Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-12-22 Monday

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Democracy Now! Monday, December 22, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. The reality is Pam Bondi has obfuscated for months. She first said there were no more documents to be seen. Now she's admitting and releasing hundreds of thousands of documents, but it is an incomplete release with too many redactions. Thomas Massey and are exploring all options. It can be the impeachment of people at justice, inherit contempt, or referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice.

Outrage is growing after the Justice Department heavily redacted and withheld many documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in possible violation of a new law signed by President Trump last month. We'll speak to Democratic California Congress member Rokana, who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act. We'll also talk to him about Trump's threat to topple the Venezuelan government and more, then to the occupied West Bank. And you cannot lose sight of the rapidly deteriorating situation in the West Bank.

Bank. Palestinians there face escalating Israeli settler violence, land seizures, demolitions, and intensified movement restrictions. Despite warnings from the United Nations, Israel's approved 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank. We'll go to Ramallah to speak with Budur Hassan of Amnesty International. Then we talked to the acclaimed climate scientist Michael Mann about the Trump administration's decision to dismantle N-KAR. That's the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. military pursued two oil tankers near Venezuela over the weekend. as it ramps up its pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. On Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted and seized the Chinese-owned Panamanian flagged vessel named Centries that was not under U.S. sanction. Meanwhile, the U.S. attempted to intercept another tanker called the Bella 1, which was on its way to pick up oil in Venezuela. Earlier this month, the U.S. seized an oil tanker called the skipper with soldiers repelling from helicopters and pointing weapons at sailors.

It comes as President Donald Trump has declared a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. Since September, the Trump administration's bombed at least 28 boats, allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, though not presenting evidence, killing more than 100 people. On Sunday, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky slammed the Trump administration's pressure campaign against Venezuela. A provocation and a prelude to war, and I hope we don't go to war with Venezuela. Look, at any point in time, there are 20, 30 governments around the world that we don't like that are either socialist or communist or have human rights violations. We could really literally go through a couple dozen.

but it isn't the job of the American soldier to be the policeman of the world. So I'm not for confiscating these liners. I'm not for blowing up these boats of unarmed people that are suspected of being drug dealers. I'm not for any of this. President Trump announced he's appointing Republican governor, Jeff Landry, of Louisiana, to serve as the U.S. Special Envoy to Greenland. In response, Denmark's foreign minister, Lars Rosemusin, said, Monday, he'll summon the U.S. ambassador to Copenhagen. Landry thanked Trump on social media

saying, quote, it's an honor to serve in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S., unquote. President Trump has repeatedly called for the U.S. to take over Greenland using military force. The World Health Organization declared Gaza no longer faces famine following the ceasefire agreement of October 10th, but warns progress remains extremely fragile as Israel continues to severely restrict humanitarian operations, with Palestinians facing collapsed livelihoods and massive destruction to Gaza's infrastructure, including farmland. The WHO is warned more than 100,000 Palestinian children and 37,000 PBWs, that's pregnant and breastfeeding women, are projected to suffer acute malnutrition through next April.

Meanwhile, Israel continues near daily violations of the ceasefire. On Saturday, Palestinians held a funeral for five people killed after Israel attacked a school sheltering displaced people in the Al-Tufa neighborhood of Gaza City. We were inside the school. In a safe place, we were surprised. with rockets and missiles falling over us. They hit the innocent civilians in an extreme massacre.

Those were innocent civilians, children, women, elderly, and young people. Three-year-old, five-year-old. They have nothing to do with any movement or anything. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a child during separate raids and Janine government. Witnesses say 16-year-old Ran Abd al-Qadhaqadr was shot at close range, by Israeli soldiers who block medics from reaching him, leading the boy to bleed out. His body was then seized by Israeli forces. Meanwhile, Israel's security cabinet has approved

19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank in its latest breach of international law. It brings a number of new settlements approved by Israel over the last three years to 69. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast when we go to Ramallah. The U.S. military launched strikes against ISIS targets in Syria on Friday following the killing of two American soldiers and their interpreter earlier this month. A U.S. military official told the Wall Street Journal that over 70 targets were struck by U.S. warplanes using more than 100 precision-guided musicians. It's the largest American assault against ISIS in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime last year. In southern Ukraine, a Russian missile strike Saturday targeted port infrastructure in the Black Sea City of Odessa, killing eight people and wounding 27 others. The attack came as Russia's military claimed control over two more villages in the Donetsk and Sumi regions of Ukraine.

