Democracy Now!

As the world watched Thursday night, President Biden held his first solo press conference this year, after hosting a NATO conference in which he accidentally referred to Ukrainian President Zelensky as Russian President Putin before quickly correcting himself. While speaking with reporters, Biden defended his record and vowed to finish the job," but at one point referred to Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump." As more Democrats continue to call for him to step aside, we host a roundtable discussion on Biden and Trump and the 2024 race, and the impact on U.S. foreign policy, with American Prospect executive editor David Dayen; longtime labor, racial justice and international activist Bill Fletcher Jr., co-founder of the Ukrainian Solidarity Network; and CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, co-author of the books NATO: What You Need to Know and War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict.

Biden Remains Defiant, But Fails to Quell Mounting Doubts, as He Holds First Solo Presser This Year, Spanish PM Urges NATO to End Double Standards" in Treatment of Ukraine and Gaza, Israel Continues Deadly Attack on Gaza City, Leaving Dozens Dead, Neighborhoods in Ruins, 70 Media Organizations Call for Israel to Allow Int'l Journalists to Enter Gaza Strip, Israeli Military Report Admits Failures on Oct. 7, Leaves Questions Unanswered, 1 Million Remain Without Power in Houston as Record-Breaking Heat Leads to 28 U.S. Deaths, 60+ People Could Be Dead After Buses Swept into River by Landslide, Kenya's Ruto Dismisses Cabinet 2 Weeks After Scrapping Tax Bill That Set Off Mass Protests, Saudi Court Sentences Man to 2 Decades in Prison for Tweets Critical of MBS, UAE Sentences Dozens of Government Critics to Prison in Mass Trial, U.S. Court Rules Activist DeRay Mckesson Cannot Be Held Responsible for Protest Injury, Arkansas Blocks Abortion Ballot Amendment on Technicality

Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy discusses ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, the ruling party in the Gaza Strip, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's continued hostility to compromise and the Biden administration's ineffectual mediation. Contrary to its claims of brokering peace, the U.S. will continue to send the weapons" Israel uses to devastate Gaza, unremittingly fueling an increasingly unpopular war, says Levy, who is now president of the U.S./Middle East Project.

As calls mount for President Joe Biden to step down as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee over concerns surrounding his mental and physical capacity to lead, we host a debate between two longtime members of the Democratic Party: Wajahat Ali, who recently authored a column subtitled Biden Is Very Old and Out of Touch, and Here's Why You Should Vote for Him," and Norman Solomon of RootsAction.org, which sponsors the Step Aside Joe campaign. At 81 years old, Biden is already the oldest person to ever serve as president of the United States. His recent public appearances, including a poor performance at his first presidential debate against presumptive Republican Party nominee Donald Trump - who, if reelected, would be the second-oldest person to ever serve as president - have renewed questions about his health and ability. Biden has thus far resisted pressure to suspend his reelection campaign, even as the U.S. liberal coalition fractures over his candidacy. Ali says that now is the time to unite over a candidate to prevent a second Trump presidency, and that without a clear alternative, only Biden can run a winnable campaign. Meanwhile, Solomon argues that Biden's performance thus far has already critically weakened his chances of winning the election. Uniting behind a losing candidate is a bad idea," he says.

Israel Continues Deadly Attacks on Gaza City, Pulls Out of Shuja'iyya After Decimating It, Ceasefire Talks Continue After Doha Meeting Btw. CIA Dir. Burns and Officials from Qatar, Egypt and Israel, U.S. Resuming Delivery of 500-Pound Bombs to Israel, NATO Reaffirms Weapons, Membership Support for Ukraine, Attacks Beijing for Ties with Russia, Russia Issues Arrest Warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, Sentences 2 Women to Prison for Theater Production, U.N. Report Confirms Ugandan, Rwandan Support of M23 Rebels in Eastern Congo, Biden to Deliver Press Conference Amid Spiraling Debate over His Run for Presidency, They Don't Want You to Vote": Rep. Summer Lee Blasts Racist GOP Voter Suppression Bill, Nevada County Refuses to Certify Results of 2 Local Elections, AOC Launches Impeachment Effort Against Justices Thomas and Alito, Bipartisan Group of Senators Introduces ETHICS Act to Ban Lawmakers from Stock Trading, Jury Deliberations Beginning in Sen. Bob Menendez's Corruption Trial, Chicago Mayor Addresses Gun Violence After Weekend of Shootings Kills 19, Injures 100, Bullet-Dispensing Vending Machines Have Been Installed in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama, 14 More Victims Buried on 29th Anniversary of Srebrenica Genocide

