Democracy Now!

Far-Right Republicans Block Kevin McCarthy’s Bid to Become House Speaker, Patty Murray Becomes First Female Senate President Pro Tempore, FDA OKs Sale of Abortion Pill Mifepristone at Retail Pharmacies, Russia Admits 89 Soldiers Killed in Ukraine Missile Attack in Makiivka, Erdogan to Speak Today with Putin & Zelensky, UAE & China Call for U.N. Security Council Meeting on Ben-Gvir’s Visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli Forces Kill 15-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Near Bethlehem, U.S. Embassy in Cuba to Resume Processing Immigrant Visas for First Time Since 2017, Venezuela: Maduro Seeks Normalization with U.S. as Opposition Drops Guaidó as “Interim President”, New California Law Allows Incarcerated People to Make Free Phone Calls, Amber McLaughlin Becomes First Trans Woman Executed in United States, FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Fraud & Money Laundering Charges, Buffalo Bills Player Damar Hamlin Remains in Critical Condition, Funeral Held for Soccer Legend Pelé in Santos, Brazil, Google Doodle Highlights Legacy of Egyptian Writer Ihsan Abdel Kouddous

Six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns were released by a House committee on Friday after a years-long legal battle by the former president to keep them sealed. Early revelations include the finding that Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax during his first year in office in 2017, and he paid no tax in 2020. The newly released tax records give a long-overdue glimpse of Trump’s personal and business finances, which he refused to disclose during the 2016 presidential election, breaking with decades of precedent. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump for decades, says the new documents show “absolutely brazen” tax fraud. “Donald Trump has been a criminal his whole life,” says Johnston.

In Brazil, ​​former union leader and head of the Workers’ Party Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated Sunday for his third term as the country’s president, replacing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula served as Brazil’s most popular president from 2003 to 2010 and helped lift tens of millions of Brazilians out of poverty. But in 2018, as he prepared to run for office again, he was jailed on trumped-up corruption charges, paving the way for the election of Bolsonaro. The charges were later thrown out. Bolsonaro boycotted the ceremony, after first refusing to concede the election, and fled Brazil for Orlando, Florida, as he avoids criminal investigations. The new administration has vowed to fight poverty, invest in education and health, and halt illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest. We are joined by ​​Maria Luísa Mendonça, director of the Network for Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil, and journalist Michael Fox, host of the podcast “Brazil on Fire.”

118th Congress Convenes as GOP’s Kevin McCarthy Struggles to Clinch House Speaker Role, Disgraced GOP Rep.-elect George Santos Travels to Washington, D.C., for Congressional Swearing-In, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Sworn In to Historic Third Term as Brazil’s President, Xi Jinping Acknowledges “New Phase” of Pandemic After China Halts “Zero-COVID”, Extreme Winter Warmth Shatters Temperature Records Across Europe, Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir Visits Al-Aqsa Mosque in “Provocation” to Palestinians, Israeli Troops Kill Two Palestinians During Home Demolition in Occupied West Bank, Iranian Woman Chess Player Defects to Spain After Defying Dress Code, Russia Admits Ukrainian Missile Attack Killed Dozens of Soldiers, Former Pope Benedict XVI Dies at 95, 17 Killed in Juárez, Mexico, Prison Break That Springs Cartel Leader, Missouri Set to Kill Amber McLaughlin in First Execution of Openly Transgender Woman, Tax Returns Show Trump Claimed Huge Losses While Paying Little or No Income Tax, Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin Suffers Cardiac Arrest in Monday Night Football Game

We continue our Democracy Now! special broadcast with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González, who recently gave three “farewell” speeches in his hometown of New York before he moved to Chicago. González is an award-winning journalist and investigative reporter who spent 29 years as a columnist for the New York Daily News. He is a two-time winner of the George Polk Award and author of many books, including the classic “Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America,” which has just been reissued and published in Spanish. In December at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, he gave an address on “Latinos, Race and Empire.” Before his CUNY talk, New York City Councilmember Alexa Avilés presented González a proclamation recognizing his remarkable achievements. (Watch in full here.)

