Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-09-26 Friday

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Democracy Now! Friday, September 26, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. Just thinking about what's happening, just being alive, trying to stay protected and safe and alive in Gaza is a form of resistance. to stay strong in front of the camera, but behind it, I'm breaking. Just like Gaza is breaking now. As Israel escalates its bombardment of Gaza City, we'll speak to Al Jazeera reporter Hani Mahmoud, who's just evacuated from Gaza City. Then Microsoft has blocked Israel's use of its technology for mass surveillance of Palestinians. We'll speak to a former Microsoft worker who is fired for speaking out.

After over a year of sustained organizing, pressure, and campaigning with No Azure for apartheid, Microsoft today became the first U.S. company to withhold some services to the Israeli military since the genocide. This not only proves the effectiveness of our sustained campaign, but it also motivates us to continue applying that pressure until all of our Dremans are met, and until Microsoft and all tech companies stop being complicit in the genocide of Palestinian people. Then to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Cuba, as Latin American leaders condemn a new, U.S. bombing campaign in the Caribbean, mainly aimed at Venezuela. The interception and destruction of boats, the extrajudicial killing of civilians, the

interception of fishing vessels and aggressive actions by the United States, and the eastern Caribbean create a dangerous situation that threatens regional peace and security. But first, to the investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein on Trump's war on the left, following the assassination of Charlie Kirk and this week's deadly shooting at an immigration jail in Dallas that killed one migrant leaving two critically injured. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

A federal grand jury has indicted former FBI Director, on two criminal charges, which include making a false statement to Congress and the obstruction of a congressional proceeding during his testimony back in 2020 about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Thursday's indictment of Comey comes just days before a statute of limitations on the churches was due to expire. And less than a week after President Trump installed Lindsey Halligan, his personal lawyer as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to replace her predecessor, Eric Seabird, who resigned under pressure from Trump because he refused to bring charges against Comey. Here's Comey responding to his indictment.

My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn't imagine ourselves living any other. way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn't either. Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant, and she's right, but I'm not afraid. James Comey's son-in-law, Troy Edwards, Jr., resigned from his position as a national security prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia immediately after the indictment was announced. Earlier this year, the Justice Department fired Comey's daughter, who Comey was just referring to in his video, Maureen Comey, for her position as a prosecutor in the Southern District

of New York. She has sued claiming she was fired for political reasons. Maureen Comey successfully prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator, convicted sex offender Ghislane Maxwell, and Comey was involved in the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein. Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting the Justice Department is calling on federal prosecutors to investigate the billionaire George Soros' philanthropic group, the Open Society Foundations. The DOJ's directive lists possible charges ranging from arson to material support for terrorism. In response, Soros called out the Trump administration for, quote, politically motivated attacks on civil society, unquote.

Israel's militaries issued new evacuation orders for neighborhoods of Gaza City as Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip's largest urban area. Israeli attacks have killed at least 29 Palestinians since dawn, 11 of them civilians seeking food, including two children. Many Palestinians continue to resist Israel's force displacement, moving from one place to another within Gaza City rather than leaving entirely. This is Samia al-Samri, a Palestinian mother whose family sheltering at a tent after an Israeli bomb flattened her home, killing her nine-year-old son. My son was martyred in front of my eyes, and I could not carry him. I was worried that my children would be martyred as well, and I was injured. My son over here was also injured. I suffered.

That's why I became worried about my children. Whenever there is a threat, I run away. I get scared, carry my children, and run. After headlines, we'll speak with Al Jazeera reporter Hani Mahmoud, who has just left Gaza City. Israeli strikes bombarded Yemen's capital, Sana' on Thursday, killing at least eight people and wounding 142. Israel's repeatedly targeted residential areas. They have targeted residential neighborhoods that is known to all people, Al-Raca neighborhood. They only frighten women in China.

children, they only make us stronger and more steadfast. And we say to Netanyahu, we swear to tear out his eye. The attack comes a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Eilat in southern Israel, injuring 22 people. Earlier this month, Israeli strikes on Sana'a and the province of Al Jof killed more than 40 people and was the largest single attack on journalists the world has seen in 16 years. The President of the Palestinian Authority has condemned Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip as a war of genocide, destruction, starvation, and displacement, unquote. Mahmoud Abbas made the remarks in a video address Thursday to the United Nations General Assembly.

