04/05/23 04/05/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> earlier this afternoon, donald trump was arraigned on a new york supreme court indictment returned by a new york grand jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. amy: 34 felonies. that is what donald trump is facing after being arraigned in a new york courtroom, becoming the first u.s. president ever to be criminally charged.

we will speak to longtime criminal defense attorney as well as former presidential candidate ralph nader. then we look at two major victories for progressives tuesday, brandon johnson has won the chicago mayoral race and a democrat judge has what highly contested race receipt on wisconsin supreme court, giving progressive's control of the court for the first time in 15 years. >> wisconsin voters have paid their voices heard. they have chosen to reject partisan extremism. amy: and we go to tennessee where republicans are trying to expel the democratic lawmakers for supporting student led gun control protests at the state capitol after last week's mass school shooting in nashville. >> demanding take action.

we have been kicked off our committees. our people are being silenced. amy: 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 pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to adult film star stormy daniels, playboy model karen duco, and a former trump tower doorman during his 2016 presidential campaign. trump is the u.s. president to first be criminally charged and the first president to be impeached twice. trump was fingerprinted after his arrest tuesday but did not have his mug shot taken and was not handcuffed. after his arraignment in new york, trump flew back to his mar-a-lago estate in florida where he railed against his

prosecution to his supporters and the media. pres. trump: elections like those of a third world country, and now this massive election interference on a scale never seen before in our country beginning with the radical left george soros-backed prosecutor alvin bragg of new york. who campaign on the fact that he would get president trump. "i'm going to get him." amy: trump also attacked the judge, judge juan merchan, the judges's wife and daughter. in chicago, brandon johnson was elected mayor in a major victory for progressives. johnson, a black teachers union organizer, defeated conservative democrat paul vallas, a champion of charter schools who ran on a law-and-order platform despite massive amounts of money being poured into the vallas campaign. johnson spoke last night after

his victory was announced, calling chicago a union town and vowing to support working people. >> the truth is the people have always worked for chicago. whether you wake up early to open the doors of your businesses or teach middle school or wear a badge to protect our streets or nurse patients in need or provide childcare services, you have always worked for this city. and now chicago will begin to work for its people, all the people. amy: in another election in wisconsin, progressive judge janet protasiewicz won the special election for the state's supreme court, flipping wisconsin's highest court after 15 years of a conservative majority. protasiewicz's victory gives the court the votes it needs to restore abortion rights, which were taken away after roe v. wade was overturned last summer, challenge the state's highly gerrymandered legislative maps

and prevent potential anti-democratic maneuvers in 2024 in the crucial swing state. protasiewicz addressed her supporters last night after her win was called. >> our state has taken a step forward to a better and brighter future where our rights and freedoms will be protected. and while there is still work to be done, tonight we celebrate this historic victory that has obviously reignited hope in so many of us. amy: in international news, israeli police raided the al-aqsa mosque compound in occupied east jerusalem late tuesday, attacking palestinian worshippers during ramadan. >> the israeli police attacked us inside there. all of the young people inside our suffering and no one is

helping them. they attacked everyone inside. the windows of the mosque are broken. amy: witnesses say police used stun grenades and tear gas and beat worshippers with batons and rifles. at least a dozen people were injured and 400 palestinians were arrested. al aqsa's medical clinic was destroyed. meanwhile, on monday, israeli forces killed two more palestinians in a military raid in the city of nablus in the occupied west bank, bringing the total number of palestinians killed by israel this year to at least 94. over 400 human rights defenders from across the globe were killed last year with colombia accounting for nearly half of the cases, making it the deadliest country for rights activists in the world. that's according to a new report by the international group front line defenders, which said the killings of human rights activists skyrocketed in 2022. ukraine also topped the list, followed by mexico, brazil, and honduras. in bangladesh, around 3000 shops

