Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-08-19 Wednesday

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

Headlines for August 19, 2026; Trump’s “Authoritarian Takeover” of the Media, ABC Suing FCC & the Meta Trial: Free Press’s Jessica González; “Profoundly Corrupt”: Trump Sued for Selling Early Access to His Truth Social Posts for $100K/Month; Bipartisan Outcry Forces Trump to Pause Border Security Project in Big Bend National Park in Texas; Activist Tree-Sit in Ancient Cottonwood Continues Against Border Wall Construction in Arizona

From New York, this is Democracy Now. This wasn't an accident. My son did not take his life. My son was killed. It's a design choice. A company that builds its platforms to maximize a child's engagement. Click after click at the cost of the child's safety. They knew what they were doing.

A landmark trial against a landmark trial against a child. Facebook's parent company meta has begun in California. The company is accused of designing Facebook and Instagram to addict kids despite clear risks. We'll speak to Jessica Gonzalez of the group Free Press about the trial and other major media news, including ABC suing the FCC. Then we look at how President Trump will personally profit by, By selling early access to his truth social posts for $100,000 a month, we'll speak to a former federal prosecutor suing to stop the practice that would give wealthy investors early access to the president's announcements.

Then to Texas, where bipartisan outcry has forced Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott to pause construction in Big Ben National Park. Last night, I put a pause. on all activity in that park as far as construction goes until I can get down there and do a personal evaluation, talk to some stakeholders, talk to local law enforcement in that area, and more to follow this week. We'll also go to Arizona, where protests are engaged in a tree set to block border wall construction there. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warrant Peace Report. I mean

Goodman. In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians, including a child at a cafe in the port west of Gaza City. It comes a day after Trump's son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, wrapped up a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as one with Hamas officials. Since last October's so-called ceasefire, Israel's killed over 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza. Abu Ahmad was among several people surveying the aftermath of Tuesday's attack. They're telling us every day that there's a truce. We are hearing on social media and news channels that there's a truce. The truth's for 14 days, three months, and I don't know what.

But it is not implemented in reality in the Gaza Strip. The people of Gaza are bleeding every day. A Palestinian-American flew to the occupied West Bank Monday to help relatives defend the family home, which Israeli settlers have surrounded for more than a week. Settlers have surrounded several Palestinian houses in the village of Kusra, south of Nabilis, and block the people inside from leaving. Louis Ridi, who lives in Ohio, owns one of the houses. His brother, Kusei Aburida, and his teenage nephew have stayed inside to keep settlers from taking it.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Hapagib called the siege a horrific act of terror. UNICEF brought in food, water, and medicine over the weekend, after the Israeli military declared the area a closed military zone. This is Louis Riddey. I came here to be present with him. I left my luxury home in America. I left my luxury vehicles in America. I left my wife and my two daughters.

I left my business and decided to be here at my home to protected it from the settlers to steal it. and raising the American flag to send the message to the American embassy and the U.S. officials that I am currently under siege and I need a protection. Officials from the Joint Maritime Information Center Tuesday said attackers struck two ships in the Strait of Hermuz in recent days, killing at least one sailor. Hours earlier, the United Arab Emirates said its air defenses tracked two ballistic missiles fired from Iran, both fell into the sea. the second inside Emirati waters. Qatar's foreign ministry said mediators will not return to broader U.S. Iran talks until Iran and Oman reached their own deal on passage to the strait. Iranian foreign minister of Basaraji said the U.S. is now begging to talk while President

Trump posted a map of the waterway labeled New U.S. territory. Also on Tuesday, prosecutors in Manhattan charged 17 Iranians with hacking for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Justice Department says the Mabna Institute broke into 144 U.S. universities 178 more abroad, stealing over 31 terabytes of research. Syrians marched in Aleppo this week over the death of a man who was arrested and allegedly beaten by security forces. 29-year-old Mohamed Ramirah, a father of two and a former volunteer with the White Helmut Civil Defense Group died in hospital Sunday after being released from jail. He was detained after he allegedly stole money.

Syria's emergency management minister Raed El Sala, who's the former head of the white helmets, wrote on X that Gamera died of cerebral and gastrointestinal bleeding brought on by a beating he took after being detained. The Trump administration imposed sanctions Tuesday on the president of the International Criminal Court and senior prosecutor who's investigated Israeli officials over the war on Gaza. The State Department targeted ICC President Tomoko Akani of Japan and senior trial lawyer of Dulae Seye of Senegal, freezing any assets they hold in U.S. jurisdictions or that touch the American financial system. Zay was on the team that sought an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

for crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israeli media report he also oversees an inquiry into Israeli funding for illegal West Bank settlements and the arming of Israeli settlers. A federal judge in Boston is sided with the Trump administration to revoke temporary protected status, TPS, for more than 5,000 Ethiopian immigrants living and working in the United States.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy lifted the final legal block in Trump's efforts to end TPS for individual countries and comes after the Supreme Court ended the protection for immigrants from Haiti and Syria. Since Trump returned to office, his administrations moved to terminate TPS for at least 13 out of 17 countries. TPS granted deportation relief for hundreds of thousands of immigrants whose home countries were designated unsafe due to war or climate disaster. In related news, the Trump administration has been quietly deporting immigrants from Mexico to other Central American countries.

