Democracy Now!

Billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused of sexually assaulting underage girls for more than a decade, will appear in federal court today in Manhattan on sex trafficking charges. He was arrested on Saturday for allegedly running a sex trafficking operation by luring underage girls as young as 14 years old to his mansion in Manhattan. Epstein was previously accused of molesting and trafficking dozens of underage girls in Florida, but he ended up serving just 13 months in county jail after the U.S. prosecutor in Florida, Alexander Acosta, cut what's been described as "one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history." The plea deal allowed Epstein to avoid a federal trial and possible life in prison, and effectively ended an FBI probe into the case. Acosta is now Donald Trump's labor secretary. Epstein has counted Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among his friends. We speak with Vicky Ward, an investigative journalist who profiled Jeffrey Epstein for Vanity Fair in 2003 in a piece headlined "The Talented Mr. Epstein." The magazine's editor at the time, Graydon Carter, cut out the testimonies of two young women Epstein allegedly molested who had spoken to Ward on the record. Ward later wrote about the incident for The Daily Beast in an article headlined "I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003."

The U.S. national women's soccer team made history by winning its record fourth World Cup after defeating the Netherlands 2 to 0 on Sunday in Lyon, France. The U.S. women's World Cup victory came just months after members of the 2015 women's team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation over gender discrimination. Following the victory, audience members began to chant "equal pay" in solidarity with the team's demands for an equal salary to their male counterparts. Prize money for this year's Women's World Cup is just $30 million compared to $400 million for the 2018 men's World Cup. Co-captain Megan Rapinoe was awarded the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot awards for best player and top goal scorer. Rapinoe has been the center of attention throughout the tournament. Before games she refused to sing the national anthem or put her hand on her heart. She also made headlines for saying she would refuse to go to the White House if invited. We speak with Shireen Ahmed, award-winning sports activist focusing on Muslim women in sports, and Amira Rose Davis, assistant professor of history and African American studies at Penn State University.

Trump & DOJ Reverse Stance, Will Keep Pushing for Citizenship Question in 2020 Census, Trump Admin Threatens It's Ready to Start Deporting Up to 1 Million People, ICE and FBI Have Used Facial Recognition Technology to Mine DMV Databases, Trump: Migrants "Very Happy" with Situation in U.S. Migrant Jails, Iran Breaches Nuclear Deal Limits, Condemns U.K.'s Seizure of Oil Tanker, Sudanese Military Leaders and Opposition Agree to 3-Year Power-Sharing Deal, Greek Snap Elections Hand Victory to Conservative Party, U.S. Women's Team Wins Soccer World Cup, Shining a Spotlight on Gender Pay Disparity, State of Emergency Declared After 2 Major Earthquakes Shake California, Joe Biden Apologizes for Praising Segregationists, Defends Record, 2020 Dems Propose Measures to Address Racial Labor, Housing Inequalities, Rep. Justin Amash Leaves GOP, Blasts D.C.'s "Partisan Death Spiral", Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein Arrested for Sex-Trafficking Women and Girls, NJ Judge Under Fire for Defending Privileged Teen Who Filmed Himself Assaulting 16-Year-Old Girl, Alabama DA Drops Charges Against Woman Indicted After She Was Shot and Miscarried Fetus

In April, hundreds of people packed into the Old South Church in Boston to hear the world-renowned dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky speak. In this hour-long special, we air an excerpt of Chomsky's speech and his on-stage interview with Amy Goodman.

Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden is under fire for fondly reminiscing about his "civil" relationship with segregationist senators in the 1970s and 1980s. Speaking at a fundraiser at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City on Tuesday night, Biden expressed nostalgia for his relationship with the late Democratic pro- segregation Senators James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. Biden reportedly said, "I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. … He never called me 'boy'; he called me 'son.'" Biden went on to say, "A guy like Herman Talmadge, one of the meanest guys I ever knew, you go down the list of all these guys. Well, guess what. At least there was some civility. We got things done." Biden was widely criticized by other Democratic presidential contenders, including Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio. We speak with acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates about Joe Biden's long record on the wrong side of civil rights legislation, from opposing busing in the 1970s to helping to fuel mass incarceration in 1990s. Coates says, "Joe Biden shouldn't be president."

