04/11/23 04/11/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> ojuly 25, 202 i was docunting protest ing on wntownnd unfornately witnessed the deat of gaet foster athe has of daniel rry who theury andou ca we haveearned lot of differenacts of the case that s ledo dani perry' guiy

rdict of murr and the governors trying to pardon him and i believe strong he is making a mistake. amy: greg abbott says he is working as swiftly as possible to pardon a u.s. army sergeant just convicted of murdering a black lives matter protester in 2020, blocked from the state catol building inustin. we willpeak to an indepdent journalist fming that night and to a forr travis county assistant district attorney. then to nashville as democratic state representative justin jones returned to this didn't -- tennessee state house days after republicans expelled him after the metropolitan council of nashville yesterday voted unanimously to reinstate him. >> ♪ everywhere i go i'm going

to let it shine ♪ amy: and the justice department has launched a criminal investigation into a leak of highly classified pentagon intelligence about the war in ukraine and u.s. spying on its adversaries and its allies. we will speak with investigative journalist james bamford, author of "spyfl." >>ave a oxy war gng on between two nuclear pers, t unit states d russiaat the sameime you ve someby leakg mostighly clsified marial ou.s. goverent, partularlyn the pentan. involvea countrwe' ppting ithis pxy waro it is ry dangeus becau the governnt has n idea who is or howuch wi breleasedr leakedndhat the tential damage might be. it is extremely potentially

dangerous situation. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in kentucky, a gunman armed with an ar-15 style semiautomatic assault rifle killed five people at a bank in downtown louisville monday morning. eight others were injured, including a police officer who was shot in the head and required brain surgery. louisville police say they responded to reports of shots fired within three minutes. they killed the shooter in exchange of gunfire. investigators identified the shooter as a 25-year-old employee of old national bank who live-streamed the massacre on social media as he targeted his co-workers. kentucky's democratic governor andy beshear said three close friends were among the victims, including the bank's vice president thomas elliott, a long-time democratic party donor. >> this is awful.

i have a very close friend who did not make it today and i have another who did not either and one who is in the hospital that i hope is going to make it through. amy: just two hours after monday's mass shooting, one person was killed and another injured at a community college less than two miles away. according to the gun violence archive, there have been 146 mass shootings in the united states this year alone. the violence brought renewed focus to efforts by republicans to further deregulate guns, including u.s. congressman thomas massie whose district includes parts louisville's suburbs. in 2021, he tweeted a photo of himself and six family members holding assault-style rifles, with the caption, "merry christmas! ps. santa, please bring ammo." in tennessee, the metropolitan council of nashville voted unanimously monday to reinstate democratic state representative

justin jones just days after republicans voted to expel him from the tennessee house of representatives for joining peaceful protests against gun violence. this is nashville metro council member delishia porterfield speaking just before monday's 36-0 vote. >> representative jones was honest about who he was, a bolded upologetic advocate for the community. the people chose the representative. with this boat, we want to send a strong acid to our state government and across the country that we will not tolerate threats to our democracy. amy: following the vote, representative jones and more than supporters marched to the 1000 tennessee capitol where he was later joint and an afternoon session. >> i want to well democracy back

to the people's house. this body try to crucify democracy but today we stand in a resurrection of a movement that no unjust decision will stand. amy: representative jones called for the immediate resignation of the house speaker cameron sexton. a second democratic lawmaker who was expelled last week, justin pearson of memphis, could be reappointed to the tennessee house today if a majority of shelbyounty commissions 13 members agree to it. to see our coverage of the story, including our interviews with representative justin jones, go to democracynow.org. in virginia, prosecutors in newport news have filed criminal charges against the mother of a six-year-old boy who shot his elementary school teacher in january. the shooting left abigail zwerner with an injury to her chest and hand. the boy's mother faces one felony count of child neglect and one misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm. zwerner is suing t newport

news school board of administration who she says repeatedly shrugged off warnings the student was making threats and appeared to have a gun. the biden administration has filed a lawsuit seeking to block texas federal judge's ruling that revokes the food and drug administration approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. the justice department is asking the u.s. fifth circuit court of appeals to keep the order on hold until an appeal is decided. white house press secretary karine jean-pierre said monday the administration is prepared for a long legal fight. >> this decision further stripes away americans fundamental freedoms and interferes with the woman's ability to make decisions about her own body. it is another step toward the ultimate goal that we have heard over and over again from anti-choice, officials at both the state and national level, eliminating access to abortion for all women and every state.

