05/11/23 05/11/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i am overwhelmed with joy and happiness and delight for the women in this country. amy: "overwhelmed with joy." those are the words of e. jean carroll after a new york jury found donald trump liable of sexual abusing and defaming her. despite the jury's decision, trump mocked carroll during a primetime cnn town hall last

night. the republican crowd applauded and laughed at his remarks. we will speak to jane manning, a former sex crimes prosecutor who now directs the women's equal justice project. then republican congressmember george santos has been arrested on 13 felonies, including wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds and for building a web of lies as he ran for office. santos is refusing to resign. >> i'm going to fight my battle. i'm going to take care of clearing my name and i look forward to doing that. amy: and we remember the palestinian-american journalist shireen abu akleh, who was shot dead a year ago today by israeli forces in the occupied west bank. no one has been held accountable for her death. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. israeli air attacks on the gaza strip continue. at least 27 palestinians, including children, have been killed since the air raids started tuesday. scores of others have been injured and dozens of homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged. the u.n. and other groups have condemned the killing of civilians and are calling for an immediate ceasefire. this is 19-year old mohammad saed, whose fiancée was killed in an airstrike tuesday. >> these are the clothes she bought for the wedding. she wanted divine more stuff but we lost everything due to the occupation. we lost her happiness in our lives together due to the occupation. i lost my happiness and joy due to the occupation. amy: dania adas was 19. her 16-year-old sister iman was also killed in the attack, which had targeted the building next to theirs, which israeli said

was home to a senior islamic jihad leader. an israeli air strike on the southern city of khan younis killed the commander of islamic jihad's rocket unit earlier today. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said in a prime-time tv address wednesday that its latest attack on gaza was not over. >> we tell the terrorists and whoever sends them, we see you everywhere. we will choose the time and place to attack you. we will choose, not you. not just in response, but in calm and quiet times. the choice is ours. amy: here in the united states, palestinian-american congressmember rashida tlaib introduced a resolution to recognize the nakba, when hundreds of thousands of palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes before and during the formation of the state of israel in 1948. the resolution reads -- "the nakba is not only a historical event, but also an ongoing process characterized by israel's separate-and-unequal laws and policies toward palestinians, including the

destruction of palestinian homes, the construction and expansion of illegal settlements, and israel's confinement of palestinians to ever-shrinking areas of land." house speaker kevin mccarthy attempted to quash a planned event by tlaib commemorating the nakba by preventing it from going ahead in the u.s. capitol. instead, congressmember tlaib hosted the event in a packed senate committee room filled with palestinian rights supporters. in pakistan, rested former prime minister imran khan is expected to soon appear before the supreme court as unrest grows across pakistan. at least eight people have been killed in protests, though khan's party says the death toll is closer to 50 people. authorities have detained at least three leaders of khan's pakistan tehreek-e-insaf party and the government has deployed soldiers to quell demonstrations across the country. this is a protester in peshawar. >> we have come out to protest

but the police fired tear gas shells that is and then shots at us. this is very cruel. we have come out because they have been cruel to imran khan and have arrested him. until he is released, our protests will continue. amy: imran khan has faced two corruption charges in court this week and is being detained for eight days. over 100 cases have been filed against him since he was ousted one year ago in a parliamentary vote of no confidence vote. khan had described the move as a form of u.s.-backed regime change but later placed the blame on the pakistani military leadership, saying he wishes to mend ties with the u.s. this all comes as pakistanis grapple with the economic crisis in decades marked by record high inflation. in tunisia, worshippers and two three security officers were killed wednesday when a naval guardsman opened fire outside africa's oldest synagogue on the island of jerba. four security guards and four visitors were also injured before the assailant was shot dead.

the assault targeted an annual pilgrimage of jewish visitors to the 2500-year-old ghriba synagogue. japan is planning to open a nato liaison office in tokyo, the first in asia. japan's ambassador to the u.s. koji tomita said tuesday the move comes as nato and japan are working on strengthening their partnership as tensions with russia and china continue to rise. the office would reportedly open next year. new york republican congressmember george santos surrendered to federal authorities wednesday at a courthouse on long island, where he pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, lying on federal disclosure forms, and stealing unemployment benefits. santos spoke to reporters after his release on $500,000 bond. >> i'm going to fight my battle. i'm going to deliver. i'm going to take care of clearing my name and i look forward to doing that. amy: after his successful 2022 campaign for new york's 3rd congressional district, santos was exposed as a serial liar who fabricated his educational background, employment history, and religion.

