Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20170420

Who recently secured three new trademarks in china on the very same day she dined with the chinese president her father, President Trump at maralago. , is ivanka using her white house post to enrich her Business Empire . Nobody holding a position of trust with United States government can receive payments from foreign governments. Whether gifts or a celery or profits. And that is what emoluments are, profits or benefits, comes from the latin root the refersrs to profits and benefits. Amy thehen as human rights wath accuses the u. S. Of bombmbing a mosque in syria, killing dozens, we will look at the soaring number of civilian deaths caused by u. S. Airstrikes in syria and iraq. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The longtime fox news star bill oreilly is out after more than half dozen women accused him of Sexual Harassment. His departure follows a similar ouster of longtime powerful fox news ceo roger ailes, who was also forced out this past summer after more than 20 women accused him of Sexual Harassment. Over 50 advertisers had boycotted the Oreilly Factor over revelations oreilly and fox paid 13 million to settle lawsuits by five women who accused oreilly of Sexual Harassment and inappropriate sexual behavior. A sixth woman, dr. Wendy walsh, has also accused oreilly of harassing her and then retaliating against her professionally when she refused to have sex with him. On tuesday, a seventh woman, who remains anonymous, accused oreilly of harassing her for months with sexually and racially offensive comments and actions. Oreilly has called the claims unfounded. On wednesday, protesters gathered outside the news corp. s headquarters handing out flyers reading danger sexual predator works here and packets of hot chocolate. It was a reference to the allegation that oreilly harassed and africanamerican clerical worker by calling her hot chocolate. This is Anika Collier Navaroli responding to the ouster. We are glad that he is gone and will not be up this bit his file, its an empty may comes out of his mouth that is disparaging that only to women, but specifically to black women and black folks all around the world. We are happy to say he is off the air, but we are not done. We will keep applying pressure and making sure what is coming out of these airwaves and handing happening in these always is respectful and making sure women everywhere are given dignity. And because the rest of the world was learning about oreillys ouster, he was meeting with the pope. We will have more on oreilly and fox news after headlines with lisa bloom, the attorney for multiple women who have accused oreilly of Sexual Harassment. Vice president mike pence is meeting with indonesian prpresident joko jokowiwi wido in jakarta. The meeting comes one day after jokowis political ally, Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja purnama, conceded defeat in a highly significant gubernatorial race. Purnamas campaign was hobbled by a religious Blasphemy Trial and mass strtreet prprotests tht were organized, according to an explosive new article by journalist allan nairn, by army officers, isislinked street vigilantes and associates s of , President Trump who are ultimately seeking to oust the indonesian president. The article reveals that the Trump Associates involved in the coup attempt include a corporate lawyer working with the Mining Company freeportmcmoran, which is controlleled by trump adviser carl icahn. A vivideo shows carl i icahn showows the lawyer fofor freepot an where men are swearing allegiance to o isis. Well have more on pences trip to indonesia and allan nairns explosive new article tomorrow on democracy now in iraq, heavy fighting continues in west mosul between the u. S. Backed iraqi army and isis militants. The journalistic Monitoring Group airwars says airstrikes launched by either the Usled Coalition or the usbacked Iraqi Air Force reportedly killed between one and two dozen civilians on tuesday in the old city of mosul. Well have more on the ongoing battle for control of mosul later in the broadcast with journalist anand gopal. U. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson has verbally attacked iran, accusing it of provocations and comparing it to north korea. Behrendt is a leading state sponsor of terrorism and is responsible for to define multiple conflicts and undermining u. S. Interest in countries such as syria, yemen, iraq, and lebanon, and continuing to support attacks against israel. In unchecked iran has the potential to travel the same path as north korea and take the world along with it. A comprehensive rent policy requires that we address all of the threat opposed by posed by iran, and it is clear there are many. Iran continues to support assad regime, a conflict that has killed nearly half a million civilians and displaced many more. Amy tillersons comments come as the Trump Administration launches a review of its policy towards iran, although the administration has not said it will renege on the 2015 landmark iran nuclear deal. President trump is facing criticism both in the u. S. And southh korea for apparently lyig about sending an armada to the korean peninsula. More than n a week ago, the whie house announced it was sending the Aircraft Carrier cararl vinn show iple warships to se a a show of force to north korea,a, amid rising tenensions. Ththis is President Trump, speaking on fox news on april 12. Pres. Trump we arare sendingngn armada. Very powerful. We have submarines. Very powerfuful. Fafar more powerful ththan the Aircraft Carrier, that i can tell you. Amy trumpmps announcement whih , was repeated by y the