In Moscow, a senior Russian general died Monday morning in a car bomb explosion outside a block of apartment buildings. Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov led the Russian military's operational training department as assassination comes a year after Ukraine claimed responsibility for blowing up the head of Russia's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons defense forces. In Miami, Florida, President Trump's special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, praise talks aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine as productive and constructive after separate meetings with Ukrainian-European and Russian negotiators over the weekend. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined the talks, which showed no obvious signs or breakthrough. Reuters reports U.S. intelligence assessments continue to warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not abandoned his aims of capturing all of Ukraine and expanding Russia's influence over former Soviet bloc states. The Justice Department is under fire over its initial release of files related to the serial sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, after it failed

to publish thousands of documents ahead of last Friday's, congressional imposed deadline. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the delay was due to the time it takes to carefully redact the names of Epstein's victims from hundreds of thousands of documents and said the missing documents would eventually be made public on a rolling basis. The delay drew criticism from Epstein's survivors and members of Congress. On Sunday, California Democrat Rokana and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey, who co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, said they'll seek to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress. Some Democrats said they're considering file articles of impeachment against Bondi.

Of the pages turned over so far, more than 500 were entirely redacted, including all 119 pages of a document labeled Grand Jury in New York. Meanwhile, at least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department's public web page over the weekend before reappearing amidst a public outcry. The files included images of paintings depicting nude women and one showing a photograph of Trump alongside Epstein, Melania Trump, and Epstein's longtime associate and co-conspirator Gilane Maxwell. This is Sky Roberts, the brother of Epstein survivor Virginia Joufrey, whose death last April was ruled as suicide. You know, to be honest, in reviewing the documents that have been released, at least the first gauge.

And what we understand is that it's about 10%. And so you look at it and you say, Well, I thought we asked for all the documents. I thought that this bill sort of alluded to the fact that we should be getting everything released. And so there's also this mixed feeling of what are we hiding here. After headlines, we'll speak with Congressmember Rochana of California, who co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Republican Congressmember Elise Stefannick of New York, a staunch ally of President Trump, announced she's dropping out of the New York

governor's race and giving up her seat in Congress next year. Stefanik is the latest high-profile Republican to announce her departure from Congress after Republican Congress member Marjorie Taylor Green announced she's leaving in January. It comes as Republican Senator Cynthia Lemis of Wyoming also announced she would not seek re-election after serving one term. CBS News abruptly canceled a segment from Sunday's episode of 60 minutes, featuring the stories of Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador's notorious Secaut prison. CBS polled the segment three hours before the broadcast after Barry Weiss,

the new editor-in-chief of CBS News, requested multiple changes to the segment. CBS correspondent Sharon Alfonzi, who reported the segment, said in an internal note, quote, Our story was screened five times and cleared by both. CBS attorneys and standards and practices. It's factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision. It's a political one, she said.

The Americans Civil Liberties Union is sounding the alarm about the deaths of immigrants in ICE custody. Just this month, according to ICE press releases, four people in immigration detention have died over a four-day period. And 2025-30 people died in ICE custody the highest number since 2004. Eunice Cho, senior counsel at the ACLU Prison Project, said, quote, There's no question in my mind that this represents a clear deterioration of medical care and the worsening conditions in ICE detention.

In Pakistan, a court has sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bush Rabibi, to 17 years in prison after they were found guilty of retaining and selling state gifts. Khan was removed from power when he lost a no-confidence vote in 2022 and was then imprisoned in 23 in a separate corruption case. He's long accused Pakistani authorities of politically persecuting him as part of a U.S.-backed conspiracy. In Bangladesh, tens of thousands of mourners gathered Saturday at the state funeral for Sharif Osman-Hadi, A leader of last year's student-led uprising that toppled long-time Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. Had he was shot in the head by masked gunmen and DACA last week as he was preparing to announce plans to run as an independent candidate in national elections next February.

Protesters at his funeral demanded justice. The feeling is so sad because still we don't know who killed our brother. We don't know what's going on coming days. And still, we are not in hope that justice will be ensured in our country. So we think we have to fight long. We have to fight more and more. Authorities have identified a suspect in Hadith's killing. Faisal Karim Massoud was a member of a now-banned student wing of the Aastad Awami League,

the party of former Prime Minister Haseena. He remains at large. In Sydney, Australia, thousands of mourners held a moment of silent Sunday evening to mark one week since a father and son opened fire on a Jewish festival, marking the first day of Hanukkah, killing 15 people and leaving dozens of others injured. This comes as Australian police say the attackers threw homemade bombs at a crowd at Bondi Beach before the mass shooting, but all four devices failed to detonate. Some members of the crowd on Sunday booed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he arrived at the commemoration and again when his name was mentioned in a speech. Jewish leaders have called for a federal royal commission to investigate the Bandai Beach massacre, something Albanese has resisted. He's instead backing a state-level Royal Commission. mourners also cheer the heroism of Ahmed al-Ahmit, a bystander who was wounded after wrestling a gun from one of the Bandai Beach attackers.

