08/25/23 08/25/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the arrest and booking of donald trump was a sign, a powerful sign that the rule of law still holds. that accountability still is in the system and that chickens will come home to roost. amy: president trump surrendered at the notorious fulton county jail thursday night. he was booked on 13 felony

charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election in georgia. once inside the jail, trump became the first former president to ever have his mugshot taken. we will get the latest from atlanta. then as trump begins fundraising off his mugshot, we will look at a growing movement pushing for mugshot to stop being released publicly. plus we go to tennessee, where republican lawmakers attempted to ban the public from bringing signs into the capitol as protests continue over the refusal by republican lawmakers to enact new gun control in the wake of the covenant school shooting in nashville. we will speak to democratic lawmaker justin jones, who was expelled earlier this year then re-elected by voters for protesting gun violence at the capitol. >> the rotunda has been shut down for the most part to the public. this is our special session that was supposed to be around gun

violence. is the party more concerned with stifling freespeech? amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. former president donald trump surrendered at atlanta's notorious fulton county jail on thursday night, where he was arrested and booked on 13 felony charges over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election s in georgia, which he lost. once inside the jail, trump was fingerprinted and had his mugshot taken. he was released after about 20 minutes later on a $200,000 bond. trump briefly spoke to reporters at the airport after his release thursday evening. pres. trump: really believe this is a sad day for america. this has never happened. if you challenge an election -- you should be able to challenge the election. i thought the election was a

rigged election, a stolen election. i should have every right to do that. amy: trump's former white house chief of staff mark meadows also surrendered thursday and was released on $100,000 bond. also booked was harrison floyd iii, the former leader of black voices for trump. floyd is the only one of trump's 18 co-defendants to remain jailed ahead of trial. he faces separate charges in maryland of assaulting an fbi officer who served him a grand jury subpoena in february. on thursday, fulton county district attorney fani willis asked to move the start of trump 's trial to october 23 after one trump codefendant demanded a speedy trial. he is the lawyer who proposed trump used fake electors to try to overturn the election. after headlines, we'll go to atlanta, georgia, for the latest. ukraine's government says it has dispatched amphibious troops to the western tip of the crimean peninsula, which has been occupied by russia since 2014.

it's the first direct attempt by ukraine to claim territory in crimea since kyiv launched a bloody counter-offensive in june and came as ukraine celebrated its split from the soviet union in 1991. meanwhile, the pentagon says it will begin training ukrainian air force pilots on f-16 fighter jets at an air base in arizona after ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy won pledges from denmark and the netherlands to deliver dozens of the u.s.-made warplanes. russian president vladimir putin has made his first public comments about wednesday's plane crash that reportedly killed russian mercenary leader yevgeny prigozhin and other top commanders of the wagner group. speaking from moscow thursday, putin sent his condolences to the families of the victims and praised wagner's actions in ukraine and several african nations. >> primary data in that there

were employees of the private military company come i would want to help these people made a significant contribution to our cause. we will not forget it. amy: putin described prigozhin as a talented man who made mistakes throughout his life. putin did not mention the june 24 mutiny led by prigozhin that saw heavily armed wagner forces advance toward moscow. meanwhile, u.s. intelligence officials have told reporters the plane carrying prigozhin crashed as the result of an assassination plot involving a bomb or some form of sabotage. in kyiv, president volodymyr zelenskyy said ukraine had nothing to do with prigozhin's death and suggested putin was to blame. in zimbabwe, results from wednesday's nationwide elections have started to trickle in with parliamentary races putting the ruling zanu-pf party and its main challenger neck and neck.

results of the presidential election have not yet been announced. the race pits incumbent emmerson mnangagwa against opposition leader nelson chamisa for the second time after mnangagwa held on to power in 2018 in elections the opposition accused of being rigged. chamisa has already accused his opponent of attempting to steal this election. mnangagwa came to power in 2017 after leading a coup that ousted robert mugabe. widespread delays during voting forced polls to stay open for a second day. police on thursday raided and arrested 41 local election monitors, prompting condemnation and accusations of interference by the ruling party. this is a voter in the capital harare. >> ballot papers are supposed to be at polling stations 48 hours before the elections start. and come election day, there is no ballot papers.

