Democracy Now!

Syrian Troops Mass at Turkish Border After Striking Deal with Kurds, Pentagon Deploying Additional 1,800 Troops to Saudi Arabia, NYT: Russian Warplanes Bomb 4 Hospitals in Syria over 12 Hours, Appeals Court Rules Trump Must Turn Over Financial Records, Video Shows Fake Trump Shooting Journalists, Political Rivals, Fox News' Shepard Smith Has Quit Network, Hunter Biden to Step Down from Chinese Company Board, White Cop Kills Black Woman by Shooting Through Her Bedroom Window, Japan: 40 Have Died in Typhoon Hagibis, Ecuador: Indigenous Protests Force Government to Reinstate Fuel Subsidies, Uganda LGBT Activists Fight Possible Reintroduction of "Kill the Gays" Law, Tunisia: Law Professor Kaïs Saïed Poised to Be Next President, Spanish Supreme Court Sentences 9 Catalan Separatist Leaders to Prison, Julian Assange Appears by Videolink for London Court Hearing, Simone Biles Becomes Most Decorated Gymnast in History, Communities Celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day from Coast to Coast

We spend the hour with author Chanel Miller speaking about her recently published remarkable memoir, "Know My Name." The book chronicles how Miller reclaimed her name, her story and her life after being sexually assaulted by Brock Turner, a member of the Stanford University swim team, in 2015. At the time, she was known as "Emily Doe." The case gained national prominence when a California judge sentence Turner to just six months in a county jail after he was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault. He ended up spending only three months locked up. The sentencing sparked outrage. Voters in California later recalled the judge in the case. During the trial, Miller read a victim impact statement addressed to her assailant. The text of the letter later went viral, being read by millions around the world.

Civilians Killed & Forced to Flee Turkish Military Offensive in Northern Syria, Two Associates of Trump's Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Arrested at Dulles Airport, Prince Estate Slams Trump for Using "Purple Rain" at Minneapolis Rally, "Trans Lives Matter": Activists Interrupt CNN Democratic Town Hall, Ethiopian Prime Minister Wins 100th Nobel Peace Prize, Olga Tokarczuk & Peter Handke Win Nobel Prize for Literature, Iranian Oil Tanker Struck in Red Sea, Ecuador: Five Killed Amid Anti-Austerity Protests, News Outlet Splinter Shutting Down, Asylum Seekers Protest "Remain in Mexico" Policy on Brownsville Bridge, Gymnast Simone Biles Wins 5th All-Around World Championship, Multiple Wildfires Raging Across California, Over 60 People Arrested in Extinction Rebellion Protests in New York City

The family of Native American teenager Kaysera Stops Pretty Places is demanding justice after she was found dead in Hardin, Montana, in late August, just two weeks after her 18th birthday. Kaysera was a member of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribal communities in Montana. She lived with her grandmother. According to her family, Kaysera was reported missing after she never came home on the night of August 24. On August 29, the body of a young woman was found in the town of Hardin. It wasn't until two weeks later that local law enforcement confirmed it was Kaysera. The circumstances surrounding her death and disappearance remain a mystery. Her family believes she was murdered, but says local law enforcement is not treating her sudden disappearance and death as foul play. Kaysera is among at least 27 indigenous girls and women reported missing or murdered in Big Horn County in the past decade. Since 2010, there have also been at least 134 cases of missing or murdered indigenous girls and women in the state of Montana. We speak with Grace Bulltail, Kaysera's aunt and an assistant professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We also speak with the family's lawyer, Mary Kathryn Nagle, a citizen of Cherokee Nation and a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., a law firm dedicated to the restoration of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction.

As Turkey launches an aerial and ground assault on northern Syria targeting Kurdish-controlled areas, we look at how the offensive threatens the Kurdish region of Rojava with Debbie Bookchin, co-founder of the Emergency Committee for Rojava. She is a journalist and author who co-edited a book of essays by her father, Murray Bookchin, "The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy." We also speak with Elif Sarican, a Kurdish Women's Movement activist and anthropologist at the London School of Economics, and Ertuğrul Kürkçü, honorary chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party in Turkey, known as the HDP. He is a former member of Parliament in Turkey.

Turkey has launched an aerial and ground assault on northern Syria targeting Kurdish-controlled areas. The offensive began Wednesday, just days after President Trump ordered U.S. troops to fall back from their positions on the Turkish-Syrian border. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least 16 Kurds have been killed so far. Turkey is claiming the death toll is far higher. The Trump administration has faced widespread criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers for abandoning the stateless Kurds who had helped the U.S. fight ISIS. Turkey is claiming the assault is needed to establish a "safe zone" in northern Syria where Turkey could relocate Syrian refugees who fled over the past eight years of fighting, but the Kurds see the offensive as part of a decades-long attack by Turkey to crush their attempts at greater autonomy. The Kurds have been responsible for holding over 10,000 ISIS fighters and their families in detention. While Trump has claimed Turkey will take control of the makeshift jails, there is growing concern many former ISIS fighters will be able to escape during the Turkish assault. At least one Kurdish prison has already been shelled. To discuss the implications of Turkey's assault, we speak with Elif Sarican, a Kurdish Women's Movement activist and anthropologist at the London School of Economics. We also speak with Ertuğrul Kürkçü, honorary chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party in Turkey, known as the HDP. He is a former member of Parliament in Turkey.