amy: separately, the justice department filed a motion in a federal court in washington state asking for clarification after that court issued a conflicting ruling on friday ordering the fda to maintain the status quo by keeping mifepristone available. the washington ruling applies only to 17 states and the district of columbia with democratic attorneys general. meanwhile, over 400 pharmaceutical industry executives have signed an open letter condemning the texas federal judge's ruling on medication abortions. the letter reads in part -- "if courts can overturn drug approvals without regard for science or evidence, or for the complexity required to fully vet the safety and efficacy of new drugs, any medicine is at risk for the same outcome as mifepristone." in burma, witnesses report about 100 people, including pregnant

women and children, were killed today as the burmese military junta bombed village. a junta aircraft reportedly dropped two bombs that fired on people as they gathered the opening of a new town office. members of irma's government in exile condemned it as "heinous act" that constitutes a war crime they said. the u.n. has warned of worsening human rights crises in burma with torture prisoners come the killing of civilians, and media repression. the united states and the philippines have opened annual war games in what the pentagon is calling the largest military exercise of its kind in the south china sea. nearly 18,000 troops have joined the drills, which will feature live-fire exercises. australia's armed forces are also takinpart. the war games opened just after china concluded three days of military drills around taiwan. earlier today, protesters gathered outside the philippine military headquarters as the

drills got underway. this is the philippines opposition leader renato reyes. >> clearly, project u.s. power in asia. it is not intended to defend the philippines to help the philippines modernize but to showcase u.s. power and its preparation for war. amy: russia's military has launched a fresh wave of assaults across nine territories of ukraine, with dozens of air strikes and missile attacks reported over the past 24 hours. there are continuing reports of fierce fighting around bakhmut, where a pro-russia official claimed mercenaries with the wagner group have seized 75% of the besieged city. elsewhere, russia and ukraine carried out a prisoner swap on monday with each side fraying about 100 prisoners of war. meanwhile, "the washington post" reports that president abdel fatah el-sisi of egypt, a major u.s. ally and recipient of u.s.

military aid, recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to russia. president sisi reportedly tried to keep the shipments a secret "to avoid problems with the west." democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut responded -- "egypt is one of our oldest allies in the middle east. if it's true that sisi is covertly building rockets for russia that could be used in ukraine, we need to have a serious reckoning about the state of our relationship." the revelations came as part of classified u.s. intelligence documents found in a trove of files leaked online earlier this year. more on that story was journalist james bamford later in the broadcast. the leader of belarus has asked russia to guarantee its security in case it's attacked by the u.s. or nato powers. the authoritarian president alexander lukashenko made the comments during a conversation mond with russia's defense minister, who was visiting minsk.

>> in case there is an attack in belarus, the russian federation would defend belarus liked its own territory. these kinds of security guarantees that we need. actually in the 1990's, it was more or less discussed. now because of what the west has been doing, it has been forgotten about. what safety guarantees can america provide us? none apart from providing aggression towards us. amy: last month russian president adimir putin said he planned to deploy so-called tactical nuclear weapons to belarus. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has reversed his decision to fire israel's defense minister yoav gallant as violence against palestinians intensifies following the recent brutal raids at al-aqsa mosque in occupied east jerusalem. in a televised speech, netanyahu said their differences had been

