09/25/23 09/25/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this has been a long and incredible halt and made this deal be done. we have worked hard. i think it has set the tone for other workers in america and other unions. amy: after 146 days on strike, a tentative deal has been reached

between writers and the hollywood studios. the writers guild of america has described the new deal as "exceptional." we will get the latest. we will get an update on auto workers expanding their strike against the big three. then supreme court justice clarence thomas is facing new scrutiny after propublica revealed he had secretly participated in at least two donor fundraising events organized by the right wing koch network founded by the koch brothers. >> justice thomas appearance at these events was not previously disclosed. amy: and senator robert menendez has been indicted along with his wife for allegedly accepting large bribes to benefit the egyptian government. >> special agents with the fbi executed search warrants on the residence and safety deposit box

of robert menendez and amy menendez. they discovered approximately $500,000 cash stuffed in envelopes and closets. some of the cash was stuffed in the senator jacket pockets. amy: we will go to cairo and new jersey for the latest. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. new jersey governor phil murphy and a growing number of state democrats are calling on senator bob menendez to resign after he and his wife were indicted friday on bribery charges. congressmember andy kim announced saturday he will run for menendez's senate seat. federal prosecutors accuse menendez of accepting bribes in exchange for using his position to increase u.s. assistance to egypt and to do favors for new jersey businessmen. >> senator menendez allegedly

provided sensitive, nonpublic u.s. government information to egyptian officials and otherwise took steps to secretly aid the government of egypt. we also allege senator menendez improperly pressured a senior official at the u.s. department of agriculture to protect a lucrative monopoly the government of egypt had awarded that was then used to fund certain bribe payments. amy: bribes included a mercedes-benz, mortgage payments, gold bars, and over $500,000 in cash. it's the second time menendez has been charged with corruption . menendez stepped down as chair of the senate foreign relations committee. he is holding a press conference today. we'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. the writers guild of america has reached what union leaders are calling an "exceptional" tentative deal on a new contract with hollywood studios and streaming services after a

historic 146-day strike. the settlement follows stepped-up negotiations over the past week between the wga and the alliance of motion picture and television producers, capping months of stalled talks over compensation, residuals, and protections against artificial intelligence. the writers' breakthrough could give momentum to talks between sag-aftra and hollywood studios to end a strike by actors who walked off the job in july. in other labor news, president biden will walk the picket line with united auto workers picket line in michigan on tuesday. it's believed to be the first time a sitting president has joined strikers on the picket line. this comes as the union announced friday an expansion of its strike to 38 locations in 20 states. the new work stoppages target gm and stellantis after the uaw acknowledged real progress in talks with ford. french president emmanuel macron announced sunday france will withdraw its troops and

ambassador from niger two months after a military coup that overthrew president mohamed bazoum. it's another setback for france's waning presence in the sahel region, where its decade-long counter-terrorism efforts have largely failed or worsened insecurity. niger, mali, and burkina faso -- all former french colonies which have seen military coups in recent years -- formed a mutual defense pact earlier this month to combat against armed interventions. in somalia, at least 21 people were killed and more than 50 others wounded saturday as a truck loaded with explosives sped through a security checkpoint and detonated in a residential neighborhood of the central somali town of beledweyne. the blast reduced buildings and shops to rubble. no one has claimed responsibility, though the al-shabab armed group has been active in the area. the attack came one day before u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin met somali president hassan sheikh mohamud in djibouti, where austin praised somalia's military for what he

called its impressive progress in the fight against al shabab. austin is in nairobi, kenya, today and will visit angola later in the week. in ghana, hundreds of people took to the streets for three days of anti-government protests as anger mounts over skyrocketing living costs and unemployment. >> [indiscernible] our time is up. we are here and we will fight. [indiscernible] amy: it's the worst economic crisis to hit ghana in years, triggered by the pandemic, the war in ukraine, and rising debt to the international monetary fund after ghana's government agreed to a $3 billion loan. at least 49 people were arrested in the capital accra thursday as police blocked protesters from