Turkey Launches Ground Offensive in Northern Syria, WH Budget Office Refuses to Comply with Subpoena for Impeachment Probe, Biden Joins Majority of 2020 Field in Calling for Trump's Impeachment, Trump Faces Dozens of New Allegations of Sexual Misconduct, Matt Lauer Denies Raping NBC Producer Brooke Nevils in 2014, Germany: 2 Killed in Anti-Semitic Attack Outside Temple on Yom Kippur, U.N.: U.S. Military Killed 30+ Afghan Civilians in Airstrikes in May, Amnesty: Death Toll in Anti-Government Protests in Iraq Surpasses 150, Protests Erupt in Algeria over Corruption & Army's Role in Politics, Egyptian Dissident Alaa Abd El-Fattah Beaten in Custody, Says Family, National Strike Paralyzes Ecuador as Anti-Austerity Protests Build, Argentina: Dozens of Indigenous Women Protest at Interior Ministry, Honduras: Protesters Accuse President of Drug Trafficking Ties, FBI Carried Out Thousands of Unconstitutional Searches of NSA Archives, U.S. Blacklists Chinese Companies over Imprisonment of Uyghurs, Extinction Rebellion Protests Hit London Airport, Demanding Climate Change Action

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in three cases that will determine whether LGBTQ people can be fired from their jobs due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Among the court's conservative justices, only Neil Gorsuch appeared open to prohibiting such workplace discrimination. One of the cases centers on a transgender woman from Michigan named Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home in 2013. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision in the three cases by early next summer. We speak to James Esseks, director of the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, who attended Tuesday's oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

Turkey's government says its troops are prepared for an imminent assault on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, after President Trump ordered U.S. troops to fall back from their positions on the Turkish-Syrian border. Kurdish fighters said they're bracing for a "humanitarian catastrophe." This follows warnings that former Kurdish allies of the U.S. who feel betrayed by President Trump will abandon thousands of prisoners captured during the U.S.-backed war against ISIS over the past two years. We speak to former housing secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro, who says Trump's move is a "stunning betrayal of allies."

On Monday, 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro escorted a dozen asylum seekers to the U.S. port of entry at Brownsville, Texas, in a challenge to President Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy. The group included a disabled Salvadoran woman and her relatives, as well as nine LGBTQ people from Cuba, Guatemala and Honduras. Many of them report they've been threatened and assaulted while they've been forced to wait in the Mexican border city of Matamoros. The asylum seekers were refused entry into the United States. Castro speaks with us from San Antonio, where he served as mayor from 2009 to 2014.

Tens of thousands of people, led by indigenous leaders, are expected to again bring Ecuador to a standstill today in massive ongoing anti-government protests. Demonstrators flooded the streets of Quito Tuesday to decry government-imposed austerity measures and a steep hike in fuel prices, despite a severe police crackdown. Civil unrest has been growing since President Lenín Moreno ended a decades-old fuel subsidy program last week as part of a so-called reform plan imposed by the International Monetary Fund after Ecuador took a $4.2 billion loan from the IMF earlier this year. Hundreds of people have been arrested as the government cracks down on protesters and the media. Tuesday's mass demonstrations come one day after Moreno said he was temporarily moving government operations from Quito to the southern city of Guayaquil. We go to Quito to speak with David Cordero Heredia, a law professor at Pontifical Catholic University. He is one of the lawyers representing protesters who have been detained in this latest round of protests.

Trump Won't Cooperate with Impeachment Probe, Prompting Constitutional Crisis, Turkish Attack on Kurds in Syria Imminent After U.S. Steps Aside, Afghanistan Claims al-Qaeda Leader Died in U.S.-Led Attack That Killed 40 Civilians, Trump Admin Planning Withdrawal from Open Skies Treaty, Wife of U.S. Diplomat Claims Immunity After Crash That Killed Motorcyclist, Supreme Court Hears Arguments in LGBTQ Workplace Discrimination Cases, 800,000 Californians Face Blackouts as PG&E Cuts Power Amid Wildfire Fears, Steven Reed Elected First Black Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, NBC Producer Says Matt Lauer Raped Her in 2014, U.S. Billionaires Paid Lower Taxes Than Working Americans in 2018, Bernie Sanders to Scale Back Campaign Events After Heart Attack, Brazil's Uncontacted Tribes Face "Genocide" Under President Jair Bolsonaro, Pope Francis Warns of "New Forms of Colonialism" in Amazon Rainforest, Oil Slick Fouls Nearly 1,000 Miles of Beaches in Brazil, Canada's Justin Trudeau to Appeal Reparations Payments for Indigenous Youth, Uranium Poisoning Navajo Women and Babies Decades After Mining Ended, Greta Thunberg Lends Support to Indigenous Climate Activists at Standing Rock