Today we say clearly, peace cannot be achieved if justice is not achieved, and there can be no justice if Palestine is not freed. Abbas said he was ready to work with world leaders to implement a peace plan announced by France on Monday. He condemned Hamas's actions October 7, 2023 and said the group would not have a role to play in any future governments of an independent state of Palestine. Abbas's U.N. speech came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to New York, where he set to address the General Assembly today. For the first time, Netanyahu's flight route was diverted over the Mediterranean Sea to avoid overflying a country that would be obliged to arrest him. An international criminal

court warrant seeks Netanyahu's arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war. This morning, protesters are gathering at Times Square for a march to the UN demanding the arrest of Benjamin. in Netanyahu. Microsoft says it's barred the Israeli military from using technology. It's used to spy on millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and stored in Microsoft's vast Azure cloud computing platform. It's an unprecedented victory for No Azure for apartheid, a group of current and former

Microsoft workers demanding end to Microsoft's work with the Israeli military. But in a statement, the group called Microsoft's actions insufficient, noting the vast majority of Microsoft's tech sales to the Israeli military continue to be untouched. Later in the broadcast, we'll speak with Hassam Nasser. He is a fired Microsoft worker, who is an organizer with no Azure for apartheid. Russia's foreign ministry has ratcheted up tensions with NATO, accusing the Western military alliance of waging war in Russia. Speaking at a G20 conference in the sidelines of the UN at General Assembly here in New York Thursday, Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said, quote, NATO and the European Union want to declare, in fact, have already declared a real war on my country and are directly participating in it, unquote. His comments come days after President Trump suggested Ukraine could claw back its territory taken by Russia.

Meanwhile, Denmark reported to NATO that state actors are responsible for drone incursions that shut down two airports. That's according to Latvia's foreign minister speaking to Reuters. Germany's defense minister Boris Bistorius went further and blamed Russia for the drone incursions. The suspicion is obvious. This is part of Vladimir Putin's strategy, without us being able to say anything concrete in this case. But it is part of what we experience every day. We are not at war, but we are also no longer at complete peace. We are being attacked, both in disinformation campaigns and now also by drones. The Trump administration's negotiating a $20 billion financial bailout for Argentina amidst a worsening economic crisis. largely due to austerity measures and acted by embattled far-right Argentine president

and Trump ally, Javier Milley. Critics say the move contradicts Trump's so-called America first policies by offering a lifeline to Millie ahead of Argentina's midterm elections in October, which are critical to Millie retaining power. Here in New York, outrage is mounting after a federal agent, in plain clothes, was caught on video shoving and pushing, an Ecuador and mother to the ground as her two young children watched and screamed in panic inside 26 federal plaza in Manhattan. Video shows the woman crying as she begs authorities not to take her husband,

who is detained during the family's asylum hearing at the federal building. The woman is heard telling agents in Spanish they're going to kill him if her husband is deported to Ecuador. The agent has also heard mocking the woman telling her adios, repeatedly, the Spanish word for goodbye, before ramming her against the wall and shoving her to the floor. The family reportedly arrived from Ecuador last year. This came as protesters gathered outside, 26 Federal Plaza Thursday, where immigrants have described being imprisoned for days or weeks without due process and overcredit cells without access to medication and proper sanitation, being forced to sleep on the concrete floor and left Hungary without outside contact.

This is New York Assembly member. Jessica Gonzalez Rojas. We are done with this administration and their cruelty. We will demand that ICE is out of New York, and we need to fight to make sure that we are passing laws here in New York that will protect our immigrant neighbors. Because we are all the child of immigrants. Amazon has reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission

over allegations the company tricked users into paying for prime membership. Amazon set to give a $2.5 billion settlement. Amazon's set to give a billion dollars to the FTC and another one and a half billion dollars back to customers impacted by the company's practices. Amazon still faces a legal case with the FTC over allegations. The company is a legally stifling competition in the e-commerce market. And President Trump signed an executive order Thursday that would allow TikTok to keep operating in the U.S. The order enables a group of investors to buy the American operations of the app from the Chinese company Bite Dance. China still has to approve the deal.

The company Oracle will reportedly take over security operations in cloud computing for TikTok's U.S. firm. Oracle's co-founder and chair Larry Ellison is a decades-long history with the Republican Party and has frequented Trump's Mar-a-Lago for dinners and has met Trump in the Oval Office. He's also an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu donating money to Israel's military through the nonprofit friends of the Israel Defense Forces. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates-backed investment firm MGX is also reportedly set to win a major stake in TikTok's U.S. business. Back in May, MGX made a $2 billion investment

in the Trump family's cryptocurrency business world liberty financial. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We turn now to Gaza. Israel's military has issued new evacuation orders for neighborhoods of Gaza City as Israeli ground forces push deeper into the Gaza Strip's largest urban area. Israeli attacks have killed over 30 Palestinians since dawn, 11 of them civilians seeking food, including two children.

Many Palestinians continue to resist Israel's force displacement. moving from one place to another within Gaza City rather than leaving entirely. As Israel escalates its bombardment of Gaza City, we're joined now by Al Jazeera reporter, Hani Mahmoud, who has just left Gaza City. Honey, welcome to Democracy Now. You are still, of course, in Gaza. Can you talk about why you left Gaza City? Amy, thank you so much for having me on this particularly amazing show.

