06/09/23 06/09/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> donald trump has been indicted on seven counts by a federal grand jury in florida. this is historic. amy: indicted again. donald trump has become the president to ever face federal

first criminal charges as the department of justice indicts him over the mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. charges include violating the espionage act, conspiracy, and making false statements. we will speak to a former federal prosecutor about the case. then in a surprise decision, the supreme court upholds the voting rights act by rejecting a racially gerrymandered voting map in alabama. >> wow. the supreme court just upheld the protections of the voting rights act of 1965 in ordering the state of alabama to redraw its congressional maps. what an amazing victory. a victory not only for alabama trump voters, but fruit democracy itself. -- but for democracy itself. amy: we will speak to one of the plaintiffs in the case, as well as the american civil liberties union. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the justice department has indicted former president donald trump on multiple felony charges, accusing him of mishandling classified documents and obructing the government's attempts to recover them. trump is the first former president ever to ce federal criminal charg. in a video posted on his social media platform truth social, trump lashed out against the biden administration and insisted, "i'm an innocent man." pres. trump: our country is going to hell and they come after donald trump, weaponizing the justice department, weaponizing the fbi. we can't let this continue to go on because it is ripping our country to shreds. amy: trump reportedly faces seven charges, including the

willful retention of national defense information in violation of the espionage act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements and representations. the charges bring maximum sentences ranging from 5 to 20 years in prison. he will reportedly be arraigned in miami, florida, on tuesday. we will have more on trump's indictment after headlines. hundreds of climate-change fueled wildfires continue to scorch canada, where tens of thousands have been displaced and residents have dealt with weeks of hazardous smoke-filled air. here in the united states, the northeast is beginning to see a glimpse of relief after experiencing its worst air quality in recorded history as the smoke pushes south and westward, prompting alerts in states including indiana and kentucky. but new york governor kathy hochul warned new yorkers to remain vigilant. >> we saw yesterday some very

disturbing numbers in new york city. they have come down from the 400 level but we should never get complacent. this is not over. we might get a little respite but i don't want people to let down their guard and to become complacent about this because we have to be prepared for the winds to shift. amy: the u.s. supreme court handed a surprise victory to the voting rights act as it rejected alabama's gerrymandered congressional maps that disempowered black voters. justices john roberts and brett kavanaugh joined the court's three liberal justices in ordering alabama's legislature to redraw a second black-majority district. the gerrymandered maps left only one of seven congressional districts with a black majority despite african americans making up more than a quarter of alabama's population.

we will have more on the story later in the broadcast. in another supreme court ruling thursday, justices voted to uphold the right of state nursing home residents and other recipients of medicaid to sue if states violate their rights. the 7-2 vote came as a relief to many who worried the servant of court could seek to -- conservative court could seek to weaken government health programs. one public health expert explained, "this case is to medicaid what dobbs was to abortion." in more supreme court news, seven out of the nine justices released their financial disclosure reports for 2022 this week. justices samuel alito and scandal-ridden justice clarence thomas were given 90-day extensions to file. propublica recently revealed thomas received luxury travel and other gifts from republican megadonor harlan crow for decades without reporting them.

the biden administration said thursday it is halting all food assistance to ethiopia, citing a widespread and coordinated campaign to divert the aid away from people in need. reuters reports the u.s. agency -- usaid believes the food has been seen used by -- seized by ethiopian military units. the u.s. is by far the largest donor of humanitarian aid to ethiopia, where some 20 million people are experiencing food insecurity due to the recently-ended war in tigray and a persistent drought fueled by the climate crisis. israeli soldiers have shot a palestinian journalist in the head during a military raid on the city of ramallah in the occupied west bank. 22-year-old moamen sumreen was hospitalized in serious condition after he was struck by a rubber-coated steel bullet as he documented israeli troops' demolition of an apartment building wednesday evening. the building was home to the

family of a man who allegedly carried out a bombing attack in jerusalem last november. he was one of six people hospitalized as palestinians gathered to protest the demolition. four sisters were displaced with their father and mother. >> it is not the first home destroyed and it will not be the last. it shows how much they hate us. amy: the european union has agreed on a new plan for hosting asylum seekers after 12 hours of intense talks and years of debate and in-fighting. the proposal calls for more help from nations that are not on europe's southern coast, where asylum seekers first reach the continent. those countries could either host more incoming migrants or contribute to a joint fund managed by brussels. the reform also sets tougher