republican house speaker kevin mccarthy has refused to demand santos resign, saying he'll await the outcome of the trial. republican leaders see santos' vote as crucial in the house, where the party holds a slim four-vote majority. we'll have more on george santos' indictment later in the broadcast. california senator dianne feinstein returned to capitol hill on wednesday for the first time since announcing a diagnosis of shingles in february. the 89-year-old california democrat said in a statement she would resume her duties but with a lighter schedule. feinstein has missed 91 floor votes in the senate and her absence stalled the advance of president biden's judicial nominees after republicans denied democrats' requests to temporarily replace feinstein on the senate judiciary committee. last year, the san francisco chronicle published a story raising concerns about feinstein's mental faculties and some of her colleagues, including california congressmember ro khanna and new york congressmember alexandria

ocasio-cortez, recently called on feinstein to retire immediately saying she's unable to fulfill her duties. in texas, a u.s. army sergeant who was convicted of murdering a black lives matter protester in 2020 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. daniel perry was just blocks from the texas state capitol when he fatally shot 28-year-old air force veteran garrett foster. following wednesday's sentencing, foster's mother sheila foster called for an end to hateful comments directed against her family. >> that is the worst thing we have ever had to experience. grief and heartache through this whole thing is we are seeing the lack of humanity in this society where people can reach out to a grieving family and make fun of their deceased loved one. amy: ahead of the murder, daniel perry posted on social media he planned to shoot looters and shared dozens of shockingly racist images and memes. he also wrote --

"it is official i am a racist because i do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo." last month, texas republican governor greg abbott pledged to pardon daniel perry, citing texas' stand your ground law. it came after now fired fox news host tucker carlsen defended daniel perry. former president donald trump said wednesday he intends to pardon many of the january 6 insurrectionists who've been convicted on felony charges, including seditious conspiracy. trump made the remarks during a prime-time event in new hampshire hosted by cnn where he called january 6, 2021 "a beautiful day." pres. trump: they were proud. they were there with love in their hearts. that was number livable and it was a beautiful day. amy: during the 70-minute broadcast, trump also falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged, defended his family-separation policy at the southern u.s. border, called on

hools to hden their fenses agnst mass soters, andaid he'd push to arm teachers and endorsed a u.s. default on its debt, saying, "we might as well do it now." trump called cnn host kaitlin collins a "nasty person" as she questioned him about his mishandling of classified documents at his mar-a-lago resort. and trump mocked writer e. jean carroll after a jury on tuesday found he sexually abused her in -- and defamed her in the by 1990's branding her a liar. cnn's decision to host trump drew condemnation. police officer michael fanone, who was beaten and tased by the right-wing mob who attacked the capitol on january 6, wrote in "rolling stone" magazine -- "donald trump tried to end american democracy. why is cnn throwing him a rehabilitation party?" a panel of advisers has voted unanimously to recommend the food and drug administration make a widely used birth control pill available across the united states without a prescription. the oral contraceptive, sold by

perrigo under the brand name opill, is a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone which is highly effective at preventing pregnancy. the fda is expected to make a final decision on the pill this summer. meanwhile, a three-judge panel of the fifth u.s. circuit court of appeals is set to hear arguments next week in a case challenging the fda's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone more than two decades ago. all three judges are republican appointees hostile to abortion rights. two of the judges were nominated by president trump. in unprecedented heat wave fueled by the climate crisis is shattering temperature records across southeast asia, cambodia, thailand, vietnam, parts of china that are broken temperature records this month with some areas topping 110 degrees fahrenheit. elsewhere, spain reported its hottest and driest able on record. wildfires are raging across siberia. in russia's mountains and tens of thousands of people have been