That's according to CBS News, which spoke to two anonymous DHS officials who said in recent months hundreds of Mexican immigrants have been deported to Guatemala and Honduras. This despite the Mexican government's willingness to accept all citizens removed from the United States. Trump's Justice Department is pushing a federal appeals court to reinstate criminal charges against Kilmire Abrago Garcia, the Maryland father, who was wrongfully sent to El Salvador's notorious set-cut megap prison last year and months later returned to the U.S. In May, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed human smuggling charges brought by Trump

officials against Abrago Garcia, whose case quickly became a symbol of Trump's mass deportation campaign. At the time, Judge Crenshaw said, Abrago Garcia's prosecution was, quote, vindictive in nature, unquote. The Justice Department under the leadership of newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche is now appealing that ruling. An immigrant was hospitalized after he was brutally beaten and arrested by ICE agents in Virginia last week. Jose Maria Hernandez says it was only after he regained consciousness at the hospital that he saw the injuries and severe bruising on his face consistent with blunt force trauma. He also reportedly suffered major brain bleeding and swelling. According to journalist Aaron Parnas, Hernandez was walking to work

when two ice agents approached him in a truck. At the hospital, he had ice agents by his side at all times and was never given proper explanation of his diagnosis or injuries. Once discharged, Hernandez was taken to an ice office where they placed a GPS ankle monitor on him. He was hospitalized a second time after he felt unwell and was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. but doctors are reportedly unable to conduct an MRI at the time due to ICE's ankle monitor. Annual military drills between South Korea and the United States are underway, but just hours before they were scheduled to start, President Trump announced he'd ordered the Pentagon to substantially scale back the military exercises as he said the drills may send a hostile signal to North Korea.

Trump claims to have a good relationship with North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un. the move has prompted South Korean President Li Jiameng to push for military control independent from the United States. This is a 75-year-old resident of Pochran South Korea sitting near the border with North Korea. I saw in the news yesterday that Trump said the drills should be scaled back because he is friendly with Kim Jong-un. I think that reflects a lack of understanding of North Korea. To be honest,

I feel anxious. As a resident of a border area, I feel particularly uneasy. ABC filed a First Amendment lawsuit on Tuesday against the Federal Communications Commission, alleging the Trump administration has undertaken a retaliatory campaign against the network. This comes as the FCC is closely scrutinizing ABC on several fronts. The media regulator is investigating the broadcaster over corporate diversity programs, as well as alleged political bias on the morning show The View. The FCC is also pushing several ABC stations to renew their broadcast licenses years earlier than expected. Last year, ABC briefly suspended late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel under pressure from FCC chair Brendan Carr

over a joke about the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Because of national outcry, Kimmel was reinstated. The Trump administration Tuesday advanced plans to open nearly 45 million acres of wilderness in national forests to road construction and logging. The U.S. Forest Service proposal would undo the 2001 roadless rule, a Clinton-era regulation, meant to keep those tracks undeveloped. President Trump's been pressuring the agency to increase logging and thin forests, Drew McConville, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said,

quote, by ripping protections from some of our oldest intact forests, the Trump administration's endangering the drinking water supplies of tens of millions and threatening wildlife habitats and recreation opportunities in almost every state, unquote. In Florida, Democratic Socialist state rep Angie Nixon pulled off a stunning victory in the Democratic Senate primary against Alexander Vindman, a former Army intelligence officer who testified during Trump's first impeachment against Trump. backed by the Democratic establishment, he raised more than 16 times as much campaign money as Nixon, who ended up winning. Meanwhile, in the race for governor, former Republican Congress member David Jolly, who switched parties won the Democratic primary,

he'll face off against Republican Congress member Byron Donald's in the general election, who's backed by Donald Trump. Establishment Democrats, Jared Moskowitz, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, won their races despite Republican gerrymandering. And incumbent Congressmember, Corey Mills, lost the Republican primary in Florida's 7th Congressional District to Ryan Elijah. Mills was facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of assault and threatening behavior toward women. In Alaska Senate race, incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and Democratic Congress member Mary Pelt TOLA are advancing to the general election. In the primary, two Dan Sullivan's were on the ballot with the other Dan Sullivan capturing 2.4% of the vote.

