08/15/19 08/15/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we are learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning, and demand a thorough investigation. and because attorney general william barr criticizes the conditions at the federal jail where jeffrey epstein was found saturday, weell will look at why civil rights campaigners have been raising

the alarm a about the metroropon correctional center in manhattan for over a decade. >> for years, there has been an urgent situation at the metropolitan correctional center. conditions are dirty, decrepit. many people are held in profound isolation. many of us have been trying to raise this question for years. and hopefully, one good thing that could come out of jeffrey epstein's death is real attention paid to the inhumane conditions. amy: we will also speak to attorney lisa bloom representing two women suing jeffrey epstein for sexually assaulting them when they were minors. what happens now that he iss dead?? we will meet to new york lawmakers who helped pass a landmark held this week to allow survivors of childhood sex abuse in new york to sue their perpetrators even if the statute of limitations hasunun out

d ihought ias goingo witht ever hing spoken about what happeneto me. >> when yohave bn sexual abused as child, it can tee yes or even decades t to process what happened. that is how we change the law. amy: hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. justice department hahs asked authorities in gibraltar to halt their planned release of an iranian supertanker seized by british marines in july in the trump administration's latest escalation of tensions with iran. erin condemned britain seizure of the ship last month saying it was a violation of the land mark nuclear deal from which the trump administration withdrew last year. britaiain accusese the tanker

tranansportingng oil to syrian o syria. iran retaliated days later. in china, hundreds of paramilitary soldiers have masseded at a sports statadium n shenzhen as pro-democracy activists continue to hold protests day and night in neighboring hong kong. video shows scores of military-s-style vehicles s and hundreds of uniformed members of the people's armed police force in riot gear c conducting exercises earlier todaday. on wednesday evening, hong kong riot police fired tear gas to clear protesters who flashed laser pointers at a police station. local officials threatened to jail protesters for life, and the ruling communist party's official newspaper called on authorities to use the "sword of the law to stop violence and restore order." meanwhile, president trump offered to mediate a solution to the hong kong crisis, writing in a tweet -- "i know president xi of china very well. he is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. he is also a good man in a 'tough business.' i have zero doubt that if president xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the hong kong problem, he can do it.

personal meeting?" on wall street, the stock market took its largest single-day loss since october, with the dow jones dropping 800 points, or more than 3%, amid mounting fears that a recession may be around the corner. the drop in share prices came as germany announced its economy contracted during the last quarter and as news emerged of a key economic indicator known as an inverted yield curve that has preceded the last seven u.s. recessions. in more economic news, a new study finds corporate ceo's in the ununited states have seen their income grow exponentially over the past four decades, while ordinary workers' salaries have largely stagnated. the economic policy institute found income for top u.s. executives has increased by 1000% since 1978, even when adjusted for inflation. a typicacal worker's salary increased by less than 12% during thehe same period. ceo's at the 350 largest u.s. companies have salaries that are 278 times higher than the average worker. among the biggest beneficiaries,

the walton family, heirs to the walmart fortune. bloomberg reports the family's combined wealth has reached $191 billion, with the waltons earning $70,000 per minute, $4 million per hour, or $100 million per day. facebook secretly paid hundreds of contractors to transcribe audio clips shared by users in private messages. that's according to bloomberg news, which reports the practice rattled the contract workers, who were often subjected to vulgar and intrusive recordings, and were not told whose conversations they were transcribing or why. in a statatement, fafacebook sad the practice was aimed at improving its artificial intelligence transcription service, but that the company had "paused human review of audio more than a week ago." an irishshata privacy commission saidednesday it't's investstigating whether facebook violated european union privacy laws. bloomberg reported earlier t ths year that amazon, apple, and google similarly hired thousands of workers to listen to users' recorded audio. mexico city's mayor has ordered

the suspension of six police officers as part of an investigation into charges that officers raped two teen-age girls. the officers' suspension came a day after hundreds of women protesters marched on the offices of mexico city's prosecutor to demand justice. some of them doused mexico's security minister with pink glitter, while others broke glass windows in the prosecutor's office. in the mediterranean, a spanish rescue ship is headed for an italian port with 147 migrants on board after a court overturned the italian interior ministry's order keeping thee shipip out of italian watersrs. the ship, open arms, was trapped at sea for nearly two weeks after it was banned by far-right interior minister matteo salvini. another rescue vessel, the ocean viking, has more than 350 migrants aboard a ship equipped to hold no more than 250 people. both malta and italy have denied a berth to the ship since it rescued migrants over two weeks ago. aid groups say more than 600 migrants have died at sea trying to reach europe from n north africa.