we have to wait here for 12 hours and there are no ballot papers. amy: china has banned imports of seafood from japan after officials began pumping treated radioactive water into the pacific ocean from the site of the wrecked fukushima nuclear power plant. it's part of a plan to release more than 1 million metric tons of wastewater over the next four decades, drawing protests in japan and across the region. plant operator tepco, the tokyo electric power company, says it has filtered more than 60 radionuclides from the wastewater, leaving behind only tritium. tepco says levels of tritium being released are significantly lower than amounts released by normally operating nuclear power plants around the world, including those in china. intense heat waves continued to grip much of the world, putting 2023 on track to become the hottest year on record. in bolivia come a town reached 113 degrees fahrenheit thursday, matching the hottest winter temperature on record in the southern hemisphere. extreme wintertime heat is gripping southern africa where

records were broken in several cities. southern europe is experiencing historically summer heatwave with hundreds of monthly records falling across france, portugal, and spain. scientists warned this week percent of italy's alpine glaciers risk disappearing by 2016. this is the italian environmentalist. >> we are hearing near the glacier and it is not cold. the zero temperature is rising again these days. there's another heatwave about 5000 meters. the ice is retreating. the snow that covered it is almost gone. amy: here in the united states, a relentless and historic heat wave is continuing with all-time records tied or broken in cities, including houston and new orleans. in hawaii, a new lawsuit brought by maui county officials blames hawaii's largest electric utility for wildfires that killed at least 115 people earlier this month. 388 people remain unaccounted

for. the lawsuit accuses the hawaiian electric power company of failing to respond to red-flag warnings on the day of the fires and allowing live wires to come into contact with dry vegetation. a new study links fracked gas wells in western pennsylvania with cases of cancer, asthma, and birth problems. researchers at the university of pittsburgh found children who lived closer to fracking sites were more likely to develop lymphoma. meanwhile, residents of all ages had an increased chance of severe asthma and pregnant people were more likely to give birth to babies with low birth weight. western pennsylvania is home to thousands of fracked-gas wells. in tennessee, the republican-dominated legislature adjourned thursday after a hectic special session this week on guns and public safety. this comes amid mounting anger in the wake of the covenant school shooting in nashville earlier this year, which killed three children and three adults. hundreds of protesters have rallied on capitol grounds to

demand lawmakers take action against gun violence. on tuesday, a republican leader ordered state troopers to remove people waiting to testify from a legislative hearing, provoking chaos and intense emotions. on monday, republicans imposed new penalties on lawmakers believed to be too disruptive and banning visitors from carrying signs. members of the public circumvented the new rule by displaying words on their cellphones instead. a judge on wednesday paused the ban on signs. tennessee democrat justin jones, a member of the "tennessee 3," was cut off at a house session after accusing the republican house speaker of racism over the new rules. justin jones, alongside justin pearson, was expelled earlier this year, then re-elected by voters, for protesting gun violence at the capitol. we'll be joined by tennessee state representative jones later in the broadcast. in labor news, some 150,000 auto workers could be walking off the job next month as negotiations continue for new contracts with major automakers that include

significant wage increases. the united auto workers union is bargaining for pay increases of at least 40% over the next four years. contracts are set to expire on september 14. this could be the largest strike of u.s. auto industry workers in at least half a century. in minnesota, minneapolis mayor jacob frey has vetoed a city ordinance that would have granted minimum wage for lyft and uber drivers. he said he reached a deal only with uber for a commitment to pay its drivers the city's minimum wage of $15 an hour. lyft drivers are not covered under the agreement. minneapolis city councilmember robin wants lee said "this veto , is an inexcusable betrayal of minneapolis workers." brazil's supreme court ruled that homophobic slurs are a crime that can be punished with

prison time. the ruling was welcomed by activists as the lgbtqia community remains a frequent target of violent attacks. rights groups said there were 228 murders of lgbtqia people in brazil last year, which was also the final year of self-proclaimed proud homophobe jair bolsonaro. and fifa, soccer's global governing body, has launched disciplinary proceedings against spanish soccer federation president luis rubiales after he forcibly kissed spanish player jenni hermoso during the awards ceremony for the women's world cup. he also grabbed his crotch during the game as he celebrated in a spectator area he shared with spain's 16-year-old princess infanta sofia. rubiales is rejecting widespread calls to resign. the union representing hermoso has demanded accountability as the assault has drawn further attention to misogyny and inequality in the soccer world and overshadowed spain's historic victory. u.s. soccer champion megan rapinoe said -- "what kind of upside-down world