at a popular clothing rket in the capital dhaka were destroyed tuesday during a massive fire that took over six hours to contain. hundreds of firefighters and soldiers were deployed to battle the blaze as it tore thrgh stores, turning them into piles of ashes. shopkeepers say they may not be able to recover from the financial loss. in pakistan, at least 13 women and children were crushed to death friday outside a factory in karachi that was distributing food donations and cash for the month of ramadan. victims were stampeded as hundreds of people rushed the collection site. eight people, including the factory manager, have been arrested, accused of failing to put safety protocols in place. the tragedy comes as pakistan is facing a worsening economic crisis and skyrocketing inflation, with many families unable to afford enough food. this is a grieving father whose seven-year-old child was killed in the crush. >> there were new rules and

regulation as my son got trampled. i am totally devastated. there are other people like me whose children were killed, martyred. can't the government see people are dying of hunger? amy: the international court of justice ruled the u.s. illegally froze the assets of iranian companies and ordered the u.s. but the icj alsoaid it didot have jurisdiction over $1.75 billion from iran's central bank that's being held in a citibank in new york. both tehran and washington claimed victory in the rulings from the icj, also known as the world court. the u.s. moved to freeze the assets, which it said would serve as compensation for victims of a 1983 bombing in lebanon and other attacks they say were linked to iran. though icj rulings are binding, there is no mechanism for enforcing them. a judge in alaska dealt a blow to environmental and indigenous activists, ruling conocophillips can move ahead with construction onhe willodrillingroject,

$8 billi whichhe ben ministraon approd la month. the groups tt soug to halt e constrtion vow to continueheir leg fight. a johnson & johnson subsidiary has filed for bankruptcy a second time and upped their settlement from $2 billion to $8.9 billion in response to tens of thousands of lawsuits by customers who say its talc products caused their cancer. this comes after an appeals court in january rejected an earlier attempt by johnson & johnson to offload its lawsuits onto a spinoff company and file that entity r bankrupt. j&heavily marketed its baby powder to african american women for years with the knowledge its talc products contained asbestos. and here in new york, governor kathy hochul extended the state's overdue budget by one week to april 10 as negotiations with lawmakers continue. in recent weeks, housing activists have ramped up calls to include a provision for good cause evictions in new york state's budget, which would

protect tenants from massive rent hikes and being kicked out of their homes. activists staged protests at the state capitol last week, leading to dozens of arrests. national data show evictions increased by more than 50% in -- last year. meanwhile, climate activists say hochul is trying to gut new york's law aimed at reducing fossil fuel emissions by including a proposal in the budget that allows for more emissions while disguised as a cost-saving measure for customers. the move downplays the effects of methane emissions by viewing its damage over a longer period of time. the lever is reporting hochul received donations of nearly $500,000 in the last election cycle from ceo's of energy companies that would benefit from the change, including hess corporation and united metro energy. 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.

amy: in a moment we are going to talk to you about the historic goal mayoral victory for brandon johnson but first we are here in new york with this latest news. donald trump has been formally charged with 34 felonies in an indictment unsealed on tuesday. after surrendering to authorities at a new york courthouse, trump was placed under arrest and fingerprinted. he then appeared in a courtroom where he pled not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to hush money payments he paid out during the 2016 presidential campaign. trump is the first u.s. president ever to be charged with a crime. also the first u.s. president to be impeached twice. this all comes as trump is running for president again and while he is facing several other major criminal investigations. manhattan district attorney alvin bragg spoke to the press -- spoke at a news conference after the hearing and outlined

the charges against trump. >> earlier this afternoon, donald trump was arraigned on a new supreme court indictment returned by a manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. under new york state law, it is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and intent to conceal another crime. that is exactly what this case is about. 34 false statements made the cover-up other crimes. these are felony crimes in new york state no matter who you are. we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. amy: donald trump flew back to florida after his arraignment. he gave a speech at night in mar-a-lago where he repeatedly

attacked the judge in the case, the judges wife and the judge's daughter, as well as da alvin bragg and his wife and other prosecutors investigating him. pres. trump: i never thought anything like this could happen in america. never thought it good happen. the only crime i have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. amy: to talk more about the charges against donald trump, we are joined by bobbi sternheim. she is a criminal defense lawyer who has tried several high-profile cases. she was the lead defense attorney for ghislaine maxwell. we're also joined by ralph nader and we will talk to him in a moment. bobbi sternheim, if you can talk about this unsealed indictment, 34 felonies against an ex-president. talk about how significant you think these charges are. >> i think the charges in and of themselves are significant and

