Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-12-18 Thursday

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Democracy Now! Thursday, December 18, 2025

From New York, this is democracy now. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country is ready to fail. Totally failed. Now, we're the hottest country. anywhere in the world. In a combative primetime speech from the White House, President Trump defends his economic record, but polls show voters are increasingly alarmed about inflation and

rising unemployment. We'll speak with economist Dean Baker. Then to a former immigration judge who sued the Justice Department after she was fired by the Trump administration. Finally, Sudan, where Evidence continues to mount of mass atrocities committed against civilians, and the war rages on. In Sudan, the brutal conflict between the army and the rapid support forces continues unabated. From Darfur and the Kordofan to Khartoum and Omdorman and beyond, no Sudanese civilian has been left untouched by the cruel and senseless violence. That and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

The Pentagon said Wednesday, it's blown up another boat, suspected of carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific. U.S. Southern Command release videos showing a speedboat erupting in flames, saying the attack killed, quote, four male narco-terrorists, unquote. If the Pentagon's numbers are accurate, it would be the 26 such strike, bringing the dead. toll to 99 people. It came as House Republicans Wednesday rejected a pair of war powers resolutions introduced by Democrats that would have forced the White House to seek congressional approval for the boat strikes and for any attack against Venezuela. The resolution was co-sponsored by Massachusetts Congress member Jim McGovern.

When we go to war, our troops have no choice but to follow the orders that are given to them. But the bottom line is we have a responsibility to make sure they don't get sent into a mess that we know what the hell we're doing, that there's a clearly defined mission, that this is the right thing to do. And it is the wrong thing to do, in my opinion. You know, we have homeless veterans. We can't provide people in this country health care. People don't have adequate housing. People are hungry, you know, and you want to spend billions and trillions of dollars on another war.

Well, I don't want any part of it. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the $901 billion National Defense Authorization Act Wednesday. It's the largest military spending bill in U.S. history. It pledges $800 million for Ukraine and a 4% pay raise for U.S. troops. A majority of Democratic senators join most Republicans to pass the spending bill. But 16 Democrats, three Republicans in Vermont's independent Senator Bernie Sanders, voted no. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said, quote, I cannot support a bill that increases military spending by tens of billions of dollars and fails to include guardrails against Donald Trump and Heggseth's authoritarian abuses, unquote. In Gaza, Israel's military is continuing to violate the U.S. broker-sees fire agreement.

On Wednesday, Israeli troops fired a mortar shell over the yellow line, dividing the Palestinian territory, wounding it. least 10 people. Separately, Gaza health officials confirm the death of one-month-old Saeed Assad-Abdin due to extreme cold, raising the number of recent weather-related deaths to 13 as Palestinians are forced to decide between sheltering in bombed-out buildings or makeshift tents. On Capitol Hill, four House Republicans defied Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday and joined Democrats backing a discharge petition to force a vote on extending health care subsidies for three years. Their defection came as the House passed a GOP-backed health care spending bill that does not address the subsidies, which means millions of Americans will likely see their health insurance premiums rise in January.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Republican health care bill would result in about 100,000 more. Americans uninsured for a year over the next decade. This is Democratic Congress member, Emilia Sykes. It is unacceptable that Congress is about to head home having done nothing, nothing to protect the millions of Americans who will lose coverage on January 1st. The heartbreaking stories from my constituents who have no clue how they're going to make ends meet as we enter into what should be a merry holiday season. Meanwhile, civil rights groups are blasting a bill narrowly approved by the House Wednesday

that would criminalize providing gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18 and subject providers to hefty fines in up to 10 years in prison. In a statement, the ACLU, writes, quote, families often spend years considering how best to support their children only to have ill-equipped politicians interfere by attempting to criminalize the health care that they, their children, and their doctors believe is necessary to allow their children to thrive, unquote. President Trump touted his economic record in a primetime address Wednesday, despite voters' growing concerns over affordability in the job market.

One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail. Totally failed. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. This comes as the latest jobs report show that unemployment in November ticked up to 4.6 percent, the highest level since September 2021, after headlines will speak with Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The FBI's deputy director, Dan Bongino, announced he's resigning from the Bureau next month. Bongino had clashed with the Justice Department over its handling of the Epstein files. Bongino, a podcast host, was picked by President Trump to serve a second in command at the FBI, despite having no ties to the agency. The FBI Agents Association, which represents around 14,000 current and former agents had opposed Bongino's appointment to the position. The Pentagon announced Wednesday it would open an administrative investigation into Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of our California. Kelly is a retired Navy captain and astronaut. The probe would focus on his participation in a video release math last month with other Democratic lawmakers, urging service members to refuse illegal orders from the Trump administration. At the time, President Trump had called for the execution of the Democratic lawmakers in the video. Former Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door session. Wednesday, his team of investigators had, quote, developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that

President Trump had conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith also said his team had gathered powerful evidence that Trump broke the law by taking classified documents from his first term in office to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Smith's investigation had led to two criminal indictments against Trump, which were shortly dropped by the Justice Department after he won the 2020. election. President Trump issued a pardon to Tina Peters, a former Colorado County clerk convicted of tampering with voting machines during the 2020 election.