In a Democracy Now! special broadcast, we spend the hour with our own Juan González, who recently gave three “farewell” speeches in his hometown of New York before he moved to Chicago. González is an award-winning journalist and investigative reporter who spent 29 years as a columnist for the New York Daily News. He is a two-time winner of the George Polk Award and author of many books, including the classic “Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America,” which has just been reissued and published in Spanish. His other books include “News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media.” González is also the founder and past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Before beginning his career in journalism, he spent several years as a Latino community and civil rights activist, helping to found and lead the Young Lords Party during the late 1960s. He has also been the co-host of Democracy Now! since it started in 1996, and is continuing to co-host the show from his new home in Chicago. In the first part of our special, we feature his address in November at the Columbia Journalism School reflecting on “Forty Years of Fighting for Racial and Social Justice in Journalism.” (Watch in full here.)

We look at a remarkable film that follows how acclaimed playwright Liza Jessie Peterson gave a mesmerizing performance of her one-person play “The Peculiar Patriot” at the Louisiana State Penitentiary known as Angola, before authorities stopped it halfway through. “Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison” has just been shortlisted for an Oscar, and Peterson and the film’s director, Cinque Northern, join us to describe how they hope to raise awareness about conditions inside the infamous prison.

In 2022, more jails in the United States became death traps, as people faced inhumane conditions in overcrowded facilities amid a lack of mental healthcare, housing and backlash against bail reform. Most of those who died were incarcerated pretrial, and activists say this number is heavily underreported. From New York City to Houston, Texas, jail deaths have reached their highest levels in decades. We get an update from Krish Gundu, with the Texas Jail Project, and Keri Blakinger, investigative reporter with The Marshall Project. Blakinger is the organization’s first formerly incarcerated reporter, and her memoir, “Corrections in Ink,” was banned from prisons in Florida this week. She also discusses a new searchable database of which books prisons don’t want incarcerated people to read.

In a remarkable development, New York Democrats look likely to defeat Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s nomination of Hector LaSalle to be the state’s next chief judge, after progressives raised concern about his conservative judicial record and anti-abortion, anti-labor and anti-bail reform positions. “We have a situation here in New York where we have an opportunity to shift the highest court in a progressive direction, and the governor is completely fumbling that opportunity,” says Jabari Brisport, a Democratic Socialist state senator in Brooklyn who was one of the first to oppose LaSalle’s nomination.

Brazil has begun three days of national mourning to mark the death of the global soccer icon Pelé at the age of 82. Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé was a poor Afro-Brazilian who led the Brazilian national soccer team to its first World Cup title in 1958 at just 17 years old, and ultimately two more times in later years — more than any other player in history. Pelé was seen as a symbol of Brazil and played for 20 years in the country before retiring and becoming a global ambassador for the sport of soccer. He was also criticized for embodying the commercialization of the sport and was seen as complying with Brazil’s repressive dictatorship. Pelé later became a cabinet member in the Brazilian government in the early 1990s. We discuss the life and legacy of the soccer icon with Brenda Elsey, co-host of the feminist sports podcast “Burn It All Down,” co-author of “Futbolera: Women, Sports, and Sexuality in Latin America” and editor of the book “Football and the Boundaries of History.”

Benjamin Netanyahu Sworn In to 6th Term as Israel’s Prime Minister, Biden Calls Netanyahu “My Friend for Decades,” Doesn’t Mention Illegal Settlements, U.N. Halts Some Aid Operations in Afghanistan After Taliban Bans Women NGO Workers, Ukraine Claims to Have Shot Down Russian Drone Swarm Aimed at Kyiv, Belarus Summons Ukraine’s Ambassador After Missile Lands on Its Territory, Italy Cracks Down on Mediterranean Rescue Ships, Brazil’s Lula Names Environment & Rights Defenders to Cabinet in Sharp Turn from Predecessor, Brazilian Soccer Icon Pelé, Who Rose to Global Fame in Record-Breaking Career, Dies at 82, South Korea Conducts Military Exercises After Failure to Stop North Korean Drone Incursion, South Korea Joins Other Countries Imposing Restrictions on Travelers from China over COVID Fears, New York Opens First Recreational Cannabis Dispensary, Run by Housing Nonprofit

The war in Ukraine is now in its 11th month, and Russia unleashed a new bombardment this week of cities across the country, including the capital Kyiv. This comes as both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin have expressed a willingness to negotiate an end to the war — but their positions remain so far apart that there are no real hopes of peace talks, says longtime antiwar activist, author and international relations scholar Gilbert Achcar. “For now, both sides are just probably betting on being able to achieve more on the ground and not really serious about a ceasefire and negotiations under the present conditions,” he says.

