most powerful person with the least name recognition, the person in the middle of the circle is leonard leo're happy for event. he's a vice president of the federal society whose mission he once described as creating a kind of conservative pipeline to take over the courts. leo has referred to himself as quote, a leader of the conservative legal movement and he's not wrong. he has played a key role in putting all six of the current conservative justices on the supreme court. clarence thomas, john roberts, samuel alito, brett kavanaugh and amy coney barrett and neil gorsuch. in 1990 leo began his career as a clerk for a judge in u.s. court of appeals in washington, d. c. where he met and became close friends with clarence thomas. the following year leo was hired as one of the first paid employees of the federal society, although he delayed his start there to help thomas through his supreme court nomination. the washington post puts it in a 2018 piece. quote at the federalist society, leo took a leading role in the conservative legal movement, part of bridging effort to counter the influence o

anthony, it saves him a pretty hefty tax bill, and also preserves the amount of money available for leonard leo'ss money all came after his network and leo remade the supreme court, building a conservative super majority there. this is all money that can be used for the future, building and. expanding the conservative movement amy: - [narrator] this is what the future of genetic engineering looks like. with advanced dna editing techniques, vaccines for deadly infectious diseases with no side effects are veloped in a matter of weeks. genes from any plant or animal can be combined to create new hybrid organisms resilient to climate change. this technique can even restore extinct species. doctors can detect every known genetic disorder early on and repair mutations quickly, giving children happy and healthy lives. - our environmental clock is ticking. today, scientists are blazing a trail to this very future.

leonard leo has 1. 6 billion in his political pocket to play with. >> thank you.e life. that's next. football, housewives, football, housewives, football, housewives... whoops. oh no... the housewives are on the field. i repeat, the housewives are on the field. i just want to talk! yeah! who flips a table? get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. call 1-800-directv bubbles bubbles so many bubbles! as an expedia member you earn points on your travels, and that's on top of your airline miles. so you can go and see... or taste or do absolutely nothing with all those bubbles. without ever wondering if you're getting the most out of your trip. because you are. welcome to my digestive system. it's pretty calm in here with align probiotic. you see... your gut has good and bad bacteria. and when you get off balance, you may feel it. the bloating, the gas - but align helps me trust my gut again. plus, its recommended by doctors nearly 2x more than any other probiotic brand. just one a day naturally helps promote a balanced gut. and soothe occasional bloati

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his name is leonard leo, a devout catholic known as donald trump's supreme court whisperer. >> there are lot of really smart people who can serve on the u.s. supreme court. dozens and dozens. but you need people who have courage. >> leo helped usher in the most conservative supreme court in decades. along with helping block merrick garland from the court, he and his colleagues at the federalist society are given credit for the confirmations of neil gorsuch, brett kavanaugh, and amy coney barrett. >> it was leo who was in the driver's seat of those nominations. leo is the person who can raise the money and has the background to put in place judges who will build a conservative judicial infrastructure around the country. >> leonard leo now has an unprecedented amount of cash to spend on whatever political projects he likes. and while the donation was meant to be kept secret, name and address withheld on the irs form, cnn has confirmed the source as 90-year-old businessman and philanthropist barry side, who donated the entire stock of his company to marvel freedom trust, which turned ar

in fact, the christian theocratic and right-wing majority on the court was handpicked by leonard leo.s that presidents, donald trump, do drew from. as the outlet, the lever notes, even in this money drenched world, sides of 1.6 billion-dollar gift exceeds all publicly known one-time donations to a politically oriented group. the insidious part isn't just a whopping some, it's that the donor, and leonard leo's new trust got away with it, without paying a dime in taxes. joining us now, senator sheldon whitehouse from rhode island. my favorite person to talk to about this. how on earth, senator, are the rules are written in such a way that there is a, clearly, political organization that can be tax free? >> two things. it was given as insurance to the company, before the sale, and it was to capital gain in the appreciation. they went to a 501 c organization. that has been able to avoid federal taxes. our calculation is that this is about a 400 million dollar tax benefit to support right-wing money operations. they were talking about $10, 000, and they got away with 400 million. >> i thin

. >> so berry side gave this money to leonard leo, he runs the federalist society -- >> used to, yeah. >> you've taught us about what the federalist society has done to greater supreme court in the thinking that it once, kind of uniformly. and now, is it your sense that leonard leo is ready to break out into the world of more general campaigning, instead of just campaign for individual seats on the supreme court? >> i'm pretty sure of that. if you look at what their candidates are doing, particularly their senate candidates. remember that all of leonard leo's court capture work was done with mitch mcconnell, so he's used to dealing with the senate. he cares about the senate, it's his target area. you look at what mitch mcconnell said about the quality of the republican candidates. you've got oz, who is a crashing joke. you've got j. d. vance who can't get out of his own way. you have herschel walker who, i'm not even gonna go there. and they are petrified, looking around at candidates that just don't measure up to the moment, they've never done this before and they're collapsing in pl

