06/14/23 06/14/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! trump pleads not guilty to 37 counts as he becomes the first u.s. president to be booked and arraigned on federal charges. we will speak to the head of crew, citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. >> for almost anybody else with those kinds of charges and the evidence as we understand it, they would have not been able to

plead -- they would have pled guilty. but donald trump was there to fight this. that is a unique and extraordinary set of events. amy: while donald trump was freed without bail for violating the espionage act, that has not been the case for others like whistleblowers like reality winner and daniel hale. then to sportswashing. we will speak to the sister of a jailed saudi dissident about how the kingdom is using its oil fortune to reshape its image by taking over the world of professional golf with the merger of its own liv golf and the pga tour. whatever happened to president biden's pledge to make saudi crown prince mohammed bin salma, a "pariah" after the brutal assassination of jamal khashoggi? all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

donald trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges around his handling of classified documents after surrendering to federal authorities in miami tuesday. the counts include violations of the espionage act and obstruction of justice. special counsel jack smith observed proceedings in the courtroom. outside the federal courthouse, trump supporters gathered in what the media largely described as a circus. trump's aide walt nauta, who was also charged, appeared before the judge but did not enter a plea because he does not have a florida lawyer. after his arraignment, trump stopped at a cuban restaurant in little havana and took photos with fans before flying to his bedminster, new jersey, golf club where he railed against the charges as he hosted a fund-raiser for his presidential campaign. pres. trump: they want to take away my freedom because i will never let them take away your freedom. it is very simple.

they want to silence me because i will never let them silence you. they want you silence. i am the only one that can save this nation because you know they are not coming after me, they're coming after you. amy: in other trump news, a federal judge said writer e. -- e. jean carroll can amend her successful defamation lawsuit against trump to include comments he made at a cnn town hall. last month, just one day after a new york jury found trump liable for sexually abusing carroll in 1996, he went on to call the story fake and labeled carroll a whack job. she is seeking another $10 million in damages, on top of the $5 million she was already awarded. ukraine reports russian missile strikes killed three people in the black sea port city of odesa and another three people in the donetsk region early today. the u.s. says it is sending more armored vehicles, as well as artillery shells and air defense missiles, to ukraine following heavy losses as its

counteroffensive gets underway. meanwhile, "the wall street journal" reports the biden administration will also send depleted uranium tank shells to ukraine. depleted uranium, a by-product of the nuclear enrichment process, is dangerous to human health when inhaled as dust or shrapnel and can contaminate water and soil in the surrounding environment. climate activists in johannesburg, south africa, protested at the offices of standard bank during its annual shareholder meeting monday, demanding the bank halt any financing to the proposed east african crude oil pipeline. the 900-mile pipeline would carry crude oil from uganda to tanzania before being exported to refineries in rotterdam. france's total energies and the china national offshore oil corporation are behind eacop and working with ugandan and tanzanian state-owned oil firms. kumi naidoo, the former head of greenpeace international and amnesty international, was

-- and extinction rebellion activist malik dasoo were violently removed from standard bank during their peaceful protest. climate activists in germany also held stop eacop protests in bonn, where they gathered for a cop28 preparatory conference. on tuesday, recent high-school graduate greta thunberg spoke at the conference. >> it is what we decide now that will decide the rest of humanity's future. and whether we choose to do that or not, if we don't come it will be a death sentence to countless a people and it is already a death sentence to countless a people living on the frontlines of the climate crisis today. amy: an autopsy has revealed olympic track star tori bowie was eight months pregnant and in labor when she died just over a month ago. she was alone in her home at the time and may have suffered from

respiratory distress and eclampsia, a rare but life-threatening pregnancy complication. her baby also died. tori bowie, a three-time olympic medalist, was just 32 years old. black women are more than three times likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth complications that white women. her olympic teammate tianna tashelle bartoletta posted on twitter -- "as of june 2023, three of the four members of team usa's 4x100m relay team -- who ran the second fastest time in history, and brought home three gold medals -- have nearly died or did die in childbirth. we deserve better. #blackmaternalhealthcrisis" a black mississippi civil rights attorney was arrested while filming a traffic stop as part of her work investigating discriminatory police practices. jill jefferson, who was held in jail for two nights before being released monday, had filed a federal lawsuit against the lexington police force alleging

