04/04/23 04/04/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! it is history in the making as donald trump prepares to be arraigned on over 30 counts, making him the first former u.s. -- u.s. president to be first criminally charged. we will speak to pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnson who has been reporting on trump for decades. then voters are heading to the polls for a mayoral election in chicago and for a critical supreme court election in wisconsin.

we will talk to mother jones reporter ari berman about how this race could decide the fate of democracy in wisconsin and the 2024 election. then finland joined nato. >> today is an historic day because we will welcome finland as the 31st member of our alliance. this will make finland safer and nato stronger. amy: we will go to finland and germany for a debate. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. former president donald trump is expected to turn himself in and face criminal charges in a new york city court. the case stems from hush money payments trump made to adult film star stormy daniels during -- days before the 2016

presidential election, just days after the release of the infamous "access hollywood" tape in which trump brags about sexually assaulting women. while the indictment remains sealed, "newsweek" is reporting trump will face 34 felony counts for falsifying business records. he is the first former u.s. president to ever be criminally charged. his arraignment hearing is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. trump's supporters, including far-right georgia congressmember marjorie taylor greene, are expected to rally outside the courthouse. ahead of those protests, new york city mayor eric adams issued a warning to people he called rabble rousers. >> control yourselves. this city is our home, not a playground for your missed placed anger. we are the safest largest city in america because we respect the rule of law in new york city . although we have no specific threats, people like marjorie taylor greene who is known to

spread misinformation and hate speech, she stated she is coming to town. amy: after his arraignment, trump is expected to fly back to his florida estate mar-a-lago where he will speak publicly tonight. we will have more on trump after headlines with pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter david cay johnston. the government of the philippines has announced the location of four new u.s. military bases. the sites will be on the island of luzon facing north towards taiwan and on palawan near the disputed spratly islands in the south china sea. this comes aft the biden administration in february ached an agreement with the administration of philippines president ferdinand marcos, jr. to give the u.s. access to the military bases amid rising tensions between washington and beijing. protesters have condemned the move demanding u.s. troops leave the philippines. syrian state media reports two civilians were killed overnight as israeli missile strikes hit the capital damascus. video of the attack appears to show a defense system hitting several targets in the sky, with audible explosions.

it was reportedly the fourth attack by israel on damascus in recent days and followed the deaths of two iran-affiliated fighters in an air strike on sunday. in tehran, thousands of people gathered at a funeral for the two men earlier today. this is hossein salami, commander-in-chief of the islamic revolutionary guard corps. >> i will say one thing, we will definitely take revenge. amy: in russia, "wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich has filed an appeal after he was arrested last week and charged with espionage. he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted by a court in moscow. on sunday, secretary of state antony blinken said he'd spoken with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov about gershkovich's case, as well as that of another imprisoned american paul whelan. florida's republican-controlled state senate has approved a near-total ban on abortion. the measure, which is backed by republican governor ron desantis, prohibits abortions in most cases after just six weeks. during a floor debate in

florida's state senate monday, jacksonville democrat tracie davis condemned the bill as an unprecedented government overreach into the lives of women and shared her own story of having an abortion. >> i refused to have anyone make me feel ashamed and to not acknowledge it. and no woman should have to feel ashamed because she decided to have an abortion. but now we are talking about a six-week abortion ban. you have heard it from many women on this floor, most women don't even know they are pregnant by the time they are in the sixth week. amy: on monday evening, at least 11 people were arrested at a pro-choice protest that erupted outside tallahassee's city hall. among those taken into custody were florida democratic party chair nikki fried and state senate minority leader lauren book.

