Democracy Now!

The Trump administration placed some staffers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency on leave Tuesday amid fallout over a letter to Congress signed by more than 180 current and former employees, who warn that budget cuts and mismanagement are putting the agency's work at risk. The dissenting staffers singled out Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson as lacking the qualifications and authority to oversee FEMA's operations and warned that administration policies could result in a disaster on par with 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The letter, titled the Katrina Declaration," came just days before the 20th anniversary of the hurricane, one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.Jeremy Edwards, a former FEMA spokesperson who signed the letter, lays out their demands and says Katrina is a grim example of what happens when there are people in charge who don't take the agency's mission seriously."

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is suing President Donald Trump to challenge his attempt to fire her from the board of the central bank. A president cannot get rid of Fed officials over policy disagreements, but he can dismiss someone for cause." In recent days, Trump's allies have accused Cook of misrepresentation on her mortgage forms, which Trump cited Monday when demanding her removal. Trump has also repeatedly threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell as he pushes the central bank to cut interest rates more rapidly.The Federal Reserve is meant to be protected from these types of political pressures. It is an independent institution," says Aya Ibrahim, a former senior policy adviser at the White House National Economic Council, where she covered the financial regulation portfolio and supported Cook's confirmation. Ibrahim says Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed's Board of Governors, is an incidental target of Trump's larger desire to exert control over all parts of government."

The divide in the Democratic Party over Gaza came into full view at a meeting Tuesday of the Democratic National Committee, where party members debated rival resolutions on the U.S.-Israel relationship.We speak with Allison Minnerly, a 26-year-old DNC member from Florida, who introduced a resolution for the party to support an arms embargo on Israel, cut off military aid to the country and recognize Palestinian statehood. The measure was blocked by party leaders who instead backed a rival resolution by DNC Chair Ken Martin, which called for a ceasefire in Gaza, increased humanitarian aid and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Martin ultimately withdrew his resolution amid outrage from rank-and-file members, who had overwhelmingly backed the more expansive proposal, and promised the creation of a task force to study the issue further.We need to continue this conversation," Minnerly tells Democracy Now! Palestinian rights and dignity are just too important to ignore at a time like this, and we want the war in Gaza to end."

We speak with the head of pediatrics at Gaza's Nasser Hospital, where Israel killed more than 20 people, including five journalists, Monday in a double-tap" strike, drawing global condemnation. Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra says Israel's justification of targeting a camera on the roof is unbelievable," and calls the attack a calculated trap aimed at targeting rescue teams."

Ten Palestinians Starve to Death in Gaza as Israeli Forces Kill 76 in a Day, Reuters Journalist Resigns over Outlet's Response to Israel's Killing of Journalists at Nasser Hospital, More Than 350,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv Call for Gov't to Accept Ceasefire Deal, Israeli Forces Raid West Bank as Senators Van Hollen and Merkley Visit Church Attacked by Settlers, Rights Groups Urge the Release of Palestinian American Teen Held in Israeli Prison, DNC Rejects Resolution Calling for an Arms Embargo on Israel, Protesters Occupy Microsoft President's Office to Protest Company's Work with Israel, CBS News: U.S. Resumes Neighborhood Checks" to Vet Citizenship Applicants, Florida Asks Federal Appeals Court to Keep Operating Alligator Alcatraz", GOP Governors in 19 States Mobilize National Guard to Assist ICE, Trump Calls for Death Penalty in All D.C. Murder Cases, Trump Says U.S. Would Accept Up to 600,000 Chinese Students, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to File Lawsuit Against Trump's Attempt to Fire Her, Lebanese Journalists Demand Apology from U.S. Envoy over His Demeaning Comments, FEMA Suspends Staff for Signing Letter Criticizing Trump Administration, Whistleblower Claims DOGE Put Americans' Social Security Records at Risk, Denmark Summons Top U.S. Diplomat over Allegations of Greenland Espionage, Trump's 50% Tariffs on India Take Effect as Penalty for Indian Imports of Russian Oil

Among the executive orders President Trump signed Monday are two that aim to eliminate so-called cashless bail. The move threatens to cut federal funding to Washington, D.C., as well as other cities and jurisdictions that continue to implement the economic and racial justice policy. Before cash bail was eliminated, judges would come up with a number out of thin air, and the decision about whether somebody was released was based upon whether they had a rich grandma or rich aunt or a girlfriend who was willing to put up the money," says Sharone Mitchell, chief of the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender.This comes as Trump has continued to single out D.C., as well as Democratic-led cities like Chicago, engaging in racist and baseless rants about a violent crime wave as he threatens to expand his military occupation. I'm a lawyer. I will tell you lots of legal arguments. I'm not sure the law matters anymore," says Mitchell.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that would establish specialized" National Guard units to be quickly deployed in Washington, D.C., and all 50 states, and again threatened to send troops to Democrat-run cities like Chicago. Officials and grassroots organizers have vowed to fight back. We are a strong labor city," says Byron Sigcho-Lopez, a Democratic Socialist alderperson of the 25th Ward in Chicago. We're not going to normalize fascism, and we're prepared to face the dictator head-on." Sigcho-Lopez says the city is planning a mass mobilization effort to take place on Labor Day.