storming the presidential palace. in the occupied west bank, israeli soldiers killed two palestinians during a military raid on a refugee camp in the city of tulkarem. this is the brother of 32-year-old abdulrahman abu daghash, killed by israeli forces sunday. >> first of all, i was with my brother. he went up to the rooftop to film the ambulances. he barely had a chance to look and sniper targeted him. he had nothing to do with it. he has children and his wife is about to give birth. he was unarmed. amy: the latest violence in the west bank came as israel's military launched more air strikes on the gaza strip over the weekend as palestinians continue to protest israel shutting down the beit hanoun crossing, the only operational crossing for gazans to enter israel, including some 18,000 palestinians who work in israel. canada's house speaker anthony

rota has apologized for leading a standing ovation to a 98-year-old ukrainian veteran who fought alongside nazis. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, who was at the canadian parliament to deliver an address to lawmakers, joined in on the applause, along with prime minister justin trudeau. it's not clear if zelenskyy, who is jewish, knew that yaroslav hunka was a member of ss galichina, which was found to be responsible in the persecution and extermination of jews during the nuremberg trials. zelenskyy has previously spoken out against the nazi unit. in more news from canada, "the new york times" is reporting u.s. spies provided information to the canadian government that helped lead to the claim india was directly involved in the june killing of sikh separatist leader hardeep singh nijjar in british columbia. but "the times" says ottawa's own surveillance of indian diplomats in canada provided the most definitive evidence to

support its accusation, which india has rejected. following nijjar's assassination, the fbi warned sikh activists in the u.s. of possible death threats. thousands of ethnic armenians are fleeing the breakaway region of nagorno-karabakh less than a week after azerbaijan's military seized control of the disputed territory from armenian separatist forces. one survivor said shelling by azerbaijani forces on his village left dozens of civilians dead. >> we barely survived the last days. it was scary. there was shelling from all sides. there were dead bodies. i don't know where they are now. there's no place to bury them. at a 500 -- out of 500 residents in my building, only 40 managed to get out. they're waiting to be evacuated. amy: over the weekend, armenia asked the u.n. for help monitoring the rights of ethnic armenians in nagorno-karabakh.

armenia's prime minister said he needed guarantees from azerbaijan that civilians would be protected. >> the last -- unless real living conditions are created, did the likelihood the armenians will see exile from their homeland is only to preserve their lives and identity increases significantly. amy: meanwhile, protesters in armenia continue to demand prime minister resign for failing to support armenian separatists in nagorno-karabakh. in kosovo, ethnic serb gunmen in armored vehicles ambushed a police patrol and stormed a monastery near the border with serbia sunday, beginning a chaotic day of violence that ended with at least four people killed. many of the gunmen escaped. kosovo's prime minister albin kurti accused serbia's government of financing and motivating the attackers.

the serbian government does not recognize its sovereignty. serbian president aleksandar vucic blamed prime minister kurti for provoking the perpetrators. >> he left kosovo's to worry about their future and all the time he kept provoking them. albin kurit is the only one to blame -- kurti is only one to blame. amy: in nebraska, a woman who pleaded guilty to helping her 17-year-old daughter obtain abortion pills and then helping her dispose of the fetus was sentenced to two years in prison friday. jessica burgess admitted in july to providing the abortion when her daughter celeste was 29 weeks pregnant in april 2022. at the time, nebraska still allowed abortions up to 20 weeks. celeste burgess had already

received a 90-day sentence after taking a plea deal and was released from jail in early september. and pope francis is calling for international action to stop the drowning of refugees as they attempt to reach european shores. during his visit to marseilles, france, pope francis said the mediterranean sea "has become a huge cemetery, where many brothers and sisters are deprived even of the right to a grave." >> we should not get used to seeing disasters at sea as mere new stories. broken lives and shattered dreams -- they are broken lives and shattered dreams. amy: the u.n. has recorded some 25,000 drownings in the mediterranean since 2014 though the true death toll is likely much higher. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. after 146 days on strike, the

writers guild of america has announced a tentative deal has been reached been striking writers and the studios. the writers guild's negotiating committee told union members, "we can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional -- with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership." the deal includes many of the demands of the striking writers including higher pay and residual payments for streaming content and new rules about the use of artificial intelligence. the wga leadership is expected to vote on the deal on tuesday. the strike, which began on may 2, had largely shut down the production of movies and scripted tv shows. the tentative agreement does not impact actors who have been on strike since july 14. we are joined now by labor reporter alex press. she is a staff writer for jacobin magazine who has closely covered the writers' strike. welcome back to democracy now!

