Democracy Now!

U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Pass 75,000 as Trump Sidelines Top Medical Experts, Trump to Be Tested for Coronavirus Daily After Valet Tests Positive, Vigil at White House Honors 88 Who Died from "Trump's Abhorrent Failure to Protect Nurses", U.S. Unemployment Claims Soar to 33.3 Million Amid Pandemic, Democrats Promise "Rooseveltian" Coronavirus Relief Bill, Mitch McConnell Prioritizes Judicial Confirmations as Senate Returns Amid Pandemic, Data Shows 35 of 40 People Arrested in NY for Social Distancing Violations Are Black, Texas Stops Jailing Lockdown Violators; Nebraska Ends Reporting on Meat Plant COVID-19 Cases, 2 White Men Charged in Georgia With Murdering Black Jogger Ahmaud Arbery, DOJ Drops Charges Against Disgraced Ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn , Supreme Court Overturns Convictions of Senior Aides to Former NJ Gov Chris Christie, Black U.K. Residents Far More Likely to Die of COVID-19 Than Whites, European Leaders Hold Low-Key VE Day Commemorations as Belarus Plans Parade, Tara Reade Urges Joe Biden End Presidential Bid over Alleged Sexual Assault

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide approaches 4 million and the pandemic could be with us for months or years, we look at who can access drugs like remdesivir, being developed by pharmaceutical giant Gilead, which has the patent for the drug and is poised to make massive profits. We look at how much drugs like remdesivir will cost, and who can access them, with writer Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil and South Africa.

We go to Moscow for an update on the pandemic in Russia, where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, with at least 10,000 new cases a day and the second-highest infection rate in the world, and more than 100 medical workers have died fighting the virus, and many have reported lack of personal protective equipment. Meanwhile, three Russian healthcare workers mysteriously fell from hospital windows over the past two weeks. Two died, and the one who is hospitalized had posted a video online to note the lack of medical equipment and said he had to keep working despite testing positive. We speak with Joshua Yaffa, Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker magazine.

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 73,400 as 41 States Begin Reopening, White House Shelves Guidelines on Reopening, as Experts Warn U.S. Failing to Stem COVID-19 Deaths, Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. Children Going Hungry as Unemployment Surges to Great Depression Levels, State Budget Cuts Loom as Trump Rails Against "Blue State Bailouts" , United Nations Seeks $6.7 Billion for Coronavirus Aid to Poor Countries, EU Warns Pandemic Economic Recession Will Be Worst in History, Closing Ceremony of Spanish Coronavirus Field Hospital Marred by Tightly Packed Crowds, Venezuelan TV Airs Video of Arrested U.S. Mercenary Confessing to Attempted Coup, Trump Vetoes Senate Resolution Limiting President's Military Power to Attack Iran, Trump Gets in Heated Exchange with Nurse Denouncing Shortage of PPE for Hospital Workers, Black Michigan Lawmaker Escorted by Armed Volunteers After Anti-Lockdown Protests, Beloved Colorado Pastor Released from VA Hospital After Long Battle with COVID-19, Top Republican Fundraiser & Trump Ally Named Postmaster General, Brother-in-Law of Sen. Richard Burr Also Dumped Stocks Ahead of Coronavirus Market Crash, Salvadoran Immigrant Is First Person to Die of COVID-19 in ICE Custody, Anger Mounts over Killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Black Jogger Shot to Death by 2 White Men in GA, Viral Video Shows LAPD Officer Violently Punching a Man Arrested for Trespassing , Chemical Gas Leak in India Kills at Least 9, Hundreds Others Hospitalized, New Campus Sexual Assault Rules Bolster Protection for Accused Students

We look at an incredible story unfolding in Venezuela of a failed coup attempt. Did a former Green Beret mastermind it? Two Americans have been arrested in Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro claims the U.S. was behind the plot. "It looks like a bad Rambo movie, or a really bad telenovela," says Miguel Tinker Salas, author of "The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela." He notes that "the U.S. is seeking regime change ... and the consequences for Venezuela could be very dire going forward.”