a culture of corruption and racism. the aclu of mississippi said her arrest by lexington police "reeks of retaliation." in arlee, montana, community members are engaging in a series of awareness walks this week to demand justice for mika westwolf, a 22-year-old indigenous woman who was struck and killed in march by a driver as she was walking home along a highway in the early morning hours. the driver was identified as sunny white, a suspected white nationalist whose children are reportedly named "aryan" and "nation" and were in the car at the time of the crash. sunny white has not been charged in connection with westwolf's death. mika westwolf was a member of the blackfeet tribe and was also diné, cree, and klamath. she was an avid athlete and poet. cornel west has switched parties and is now running to be the green party's 2024 presidential nominee. the author, civil rights activist, and professor of

philosophy announced earlier this month he would run as a candidate with the people's party. west confirmed the news on the katie halper show. >> which means when it comes to infrastructure and institutions, much broader and deeper access to the ballot. it in the end, any candidacy to run the empire in order to dismantle the empire has to be part of the movement. amy: you can see our recent interview with cornel west on his presidential run at democracynow.org. in media news, los angeles public radio station laist, formerly kpcc, announced it was cutting staff by some 12% due to a budget shortfall. members of the laist's union noted that the station's current ceo made around $675,000 last year, while the former ceo has been paid half a million dollars three years after

leaving the job. this comes less than a week after "the l.a. times" said it would lay off 74 staffers, representing 13% of the editorial members. ups has agreed to mandate air conditioning in its delivery fleet as part of ongoing negotiations with workers in the teamsters union. a number of ups delivery drivers have become sick from working in extreme temperatures. last summer, a 24-year-old ups driver in southern california died on the job, which his family said was caused by the heat. this comes as some 330,000 union members are voting to authorize a possible august strike against ups in what would be the largest single-employer strike in u.s. history. at least 59 migrants drowned earlier today after their boat capsized off the greek coast. over 100 people were rescued, though it's not clear how many passengers were on the italy-bound vessel before it sank. it's the deadliest shipwreck off the greek coast this year. in related news, the international organization for migration says it recorded

nearly 3800 deaths in 2022 along land and sea routes in the middle east and north africa region, an 11% jump from the previous year. this comes as the u.n. said the global level of forced displacement has reached a record 110 million people. >> this is where we stand today. we have 110 million people that have fled because of conflict, persecution, discrimination, violence, often mixed with other motives, in particular, the impact of climate change. amy: conflict in sudan and ukraine are causing millions to flee. syria and afghanistan also continue to record massive numbers of refugees and displaced people. the mounting displacement crisis comes as aid agencies face severe funding shortages. the world food programme says it will be forced to cut aid to syria aid by about half, affecting 2.5 million people in need. in nigeria, a boat carrying

guests returning from a wedding capsized, killing some 100 passengers. the tragedy, which also claimed the lives of children, occurred overnight monday on the niger river. israeli forces killed a 19-year-old palestinian and injured at least eight others during a raid on the balata refugee camp in nablus in the occupied west bank. the soldiers were searching for another man when they started firing on people in the vicinity of his home. this is the brother of the wanted man, who said their house was surrounded by israeli forces o threaten to bomb iand killveryone inde. >> suddey, they sht at peop. a young cld that wawalking with groceries was shot. we knew it was the army. we heard them calling on megaphones for some to surrender, we know you are in the house. amy: meanwhile, palestinian president mahmoud abbas is in china this week after beijing offered to facilitate peace talks with israel. and in massachusetts, governor maura healey unveiled a new green bank that will be focused on affordable housing and

environmental justice. the massachusetts community climate bank is part of the state's effort to cut emissions by half by 2030 and to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. this is governor healey. >> we are going to be putting forward opportunities to decarbonize buildings, which as i said are a major source of emissions. this climate bank will grow over time to address the urgent need across the sector. we will be able to innovate and finance deep energy retrofits, on-site electric vehicle charging, and solar projects that will demonstrate the viability of these technologies at a communitywide scale. amy: 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: we begin today's show looking at the booking and arraignment of donald trump. on tuesday, the former president surrendered to authorities at a