are we in? on the biggest stage, where you should be celebrating, jenni has to be physically assaulted by this guy." spain's acting prime minister pedro sanchez also addressed the issue. >> it is true there has been some behavior, in this case, that shows our country still has a long way to go in terms of equality, act, and rights between women and men. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, donald trump has surrendered at the fulton county jail on thursday night, booked on 13 felony charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. we will have more. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "love & unity" by the viceroys. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. donald trump surrendered at the notorious fulton county jail on thursday night. booked on 13 felony charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. once inside the jail, he was fingerprinted and had his mugshot taken. he was released after about 20 minutes on a $200,000 bond. since march, the former president has been indicted four times and faces a total of 91 criminal charges. on thursday, trump came the first former president to have his mugshot taken. soon after the photo was released, trump began using it to raise money for his presidential campaign. he also posted the mugshot on the social media platform x. it was his first post on the site since he was banned by twitter after the january 6 insurrection in 2021.

donald trump briefly spoke to reporters at the airport on thursday after he was released. pres. trump: what has taken place here is a travesty of justice. we did nothing wrong. i did nothing wrong. i have never had such support. that goes with the other ones, too. what they're doing is election interference. they are trying to interfere with an election. there has never been anything like it in our country. amy: trump's former white house chief of staff mark meadows also surrendered thursday and was released on $100,000 bond. a hearing will be held on monday regarding meadows' request to move his trial to a federal court. fulton county district attorney fani willis has subpoenaed georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger and one of his former staffers to testify at a hearing over the request by meadows. on thursday, willis also called to move the start of trump's trial to october 23 after one of

trump's other 18 co-defendants, kenneth chesebro, demanded a speedy trial. he is the lawyer who proposed trump use fake electors to try to overturn the election. a judge has set his trial to begin on that same day, october 23. we go now to atlanta, where we are joined by two guests. hugo lowell is a reporter for the guardian who has closely covered donald trump's indictment in georgia. and carol anderson is a professor of african american studies at emory university. the author of many books, including "one person, no vote: how voter suppression is destroying our democracy." her other books include "the second: race and guns in a fatally unequal america" and "white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide." professor anderson, let's begin with you. your reaction to the booking, this historic moment, of the former president of united states, the first time ever? and it happened in your state,

georgia. >> it felt, given the kinds of pressure that trump put on atlanta and put on georgia and the targeting of fulton county as somehow this bastion of corruption, this felt like vindication. it felt like justice. it felt nina simone good. amy: this is coming on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the march on washington. in 1963, so many marched for voting rights, civil rights. talk about why you see this as a civil rights story. >> it was the attack on voting rights. because in fulton county -- well, in georgia at large, 90% of african-americans who voted voted for biden. almost 70% of latinos who voted

in joe joe -- georgia voted for biden. a little over 60% of asian americans who voted voted for biden. what you saw with trump's team, their attempt to wipe out the votes, it was the attempt to say their votes were illegitimate. the votes of minorities were illegitimate, like they were not real american. it was the same kind of assault that we saw in the jim crow era, that those were not real americans and their votes did not count. it was as if the march on the edmund pettus bridge and bloody sunday was irrelevant. it was seeing this kind of systemic and corrosive assault on the right to vote, the right to vote and have your votes counted. the way african-americans were denigrated in that assault as illegitimate, as the source of

criminality, as the source of fraud, massive ramp it voter fraud where you could have a rudy giuliani talking about ruby freeman and shaye moss as drug dealers, passing out ballots as if they are passing out heroin and cocaine. that kind of assault on black humanity was the same kind of assault that led to the voting rights act. amy: hugo lowell, you have been reporting on this for sometime. we are speaking to you in atlanta. if you can share your response to what happened last night as you wrote in your article earlier this week, "trump had his little to negotiate his booking to take place during that primetime viewing hours for the cable news networks." >> well, truck basically wanted to surrender in the evening on that day because he knew if he could turn things into a spectacle, if he could turn it into a circus, he would be able to garner as much coverage as he