Anti-government protests in Iran, launched in September following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police, have passed their 100th day, even as demonstrators have been met with widespread arrests, brutal violence by police and executions. The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports thousands of protesters have been arrested and more than 500 protesters have been killed so far, including 69 children. At least 26 more demonstrators are facing execution. As calls grow for the United States and the international community to respond to Iran’s brutal crackdown, President Biden has hinted attempts to restore the Iran nuclear deal may be dead. We’re joined by Hadi Ghaemi, executive director and founder of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, and Nahid Siamdoust, a former journalist who is now Middle East and media studies professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Israel Swears In Far-Right Government That Pledges to Expand Illegal Settlements, Russian Missile Attacks Pummel Ukrainian Cities, Causing Fresh Power Outages, China Warns Taiwan over Military Expansion; U.S. Approves Sale of Anti-Tank Mines to Taiwan, China CDC Stops Publishing Daily Coronavirus Data Amid Explosion of COVID Cases, U.S. Will Impose Coronavirus Testing Requirement on Travelers from China, Death Toll from Devastating Blizzard in Western New York Rises to 38 as Accusations Fly, Failures of U.S. Power Grid, Water Systems Prompt Calls for New Sustainable Infrastructure, Travel Chaos Continues as Southwest Cancels More Flights Amid Mounting Scrutiny, Leader of Gov. Whitmer Kidnapping Plot Sentenced to Over 19 Years Behind Bars, Paul Pelosi Attacker Pleads Not Guilty to California State Charges, Rep. Jamie Raskin Announces He Has Lymphoma, Probes Launched into Republican George Santos’s Lies About His Résumé, Family, and Finances, 3M to Stop Producing PFAS as Lawsuit Targets Bottle Manufacturer Inhance over PFAS in Household Goods

The U.S. Department of Transportation says it will investigate cancellations and delays by Southwest Airlines after the airline canceled about two-thirds of its flights since a Christmas snowstorm. The unprecedented operational meltdown left thousands of travelers stranded, causing scenes of chaos at airports across the country during one of the busiest travel seasons in the year. Corliss King, vice president of TWU Local 556 representing Southwest flight attendants, says the union has warned the company for years about the technical issues that contributed to this week’s chaos. We also speak with Paul Hudson of FlyersRights, the largest nonprofit airline passenger rights organization in the U.S., who blames decades of cost-cutting and chasing profits for the deteriorating service in the airline industry. “It’s more profitable to have bad service than good service,” says Hudson.

Buffalo, New York, is experiencing a Katrina moment after this weekend’s historic blizzard. The death toll has climbed to at least 32 as people froze to death in their homes and cars, with nationwide fatalities surpassing 60 people. State and military police have been deployed to Buffalo to enforce the city’s ongoing driving ban as road conditions remain treacherous after a 51.5-inch snowfall. We’re joined by India Walton, former Buffalo mayoral candidate and longtime community activist, as well as Cariol Horne, a community organizer and racial justice advocate who was arrested by Buffalo police during the storm, to discuss the nation’s latest climate emergency and the city government’s role in the tragedy.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has ordered the Biden administration to continue enforcing Title 42, blocking asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump-era pandemic policy Title 42 has been used to expel over 2 million people at the border since March 2020. The court is preparing to hear oral arguments in February by mostly Republican-led states who are challenging Biden’s push to end the policy, while hundreds of migrants face freezing cold temperatures in camps along the U.S.-Mexico border. We speak to Luis Chaparro, a journalist reporting from the U.S.-Mexico border, about the fight to put an end to Title 42, and how gangs in Mexico have pivoted much of their operations to human smuggling as the policy drags on.