federal courthouse in miami and then pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges around his handling of classified documents. trump became the first president to ever be arraigned on federal charges. the courtroom scene in miami came just over two months after trump pled not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges in new york in a separate case brought by manhattan district attorney alvin bragg involving the payment of hush money during trump's 2016 campaign. the united states is now facing an unprecedented situation, a former president who was impeached twice is now facing multiple indictments as he attempts to run again for the white house. the federal case was brought by special counsel jack smith who observed tuesday's proceedings in the miami courtroom. after trump was freed without bail, he flew to his bedminster, new jersey, golf club where he gave a speech claiming he is the victim of political persecution.

during the same address, trump threatened to carry out his own political persecutions if he is elected in 2024. pres. trump: real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the united states of america, joe biden. and the entire biden crime family. name a special prosecutor. and ahlers involved with the destruction of our elections come our borders, and our country itself. they are destroying our country. amy: while many republican lawmakers and presidential candidates are defending donald trump, the federal relies largely on statements and -- general william barr appeared on fox news and said trump is "toast" if the allegations set out in the indictment are true. >> he willfully retain those documents are solid counts.

i think we have to wait and see what the defense says and what proves to be true but i do think even half of what an mccarthy said -- if even half of it is true, that he is toast. it is a very detailed indictment and it is very, very damning. amy: to talk more about the arraignment of donald trump, we are joined by noah bookbinder, the president of citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, or crew. he has formerly prosecuted public corruption cases for the department of justice. welcome to democracy now! can you respond to what happened yesterday in that miami courtroom? is it fair to say that president trump was arraigned and arrested? is that accurate? >> it is accurate. as a technical matter, he came in, he was arraigned. he wasn't arrested in the sense of having to be picked up at his

house and holding or anything like that, but he was processed, booked as part of having been charged in federal court and that is extraordinary. that is never happened to a former president of the united states. it is something i think those of us who have been watching former president trump carefully for a number of years have foreseen because he is someone who committed -- or at least was credibly alleged to have committed so many offenses in the course of his presidency and run for the presidency and his run for reelection. in some ways, this felt inevitable. but what an extraordinary thing to happen in the united states. amy: talked about how extraordinary it was, how unusual this is, and the significance of this. >> i think a lot of it starts with the indictment itself. it is really a remarkable document. even for somebody who has read a

lot of federal criminal indictments, this was like nothing i had ever seen before. it spelled out how significant these documents were that donald trump had in his possession at mar-a-lago, knowingly had. these were nuclear capabilities of the united states and allies. they were potential military plans. that is extraordinary. the scenes described in the indictment with donald trump showing highly, highly classified documents to somebody from his political action committee, to journalists he was meeting with, people with no clearance. and talking about how these were secret documents that were classified that he really should not be showing all stop it is a scene that is hard to imagine. the shocking description of boxes being moved at donald

trump's instruction, to hide them from his own lawyers and from the department of justice. it is like something from a movie rather than something from real life. incredible parts of that indictment going through all of the times that donald trump in 20 talked about how important it was for a president to understand our laws that classified documents and enforce them showing this is not somebody who did not know what was going on here. it really is -- he lays out a remarkable case, pictures on the stage in the ballroom at mar-a-lago. it is a remarkably crafted indictment that sets out a unique and kind of shocking set of facts. juan: in terms of the uniqueness

of these charges noah bookbinder ,, he pointed out that donald trump was not charged with the retention of any of the documents will stop he returned voluntarily. so none of the charges are for the kind of conduct, for example that president biden the former vice president pence or others had -- retaining documents. could you talk further about that? >> that is right. there are key differences between what president trump is alleged in with the evidence suggested he likely did and what we understand happened with people like president biden and former president pence. first, the number of documents is of a whole different scale. there seems to be a lot of evidence that he knew he had these documents and kept them intentionally, whereas with president biden and former vice president pence, even as we

understand it, suggest they inadvertently took the documents as soon as they found out about them, cooperated completely with investigators, returned the documents. that is not what happen with president trump. as you pointed out, the key factor is that even putting aside what donald trump knew and how many documents were at issue, he was not charged with well over 100 documents that he kept for many, many months at mar-a-lago but then did return voluntarily -- which would look sort of like on a larger's got the kinds of things that would happen with president biden and former vice president pence. instead, he was only charged in connection with those documents that he continued to keep knowing that the department of justice was requesting them, actually had gotten grand jury subpoena for them.