We speak with renowned writer Ta-Nehisi Coates on the lasting legacy of American slavery, how the national dialogue about reparations has progressed in the past five years and his testimony in favor of reparations at a historic hearing last month, in which he took direct aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Coates says, "It is absolutely impossible to imagine America without enslavement."

On June 19, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary held a historic hearing on reparations for slavery—the first of its kind in over a decade. The hearing coincided with Juneteenth, a day that commemorates June 19, 1865, when slaves in Galveston, Texas, finally learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had abolished slavery. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the transatlantic slave trade. Lawmakers are considering a bill titled the "Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act." It was introduced by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston, after former Congressmember John Conyers had championed the bill for decades without success. The bill carries the designation H.R. 40, a reference to "40 acres and a mule," one of the nation's first broken promises to newly freed slaves. Ahead of the hearing, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago, for whom none of us currently living are responsible, is a good idea." Award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover testified at the historic congressional hearing on reparations.

In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear 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, he gave one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." He was addressing the Rochester Ladies Antislavery Society. This is actor James Earl Jones reading the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn’s acclaimed book, "Voices of a People's History of the United States." He was introduced by Zinn.

Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday they will retry humanitarian aid volunteer and immigration rights activist Scott Warren on two charges related to aiding migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. This comes just a few weeks after a jury refused to convict Warren for providing water, food, clean clothes and beds to two undocumented migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona. Eight jurors found Warren not guilty; four said he was. Federal prosecutors will make their case against Warren again in an 8-day jury trial in November. They have dropped a conspiracy charge against him. If convicted on the two felony migrant harboring charges, Warren faces up to 10 years in prison.

Customs and Border Protection has opened an investigation into the posting of racist and xenophobic messages by current and former Border Patrol agents on a private Facebook group. More than 9,500 people are part of the group, which was exposed by ProPublica on Monday. The Facebook group is filled with racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant and misogynistic content about migrants and asylum seekers, as well as public officials like Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is depicted in a photoshopped image being sexually assaulted by President Trump. In another thread, members of the group made fun of a video of a man trying to carry a child through a rapid river in a plastic bag. Someone commented, "At least it's already in a trash bag." We speak with ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson, who broke the story.

DHS Watchdog: "Dangerous Overcrowding" and Dire Conditions at Texas Migrant Jails, 30-Year-Old Honduran Migrant Dies in U.S. Custody, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Plan to Deny Bail to Asylum Seekers, DHS Fining Immigrants Up to $500,000 for Not Leaving the U.S., Nationwide Protests Demand Lawmakers #CloseTheCamps, Cory Booker Vows to End Immigrant Detention in 2020 Proposal, In Defeat for Trump Admin, 2020 Census Will Not Include Citizenship Question, House Dems Sue Treasury and IRS over Trump's Tax Returns, Airstrike Hits Migrant Detention Center in Libya, Killing At Least 40, Ethiopian-Israeli Community Protests Police Killing of Ethiopian Teen, Navy SEAL Accused of War Crimes Acquitted of Murder, Arizona Prosecutors Will Retry Activist Scott Warren for Helping Migrants, Black Patient Who Was Arrested for Taking a Walk While Hooked Up to an IV Speaks Out, GOP Upset After Nike Pulls Sneaker Design Featuring Slavery and Racism-Linked Flag, Trump Pushes Ahead with Costly Military Spectacle for July 4th Celebrations, Chubb Becomes First U.S. Insurer to Stop Coverage for Coal Companies, June 2019 Was Hottest on Record, London Climate Activists Descend on Oil Company HQs, Demand an End to Drilling

As Senator Kamala Harris rises in the early presidential polls, she is facing increasing scrutiny over her record as a prosecutor in California. In 2004, Harris became district attorney of San Francisco. She held the post until 2011, when she became the attorney general of California. We speak with Lara Bazelon, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law. In January, she wrote a piece in The New York Times titled "Kamala Harris Was Not a 'Progressive Prosecutor.'" In it, Bazelon writes, "Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state's attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent. Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors."

California senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris is riding a new wave of momentum following her debate performance last week when she challenged Joe Biden's past history of working with segregationist lawmakers and his opposition to busing to integrate schools in the 1970s. While Harris has jumped in several opinion polls, there has also been a right-wing backlash online. On Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a message from an "alt-right" personality that read, "Kamala Harris is *not* an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican. I'm so sick of people robbing American Blacks (like myself) of our history. It's disgusting. ... Harris' family were actually slave owners." Trump Jr. shared the tweet with his followers, writing, "Is this true? Wow." He deleted the tweet later that night, but he has come under fire from several other 2020 presidential candidates for his comments. We speak with Shireen Mitchell, founder of the group Stop Online Violence Against Women.

Riot police used tear gas to forcibly remove hundreds of protesters occupying a Legislature building early Tuesday morning. The activists began their occupation on Monday when they stormed Hong Kong's Legislative Council and smashed the glass to gain entry, tearing down portraits of officials and spray-painting the walls. The action took place as hundreds of thousands flooded the streets Monday to mark the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese control 22 years ago. It was just the latest mass demonstration since millions took to the streets in a series of marches last month to protest a contested bill that would allow for extraditions of Hong Kong residents and visitors to mainland China. We speak with Claudia Mo, a democratic lawmaker in Hong Kong.

Lawmakers Decry Dire Conditions and Lack of Accountability During Visit to Texas Migrant Jails, Migrant Child Freed from Clint Border Patrol Jail: "They Treated Us Badly", ProPublica: Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Rife with Racist, Sexist and Anti-Immigrant Posts, Migrant Father and Daughter Who Drowned in Rio Grande Buried in El Salvador, #CloseTheCamps Protests Planned Across the U.S., Mexico Deploys National Guard, Ramps Up Crackdown on Immigrants, Hong Kong Protests Continue as Activists Renew Demands to Withdraw Extradition Bill, Iran Surpasses Enriched Uranium Stockpile Allowed Under Nuclear Deal, Japan Resumes Commercial Whaling After 30+ Year Moratorium, USDA to Move 100s of Jobs Out of D.C. Amid Pushback from Employees, Lawmakers and Climate Scientists, Trump Requests Tanks, Fighter Jets for July 4th Military Parade

Four million people took to the streets of New York City Sunday in the largest LGBTQ Pride celebration in history. There were two marches to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising that sparked the modern day LGBTQ movement. Revelers marched down Fifth Avenue cheered on by millions for the WorldPride parade. And in Sheridan Square, at the very site where gay and trans people clashed with police on the early morning of June 28, 1969, tens of thousands of activists gathered for the anti-corporate Queer Liberation March. Their chant was "Stonewall was a riot! We will not be quiet!" Democracy Now!'s Tey-Marie Astudillo and Libby Rainey were there in the streets. They spoke to some of the activists who were there in the days of the Stonewall uprising 50 years ago, as well as those who carry on the tradition today, among them Raquel Willis, who recently became the first transgender woman to be executive editor of Out magazine. But we begin with veteran activist and journalist Ann Northrop, co-host of the Free Speech TV show "Gay USA."

President Trump made history Sunday when he became the first sitting U.S. president to step foot in North Korea. Trump was there to visit North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the military demarcation line at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Kim then invited Trump to cross the line, which has divided North and South Korea since 1953. Trump then took about 20 steps into North Korea. Following the meeting at the DMZ, Trump and Kim held a three-way gathering with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Sunday marked Trump and Kim's first meeting since nuclear talks broke down in February. More nuclear talks are reportedly scheduled to begin in the coming weeks. We speak with Suzy Kim, associate professor of Korean history at Rutgers University, and Christine Ahn, founder and executive director of Women Cross DMZ, a global movement of women mobilizing to end the Korean War.