rules, including expediting the expulsion of people deemed unlikely to win asylum claims. oxfam blasted the arrangement saying -- "eu countries plan to buy themselves out of their responsibility to welcome refugees. these proposals will not fix the chronic deficiencies in the eu asylum system. instead, they signal the eu's desire to barricade europe from asylum-seekers." and related news, at least five people drowned and dozens are missing after three migrant boats capsized in the mediterranean sea off the tunisian coast. more than 2000 people died at sea while trying to reach europe last year. chinese, cuban, and u.s. officials have dismissed reports by "the wall street journal" alleging an agreement between china and cuba to build a multi-billion dollar electronic spy installation on the island to intercept communications from the united states.

china's foreign minister denounced the story as slander. in havana, cuba's deputy foreign minister carlos fernández de cossio called the report totally mendacious and unfounded, while pointing to the u.s. military's role in the region. >> we reject any foreign military presence in latin america and caribbean, including many bases and military forces of the united states. it illegally occupies in the guantanamo region. amy: in mexico, authorities are investigating the extrajudicial execution of five men mexican miliry in the border city of nuo laredo. a video posted on social media shows a group of soldiers pulling the men from their vehicle, beating them, and lining them up against a wall

before fatally shooting them. this comes as zapatista indigenous leaders marched in mexico city thursday protesting the intensifying violence and attacks on their autonomous communities by paramilitary groups in the southern state of chiapas. >> we are asking for attacks on the paramilitary groups to stop. we're talking about groups that are permitted, financed, or armed the mexican army. right now they are teaming up with organized crime groups. amy: long-time televangelist pat robertson has died at the age of 93. in 1960, robertson created the christian broadcasting network and for decades, used its flagship program "the 700 club" as a platform for homophobia, religious bigotry, and racist hate speech. in 1988, robertson ran for the republican party's presidential nomination, taking second place in the iowa caucus.

robertson's strong performance cemented the christian coalition he founded as a major force within the republican party. in 2001, robertson blamed liberals, feminist, and gay people for the 9/11 attacks. he once claimed age was "god's way of weeding his garden." robertson also raised funds for country death squads in nicaragua and publicly called for the assassination of world leaders, including libby's muammar gaddafi and venezuela's hugo chavez. during the rwanda genocide, robertson appealed to his what is for money to fly leaf supplies -- really supplies. instead of carrying mediterranean, planes, bought by robertson's charity mostly transported equipment for a diamond mining operation. and those are some of the

headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: and guided again. donald trump has become the first president to face federal criminal charges as a grand jury inlorida indicts him on seven -- the mishandling of classified documents after leavinoffice. trump is expected to surrender to authorities in miami on tuesday at 3:00 p.m. the indictment remains sealed. according to news accounts, he has been indicted on seven charges, which could mean many counts. on thursday night, trump's attorney jim trusty appeared on cnn to discuss what he knew about the charges from the summary sheet. >> it does have some language that suggests what the seven

charges would be. not 100% clear those are separate charges but they basically breakout from an espionage act charge, which is ludicrous under the facts of this case. and several obstruction-based type charges and then false statement charges, which are actually, again, kind of a crazy stretch. there is a lot to pick at eventually from the defense side, but that appears to be the charges and it appears to be something will get off the ground on amy: the indictment tuesday. stems from an investigation by special counsel jack smith, who is also probing donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his role in the january 6 insurrection. trump could still face additional federal charges in those investigations. two months ago, trump was also indicted in new york on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments made to adult film star stormy daniels

and others. the new federal charges come nearly a year after the fbi found 300 classified documents during searches of trump's properties, including at his mar-a-lago estate in florida. part of the justice department's case may rely on trump's own comments. seen in recently reported trump had acknowledged on tape during a 2021 meeting that he had kept secret military information about iran. according to a transcript, trump's said "secret. this is secret information." trump dismissed the indictment, describing it as the "boxes hoax." in a post on his social media platform, trump wrote, "i am an innocent man." the charges come at a time when the former president is running again for the white house. on thursday, his presidential rival florida governor ron desantis blasted what he called the weaponization of federal law enforcement. house speaker kevin mccarthy said the indictment was a "dark