in tennessee, thousands of students in nashville walked out of their classrooms monday and marched to the state capitol demanding lawmakers pass gun control legislation, including a ban on assault weapons. the action came one week after a shooter killed three adults and three nine-year-old students at a private christian elementary school in nashville. meanwhile, tennessee republican leaders have removed three democratic lawmakers from their committee assignments for participating in peaceful protests following the mass shooting. on monday, large crowds of protesters in the gallery of the tennessee house of representatives erupted in chants of "fascists!" as members of the republican supermajority moved to permanently expel democratic representatives justin jones of nashville, gloria johnson of knoxville, and justin pearson of memphis. this is representative justin jones. >> each of us represents 70,000

people and our people are being silenced because they're cutting us off our committees -- kickg us off our committees. our id badges have been shut up. this is not what democracy looks like. we are elected to serve our constituents. they are shutting down the voice of my constituents. amy: the virginia medical examiner's office has confirmed that 28-year-old irvo otieno died by homicide by a asphyxiation after he was violently pinned down and piled on by sheriff's deputies and medical staff at the central state hospital in petersburg on march 6. otieno was a 28-year-old black man whose vient death ring a mental health crisis renewed calls for poce accountability. his official causef death is sted as positional a mechanical thesphyxiation with restrain. st month, a virgin grand jury indicted 10 people -- sen

eriff's deputies and three hospital workers -- on second-degree murder charges for otieno's killing. the department of justice has filed a civil lawsuit against norfolk southern, accusing the u.s. railroad giant of violations of the clean water act over the february 3 derailment of a freight train in east palestine, ohio. the disaster led to a massive explosion and the release of toxic chemicals, including levels of dioxin hundreds of times higher than what's considered safe. meanwhile, cnn reports seven u.s. government investigators briefly fell ill in early march while studying the possible health impacts of the disaster. the investigators with the centers for disease control and prevention reported sore throats, headaches, coughing, and nausea. starbucks has fired another worker who led a historic union organizing campaign in 2021. alexis rizzo was a shift supervisor at starbucks's genesee street store in buffalo, new york, one of the first two stores in the u.s. to form a

starbucks union. she was fired just weeks after the national labor relations board accused starbucks of engaging in egregious and widespread misconduct to prevent workers from organizing and just two days after former starbucks ceo howard schultz testified to congress about the company's union-busting record. rizzo worked at starbucks for seven years, since she was 17 years old. she told democracy now! her firing left her devastated. >> i am gog to be fighting tooth and nail to get my job back. i think it is not at all a coincidence this happened two days after howard schultz had his ego brews in front of the senate. disch bruised in front of the senate. i don't thinit is a incidence wtsoever. i think howard schultz was trying approved as he does have power over us and this is how he could exercise it. but it is not just that. for me, it is losing my whole life. amy: to see our interview with jaysin saxton, another starbucks worker fired after organizing a union, visit democracynow.org as

well as the confrontation between bernie sanders and howard schultz. finland is joining nato today in a mood that doubles nato's border with russia. finland and russia share in 800 mile border. it is a week after turkey voted to ratify the membership. turkey and hungary have yet to approve sweden as a new member of nato. the kremlin decried finland joining nato as a "assault on our security." more on this story later in the broadcast. 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 juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. and well, donald trump is expected to turn himself in and plead not guilty today as he becomes the u.s. president to first ever be criminally charged. while the indictment remains

sealed, "newsweek" is reporting trump will face 34 felony counts for falsifying business records. the case centers in part on hush money payments trump made during the 2016 presidential campaign to adult film star stormy daniels. it was days before election day. trump's arraignment hearing is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. supporters, including republican congressmember marjorie taylor greene, of trump are expected to rally outside the courthouse. according to news accounts, trump will be arrested and fingerprinted, but he won't be handcuffed. video cameras will not be allowed inside the courtroom, but the judge ruled late last night five still photographers will be allowed inside briefly to take pictures. after the hearing, trump is expected to fly back to his florida estate mar-a-lago where he will speak publicly tonight. manhattan district attorney alvin bragg is also expected to speak to the press today for the first time about the charges against trump.