And in Pakistan, the Supreme Court Rule Tuesday authorities must transfer jailed ex-prime Minister, Imran Khan, to a private hospital in Islamabad for a medical evaluation. The ruling comes after his relatives and personal doctors spent months raising alarms about his condition and whether he was receiving adequate care behind bars. Khan had been in jail for three years on corruption charges. UN experts have called arbitrary and politically motivated. This is Khan's lawyer. This is a very welcoming decision. He is the founder and chairman of Pakistan, Tariki, and Saab, and has been in jail for nearly three years now. Given the nature of the

medical report that has come out, especially the medical reports submitted yesterday, I believe this is a very good and encouraging decision. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Mimi Goodman. A landmark trial against Facebook's parent company, META, has begun in Oakland, California. META is accused of designing Facebook and Instagram to addict kids despite clear risks. The case was brought by attorneys general from four states, California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey. In total, 29 states have sued META over its practices. Outside the federal courthouse in Oakland, parents spoke out of.

about the impact of social media platforms on their children's well-being. This is Shannon Hickok, whose son Elijah died by suicide at the age of 16. This wasn't an accident. My son did not take his life. My son was killed. It's a design choice, a company that builds its platforms to maximize a child's engagement. Click after. click at the cost of the child's safety.

They knew what they were doing. In other major media news, ABC has sued the Federal Communications Commission after FCC chair, Brendan Carr, ordered an early review of eight local ABC TV licenses. Carr had ordered the review one day after President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump publicly demanded ABC firemen. late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for a joke about the First Lady. The FCC is also investigating ABC over its corporate diversity programs, as well as alleged political bias on the morning show The View. In its lawsuit, ABC states, quote, acting through the Federal Communications

Commission, the administration's waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason. It disapproves of what ABC broadcasts. For more on the these two stories, as well as other major media news, we go to California where we're joined by Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of Free Press and a member of the Big Tech Oversight Board. Jessica, welcome back to Democracy Now. Let's start with the opening arguments in the meta-trial in Oakland. Talk about the significance of this case. Good morning, Amy. Listen, for years, many of us have been pointing out that platforms like Facebook are making design choices that are harmful.

The business model of Facebook and other social media platforms is selling us, our attention, our eyeballs, and our kids' attention to advertisers. The business model is predicated on getting us addicted, on essentially having us spend as much time as possible on these platforms. It's really interesting to see a case, finally make it to trial. and to actually have these issues litigated. But the truth is that Facebook knew a lot about the impacts of its platform on children and on others. And the business model really is about collecting a lot of data about us and using that data to micro-target us with the type of content that makes us keep coming back.

You're a member of the big tech oversight board. What is that? This is a collection of people who came together after Facebook appointed its own oversight board, which was a list of folks who were on the Facebook payroll, who were meant to provide some oversight over what the company was doing. In reality, they didn't have any authority to hold the platform accountable. And so a collection of folks from around the world led by Carol Codd Wadder, who broke the Cambridge Analytica story, Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and others came together to really try to provide some critique about what Facebook was doing, the design choices it was making, and the hate and disinformation that they were spreading all throughout the world.

Now, your organization, Free Press, and hundreds of children, journalists are demanding USA Today end their Pallentier partnership. Nearly 800 journalists at USA Today newspapers signed statements urging the company to end this newly announced partnership with the software company, Pallentier, whose products have been used by the U.S. government to assist with immigration raids. Talk about what they and you are calling for. Listen, journalistic entities have. no business making special deals and having special relationships like with companies like Palantir which the US government is using to assist in crimes

against humanity we need to have editorial independence from big companies that deserve oversight from journalistic institutions and so I support the call we support the call from the USA Today journalists because this is going to impinge upon independent reports that holds this company and this administration accountable. Let's turn to ABC's lawsuit against the FCC. I want to read more from the lawsuit, quote, this case boils down to a simple question.

Can the administration use its control over the federal regulatory apparatus to punish a media organization for editorial decisions and news coverage it dislikes? Because the First Amendment provides a clear answer, of course not. This court's intervention is necessary to stop the Federal Communication Commission's extraordinary assault on free speech. The lawsuit states. Explain what is at stake. This lawsuit came down right about the time we were broadcasting yesterday. It was announced.