In Chicago, union leaders and the nation's third-largest school district are racing to reach an agreement to avert a teachers' strike authorized to begin later this month. In late September, 25,000 educators voted overwhelmingly to authorize a work stoppage, demanding more staffing and lower class sizes. On Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot accused the union of not coming to the bargaining table with a proposal to counter the offers the district has made in recent weeks. This comes as about 7,000 school support staffers with the Service Employees International Union have also made preparations for a strike, as have over 2,000 Chicago Park District workers with SEIU Local 73. From Chicago, we speak to Jesse Sharkey, president of the Chicago Teachers Union.

About 48,000 workers at General Motors have entered their fourth week on strike. It is the longest national strike at GM by the United Auto Workers in nearly 50 years. Workers are seeking higher pay, protection of their healthcare benefits, greater job security and a commitment from GM to build more cars and parts in the United States. On Sunday, UAW officials announced they had rejected the company's latest offer, saying negotiations had "taken a turn for the worse." We speak with Steve Frisque, a striking GM worker and former president of UAW Local 722.

More than 700 people have been arrested in civil disobedience actions as the group Extinction Rebellion kicked off two weeks of protests in 60 cities worldwide, demanding urgent government action on the climate crisis. Its members have superglued themselves to government buildings, occupied public landmarks, shut down roads and taken to the streets to sound the alarm about the impending catastrophe of global warming. Extinction Rebellion, a nonpolitical movement, launched last year in the U.K. and rose to prominence in April, when it disrupted traffic in Central London for 11 days. For more about the significance of the coordinated global protests, we speak with Extinction Rebellion co-founder Gail Bradbrook.

Trump Touts "Great and Unmatched Wisdom" as U.S. Abandons Kurdish Allies, State Dept. Orders Ambassador Gordon Sondland Not to Testify to Impeachment Inquiry, Federal Judge Rejects Trump's "Repugnant" Argument Against Turning Over Tax Records, Ecuador's President Moves Government From Capital as Anti-Austerity Protests Grow, Bolivia Rains Quell Fires After 10 Million Amazon Acres Burn, 700+ Arrested as Extinction Rebellion Protests Demand Climate Action, Swedish Climate Activist Greta Thunberg to Visit Standing Rock Reservation, Supreme Court Opens New Term with Justice Clarence Thomas Absent, Asylum Seekers Escorted to U.S. Border by Julián Castro Denied Entry, DHS Secretary Shouted Off the Stage at Georgetown Law Keynote Address, PayPal Drops Out of Libra Cryptocurrency in Blow to Facebook's Plans, California to Make Anti-HIV Drugs Available Without Prescription, NBA Under Fire for Bowing to Chinese Censors, New York's Community Radio Station WBAI in Peril Amid Financial Woes

U.S. troops have begun withdrawing from northeast Syria as Turkey prepares to invade Kurdish-controlled areas of the country. For years, the Kurds have been close allies to the United States in the fight against ISIS. On Sunday, however, the White House released a statement that surprised many in the region, announcing that Turkey would be "moving forward with its long-planned operation in Northern Syria," following a phone call between President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in that operation, and the United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial 'Caliphate,' will no longer be in the immediate area," the statement said. The announcement marks a major shift in U.S. policy, since as recently as January President Trump threatened to "devastate Turkey economically" if it attacked Kurdish forces in Syria. Meanwhile, in neighboring Iraq, the death toll continues to rise as police and soldiers fire on people defying a government-imposed curfew in mass anti-government protests. For more on events in the region, we speak with Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent newspaper.

At least 19 transgender people have been killed in the United States in 2019 — most of them trans women of color. Last year, there were at least 26 killings of transgender people. The American Medical Association has declared the wave of violence an "epidemic." Laverne Cox, the award-winning transgender actress and longtime trans rights activist, says such violence has long been part of the lives of trans people. "For my entire life as a trans woman, for 21 years, I have been hearing about, witnessing, going to memorials [and] going to Trans Days of Remembrance," she says. Cox says the violence reflects a society-wide backlash against the gains made by trans people and others in the LGBTQ community, including from the Trump administration. "Now we're coming out of the shadows, and as we come out of the shadows, people want to force us back into the dark," she says. Cox joined Democracy Now! ahead of Supreme Court hearings this week on whether federal nondiscrimination laws extend to LGBTQ people. She was joined in studio by Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project.