Israel's war on Gaza is the deadliest conflict for journalists in recorded history. In an attack on Nasser Hospital in Gaza Monday, Israel killed five more journalists in addition to over a dozen others. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the hospital attack was a tragic mishap," but just hours later, Israeli forces killed a sixth journalist. There is a pattern of targeting and killing journalists that lets us think that there is an intention," says Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory.As countries prepare for the U.N. General Assembly, Albanese notes the complicity of Western states in the genocide in Gaza, particularly the United States. There has been a tolerance of Israel's impunity for decades," says Albanese. However, the United States is the single most important factor of crisis in the United Nations."

Three More Palestinians Starve to Death in Gaza as Israeli Forces Kill 75 in a Day, Thousands of Protesters Block Roads Across Israel During Nationwide Day of Disruption", Israeli Minister Says Annexation of West Bank Will Begin This Month, Scottish Police Arrest Screenwriter Paul Laverty over T-Shirt Opposing Gaza Genocide, Australia Expels Iranian Ambassador, Accuses Iran of Organizing Antisemitic Attacks, Absolutely Forbidden": Federal Judge Blocks Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, U.S. Immigrant Population Down by More Than 1 Million Since Trump's Return to Office, Libyan Coast Guard Fires on Rescue Ship Searching for Refugee Boat in Distress, I Will Not Resign": Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Rejects Trump's Claim He Fired Her, Trump Orders Creation of Specialized" National Guard Units to Quell Civil Unrest, FEMA Employees Warn Cuts and Mismanagement Threaten a Catastrophe on Par with Hurricane Katrina, Trump Touts Great Relationship" with Kim Jong-un at Meeting with South Korean Leader, Trump Executive Order Seeks to Impose Cash Bail on Criminal Suspects, Trump Orders Vigorous Prosecution" of People Who Burn U.S. Flag, Alex Acosta, Who Gave Sweetheart Deal" to Jeffrey Epstein, Agrees to Testify to House Panel

We speak with George Retes, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran who is taking on the federal government after he was detained by ICE for three days and three nights without explanation. Retes was arrested during a raid in July at a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California, where he worked as a security guard. Retes was driving to work when he encountered a checkpoint, where agents broke his car window, pepper-sprayed him and dragged him out of his vehicle for arrest. While he was jailed without charge, Retes missed his daughter's third birthday.They never let me call my family. They never told me what I was charged for. They just kind of threw me in there and didn't care," Retes tells Democracy Now!These are basic violations of George's federal constitutional rights and his rights under California law," says his attorney, Marie Miller, who is suing the government over what happened to Retes in the hopes of setting a precedent to stop the same thing from happening to others.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who became a symbol of Trump's anti-immigrant crackdown when the administration illegally sent him to El Salvador earlier this year, is at risk of being deported again - this time to Uganda, a country he has no ties to.Abrego Garcia was one of hundreds of men sent to El Salvador in March to be jailed in that country's brutal CECOT mega-prison, despite a court order specifically meant to prevent his deportation. After initially claiming no power to return Abrego Garcia, the administration brought him back in June to face human smuggling charges that his legal team has condemned as retaliation. He was released Friday from federal detention in Tennessee and allowed to rejoin his wife and three children in Maryland pending trial, but the administration immediately informed his lawyers of their intention to begin new deportation proceedings to Uganda. Abrego Garcia was taken into custody again Monday morning.Clearly, the Trump administration is sort of making this all up as they go along," says Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and a lawyer for Abrego Garcia's family. He accuses President Trump of using the highest office in this land to railroad and prosecute and punish an innocent man."

We speak with UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram in Gaza City, where the world's top authority on hunger has formally declared a famine. The United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, says the catastrophic" situation in Gaza's largest urban center puts about half a million Palestinians at risk of starving to death. Many aid agencies have lifesaving supplies sitting in warehouses outside Gaza that they are unable to distribute due to Israeli restrictions. This comes as Israel has escalated its destruction of Gaza City with the intent of forcibly displacing residents further south.Hopefully world leaders will take it and use it as a catalyst to finally do something to try and get more aid to these children," Ingram says of the famine declaration. What we are asking for is for us to be allowed to do our jobs. We are being hampered every step of the way at the moment."

Israeli airstrikes on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza killed at least 20 people Monday, including five Palestinian journalists. Eyewitnesses say Israel carried out a double-tap" strike on the hospital. A drone initially hit the hospital's roof, killing one journalist setting up a live stream, and then another strike hit journalists and rescue workers who were responding to the initial strike. Israel knew exactly who was there," says Palestinian writer and analyst Muhammad Shehada. Israel has killed 244 journalists, by far surpassing all 20 years of the war in Vietnam or all six years of the Second World War."