She's currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in Colorado, and state officials say President Trump doesn't have the legal authority to overturn her conviction in a state court. A lawyer for Peters who attempted to present the formal pardon at the prison where Peters is being held to release her was met by. armed correction officers who denied him access. Peter Tickton, a lawyer for Peters, and a longtime friend of Trump, told the New York Times, quote, for all I know, the president may send a marshal to the prison to have her released, unquote. Meanwhile, White House budget director Russell Vote says the Trump administration is breaking up

the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, known as N-KAR. Vote announced the plan Wednesday on the social media site X. calling it, quote, one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country, unquote. A follow-up White House statement accused Encar of wasting taxpayer funds, unquote, woke research, unquote, green news scam research activities, unquote. Climate scientists and meteorologists reacted with alarm. Texas Tech professor, Dr. Catherine Hayho, said, quote, Encar supports the scientists who fly into hurricanes,

the meteorologists who developed new radar technology, the physicists who envision and code new weather models, and yes, the largest community climate model in the world, unquote. This is Dr. Daniel Swain, a weather and climate scientist who studies extreme weather events as a research partner at NCAR. This would be a terrible blow to American science writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire and disaster research underpinning half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.

On Wednesday, authorities evacuated the headquarters of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder due to an extreme windstorm that created a critical wildfire risk. This follows weeks of near-record high temperatures and almost no precipitation. The Senate's confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isis Isaacman is the new administrator of NASA. Isaacman's a close associate of Elon Musk, who's twice flown aboard SpaceX's Dragon's spacecraft. He's a strong advocate for nuclear power and propulsion and spaceflight.

His confirmation comes as the Trump administration's proposed slashing NASA's 2026 science budget, nearly in half. The Trump administration's ramping up efforts to strip hundreds of naturalized immigrants of their citizenship each month. That's according to a report in the New York. Times, which found internal guidance issued this week to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices ask that they, quote, supply office of immigration litigation with 100 to 200 denaturalization cases per month in the next fiscal year. The Times reports it would represent a massive escalation of denaturalization in the modern era. Minneapolis's police chief is criticizing federal immigration agents after they were

caught on video kneeling on the back of a woman as they held her face down in a snowbank before dragging her by the arm to an unmarked vehicle. Video shows protesters confronting the agents as they sought to arrest the woman, shouting she was pregnant and couldn't breathe and pelting them with snowballs. The federal agents responded by pointing weapons at the protesters and pepper spraying them. In California, immigrants jailed at the state's largest immigration detention center have asked a federal court to require access to medical care, which they say is needed to prevent immediate death or irreversible harm. One plaintiff held at the California City detention facility says he was denied access to cardiac specialists, even though he suffers from pulmonary hypertension and congestive heart failure. Another plaintiff who shows symptoms of prostate cancer has been denied a cancer screening for nearly four months.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. Wednesday ruled the Trump administration broke the law by limiting Congress members from visiting ICE jails. Officials introduced the policy in June after federal agents interfered with a visit by three Democratic Congress members seeking to tour a private prison in Newark, New Jersey, run by Geo Corporation under Congress. contract to ICE. New Jersey Democratic Congresswoman La Monica McIver still faces charges of assaulting an immigration officer during the confrontation, even though she insists she was the one roughed up by federal officers. A federal judge has ruled in favor of human rights activist Jeanette Visgetta, stating her detention by ICE in Colorado is unconstitutional, ordering an immediate bond hearing. Wednesday's ruling came nine months to the day after ICE detained the well-known immigrant rights activists and mother of four

in Colorado. To see our interviews with Jeanette Visgata, visit our website, Democracy Now.org. And the Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, contended in a Senate hearing Wednesday. The agency under the Trump administration is not independent. Carr was grilled by Democrats over his criticism of the late-night talk show host. Jimmy Kimmel, and its threats against TV networks have broadcast content that President Trump didn't like. Is the FCC an independent agency? Senator, thanks for that question.

I think that yes or no is all we need, sir. Yes or no, is it independent? Well, there's a test for this in the law, in the key portion of that test. Yes or no, Brendan? The key portion of that test is. Okay, I'm going to go to Commissioner Trustee. So just so you know, Brendan, on your website, it just simply says, man, the FCC is independent. This isn't a trick question.