could and in doing so, distract from not only the severity of the charges because he was being hit with a racketeering charge in this case, but also the indignity of having to go through the booking process. him arriving at the jail and a motorcade at the time he wanted was as far as the special treatment that he got went. frankly, the moment he was in the jail, was treated like any other criminal defendant. i think that is important because that is not how he has been treated in any of his other cases. he had to be fingerprinted, he had his height and weight recorded even though it appears he came up with that figure himself, and he had the mugshot taken. if you look at it, you see a trump who is trying to look defiant and that was a face he practiced in the lead up to the booking. but you can also see a sense of fear in his eyes and the fact this is becoming really real.

we know from speaking to his advisors in the days leading up to surrender, he felt the enormity of what was coming on the line. amy: can you talk about his new attorney? >> trump has a history of firing lawyers when criminal best occasions. turn to indictments. we saw it in the mar-a-lago classified document case most of official was let go with the indictment came down. it appears to be no different in this case. trump previously retained a lawyer to be -- for the grand jury and the actual criminal investigation and when the indictment came down, trump ultimately hired stephen saddle, who is probably a better choice for truck anyway. has this reputation of being more of a trial attorney. he likes to beat his chest and go on tv.

i think it kind of underscores trump's by going into trial. amy: can you talk about him turning to a bell bondsman to meet the agreed-upon $200,000 bond? >> by going to a commercial bail bondsman here in atlanta, trump gets out of having to pay the balance. he can basically put down 10%, or $20,000, and satisfy the conditions of release. even though he went to a bail bots been, he put up the $20,000 himself, his own money. all of his other legal fees and criminal investigations are being paid for by the save america pac. he has basically been paying his lawyers fees through the pac. to see him with this $20,000 himself, it was a departure i think. amy: you wrote a piece on

wednesday had led "trump's plan to skip debate shields him from legal exposure." explain. >> i think this kind of speaks to how trump's 2024 campaign is so intertwined with the legal team. it is wrapped up in the same operation. that has benefits but also drawbacks because every time trump is given televised remarks , whenever he is confronted with difficult legal questions, trump seems to say little too much and incriminate himself a little further. the last two times trump was on tv, he exacerbated the legal exposure with the respect to the writer of e. jean carroll, after losing's civil case that a jury said he was a sexual assault perpetrator. he doubled down on the climbs.

then when he was on tv with fox in an interview, he basically conceded to holding on to classified documents even when he had been subpoenaed. i think there's a palpable fear among his lawyers. if you into the debate and corner with a legal question, might something -- say something that would deepen the legal trouble. i think oh was a relief that he did not go to the debate. amy: talk about these other developments. for example, that chesebro asked for a speedy trial. in a date has been set for october 23. also mark meadows wanting to take this to federal court and the hearings set for monday where now brad raffensperger, georgia's secretary of state, has been subpoenaed to testify. >> you're starting to see what happens when you have 19 defendants in a criminal case.

what is happening is basically you're getting different conspirators with diverging interests compared to trump. trump's overall legal strategy in all of these cases is delay. if he wins and he can install himself as president, he can avoid any sort of criminal liability that comes with the criminal conviction because he will be in office. at that is not necessarily the other expectations. how is meadows going to defend himself? you might say that he was working at the behest of the president. as for kenneth chesebro come the lawyer who came up with or is implementing the fake elector skin, he moved for a speedy trial which means a trial will come in two grand jury terms,

set for october 23, but that is not in donald trump's interest. chesebro gambled a little and thought maybe the district attorney would not be ready to go to trial, but the delay from the grand jury to the indictment appears to have been timed whether the district attorney was anticipating these pretrial motions and these pretrial rulings that might come and basically ensuring they would be ready to go to trial and this might be the thing that turns around and bite somewhere they did not anticipated. makeup can you talk about harrison floyd iii, the only wind of trump's 18 co-defendants who remains jailed? >> this was quite a turn yesterday. harrison floyd surrendered himself at the jail in atlanta without having negotiated a bond agreement. he was booked and processed like