put aside to "continue to work together for the security of the citizens of israel." in his remarks, netanyahu also denounced recent mass protests demanding his far-right government cancel plans to dramatically weaken israel's judiciary, blaming the position for israel's deteriorating security. hundreds of protesters took to the streets of tel aviv monday night in response. at least eight were arrested in clashes with police. in more news from the region, israeli ultranationalist senior government officials joined thousands of israeli settlers monday as they marched to an illegal outpost near nablus in the occupied west bank demanding israel's government legalize and repopulate the settlement. the much included the secured minister as well as the far right finance minister who promised to expand existing

settlements anto help create new ones across the west bank, which he called "our land." >> will soon be legalized as promised by the previous government. this place will be bustling with jewish life. amy: in texas, republican governor greg abbott is planning to pardon a man convicted of murdering a black lives matter protester. daniel perry was found guilty by a travis county jury last week for killing 28-year-old garrett foster at an austin racial justice protest in july 2020 following the police murder of george floyd. conservatives have rallied around perry, a former u.s. army sergeant, who's being sentenced today. later in the show, we will go to austin, texas, for an update. and u.s. authorities have arrested roberto antonio garay saravia, a retired army colonel from el salvador's army, over

his role in the 1981 el mozote massacre where u.s.-trained salvadoran military officers killed nearly 1000 civilians across seven villages. immigration and customs enforcement claims garay saravia hid his involvement in the massacre in his application to become a legal u.s. resident in 2014. he received combat training at fort benning's school of the americas and georgia and is linked to issues in 1981. if deported, garay saravia would likely walk free in el salvador as salvadoran authorities have never issued arrest warrants against any military officers involved in the massacre. the errata administration and salvadoran military junta covered up the massacre for years. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in tennessee where nashville voted unanimously monday to reinstate democratic state representative justin jones just days after republicans voted to expel him from the tennessee house of representatives for joining peaceful protests against gun violence after a massacre at a christian school. >> ♪ everything is going to be all right cut a feeling everything is going to be all right ♪ amy: this is nashville metro council member delishia porterfield speaking just before monday's 36-to-0 vote to return jones to the tennessee house until a special election can be held.

>> this afternoon's vote is unprecedented but so was the action taken to expel members of the legislature. voters in district 52 elected justin jones to be their voice at the state house and that voice was taken away this past week. let's give them their voice back and i call on this body to vote unanimously right now to do just that. thk you. >> thursday we witnessea miscarriage of justice and an egregious assault on our democracy which resulted in over 70,000 voters, our voters, being silenced when i representative was expelled. this is not the first attempt of the state attempting to silence the people with its vote to reinstate representative jones, we are restoring a political voice of the 70,000 people of

district 52. our community members are more than capable of selecting their representative and there will should never have been undermined i representative jones was honest about who he was, a bold and unapologetic advocate for the community. the people chose the representative. and with this vote, we will send a strong message to our state government and across the country that we will not tolerate threats to our democracy. >> if you are for the election of justin jones to be the interim successor for the vacancy of tennessee house district 52, you will vote aye. if not, you will vote no. close the machines and take the vote. justin jones has been elected as the interim successor for the vacant seat of house 52 pursuant to the state law and the rules governing the metropolitan council.

amy: following about, justin jones and more than supporters 1000 marched to the tennessee capitol chantingno justin, no peace" and more. amy: upon arriving at the steps of the texas state capitol in austin, justin jones was sworn in again, reinstated and addressed his supporters as they looked on. >> i will end by saying this, when they expelled us, they had no idea this was going to happen. they thought they would go about as they do, as they always do. there would be no resistance. they would do something unconstitutional and we would

just have to wait to seek accountability. tom is ready for a change and that time has come to nashville. -- time is ready for a change and that time has come to nashville. speaker cameron sexton, can move on over or we will move over you because we are moving on. friends of nashville, tennessee, we hope you join us in the people's house because no matter what happens here today, we need people to show up in the chamber and let them know we will not allow him to stand in the doorway like in the past. we won't let him stand in the doorway of democracy anymore. happy easter monday because we are resurrecting a movement across this state.