I'm a fan of democracy now. And just a quick reminder, we met about 10 years ago at Montana State University, and I had a copy of your book, Out of Madness, and you signed it for me. Very, very amazing moments to meet with you and listen to your lecture at that time. So moving to your question, we did not leave Gaza City until it was extremely difficult for us to stay around the office supremacist that we were operating it from. Israeli ongoing bombardment has reached as far as the heart of Gaza City where the majority of displaced families were sheltering after they were forcibly pushed out of their homes from the eastern part of the city. from the northern, western, the northern central, and from the southern central and the southern western part of Gaza City,

in a form that resembled sandwiching people in the middle and keep pushing them toward the western part of the city. The day we decided to leave a vehicle carrying displaced families just passed through the office premise we were staying in it was struck three times by the Israeli military. It panicked the whole area. The explosion just struck the entire neighborhoods. Caused the state of panic and fear.

And quite honestly, that was very threatening to everyone in that particular neighborhood where people started to move one street away, one neighborhood away from that particular area. And that's only the tip of everything that we experienced over the past month. just one example of the ongoing unfolding horror that across Gaza City people experience on daily basis from targeting residential towers into displacement sites, into destroying public facilities and infrastructure, critical infrastructures, hospitals and other means of lives across Gaza City have been completely destroyed to the point people started to feel that there's no point of staying there as long as none of these elements existing to support their existings in that area,

start moving either one street away, one neighborhood away, or simply take the coastal road in search of safety in central and southern part of Gaza Strip. Hani, you are a face that is known around the world of Al Jazeera English, as you've been reporting for the last years. As you move outside of Gaza City right now, Now, can you talk about, well, I mean, Gaza City now, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced south. A million people live there. What are they telling you as they pass you moving south? Well, Amy, let me start with this.

People feel now it's a permanent state of displacement. They have been on this constant sense of a state of displacement for the past 23 months from one place to other. And I'm not exaggerating when to say that literally people have been herded from one area to another. And the majority of them are pushed into central and southern part of the strip. The area itself has never been prepared, has never been designed to absorb so many people at once. here. We're talking about not just double or triple, quadruple the number of people who are residing in central and southern part of the strip. Now, apart from the fact that major part of this area is not safe at all, over the course of the past week, we've seen on daily basis

displaced families within their arrival, just hours of their arrivals to the areas where they're sheltering, they've been attacked by the drone strikes and they were killed here. So, This is not safe for them. People are being basically told in order to avoid being bombed in Gaza, you need to move south. And as soon as they move south, they're getting bombed, and they're chased by the drones, by the quat capture, by the fighters just said. Each explosions technically not just destroy an entire neighborhood, but pushes people into further internal displacement. When it comes to people here, it's just the exhaustion, the trauma, again, the constant. instant sense of permanently displaced the uncertainty that you will ever see your home back

in Gaza ever again. The fact that every displacement carries its unique burden. This time is the hardest time because eight months ago, I was at the same exact spot here reporting about the excitement and the happiness on people's faces as they return to their homes in Gaza and the northern part of this trip. took the very road here. This road at some point represented hope and represented the slow, quiet, back to normal life, sort of now has become a trail of exhaustion, a trail of ongoing, unfolding trauma here. The lack of basic necessities, we talk about

still, Gaza is going through a famine. Food is not available at that amount that will, that is sufficient enough to respond to the greater challenges created by months of devastation, destruction, enforced dehydration, and starvation. Whatever you see in the market now does not address the deepening humanitarian crisis. Sugar is stuff and stuff that are not necessarily important for survivor are flooding the market, but we're talking about sources of protein, fresh produced, like vegetables. These are not available. And if they are available, they are available at a very small quantity

at a skyrocketing price that is beyond anyone's financial capabilities now. People have not been on a regular payroll. You know, public sector are not getting paid regularly. Private sectors have been completely destroyed. So people are left to food stamps and food coupons, whatever parcels they have been able to collect. But the worst of this is over the past three days, we did field reports. we reach to areas that are considered

for local residents of central and southern part of the Gulf as remote area are now filled with displaced families. What's really worrying about these areas, they are far from the city, far from hospitals and clinics and medical points. They're far

from water sources or food supplies. So you have, other than that they are displaced and traumatized, they end up walking for two kilometers, three kilometers in order to get water. in order to get food and go back to the displacement site. And this is done on daily basis.

