04/20/23 04/20/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this case is not about health and safety. let's be clear, this case is about nothing but ideology and this is incredibly dangerous for millions of people in this country who need access to medication abortion. amy: the abortion pill mifespristone remains available at least for today after the

supreme court delayed a ruling on the future of abortion pills until friday. we will look at the fight to keep abortion legal with julie burkhart. she worked for eight years as an abortion provider -- with abortion provider george tiller before he was assassinated in charge in 2009. we will also speak with law professor michele goodwin. then to the historic settlent dominion voting system versus fox news for spreading lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. >> fox and dominion have reached an historic settlement. fox has admitted to telling lies about dominion that caused enormous damage to my company, our employees, and the customers that we serve. nothing can ever make up for that. amy: all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. thousands of people have fled sudan's capital khartoum amid an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis as fighting between two rival military factions continues into a sixth day. several attempts to impose a ceasefire have failed. the united nations reports the -- nearly 300 civilians have been killed, though the true toll is likely higher. the u.n. warns of worsening shortages of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies, and doctors without borders reports up to 70% of the hospitals in khartoum and neighboring states are not able to function. this is esraa abou shama, a doctor at sudan's health ministry. >> most of the big and specialized hospitals are out of service and not offering any services examination or treatment for the patients because they have been targeted was shelling.

a shortage of doctors and because of electricity and water outages. amy: the you and secretary general is an emergency talks today with members of the african union and other regional leaders. it comes as a workers report tens of thousands of sudanese refugees have fled across the border into chad. in yemen, at least 78 people were killed in a stampede and more injured wednesday evening at a ramadan charity event in the capital sanaa. witnesses told the associated press the crowd crush began after armed houthis fired into the air to control the crowd, striking electrical equipment and causing it to explode. two men who organized the event have been arrested and an investigation is under way. the united nations is warning nearly 50 million people in west and central africa are at risk of imminent hunger as the region's food insecurity crisis has been compounded by war, covid-19, rising prices, and the effects of the climate

catastrophe. over 16 million children under five are facing acute malnutrition this year. some 45,000 people in the sahel are facing catastrophic hunger as fighting in the region has cut off humanitarian and food supply routes. conflict around lake chad and in the central african republic have also made access near impossible. the world food program is struggling to respond to the crisis as it also grapples with a $900 million deficit. this is the world foods programs senior advisor. >> we only have around 6 million or seven milly people we can reach. and even these people will be in rations that will be reduced for the moment. we will not have enough money to give total food rations where the 2000 calories someone needs each day in order to survive. amy: meanwhile, a record-shattering heat wave has hit multiple asian countries, including india, bangladesh, laos, thailand, and parts of china. in the indian state of maharashtra, at least 13 people

who attended an outdoor event died from heatstroke on sunday. scientific models predict extreme heatwaves in india could get so bad, they would not be considered survivable by 2050, even by a healthy person resting in the shade. this comes as the u.n. said this week india is poised to overtake china as the world's most populous country by june. a sweeping new study finds air pollution affects every stage of human life from fetal development to old-age dementia. the environmental research group at imperial college london reviewed tens of thousands of studies looking at the different impacts of air pollution, including delays in fetal growth, diminished lung volume in children, reduced cognitive ability of adolescents, and continuing adverse mental health affects throughout life. this comes as the american lung association reports over one third of u.s. residents regularly breathe unhealthy air with communities of color disproportionately affected. the journal of the american

medical association finds that black people living in the u.s. in counties with more black primary care physicians live longer whether or not they are treated by those doctors. research has shown that when black doctors treat black patients, health outcomes are more positive, including in preventive care. less than 6% of u.s. doctors are black, around half the proportion of black people in the u.s. population. the supreme court has pushed back a decision on the fate of the abortion pill mifepristone until friday, keeping the country's most popular abortion method available for at least another two days as the court reviews a ruling earlier this month which banned the drug. we'll have the latest on the state of abortion access in the united states after headlines. in oklahoma, a county commissioner in mccurtain county resigned wednesday, days after a local newspaper published secretly recorded audio revealing he spoke with local law enforcement officials about lynching black people and