at that point, he continued to keep them. he instructed people apparently to hide them. and so it is his obstruction and his willful obstruction based on the evidence that we understand that led to this place. it is quite likely, it appears from this indictment, that when the national archives and the department of justice requested those documents, if he had given them back on he would not be facing these charges. but he chose knowing full well he was not supposed to have these documents that the government did them back to continue to keep them and did extra new steps to keep them from the government. juan: i wanted to ask you about what happens from here on and. it is in the government's interest to move quickly as possible, given the fact that

trump is running for president again and it is in trump's interest to delay the proceedings as much as possible. i am wondering your sense of what will unfold? >> the federal government is subjected to legislation called the speedy trial act, which says a case is supposed to go to trial within 70 days of an indictment. now, there are lots of things that can stop that count of 70 days and a lot of those are in place to protect a defendant, to make sure the defendant has the right to thoroughly make their case and explore the government's case. so when a defendant files motions, whether it is to dismiss the case or whether it is to keep out certain kinds of evidence, the counting for that 70 day period stops. i think you are right that the

prosecutors are going to try to move this as quickly as possible , understanding they don't want to be in the situation of having a trial as elections are approaching. and donald trump for years in civil litigation of all kind has used delay tactics. he is a master at it. i certainly expect that will be the case here, that he will move to have the charges thrown out, he will challenge every aspect of this prosecution. i do think it is eminently possible for this case to go to trial and get through trial well before the 2024 election. obviously, there are not cases similar to this, but looking at other complicated, high-profile cases like for instance roger stone and paul manafort, two associates of donald trump that

went to trial, both were completed of a year of when they were indicted. this case for all of its extraordinary nature, is not a terribly complicated case. there is no reason it should not be able to come to trial within a year or so. but i do think that donald trump will do everything in his power to delay because that is what he tends to do. amy: everyone knows the saying, justice delayed is justice denied. this point you are making of him wanting to delay it, i've a couple of questions on this. right now he is charged with his co-conspirator walt nauta, who is called his body man. he did not plead yesterday. he did not have a local lawyer. if he has to get that lawyer, that lawyer say i need a for three months or so to get ready and a judge who is clearly extremely pro-trump and appointed by trump, judge aileen

cannon, also if she wants to delay this, certainly, is in charge of that schedule. yesterday, the judge was judge jonathan goodman, the magistrate judge. but what happened with nauta and his warning that trump, who came in with nauta and left with nauta, is not allowed to talk to nauta and other witnesses come and will their trials be separate? >> a lot of this we just starting to figure out or just starting to figure out. i think that mauta not coming in with an attorney, local attorney who could stand in that court is a pretty standard stuff. the court pretty quickly either compel nauta to get an attorney or help them find an attorney.

it can be pretty quickly resolved and i expect it will be. judge cannon, in the earlier litigation about the search of mar-a-lago, issued these really extraordinary decisions in donald trump's favor which were so contrary to the law that an appeals panel, which included several judges, also appointed by president trump, not only reversed her but in really, really harsh terms. that is cause for concern. that said, that has already happened. judge cannon, i believe and hope, will be chastised by what happened before. i believe she will feel some need to preside over this matter in a way that is fair and legally proper.

she will certainly have a lot of control over the schedule. that is something that is a bit worrisome. obviously, we will all have to keep an ion. but i think the special prosecutor jack smith will be watching closely that if she does anything that seems out of line of the law, he will go back to the court of appeals, the 11th circuit that oversees the district court in florida, and i expect he will not hesitate to act to if it gets to that point, which i hope doesn't. as far separate trials, i think it is too early to say. i do think -- amy: meaning could they walk nauta? >> that is a possibility. the facts in this indictment are really unusual. the evidence seems very strong.