day" for the country. we are joined now by dennis aftergut. he is a former federal prosecutor. currently of counsel to lawyers defending american democracy. his new piece for the bulwark is titled "no one above the law: trump indicted on federal charges." dennis, welcome to democracy now! why don't you start off by responding to this indictment, how historic it is, and what do these counts on conspiracy and espionage mean? >> amy, first, it is a privilege to be here. historic does not even begin to describe it. no former president has ever been federally indicted. now we have a former president who has been indicted by two grand jurys in two different

districts on two different sets a fax, alleging two different sets of crimes. that does not happen very often. and when it does, it only happens with people who live on the wrong side of the law. with respect to the espionage counts, they are extraordinarily serious. the reported allegation is the one that has been expected. he will fully retained -- will fully retained defense-related documents that he was not authorized to have after his presidency ended. we also have the information

that you described on the tape that he was talking about them to others, and there may be very serious allegations. we will need to wait to see the indictment about whether there were any disclosures of top secret highly sensitive national security secrets. juan: dennis, i wanted to ask you about a couple of things. one, if there is a conspiracy charge, there is an assumption there other people involved in the conspiracy. what do you make of that? also, the decision by the justice department to do this indictment in florida rather than washington, because presumably, the documents were taken in washington, d.c., originally although they ended up, many of them, in florida. your sense of why this decision

to conduct the indictment and the trial presumably in florida? >> that is really an excellent question. reasonable prosecutors could differ about where it should be indicted. under the sixth amendment, a defendant is entitled to a trial by an impartial jury in the district where the crime is committed. it is not quite that simple, though, because crimes can be continually and can occur in two jurisdictions. and there's a pretty good argument that that is exactly what happened here. the reason -- juan: and the issue of conspiracy? >> yes. the issue of conspiracy, you're

absolutely correct, it takes two to tango and a conspiracy. a conspiracy is an agreement by two or more people to commit an unlawful act. they both have to share the intent to do something unlawful. there are reports that there are five sealed indictments, and so they may tell us we need to await the unsealing of those indictments -- which may happen on tuesday at arraignment. it could happen before. amy: with conspiracy, who are the possible people here? we learned that art meadows has testified come his former chief of staff, and what that is very sick could be. you have all this information about the valet for donald trump

in mar-a-lago. the flooding of the server room and they said they were emptying the pool, the move in of the boxes from one place to another. talk about how serious these charges are. spears c, espionage. these are decades in jail. >> it is going to be hard for me to improve on what you just said, amy. the valet is the most obvious candidate. it is unclear with respect to meadows, but the reports are that meadows has agreed to ple d and is cooperating on that basis. if that is true, then he could be an unindicted co-conspirator.

although he was or clearly, a co-conspirator and removing the documents from washington. we don't know what his role was in obstructing justice. people need to remember with respect to the conspiracy to obstruct, that it was 18 months between the time the national archives first asked for the documents back and when the fbi conducted a court authorized surge in august, as you said in your introduction come of 2022, almost a year ago. that recovered at least 100 classified documents. so there could have been several people involved in the stall, the long, long stall to try to

prevent the return of the documents that trump was unauthorized to possess. walt nauta would be at the top of the list as the person who is described as having moved the documents right after the subpoena for them there was a grand jury subpoena in may 2022. but there are many other people. there's the allegations about gaps in the tapes. jack smith is likely to know a lot more that we may find out about when the indictment is revealed and a lot more than that when a trial occurs. juan: dennis, i am wondering if you could speculate in terms of the political impact of all of this because, clearly, for trump

supporters -- and perhaps other americans -- there does seem to be a concerted effort by the government to go after donald trump. the trials will probably last into the presidential race itself. how do you respond to the issue that speaker mccarthy is saying and ron desantis or others that the federal government is weaponizing law enforcement? >> i would say that is a combination of distraction and projection about what the house is doing weaponizing the law. i would say that the concerted effort is a concerted effort for -- against a serial lawbreaker. we do not have kings here, we have the rule of law.