SCOTUS Keeps Title 42 in Place for Now, Forcing Thousands to Remain Stranded at U.S.-Mexico Border, Winter Storm Death Toll Tops 31 in Buffalo as Southwest Airlines Chaos Upends Travel Across U.S., Transcripts from Jan. 6 Probe Detail Mark Meadows Burning Documents, Trump Weighing “Blanket Pardons”, Russia Bans Oil Exports to Countries Observing Price Cap as German Activists Protest Coal Revival, Russian Business Magnate Dies After Falling from Window of Indian Hotel, Kosovo Closes Largest Border Crossing as Tensions with Serbia Mount, 185 Rohingya Refugees Arrive in Indonesia After Being Adrift at Sea Since Late November, West Point Starts Removing Confederate Monuments from Campus, Judge Sentences Co-Leader of Far-Right Plot to Kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to 16 Years, University of California Student Workers End 6-Week Strike After Receiving Pay Raises and Other Wins

A new series of video reports by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Intercept called “Insecurity” looks at women leaving the workforce, the impact of the expanded child tax credit, and the wave of union organizing during the pandemic. The series spotlights people navigating food, housing and healthcare insecurity — who are falling through the cracks of the social safety net in the process. We feature clips from the series and speak with the host, Ray Suarez, former PBS correspondent and longtime journalist and an author, and Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and author of “Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America.”

International aid groups are suspending their relief programs in Afghanistan after the Taliban government announced on Saturday that humanitarian organizations are barred from employing women. The edict is the latest blow to women’s rights in the country as the Taliban reimpose draconian rules they employed in the 1990s, when they were previously in power. Last week, the government also barred women from attending universities. We speak with Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which is one of several NGOs to suspend operations in the country, as well as Afghan educator and women’s rights activist Jamila Afghani, who leads the Afghanistan section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and was evacuated from Kabul last August.

Buffalo Buried by Historic Blizzard as Winter Storm Kills Dozens Across U.S., Migrants Sleep Outside on Christmas After U.S. Denies Them Chance to Apply for Asylum, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Buses 100+ Asylum Seekers to Residence of VP Kamala Harris, Afghan Taliban Bans Women from Working at NGOs, South Korea Scrambles Warplanes as North Korean Drones Cross Border, Taiwan Lengthens Mandatory Military Service Amid Tensions with China, China Will End Coronavirus Quarantine Requirement for International Travelers, Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Air Base Kills Three , Former Maoist Leader Becomes Nepal’s Prime Minister for Third Time, Bolsonaro Supporter Charged with Bomb Plot Aimed at Stopping Inauguration of Lula, Meta Will Pay $725 Million to Settle Lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica Data Leak, Rep.-Elect George Santos Admits He Lied About Work, Family and Education

Ed Yong, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer at The Atlantic, talks about his recent book, “An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.”

In this special broadcast, we speak with Reed Brody, the international human rights lawyer who has been called “the dictator hunter” for his role in bringing historic legal cases against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and others. Brody’s new book is just out, titled “To Catch a Dictator: The Pursuit and Trial of Hissène Habré.” Habré, a former U.S. ally, was convicted in 2016 by the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegalese court system and sentenced to life in prison.

We speak with Guyanese environmental lawyer Melinda Janki about how she’s taking on the oil giant ExxonMobil to stop the company from developing an offshore oil field that would turn Guyana into a “carbon bomb.” Guyana is currently a carbon sink, but Exxon plans to produce more than 1 million barrels of oil a day, which could transform the South American country into one of the world’s top oil producers by 2030. Janki is suing the Guyanese government and Exxon under the constitution’s guarantee of a healthy environment to both current and future citizens. Her legal battle is profiled in a new article in Wired, “The Quest to Defuse Guyana’s Carbon Bomb,” written by independent journalist Antonia Juhasz, who also joins us.

The House select committee on the January 6 attack released its final 845-page report Thursday, and the word “racism” appears only once throughout the entire document — despite the central role white supremacist groups played in the insurrection. “Those who stormed the Capitol … didn’t merely come in defense of Donald Trump,” says Stanford professor Hakeem Jefferson, an expert on issues of race and identity in American politics. “They came in defense of white supremacy and white Americans’ hold on power.”

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol released its final 845-page report on the insurrection at the Capitol and Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The report names former President Trump as the central cause of the insurrection and calls for expanded efforts by the government to combat far-right and white supremacist groups. We’re joined by John Nichols, The Nation’s national affairs correspondent, to discuss the full report.