what makes it especially interesting is that each of the 34 counts is grounded in a piece of evidence, whether an invoice or a check or an entry in a ledger. so none of these charges stand alone requiring just the testimony of a witness. the documents, the ledgers come that checks speak for themselves and they cannot be cross-examined. juan: what about the issue of what were essentially considered misdemeanors being possibly raised to felonies and the debate over whether a conviction can be gotten on some of these counts? >> well, certainly, it does not seem like a slamdunk because it involves a legal theory that

will have to be developed at a trial. although the indictment itself is pretty silent on the underlying facts, other than the documentary evidence, the statement of facts that accompanied it really speak loudly and they enhance the indictment, almost turning it into a speaking indictment. the linkage of the checks, the invoices, the ledger all show that something was done. and what stands behind all of this is donald trump's effort with other individuals to help him succeed in the presidential election. what is interesting about it, it shows behavior that occurred during his candidacy and behavior that occurred after he was sworn in and became president.

so it almost as a prequel to things that will come in other jurisdictions. yes, it may seem unique to some but these kinds of crimes are prosecuted every day. it is not an uncommon indictment as one might see in federal court. juan: the judge also warned trump that if he acts out or disrupts proceedings, the court will proceed without him. this is common, especially at arraignment situation, is it? >> it is not uncommon for a judge to tell an individual that the proceedings will go on even if you don't show up for your trial. those are warnings that are often given. it is not typically given in a business fraud case. the fact that judge even

indicated that if the defendant -- in this case donald trump -- were to act out or be disruptive in court, he could be removed and the proceedings would go on without his presence. so that was somewhat unusual, but it does dovetail with the other issues that were raised during the arraignment which have to do with remarks that donald trump has made and continues to make even after the arraignment on the indictment. amy: bobbi sternheim, following up on that point, yet a speech last night at mar-a-lago. the judge warned him about inciting violence. he attacked the judge, the judges wife, the judge's daughter, did da the d.a.'s wife -- already on the manhattan d.a.'s website they have taken off the identification of all of the people that work there because of the death threats

against the manhattan d.a. what about the significance of this? >> what is very significant looking at it in the frame of a typical defendant who would be before the court where a court would decide whether bail should be granted, two of the major factors that a court would consider would be whether an individual will flee the jurisdiction and be present in court. the second is whether the individual would be a danger to the community. in this case, the statements that donald trump made before he entered the courtroom and made right after he exited the courtroom and returned to florida certainly show in indication of a danger to the community, a danger to the lives of certain individuals, and an overall disrespect for the

court. the court could have been more bold in an admonition to donald trump, but it's somewhat soft peddled it. now the ammunition has been launched by donald trump for the prosecutors to ask the court to put into place maybe not a gag order, but certainly rules and regulations that would be deemed in violation of the court order if donald trump continues to lash out to individuals personally and cause any form of civil unrest. amy: bobbi sternheim, take you for being with us, criminal defense lawyer, has tried several high-profile cases. as we cover this historic arraignment of former president donald trump, we look at what he has not been charged with -- well, yet.

we're joined on the phone by ralph nader, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate. welcome back to democracy now! your response to what took place yesterday. it was historic first ever ex- were sitting president criminally charged. he also has been impeached twice. talk about what he did get charged with and what he didn't. >> it was historic in the sense it was massively overdue. let's start with donald trump's notorious statement in 2019 which lays the basis for his lawlessness day after day. he said, "with article ii, i can do whatever i want as president." he went on to prove it. before 2019 when he made the statement and after. the broader frame of reference here is that he turned the white