Now, the danger with this, it exposes people to aerial surveillance that is basically flooding the area here, the skies of central areas are clouded or are clouded with the drones and fighter jets and are really causing mayhem, causing panic, and causing a greater level of fear, because this place is not even safe for them to stay in. We ran to a family member here who, was waiting for a couple days

for remaining family members to arrive and as soon as they arrived, just within three hours, 11 members of families who arrived to Central Area were killed in a single strike and imagine how is this playing itself out, how is it going with people who wants

to leave it from Gaza into safety but to hear about this, of course they're not going to be encouraged to take the risk because Gaza is devastated and destroyed And now coming to central area, it's not different. It's also destroyed and devastated and under many of these attacks as well.

Honey, Mahmoud, last month protests erupted worldwide demanding accountability and justice following Israel's targeted assassination of Al Jazeera correspondent, Anas al-Sharif, along with four of his colleagues and another journalist outside Al-Shefa hospital in Gaza City. This is a tribute you and your colleagues that Al Jazeera made for the slain journalists. Anas, Muhammad, Moumene, Uphrahim, and Muhammad Nufan. Thank you for everything you have done for us. They stood in the rubble. They walked through the dust.

They bore witness much of the horror, the pain, as well as the resilience of Gaza and across the Gaza's tribute. Anas became the eyes of Gaza and the voice of its suffering. His reporting was not just journalism. It was an act of defiance, a refusal to let the world look away. He always used to tell us when he used to take a photo, don't show them on short. People get surprised every time they see him because he's so very tiny. I will never forget that you wanted to learn English in order to spread the news to the Western communities. Ibrahim and Muhammad Norfolk who wanted to get married once the war is.

just a few hours before the attack we chatted a bit we giggled we even talked about the plans that we wanted to do right after the genocide is over the truth will not be buried as an always says our coverage will continue our fallen colleagues your bravery will inspire generation of journalists to come thank you guys for everything you have done for us thank you for the news covers. Thank you for dedicating your life to tell us the truth. I wish they never left, and I wish Palestinian journalist were not a target. To all of them, rest in power, we will never forget you. An amazing video for that horrific moment.

Anas al-Sharif, the well-known Al Jazeera correspondent, killed with three other Al-Jazeera colleagues, August 11th, and that strike on Al-Shefa, Mohamed Krakha. Also, a correspondent killed alongside Anas. And you have Ibrahim Zahar and Muhammad Newfall, cameraman killed in that same strike. Then we go back in time. Mohamed Salama, cameraman for Al Jazeera, killed in a double-tap Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital,

August 25th. Killings in 2024, Ismail Al-Gul, the Al-Jazeera Arabi correspondent, killed along with Rami al-Rifi, July 31st, 2024, died in Israeli airstrike on their vehicle while covering the killing of the Hamas leader Ismail Hania in Gaza City, Hamza Dadau. If you can talk about your colleagues and friends and what this means, honestly, every day as I turn on Al Jazeera and see you at the top of the newscast, I worry the next day if I will see you there.

You know, there is a lot of risk involved in what we are doing, and we recognize this from day one. The Israeli military made it clear that there's no one safe in Gaza City. And I think seeing the acts on the ground, they literally mean that there is no one safe. And it's not just about the journalists. We look at the doctors, for example, medical staff being targeted and deliberately. killed by the Israeli military. Teachers, engineers, what at some point represented the elite educational, intellectual class across the Gaza, including university presidents and the deans of colleges. They were all in the list of the Israeli military and were killed systematically.

So when we talk about journalists only, it's just one element of so many that is likely in the future to affect how this society is going to progress socially, economically, let alone intellectually, with this large number of people being systematically targeted and killing. When it comes to our colleagues, everyone, as I said, every one of them did their job to the best of their abilities, telling the truth as it is. And by the way, here on the ground, we report everything that we see. and we report everything that comes in front of our eyes.

Our cameras are always with us, and we report it as raw as it is, because there is no room here to change anything. There is no room here to make anything more appealing or to drive sympathy. This is not about the driving sympathy. It's about driving a change, because what's going on here is beyond anyone's imagination.

It's brutal, it's aggressive, and the fact that it's been happening for the past 23 months, none is stopped. Just put a huge question mark. Why is it going for so long and no one is doing anything to stop it? That's what makes it very difficult. And this is quite honestly what keeps us doing what we're doing because we believe the world deserve to learn the truth, to learn about what's going on on daily basis,

the deliberate destruction of hospitals, of schools, of residential clusters, the mass killing, mass whole sale killing of children. We have, in a couple years from now, we will have a whole generation of amputees, of the new crippled young generation because of the large number of children who were amputated inside hospitals because of the kind of bombs used by the Israeli military.