and no one is above it, including a former president. it is a sad day for the country when a former president is indicted, and it is a necessary day when the evidence is so serious against him. were the not an indictment, we would not have a rule of law, we would not have a rule where no one is above the law. amy: dennis aftergut, i would ask you about a piece he recently co-authored. vance thomas, ken paxton, donald trump. the corrupting influence of oligarchy. you might -- john a boko it is tempting to attribute the scandals now in building two right-wing icons, supreme court justice clarence and texas attorney general ken paxton.

resisting that tim tatian is necessary if we are to learn a larger lesson about the roots of much political corruption in this country." if you can go on from there for those who don't know ken paxton, he was just impeached -- he is the republican attorney general of texas and was just impeached by the republican legislature. >> the central point of that piece is one it to look at the structural elements of corruption. it is not just in this country, amy, it is around the world. the structural element is this, it is a connection between corruption, oligarchs, people of enormous wealth and influence

in the society, and right-wing parties. we quote a study out of germany in which they look at 104 countries and found an elevated level of corruption in countries ruled by right-wing parties. if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. people of wealth can -- and this does not apply to every person of wealth, of course -- they tend to want to preserve the status quo or return to the past where their rights to do things were unregulated in a laissez-faire type of economy. and right-wing parties and right-wing politicians stand for the status quo or the past.

and so it is kind of intuitive that they want to capture political leaders who have influence over the economy. it is kind of intuitive that those are going to be people on the right who agree with them ideologically. amy: we will link to that piece as well as your piece on, again, this historic indictment of president donald trump. he goes to court on tuesday at 3:00 in miami and now his home state of florida. dennis aftergut, a former federal prosecutor, is currently of counsel to lawyers defending american democracy. coming up, a surprise decision of the supreme court upholding the voting rights act by rejecting a racially gerrymandered voting map in

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

amy: "slideshow at free university" by le tigre. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to a surprise decision by the u.s. supreme court that upheld the voting rights act and rejected a racially gerrymandered voting map in alabama. this is how democratic congressmember terri sewell of alabama responded. >> wow. the supreme court just upheld the protections of the voting rights act of 1965 in ordering the state of alabama to redraw

its congressional maps. what an amazing victory. a victory not only for alabama black voters, but a victory for democracy itself. amy: in a 5-4 ruling, chief justice roberts and justice brett kavanaugh sided with the court's liberal justices in finding alabama's republican-drawn congressional districts unlawfully disadvantage black voters -- a violation of section 2 of the voting rights act which bars voting practices that discriminate based on race and color. plaintiffs argued the map packed and cracked voters in alabama's so-called black belt by crowding many of them into a single district and dispersing the rest into several other districts. the result was that despite the state having a black population greater than 25%, just one of its seven congressional districts was minority-majority. the court ordered alabama's legislature to redraw the map so there will be two.

when chief justice roberts worked in the justice department and white house counsel's office during the reagan administration, documents show he was critical of the voting rights act. but in his opinion thursday, he said -- "we find alabama's new approach to section 2 compelling neither in theory nor in practice." meanwhile, justice clarence thomas wrote a 48-page dissent and called the case "yet another installment in the disastrous misadventure of this court's voting rights jurisprudence." for more, we are joined by three guests. in montgomery, alabama, khadidah stone is the chief field and campaign strategist at alabama forward. she was one of the named plaintiffs in this case. also in montgomery is tish gotell faulks, legal director at the aclu of alabama. and with us, davin rosborough is senior staff attorney with the aclu voting rights project and one of several attorneys who represented the plaintiffs. part of that team before the

supreme court. we welcome you all to democracy now! davin, the significance of this decision and why so many experts were shocked that roberts and kavanaugh joined with the liberal justices in demanding that the gerrymandered districts in alabama be redrawn? >> thank you so much for having me. this is a really significant decision. i think there is some surprise in the media and general public because of the direction the court had been going, particularly regarding race and voting rights act and voting. but i think what happened here was a majority of the court was compelled by some really clear text and purpose of what congress did when it amended the voting rights act in 1982 in the compelling facts of this case,

that this was an incredibly clear violation -- this was not a violation of the voting rights act, it was hard to imagine what could have been. i think hopefully the combination of looking at what congress intended and the purpose of the voting rights act and the incredibly compelling facts put forward in our case really pushed those justices to find for us. juan: davin rosborough, i went -- good about the history of alabama in repeatedly violating the voting rights act over many years and what was different in this particular case. >> that's right. in a lot of the most famous cases, voting cases to come before the supreme court, unfortunately, many of them have come out of alabama. alabama's own arguments basically acknowledged the roots of this map.