Trump Sets Foot in North Korea in Historic First, Hong Kong Protesters Take to Streets, Enter Gov't Building, U.S. and China Ease Trade Tensions, Trump Lavishes Praise on MBS at G20 Summit, At Least 10 Killed in Sudanese Anti-Gov't Protests, Afghanistan: Violent Attacks Kill 100s in Recent Days as U.S.-Taliban Peace Talks Resume, Italian Police Arrest Captain of Migrant Ship After She Rescues 53 Refugees, Senate Rejects Effort to Prevent Trump from Attacking Iran Without Congressional Approval, Charles Koch and George Soros Team Up to Fund New Anti-Interventionist Think Tank, SCOTUS Rejects Alabama Ban on Most Common 2nd-Trimester Abortion Procedure, SCOTUS to Hear Trump Case on Repealing DACA, CA Judge Again Halts Trump Border Wall Construction Using Military Funds, 9/11 Responder and Survivor Advocate Luis Alvarez Dies of Cancer, Neo-Nazi Who Killed Activist Heather Heyer at Charlottesville Rally Sentenced to Life, Rights Groups Sue After Florida Gov. Signs Bill Curbing Voter-Mandated Felon Re-enfranchisement, 2020 Candidates Beto O'Rourke and Julián Castro Go to Clint, Texas, Migrant Jail, Donald Trump Jr. Reposts, Then Deletes Tweet Attacking Kamala Harris's Racial Identity, Jewish activists Arrested Protesting ICE Prison in New Jersey, NYC's "Queer Liberation March" One of Many Pride Events Around the Globe

Fifty years ago today, just after midnight, at 1:30 in the morning on June 28, 1969, New York City police officers raided a gay- and trans-friendly bar called the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. As the police began dragging some of the patrons out, the community fought back, sparking three days of rioting. Their historic resistance launched the modern-day LGBTQ movement and became known as the Stonewall uprising. We hear the leaders of the Stonewall uprising in their own words, in a radio documentary produced by Dave Isay in 1989 called "Remembering Stonewall."

Immigration was among the top issues in the second night of the first Democratic presidential debates, with California Senator Kamala Harris saying she would reinstate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that provides a temporary work permit and deportation relief for undocumented youth, on her first day in office. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke of the criminalization of immigration as the basis for family separation, referring to the Trump administration’s "zero tolerance "policy as "dead wrong." While most candidates are running on different platforms to address the criminalization of immigration and the separation of refugee families at the border, they all agreed on one thing: providing healthcare to undocumented people living in the U.S. When asked if they agreed, all candidates raised their hand. Prior to the debate night, many of the candidates, including Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders, visited the Homestead detention facility, where hundreds of migrant children are currently incarcerated, located just a few minutes from Miami. We speak with Andrea Mercado, executive director of New Florida Majority.

The second night of the first Democratic presidential debate was billed as a face-off between front-runners former Vice President Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, but it was California Senator Kamala Harris who took command of the stage Thursday night. Harris sparred with Biden over his recent comments about working with segregationists in the Senate and for his opposition to Delaware's attempts to bus students in an effort to integrate its schools in the 1970s. "There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. That little girl was me," Harris said. We speak with Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change.

The Supreme Court hands down two major decisions. The first is a victory for Republicans, allowing extreme partisan gerrymandering to continue. The other temporarily blocks the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question on the 2020 census. We get response from Ari Berman, senior writer at Mother Jones, a reporting fellow at the Type Media Center and author of "Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America." He says the ruling that federal courts can't resolve claims of partisan gerrymandering is "almost guaranteed to facilitate massive election rigging in the future."

Supreme Court Says Partisan Gerrymandering Can't Be Challenged in Federal Courts, Trump Threatens to Delay Census After Supreme Court Blocks Adding Citizenship Question, Kamala Harris Takes on Joe Biden over Working with Segregationists and His Opposition to Busing, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Decries New Border Bill as an Unacceptable Betrayal, U.S. Helps Block Progress at German Climate Summit as Europe Sizzles in Record Heat, With a Smile, Trump Tells Putin at G20 Not to Meddle in U.S. Elections, Trump's Chief of Diplomatic Protocol Resigns After Accused of Carrying Whip at Work, Brazilian Air Force Officer Arrested in Spain With 86 Pounds of Cocaine , Alabama Woman Was Shot While Pregnant, Then Charged with Manslaughter After Pregnancy Ended, U.S. Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Defends Remarks on Refusing to Go to White House, Brooklyn Lindsey, 32-Year-Old Trans Woman, Found Dead in Kansas City, Major Marches Planned for 50th Anniversary of Stonewall Uprising

Senator Elizabeth Warren pushed for structural changes to the U.S. government in Wednesday's presidential debate, saying she would make college free and eliminate private insurance altogether. We speak with Anand Giridharadas, editor-at-large at Time magazine and author of "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World," about Warren's debate performance and the issues facing the 2020 candidates. He joins a roundtable discussion with Sunrise Movement co-founder Varshini Prakash, She the People founder Aimee Allison and Ana María Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy.