Now, telling these stories, is important. The world need to understand that a singular event that lasted for how long, three, a couple of three hours, was followed by 23 months of brutality that have destroyed everything across the Gaza Strait. And this is not a call that what happened was okay. We're not saying this, but we're saying, what we're looking at, for 23 months, this aggression continues to unfold in the most barbaric way. I've seen bombs falling nonstop on 10th site in Alamoasi, an area that's supposed to be safe for people. I've seen it targeting schools while people are sheltering inside. I've seen it targeting

a market place while at rush hour where they are overcrowded with people trying to buy food. So we've seen death in all forms and all shapes here across the strip. And standing here at this moment, is it safe? No, it's not safe at all. I mean, there's no guarantee that anything could happen here, any bad thing could happen, whether you are here in the street, in an office, inside your home. Because, again, this is very consistent with what the Israeli officials made it clear from the opening weeks of this genocide.

They said there's no one safe here, dehumanization, the demonization of Palestinians. And it looks like they put journalists at the top of the list. and they detract them one by one. And if not them, it's their families. We've seen journalists, families, whole entire family's been wiped off the civil registry simply because they were telling the truth. They were documenting what was going on on the ground.

This is Israel's tactics to suppress any voice of the criticism on the ground, to maintain that vision worldwide, that they are fighting barbarians. They're fighting terror. fighting, uncivilized population. But guess what? This has changed. And I hope it will continue to change

because what we're seeing on daily basis, what you see on the screen, is only a tiny bit of what we're able to show you. On the ground, it's even worse. I have nights that I never slept at all, just visualizing everything that we cover throughout these days. The scenes of children soaked in blood inside hospitals. or the collapsing fathers,

the crying mothers over the bodies of her whole entire families. The malnors, the emaciated bodies of the children inside the hospital. All these are haunting us throughout the nights. And it's not the only thing that keeps us awake. The drones in the background

that keeps buzzing and grinding down on the mental and the psychological will-being of everyone here keeps us awake throughout the night. Alert, because we are, hypervisual right now because we don't know when the next attack is going to happen. Honey, as we wrap up, what gives you the courage to keep reporting to staying there in Gaza with so many of your colleagues killed, hundreds of them, and also your thoughts on Netanyahu,

the Israeli Prime Minister, not allowing in international journalists as hundreds of your colleagues, Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, are killed. And I don't see him allowing any international journalists coming to Gaza. I know about a month ago, in a press conference, he gathered some 20 journalists who waited for him to finish. No one had the courage to ask any of the serious questions, to question the credibility of the information, to question the policies, the acts on the ground here. He basically dominated the CNN, pushed for the narrative that we have been hearing for the past 23 months over what's going on. What we're seeing is a genocide by all means.

I mean, anyone with tiny knowledge of what's going on would understand that what's going on here on the ground is a genocide. When you systematically destroy the whole entire society, you either look at one thing, emptying the land, or by ways of population thinning or population transfer. That includes, of course, the masculine of everyone. But the moment we see international journalists coming in here, things will change. I just hope at this point now, wherever they are, they would raise their voices, they will demand. It's their right to be in this area. I mean, forget about the fact that the Israeli military is worried about their safety.

What about the safety of everyone here? the safety of the civilian population here. The other day I was listening to an Israeli reservist who was making some math about the number of people killed here. And to my surprise, it was more than what the health ministry here estimated. We're talking about close to 60,000 Palestinians have been killed. And this is how his math played out. He said, for every Hamas member, there were two civil.

And he added, he continued to say like 30,000 Hamas members were killed. Plus, the, I mean, if you double that, that's 60,000 Palestinian killed. And that's by their own math. It's more than what we have been able to count here and document apart from those who are under the rubble who are counted by the thousand, literally by the thousand. At the opening weeks of the world, the military, carpet bombed the entire northern part of the strips.

part of the strips. I remember this area vividly with its high-rise buildings. Many of the residential buildings and towers in that area completely wiped out. During the January ceasefire, we covered extensively from London part of the strip, and I walked for hours just looking for one standing building, and I could not find the single one, all flattened completely. And we were told by surviving family members, many were still buried under the rubble. So until we see more of this on the screen, I think things will continue to get worse. And it doesn't matter how many meanings are running at the Security Council or the United Nations or elsewhere. Without any meaningful, practical steps on the ground, we are on our way to annihilation, basically.

If not from the bombs, it's from the lack of food, the lack of basic supplies, the lack of water. It's a harsh reality, but it is what it is. Honey Mahmoud, Al Jazeera correspondent based in Raza, speaking to us just outside Raza City. Thank you so much and be safe. Coming up, investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein on Trump's war on the left following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and this week's deadly shooting at an immigration jail in Dallas that killed one migrant, leaving two critically injured. Stay with us. You know, I'm going to be able to be.

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know, and the time, and the, the, and I'm, but,

and, I don't know. I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I fly I fly by the late legendary pianist and composer Randy Weston. This is democracy.

Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. President Trump's escalating his attack on progressives following the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk and a deadly shooting that targeted an immigration jail and an ice van in Dallas, Texas. On Thursday, President Trump signed a national security memo authorizing government-wide investigations into nonprofits, activists, and their donors. The memo calls for the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, quote, to coordinate a, quote, national strategy to investigate, prosecute and disrupt entities and individuals engaged in political violence, unquote. Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, September 10th, President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and other White House officials have repeatedly blamed Democrats and progressive groups for the attack, even though no evidence has emerged linking the accused shooter, Tyler Robinson, as well as the person involved in the ICE shootings with any progressive

organizations. On Thursday, federal authorities said they all, also have not uncovered evidence linking the man who attack that ice facility to outside groups. Wednesday's shooting in Dallas left one ICE detainee dead and two migrants critically injured. Authorities say the suspected gunman, Joshua Yom, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was attempting to target ICE agents, not detainees. This is FBI agent Joseph Rothback speaking at a news conference yesterday. Yon specifically intended to kill ICE agents. He fired at transport vehicles carrying ICE personnel, federal agents, and detainees.

He also filed multiple shots into the windows of the office building where numerous ICE employees do their jobs every day. We now know that Yon engaged in significant high degree of pre-attack planning. He searched for information about the office building and how to track ICE agents' locations, occasions. Yan also acknowledged the potential for other casualties. On Thursday, President Trump reiterated his threat against what he called the radical left. Radical left is causing this problem. Not the right, the radical left. And it's going to get worse. And ultimately, it's going to go back on them. I mean, bad things happen when they play these games. And I'll give you a little clue. The right is a lot tougher than the left. But the right's not doing this. They're not doing

and they better not get them energized because it won't be good for the left. We go right now to Madison, Wisconsin, where we're joined by investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein, who's been reporting on the shooting of Charlie Kirk and the attack on the ice jail in Dallas. His most recent article, The Ice Shooters Politics, Joshua Young's friends speak. Ken, welcome back to Democracy Now. Tell us what you found out. Hi, Amy.

Good to be back. Well, I tracked down three friends of the deceased shooter who had known him since childhood and asked them straightforwardly, what were his politics, where were his views? And their answer was basically that he had libertarian leanings, but he was generally a political. And that was something that was corroborated by his own brother who gave an interview saying, this guy wasn't political. I'd never heard him say anything about ICE prior to this. And one of the most surprising aspects of this investigation for me,

was talking to his former friends, and I kept running into the same issue, which was that, oh, you know, I'd fallen out of touch with him and didn't have recent insight into what his views were. I kept hearing this, and by the third time I hear it, the person says, oh, you know what happened? Probably no one knew him recently other than maybe his immediate family because he started spending huge amounts of time on the anonymous chat forum called 4chan

and just playing video games. So apparently he dropped out of school, kind of became a recluse, lost all social contact, immersed himself in this world, just to describe fortune, provocation and trolling and, you know, people would describe it as sort of controversial sight. And then there ends up being the shooting, and I ask his friends about it, okay, he has written on, you know, these unused bullets, anti-ice, clearly it's anti-ice, right? And his friends say, I wouldn't interpret it that way. He was never a sincere guy. Everything he said was laced with irony and sarcasm. He was a very sardonic person. So they were all skeptical of the idea

that this was anything but some practical joke. They said that, you know, because of his libertarian leanings, he didn't like the government. And that apparently, according to investigators, is, was one of the conclusions they came to based on what they've been able to go over that he left behind. But that wasn't specific to the right or the left. That was a general disdain for government and the disdain that he seemed to have for all sorts of things in life. And Cash Patel, the FBI director, tweeting out this picture of one of his bullets saying anti-dash ice. And also this misinterpretation, it sounds like you're saying, when they say he's anti-federal government, that it's this particular government, or is it just all government?

Yeah, as his friends described to me, it was all government. He was someone who was contemptuous I would say of authority in general. I was sent videos, his comedy, going back to middle school, and what came across in them was he was always being dug in cheek and making fun of things, which, you know, isn't a problem in itself. But as was described to me, once he started spending all this time on 4chan and gaming, and I want to stress, you know, there are lots of gamers. In his case, though, we're talking over 10,000 hours on just three video games,

all shooter games, according to his Steam profile, which is like a gaming platform. And, you know, as was described to me, that became his entire community, these chat rooms and the people that he talked to in these video games. And it sounded like he started getting more and more extreme views. His friends stopped talking to him because they couldn't stomach, you know, his shock, humor, and how over-the-top things we're getting. And that's the last insight they have. And then we see what happens. And sadly, people didn't seem, They were surprised, but I don't know that they were shocked based on my conversations with his former friends. But yeah, it's a very complicated case to go through because within just minutes of the investigators getting that photo of the unspent shell casings that had an anti-ice written,