This is David Asip, the president of the New South Wales Board of Jewish Deputies. And friends, Ahmed has asked me to pass on the following message to us all. Quote, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Today, I stand with you, my brothers and sisters. Thank you, Ahmed. In the wake of the shooting, lawmakers in the New South Wales State Parliament are debating an emergency set of laws to tighten gun laws. The legislation is expected to pass the upper house Tuesday. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the

Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The Justice Department is under fire over its initial release of files related to the serial convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after it failed to publish thousands of documents by Friday's congressionally imposed deadline. The delay drew criticism from Epstein's survivors and members of Congress of the Epstein files turned over so far, more than 500 pages were entirely redacted, including all 119 pages of a document labeled Grand Jury and Y. One notable document released Friday was a 1996 FBI complaint filed by Maria Farmer, who along with her sister Annie was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Gylane Maxwell, who's serving a 20-year sentence.

In the report, Maria Farmer told the FBI of Epstein's interest in child pornography. For more than 30 years, the FBI never publicly acknowledged her report, never investigated her claims. On Friday, Maria's sister Annie spoke to CNN. My sister and Maria Farmer reported Epstein and his crimes in 1996. We've been saying that over and over again. And part of what was released today was an official FBI form, and I think it was an FD 71, dated September 3rd, 1996, with my sisters, some of my sisters report. It was labeled under child pornography, and it described Epstein stealing photos of myself at the age of 16 of my younger sister, who was 12 at the time. and just to see it in writing and to know that they had this document this entire time

and how many people were harmed after that date it just you know we've been saying it over and over but to see it in black and white that way has been very emotional I'm with I'm with Maria today I know she felt a tremendous amount of relief and redemption but also sorrow in thinking about you know people like virginia robert Schrey who are not here to see this and be a part of of really forcing the government to be transparent, finally, about this case. That was Annie Farmer speaking to CNN. At least 16 files related to Jeffrey Epstein disappeared from the Justice Department's public web page over the weekend before reappearing amidst public outcry. The files included images of paintings depicting nude women and one showing a photograph of Trump alongside Epstein, Melania, Trump,

and Epstein's longtime associate and co-conspirated Ghislane Maxwell. We're joined right now in studio for the first time by Democratic Congressmember Rokane of California. Along with Republican Congress member Thomas Massey, Rokana co-wrote the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which led to Friday's release. So the deadline, Congressmember Kana, was December 19th. So talk about what was released and what wasn't released.

Not much new was released. Unfortunately, what they released was heavily redacted. They didn't release some of the key documents. The 60-count draft indictment that was prepared for Jeffrey Epstein. Ultimately, he was charged only on two counts. We had asked for that 60-count draft indictment. This was the original one, the non-prosecution agreement. The original indictment of what he should have been charged for. In Florida. in Florida. And then the 82-page memorandum trying to justify that. They didn't release that. So Massey and I yesterday morning said we were going to hold Pambandian contempt. Since then, for 24 hours, they've been backpedaling. They actually now have released an unredacted version of the New York

grand jury testimony, the 119 page document that you referred. They're saying they're going to release more documents. They realize the public backlash. So let's see. what we get this week. So you've talked about possibly holding the Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt. It's also been floated that you might want to impeach her. What does each of these mean and what's the deadline on each of these? So the House can act unilaterally on contempt. And this will be introduced by Thomas Massey. What the resolution will say is that for every day that Pam Bondi does not release the documents in question. She will be subject to a personal $5,000 fine.

And there will be a committee of the Congress, Republican and Democrat, that need to see the documents to determine whether that redaction qualifies as legitimate with the statue or not. We will be giving her a 30-day grace period to release the documents. But the interesting thing is that Massey has Republicans lined up as well to support this contempt. It's a privileged resolution. That means the Speaker would have to give it a vote. And we're likely to introduce it early in January. But the point is not just to pass it, just the announcement of doing so.

And Pam Bondi's awareness that Republicans are upset has had them backpedaling. And all day yesterday, they've been tweeting out, unredacted versions of previously redacted documents, explanations for why documents have been missing, and a commitment to be releasing more documents. So you're talking about contempt, and you're saying only the House would have to approve that, not the Senate. And what about impeachment? Impeachment is, of course, requires the Senate to convict. It would require a majority in the House. It's an option on the table.

I think what she's doing is impeachable. But we would want to first do the contempt, and we would want to make sure that we have the votes to be able to impeach. But what is on the table is the contempt, impeachment, and frankly, criminal. referral in terms of obstruction of justice for violating the law, which would apply not just to her or Deputy Attorney General Blanche, but career prosecutors or Justice Department officials who have not complied with the letter of the law or the spirit of the law. So you mentioned Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. He appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday and was asked by Kristen Wilker about files relating

to President Trump. Let's delve more deeply into the redactions. Is any information about President Trump redacted in any of the files that have or will be released? No, not unless it's supposed to be redacted under the law, which means victim information or any sort of privilege, like attorney-client privilege. But I have no reason to believe that the lawyers that were working on this case were talking about President Trump because he had nothing to do with the Epstein files. had nothing to do with the horrific crimes that Mr. Epstein committed. And so I don't expect there will be anything redacted. But the short answer is, we are not redacting information around President Trump, around any other individual involved with Mr. Epstein. So that's the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Yes, the former personal attorney of the criminal attorney for President Trump.