assassinating reporters. mark jennings' resignation came after oklahoma's republican governor kevin stitt called on him and three other officials to resign. they are county jail administrator larry hendrix, sheriff's investigator alicia manning, and mccurtain county sheriff kevin clardy. in this clip secretly recorded last month after a mccurtain county board of commissioners meeting and published by the mccurtain gazette-news, jennings discusses the county's history of racist beatings and hangings with sheriff clardy. listen carefully. >> [indiscernible] amy: in another clip, sheriff clardy and jennings are heard discussing hiring hit men to

kill two journalists who had reported on misconduct by county officials. >> what comes around goes around. >> it will. i know where two deep holes are. amy: since the mccurtain gazette-news published those and other hateful comments, sheriff clardy has refused calls to step down. the sheriff instead accused the publisher of the mccurtain gazette-news bruce willingham of making the recording illegally and predicted he would face felony charges. willingham and his son, whose potential murders were discussed in the tape, have turned the recordings over to the fbi and the oklahoma attorney general's office. in georgia, an independent autopsy has revealed an activist who was fatally shot by atlanta police in january was struck by at least 57 bullets. 26-year-old manuel esteban

terán, known as tortuguita, was killed as police raided an encampment of forest protectors opposing the construction of atlanta's $90 million police training center dubbed "cop city." no officers have been charged over the killing. meanwhile, at least 42 activists arrested while protesting cop city face state charges of domestic terrorism. in kansas city, missouri, the white homeowner accused of shooting a black teenager who rang his doorbell by mistake pleaded not guilty wednesday to charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action. prosecutors say 84-year-old andrew lester exchanged no words with 16-year-old ralph yarl before opening fire on him through a glass door, striking him in the chest and head. yarl had simply gone to the wrong house to pick up his younger twin brothers.

on wednesday, activist and family spokesperson shaun king published a photo showing ralph yarl out of the hospital and posing alongside attorney lee merritt. king wrote that yarl is recovering from a traumatic brain injury and faces a long road to recovery, adding -- "had the bullet hit his head a fraction of an inch in any other direction, he would probably be dead right now." here in new york, prosecutors in saratoga county have charged a 65-year-old man with second-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed 20-year-old kaylin gillis on saturday. kaylin and a friend were shot after their car mistakenly pulled into the wrong driveway. meanwhile, in elgin, texas, two cheerleaders were shot by a man in the parking lot of a grocery store on tuesday after one of them mistakenly tried to get into the wrong car.

although she apologized, he opened fire on her and her friends. in maine, four people were fatally shot in their home tuesday shortly before three others were wounded by gunfire on a busy interstate highway. police arrested a 34-year-old who had just completed a sentence for aggravated assault. they say he confessed to the shootings, which left his parents and two of their friends dead. according to the gun violence archive, there have been 166 mass shootings in the u.s. so far this year. tennessee lawmakers have approved a bill to shield gun and ammunition manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits. republican governor bill lee has promised to sign the legislation, which comes less then a month after 39-year-olds students -- three nine-year-olds

students and three adults were killed by a shooter armed with an ar-15-style semi-automatic assault rifle at the covenant school in nashville. in response, democratic representative justin jones of nashville tweeted -- "there's a soul sickness in our state when tennessee republican legislators are more concerned with protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits than children from being killed by mass shootings. we said, protect children not guns -- they choose the guns. this is morally insane." meanwhile, special election dates have been set to fill the seats of the democratic representatives justin jones and justin pearson after tennessee republicans voted to expel them for leading peaceful protests against gun violence inside the tennessee legislature. both black lawmakers have been temporarily reappointed to their house seats and are expected to

compete in primaries to be held on june 15, with an election set for august 3. republicans in montana's legislature are attempting to censure democrat zooey zephyr, montana's first and only openly transgender lawmaker. this comes after zephyr delivered a searing condemnation tuesday of a bill that would ban gender-affirming health care for youth, among other anti-trans measures. >> if you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture. this body should be ashamed. if you vote yes on this bill, yes on these amendments, hope the next time there is an into the tatian to guy your heads in prayer you see the blood on your hands. amy: the bill is expected to be passed and signed by republican governor. florida has banned teaching about gender identity and