forward to and not one step back. whose house? >> our house! amy: after the swearing in, justin jones immediately called for the resignation of tennessee house speaker cameron sexton. jones' support or sign as they enter the capitol and walked up the steps to the capitol. >> ♪ i'm going to let it shine everywhere i go i am going to let it shine ♪ amy: as they walked up the steps of the tennessee capitol in nashville, representative jones took his seat on the house floor a secession was ongoing.

arm and arm with tennessee -- are in orbit tennessee gloria johnson who nearly missed being expelled last week. he raised his fist in the air to cheers. looking on was justin pearson of memphis who was also expelled last week as one of the tennessee three. pearson could be reappointed to the tennessee house today if a majority of the shelby county commission's 13 members agree to it. on sunday, the expelled state representative justin pearson joined his father pastor pearson and spoke at an easter

service. >> the republican led super majority of the tennessee general a similar sought to have a political lynching of three members because we spoke out of turn against the status quo of the government after the tragic death of six people in the shooting at the covenant school in nashville. three were nine years old. three adults worked at the school. the shooter was gunned down by police that day as well. because we walked to the well of the house out of turn, resolutions were unjustly and democratically filed against as on these trumped up charges. because we spoke out against the empire, against those in positions of power without god, power or people power, because we spoke out against the empire of the nra and the gun lobbyists , because we demanded an end to gun violence and employer for ration of weapons on our streets and -- proliferation

of weapons on our streets, the republican led general us sibley with the support of folks even in this district like mark white from our own community thought it better to get rid of our democratic and representation in 86. and to solve the problem -- 86 than to solve the problem. this has been a holy week. this has been a sacred week. the lesson from it resurrection is a processing to persecuted people. reverend dr. martin luther king jr. was killed by gun violence. his words from what he spoke days before he was assassinated are still true. the movement lives or dies in memphis. the movement lives or dies in memphis. [applause]

the movement lives or dies in memphis. the movement lives or dies in memphis. the movement lives or dies in memphis. the movement for justice lives or dies in memis. the movement for democracy lives or dies. the move into end gun violence lives or dies in memphis. [applause] we see those who want to kill the movement, republican-led super majority. we have witnessed one of the most historic, unjustifiable abuses of power by a state government against black folks because we decided to speak up and fight for people, including people who are no longer here. people like my own classmate

larry thorns killed by gun violence earlier this year. those people who can speak no more because we decided to elevate the voices and the hearts and the spirits of those, the super majority republican legislator decided it was time for us to go because in our opinion it was time to listen, time to listen to the demands of thousands of children and youth and teenagers asking for leaders in positions of power to do something. to pass laws that ashley prevent gun violence, to pass laws that support communities. that support youth. ensuring to make our community safer everywhere. amy: that is justin pearson of best. he was expelled last week as one of the tennessee three for engaging in the gun protest after the mass shooting at a christian school in nashville. pearson could be reaointed to

the tennessee house wednesday as justin jones was on monday if a majority of the shelby county commission' is 13 members agree to it. coming up, republican texas governor greg abbott says he's working as possible to pardon u.s. army sergeant who was just convicted of murdering a black lives matter protester and a 2020. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: justin jones singing with joan baez "we shall overcome" as they met at the airport.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we go right now to the capitol of texas, to austin, where republican texas governor greg abbott says he is working as swiftly as possible to pardon a u.s. army sergeant who was just convicted friday of murdering a black lives matter activist and a 2020 just blocks from the texas state capitol building. the move comes after an austin jury heard evidence in an eight-day trial and deliberated for 17 hours before it convicted daniel perry of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for fatally shooting 28-year-old garrett foster, who was an air force veteran. >> the jury finds daniel perry guilty of the offense of murder. amy: perry was working as a rideshare driver when he drove