If you can talk about, for example, this photograph that was on the website, disappeared from the website, and then came back on, and Blanche talking about, well, they want to just protect survivors. It was a picture of Trump. Explain the significance of this. It wasn't even particularly incriminating, and yet they removed it. Well, it was not incriminating because that picture had actually been out in the public domain before. What I can just think is that there was.

over zealous attorneys were told or decided that they didn't want anything with Trump out there. And so they were vetting the material to protect Trump. And then the outrage made them re-release it. But the biggest issues is that in one case, they released information about a survivor. Maybe they did that accidentally. But they didn't release the survivor's FBI file, which she has been asking for decades. And the truth is, what do the American people want to know? They want to know who are the rich and powerful men who went to Epstein's rape island.

Who are the people who either abused these young girls or watched at parties as young girls 14, 15, were paraded around naked and didn't say anything? And that information is in the FBI files. That information is in those indictments and in the prosecution memorandum. And the question people are asking is, why are you not releasing this? because it goes beyond Trump. It goes to a group of rich and powerful people who were engaged in heinous conduct or covering it up.

So the Democrats have also been in charge of the House when they didn't release the Epstein files. Why the change? Well, I think it was a miss for this whole country. I don't defend the idea that these survivors have been denied justice for over a decade. Now, Elijah Cummings had talked about this in 2019. I was on the committee.

We had talked about having an investigation but all of us should have acted with far greater urgency. And as I have gotten to know now, personally, the survivors, I have become much more emotionally invested in this case, meeting people like any farmer. And what happened to these young girls, because they were girls from working class families who came, were often immigrants or didn't have a father,

they were abused and this country abandoned them. And that's a shame and indictment on the country. This is Amanda Roberts, the sister-in-law of the late Virginia Joe who was the first survivor to come out publicly against Epstein? I think the law being passed is exactly why we wanted it to be passed, because now we can hold them accountable because this is a law now, and we can hold them in contempt if they do decide to, you know, redact perpetrators, if they don't release the items that we know they need to release. And so we're going to do our due diligence, you know, between us, this

survivors, the lawyers, we know what should be in there. And we're going to comb through every single page and we're going to hold them accountable. And so while we're extremely disappointed, while we're frustrated, there is also this sense of empowerment. And every single survivor that I told them today, I said that the ball is in our court. See, that's Amanda Roberts, It's a sister-in-law of the late Virginia Roberts Joufrey, who was a victim of Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and, of course, Andrew. We don't say Prince Andrew anymore because after all of this, and she sued him, he's been stripped of his royal title. So many survivors have said it shouldn't be on them, though they have united, they're not giving up. They've talked about putting out a list of the men whose names they knew.

They have. They came to the Capitol twice. They relived their trauma twice. That's the only reason Massey and my bill passed the House and the Senate. And they have said that they are many men who either abused them, raped them, traffic them, or covered it up. I mean, let me think about it. They're 1,200 victims. It's not conceivable mathematically than one person abused or raped 1,200 people. There were more folks. They have described. them in generalities to Massey and me. They fear, obviously, defamation suits and rich and powerful people coming after them. It shouldn't be their obligation to release this. What they and their lawyers have said is if you release the FBI files, if you release the draft indictments in the prosecution memo, the American people will know who these folks are. Susan Wiles, in this famous now Vanity Fair article, in talking about this, I think she used the term. She said, Chris Whipple wrote the article. I think she, Wiley said, I think she completely referring to Pam Bondi, whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted

group that cared about this, Wyle said of Bondi. Well, she whiffed and she's continuing to whiff. I mean, I imagine the White House was livid on Friday, because what Pam Bondi did on Friday was basically a extension of what you did five months ago, put out documents and a document dump that really didn't tell us anything new. And I think they thought that we're headed to Christmas. Congress is out of session. Massey and I would just sort of say, okay, they complied with the law and let's move on and declare a win.

Instead, they were surprised that Massey and I actually care about these survivors. We don't just care about some kind of pro forma win. We want the actual documents out. And within hours, we said this is a betrayal, a gross betrayal of the spirit and letter of the law. I have a question. Gilae Maxwell, in the days leading up to December 19th, the convicted associate of sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, has asked a federal court to vacate or amend her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Now, this isn't the same as a pardon.