forced to evacuate their homes in alberta, canada, as wildfires have claimed an unprecedented one million acres this year. this comes as a new study finds that petermann glacier in northwest clean nine greenland is melting faster than indicated . the biden administration has agreed to conservative democrats senator joe manchin plan to expedite the approval of fossil fuel projects, what activists have dubbed manchin's dirty deal. the white house said the endorsement of manchin's plan was in exchange for speeding up the construction of new transmission lines for renewable energy, which are needed to meet biden's climate goals. this comes even as manchin vowed wednesday to oppose all of biden's nominees for the environmental protection agency unless his administration rescinds a plan to limit power plant emissions. here in new york city, activists with the newly formed group climate defiance rallied near a $25,000-per-plate campaign

fundraising event attended by biden. they demanded biden halt the controversial willow project in alaska and take other actions that would help combat the climate crisis. human rights lawyer steven donziger and jane fonda joined the action wednesday. >> we have been polite, we have marched, protested, made speeches. we have to up the ante now to save the planet and our future. the window is closing rapidly and we have to do something about it and we have to be very brave. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman, joined by my democracy now! co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show looking more at how a new york jury has found former president donald trump to be liable for

sexually abusing and defaming e. jean carroll at a department store in the 1990's. after just three hours of deliberations, the jury ordered trump to pay carroll $5 million. on wednesday, e. jean carroll talked about the ruling during an interview on "the today show" on nbc. >> i am overwhelmed. overwhelmed with joy and happiness and delight for the women in this country. here is the astonishing thing about this win yesterday, of all the cases that this man faces, all the legal quagmires, it was -- all the prosecutors, special council, and what happened yesterday is one 5'2" blonde wily female attorney and 179-year-old -- >> i am five foot.

>> advice columnist beat donald trump in court. amy: during the trial, donald trump's defense team did not call any witnesses and trump rejected his chance to testify. but on wednesday night in a televised town hall on cnn, trump repeatedly attacked e. jean carroll while the republican audience laughed and applauded his remarks. pres. trump: this is a fake story, made up story. we had a horrible clinton-appointed judge. he allowed her to put everything in and allowed us to put nothing in most of >> mr. president, your recounting your events -- pres. trump: i've never -- i have no idea -- she is a whack job. amy: after cnn's town hall

ended, congresswoman alexandria ocasio cortez appeared on msnbc and blasted trump's remarks and cnn's handling of the town hall. >> i know you said earlier you will not comment on the platforming of such atrocious disinformation but i would. i think it was a profoundly responsible decision. i don't think it would -- i would be doing my job if i did not say that. what we saw tonight was a series of extremely responsible decisions that put a sexual abuse victim at risk, that put that person at risk in front of a national audience, and i could not have disagreed with it more. it was shameful. amy: we are joined now by jane manning former sex crimes , a prosecutor who is now the director of the women's equal justice project, which serves survivors of sexual assault. jane, it is great to have you with us. if you can both respond to what donald trump keeps on repeating about e. jean carroll, even

after being found guilty but -- unanimously by jury of six men and three women, found liable for sexually abusing and defaming e. jean carroll, and respond to the verdict itself and the significance of it. >> let's start with the verdict because i think the headline of this story is that the verdict was resounding victory for e. jean carroll. some people had questions about why the jury did not find him liable for rape. i think that goes to some ambiguities in her own testimony about whether she was sure whether she was fully penetrated or not. sometimes the jury will hear that and say, if she is not sure, we are not sure. the sexual abuse abuse she described was unequivocal and the jury delivered a verdict that was unequivocal uncle less than three hours which shows there was broad consensus among

the jurors that they thoroughly believed e. jean carroll. to come back within three hours delivering a verdict of liability for sex abuse and a finally dollar damages award shows this jury believed e. jean carroll, they believed what happened to her was a serious offense and a serious violation of her rights, and they decided to award damages accordingly. her method of celebration yesterday morning is absolutely right. this is a victory for her and it was a victory for all of the survivors who were rooting for her as she approached her trial. amy: i asked you what -- about trump's comments defaming her once again. can you talk about the judge's warning about him doing this? also he said despite the verdict. maybe it was because of the verdict that he did that? >> let's point out that donald trump is very free with his