whitee house, w was widely y reported, including g on democracynow but in fact trump had not sent , the armada to the peninsula. In fact, at the time of the announcement, it was sailing in the opposite direction to the indian ocean. The revelations that the armada was more than 3000 miles away from the korean penininsula sparked outcry wednesday, particularly in south korea. On wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer attempted to respond to reporters questions about the armadas whereabouts. Does he have an armada going for the peninsula . That is happening. We said it was heading there. It was heading there. It is heading there. So that remains [indiscernible] if there is an impression, then that is not there should having clarification from people who were seeking it. What parart is misleading . We were asked a question about what signal was sent. We answer the quesestion. Im not the one who commented on timing. Amy Oil Giant Exxonmobil pursuing a waiver in order to drill in the black sea as part of a joint venture with the Russian State Oil company rosneft. The waiver allows exxon to circumvent u. S. Treasury department sanctions imposed on russia over its annexation of crimea. The state department, headed by longtime exxonmobil ceo Rex Tillerson, is one of the u. S. Agencies that would have to approve the waiver meaning the current ceo of exxon will be asking the former ceo of exxon for permission to drill. Exxonmobil claims it could lose its contract to drill in the black sea if it doesnt begin operatioions by the end of this year. Turkish authorities arrested dozens of opposition members wednesday morning at dawn in a government crackdown against those questioning the e legitimy of sundays referendum. The turkish president erdogan has claimed victory in the narrow referendum to give sweeping powers to the president. The opposition and european monitors say the vote was tainted by voting fraud and by a climate of fear and repression. In arkansas the state supreme , court has grananted a stay of execution to death r row prisonr stacey johnson, who was slated to die by lethal injection thursday. The stay was one of two new legal setbacks to arkansass unprecedented plan to execute eight men in 11 days this month. In a separate ruling wednesday, judge alice gray sided with a Pharmaceutical Company arguing it had sold arkansas the drug vecuronium bromide for medical use, not for executions, dealing another blow to arkansass execution attempts. Arkansas has faced growing protests over its execution plans, including from state judge wendell griffen, who lay on a cot for over an hour outside the Governors Mansion during a protest on good friday. He has since been barred from taking debt antirelated cases. Death penalty related cases. To see our full interviews about arkansass unprecedented execution attempts, go to democracynow. Org. Meanwhile, in louisiana, Rodricus Crawford has become the 158th person exonerated from death row in the u. S. Since 1973. Crawford was wrongly convicted of murdering his son, despite evidence the 1yearold child died of pneumonia and sepsis. The california judge w was verbally a attacked by presisidt trump jenna campaign trail has been assigned to hear the case of 23yearold deported dreamer juan manuel montes, who has sued the Trump Administration for deporting him to mexico even though he had legal permission to live and work in the United States through 2018 under president obamas deferred action for childhood arrivals program, known as daca. U. S. District judge Gonzalo Curiel has presided over a lawsuit alleging Trump University defrauded students, when trump claimed the judges mexican heritage makes him biased against trump. Trump ultimately settled the lawsuit for 25 million. In florida, state senator Frank Artiles is facing mounting calls to resign after he directed racist and obscene slurs at two fellow African American lawmakers, calling Florida State senator Audrey Gibson the b word and a girl, and then using the nword. Artiles has been removed as the chair of the committee on communications, energy and Public Utilities over the controversy. While he has apologized for the comments, he has not agreed to resign. In utah, republican congressman Jason Chaffetz has announced he will not run for reelection in 202018. Chaffetz is the chchair of the House Oversight committee. Meanwhile, House Republicans say theyre nearing a new proposal for a Health Care Deal to replace the Affordable Care act. The deal has been brokered betweeeen the chairsrs of the fafarright House Freedom caucus and the socalleled moderate tuesday group. Infighting b between the two groups doomed the last Republican Health care plan, which was heavily backed by prPresident Trump. In mexico, lgbt activist and freelance journalist Juan Jose Roldan has been murdered in the state of tlaxcala. His body was found sunday morning showing signs of torture. The union of journalists in tlaxcala have called for an investigation. Roldan had worked as a journalist for a local tv station and newspaper until about five years ago, when he began to dedicate himself to lgbt activism. And dozens of members of the new england patriots, including the teams quarterback tom brady, skipped a visit to the white house super bowl tribute wednesday in a rebuke to President Trump. Only 34 players attended wednesdays ceremony, compared to 50 players in when the 2015 patriots also won the super bowl. Quarterback tom brady said he was skipping the ceremony for personal family reasons. While brady has supported trump in the past, reportedly even keeping a make America Great again hat in his locker, his wife recently issued support for the upcoming climate march against trump, tweeting on april 29 in washington dc march for climate, jobs and justice. To change everything, we need everyone. She later deleted the tweet. Other players sasaid explicicity that their boycott was directed at President Trump. Defensive tackle alan branch said i couldnt shake his hand and look my daughters in the eye. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nermeen and im nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. The longtime fox news star bill oreilly is out after more than half a dozen women accused him of Sexual Harassment. His departure follows the similar ouster of longtime powerful fox news ceo roger ailes, who was also forced out this past summer after more than 20 women accused him of Sexual Harassment. Over 50 advertisers boycotted the Oreilly Factor over revelations oreilly and fox paid 13 million to settle lawsuits by five women who accuse oreilly of Sexual Harassment and inappropriate sexual behavior. A sixth woman, dr. Wendy walsh, has also accused oreilly of harassing her and then retaliating against her professionally when she refused to have sex with him. Amy on tuesdsday, a seventh woman, who remains anonymous, accused oreilly of harassing her for months with sexually and racially offensive comments and actions. The woman is an African American clerical worker who worked near oreilly. She alleges oreilly would make grunting noises like an animal and call her hot chocolate. Outside the news corps new york headquarters wednesday, protesters handed out flyers reading danger sexual predator works here and packets of hot chocolate. Cocolor of change senior campain manager Anika Collier Navaroli responded to the news of oreillys ouster. At this point, we are so happy he is gone and no longer going to be able to spit all of his vile comments and every thing that comes out of his mouth. It is dispiriting that only to women, but specifically to like over and black people all the world. We are not done. We will keep applying pressure and making sure what comes out of these airwaves and happening in these hallways is respectful and making sure that women everywhere are given dignity. Amy while news about bill oreillys dismissal was making headlines wednesday, he was at the vatican where he briefly met the pope. For more we are joined by lisa , bloom, civil rights attorney at the bloom firm. She represents three women who have accused bill oreilly of unwanted sexual advances. She is one of the women who is being credited with bringing bill oreilly down. Lisa bloom, very happy to have you with us. Explain what happened. Wendy w walsh end of a severl month ago and said the New York Times wanted to publish her story and her friends were saying, dont do it. He will come after you. This is going to be very scary. She asked me what i thought. I said, you have to do this for your daughters, for other women. I know you are scared, but i will stand with you at no charge. Not only that, we are going to bring him down. I promisised her that months ag. Three weeks ago, the story broke with wendy. We had a plan in place. We executed it for the last 18 days. Yesterday, the Company Announced he had been fired. I think k the plan went flawlessly. Amy what was the plan . We have to keep this story in the news. It cannot be a oneday story. That is what it would have been. We did a press conference. Wendy was scared. We had to do a press conference to make the story be big so other accusers would call me. We had to keep the story going. We released bits of it day by day, giving the story legs, as we say in journalism. A second accuser called me, but i needed time to vet her story. Needed to talk to witnesses and sure her up emotionally. All of these women are very scared. We got her sister in place, her three witnesses interviewed, and i was ready to come forward with her. She got scared. I went to North Carolina and met with her. We came out with her story a couple of days ago. The third accuser a fourth accuser came out. I said on many shows the murdochs had only one choice, and that was to fire bill oreilly. And if they did not, we would continue relentlessly day after day, having more and more accusers come out publicly. We were going to persist. Nermeen fox news has said no one has complained about bill oreilly on its hotline. Recently, you and your client wendy walsh officially called in her complaint. This clip begins with the hotlines automated response. Could you please commit a primary reason for your report . Yes, in 2013, i experienced Sexual Harassment as a job applicant at Fox News Channel by an employee named mr. Bill oreilly. Hello, maam. Is this your firirst time calli . Yes, it is. How did you become aware of our phone number . R . My atattorney lisa bloom foud it in your play ethics handbdbo. What state . California. And you said the person youre wishing to report is bill . Bill . Yes. How do you spell his last name . Oreilly. Explain why you this hotline was significant and how it played into this case . As a longtime feminist attorney, i know have to do more than just look at the law. Wendys s claims were timebbad because therere is a threeyear statute of limitation in new york. I thouought, what else can i do . You wonderful gift the first day the story broke. They did a public statement, no one has ever called our hotline. A little lightbulb went off over my head. Ive had prior Sexual Harassment cases against fox news. I had their handbook in my file. I pulled it out and found the number. I also look to their internal rules, which had no time deadlines to call the headline hotline. I knew once we internally complain, they would have to do an investigation. Wendy