As the Democratic debate took place in Miami, climate activists from the Sunrise Movement protested the Democratic National Committee's refusal to host a climate change-centered primary debate. Climate activists are still camping out in front of DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C. At last night's two-hour debate, about seven minutes focused on climate issues.

The first night of the two-part 2020 presidential debate kicked off Wednesday night with a focus on the economy, healthcare, immigration, gun control, Iran and climate change. It was a historic night with three female candidates taking part: Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. It marked the first time more than one female candidate appeared in a major political party debate in the United States. We speak with She the People founder Aimee Allison about the women in the race and foreign policy in Afghanistan and Iran. Allison won an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector in the First Gulf War.

The Democrats' first debate was held in Miami, Florida. The venue was less than an hour away from Homestead, Florida, where more than 2,000 unaccompanied minors are incarcerated in a for-profit detention center run by Caliburn. Trump's former Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly sits on its board. Prior to the debate, Senators Warren and Klobuchar visited the facility. During the debate, Julián Castro, the former secretary of housing and urban development, criticized the immigration policies of fellow Texan, former Congressmember Beto O'Rourke. We air part of the debate and speak to Ana María Archila of the Center for Popular Democracy.

2020 Democratic Primary Debate Kicks Off with Focus on Immigration, Healthcare, Senate Passes Border Aid Package After Rejecting House Version, Bank of America Ends Relationship with Migrant Prison Companies, Asylum Officers Say Trump's "Remain in Mexico" Policy Threatens Migrants' Lives, Family of Black Man Shot by Indiana Cop Sues Officer, City of South Bend, Twin Suicide Bombs Rock Tunis, Trump, World Leaders in Osaka for G20, Court Rules France Failed to Properly Address Air Pollution, U.N. Expert Warns of Impending "Climate Apartheid", NYC Votes to Declare a "Climate Emergency", Dems Vote to Subpoena Kellyanne Conway for Hatch Act Violations, Iraqi Man Granted Reprieve from Deportation After Spending 2 Years in Church Sanctuary

Amid reports of inhumane and degrading conditions at child immigration jails along the southern border, we speak with Satsuki Ina, a Japanese-American psychotherapist who was born in the Tule Lake Segregation Center, a maximum-security internment camp for Japanese Americans during WWII. "After decades of living our lives as compliant and quiet, and demonstrating and proving ourselves as good citizens, many of us have felt that it's time for us to speak out, to protest, to resist, and to speak out in ways that we haven't in the past, because we know what these children are experiencing," Ina said. "We know what it's like to have family separation, to suffer the long-term consequences of the trauma of being incarcerated—for some of us, more than four or five years."

Immigration jails along the southern border are facing heightened scrutiny following horrific reports of dirty and unhygienic conditions at a detention center in Clint, Texas, and other facilities. We speak with government whistleblower Dr. Scott Allen, who was hired in 2014 to inspect facilities where immigrant families are incarcerated, who says degrading conditions for jailed migrants date back to Obama's presidency. He is calling for more government transparency about conditions in immigration facilities, saying, "I think most Americans, if they were confronted with the humanity of what we are doing here, would be outraged and would not tolerate it." Allen is still on contract with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. He and fellow whistleblower Dr. Pamela McPherson were recently awarded the 2019 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling and are represented by the non-profit Government Accountability Project.