Okay. The FCC is not, is not, is not an independent. Is your website wrong? Is your website line? Possibly. The FCC is not an independent agency. Before FCC chair, Carr spoke, the FCC had a mission statement on its website that said the agency is, quote, an independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, unquote.

But in a screenshot taken by Axios, the word independent was removed. during Carr's testimony. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We begin today's show looking at President Trump's primetime address on Wednesday night. And there was widespread speculation that Trump would use the speech to announce military action against Venezuela.

But instead, the 18-minute speech focused largely on domestic issues, including the economy health care. Trump's address comes as his poll numbers continue to fall. A new NPR, PBS News, Maris Poll, finds just 36% of Americans approve of the president's handling of the economy. This is how Trump began a speech from the White House. 11 months ago, I inherited a mess, and I'm fixing it. When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years, and some would say in the history of our country, which caused prices to be higher than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans. This happened during a Democrat administration, and it's when we first began hearing the word affordability.

Our border was open, and because of this, our country was being invaded by an army of 25 million people, many who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions, and insane asylums. They were drug dealers, gang members, and even 11,888 murders, more than 50% of whom killed more than one person. This is what the Biden administration allowed to happen to our country, and it can never be allowed to happen again. Standing between two Christmas trees, President Trump went on to praise the state of the U.S. economy,

even though new government statistics show the nation's unemployment rate is at a new four-year high of 4.6%. We're doing what nobody thought was even possible, not even remotely possible. There has never, frankly, been anything like it. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. country who's ready to fail, totally failed. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. And that's said by every single leader that I've spoken to over the last five months. Next year, you will also see the results of the largest tax cuts in American history that were

really accomplished through our great, big, beautiful bill, perhaps the most sweeping legislation ever passed in Congress. To talk more about Trump's speech, what some called an 18-minute shout and also talk about the state of the economy. We're joined by Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, author of Rigged, how globalization and rules of the modern economy were structured to make the rich richer. So as you watch this speech from your vantage point in Oregon, Dean, what stood out for you most? Well, this is kind of a greatest hit of crazy. I mean, you know, if I were one of his staffers,

I'd be wondering about the man's sanity. I mean, this is utterly divorced from reality. I mean, just starting from the word go, that he inherited a mess. No, he inherited a very strong economy. That's not my assessment. That's just universal assessment. I remember the Economist magazine, which is not a left-wing outlet, had a cover story. the U.S. economy, the envy of the world.

This was just before the election last fall. The unemployment rate was at 4%. The economy was growing about 2.5% annual rate. Inflation was coming down to its 2% target. We'd had a boom in factory construction. This was an incredibly strong economy by almost every measure imaginable. So Trump gets in there and says it was dead. This is crazy.

You know, I could go on, this immigration story. is 25 million, the numbers that most, you know, it's roughly estimated somewhere around 6 million. Asylum, again, this is another one that you go, oh, my God, no one can tell this guy. He thinks that when people come here for asylum, you know, for political reasons, they face persecution in their home country, which is in the law, that they're released from insane asylums. There's just, it just goes on from here. This is utterly removed from reality, and it's a little scary. This is the man who decides whether we go to war.

controls the nuclear weapons? I mean, he is not in touch with reality. I want to go to the issue of health care, which you've written a lot about. Yesterday, the House did pass a bill on health care, but it was to criminalize transgender care for minors. But when it came to the Affordable Care Act, what Republicans increasingly are concerned, about along with Democrats in the House, that did not pass the bill that would allow the subsidies for affordable health care to continue for three years. So I want to go to two clips of President Trump on drugs and on health care. The current Unaffordable Care Act was created to make insurance companies rich. It was bad health care at much to higher cost. And you see that

now in the steep increase in premiums being demanded by the Democrats, and they are demanding those increases, and it's their fault. It is not the Republicans' fault. It's the Democrats' fault. It's the unaffordable care act, and everybody knew it. Again, I want the money to go directly to the people so you can buy your own health care. You'll get much better health care at a much lower price. So, Dean Baker, what exactly is he talking about? What is President Trump proposing. How is it with the Republicans in control? They have not passed one replacement for the Affordable Care Act in years? Yeah, well, to start with, first of all, you know, again, the claims on the affordable care, I want to kick the Democrats because