comments and h insults outside of the courtroom, but he did not have the guts to walk into the courtroom, take an oath, testify under penalty of perjury, subject himself to cross-examination. those are all the things that e. jean carroll was willing to do. those are the things that under our rule of law transform a person's account from your talk to testimony. donald trump was not willing to go into court and back of his words with actual sworn testimony. e. jean carroll was. i think it was really a wrong move for cnn to give donald trump, a man who tried to overthrow and your can democracy , -- american democracy, a big piece of prime time airtime come to spout whatever he wanted to spout. at the end of the day, the jury verdict is in and donald trump can say what he wants but he was afraid to face down this woman

in court and i think we should not let the public forget that. nermeen: could you explain the origins of the new york adult survivors act under which this case was heard, the jury adjudicating on the basis of that act? if you could explain its origins and also why even though what trump is accused of and what he has been found liable for our criminal offenses, this was actually a civil case? >> it was a civil case. in fact, the conduct donald trump was found liable for could have been prosecuted in a criminal court but for the fact the statute of limitations had expired. new york has since abolished it statute of limitations on rape that only applies to rape cases from 2001 forward. it does not go back earlier than that. that is why e. jean carroll's case was never a candidate for

criminal prosecution. she sued donald trump under sexual battery. that is what the jury found him liable for. for conduct that meets the legal description of the crime of sexual abuse, but it was a civil verdict, sexual battery, he was down responsible for. he asked about the adult survivors act. it is a law that was passed last year and it opens a one year window of opportunity from november 2022 to november 2023 for survivors of sexual assault to bring a civil lawsuit against the perpetrator of sexual assault even if the normal civil statute of limitations had expired. normally, the statute of limitation for a civil lawsuit for sexual battery in new york state is only one year. as we know, that is just not

realistic view of what happens for some survivors in terms of coming to terms of sexual assault and reporting it. there was a group of sexual assault survivors who took up this issue in albany, a group of very specific women. they lobbied the legislature to create this one-year window of opportunity under which survivors can bring a civil lawsuit even if they would otherwise have been time barred. nermeen: could you explain the federal statute that was part of the violence against women act that allowed evidence of similar crimes to be admissible in sex crime cases and how that works, if at all, in the case of e. jean carroll? >> absolutely. what we saw in e. jean carroll's trial is to other women were permitted to testify about their

experiences of being sexually assaulted by donald trump in much the same way that e. jean carroll described. this testimony was admissible because of the federal rule that was enacted as part of the violence against women act in the early 1990's. it provides that in federal court, civil or criminal, evidence of a similar crime is admissible in a sex crime trial. that law was passed because congress recognized that survivors of sexual assault faced added hurdles beyond those faced by other survivors to seeking justice in court and there is a strong -- and being able to hold sexual predators accountable. it is important to note, however, the vast majority of sex crime cases are tried in state courts where this law is not in effect. so we often have the perverse

situation where survivor takes the witness stand and if she has let's say a shoplifting conviction, she can be cross-examined about that. but if a defendant has seven prior sex crime convictions, that is concealed from the jury. that happens on the theory that jurors will be prejudiced, they will be runaway by their emotions and won't be able to look at the actual cases on trial. what we know now from experience is that is not true. donald trump's case is an example of that post of the jury was not afraid to look at the jordan -- the rdict sheet and say, we are not convinced of this allegation because she expressed some ambiguity about it but she was clear about this count, this count come in this count and we believe are so we will find donald trump guilty of those things. what this has shown and other jurors have shown as they are not afraid to parse through the charges and the evidence and

base their verdict on what they believe about the crime at hand. it is time for states to go back and re-examine that rule of law that says jurors cannot know if there's a pattern to a defendant's behavior. jurors have shown they can handle it. the #metoo movement has shown why that evidence is so relevant. it is time for activists in all states that don't permit this kind of testimony to go to our legislatures and say, let's take another look at this and change loss to give survivors a better shot at justice like the shot that e. jean carroll had. nermeen: jane manning, we want to go to e. jean carroll in her own words speaking wednesday following the verdict. >> it is a moment which before yesterday, there was a concept of the perfect victim, the perfect victim always screams come always reports to the police, always makes note when it happens and their life is

never happy again. yesterday we demolished that old concept. it is gone. it is gone. i am overwhelmed of happiness for the women in the country. it is really not about me so much, it is about every woman. nermeen: jane manning, you work with survivors of sexual violence and you said after the verdict came that your cell phone was buzzing with messages of relief and joy from survivors. if you could talk about what you think the broader impact of this verdict will be on other survivors? >> i think every time there's a high-profile rate case, it gives us an opportunity to have important conversations about what real rape looks like because there are a lot of myths about who the perfect victim is