President Biden is hosting heads of government from NATO member nations for a three-day summit in Washington, D.C., to mark the 75th anniversary of the expanding nuclear-armed military alliance as leaders pledge to continue supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion. We get response from German lawmaker Sevim Dadelen, who is in D.C. to protest the summit and is the author of the new book NATO: A Reckoning with the Atlantic Alliance. She lays out how NATO is based on a series of myths about its purpose, respecting democracy and upholding human rights - as exemplified by member states' staunch support for Israel's war on Gaza. You have rising contradictions and crisis within the European Union and the NATO states," Dadelen says.

A panel of United Nations independent experts has accused Israel of engaging in a campaign of starvation and genocide in Gaza as the effects of the famine are being felt across Gaza. Palestinian physician and activist Mustafa Barghouti says what we see today is a purposeful act of starvation" and that the real intention of the Israeli government has never changed. Their main goal is the total ethnic cleansing of all of Gaza people and all of the Gaza Strip." Barghouti joins us from Washington, D.C., on his first U.S. visit in more than a decade.

We get an update from journalist Akram al-Satarri in Gaza, as Israel orders the full evacuation of all civilians from Gaza City after one of the deadliest days in Gaza in weeks. An Israeli airstrike killed at least 30 Palestinians at a school housing displaced people near Khan Younis, mostly women and children. There's no safe haven" anywhere in Gaza, says al-Satarri. The people who are bearing the brunt of those bombardments are the Palestinian displaced people." He also responds to ceasefire talks.

Israeli Strike Kills 30 in Khan Younis as Army Orders All of Gaza City's Residents to Flee, U.N. Experts Declare Israel's Targeted Starvation Campaign" Has Led to Famine and Genocide, Mourners Bury 13-Year-Old Child Killed in Israeli Raid on West Bank, U.N. Security Council Members Condemn Russia's Assault on Ukrainian Children's Hospital, Biden Launches NATO's 75th Anniversary Summit Pledging Air Defenses to Ukraine , Putin Awards Russia's Highest Civilian Honor to Visiting Indian PM Narendra Modi, France's National Rally to Lead New Far-Right Bloc in European Parliament, Military Leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Form New Alliance to Replace ECOWAS, Democratic Senators Call for Criminal Probe of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rep. Mikie Sherrill Calls on Biden to End 2024 Campaign, Joining Other House Democrats, Trump-Appointed Judge Upholds Ban on Protests Outside Republican National Convention, Family Demands Justice After Hotel Security Guards Kill Black Milwaukee Resident Dvontaye Mitchell

We speak with journalist Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept, about how he just announced he is leaving after more than a decade and launched a new investigative journalism outlet Monday called Drop Site News, alongside colleague Ryan Grim. What Ryan and I are trying to do is build a lean, sustainable, reader-supported news organization that's going to take big swings at powerful people ... and to operate with no fear or favor of those in power," says Scahill. Our pledge ... is to be accountable to the readers, the viewers and the listeners."

With the war on Gaza now in its 10th month, we speak with journalist Jeremy Scahill about the state of negotiations for a possible ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Scahill recently spoke to senior Hamas officials about the ongoing ceasefire negotiations and the group's broader goals. He is a co-founder of The Intercept, and he recently announced he was leaving after more than a decade to launch a new investigative journalism outlet, Drop Site News, alongside colleague Ryan Grim. Scahill's new article, On the Record with Hamas," examines the militant group's motivations to launch the October 7 attacks in Israel, as well as its stance on the negotiations, based on interviews with a number of senior Hamas officials and other sources. October 7 didn't happen in a vacuum," says Scahill. The primary motivation, Hamas members told me, was to try to shatter the status quo on Gaza. They felt that the situation was becoming untenable."