A divided House approved a contentious $4.5 billion emergency funding package to address the border crisis Tuesday, under growing pressure to address the Trump administration's inhumane treatment of migrants. The bill passed largely along party lines in a 230-195 vote, with some progressive Democrats voting in favor after negotiating to include provisions including new health and safety standards for jailed migrants. Four Democrats voted against the bill: Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib. Last week, the progressive congressmembers issued a statement condemning the bill and calling for the abolition of ICE. The Senate is slated to consider its own border funding measure this week, including President Trump's original request for more than a billion dollars for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We speak with Renée Feltz, a Democracy Now! correspondent and producer who has long reported on the criminalization of immigrants, family detention, and the business of detention. Her recent report for Rewire.News is headlined "'Willful Recklessness': Trump Pushes for Indefinite Family Detention."

The Department of Homeland Security has moved 100 migrant children back to a Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas, where infants and toddlers have been locked up without adequate food, water, sanitation or medical care, with older children having to care for the younger ones. Around 300 kids were removed from the facility Monday following widespread outrage over the reports, but Customs and Border Protection said some of the children are being sent back, claiming that the facility is no longer overcrowded. Lawyers who recently visited the facility described a scene of chaos and sickness, with children unable to shower or change into clean clothes for weeks on end. We speak with Clara Long, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. She was part of the monitoring team that visited Border Patrol facilities last week, including Clint.

Co-host Juan González was at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport this past Sunday, where he encountered Central American refugee families recently released from detention centers. The families, who were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, had been left there by Immigration and Customs Enforcement without guidance or a translator to help them navigate their flight information. The families were likely traveling to cities where they could reunite with loved ones already in living in the U.S. In the case of the Guatemalan families, most of them didn't speak Spanish, but indigenous languages. None of them spoke English. They had no money and received no assistance from American Airlines employees. Several airport staff, mostly maintenance workers and others, said they have been trying to assist the stranded Central American refugees, providing them with food, blankets and other aid. This is a common scene at major airports around the country.

DHS Moves 100 Children Back to Texas Border Patrol Station Deemed Unsafe and "Inhumane", House Passes Contentious $4.5 Billion Emergency Border Bill, "Defund Hate Campaign" Activists Call for Action on Migrant Deaths and Detention, Trump Threatens to "Obliterate" Iran as Bipartisan Reps Seek to Avoid Unauthorized Strikes, Robert Mueller to Testify Before House in July, Tiffany Cabán Leading Queens DA Race, U.S. and N. Korea in Talks for Third Summit, Pompeo Says U.S. Hoping for a Peace Deal and Ready to Pull Out Troops in Afghanistan, Spanish Supreme Court Ups Conviction of Men Who Raped and Filmed Teenager in 2016, Illinois Legalizes Marijuana, Paving Way for Expungement of Nearly 800,000 Cases, San Francisco Set to Ban E-Cigarettes, #WayfairWalkOut Protests Furniture Retailer's Participation in Migrant Detention, DOJ Alleges Rep. Duncan Hunter Used Campaign Money to Fund Multiple Affairs, 2020 Democratic Primary Debate Kicks Off as Activists Demand a Focus on Climate Change

The Oregon state Legislature has been in a standoff for nearly one week, after 11 Republican lawmakers fled the Capitol Thursday to avoid voting on a landmark climate change bill. Some are believed to be hiding out in Idaho. Right-wing militias supporting the rogue GOP legislators have threatened violence, which led the remaining lawmakers to shut down the state Capitol in Salem. The climate crisis bill aims to decrease emissions by implementing a statewide cap-and-trade model. Without at least two of the rogue Republican senators present, Oregon Democrats, who control the state Senate and House of Representatives, don't have the necessary quorum to vote on the legislation. We speak with Oregon Democratic state Representative Karin Power. She is co-chair of the state's Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction and co-sponsor of the cap-and-trade bill.

Former Vice President Joe Biden made headlines last week when he fondly reminisced about his "civil" relationship in the 1970s and 1980s with segregationist senators James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. While Biden's recent comments made the news, far less attention has been paid to the former vice president's actual record. In the 1970s, then-Senator Biden was a fierce critic of Delaware's attempts to bus students in an effort to integrate its schools. We speak with National Book Award-winning author Jonathan Kozol about Biden's track record.