and i made that call. She was very brave post up i had my assistant video tape it so no one could say, we posted it online. A couple of days later, the attorneys called us. I then had all of the witness information and evidence in place to give ththem. I was already working on accuser number two and number three. Amy this means agosto a goes to the law firm that was supposedly doing an investigation of fox that the murdochs said they would comply with what they said . Yes. They represent the company. They were not doing an independent investigation, as has been falsely reported elsewhere. I knew what was important to them from other cases. I also had accuser number to a couple of days phone into the hotline. She chose to do it anonymously. Every woman gets to make her own choice. I support that. Yesterday i had accuser number three call in. Hotline on speed dial by this week. Amy lets go to what these cases were about. Now were talking about the accusers. It is important as people understand what is acceptable in a workplace, what is abuse. Lets go to dr. Wendy walsh and her own words describing what happened after oreilly offered her a job at fox news over dinner. When dinner was finishshed, hes a police, lets get out of here. I assumed he meant we should move to the bar to continue our conversation about my career at fox news. He caught up and said, no, no, come back to my suite. I am a point, you know, woman of a certain age. Ive had situations like this in my life. I knew how to behave. I simply said, im sorry, i cant do that. He immediately got defensive and said, what do you mean . You think im going to attack you or something . Very soon after, he of the executive producer call me and say theyre going to take a break from the segment for a little while, but they wouould start up again later. They did with the other psychologist, but not me. I knew it was coming. Amy talk about dr. Wendy soshs case, why this was important and damaging. And the other people you have represented and the ones that settled. You h have ill oreilly resespog yesterday i dont know if it was before or after he met with the pope saying that the accusations were unfounded. But hersonally personally at fox news had settttled five cases for over 3 million of women who have accused him of Sexual Harassment. Fox news, whihich had every economic motivation to take his side, found the allegations were wellfounded. They looked at our evidence. They talked to our witnesses. I was working with them actively behind the scenes on the investigation. I was on the phone with them when they interviewed some of our witnesses. They corroborated what dr. Wendy walsh said. Ultimately, these cases like all of the Sexual Harassment cases i have been doing for 30 years, are about womens equality in the workplace, our right to be treated with respect, and to have our careers. Most of us can withstand a comment we dont like, but when our jobs are threatened because we dont sleep with the boss . That is a whole other level. That is been going on, according to multiple women, with bill oreilly and others at fox news, for a very long time. I was very angry about that. I was motivated. I knew the first accuser in 2004 and how bill oreilly treated her, bringing his lawyers out to sue her, publicly trashing her do their media outlets. Enough was enough. I am glad i could be part of it. Nermeen i want to read bill oreilly statement yesterday. He wrote it is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims, but that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved, and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. I wish only the best for Fox News Channel. Something . Sean hannity, we never hear any complaints about him as a sexual harasser. Tucker carlson, matt lauer guest many promininent, wealthy men in the media who have zero complaints for Sexual Harassment. Oreilly, over and over and over again, by women several of whom had tapes, reportedly, of him calling and in very sexual he exquisite on the phone, propositioning them, telling them what he wanted to do with them sexually. It has nothing to do with him being in the public eye. He doesnt get it. I dont expect he will ever get it. I dont expect an apology, but im glad hes out of a job. Amy any of the Racial Discrimination charges. That is my africanamerican client. She lives in North Carolina. She is going to be talking publicly today for the first time later on in the day. She alleges that in 2008, she was a temp for six month that fox news, working for another individual, who she said was a great boss. And she says bill oreilly would come by her workstation when no one else was around and lear at her cleavage and saym mhmm lookining good, girl. And he had a name for her, hot chocolate. She found it offensive. She was scared. When you have some of the is powerful and wealthy as bill temp whocoming after a is just working day today, just to make a paycheck to survive, she just kept her head down. She was frozen as she describes it. She did not say a word to him. She just wanted to keep her job. Amamy this goes higher than bil oreilly, though he was the fox news star. In a recent interview with the New York Times, President Trump talked about bill oreilly saying i think he is a person i know well. He is a good person. I think you should not have settled. Personally, i think you should not have settled because you should have taken it all the way. I dont think bill did anything wrong. Notice he does not say i dont think oreilly did it. He says, i dont think he did anything wrong. I think trump is being honest. He does nothing Sexual Harassment is wrong. Women during four the campaign. He settled