and what a real rape is. e. jean carroll did a good job of summarizing that in her comments. the idea that a real victim always screams, always goes straight to the police, never ask happy again for the rest of her life. e. jean carroll did not fit that script and yet she was so forthcoming about who she is and why she did the things that she did. i think some of the things that made her an "imperfect victim" made her very credible witness. it gives us a chance as a culture to learn more about what we should and should not expect the facts of a writ case to look like. at the same time it gives us a chance to acknowledge that for most survivors, the system is still not working the way it worked for e. jean carroll. civil lawsuits are prohibitively expensive for most survivors. rape shield laws are unevenly

five. in criminal justice, we still have police departments that can find overwhelming resources to arrest peaceful protesters or women selling food on the subway, they can find the resources for that but they are still not coming up with the resources to properly investigate sex crimes or trained detectives to trauma informed interviews. in new york city, the nypd has less than 1% of its personnel to all cases of sex crimes and all child abuse cases in all of new york city. that is upside down from where we should be. we still have a lot of work to do so other survivors can achieve justice. amy: i want to ask you two questions. one is trump keeps attacking this as a hit job on him. we don't even know who the jurors are. i want to ask about the fact they were anonymous. it is something that his lawyer

said he is going to appeal on, there and on annuity -- there anonymity. and he talks about the founder of linkedin being one of the funders of this lawsuit that e. jean carroll brought. there is no question roberta kaplan is an astonishing lawyer but who can afford this kind of defense? that goes to people all over the country who might want to bring charges and even in this case when e. jean carroll wins, if you can say that, let's not forget she was attacked decades ago, but even when she does, i mean, it is not only the mocking of trump that he does at this town hall, what is more frightening is the cheers from the crowd in the audience. that is a lot to unpack. >> it is horrifying. what it says to me is, once

again, we have to recognize the close connection between the health of women's rights and the health of our democracy. the two go hand-in-hand. when democracy is undermined, women's rights are undermined. just listen to the way donald trump talks about his worldview, of a world where if you are a powerful man, you can do what you want to women and you can get away with it. remember the way hereof that and robbie kaplan's face during the deposition. it has been that way for a million years and then he paused and said, unfortunately, or fortunately, he wants a world where there is no democratic accountability and specifically no legal accountability for men who perpetrate sexual assault. amy, you are right that our civil justice system is out of reach for most survivors. i would love to see more of our

wonderful law firms devoting pro bono resources to representing survivors. i personally have seen some law firms to that kind of work and they have made life-changing differences first survivors. but there will never be enough pro bono representation to address all of the rape cases that exist. moreover, there defendants that are just on appropriate for civil release. need a functioning criminal justice system that is prioritizing rate cases over resting nonviolent people for crimes of poverty and addiction. we need to redouble our efforts to make both civil and criminal justice system more reflective of the true values of our community and the true priorities women and all survivors in our community. i was chilled by what i heard in the cnn town hall last night. it was not a representative sample of the american public. it was a hand-picked audience of republican trump supporters.

at the same time, it is essential we realize we have a long way to go before we have a legal system that truly reflects the values of americans. i do believe there is broad consensus among americans that perpetrators of sexual assault should be held accountable, are not yet consistently being held accountable, and there's a lot we can do to change that. amy: and the anonymous jury? >> it is not going to be a grounds for successful appeal. there is no right that a defendant has to a nonanonymous jury. the judge made the history of trump's inflammatory rhetoric was the reason why he chose to protect the jurors identities in this case. amy: jane manning, thank you for being with us, former sex crimes prosecutor and the director of women's equal justice, which serves survivors of sexual assault. you can also go to democracynow.org to see our interview yesterday with jessica

leeds, one of the two witnesses who testified on behalf of e. jean carroll, who described spinks actually assaulted by donald trump most of next up, an update on skin applied republican congress never george santos, rested wednesday on 13 felony charges, still refusing to resign. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "if it don't bleed" by james mcmurtry. the texas musician has been performing in a dress at his tennessee concerts in protest