they won't defend it, but the data is as clear as it could possibly be. Health care costs growth slowed sharply after the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, we would be spending thousands of dollars more per year per person if health care had fouled the course projected by the Congressional Budget Office, every health care expert. So there's a very sharp slowdown in health care cost growth after the Affordable Care Act passed. I don't understand why the Democrats are scared to say that, but that happens to be the reality. So sorry, it is the Affordable Care Act, not the Unaffordable Care Act, as he said. says. Now, when you hear Trump, the Republicans talk, it's like they have not been involved in the debate on health care for the last 15 years. We're going to give people money to buy their own health care. That's actually what the Affordable Care Act does. Now, if you want to say you want to take away regulations on the insurance industry, okay, well, they aren't to insure people with cancer. They aren't going to insure people with heart conditions. Insurers are there to make money. It's not a indictment of them. That's the reality. They aren't a charity. So if you say, okay, there's no regulations, insure who you want,

well, we'll insure healthy people. That's cheap. We won't insure people with cancer. That was the whole point. It was how do you create an insurance market where people who actually need the care, the people who really have health issues, they can get insurance at an affordable price. To be clear, I'm not happy with it. I would love to see Medicare for all. I would still love to see it. It would be a much more efficient system. But the Affordable Care Act versus what the Republicans are talking about, that's a story where people who actually have health issues, they're not. going to be able afford insurance. And this has been around the block for the last 15 years, or really much longer, because the debate proceeds the Affordable Care Act. And they're talking like they never saw it, which is kind of incredible. Well, as we come closer to the midterm elections, Republican Congress members are concerned about winning, given that people could have their health care costs doubled and tripled. So yesterday, you had four House Republicans. voting for a dispatch petition for this clean three-year continuation of health care subsidies, Congress members Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan, Ryan McKenzie, and here in New York,

Mike Lawler. They're in very close races. What does this mean for what could possibly happen? Well, people care about this. I mean, it's 24 million people. That's a lot. of people, they have family members, they have relatives, friends. This is a lot of people that will not be able to afford health care if these subsidies aren't extended, which looks to be the case. And that is going to be a political issue. People care about health care. I mean, that's just the reality. I mean, people have health issues. And even if you don't, you want to know that if you develop something, because again, that's the concern. Most people are relatively healthy. They have relatively low cost. But we all know that we could have an accident tomorrow.

We can develop cancer. That happens. And this is about extent. any health care and you have an option. You could go with Donald Trump's dementia dreams and tell the voters, oh, Donald Trump says whatever and maybe some people will believe you, or you deal with the reality. And here you have four Republican congresspeople who say, well, I got to live in the real world. I can't live in whatever craziness Donald Trump is selling. So let's go back to Donald Trump talking about drug costs. I'm doing what no politician of either party has ever done standing up to the special interest to dramatically reduce the price of prescription drugs. I negotiated directly with the drug companies and foreign nations,

which were taken advantage of our country for many decades, to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500, and even 600%. The first of these unprecedented price reductions will be available starting in January through a new website, Trumprx.gov. Trumprx.gov. Dean Baker explained. Yeah, well, he likes to get his names on things. This is going to be a website that will matter very little than most people

because most people get drugs through insurance companies, government programs. They won't be affected by this. And already their discount website, so it's not clear it's even going to help anyone. But let's put that aside. He gets his name on something. That's what he cares about. But what's really scary is we do pay way too much for drugs.

I've harped on this endlessly. Drugs are cheap. We make them expensive. cap monopolies. He doesn't want to talk about that. RFK Jr. He yells about the drug industry. He doesn't want to talk about that. This is a clown show. But what's really scary is he talks about bringing drug prices down 400, 500, 600, you just heard that. Well, that's not possible.

And if he had just said that once, he'd go, okay, we all could be confused. He's not an economist. You know, people make mistakes. He said it repeatedly. And what's striking is, it's obviously absurd. His aides are not all morons. They know you cannot reduce prices by more than 100%. they're scared to explain that to him. So here you have a person who's utterly ignorant about the world

believes all sorts of absolutely crazy things. And the people around him cannot explain that to him. Wait, Dean Baker, you have to explain what you mean because it might not be obvious to everyone that you can't bring down a price more than 100%. Okay, so let's say a drug costs $300. So I want to reduce the price by 50%. that's $150 price reduction.

I want to reduce it 80%. That's a $240 price production. If I reduce it 100%, it's now free. Zero. If I reduce it 150%, are you going to be paying me money to buy the drugs? Will you pay me $150 to buy the drugs?

If you reduced it 600%, I guess you'd be paying me $1,800 to buy the drugs. No one is talking about that. Drug companies are not going to pay you to buy their drugs. Even Donald Trump, I don't think he thinks that? Who knows? But it's utterly crazy, and apparently his aides cannot explain that to them.