we are joined by a guest who has closely reported on trump for decades. david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter, co-founder of d.c. report. his most recent book is titled "the big cheat: how donald trump fleeced america and enriched himself and his family." johnston also teaches at syracuse university college of law. david, welcome back to democracy now! this is an historic day not only in new york around the country, the first sitting or e x-president to face criminal charges. talk about the significance of what is taking place today. >> hopefully, this is the beginning of a revival and renewal of american democracy. there is an enormous amount of people in america, across the political spectrum, who believe we have one set of laws for the rich and powerful and one set for them.

while many of the people who support donald trump are enraged about this indictment, the fact is that this shows we are making further progress for the far from fulfilled promise of equal justice under law. this will not be the last indictment of donald trump. juan: david, what do you say to those who raise the point, first of all, that this is probably the least important of the alleged or possible crimes that trump committed and that it took so long to bring this indictment -- is your response to that? >> it's early has taken an incredibly long time to bring about this indictment. alvin bragg when he took office over a year ago rejected the investigation underway that the trump organization was not a

business but a wreck at hearing enterprise posing as a business -- racketeering enterprise posing as a business. he is come back with his case that you're going to see is a fabric of charges, not a single thread running from trump to stormy daniels or karen mcdougal, but an interwoven threat of crimes. where does someone get the idea you are allowed to break this law with impunity and not that law? that has no principle underlying it whatsoever. in the case where donald trump's trump organization, his payroll company, his chief officer allen weisselberg, who is behind bars, work convicted of 17 felonies over about $1.8 million of compensation that was hidden from the tax authorities. donald and the people around him went, that is nothing. well, if you are a medium wage

worker in america, that is your entire career, you won't make $1.8 million. i think it is outrageous to suggest as many people are that somehow you get to take a walk on felonies because, well, it is not the biggest thing we could charge you with. that is absurd. juan: and the likelihood of this case being wrapped up were actually going to trial before the elections next year? >> that is up to donald trump. there are speedy trial laws, both here in the state court in new york and if and when he is indicted by the federal government. donald will have to make a choice, do you want to go to trial now and get this behind you or gu want to risk your good to be on trial while you're campaign for the white house? let me be clear, donald trump could get back to the white house, be a convicted felon and

he is still entitled to be president. at least in theory, if your converters are that out of tou with who donald trump really is, he could serve as president of the united states from a military prin for other lockup. -- or other lockup. amy: the issue of white-collar crime, that is what our vendor -- alvin bragg said, also took on the former new york state senate majority leader, malcolm smith, lead prosecutor in charges of what color crime. republicans are making a lot of cashier's alvin bragg who won't take on certain issues around crimes that he is not going to go after certain criminal charges with people. when it comes to white-collar crime is an important lesson being taught here around america, crimes that are usually not prosecuted in this country? >> absolutely.

for a long time i have been calling for a redirection in law enforcement away from street crimes, particularly nonviolent street crimes, and toward white-collar crimes which do vastly more damage to our economy then street crimes. bragg is one of prosecutors who have been looking and saying let's try another approach to this. i have also said our legal scholars need to undertake some serious thinking about revising white-collar crime law, which is very complex, which has lots of outs and excuses and loopholes, basically, and we need to delop a new and better theory that both protects all the rights of those who are accused but also makes it easier to show criminal conduct.

juan: in terms of the inevitability that some feel trump's run for the republican nomination, you have been doing some analysis of his crowds in recent months. could you talk about what you found versus what the press sometimes reports or what trump claims? >> one of the things that is benefited donald for the 35 years i have known him, he says all sorts of things gullible reporters assume there's no need to check the facts. during the 2016 campaign, bernie sanders often drew larger crowds than donald trump. at his wake a rally, announcing his campaign, donald trump drew an audience that he claimed was thousands and thousands, many of the journalists covering used this language. ontv reporter said there were

hundreds of people. we examined photos and we asked readers to send us more images. the crowd was larger then we and is fairly reported, less than 1500 people, but a few thousand people, not as trump likes to make you think, tens of thousands of people. the reality is donald trump support is waning and it is shriveling toward impotence. he doesn't even have the support of a majority of republicans, and republicans and america are a minority party. amy: i went to go back to what alvin bragg said he will prosecute, cases like marijuana misdemeanors, resisting arrest, prostitution, and more, with the republicans are making the most up he will go after crime but go after donald trump. let's talk about this white-collar crime. you haven't just covered him for the last for years. you have written two full books on donald trump.