most defendants would have pled guilty already. people in situations like donald trump but in many cases much less severe have quickly pled guilty. i don't expect donald trump to do that. that is not his style. nauta, i don't think any of us know that much about what nauta, certainly based on the evidence you would expect them to quickly plead guilty but he doesn't have an awful lot of loyalty to trump. amy: quickly, i would ask you about pursuing trump's ability to run for president under the 14th amendment. >> the 14th amendment has a provision that was put in after the civil war that says if you swore an oath to defend the constitution and then you engaged in insurrection, or disqualified federal or state

office, including the presidency. it was meant to say that people who try to overthrow a government are not then allowed to be in charge of that same government. that is something that is very much good law today. the organization crew was able to go to court in new mexico and get a decision that a county commissioner in new mexico who participated in the january 6,2021 insurrection was removed from office and disqualified from future office. that is something that i it's facts should apply, does apply to donald trump and it is going to be important -- even if he is convicted of federal offenses, that will prohibit him from running for president -- it does not prevent him from running for president or serving as president, but the constitution does. it is crucial to protect this

country from future insurrections, future efforts to overturn elections. we believe in forcing this really important even if largely forgotten provision of the constitution is a crucial way to make sure that doesn't happen going forward. amy: last question, we just have 20 seconds, have public and presidential candidates i continue to defend him and then yet people like nikki haley in the former south carolina governor flipping a bit and sang, well, if it is true, president trump was reckless, that if she became president, she would pardon him. this has been floated several times by candidates. what about that. >> these are all people who in the past have talked about certainly the importance of national security, the ports of protecting classified information.

i think it is hard for them to come out -- it is a bit of a shift, makes some sense. it is hard to know what to do with the former president who appears to have violated the criminal law. it is difficult for the country. i don't think a pardon is appropriate here because i think you do need accountability for this kind of lawlessness. but it is good to see candidates at least struggling with these issues rather than simply defending donald trump at all costs. amy: noah bookbinder, thank you for been with us president of , citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, or crew. formerly prosecuted public corruption cases for the department of justice. coming up, while donald trump was freed without bail for violating the espionage act, we will look at how others were treated very differently. back in 30 seconds.

♪♪ [music break] amy: "crying" by roy orbison and k.d. lang. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. with juan gonzalez. we continue to look at the arraignment of donald trump who pleaded not guilty tuesday to 37 federal counts including 31 counts of violating the espionage act. trump becomes the most high-profile person ever charged

under the 1917 law. while trump was released without needing to post bail, many others charged under the espionage act have faced far different treatment under president trump. for example, in 2017, u.s. intelligence contractor reality winner was arrested for leaking a single document about russian interference in the 2016 u.s. elections. she was held without bail and ended up spending five years in prison. in 2019, former u.s. intelligence analyst daniel hale was arrested and held without bail for leaking documents about the secretive u.s. drone program . in 2021, he was sentenced to more than three years in prison and remains locked up. on tuesday night, donald trump spoke out against the espionage act charges. pres. trump: the espionage act has been used to go after traitors and spies. it has nothing to do the former

president legally keeping his own documents. as president, the law that applies in this case is not the espionage act but very simply, the presidential records act, which is not even mentioned in this ridiculous 44-page indictment. under the presidential records act, which is civil not criminal, i had every right to have these documents. amy: we're joined now by chip gibbons, policy director of defending rights & dissent, where he has advised multiple congressional offices on reforming the espionage act. so you have donald trump pleading not guilty to 37 charges, chip. 31 of them related to the espionage act. can you talk about the significance of this and the significance of him walking out of court, and compared to other

cases you have been involved with. >> is very significant because here we have a man when he was president come his administration presided over five different espionage prosecutions. trump and that clip you played says the espionage act applies to traitors and spies. not one of those prosecutions was of a traitor or spy. they are of whistleblowers. daniel hale's conscience was so shocked. you had an fbi agent who is disturbed by the domestic war on terror and the surveillance of the muslim community and the evisceration of the bill of rights. he had a man who was convicted of giving information to wikileaks. and then julian assange, the