house into a daily crime scene. john bolton, who was his special assistant in his memoir said, obstruction of justice under the white house was a way of life. that is a serious crime. in the mueller report, they outline 10 major obstruction of justice against law enforcement in a very crude manner. there wasn't any subtlety about it. what trump has done openly, brazenly there's nothing overt like nixon -- is that in the white house, he set the stork record for defying over 150 congressional subpoenas. you shoveled around billions of dollars from one program to another, most notoriously from

military housing projects to extend the wall on the mexican border. that is a violation of a criminal law called the antideficiency act. he got away with it. he used the white house as a political reelection base, had events there openly right on the white house lawn, and forced the treasury department to put his name on millions of checks going out during the pandemic to millions of americans. that is a crime. it violates the criminal prohibition and hatch act from using the power of the federal government against your electoral opponents. he got away with it. it is important to say also that all presidents violate laws, he has just taken it to a new and diverse height. but he is doing it so brazenly. if he gets away with it, he will continue to contribute to the institutionalization of lawlessness by presidents of the

united states. let's face it, both bush, obama, and trump have violated all kinds of laws and extending the empire. obama, for example, decreed informally that he could pick anybody in the world as prosecutor, judge, executioner and in secret wipe that person out. and he did it. bush was the big work criminal with cheney invading iraq. but then obama took out the regime in libya without a congressional debate, without congressional authorization, appropriation of funds or declaration of war. to this day, that is producing chaos and violence goaded by secretary of state clinton who pushed obama to do this and later admitted it was the biggest mistake of his

administration. so we have all kinds of other tax violations, obstruction of voting, campaign finance violations, never mind his assault and battery of women which he seemed to be proud of. this event yesterday represents the first turnaround. why did the democrats wait so long? they had 12 impeachable offenses in 2019. we got them in a congressional record december 19. nancy pelosi just went with the ukraine matter. not exactly a kitchen table issue, affecting millions of americans. you had one party letting the other party get away with it in part because the democrats also violated laws at the presidential level. so i think the american people have got to see this as an opportunity, a gateway to

reverse the process where presidents are above the law. they have been about the law. people around the world have suffered and died because these presidents have been above the law. we have to -- what the gop is going to try to do is focus on yesterday and alvin bragg's prosecution when the criminal lawlessness of -- juan: i want to ask you about trump's attacks on the irs, especially since probably his most consistent historical violations have been in evading his personal taxes and those of his companies. could you talk about that? >> yes. david cay johnson has written about this. he was on your program yesterday.

he has been under regular audit year after year by the irs who -- and there never seems to be any resolution. it turns out the irs was so strapped it its budget, they just had what auditor on this massive commercial sprawling empire of trump, using every possible tax evasion, tax avoidance system imaginable. so he really has gotten away with it. but worse, he worked with the republicans year after year in starting the irs budget so that he could not have the skilled auditors to go after the tax evasion of the superrich and the multinational corporations. one study out of berkeley pointed out over 20% of the top superrich americans in the united states were even aiding billions and billions of dollars in taxes and the irs was handcuffed. to this day, the irs is under

pressure by the republicans going after their budget -- fortunately, they don't control the senate so they cannot get it through. clearly, trump and the republican were actively, purposefully engaged in aiding and abetting tax evasion by the superrich and corporations. all kinds of money that could have got to good works in our country. amy: we only have a minute to go, ralph, but if you can talk about how congress, how the president can hold not only president trump accountable but other republicans, and as you say, this is often bipartisan, democrats as well, and the critical issues you care about? and this whole issue that is not being talked about as much, especially as the republicans try to frame what is happening here in new york as the da saying he won't go after

misdemeanor crimes, is not going after serious crime but instead using this political target of trump. in other words, instead going after corporate crime. if you can talk about how novel this is for people to see come issues of corporate crime front and center? >> well, i wish they would use the phrase corporate crime instead of what color crime. all you to do is read "the wall street journal" and listen to democracy now! and the amount of enforcement budget is minuscule. it is like having 20 pleas in manhattan during our crime wave. -- 20 police in manhattan during a crime way. whether we like it or not, this is the most accessible rates of government. there are 530 men and women, people know their names, and