As Israel's war on Gaza enters its 10th month, we speak with Mohammed Abu Hashem, a Palestinian American who ended a 22-year career in the U.S. Air Force after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed his aunt in October. It was clear to me that I needed to step away," says Abu Hashem, who served as a first sergeant in the 316th Civil Engineer Squadron of the U.S. Air Force. He recently co-signed a letter with 11 other former U.S. officials who rsesigned over the Biden administration's policy toward Gaza, Palestine and Israel. The American people deserve to have a government that follows ethical and moral standards," says Abu Hashem, who also talks about briefly meeting Aaron Bushnell before the airman died by self-immolation in February to protest U.S. support for Israel.

Thousands Flee Gaza Homes and Hospitals as Israel Issues New Mass Expulsion Order, Hamas Accuses Netanyahu of Creating Obstacles to Ceasefire Talks, U.N. Rights Monitor Blames Russian Missile for Attack on Kyiv Children's Hospital, Biden Welcomes NATO Leaders to Washington, D.C., for 75th Anniversary Summit, 2 Million Lose Electricity as Hurricane Beryl Slams into Texas Coast, June Sets Global Heat Record for 13th Consecutive Month, Woman Dies of Heatstroke at Sweltering California Prison Amid Record-Breaking Heat Wave, Climate Activists Arrested at Protest Demanding Citibank Divest from Fossil Fuels, Biden Says He Will Not Withdraw from Election in Letter to Democrats, Mass Deportations, State-Led Abortion Bans: GOP Adopts Trump's Convention Platform, Sudanese Flee Southeastern Sennar State as Fighting Spreads 15 Months into Bloody Civil War, Brazil Ratifies Trade Agreement with Palestine, Bolsonaro Indicted for Money Laundering in Brazil; Lula Relaunches Probe into Ex-Dictatorship

Voters in Iran elected Masoud Pezeshkian as president Saturday. The heart surgeon and former health minister defeated hard-liner Saeed Jalili in a runoff vote held just weeks after President Ebrahim Raisi and other top officials died in a helicopter crash. Pezeshkian has criticized Iran's mandatory hijab law for women and has promised to disband Iran's morality police, as well as better relations with the United States and other Western countries in the hopes of lifting sanctions. Journalist Reza Sayah in Tehran says that while Pezeshkian spoke the language of the reformist movement, he also strived to show he's not going to be a disruptive force to the establishment." We also speak with Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi, who says elections in Iran are a farce" and that no candidate who reaches the presidency can really challenge the system. The president does not change a lot."

A leftist coalition pulled off a surprise victory in the second round of parliamentary elections in France on Sunday, becoming the largest bloc in Parliament and successfully keeping the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen out of government. The New Popular Front, which won 182 seats in the National Assembly, still fell short of the 289 seats required for an absolute majority. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist coalition came second with 163 seats, while the National Rally and its allies won 143 seats after having led the first round of voting a week earlier. We go to Paris to speak with author and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi and journalist Rokhaya Diallo about the historic election result.

Labour's landslide victory in Thursday's U.K. election gives the party a wide but thin" mandate, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik, who says the new government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has to work hard to solidify its gains if it's not going to be a temporary win." She also discusses her new piece, Pro-Palestine votes aren't 'sectarian'. Dismissing them would be a dangerous mistake for Labour."

As the British Labour Party won a landslide in Thursday's election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule, we speak with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was reelected as an independent. He discusses Keir Starmer's plans as Britain's new prime minister and says the party now needs to offer meaningful change to the public, including on demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Whilst Labour has this huge parliamentary majority, their national share of the vote was only around a third of all votes cast. It's a very low mandate," says Corbyn. He says a key demand from many voters is a push for a ceasefire in Gaza and the end of U.K. weapons sales to Israel. The issue of Gaza has had a massive effect on the general election in Britain, and it's not going to go away."

France's Leftist Coalition Pulls Off Shock Victory in Upset for Far Right and Macron's Centrist Gov't, U.K.'s Labour Party Returns to Power with Keir Starmer as New PM After 14 Years of Conservative Rule, Iran Elects More Moderate Candidate Masoud Pezeshkian as New President, The Lancet: Gaza's True Death Toll Could Be 186,000 or Higher, Another Israeli Attack on an UNRWA School Kills at Least 16 Gazans, Including Children, 5,300 New Illegal Settlements Approved in Occupied West Bank, Israelis Protest Against Netanyahu, Demand Ceasefire and Hostage Deal, Haaretz: Israeli Officials OK'd Using Hannibal Directive to Turn Border Area on Oct. 7 into Extermination Zone", Democrats Split on Biden's Fitness to Lead Party to Victory as He Continues to Stumble in Public, Boeing Agrees to DOJ Plea Deal over 737 MAX Crashes to Avoid Criminal Trial, NATO Members Pledge $43B to Ukraine as Russian Strikes Kill 29, Damage Infrastructure, Heat Wave Sizzles Much of U.S. as Wildfires Displace Californians, Hurricane Beryl Makes Landfall in Texas After Ravaging Yucatan and Caribbean Nations, Karen Community in Utica, NY, Mourning After Police Killing of 13-Year-Old Nyah Mway, Jane McAlevey, Beloved Labor Organizer and Author, Has Died at 59