>> three. amy: three. i forgot about the last one. talk about his history and what he has done and what you are shocked by that he wasn't charged with over the years and then how this white-collar crime fits into these other investigations, the one by the state attorney general james in new york, georgia is about overturning election, and the federal merrick garland and jack smith about the insurrection. >> well, donald first came to public light because he was -- his and his father's company were steering black and puerto rican people who wanted -- they owned thousands of apartments. they had to submit the jurisdiction of the federal government for a couple of years. in the atlantic city casinos, the only cheating noun was at a donald trump casino where the

customer was cheated. they supplied 13-year-old and 14-year-old children with liquor and hotel rooms because that money to gamble. we are talking about sixth-graders and junior high children. donald hired 400 people who, by his description, are illegal immigrants to take down the building till which he replaced with trump tower. he would not pay them until they threatened to kill his overseer. they finally did get paid, there was a mob guy sitting there forcing each of them to hand over part of their pay. donald has lied and cheated and stolen from people left and right. he spent a decade up to his eyeballs with a major international drug trafficker for whom he did extraordinary and inexplicable favors.

nothing has ever happened to him in these cases. he was not punished for sales tax cheating when then mayor ed koch said he should go to jail for 15 days. he has gotten away with it through techniques taught to him by the notorious roy cohn from the mccarthy era was one of his lawyers. and now finally donald is being called to account. in this case, it is clear alvin bragg and the grand jury that is prosecutors are directing have had numerous witnesses come in. this is not going to be some slapdash case. bragg would not bring a case that does not have solid information. i have written in "the new york daily news" and elsewhere advisories on here would be a way to prosecute donald trump successfully. on the other cited this, -- side

of this, the attacks, new york is the safest large city in america. the safest large city in america and has been for a long time. the things that bragg is doing our part of a historic shift that of course is going to be resisted by people who think that white-collar crimes and wealthy white people all to be -- i to be centered from the colonel justice system. amy: having researched this, as we wrap up, did you ever think you would see in and a criminal court making history? >> yes, i have spent the last eight years of my time on donald 24/7 not doing what i intended to do. i believed all along that once you started this push for the presidency, instead of prosecutors being able to say,

he is not an overblown blowhard developer in new york, he would bring himself such attention that no longer could law enforcement look the other way. but what matters here is conviction. an indictment is only a formal charge and mr. trump is presumed innocent up until the day a jury finds otherwise. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter, co-founder of d.c. report. author of three books on donald trump, "the big cheat: how donald trump fleeced america and enriched himself and his family." coming up, two elections, ari berman on today's race that could decide the fate of democracy in wisconsin in the 2024 election and then juan gonzalez on what is happening in

chicago. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "signed sealed and delivered " by stevie wonder. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. this race could decide the fate of democracy in wisconsin the 2024 election. that is the headline of mother does reporter ari berman's story got today's election in the battleground state that could determine if abortion remains illegal there as well as the future of voting laws and redistricting. the technically nonpartisan race is forn open st on the wisconsin supreme court could fliphe court's 4-3 conservative majority. democrat-backed janet protasiewicz is a liberal milwaukee county judge who is facing republican-backed daniel kelly, a conservative former state supreme court justice. today is also a special election to fill an open seatn wisconsin's state nate tha coulgive replicans a supermority anthe abily to imach e state's democratic governor a override gubernatorial vetoes.