sexuality throughout k-to-12 in all public schools, extending the ban known as "don't say gay" that previously went through third grade. teachers who violate the ban could have their licenses suspended or revoked. joe saunders of equality florida said, "this rule is by design a tool for curating fear, anxiety and the erasure of our lgbtq community." andy biden administration has charged four u.s. citizens from a penn africanist group with conspiring with the russian government to sow discord in your selections. chair of the african people socialist party faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the united states, along with three others. three russians were also named in an indictment unsealed by the justice department on tuesday. this follows the violent fbi raid on the activist properties

in missouri and florida last summer. speaking to democracy now! in august of last year, the chair of the african people socialist party called it ridiculous and asinine. >> what we have been doing for 50 years as a party and that i have been doing for nearly 60 years is about the liberation of black people. i want to be clear on that. the government is clear on that. they use russia, these this nonsense even at a time when we are seeing white people scaling the walls of the capitol and threatening to kill the vice president and you talk about we have some role under the russians of contaminating their pristine lectures that happen in this country? amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, the abortion pill mifespristone remains available at least until friday

after the supreme court delayed a ruling on the future of mifespristone. we will look at the fight to keep abortion legal. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: elliot smith's "angeles" covered by shannon lay. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on wednesday, the supreme court pushed back their decision on the abortion pill mifepristone until friday, keeping the country's most popular abortion method available for at least another day as the court reviews a ruling earlier this month which banned the drug. the center for reproductive rights said the court "should have issued a stay. but instead, the court continues to delay any action. in the meantime, abortion providers and their patients across the country have been living in chaos, unclear if they'll still be able to prescribe and access this

critical medication." the justice department and drug maker danco laboratories have warned the court that if it does not step in, the supply of the medication could end almost immediately. they say one person at the medication would be considered misbranded and that generic version would be rendered unapproved. this week, the maker of the generic mifespristone sued the fda in a bid to keep the drug on the market no matter what the court rules. the original april 7 ruling in the fast moving case was by the trump appointed u.s. district judge matthew kacsmaryk, a longtime abortion opponent and activist. the supreme court's orders on wednesday were issued by justice samuel alito, who also wrote the decision in the dobbs ruling last year that ended the constitutional right to abortion.

overturned roe v. wade. for more on all of this and the fight to keep abortion legal and accessible, we are joined by two guests. julie burkhart is president of wellspring health access and co-owner of hope clinic. she worked for eight years with dr. george tiller before he was assassinated in church in 2009. last may, her clinic that was set to open in just weeks, was firebombed by an antiabortion arsonist. her recent piece for salon is headlined "i own the only abortion clinic in wyoming: post-roe america is a tragedy, and an opportunity." we're also joined by michele, visiting professor of law at harvard law school. she is founding director of the center for biotechnology and global health policy. she hosts the ms. magazine podcast "on the issues with

michele goodwin" and author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." last year, she wrote a guest essay for "the new york times" headlined "i was raped by my father. an abortion saved my life." we welcome you both back to democracy now! michele goodwin, let's begin with you. start off with what this temporary stay -- well, the first one was temporary until this past wednesday, and now until friday. what does this stay mean? >> this stamey's the court is still deliberating. it could mean justices that are drafting dissenting opinions. we don't know but it means something more which is mifespristone is still available , it is still available under the conditions that were set by the fda prior to judge matthew because merrick's -- matthew

kacsmaryk's opinion that decided mifespristone should be removed from the marketplace. basically siding with the petitioners who claim the drug was rushed to the market and it was unsafe. it is worth noting, as you have discussed before, this is a drug that was under review for 54 months what was put on the marketplace in 2000. to put that in comparison with other drugs during that same period, they were reviewed for about 15 months. secondly, the claims it is an unsafe drug really is quite unfounded when the fda did approve mifespristone to be in the marketplace, it had already been used in europe for decades. we know through decades of research since 2020 -- or since 2000, excuse me, that it is a drug that has lower morbidities and tylenol, then viagra, then penicillin.