I was wondering if by doing this, I'm not saying she's working in cahoots with the administration, But by doing this, does this open up the possibility that they'll say, well, since she's asked the federal court to vacate or amend her sentence, they're reopening the case, and this would lead to many documents not being released. It could be one of the reasons that they don't release some of the documents. But to put in context, there's 300 gigabytes of documents. They've released 2.5 gigabytes. So when people say ongoing investigations, could it prevent some documents from being released, Maxwell could it prevent some documents for being released, maybe, but we're talking about 5%. Where are the other 95% of the documents? Where are the documents the three federal judges have ordered released

without significant redaction? So the concern here is what are they hiding and who are they protecting? So President Trump has provided over almost a monolithic Republican Party, but now there are cracks. And I think it very much started with the Epstein files, right? You have Congress members Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Green, and others who left the Republican Party to join the Democrats, I mean, just on this vote. Now, more than a tenth of the current Congress has indicated they will not return to their seats after the midterms. We're talking about something like well over 40 senators and Congress members, and the majority of them are Republican. The significance of this.

Donald Trump is finally losing his MAGA base. This is the one issue, the Epstein files, where the MAGA base disapproves overwhelmingly of Donald Trump. And it goes to the question, whose side are you on? Are you on the side of these rich and powerful men who abused young girls and have elite impunity? Or are you going to stand with abandoned young girls and the working class? And what the Republicans are starting to see is that Trump has betrayed. his own base, that he's become part of the swamp that he railed against. And so you now see after this discharge petition, there are suddenly tons of discharge petitions in the Congress

on all sorts of topics. People are willing to defy Speaker Johnson. They're willing to defy Donald Trump. Many are thinking about a post-Trump future. If they have aspirations of a political career for the next 10 years, they're trying to position for their own careers and less about protecting Donald Trump. The significance of Elise Stefanik, not only pulling out of of the New York Republican, the New York governor's race, but now ending her congressional career, at least for the moment. Well, I took some satisfaction because she was so over the top in the way she's gone after universities in this country. And she has been pandering to the worst elements of Trump's base. And yet, you know, now she's seeing the writing on the wall. She was

not going anywhere in the New York governor's race. and she sees that they're going to lose the House majority in 2026. So very quickly, going through a few other issues, and many do actually see them linked to Epstein, one after another dramatic events of the Trump administration, perhaps to pull attention away, and of course, Venezuela. One bombing after another, that the Pentagon can't quickly enough release video,

except when it comes to the second video of the September 2nd bombing, showing the two men who survived the first bombing. They will not release this at this point. And today, Hegg Seth and President Trump are expected to hold some kind of meeting announcement at Marlago at 4.30 in the afternoon. What about the U.S. pursuing these oil tankers near Venezuela? The one that's Chinese-owned Panamanian flag vessel named Centries was not under U.S. sanction.

Is he trying to provoke a war with Venezuela? Yes. It's of deep concern to me. He is basically trying to have a regime change war on Madero, trying to put pressure on Madero to step aside. The risk of having an incident that leads to war has increased. We have more destroyers in the region in the Caribbean. We are striking boats. We have Marines in Puerto Rico. We have marines on the coast of Florida. And I, being on the Armed Services Committee, have seen in a classified setting the second video. Some of us have said, release it, release it for the American public. But I have two concerns. First, why are we going into a regime change war when the president promised no endless wars? And second, why is the American government, in my name, in your name, killing people on these boats without a clear standard of what they have done that is, that justifies the death? So how does Congress stop this?

We tried to pass a war powers resolution, McGovern, me, Massey, and we lost by a single vote. And so we need to get more Republicans and two Democrats convinced that we have to stop an other regime-change war. We've got to build that to support in the Congress. You're here in New York, Zoron Land. He is going to become mayor on January 1st, midnight of New Year's Eve. On the day he met President Trump at the White House when President Trump said he's not a jihadist, of course, that was actually simply an attack on Elise Daphne, who always referred to Zoran Mamdani as a jihadist. On the day they met, Congress voted, took a vote against socialism with many Democrats joining with Republicans.

Can you talk about the significance of this vote as vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus? The problem with the vote is that there's a group of people like Zoran who call themselves Democratic Socialists. I call myself a progressive capitalist, but Democratic socialism does not mean that you're going to seize the means of production. What they're talking about is taxing billionaires more, which I agree with, and having things like Medicare for all free public college. And in providing resolutions that are condemning that, what they are doing is condemning a part of a coalition that wants to tackle income inequality and hold wealth more accountable. And this affordability agenda, it's a real challenge to Republicans to President Trump himself, but it's also a challenge to many Democrats, for example, the Democratic leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, who never endorsed Durham. I'm Donnie. What is your message to Democrats across the country as a former head of what the campaign of Bernie Sanders, who very much endorses Mom Dani? Well, my message to Chuck Schumer was step down as minority leader.