nbc news is reporting that immigration and customs enforcement, or ice, is holding more than 8000 migrants in 13 new jails in mississippi and louisiana, a nearly four-fold increase since late 2017. it is believed to be the largest population of ice detainees outside texas. meanwhile, in pasadena, california, hundreds of protesters rallied wednesday outside a federal appeals court, calling on judges to uphold an injunction against president trump's attempts to end tps, or temporary protected status, for more than 300,000 immigrants. the injunction was ordered last october by a u.s. district judge who ruled that trump's move to cut off protections to people from el salvador, haiti, nicaragua, and syria may have had a discriminatory purpose. on wednesday, the ninth circuit court of appeals considered the trump administration's challenge to that order. this is the director of the central american resource

center. >> this is just a temporary fix to make sure that families are not separated and that children, like a little girl you saw here today, don't have to make the choice whether to live without their parents in their country or to live in exilele just so ty can be with their parents.s. that is not justice. ththat is not the american value and principles that we have been sold. that is not right.t. amy:y: police in philadelphia he arrested a gunman who sparked an hour standoff afterr he o opened fifire on officers serving a war it for drug crimes . he shot six officers. a 36-year-old suspect was taken into custody around midnight after a swat team fired tear gas into the building where he'd been holed up. the man was reportedly heavily armed and had an ak-47 assault rifle. this is philadelphia mayor jim kenny. >> it is aggravating, saddening, and something -- something we need to do something about.

if the state and federal government don't want to stand up to the nra and some other folks come and then let us police ourselves. deserve to be protected and they don't deserve to be shot at by a guy for hours with an unlimited supply of weapons and unlimited supply of bullets. in boardman, ohio, the fbi says an 18-year-old man who frequently praised mass shootings online had 10 pistols, more than a dozen rifles, and some 10,000 rounds of ammunition when agents raided his home last week. justin olsen was arrested after he wrote online he would "shoot every federal agent in sight." the fbi says olsen also praised the 1995 oklahoma city bombing and discussed violence against planned parenthood clinics. olsen's arrest came just days after mass shootings in dayton, ohio, and el paso, texas, left 32 people deadad. iowa republican congressmember steve king made incendiary

remarks about sexual violence wednesday asking without rape and incest there would be any population in the world left. >> what if we went back through all of the family trees and pulled those people out that were products of the rape and incest, would there be any population in the world left considering all of the rates thatat have taken place and whatever happened in s society? amy: congressmember king's comments sparked a fresh round of calls for his resignation, not only from prominentt democratats and 2020 presisidenl hopefuls, but also from many rerepublicans. king h has frequently y shared racicist posts on social media d has made a allies of far-right politicians in austria, canada and the netherlandnds. in january, , house republican leaders stripped king of his committee assignments after he praised white supremacy in an ininterview with "the new york times."

planned parenthood says it will end its family planning program for low-income people next week, unless a federal court blocks a trump administration rule barring title 10 federal funding for any organization that provides abortions or refers patients for abortions. trump ordered the sweeping changes to title x in february, and recently the department of health and human services ordered all title 10 recipients to sign a pledge by promising to august 19 comply with the rule. planned parenthood says it will refuse. acting president alexis mcgill johnson said in a statement -- "unless the ninth circuit intervenes, this gag rule will destroy the title 10 program -- putting birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and sti testing and treatment at risk for millions of people struggling to make ends meet." newark, new jersey's water crisis grew worse wednesday, as authorities halted their distribution of bottled water to families whose tap water is contaminated with lead. earlier this week, the environmental protection agency

told officials to disistribute water after they determined the filters were not safely filtering led from the homes of thousands of homes. on wednesday, they began offering free bottled water to 15,000 newark households and hundreds of people queued up in long lines in the summer heat for their allotment, but the official stopped handing out the water after discovering many of the bottles had exceeded their best buy date. a new study finds tiny pieces of plastic pollution permeate the earth's atmosphere, falling down to earth in snowfall even in the most remote corners of the globe. samples s taken off a a remote arcticic island showowed an avee of nearly 1800 microplastic particles per liter of snow, with pollulution levels at some european sampling locations more than 10 times higher. writining in the journal science advances, researchers called for more studies on the effects of plastic pollution on human