We continue our July 5 special broadcast by revisiting our recent conversation with Christian Cooper, author of Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World and host of the Emmy Award-winning show Extraordinary Birder. We spoke with Cooper after New York City's chapter of the Audubon Society officially changed its name to the New York City Bird Alliance as part of an effort to distance itself from its former namesake John James Audubon, the so-called founding father of American birding. The 19th century naturalist enslaved at least nine people and espoused racist views. Christian Cooper is a Black birder and a longtime board member of the newly minted New York City Bird Alliance. In 2020, he made headlines after a white woman in Central Park called 911 and falsely claimed Cooper was threatening her life. Cooper also shares stories of his life and career, including his longtime LGBTQ activism and how his father's work as a science educator inspired his lifetime passion for birdwatching.

In a special broadcast, we feature part of our recent in-depth interview about The Night Won't End, a new documentary from Al Jazeera English which takes an in-depth look at attacks on civilians by the Israeli military in Gaza and the United States' role in the war. The film follows three Palestinian families as they recount the horrific experiences they have endured under relentless Israeli assault, including the family of 6-year-old Hind Rajab, the young Palestinian girl who made headlines when it emerged in January that she had been trapped in a car with family members killed by Israeli ground troops, and the Salem family, who first lost dozens of family members in an Israeli airstrike and then additional family members who were executed by Israeli soldiers. We play clips from the documentary and speak to journalists Kavitha Chekuru and Sharif Abdel Kouddous, the director and correspondent on The Night Won't End, respectively. We also discuss the plight of journalists in Gaza and U.S. complicity in Israel's war. There's no question that U.S. weapons have killed civilians in Gaza," says Kouddous. This violates both international humanitarian law and domestic law."

In a special broadcast, we look at voices of a people's history inspired by the late great historian Howard Zinn's groundbreaking book, A People's History of the United States, which helped reshape how history is taught in classrooms. Twenty years ago, Zinn and Anthony Arnove began organizing public readings of historical texts referenced in A People's History of the United States. The two would go on to publish a book collecting theses texts under the title Voices of a People's History of the United States. While Zinn died in 2010, his work continues to inspire millions across the country and the globe. Arnove and Hailey Pessin have just published a new book titled Voices of a People's History of the United States in the 21st Century: Documents of Hope and Resistance. It gathers more than 100 speeches, essays and other documents of activism, protest and social change. We speak with them about the book, and feature readings from texts featured in it.

We begin our July Fourth special broadcast with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" He was addressing the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. James Earl Jones reads the historic address during a performance of Voices of a People's History of the United States, which was co-edited by Howard Zinn. The late great historian introduces the address.

As Democrats discuss whether President Joe Biden should stand down as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate following his disastrous debate performance, we speak with James Zogby, senior member of the Democratic National Committee, about his call for an open and transparent nomination process to select new candidates leading up to the Democratic National Convention next month, where the final nominee would be voted on. I want to see a unified, energized party with a lot of excitement because they were part of a historic process of change," says Zogby, who is president of the Arab American Institute.

The Israeli military has issued new evacuation orders for eastern Khan Younis and Rafah, where more than 250,000 Palestinians are seeking shelter following multiple previous forced displacements. Monday's order prompted a flight from European Hospital, one of the few remaining partially functioning hospitals in Gaza, which has now shut down. The situation is dire," says Dr. James Smith, an emergency medical doctor who spent nearly two months treating patients in the Gaza Strip before returning to London in June. We have an obligation as healthcare workers, as public health advocates, to state very clearly ... our demands not only for an immediate and sustained ceasefire, but an end to the Israeli occupation."