You're out of touch with the Democratic base. But my broader message is you cannot have a group of elites who are piling up wealth. In my district in Silicon Valley, $18 trillion of wealth. Amy, one third of the entire national stock market is in my district. We need to tax billionaires. We need to tax that wealth. We need to have Medicare for all. We need to have $10 a day child care. We need to stop Wall Street from buying single family homes. We need a living wage. We need free public college and free trade schools. We need a Marshall Plan for America's economic development. It's not just about mouthing the words affordability. It's about changing an economic system that has accumulated wealth in the hands of a few and abandoned working in middle class Americans across this country. I believe that we need an effort. are like a bold, progressive economic agenda. I call a new economic patriotism. But people like Zoran, people like Bernie Sanders,

others, Greg Kazar, Pramila Jaupal, many of us are working towards that for a Democratic Party that is actually going to live up to those ideals. And finally, President Trump renaming Trump Kennedy Center for the Arts, the sign has already gone up. I thought it was the Congress, name the Kennedy Sender?

It is the Congress. I mean, he is violating the congressional law, but that hasn't stopped him. But I think finally, people are catching on that Donald Trump is just acting all about himself. It's about his name on things. It's about his family making

money. It's about his ego. And it's not about the American people. And my belief is after Trump, we're actually going to want leaders who put the people first, who maybe aren't showmen, aren't bombastic, aren't all about themselves, but are listeners, more humility. One of the great presidents in my lifetime was Jimmy Carter. I got to intern for him at the

Carter Center. And I think his model of being a servant leader, humility, morality, my hope is that the country will go back to those kind of leaders across the country. Rokane, I want to thank you for being with us. A Democratic Congress member from California co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Vice Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Coming up, Israel's approved 19 new settlements in the Occupied West Bank. We'll go to Ramallah. Stay with us. Said you're going to shoot me down, put my body in the river. Shoot me down, put my body in the river. And the whole world sings. Sing it like a song.

whole world sings like there's nothing going wrong he shot her down he put her body in the river he covered her up but i went to get her and i said my girl what happened to you now i said my girl We've got to stop it somehow. Ooh. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The Body Electric performed by Linda Segarra in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the warrant peace report.

I'm Amy Goodman. Israel's cabinets approved a proposal for the construction of 19 new Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that violates international law. and further threatens the possibility of creating a Palestinian state. Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalos Motrick has led Israel's illegal settlement expansion campaign. There's been a sharp rise of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank under Israel's current far-right government with the latest approval bringing the total number of settlements to at least 210 compared to 141 in 2022, according to the Settlement Watchdog Group, Peace Now.

This comes as deadly Israeli raids and settler attacks continue across the West Bank. Palestinian officials reported Saturday Israeli soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old teenager during a raid in Jinin. Israeli forces shot. Ayan Mohammed Abdul Qadir Abu Muala at point-blank range. This is his mother. The Israeli soldier executed my son from point zero. There were snipers who want to kill anyone they see. Not only my son, but anyone appears in their face.

They could have shot him in the leg. My son didn't throw anything towards them. The occupation created a fake story that my son threw a stone at them. My son didn't throw stone, and there is a video showing what happened. They took his body. I demand as a mother of a martyr whose body is being held by the army. And in the name of all the mothers, we need the body's back. I want to bury my son in dim.

dignity. Israeli forces reportedly blocked medical emergency workers from reach in Qadra Abu Mala, who bled to death. And a separate Israeli raid, 22-year-old Ahmed Zayud was killed in Janine. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports Israeli soldiers Monday carried out massive demolitions in East Jerusalem, destroying a residential building with bulldozers as soldiers fired stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian residents. For more, we go to Ramallah, where we're joined by Buda Hassan, Amnesty International Research, on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Thanks so much for being with us, Budur. If you can start off by talking about the Israeli government

proving these 19 West Bank settlements, more settlements to build. Thank you for having me. So, yes, these 19 settlements that were approved yesterday can be divided into three types. First of all, already existing outposts, that are even illegal according to Israeli law, that were retroactively approved. The second type is neighborhoods inside settlements that were approved as independent settlements and altogether new settlements that were approved.

Just in May, also 22 settlements had already been approved by the Israeli government, which only entrenches the apartheid system we're seeing in the West Bank and is showing how intricately related the relationship between settler, state-backed settler violence and Israeli policies to grab more Palestinian land to forcibly transfer Palestinians and to cement the presence of illegal settlements. Obviously, all settlements are illegal under international law. They are all war crimes. But to see how Israel even retroactively legalizes settlements or outposts that were even illegal.

according to its own laws just shows this really huge relationship between what Israeli settlers are doing on the ground and what Israeli policymakers are putting in law and practice. Explain the difference between a settlement and an outsposed, Budur. So an outposts are a series of structures that are placed by settlers, supposedly without the agreement of Israeli authorities, even in violations of Israel's. and discriminatory planning laws in the occupied West Bank, whilst settlements are structures or establishments that receive the authorization of the Israeli authorities. Of course, this distinction is really arbitrary because even the outposts receive the support of the Israeli military.