of the state's anti-drag law. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. the scandal-plagued new york republican congressmember george santos pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges at a courthouse online island wednesday. -- on long island wednesday. he faces counts include wire fraud, money laundering, lying on federal disclosure forms, and fraudulently collecting unappointed benefits. santos spoke to reporters after he was released on $500,000 bond. >> i'm going to fight the witchhunt. i'm going to take care of clearing my name and i look forward to doing that. >> why would you apply for unappointed benefits? >> it is part of my defense. it is inaccurate information and i will clear my name -- during the pandemic, it was not there,

i don't understand where the government is getting information from but i will present my fax. >> how is it acceptable? >> like i said, my employment was changed during the time. i don't understand where the government is coming from. amy: after his successful 2022 campaign for congress, santos, if that is his name, was exposed as a serial liar who fabricated his educational background, employment history, and religion. about a dozen house and senate republicans have called for santos to resign, but that does not include republican house speaker kevin mccarthy, who said he'll wait to see if santos is convicted. >> santos is running for reelection. are you going to -- [inaudible]

amy: republican leaders see santos' vote as crucial in the house, where the party holds a slim four-vote majority. if convicted, santos could face up to 20 years in prison. another criminal case is looming against santos in brazil, where he faces a hearing today on an allegation of check fraud. meanwhile, in another case involving santos, citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington filed a complaint wednesday with the federal election commission that says santos' currently listed campaign treasurer may not exist. crew president noah bookbinder said -- "no one can seem to find andrew olson. if he does not exist, it would be an extreme abuse of our campaign finance systemone the fec should not permit." for more on all of this, we are joined by mother jones reporter noah lanard, who was in the

courtroom as santos pleaded not guilty. his latest piece is headlined "santos indictment leaves many lies, mysteries, and scandals unaddressed." earlier this year, noah and reporter david corn did a story headlined "we tried to call the top donors to george santos' 2020 campaign. many don't seem to exist." noah, welcome to democracy now! lay out what happened in court yesterday and what you found in your investigation of this line long island congressmember. >> i was in the courtroom yesterday. santos was arraigned. he had u.s. marshals behind him. he pleaded not guilty to all the accounts with his lawyer murray there. his bond was posted. they went through other details. he surrendered his passports. he is no longer allowed to travel out of new york or d.c.

without the governs prior approval. he left the courtroom and there was just a huge media scrum. reporters swarming him. then the clip you played earlier in the show. what we found was -- like so much of a story, blatantly -- many of the donors don't seem to exist. what is amazing about this indictment, the federal prosecutors have a very strong team count indictment but it doesn't even address many of them -- many of them mysteries. asked about the possible additional charges and said they would not be surprised to see it. what you don't see in this indictment is a lot of the things related to his campaign finance practices. we still don't know where he got the more than $700,000 he loved his campaign, where that money came from, did he even loaned that money to his campaign? there are a lot of things that

will be finding out potentially future indictments. nermeen: what about this bond, 500,000 dollars, where did that come from? >> i understand it is a secured bond stop is out now but he's basically very limited. he can only go between new york and d.c. and he has voluntarily agreed to those conditions for now. amy: i want to ask about what he meets in the house, that kevin mccarthy still has his arms basically wrapped around him. he needs them. republicans have a four vote majority but when it came down to the debt ceiling vote, he was the deciding vote, one vote, that was representative, george santos, or whoever he is. can you talk about his significance in the house and what the house could do? the local conservative republican long island congressmembers, the majority of republicans in his

district, have called for him to resign. >> i think it is a nice arrangement working out right now where basically you have particularly downstate new york city area and long island republicans very strongly: for him to resign. this is a huge embarrassment for them. they know they are running for reelection next year and they do not want to be associated with george santos. but higher up in leadership, they know they need his vote and can't afford to not have it. it seems like there is an arrangement that has been worked out where the downstate republicans get to say mean things about santos and that he should step down but at the same time knowing it is really not going to go anywhere at least until potentially a conviction or a plea deal in this case. nermeen: could you talk about nancy marks, george santos' campaign treasurer and how she was complicit in his various