his car into the protest after he had earlier tweeted he "might have to kill a few people on my way to work." garrett foster was pushing his fiancée's wheelchair and was legally carrying an ak-47 rifle at the protest when foster shot him four times with his .357 magnum pistol, later telling police foster did not point his rifle at him, but "i didn't want to give him a chance to aim at me." garrett foster, the murder victim, and his fiancée whitney mitchell had been together since they were 17 years old. foster became one of mitchell's primary caretakers when she went into septic shock at the age of 19 and lost all four of her limbs. mitchell's mother patricia kirven called foster her daughter's fifth limb. this is whitney mitchell responding to governor abbott's request for a pardon of daniel perry after his guilty verdict

came down, speaking to kxan news. >> i was disgusted and it was shocking to see that after everything that me and garrett's family have been through tget to ts point. i was so relieved to see justice forarrett and for all of that to be completely taken away is extremely horrifying. i don't understand it. amy: several people re filming the nighof the protest july 20 5, 2020. this is vio by robert garrett d then our next guest ram gierto. a rning to our viewers a listers, this footage includ gun olence. the footage wacompiled by

kxan. amy: in his murder trial, l perry used the state's stand your ground law of self-defense to defend his actions. the texas board of pardons and paroles said monday it is now launching an investigation into governor abbott's request for an expedited pardon. a court docket had mistakenly listed daniel perry's sentencing listed as 9:15 i am but it is not even set. there has just been the murder verdict. for more where joint and austin by two people. hiram gilberto garcia, an

independent journalist who livestreamed that night and was the first witness on the stand to testify for daniel perry's murder trial. also with us is rick cofer, former assistant district attorney for travis county, which includes austin, and now a criminal defense attorney. we welcome you both to democracy now! hiram, let's begin with you. lay out what you testified in this trial and your response to the vertex being a murder verdict but the governor saying he will pardon mr. daniel perry. i don't know if you heard me, but i was asking you to respond to the governor saying he is going to pardon perry who has just been convicted of murder and to describe what you said on the witness stand, what you saw that day in 2020 as you were filming. >> thank you so much for having

me. july 25 was a particularly difficult day. just like i had done the previous few days, i was livestreaming and document in the protest in 2020. explicitly, my role was to be a journalist and documentarian. that night the crowd was making their way up a very populated and important street in austin called congress avenue. there was quite a few protesters, marchers who were peacefully chanting and marching beyond just isolated incidents of vandalism. the crowd was peaceful. as the crowd was approaching 4th street and congress, specifically when i observed the most dense part of the crowd crossing the intersection, i noticed a vehicle drove into what seemed to be the crowd what i believe was a high ratef speed, i hrd a honk, heard thp, thought somebody had been

viually,an over in that instance and i tried to render aid. but as soon as i madby way toward where i thought the incident hadccurred, i heard gunshots andan the other direction. it wasn absolutely devastati scene. i was se i was witnesng a mass shoing that moment. amy:nd then what did yosee, hiram? >> shortly aer that, i noticed someone who was maring protting had been shot. protesters wer emotionally stressed. i noticed a lot of folks re in shock, screing, yelling, and shortly after found out that garrett foster had been the one who was sho according to the folks that were witnsing, they told me he tk significant gunfire and tt it wasn't looking very promising.

just in that moment, folks were feeling very pesmistic about what was happening. amy: what was it like to be the first is in the trial? >> it was certainly extremely difficult going up on the stand as a witness. i wanted to make sure it was clear that as a journalist i was only giving factual information about my observations. obviously, that was very difficult to do and an emotional situation. ultimately, i was able to achieve my goal and relay what i observed. absolutely, the emotion in that courtroom was high. the attorney -- the defense attorney that was cross-examining me certainly was very emotional as well. many folks that were alive

tweeting called a portion of my interview highly emotional and a little bit heated, so that added to the intensity of that moment. amy: did you know garrett? >> i did become familiar with garrett. he was somebody that was out protesting and arching on a daily basis. we are talking about there have been 50 continuous days of garrett showing up with his spouse whitney protesting. during that time, i was able to interview them quite a few times for my livestream and my documentation. in tha tim i became familiar withow garrett foste worked together and why they were down there. amy: your response to the governor of texas, governor

abbott, following an outcry from fox, particularly the pushing of tucker carlsen calling for the pardoning of the person who has been convicted of murder? >> i find it completely devastating to learn our governor is willing to circumvent what is already an important procedure for a justice system in place. the jury sat down for two weeks almost on a daily basis learning cases -- i mean, facts of the case every single day. i was present at that shooting and even i was still learning completely new and unknown facts of this case. it is hard for me to imagine as somebody that did not sit a single day in that trial that greg abbott has full knowledge

or understanding of why that jury came to the decision, which is why i feel strongly that this is a mistake by governor abbott. this case took two weeks of the liberations. i can't imagine anyone who sat there or did not sit there those two weeks could have a fair analysis of what happened. amy: rick cofer, you're the former assistant district attorney for travis county, now a defense attorney. if you can talk about the significance of the governor's weighing in right after the murder conviction, before the sentencing, and what this means? >> this is unprecedented in texas legal history, which is what makes it so shocking. i was initially surprised by the verdict in the perry case. widely, it was considered a strong self-defense claim that

the district attorney was likely to lose, but trials can go any number of directions. the jury found perry guilty. that is one thing. last year, the governor pardoned seven people. the year before that, two. you are more likely to be struck by lightning or two when the texas lottery than to receive a pardon from the governor. let alone what a recommendation for a pardon in the middle of trial court proceedings. daniel perry has been found guilty by a jury but he has not yet been sentenced. technically, under even the board of parole and pardons procedures, he is not even eligible today to apply for a pardon because he has not been sentenced. so wildly unexpected and wildly inconsistent with texas law. amy: you told the austin american statesman is what happened in uganda or el salvador total abrogation of

rule of law and what is even worse is that avid knows better. -- abbott knows better. explain. >> at the core of the rule of law is the concept that the law applies equally to everyone. daniel perry was convicted by jury. a jury that swore an oath to fairly and impartially follow the law which heard to woods of evidence and testimony which deliberated for 16 hours, which was instructed by the judge to only find a verdict of guilty if they believed beyond a reasonable doubt that daniel perry did not act in self-defense. daniel perry has every right to seek judicial scrutiny of the verdict. he can appeal the state court, federal court, he can file writs, but he is not entitled to

a pardon at this time as a matter of equity. the governor can recommend what he wants, but here's the upshot. daniel perry was treated the same as any person charged with murder. governor greg abbott did not see a single minute of testimony. he has not reviewed a single piece of evidence that was admitted into the record. instead, greg abbott's opinion is what has driven his decision to announce a pardon. the rule of law means that jury verdicts will not -- although not final will be treated as final until reviewed by higher courts. what happens in nations like el salvador and uganda -- i chose those specifically due to charitable work in uganda, and i am for labor the court system, is when judges and juries make rulings that the powerful interest don't like, the government ignores the courts. government substitutes its own

opinion of what should happen for that of a jury or that of a court. that is exactly what happened here in texas. governor abbott appears based principally on media reports from tucker carlsen and sean hannity, decided this jury had gotten it wrong and the governor decided his opinion counted more than the jurors. that is not how the rule of law works. that is not how to process works. it is a scary precedent for what is to,. amy:? did garrett foster was killed protesting the murder of george floyd and a 2022 the port-au-prince unanimously recommended that floyd be pardoned for a drug charge in which a crooked cup planted drugs and yet you now have this situation. explain. >> i should be clear, the officer involved in the arrest

and felony conviction of george floyd 20 years ago was -- has admitted to lying in the search warrant that is disputed whether or not drugs were planted stuff that officer is currently pending charges for murder and related and here's county. at here is the upshot. garrett foster was killed by daniel perry while protesting the killing of george floyd. about six months ago, the texas board of pardons and parole unanimously recommended governor abbott pardon george floyd for a 20-year-old drug conviction out of houston. the politics of that looked bad for greg abbott, conservative circles, and he used his power and influence to have that recommendation withdrawn on procedural grounds. now without announce or a scintilla of appellate review, without a sentence even having