voters will choose between democrat jodi habush sinykin or republican state representative dan knodl. meanwhile, the high stakes of the race have broken campaign spending records. for more, we are joined by ari berman, national voting rights correspondent for mother jones. welcome back to democracy now! maybe you could correct some of the pronunciations of the candidates in wisconsin. but talk about this race you say could not only determine democracy in wisconsin but in the 2024 presidential election. >> first off, thank you for having me. it is janet protasiewicz. she ran an ad on how to pronounce her name. that is only reason i know how to pronounce it. this is an incredibly important race and wisconsin, probably the most important race of the 2023 election cycle, because e wionsin sueme courrace is

likelyo decidehe futurf real importa issues like geymanderi, voting rhts, abortion right and psibly evenhe 24 election in wisconsi the sconsin preme cot has en the fal wordn th most imrtant maers in t state coervatis havead a majority on that court since 2008. that has played a key role in the wisconsin republicans effort to undermine democracy. if janet protasiewic wins the election tonight, that will mean progressives will have a majority on the wisconsin supreme court for the first time in two decades and it will give them a chance to restore democracy in wisconsin. that is why the race is so important. juan: could you talk about the money being poured into the race ? and groups that have spent more than $30 million on it? >> incredible amount of money

has poured into the race, juan. the race has tripled the spending record for any state supreme court election, let alone in wisconsin. janet protasiewicz's campaign has oupent dan kelly's campaign but outside dark money groups have outspent liberal groups. the interesting thing is conservative candidate dan kelly has received money from some of the very groups and people that have funded the insurrection. one of his main donors is a guy, and illinois based shipping magnate who is the largest funder of the save and corel he that preceded the insurrection on january 6. he was the largest donor to the gop in 2022 and 80% of his money would to republicans who denied the 2020 results. amy: you froze for a minute.

kelly's election is a very frightening prospect. amy: talk about all that is at stake and the polls showing how significant abortion is when it comes to getting people out to vote. it looks like he is freezing. we are going to switch over to audio to be able to hear ari berman who is national voting rights correspondent for mother jones who has written the report "this race could decide the fate of democracy in wisconsin -- and the 2024 election." let's see if we can hear him right now. can you hear us? close yes, can you hear me? i perfect. this issue of an abortion being a determine if outcome, getting

people out to vote? >> it is a huge issue in wisconsin because right now currently wisconsin has an abortion ban from 1849 that went into effect immediately after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. that law was passed one year after wisconsin became a state by an all-male legislature. it is incredibly unpopular. 80% of wisconsinites oppose the abortion ban but the heavily gerrymandered legislature refuses to change it. so that is a huge issue in this race because democrats and the administration of governor tony evers are challenging the abortion ban in state court and it is likely to come before the state supreme court and judge janet protasiewicz has said she supports a woman's right to choose. it is possible there are enough votes on the court if she wins to strike down the 1849 abortion ban and re-establish rights in

the state. juan: can you talk about how the wisconsin supreme court has been vital in voter suppression and gerrymandering and also in terms of dismantling campaign finance laws? >> well, the wisconsin supreme court with its conservative majority has been a driver of efforts to undermine democracy in wisconsin. they have upheld basically every law passed by the legislature to entrench their own power, including some of the most gerrymandered maps in the country, including a series of laws making it harder to vote such as a strict voter id law, things of that nature. wisconsin dismantled basically -- the republicans dismantled some of the best campaign finance laws in the country. that is why there has been so much spending on the state supreme court election.

that was upheld by the state supreme court. every time the state supreme court under conservative control has been asked whether or not they want to expand democracy or restrict moxie, they have fallen on the side of constricting democracy. that is for the state supreme court election is potentially so significant because it is really the only way to restore checks and balances. that very little power because of the gerrymandered legislatures grip on the state. the only way to get rid are trying to weaken the gerrymandering grip is for those maps to be challenged and there to be a branch of government that can challenge the legislature. by now the governor can veto the legislature's loss, but if the wisconsin supreme court upholds those laws, it is difficult for there to be meaningful democracy in the state of wisconsin. america finally, there's a state

