03/14/23 03/14/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: the bottom line is this, americans can rest assured our banking system is safe. your deposits are safe. amy: president biden is defending the stability of the banking system after the second and third largest failures in the nation's history. we will look at how executives at the now collapsed silicon valley bank and signature bank

push for the weakening of banking regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. then we go to atlanta to look more at the police killing of tortuguita, and activist shot dead while protesting the construction of a massive police training facility known as cop city. an independent autopsy suggests tortuguita was sitting crosslegged with their hands raised when police shot them 14 times. we will speak to the family's attorney and hear from tortuguita's mother. >> i want answers for my child's homicide. i am asking for answers to my child's homicide. i amuffering for my right to these answers and that i have not been given, and i deserve

answers. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president joe biden has approved a massive conocophillips oil and gas development in alaska. the $7 billion willow project is expected to produce 180,000 barrels of oil p day, ding some 2 milon metc tonsf eenhouseas polluon to th atsphere or 30 years. some obiden's fellow democrs,ncludi masshusetts nator edarkey, blasted the decision saying it "leaves an oil stain on the administration's climate accomplishments and the president's commitment not to permit new oil and gas drilling on fedal land. this is kristen monsell, senior attorney with the center for biological diversity. >> i think he is trying to

appease the alaska delegation and fossil fuel cronies in ngress and that is incredibly disappointing to see. we d't have time to compromise when it comes to addressing the climate crisis. biden can't have his cake and eat it too when it comes to handling what is an existential crisis. amy: to see our interview on the willow project, go to democracynow.org. in southern africa, more than 100 people have been killed in malawi and mozambique after cyclone freddy brought high winds and heavy rain to the region. most of the dead were in malawai's commercial capital blantyre, where overnight mudslides washed away homes and buried sleeping residents. >> it was too bad in the night but now that it is daytime, i can feel the loss.

i have never seen something as terrible as this. my neighbors houses are all gone. the family members are gone. they are missing. in some instances, the father is alive but the wife and children are gone. amy: cyclone freddy was one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record. it made landfall for a second time as scientists with the united nations' intergovernmental panel on climate change met in switzerland to finalize its policy document for shaping climate action over the rest of the decade. u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres addressed ipcc delegates by video. >> this will be the first comprehensive ecstasy report in nine years and the first -- comprehensive ipcc report in nine years and the first -- our world is at a crossroads and our planet is in the crosshairs. we are nearing the point of no return, of overshooting.

we are at the tip of the tipping point. amy: brazil's national space agency warns in a new report that deforestation in the brazilian amazon hit a new record high for the month of february last month. about 124 square miles of rainforest cover was destroyed despite efforts by newly-inaugurated president luiz inacio lula da silva to reverse rampant deforestation that was encouraged by his predecessor jair bolsonaro. this is romulo batista with greenpeace brazil. >> we just left behind this completely abandon access. as long as it does not reach the entire region, legal divorce -- amy: president biden sought monday to shore up confidence in the u.s. banking system, after the rapid collapse of silicon valley bank and signature bank sparked investor panic. they were the second- and

third-largest bank failures in u.s. history. on monday, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren demanded a federal probe into potential insider trading by executives at the failed banks and called on u.s. regulators to claw back six-figure bonuses paid to managing directors at svb just hours before its collapse friday. we'll have more on this story after headlines. north korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its eastern coast. it was the second such test in three days and came as the u.s. and south korea launched 11 days of war games in a major military exercise dubbed freedom shield. president biden has formally unveiled plans to arm australia with nuclear-powered submarines in a bid to counter china's influence in the indo-pacific. biden announced the agreement alongside u.k. prime minister rishi sunak and australian prime minister anthony albanese at a meeting in san diego on monday.