there congressional map has largely been the same since the early 1970's. in the early 1970's, george wallace was still governor, alabama was head on fighting the voting rights act, integration, and all that sort of thing. the one district that gay black voters in alabama the opportunity to elect candidates of choice only came about also through litigation, and that was not until the early 1990's. even then, that created sort of carved out one district but alabama continued to rely on that and not look at the changing demographics, the continuing presence of very polarized voting based on race, continuing to screw nation, and effects of discrimination. and contin to try to double down the status quo. but that is not what was read wired here. i think really all that factors

the court is supposed to look at two determine whether there is a violation, whether another reasonably -- whether race already infuses the political system and whether the maps are being used in a way that takes advantage of that ongoing discrimination across multiple sectors, those were all present here. they were present in droves. i think that compelled the district court's findings and the majority of the supreme court to affirm that. amy: i want to bring tish gotell faulks into this conversation. she is also with the aclu. she is the legal director at the aclu of alabama. were you surprised by this decision, particularly that chief justice roberts and kavanaugh both voted with the liberal majority? and what this now means in

alabama going back to the drawing boards and for other states? this doesn't just affect alabama because it sets precedent. >> good morning. thank you for having us. we were not surprised here in alabama. we had a great deal of faith and confidence that the structure of section 2 would demonstrate that alabama had failed once again to meet the constitutional obligation. we were deeply concerned that we would get a new text from the court, but what we saw was the state supreme court giving a full rejection of alabama's suggestion that we are now at a point in street where we can move on from the racist past in

how black were treated. this litigation was intended to ensure that the voices of black voters, that the voices of those who believe alabama should move in a different direction, that those voices are heard. we are just thrilled that the rest of the country now gets to see the power of people and movement. juan: tish gotell faulks, what about those who say this ruling only preserves the status quo, it doesn't really expand or the protections of the voting rights act, especially vis-à-vis the decisions of prior years that have reduced its influence in

power? >> i think what is important here is the recognition that congress has an important role the play in updating all law to meet the new challenges of the day. and in fact, this court has shown a great deal of restraint and allowing the structure of analysis to remain in place. the court underscores that this has been the way to do this analysis for dozens of years and that they see nothing in the legislative records that would suggest [indiscernible] what we know we need is an update to the voting rights act, and this court seems to be signaling congress that if there

are changes to be made, it is congress' responsibility to do so. we stand ready here in alabama to sit representatives that are going to reflect the true beliefs and needs of the people of alabama. and today the supreme court has said that must include fair opportunity for black voters to have the candidates of their choice as well. and we are thrilled. amy: khadidah stone is also with us in montgomery chief field and , campaign strategist at alabama forward. most significantly of the named , one plaintiffs and the case about redistricting in alabama, allen v. milligan. if you can talk about why you came forward to sue around this

issue of gerrymandering? >> first, thank you so much for having me. it is an honor. i think the main reason why decided to sue was because i saw a lot of unfairness going on. it is one of those situations where it is if no one will do it, who will? that is why decided to be part of this case and take it on and i'm so glad that i was given that opportunity to do so alongside my amazing co-plaintiffs and our amazing legal team. juan: could you talk about the impact this ruling will have on the work you do in alabama and what you hope and expect that the alabama legislature will now do? >> i would hope and expect the alabama legislator will go back and really take into account the needs of the community and the ways they have express themselves when drawing these maps. also, listen to the supreme court. they said to redraw the map in a

fair and equitable way, so i would hope our legislators will do that and do right by alabamians. amy: and bringing tish back into the conversation, tish gotell faulks, what this means for other states all over the country, particularly in the south where you are? i mean, we are talking about redistricting of a map that could lead to the changing of the parties in congress, who controls congress. >> well, we know that besides alabama, louisiana also had a successful gerrymandering challenge. we are expecting [indiscernible] the ripples will be felt at the next election and to the next decade. i think this is a moment for the