Jan. 6 Committee Releases Report on Capitol Insurrection, Recommends Barring Trump from Office, Senate Approves $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill, Polar Vortex Brings Winter Weather Advisories to 200 Million Across U.S., Asylum Seekers Remain Stuck at U.S.-Mexico Border Amid Freezing Temperatures, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey Agrees to Dismantle Illegal Border Wall, Afghan Taliban Assault and Arrest Women Protesting University Ban, Report Finds U.S. Did Not Compensate Foreign Workers Injured or Killed in Afghanistan, Car Bomb Kills Pro-Kremlin Official in Russian-Occupied Ukraine, Putin Calls Russian Invasion of Ukraine a “War” Instead of “Special Military Operation”, Chile to Open Embassy in Israeli-Occupied Palestinian Territories, TikTok Admits Its Workers Spied on Journalists, Genealogy Records Contradict George Santos’s Claims His Grandparents Fled Holocaust, Charlene Mitchell, First Black Woman to Run for U.S. President, Dies at 92

We speak with Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer and theologian Cornel West about the January 6 committee’s recommendation that former President Donald Trump and his allies be criminally charged for their role in the insurrection and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “Just because it’s unprecedented doesn’t mean that we can’t have prosecutions,” says Greer. She also responds to recent news reports that New York Congressmember-elect George Santos fabricated much of his political biography.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has wrapped up a one-day visit to Washington, D.C., where he called on the Biden administration and lawmakers to provide more military and financial aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. This was Zelensky’s first overseas trip in nearly a year, since the war began. Ahead of the trip, over 1,000 faith leaders in the United States called for a Christmas truce in Ukraine. For more on the war and hopes for peace, we speak with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, theologian Cornel West and Reverend Graylan Scott Hagler, senior adviser to the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

In Washington, Ukraine’s President Asks U.S. Congress for More Aid to Fight Russia, Biden Pledges More Military Aid to Ukraine, Won’t Press for Negotiations with Russia, European Officials Find No Evidence Russia Sabotaged Nord Stream Pipelines, Russia to Add 500,000 Troops After Putin Admits War in Ukraine Is “Extremely Difficult”, China and Russia Hold Naval War Games as U.S. Deploys B-52s and Stealth Fighters to South Korea, Japan Unveils $320 Billion Plan for Largest Military Buildup Since World War II, WHO Calls on China to Share COVID-19 Data, U.S. Life Expectancy Fell in 2021 as Drug Overdoses and COVID-19 Cases Surged, Up to 20 People Have Died on Rohingya Refugee Ship That Has Been Adrift for Weeks, Netanyahu Finalizes Deal to Form Israel’s Most Extremist Government Yet, U.S. Imposes More Sanctions on Iran as Prospects Dim for Revival of Nuclear Deal, Pentagon Fails to Submit Information on U.S. Role in Deadly 2017 Nigerian Airstrike, Fiji Deploys Military Amid Fallout from Disputed Election, Former EU Lawmaker José Bové Says Moroccan Prime Minister Tried to Bribe Him, Former FTX Execs Plead Guilty to Fraud, Will Cooperate in Case Against Sam Bankman-Fried, Roanoke, Virginia, to Honor Henrietta Lacks with New Statue

Six people in Atlanta have been charged with domestic terrorism for taking part in protests against a massive new police training facility known as Cop City. The protesters were taking part in a months-long encampment in a forested area of Atlanta where the city wants to build a $90 million, 85-acre training center on the site of a former prison farm. Conservationists have long wanted to protect the area, the South River Forest, from future development. Protesters are also urging the city to invest in alternatives to more policing. “This is basically a boondoggle that’s been given to the police to make them feel better,” says Kamau Franklin, founder of Community Movement Builders, which is a part of a coalition trying to stop the construction of Cop City in Atlanta.

The Biden administration recently moved to ease some sanctions on Venezuela and gave Chevron the green light to resume oil production in Venezuela. Venezuela has faced a years-long economic crisis in part due to harsh U.S. sanctions. Miguel Tinker Salas joins us to discuss shifting U.S.-Venezuelan relations, as well as their impacts on Venezuelan migrants to the U.S.

The Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court to temporarily keep in place Title 42 until after December 27. The Trump-era pandemic policy has been used to block over 2 million migrants from seeking asylum in the country. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42, siding, at least for the moment, with a group of U.S. states with Republican attorneys general who want to keep Title 42 in place. According to Human Rights First, over 13,400 accounts of murder, torture, kidnapping, rape and other violent attacks on migrants and asylum seekers blocked in or expelled to Mexico under Title 42 have been reported since President Biden took office.

More than 190 countries agreed Monday on a plan to preserve 30% of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030 in order to protect biodiversity, which is rapidly declining due to human activity. The agreement was reached at a United Nations biodiversity conference in Montreal, Canada, known as COP15. The United States did not formally participate in negotiations because it is not a signatory to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity. The landmark agreement seeks to halt the Earth’s sixth major mass extinction event, and Indigenous communities will have an increased role in protecting wildlife as part of the deal. For more on the historic agreement, we speak with Leila Salazar-López of Amazon Watch and Eriel Tchekwie Deranger with Indigenous Climate Action.

Trump Tax Returns Show He Paid Little or No Federal Taxes Some Years, IRS Failed to Audit Him, Zelensky Makes Unexpected Visit to D.C. as Faith Leaders Call for Christmas Truce in Ukraine, Taliban Ban Women Students at Universities in Ongoing Rights Crackdown, Taliban Frees Two American Prisoners, Peru Expels Mexican Ambassador for Granting Asylum to Family of Ousted President Pedro Castillo, Germany Convicts 97-Year-Old Woman for Complicity with Nazi Murder of 10,000 People, Biden Admin Asks SCOTUS to End Title 42 But to Delay Termination by at Least a Week, USPS to Acquire 66,000 Electric Delivery Trucks as Part of Sustainability Push, EPA Orders Cuts in Heavy Vehicle Emissions as Activists Call for Urgent Move to Zero Emissions, Texas Officer Who Killed Atatiana Jefferson Receives 12-Year Sentence, Elon Musk Says He Will Step Down as Twitter CEO If Suitable Replacement Found, CFPB Orders Wells Fargo to Pay $3.7 Billion for Widespread Consumer Violations, Senate Moves Forward $1.7 Omnibus Bill Cutting Key Social Priorities to Avert Gov’t Shutdown

With the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol recommending criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, we speak with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of fascism and authoritarianism, and Robert Weissman, president of the advocacy group Public Citizen. They say the committee has left no doubt that the insurrection was part of a larger plot to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election and that the Department of Justice must act soon if it intends to follow through on the referral. “The most important thing to prevent this kind of coup from ever taking place again is accountability for the people at the top,” says Weissman.

We feature excerpts from the final hearing of the House January 6 committee that resulted in Monday’s unanimous vote to recommend criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. The committee’s 18-month investigation determined that Trump intended to disrupt the results of the 2020 presidential election and played a central role in the U.S. Capitol insurrection. This marks the first time in U.S. history a congressional committee has recommended criminal charges against a former president.

House Jan. 6 Committee Recommends Criminal Charges for Donald Trump, Proud Boys Stand Trial for Seditious Conspiracy over Jan. 6 Violence, Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Lifting of Title 42 Restrictions on Asylum Seekers, U.K. Court Upholds Policy Allowing Deportation of Asylum Seekers to Rwanda, Body of Iranian Protester Who Died in Police Custody Showed Signs of Torture, Palestinians Hold One-Day Strike to Mourn Prisoner Who Died of “Medical Neglect”, U.N., France and Rights Groups Condemn Israel’s Deportation of Palestinian Activist, Thousands Protest Against Military Rule in Sudan’s Capital on Anniversary of Revolution, In Minsk, Vladimir Putin Says Russia Has No Interest in Absorbing Belarus, Mass Shooting Leaves Six Dead in Toronto Suburb, NYC Uber Drivers Hold 24-Hour Strike to Protest Blocked Pay Raises, NYTimes Investigation Reveals GOP Rep.-Elect George Santos Lied About Credentials, L.A. Jury Convicts Harvey Weinstein on Charges of Rape and Sexual Assault