I want to go to President Trump on inflation. Here at home, we're bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin to last administration and their allies in Congress looted our treasury for trillions of dollars, driving up prices and everything at levels never seen before. I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast. Let's look at the facts. Under the Biden administration, car prices rose 22 percent and in many states, 30 percent or more. Gasoline rose 30 to 50 percent. Hotel rates rose 37 percent. Airfares rose 31 percent. Now under our leadership, they are all coming down and coming down fast. Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that too. The price of a Thanksgiving. Turkey was down 33% compared to the Biden last year. The price of eggs is down 82% since March and everything else is falling rapidly. And it's not done yet, but boy, are we making progress.

Fact check, Dean Baker. Yeah, and this is a lot of craziness. There was a lot of inflation in Biden administration. This was because of the pandemic, which I guess Trump didn't hear about. This was 221, 222. It was worldwide. So it was in France, it was in Germany, even in Japan. They saw big jumping prices. We saw some of that here also. That was restarting the economy after the shutdowns, which were done under Trump. Again, maybe his dementia prevents him for remembering that. That was a worldwide story. Inflation had come down to just under 3% by the time Trump took office. His imagination about how he's brought them prices down since, gasoline prices fell 3%. They were just over $3 a gallon time you took office. They're about $2.90 a gallon.

It's good, I guess. Diesel prices are actually up 5%. He doesn't know about that. Egg prices fell a lot. Well, they rose under Trump because of Aian flu. I don't necessarily blame him for it, but I don't get that much credit for ending Aian flu. I don't get any credit for that. This story is utterly imaginary. I should also point out grocery prices. There are 2.7% over the year. He left out electricity. Electricity prices have been rising about 8% of the annual. rate. I do blame him for that because that's his AI policy. He wants data centers everywhere. It's very, very, very, they use a huge amount of energy. It's very expensive. So he's living in an imaginary world. He's created a disaster which didn't exist before he took

office. And the idea that everything's better now, not according to anything we could see in the world. Well, Dean Baker, final comments? We have 30 seconds. Yeah, I mean, this is, it's kind of scary. I mean, the economy was actually doing very good under Biden. We're seeing problems now, and we're going to see much worse because the tariffs, it's not so much a tariff is per se bad. You could put them in place, but when you use them for political purposes, you change them by the day, depending what you had for breakfast or who nominate you for Nobel Peace Prize, that creates a very, very bad economy. We've seen that story in other countries. It's unfortunate. We're going to see that here.

Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, author of Rigged, how globalization and rules of the modern economy were structured to make the rich, richer. Speaking to us from Astoria, Oregon, with a little cameo from his dog. Say hi to your dog, Dean. I'll do that. She'll say hi to, I'll bring you back. Coming up, we speak to a former immigration judge who is fired by the Trump administration. She's now suing the Justice Department.

Stay with us. I'm going to tell you sweet little eyes, yeah, tell you but your beautiful eyes, yeah, tell you but your beautiful eyes, yeah, I won't be fake, tell you little lies, Tell you about your beauty for ice. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We turn now to immigration and the immigration courts. Since President Trump took office in January, nearly 100 immigration judges who are technically Department of Justice employees have been fired, reassigned, or pushed out. That's out of 700 judges nationwide.

The system is notoriously backlogged by years with more than three million cases pending. According to the National Association of Immigration Judges, most of the fired judges were in liberal areas like New York, San Francisco, Boston. Military attorneys are being reassigned as temporary immigration judges and a new recruitment push is underway. New hires will not be required to have any experience in immigration law. The social media recruitment campaign calls for, quote, deportation judges who will, quote, make decisions with generational consequences, unquote. The first immigration judge fired was Tanya Niemer. She was fired without explanation in February. She was appointed to the

bench in Ohio in 2023. Tanya Neimer is a Lebanese American with dual citizenship born to immigrant parents. She'd previously run for office as a Democrat. After her firing, she filed a complaint with the EEOC. That's the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging discrimination. But instead of conducting an investigation is required, the EEO dismissed the complaint and made the unusual and extraordinary assertion that anti-discrimination laws do not apply to federal employees. Neamer has now filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in D.C. District Court. We're joined now by Tanya Neamer in Ohio and her attorney James Eisenman in Washington, D.C. We welcome you both to Democracy Now. It might surprise many, Tanya Niemer, to hear that the Trump administration is firing immigration judges, given how many immigrants have to go before judges.

Can you talk about what happened to you? Yes, I was actually in a courtroom full of immigrants and DHS Council and staff. And I was on the bench, on the record. I was ripped off the bench, told that I was terminated, effective immediately, and then I was escorted out of the building. What do you mean you were torn off the bench? I was literally on the record speaking to the immigrants and to the attorneys explaining the rights and responsibilities.