Israeli Airstrikes on Nasser Hospital Kills 20 Including 5 Palestinian Journalists, 300,000 Protest in Australia Against Israel's War on Gaza, Israeli Strikes on Yemen Kill at Least 6 People, Injuring Dozens, Russia Downs Ukrainian Drone Near Nuclear Plant, Sparking Fire, Trump Threatens to Send National Guard to Chicago, NYC & Baltimore, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Cutting Federal Funding to Sanctuary Cities, Kilmar Abrego Garcia Taken into ICE Custody Again and Faces Deportation to Uganda, Democratic Lawmakers Slam FBI Raid of Trump's Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, Trump Administration Purges High-Ranking Military and Intel Officials, Egyptian Gov't Employees Filmed Grabbing and Beating Two Egyptian Americans in New York, Virginia Giuffre's Family Says DOJ Gave Maxwell A Platform to Rewrite History", Texas Senate Approves New Congressional Maps Favoring Republicans, Trump Administration Halts Work on Nearly Completed Wind Farm in Rhode Island, Florida Paints Over Rainbow Crosswalk Honoring the Victims of Pulse Nightclub Shooting in Orlando

Family and community members are mourning 52-year-old Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, a father and grandfather from Guatemala who died while attempting to escape an anti-immigrant raid at a Home Depot in California last week. Montoya, a day laborer who had lived and worked in the United States for about three years, was struck and killed by a car while fleeing across a nearby freeway. Democracy Now! speaks with Montoya's wife and daughter, Ana Maria Vasquez and Ana Victoria Montoya, at their home in Guatemala. We want people to remember my dad in the same way we will remember him: as a loving, respectful, brave man," says Ana Victoria. He died because of these injustices, this persecution."At least two men have now died while attempting to flee the Trump administration's massive expansion of federal immigration enforcement. Authorities have yet to confirm which agencies or groups were behind the raid. If it was indeed a fact that Roberto Carlos was being chased by an individual into the highway, the community, the family, needs to know the truth. We need to, most of all, bring justice," says Pablo Alvarado, the co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. NDLON is calling on Home Depot to release any video footage it has, and demanding an immediate and full investigation of the events that led to Montoya's death.

Shahed Ghoreishi was fired from his position as a press officer for Israeli-Palestinian affairs at the U.S. State Department earlier this week. While no official explanation was given, Ghoreishi was involved in multiple departmental disputes over how to characterize U.S. positions on Israel's forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and the killings of Palestinian journalists. In a TV broadcast exclusive, Ghoreishi speaks to Democracy Now! about his firing and what it may tell us about the Trump administration's future policy in Israel and Palestine.

Democrats and Republicans are locked in a historic battle over congressional representation as Texas Republicans gerrymander the state's district maps to flip five Democratic seats, at the request of President Trump. California Governor Gavin Newsom says he is fighting fire with fire," signing legislation to hold special elections for the public to approve a new gerrymandered map of their own. David Daley, a voting rights expert and the author of Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections, calls this a gerrymandering Armageddon" that threatens to spread nationwide. Donald Trump does not want to have an election fair and square," says Texas state legislator Trey Martinez Fischer, a Democrat representing San Antonio. He wants to be the 'commander-in-cheat.' He wants to cheat on America, cheat on democracy, steal these congressional seats."

U.N. Declares a Famine in Gaza, Where Over 500,000 Face Starvation, Destitution and Death", Netanyahu Says He'll Restart Ceasefire Talks While Proceeding with Gaza City Invasion, California to Hold Special Election for Redrawn Maps to Counter Texas GOP Gerrymander, Trump Praises Troops and Officers over Federal Takeover of D.C. Law Enforcement, ICE Agents in D.C. Coordinate with Police to Target Immigrants in Moped Traffic Stops, Federal Judge Halts Expansion of Alligator Alcatraz" over Environmental Violations, State Department Is Vetting 55 Million U.S. Visa Holders for Deportable" Offenses, Kremlin Rules Out European Troops in Ukraine, Casts Doubts on Putin-Zelensky Summit, Ukrainian Man Accused of Sabotaging Nord Stream Pipelines Is Arrested in Italy, SCOTUS Clears Path for Trump to Cancel Nearly $800 Million in NIH Research Grants, Trump Administration Ignores Congressional Directive to Fully Fund HIV/AIDS Program, Trump Administration Cancels Grants for Sex Education, English as a Second Language, Court Rules Alina Habba Has Been Unlawfully Serving as U.S. Prosecutor for New Jersey, New York Appeals Court Voids Excessive" Civil Fraud Judgment Against Trump Organization, Eric Adams Adviser Indicted on Fresh Bribery Charges; Another Adviser Attempts to Bribe Reporter, FBI Raids Home of Trump's Former National Security Adviser John Bolton

President Trump said Tuesday the Smithsonian Institution was too narrowly focused on negative aspects of U.S. history, including how bad slavery was." Trump's social media post minimizing the horrors of chattel slavery came after the White House ordered a far-reaching review of Smithsonian museum exhibitions in order to ensure they align with Trump's interpretation of U.S. history.In early 2020, Democracy Now! spoke with the newly appointed secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Lonnie G. Bunch III, in Washington, D.C. Bunch was previously the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. He shares stories of the work of building the museum and its collections, and the time when President Trump made a visit during his first term. The museum has become a pilgrimage site, a site of resistance, a site of remembering what America could be and a site to engage new generations," said Bunch.