we don't know what the supreme court will do on friday but one more point with this is that there are over 200 drug manufacturers that have signed a letter expressing their deep concern about the ruling that came out of amarillo, texas, because it could affect more than just mifespristone and drugs related to reproductive health. it could be virtually any drug that is petitioned to be removed from the u.s. marketplace. amy: so, michele goodwin, talk about samuel alito and his role. this came under his jurisdiction by justice alito is well known as the man who is the author of the supreme court decision overturning roe v. wade. what it means he was the original person who extended this day and now has done it again? >> well, it is hard to read the tea leaves but you make an

excellent point which is that justice alito authored the decision in jobs june 2022, just less than a year ago, that overturned roe v. wade and planned parenthood -- plan pair heavy kc. planned parenthood was a 1992 decision and row -- we're talking about decades of precedent that rendered virtually meaningless through the dobbs decision. it was worth noting the dobbs decision was a case that came out at the state at mississippi where there had only been one abortion clinic and in that state, if you are a black woman, you are 118 times more likely to die by carrying a pregnancy to term then by having an abortion. i justice alito's opinions must also be linked to the hobby lobby decision which is one that challenged the mandate through the mandate through the

affordable care act that contraceptives would be available. justice alito autredhat decion, too, wch basical meant employers who claim some religious objection to contraception could deny that to their female employees. so we see a trajectory of cases with justice alito that side against reproductive health rights and justice, but we don't know exactly what the court will do in this particular case -- particularly given drug manufacturers have spoken out and, one last point, in the dobbs decision, a court said these matters would be returned to the states,hat the laboratories of democracies are in thistate and people want acss to abtion, thenhat is the ace in which these issues should be settled. by judge kacsmaryk'srder, th basically flies in the face of the dobbs decision, meaning if his loader his orderere allod to and in stas like calirnia, illins, new york, mifespristone would no longer be

available for this use. therefore, making hash of what the supreme court issued just last year. amy: michele goodwin, what you think of congressmember's like aoc saying that the biden administration should simply ignore this ruling? what are the grounds for this? >> right now -- she is not alone. there are doctors that are articulating just how distressing this happens to be. so if we set the ground a bit more, which i think is really important, the united states is the deadliest place in all of the industrialized world to be pregnant. i know for many americans, that is shocking. but we rank somewhere around 55th in the world in terms of maternal safety. that means if someone were to be pregnant have a child with dignity and countries that have

been war-torn. in the united states, the pre-court conceded in 2016 that a woman is 14 times more likely in the united states to die by carrying a pregnancy to term then by having an abortion. what does this mean for doctors, not just aoc? for doctors across the country in states that have banned abortion, such as texas, 99 years incarceration, $100,000 in fines, losing the medical license to practice if in fact they are found to have tried to save a woman's life at a point before she was very, very close to death. this is relating to a lawsuit that is right now in the state of texas brought by five women who were not necessarily pro-choice -- some articulated antiabortion views -- but it turned out they would need abortions to save their lives. times that were most critical

with one woman gestating twins but one of the twins died and that causing health affects for her and also the other fetus -- in those instances, doctors in texas felt they were handcuffed, that they could not respond to the urgent needs of their patients. what we hear from doctors, what we hear from aoc, is that something must be done now. this is a time that is much like jim crow, it is a new jane crow in the united states where there are free states and there are those where people no longer have access to bodily autonomy. amy: you have the leading pharmaceutical companies in this country signing a letter talking about the danger to not just mifespristone, but to all drugs, and the idea that a judge is overruling scientists at the fda. professor goodwin? >> yes.