At the start of its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in three cases to determine whether LGBTQ people can be fired from their jobs due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers cannot discriminate against employees on the basis of sex, as well as race, color, national origin and religion, but the Trump administration claims the law does not cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The cases mark the first time the Supreme Court will rule on LGBTQ rights since conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh replaced Anthony Kennedy, who wrote many of the court's major LGBTQ rights rulings. We speak with Laverne Cox, a longtime trans rights activist and award-winning transgender actress best known for her role on the show "Orange Is the New Black," and Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project. His work includes impact litigation, as well as legislative and administrative advocacy, on behalf of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV across the United States.

Trump Orders U.S. Troops to Step Aside for Turkish Assault on Kurdish Forces, 109 Killed and 6,000 Wounded as Anti-Government Protests Rage in Iraq, Second Whistleblower Has Firsthand Knowledge of Trump-Ukraine Scandal, Secretary of State Pompeo Calls Impeachment Inquiry "Silly Gotcha Game", Trump Calls GOP Senator Mitt Romney "Pompous" over Ukraine Rebuke, North Korea Calls Off Denuclearization Talks with the U.S., U.S. Meets with Taliban for First Time Since Trump Canceled Afghan Peace Talks, Israeli Forces Fire on Gaza Protesters, Killing One and Injuring Dozens, Protesters Call for Kavanaugh's Removal One Year After His Confirmation to SCOTUS, Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Louisiana Anti-Choice Law, Hong Kong Protesters March in Defiance of Ban on Face Masks, Scores Arrested as Extinction Rebellion Protests Kick Off Worldwide, Trump Admin to Open 725,000 Acres of California to Oil & Gas Drilling, Trump to Bar Immigrants Who Can't Afford to Purchase Health Insurance, Senior Border Patrol Agent Faces Trial for Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Blames Victoria's Secret Billionaire for Sexual Assault, Joshua Brown, Key Witness in Dallas Police Murder Trial, Shot Dead, Sen. Bernie Sanders On the Mend After Suffering Heart Attack, Attacker Kills Four Homeless Men Sleeping on New York City Sidewalks

President Donald Trump called openly Thursday for the leaders of Ukraine and China to investigate Trump's campaign rival Joe Biden and Biden's son Hunter for corruption. Trump's explicit remarks during a press conference came as leaders of the Democratic-led House pushed ahead rapidly with their impeachment investigation. President Trump is just the fourth U.S. president to face a formal impeachment inquiry, joining Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. We spend the hour looking at back at the Watergate scandal, which led to Nixon's resignation in 1974 and is the focus of a documentary titled "Watergate — Or: How We Learned to Stop an Out of Control President." Drawing on 3,400 hours of audiotapes, archival footage and declassified documents, the film chronicles the dramatic events surrounding the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in 1972, which precipitated Nixon's eventual resignation two years later under threat of impeachment. We play clips from the film and speak with its director, Charles Ferguson, who won an Academy Award for his documentary "Inside Job."

Trump Publicly Calls on Ukraine and China to Investigate the Bidens, Trump Discussed Campaign Rivals in June Call with China's Xi Jinping, FEC Chair: Illegal for Candidates to Solicit Foreign Help in U.S. Elections, Messages Detail How U.S. Officials Pressured Ukraine on Trump's Behalf, IRS Whistleblower: Treasury Official Tried to Interfere with Trump or Pence Tax Audit, Trump Administration to Collect DNA of All Immigrants Jailed in U.S., Iraq Death Toll at 44 as Violent Repression of Protests Continues, Honduran President Denies Narcotrafficking Ties as His Brother Faces U.S. Trial, Protests Rock Ecuador as IMF-Imposed Austerity Measures Take Effect, Peruvian President Swears In New Cabinet After Leadership Challenge, Photo Shows Brazilian President with Suspect in Marielle Franco's Murder, MGM Reaches $800 Million Settlement with Las Vegas Massacre Survivors, Coast Guard Officer Pleads Guilty in Plot to Murder Liberals, Bernie Sanders Released from Hospital After Surgery, Will Join Next Debate, Iowa Activists Face Up to 110 Years in Prison for Dakota Access Pipeline Sabotage

A Cameroonian immigrant died this week in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in California. The man, identified as 37-year-old Nebane Abienwi, died on Tuesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. This comes as California lawmakers passed a bill last month that would ban private prisons statewide, a major blow to the for-profit prison industry in the U.S. that is deeply entangled in immigration detention. The legislation also orders the closure of four ICE prisons that can jail up to 4,500 immigrants. The bill is currently awaiting the signature of Governor Gavin Newsom, who said in his January inaugural address that California should "end the outrage of private prisons once and for all." Incarceration at for-profit prisons in California peaked at about 7,000 prisoners in 2016, but state officials have been shifting prisoners to publicly run prisons in recent years. Hamid Yazdan Panah, an immigration attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, joins us for a conversation about the bill and immigrant detention in California.

California is in a legal battle with the Trump administration over tailpipe emissions, air quality and climate change. California recently joined nearly two dozen other states to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration after it revoked the state's air pollution standards for cars and light trucks, in its latest regulatory rollback of laws aimed at slowing the climate crisis. Auto emissions are California's single largest source of greenhouse gases. From Los Angeles, we're joined by Mary Nichols, the longtime chair of the California Air Resources Board. She has led the board in crafting California's internationally recognized climate action plan. Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, speaks with us from San Francisco.