A corruption scandal involving Qatar and Morocco is rocking the European Union, with authorities in Belgium earlier this month raiding the homes and offices of multiple European Parliament lawmakers for allegedly accepting bribes from the two governments. The raids recovered hundreds of thousands of euros in cash. Among those arrested was European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, who in the lead-up to the World Cup repeatedly defended Qatar against critics. Ana Gomes, a retired Portuguese diplomat who was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2019, says that while the investigation was initially focused on Qatar, “it looks more and more that Morocco should be the center of the investigation.” We also speak with Francesco Bastagli, a former United Nations special representative for Western Sahara, who notes that Morocco has cultivated a sophisticated network of “friends” in Europe who have helped the country in trade agreements and in gaining acceptance for its illegal occupation of Western Sahara.

Supporters of imprisoned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal are celebrating a decision by a Philadelphia judge on Friday to order the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to share all of its files on the case with Abu-Jamal’s defense team. Judge Lucretia Clemons gave prosecutors and the defense 60 days to review the files, including many that Abu-Jamal’s team has never seen. The judge is then expected to rule on whether to hold a new trial for the former Black Panther, who has been imprisoned for over 40 years for his 1982 conviction in the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. His supporters have long claimed prosecutors withheld key evidence and bribed or coerced witnesses to lie, and documents found in the DA’s office in 2019 show Abu-Jamal’s trial was tainted by judicial bias and police and prosecutorial misconduct. For more on the case, we speak with Johanna Fernández, an associate professor of history at CUNY’s Baruch College and one of the coordinators of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home. “We have enough evidence here to clearly give Mumia at least an evidentiary hearing, a new trial or set him free,” says Fernández. She is the executive producer and writer of the film “Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal” and is also the editor of “Writing on the Wall: Selected Prison Writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal.”

The Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas, has declared a state of emergency over concerns the city won’t be able to provide shelter and resources to the thousands of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. This comes as the Biden administration is expected on Wednesday to stop enforcing Title 42, the Trump-era pandemic policy that has been used by the U.S. government to block over 2 million migrants from seeking asylum in the country. Many asylum seekers now at the border are sleeping outdoors in freezing temperatures while the infrastructure to welcome them is sorely lacking, says Fernando García, the founder and executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights based in El Paso. “This is what I consider the perfect storm happening right now at the border,” he says. “If we don’t have long-term fixes, if we don’t have immigration reform fixing the asylum process, which has been broken and damaged by the previous administration, I think we are going to continue seeing these crises.”

House Jan. 6 Cmte. Expected to Refer Trump for Criminal Charges as Proud Boys Trial Kicks Off, El Paso Declares State of Emergency Amid Growing Number of Asylum Seekers as Title 42 Set to End, COP15: Nations Reach Landmark Deal to Protect Earth’s Biodiversity, Ministers Resign to Protest Ouster and Jailing of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, Acclaimed Actress Taraneh Alidoosti Arrested in Iran over Support for Protests, Calls Mount for Tunisia’s President to Resign over “Legislative Coup” Amid Record-Low Voter Turnout, Mexican News Anchor Ciro Gómez Leyva Survives Assassination Attempt, Elon Musk Loses Twitter Poll Asking, “Should I Step Down as Head of Twitter?”, Twitter Reinstates Accounts of Journalists Who Reported on Elon Musk, AG Garland Orders Federal Prosecutors to End Disparities in Cocaine Sentencing, New York Bans Puppy Mills and Sale of Cosmetics Tested on Animals, Judge Grants Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Lawyers 60 Days to Examine New Evidence Ahead of Possible New Trial, Starbucks Workers at 100 Locations Hold Three-Day Strike

A new UNICEF report finds that over 11,000 children have been killed or injured in the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war in Yemen since 2015. A six-month ceasefire between warring parties expired in October. Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders withdrew a Senate resolution Tuesday that would have ended U.S. support for the war, following pressure from the White House. Sanders said he would bring the resolution back if they could not reach an agreement. Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni American assistant professor at Michigan State University and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute, says many Democrats who decried U.S. support for the Saudi coalition when it was seen as “Trump’s war” have now fallen silent despite the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. “The situation on the ground is so volatile that this War Powers Resolution is absolutely essential,” says Al-Adeimi.