yes. well, that is a deep concern and worry. let's be clear, we're still in a pandemic. but note over the last three years, there have been people who have been denied, that there is such a thing as covid, that there is a pandemic. there are people who have been pressing that covid vaccines be taken out of the marketplace. their people who have moral oppositions to vaccines. there are parents who do not want to vaccinate their children against smallpox. imagine those types of individuals could also then petition a judge that they select, that they know might have similar views and petition that judge in order for those types of drugs to be removed from the marketplace as well. years ago, that might have seemed to be something extreme and it would never happen in the united states. but we are in a critically

unusual time where a case such as this has reached the supreme court. what that does mean is the potential for other kinds of petitioners to come forward who are against other prescription medications. in some ways when you look at the hobby lobby decision, there is an aspect of that that has already been visited by the supreme court. amy: i want to bring julie burkhart into this conversation. she is president of wellspring health access and co-owner of hope clinic. she worked with dr. george tiller as i said earlier, who was assassinated in church, well-known abortion provider in wichita. julie, just respond, if you could start off by talking about the state of abortion access in this country and your concerns about what the supreme court will rule and how it affects your practice and pregnant people all over the country. >> yes.

thank you. good morning. we have seen with my work in both illinois and wyoming, which are two very different states -- one where we have legal protections in illinois and in wyoming where we have been in litigation and battling the state so people can maintain their bodily autonomy. we see primarily in illinois, we had an uptick -- we over 800 patients monthly now. our patients volume continues to increase, has been increasing after the fall of roe in june 2022. we see primarily our patients

coming from states that have now banned abortion care post missouri, arkansas, louisiana, texas, mississippi, any of the states that you see surrounding that sea of blue which is now illinois. we often see 50% -- to more than 50% of our patients which is in line with the national numbers we see for medication abortion. those patients who are coming to us are requesting to terminate a pregnancy via mifespristone and misoprostol. amy: can you talk about the clinics that you run? can you talk about what happened in wyoming and where you are in wichita, where george tiller died? >> yes.

well, i will start off with wyoming. we were set to open our doors in june -- ashley, june 14, 20 22, just 10 days before the court ruled. however, in late may of last year, we had an antichoice arsonist set our clinic on fire. we have spent these past months rebuilding the clinic. and we are hopeful we will be able to open our doors next week. it has been quite a trek. law enforcement has apprehended the arsonist just a few weeks ago. unfortunately, there was a 22-year-old casper, wyoming, woman who decided that abortion

was disturbing to her she stated in an affidavit and decided to set our clinic ablaze. but we did not want to let that deter us. people in every part of this country deserve to have access to reproductive health care and to make their own decisions and determinations about their bodies. so we decided we would dig our heels in in further in wyoming and make sure people have access to abortion care. amy: my god, julie burkhart, our certified nurse practitioner. you are a wyoming clinic -- your wyoming clinic was set fire to. the clinic and i wish of tall -- to talk, george tiller was murdered. explain your bravery. this is extremely real to you,

not to mention what happens to women who were under extreme duress or pregnant people who say they need to have an abortion. >> well, sometimes i just don't know how to answer that question. i just have a very deep conviction and feel that if we are living in the united states, people deserve everywhere, no matter who you are, deserve access to quality health care, amongst other things, and people want to be able to make their own decisions about their own bodies. so it doesn't matter whether you are living in new york or california or or wyoming or oklahoma or kentucky, people

everywhere must have the ability to make decisions about their own lives. otherwise, i don't feel what we stand for in the united states and really exemplifies that intent of having true freedom for everyone in this country. amy: let me ask you something. the woman was charged in wyoming who set fire to your clinic, she wasn't charged with domestic terrorism? close well, she is being, as the case is still -- is being processed, they're supposed to be a grand jury hearing i have been told next month. i have not heard back yet from prosecutors. she is going to be charged under -- i'm not sure what the other charges are at this time.

i do know the penalty carries five to 25 years, i believe, in prison. amy: also, mifespristone is part of a two-drug regimen. the second is misoprostol. now, if mifespristone, that people can't get it, they can use the second drug. it is not quite as effective and it has more side effects. is that right? so people who are pregnant will be endangered by simply having the second drug, though -- if you can talk about that, what this ruling means? >> this is where it has been such -- we have just been in limbo. it has been a ping-pong effect.