President Trump is continuing an all-out attack on San Francisco's homeless population and political leaders. On Wednesday, the Trump administration filed an environmental notice of violation against San Francisco, falsely claiming that the city's homelessness crisis has caused water pollution. City officials have repeatedly rejected Trump's unfounded claims that homelessness is connected to water quality. California is home to 12% of the country's population but half of the country's unsheltered homeless people. President Trump has been pushing for a crackdown on the crisis for weeks and threatened to destroy homeless encampments, increase police enforcement and even jail homeless people. For more on the issues surrounding the affordable housing crisis and homelessness, we speak with Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, and Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project.

House Democrats Prepare White House Subpoena in Impeachment Probe, Trump Rages Against Impeachment Probe with Profanity and Insults, Bernie Sanders Has Surgery to Clear Blocked Artery, Deaths and Injuries Mount as Iraqi Police and Soldiers Fire on Protesters, EU Officials Wary as British PM Boris Johnson Unveils Brexit Plan , Hong Kong Teen Shot During Protests Charged with Assaulting Officer, Record-Breaking Hurricane Lorenzo Lashes Azores, Heads for Ireland, London Climate Protesters Spray British Treasury with Fake Blood, Cameroonian Asylum Seeker Dies in For-Profit Immigration Jail, Plácido Domingo Quits L.A. Opera Amid Sexual Misconduct Claims, R. Kelly Denied Bail in Federal Sex Crimes Case, Dallas Ex-Cop Sentenced to 10 Years for Murdering Neighbor, 10 Arrested in Anti-Drone Protest at Nevada's Creech Air Force Base

In Haiti, massive anti-government protests calling for the resignation of U.S.-backed President Jovenel Moïse continue to escalate. The worsening economic crisis, a shortage of fuel and food, and corruption allegations against Moïse have sent protesters to the streets on and off for over a year. Hundreds demonstrated in the capital Port-au-Prince Monday, and another protest is scheduled for today. Much of Port-au-Prince has been on lockdown for the past two weeks, and at least four people have been killed in recent days after Haitian police opened fire on protesters, using live ammunition and tear gas. From Miami, we speak to Jacqueline Charles, Haiti and Caribbean correspondent at the Miami Herald and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

China held its largest military parades ever in Beijing this week to mark 70 years of Communist rule. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, police escalated violence Tuesday by firing live ammunition at demonstrators for the first time in the months-long protests. In a widely viewed video posted online, a riot police officer is seen firing his gun into the chest of 18-year-old protester Tsang Chi-kin. The teenager is reportedly in stable condition. Police also fired tear gas and water cannons, while protesters were seen throwing Molotov cocktails. Ninety-six protesters were arrested on Tuesday on rioting charges.
 For more on the Hong Kong protests, we speak with Kevin Lin, China Program officer at the International Labor Rights Forum. He was born and raised in Beijing, and has spent years researching the labor movement and civil society in China. His recent piece for Jacobin is headlined "Four Points on the Hong Kong Protests." He is also the author of "How Should the U.S. Left Think About China?" in the journal New Politics.

A white off-duty police officer who shot and killed a 26-year-old black man in his own home in Dallas in 2018 was convicted of murder on Tuesday. The officer, Amber Guyger, entered Botham Jean's apartment, mistaking it for her own, and shot and killed him. Jean's apartment was located one floor below Guyger's in the building. She claimed during trial to have believed Jean was an intruder. Guyger is the first Dallas police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970s, according to The Dallas Morning News. For more on the case, we speak with Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the family of Botham Jean. He says the verdict is a potentially "precedent-setting case" that signals white police officers cannot kill unarmed black and brown people without consequence.

Report: Trump Pushed for Shooting Migrants and Placing Alligators & Snakes Along Border, Trump Claims Impeachment Inquiry Is "Coup" as Pompeo Blocks Officials from Testifying, Sen. Grassley Breaks from Trump to Support Protection of Whistleblower, In "Victory for Black People in America," Dallas Officer Convicted of Murdering Black Man Inside His Own Home, Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Georgia Abortion Law, U.S.-N. Korea Talks to Resume as Pyongyang Carries Out New Missile Test, Hong Kong Protesters Stage Sit-in Outside School of Student Shot by Police, Pretrial Hearings Begin in Netanyahu Corruption Case, Peru Faces Political Crisis After President Dissolves Congress, 1,000 Migrants Have Died Crossing Mediterranean for Sixth Year in a Row, Mississippi City Claims Undocumented Man Shot Dead by Police Has No Constitutional Rights, Federal Court Largely Upholds FCC Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules, In Leaked Audio, Zuckerberg Slams Warren Proposal to Break Up Facebook, Trump & RNC Raise Record $125 Million in Third Quarter, 40,000 Child Care Providers in California Gain Right to Unionize, Federal Judge Rules in Harvard's Favor in Affirmative Action Case, Washington Post Columnist Jamal Khashoggi Remembered One Year After Assassination in Saudi Consulate