And I was pulled away in the middle of the hearing while on the record and told that I must be escorted out of the building and I'm terminated effective immediately. Based on what? I was not given a reason I asked. I asked the administrative judge. I also asked the chief judge of the United States who was located in Cleveland, why am I being terminated and both indicated that they do not know why I'm being terminated. Can you explain what an immigration judge does? When you were hired when you were appointed, what were you doing? When I was hired, I was trained for a month in D.C., and our job is to make sure that there's a full and fair hearing for anyone who is in our court.

It's to make sure that due process is served, you know, that everyone knows their rights and responsibilities, and they have that hearing. It's to make sure that the laws of our United States are followed and implemented. and these hearings are full and complete. We do asylum hearings, you know, adjustments of status. Anything that goes before immigration court, our job is to make sure due process is followed. So can you talk about the years-long backlog of millions of cases in the immigration court system? You are on the bench or what in Ohio for about a year?

Talk about your caseload and the kind of cases. that you had? So I had about 4,000 active cases on my docket. Those cases now that I've been terminated have kind of gone into an oblivion. Nobody, people were getting notices that there's no hearing date for those cases. And those were just the active. There's a lot more that were set on a side docket that could have come forward. Just for example, in the hearing that I was pulled off of, I was setting their first hearing

for a year out, you know, you usually have about three hearings, and it would take at least a year between each hearing to get to your final hearing. I want to bring James Eisenman into this conversation, the attorney for former immigration judge, Tanya Niemer. Can you lay out what exactly her complaint is and why would the Equal Employment Opportunity Office? Sure, and thank you for having us this morning to talk about this important issue. So Tanya's complaint is a discrimination complaint alleging that she was fired because of her sex and national origin in addition to her political affiliation. What is astounding about this case in addition to the discrimination that occurred is the Department of Justice's position that it can discriminate against. federal employees, specifically in this case, Tanya, because the Constitution allows it to do

so, an absurd notion. And explain the rejection of the case and then how you went forward beyond that? Right. So federal employees have a specific EEO complaint process they need to follow that's different than employees in the private sector. Federal employees who want to initiate a discrimination complaint first must go to their employing agency's EEO office and start a complaint and then file a formal complaint of discrimination. From that point, the agency is required to conduct an investigation of the complaint within 180 calendar days of the filing of that complaint. In this case, the Department of Justice started that investigation, obtained affidavits from,

Tanya and from some management officials regarding the allegations in her formal discrimination complaint. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice did not finish that investigation. Instead, in September, they decided to dismiss the complaint with the argument that Article 2 of the Constitution essentially preempts the Civil Rights Act. And that's what led us to file the lawsuit and federal courts. And what's your argument against that? Against that Article 2 preempts the Civil Rights Act? Yes.

That they can openly discriminate. The argument against that is that the Civil Rights Act, 1964, as amended, is a landmark civil rights legislation. And to claim that the President or the Attorney General or the head of any agency can discriminate against, individuals based on their race, sex, national origin, et cetera, is just an absolutely crazy notion that that can just run rampant and to have no recourse. You've been an employment attorney for years.

You've said in your experience you've never seen anything like this, James. That's right. I've been practicing employment law and representing federal employees for almost 30 years. years, and I have never seen a federal agency dismiss a complaint for this reason, ever. Tanya Niemer, the Trump administration has fired 100 immigration judges nationwide out of 700, even as there's this backlog of millions of cases, but is advertising for new hires. On social media, the Department of Justice says they're recruiting. deportation judges rather than immigration judges.

What's your response to this? What I think is important is that we have judges who follow the law. And my response is you could title it whatever you want, but the job is to make sure you follow the law. And it's very sad that so many judges, including myself, have been terminated unlawfully. and the money and the time that was invested in us is now gone to waste because they want to recruit more individuals. So I hope that our government does follow the law and understands that the judges that they do need to hire must do so as well.

And let me ask you about this as the Trump administration is pushing very hard for deportations. A recent image posted on X by the Department of Homeland Security features the children. book character Franklin the Turtle in a judge's robe saying, quote, Franklin becomes a deportation judge. Now, I believe the cartoonist who's behind Franklin has filed an objection to Franklin being used in this way. But can you respond, Judge Neamer? I can only say that the job of a judge, anyone in a robe. There's a respect of the law in our systems. And to put titles that sway in one way or another should not happen. The judge's job is to make sure they follow the law and whatever those laws are, they must follow them. And what are you hearing amongst fellow and

sister immigration judges around the country? A seventh of the judges have been fired. What are people saying on the bench and those who've been fired are judges organizing? I can't speak for all the judges, but I can tell you that when you're ripping people off the bench, and I was the only one off the record escorted out of the building, but most of the judges that I know were not given a reason like me, when you're ripped off the bench like that and not given a legal reason and a legal process hasn't been followed, it causes a lot of fear. It inhibits the judiciary, inhibits our judicial system and the ability for individuals to follow the law. And our law provides systems and efficiency. And when it's not being followed,