As President Trump starts to reopen the country, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Laurie Garrett predicts the pandemic will last at least 36 months. Meanwhile, a top government vaccine specialist says he was forced from his job after he resisted the administration's promotion of untested treatments for COVID-19. Garrett predicted the pandemic. In an extended interview, she discusses what's next.

White House to Wind Down Coronavirus Task Force Even as U.S. Cases Surge, Trump Meets Tribal Leaders, Promising to Distribute Long-Delayed Coronavirus Relief Funds, Ousted Scientist's Whistleblower Complaint Cites "Political Connections and Cronyism", Trump Lashes Out Against "Mourning in America" Advertisement, Researchers Say Coronavirus May Have Mutated in Europe to Become More Contagious, Amazon Worker Dies of COVID-19; Wisconsin Supreme Court May Revoke Remain-at-Home Order, Michigan Security Guard Shot After Enforcing Mask Policy, As Meatpackers Fall Ill from COVID-19, Wendy's Faces Hamburger Shortage, Senators Return to Capitol Hill Despite COVID-19 Concerns, Republicans Set to Confirm John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence, Federal Judge Allows ICE to Transfer Jailed Migrants Despite Spread of Coronavirus, U.S.-Owned Factories in Mexico Reopen Despite Spread of Coronavirus, Hundreds of People Imprisoned in El Salvador Quarantine Centers Demand Release, Philippines Broadcaster Forced Off Air After Criticism by President Duterte, Climate Study Projects 3 Billion Will Suffer from Extreme Heat by 2070, Shocking Video Shows White Men Chasing and Killing Black Jogger in Georgia, Federal Judge Orders New York to Restore Presidential Primary Vote, Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized with Gallbladder Condition, Activists Remember Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Despite Lockdowns

The spread of COVID-19 threatens the lives of more than 2.3 million people locked up in prisons and jails throughout the United States. We look at how the call to release prisoners during the coronavirus pandemic makes the case for prison abolition, with scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore, co-founder of California Prison Moratorium Project and Critical Resistance and the author of "Golden Gulag: Prison, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California." Her forthcoming book is "Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition."

We get an update on one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the United States, at the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio, where 11 prisoners and one staff member have died, and at least 80% of prisoners and half of the prison staff tested positive. Despite growing calls to release thousands of Ohio's nearly 50,000 incarcerated people as the coronavirus spreads, Governor Mike DeWine has only approved the release of more than 100 people in the state's prisons. "We're seeing a few people being released … but not anywhere near the 20,000 [we are] demanding," says Azzurra Crispino, whose husband, James, is incarcerated at Marion. She is co-founder of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support.

We get an update from two doctors treating patients with the Navajo Nation, the largest Indigenous reservation in the country, which has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Michelle Tom is a member of the Navajo Nation and a family physician treating COVID-19 patients at the Winslow Indian Health Care Center and Little Colorado Medical Center in northern Arizona near the Navajo reservation. In Gallup, New Mexico, Dr. Sriram Shamasunder is leading a medical volunteer group of 21 nurses and doctors from the University of California, San Francisco as part of the HEAL Initiative. He says the coronavirus hit harder on the Navajo Nation due to a "trajectory of an underfunded health system," and notes the Indian Health Service is funded at one-third the rate per capita as Medicare. "The level of inequity that you're seeing … it's part of this pattern."

After New York and New Jersey, the next highest number of coronavirus infections per capita in the United States is in the Navajo Nation, the largest Indigenous reservation in the country. We go to Kayenta, Arizona, to speak with Robby Jones, a member of the Navajo Nation and the partner of one of those to die from the virus: 28-year-old Valentina Blackhorse, a beloved community leader who promoted Navajo culture and left behind a daughter named Poet.