first time in history, journalist has been indicted under the espionage act. all of the charges against julian assange pertained to 2011 revelations about u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan, the u.s. involvement in guantánamo, and these corrupt deals that the state department was involved in. donald trump's administration loves the espionage act. they did not use it against traitors or spies, they used it against whistleblowers, journalists, and people accused of giving information to the media. i think that is per significant in and of itself. particularly when you consider there's always been this dual track system under the espionage act. prior to the trump case, i have argued and i think the trump case obligated this, i have argued that the espionage act prosecutions are inherently political prosecutions. if i am barack obama or george bush or donald trump's inner

circle and i go to the newspaper and i feed them classified information to promote the drone program, promote the investigation into assange or go talk to others to get information so they can make up some whitewashing torture, i'm not going to be prosecuted. the biggest leaguer of u.s. government secrets is the u.s. government. everyone in washington knows that. if i go and i am a soldier in afghanistan and i'm horrified by the civilian casualties of the drone program and i watch barack obama on tv lie about how protective of human rights is international assassination program is or i am in iraq and horrified by the organization of the iraqi people and the violence inherent in that clonal observation ago link that information, they're going to prosecuted. up until trump, the espionage act has always been used as a sort of viewpoint,

discrimination-based law. under the letter of the espionage act, if i read in the washington post that the cia thought ukraine might bomb the nord stream pipeline and i tweet that and text that, i talked about it to evaristo, i have violated the espionage act. your previous guess was mentioning the difference between biden's, pence's, and trump's conduct, it was violated. but because it is such a broad, basically unconstitutional law, it is applied with a lot of limitations on it. it is incredible moment in u.s. history that we had a president who is finally being held accountable under the espionage act as opposed to sort of

whistleblowers and journalists who have expose the u.s. national security state. and while that is sort of a step away from the dual system of justice we have seen under the espionage act i have to stress i don't think the espionage act is a legitimate tool. i don't think it should be used to prosecute anyone, even as as loathsome as donald trump. donald trump is still getting a lot of leeway. he was given a chance to return documents and he was not charged for those documents even though he broke the letter of the law, even though he took them when he should not of had them. and while biden and pence my get away with that, daniel hale or thomas drake would not. there has been this dual track system under the espionage act, one set of rules for the powerful and one set of rules for those who support and promote u.s. foreign policy and the u.s. national security state, and one set of rules for those public servants is conscience tells them that

principles in many cases that led them to government and the first place are being violated by the government, who were subjected to horrible treatment. juan: chip gibbons, precisely because of the unusual set of situations here, aren't you in essence saying -- and i would tend to agree with you -- that the use of the espionage act in this particular case does smack and will be seen by many trump supporters and even those are not necessarily his supporters but who don't like government overreach to see this as a political prosecution? what do you say about trump's claim he should've have been more properly prosecuted if you were to be prosecuted at all under the presidential records act? >> the presidential records act is a red herring. trump committed numerous crimes in line -- if the indictment is true and i have to stress that

he is innocent until proven guilty -- but if the indictment is true, he did conceal information from investigators. he was given a chance to give documents back. he gave some of them back and hid others. he kept thumbing his nose at the government. i would note, there other charges that could be brought against trump besides the espionage act. under donald trump's presidency, mishandling classified information, which i think putting all of those documents in a bathroom is clearly mishandling classified information, would move from a misdemeanor to a felony. there are statutes about theft of government property. under the presidential records act, it is local we the people" and not "donald trump" and he took them out of the white house and is brazen about that. i don't think the choices are letting pres. trump: scot-free get or bringing espionage acts

against him. i do worry that some of you said the espionage act given historically will involve political repression will important -- embolden trump's claim he is being victimized by the deep state. i want to point out how nonsensical those claims are. it is true that trump doesn't have the same relations as a barack obama or dick cheney does. he ran for president of first time calling for spying on mosques, something worse than torture, and murdering the family suspected terrorists and bombing things. he escalated u.s. air was in an unprecedented way. regime change against venezuela and iran. yama started a war with iran -- he almost started a war with iran by assassinating the general and increased the sanctions on cuba, increased the

drone wars, and was the one who first said aid to ukraine. donald trump very much in a lot of ways has been a deep state president even though he does not enjoy this sort of warm, personal relations with the u.s. national security establishment -- which is not at all based in policy since his policies have been some of the worst types of national security, military industrial complex by putting these record-breaking -- although biden has broken his record, defense budgets. he is not a victim of the deep state. he is a victim of his own hubris and quite frankly, bullishness. juan: how would you say the necessary reforms to the espionage act to be able to protect the future whistleblowers? >> the espionage act is to be reformed. the biggest thing is right now you don't have to prove someone had the specific intent to harm