everyone else. and then he remained incarcerated in the jail because he doesn't have negotiated conditions of release. i think this was quite extraordinary because it appears the district attorney's office had tried to tell him to come to their office and negotiate some sort of conditional release, and he did not do that and sub surrendered and ultimately that is the predicament he finds himself in, which is unique among all of the 19 defendants. amy: let's go back to donald trump speaking last night. pres. trump: it is a sad day for america. this should never have happened. you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election. i thought the election was a rigged election come a stolen election. i should have every right to do that. amy: professor anderson, he is clearly framing this as a free-speech issue. he should be able to challenge an election. you should be able to freely. your response? >> it wasn't that he challenged

an election via speech, it was the criminal actions he undertook in over to overturn the will of the voters. so the fake elector's scheme where you have people who pretend to be the real electors going into the statehouse and signing the form saying they are the actual duly elected electors and then sending that form to government officials, to the president of the senate kind of that head of the national archives, and to a federal judge here in georgia, signing it off saying george's electoral college vote will go to donald trump. as of donald trump was the one who won the vote in georgia. and he didn't, so that was fraud. that was part of the scheme to overturn the selection. and the other component of this is he is saying it was stolen. but there were three recounts here in georgia.

there was a hand recount of 5 million ballots. biden won the hand recount and that was done november 19. then there was a machine recount. that machine recount was done -- completed in early december. biden that showedbiden had also won. then we have a series of legislative hearings where rudy giuliani is spewing lie after lie after lie, basically saying up to 150 thousand fraudulent votes were cast here in georgia. therefore the state legislature needed to step in and overturn the results of a free and fair election. then there was a hand recount -- not a hand recount, a recount of absentee ballots in cobb county. at least 15,000 ballots.

those 15,000 ballots showed there was nothing wrong with the absentee balance. and so here you have basically three recounts showing no fraud, but they continued to spread that lie of fraud and then act upon that lie of fraud to try to overthrow the free and fair election. so this isn't about free speech. this is about trying to launch a coup, try to overthrow democracy. this is an assault on american democracy. that is what the charge really is. amy: let me ask you about the charges against three of the men , including solicitation of false statements, influencing witnesses as they tried to convince ruby freeman to make a false confession. trump mentioned ruby freeman 18 times during his call with burgess secretary of state raffensperger. how did these shed light on what was taking place?

>> one they identified african-american women who were doing the work of democracy as basically being a threat to his presidency. two, they lied. they just live. as brad raffensperger said, this was a slice and dice video that they portrayed as being the alpha and omega of the smoking gun proof that fraud had happened, that they had pulled out suitcases a ballots underneath a desk in state farm arena and then copied them 18,000 times, running through to jack up biden's victory. except the hand recount and the machine recount denied that. because if you have the ballots, then you don't have 18,000 additional votes. and the targeting of ruby

freeman, by saying that she is a hustler, she is a dope dealer, hustler, hustler, linking blackness with criminality. it was a way to then try to solidify that charge of fraud. and by -- when the minister goes to ruby freeman's house and he knocks on her door and she won't answer and then he calls the black man to say, oh, she is afraid of talking to me because i am white -- again, playing the race card there. then you have blacks for trump then bringing in kanye west's publicist to try to convince her to live, to say that she did something that she did not do, putting enormous pressure on this woman. putting enormous pressure on

this black woman who was just doing the work of democracy, to make her life so that it would provide some level of credence to donald trump's live, that is extortionist pressure. that is an acceptable. that is why he is charge. that is why they are charge. amy: i would like to bring someone else in to this conversation come as donald trump begins using his mugshot to raise money for his presidential campaign, we're going to turn now to look at why some criminal justice advocates are urging police departments to stop releasing mugshots. we are joined by keri blakinger, investigative journalist and reporter at "the l.a. times" where she previously reported on the criminal justice system for the marshall project. she's also the author of the memoir "corrections in ink," which details her experience serving time in prison in upstate new york. thank you so much for joining this conversation.