President Trump announced Monday his administration is imposing a new round of sanctions on Iran, targeting several prominent Iranians including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Iran said the move "permanently closed the path to diplomacy" between Iran and the United States. The latest tension comes after the downing of a U.S. drone by Iran on Thursday. Iran maintains the drone had entered its airspace, while the U.S. claims the drone was in international waters. The U.S. military prepared to directly attack Iran in retaliation, but Trump reportedly called off the bombing at the last minute. We speak with Iranian-American author and analyst Trita Parsi, former president and founder of the National Iranian American Council.

Iran Says New U.S. Sanctions Shut Down Diplomatic Option, 300 Children Moved from Texas Border Patrol Station After Reports of Neglect, Inhumane Conditions, FBI Investigating Deaths of 3 Children, 1 Woman Found Near Texas' Southern Border, Trump Responds to E. Jean Carroll Rape Allegations: "She's Not My Type", Palestinians Resist Kushner's Middle East Workshop as Business Leaders Gather in Bahrain, Experts Warn Climate Crisis Exacerbating Heat Waves as 100+ Degree Temps Grip Europe, Chennai, India's 6th-Largest City, Has Almost Run Out of Water, SCOTUS Makes FOIA Requests More Difficult for Journalists, Oregon Republicans Flee Capitol to Avoid Voting on Climate Bill, Missouri's Only Abortion Clinic Has Until Friday to Resolve License Dispute, 9/11 First Responders to Meet with McConnell over Healthcare Funding, Former PA Rep. Joe Sestak Enters Crowded Democratic 2020 Race, Treasury Will Review Trump Admin Delay to Harriet Tubman $20 Bill Redesign, U.S. Women's Soccer Will Enter Mediation over Gender-Based Pay Discrimination Suit

Last week, an Ecuadorian judge ordered the release of Swedish programmer and data privacy activist Ola Bini, who spent more than two months in jail without charge. Bini is a friend of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. He was arrested in Quito on the same day that Assange was forcibly taken by British authorities from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. We speak with Ola Bini in Quito, where he remains under investigation for allegedly hacking the Ecuadorian government. He says, "Through the whole process, 70 days in prison, and all of the days since, we've been asking the prosecution to tell us what it is I have done. And they still have not actually given us any single answer."

Democracy Now! was there when five Japanese-American elders, survivors of U.S. internment camps, engaged in civil disobedience Saturday outside the Fort Sill Army post in Oklahoma, where the Trump administration plans to indefinitely detain 1,400 immigrant and refugee children starting next month. Fort Sill was an internment camp for 700 Japanese-American men in 1942. It was one of more than 70 sites where the U.S. government incarcerated about 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, including one of 14 U.S. Army bases. President Obama first used Fort Sill in 2014 to detain migrant children seeking asylum from violence in Central America. Descendants of internment camp survivors were also present at the peaceful protest. We feature a video report from Fort Sill and speak with Mike Ishii, co-chair of Tsuru for Solidarity. Ishii was at Fort Sill Army Base Saturday and helped organize the act.

Outrage is mounting over a shocking Associated Press report published late last week revealing that at least 250 migrant infants, children and teenagers have been locked up for nearly a month without adequate food, water or sanitation at a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, near the city of El Paso. Lawyers who visited the facility described a scene of chaos and sickness, with children unable to shower or change into clean clothes for weeks on end. The AP report came the same week that the Trump administration argued in federal court that the government is not required to provide toothbrushes, soap or beds to children detained at the border, and as other reports found similarly squalid conditions at a number of immigration jails. We speak with Warren Binford, a lawyer who interviewed children detained at the Clint, Texas, facility.