can you explain what we understand at this point are the major issues that have been resolved? and then what is the timetable for how this strike ends? >> thank you for having me on such a positive occasion for a change. as you said, we don't know much about the details. descriptions of the deal right now, the tentative agreement which will have to be voted on by the membership after being approved of by both the boards on both the writers guild of america west and east, so it will take a few days. that deal apparently includes protections around these of artificial intelligence, which writers were worried would be used to be trained on the old scripts to basically use the words to train them out of future work will stop there are concerns around the lack of her visuals. if you are netflix, it is not like the writers getting a

payment every time there is a rerun. there is no such thing as a rerun. there is apparently a new form of residual. that will come in the form of bonus of some sort. the details are scarce. i spoke to members last night and they said we are still respecting the press blackout. negotiating committee is going to vote on whether to recommend this tentative agreement and then send it to the board about the east and west wga. those elected bodies of leadership are then going to vote on whether to authorize the membership to ratify the contract. there are a couple of steps here before members are voting. the elected leadership west and east will look at the details. they will make sure this is good enough for them to even send it to membership. i often say unions are one of the few democratic institutions of the working class and it is

great they actually get to enjoy those processes. it is not a done deal yet. as you mentioned, sag-aftra members have yet to even be -- we can expect it will happen soon but never a done deal in hollywood at this point. amy: just to be clear, does the membership have to vote before -- there has been speculation, for example, late-night talk shows might be starting as early as tomorrow night or the next night. do they have to finally vote before that happens? >> as far as i know, that is not going to happen. the wga negotiating committee was very clear until they say so, all members covered under this contract are on strike. just because they have suspended the picket lines is not mean the workers are going back into the offices, the proverbial writers room. i don't know if there's any

speculation but nothing i've seen from the wga suggests members or to report to work. amy: let's turn to the united auto workers strike. they expanded to 38 gm and stellantis parts distribution centers. the strike did not include any new ford locations. president biden is planning to join the united auto workers picket line in michigan on tuesday, believed to be the first time a sitting president has joined strikers on the picket line. donald trump is planning to visit detroit on wednesday but biden wanted to get in before that. whether or not trump will walk the picket line, he is fiercely criticizing the uaw leadership. president biden has expressed support. alex, can you talk about the expansion and what it means for a president -- it is funny to say sitting president walking the line, but will be the

walking president? >> a standing at president as shawn fain would put it, president of the uaw. this is really a product very clearly unambiguously of the union being militant rather than differential not just to biden but any politician. the uaw has been clear. anyone invited to stand in solidarity on the picket line with the membership. it is a huge win. i would say about donald trump, shawn fain has been clear this membership and this strike is all about putting an end to the restrict -- redistribution of wealth upwards to millionaires and billionaires. i think it is interesting that whether you look at trump or other right wing thinkers and politicians, they keep pretending this support this strike but they seem to never add any details to that. biden on his part is a record

profits, wrecker contracts. you're not really that from a lot of other people on the right. i what clear here this is a strike, higher wages that is getting money owed to these workers for sacrifices they made particularly since the great recession, and it is worth saying progress has been made at ford. ford has given -- they tentatively agreed to certain issues, at least that is my understanding of the progress at that negotiating table. some of those things include restoring the cost-of-living allowances that workers gave up at ford during the bailout during the recession. it includes converting temporary workers to permit workers after 90 days. -- permanent workers after 90 days. there also things the company said they could never do and suddenly it did not even take an all-out strike and you're seeing them start to do what they said