Newark, New Jersey, city officials recently announced thousands of water filters handed out to residents have significantly reduced lead in drinking water to safe levels. Lead contamination has plagued the city for years, spiking even higher in 2019. Over the summer, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit against Newark, accusing it of violating federal safe drinking water laws. The crisis came to a head last month following revelations that water filters distributed to residents may not have been effective. Meanwhile, New Jersey officials have signed off on a $120 million bond with Essex County to fast-track the replacement of thousands of contaminated pipes in the city in less than three years. Tomorrow, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka will hold a State of the Water Town Hall meeting. Mayor Baraka joins us at the Democracy Now! studio.

House Democrats subpoenaed President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani Monday, seeking documents related to his work in Ukraine. Last week, Guliani admitted on television that he had urged the Ukrainian government to investigate Trump's political rival and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. This comes as House Democrats continue to build their case for impeaching the president, following a whistleblower complaint focused on a phone call in which Trump asked the Ukranian president to do him a "favor" investigating the actions of Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to threaten lawmakers who are pushing impeachment, and publicly admitted he is trying to find out the identity of the anonymous whistleblower, in possible violation of whistleblower protection laws. We host a debate on impeachment with John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People, one of the organizations demanding Trump's impeachment, and Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, award-winning author and activist.

House Democrats Subpoena Giuliani over Ukraine Work, Report: Trump Pressured Australia, Italy & U.K. to Help with Political Probes, Trump Renews Threats Against Schiff and Intelligence Whistleblower, Hong Kong Protests Escalate as Beijing Marks 70th Anniversary of People's Republic of China, Four Die in Ongoing Anti-Government Protests in Haiti, Somali Militants Attack U.S. Drone Base & Italian Military Convoy, Nigerian Journalist Omoyele Sowore Pleads Not Guilty, Remains Locked Up, U.S. Blocks Cuban Health Minister from Attending Regional WHO Meeting in D.C., GOP Congressmember Chris Collins Resigns over Insider Trader Scandal, Bernie Sanders Raises $25 Million in Third Quarter, Most So Far by Any 2020 Democrat, Lawyers Call for Missouri Governor to Halt Execution, Warning It May Be "Especially Gruesome", Seattle Climate Activists Shut Down Chase Banks over Fossil Fuel Funding, 37 Animal Rights Activists Arrested at Whole Foods Occupation in SF, California Governor Signs Bill to Allow College Athletes to Sign Endorsement Deals, Elaine Massacre: New Memorial Unveiled on Centennial of Racial Mass Killing

We conclude our interview with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has just published his memoir titled "Permanent Record." In 2013, after quitting his job at the NSA, Snowden attempted to fly from Hong Kong to Latin America in order to avoid being extradited to the United States. But the U.S. revoked his passport when he stopped through Russia, effectively stranding him there. Snowden has lived as an exile in Moscow ever since. He tells us his story.

Edward Snowden talks about his decision to leak documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras rather than WikiLeaks, and the issues with the U.S. government's response to whistleblower disclosures. His recently published memoir, "Permanent Record," tells the story of his decision to expose the system of mass surveillance. "I think it's so obvious that no harm to national security has resulted from this process of disclosure. And yet, the same criticisms, the same allegations are made to me as have been every other whistleblower," Snowden says. "What we need to understand here is not my model of publication is right and WikiLeaks' model is wrong, but rather to see you have two very different levels of caution, of risk mitigation in these publication models."

As a whistleblower complaint against President Trump rocks Washington, Democrats begin an impeachment inquiry and Trump threatens "big consequences" for the person who came forward, we continue our conversation with one of the world's most famous whistleblowers: Edward Snowden, now in exile in Russia. Six years ago, he shocked the world when he leaked a trove of secret documents about how the United States had built a massive surveillance apparatus to collect every single phone call, text message and email, and pry into the private lives of every person on Earth. He has just published a memoir titled "Permanent Record." In Part 2 of our interview, he talks about how the government initially attempted to say that he was just an outside contractor and not a key figure, but he describes the central role contractors play in the intelligence community.