his name is leonard leo, a devout catholic known as donald trump's supreme court whisperer. >> theres. supreme court, dozens and dozens, but you need people who have courage. >> reporter: leo helped usher in the most conservative supreme court in decades, along with helping block merrick garland from the court, he he and his colleagues are given credit for the confirmations of neil gorsuch, brett kavanaugh and amy coney barrett. >> it was leo in the driver's seat of those nominations. leo is the person who can raise money and has the background to put in place judges who will build a conservative judicial infrastructure around the country. >> leonard leo now has an unprecedented amount of cash to spend on whatever political projects he likes, and while the donation was meant to be kept secret, name and address withheld on the irs form, cnn has confirmed the source is 90-year-old businessman and philanthropist barry side who donated the stock of his entire company, the trip light company of chicago to marble freedom trust, which turned around and sold it for $1.6 billion. cnn has atte

his name is leonard leo, a devout catholic known as donald trump's supreme court whisperer. >> theres and dozens but you need people who have courage. >> reporter: leo helped usher in one of the most conservative courts in decades, and he and federalists of the society given credit for neil gorsuch, brett kavanaugh and amy coney barrett. >> it was leo in the driving seat of those nominations. leo is the person who can raise the money and has the background to put in place judges who will build a conservative judicial infrastructure around the country. >> reporter: leonard leo now has an unprecedented amount of cash to spend on whatever political products he likes. and while the donation was meant to keep secret, name and address withheld on the irs form, cnn has confirmed the source is 90-year-old businessman and philanthropist barre seid, who donated ed to marble freedom tr who sold it for $1.6 billion. cnn has reached to reach m mr. seid without response. already marble freedom trust has given $200 million to other causes including $40 million to donors trust which has dolled out m

his name is leonard leo. a devout catholic known as the supreme court whisper. >> there's lots of smart people a conservative supreme court. dozens upon dozens. which need people with courage. along with blocking merrick arlen he and his colleagues at the federal society are giving credit and it was leo who is in the driver seat of those nominations. leo is the person that can raise the money and has the background to put in place judges who will build a conservative judicial infrastructure around the country. >> he now has an unprecedented amount of cash to spend whatever political projects he likes. all the donation was meant to be kept secret the name and address withheld on the irs form they've confirmed the 90- year-old businessman and philanthropist barry sign who donated the stock of his entire company the aaa company in chicago to marvel freedom trust which turned around and sold it for one .6 billion. cnn has attempted to reach him without any response. his donation will leave behind a dark money pol

two years, seid funneled billions of dollars through secretive transactions to a nonprofit led by leonard leo, the co-chair of the right-wing federalist society. leo has been instrumental in the rollback of federal voting rights and reproductive rights. leo also directly helped select judges to be nominated to the supreme court, including justice amy coney barrett, brett kavanaugh, you'll gorsuch, and -- neil gorsuch, and organized massive media campaigns to see them confirmed. 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! co-host juan gonzÁlez in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: mexico's former attorney general has been arrested and dozens of soldiers and police officers face charges related to the disappearance of 43 students at the rural college for teachers in ayotzinapa eight years ago. murillo karam, who served as mexico's attorney general from 2012 to 2015, was a

his name is leonard leo, a devout catholic known as donald trump's supreme court whisperer. >> therecourt. dozens and dozens. but you need people who have courage. >> leo helped usher in the most conservative supreme court in decades. along with helping block merrick garland from the court, he and his colleagues at the federalist

alarm because we all read, i'm sure, that great and alarming new york times piece this week about leonard leo-winger getting 1.6 billion dollars in -- to spend as dark money from a big right wing billionaire. that money cannot go directly to candidates, but it can go to issues, we don't know have to know about it, we won't know about it. so i always have the feeling they will come up with a lot of money in the end. we shouldn't sit here and think the democratic fundraising prowess will -- they will come up with some dirty money in the end. >> basil, the senator -- super pac aligned with minority leader mitch mcconnell is planning a catch blitz of more than 100 and $60 million in advertising in the coming months. are democrats financially prepared for this fighter ahead, or have they spent early and running out? >> i think they are financially prepared in part because this urgency behind this infusion of cash, and that's always something as a former pro d leader, you want to see. you want to be create that sense of urgency and, to something that you said earlier in the show, can it be sustaine

and i was talking to a reporter about this earlier today, the leonard leo's of the world, you know, thehe's a big pro-life advocate that's been arguing to get supreme court justices. i don't think that it's crazy. i mean they stole a supreme court seat. you know i mean the the gorsuch the merrick garland was went up in the exact same way that the that amy coney barrett he did. and so i don't think over the long term that's good for the country and for the democratic republic. there's a big part of the country that rightly thinks that that state was stolen from them because it was so i don't like a lot of their tactics, but i understand that the people that i'm that are in this book are not true. believing pro-life people, true believing. you know, milton friedman trying, people write like i get it? i mean, the people that i'm talking about are the operatives who on balance, like lower taxes and on balance are for for, you know, abortion restrictions, you know, that are reasonable. but who know about all of the other damage that's being caused by him and who see it. and that's not their