They are quickly equipped with electricity, with running water. Roads are paved to facilitate reaching these outposts. They enjoy full security and military support from the Israeli military outposts are also used as a direct way to make Palestinians life unbearable in the occupied West Bank, especially in communities across the Jordan Valley, the South Hebron Hills, and across area C where it's been increasingly difficult for Palestinians to graze and to farm their lands. Can you explain what the disengagement law is? So the disengagement law was passed by Israel in 2005, and according to which Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip and removed settlements, at least four settlements existing in the occupied West Bank in the Jinnin area. This law was initially canceled, repealed by the Israeli after a decision by the Israeli government. And it was amended so that the four settlements in the Jainin area are now have been renewed, have been approved again.

So earlier this year, we've seen the approval for the construction of two of these settlements. And now we're seeing the two Khadim and Ghanim, the two settlements near the Jain. area being approved again. And we cannot look at this approval of these settlement in separation of the policy that Israel is conducting in the Northern West Bank, especially in Jinnin refugee camps, in Tulkarim refugee camp, and in Nul Shams refugee camp, where Israel's mass systematic destruction of Palestinian homes and a mass forcible transfer of Palestinians, prohibiting Palestinian refugees from returning to their land, goes hand in hand. with the policies and the approval of these four settlements.

Can you talk about the raids? We just went through the people who have been killed by Israel just in the last week in the occupied West Bank, and then we'll ask you about Gaza. So as we see killings, unlawful killings of Palestinians in the West Bank continue, as do demolitions in Silwan and occupied East Jerusalem. And as we see that these all are part and parcel of the same policy, which is again making Palestinian life unbearable, which is entrenching Israel's unlawful occupation in violation of the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion.

And maybe I just would like to explain to our viewers, Amy, how this system works. For example, last year in 2024, Israel approved the construction of an act. outpost or transformed an outpost called Eviatar into an illegal into a settlement. Now, that outpost was built by Israel settlers in 2021, and it was built as a so-called revenge outputs in the area of Beta. Palestinians in Beta launched weekly and at the beginning daily protests against that outpost. After that, Israel came, designated the area as state land. And after the designation of the area as state land, Israel approved the construction of this settlement called Eviatar. So this is one way how Israel uses settler violence, uses its military raids, uses its arbitrary and discriminatory orders, including designation of land as state land, in order to cement and expand these settlements across the West Bank.

Finally, Abudor, I wanted to ask you about Amnesty International's report titled Utterly Preventable Gaza Flood Tragedy Must Mobilize Global Action to End Israel's Genocide, Unquote. At least 14 Palestinians were recently killed as winter storms battered Gaza, including at least two babies who died due to the cold. Respond to what's happening in Gaza right now, even as there is a so-called truce. Unfortunately, Amy, even though the relentless bombardment has mercifully stopped, Palestinians in Gaza continue to be killed. 402 Palestinians have been killed since the declaration of the ceasefire, including 148 children. And Israel continues as genocide. Israeli authorities continue to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions calculated to bring about their physical destruction.

They continue to prevent the entry of shelter supplies despite the rainy weather. They continue to prevent Palestinians from returning to their lands east of the Yellow Line, which occupies more than 50% of the total area of the Gaza Strip and whose boundaries continue to be shifting all the time. They continue to prevent the entry of vital medical aid. And what we are seeing now with the weather, with homes collapsing on their residents, with people dying after homes are collapsing. It's not simply a by-product of the war. It's a foreseen consequence of Israel policies

to prevent the entry of shelter supplies. Amy, one of the families we've talked to the Nassar family in Sheikh Radwan, the father of the family told us, Muhammad, told us that he's done everything to protect his family for two years, including being displaced over and over again. And in October, when he came back to his family, his home in Sheikh Radwan, even though the home was dilapidated and in no condition to live in, but he had nowhere else to go. He thought that at least he protected his family only for

his two children, Lena and Ghazi, to be killed on the 12th of December after their home had collapsed on them. And all the effort that he made in order to protect his family went in vain. And this is one of so many stories of Palestinians who physically survived the genocide, only to still be suffering from this ongoing genocide, from the conditions, from the fact that for some reason the world has forgotten about Gaza. Buda Hassan, we want to thank you so much for being with us. I'm a new to see international researcher on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories speaking to us from Ramallah.

Coming up, climate scientist Michael Mann on the Trump administration's dismantling of Encar. Stay with us. Is there a soul left in the world that knows the way I feel tonight? Is there a book I'd never trade that shows me wrong from right? Is there a place we'll all be healed where some kind of justice gets revealed, And to the least among us get to walk out from the night. Nowhere bound by Stephen Michael Gooding. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

I'm Amy Goodman in Colorado. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Boulder, Saturday, to condemn the Trump administration's plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, N-KAR, a federally funded climate and weather research institute based in Boulder. last week, White House Budget Director Russell Vote called Encar one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country, unquote. Democratic lawmakers have suggested Trump targeted the climate facility in retaliation for Colorado's refusal to release Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted of tampering with voting machines during the 2020 presidential election. She was sentenced to nine years.