Israel gave final approval Wednesday for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank, sabotaging efforts at creating a future Palestinian state. The project has been on hold for over 20 years, largely due to pressure from previous U.S. administrations. The E-1" settlement would see the construction of about 3,400 new housing units and would sever one of the last remaining territorial links between major Palestinian cities like Ramallah in the northern West Bank and southern cities including Bethlehem, as well as cut off East Jerusalem. The West Bank is nearly 6,000 kilometers squared in size, and it has been the prize for Israel," says Mariam Barghouti, Palestinian writer and journalist based in Ramallah. Barghouti says Israeli officials have blatantly expressed their intent to bury the prospect of a Palestinian state. Israel is not engaging in just a war on Gaza," she says. It is engaging in a war of annihilation of Palestinians."

Israel's military says it has established a foothold on the outskirts of Gaza City and is calling up an additional 60,000 reservists ahead of a full-scale invasion of Gaza's largest urban area. This follows days of escalating airstrikes and artillery fire that have killed scores of Palestinians in one of the world's most densely populated regions.Dr. Mimi Syed is an emergency medicine physician who's been on two medical missions in Gaza working in hospitals that were under Israeli siege and was just denied reentry into Gaza, mere hours before she was scheduled to travel there for a third medical mission. Syed was planning to bring in a small amount of aid to the besieged enclave. As a doctor, I shouldn't have to smuggle in baby formula," she says. I shouldn't have to smuggle in protein."Syed also received harrowing voice memos from a Palestinian medical student in Gaza with whom she had become friends. The medical student lives in Gaza City and received evacuation orders as Israeli forces prepare to invade. I no longer have any hope," said the student in a recorded message.

Israel Calls Up 60,000 Reservists as It Begins Gaza City Invasion, Israel Approves Settlement Splitting West Bank in Two and Further Dooming Palestinian State, State Department Fires Officer Who Expressed Condolences for Journalists Killed by Israel in Gaza, State Department Sanctions More ICC Officials for Investigating U.S. and Israeli War Crimes, Russia Escalates Attacks on Ukraine, Casting Doubt on Trump's Call for a Putin-Zelensky Summit, Colombia's President Warns U.S. Against Invading Venezuela, Texas House Approves Congressional Map Gerrymandered to Help GOP in 2026 Midterms, Appeals Court Clears Path for Trump to End TPS for Immigrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua, Trump Administration Officials Visit National Guard Troops in D.C., Drawing Jeers and Protests, Trump Calls on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to Resign, Judge Rejects DOJ Request to Unseal Grand Jury Transcripts Related to Jeffrey Epstein, Missouri Community Defeats Secretive Project to Build Massive AI Data Center, No Azure for Apartheid": 18 Arrested at Protest of Microsoft's Work with Israel's Military

We speak with ACLU lawyer Eunice Cho about a new federal lawsuit brought on behalf of immigrants held at the detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed Alligator Alcatraz." The detainees allege being routinely subjected to human rights abuses, denied due process and access to legal counsel, while families have complained of being unable to find their loved ones disappeared" into the facility. These are basic constitutional rights that are afforded to anybody that is held in government custody. And what was happening at Alligator Alcatraz is simply unprecedented and not normal," says Cho, senior counsel at the ACLU National Prison Project.

How much is Trump pocketing off the presidency?" That's the question driving a major new investigation by journalist David D. Kirkpatrick in The New Yorker, which finds that the first family has been leveraging its place atop U.S. politics to rake in billions. According to Kirkpatrick, Donald Trump and his immediate family have made $3.4 billion from his time in the White House, including more than $2.3 billion from various cryptocurrency ventures alone.What really surprised me about all this is just how fast they're making this money. They seem to turn down no opportunity," says Kirkpatrick. It really sharpens the question of what a buyer, so to speak, might be getting for that."

Six Republican-led states have now pledged National Guard troops to the Trump administration's takeover of Washington, D.C., where it has assumed control of policing under the claim of tackling crime. Along with the D.C. National Guard that Trump already controlled, this brings the total number of troops in the streets of the capital to more than 2,000. The federal takeover comes even as violent crime in the capital is at a 30-year low - numbers the Trump administration now disputes, with the Justice Department launching an investigation into whether those crime statistics were manipulated by city officials.What we're seeing is lawlessness, but it's all coming from the White House," says community activist Keya Chatterjee, the executive director of the group Free DC.