they have to get mobilize. what congress can do is redress the imbalance of power, rain and the empire, rain in the military budget, redirect public budgets to public necessities in this country and above all, initiate its criminal contempt power. this idea that congressional subpoenas of the white house can be defied with impunity because it takes too long for congress to work for the federal courts up to the supreme court is a false idea. because congress has generic criminal contempt power. they could have arrested trump when he defied the january 6 subpoena, could have detained him -- actually occurred in the 1930's. but a lot of members of congress don't even know they have the criminal contempt power and do not have to go through four years of judicial appeals, etc. congress is the hope for the

american people. it is the hope to redress this, to reorder our priorities, the hope to really make sure that nobody is above the law and high political and corporate crime levels. corporation ceos in many ways are completely above the law. look at the boeing criminality. there has been no action against mullen berg and the other ceo of -- now ceo of boeing. they've gotten away with it. people across the country know the big boys get away with it. there's a double standard of justice. people, get on top ofour senators and representatives, show them you have a pulse. you know their numbers and emails and you know how to reach them. without you, congress can't act. without congress, we don't have a republic we have an emerging fascist movement in this country and trump proved it by his words

yesterday at mar-a-lago. amy: ralph nader, thank you for being with us, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate. he is the founder of the capitol hill citizen, which is coming out in a few weeks, newspaper, and also the grand uncle of semi sumo who lost her life in the boeing crash in ethiopia. coming, we look at major progressive victories from chicago to wisconsin. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "lovely day" by bill withers. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. while donald trump's arraignment to an arrest dominated headlines tuesday, two significant elections took place in chicago and wisconsin. we will look at both, beginning

in wisconsin where judge janet protasiewicz has won a special election over daniel kelly proceed on the state supreme court. it gives progressive's control of the court for the first time in 15 years. expected to restore abortion rights in wisconsin. janet protasiewicz spoke to supporters tuesday night. >> today's results mean two very important and special things. first, it means wisconsin voters have made their voices heard. give chosen to reject partisan extremism in this state. and second, it means our democracy will always prevail. too many have tried to the will

of the people. today's results show wisconsinites believe in democracy and the democratic process. amy: joining us from wisconsin right now, john nichols, the nation's national affairs correspondent. i assume you are up very late to, john. judge janet protasiewicz. it is not an easy name to say but it is one that could determine how the 2024 national elections turn. explain the significance of this race. >> it is hard to overestimate the significance of the race. thank you for having me will stop the wisconsin supreme court was the bulwark of conservative political and legislative action in the state. for more than a decade, going back to the days of scott

walker. it was the wisconsin supreme court that stank the approval on walker's assault on labor unions,n voting rights, and a host of other issues and it included the gerrymandering of wiscons's legislative and congressional district maps. so right there, having a new liberal majority on the court opens up the possibility that the maps for legislative districts and congressional districts will be redrawn. that redraw, if it comes quickly enough, could open up as many as two congressional seats for competitive elections. that means the democrats could pick up two house seats and it wisconsin. you think about how narrowly the u.s. house of representatives is currently divided, that is a significant spot right there. also in the 2024 election, the wisconsin supreme court, to a greater extent than on most any

court in the country, has entertained many of the republican efforts to assault voting rights, press pose, alter ways in which elections are managed and handled. if this court came within a vote of opening the door for many of trump's challenges to the 2020 election results and t conservative candidate in this race, dan kelly, was a lawyer for the republican party who actual engagedn and was part of those discussions about developing a slate of fake electors which would have such overturn the election. if he had won a place on this court in 2024 if donald trump was the presidential candidate of the republican party and he was challenging results, he would've had a court in wisconsin i was particularly sympathetic to him. now is a court as janet protasiewicz said is determined to uphold the rule of law and defend democracy. that in itself, not just for

wisconsin but the whole country, is a huge shift. juan: john, could you talk about how this victory became possible given the fact judicial elections are normally not high profile events that most voters pay attention to? >> that is a very good question. look, in wisconsin, judicial elections have become high profile in recent years going back to 2018 when a critical race was one in the supreme court. in 2020, when justice defeated dan kelly in a supreme court race. these races have bome more and more significant in wisconsin. this one, because it was -- people recognized the seat became open when a crate justice decided not to run for