Trump recently pardoned her, but he doesn't have the legal offense. authority to overturn a state court conviction. We're joined now by climate scientist Michael Mann, professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His new book with Dr. Peter Hotez is titled Science Under Siege. He has a new piece out today in The Guardian on Trump's shuddering of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Can you talk about the significance, Michael, Professor Mann? Of the closing, are they closing this facility? What it means? I mean, even right now as Colorado is under a wildfire alert because there has been so little rain and the winds are so intense.

Yeah, it's good to be with you, Amy. Unfortunately, this does sort of underscore just how absurd this latest action by the Trump administration is. We're literally seeing the devastating consequences of climate change play out in this state. You're not supposed to get wildfires in the middle of the winter. in Colorado. But that's the world we live in now because of the warming of the planet and the more extreme weather that we're seeing as a result. And, you know, I think there are a lot of things that Donald Trump could have tried to do to hurt the state of Colorado. I think the reason that he chose Encar is that it is the crown jewel of climate science for more than a half century. It has been

a leader when it comes to American advancement in the science of climate modeling. And he is executing the playbook of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, of course, playing a major part in this dismantling of climate infrastructure, the infrastructure for doing climate science, the infrastructure for doing something about the climate crisis. So it isn't a coincidence that he's going after this iconic climate institution. So talk about overall the Trump. administration now when it comes to climate change? And what does it mean to take NCAR basically offline? And what happens to this facility in Boulder right now? Yeah, it's unclear at this point.

And this will play out in the courts almost certainly. So we don't know the full consequences of this yet. But the models that NCAR creates are used around the world. They're among the leading models of Earth's climate system. I have benefited tremendously in my own research from the work that Encar does when it comes to climate modeling, when it comes to observational climate data sets that allow us to document the changes that are taking place. So this will hurt climate science certainly writ large, but it will also ensure that the United States fall to the back of the line, essentially. We used to lead in all areas of science, and certainly in climate science. And now what we're, you know, these sorts of actions are going to mean that

the rest of the world moves ahead of us. Scientists are going to leave the United States for opportunities in other countries. And we are going to, you know, essentially fall behind in terms of our scientific leadership and our scientific stature in the world. But the actual, you know, practical consequences are that we will not have the sorts of observational data and climate models that we need to inform climate policy, to, you know, help us understand what sorts of adaptive measures will need to be changed to protect people from the devastating consequences of climate change as it continues on. The Trump administration recently denied Colorado Governor Jared Polis's disaster

declaration requests for major wildfires and flooding across Colorado. The Boulder area experienced hurricane force winds of nearly 100, per hour over the weekend and increased fire danger, prompting N-Car to close for safety reasons, the significance of this. Yeah, I mean, it's ironic, isn't it? Not only are they trying, is Trump and, you know, the Koch brothers and the other sort of plutocrats behind these actions, not only are they trying to dismantle climate science, they're trying to dismantle our ability to protect people from the devastating consequences of climate change. So it's cruel. It is, you know, it's going to cost

lives. I mean, these actions are, you know, it may be a little bit more subtle than the lives cost because of their anti-science actions when it comes to vaccines and COVID-19 and protecting, you know, protecting public health in that arena. But millions of people ultimately will die from the consequences of extreme weather events, coastal inundation, all of these impacts that are made worse by the, you know, the warming of the planet that's due to the burning of fossil fuels, the burning of fossil fuels by the very companies and plutocrats and Petro states that are behind the policies of this administration. Said, not since the ransacking of the Library of Alexandria, have we witnessed such a wanton

intentional assault on scientific knowledge? We have 30 seconds, Professor Mann. Yeah, it's a line from my commentary. And, you know, there's some question as to the veracity of that story. But I think it captures sort of the insanity of what we're doing. We're literally destroying knowledge. And we have to look back to ancient times to see, you know, eras similar, you know, when barbarians tried to destroy knowledge.

That's what this administration is doing. They're trying to destroy knowledge. Michael Mann, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, co-author of the book Science Under Siege with Dr. Peter Hotez. We will link to your new piece out today in The Guardian. That does it for our show. Democracy Now is currently accepting applications for our video news production and digital fellowship programs. You can learn more and apply at DemocracyNow.org. Democracy Now is produced with Mike Burke, Renee Felds,

Nina Guzda, Messiah, Rhodes, Nermine, Sheikh Maria Tarasana, Nicole Salazar, Sarah Nassar, Trina, Adora, Sam Alcoff. Taymaria, studio, John Hamilton, Robbie Karen, Honey, Massoud, Safwat Nasal. Our executive director, Julie Crosby, special thanks to Becca Steli. I'm Amy Goodman.