Three More Palestinians Starve to Death in Gaza as Israeli Attacks Kill 56 in a Day, Israeli Hostages' Families Lead Protests in Tel Aviv to Demand Gaza Ceasefire Deal, A Record 383 Humanitarian Workers Were Killed Last Year, Led by Israeli Attacks in Gaza, Venezuela Mobilizes 4.5 Million Soldiers as Trump Deploys U.S. Marines to Caribbean, Mexican President Denies Trump Administration's Claims She's Collaborating with DEA, Advocates Rally in Support of 18-Year-Old L.A. High School Student Abducted by ICE, Video Shows CBP Officers in California Firing Bullets at Family After Stopping Their Vehicle, Boston Mayor Rejects DOJ Ultimatum to End Sanctuary City Policies, U.S. Attorney in D.C. Seeks to Maximize Charges Against Arrestees, with Exemptions for Firearms, Trump Says Smithsonian Museums Should Not Focus on How Bad Slavery Was", Judge Orders Mississippi to Redraw Supreme Court Districts That Diluted Black Voters' Power, DOJ Set to Begin Releasing Epstein-Related Files to Congress, Minnesota Court Overturns Conviction of Water Protector Who Opposed Enbridge Pipeline

Amanda Trebach, a member of the immigrant rights' group Union del Barrio and an ICU nurse, was monitoring ICE operations in the Los Angeles area when she was targeted and arrested herself. Video of the scene shows masked agents in plainclothes forcing her to the ground and briefly kneeling on her head. They took me into an unmarked vehicle. They did not read me my rights. They didn't tell me where I was going," says Trebach, who was detained overnight before being released without charges the following evening after an outpouring of community support. She recounts her experience and explains why she will continue to fight for her immigrant neighbors in the face of the ongoing danger to her community.

President Trump says he is working on a deal" to end the Russia-Ukraine war by hosting a series of meetings between the U.S., European Union, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky. Putin is insisting Russia keep areas of Ukraine that it has seized, including the long-contested Donbas region, while Zelensky is asking the U.S. for security guarantees to prevent future invasion by its powerful neighbor. We host a conversation with two political scientists, University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Ukrainian democratic socialist Denys Pilash, about the likely outcome of the talks and the roots of the conflict. Mearsheimer says the sides remain so far apart" when it comes to the possibility of a ceasefire during peace negotiations that the best outcome would be to settle this war now." Pilash, on the other hand, says there are still measures that can be taken to pressure Russia to agree to a ceasefire and to secure more favorable postwar terms for Ukraine.

As European Leaders Gather at White House, Trump Says He'll Arrange Zelensky-Putin Meeting, Tens of Thousands Flee Gaza City as Israel Steps Up Bombings Ahead of Planned Invasion, Hamas Agrees to 60-Day Ceasefire Plan That's Almost Identical" to U.S. Proposal, ISIL-Backed Rebels Kill 52 in Eastern Congo; M23 Suspends Peace Talks with DRC, Texas Democrat Locked in House Chamber for Refusing Round-the-Clock Surveillance by State Troopers, Trump Says He'll Ban Mail-In Ballots and Voting Machines, Citing Advice from Vladimir Putin, Newsmax Will Pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 Million to Settle Lawsuit over 2020 Election Lies, More National Guard Troops Deploy to D.C. as White House Social Media Teams Join FBI Raids, Mourners in Monrovia, California, Honor Guatemalan Immigrant Killed While Fleeing ICE Raid, 10,000 Unionized Flight Attendants End Strike After Reaching Tentative Deal with Air Canada

The White House has called for a far-reaching review of Smithsonian museum exhibitions in order to ensure they align with President Trump's interpretation of U.S. history. The idea that the Smithsonian - which was created as an independent entity - should reflect any administration's vision of history, and not the vision of the historians and the researchers and the other people who devote their lives to studying these things, is more than problematic," says Annette Gordon-Reed, professor of history at Harvard University, president of the Organization of American Historians and an award-winning author.The Trump administration and the Department of Education are also currently partnering with PragerU, a controversial conservative media company, to make educational materials. This is a whitewashing of history under the guise of making white children feel better about themselves," says Gordon-Reed. PragerU content has already been approved for use in public schools in 10 states across the country.

Massive protests have erupted in Israel, with about 500,000 people marching in Tel Aviv Sunday to demand an end to the war in Gaza. Organizers say 1 million took part in demonstrations across the entire country. Most of the Israelis who were out on the streets blame Netanyahu" for prioritizing his political survival over an end to the war, says Oren Ziv, reporter and photographer for +972 Magazine. Ziv notes that most Israelis are not speaking directly on the suffering in Gaza, on the killings, on the children, on the starvation," but instead focus on the survival of the hostages held in Gaza.

President Trump is meeting today at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several other European leaders. This comes three days after Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska failed to secure a peace agreement. Ahead of the Alaska talks, Trump had vowed Russia would face very severe consequences" if Putin did not agree to stop the war, but Trump then dropped his call for a ceasefire. Democracy Now! speaks with Katrina vanden Heuvel, Russia expert and publisher of The Nation magazine, on what's next as peace talks continue.