FBI director Cash Patel posted that to social media, which is very unusual. In FBI protocol, they tend to not want to release things because they don't want to harm an ongoing investigation. tip off the people that they're investigating, or in this case, imperil conclusions that the investigators might come to. And of course, social media took that, took that, ran with it and said, right up to President Trump in a statement to truth social saying, you know, this is the radical left. Clearly, look, anti-ice, that must be, that must be the left. And I talked to his friends, and they said, well, that doesn't sound like how the left talks. They say things like abolish ice or, you know, maybe more fiery language than that. But yeah, there was a lot of skepticism

about this very straightforward interpretation of what happened. So do you see similarities between these terminally online nihilistic politics of both Jan and also Tyler Robinson, how he was characterized, the man who assassinated the conservative activist Charlie Kirk? Yes, definitely. At first, I thought, you know, gaming has become to young people, it's sort of like the NFL is for lots of folks, including myself. I'm someone that's played video games in the past plenty, you know, so I don't want to stigmatize it. That being said, the way in which these guys talk is very specific to the subcultural spaces in which they lived, in the case of Tyler Robinson, on Discord, which, you know, in the major press, I think there's confusion about what Discord is. It's basically just WhatsApp for video games. You can make phone calls, video calls, texts, and things. I had sent to me, based on several of these chat rooms that he was in, messages from

Robinson, and it was basically the same picture. Not somebody who was overtly political. There was literally one post mentioning Trump and one post mentioning Biden. And in the case of Biden, it was about the, I think both were about the 2020 election. So, of course, everyone's paying attention to politics at that time. But it was a very different picture than what you would have gotten, certainly from the Trump administration, which took this and ran with it immediately saying that this is evidence of the out-of-control

violent assassination culture of the left, but also in major press. I mean, I don't blame people for thinking, okay, well, this must have been political. But when I talk to folks, both in the case of Tyler Robinson, in Utah and in Texas, you quickly get the impression

that they both, perhaps like most of the country, despises both political parties to the extent that they had views on politics at all. And I think that picture gets lost when the major media overwhelmingly based in Washington, I lived there for several years, and the sense is, you know, there's two teams, and everybody wants to know which team you are, people generally affiliated with one or the other. That's not how most Americans see politics, and that was perhaps the most normal thing about these two shooters that they were disengaged with politics. I want to thank you very much for being with us.

Ken Clippenstein, we want to have you back on soon. There's so much that you're reporting and will link to your pieces most recently, the ICE Shooters Politics. Coming up, we speak to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Cuba as Latin American leaders condemn a new U.S. bombing campaign in the Caribbean, mainly aimed at Venezuela, back in 20 seconds. to run per a little bit of a song a song a song

this night Rodriguez, performing at Central Park summer stage in 2017. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. At the United Nations General Assembly, a number of Latin American leaders condemn the U.S. for

unilaterally attacking boats in the Caribbean. The Pentagon recently sent warships to the region after Trump secretly authorized the use of military force in Latin America under the guise of the war on drugs. The bombing campaign began earlier this month when the U.S. blew up a boat,

carrying 11 people off the coast of Venezuela. President Trump claimed the boat was carrying drugs from Venezuela, but offered no proof of the claim. A number of experts believe, looking at the video, that the boat passengers may have been migrants. This is Colombian President Gustavo Petro addressing the United Nations. The young people killed by missiles in the Caribbean did not belong to the Trend de Aragua gang.

Perhaps nobody here even knows their names, nor to Hamas. They're from the Caribbean, possibly Colombians. And if they were Colombians, with apologies to those who dominate the United Nations, criminal proceedings should be open against those U.S. officials responsible, including the top official who gave the order, President Trump. Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, also condemned the U.S. strikes in the Caribbean. The interception and destruction of boats, the extrajudicial killing of civilians, the interception of fishing vessels and aggressive actions by the United States,

states and the Eastern Caribbean create a dangerous situation that threatens regional peace and security. I reiterate Cuba's unconditional solidarity with President Nicholas Maduro Moros, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and the civil military union of its people. For more, we're joined by Carlos Fernandez de Josio, Cuba's deputy foreign minister here in our New York studio. Welcome back to Democracy Now. It's great to have you with us. If you can start off by responding to the U.S. bombing these boats most often linked to Venezuela and boarding a fisherman's boat, what you think is U.S. plans, and what is Cuba's response? Well, thank you for having me. We believe that the whole military presence in the Southern

Caribbean, extraordinary and extravagant, in our opinion, is a threat to Venezuela and to the countries of the region. There's no real reason for that to be there, and the justification that they're fighting drugs or organized crime is believed by no one. The attack on the boat, an extrajudicial attack, it's unacceptable based on international law, and we guess that U.S. domestic law. They're assassinating people for no reason without evidence and without showing what's the reason why they will try to attack these people. So how are Latin American leaders organizing at this point?