this is the first time, though he has been indicted four times, that president trump has had a mug shot taken. of course, it is out there right away. it was the first thing he tweeted out on x. can you talk about the significance, the history of the mugshot and now the movement not to have these photographs released? >> sure. i think historically there has been concerns that the widespread distribution of mugshots undermines the presumption of innocence. the distribution exacerbates some of these racial inequities and biases that exist in the criminal justice system. some of those concerns don't necessarily apply to trump, who is a privileged and rich white man. but i do think as there growing conversation about their use and distribution come it is good to remember the more we celebrate some of these broken features of the system, the more ingrained

they become. there has been a lot of conversation about whether mugshots should even be released at all. i think you tend to be more focused on whether media should distribute them, which is a separate conversation from whether they should be released. it is worth remembering, some of the first jurisdictions trump was charged in, the norm would have been not to release mugshots. the doj has not released mugshot ever as far as i know. new york has stopped releasing them in recent years. people often act as if not releasing mugshots or not allowing police to release mugshots would bring the system to a halt, but there jurisdictions that have been doing this for some time. in many countries, that is entirely the norm. amy: can you talk about in your own experience, and your memoir is so powerful i encourage

everyone to read it, what mugshot meant? >> i think for me and for a lot of people, a mugshot is this enduring image of you at your worst and most vulnerable. it follows you forever. for a lot of people, it is something they have to pay money to have removed. it is something that media websites have been able to monetize and make money on from mugshot galleries. and it is quite something to see the way in which trump sort of turn that on its head by we all know this is going to end up being used for quite some time in fundraising emails. i think if anything, the distribution of this mugshot and the way in which it is being used shows exactly how broken the system is in even having these yet available for distribution in the first place

-- these having these available for distribution in the first place. amy: professor anderson, the use of mugshots and how it has been used but also the reverse of that, for example, john lewis lewis, his mugshot became famous, a symbol of what he was willing to risk to fight for voting rights in this country. >> right. we also have the mugshot of martin luther king in montgomery. that mugshot was designed to try to show that the fight for civil rights was criminal, that these were criminals. so it was flipping the issue of criminality, which was one of the key elements of the civil rights struggle, one of the key strategies of the civil rights struggle, flipping the sense of criminality, black criminality on its head and saying what we're finding for is -- fighting for his american democracy. you get the inverse of trump

because it is always so perverted -- that is not the word, but it is always so -- what you're seeing is not what it really is. in the struggle for civil rights, though, though, it was really about how do we fight for american democracy? how do we change the narrative of who black people are in the station? so much of what we saw with the thing of the stolen election was trying to the stolen election was because black people voted. because they are not legitimate. there is that long strand of dealing with issues of black citizenship, black legality. and mugshot was a key element in that. another key element was the way down in georgia where black people had used absentee ballots to be able to have black people get on the school board, there

mugshots were used because brian kemp had charged them, he had led them to be charged with voter fraud. there was no voter fraud. but their pictures, there mugshots were used on the front page of the newspaper as a symbol of black criminality, black theft of election, black theft of democracy. the mugshots have various ways of being deployed to send a signal come to craft and narrative, to reinforce and narrative. amy: i want to go from mugshots to bail. keri blakinger, you recently wrote on social media -- "when i got arrested for drug possession in 2010, it was considered such a serious offense i was not eligible for bail. while some accused of interfering with an election can get $200,000 bail clearly very different cases but says a lot about our criminal justice

priorities." talk about this. >> yeah, welcome i think i said everything on that one in the tweet. i related to bail one of your prior guests mentioned after his arrest, trump was treated like any other defendant in terms of the booking process. that sort of made me think about, if that were true, i think -- if you were treated like any other defendant, he would have been given a bail he could not afford and left to die in a filthy sale. that is what happens in the fulton county jail. particularly notorious jail. i think this relates to both the issues of bail that i alerted to in the tweet and also just the general conditions of confinement that a lot of people face behind bars. amy: i want to ask you about that issue as you're talking about the notorious fulton county jail and the conditions

in jails. we also saw this with sam bateman freed, who was just -- sam bankman-fried, who is just remanded to jail and can no longer remain in house arrest and was objecting to being put in jail in new york city and the judge saying, i admit it is not a five-star facility. but all of a sudden, the interest in conditions in jails when the far right republicans like marjorie taylor greene deeply concerned about the jail in d.c. were so many of the insurrectionists were put -- i mean, progressives are concerned and grateful attention is being brought to these issues, but can you talk about the hypocrisy in this? >> first of all, it is really frustrating to me when people make comments to the effect of this is not a five-star hotel, of course it's not. i think that flip it commentary