health. they cited a 1998 study that found inhaled microplastics may contribute to the risk of lung cancer. and the world-renowned swedish climate activist greta thunberg has set sail from southwestern england, bound for new york for the united climate talks -- the united nations climate talks next month. 16-year-old sparked a global movement of weekly "student strikes for the climate" last year when she skipped classes each friday to stand outside the swedish parliament demanding action to confront the climate crisis. thunberg refuses to fly because of the heavy carbon footprint of air travel. she'e's inststead makingng her n voyage aboard the malizia ii, a 60-foooot racing yacht covered n solar papanels. greta thunberg hopes to be in new yorkrk in time for thehe u.. climate action summit on september 23, before moving on to south america for more u.n.

climate talks in santiago, chile, in december. just before setting sail, greta thunberg dismissed climate deniers who've launched an online campaign seeking to discredit her activism. >> i'm not concerned about reactions. what i am concerned about is whether we will do something or not, whether t the people in por will react and act with necessary force. amy: to see our interview with greta thunberg, as well as her historic speeches to the united nations and other coverage, you can go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. new questions are being raised about the death of jeffrey epstein after an autopsy found the accused sex trafficker had multiple breaks in his neck bones, including his hyoid bone.

this according to a report in "the washington post." epstein was found dead in his jail cell on saturday morning at the metropolitan correctional center in manhattan. authorities had said epstein had hanged himself. the president of the national association of medical examiners, jonathan arden, who was not involved in epstein's autopsy, told "the post" -- "if, hypothetically, the hyoid bone is broken, that would generally raise questions about strangulation, but it is not definitive and does not exclude suicidal hanging." many conspiracy theories have circulated about epstein's death in part due to his close connections to many well-connected people, including president trump and former president bill clinton. epstein's death came less than 24 hours after hundreds of pages of court documents were unsealed with testimonies from former employees and new details of sexual abuse committed by epstein.

amy: jeffrey epstein's death has brought new attention to the staffing and conditions at the federal metropolitan correctional center or mcc. reports emerged tuesday that epstein's guards may have been sleeping during their shift, failing to check on epstein for three hours and then falsifying time logs. they were supposed to check on him every 30 minutes. epstein had been on suicide watch last month but was then removed. him every 30 minutes. the warden at the mcc has since been reassigned and two guards who were tasked with monitoring epstein were put on leave. although, it is believed one of those people was not even a guard. we are joined now by jeanne theoharis, a professor of political science at brooklyn college who has written about the metropolitan correctional center, or mcc. her latest book "a more , beautiful and terrible history: the uses and misuses of civil rights history." welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. so here you have an extremely

wealthy white, high profile prisoner who dies at mcc. time this is not the first someone has died there, but most significantly, as the description of this jail started coming out and the expressions of horror from around the country, how is this possible, you have been sounding the alarm bells for quite some time. tell us about what you might call barr's bars, attorney general william barr's jail, the jail that is not run by the city of new york, but by the justice department. federalarify, mcc is a pretrial facility. it holds people awaiting trial in the southern district of new york will stop it is run, as you said, by the bureau of prisons that is underneath the department of justice. conditions at mcc have been horrifying for years. in fact, my very first time on democracy now! a decade ago, we

talked about conditions at mcc then. as we talklked about then, as journalist aviva stahl wrote about t in a searing expose last year, , conditions are dirty, te facility is to crack that, it is vermin-infested. things break. sometimes the elevators break and lawyers cannot visit their clients. aviva stahl reported how often the sewawage system breaksks. nermeen: you refer to the facility as a good log. >> right. and iy ways, it is hard think it is been hard for people to wrap their heads around a federal jail in lower manhattan on wall street with conditions that seem akin to a third world dictatorship. dirty, too hot and too cold, fruit flies, mice, extreme

isolation in parts of mcc. conditions vary in the facility. reportedly, jeffrey epstein had been moved to the special housing unit on -- amy: essentially, solitary confinement. >> yes, it is. just to remember, these are pretrial facilities. people are being held in solitary confinement before any conviction, before any trial. most international bodies consider sort of extended solitary confinement a form of torture. just on jeffrey epstein, already in july there was a report that he had attempted suicide or his cellmate had tried to kill him or attack him. we still don't even know what happened, but that is when he wawas put on suicide watch. apparently, a psychologist said he could go off it. it even coming off suicide