the deal will see australia equipped with three conventionally-armed virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines by the 2030's, with an option to purchase two more subs as part of a new military alliance called aukus. in beijing, chinese foreign ministry spokesperson mao ning called on the u.s., u.k., and australia to abandon what she called a cold war mentality and zero-sum game. >> we believe the cooperation among the three countries poses a serious nuclear proliferation risk, ampex international nuclear nonproliferation system, stimulates the arms race, undermines peace and stability in the asia-pacific regio and is widely questioned and opposed by regional countries and international community. amy: biden's meeting with leaders of the u.k. and australia came as the pentagon released its proposed $842 billion budget for fiscal year 2024, requesting $25 billion more than congress approved last

year. it would be the largest so-called peacetime budget in u.s. history. a new study finds the united states once again atop a list of the world's most prolific arms traders. the stockholm international peace research institute reported monday the u.s. accounted for 40% of the world's weapons exports between 2018 and 2022, selling arms to more than 100 countries. india remains the world's top arms importer, followed by saudi arabia, which accounted for nearly 10% of the international arms trade. the 80% ofaudi weapons purchases come from the united states. the biden administration is extending humanitarian relief for thousands of ukrainian refugees who fled russia's invasion, allowing them to remain in the united states for longer than the programs one year limit. similar relief for tens of thousands of afghan refugees is scheduled to expire in the coming months, but it's unclear

whether that relief will be extended even as afghanistan is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis following the taliban's return to power in 2021. advocates have accused biden of hypocrisy in his treatment of ukrainians compared to most other asylum seekers and refugees. in ciudad juarez, mexico, hundreds of asylum seekers, mostly from venezuela, were blocked by barbed wire and police as they tried to come into el paso, texas, to finally apply for relief. many have waited in mexico in extremely dangerous conditions. >> please, we want an answer. the customs app does not work. i am alone. we are alone. we have been robbed and extorted and we have no answers. we just want to get in to have a future and help our families. nothing else.

amy: in honduras, president xiomara castro has legalized the use of emergency contraceptive medication, overturning a ban that was over a decade old. castro's executive order was issued on international women's day last week. the pill was prohibited following the 2009 u.s.-backed military coup that put a right-wing, authoritarian government in power. abortion is still illegal in honduras, including in cases of rape, carrying a sentence of up to six years in prison for the people who undergo the procedure as well as those who provide it. here in u.s., a group of republicans in the south carolina statehouse have proposed the gestation to make getting an abortion punishable by the death penalty. the letters -- it would amend the state's code of laws to grant zygotes, or fertilized eggs, "equal protection under the homicide laws of the state." the bill has gathered the support of nearly two dozen south carolina house

republicans. meanwhile, in texas, a man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against three women he accuses of illegally assisting his ex-wife in having a medication abortion. texas' abortion ban allows private citizens to file civil suits against abortion providers or anyone who aids or embeds -- abets an abortion after six weeks. in the united kingdom, more than 36,000 junior doctors have launched a three-day strike over pay and working conditions at the government-run national health service. the walkout follows similar strikes in recent weeks by nurses and ambulance staff. this is dr. robert laurenson of the british medical association, who joined picket lines in london on monday. >> doctors have lost 26.1 percent of their pay due to inflation and all we're asking for is for that pay to be restored because no junior doctor today is worth less than a junior doctor in 2008.

amy: here in new york, a lawyer for donald trump says the former president will decline to appear before grand jury investigating hush-money payments made to adult film actor stormy daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. on monday, trump's former personal attorney and fixer michael cohen spent hours testifying to a state grand jury in manhattan. cohen previously pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, bank fraud, and lying to congress about the hush money payments which he says trump directed him to make. >> this is not revenge. this is about accountability. i don't want to see anyone, including donald trump, indicted, prosecuted, convicted, incarcerated simply because i fundamentally disagrethththe wih them. this is about accountability. he needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds. amy: and the acclaimed japanese novelist kenzaburo oe has died at the age of 88. in 1994, he won the nobel prize

for literature. in 2014, democracy now! interviewed him in tokyo about his work, militarism, nuclear disarmament, hiroshima, and more. he spoke through an interpreter. >> i believe the experience of nuclear weapons is something too large for any individual to oppose. it is responsibility of all humanity to take on board. rather than an apology, i believe what is important is to call for an expression of the will and dedication to create a world free of nuclear weapons. amy: to see our interview with kenzaburo oe, go to website democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, how executives at the now collapsed banks push for the weakening of

making regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "hiroshima requiem" music by hikari oe, son of kenzaburo oe. the nobel literature laureate has died at the age of 88. in our interview with him, he id his proudest accomplishment was being home every night to tuck his son in. to see the full interview, go to democracynow.org. democracy now! this isdemocracy now!, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodmain new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: fallout continues to grow from the collapse of silicon valley bank and signature bank. they were the largest bank failures since the 2008 financial crisis. over the weekend, the biden administration took

extraordinary measures to guarantee anyone who had accounts with the collapsed banks would be able to get back all of their money regardless of the amount. under standard rules, the fdic only insures $250,000 per account. the economist dean baker described the biden administration's move as a bailout for with bank customers with large deposits. baker wrote -- "the reason this is a bailout is that the government is providing a benefit that the depositors did not pay for. it also is, in effect, a subsidy -- pay for." despite the biden administration's actions, the stock value of a number of other mid-sized banks have plummeted raising fears of a larger banking crisis. just after the stock market opened on monday, president biden addressed the nation and defended the stability of the u.s. banking system. pres. biden: was to reduce the risk of this happening again. during the obama-biden administration, we put in place tough requirements on banks like

silicon valley bank and signature bank, including the dodd frank law to make sure the crisis we saw in 2008 would not happen again. unfortunately, the last administration rolled back some of these requirements. i'm going to as congress and the banking regulators to strengthen the rule for banks to make it less likely this kind of bank failure would happen again. protect american jobs and small businesses. the bottom line is this, and americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe. your deposits are safe. amy: during the trump administration, a number of democrats joined republicans in weakening the dodd frank law. executives from the now collapsed silicon valley bank and signature bank were among those who successfully lobbied to weaken the regulations for midsize banks. those executives included former congressmember barney frank who joined the board of signature

bank after leaving congress where he co-authored the dodd-frank bill. he lobbied to weaken his own bill. over the past seven years, frank received at least $2.4 million in cash and stock from signature bank before the bank collapsed. we are now joined by two guests. david sirota is an award-winning investigative reporter and founder of the news website the lever. his latest piece is headlined "svb's lobby groups fought proposal to bolster deposit insurance." he is joining us from denver, colorado. and in irvine, california, we are joined by mehrsa baradaran. she is a banking law professor at the university of california-irvine. her books include "the color of money: black banks and the racial wealth gap" and "how the other half banks: exclusion, exploitation, and the threat to democracy." mehrsa baradaran, let's begin with you. can you respond to what took

ace over the weekend? the significance of the cond-and third-largest bank failures in u.s. history and how the biden administration responded? >> thank you for having me on. what we saw this weekend was another bank run that should not have been a bank run because it doesn't look like a bank and is something that smells like and walks like a bank but was not technically regulated like a bank -- it would be that size and shape would be regulated. so that bank had a simple run. there is panic csed. when there is panic, the bank is not long for this world and that is what happened to svb bank. it is exactly what anyone predicted would happen, happened, which is thaa full force from powell to yellen to

president biden saying everything is fine, we will take care of it. we saw tim gdner tried to do it in 2009. -- timothy geithner tried to do it in 2009. you need people to keep their money in because a run is really just a panic. a bank that is stable can be run and unstable. everyone expected if you have a run of a bank this size, there would be this happening. the problem is we live. we fudged about it beforehand. oh, no, this is not this kind of a, we will not bilit out. the same thing with shadow come the same with crypto. anytime you create this massive loophole in the law that was made to prevent bank runs -- it is been perforated by holes for the last 30, 40 years.

when you put a bank in one of those holes and it is a big bank and you see every start up is that that big, you have to wonder why. the why is there was deception. when those go back, the promises that were made when those exceptions were written into law which are it is not like the other banks, one have a bailout, those go away very quickly. it is about truth telling. whatind of institution is it and does it have to abide the other roles like any other institution? juan: i would like to bring david sirota into the conversation. your reaction to the biden administration's efforts to address this crisis, especially given the fact we have been told now ever since the last major financial crisis in 2008 that it was only systemically important eggs, the j.p. morgan chases, the wells fargos, the banks of

america that the government has major concerns about. >> look, i think the biden administration was afraid there would be a wider contagion, that people would see 1's depositor lose their uninsured money and other people would start pulling their money out of the banks. to my mind, what is insane about the situation is this bank had more that 90% of the deposits were uninsured, which is insane because fdic insurance is a kind of well-known thing, $250,000 limit, and there are ways to do all sorts of financial management, risk management where you can have a lot of money in a bank but not 90% of your money, whether you're a business or anything else, is not insured. the failure of risk management practices on many of these depositors -- again, 90% of the deposits being uninsured -- really shows i think a cavalier