u.s. national security or aid a foreign power, just have to have reason to believe your actions would do that. while that sounds like a high standard, in the whistleblower cases, the government basically says, well, you took classification training, you knew that if you released classified information reasonably this guy would fall. i think u.s. government's position is basically if it says the information a secret, ever reason to believe that even though they lie constantly, ever reason to believe that it will harm national security. so making the government prove actual espionage, allowing whistleblowers for anyone to testify about the purpose of their leaks -- right now juries are barred from hearing what was leaked or why it was late. you can see why the government wants that. if your edwards snowden and you tell the jury, "i saw illegal surveillance, i leaked it, the

journalists got surprises, the court ruled the program -- illegal and likely unconstitutional" the jury is going to have questions. the specific intent requirement proved harm national security is a backdoor public interest defense but i also think you need a friend or public tryst defense. -- public interest defense. donald trump has a duty to protect classified formation. if i read in the paper about the pentagon papers, i don't have a duty to keep it secret. the journalists who printed it do not have a duty to keep a secret. another thing i would add, whistleblowers have been prohibited from challenging the classification of documents on the basis that only the executive branch can determine

whether something is classified. and even if a document is illegally classified, it does not matter. the espionage act, which creates a classification system, mentions or covers both properly and improperly classified information. i want to point out when daniel hale was facing trial, the prosecution put a motion to the judge asking that daniel hale be barred from mentioning his good motive -- good motives are the prosecutor's words, not mine, although i think daniel hale had impeccable motive -- not that you could not bring up the classification -- john amy: we have 10 seconds. we want to thank you so much for being with us. people can go to our website's air interviews with whistleblowers or about them if they are imprisoned from jeffrey starling to john kerry? , reality winner to daniel hale

to edward snowden to julian assange and others. chip gibbons, policy director of defending rights & dissent, where he has advised multiple congressional offices on reforming the espionage act. coming up, we speak with the sister of the jailed saudi dissident about how saudi arabia is using its oil fortune to launder its image by taking over the world of professional golf with the merger of liv golf and the pga tour. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: ben nichols' "the last pale light in the west," inspired by the work of the late author cormac mccarthy, who has died. he once wrote "keep a little fire burning, however small, however hidden." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. on monday, democratic senator richard blumenthal opened a probe into the professional golfers' association of america merger of their pga tour with the saudi liv golf tour. the merger came as a shock to much of the sports world, as the pga spent months trying to undermine liv by banning golfers who joined the saudi venture from participating in pga events. critics say it's the latest example of "sportswashing" to gain cultural and corporate

influence by a country accused of massive human rights violations. senator blumenthal chairs the subcommittee on investigations and in a letter to pga tour commissioner jay monahan -- he noted "study reviews deeply disturbing record at home and abroad." this comes as secretary of state antony blinken was in saudi arabia last week and met with crown prince mohammed bin salman, the de facto head of state, in jeddah. blinken said the pair discussed -- for more, we're joined by lina alhathloul, head of advocacy for an independent nonprofit organization that works to defend human rights in saudi arabia. she is the sister of jailed saudi feminist activist loujain alhathloul.

if you could pronounce her name for me. i'm sorry if i did not pronounce it correctly. >> i am lina alhathloul. they give for having me. amy: this joining of what is -- if you can explain what saudi arabia's liv golf is, with the pga tour, and the complete turnaround of the pga tour condemning saudi arabia for the last year, talking about its human rights abuses and now joining in this golf alliance? >> absolutely. we have been following this story for over a year now. human rights and white watching -- whitewashing was the main point people were discussing. money has spoken.

basically what is happening is saudi arabia is not only whitewashing its image by investing in sports and infiltrating this industry, in the long run, it is very dangerous because once we pass on from soft power, saudi arabia buying a new image pretending it is opening up and there hosting sports events, not afterwards in the long run, they will have the money, they will have control, they will have influence. this is where it is getting really dangerous. i think it is not only about whitewashing its image come in the long run it is also about control and influence in many sectors, including the sports sector. juan: could you talk about the rise in executions? amnesty revealed they tripled between 2021 and 2022 and yet the world hears nothing about this?

