a new medical team arrived and a start forcing two feet as. no problem with the force-feeding, they used it as a means of torture. i was taken -- i was forced fed and a chair. i could not move at all. they started with the nurses pouring ensure one after another. during the feeding a group of officers arrived at the observers, the medical staff, interrogators. they were behind the fence.

one of them was ron desantis. he was in a military uniform. while i was screaming, yelling because i could not breathe with the ensure and i was bleeding because they inserted the tube through my nose. i was calling out asking, and he was laughing and smiling. this is my first encounter, second encounter with ron desantis. first, the force-feeding he came to talk to other prisoners. the second was the force-feeding. he wasn't there to give orders, he was that she wasn't giving orders to the guards, but he was there supervising, watching. when asked other prisoners who were also being force fed if

they saw him, they said yes. amy: we are also showing images of your remarkable artwork, your drawing of being force fed as you speak. i want to turn right now to another former what otto prisoner who -- guantánamo prisoner who democracy now! reached last week who also remembers ron desantis at guantánamo. >> desantis, he was there. we did not recognize his name until we saw him in the media and then we heard about he is now working in congress, a guard who was working along time ago for the government, a lawyer. he's doing the same thing as the guards. he was siding with the guards,

with the administration there. he was a link of that chain, people who were involved with injustices, wrongdoing, mistreatment of detainees, putting people -- detainees and integrating conditions -- in new grading conditions. many of these are not suitable for animals, not for humans. amy: that was a former guantanamo prisoner. he was released in 2015. mansoor, you also contacted former prisoners via whatsapp to see if they remembered ron desantis. for our tv viewers, we are showing the screenshot of one of the people who responded to you. he wished to remain anonymous.

his message says, in translation -- "yes, i remember him, he was in detention with a group of officers who hurt and tortured us a lot. may allah publish them all." i assume it means "punish" them all. can you talk further about how the force-feeding felt and if there were any guards who were doing to this -- if you can tell us who they were, who are putting in these tubes -- who objected? >> this is the difference between the force-feeding and using it as a means of torture. some prisoners spent between two to 15 years of force-feeding daily. in the morning and afternoon or night. they would do it after sunset.

there were medical professionals. there were nurses and doctors. but in 2006, and i talked about this in my book, what happened in 2006 was not the worst years where they started by punishing prisoners and tortured the hunger strikers with force-feeding and detainees were shot. many detainees died this year. in 2006 when ron desantis was there witnessing the torture of the force-feeding, they had 18 french tubes or 25 french and they just push it in our nose

. guards and medical staff, sorry, where there doing the force-feeding. i got fed five times a day. they left me all night and the force-feeding chair. nutritioliquid. while in the force-feeding chair, we would soil ourselves. thsecond day -- we could be three days, five days. the ensure, five boxes or more d the force-feeding bag, i choked. i was really drowning.

i was throwing up. ron desantis was there behind the fence and the officers when i was throwing up. it was too much in my stomach. they jumped back, cleaning themselves, looking at me. i felt i had done something at least worth it. while i was throwing up, the two came out my mouth. i remember the nurse grabbed the tube and she was like, have to start to eat. th lasted for me for five days and i had no choice. i could die or stop the hunger strike. i was force-fed again in 2009, 2013. that time they did it professionally. we could cooperate with them. the only time the force-feeding was used as torture was 2006,

there were also other years were some medical teams would try to pressure us to stop the hunger strike. amy: in 2006, lawyers for another prisoner argued the military made the force-feeding process unnecessarily painful and humiliating to break the hunger strike at the time, something like 100 of the prisoners were on hunger strike. i wanted to ask you why you think that ron desantis, now the governor of florida, has hardly mentioned his time, his experience at guantanamo in his new book "the courage to be free those quote and also ask you about his time in fallujah, which is very interesting, going back to iraq. you have -- he arrived in 2007

right after he was at guantánamo during the search. according to a book with the tampa bay times" he served as a senior legal advisor to the seal task force in fallujah. the navy captain. talk about the legacy of fallujah. >> first of all, you didn't mention much because we knew who is part of that she was a legal advisor -- he was a legal advisor. the mission was to cover up what had been in 2006. for what i have read and seen, we all know what happened in fallujah. the death of civilians using

uranium and someone. i would like to say to americans, watch out for that person. he will use the truth to serve his own political interest. amy: we're going to do a second part of this interview and post it at democracynow.org. you just wrote an op-ed piece in the guardian about the biden administration perseus decision around the artwork of the -- administrations decision around the artwork of guantánamo prisoners and show more of your images that you drew while in guantánamo. mansoor adayfi ♪♪ [music break] as a former guantánamo prisoner, detainee 441, imprisoned without charge for 14 years and seven months before being released in 2016 to serbia.

we spoke to him in belgrade. his memoir is titled "don't forget us here: lost and found at guantánamo." that does it for our show. democracy now! is currently accepting applications for a digital fellow. go to democracynow.org for more information. ■■÷

. hello. welcome back to nhk "newsline." police in new york are bracing for protests and celebrations, the likes of which they've never seen seen. they're tight ping securi