it's a huge disruption. Well, Tanya Niemer, I want to thank you for being with us, former immigration judge fired in February and attorney James Eisenman. I believe the statement, of around Franklin was we strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin's name or image, which directly contradicts these values. Franklin, the Turtle, is a beloved Canadian icon who's inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity. Coming up, we look at Sudan, where evidence continues to mount of mass atrocities committed against civilians as the war rages on. We'll go to Cairo. Stay with us. copper coil fill it with

new made corn mash of your mild toil you just lay there by the juniper while the moon Watch them Drugs the film

Copper Kettle by Stephanie Coleman and Nora Brown performing at the Brooklyn Folk Festival. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show

looking at the devastating war in Sudan. The UAE-backed paramilitary rapid support forces, the RSF, facing accusations of attempting to cover up its mass killings of civilians in the city of El Fasher by burning and burying bodies. That's according to a new report by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab, which analyzed satellite images depicting RSF fighters likely disposing of tens of thousands of remains following its capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, in October. At least 1,500 people were killed in just 48 hours after the RSF sees the city. The report said this pattern of body disposal and destruction is ongoing. In the latest news from Sudan, Al Jazeera reports drone strikes have plunged several cities into darkness,

including the capital Khartoum and the coastal city of Port Sudan. The RSF and the Sudanese military have been increasingly using drones in a war that's killed over a hundred 150,000 people since April 2023. Six UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed last week in a drone strike on their base in Cadugli. This is Velker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking last week. In Sudan, the brutal conflict between the army and the rapid support forces continues unabated. From Darfur and the Kordofans to Khartoum and Omdormand and beyond, No Sudanese civilian has been left untouched by the cruel and senseless violence.

I'm extremely worried, and I say it again, that we may see a repeat of the atrocities committed in Al-Fashar in Cordofan. And this is Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, speaking on Democracy Now earlier this month. What we're seeing through very high-resolution satellite imagery is at least 140 large piles of bodies that appear at the end of October into early November. And we see basically a pattern of activity by the rapid support forces that indicates they've been burning and burying bodies for almost the better part of five weeks. Meanwhile, we see none of the pattern of life that we expect to see in a place with civilians. There's grass growing in the main market in El Fosher. There's no activity at the water points or in the streets, and there's no sign of civilian vehicles such as donkey carts or cars.

Basically, we see a ghost town where the only visible activity is rapid support forces in what's called their technical. their armed pickup trucks, moving objects consistent with human remains around, bearing them and burning them. We're going to turn right now to Khalid Mustafa Medani, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. He's also chair of the African Studies Program. He's from Sudan. His latest piece is headlined militants and militias, authoritarian legacies in the political economy of war in Sudan.

published by the American Political Science Association's Middle East and North Africa newsletter. He's joining us from Cairo, Egypt. Talk about the latest news of all that is happening in El Fasher, the killing of the UN peacekeepers, this news of the satellite images of the burned bodies. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for covering Sudan once again. The problem is that it's not only at Fashire. the moment. After, as your guest noted, after 18 months of a siege in El Fashir in early November, it fell. But it's been 18 months of starvation of the local population of El Fashir. I want to

highlight why Al Fashir is so important strategically. It is a very important strategic and financial hub, not only for Western Sudan, but for the entire region. It has trade routes with a Chad, Central African Republic, Libya. It's a source where gold is accessed and transported. It's a hub where arms supplies are smuggled from Libya and other countries. And this is why the siege is so important in the fall of al-Fashir in November is so important strategically. That's on the kind of strategic side. But in addition to that, of course, as the Yale humanitarian research lab has pointed out,

In several reports, the humanitarian situation is not only visible with respect to the satellite images that show the lack of activity of a human population because of the huge displacement, approximately 60,000 people in El Fashir fled El Fashir during the fall of El Fashir. But also, it's really a horrible kind of humanitarian situation where you have social media, the rapid support forces back to the United Arab Emirates, and other countries essentially are posting videos of the torture that they're engaging in in El Fashir. So you have not only the displacement of the population, but the mass killings and, of course, the mass graves. All of that has come to light to really depict a humanitarian situation that's really difficult to describe, in addition, of course, to the 12 million displaced in two and a half years of war. But what has happened recently is the expansion of the war to Kurdufan, as the UN official has noted, And that is something that hasn't been covered.