was impossible. amy: we will continue to cover this. alex press, thank you for joining us for this late breaking news, staff writer for jacobin magazine where she covers labor. next up clarence thomas facing new scrutiny after propublica reveals he secret participated in at least two fundraising events organized by right-wing network founded by the koch brothers. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the independent news outlet propublica has published another damning investigation in its series on the connections between supreme court justice clarence thomas and donors who may be impacted by cases that come before the nation's highest court. the latest story concerns the libertarian billionaires charles and david koch, who have spent millions on conservative causes and funneled vast donations into republican campaigns. the report is headlined "clarence thomas secretly participated in koch network donor events" and follows up on past reports that "clarence thomas secretly accepted luxury

trips from gop donor" harlan crow, and many others. in the new piece, propublica reports that "thomas has attended koch donor events at least twice over the years," and "that puts thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the supreme court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term." the pending supreme court case challenges the precedent setting case known as chevron and seeks to limit the power of federal agencies to issue regulations in areas ranging from the environment to labor rights to consumer protection. david koch died in 2019 and his brother charles koch did not respond to the new report, but a koch network spokesperson told propublica -- "thomas wasn't present for fundraising conversations. the idea that attending a couple events to promote a book or give dinner remarks, as all the justices do, could somehow be undue influence just doesn't hold water."

for more on the details of this new investigation, including how supreme court justice clarence thomas was at the bohemian grove, a secretive all-men's retreat in northern california with david koch and filmmaker ken burns, among others, we are joined by justin elliott, reporter for propublica. welcome back to democracy now! lay out this latest exposé. >> what we found is justice thomas has attended hamper is appended in multiple koch donor summits. essentially, the koch brothers founded this powerful network of political groups, spent hundreds of minds of dollars on elections, also employed lawyers to bring cases to the courts. every january, they have a big donor summit in palm springs, california, where charles koch has a mansion.

other wealthy business people fly out there. they have a meeting, sort of review what they have been doing. essentially, there big fundraising event of the year. that is the vent we found justice thomas had made undisclosed trips to. most recently, january 2018, we found the justice was flown out there on a private jet, gave a talk to a small dinner of high dollar koch donors, people who gave over a million dollars. none of this was disclosed as it should have been on his annual financial disclosures. amy: i want to get your response to it is rare to get these justices commenting like this comes up in court justice elana kagan giving an address at notre dame law school friday after your new report on justice thomas came out. she was asked if the high court needs a code of ethics. she did not mention justice thomas by name in her response. >> right now we are in a

situation where we have committed to following certain kinds of ethical rules respecting judges but have said we will only be guided by others. you know, we have committed to following the gift rules that other judges follow and the outside income rules that other judges follow. some judges have a very extensive code of ethics that governs everything they do and there has been some concern, and i think it is legitimate concern, that the supreme court is an unusual kind of court in certain respects and that some of the rules do not fit quite as well at the supreme court level than they do at the level of lower courts. but of course, what we could do is adapt the code of conduct that the other court systems have in order to reflect the

certain differences. i think it would be a good thing for the court to do that. amy: that a supreme court justice elena kagan. justin elliott, your response? how significant is what she is saying and how many congress member's agree with her? i want to mention that brett kavanaugh, the other supreme court justice recently said the court may "soon" address a code of ethics on the high court, and chief justice john roberts in may called ethics scandals at the court a "issue of concern" and said the justices were "continuing to look at things." your response to all this? > first of all, to explain come as justin k -- justice kagan mentioned, all federal judges below the supreme court level have extensive rules and code of ethics, advisory opinions. we voted retired federal judge,

a george w. bush appointee, and news story that said if he had gone to a koch donor summit, there would have been a disciplinary proceeding. the reason is lower court judges are not supposed to be involved in either political events or fundraising. this koch donor summit is arguably both of those things. as justice kagan said, those rules don't apply to the supreme court. i will note they have been talking about adopting some sort of formal rules for at least five or six years now, and reporting on that is the court is looking for unanimity among the nine justices and apparently having trouble getting that. so i think it is something that if they adopt any rules, we'll have to take a close look to see if it is abstractions about being independent and --