Dire Forecasts Warn U.S. Death Toll Could Surge in Coming Weeks as States Move to Relax Restrictions, China Rebukes Trump Admin Claim That Coronavirus Was Man-Made, Report Says Brooklyn Jail Destroying Medical Records to Hide Toll of COVID-19, J. Crew Files for Bankruptcy, Betsy DeVos Sued for Garnishing Wages of Student Loan Holders During Pandemic, EU, World Leaders Pledge Billions to Fund Coronavirus Vaccine; U.S. Sits Out, Questions Raised After 3 Doctors in Russia Fall from Hospital Windows, U.K. May Have Second-Highest Coronavirus Death Toll; France Identifies COVID-19 Case from December, Venezuela Detains Ex-U.S. Special Forces After Failed Coup, Report: Colombia Spied and Collected Data on Journalists, Union Leaders, Politicians, Sudan Outlaws Female Genital Mutilation, Senate Rejects Request to Search Records for Tara Reade Complaints Against Joe Biden, Amazon VP Quits over Retaliatory Firings of Protesting Workers, King County, WA, Apologizes, Reaches Settlement for 2017 Police Killing of Black Teen, José Soler, Puerto Rican Independence Activist and Labor Journalist, Dies at 75, 2020 Pulitzer Prizes Recognize Work on Immigration, Sex Crimes, Labor and Slavery

We speak with Dr. Richard Levitan, an emergency physician based in Littleton, New Hampshire, who volunteered at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for 10 days at the height of the COVID-19 surge in April. Based on what he saw, he argues patients should be going to hospitals sooner and that medical professionals could use a small device you clip on your fingertip, called a pulse oximeter, to help detect the virus earlier by revealing oxygenation problems and elevated heart rates. "A pulse oximeter is just a measure of identifying how well the lungs are working, and, I believe, can be basically an early warning system in terms of patients to know who has COVID pneumonia," says Dr. Levitan.

As the Senate reconvenes today, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is demanding that Congress use the next stimulus bill to protect corporations from liability for workers. "He wants to protect their right to engage in egregious misconduct," says Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen.

At least 20 workers at meat processing plants have died from COVID-19, and around 5,000 have tested positive, but President Trump invoked an executive order to bar local governments from closing meat plants. We hear from meat plant workers and organizers about conditions during the pandemic and speak with Sindy Benavides, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is supporting the workers with a virtual town hall on food worker safety with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and calling for Meatless May Mondays.

U.S. Makes Up a Third of Known Cases as Trump Revises Predicted Death Toll, NYC Nursing Home Reports Nearly 100 Deaths Linked to COVID-19, Trump Admin Continues Attack on China, Insists COVID-19 Developed in Wuhan Lab, White House Blocks Anthony Fauci from Testifying to House, Senators Return to Work in Coronavirus Hot Spot Washington, D.C., SCOTUS to Hear Cases by Phone, Arguments Will Be Open to Public, NYPD Violently Attack Two Black Men During Social Distancing Enforcement, Guards Sue ICE Jail for Failing to Protect Workers, Georgia Restaurants Refuse to Reopen After Gov. Kemp Lifts Lockdown, Spain, Italy Ease Coronavirus Restrictions , Children in Afghanistan Facing Severe Hunger Risk Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, India Extends Lockdown, Introduces Tracking App to Trace Coronavirus, Pakistan Medical Workers Score Win as Gov't Says It Will Ensure PPE, U.N. Calls for Countries to Accept Rohingya Refugees as They Flee Burma by Boat, South African Nurses Call on Gov't to Deliver PPE, May Day Protests Call for Housing Protections, Workers' Rights and Immigrant Rights Amid Pandemic, Unhoused Activists Take Over San Francisco Vacant Home in May Day Protest, North and South Korea Exchange Gunfire 2 Days After Kim Jong-un Makes Public Appearance, "They Deserve More Than Thoughts and Prayers": Canada Bans Assault Weapons After Nova Scotia Massacre, Venezuela Says It Foiled Coup Attempt by "Mercenary Terrorists", 100+ Killed, Thousands Displaced in Kenya from Massive Flooding, Valentina Blackhorse, Pageant Winner and Prominent Navajo Nation Figure, Dies of COVID-19, Kent State Marks 50 Years Since National Guard Shot and Killed 4 Students