senate seat open. >> there is. that is very important because that is going to determine whether senate republicans have a two thirds supermajority -- if they get a two thirds supermajority, they can impeach state officials. already talked about the impeaching judge protasiewicz if she wins the election today, which would be an incredible power seizure. some say that would be a coup against democracy if progressives were to get a majority on the state supreme court and republicans because of their gerrymandered supermajority within try to impeach the judge that created that progressive majority. that would probably create some kind of constitutional crisis in the state of wisconsin. amy: ari berman, thank you for being with us, national voting rights correspondent for mother jones. we will link to your report "this race could decide the fate of democracy in wisconsin -- and the 2024 election." we are continuing with

elections. today the special runoff election for chicago mayor where voters are choosing between two democrats from different ends of the political spectrum -- brandon johnson, an organizer with the chicago teachers union, and paul vallas, the former head of chicago public schools who is endorsed by the police union. randi weingarten come the president of american federation of teachers, has been criticizing paul vallas. we thought we had a clip of randi weingarten which we will play in a moment. chicago is the third-largest city in the united states and today's runoff mayoral election has drawn national attention. juan, you are in chicago. you have had the mayoral forum given presiding over. talk about the significance of

this day. juan: i am still getting -- learning the intricacies of chicago politics but clearly, this race has national implications and raises the question of can a progressive multiracial coalition capture them mayoral race in the nation's third-largest city. as harold washington did back in 1983. the issue between the two supposed democratic candidates are clear that vallas's a centrist whose main focus throughout the campaign has been crime, crime, and crime. he is backing the police department, increasing the number of police. he has not placed as much emphasis on another aspect of his long-term policies which have been a further privatization of publicchools and the creation of more charter schools. he has received major backing

from the police unions and wealthy developers, real estate developers in the city. on the other hand, brandon johnson is a progressive who backs police reform, alternatives to policing, supports public education and taxing the rich. with the polls so far showing just a week ago a very close race. 44% of voters appear to be backing brandon johnson. 44%, vallas, with about 12% i decided. what is going to be critical today is obviously, one, turnout. the other side will have a big impact with the question is, who turns out the most? also, what happens among latino voters? i think this has not gotten quite as much attention.

when harold washington ran in 1983, he got a big majority of the latino vote that back then there were only -- latinos only represented about 16% of the city's population. today they represent 29% of the city's population. almost double 40 years ago. johnson is not faring well so far, according to the polls, we don't know for sure because polls are often wrong, but according to these polls, vallas has considerable support of latinos, 46% to 35%. he has just about 51% of support among white voters and brandon johnson has a healthy majority among african-american voters but not the overwhelming number that harold washington had 40 years ago.

one of the big things that is happened, many of the mayoral candidates, african-american mayoral candidates in the first round are backing vallas. they all ran for mayor in the first round and they will come out to back vallas. the only candidate who ran for mayor in the latino community is the only one who is backing brandon johnson. it remains to be seen what happens in the latino community. unfortunately, i think johnson has made a big mistake i not highlighting the support -- in not highlighting the support of chua garcia. according to the polls, about one third of latino voters believe vallas is a latino. he is actually greek american -- the son of greek american immigrants. the confusion, there is not been

enough outreach from the johnson campaign. so it remains to be seenow the turnout will develop throughout the rest of the day. we will see what happens. and because this is randi weingarten, president of the and eric and federation of teachers. >> i went paul vallas -- i watched paul vallas ruin the new orleans school system. i watched paul vallas fire. i watched him tear the community part and care the philadelphia community apart. i watched him do it. and could there be any better imitator of where paul vallas stands and for betsy devos's --i

don't care what he says, per betsy devos and her pac to come in and support paul vallas tells you everything you need to know about him. america randi weingarten is head of aft. arne duncan under obama and senator dick durbin supported vallas. yes senator warren and bernie sanders coming out for bernard johnson. juan: brandon johnson. absolutely. this is a battle within the democratic party between progressives and the more conservative and centrist forces in the party. we will see now who is being able to reach the masses of the voter and turn them out and today's election. amy: we want to thank you, juan, for that briefing.