amy: we just showed a picture of ken burns, david koch, and justice clarence thomas. can you talk about that gathering? >> sure. another part of this story can expect to our previous reporting on harlan crow, who is a republican billionaire political donor out of dallas. he has been essentially subsidizing justice thomas' life for many decades. vacations around the world, paying tuition for relatives and other things. what we found now is harlan crow has been taking justice thomas on more trips over the years to this all men's retreat that takes place every july in a redwood forest where essentially

political and corporate elites meet. you have to be a member of a club to get in. famously, henrik is under has been going for many decades. -- henry kissinger has been going for many decades. we found that clarence thomas is a regular with harlan crow and stays at this camp that is essentially like a fraternity. other members of that camp include charles and david koch. what we were told and talking to many people have spent time there over the years, the justice developed this relationship and bond with the kochs on these trips to the bohemian grove which answers the question in part we have been wondering about witches, what is going on on these trips and vacations that harlan crow is taking justice thomas on? it turns out part of the answer is he is spending time with people like the kochs who have active interests and cases at the supreme court. amy: if you can talk about a

case that is coming up, i'm looking at one article in the hill, chevron case, supreme court could take sledgehammer to agency power. explain what this case is all about and why that is called chevron. >> it takes its name from a previous supreme court case, landmark case in the mid-1980's called chevron. this is something most people have not heard of. i had not until a few months ago. it turns out to be incredibly important. one of the most cited supreme court cases of recent decades. essentially, what it says is that -- amy: and is really chevron versus nrdc. >> that's right. essentially, what is says is judges and courts should defer to federal agencies, the epa or fda or department of labor when

those agencies come up with regulations. it really insulates the agencies from challenges from business and others when federal agencies issue a regulation that somebody might not like. for years now, the koch political network has had this ruling in its sights. the case in the upcoming term, that case was brought by koch network lawyers who are representing the plaintiffs, brought it in the lower court and shepherded it to the supreme court. a lot of legal observers think the supreme court is with the new conservative super majority is going to use this case as the opportunity to overturn this chevron precedent back from the 1980's, which would -- people we talked to said it would have huge ramifications for the executive branches ability to issue regulations and basically

ever part of american life. amy: explained how it would benefit the koch brothers, whose fundraisers expose justice thomas attended and was the draw for. >> ideologically, the kochs are libertarians, going back to many decades. we know in our story david koch, when he ran for vice president on the libertarian party ticket back in 1980 on the platform -- and a platform called for abolishing the epa, u.s. postal service, a whole range of federal agencies. the kochs have run i with the largest or second-largest private company in the country that operates in a lot of highly regulated sectors, particularly energy, oil, gas, that sort of thing. for years, have been bristling at government regulations, challenging regulations in

court. if this chevron doctrine is overturned by the supreme court, it is going to make it much easier to challenge the regulation if you as a company don't like it. it is another thing that is not going to be like the dobbs decision where abortion rights are taken away overnight, but it can affect vast numbers of regulation going forward. basically, in any area you can conceive up. and because justice thomas has flipped on chevron? >> the other striking thing about this, and we don't really have the answers, justice thomas 20 years ago was a supporter of chevron, wrote decisions citing it -- expanding it, actually. in the last for years, culminating in 2020, he came out in a written opinion saying, i've changed my mind and chevron is unconstitutional and we should overturn it. it is extremely unusual, special

for justice thomas, who has a reputation as being stubbornly independent and unmovable in his views. to be clear, we don't know this is related to his relationship with the kochs but it is something almost never see. i can't think of another example where justice thomas has done a full 180 turn on an issue. amy: leonard leo said in a statement to you to propublica -- usti thomas attends events all over the country, as do all the justices, and i was privileged to join him. all the necessary due diligence was performed to ensure the justice's attendance at the events was compliant with all ethics requirements." your response to that? and then just summarize, in an, propublica has published one story after another. one with clarence thomas recusing himself and where these stories -- it is not only harlan crow or the koch brothers, had the peace in between talking