watch, you're supposed to be ce in all with another prisoner with eyes on at least every half hour. and now is it possible that this --pened with him the area go with him there, that he was alone for hours on end? >> for those of us who have ready the federal bureau of prisons, it is not an usual the kind of lack of mental health care from the kinds of conditions that we found we of now heard about with mr. epstein. health care,mental for instance, only one psychiatrist that serves both mcc and the sister facility in brooklyn that we heard about this winter. one psychiatrist. amy: that was freezing. >> that was freezing. people report that oftentimes you are treated through your cells's slat. he was put in solitary confinement after perhaps trying to kill himself -- it should be

rare. it should not be happening, but it is not surprising in terms of the way the federal bureau of -- what happens in these federal facilities and sustainede lack of serious sort of attention to people who might be showing suicidal tendencies, who might be having mental health issues. studies show suicide is higher in jails than in prisons. there certainly have been facilities,federal so much so that in 2012 in an absurd turn of events, the director after a spate of suicides and federal facilities wrote a letter to every inmate telling them not to lose hope. again, no absurd way to deal with mental health care in the total system. nermeen: can you comment on the fact often suicide watch is carried out, the people monitor

people -- prisoners were people who are did change who are suicidal are often inmates, not even prison guards? >> also, what happened to epstein, as their reporting, he was put in solitary confinememe. there is something that should be counterintuitive and counterproductctive of putting sosomeone who is having mental health issues in solitary confinement, and yet that is often what happens. nermeen: could you speak specifically -- you said a little about this, but this area that is reportedly worse, how are conditions different from the rest of the facility at mcc? >> nine south and 10 south is even more isolating. it is solitary confinement. there is a recreation facility on the roof that some inmates can access at mcc, but often

people in nine south and definitely people in 10 south are not allowed up there. much of my work has been about researching 10 south. 10 south, the isolation is extraordinary. there is a shower in your cell so y you shower in your cell. hour and aave an solitary cage, but you never go outside. they often canceled recreation so you can go days without leaving your. there's a camera on you all the time. you're being watched constantly. there is a light on all the time. the isolation of their -- of people are often held there for years. that we have not taken this seriously. while this is coming as a surprise to the general public, people held at mcc have filed legal motions for years talking about these conditions. they filed administration

remedies for years. the doj knew. u.s. attorneys knew. judges knew. and either they turned the other way or they allowed it. nermeen: you have been trying to raise this for years with the media. why didn't people cover this despite all of these legal cases? >> one of the absurd things about the past 72 hours, no fewer than 20 different news organizations, many of the sort of most major news organizations in this country, have emailed and tweeted me, "can we talk to you?" a number of those organizations i had sat down with five years ago, seven years ago, nine years ago saying there is a crisis in lower manhattan. went attention turned to conditions at rikers, i talked to journalists sunday to look at

mcc also. again, people looked the othther way or people tried to research -- getting information out of the federal bureau of prisons is extremely difficult. they make it -- amy: you could hear even this week and when they were trying to figure out what happened to jeffrey epstein, they would say, we will be able to see the video and it turned out there are no videos on the cells and they said there are no videos will stop no one could figure out if he was on suicide watch. >> when you're trying to do a broader pattern and you say, ok, we would like to see him in a straight of revenues from a number of prisoners, often there like national security or that is too many and you need to narrow your scope or privacy issues or this is internal workings of the government agencies so -- again and again, making it difficult. amy: interestingly, el chapo

says it has been physical, emotional, torture. with interviewed gary pierce and number of times. describe what she said about people are saying in this prison. >> a handful of years ago after , for five years the european court held extradition's to the u.s. because of conditions both at places like mcc and. they bow to pressure. gareth peirce comes over to meet with some of the men who were hurt clients and i saw her after she made that first trip to mcc and she called it diabolical. as we know, gareth pierce has been representing people for decades. she is no stranger to prison abuse, no stranger to the conditions of people considered political enemies or reviled

people. amy: people represented in guantanamo. >> and what she saw at mcc a stone at her. the level of isolation, the level of filth. the level of making it almost impossible to adequately represent the person, your client, both in terms -- on 10 south, you cannot have contact visits. many of the men on 10 south are covered by special administrative measures. prisonersict the connection to the outside world. but also to lawyers and immediate family members. you're not allowed to say anything. if there prisoner who are representing or visiting is under sam, you're not allowed to say anything they told you. to put it another way, if you think something horrible is happening, you risk being punished yourself by saying "my client said this is happening to them." nermeen: what kinds of prisoners?