Trump to Host Zelensky at White House After Alaska Summit with Putin Fails to Secure Peace Deal, State Dept. Halts Visas for Children in Gaza Seeking Urgent Medical Care, Amnesty Accuses Israel of Waging Deliberate Campaign of Starvation" in Gaza, Ex-Israel Military Intel Chief: Palestinians Need a Nakba Every Now and Then to Feel the Price", Over a Million Protest in Israel Calling for End to War and Hostage Deal, Three States to Send National Guard to D.C. as Trump Expands Takeover of City, ICE Detains 7-Year-Old Student in NYC, Report: U.S. Deploys 4,000 Marines & Sailors to Southern Caribbean as Trump Eyes Attacking Drug Cartels, CBO Confirms GOP Budget Law Will Trigger $500 Billion in Medicare Cuts, Pakistan: Over 300 Killed in Climate Changed-Induced Flooding, Bolivia: Right-Wing Candidates to Face Off in Presidential Runoff in October, El Salvador Extends Mass Detention Without Trial Until 2027, Florida Radio and TV Host Rob Lorei Dies, Helped Start WMNF

As U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska for a high-stakes summit to discuss a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, we host a debate between two foreign policy thinkers about the war, its causes and how it could be brought to a conclusion.John Mearsheimer is an international relations theorist at the University of Chicago, known for his realist perspective. He has long argued that Western policies are the main cause of the Ukraine crisis. There's overwhelming evidence that it was NATO expansion into Ukraine that drove this train," says Mearsheimer.Matt Duss is executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and the former foreign policy adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders. He says that despite Western missteps, Russia is ultimately the main cause of the current war, which Putin started in 2022 with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin has made clear that he has a pretty grandiose historical conception of what he sees as a kind of renewed Russian empire," he says.Both Mearsheimer and Duss say Ukraine's war effort is flagging and that the best way out is to make the best peace they can," even if it means conceding territory to Russia.

President Trump says his takeover of policing in Washington, D.C., will serve as an example of policies he hopes to enact in other major U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. All the cities on his target list are led by Black mayors, and most have sanctuary" policies limiting local cooperation with federal immigration authorities.Responding to Trump's threats, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tells Democracy Now! that his city will not cower or bend or be intimidated by these attempts to divide and conquer our communities." He says that unlike Trump's militarized approach, Chicago has been investing in mental health services, raising wages and building affordable housing as part of a larger campaign to improve quality of life. Contrary to Trump's claims, violent crime is down in Chicago.We're building the safest, most affordable big city in America, the most pro-worker city in America, and we're doing it in a very collective way," says Johnson.

Sewage Floods Gaza Hospital After Israeli Strike, as Childhood Malnutrition Soars, Israeli Plan to Expand Settlements and Bury" Palestinian State Draws International Condemnation, Trump Predicts Ukraine's Zelensky Will Join Follow-Up Summit to Meeting with Russia's Putin, Erik Prince Reaches Agreement with Haiti's Interim Gov't to Deploy Nearly 200 Mercenaries, Texas Democrats Prepare to End Two-Week Walkout over GOP's Gerrymandered Maps, California Democrats Rally in Support of Ballot Measure to Redraw Congressional Maps, D.C. Leaders Reject Pam Bondi's Order Installing DEA Administrator as Chief of Police, D.C. Police Submit to White House Demands They Assist Federal Immigration Agents, D.C.'s Unhoused Residents Ordered to Leave Encampments or Face Fines and Jail Time, Lawsuit Accuses ICE of Unlawfully Deporting U.S. Citizen Children, Including Boy with Cancer, Florida Plans Deportation Depot" to Operate Alongside Alligator Alcatraz" ICE Jail, ACLU Sues Michigan City and Officer for Brutalizing Black Man in Mental Health Crisis, Global Plastic Pollution Treaty Talks Fail as U.S. and Other Oil Producers Reject Production Limits, NYC Council Speaker Promises to Override Mayor's Veto of Bills Raising Delivery Workers' Wages

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was recently sentenced to 12 years of house arrest after he was found guilty of bribing imprisoned members of paramilitary groups to coax them into retracting damaging testimony exposing Uribe's ties to U.S.-backed, right-wing paramilitary groups. Uribe was a staunch U.S. ally who ruled Colombia from 2002 to 2010, during which time there were thousands of extrajudicial killings of civilians, who were then purposely mislabeled as rebel fighters in what became known as the false positives" scandal. Alvaro Uribe is a very powerful figure. He is the leading figure of the far right in Colombia and, I would say, a leading figure of the far right in the Americas," says leftist Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda. His own father, leading leftist politician Manuel Cepeda, was assassinated in 1994 by right-wing paramilitaries working with the government.