criminal forms of behavior? >> there's a very important part of the story. she is not in the indictment, which is a pretty obvious thing missing. that is intentional. what is unclear is if that is because she was talking to far prosecutors or not talking. it could be either. she is the person, other than santos, who almost certainly knows the most about what was going on with his campaign finance practices. she signed up on a large series of 199 stuff, expensive, which is one sent below the federal threshold to keep receipts. she also had her 19 and 22-year-old children give maximum donations. mean of her relatives did the same. there's no evidence they gave contributions before his campaign. these are things that marks

would been aware of and also or should have been aware of the fact she was reporting maximum donations in the 2020 campaign for people who almost certainly does exist. for example, there were living at addresses in new york city that don't exist, had names that nobody in the united states has that name. and some cases, it was so some of santos' relatives with one or two letters change. suspicious things she was involved in and it is possible she is cooperating and will get a plea deal which will lead to more indictment for santos or if she doesn't, she may be facing an indictment of her own. amy: if you could quickly talk about charged with, but also does his announcement he running for reelection is in some way means he can get more money for himself since part of this is the fraud of raising money for his election but then uses it for himself? >> so on the first part,

basically, three parts to the indictment. the first is the most serious. it basically represents santos was telling people he was a 501(c) four nonprofit backing him. it turns out it was a company controlled based out of florida and siphon the money and bought luxury goods. the other that he applied for unemployment insurance during the pandemic while working at what the sec has called a ponzi scheme post 20 $5,000 of unemployment insurance. the third part is he allegedly light on two congressional disclosure forms. those are the main things that are in the indictment. amy: and what crew brought forward yesterday about the nonexistence of, what, his campaign treasurer? >> he says nancy marks basically

removed herself or step down as treasurer and now you have this person andrew olson is the treasurer. i have tried to find him. if he is listening, i would love to speak with him. i have not found any evidence of who this andrew olson by p or if he is a real person and crew has not as well. he is listed at an address that is a santos family address in the past. like so many parts of the santos story, many questions about who andrew olson is if that is his real name. america which comes first, election day, when he is running, or trial and settlement? >> i say trial or settlement and i think santos is hoping to -- to sell a book you mentioned yesterday. amy: noah lanard is a reporter at mother jones. we will into your piece "santos

indictment leaves many lies, mysteries, and scandals unaddressed." coming up, remembering shireen abu akleh. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "we spend all eternity looking for us" by maiya hershey. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. it was one year ago today when an israeli soldier shot and killed shireen abu akleh as she was reporting on a raid just outside the jenin refugee camp. she was shot while wearing a blue helmet and blue flat jacket clearly emblazoned with the word "press." shireen abu akleh was one of the most prominent tv journalist in the arab world and it worked for al jazeera for a quarter of a century.

she was also a u.s. citizen. a year after her death, no one has been held accountable despite detailed testimony from eyewitnesses to the shoing. this is excerpt fm the al jazeera documenry "the lling of shien abu akl." it begins with her producer who was also shot. >> wmake sure ere were n nfrontations. we started walking slowly, slow steps. >> about 25 seconds later, here they are walking up the street all in press jackets. just pt the spot where shireen had a view of the mitary. >> suddenly, a random bullet was fired. i shouted, there shooting at us. we he to get o of here. just as i was saying that, my shoulder exploded. i outed, was shot. i said, they shot me.

>> shireen reached me to jump and get t of the pce.

amy: that was the palestinian journalist in an excerpt from the documentary "the killing of shireen abu akleh" from al jazeera english current affairs program fault lines. the documentary just won a george polk award for foreign television reporting. we're joined now by sharif abdel kouddous, the correspondent on the documentary. congratulations on the george polk award but it is hard to talk about congratulations. today, this painful one-year anniversary of the death of shireen abu akleh just outside the jenin refugee camp. can you talk about at this .1 year later what kind of investigation is being done? the u.s. government promised, tony blinken, shireen's this

investigation would be done. can you talk about what is happening now? >> the most important thing to understand is one year later after shireen's, there is still no justice in her case, no accountability whatsoever, and very little pressure or zero pressure from the white house as shireen was an american citizen or accountability. what is happening right now is a few months ago, the fbi come independent of the white house, informed the israeli government they were opening a probe into shireen's investigation. the israeli government openly said they will not cooperate. there's been no public disclosure of where that investigation stands. we will have to see what comes out of that. there is also the was security coordinator which is the liaison on the ground in the occupied territories said they were going to release or christopher ben