there usually high-profile people. -- they are usually high-profile people. why are such high profilele peoe , i'm m sure there are others, held in nine south or 10 south? of people are held at mcc because they're being prosecuted by the southern district of new york. the more dangerous the prisoner, the more kind of extreme the conditions get at mcc. chapo was held on 10 south and a number of muslims facing terrorism charges, some of whom are familiar names but many are not familiar names, and epstein was not held on 10 south. i want to repeat that. allegedly, he was found -- when he was found in his cell, reports say he was being held in

nine south in a special housing unit. that typically means solitary confinement. the part of the high profile nature of who is being held there is due to the fact it is being brought by the southern district of new york. amy: what do you think happened to jeffrey epstein? >> i don't know. what i hope will come out of to the finally attention conditions there at mcc. i think we have seen a media spectacle in the last few days. and all of thiss interest at mcc -- i guess my question is, is this really going to shun the light on what is happening there or is this part of the salacious news of this story? so we are titillated by the details at mcc, but then we're going to sort of let it continue or are we -- again, i think we can see what finally be

attention brought to bear on rikers finally led to both changes there and hopefully more changes ahead. amy: call for the closing of rikers. >> and hopefully, that will happen. similar kinds of light needs to be shown at mcc. it is not clear to me, despite all of the attention this week to mcc, but what i very much hope, what many civil rights advocates and lawyers who have been trying to sound the alarm about mcc for years hope is that this will finally force us to see what is happening in this high-rise dungeon in lower manhattan. amy: right next to wall street, interestingly. we want to thank you for being with us. jeanne theoharis is a professor of political science at brooklyn college and has written extensively about mcc, metropolitan correctional center. her latest book is titled "a more beautiful and terrible history: the uses and misuses of civil rights history."

now that jeffrey epstein is dead, what happens to all the cases against him? we will speak with attorney lisa bloom. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn now to the growing legal battle being waged following the death of jeffrey epstein who was found dead in his jail cell on saturday. epstein had been arrested in july for allegedly running a sex trafficking operation by luring underage girls as young as 14 years old to his mansion in manhattan. while the federal criminal prosecution of epstein will likely end, prosecutors can still pursue charges against any of his accomplices including his friend ghislaine maxwell.

civil suits will also continue against epstein's multimillion-dollar estate. amy: on wednesday, one of epstein's alleged victims, jennifer araoz, sued epstein's estate, maxwell, and three other unnamed women who worked for epstein. araoz accuses epstein of raping her when she was 15 years old and repeatedly sexually assaulting her. araoz filed the suit under a new law in new york called the child victims act, which took effect wednesday. the new law gives all past victims of child sex abuse a year to sue their abusers irrespective of how much time has elapsed since the crime occurred. we're going to talk about that law in our next segment. at right now we go to los angeles where we are joinedat rs angeles where we are joined by attorney lisa bloom, representing two other alleged victims of jeffrey epstein. she is joining us on the phone. welcome back to democracy now! you tweeted google predator jeffrey epstein killed himself.

on behalf of the victims i represent, we would have preferred he lived to face justice. our civil cases can still proceed against his estate. victims deserve to be made whole for the lifelong damage he caused. we're just getting started." so explain how this all works and who you represent, lisa. >> i represent to victims of jeffrey epstein. one was 18 and one was 20 at the time, 2004, when they were recorded -- recruited by young female recruiter to go to his home to give him massages in exchange for a couple hundred dollars. they were promised they would keep their clothing on and it would be nothing improper and that there would be future economic opportunities as well. they were young waitresses and models at the time, so they did it. on separate occasions, they went to his home where they were sexual assaulted by him. this dramatically changed their

lives, caused them to have failed relationships, derailed careers, they gave up modeling. the trauma of child sex abuse is well-known to anyone who has experienced it and continues to this day. forwarde afraid to come because of epstein and his powerful friends. but they did and reached out to me a couple of months ago. we decided the proper thing to do was to cooperate with the criminal authorities first to get him hopefully in prison for a long period of time. what -- once he apparently killed himself, they decided it was time for the next step, which is civil cases to be filed against his estate so we could seek compensation for them. i can tell you right now, you're the first news outlet i'm disclosing this on, we are filing those civil cases today in federal court in new york under the sex trafficking law which provides remedies on the

civil side of things, any damages to to victims of sex trafficking. anyonefficking is simply who is lord or tricked into any kind of sexual act in exchange for money or promise of money. so i think it clearly applies to our case. nermeen: do you know who is in charge of his estate now? and talk about the way these two clients of yours responded to the news of his death. >> i don't know who is in charge of his estate. when he killed himself, my client had different responses. one said, i'm so angry at the jail officials who allowed this to happen. it took me so many years to find the courage and strength to come ford and i did and now i'm going to be deprived of seeing him face justice. she was hopping mad. the other one said, you know what?