with one of my class in the 1990s. Jill harth worked on a few patches in the early 1990s. She alleged in a federal lawsuit that she had filed back then ivanka took her into explicit,d made stir her, groped her. Joe hart was very y brave to speak at last her. She e was the f first to come o. Earlier you mentioned the question of financial incentives that fox news had, but for retaining him and for sacking him. Acaccording to some estimates hm 446 millionst when all of these advertisers pulled out. But new York Magazine adjusted theres another reason he was taken out. 21st century foxs planned takeover of the paytv company sky tv. 14deal is said to be worth billion. And british media regulator said whether the murdochs are six and proper to own such a big company. Can you talk about that . I try to think holistic anand not just narrowly. Some u. K. Activists try to block a very deal thatat you just mentioned, reached out to me a couple of weeks ago and said, will you help us . We dont want fox news to come here. We want the regulator to know about what is going on in the u. S. Because it was not being widely reported there. I took the t time to send a detailed letter, letting them know about the rampant toxic culture of Sexual Harassment and retaliation against women at fox news, 21st century fox. I connected with the activists. They delivered itt persosonally. I thought it was another Pressure Point that we could put on to get bill oreilly fired. And also on a larger point, to get them to clean up this toxic culture and actually respect the concept ththat we women have rights in the u. S. We have the right to be treated as equals in the workplace. Those laws should be enforced everywhere, including fox news. Amy back to donald. This is extremely significant, two men supported him in normals lee, a whole network, i mean, roger ailes, even after he was forced out, now 20 women have accused roger ailes. He was quietly fold there was a lot of consternation expressed, advising candidate donald trump and then you have bill oreilly. And you have the donald trump scandal. I want to go to the clip from access hollywood years ago and how significant this is full step in fact, describing the m. O. That he attacked your client with, reaching under her skirt. This is now the president of the United States donald trump caught on tatape. Amy he is talking to billy bush. Ultimately, he was fired by nbc, billy bush, and donald trump again president. But the significance of this, you say you have represented a number of women who have accused donald trump. He said he would sue them after the election. What has happened . We knew that was another life. I said on twitter, if he sues any of them, i will represent them for free and subpoena all of his records and those of all of his enablers, and we will get the tapes we have heard rumors about these takes from the apprentice or he may have said the nword. Thousands of people said, i will help you. Amy the question is, where this all goes . Looking at reliable sources, newsletter, said, foxs problems over not necessarily with ailes and oreilly attention likely to shine. I mean, knowledge they were paying out. The question by who else is in there and is the new york state investigation continuing around where this s money, millions of dollars that is going to pay off sesettlements, to the shareholds know . Bill shine has been accused more than twice of being roger ailes lieutenant and part of the coverup and part of the conspiracy and driving women up and paying them hush money and doing nothing to address the culture of Sexual Harassment. All of the enablers have to go come if theyre going to clean house. What true justice would be, would be to bring back all of the women who lost their jobs merely for complaining about Sexual Harassment. Of course, that isnt going to happen. I called for another investigation because the investigation into the funds and how theyre being paid and being earmarked, it is somewhat interesting to the shareholders. I dont really care about the shareholders. I care about the women and the people working there. I thought, there has to be an agency that comes in and is a real investigation. What agency might that be . I called upon the state division of human rights in new york, which is entrusted by law to protect the human rights of all of the workers here in new york. I wrote them a lengthy letter detailing all of the publicly available information and asked them to do their own investigation. I gave them the code section that gives them the power to do that. So far, they have not taken the of on it. I am doing a social Media Campaign to get them to do the independent investigation. This is a problem hiding in plain sight. The laws are not enough. This is a very wealthy company. They just pay women off, but dont do anything to change the culture. Womens rights are human rights just like Hillary Clinton said long ago. Lot are there going to be a more suits against oreilly, even if he is out and fox for hosting him, as he does my pphone has been ringing of the hook. We have talked to a lot of women and wewere h happy to talk to , and i think, yes, there will probably be many more suits. Amy i want to thank you, lisa bloom, civil rights attorney at the bloom firm. She represents three women who have accused bill oreilly of unwanted sexual advances. We will be back in a minute. [music break] amy Elvis Presley he touched me. Why that song . 77 advertisers publicly announced they would no longer air commercials during a rally show. The number of ads on the show dramatically declined in Large National brands were replaced with ads, according to think progress, elvis gospel albums like he touched me. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Nermeen the Associated Press is reporting ivanka trump secured three new exclusive trademarks in china the very same day she and her father, President Trump, had dinner with chinese president xi jinping at trumps private maralago resort in florida. The china trademarks give her company the exclusive rights to sell ivankabranded jewelry, bags, and spa services in china. The New York Times reports japan also approved new trademarks for ivanka for branded shoes, handbags, and clothing in february, and she has trademark applications pending in at least 10 other countries. Ivanka no longer manages her 50 million company, but she continues to own it. Ivanka also serves in the Trump Administration as an adviser to the president. So does her husband, trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner. , earlier this month, cbs this morning gayle king asked ivanka trump about potential conflicts of interest. Will be talk abouout the evocativive brand, you are no longer rununning the daytoday. When we talk about the ivanka trump brand, you are no longer running the daytoday. No. Father and my husband,d, i did not want to ben the involvement. I have no involvement in i its stratetegic decisionmaking. But the trustees are family members, right . T they are. But ththeyre comompletely independent and im transparent about that. Can you see from the public point of view, it t is familyy members, thinking, issue really not involved . Do you really not get on the phone and d say, what is going . Do you have no involvement whatsoever . I take a legal document very seriously. Amy the ap says sales of ivanka trumps merchahandise have s sud since her father was elelected presidenent. To talk more about this, were joined by vicky ward, New York Times bestselling author, investigative journalist, contributor to esquire and the huffington posts highline magazine. Vicky ward, welcome to democracy now lets go back to this moment that became very famous, the president of china, the president of the United States seated at the dinner at maralago. Next to them, Jared Kushner and ivanka trump. That same day, she got three exclusive trademarks from china to sell her merchandise . Right. Well, i mean, it speaks for itself. I wish i could tell you i was surprised. But i am really not. I am doing a lot of reporting, spending half of my time in d. C. These days, actuallyly lookint the subject, the commercialization of the white house in real time which i think is a narrative that has been slightly drowned out because of the theater and chaos of the last 80 days. We have all been so consumed with the fight betweween the kushner cap and abandoned camp that this very real story of horrrrifying kleptocracy that hs never happened of this country before, and the white house is turning into the k kushner payee banknk and the trump pick the bank. Amy explain. She says, oh, no, it is in a trust. Oh, please. First of all, the tribes and the kushners are real estate families and business. These Real Estate Developers i wrote a book about new york real estate, so do something unfamiliar with. They are family businesses. It is in a trust run by Jared Kushners brother josh. Just to show you how closely everything is entwined, not only is jared and investor in josh, josh is an investor in jared. Joshs Health Care Business is in jareds building. Amy explain. This is a Self Insurance company here in new york that people buy. Josh kushner is a very successful venture capitalist, who also started a Health Care Business predicated on obamacare. And its current valuation is 2. 7 billion. Interestingly, peter thiel, who is part of the sort of, you know, kushner new is this man, the new brigade, the business amy spoke at the rnc. Crony capitalism going on inside there. I is right and he when in there. Theres the question, the kushners are even more of a tightknit family. Amy the reason why Jared Kushner was not there for the week of negotiations around repeal and replace, he was in aspen . You have to ask that question. The fact no one pointed out. Redeem they cohn power, are both part of the kushner army. Of people are raising eyebrows, most people when they go to work for the white house, dont decide to swan off on holiday during the president s first 100 days. Amy the most pivotal week hes had so far. Kushners self interest it has sort of been ignored. It has been covered, but it has been overcome by the noise of the other stories. I think increasingly now, were going to see it really, really matter. It is outright corruption and not legal. Nermeen in addition to the three trademarks that ivanka trump was granted with china, last year, china granted for luminary approval for 38 trademarks protecting trumps name. Explain why this issue of trademarks is relevant and what kinds of regulations apply to ivanka and kushner in a relative compared to what apply to President Trump. He is protected by the conflicts clause. There are some he can hide behind. Ifre not supposed to theyre working in the white anything that might leverage their position there. Or their own commercial gain so i would ask you i have sources covering this every day who say, well, lets look at ivanka. What is she doing policy wise . Nothing. Wearing she is doing is clothing she is in a business that sells clothes, shoes. That is what she does. What she is doing every day is theyre very good at public relations, jeered and training. They just hired a Hollywood Public relations person. I know having reported on them, having reported on jared, all of the leaks every time you see a person close to jared, that is jared talking. Amy you