we will ask you about what happens tomorrow. coming up, finland joins nato. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "shelter" by vic mensa, chance the rapper, and wyclef jean. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. finland has probably joined nato today in a move that doubles nato's border. russia and finland share in 800 mile border. they joined a week after turkey's parliament voted to ratify its membership. turkey and hungary have yet to approve sweden as a member of nato but the turkish president has rejected sweden secession to nato after accusing it of harboring kurdish dissidents he considers terrorist and what extradited. finland and's we have applied together to join nato. they did in may of 2022. about three month after russia's invasion of ukraine. this is nato secretary-general speaking today. >> today is an historic day

because in a few hours, we will welcome finland as the 31st member of our alliance. this will make finland safer and nato strger becong aber, finlan will get aironclad serity part t -- guartee. amy: the kremlin has decried finland joining nato as "an assault on our security." resident 30's announced it will beef up their military presence in northwestern russia. we are joined by two guests. reiner braun is the former executive director of the international peace bureau. he is a german peace activist, historian and author who has campaigned against the u.s. airbase in ramstein and against nato. he is joining us from berlin. in helsinki, finland, we're joined by atte harjanne, a finnish politician currently serving in the parliament of

finland for the green league at the helsinki constituency. let's begin with atte harjanne. you are with the green party in finland. it used to be opposed to joining nato but switched last year. can you talk about why you feel today is so significant? >> today is significant as we heard it is -- i think we see it necessary and the time but also helping out to boost our security but also us contributing more to the security of the whole of europe. in thereen par, we useto be dubious toward the mbership being changed in figure 2020,

and there has been so proponents of nato -- everything pretty much changed with the russian attacking. juan: what is your response to the russian position that the continued expansion of nato further eastward is actually a threat to russian security? >> i think is very typical paranoid speech, the narrative of kremlin that it is like some kind of surrounded fortress. nato ia defensivalliance for europe. the access to nato is based on each country's voluntary choice to do so. it is purely i think paranoid

kremlin narrative that is the main audience, the domestic audience there. juan: when you say purely defensive, i think that people who live in serbia or in libya might question whether it is purely a nato alliance. >> that is tru having a role also in this operation, but looking through the perspective of finland joining the alliance, completely defensive act in order to boost european security as a whole. nato poses no threat to russia the terribly, only in terms of securing defense and providing certain limit for russian

aggression and the idea of severe influence of aggressive policies or even with violence. amy: reiner braun, if you can respond from berlin is happening today? finland joining nato. your response? >> it is not a historical date. today is the end of a long story. finland for the past years, part many nato exercises including nato troops in finland. enlarging the military budget over 2% like nato, the end of a military invasion of the region. this day is not historical, it is a breakthrough of the history of finland.

my understanding, a lot of success in peacekeeping missions , in having big international peace events like the helsinki conference of 1975. this time is over. or what? for having maybe even having nuclear weapons on both sides? this is a step of the escalation in europe. to say make nato is a defense military alliance. have we forgotten afghanistan? i think this is really stupid. let me say one more thing to nato, nato says it is a nato. this is not true. nato is the biggest military alliance in the world.

all the agements of japan, malaysia and it is the biggest historical military alliance in the world and not making peace. it is even creating many problems for peace and security. juan: can you talk, reiner braun , about the significance of the german vice chancellor's surprise visit to kyiv? >> all the members of the german parliament revisiting kyiv up to now and ministers economy was missing. what he is doing, it was a big industry of our country. the reconstruction of the countrof ukraine of the german industry wants to earn a lot of money. new development in east germany

and east europe. that is the main rean that he is going. the interesting point is that there's nothing about the reconstruction of ukraine. what is needed for the reconstruction of ukraine, the first step must be -- hopefully, they will come to the great idea to support our position that immediately cease-re and negotiation for ukraine is needed that we can start with the reconstruction of this heavily destroyed country. amy: reiner braun, if you can talk about the proposal put forward by german politicians for a negotiation that the ukrainian president zelenskyy rejected this weekend. >> interestingly, he rejected our appeal by his deputy foreign minister but he is supporting