i kind of feel a sense of relief. he is gone. he is not going to hurt anyone else ever again and i don't have to fear retaliation from him. even in jailil, my client was vy afraid of who he couldld reach t to through his attorney or friends and come after her. at least that fear is lifted. i want all victims to know now is the time to come forward against jeffrey epstein, to reach out and get compensation for what he did. it is not the kind of justice of seeing him get incarcerated and held accountable in that sense, but there is a lot of money in his estate. i am a civil attorney. i believe in getting compensation for victims. it can make a difference to be able to affoford fair be and career training and pay off your student loans and get out of debt. it could make a bibig differenc. i urge people to come forward.

amy: jeffrey epstein claimed a net worth of more than $500 million when asked to be released on bail but the lawyers for his accusers say they suspect his net worth to be much higher. they are looking to offshore and business allies including his brother mark epstein for additional assets. yesterday "the wall street journal" report of the brothers are connected financially through investments in a 200 unit condo building on the upper east side of manhattan. can you talk about this and how you're going to find these hidden assets? there haveiate that been a lot of media attention to all of his assets. and a high profile case, that is helpful. journal" andeet other financial reporters have really been digging in. typically in the state the size of jeffrey epstein's, there is a lot of legal machinations to keep them in trust rather than going through probate.

but there is going to be a person or persons that would be the administrator or executor of his estate that will be legally charged with marshaling his assets, gathering them together, being transparent at least before a judge and attorneys like me who are making civil claims. so we may not ever know the full extent of it, but i think we will get a good chunk of it. if anybody tries to hide assets or hide informatioion from the court, they will be in a heap of trouble. i am somewhat optimistic we will be able to get full and fair compensation for the victims i represent. nermeen: you mentioned one of your clients was fearful even while jeffrey epstein was jailed. have other people now, following his death, other victims contacted you? >> yes, we heard from about five additional victims in the last few days and we're in the process of vetting their claims.

cases lot of high profile against a lot of predators. we do background checks and talk to people repeatedly, talk to their friends and family, and check out everything we can. we especially want to talk to witnesses. people often tell their mother or best friend or therapist. we like to get all of the corroboration and information before we go forward. as you point out, new york has a new law for victims who were under 18 at the time they were sexually abused that they can bring a lawsuit at any age after age 55. that went into effect yesterday. even if they were over 18 at the time, the sex trafficking law has a 10 year statute of limitations. there are trolling laws, that mean you can even extend that period, which is what we are arguing in our case. because the psychological damage was so significant they were not in a position to bring claims until now. there are a lot of ways around

those time deadlines. it is somethihing i have devoted my life to. most people believe it is wrong and courts are finding exceptions to running out the law. it will be an interesting case, the case we are filing today. amy: lisa bloom, i want to ask you a case a few years ago in 2016. this was a case that you were involved with. it was a 13-year-old girl. i think at the time of the assault, older in 2016, who alleged that donald trump raped her when she was 13. she met him at a jeffrey epstein party. this case sort of came up and then was pulled out of the legal system. i think it was back in november 2016 that you tweeted "jane doe instructed us to dismiss her

lawsuit against trump and epstein today. tough week for her. we wish her well." can you explain what happened in that case and is that case being brought forward again? is this a real case? >> i know that case is very disturbing and perplexing to people. it is to me as well. i worked with her for months that summer, going through that same background process i just described to you. i met with her many times. my staff talked to her witnesses, etc. as the election was approaching, -- she already filed a lawsuit via another attorney on the east coast. as the election was approaching, we thought it was important for her to speak out because she had allegations against then candidate donald trump. she was hesitant. said shene day she wasn't going to do it. she submitted to an interview with cnn, but they never ran it. that was very upsetting to her. we decided on a press