regimens regarding medication abortion were changed after roe fell back in two because of people coming from banned states to legal states and not wanted to put patients or positions in a precarious situation going back to a banned state. so here we are in a different situation with medication abortion where we are looking at potentially providing misoprostol-only regiment for our patients. it is concerning because we want to continue to ensure that patients, if they need abortion care and are coming from banned states, if they can get to a clinic in a state where it is legal, that they're not going to go back to their home state and being prosecuted by overzealous attorneys in those states.

we have protocols in place that you will use if we need to, but it is definitely going to put a burden and a hardship on those patients. we suspect more people might opt for procedural abortions than medication abortions, but we will see. this also makes it harder, especially for people getting medication abortion in the mail who are in states where it is illegal, or going back to a state where it is illegal, it makes it that much harder on those people who need access to good quality health care. amy: i went to end with michele goodwin. you now have a situation, even without this ruling, where abortion is illegal, basically,

in something like more than a dozen states, in 13 states, following the decision to overturn roe v. wade last year. george also bans abortion at about six weeks of pregnancy, before many know they are pregnant. florida, now the same. we are talking about situations were even in the case of rape and incest. if you can talk about what this means for people across this country. take it back to kacsmaryk's decision, while not antiabortion activist before he became a federal judge under trump in texas and now turns out that he erased his name from a journal pc had written against abortion when he was being considered by the senate. in the language he used in his decision, both talked about unborn humans and this is being repeated in further decisions,

and referred to the comstock act. if you can summarize for us where this country is headed in illegal direction and then when this is considered referenda across the country, when people at the grassroots have a choice to decide, the direction they go in? >> well, it is a dangerous decision. there's so much we could talk about with this in that if you think about roe v. wade, 7-2 opinion, five were republican appointed justices. the justice who wrote it was put on the court by richard nixon. the father of george h.w. bush was the treasurer of planned parenthood. this gives you some sense of just the wide gap and distance between where we began and where we are now. in roe v. wade, with regard to language, uncle roe v. wade, the court said there is a potential life during the pregnancy.

that is right. not all pregnancies will end in birth. 15 percent to 20% will end in miscarriage or staying -- stillbirth most of the language coming out of the kacsmaryk real income using "unborn human child" and then writing in footnotes the preference for using this, that this is the accurate terminology to be used in such cases, really stretches medicine and science because it is simply not accurate to consistently what had been in an american law and also gives the perception that all pregnancies necessarily end in birth -- which they simply do not. it also has ramifications when we think about civil punishments and criminal punishmentsts as well. we right now have north carolina lawmakers pushing forward a bill that would call for the death penalty against women who have

abortions. there is this false sense that all pregnancies will necessarily end a birth. if that is interrupted in any way, the state can impose punishment and fines. but if we took a map and we looked at the map of the confederacy, and american slavery, of jim crow, you would find it sits quite well over the map that is now antiabortion. there's something to be said about those states that were never beacons or freedom for women or people of color or black people, particularly. and they are not beacons of hope and freedom now for black women and for people passing with pregnancy. we pay far to little attention of that line. if we draw that line from history into the present -- and there certain things that we do know and that is safe for

federal interventions, either through the supreme court, congress, executive order, these are places that have never tried to be accountable and to create remedies for the past horrors that were inflicted during slavery and during jim crow. to bring it all back to dobbs, that decision that shows great solicitude to the state of mississippi, the state of mississippi claimed it needed this abortion ban in order to protect the health and safety of women. nothing could be further from the truth. but if we think about this, it wasn't until 2013 that the state of mississippi ratified the 13th amendment, amy. the 13th amendment was that which abolished slavery. an involuntary servitude. one that was ratified in 1865 but it took until 2013 for mississippi to get there. mississippi is still working and many of these other states on that long arc to freedom.