Over the last month, what we've seen is the rapid support forces have essentially recorded strategic and military victories taking Western Kutufan, which is a very important area, not only in terms of oil deposit, but also gold. And so the expansion of the war, one scholar, one Sudanese activist, has called it a race on the ground. In other words, really a struggle over territory. and two entities, two armed factions, the Sudan armed forces based in the Port Sudan

and the rapid support forces militia, who are essentially trying to quickly amass as much territory as possible to have a very important role in the negotiations. In other words, to have a very strong kind of negotiating kind of cloud if the negotiations with the quad, with external actors actually commence, which I think they probably will over time. What we see recently, of course, is the capture of the rapid support forces in a very important oil center, or rather region called Hig, a small town that is in a disputed area, a region called Apier between North and South Sudan. Why is that important? It's important for two reasons. This is essentially the most important region where oil is

processed in South Sudan. South Sudan relies exclusively. exclusively, over 90% of the government revenue comes from oil from that region. That's number one. So it's a very strategically economic, the important region. It's also a region where oil is transported through a pipeline to the coast of Sudan. In other words, Sudan, the Sudanese government, the de facto government in Port Sudan, actually relies on this oil and the receipts from that transfer of oil for the bulk of their revenues in addition to other sources.

So that becomes really important. And then the second really important aspect, and here I think where it's very troubling is that this has long been a disputed area. And so this capture by the rapid support forces last week by the militias led by Mohamed Hamdan Degal really has the potential to expand the war, not only through that war in Kourdufan, but also South Sudan. And this brings us, of course, to the horrible drone attack that killed the UN peace in that region. There's been a long-standing UN peacekeeping force in that region that

basically has kept the peace between North and South Sudan. The rapid support forces drone attack. We don't have confirmation. It's the rapid support forces. But nevertheless, the attack that killed the Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers is a way to basically undermine this very fragile truth and the keeping of the peace, so to speak, between North and South Sudan. So in a nutshell, we have the expansion of the war through that Ford and Fashid, now Western Kutufan, which is an extremely important region economically. That's where the most important commodities such as gum Arabic and sesame and gold are smuggled, produced and smuggled to other countries. And now we have this potential of the expansion of this war to South Sudan. And so if you put all of that together,

unfortunately, we have a humanitarian crisis that has expanded. But we also have a military stalemate that has very much to do with military victories on the ground so far by the rapid support forces militias. So just to clarify, the Quad is the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, where you are in Cairo. If you could also talk about what you're calling for, you have the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Philippe O'Grady, saying, the Sudan response plan is only one-third funded due to Western donor cuts. And the U.S. is increasingly close to the United Arab Emirates who's backing the RSF. In these final few minutes, talk about what you feel needs to be done in the greatest misunderstandings about what's

taking place right now and pressure coming from the outside. Yes, absolutely. The The real issue has been in terms of not so much the root causes of the war, but certainly the dynamics and the transformation, the expansion of the war, its longevity, has very much to do with the fact that it's transformed into a proxy war. You have basically for those who don't follow Sudan should know, the United Arab Emirates that has financial linkages and financial and logistical support to the rapid support forces, you have Egypt, Saudi Arabia, who support the military, the Sudan armed forces. And so since the war began two and a half years ago, you basically have external actors, particularly regional actors, that have supported one armed factions rather than another. That has, of course, allowed these factions to perpetuate the war and, of course, implement and enact these horrible human rights violations. The Quad statement that officially came out on September 12th essentially attempts to bring all of these conflicting interest with respect to the regional actors together, the United States. Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have different interests with respect to Sudan. What they have in common, as the war has expanded, has been a real concern about the expansion

of the war with respect to their own strategic interests, particularly with respect to the Red Sea area, and also issues of terrorism and militancy that is of a great concern to Saudi Arabia, but also United Arab Emirates. So this is an attempt on the part of not only the United States, but of course these countries to come together and iron out their differences with respect to Sudan itself. And they set out a proposal that has a number of points, but the most essential ones is to first and foremost understand that there's no military solution to the conflict, to have a truce that lasts for about three months, and then transition the country, once again, a renew efforts to transition to a civilian democracy. At least that is on paper.

The problem has been, of course, is, as you can understand, the Sudan Armed Forces believes and has said that these are essentially talking points of the United Arab Emirates, and they've rejected them. On the other hand, the rapid support forces, for legitimacy reasons, has said that they will actually abide by a truth. Abide by a truth, absolutely. They'll abide by a truth, but as we just discussed, they continue to implement these horrible human rights violations on the ground. The last point I want to make is the The problem with the quad is that it excludes these civilian organizations and reaffirms the legitimacy, so to speak, of these two warring passions. Well, we'll have to leave it there, but pick it up another day. Professor Khalid Mustafa Medanee. Thank you so much for joining us.