Facing Threats from Trump, Anonymous Whistleblower to Testify on Capitol Hill, Trump Warns Impeachment Could Lead to Civil War, Calls Critics "Savages", Pompeo Subpoenaed over Ukraine; Trump Envoy for Ukraine Resigns, More Than 2 Million Take Part in Global Climate Strike, Nearly 70 Arrested at New Hampshire Coal Plant Protest, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration Effort to Indefinitely Detain Migrant Children, Low Turnout Reported on Election Day in Afghanistan, Egyptian Dissident Alaa Abd El-Fattah Arrested Amid Growing Crackdown, Houthis Claim to Have Killed 500 Saudi Soldiers in August Attack, El País: Spanish Firm Spied for CIA on Assange Inside Ecuadorian Embassy, UAW Strike at General Motors Enters Third Week, Joseph Wilson, Ambassador Who Disputed Bush's Iraq WMD Claim, Dies at 69

Demonstrations continued in Egypt Friday, with thousands taking to the streets to demand the resignation of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi over accusations of corruption. Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested over the past week amid protests in Cairo and other cities. The demonstrations were triggered by social media posts by a former army contractor accusing Sisi and other officials of misusing public money. Anti-government protests are rare in Egypt as they've been effectively banned since Sisi came to power following the 2013 overthrow of former President Mohamed Morsi and launched a widespread crackdown on dissent. Earlier this week, President Trump praised Sisi as the two leaders met during the U.N. General Assembly here in New York. Trump also recently referred to Sisi as "my favorite dictator." For more, we're joined by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy Now! correspondent and a reporter with the independent, Cairo-based media outlet Mada Masr.

Democrats are coalescing behind an effort to impeach President Trump over his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he pressed the Ukrainian leader to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Meanwhile, Republicans have latched onto the Biden-Ukraine story as a means of smearing the former vice president as corrupt, in an attempt to damage one of Trump's political rivals. For more on the story, we speak with James Risen, senior national security correspondent for The Intercept, who first wrote about the Bidens and Ukraine in 2015, when he was a reporter for The New York Times. He says the "right-wing spin machine" has since twisted his reporting, misrepresenting his findings. In a new article for The Intercept, Risen writes, "It's strange to see my journalism twisted, perverted, and turned into lies and poisonous propaganda by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and their enablers."

Democrats are ramping up efforts to impeach President Trump for pressing the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Nearly 90% of House Democrats now support impeachment. On Thursday, a declassified version of a complaint by an anonymous whistleblower was released, detailing his concerns about Trump's July phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky. In the complaint, the unnamed whistleblower — who has been identified as a CIA official — accused the president of "using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election." The complaint also revealed details about how the White House attempted to "lock down" all records of Trump's phone conversation with Zelensky by moving a transcript of the call to a standalone computer system reserved for codeword-level intelligence information. The whistleblower wrote in his complaint, "According to White House officials I spoke with, this was 'not the first time' under this Administration that a Presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive — rather than national security sensitive — information." For more on the unfolding scandal, we speak with James Risen, senior national security correspondent for The Intercept.

Whistleblower Warned White House Tried to "Lock Down" Ukraine Call Details, Acting DNI Maguire Says Whistleblower "Acted in Good Faith", Trump Suggests Whistleblower Should Get Death Sentence for Treason, Global Youth-Led Strikes Demand Action on Climate Crisis, Study Finds Climate Crisis May Threaten 60% of World's Wheat Crop by 2100, States Challenge Trump's Rollback of Endangered Species Act, Senate Advances Confirmation of Ex-Monsanto Executive to Lead Wildlife Agency, EPA Chief Blames California's Homeless Population for Poor Water Quality, Protesters Defy Security Crackdown in Egypt, Demanding Ouster of President Sisi, Palestinian President Condemns Israeli PM Plans to Annex West Bank Lands, Trump Administration to Slash U.S. Refugee Admissions Again, to 18,000, 500,000 Children to Lose Free School Meals Under Trump's Food Stamp Rollback, Chicago Teachers Overwhelmingly Authorize Strike on October 7, Senate Confirms Corporate Attorney Eugene Scalia as Labor Secretary, Indonesian Police Open Fire on West Papuan Protesters, Killing 32, Relatives of the Disappeared Demand Justice 5 Years After Ayotzinapa Mass Kidnapping

Six years ago, Edward Snowden leaked a trove of secret documents about how the United States had built a massive surveillance apparatus to spy on Americans and people across the globe. Snowden was then charged in the U.S. for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. As he attempted to flee to Latin America, Snowden became stranded in Russia after the U.S. revoked his passport. He has lived in Moscow ever since. Snowden just published his memoir, "Permanent Record," in which he writes about what led him to risk his life to expose the U.S. government's system of mass surveillance. From Moscow, he speaks to Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman and Juan González about his life before and after becoming an NSA whistleblower.

Responding to news of a whistleblower's complaint at the center of an impeachment inquiry filed against President Trump this week, famed whistleblower Edward Snowden speaks about his own decision to leak classified documents in 2013. The House Intelligence Committee has released the declassified whistleblower complaint, which details a July phone call between President Trump and the Ukrainian president. The White House is trying "to make the conversation not about the allegations," Snowden told Democracy Now! "They want to talk about the whistleblower rather than the government's own wrongdoing."

As a whistleblower complaint filed against President Trump rocks Washington and threatens Trump's presidency, one of the world's most famous whistleblowers, Edward Snowden, joins us from Moscow, Russia. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Snowden alleging that his newly released memoir, "Permanent Record," violates the nondisclosure agreements he signed with the federal government when he was a National Security Agency employee. The Justice Department also argued that they are entitled to all of Snowden's book profits. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman and Juan González speak with Snowden about the lawsuit.