As President Trump threatens to use U.S. special forces against drug cartels abroad, a new book, The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, reveals some of the most secretive and elite special forces in the Army are heavily involved in narcotrafficking themselves. There's at least 14 cases that I'm tracking of Fort Bragg-trained soldiers who have been either arrested, apprehended or killed in the course of trafficking drugs in the last five years or so," says author Seth Harp. The book also looks at how U.S. military intervention often stimulates drug production," including in Afghanistan, which he says became the biggest narco-state in the world during the 20-year U.S. occupation. Most of the drug trafficking and drug production was being carried out and done by warlords, police chiefs, militia commanders, who were on the U.S. payroll in a corrupt structure," says Harp.

Israel Kills Over 100 Palestinians in a Day and Presses South Sudan to Resettle Gaza's Population, Protests Worldwide Decry Israel's Assassination of Journalists, New Zealand Parliament Ejects MP Who Called Out Colleagues' Spineless" Inaction on Gaza, Bury the Idea of a Palestinian State": Israeli Minister Announces Plan for New Settlements, U.N. Secretary-General Warns Israel over Sexual Violence Committed by Its Armed Forces, Trump Warns Russia of Severe Consequences" Unless Putin Agrees to Ukraine Ceasefire, Trump Plans Long-Term" Takeover of Washington, D.C., Police Department, The New Yorker: Trump Family Has Made $3.4 Billion from Presidency, U.N. Security Council Rejects RSF's Declaration of Rival Government in Sudan, Peru's President Grants Blanket Amnesty to Police and Soldiers Accused of Human Rights Abuses, Trump Administration Revokes Visas of Doctors Tied to Cuban Charity, 27 Dead, Dozens Missing as Ships Carrying Asylum Seekers Sink Off Italian Coast, Spain Asks for Help Battling Raging Wildfires, 400 Die Amid Arizona Heat Wave; Melting Glacier Brings Floodwaters to Alaska's Capital, 5 Chicago Officers Involved in Fatal Shooting of Dexter Reed Won't Face Charges, Nations Struggle to Forge Plastic Pollution Treaty Amid Opposition by Chemical Industry and U.S.

We speak with Rachel Griffin Accurso, the educator known to millions around the world as Ms. Rachel, who has become a leading advocate for children in Gaza. Her YouTube channel for young children became wildly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic and today has more than 16 million subscribers. Since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, Accurso has used her social media reach to speak out for Palestinian children facing hunger, disease, injury and death. She has been hailed as the heir to Mister Rogers, the legendary PBS children's entertainer who also used his position in families' living rooms to speak out on social issues.I see all children as precious and equal. My deep care for children doesn't stop at any border," Accurso tells Democracy Now! in a wide-ranging interview.We also speak with Tareq Hailat, director of the Treatment Abroad Program for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, who helped connect Accurso with a 3-year-old girl from Gaza named Rahaf who lost both her legs in an Israeli airstrike. Accurso and Rahaf filmed a video, in which they sing a dance together.Hailat describes Accurso as one of the most significant, if not the most significant, voices for Palestinian human rights" in the world. Her advocacy has touched the hearts of people that never would have ever heard about Gaza or the Palestinian children, and that's why her voice is so vital," he says.

Israeli Forces Kill 123 Palestinians in a Day Amid Campaign to Seize Gaza City, Protesters Demand Justice for Anas al-Sharif and Other Journalists Assassinated by Israel, Israeli Peace Activists Demand Closure of Notorious Gaza Aid Group, Foreign Ministers of 26 Nations Demand Israel Restore Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Sudan's Rapid Support Forces Kill 40 in Camp for Displaced People in Darfur, Zelensky and European Leaders to Hold Call with Trump Ahead of Putin Summit, Pentagon Readies Rapid Deployment Force for U.S. Cities, State Department Scrubs Reporting on Human Rights Abuses Committed by Trump's Allies, Federal Appeals Court Grants DOGE Access to Sensitive Personal Data of Millions, White House Orders Smithsonian to Align Exhibitions with Trump's Views, Federal Judge Orders ICE to Improve Conditions at Notorious Manhattan Detention Site, L.A. Immigrant Advocates Hold Boycotts to Protest Corporate Collusion with ICE

Global condemnation is mounting over the assassination of one of the most prominent journalists in Gaza, Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, along with four of his colleagues at the network and a sixth journalist - the freelance reporter Mohammed al-Khalidi.The killing of al-Sharif and his colleagues is really murder," says Irene Khan, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression. It is not killing in the context of war. It is a deliberate strategy to stop independent voices reporting."U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for an independent investigation of the journalists who were killed in the targeted Israeli strike.

President Trump secretly signed a directive approving the Pentagon's use of military force on foreign soil to target Latin American drug cartels, according to a New York Times report. The order gives the Pentagon authority to direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels designated by the Trump administration to be terrorist organizations. I think it's directed mostly in Venezuela," says Alexander Avina, associate professor of Latin American history at Arizona State University. The U.S. has used the war on drugs as another way to advance the U.S. imperial geopolitical designs in the Western Hemisphere."