they're not quite there and certainly the backdrop of where they are with regard to abortion bans shows how far away they are from recognizing the human dignity and their personhood people with the passing for pregnancy in their states. amy: michele goodwin, thank you for being with us. we will continue to cover this issue, this stay has been put in place until friday, till tomorrow. michele goodwin visiting , professor of law at harvard law school. author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." and thank you to julie burkhart in wichita, kansas, president of wellspring health access and co-owner of hope clinic. she worked with dr. george tiller for years. coming up, fox news has agreed to pay an historic settlement, 780 $7.5 million -- 785.5

million dollars for spreading lies. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "watts renaissance" by dinner party. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to look at the historic settlement reached this week to end dominion voting systems' lawsuit against fox news for promoting lies about voting machines being rigged against trump in the 2020 election. on tuesday, shortly after a jury was picked for the trial, fox news agreed to pay dominion three quarters of a billion dollars, that is $787.5 million, to settle the case. as part of the deal, fox was not required to apologize for airing lies about dominion. it is believed to be the largest media defamation settlement in history, but fox's legal battle is still not over. fox still faces a $2.7 billion defamation suit from another election technology company, smartmatic.

in the months after the 2020 elections, fox repeatedly claimed dominion and smartmatic were part of a vast conspiracy to rig the election. fox repeatedly aired conspiracy theories even though some of the network's most prominent hosts, including tucker carlson, sean hannity, and laura ingraham, as well as fox corporation chair rupert murdoch were privately admitting they knew trump's election fraud claims were false. in one private exchange on november 19, tucker carlson wrote to laura ingraham -- "sidney powell is lying by the way. i caught her. it's insane." ingraham then replied -- "sidney is a complete nut. no one will work with her. ditto with rudy." carlson replied -- "it's unbelievably offensive to me. our viewers are good people and they believe it." rupert murdoch privately described the conspiracy theories as "really crazy stuff. and damaging."

despite this, fox continued to amplify lies about the election. this is a november 2020 clip of trump attorney sidney powell being interviewed by maria bartiromo about dominion. >> i have never seen voting machines stop in the middle of an election, stop down and assess the situation. i also see reports that nancy pelosi's longtime chief of step is a key executive at that company. what can you tell us about the interests on the others of this dominion -- >> obviously, they have invested in it for their own reasons and are using it to commit this fraud, to steal those. i think i have even stolen them from other democrats in their own party who should be outraged about this also. amy: after tuesday's settlement was reached, justin nelson, an attorney for dominion, spoke outside the courthouse.

>> the truth matters. lies have consequences. over two years ago, a torrent of lies swept dominion and election officials across america into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories causing grievous harm to dominion and the country. today's settlement of $787.5 million represents vindication and accountability. lies have consequences. amy: since the settlement was reached, fox has barely covered the news on its broadcast or website. on tuesday night, the lead story on the fox news website was headlined "elon musk reveals to tucker carlson whether he's seen evidence of alien life." we are joined now by angelo

carusone, president of media matters. media matters recently sent a federal elections commission complaint against fox news based on evidence from the dominion lawsuit. welcome back to democracy now! first respond to this unprecedented settlement. >> it is a significant number. it is unprecedented. but i would note that fox's scale of deception here was and dust real scale, so in a way, is proportional to the scope and scale of what fox news did in terms of defamation. they did not just make one comment, this was a two month pattern where they were repeatedly reinforcing the idea the election was stolen. how it is so tied into dominion, the foundation of that fake light is that these machines were somehow manipulating the votes, manipulating the count or flipping the accounts from trump

to joe biden. without this specific defamation, without the claim they were making falsehoods about dominion and smartmatic, would not be able to construct that big narrative on top of the election was stolen. it is significant. -- it is significant about how the lies of dominion fit into the story the right-wing tells. it is probably not going to change fox. there's going to be a lot more consequences for that to happen. amy: let's talk about the back part of the settlement was not an apology. dominion did not force an apology from fox. i want to go to a conversation that dominion ceo john poulos had with jake tapper on wednesday. >> force them to tell all those people, all those misled americans with millions indicate still believe this, why not

force them to say we should not have done that, that was false, you have been misled, joe biden actually won, minion and smartmatic was operating fine -- why not force them to do that? was it like, we will give you $209 more if you don't force us to do it? because you could have force them to do it. >> the defamation -- the defamation part of the law is really not built around apologies. it is built to compensate for damage. we had a companywide call yesterday. the unanimous consent in our company was if we could trade this all in and go back in time and have our company reputation back, we would do so every single time. amy: that is the ceo of dominion , who also argued that just the size of the settlement said to the world what fox had done wrong.