U.S. Announces New Iran Sanctions Days After Aborted Military Strike, Trump Delays ICE Roundups Amid Democratic Pushback, Columnist E. Jean Carroll Accuses Trump of Raping Her in 1990s, Turkey's Ruling AK Party Loses Istanbul Mayoral Race in Election Do-Over, Ethiopian Army Chief and Local Gov. Killed in Attempted Coup, 1000s of Climate Activists Block German Coal Mining Operation, Extinction Rebellion Activists Call on New York Times to Improve and Increase Climate Crisis Reporting, Sen. Sanders Introduces Plan to Cancel All Student Debt, Pete Buttigieg Faces Hometown Backlash in Indiana over Police Shooting of Black Man, Eddie Africa of MOVE 9 Released from Prison After 40 Years, Japanese-American Survivors of WWII Internment Camp Protest Trump Detention Plans at Fort Sill

In a Guatemalan election marked by fraud and corruption, Lucrecia Hernández Mack is one of just a few new faces in politics sparking hope in the country, after being elected as a legislator in the Guatemalan Congress with the progressive party Movimiento Semilla. Guatemala's Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced Thursday it will hold a recount amid fraud allegations following last Sunday's presidential and legislative elections. Hernández Mack is the daughter of renowned Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack, who was murdered by U.S.-backed Guatemalan security forces on September 11, 1990, during the country's brutal 36-year civil war. In 2016, Hernández Mack became the first woman to lead Guatemala's Ministry of Health, but resigned after current Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced the U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala was no longer welcome in the country. We speak with Thelma Aldana, former attorney general of Guatemala, and Lucrecia Hernández Mack about her historic win.

Guatemala's Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced Thursday it will hold a recount amid fraud allegations following last Sunday's presidential and legislative elections. The country's former Attorney General Thelma Aldana, who was a leading presidential candidate with the center-left party Movimiento Semilla, was barred from participating in the race and was forced to flee the country after receiving death threats and a warrant for her arrest. During her time as Guatemala's top prosecutor, Aldana, alongside the U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, known as CICIG, helped investigate hundreds of politicians and businessmen on corruption charges. Aldana says the criminal accusations against her are retaliation for her work with Guatemala's anti-corruption movement. We spoke with Aldana earlier this week.

After threatening to strike Iran in retaliation for shooting down an unmanned U.S. drone, President Trump reportedly approved, and then abruptly called off, military strikes. The move came after the operation was already underway in its initial stages, with warships and planes already being put into position. We go to Tehran to get response from Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran who was part of the nuclear deal negotiations in 2015. We also speak with CUNY professor and historian Ervand Abrahamian, author of several books about Iran. Whether or not Trump wants war with Iran doesn't ultimately matter, says Abrahamian. "The long-term agenda in the White House" from Bolton, Pompeo and others is much more aggressive. "They want basically the destruction of the Islamic Republic."

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Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden is under fire for fondly reminiscing about his "civil" relationship with segregationist senators in the 1970s and 1980s. Speaking at a fundraiser at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City on Tuesday night, Biden expressed nostalgia for his relationship with the late Democratic pro- segregation Senators James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. Biden reportedly said, "I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. ... He never called me 'boy'; he called me 'son.'" Biden went on to say, "A guy like Herman Talmadge, one of the meanest guys I ever knew, you go down the list of all these guys. Well, guess what. At least there was some civility. We got things done." Biden was widely criticized by other Democratic presidential contenders, including Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio. We speak with acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates about Joe Biden's long record on the wrong side of civil rights legislation, from opposing busing in the 1970s to helping to fuel mass incarceration in 1990s. Coates says, "Joe Biden shouldn't be president."

On the heels of Wednesday's historic hearing on reparations, we speak with renowned writer Ta-Nehisi Coates on the lasting legacy of American slavery, how the national dialogue about reparations has progressed in the past five years and his testimony in favor of H.R. 40, which took direct aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Coates says, "It is absolutely impossible to imagine America without enslavement."

On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary held a historic hearing on reparations for slavery—the first of its kind in over a decade. Wednesday's hearing coincided with Juneteenth, a day that commemorates June 19, 1865, when slaves in Galveston, Texas, finally learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had abolished slavery. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the transatlantic slave trade. Lawmakers are considering a bill titled the "Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act." It was introduced by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston, after former Congressmember John Conyers had championed the bill for decades without success. The bill carries the designation H.R. 40, a reference to "40 acres and a mule," one of the nation's first broken promises to newly freed slaves. Ahead of the hearing, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago, for whom none of us currently living are responsible, is a good idea." Award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates testified at the historic congressional hearing on reparations and took direct aim at McConnell.

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