accuser wearing clothing, but i think what youre talking about, for example, on the sunday night on on 60 went minutes wearing a bracelet and the next day showing that in her interview and saying you can buy this for 10,000. But also, she owns her company, even if it is in a trust. She will profit trademarks. There she is charming the chinese premier, and suddenly, oh, great, great for business for ivanka trump in china. I think was also reported the philippines. She has got trademarks there. I have met the real estate that. Per who facilitated the first time i met antonio, all he could talk to me about amy who is he . They call him the trump of the philippines. All he could talk to me about this was before trump ran for president he had just come off the golf course with donald trump. Of thee all in awe family. And lo and behold been you have the schedule this week, going to donald trump, where he calls the president of turkey to congratulate him on winning this referendum at least to a dictatorship of erdogan at the same time you have him last are being interviewed by steve bannon on breitbart radio saying he has a conflict of interest because he has tw towers in istanbulo. Correct. He goes on and on. The question is, you know, why is why are we all sitting here talking about it and nothing being done . Know, time will tell. One thing i have thought about, for example, Jared K Kushner has talked about bringing in his council of innovators. In the just not possible council of innonovators. It may not be of that idea, by the way, but it is notot possibe that a v venture capapitalist brother is not going toto b bent from that. Amy what are the laws . You said this is illegal. Jareded kushner is not suppod to benefit from his position in the white house. But for something to be done about it, i would suspect, in the same way with bill clinton and monica lewinsky, if you go back and study that, it takes time and it takes a smoking gun it takes a real smoking gun. Nermeen what would constitute a smoking gun . Who knows, for example, during the tradition this is your speculation who knows what jeered we know he was talking to the russians. We know he was talking to the russian bank backed by the government. He very quickly volunteered to testify, which means, by the way, he does not have to testify under oath. And explain what those conversations were about. He was during that time, according to all of my sources in real estate, talking to the chinese because he has got a real problem with his building anbang, thise and chinese insurance comedy, which has very close ties to the chinese government, until a few weeks ago were rumored to be paying a price i can to you people i know who are very close to that deal are saying, at least 1 billion too high. Why . Theres a Chinese Company close to the government that was to pay over 1 billion too much for a building that has got has got real problems, actually, due to jareds plan for it. And right now the market is not in his favor. Sawink even the kushners the conflict. The story kind of disappeared, but offffer long. The only people whwho are goingo come in, most likely, and invest in that building are foreieign buyers. Amy t then you have New York Times reporting japan approved a , and japanfor ivanka is significant with shinzo abe. Him, ith one thing as you can tell, i was not born here. Believe it or not, german is my second language. I actually know people very close to angela merkel. From what they have told me is ivanka did not contribute very much. The photos looked nice, her sitting next to angela merkel, but i dont think the chancellor came away thinking she contributed much on policy. You know, im also working on a magazine story about foreign policy. People who actually know what theyre talking about spent years studying the middle east. They listen to what jeered has to say on foreign policy, they would just want to cry. He knows nothing. He knows absolutely nothing. So what i would say what are these two people actually in there to do . Their only experience is working for their parents. That is it. It seems to me, it is all about selfinterest. They are not qualified to do anything else. Amy were going to leave it there, vicky ward, New York Times bestselling author, investigative journalist, contributor to esquire and the huffington post. When we come back, anand gopal choices, recently back from iraq. Stay with us. [music break] amy confusion by iraqi violinist ameen mokdad, who held a small concert in mosul on wednesday in defiance of the marking his first return to the city after he was forcrced o flee in 2014 as iraqs sesecond largest metropolis fell to the militant group. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Damico we turn now to President Trumps escalation of u. S. Airstrikes in iraq and syria. According to the group airwars, at least 1782 civilians were killed last month in coalition strikes. The civilian death toll could be as high as nearly 3500. This comes as the babattle for e iraqi city of mosul enters its seventh month. The United Nations is warnining the city is facing humanitarian catastrophe, perhaps the worst inhe entire e conflict. More than 400,000 people are trapped in parts of the city still under control of the islamic state. Amy meanwhile in syria, Human Rights Watch has concluded the u. S. Did in fact bomb a mosque lalast month killing at least 38 , people. The pentagon claimed the drone strike on march 16 targeted a meeting of alqaeda members but Human Rights Watch has concluded the victims were civilians who had gathered to pray. Human rights watch said it found no evidence that alqaeda or any other armed group were meeting in the