reelection, conservative justice, this open seat became clear was goingo determine whether this was going to be a conservative court or a liberal court going forward not just for the next three years, but potentially into the 20 -- the next few years, but potentially into the 20 30's. began to focus closely on this race. they made a big deal about it. they talked about it, organized early. he saw labor groups, civil rights groups, community groups who really got engaged not this year but they started last year. the fact is, the race to become nationalized. you saw huge amounts of conservative money coming in from billionaire donors. at the end of the day, it looks like there's going to be about $45 million to $50 million spent on this race, the most expensive supreme court race in the history of the united states. all of that made it incredibly high profile to the point where you saw breakthrough turnout.

much higher turnout than in previous races by far. amy: john, we have another two cities to go to in today's show because so much is happening from chicago to nashville. nashville is about guns. abortion i think is one of the key issues in this race. the abortion law now ban was passed in 1849 and wisconsin. would you say this is a bellwether overturning, putting progressive majority on what this could mean for the country? >> absolutely on the issue of reproductive rights. janet protasiewicz as candidates had from the start she would speak about her values. one of her values was that she believed the right to choose was federal law and limit had the right to make choices that regarded their own bodies. she was very blunt about that. her opponent dan kelly was backed by militant antiabortion

groups. it was an incredibly clear choice in a battleground state, one of the most contested states and it a country, you now have the potential that a liberal supreme court may overturn that 1849 law, a law crafted st one year after wisconsin became a state. if it does, this could be one of the real breakthroughs as regards to reproductive rights. but also for this understanding that this issue of a woman's right to choose is an incredibly potent political issue. there's simply no question it resonated in the state and in wisconsin and one of the factors that drew tremendous number of young voters, especially students on campuses, to the polls. they played a critical role and this contest both in the primary and the general election. amy: thank you for being with us, john nichols, the nation's national affairs correspondent. we will link to your piece.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we go from wisconsin to chicago, another closely watched race. brandon johnson was elected mayor of chicago in major victory for progressives. hnunion organizer defeated paul vallas, a champion of charter schools who ran on a law and order platform. johnson won even though vallas had outspent him to do one. brandon johnson spoke last night to supporters. >> chicago, today we take big steps toward figuring it out here so i believe sincee are king steps to figure it out here, let's take this bold progressive movement around these united states of america. amy: juan, that is brandon johnson. you are in chicago. talk about the significance of this victory. juan: yes, amy, all of the polls

have predicted. brandon johnson did succeed in building or rebuilding a progressive coalition to be able to capture the mayoral seat. perry's groups across the city -- various groups across the city. in the african-american community, he did far better than the polls were showing. basically the undecided african-american voters voted almost completely for him in the last week. he did would've geordie of the latino -- he did when a majority of the latino votes. paul vallas did do well and some of the latino areas. logan square, avondale,

historical puerto rican neighborhoods on the north side of chicago, brandon johnson racked up in the almost 70% of the vote. but in some of the more middle-class latino neighborhoods of the southwest chicago, actually paul vallas had the majority of the votes. brandon johnson did when a significant majority among the latino community, which is the fastest growing. vallas did have signifant support obviously in the white community and in subsections of the latino community as well. now comes the difficult part of governance. because brandon johnson is going to be facing a police department, police officers who see him as their worst nightmare. he is going to be facing a business community that is definitely worried about some of his pronounced policy decisions.