As the earliest Category 5 storm ever observed in the Atlantic carves a path of destruction through the Caribbean, we get an update on damage from Hurricane Beryl from the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, where the storm hit Tuesday. He describes the disaster scenes he witnessed and discusses the rising challenge of extreme weather fueled by the climate crisis. The developed countries, the major emitters, are not taking this matter seriously," says Gonsalves. He says the world must dramatically reduce emissions and that the current political and economic system is driving all of us towards, if not extinction, to a terrible, inhospitable place called Earth."

Hurricane Beryl Threatens Jamaica with Life-Threatening Winds and Waves, Israeli Strike Kills Prominent Gaza Doctor and 8 Members of His Family, Sewage Floods Khan Younis After Israeli Assault Decimates Sanitation System, 12 U.S. Government Officials Who Quit over Gaza Assault Urge Ex-Colleagues to Speak Out, New York Court Delays Trump Felony Sentencing Trial Until Sept. 18, Rudy Giuliani Disbarred in New York over Efforts to Overturn 2020 Election, Democrats Show Signs of Panic as Biden Blames Dismal Debate Performance on Exhaustion, 121 Killed in Stampede at Overcrowded Religious Festival in Uttar Pradesh, India, Protesters in Kenya Condemn Police Brutality After William Ruto's Bloody Crackdown on Dissent, Indigenous Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier Denied Parole Again, Attorney Martin Stolar, Who Spent Decades Defending Social Justice Activists, Dies at 81

On what would have been assassinated Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba's 99th birthday, we speak with author and analyst Vijay Prashad, who has just published a lengthy article on Lumumba and the Democratic Republic of the Congo's ongoing struggle for control over its own resources. Sunday marked the 64th anniversary of Lumumba's historic speech marking his country's independence from Belgium, in which he delivered a blistering critique of colonialism. Lumumba's rise to become the first elected prime minister of Congo came after decades of brutal violence under Belgian rule and the extraction of vast wealth in rubber, ivory and other commodities from the country. Lumumba was assassinated soon after taking office in a plot involving the CIA and Belgium, leading to decades of dictatorship under Mobutu Sese Seko, wars, poverty and resource exploitation that continues to ravage the country to this day. The issue of control over resources is fundamental," says Prashad, director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. The Congolese have never been able to put forward a national project around how to unite the people. ... This has always been suborned by external intervention."

The world-renowned linguist and dissident Noam Chomsky was discharged from a Sao Paulo hospital in Brazil last month as he continues to recover from a stroke last year that impacted his ability to speak. His wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, told a Brazilian newspaper he still follows the news and raises his left arm in anger when he sees images of Israel's war on Gaza. False reports that Chomsky had died went viral online in June. We speak with historian Vijay Prashad, who co-authored his latest book with Chomsky, The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power, and was able to visit him twice while in Brazil. He describes Chomsky as a beloved friend, adviser, confidant, in some ways the one who helped explain what was happening in the world for decades." When Prashad was with Chomsky, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also stopped by.

In a historic decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Monday that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. The 6-3 ruling by the court's right-wing majority - including all three justices appointed by Trump - was issued on the final day of the Supreme Court's term and just four months ahead of November's presidential election. It will further delay Trump's criminal trial for leading the January 6 insurrection. The ruling upends more than two centuries of legal precedent, for the first time shielding U.S. presidents from criminal accountability. In one fell swoop, this court has essentially left the American people to the whims of the president of the United States - any president of the United States, but particularly Mr. Trump," says Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. We also speak with Lisa Graves, executive director of the watchdog group True North Research, who says the Supreme Court's conservative wing has left the country unmoored from the rule of law" by adopting such an expansive view of presidential power. This decision is the most reckless and dangerous decision ever issued by the U.S. Supreme Court," says Graves.