On Thursday in Puerto Rico, activists in dozens of cars held a "Caravan Por La Vida," or "Caravan for Life," through San Juan to demand the government provide more COVID-19 tests and sufficient resources for people to stay at home during the pandemic. At least 92 people have died from COVID-19 in Puerto Rico, and last week the island was reporting a testing rate lower than any U.S. state, at an abysmal average of 15 tests a day for every 100,000 people. No one in Puerto Rico has received $1,200 checks from the government, according to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. Police stopped the caravan and said their sound trucks were illegal. When organizer Giovanni Roberto demanded that police describe the laws they were breaking, he was arrested. Roberto was released later in the night, and his charges of obstruction of justice were dropped. We hear voices from the protest. Special thanks to _Democracy Now!_ correspondent Juan Carlos Dávila.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden denied sexual assault allegations against him on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday, breaking his silence after weeks of mounting pressure to respond to claims put forward by former staffer Tara Reade, who says he sexually assaulted her in 1993. In a statement, Biden said, "I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago. They aren't true. This never happened." Tara Reade first came forward with her allegations in March, saying Biden pushed her up against a wall and digitally penetrated her. In a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive, we speak with Reade's former neighbor Lynda LaCasse, who says that Reade told her about the encounter and described it in detail in the 1990s. LaCasse is a lifelong Democrat and Biden supporter. She says of Tara Reade, "I believe her 100%." We also speak with investigative journalist Rich McHugh, who first interviewed LaCasse for Business Insider.

This May Day, an unprecedented coalition of essential workers from Amazon, Instacart, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target and FedEx are calling out sick or walking out during their lunch break to demand better health and safety conditions, along with hazard pay. Others are joining them for May Day actions that include rent strikes, car caravan protests and online organizing calling for a "People's Bailout" and economic recovery plan that prioritizes workers. We speak with Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson, which issued a call for a people's strike starting May 1. "The corporations and the government are willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of us," Akuno says. "We have to put people before profits."

Trump Touts "Very, Very Strong" U.S. Coronavirus Death Totals as States Begin Reopening, Trump Claims Pandemic Began in Chinese Laboratory, Offers No Evidence, Trump Blames Obama for Shortage of Tests for Virus That Emerged in 2019, Maryland National Guard Defends Coronavirus Tests from Feds in "Undisclosed Location", Texas Won't Name Nursing Homes with COVID-19 Cases; California Closes Beaches in OC, Michael Bloomberg to Lead New York Contact Tracing Program as NYC Subway Ends 24/7 Service, Medical Professionals Stage Die-in Outside SF Mayor's Home Demanding Hotels for the Unhoused, Armed Protesters Storm Michigan State Capitol Demanding End to Stay-at-Home Orders, Puerto Rican Activist Freed from Jail After Dozens Hold Car Rally Demanding COVID-19 Relief, Report Finds 12.7 Million U.S. Workers Have Lost Employer-Based Insurance in 2020, Amazon Workers Join May Day Strikes Demanding Safe Workplaces, Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump's Attempts to Block Funding for Sanctuary Cities, Immigrants in Adelanto ICE Jail Continue Hunger Strike Demanding Release During Pandemic, Vietnam Declares Coronavirus Outbreak Contained After Quick Response, Mass Testing, U.S. Indicts Honduran Former National Police Chief on Cocaine Trafficking Charges , Joe Biden Denies Sexually Assaulting Tara Reade in First Interview Addressing Accusations, Record 8% Drop in Global Carbon Emissions Predicted Due to COVID-19 Restrictions, Renowned Mexican Protest Singer Óscar Chávez Dies of COVID-19

As President Trump invokes the Defense Production Act to bar local governments from closing meatpacking plants around the United States, we get response from a longtime adviser to the World Health Organization. "When Congress passed that act, it certainly did not have in mind that the president has the power or the right to put workers' lives and health at risk," says Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization Center on National and Global Health Law. Gostin also discusses why he joined 40 leading center directors in a declaration this week that urges Trump and Congress to restore and increase WHO funding.