After announcing the federal takeover of law enforcement in D.C. in the White House briefing room, President Trump painted a grim picture of the capital - including roving mobs of wild youth" - that contrasts with crime figures showing D.C. reached a 30-year low in violent crime last January. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of African American studies and public affairs at Princeton University, says the move is an extension of Trump's use of racist rhetoric, racist ideas, and the use of policing to enact a domestic policy agenda."This is a man who has consistently scapegoated Black and Brown people to either gain celebrity or political capital. And now as president the second time, he is enacting an authoritarian agenda," says Muhammad.

President Trump announced Monday that he is taking historic action" to take the capital back" by deploying the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and federalizing the city's police department to re-establish law and order," and threatened the homeless population with jail time if they do not leave the city. Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia, says there are legal limitations for the federal takeover of police forces. He has to do it for an emergency, for a limited period of time and for federal purposes," says Hopkins. The president has made up these blatant pretextual emergencies to justify calling out the National Guard ... to essentially take over cities in blatant disregard for our democracy."

Five More Palestinians Starve to Death in Gaza as Israeli Attacks Kill 89 in a Day, World Leaders Condemn Israel's Assassination of Journalists in Gaza, Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund Divests from Israeli Companies, Citing Gaza Humanitarian Crisis, Trump Takes Control of Washington, D.C., Police Force and Deploys National Guard, Federal Court Hears Arguments Trump Violated Posse Comitatus Act by Deploying Troops to L.A., Advocates Call for Closure of Pennsylvania ICE Jail After Death of Immigrant, Advocates in El Paso Demand ICE Release DACA Recipient Catalina Xochitl" Santiago, CDC Workers Demand RFK Jr.'s Ouster Following Rampage by Gunman with Anti-Vaccine Views, Journal Rejects RFK Jr.'s Call to Retract Study Showing No Health Risk of Aluminum in Vaccines, Federal Judge Denies Government's Request to Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Transcripts, Middle East and Europe Swelter Under Record Heat, Trump Delays Plans to Raise Tariffs on China, Congressional Budget Office: Big Beautiful Bill" Will Further Widen Wealth Gap, Trump Names New BLS Commissioner Who Questioned Agency's Data and Methods, Two Dead, 10 Injured in Pennsylvania Steel Plant Explosion

As immigration raids and arrests continue to terrorize communities across the United States, we look at grassroots efforts to fight back. ICE has faced widespread backlash over the arrest of community advocates swept up while documenting raids across the country, many of them U.S. citizens. In Los Angeles, nurse and community activist Amanda Trebach was released from federal custody this weekend without criminal charges, after she was violently arrested early Friday morning while recording the operations of federal immigration agents in the area. Trebach, who is part of the community group Union del Barrio, was released Saturday after intense community pressure.This is just another example of the Trump administration and their fascist ICE agents - or whoever they are, because they're unidentified - violating the rights and breaking the law that they're supposed to protect," says Ron Gochez, an organizer with Union del Barrio.

We speak with California Attorney General Rob Bonta ahead of the start of California's court case challenging the Trump administration's move to federalize the state's National Guard to support immigration raids. Bonta argues the use of the military for civilian law enforcement in Los Angeles clearly violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. This is something that is deeply rooted in our history and our law as something that is prohibited, and Mr. Trump is blatantly engaged in this unlawful conduct," says Bonta. The case is one of dozens of lawsuits Bonta's office has filed against Trump, with some wins already.

Doctors Without Borders is demanding the closure of Israeli- and U.S.-backed food distribution centers in Gaza run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. About 1,400 Palestinians have been killed trying to get food at GHF sites since May. A new report from Doctors Without Borders - also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF - gathers testimony from its medics and others about the apparently deliberate targeting of Palestinians seeking food.The GHF is singularly disorganized, reckless, dangerous, and we cannot help but come to the conclusion that these are deliberately set-up death traps," says Doctors Without Borders CEO Avril Benoit. She stresses that the starvation crisis in Gaza is entirely a result of Israel's ongoing siege of the territory. People are starving because Israel wants them to," says Benoit.

We speak with Al Jazeera managing editor Mohamed Moawad after Israel assassinated five of the network's journalists in Gaza, including veteran correspondent Anas al-Sharif, in an airstrike Sunday on a media tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital. Al Jazeera has condemned the attack as an attempt to silence reporting on Israel's planned seizure and occupation of Gaza. The strike also killed Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal, and came just weeks after the United Nations and press freedom advocates warned al-Sharif's life was at risk following Israeli accusations linking him to Hamas.The pattern is clear: degrading, delegitimizing, smearing, and then killing," says Moawad. He says the network, which is one of the few international outlets with local journalists, is now scrambling" to cover the conflict as Israel prepares a renewed assault and occupation of the territory. They went after Al Jazeera because we are the only international organization covering the conflict from the frontline."