conference. unfortunately, we got a lot of death threats. my emails were hacked. my staff told us about that and she got very upset. understandably. she would not go forward with the conference. she wanted us to drop the case. the attorney who is handling that was instructed to drop the case. i told her to sleep on it and really think about it, which she did. to drop the case. she did not want ever to discuss it again. she did not want to do any media interviews. you say, 2016, so coming up on three years ago. i have not spoken to her since. she has changed all of her contact information so i don't have it anymore. this kind of thing is very disturbing, but it does happen. i spent 30 years working with sexual assault victims. it is very common. this was a high-profile case,

but people just want to be done. her case was not tested in court, so i really cannot comment on it any further other than i definitely believe her. she passed our background check process. she just want to be involved. amy: she was alleging it was donald trump who raped her when she was 13. she met t him at a jeffrey epstn party. what has since come out in epstein's case is that he would hire people to intimidate women who would come forward. >> that's right. nermeen: lisa, can you talk about what cases can be launched against his co-conspirators? >> well, yes. so in our case, we are also today meeting a female recruiter who came to my clients place of work, a coffee shop, and recruited them. we are not naming her. and that is because we think she may have been a victim as well.

so it is a very tough position. we're putting her in the lawsuit intend to-- and pursue her, but we wanted to be at a be transparent and open and get information not only for my victims, but for other victims that she recruited as well. we want some measure of justice against her but our primary focus is the estate of jeffrey epstein. the recruiters can be held responsible under both the sex trafficking law and child sex abuse law in new york that you referenced earlier. and i think they should be held responsible. amy: apparently, they have found , the daughterell of robert maxwell, the former owner of "the new york daily news" who died is seriously at sea and early 1990's, they found her at manchester by the sea in massachusetts? >> that is news to me.

the recruiter in our case was not ghislaine maxwell. apparently, he at many recruiters. but miss maxwell has certainly been named by a lot of other victims as being held responsible. what can i say? i think she needs to be held accountable for her role in this. surely, she knew what was going on. she is alleged to have beeeen an inintegral part of bringing victims to jeffrey epstein to be sexually assaulted. nermeen: you have suggested that perhaps out of the $500 million worth,stein is allegedly if not much more, that the victims compensation fund should be set up. and you talk about that? >> yes. i don't know who his beneficiaries are, probably friends and family. i'm going to enter -- i'm going to guess they may want to voluntarily do something for the victims.

i'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt to do the right thing in the first instance and a set of a victims compensation fund. i would save $500 million were victims can come forward with their attorneys, like me, and present the evidence we have put that they are credible and they are who they say they are and let them get compensated out of a fund. we don't need to have years of litigation over this and for the victims through that trauma. the estate has the opportunity in jeffrey epstein's death to do the right thing by his victims, something he never did in his life. i would assume everybody associated with them is mortified and embarrassed. so here's a chance to do right by the victims. amy: lisa bloom, thank you for being with us, civil rights attorney at the bloom firm. two of jeffrey epstein's alleged representstwo of jeffrey epstein's alleged victims. when we come back, we wiwill met

to new york legislators who hehelped pass a landmark bill ts week to have survivors of childhood sex abuse in york to sue their perpetrators even if the statutes of limitations had run out. they, too, are both survivors of childhood sexual assault themselves. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: hundreds of child sex abuse victims filed lawsuits in new york on wednesday. under a new state law, the child victims act, survivors of childhood sexual abuse in new york, who previously could not bring their perpetrators to court due to statutes of limitations, will now be able to do so for the next year. lawsuits were filed against the catholic church, the boy scouts, a number of schools and

hospitals, as well as the estate of jeffrey epstein.. amy: wasas signed into law in february. this is part of a psa released by safe horizon on the c child victimims act. it features assemblywoman yuh-line niou and begins with alessandra biaggi who joins us after this clip will stop these women are all four survivs s of chilildhd sexuxu abuse. amy: for more we're joined by

two of the lawmakers in that video, new york state editor alessandra biaggi who represents part of the bronx and westchester, and democratic assemblywoman yuh-line niou represents manhattan. both spoke about surviving child the state abuse at capitol in albany in january. state senator alessandra biaggi and silly member yuh-line niou, we welcome you both to democracy now! talkor alessandra biaggi, about what drove you to push h r this law. your own experience and what you hope happens with this now. i mean, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed since yesterday. >> that fact alone is just remarkable and shows you what is possible when he asked to do fight for the things you know are right and what the law can do. this law is something i campaigned on. it is something that is personal to me.