Supreme Court Grants Trump Broad Immunity from Criminal Prosecution, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to File Articles of Impeachment Against Supreme Court Justices, Israel Orders Another Mass Expulsion of Palestinians from Khan Younis, Freed Palestinian Prisoners Describe Torture and Degrading Treatment in Israeli Jails, A Full-Fledged War Crime": Rights Groups Condemn Israeli Military over Human Shields, Beryl Becomes Earliest-Ever Category 5 Hurricane After Devastating Windward Islands, Pakistan Resumes Mass Expulsion of Afghans; Taliban Joins U.N.-Led Talks in Doha, Newly Sworn Panamanian President Touts Deal with U.S. to Crack Down on Migrants, Venezuela's Maduro Agrees to Direct Talks with U.S. over Devastating Economic Sanctions, ACLU Finds 95% of Asylum Seekers' Deaths in ICE Custody Were Preventable

Chris Lehmann, D.C. bureau chief for The Nation, discusses the ongoing fallout from Thursday's first presidential debate of 2024 and mounting pressure on President Biden to drop out of the race amid questions about his age and mental fitness. It appears that Biden and his inner circle of advisers are doubling down," says Lehmann. They took this incredible risk to do this debate ... and they're now saying it's a greater risk to change horses."

We look at the unfolding ethics scandal at The Washington Post that has rocked one of the nation's leading news outlets and raised questions about its future. The controversy centers on CEO and publisher Will Lewis, who has reportedly pressured journalists inside and outside the newsroom not to run unflattering stories about him. His efforts to reshape the newsroom in the face of steep financial losses have also alarmed staff, and British editor Robert Winnett, Lewis's pick for a top editorial role, withdrew amid concern over his history of using fraudulently obtained information in newspaper articles. Lewis is also implicated in the long-running U.K. phone hacking scandal. Both Lewis and Winnett are veterans of conservative British papers owned by Rupert Murdoch, and The Guardian recently revealed that Lewis advised then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on how to cover his tracks amid public outrage over violations of COVID precautions at the height of the pandemic. At the most basic level of how journalism should operate, executives in charge of news in the public interest should not be suppressing news. It's a pretty simple bar, and Will Lewis has failed to clear it," says Chris Lehmann, D.C. bureau chief for The Nation.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday approved a power grab by corporate interests who want to strip federal agencies of their power to regulate public health, the climate and environment, worker protection and more. In the 6-3 ruling, the court's conservative majority overturned a precedent known as the Chevron doctrine that stems from a Reagan-era ruling called Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which established that judges should defer to federal agencies on interpreting a law if Congress did not specifically address the issue. We speak with Mustafa Ali, former head of the environmental justice program at the Environmental Protection Agency, who describes it as a very devastating decision," and to The Nation's justice correspondent, Elie Mystal. It's taking power out of our hands, out of the democracy's hands, and putting it in the hands of the court," says Mystal, who also addresses other recent rulings from the court at the end of its term, including the highly anticipated ruling on presidential immunity.

France's far right has won the first round of voting in a snap election, followed closely by the left, as President Emmanuel Macron's coalition is trounced. We go to Paris for an update as the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen shocked the French establishment after winning the most votes in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday. A broad alliance of left-wing parties calling itself the New Popular Front came second, while President Emmanuel Macron's centrist bloc fell to third place. Macron called the snap election after the National Rally won the most seats in last month's vote for European Parliament, even though his own presidential term runs until 2027. A second round of voting on July 7 will decide the final makeup of the National Assembly, but if the National Rally wins outright, it will mark the first time the far right has governed in France since the Nazi occupation during World War II. This decision was timed at a moment when the far right was at its strongest historical position in modern French political history, and they've capitalized on that," says Harrison Stetler, an independent journalist and teacher based in Paris. He says that while the left has already committed to forming a republican front against the far right," Macron's centrist forces have sent mixed signals" on joining forces after a campaign in which they recklessly portrayed both the left and the right as equally dangerous to the country.

Far-Right Party Leads After First Round of French Parliamentary Elections, 23 Palestinians Killed in One Day as Israel Intensifies Assault on Gaza City, 130,000 March in Tel Aviv to Demand Gaza Ceasefire, Prisoner Swap, Thousands Flee Looting and Fighting as RSF Captures Key Sudanese City, Beryl Makes Landfall After Becoming Earliest-Ever Category 4 Atlantic Hurricane, Supreme Court Overturns Decades of Precedent in Major Power Grab" for Corporations, Supreme Court Rules That Cities Can Criminalize Sleeping in Public, Steve Bannon to Report to Prison After Contempt of Congress Conviction, Democrats Have Serious Conversation" About Biden's Disastrous Debate Performance, Reformer Masoud Pezeshkian to Face Saeed Jalili in Iran Runoff Presidential Vote, Georgian Parliament Advances Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation That Would Ban Pride Events, Biden Pardons Thousands of Veterans Convicted Under Gay Sex Ban, Queers to Biden: Stop Arming Israel": Protests Erupt as Biden Speaks at Stonewall Monument