jake tapper's comment was in a silo her just watching fox may not know -- who are just watching fox may not know. >> fox is just saying a settlement is reached. they are not giving them a sense of this is a really big number. the other thing is it is one thing not to get an apology but an acknowledgment of what you said wasn't true is important. rupert murdoch said during the deposition, fox news was the only entity in the country that could correct the election lie that trump was telling his people, that his people believed. that is something that rupert murdoch acknowledge. that only fox news has influence and power over a very large part of this audience. if they really want the reputation back or undo it or even undo some of the damage, the only way for that to happen is for fox news to tell their audience they misinformed them and they did it knowingly. obviously, that will never happen. that is part if i the sediment

was so high. fox news was willing to pay more money just to avoid the possibility that their audience would find out that the network was knowingly misinforming them. and worse for fox,hat theyid not acally believelection was stolen. that is the very thing that started this in theirst place their audnce woulturn agait them forhat. th is why they started ttell this now is because they wer afraid their audience was mad at them. amy: the jury was already impaneled. so much had come out during discovery. it was nbc recently aired audio recorded by former fox news producer abby grossberg of a trump campaign official privately admitting to a fox news producer that the campaign lacks evidence of election fraud >> are any of the machines --

have any of the machines been looked at? he had said one was looked at in georgia. >> i would have to check on that in terms of georgia. i know during the audit, they did check on those machines. can we go off the record for one second? >> i don't want us to say it if it is not -- >> i think they have looked at the machines but when the secretary of state in its audit, the audit came in close with the machine count, the receipts. i don't know the outcome of those but our understanding come again this was the secretary of state's office, there were no physical issues

with the machine. amy: talk about this, angelo carusone, a trump official responding to a fox producer. >> i think the one thing this reinforces is what we -- what we been pointing out repeatedly is fox new and they all kind of knew. they all knew what they were saying was not true. if they really believed these things, it would be preposterous, baseless, would change the orientation. honestly, spreading disinformation is bad but believing it and spreading it is different. you're not necessarily a bad actor -- in this case, it is so much worse because what that audio specifically demonstrates is that it wasn't just fox that was -- had some skepticism but still promoting it. as they were saying, fox has been saying, there were just reporting on something that other people were saying. that is been fox's defense and that will be their defense in smartmatic. they have already indicated

that. well, we were letting them to the reporting. without audio reveals is that is not -- they were in cahoots. the trump people also did not believe the things that were saying but were saying it because it was a way to attack and undermine the legitimacy of the election and keep themselves in power and they need to places like fox news to take those deceptions, to launder them, and add some validity to it. to me, that is the significance of the audio, shows the other side of this. it totally obliterates a little bit of defense they still have for subsequent litigation. it will hurt them not only with smartmatic, but with the shareholder derivative lawsuits that are currently unfolding because this goes to show the level of intentionality of deception on the part of fox news and how they breached their fiduciary responsibilities. amy: the lever is reporting fox's mass settlement could also mean a tax break as large as

$213 million for fox. almost one third of what they are paying out. >> i know, what a world? that is partly why i said earlier, it is not the significance -- this is a big settlement. at one of the things fox to pretty probably to make sure everybody knew it was going to be ok for them, specifically investors and shareholders and market, is to get two pieces of information out. one is, don't worry, we can deduct $200 million of this through our taxes and that will help us. the other thing they pointed out was, we are in the middle of contract negotiations and try to get everybody to pay is one dollar more which means in one year alone, fox news will make about 980 million more dollars in profit if they are successful. they're supposed to be renegotiating the same time the trial was happening. for them, it was worth paying it just to get it over with so they could focus on these contract renewals.

honestly, the contract renewals are worth more to them in profit than this particular significant settlement. fox made sure everybody knew that yesterday so the markets can be reassured they are going to be just fine. amy: angelo carusone, thank you for being with us president of , media matters. [captioning made possible by

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