been issued, governor abbott has made his decision that daniel perry deserves a pardon while george floyd's pardon languishes in purgatory. it is the type of story that if you were to read it in a novel you would not believe and yet here we are. in texas, truth is stranger than fiction. apparently, politics counts more than law. amy: finally, hiram gilberto garcia, does this make you afraid to continue to film? you have a car that moved into protesters and of course will hit journalists or anyone else in its way, it could, and then you have the shooting, murder conviction, and then the governor says he's going to move expeditiously on a pardon but we will see what happens. >> i would not say fear would ever keep me from going and documenting and doing my job.

although, i do take safety pretty cautions every time -- precautions every time i feel the demonstration. it is common to see guns, high-powered rifles, individuals with heightened emotions. so every time i am out, i am wearing a full bullet proof vest and just hoping for the best, ultimately. traini, doing my best for de-escalation but ultimately, this is a reminder to me of the importance of having a video or visual of how these movements unfold and why people make the decisions they make will stop because as we have seen, without the video evidence, we would not be aware of situations like what happened with george floyd and many, many other really important historic, you know,

events that have shaped this nation. i'm going to keep in my job but with the bullet-proof vest. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. rick cofer, to your point you would expect this in countries like uganda and el salvador, maybe there they are saying we are only following the model of the united states. >> we have to be the leader in the rule of law and democratic values. we have to lead by example. we have to show that elections are determinative and not the threat of force. we have to show our judicial system is fair and that it treats all people equally. the proposed pardon of daniel perry cuts at and aggregates the very essence of the rule of law. sadly, your listeners and viewers should expect this pardon will eventually be granted. politics has trumped justice in

this instance, and trumped the law. amy: rick cofer, former travis county assistant district attorney, and hiram gilberto garcia is an independent journalist, first witness in the murder trial. that does it for this segment. coming up, the justice department has launched a criminal investigation into a leak of highly classified pentagon intelligence documents about u.s. spying on its adversaries and its allies. we will speak with investigative journalist james bamford. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "the dream passes by the windows," ukrainian folk song and lullaby performed by harriet fraser. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the justice department has launched a criminal investigation into a recent leak of highly classified pentagon intelligence documents about the

war in ukraine as well as russian and u.s. spying not only on its adversaries, but on its allies like israel, south korea, ukraine. over the past month or more, the leaked documents have been appearing online on the chat service discord and on the messaging app telegram. many appear to be photographs of slides prepared for a briefing. it appears the pentagon wasn't aware of the leak until last week. national security council spokesperson john kirby spoke on monday. >> we don't know who is responsible for this and we don't know if they have more that they intend to post, so we are watching this and monitoring it as best we can. but the truth and the honest answer your question is, we don't know. is that a matter of concern to

us? you are done right it is. amy: while the documents appear to be real, u.s. officials say some have been doctored. concerning the war in ukraine, thleaked documen suggest ukraine has little chance of militarily defeating russia. one document from february predicted that ukraine's "ability to provide medium range air defense to protect the will be completely reduced by may 23." the leaked documents also predicted the fighting between ukraine and russia in the donbas region "is likely heading toward a stalemate." another document indicates members of ukrne's curity servicesere responble for sabotaging a russian plane inside barus in la februy. the documents also appear to indite that u.s. intelligence agencies had deeply penetrated the russian military giving the biden administration internal information about russian war plans in ukraine as well as operational plans for the private mercenary wagner group in africa. "the washington post" reports