As nearly 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment in just six weeks and millions worldwide face hunger and poverty, we look at the global economic catastrophe triggered by the pandemic and its impact on the most vulnerable. As the World Food Programme warns of a massive spike in global hunger and more than 100 million people in cities worldwide could fall into poverty, can this crisis be a catalyst for change? We ask French economist Thomas Piketty. His 2014 internationally best-selling book, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," looked at economic inequality and the necessity of wealth taxes. His new book, "Capital and Ideology," has been described as a manifesto for political change.

Jared Kushner Hails "Great Success Story" as U.S. Deaths Top 60,000, Dozens of Decomposing Bodies Found in Trucks Outside Brooklyn Funeral Home, President Trump Claims Coronavirus Will Be "Eradicated" from U.S., FDA to Approve Emergency Use of Remdesivir After the Drug Shows Promise Treating COVID-19, More Than 30 Million U.S. Workers File Unemployment Claims in Just Six Weeks, International Labour Organization Warns Pandemic Threatens Livelihoods of 1.6 Billion, South Korea Reports No New Domestic Coronavirus Cases , U.K. Now Has Europe's Second-Highest COVID-19 Death Toll, Femicides and Domestic Violence Surge in Mexico Amid Coronavirus Lockdown, Kenya Cuts Off Refugee Camps over Fears of Catastrophic COVID-19 Outbreak, Meatpackers and Others to Lose Jobless Benefits If They Refuse Return-to-Work Orders, New York Bars Unhoused People from Sheltering in Subways, Survey Finds Over 80% of COVID-19 Patients in GA Hospitals Are Black, 50+ People Who Participated in April Wisconsin Election Test Positive for COVID-19, 6 Women Freed from El Paso Immigration Jail After Suing ICE over COVID-19 Spread, Emails Reveal ICE Systematically Retaliates Against Immigration Activists, Georgia's Stacey Abrams Defends Joe Biden over Sexual Assault Allegations

Known U.S. Deaths Top 56,000 as New Study Shows True Number Likely Much Higher, Trump Ignored Early Intelligence Reports as Coronavirus Spread, Trump Denies Responsibility for Spike in Disinfectant Poisonings, Texas Reopens Businesses, California Warns Against Violating Restrictions , Trump's Plan to Give Commencement Address at West Point Could Bring Back 1,000 Cadets to Campus, NY Cancels Primary After Removing Bernie Sanders from the Ballot , U.N. Calls for Release of Immigrant Prisoners as San Diego Facility Refuses to Allow Face Mask Delivery, More Cases Reported at Prisons as New Study Shows 96% of Inmates Who Test Positive Are Asymptomatic, Law Goes into Effect Requiring Germans to Wear Face Masks in Public, Boris Johnson Says Too Soon to End U.K. Lockdown, Swedish Ambassador Says Stockholm Is Close to Reaching "Herd Immunity", WHO Warns Pandemic Could Exacerbate Other Public Health Crises, Children Especially Vulnerable, Archbishop Tutu: Coronavirus Exposes South Africa's Inequalities, Immigrants Deported by the U.S. Make Up 20% of Guatemala's COVID-19 Cases, El Salvador Authorizes Lethal Force Against Suspected Gang Members as Prisons Go on Full Lockdown, Dozens of Protesters Arrested in Chile as Anti-Government Demonstrations Continue , Pakistani Medical Workers Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Lack of PPE, New Zealand Declares Coronavirus "Eliminated" as It Eases Lockdown, D.C. Activists Hold Car, Bike Caravans in Solidarity with Essential Workers, 2 More People Corroborate Tara Reade's Sexual Assault Accusations Against Joe Biden, Top NY ER Doctor Who Treated COVID-19 Patients Dies by Suicide , Jerry Givens, Virginia Anti-Death Penalty Activist and Former Executioner, Dies of COVID-19