Transcript Shows Trump Pressured Ukrainian Leader to Probe Joe Biden and Son, President Trump on Ukraine Phone Call: "Impeachment for That?", Majority of House Lawmakers Back Impeachment Inquiry Against Trump, Iranian President Rules Out Talks with U.S. While Sanctions Remain, Saudi-Led Coalition Airstrikes Kill 16 Civilians in Yemen, Israel's President Asks Benjamin Netanyahu to Form New Government, 2 Million Wild Animals Perish as Fires Rage in Bolivia, Climate Crisis Drives Mont Blanc Glacier Toward Collapse, 7 Arrested as San Francisco Climate Protesters Block Wells Fargo Entrance, Doctors Glue Themselves to London Building Amid New Extinction Rebellion Protests, Mexican State of Oaxaca Decriminalizes Abortion, Australia's New South Wales Ends Century-Old Abortion Ban, U.S. Agreement with Honduras Severely Restricts Asylum Seekers' Rights, Chicago Park District Workers, Teachers and School Staff Make Strike Plans, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Unveils Legislative Plan for "A Just Society"

The U.K. Parliament has reconvened after the country's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had unlawfully suspended Parliament in order to push through Brexit with or without a deal. Johnson made the unprecedented move late last month, asking the queen to prorogue Parliament in order to limit debate on leaving the European Union, which the U.K. is scheduled to do by October 31. Calls for Johnson's resignation are mounting since the news broke, with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calling for a general election and demanding Johnson apologize to the queen and to the country. For more on the political crisis in Britain, we speak with legendary British singer and songwriter Billy Bragg. "Really, what's behind Brexit is ordinary working people feeling they no longer have agency over their lives. … The European Union have become a focus for anger that really should be directed at the Westminster government that Boris Johnson leads," Bragg says. His new book is "The Three Dimensions of Freedom."

On Tuesday, President Trump made his third address to the United Nations General Assembly amid simmering tensions in the Middle East over recent attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which the United States blames on Iran. Tehran denies the allegations. Trump also lashed out at China and Venezuela. We speak with Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and chief editor of LeftWord Books. His latest article for Salon is headlined "World leaders gather at the UN in the face of war, climate catastrophe & global worker exploitation."

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump following allegations from an intelligence community whistleblower that Trump sought help from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to investigate Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and his son Hunter. On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate unanimously passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the Trump administration to release the whistleblower complaint to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. We get response and look at next steps with Congressmember Al Green, Democrat from Texas, who in 2017 was the first congressmember to call for President Trump's impeachment from the floor of the House of Representatives. We also speak with John Nichols, political writer for The Nation and author of the book, "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism."

Pelosi Launches Impeachment Inquiry Against President Trump, IPCC: World Must Cut Greenhouse Emissions or Face Catastrophic Sea Level Rise, Bolsonaro Faces Condemnation For Defending Deforestation of Amazon in U.N. Speech, Trump Denounces Iran, Venezuela & Calls for Countries to Embrace Nationalism at U.N., Pakistani PM Demands World to Address Crisis in Kashmir, U.K. Parliament Reconvenes After Court Declares Boris Johnson's Parliament Suspension Illegal, Egyptian Authorities Arrest At Least 900 Following Anti-Government Protests, Spain to Exhume Body of Former Dictator Francisco Franco from State Mausoleum, Nigerian Journalist Omoyele Sowore Makes Bail Amid Treason Charges for Rallying Peaceful Protests, German Prosecutors Indict Volkswagen Execs over Diesel Emissions Scandal, Bernie Sanders Proposes Billionaire Wealth Tax That Could Raise Trillions in Revenue, General Motors Strike Enters 10th Day In Longest National GM Strike in 50 Years, Judge Rules American Citizen Can't Challenge His Placement on U.S. "Kill List", Massachusetts Governor Declares Public Health Emergency, Orders 4-Month Ban on Vaping Products, Greta Thunberg & Aminatou Haidar Win Right Livelihood Awards, Known as "Alternative Nobel Prize"

Celebrated writer Ta-Nehisi Coates's first novel, "The Water Dancer," was released today. Centering on a man named Hiram Walker, who was born into slavery in 19th century Virginia, the novel is a "crowd-pleasing exercise in breakneck and often occult storytelling," a review in The New York Times stated. Over the past decade Ta-Nehisi Coates has become one of the nation's most celebrated writers. In 2014, he wrote a piece titled "The Case for Reparations," which rejuvenated the push for the government to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves. His 2015 book, "Between the World and Me," a National Book Award winner, was written as a letter to his adolescent son. In our New York studio, we speak with Coates about "The Water Dancer" and his attempt in his first novel to "get at American myth" that exists around race and reparations.