Well, I'm so thrilled that finally a major media company is sticking up for itself to the administration. We have seen Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman, relentlessly, jawbone at broadcasters over which he has regulatory authority. He has threatened them with investigations. We don't even know the full extent of the investigations that the FCC has ongoing against ABC and other licensees. He has called ABC's licenses in for early renewal. That comment process just closed. And so at any time now, the FCC can do what's called designate those licenses, the only eight broadcast licenses that ABC still holds for a hearing. And that is the next step in revoking broadcast licenses. And there has been every indication that the reason that

Brendan Carr is going after ABC is because Donald Trump wants him to. Because Donald Trump doesn't like what ABC is airing. He doesn't like it when they bring on his political opponents for conversations. He doesn't like it when Jimmy Kimmel makes jokes at his expense. But see, this is what the First Amendment protects. The First Amendment protects us from government intrusion into the editorial decisions of our media. And we've seen them time and again go after broadcasters. ABC isn't the only one. They're just the first one to say enough already because the Trump administration has elevated this risk to the point that it's going to.

do serious damage to their business. In fact, if you look into the filing that went into the court yesterday, they cite numerous examples of how they've already altered their news coverage to keep the president happy. For instance, they aired a speech that they didn't want to air on their live stream. They said they felt pressured to do so. They haven't brought anyone, any political guess onto the view out of fear that the president would retaliate against them. I mean, the list goes on and on. And this is just what's happening inside of ABC. We know this is happening at other broadcasters, other regulated entities as well. But they're all just kind of trying to duck and cover and not catch the president's attention. So it's really a good move on ABC's part

that they're finally sticking up for themselves. I think they've finally learned that when bullies go after you, you can't just cower in a corner because they keep coming. I mean, it was amazing. ABC settled for, what was it, $15 million gave the president when many felt they could have gone to court and won. Then the whole kerfuffle over Jimmy Kimmel and the outcry across the country that led these licensees to restore Jeremy Kimmel. late-night show because President Trump doesn't like him. So this is a new approach here. Don't bend the knee. This is a new approach. And listen, when ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel off the air, free press immediately launched into action, we set up a tool, and thousands of people called

their local ABC stations and demanded that he be reinstated. Of course, there was a tremendous uproar from the public above and beyond. People canceled their Disney plus subscriptions. And so the actions we take as regular people make a difference. If we mass protest, we can make a difference. And I think in a lot of ways that that was encouraging to ABC because they saw there was going to be business impacts if they didn't stand up for free speech. And they're admitting in this lawsuit that, For example, in The View and also in Jimmy Kimmel's show, they are changing the way they choose guests because of administration pressure. Yes. And in fact, they are not the only ones. We hosted two events with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez over the past year. She is the lone Democrat left on the FCC. and we had folks come in journalists here in Los Angeles as well as in Camden, New Jersey,

and the ripple effects across the industry are widely felt. We are hearing from local radio stations that they're nervous about airing things online that are critical of the administration. We've heard from so many independent journalists the type of retaliation they are facing. And so it's not often that free press is standing up for ABC Disney. They're a corporate outlet that in many ways is flawed. But if we don't stand up for, if we can't stand up for Jimmy Kimmel and ABC, we're recognizing, like, those are wealthy outlets. Jimmy Kimmel is a famous white man.

Like the impacts on folks who aren't rich and famous and privileged. are really rippling downwards. And of course. This is bigger than just Kimmel. This is bigger than just Disney. And Jessica Gonzalez, your free press is not to be confused with Barry Weiss's free press. Barry Weiss who became head of CBS News and has gutted, eviscerated 60 minutes. And I want to stay on the issue of that Paramount-owned entity.

In other major news, Paramount Skydance is asking you. U.S. judge to require the states challenging its acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery to post a nearly $2 billion bond to cover the costs of delaying the deal. Paramount Skydance is run by David Ellison, whose father, Larry Ellison, is the billionaire founder of Oracle. They are prominent allies of President Trump. Under the proposed deal, CNN and CBS News, streaming services, HBO Max, and Paramount Plus, as well as film in television studios Universal and Paramount, would all be combined under a single entity controlled by the Ellison's. You're sitting there, Jessica, in California.

He's threatening the Attorney General there, Ron Banta, who's leading this lawsuit against this merger. Talk about this stage of the lawsuit and the threats of the Ellison's. I thought Rob Bonta had a great line to this yesterday, which is that the Ellison's went into this deal knowing that what they were bargaining for. These companies are sophisticated entities. They agreed to a ticking fee. They agreed.

They Paramount agreed to pay Warner Brothers $7 million a day after a certain date if the deal hadn't closed yet. They understood that this was a complex regulatory landscape, that there are federal regulators, state regulators, and in fact, regulators abroad that have an interest in this massive, massive combination of media outlets. and they made the deal anyways. Look, California and our taxpayers here, we don't owe paramount anything. They're pulling out all the stops, trying to threaten our state with leaving.

But the truth of the matter is they knew what this deal was about. They knew what they were giving up. They were so desperate to get a hold of Warner Brothers. Because remember, at the time, when they made this deal, they were in a bidding war with Netflix. They went into this with eyes wide open. And they made a deal. If they don't, if they don't like it, they can, they can leave the deal.

They can pay the breakup fee. But the truth is they are trying to threaten. They are trying to, they just started a new fake grassroots campaign a couple days ago where they're trying to buy constituency. But hundreds of thousands of people have come out to say, block the merger, no concessions, including 5,600 creatives who have thrown down with activists and conservatives. to say this is bad. This is going to result in massive job loss. Given what the Ellison's have already done to Paramount and to CBS News, we have every reason to believe that they are going to use their perch to censor and to interfere with the editorial independence of CNN as well. And the truth is the people don't want this merger. And David Ellison and his daddy can't buy

their way out of this? I just saw Jane Fonda this weekend in Los Angeles, and of course, she revived her father's committee to protect the First Amendment, and she is one of those leading the charge against this merger. But in this last minute, we have, Jessica. I wanted to ask you about the FCC rewriting TV station ownership rules to allow for even more corporate consolidation. Can you just simply summarize this?

It's remarkable. The FCC is trying to repeal a statute, which it does not have authority to do. It voted that out a couple weeks ago. We're waiting for that order to drop in the federal register. And once it does, we'll be suing the FCC with our partners because the FCC does not have authority to overrule a statute. In some, what they want to do is make it easier for people like Larry Ellison and David Ellison and other oligarchs who are aligned with Trump to gobble up more media. This is the authoritarian takeover attempt of our media system, and we're not going to let it happen. Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of the Media Advocacy Group, Free Press.

They had the name first. She's also a member of the Big Tech Oversight Board. Coming up, we talk more about media news. We look at how President Trump will personally profit by selling early access to his true social posts about government. policy for $100,000 a month, back in 30 seconds. Mirror Monster by Deerhoff, performing in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have filed a lawsuit against President

Trump and his staff seeking to halt a new venture by Trump's media company to monetize the president's social media posts on truth. social. Under the scheme called Truth API, the platform would charge up to $100,000 per month for early access to the president's posts, which frequently drives stock market volatility. The plan launched on August 1st and reportedly at least 10 customers have signed up. In announcing the lawsuit, Ben Musick, editor-in-chief of the intercept, said Trump is trying to enrich himself by privatizing government information that he has no right to sell, we won't let it stand, he said. This comes as the Trump Media and Technology Corporation, which owns Truth Social, announced

a $238 million loss during the second quarter of this year. The company is yet to be profitable. For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we're joined by Brendan Ballou, CEO of the Public Integrity Project. He is a former federal prosecutor who spent two years prosecuting January 6th Capitol insurrectionists. He's one of the lawyers representing the Intercept and Freedom of the Press Foundation in this lawsuit. Brennan, welcome back to Democracy Now. If you can just simply explain what is not just being proposed, but what has begun

on truth social, the president's means of speaking to the world. Absolutely. So you hit the nail on the head and how you described it. The true social is the president's means of speaking. to the world. If you want to know what the federal government is doing, you have to follow True Social. True Social is where the president hires and fires people. It's where he announces wars. It's where he announces ceasefires. It's where he exclusively announces many, if not most of the core initiatives of his administration. What's being proposed is that True Social

is offering what's called an API, a data feed that will give early access to his post to those who, as you said, are willing to subscribe for $100,000 a month. This means that folks who are willing to pay that money are going to get early access to what true socials parent company itself describes as quote unquote market moving information. They're going to have access to that early, which they can then use for trading. They can use it for gambling. They can use it for national security purposes. You know, if they are, you know, for instance, working for foreign power. So there are all sorts of ways that the president is literally selling government information for private profit.

As you say in the lawsuit, the scheme is profoundly corrupt. The president stands to gain financially by giving market-moving government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company, unquote. I want to go to a clip right now of press secretary Carolyn Leavitt assuring reporters that anything on Trump's Trump's social media site is straight from the horse's mouth. This is Leavitt speaking about truth social during a news conference in February. The post should be taken as the policy of the Trump administration. It's coming straight from the horse's mouth. When you see it on truth social, you know it's directly from President Trump. That's the beauty of this president and his transparency and relaying this administration's policies to all of you and to the rest of the world.

So Brendan Ballou, talk about the significance of what she's saying that this is the mouthpiece of the administration that President Trump personally will be profiting from. Yeah, well, the White House did itself no favors by having Carolyn Leavitt say that, at least from a legal perspective. So, you know, part of the case alleges that true social is what you would call a public forum. A public forum is one where you have First Amendment rights, First Amendment rights to speak, First Amendment rights. to access information. When the White House, when the press secretary says that this is the official place for finding information from the president, that makes it a public forum. And so the basic legal problem that you have here isn't just that it's profoundly corrupt this scheme, but that's also unconstitutional. That by posting on the true social platform in ways that people who pay more

get earlier access, that actually interferes with people's First Amendment rights to public information. One of the things that the First Amendment protects not only is the right to speak, but the right to equal access to government information. The government can't discriminate who it gives information to based on who they are, what they believe, what they're willing to pay the president. And so really, that statement was really counterproductive for the White House and helps our case a great deal. The name defendants in your lawsuit include President Trump and two of his closest aides. Natalie Harp, who we talked about on Democracy Now yesterday, and Daniel Scavino, as well as the executive office of the president and the White House office.

Why did you choose these people and entities to sue? Well, you know, it's clear that this isn't just the president typing on his phone and posting this on True Social. There is a whole operation that makes True Social the official mouthpiece of this administration involving Dan Skivino, involving Natalie Harp, involving Harp, involving Harp, and Skavis employer is the executive office of the president and the White House office. So this is really helpful in building the case that the true social is intimately entwined with the White House operations. And again, it helps build the argument that this is, in fact, a public forum where constitutional rights apply. Trump holds the largest stake in TMTG through a revocable trust that owns about 41% of the company, a stake worth more than a billion dollars. He's the trust sole beneficiary?

Yes, he is. Yeah. The significance of this. Yeah. So he's, as the sole beneficiary, this means that he is the person that's going to make money from this scheme. He yields 41% of the stock in the company. He is the largest shareholder. It means he probably is able to have the most power in dictating the strategy of the company. I mean, but the game is kind of given away by the fact that it's called Trump media. You know, it really shows that this is an arm of the president's personal business. And, you know, the analogy that I always use here is this isn't like, you know, just paying an ordinary fee to access government information. This is paying a private company connected to a political official in order to access information that all of us should be able to get.

It would be a little bit like having to pay the Republican net. National Committee in order to get access to court documents structurally, legally, this is no different. Brendan Ballou, CEO of the Public Integrity Project, former federal prosecutor who spent two years prosecuting the January 6th Capitol rioters, now suing to stop Donald Trump's scheme to sell early access to his truth social posts and pocket the profits. Brendan Ballou's latest book is titled When Companies Run the Courts,

How Forced Arbitration became America's Secret Justice System. This is Democracy Now. When we come back, we will go to Texas and Arizona. What's happening in Big Ben National Park? Stay with us. Thirds I want to live in the same coast. Some told me. by Pierre Locatelli.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. In southern Texas, the Trump administration said Monday, it's temporarily pausing construction on a section of the border infrastructure that's in Big Ben National Park after construction crews were filmed bulldozing pristine desert wilderness, prompting ongoing protests and lawsuit. The Department of Homeland Security waived requirements that federal contractors comply with a broad slate of environmental laws to proceed with construction in the National Park.

The area covers a quarter of the U.S.-Mexico border but sees only about 1% of border crossings due to the rugged terrain. The project in the Bend region is expected to cost seven billion. billion dollars. Opposition to the controversial project has been widespread and bipartisan, including from environmentalists, local landowners, local sheriffs, and county judges. Outgoing Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn wrote to the Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen earlier this month, urging him to halt construction until DHS engage further with local concerns. The contractor on the project is a major Trump donor.

On Monday, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott flew to Texas to announce the pause. I just landed in Texas, headed to Big Bend National Park. Last night, I put a pause on all activity in that park as far as construction goes, until I can get down there and do a personal evaluation, talk to some stakeholders, talks to local law enforcement in that area, and more to follow this week. On Tuesday, Rodney Scott told local officials the pause would last just two weeks. In a statement, campaigner Lake and Jordal of the Center for Biological Diversity said, quote, we won't rest until the contracts are canceled.

The waivers of law are rescinded and the bulldozers are sent packing for good, unquote. We go now to Texas, where we are joined by. Lakin Jordal, a national public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. Lakin used to work at Big Bend National Park on wilderness stewardship issues. I mean, Big Bend, I think it's something like the size of Rhode Island. We were talking about a massive area. Now, Lakin, you're not usually siding maybe I'm wrong with the local sheriffs, with the Republican senators, but this is across the political spectrum. I mean, you had local sheriffs. and the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, both claiming they were responsible for this pause wanting to take credit.

Talk about what's happened here. Good morning from beautiful Big Band, Amy. This movement that we have built is a force to be reckoned with. I think the administration made such a massive miscalculation when they sicked their bulldozers on this great American national park. we have seen local sheriffs who are extremely conservative border security experts come out and oppose this thing. We've got Republican State House reps on our side. You know, this pause is welcome news. It shows just how nervous the administration is about this resistance.

But we have no reason to trust DHS. None. They didn't even admit there was construction happening here until this week. They were trying to hide that from the public. and we've been out filming the bulldozers every day, working with this incredible local community. And I just, I don't think they understand just how deep people's connection to this land, to this national park, and to the Rio Grande is here in Texas. So let's talk about who got the contracts.

Newsweek says Tim Barnard and his wife donated $1 million to a Trump fundraising committee in 2024. Barnard Construction Company has been awarded billions of dollars in federal border. barrier contracts, including nearly $2 billion linked directly to the Big Bend region. If you can talk about this, and also, we're not talking about building the wall in Big Bend, right? It's the infrastructure to service all of this, for example, surveillance, etc. But start with the donors who are contractors now. Yeah, these contractors are darling, so this administration, and they've been given billions of dollars to build walls all across the U.S.-Mexico border.

At this point, I mean, this administration is using this national park and its destruction as an opportunity to transfer billions of dollars into their pockets. And it's the same playbook that we see all across America's public lands. You know, these contractors have received $7 billion to build walls, vehicle barriers, and roads across the region. In the park itself, it's a $1.7 billion contract. that is more than half of the entire annual operating budget of the National Park Service. As the former Park Service staff, like, I cannot fathom. They have lost a quarter of their entire staff. They are facing budget cuts like they have never seen.

Trash cans are piling up at national parks. Staff have been fired, and we're losing so much institutional knowledge. And if we just spent a fraction of this $1.7 billion, I'm actually sustaining our national parks, dealing with the maintenance backlog. I mean, it would be life-changing for so many people. But instead, we're using all of this money to build a useless network of roads that cut into the most pristine part of the national park just to enrich a federal contractor.

And talk about why Republicans, leading Republicans, are taking on President Trump on this, from Governor Abbott to the sheriffs? Yeah, you know, I think in Texas, this big bend is symbolic of this idea of freedom. This place, this national park, it changes you once you've been here. And Republicans are not immune to that love for the land. It's been incredible to see them speaking out. I think in a lot of cases, it's too little, too late.

But it's nice to have Abbott trying to claim that he's responsible for this. There's also, you know, a ton of wildlife out here. are game species that the Texas backcountry hunters and anglers have been working with us on this project. So everybody loves this place. Everybody loves the river. And if you look at the facts, there are just no border crossings that happen here. So it is unjustifiable what they are doing to this place. And we do not trust this pause. We are seeking a permanent stop to construction. And we just filed for an emergency injunction with the court on Monday. And Lake and Jardot, can you talk about the environmental laws that were waived in Big Bend, including the Endangered Species Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,

Clean Water Act, and more. Yeah, with the strike of the pen, the DHS Secretary has eviscerated decades of our nation's most important environmental laws. This has never happened in a national park. National parks are supposed to be the public lands with the highest degree of protection. I mean, you can't pick a flower in a national park and take it home. And yet we're seeing this irreversible destruction unfold. And that is only allowed because of these vast and sweeping environmental waivers. We are challenging that waiver authority in court.

DHS has argued that the Big Ben region is an area of high illegal activity. But the numbers don't add up. The entire sector last month, 517 miles of border here. There were 98 apprehensions across the entire 517-mile sector. Nobody understands why they're pushing forward with this project. I want to go now to Arizona, Lake and Jordall. I want to thank you very much for being with us. Lake and Jordall, again, National Public Lands Advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity.

He used to work at Big Bend National Park on wilderness. stewardship issues. We go now to Southern Arizona, where protests against another section of border wall construction are ongoing. A protest camp predominantly led by queer and femme activists in the small town of Luchio is seeking to protect ancient cottonwood trees from demolition by federal contractors at the center of the protest camp is a 200-year-old cottonwood known as a grandmother tree. Democracy Now spoke with one of the activists last evening. This is Refugio. We are here protecting a 200-year-old grandmother cottonwood tree. They are sacred to the Tihonautom and Yaki people, who are some of the original stewards of this land. The San Rafael Valley, where these

Cottonwood trees sit is one of the most beautiful, most important places for migration of animals, wildlife. It's one of the freest places, I think, in my heart, that exists still along these borderlands. There is a binational tree set happening. We have folks on the other side of what has not been constructed yet. They're on the, they're on the Mexico side, La Noria side. And right now we have this, this zone, this stretch where the wall has not appeared, has not been constructed, and it's because we've been halting it by being here. We are being surveilled by private security, which ironically is called Vision Quest. We are being surveilled by Border Patrol. We are being surveilled by the Army. There's the 101st post. And they're being surveilled by the Sheriff's Office, the Santa Cruz

Sheriff's Office. Shortly after Refugio spoke to Democracy Now, another activist as well as Refugio were temporarily detained by Mexican state police in a statement released afterwards. The protesters said they'd seen this tree sit on the Mexican side of the border, quote, attacked by Mexican state police and that they had mobilized to support their Mexican comrades. They were released without arrest. For more, we go to Tucson, Arizona, where we're joined by John Washington, journalist, staff writer for lookout. Washington is the author of number of books, his latest, how to close a camp, dispatches from the fight against immigrant detention.

John, if you can talk about the significance of this tree sit as we move from Big Bend in Texas, like 600 miles away, to grandmother, to this tree, what people are so concerned about on the border? Good morning. Yeah, I think what we're seeing is that the story, right? now is becoming increasingly not where the Trump administration is building a border wall, but where people are successfully forcing the government to stop, to slow down, or at least change course on border wall construction. So the activists on the ground in Lockeal that we just

heard from a moment ago, they've been very clear that this is both an environmental and a political fight. They remind people that the border wall is a tool that deliberately inflicts suffering and death, and they cite the government's own policies. In that claim, name through the 1994 policy of prevention through deterrence. Right now, the Trump administration in attempts to make the border wall and the borderline more rigid, what we're seeing, it's becoming, because of the resistance, more binational, multinational, and trans-border. So for now more than three weeks, someone has been up tree sitting in this ancient

cottonwood, what they're calling a grandmother. And just last night, for the first time, just across the border in northern Sonora, a Mexican activist joined that person in a tree on the Mexican side. And they strung a rope briefly between the two trees, hanging from it a banner that says that read from Minnesota to Mexico, resistance is fertile. And they have been pushing back. And we see that there are now these connections between the big bend, between loquiel, between further west, Weston Arizona, the fight to stop border wall construction and on the Tonaultam nation. You know, right where they people are right now in Lockelle is just about a dozen miles from

another huge standoff in 2022, where some of the same activists push back against the former Arizona governor Doug Ducey's border wall constructed out of these old shipping containers. and they successfully pushed back. The state of Arizona was forced to remove those shipping containers, costing taxpayers here about $200 million. And historians and activists I talked to at a time when I was covering that told me that it was the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall that a border wall and international barrier has actually been removed.

And right now this is what the activists are again pushing for. Another sign in Locale reads, all walls fall. And while that may seem like a hard thing to achieve at the moment, they, in response to the brief arrest last night, are calling for more people to come down and support these and other movements. Do the Mexican police and the U.S. police, the border patrol, are they working together? That is unclear. I think that we have certainly seen, that is unclear in this exact,

moment, but we have seen certainly many instances in the past and different parts of the border wall where they absolutely collaborate. The Tihona-Odom Nation recently issued a no trespassing order to block wall construction in its tribal land. Can you talk about the significance of this? That's right. So they filed a lawsuit. So they have always been opposed or long been opposed to the border wall that is being constructed on their ancestral homeland. Right now, the government is trying to build, as in Lockeal, a double barrier. So two giant border walls threatening both, you know, pristine, beautiful deserts, fragile ecosystems, archaeological sites, graveyards, etc.

They filed a lawsuit to try to stop this. Just last week, a federal judge ordered the, what, it was, ruled that the, construction can continue, saying that the Tohono Domination should defer to the federal government, which is a little bit galling given the long history of incursions into ancestral homelands here. They have also posted, the Tohono Them also have also posted, as you mentioned, no trespassing signs on their land. And this is pretty explicitly targeting people who are going to be engaged in any sort of construction. Right now, one of the most threatened sites is the Quito-Bakito, spring, which is this stunning oasis in the desert where a number of species live only right

there. And so right now, people trying to protect this land understand that there's, you know, the Sonoran, the mud, sorry, the pupfish, the, uh, Kito Begito, spring snail, that these things, if the border wall construction continues, may be wiped off the face of this earth. So this is a I just have one last question. We have 30 seconds. You've documented the prevention through deterrence strategy implemented in the 90s that funnel migrants deliberately into deadly corridors. How does the lochial border project fit into that historical pattern of lethal border enforcement? Well, at this point, there's very few areas in Arizona that are not walled off, but it is an ongoing attempt to further punish and inflict suffering and death on migrants, absolutely. However,

like in Big Bend, very, very few people cross in this corridor. I mean, people are, I think, are right to point out that is very much smells of a boondoggle that no one is crossing here, and yet they are spending maybe a half a billion dollars on just this about 27-mile segment of wall to devastate the local ecosystem. Well, John Washington, I want to thank you so much for being with us, staff writer for Lookout Washington, speaking to us from Arizona, author of the new book, How to Close a Camp, Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention. That does it for our show. I'll be in Middlebury, Vermont on August 28th to speak at the Q&A after the screening of the film about Democracy Now, steal the story, please. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.