>> thank you very much for this question. i think it is very related to the u.s.-saudi relationship. when biden was saying saudi arabia was a pariah and they won't go back to business as usual with saudi arabia after the murder of jamal khashoggi and then they go to saudi arabia and say, well, mvs, what happened afterwards, just afterwards, is a mess execution of 81 people in one day. this year we have unfortunately 52 people have been executed and we're only in june. saudi arabia's human rights record has deteriorated after mbs been reinstated including after blinken and biden's

visits. it is a green light for them to double down on repression. that they won't held accountable, although they were told by the u.s., the biggest ally is a pariah, and mbs has been granted immunity or impunity in the u.s., so they know now nothing will stop them, that they have been rehabilitated. and even worse than that, they cannot only double down on repression on saudi people, they will even show their power now, that they are so empowered that they can target u.s. citizens. that's a case of a man who is been arrested and sentenced to dozens of years in prison. at the end of the day, he has been released because there has

been a huge campaign against his sentence but he still on a travel ban in saudi arabia. so u.s. citizen that is more than 70 years old is on a travel ban in saudi arabia, and the u.s. cannot to anything to bring him back home. we see saudi arabia has gotten emboldened by these policies of the u.s. and for the lack of a strong stand regarding human rights with the saudi government and mbs specifically. amy: lina, can you talk about your sister, where she is now, and then talk about the broader issues of women's rights and human rights in saudi arabia. >> so my sister loujain was -- and firstly, she could no longer be a human rights activist. she was the leader. in 28 -- before 2018, women

could not drive in saudi arabia. they were in the still are subjected to the male guardianship system, meaning we are considered as minors until the end of our lives. an important decision of our life has to be approved by our male guardian, who is our father and the movie get married, it is our husband. -- and then when we get married, it is our husband. in that context, my sister was arrested many times because she was a leader of the women to dress campaign and also campaign against the male guardianship system. you know what is very ironic, her last arrest in 2018 was the exact same time when the saudi government was about to announce their finally allowing women to drive. so when the world was applauding mbs and the government as reformers come as changing the country and as opening up, they

were arresting very feminist for been fighting for it for years. my sister was arrested in 2018. there is a huge defamation campaign against her on saudi media where i to her picture -- where under her picture it was labeled a traitor. she was forced to be disappeared for a long time. we found out when she was forcibly disappeared, she was in a torture center being tortured by mohammed bin salman on's right-hand man. she was officially charged with activism including being an contact with amnesty, human rights watch, tay diplomats, and eu diplomats, which means saudi

arabia when touring the world was sentencing its own citizens from being in contact with what we thought were allies. so she was then sentenced to five years and eight months. but released on probation in february 2021. she is now on a, meaning she could not leave saudi arabia. i don't want to put words in her mouth, but this is the situation she has been targeted after her release by pegasus, surveillance. they can see everything on your phone. she has been surveilled. of course she feels surveilled. i hope family is on a travel ban, meaning there are threats of arrest and they're trying to

silence even the relatives of activists. amy: your response to the meeting antony blinken, the secretary of state, and mohammed bin salman in saudi arabia and what became of that? >> i think it is very clear, my message is that we have learned without strong human rights conditions to rehabilitate, to go back to business as usual is saudi arabia, will not only harm saudi people, but it will backfire, emboldening someone who can be -- the u.s. should stop thinking of shortsighted policies and start thinking about the long-term strategies and emboldening mbs will only feed the monster.

amy: we want to thank you for being with us, head of advocacy for an independent nonprofit group that works to defend human rights in saudi arabia. sister of saudi feminist loujain alhathloul.

(sophie fouron) it's always interesting to listen to the sounds of nature, especially here. you hear the bald eagles, a lot. the ravens. salmon jumping. you kind of understand why they call it "the last frontier". you can't really go further than baranof island. it is what you imagine alaska to be. kilometers, and kilometers, and kilometers of forest. there are very little paved roads here. you don't spend much time in your car, but you spend