The region has the majority of the governments in the region have expressed their concern. There are instances of concerning ideas in the region through CELAC, through ALBA, but there's not today a full consensus on how to deal with this issue. You may have heard that Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth has summoned hundreds of generals and admirals to a base in Northern Virginia next week for an unprecedented meeting of the nation's military. Do you have any idea what that is about? We have seen that the politicians and the public in general in the United States is questioning what's the reason for this and we're following it. Truly, we don't have, we don't see a reason.

It could be of a domestic nature or it could be the attempt of doing something outside of the United States. The strikes appear to have been outside of any. declared war zone targeting civilians who pose no immediate threat. Legal experts say such extrajudicial killings violate both U.S. and international law. Very interestingly, there are Republicans as well as Democrats who have condemned what President Trump is doing. We just heard Gustavo Petro. He is called for criminal proceedings against the Trump administration over the

military strikes in Venezuela. You are a close ally of Venezuela. Nicholas Maduro has offered attempted diplomacy. The White House said it has dismissed an office from Maduro to engage in direct talks with President Trump aimed at de-escalating the U.S.-Venezuela relationship. What do you think has to happen now? I believe there has to be a responsible attitude from the United States. In the case of Cuba, any aggression or any threat of aggression to any Latin American

or Caribbean nation will of course imply that we have full solidarity with the nation under threat or under aggression. We believe that the international community should send a clear message, not only Latin America and the Caribbean, to the U.S.,

that violating international law, carrying out aggressions and threats of aggression goes against the UN Charter, and against the principles with which the international community should live. I want to ask you about another issue that came up this week. President Trump held a news conference at the White House, promoting the unproven claims that the common painkiller Tylenol causes autism and children if taken during pregnancy.

So why would I be asking you about this? You're not a doctor and you're not from the United States. But during his comments, President Trump brought up Cuba. There are parts of the world that don't take Tylenol. I mean, there's a rumor, and I don't know if it's so or not, that Cuba, they don't have Tylenol because they don't have the money for Tylenol, and they have virtually no autism. Okay? Tell me about that one.

And they virtually have no autism. This is one of the first things that I've heard President Trump say about. Cuba that is not negative. Is this true, though? First, I'm not surprised. Americans in general, politicians included, are frequently ill-informed or misinformed about Cuba because there's a lot of propaganda regarding Cuba that distorts reality. In Cuba, first of all, we produce acetaminophen and acetaminophen, is prescribed to the population as a respected painkiller. And in Cuba, we have autism. In fact, we have a very strong program of autism that covers the whole country.

Because of the nature of our public health system, we have the exact number. It's not estimated. We have the exact number of people who suffer autism. We have special schools, special programs, special clinics, special programs that go down to the community. It's quite well treated. And we have even cooperation with other countries around the world regarding the issues of autism. Autism. And of course, I'm not saying that a person on the spectrum, that that is negative. But President Trump, his comments, I think, surprised many, especially in Cuba, where you have autism clinics, where you have people working on this issue.

Finally, when President Trump took office, he reinstated Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Is that going to change? We hope so. The only link of Cuba with terrorism is as a victim of terrorism carried out by the United States for years, sponsored by the government of the United States. Today, where it's allowed, there are people living in the United States that finance, organize, and carry out. violent and terrorist actions against Cuba. That exists today. We're not saying that today the government is participating,

but the government is tolerant with those people. Many people have been concerned that President Trump is so concerned about the Epstein files, and I'm sure you've read about that, his relationship with this sex offender, that he will do anything to distract attention. And that these bombings of the boats are a way to prod Venezuela and perhaps even Qaeda. and perhaps even Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela, to attack back, which would then, of course, divert all attention to what's happening in Latin America and the U.S. relationship. Your response.

It could be the case. It wouldn't be the first time in the history of the United States when something like this occurs. And we do understand, as I said at the beginning, that the current military presence in the Southern Caribbean is totally unjustified. It's extravagant and it's extraordinary. And it's threatening to the people of the region. I want to thank you for being with us. Carlos Fernandez de Casillo is Cuba's deputy foreign minister. That does it for our show. Democracy Now is produced with Mike Burke, Renee Felstina Guster, Messiah, Rhodes, Nermin Sheik, Maria Tarasana, Nicole Salazar, Sarah Nassar, Tarina, Sarah Nassar, Tarina, Sam Alcoff, Taymi, Ashtudio, John Hamilton, Rabbi Karin, Hassoud, and Safwat Nasal. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, John Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike DeFille.

Miguel Negara, Hugh Grant, Karl Marxer, Dennis Moynihan, David Prude, Dennis McCormick. This is Democracy Now. I'll be traveling through the country. Check our website at DemocracyNow.org. Thank you.