partisan parts of our government to court voters to their policy preference. we know it should not be that elected officials select who they represent. that the people should be empowered to select their representatives. across the south, i think this is going to be important, but this will also have an impact in the southwest, midwest, and perhaps all over. this is a victory for representative democracy, and that is what we want to ensure most of amy: tish gotell faulks, x for being with us legal , director at the aclu of alabama. david rosborough, one of the

attorneys represented the plaintiffs. and khadidah stone is the chief field and campaign strategist at alabama forward. one of the named plaintiffs in the case. coming up, omali yeshitela joins us, chair of the african people's socialist party. he has been indicted. he responds. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the federal indictment of donald trump making headlines around the world today. we end the show looking at another federal indictment that has received little press attention. in april, the biden administration charged four u.s. citizens from a penn africanist group for conspiring with the russian government to sow discord in your selections. omali yeshitela, chair of the african people's socialist

party, faces charges. three russians were also named in an indictment unsealed by the justice department. this follows a violent fbi raid on the activist properties in missouri and florida last summer . african people's socialist party's been a longtime advocate for reparations for slavery, vocal critic of u.s. foreign policy. omali yeshitela joins us now, chairman of the african people's socialist party located in st. louis, missouri. thank you for joining us. we spoke to you after the fbi raid on your house in st. louis. if you can now talk about the indictment, your response to what the government is alleging? >> thank you very much. first of all, what is that we have to stop eating like this. i think the first time we met was after the government

attacked our uhuru house in florida in 1996, 300 strong. and then we have talked subsequent to that. the july 29 attack on the uhuru house in saint petersburg, florida, and my home in st. louis, missouri, as well as offices and homes of our party members in st. louis and st. petersburg, florida. as you mentioned, the indictment happened after something like nine months after we were characterized as unindicted co-conspirators in some plot with the russians who said we served in fighting around the questions of reparations and fighting to bring the united states before the united nations for the crime of genocide against african people and for

our differences with the united states in terms of the ukraine war. and our participation in elections. it is interesting you just had three people who were talking about the electoral process and people celebrating the presumed victory of the voting rights act with the decision in alabama. but the fact of the matter is, in alabama where we saw in 1960 34 black children murdered at a church for participating in the electoral process bombed and in 2022, july 29, my house was bombed because of our participation in the election. in this instance, they call it flashbang grenades and things like that. so even characterizing this thing in alabama some great victory for voting rights, the fact is, whether or not you have dashcam participate within

districts that are characterized as fairly drawn, if you're going to be attacked for participating in what you do and how you do it, then there is no justice. there is no democracy. we were on april 18 -- we were indicted, me, jesse neville, penny hash -- two white people who worked on the solidarity party were indicted on may 2 and may 8, we had to turn ourselves in two federal and tampa florida. where we were handcuffed, placed and leg irons, and then brought before just brought in cells and brought before a judge who we were told was really quite lenient with us because we were released on something like $25,000 bail and the only

provisions associated with that where we have to be open to investigation, visits at our home by forces who function sort of as parole officers. yet to turn in our passports. we could not have any personal weapons on the premises. if we go anyplace, we have to let them know and we have to report once a week to the supervising officer. that is where we are now in terms of the outcome of the indictment up to this point and trial dates have to be firm -- affirmed but we expect that early next year. juan: omali yeshitela, what are the substance of the federal government indictment in this allegations that you were involved in a conspiracy with russian citizens? what are they saying your organization dead? >> they say we participated in elections in 2017, 2019. they say we participated in

legal gathering petitions and a tour where we were calling on people to support us and bringing the united states before the world court for violation of the 1948 united nations convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. they said i attended a conference in russia that was an international conference where people from around the world attended the same conference that talked about self-determination, etc.. these are the things that we are claimed to have done that resulted in this indictment. what they have done is cover the fact that generally what i have just mentioned is something that presumably is covered by the first amendment rights, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom from unlawful search and seizure, and

these kinds of things. inside, ordinarily that is the case, but in this instance, was functioning on a party's movement and the people they have indicted were functioning as agents of russia. so it liquidates the fact that for 60 years -- almost 60 years, of political activity we have been doing the same thing. it liquidates the fact -- i was invited to speak in spain before an international audience, supported by the government of spain, where they provided transportation, resources for us . said more or less the same thing except in this instance, my condemnation was not around the russian-ukraine russian, but it was around the united states involvement in iraq and afghanistan. so there is nothing new i'm doing now that -- i opposed the vietnam war.