Joe Biden and Donald Trump's exchange on foreign policy in Thursday's presidential debate revealed that the two candidates are extreme militarists, and one of them, Donald Trump, is a proponent and expresser of fascistic politics," says activist Norman Solomon. In the brief section on Gaza, Biden boasted of his support for Israel as it pummels the Gaza Strip, while Trump criticized Biden, saying Israel should be allowed to finish the job," and said Biden is like a Palestinian."

Thursday's CNN debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump was a really, really rough night for those who are fighting for immigrant rights," says Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network. Trump repeatedly was stoking a moral panic on immigration, and Biden had very little in response." Both candidates boasted about restricting immigration and militarizing the border, while casting immigrants as dangerous and violent. Their rhetoric was reflective of an increasing anti-immigration shift in both parties, stoking a crime panic" that is really terrifying to see," says Shah.

Abortion rights were a key focus of Thursday's CNN debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the first to be held since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump took credit for nominating the conservative justices who helped overturn the law, and falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions even after birth." We have no examples of that whatsoever," says Michele Goodwin, professor of constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown University. There is no such thing as abortion after birth." Goodwin says that while Americans support reproductive freedom," Biden's messaging was weak in the debate.

We speak with two leading economists about Thursday's CNN debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, where the candidates sparred over tariffs, taxes, inflation and more. Trump repeatedly claimed that immigrants coming to the United States are stealing Black jobs," which is a fascist notion," says Darrick Hamilton, founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says Biden has much to boast about, including strong job growth and falling inflation, but that Biden's delivery was very muddled."

The first 2024 presidential debate between President Biden and former President Trump was held on Thursday night. It marked the first time a sitting president debated a former one. It also marked the two oldest candidates ever to run for president, with a combined age of 159. The 90-minute discussion hosted by CNN was more of an incoherent debacle than any substantive debate. Biden was halting and disjointed. He was hard to hear, muffled his lines and often appeared to lose his train of thought. Meanwhile, Trump repeatedly lied - his false claims not challenged by CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Joe Biden really failed to rise to this moment," says Chris Lehmann, D.C. bureau chief for The Nation. I expected nothing great, but it was so much worse."We also speak with Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and the co-founder of RootsAction.org, which sponsors the Step Aside Joe!" campaign. He says Biden's performance in the debate showed he is clearly impaired" and unable to defeat Trump, which is a gift to the extreme right wing."

Scores of Palestinians Are Killed and Wounded in Fresh Israeli Attacks on Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Meets U.S. Officials, Threatens to Bomb Lebanon Back to the Stone Age", House of Representatives Votes 269-144 to Ban State Department from Citing Gaza Death Toll, Trump Lies Throughout First Presidential Debate as Biden Delivers Fumbling Performance, Supreme Court Rejects Settlements That Shielded Sackler Family from Opioid Lawsuits, SCOTUS Ruling on SEC Severely Curtails Power of U.S. Agencies to Fine Violators, SCOTUS Blocks EPA's Good Neighbor Plan" in Major Blow to Efforts to Curb Air Pollution, Ex-Uvalde Schools Police Chief Indicted over Botched Response to 2022 Mass Shooting, Iranians Vote on New President a Month After Death of Ebrahim Raisi, Ukraine Signs Security Agreement with European Leaders and Formally Opens EU Accession Talks, Military Personnel from 29 Nations Including Israel Begin World's Largest Maritime War Games

We look at the targeting of journalists in Gaza with journalist Shrouq Aila, who joins us from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Aila's husband Roshdi Sarraj, a fellow journalist and co-founder of the production company Ain Media, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in October. Aila recounts how Sarraj's shielding of her and her 1-year-old daughter saved their lives. Everything went into dust, in just a second," she says. As she mourned, Aila continued her work as a journalist and took over Sarraj's place at Ain Media, saying her commitment as a journalist means a duty of documenting the reality of the ground," no matter what.