about other billionaires subsidizing his vacations come to the tune of millions of dollars. >> in terms of the recusal, another thing about the supreme court, the recusal decisions are made entirely by each justice him or herself. chairman durbin of the senate called on friday for justice thomas to recuse himself from this case the koch network has brought to the case. justice thomas has not responded that i have seen. in terms of where the stories are going, we are still reporting on the entire supreme court. if anyone out there knows anything, please get in touch. to leonard leo's statement, mentioning ethical requirements being met, they did not elaborate on that. everyone we talked to said ethical requirements were not met, being flown out to palm springs on a private jet paid

for by somebody else apparently is something you just have to disclose and justice thomas did not. amy: what else are you working on, justin? >> can't talk about what is next but we are still going on. amy: i want to thank you for being with us justin elliott, , reporter for propublica. coworker new report headlined "clarence thomas secretly participated in koch network donor events." this interesting point, peace in the guardian, "workers at meehan grove, one of the most elite and secretive clubs in the u.s., has filed lawsuit alleging numerous unfair labor practices including 16 hour workdays with outbreaks and the failure to pay overtime and minimum wage to the workers." next upcoming new jersey democratic senator robert menendez has been indicted along

with his wife for allegedly accepting large bribes to benefit the egyptian government. we will go to cairo, egypt, and to new jersey for the latest. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn to the indictment of new jersey democratic senator bob menendez, who up until friday was the chair of the senate foreign relations committee. doug continues to be a senator. he and his wife were indicted friday in a sweeping bribery case. federal prosecutors accuse menendez of accepting bribes in exchange for using his position to increase u.s. assistance to egypt and to do favors for three new jersey businessmen, including wael hana, an egyptian-american who ran a lucrative business certifying halal meat exports. this is manhattan federal prosecutor damian williams. >> first, the indictment alleges

senator menendez used his power and influence including his leadership role on the senate foreign relations committee to benefit the government of egypt in various ways. among other actions, senator menendez allegedly provided sensitive, nonpublic u.s. government information to egyptian officials and otherwise took steps to secretly aid the government of egypt. we also alleges senator menendez improperly pressured a senior official at the u.s. department of agriculture to protect a lucrative monopoly that the government of egypt had awarded to hana that he then used to fund certain bride payments. amy: that is prosecutor damian williams who went on to describe what investigators uncovered during their search of senator menendez's home. >> as part of this investigation, special agents with the fbi executed search warrants on the residence and

safe-deposit pots of senator menendez and nadine newman does -- menendez. they discovered a proximally $500,000 cash stuffed into envelopes and closets. some of the cash was stuffed in the senator's jacket pockets. some of the cash, some of the envelopes contained their fingerprints and dna. the agent discovered a lot of gold. gold that was provided. this is the mercedes-benz we allege was provided as part of the scheme. we see here are three kilos of gold. these kilograms together are worth approximately $150,000. here you can see just a fraction of the cash that wasn't covered as part of the scheme. amy: damian williams is pointing to cash in the windbreakers and

coats and clothing of senator menendez at his home. according to prosecutors after a trip to egypt in 2021, senator menendez searched on google how much is one kilo of gold worth. this is the not the first time senator menendez has faced corruption charges. he was indicted in 2015 but the justice department dropped the charges in 2018 after a jury could not reach a verdict. menendez is facing growing calls to resign from new jersey governor phil murphy, pennsylvania senator john fetterman, at least six members of the new jersey congressional delegation -- that is six congressmembers, not including his own son who is a congressmember in new jersey. andy kim has already announced he will run against menendez. alexandria ocasio-cortez in new york has called for him to resign.