and of course, the billionaires continue to fund the charter school movement are also going to find a difficult situation with the new mayor. a key aspect of this was the power immobilization and money a major labor unions like the seiu , the teachers union -- especially the chicago teachers union. those were the main bulwarks of the ground organization that brandon johnson was able to put together, as well as the financing that he was able to raise. amy: of course we will continue to follow what happens in chicago with you right there in the middle of everything, juan. next up, we are going to go to tennessee were republicans are trying to expel three democratic lawmakers for supporting student led gun control protests at the state capitol after last week's

school shooting in nashville. we will speak with one of the legislators they are trying to expel. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "everybody needs somebody to love" by the blues brothers. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. students across the united states today are joining a nationwide school walkout to demand lawmakers take action on gun control just over a week after a mass shooting at nashville elementary school killed six people, including three nine-year-olds. gun violence remains the leading cause of death in young people in the united states. the tragic attack in nashville has already prompted multiple mass protests that filled the plaza outside tennessee's state capitol building. as well as the halls inside the capitol. among those who joined them were three democratic state lawmakers. now tennessee house republicans

are taking steps to expel the three. we are joined by one of the targets of the republicans, democratic tennessee state representative justin jones, who faces an expulsion vote thursday along with representative's gloria johnson and justin pearson. they have already been stripped from committee assignments and their member ids have been shut off. and we are joined by ezri tyler, a national organizer for march for our lives and a student at vanderbilt university. she was 13 years old when she organized her first walk after the mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. we welcome you both to democracy now! ezri tyler, talk about -- i mean, there's not much attention to this mass shooting but over 1000 people protest at the state capital on one day alone.

talk about what you are demanding. clubs absolutely. we are demanding lawmakers here that we cannot be ignored. this is the leading cause of death for young people. tennessee is uniquely impacted by this. we have some of the loosest gun control laws and the entire nation and some of the highest death rates of gun violence. it is an issue that impacts is every daynd the covant school shooting is a tragic reminder this is something that impacts our young people every single day. thousands of students turned out monday and a coalition of students, teachers, school board to the state representatives showed up. it shows we are not alone in wanting change and we are demanding this change. the expulsion is an attempt to silence our voices. juan: what has been the responses of teachers and other school officials to the walkouts? >> teachers and other school officials have been completely supportive. we had an metro nashville school

board member join us and speak at the rally. they are here with us, teachers are equally fed up. the reason we had this walkouts is because our schools are not safe for students and we need to acknowledge that. amy: you said your protesting also the attempted expulsions tomorrow, which brings us to our next guest, to representative justin jones. can you please explain how this is possible? you were elected by the people, one of the youngest representatives in the tennessee state legislature. and now the republicans are attempting not only to strip you of your committee assignments, which you already have been stripped of, but to throw you out. why? what took place on the state legislature floor? >> thank you, amy. it is so morally insane a week after a mass shooting traumatized our community, instead of passing laws to take these weapons of war off our

street, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are pushing a resolution to expel us for being voices of opposition. this is an assault on our democracy, and attempt to silence the voices of thousands who gathered, people who are demanding action to stop our children being massacred in school. this is a preventable issue. what happened is our colleagues, we stood with these young people and those gathered in the state house because that is our job as lawmakers, to make sure the voice of the people are heard. the speaker cut off our microphones. he would not let us talk about the issue of gun violence. we stood in the well and chained those in the galleries and let them know we need action and until we take action, there will be no peace in our community. this is not the first shooting.

unless we take action, it will not be the last mass shooting. we are facing a crisis now of our democracy where colleagues on the other set of the aisle are signaling system that is nothing less than fascism. to oust three democratically elected lawmakers, it is a danger to democracy across the nation. juan: representative jones, they actually shut off your id card access, removed you from being able to access the parking lots at the legislature and also removed you from committees? was this done by a vote or just by the leadership? >> it was done by the speaker cameron sexton who is acting like an autocrat. we got a notation to kick us off committee, to limit our access in the building. it is not about us. they are limiting the movement,

what we represent. we are seeing opposition voices and kicked out of the legislature by super majority republican body drunk with power and trying to silence any voice of dissent. lawmakers have a right to dissent and protest against legislation that is injurious to the people. this prohibition of -- we had no choice but to do our job and speak dissent of the worship of guns. we will continue to stand with the people. that is what we should do. amy: representative jones, i want to play a clip of you last month on the legislature floor after the passing of house bill 30, which seeks to expand banning drag shows in public spaces. >> i went to point our attention to some hypocrisy happening in