minimizes how bad the conditions are in many jails and prisons. i'm covering the los angeles county sheriff's department and jails there and i read on a regular basis about extremely appalling conditions that just regular people and up in. it doesn't often make the news or certain he does not make the news as much as it should but people are routinely being booked in and brought to the inmate processing center there and left in cells covered in urine and feces and left to sleep on floors with no mattress and no blankets. they are using trash bags for warmth. these are the conditions that many people face. i think it is great this whole situation ends resulting in

people on both sides of the aisle thinking more about bad jail and prison conditions and ways to actually solve that problem, but i think -- i'm not optimistic this will have the sort of desired outcome in that respect. because i think there's clearly a narrative that this is about a system that is targeting certain people, that it is coming after trump and his allies instead of making this narrative that it shows some of the broken parts of the system that the rest of the country experiences on a regular basis. amy: i want to thank y'all for being with us. let's not forget it was lashawn thompson who died in september after a three-month stay in the fulton county jail. his family said he was eaten alive by bedbugs. keri blakinger is an reporter at the "l.a. times" and

author of "corrections in ink," and carol anderson, professor of african american studies at emory university. and hugo lowell is a reporter in -- at the guardian. coming up, we go to tennessee to speak with democratic state lawmaker justin jones. he was expelled earlier this year and then reelected by voters for protesting gun violence at the capitol. this week, republican lawmakers attempted to ban the public from bringing science into the capitol around a special hearing on gun violence. stay with as. -- stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "make you proud" by madeleine kelson. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in tennessee, where the

republican-dominated legislature started a hectic special session this week on guns and public safety. this comes amid mounting anger in the wake of the covenant school shooting in nashville in march, which killed three children and three adults. as hundreds of protesters rallied at the state capitol to demand lawmakers take action to stop gun violence, republicans started the session monday by imposing a ban on signs. this led to a dramatic confrontation tuesday when a republican lawmaker ordered state troopers to forcibly remove three gun-control activists and mothers for holding a sign at a house subcommittee hearing. gun control advocate shannon what shared video. >> what about the ongoing problem -- >> what about the first

amendment rights? the right to hold a sign? i'm not leaving. our guns still allowed in here? >> [indiscernible] , on, ma'am. >> is this what democracy looks like? >> [indiscernible] amy: lawmakers removed -- the acu filed a lawsuit noting "assembling and expressing grievances at the site of the

state government is the most pristine and classic form of exercising first amendment freedoms." this comes after bill the call lawmakers back into session to pass his proposal to keep guns away from people who were judged to pose a threat to themselves or others. he lost to prince and the covenant school shooting. there were people who are parents of students at covenant school. meanwhile, tennessee democratic house member justin jones, one of the "tennessee 3," was cut off at a house session after accusing the republican house speaker of racism over the rules. justin jones come along with justin pearson, was expelled earlier this year than re-elected by voters for protesting gun violence at the capitol. for more, we go to nashville where we are joined by state representative jones, democratic tennessee state representative for nashville.

it is great to have you with us for the first time since you were sworn back into office in the state legislature. congratulations on that. tell us what happened this week. it almost seemed like a replay of what led to you being expelled after the massacre. >> thank you so much, amy. it is great to be back here is a fully reinstate a member of the tennessee house. it is unfortunate the republican house speaker still is acting as an authoritarian. it has been a very disturbing special session in which we have our own mini trump, tries to overturn the election results in my district by expelling us. the tennessee capitol does not look like the people's house. it has been shut down. there are court on ropes put around the rotunda so people cannot protest.

the galley is only open to lobbyists. people can only sit on one side so they have to get there early. they cannot even lead to go to the restroom. the speaker has instituted new rules or small paper signs are not allowed but you can still bring a gun into committee. but you cannot bring in a small paper sign. until the judge ordered which the speaker is now challenging. if we are ruled out of order, we can be silenced indefinitely on the house floor under the new house rules instituted by the republican super majority. amy: nashville's news channel 5 looked at whether state troopers should have been used to forcibly remove protesters from the tennessee assembly. reporter phil williams spoke with democratic state rep jason powell and others. >> what it says is that we have