george santos, the other indicted congressman, has said he should stay. we are joined now by two guests. lina attalah is co-founder of the independent cairo-based news website mada masar, where she is now an editor and the publisher. in 2019, mada masr helped expose a critical part of the story. the exposé was headlined "how the multimillion dollar business of certifying imports monopolized." were also joined by bob hennelly, award-winning reporter who has been covering democratic senator robert menendez of new jersey for decades. he investigative reporter with insider nj and salon. we welcome you both to democracy now! bob, we're going to begin with you. lay out these charges. >> it is lifestyles of the rich and elected. what is so jarring is there is

also this new mercedes-benz worth $60,000 that showed up. there was also really sloppy texting back and forthen ms. menendez and -- between the senator -- it is almost like he wanted to be caught because there was no effort. there was a couple of text messages like, -- they have really been able to lay out a roadmap that is very compelling. i think that is part of the reason why in addition to the fact the entirety of the new jersey legislature is up in 2023 and people may be surprised to know donald trump did not win new jersey but he got more votes here in the past. democrats who are to draw a contrast between the insurrectionist and donald trump cannot have -- afford have bob menendez hanging around.

amy: explain further, for example, these gold bars that were found, that had the fingerprint of one of the other men indicted? >> that's right. there is dna evidence that linked it to these individuals. there was also something that is perhaps even more troubling than the corruption involving this editor but he attempted to try to get involved with ongoing criminal investigation within -- the new york state attorney general. there's a great deal of detail surrounding the current u.s. attorney who was with a very collected connected law firm politically. ashley wanted to exact for him a guarantee that he would intervene on one of his friends who is part of this great lifestyles of the rich and elected.

salinger said, according to mr. williams indictment, i might have to recuse myself because i have a professional conflict there. menendez fain who's going to withhold --feigned who's going withhold and then switched back to supporting salinger. this has legs, as they say. amy: this is alexandria ocasio-cortez being interviewed sunday on "face the nation." >> i think the situation is quite unfortunate but i do believe it is in the best interest person and determine it does to resign in this moment. as you mentioned, consistency matters. it should not matter whether it is republican or democrat. the details in this indictment are extremely serious. they involve the nature of not just his but all of our seats in congress.

as a latina, there are absolutely ways of which systemic bias, but what is here in this indictment is quite clear. amy: that is aoc speaking on sunday, calling for bob to resign -- as we are broadcasting right now, right before the news conference he will hold from union city, his hometown in new jersey come not clear what he's going to say. six new jersey congressmembers of the nine have called for him to resign. he has stepped down as head of the foreign relations committee. his own son has not called for him yet to resign. but his position, which he did step down from friday, bob, senate foreign relations committee. extremely significant given his position on egypt, one of the leading hints of u.s. military aid in the world after israel, he plays such a key role there.

also went to egypt a few years ago. and what that role is and what the connection is, the allegations are when it comes to lobbying, basically, for egypt. he contends in a recent interview he did on cnn after he was linked that his home was raided, that he has stood up for human rights in egypt. >> i guess one of the things here is he has put his finger on the scale before. what is so troubling about this is the usda stepped forward at one point when it was made aware of his attempt to help his pal, this contributor, get control over the halel export market which is worth millions of dollars, there were pointing out, hey, other megan businesses are going to be hurt by this. this tracks his pattern and practice with the federal drug administration. in that case, it was alleged

they were taking a dose of eye medicine and splitting it several ways and then putting people's health at risk. he was a major donor to bob menendez. he was convicted for a $75 million fraud which, by the way, he'd always have damage in trump in this segment, trump commuted his sentence. bob menendez did escape conviction with a hung jury but the senate seriously admonished him. the fact pattern was established. this is what he does. amy: i want to bring lina attalah into this conversation, publisher of the cairo-based mada masar. when we were in egypt for the climate summit, we came to you and did a profile on your organization, or independent news organization mada masr. while you did not mention menendez in your 2019 report, how the multimillion dollar

business of certifying halal meet imports was monopolized come if you can talk about what you're reporter found at that time -- to explain to people what exactly happened with the monopolization of the certification of halal lead. i'll meet coming into egypt must be halal? how does that happen? >> it is great to be back on the show. what happened, and i must say [indiscernible] what happened 2019 is not reporter and her editor -- is our reporter at her editor a steep increase in imported wheat prices.