mosque. We are joined now by anand gopal, a journalist and a fellow at the nation institute. He recently returned from the middle east and has reported extensively from the region. Lets start with mosul and iraq. You recently returned from iraq. Talk about what people in mosul are saying. What is happening there . People in mosul find themselves caught between from isis. And terror ive been in touch with families every day for describing unbelievable scenes of carnage. One family i spoke to, they were cowering in their basement, the whole family of six people, for hours. Fighting was nearby and in isis never climb on the roof and took shots at the iraqi forces and the iraqi forces called in an american airststrike, which flattened the entire house, killing the entire family. I am in touch with another family that is three separate houses joined together. There is fighting in the next neighborhood and 70 called in an airstrike and destroyed all three houses somebody called in an airstrike and destroyed all three houses. Amy how i is the u. S. Involved . These are american airstrikes. For the most part, these american or other Coalition Member airirstrikes. These are being called in either by special forces on the ground or by iraqi forces. Nermeen some suggest it is only because of Coalition Airstrikes thatat so much of mosul has been reclaimed from isis control. This is true. Without the Coalition Airstrikes, the city would still be under isis. There is a question of the way the airstrikes are being conducted. We are looking up probably the biggest humanitarian catastrophe since the 2003 invasion. T just on n the airstrtrikes, bu ththe way in which isis is holdg a large percentage of the population hostage. There are out 400,000 people in western mosulul not allowed o leave. I spoke to relatives of one family, a husband and wife, who paid smugglers to try to leave west mosul. They were caught by isis anand both were beheaded. This is happening on a daily basis, the same time people e ae running out ofof food. Malnutritions of among children. Amy has there been a change on the ground since Trump Took Office . Not really. Essentially, trump has been carrying out obamas policies. It seems like it is an escalation, but it is not. The face of the battle has changed. Used mosul, the houses are spread out and larger. You dont see as many casualties. West mosul is a densely packed area. You will hit three or four houses. That is t the main change. Obama relaxed the rules of engagement a never of times, including most recently in late december where he made it easier for forces on the ground to call in airstrikes. For is the biggest cause the spike in civilian casualties, nothing trump has done. Nermeen the u. S. Itself has admitted how difficult it has been to get into mosul and to take over, and that despite the fact that it has been going on, the attempt to reclaim the city for six months, that iraqi forces have managed only now or very recently to get in to the city and start fighting militants. Do you have any idea from your time there him and speaking to people, why it is been so difficult . Particularly now in west mosul, youre talking about a alleyways,street, covered market. It is something that has to go block by block. That it is bad thing taking a long time because the longer it takes, meets the more careful the forces are being with civilian casualties. When it goes quickly, that is when you see a lot of civilians being killed. Amy than the human rights report. Then you have the human rights report. Talk about what you understand is happening here. There was a norm us attention paid enormous attention paid lasted because President Trump saw pictures of children dying of being gassed. The u. S. Bombs the way the media made a sound, it was the only time the u. S. Was doing any bombing in the area. What a lot of people dont realize, that was probably the 8000th airstrike theyve carried out. The have avoided targeting regime for three or four years. They have targeted isis, al qaeda, members of f the legitime opposition, and killed many civilians. Last june or july, u under obam, there was a bombing that killed over 200 civilians. He did not get much attention here. This has been going on for a number of years. Amy and the mosques . It is clear the u. S. Has hit this mosque in a number of investigatioions have shown thee are civilians, that if there were highranking numbers of al qaeda as the u. S. Claims, there are dozens and dozens of civilians there. Amy we have clearly so much more to talk about and we will, right after this broadcast ends and we will post it at democracynow. Org. Anand gopal, journalist and a fellow at the nation institute. He recently returned from the middle east, and has reported extensively from the region. Author of no good men among the living america, the taliban, and the war through afghan eyes. That does it for our show. We will be broadcasting live from the march for science on april 22, earth day, in washington from 10 00 to 3 00 eastern time in the day. Same time next week on april 29, the peoples climate march and washington from 10 00 in the morning to 3 00 in the afternoon. Check out democracynow. Org for details. And the democracy now speaking tour starts this weekend. We are going healiling be an a active ofof justice . This week on the show, adaku onh and j. Bob alotta Healing Collective a and inindividudual. All comiming up here on the laua flanders show. It where the people who say it cant be done take a backseat to those e who are doing it. Welcome. Caught at the intersection of racism, sexism, alas, transfer be a, violence against trans women of color has broken out of invisibility