my childhood sexual l abuse survivor. i spoke e about it briefly my campaiaign video but hadn't reay spoken out as publicly as i did when i stood on the floor of the new york state senate in support of the bill. one of the most important reasons why i spoke up about it is because silence and shame are surrounded by abuse. in the trauma that it in flex upon individuals in the loneliness and the darkness that can really and capture your entire beating -- being if you stay silent is something a was done with. i am 33 years old today. i was 31 years old when i spoke out against what had happened to me. in a really did think i was going to go to my grave with this inside of me. and something happen in my life that really just propelled me to speak about it. from that point forward, i really have not only felt liberated, but felt like one of the things i could do was use my

voice that other people had experienced this could also understand that they, too, could speak out against it if they so choose. nermeen: assemblywoman yuh-line niou, can you talk about your own interest in having this passed? very complicated answer, but i definitely feel like because of the history of not just the seat i sit in, but i had to hearthat year after year the bill not passssing. you know, this is my third term. year, butit my second with a lot of different language. i think in conference was the first time that i had spoken about my own experience to any of my colleagues because, you

know, we were hearing a lot of conversation about whether or not it was an attack on institutions, whether or not people were going to remember what happened to them. and i told them, you know, this is something that i will never forget stuff that i live with day-to-day. it still affects my life over and over again every single time that i touch on it. goes through relationships, it goes through my relationships with friends, family, partners, etc. and i think people don't realize the long-term effects and the impact that it has on people. and people don't realize with dramatic incidents like these, i that memory is something is imprinted into you. and i think that is part of why i spoke out.

amy: state senator alessandra biaggi, tell us what this law does. >> it extends the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse in civil cases to the age of 55 and in criminal cases, the age of 28. probably one of the most significant parts of this bill is what was triggered and began yesterday, august 14 am a 2019, which will extend until august 14, 2020, the look back period of one year for individuals who werechildren who time-barred by the statute of limitation of new york who could not bring cases against any institution or individual ofause the statute limitations had expired. this one-year look back will allow for so many victims of childhood sexual abuse to be able to bring cases if they so choose, if that is the form of justice they want. and what we're seeing in only just one day is upwards of

almost 500 cases. and we know there are hundreds, if not thousands, more. i think this is just underscoring the significance of how many people are affected by tos, of how important it is provide protection in the law, and also of how we have to make sure we are preventing this from happening in the future. childhood sexual abuse is something that most people don't speak about until they are upwards in their 50's. realnk we have to be very about this. the fact that this law is trauma-informed and acknowledges that reality is very important and also something i think about daily when i am thinking about policy changes or policy decisions because we want to make sure our law is trauma-informed. amy: we had the well-known anti-death penalty activists sister helen prejean. this lawr on the day was going into effect,

particularly around the catholic church. do you expect to see scores of lawsuits around the catholic church? an adult who says 40 years ago this happened to me? >> i do. we heard so much backlash. i was raised roman catholic. i'm not as religious as my parents were. i don't go to church every sunday. i did not get married in a church. those are very intentional things i have done. it is disappointing to be brought up in a faith that has just really betrayed so many people and ruined lives. one of the things i find to be really upsetting is that the catholic church, specifically cardinal dolan, i think has been in the past year $2.1 million on lobbying efforts to kill this bill. these are the lives of human beings will stop when you stand on the pulpit and preach the gospel on the word of god, you speak about things that are trying to protect individuals. you preach about love.

that is the antithesis of love. institutions like the catholic church that have found it very hard to be authentic and truthful are going to have to face their day in court. whatever the ramifications of that are, they are because the people are coming forward deserve a fair day in court. that extends to the boy scouts and any educational instititutin -- we are also part of the legislature and the legislature in albany has had a real troubled history when it comes to abuse. i think this year marked a very different journey toward speaking about this abuse, being very forthcoming about it. we want to make sure as legislators that we hold space for that, that we are allowing people to speak up and protecting them. amy: we have 10 seconds. do you want to see this law is a model for legislatures around the country, for congress? >> i do. i think the one-year look back period is so important. i think we should have extended

it. amy: we will leave it there. a similar woman yuh-line niou and state senator alessandra biaggi spearheaded the child would victims act which spearheaded wednesday. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

narrarator: on ththis episodedef "eaarth focus"s"... the e race to transition to sustainable solar powower is underway. in zanzibar, rural women are learning solar skills, bucking a tradition of entrenched gender roles, empowering their communities in the process, while in southernrn californini, it's genererating the e growth f grgreen jobs s and winning over skeptics. [filmlm advance clicking]