one leaked document reveals the wagner group sought to purchase arms from turkey, a nato ally. documents also show egypt, a close u.s. ally, secretly planned to produce 40,000 rockets for russia. the leak of the documents has also revealed how the united states spied on its own allies. one leaked pentagon memo alleges that the mossad, israel's spy agency, had encouraged israelis to take part in the massive protests against prime minister benjamin netanyahu's plan to gut the israeli judiciary. many of the documents are based on information gathered by some of the most secret wings of the u.s. intelligence community , including the national reconnaissance office, national geospatial-intelligence agency, the state department's bureau of intelligence and research, the pentagon's defense intelligence agency, and the national security agency. we go now to washington, d.c., where we are joined by james

bamford, longtime investigative journalist and author focused on the intelligence community. in 1982, he published "the puzzle palace," the first book exposing the inner workings of the nsa, the national security agency. his latest book, just out, is called "spyfail: foreign spies, moles, saboteurs, and the collapse of america's counterintelligence." jim, welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us again. start off by, as you evaluate, what has been released. this intelligence, if it is real and by all accounts it looks real, of the u.s. spying on adversaries and allies, talk about what is most significant and where these documents are from. >> well, in terms of significance, i think the most significant outcome of this is a danger that we may lose actual human beings in russia.

because a lot of the documents indicate we have collected information the inter-workings of the russian government, the intelligence services, and the military. so there are people that may be giving us information and now that these documents have come out, it gives the russians an opportunity to do a mole hunt, to hunt for people who are giving that information away. officials told "the new york times" and "the washington post" the revelations might lead russian mole hunters to the doorsteps of american spies in their ranks. that is the problem. the problem is when these types of documents leak, especially during a period of war, there are dire consequences that can happen to the people who are helping the u.s. by giving them information. amy: again, talk about these

agencies that people may not be aware of. you are the expert on the nsa, many times larger than the cia, the national security agency, but then you have the national reconnaissance office, the defense intelligence agency. so who is getting a hold of these? also, talk about the platforms that they are being released on. discord is for gamers? and then talk about telegraph. >> in terms of the agencies, there is a potpourri of documents that give extremely detailed information about all of these agencies. the nsa, for example, eavesdropped around the world, the documents that were picked up or the documents that were released dealing with mossad and israel came from eavesdropping, from nsa eavesdropping on the communications of mossad. so -- then you have the national

reconnaissance office in charge of putting spy satellites in orbit. the geospatial agency that analyzes the imagery. again, that information also came out of these documents because there are documents that show how we were able to collect information by satellite. there is a wealth of what they call sources and methods, both human and technical, that were released by the documents. now, strangely, mostly documents leaked appear in major news organizations like "the new york times" and "the washington post," whatever, they never appear on gaming platforms. this is a first for that. it is hard to say why any of this is appearing or why it is appearing on those platforms. usually, there are three reasons for spying. one of the reasons i wrote goat"

because there are so many spies that u.s. never ends up catching. the three main reasons is money and most spies want to sell secrets from money and another is ideological. they want to help a foreign government. they don't care much about money. the third reason is basically the thrill or i would say anger. that could be the reason these documents were released, the third reason, anger. somebody was angrynd they decided they were going to put these documents on whatever platform they happened to be using. it is hard to know. the key point is the government keeps losing documents. a few years ago, the nsa lost upwards of half a billion documents. employees just walking out the door with these documents.

they lost three quarters of cyber weapons, the united states cyber weapons. the nsa lost three quarters of that. somebody stole them and put them up on auction. the north koreans ended up getting these cyber weapons and so did the russians and they turned them on the united states. there is a complete lack of accountability when it comes to classified information, top-secret documents, and so forth. it just walks out the door and nobody ever gets fired. amy: james bamford, we are going to continue this discussion with part two after this show ends and post it at democracynow.org to talk about the most significant revelations in this, from the war in ukraine to what is happening in israel to egypt possibly wanting to secret the produce rockets for russia, u.s. ally, egypt, as is israel. james bamford, longtime

investigative journalist and author. his most recent book is titled "spyfail: foreign spies, moles, saboteurs, and the collapse of america's counterintelligence." happy belated birthday to david prude! [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

pppxxxx■]■t■]■owwwwwwwww■■■■■■■8