President Biden has pledged $55 billion to Africa over the next three years, announced during a three-day summit in Washington with leaders from 49 African nations. The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was held as the United States is trying to counter the growing influence of China and Russia across the continent. President Biden also announced plans to visit sub-Saharan Africa next year for the first time as president, and expressed support for the African Union to join the G20 and for Africa to have permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council. We speak with Emira Woods, the executive director of the Green Leadership Trust and an ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity. She says both Democratic and Republican administrations have seen Africa primarily as a place of geopolitical competition over resources. “What you see is that people on whose land those resources lie continue to be rendered invisible,” Woods says.

Mass protests are intensifying in Peru following the ouster and jailing of President Pedro Castillo, who was impeached on December 7 after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. At least 17 protesters have been killed in the unrest as police have attacked crowds with tear gas and live ammunition. On Thursday, a judicial panel ruled that Castillo should remain locked up for 18 months of pretrial detention, and Castillo’s successor, his former vice president, Dina Boluarte, has declared a state of emergency across the country, suspending some civil rights. Peruvian sociologist Eduardo González Cueva calls the government’s heavy-handed response “a coup within a coup” and says dissatisfaction with the entire political establishment is driving the protests. “This is no longer about Castillo personally,” he says. “This is about the people of Peru who do not see themselves represented in this political system and are calling for a very radical change.”

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As the world’s attention turns to the World Cup final on Sunday between Argentina and France, we look at the case of imprisoned World Cup whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais, a former communications director for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organizers, who has been imprisoned since November 2019. Ibhais, a Jordanian national, was given a five-year sentence in Qatar on what his family says are trumped-up charges after he raised concern over working conditions for migrant workers who’d gone on strike over months of unpaid wages — including workers building stadiums for the games. Ibhais’s sentence was later reduced to three years, but his family recently said in an open letter that he was subjected to torture after he contributed footage to the ITV documentary “Qatar: State of Fear?” Ibhais’s family has also blasted FIFA, calling it complicit in his imprisonment. For more, we speak with Abdullah’s brother Ziad Ibhais and Nick McGeehan, co-director and co-founder of the human rights organization FairSquare, where he advocates for migrant workers.

Human rights groups say over 14,000 people have been arrested across Iran since protests began in September following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. At least 400 people have reportedly been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, and multiple people have been executed. The protests are “the longest sustained protests since the start of the revolution,” says Sussan Tahmasebi, a women’s rights activist and feminist from Iran joining us from Brussels, Belgium, who says women and youth are sick of the status quo and are seeking fundamental freedoms. “Iranians voted multiple times for over two decades for some process of reform … but the state has not given in to those demands,” she says. “What we’re seeing now is the result.” Tahmasebi is the director of FEMENA, an organization that promotes gender equality and supports women human rights defenders, and co-founder of the Iran Civil Society Training and Research Center, as well as the One Million Signatures Campaign, a grassroots effort working to end gender-biased laws in Iran.

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This Friday, Mumia Abu-Jamal faces what could be his last chance for a new trial to consider newly discovered evidence that casts doubt on his 1982 conviction for murder. The journalist and former Black Panther has spent 41 years in prison for the death of police officer Daniel Faulkner, for which he has always maintained his innocence. His lawyers say evidence in boxes discovered in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office in 2019 shows his trial was tainted by judicial bias, as well as police and prosecutorial misconduct, like withholding evidence, and bribing or coercing witnesses to lie. Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons indicated she intends to dismiss Mumia’s request for a new trial, but said she would announce her final decision this Friday, December 16. For more on this closely watched case, we speak with Wendell Griffen, Arkansas circuit judge, who is calling for Abu-Jamal’s release and says Judge Clemons should take into account how the irregularities in Abu-Jamal’s case should have already secured his freedom, suggesting a drive for vengeance is the main reason that hasn’t happened. “The prosecution messed up, the investigation messed up, and Mumia Abu-Jamal was wrongfully prosecuted, wrongfully convicted, wrongfully sentenced and is now wrongfully incarcerated,” says Griffen. “But our bloodlust prevents us from acknowledging that.”