basically decided to follow the thread of what is causing this increase in price. egypt is a major meat importer. by following the thread, we found [indiscernible] basically for any supplier of meat to support egypt, they have to get -- egypt allows certain suppliers to provide certification except in 2019 egypt felt the need to disqualify buyers with the exception of this one company called ispg, whose founder is

basically none other than wael hana who is mentioned as one of the defendants, what if the mediators, paying off senator menendez for services for the egyptian government. we follow the thread and how basically this one company after disqualify other certifiers, the moment it was allowed to provide certification, exponentially [indiscernible] basically, one container of meat which cost $200 now to the monopoly costs $5,000 to be certified. the banning of certifiers started in the u.s. and then was extended to latin america and other major suppliers to egypt.

that caused the practice to surge although it up. i can tell you more about ispg if you're interested. amy: iseq with wael hana who has also been indicted and who exactly he is in the united states but also in egypt, who exactly he is working for. >> we knew nothing about wael hana before doing this investigation. he is any egyptian who lives in the u.s. in our 2019 investigation, his connection with the authorities here. we saw in the indictment, the documents --

basically, listed as the founder of this company that begin this also to fire of halal certification, which is something that was granted -- july amy: just to be clear, had never been involved in certification for halal before. he himself is christian. >> exactly. exactly. he is a christian and iseg was established in new jersey in 2017 but had nothing to do with neat certification -- meat certification. another interesting connection is his lawyer we found and are investigation -- in our investigation has been suspended several times. he is a person who sets up iseg

and sets up another company in the u.s. that basically became the sole contributor with iseg of the halal certificates to meat suppliers. trying to follow the thread, we find wael hana is listed as director in many trades but also in the gene of ownership happened to be associated with what we call in egypt sovereign bodies. usually high-level security apparatuses. amy: you're talking about egyptian military intelligence? >> i can't say. amy: i know it is difficult report in egypt. so the significance of this in

2023, your report in 2019 linking menendez to this. >> the significance of this is what started off as a small -- a very straightforward story of financial corruption, a single company is making an effort -- average of $11 million in profits a year, after taking a monopoly over the business, causing meat prices to rise, which is a direct financial corruption story -- it has a great affect on people's lives. now also a political dimension.

what are the profits of the company being used for? it circles back to the egyptian government services. [indiscernible] the u.s. military aid that has been issued with the human rights conditionality -- [indiscernible] in order to try to influence the decision. what was straightforward financial corruption has a major political sense that affects

bilateral relations to great extent. amy: when we were in egypt at the climate summit, there was a major campaign going on to free egyptian political prisoners. among them, i go for top remains in prison -- abdel fatah, who remains in prison. you think this would affect whether he would raise these issues that so many have been when it comes to giving u.s. military aid to egypt, one of the largest recipients in the world? >> from what i saw, i would never believe this is a person that was in any formal way working toward supporting the human rights situation in egypt, repeatedly cited by the u.s. and also in relation to the release

of political prisoners that have been lingering in prison for years and years for a tweet, for expressing themselves. so i would wonder what this says about how serious the talk about human rights and this is an example -- amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. this is very interesting. it goes way beyond this particular indictment. also a well-known journalist, cofounder of the free current movement of liberal political parties in egypt just arrested as well as are so many others imprisoned in egypt right now. lina attalah, publisher and editor of the cairo-egypt-based

mada masar. and bob hennelly, award-winning reporter who has been covering democratic senator robert menendez of new jersey for decades. we will link to his reports and insider new jersey and -- insider nj and salon. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline" . i am catherine kobayashi in new york. u.s. officials have seen their chinese counterparts make inroads in the spirit of influence they long considered to be their own. now, they are charting a new path in the pacific. president joe biden is hosteing a summit of leaders from around the region. he welcomed back the heads of the pacific islands forum.