arrived in a very scary and sad place in the state of tennessee. >> and preparation, the highway patrol brought in an army of state troopers. they have been used to put the state capitol on a virtual lockdown, limiting the number of tennesseans who are allowed inside to witness the debate with her own eyes. the state law lays out two basic duties for the highway patrol. they patrol state how is and enforce all laws you letting traffic and they assist the department of revenue and county clerks in the collection of taxes and revenue going to the state was to >> clearly, we have seen the state troopers become a militarized force on behalf of the members of the general assembly. amy: that news channel 5 report. can you respond to explain to a national audience what is going on in tennessee in the statehouse, justin jones? >> yes. hundreds of state troopers have been deployed to

the state capitol not to protect us from the proud boys who were there on monday, not to protect us from these fringe gun stream mists, but to stop nonviolent peaceful protesters who are sent we want our children to be safe in school. these were mothers. mothers being told to leave the house gallery because the speaker is so fragile and so afraid of the first amendment and is doing everything in its power to make sure tennesseans know he feels he is king. it is false power. having these troopers dissent on mothers on clergy that it is showing for the world that tennessee is a very dangerous signal as to what will happen when these authoritarians are in power. i hope people see what is happening in tennessee because it can happen anywhere in this nation if we are not careful. these troopers are being

deployed, some are even telling me they don't want to do this but they have to follow the direction of the speaker. they are being used as his private security force to silenced citizens, silence democracy. it is on acceptable. we are spinning thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to fund these troopers to act as this goon force to shut down protest which is ridiculous. people just sitting in committee holding up a sign to have their voices heard. it is the most simple act of resistance and is being met with harsh repression. it is shameful, immoral, and unconstitutional as the judge has granted a temporary restraining order against the speaker of the house. cameron needs to know that the tennessee capitol is not his fraternity house, not a country club, not his palace. it is the people's house. we will resist his unjust governance. amy: you've had an ongoing

battle, i think it is fair to say, with karen sexton from before you were a state legislator. you're one of those who fought to remove the confederate general bus to come the first grand wizard of the ku klux klan. you are fighting cameron sexton who fought against the removal of that blessed. can you talk about the significance of that? to this day where we are on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the march on washington, justin? >> definitely. i think history is looking at this moment because that march toward freedom and justice is continuing in a state like tennessee. we are on the evening that march on washington. we reside in a state where dr. king was assassinated here fighting for racial and economic justice.

these are the things i collect on the other side of the aisle are so afraid of. we come in the spirit of civil disobedience, civil rights, good trouble that is about showing to the world we can be a better state and nation and when i look at karen sexton, he has lied about me on the radio, had me arrested. i was banned from the capital as a lawmaker. i want people to know we are fighting for common sense gun laws, then we are fighting for their children, too. we're doing is for generations to come. we are fighting for tennessee. we are fighting for a nation that is at peace. cameron sexton is on the wrong side of history. he represents the spirit of bull connor and george wallace and we saw what happened to them. i think the same will be set of cameron sexton and donald trump

and ron desantis. those who have been trying to maintain the white power structure, this plantation politics. that is why we're seeing such oppression. this expectation of people is dying and this degeneration is rising up was the today is my birthday. i'm turning 28. i'm so hopeful as to what the station will be. i'm hopeful for what america will be. i say that on this show that democracy now! this democracy forward. we will do whatever we can to make sure that democracy sustains this nation, multiracial democracy based on human rights and dignity. amy: state representative justin jones, repeat your age on your birthday today. >> i turn 28 today. amy: happy, happy birthday. i wanted to end by asking you if

this state session was called by the republican governor bill lee who lost dear friends and the covenant school massacre -- this was a conservative christian school -- if you feel that lines are breaking down? you've had people coming up to you from the school thanking you for standing up against gun violence. do you see hope for the future on your 28th birthday? >> i see so much hope as i'm sitting here i'm thinking of melissa who was one of the covenant mothers who came up yesterday and a ribbon they had made in school colors and led i'm republican but you fought for our children come you fought for us. we're seeing right through's. -- we are seeing breakthroughs. it is showing us we can build a state that is's

multiracial. some any these mothers are saying these men like cameron sexton do not care about our children. they are transforming the state and coming together, building a new coalition to transform tennessee and can be a model for the nation for some