hollinshead they're releasing a new report supposedly relatively soon. however, i don't think anyone is holding their breath about what the findings are because the state department so said last week there was no new findings or conclusions. if you look at the original report in july, they said shireen was likely killed by an israeli soldier but it was not intentional. that conclusion also contradicts all of the video evidence and eyewitness testimony. it is confusing because a parent of the security coordinator in this review met with forensic architecture, two groups that produced i would say the most comprehensive and detailed reconstruction of the killing. in it, they show shireen and a group of journalists were

repeatedly and deliberately targeted. they show a high level of accuracy by the israeli sniper. despite that, the secured coordinator is coming out with his report that very closely mirrors the israeli government's narrative that shireen was caught in crossfire, although there is no evidence to substantiate that claim. nermeen: you said there has been little or likely no pressure from the white house on this investigation, of the evidence which was clear at the white house correspondents dinner when biden mentioned two other american journalists but did not mention shireen at all. >> that's right. president biden met with the parents of evan gershkovich, "the wall street journal" reported that is being detained in moscow on trumped up charges. he met with him before the

dinner. paid tribute to them. president biden declined to meet with shireen's family both when he visited the region last summer and when the family has come to washington, d.c. shireen was an american citizen and her family deserves the same call for justice, the same push for accountability from the white house. we also have to remember, this is not -- it is outrageous but it is not surprising coming from the biden administration, which echoes decades of u.s. foreign policy which is to back israel and grant this impunity. if we look at the committee to protect journalists a couple of days ago put out a report looking back over two decades at the killings by the israeli military of 20 different journalists and document very clearly a pattern of impunity and their systemic similarities

in israel's response to each link, including the most fundamental one, including the standard playbook, which is preemptive denial of responsibility, pushing false narratives, discounting evidence in the case, and internal investigations that like any kind of transparency and never lead to charges. this is exactly what happened in shireen's case and shows this is a pattern of impunity. this is one of the most prominent journalist of her generation who was killed in broad daylight as she was wearing her press jacket and helmet with the word "press" visible, with much of it caught on camera, with her colleagues there to witness it, with the citizenship of a country that is the main backer of the israeli military. if we cannot find justice for shireen, what chance does anyone have in the country?

amy: i want to go back to the documentary when you spoke with chris van hollen. >> this is an american citizen. you have the duty to look at the facts. >> senator chris van hollen pushing the biden administration to investigate shireen's killing. why do you think the state department has not conducted an independent investigation yet? >> the words, they will take these other investigations that have been completed. the challenge is they have reached very different conclusions. you have, first of all, the idf report justifies the shooting, the shooting death based on claims there was crossfire. but you also have an independent analyses that have been done that clearly dispute that claim. the idf has not put the facts on

the table that show how it reached that conclusion. they have not made public their analysis. >> this was a u.s. citizen. do you believe the administration has upheld their duty? >> i do not. i think we have a duty to do what the secretary of state originally said. they appear to have backed off, but i believe and many of my colleagues believe that we have got to get to the bottom of this and it cannot be swept under the rug. amy: that is maryland senator chris van hollen, who also questioned in on any for u.s. ambassador to jordan a few days ago about shireen's case. when president biden went to israel and the west bank, tony blinken and the u.s. government told the family that this investigation would be going on. at this point, you saw on world press freedom day just a few days ago, medea benjamin did a

civil disobedience right at the feet of tony blinken, demanding to know more about what is happening with the investigation into shireen's death. your final comments? >> i think we should go to the words of the family. they just released a statement and part of us has come over the past year, our family has been forced to grieve while seeking justice and accountability for israel's war crimes. from the beginning we have called on the was government to act in the same way it would any other american citizen were killed -- skilled abroad. we miss shireen every moment of every day. we wake up every morning hoping we will finally wake up from this nightmare. we love you, shireen. amy: sharif abdel kouddous, thank you for being with us, correspondent on the new documentary "the killing of shireen abu akleh" produced by al jazeera's documentary program fault lines. he just won a george polk award

for his foreign television reporting. this is the one-year anniversary of the death of shireen abu akleh. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy no