Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-10-14 Wednesday

Episode Date: October 14, 2026

Headlines for October 14, 2026; Can Democrats Flip the House and Senate? The Lever’s David Sirota on Midterm Races To Watch; “Bogus”: Minnesota State Senator Zaynab Mohamed on DHS Raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C. Home; “Propaganda Show”: IDF Raids Palestinian NGOs in the West Bank Ahead of Israeli Elections

This is Democracy Now. Iran War. I mean, Senator Collins would not push back against that five times. She voted for it. I mean, the reason why our fuel prices are going through the roof, and the reason why our electricity costs are going through the roof is because of the cost of fuel, cost of oil is so high because she wouldn't stop President Trump with the Iran War. In Maine, Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson spars with Republican incumbent Susan Collins in a debate Tuesday, with the midterms less than three weeks away, could the Democrats win control of both the House and the Senate? What would that mean for President Trump? We'll look at key races

across the country from Michigan to Florida, Maine to Alaska, with David Sorota of the lever. Then federal agents raid the D.C. home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar after years of threats and attacks by President Trump. We'll speak with Minnesota's state senator Zeneb Mohammed. This is a big deal because historically the Justice Department has avoided such investigative moves related to political candidates so close to the election. And that's because our Justice Department should be just that, just and fair and not political, and it should not be used as a tool against your political opponents. And we'll go to the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided the offices of two Palestinian NGOs and the courtyard of the Palestine

medical complex. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Fighting continues to escalate in Yemen between the Houthis and Saudi back government forces. On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia struck an oil facility near Sana'a and fuel depots and other parts of Yemen. The Houthis retaliated by attacking the headquarters of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, in the eastern city of Dharan. The attack reportedly caused a limited fire. Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is worsening.

The World Health Organization reports suspected cholera cases in Yemen have tripled in recent weeks. To look at the politics of Yemen and the civil war. almost there. You can go to Democracy Now.org. Israel's military has leveled 48 of the roughly 60 villages and towns that occupies in southern Lebanon

since Israel agreed to a so-called ceasefire with Hezbollah in April. That's the finding of a New York Times investigation published Monday, which documented how Israeli forces demolished homes, schools, mosques, and roads in Lebanese villages

north of Israel's border with most of the destruction focused on the majority Shia Muslim population from which Hezbollah draws its support. The seven villages that have not been seriously damaged are largely populated by Christian Sunni Muslim or Drew's residence. The scorched earth campaign has fueled fears that Israel's seeking to permanently empty much of southern Lebanon of its population. According to the United Nations, Israel, invasion and attacks have driven 329,000 people from their homes in Lebanon, a third of them children. This is UN spokesperson, Stefan de Jarej.

The situation on ground is not going to get magically better on January 1st. It will continue to be extremely dangerous, extremely worrying, and we very much hope that the international community comes up with a plan that will serve the populations of southern Lebanon and will also enable the population of northern Israel to go home. Kimberly Gilfoyle has resigned as U.S. ambassador to Greece days after the Wall Street Journal reported she had requested a Republican donor pay off her $100,000 American Express bill in exchange for access to the Trump administration. In addition, the Wall Street Journal reports Gilfoyle threatened Greece's energy minister that the U.S. had the power.

to topple the Greek government. She said, we can do that to any country we want. We can do that here, unquote. Kimberly Gilfoyles, the former fiancé of Donald Trump Jr., and was previously married to California Governor Gavin Newsom. Gilfoyle resigned Tuesday shortly after White House press secretary, Katie Zakaria, made this announcement during her first press briefing. We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well. Katie Zaccario's first news conference was widely criticized. She just took three questions over 15 minutes after mixing up the president and her husband. I adore my family.

I love them. They are my priority. I love being with my kids. The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable. So my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a good one. In election news, the Wall Street Journal's published video of Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate partying in Dubai on New Year's Eve, 2024, with two indicted fugitive health care executives and a woman who wasn't his wife. The two men had been indicted months before on federal health care fraud charges,

but failed to return to the United States. One of the health care executives had donated $190,000 to Paxton. Paxton's Senate rival James Tolariko responded to the report by writing online, quote, a party with multiple fugitives. And Ken Paxton is still the sketchiest guy in the room, He said. Federal agents have issued subpoenas to relatives of Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, according to reports. Sahra Noor Omar's sister received a subpoena along with another family member. This comes after Homeland Security agents raided Congressmember Omar's home in Washington, D.C. Monday will have more on this story later in the broadcast. In Maine, Republican Senator Susan Collins faced off against her. Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, in a debate over health care, the war in Iran and

immigration. The polls are tight with the race critical to determining which party controls the Senate. Jackson blasted Collins over her record on the U.S. war in Iran. Iran war. I mean, Senator Collins would not push back against that five times. She voted for it. I mean, the reason why our fuel prices are going through the roof and the reason why our electricity costs are going through the roof is because of the cost of fuel, cost of oil, so high because she wouldn't stop President Trump with the Iran war. In more election news, the Justice Department gave California officials 48 hours to review a list of alleged non-citizen voters or face legal action.

That's according to a letter reviewed by Reuters. The DOJ's letter to California officials orders the state to hold off on mailing ballots to anyone on the list until it verifies their citizenship. For listed voters who already have ballots, the letter says any ballots they mail back should be set aside, and ballots already returned should not be counted until their citizenship is confirmed. In immigration news, the man shot by ICE in New York last week is currently held in custody and solitary confinement with a bullet still lodged in his neck, according to his attorneys. 28-year-old Oscar Belgaal is awaiting deportation proceedings after immigration agents opened fire on him in his car with his child in the Bronx. According to his lawyers, Belgaul is in urgent need of surgery to remove the bullet.

In more immigration news, immigrants released from detention are suing ICE for keeping their passports and other belongings long after letting them go. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., says ICE has held on to the property of seven people for more than five months after their release, even though at least some of them still have pending immigration cases. The immigrants claim ICE withheld items that include social security cards, work permits, phones, and even car keys. Craig Martin, a lawyer representing the plaintiff, said, quote, if ICE has a legitimate operational reason, to keep somebody's property, it needs to identify it. And if it doesn't identify it, the Constitution and ICE's own rules point to get the document back without delay, unquote. Cornell University is banning all fraternities from hosting any parties and its criticism of how it responded to a reported sexual assault on campus in 2024. In a lawsuit filed last month, a woman

identified as Jane Doe says she was drugged and gang raped by multiple men during a party at a Cornell fraternity house two years ago. In a statement on Tuesday, Cornell's president, Michael Kotlakov, said, quote, I am deeply sorry for the harm Jane Doe suffered in 2024 and appalled that this act of sexual violence occurred within our Cornell community. It's clear women on our campus continue to question whether they are safe. We must meet this moment by acknowledging where we have fallen short and taking meaningful action, he said. To see our coverage of the Cornell alleged gang rape case, go to Democracy Now.org. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the number of confirmed Ebola cases has surpassed 9,000 with over 4,300 deaths. The outbreak

caused by the latest strain of virus has become the largest and deadliest in Congo's history. There are currently no treatments or vaccines for the latest strain of the Ebola virus. To see our coverage, go to DemocracyNow.org. In Pennsylvania, a six-person has died of measles as a number of cases in Pennsylvania topped 1,100. The victim was identified as a 39-year-old unvaccinated woman who had several underlying conditions. The CDC has recorded over 4,000 confirmed measles infections across the United States the highest number of cases in decades. Earlier this month, New York's governor, Kathy Hochle, declared an emergency because of rising measles cases

in New York. The Vatican announced Tuesday, 71-year-old Pope Leo, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. In a medical bulletin, the Vatican said surgeons had removed the lower lobe of the Pope's right lung. After undergoing surgery, the Pope spent a night in the hospital. He is not known to be a smoker or to have had recent health issues. President Trump has reportedly told people privately he has doubts about plans to live stream the firing squad execution of Nadal Hassan, the former Army Major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas back in 2009, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth scheduled the execution date for December 3rd. In Ukraine's 600,000 people are without electricity after deadly Russian missile and drone strikes

pummeled the country killing three people in the capital Keev. According to Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the strikes hit critical. energy infrastructure in Kyiv and Harkiv, despite President Trump claiming over the weekend that there was an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. In India, a courts ordered two leaders of the youth-led cockroach Jantha party jailed for five days. Opposition parties and student groups have been protesting nearly every day to call for the resignation of the chief election commissioner, Ganesh Kumar, over his revisions to the voter rolls purging 130 million voters. The protesters argue the revisions benefit right-wing

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP party. Delhi police detained at least 30 journalists over the weekend while they covered the protests. This is Vinajakhar, president of the National Students' Union of India. Ghanes Kumar will have to resign. Students of the country have taken to the streets. We will not stop till we get his resignation like we did with Tarmendra Prathan. We will fight daily. We will get detained, but the protest would continue. In France, tens of thousands of people marched on Tuesday in solidarity with protesting high school students. Unions estimated turnout at almost half a million people. The Justice Ministry says more than 6,800 people, mostly minors, have been taken into custody as rights groups and students accuse riot police of excessive force, including the use

of tear gas batons and blast balls. The movement began at a high school in the Paris suburbs last month and spread nationwide with students blockading their schools over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, and crumbling buildings. This is a protester. I think it's part of the police's strategy, actually. They know that kettling and surrounding people inevitably increases violence. So I think it's something the police are actually aiming for. There are thousands of young people demonstrating, and the only things we see are burning trash cans and the vandalism at the end. And I think that's a very poor summary of what is going on, and it is also drowning out the message people are trying to convey.

And in Albania, a nationwide student protest over education and social issues turned violent as demonstrated through bricks and trunks, chunks of concrete at Albania's education, Street. Police answered with tear gas and water cannons. Organizer said students were protesting university conditions, the cost of higher education, the level of financial aid, and the lack of job prospects after graduation. This is a protester. They must be overthrown. They must hold elections, form a technical government, and then hold free and fair elections. Whoever wins, let them win. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

the Warren Peace Report. Coming up, the midterm elections are less than three weeks away, will Democrats take control of the Senate and the House? Stay with us. I wish I wish I wish I wish I wish it to joy. I wish my heart. I wish I wish I wish I wish in. Vain, for then I let you go. And likewise to you do the same.

I wish we're on some shady rock. Wish in vain, performed by Ruanan and Giddens and Dirk Powell in our Democracy Now studio to see the interview go to Democracy Now.org. This is Democracy Now. I'm Amy Goodman, with the midterm elections less than three. weeks ago. Could the Democrats win back control of the House and the Senate? Election day is November 3rd. Democracy Now will be doing a four-hour broadcast from eight to midnight Eastern time that day. But at least 47 states in Washington, D.C. have early voting with voters already casting ballots in some states. All 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats are on the ballot in a

addition to some statewide races and ballot measures. The list of battleground Senate states has been growing. As many as 10 Senate seats could be flipped, including several states that have been long-time, deep-red Republican seats. Competitive races now include Ohio, Alaska, Texas, and Kansas. Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly a century. To win the Senate, Democrats need to flip four Republican seats and hold three of their own. They must hold Michigan, where Dr. Abdul al-Sayed is running against Republican Mike Rogers for an open seat. President Trump's been on the campaign trail. He spoke at a rally in Wasilla Alaska Tuesday, where incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan is facing off against Democratic challenger Mary Peltola.

former Congress member and tribal judge. If she and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Deb Holland running for governor in New Mexico to win, it would be a historic three Native American women in the governorships and the Senate. This is President Trump speaking in Alaska. On November 3rd, we're going to send one of the best and most respected senators in D.C. Dan Sullivan, the real Dan Sullivan. I'm talking about the real Dan Sullivan, not the fake Dan Sullivan. Not the Dan Sullivan put up by the Democrats.

I want you to do me one big favor, pretend that I'm on the ballot, because here's what happens. Every time I've been on the ballot, we win. So in conclusion, if you elect a Republican House and a Republican Senate, November 3rd, you get $5,000. Key issues raised by challengers and voters have been the economy, the war in Iran, the cost of gas, immigration, data centers, and corruption. To discuss all this and more, we're joined by David Sorota, founder and editor-in-chief of the lever. He's author of Master Plan, the Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America.

Why don't we go through a number of the states, beginning in Georgia, David, and talking to. talk about the overall picture. What's at stake here? As we talk, President Trump is surprising many by going through this deep red state tour, which indicates he is fearful of losing not only the House, but the Senate. And of course, what that could mean for, for example, investigations of him. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of incredible that Trump is out on the campaign trail. in particular in red states, in the sense that he is helping turn the election into even more of a referendum on himself when he is deeply unpopular in polls. So in a sense, I think at one level, he is doing the Democrats a big favor by being so

extra visible in the states where the Democrats are trying to expand the map. You know, states like Kansas, states even potentially, if you believe polls, states, like South Carolina appear to be in play. The Democrats challenging in the polls. There, Florida, also a pretty red state. You mentioned Georgia. Georgia's a different situation where that's a state where the Democrats have to hold that state. There's an incumbent John Ossoff there. Georgia, a real purple state. And Ossoff has done a fantastic job of turning the race into a referendum on his own Republican challenger. His Republican challenger is a member of Congress. Congress. So he has essentially turned the race into, in an anti-incumbent year, he has effectively

tried to, and I think succeeded at turning the race into a referendum on his opponent and made his opponent out to be effectively the incumbent, Mike Collins. And he's brought up Collins' association with people who are linked to white nationalism. But across all of these races, I do think. I want to play a clip of John Ossoff, the current Democratic senator, speaking to supporters in Athens, Georgia, last month. Five days after his father was reelected, Prince Don Jr. becomes a partner at 1789 Capitol, a venture firm founded by right-wing activists and Trump donors. 1789 Capitol then buys a stake in Vulcan Elements, a tiny startup that says it plans to, to produce the high-tech magnets needed in drones, missiles, and satellites. And about a month after Don Jr.'s venture firm buys its stake in Vulcan elements,

Pentagon officials learned that Peter Navarro, a convicted criminal, Don Jr's close friend, and a top White House official, wants the Pentagon to give your tax dollars to Vulcan Elements. One Pentagon official said, quote, the call came from the White House. We have to get this done. And Athens, to be clear, getting this done means funneling your money to the president's son's investment.

And so, of course, like clockwork, on November 21st, just three months after Don Jr. and his friends bought their stake, Vulcan gets a $620 million taxpayer loan from Pete Hegsess Pentagon, paid for with your money. See, while the world burns and you pay more for everything, your tax dollars become the royal family's wealth because it pays to be a Trump, especially when the whole world knows

daddy's a crook. That's John Assef. He faced off last night in a debate. And one of the major issues that was raised is, is he running for Senate or is he running for president. And that's true of a number of the people who are running for governorships or Senate, David Serota. Yeah, I mean, that's a big question for John Ossoff. And I think in that clip, I think it's important to note that what Ossoff is doing there, I think, pretty successfully. And you've seen this with James Talarico and some others, James Talaiko

running in Texas, is trying to connect the corruption issue with the affordability crisis. And this is a key theme that we talked about in Masterplan, our, the levers podcast, where the corruption issue for many years has been a kind of abstraction. People don't like corruption. People understand the government. There's a lot of corruption in the government. But that it becomes a much more salient issue when people have a better understanding of how the corruption is raising their prices and creating the affordability crisis. Assoff has made that a central theme. James Tala Rico running for Senate against Ken Paxton in Texas has made that a central theme, tracing the donations that Paxton has gotten to his votes to expand data centers.

David, I want to play a clip. This was an ad released by James Telerico. Who is ahead? And this is the first time in decades, a Democrat, ahead of the Republican in the race for Senate. This is James Tullerico's ad. $12 million. That's how much Ken Paxton's corruption has cost Texas taxpayers in legal fees and settlements. Guys like him always expect you to pick up the check.

I've passed bills to lower the cost of housing, health care, and property taxes. In the Senate, I'll take on the data centers raising our costs and fight to end the wars driving up gas prices. I'm James Tolariko and I approve this message. So that's James Talariko, and you heard our election headline. The Wall Street Journal has published video of the Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate partying in Dubai in 2024 New Year's Eve with two indicted fugitive healthcare executives and a woman not his wife. Two men have been indicted months before on federal health care fraud charges and didn't return to the United States. One of the health care executives had donated 190,000. dollars to Paxton. And Tolariko's response online was a party with multiple fugitives, and Ken Paxton is still the sketchiest guy in the room. And let's be clear, Ken Paxton, who to many people's surprise, was endorsed by President Trump over longtime Senator Cornyn, has been indicted by his, has been impeached by his own party, David Surrey.

Yeah, so this race is really the pinnacle of the Senate race in terms of how it embodies the themes in this election. I mean, you have a cartoonishly corrupt Republican Senate candidate against a new generation populist Democrat. And it's worth adding that Tala Rico has really cast himself as an anti-oligarch, anti-billionaire candidate. I mean, I would not call him necessarily a Bernie Sanders. candidate, but clearly a lot of the themes that you heard in the 2016 and 2020 elections with Bernie Sanders and the primaries there, these are being echoed on the campaign trail by Talarico and by other Democrats, even in these purple and red states, which I think is a reminder of how much the so-called Overton window has shifted in American politics, where those themes,

those anti-corruption populist, anti- oligarch themes are now very mainstream. Okay, you mentioned Michigan. The Senate candidates just recently debated. This is Republican Mike Rogers, followed by Democrat Abdul al-Said, an exchange over U.S. support for Israel and the war in Iran in a debate held in Grand Rapids. El-Said is blaming rising gas prices on the war. It is insane. $80, $80 to fill up your gas tank. And yes, I would support pausing. the federal gas tax. But there is one thing that is actually causing this. It's the war in Iran, a war that has been cheer led by my opponent since the beginning, called it a win, win, win. I don't know about you, but when I go to the gas tank, I don't feel like I'm winning. I don't feel like our country is winning. His policies will raise your, the cost of every gallon of gasoline, number one, raise your utility rates, cause you $20,000 for a Medicare for All

plan that takes away private insurance from individuals. It is a disaster. We cannot afford Abdul. Talk about this race, David Serota. Again, another marquee race here. I mean, this is a race where, as I mentioned before, Bernie Sanders themes being central here. I mean, Abdul El-Sayed was very aligned with the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, won a very, very difficult primary with tons of money, tens of millions of dollars spent against him.

He wins this primary. He is ahead in the polls. and he is continuing to campaign on those themes. It's important that you underscored how central the war is in that race. Mike Rogers has been an embodiment of the national security state, and Abdul al-Said's campaign has put that front and center, spotlighting his role in creating the surveillance state when Mike Rogers was in Congress,

his role, his investments in data centers. Again, data centers becoming an affordability. issue. I think that's key that linking the data center build out to higher electricity prices. And I think the thing is with this race, which is very important is if Abdul al-Sayed wins running as a kind of Bernie Sanders-style populist in one of the marquee swing states in the country, it will destroy the argument from the corporate Democrats at the center of the Democratic Party that you have to be an arch-conservative corporate kind of Democrat in order to win swing states. I think that's why a of corporate Democrats inside the Democratic Party are afraid of Abdul al-Sayed winning.

They know that it's key for him to win in order to win the Senate, but they also know it will destroy their argument that the Democratic Party has to continue nominating more corporate aligned candidates. And let's remember he's a doctor, Abdul-Sayed, and he wrote a book Medicare for All. That's a major issue for him. But I want to turn to what is a major issue for President Trump. This is during a rally in Tennessee Saturday, repeatedly calling Abdul al-Sayad Muhammad and calling him a jihadist. Like Mohammed al-Sayyad, I call him Muhammad.

Somebody said, his name isn't Mohammed. It's Abdul. I said, to me it's Mohammed. I'm the president. I can call him whatever the hell I want. To me, he's Mohammed. And he's a radical jihadist. And that's President Trump.

Congress member Alexandria Casio Cortes said if Abdul can win in Michigan, anyone can win anywhere. Your thoughts, David Serota. Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. I mean, I think that's why his race is so important. And I think so he's taken on the headwinds of the Democratic Party first in the primary, the corporate Democratic faction spending tens of millions of dollars to vilify him and cast him as a terrorist sympathizer. Now he's in a general election where Donald Trump is using all sorts of Islamophobia to amplify that message. And El-Sayed is campaigning for things like Medicare for

all. And so I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is absolutely right. If Abdul-El-Said can win a race like this in such an important so-called blue wall state, it means that his politics, what he represents, can win literally anywhere in the country. I wanted to ask about whether predictions are overstated about who can win. In the primaries, progressives were surprised by the Wisconsin loss of Francesca Hong, who is polling very strongly. And then, of course, you had Dr. Seid, who won the primary in a very close race with a sitting Congress member. Yeah, I think we should all be skeptical of what the polls actually say. I mean, the question of whether there's going to be a blue wave, is it a blue wave, a surge for Democrats?

Is it potentially a red undertow, essentially a drag on the Republican Party and how much of a drag? These are open questions because I think the way polling has worked in the last few election cycles, we've seen a lot of polls that have not been accurate. And there's a question about whether, are Republicans not answering polls because they're, They don't answer the phone to pollsters, or they don't want to talk to pollsters. There are all these questions about this. So I am skeptical of all of these polls. I think it's impossible to know what's going on beyond the fact that I do think it's a safe bet that Donald Trump is deeply unpopular.

So it ultimately ends up being a turnout question. How much of a blue wave in terms of a turnout among Democratic voters will there be that surge of turnout based on how unpopular Trump is and how bad the affordability crisis is. David, let's go to Maine. Trump's tariffs have been a major issue there. This is another key race for Democrats in exchange last week in a debate between this long time sitting Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic candidate Troy Jackson. Troy mocked it, but I was successful in getting concrete. pulp and road salt

removed from the tariff lived. I didn't mock the fact that she got road salt back. I mocked the fact that what about everything else? I mean, we can't eat road salt. And the thing about it is, is that everything that she's doing with Iran War and stuff like that, there's going to be so many less people that will be able to afford to drive

that I'm not even sure the road salt's going to be worth anything either. And that is Troy Jackson, and former Maine State Senate president, a former logger, and longtime Senator Susan Collins, who's dealing with a number of issues from tariffs to her support for Brett Kavanaugh, which enraged the pro-choice community of Maine. She said she couldn't have predicted he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, David Sarota. Yeah, I mean, Susan Collins is doing what she always does when she's running in a tough race in a democratic leaning state, which is,

insists that she's an independent voice, that she's separate from the Republican Party. And what Troy Jackson is doing is constantly pointing out how that's not true, how she's enabling the Republican Party. They've actually mocked her, I think, pretty effectively, when she constantly says she's concerned about the actions of her party, actions that she is supporting. And what you saw in that clip is her trying to also make a very traditional argument that, hey, you may not like me very much Democratic voters or independent voters, but I'm bringing home the bacon. And what Jackson did, I think, quite effectively in that clip is turn that around and say, you may say you're bringing back road salt, but there are much larger macro issues that make how much you're

bringing home to the state a relatively minuscule issue compared to the fact that nobody can afford the basic necessities of life. Now, Maine has not elected a Democratic senator in a very, very long time. And so I do not count Susan Collins out. She is a very, very tough incumbent. But this would be the year. And of course, Bernie Sanders is, though, very popular. And he was just with Troy Jackson. He's from neighboring Vermont.

And, of course, he's been going around the country. David Sorota, as we wrap up this discussion, again, we're going to be doing a special on election night. continue to cover these issues. Your thoughts on what exactly would happen, both if there was a Senate House Democratic takeover and if there isn't, if its House goes Democrat and the Republicans remain in charge of the Senate. And do you think if there was a Senate House Democratic sweep that President Trump would be impeached again? I don't think President Trump will be impeached.

I think that you've seen a lot of Democrats say they don't want to pursue impeachment. They think that's a, that path has been been fruitless. I think what you will see is certainly if Democrats win much more scrutiny using committee chairs, using subpoena power to scrutinize the self-dealing corruption of the Trump administration. I think you'll see scrutiny potentially on on Trump's cabinet secretary. them brought before Congress to testify on all sorts of corruption allegations. I think the question is going to be for Democrats if they win power. What do they actually stand for?

And that is an unanswered question that's going to be litigated also in the 28 Democratic presidential primary. But I think if you look at 2006, a similar moment, second term Republican president Democrats win. There was a lot of excitement when Democrats won back Congress in 2007. then won back the presidency in 2008. But soon after that in 2010, Democrats lost that congressional majority. And part of the reason I think for that was there were raised expectations of promises of delivering things. And then a lot of things were not delivered and the public was disillusioned. And I think that's the big danger if Democrats win.

If they win, they can stop some of what the Trump administration is doing. They have a sort of congressional veto power over some things. Will they use that power to cut off funding for the Iran war? A big question. Will they use that power to really push forward a real set of health care reforms? Another big question. But if they do not deliver, if they are perceived to have gained back power and they do not deliver, they could end up being a delivery system for an even worse Donald Trump.

And I think that is a huge question if they end up taking the first step by winning Congress. David Serota, I want to thank you for being with us, founder and editor-in-chief of the lever. author of the master plan, the hidden plot to legalize corruption America. We'll talk about what's become a major election issue this year, data centers tomorrow, with Paris Marx, author of Hyperscale. We'll speak to him on Thursday. Coming up next, federal agents raid the home of Democratic Congress member Ilhan Omar, after President Trump has threatened and attacked her, calling her garbara, for years. Stay with us.

By Emma Luthi here at Democracy Now Studios. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. The Trump administration's expanding its targeting of Ilhan Omar. the Democratic Congress member from Minnesota Monday, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided her home in Washington, D.C. The New York Times reports federal agents have also issued subpoenas to some of her relatives, including her sister. In a statement Monday, Congress member Omar said, for 10 years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in this campaign of political intimidation.

I will not be silenced, she said. Congressmember Omar is the first Somali American in the U.S. Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota. Trump has repeatedly attacked Omar and the Somali community for years calling both garbage. This is President Trump speaking at a rally in Clarksville, Tennessee Saturday, just two days before the raid. How about Ilan Omar? She comes from Somalia. She comes from Somalia. They don't have a government.

They don't have police. All they have is crime and squalor. And she comes into our country. And she says, my constitution allows me. She's talking about our constitution. What they've done to Minnesota, these people from Somalia, what they've done to Minnesota should never be allowed. And let's see what happens.

J.D. Vance. that our people are looking at it very strongly. That was President Trump, just days before federal agents raided Congressmember Omar's home. On Monday, Trump claimed he had nothing to do with the raid. She comes from a country that is a non-country, and then she comes over here and she complains about our Constitution. I think she's a terrible person, but that's really up to the DOJ. I have nothing to do it. We go now to Minneapolis where we're joined by Zeneb Muhammad.

She's a Minnesota state senator representing Minneapolis. She's a member of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party. She, too, was born in Somalia, came to the U.S. when she was nine years old. In 2023, she became the youngest member in Minnesota State Senate history and the first Somali woman. Thank you so much for being with us, State Senator. If you can respond to your colleague, what has happened to Congressmember Ilhan Omar, the not exactly the Justice Department, but Homeland Security agents, raiding her home in Washington, D.C., and now according to the New York Times, family members, including her sister,

have been subpoenaed what we reportedly hear, the warrants involved, her immigration status like you. She came to the United States from Somalia as a child. out. Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me, Amy. It's good to be here with you. I think what we know is the fact that the Justice Department has historically avoided cases like this so close to the election, and it is unprecedented. We also know that Congresswoman Omar has been under attack by this administration for the last decade. You've mentioned that. And we're talking about what they're targeting is paperwork that was filled out by her father decades ago when she was a child. And so, you know, as far as we can tell this, this is bogus because it's so close to the election, we know that this administration has been targeting their political, what they consider their political enemies or people who speak up against them. But here in Minnesota, people support our congresswoman. There was a rally for her yesterday after the day before yesterday after the headlines came out,

that they had raided her home and were investigating her. And everyone in this state has been through what we've been through the past year, which is an occupation by this federal government and the metro search and the loss and the killings of our neighbors, Alex Prady and Renee Godd. And so we know that Ilhan is somebody who stands up for her community and we're going to continue to stand with her in this moment. I was listening to Jamie Raskin last night, Congress member, constitutional lawyer, talking about all the Democrats that the Justice Department has. gone after weaponizing, for example, Senator Schiff and LaMonica McGiver in New Jersey, who was charged after trying to protect the Newark Mayor, Ross Baraka, when he was trying to investigate an ICE facility, for-profit facility in Newark, as well as others. Can you talk about what this means for a sitting representative to be a sitting representative, to be

rated to be subpoenaed. And this is, let's be clear, all Congress members are now up for re-election and within this period of not just two months, but one months within the election and how unusual this is. Well, it's unusual, right? Like I said earlier, the Justice Department usually avoids cases like this so close to the election. You know, you also mentioned all of the individuals and congresspeople who've gone after this administration, they go right after them, and they use the Justice Department to do so. And the facts are, Congresswoman O'Monoha Omar is a real person. She's an American citizen with rights. But this investigation isn't about her, and I think that's what we need to get across. She's a simple of everything that this administration

hates, an immigrant who stands up for her community, who fought to be here in this country. and now is doing her job and her duty to suffer our constituents. So let me ask you, President Trump, Mark Wayne Mullen, head of Homeland Security, are now explicitly threatening to send federal agents back into your state, back into Minnesota. What's your response? We've been through this before. You know, before Metro Search, Donald Trump said the Somali people are garbage. You said that he called our community garbage and used that as a justification to bring

thousands of agents to the state of Minnesota, which led to the killings of our neighbors. And we know that they're setting a president right now to go after our congresswoman, to investigate her, to raid her home so that they can use that as an opportunity to bring thousands of more agents into our community. But here in Minneapolis, people are vigilance. They're organized. We know what we've been through. And I, you know, I think people are going to reject this type of rhetoric from them.

Trump also posted on Truth Social. The once great state of Minnesota is being taken over by. Somali immigrants. There's violence, murder, mayhem all over the state. The people of Minnesota must fight back. The Somalians should not be allowed to get away with what they are doing. They view you as weak and stupid people. Fight back, Minnesota, fight back. If you need, the federal government will come to your rescue. Now, a group of Minnesotans held a news conference and particularly said, him talking about fighting back, talking about suggesting violence, goes to a very serious issue.

This is Abd al-Hifara, an Imam at the mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota, which was bombed by a far-right militia in 2017. Instead of bringing Minnesotans together to find solutions, President Trump chose to make sweeping accusations against my Somali American community and telling him people. to fight back. Fight back against whom? What exactly is the president asking people to do? These words are reckless, they are dangerous, and they have consequences. I know it personally because in 2017, after those type of reckless rhetoric, my mosque, Adarfo, was bombed. It was bombed. It was bombed. because of act of hate, we know what it means when an entire community who comes to worship

our mate to feel unsafe. Blaming an entire community is not accountability. Scapegoating is not a public safety strategy. That was Abd al-Hifara, an imam at the mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota. State senators and Ab-Mahmed, as we wrap up, are you concerned about violence increasing against the Somali community as a result of the increased rhetoric. And also President Trump saying J.D. Vance is investigating all of this. Absolutely. We're afraid of violence being taking against our community.

What we're seeing is the leader of this country incite violence against an entire community and tell Minnesota that if they fight back against this very tiny population that the federal government will have their back, that's inciting violence. And it's a rhetoric that has no place in our state. We've been through a mass shooting, anunciation church in June last year. We've been through political assassinations of our very own colleagues. We've also been through retroarchearch and how violent that was. And the truth is, Minnesotans understand who their Somali neighbors are.

These folks have been here for decades, some of them. They're in their second or third generations. Minneapolis is their home and they're not going anywhere. and we will continue to do everything we can to reject this type of hate and rhetoric from this administration and to stand up for immigrant neighbors. Zeneb Muhammad, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Minnesota's state senator representing Minneapolis. We'll continue to cover this story. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman.

In the latest crackdown on human rights defenders in the occupied West Bank Tuesday, Israeli forces rated, rated, what they say are the offices of several Palestinian NGOs, confiscating legal files, court records, valuable equipment. Israeli forces also deployed snipers around the entrances to Ramallah's Palestine medical complex, the largest government medical facility in the occupied West Bank. At least one journalist was reportedly detained. Palestinian officials say a child was injured from Israeli gunfire. Others suffered from tear gas inhalation. For more in these last few minutes, We go to Ramallah, where we're joined by Sahara Francis, human rights lawyer, previous general director at Ademir Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, which is one of the groups

that Israel just raided. Sahar Francis, welcome back to democracy now. We had you on when you were the head of Ademir, which is the prisoner support and human rights group in the West Bank. I was watching overnight when Israel was raiding because Al Jazeera was showing the raid live. But these offices, in fact, of your group, your previous group, Ademir and others, the Palestine Women's Association, were already closed, is that right, years ago, because the Israeli government classified these organizations as terrorists. So what were they raiding? Exactly.

Good afternoon. And thanks for inviting me again to join you in this important discussion. As you just said, these offices actually were raided in 2020. Two forced closure after the decision to designate the sex Palestinian organizations as terrorist organizations. they confiscated property and stole files and equipment at that time. So what happened yesterday, I would claim that this is part of the whole propaganda showed that this government is actually implementing just before the Israeli election, a couple of weeks before the Israeli election,

to send a very clear message to the whole Palestinian society, and especially to the Palestinian Authority, because the offices they raided is very close to the official governmental offices and other ministries in Ramallah City. That we are the masters, we decide what we will do. You cannot interfere, you cannot protect, nothing to do with your sovereignty in even Ramallah city that is supposed to be an area A.

And what happened yesterday, they were not confiscating property for illegal organization, claiming that this property is used to support terrorism. And I'm sure you also, in the videos that were presented by the different media, local or international, that they mostly broke and destroyed the files and the equipment, even the windows, the frigidor in this office that they claimed it belongs for Domir. They were throwing it from the second floor down to the ground. They just wanted to cause harassment. And this is the main message, the persecution and the collective punishments for the whole

Palestinian community. The raid onto the city center, Ramallah is not an lonely activity. It happens every day that they're. raid, different villages, different cities. They arrest people, including journalists and human rights defenders. And what most important to highlight in our case that the office they raided yesterday claiming that it's for Domir, basically it's a legal office led by lawyers who are representing Palestinian prisoners, which means if you claim that this is illegal or a terrorist action,

This means at the end that the legal representation for the Palestinian prisoners in front of the Israeli military courts is considered a terror act. Seriously, this is the message that they wanted to highlight. Actually, this is very bizarre and disgraceful, I think, even for their image. and the other organization they claimed that they raided, this organization was closed back in 2022. Since then, it doesn't exist there at all. Sahar, we only have 30 seconds, but I want to ask what message you think Israel is sending

at the same time the U.S. is sanctioning the international criminal court overall as an institution? That we don't respect the international law. we are not respecting the treaties and the institutions that implements and protect international human rights law and we don't care because we are not accountable. And this is the time for sanctions. I want to thank you so much for being with us, Sahar Francis, human rights lawyer, previous general director of Ademir, prisoner support and human rights association.

speaking to us from occupied Ramallah. That does it for our show today. A very happy birthday to my favorite news hound, Zazu. I wish her a happy birthday as well as her brother, Kasha, as they turn six years old today. Oh, in this news, steal the story, the documentary about democracy now, is viewable online for the first time,

If you live in the U.S. and Canada, you can watch the film in your own home. We did it live last night with a post-screening Q&A with me and the Oscar-nominated filmmakers, Carl D.L. and T.L.S. and moderated Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Mariana Hosa. Well, it's now there at Eventive. You can get information about it at steal-this-story.org. I'll be in Woodstock at 2 o'clock on Friday. check our website at DemocracyNow.org at the Woodstock International Film Festival and beyond. I'm Amy Goodman.