i interceded in various kinds of attacks. i was in allen in the 1980's when the u.s. was supporting england's effort to keep those people under colonial domination. there are various places i have traveled to expressing unity with oppressed peoples and winning unity with the struggle of african people here and around the world. juan: you mentioned that your organization has existed for more than 60 years. for those people who are not familiar with the african people's socialist party, could you talk about its origins and its platform? >> i think that is important because it should be understood i am part of the snicc which projected the black power slogan demand into public discourse and the political agenda of african

people all around the world in the 1960's. i was part of that. i was arrested for the first time politically in my history as a consequence of tearing down a racist, vile mural that was hanging on the wall of the city of st. petersburg, florida, that depicted black people as ape-l ike forces. i smashed the mural. i was taken to trial and tried and charged with a level of offenses. i was sentenced to five years in prison. while i was on bond for that, just a few days later, martin luther king is assassinated and i am in gainesville, florida, protesting his assassination four days later. i was arrested again. this time because i said something they said was an incitement to riot. the first person arrested in the state of florida for -- a new charge called inciting to riot. it did not require a riot

happened. snicc, we created the organization about organizing florida and kentucky initially and i was imprisoned on various occasions on free speech issues. we came to some conclusions that it was not enough just to have protest movements, we have to move beyond protests and move toward the question of capturing and yielding political power. in 1972 after working for a while with various organizations, we created the african people's socialist party. it is an organization that is -- that was created for the purpose of continuing the black revolution of the 1960's that saw the attack on -- that saw the raid on fred hampton's home

in 1969 resulted in his assassination, that saw -- came as a consequence of the assassinations of malcolm x and martin luther king and other forces like this. we said we were going to complete that movement. so in 1972, the african people's socialist party was created. we recognize the struggle for black power, black people had run into his limitation as long as it was fought in the context of the borders that have been created for us. it is an international organization. we exist in the caribbean, throughout europe, all over the continent of africa come inside the united states as well. we are an international organization. our politics is informed by revolutionary theory where we have developed it over the last 50 years trying to find solutions for the contradictions that black people are confronted with.

more than 50 projects, many right here in st. louis where we came under assault. we have suffered as a consequence of this process. we were attacked july 2 in st. petersburg, florida, by someone with a flame thrower that torched a flag that torched a flag it was perched atop a 50 foot flagpole. july 29 we were attacked. in august, a car was broken in and a vehicle was stolen -- vehicle was broken in and computer stolen, passports stolen, various other things like that. the banks have begun to process sanctioning us, regent bank first. we have had to deal with chase bank. we have had a church right

across the street from my home in st. louis that we had under contract to create other economic element programs that was burned to the ground. an array of assaults have been made against a since that time. it is clear this is about more than what the government has set is about and its objective was to destroy the movement and make sure what began in the 1960's to push us back was something that was completed with the assault on the african people's socialist party and the uhuru movement. amy: your point on spain is you to accept money from, for example, if indicted by the government of spain or the government of russia, and you are saying that does not mean you are an agent of them. they said one of your co-conspirators is involved with spawning -- that the government says with spawning dissident movements within the united states.

your response? >> i am saying as far as we knew, we never accepted money first of all from the russian government. i used the presentation in spain because we did go to a meeting that was sponsored by the anti-globalization movement in russia, which is an ngo. an ngo invited us to spain as well. there was some noise being made about we expected -- accepted and expense paid trip to russia. the fact is, it was anti-globalization movement that provided this transportation there. but in spain, and ngo that was closely associated with the spanish government that was connected to people who were either currently or previously associated with the united nations, governments from places that attended that, we were paid not just transportation but given -- there was an international conference.

i used the spanish thing to show the hypocrisy of the u.s. government saying somehow suddenly we became agents of a foreign government because we attended a conference in russia. it is the most ridiculous kamas and i. amy: we have to leave it there. omali yeshitela is the chairman

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