the suggestions from steiner which are on the same levels that we ne negotiation's for overcoming this brutal war. the idea behind it is that no one can win this war militarily. in terms of his continuing day to day killing, we have more than 200,000 dead people up to now. when we are thinking about the so-called spring offenses, people again are the same number. what are the alternatives? the alternative is not to accept the actual situation but to stop the war and start negotiations about a new development in ukraine and a new peace process in europe. our suggestion is it is impossible to do this from the european perspective because the european countries are deeply engaged in the war by training

the ukrainian soldiers, by sending weapons, by spy offenses, and by security purposes. the only possibility is that we have an international peace coalition coming from the global south being the moderator or mediator. this is saying we are supporting the sgestion of china and indonesia- peace coalition. we hope the peace coalition will get the support of the government of germany. in any case, we will work for this. this cates an atmosphere for coming to a negotiation and stopping the day-to-day killings by opening the door for a peaceful and better future for ukraine but for the whole of europe because thelternative is the escalation. we see the depletion of uranium,

with the nukes. step-by-step escalating the situation which has a danger to lead to a nuclear war. the alternative is negotiations. juan: i like to bring in atte harjanne talk about this issue of is a cease-fire and negotiations possible toward a diplomatic solution of the war get advocated in the past pushing european governments to offer more military weaponry to ukraine. >> yeah, i think the clear thing here is negotiations about peace cannot be done over the heads of the ukrainians. ukraine is a sovereign nation under criminal assault by russia. we have to avoid the false symmetry in the sittion. about escalation come in pretty much seemsussia is kind of using the escalation to limit

the support for ukraine. to make sure democratic western countries to make sure we help ukrainians, to protect their freedom and their values we hold dear. in the end, after war comes peacend we have tmake sure there is room for pea but he could not be negotiated over ukrainian -- ukraine. they -- over the terms. in the meantime, it is important to keep the military support and the civilian support on a level that helps ukrainians to gain the uppe hand and mainta the upper hand in this war which is completely -- completely the whole responsibility of the war lies in russia. amy: atte harjanne, if you could

also talk about the election that just took place in finland? you have a new prime minister who eked out a victory in 20.8% ofhe vote, center-right national coalition party against the prime minister's party, social demrats who got almost 20%. these are very small number what does this mean for finland? >> well, i think it means, towards a more conservative righting path. i think theain issue here is the economy. how to mak sure the prime goal of the prime minister is to combat -- balance the economy of finland. that has been the main issue

regarding the elections, ford security policy -- ford security policy, as you know, no parliamentary party has been opposing the extensions are probably it is clear the idea we are committed to nato and also committed to support ukrae, i do't see any interchanging there. the prime minister, she did eke out a victory so her party gained more seats which is quite unusual for a sitting prime minister. she gained a massive amount of votes in her constituency. yeah, the issue is rather domestic and largely economic and regional economic matters

that decided the vote. juan: reiner braun, we only have about 30 seconds, but could you talk about the antiwar movement in germany? your plans for april and how the german media is covering the war in ukraine? >> we will have dozens of people on the streets in the nt days. that is onetep of our activities. we are following up the big activities in munich. to my colleague, his a misunderstanding of the war. it is a proxy war in a civil war and essay the whole responsibility lies by russia, this underestimates the development to the war and i think this is a really big mistake not to see what is happening with the minsk agreement and why the

chancellor andmacron --i think it is too easy to say the whole responsibility lies with russia. america we have to leave it there. we thank you so much. [captioning made possible by democracy now!

hello. welcome back to nhk "newsline" from new york. prosecutors have accused former u.s. president donald trump of a coverup during the campaign that brought him to the white house. they outlined 34 criminal charges against him, a first for someone who's held that