the building right now. we just voted did not have any type of regulation or any type of safety precautions around the second amendment but now have a bill to regulate drag shows. drag shows are not a threat to our community. mass shootings are. i hope we pay attention to the ridiculousness, the circus that is this body we are now passing a bill to create a regulatory board of drag shows but the sponsor of the previous bill so we should not regulate the second amendment. with the first amendment, the members of this body have every intention with disrespecting, undermining, and regulating first amendment's free expression clause. i think it is absurd we are so threatened by drag shows that we don't take seriously the real threat to our community. i asked my colleagues to look in the mirror. what is going on? this is absurd. i hope the sponsor of this bill will reconsider this attack on the lgbtq community.

amy: banning drag shows but not guns. representative jones, you also had an interaction with one of your republican colleagues where he attacked you on the floor, grabbed your phone and slammed it on the ground? >> on thursday -- on monday when they first introduce this resolution to expel, they clear the gallery. the media was kicked out of the gallery. i was try to record and they sent troopers to remove people from their house. as i was recording, representative lafferty pushed me and grabbed by phone. we don't see any motion to expel him. they are expelling us because we stood with the people because we called attention to their proliferation of guns and weapons of war on our streets, expelling us because they don't want to talk about the issue. the people will continue to show up and hold them accountable and say we want to protect our kids

and not protect guns,hat are communities are more important than money from the nra. that is what we are saying. juan: i would like to bring ezri tyler back into the conversation. there is a national school walkout today, wednesday. is it your sense that given the inability of grown adults and politicians to be able to do something about gun violence that it will necessitate the continued disruption of the public school system by high school students walking out to force change in our government policies? >> high school students have been walking up for years to demand change on this issue. i started in this movement five years ago when we began with a tragic parkland shooting at 13 years old where i felt it was my duty to walk out of my middle school. the national walkouts, a huge

show that all of these coalitions are in unity on this. the biggest it with the nationwide walkouts as they are drawing attention to the fact there is not only inaction but flagrant disgrace and disregard for students and the continued organizing. that is why your also needing to discuss -- it is even more disrespectful to these voters was to view the voters are consistently turning out and we are who are deciding the policies. we saw in midterms, the you is what decided who is elected and what is coming next. to these lawmakers who think they can continue to ignore's and continue to ignore's the nationwide scale, they will -- if they continue to try to not pay attention to young people, there are going to be voted out. amy: ezri tyler, you are at vanderbilt. justin jones, you were at

vanderbilt. justin jones, what is your records to stop this from happening? the response of your constituents who voted you in? you and your colleague are the youngest black representatives in the tennessee state house, is that right? you're also joined by a white female representative who they are trying to throw out? >> that is correct. myself and representative pearson are the youngest. we see this body a predominately white men are try to silence the voices of our district and our voters, which is over 200,000 people. by doing so, they are taking an assault on a democracy. we need action because if this goes forward in tennessee, this will happen across the nation. this is going to set a dangerous

precedent for democracy and our country. we hope the people of the nation will keep an eye on tennessee and stand with these young people who are simply saying they want to live, they want to be able to go to school without it feeling like a war zone, they want to feel safe. i collect on the others out of the aisle can expel us, but what we know is it is unconstitutional and we will challenge it in the court in the street. what they're doing is amplifying the movement, calling attention to the crisis of these mass shootings, the inaction of lawmakers who are beholden to the nra and ignoring the will of the people. that is authoritarianism. we will not be intimidated. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, justin jones, one of three who face an expulsion vote on thursday, author of the people's plaza which has a ford by william bishop barber. and ezri tyler is a national organizer for march for our lives and a student at vanderbilt university.

the tennessee governor bill lee signed yet another g regulation of guns in tennessee in a beretta gun factory. that does it for our show. our website is democracynow.org. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] ■

♪ hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm takao minori in new york. the president of taiwan heard threats that chinese leaders would retaliate, but tsai ing-wen has gone ahead and met with the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, kevin mccarthy. she says her democracy is facing unprecedented challenges. tsai was returning from visits to central america and made a stopover in california. she met with mccarthy and othe