Gaza is the deadliest place on Earth for journalists ever recorded. As many as 140 journalists and media workers have been killed there since October, a figure that the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate says represents 10% of the journalists in Gaza. The Gaza Project, a new collaborative investigation from the nonprofit group Forbidden Stories, finds that at least 40 were killed while in their homes, at least 14 were wearing press vests when they were attacked by the Israeli army, and at least 18 were killed, injured or allegedly targeted by drones. Hoda Osman, a journalist and executive editor of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, who worked on the investigation, shares some of the findings, including the targeting of Agence France-Presse's Gaza bureau and the killing of journalist Bilal Jadallah, the founder of landmark Gaza-based media organization Press House-Palestine. The scale of these deaths is unprecedented," and not a natural result" of wartime conflict, emphasizes Osman. It should be a crisis for journalists worldwide."

Anti-government protests in Kenya are continuing after President William Ruto made a dramatic reversal Wednesday, announcing he would not sign the finance bill that sparked a nationwide uprising, and would instead send the bill back to Parliament. At least 23 people were killed and dozens more injured when police fired live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters who stormed Kenya's Parliament building. We speak to a writer and activist based in Nairobi who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety. She says many in the youth-led movement have been abducted" during the police crackdown on demonstrations, which are now calling for Parliament to be dissolved and new elections to be held. We also hear from Mamka Anyona, a Kenyan international finance and development expert, who breaks down the financial crisis that led to the mass unrest. The contested finance bill deploys a tax hike in an attempt to repay $80 billion in foreign loans, largely from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But critics say mismanagement and corruption have led to high inflation and unemployment, and characterize both the bill and the loans themselves as undemocratic decisions reached without constituent approval. "It has all ended up creating this tinderbox," Anyona says.

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Political unrest in Kenya erupted into violence Tuesday as authorities opened fire on protesters in Nairobi who oppose President William Ruto's controversial tax bill. Hundreds of people stormed the legislature and burned part of the building. Meanwhile, inside, lawmakers voted to pass the tax measure, which will raise the cost of many everyday items to pay down government debt. The new taxes have sparked weeks of youth-led demonstrations as many call for Ruto to resign, and the president responded to Tuesday's events by deploying the military to crack down on the protests. At least 22 people have been killed and dozens more injured in the nationwide protests. We speak with Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya, who describes how high unemployment and disinvestment in social services led to the mass unrest, and to activist Auma Obama, sister of former U.S. President Barack Obama. The Kenyan people are struggling, especially the young people," says Obama, who was tear-gassed by police Tuesday. The debt is irresponsible, and it is a pattern that has repeated again and again on the continent."

As Julian Assange returns to his native Australia, press rights advocates warn that his case could cast a long shadow over journalists' work to investigate and expose government secrets. The WikiLeaks founder has pleaded guilty to one charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act as part of a deal with the Justice Department that lets him avoid further prison time following five years behind bars in the U.K. awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. He had been facing a possible 175 years in U.S. prison if convicted on all charges related to his publication of classified documents in 2010 that revealed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think this is an unmitigated victory for press freedom, because we do still have this plea agreement in which Julian Assange essentially agrees that he has spent five years in custody for the kinds of acts that journalists engage in all the time," says Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and previously the ACLU's deputy legal director.

We speak with Australian Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, a prominent supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who says the publisher's case is a big deal" in the country that cut across political divisions. It's taken a really big campaign, a really big grassroots campaign by thousands of people in Australia - indeed, millions of people around the world - to bring this to the attention of politicians." Assange landed in Australia Wednesday after pleading guilty to a single charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act, allowing him to avoid further prison time after years of legal jeopardy.

Julian Assange has landed in Australia a free man, reuniting with his family Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act as part of a deal with the Justice Department. The WikiLeaks publisher entered his plea on the Pacific island of Saipan, part of the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, which lets him avoid further prison time following five years behind bars in the U.K. awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. He had been facing a possible 175 years in U.S. prison if convicted on charges related to his publication of classified documents in 2010 that revealed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. This case is an attack on journalism, it's an attack on the public's right to know, and it should never have been brought," the WikiLeaks founder's wife, Stella Assange, said at a press conference Wednesday. Julian should never have spent a single day in prison. But today we celebrate, because today Julian is free." We also play comments from members of Assange's legal team, Jennifer Robinson and Barry Pollack, who said the use of the World War I-era Espionage Act to go after a publisher put press freedoms at grave risk.

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