attitude by some of these depositors who must -- simply presumed they would have the political power and wherewithal to get the government in a crisis come to the government would swoop in and ensure those uninsured deposits. as we reported at the lever, what is telling whom we talk about deposit insurance, silicon valley bank's lobby groups in washington fought recently against the proposal to shore up federal deposit insurance for the relatively depleted deposit insurance fund. the funder that will now guarantee those depositors deposits. the point being, if we're going to have a discussion about extending deposit insurance and extending those limits and making sure those limits -- larger limits apply to everybody, there is a deposit insurance fund, about $120 billion in that fund, against $10 trillion of insured deposits

in america. it has been the bank lobby that has fought against proposal that does -- it does not want to have to put in more money, does not want to have to pay those insurance premiums to make sure all of those deposits are covered. we're in a situation where bank regulators swoop in and a haphazard way when they see a bank -- when the decision is made for particular bank to swoop in and backstop the uninsured deposits. but it is not clear whether those guarantees extend to the entire banking system. there's a question of is it fair to guarantee the deposits of uninsured depositors at a bank like cyclone -- silken valley bank but not extend that -- silicon valley bank? but not extended to others? juan: what about the issue of federal deposit insurance? from what i understand, 90% of americans don't have $250,000 to

put into a savings account so we're talking about a very small percenge of the american people that are actually affected even by the loss of money if they have more than $250,000 in a bank. why has the government not even raised, as david was saying, raised the minimum insurance a little higher rather than now, apparently, go outside its legal authority to say we're going to ensure all depositors at these banks? >> this is a good question. there are two kind of lies, white lies, fbi ensure -- fdic insurance. fdic insurance is technically legal. during 2008, we had $100,000 limit and they raised it because it is not about what money is insured, it is panic of a

psychological phenomenon. if i'm going to lose $100 to $1000, people will take their money out of matter what. it is your money. were not talking about calculations. you have to ensure all of it or not it i've alway[indiscernible] in a panic there is going to be a bailout. this is all federal reserve. system agrees. engines are on. those engines are much more powerful than the ftse engines. i went to say something about why was this allowed to happen. this is when we get into regulation. david said, haphazard nest. also not -- [indiscernible] personal experience having been a nominee in biden administration singh the other nominees -- we have not gotten

-- the biden administration was not able to appoint an occ regulator. they have been asking for that -- trump appointed -- vacated -- that to move things around -- that brings a bit from the board that was already confirmed -- occ, none of the nominees we got vetted, you know, get support. we, you know, regulators -- would have done very differently and very quickly. these are problems -- [indiscernible] it is not just there's a haphazard is. it is defense. the industry is quite powerful across the board. it is not -- community banks over here and big banks. sometimes one incentive which is deregulation, it's workout deals

other than create a lot of rigid rules and hierarchy. especially like silicon valley bank, they were doing anything lehman-like. well, there were not doing anything more risky than any other bank right now. it is just that thanks have runs. that is how they work. especially in a market like this where interest rates are going up, they have bonds, the crypto saying who knows what sort of one or two things caused a domino effect, that that is the nature of banking. it is risk and susceptible to runs. amy: let's go back to the 2018 trump-era law when trump rolled back some banking regulations. senator elizabeth warren spoke out against the bill during the senate vote. >> i will make a prediction. this bill will pass if the banks get their way in the next 10

years or so, there will be another financial crisis. the force when the crash comes, the big banks will throw up their hands and say, it's not their fault, nobody could have seen it coming. then they will run to congress and beg for bailout money. and let's be blunt, they will probably get it. it just like in 2008, there will be no bailout for working families. jobs will be lost. lives will be destroyed. the american people, not the bank, will once again bear the burden. amy: and senator elizabeth warren proved to be right. i want to go to david sirota. one of the pieces in lever news, the bank's president personally pressed congress to reduce scrutiny of its financial institution citing the low risk profile of our activities and business model. can you take it from there?

tell us who is the ceo of svb and also talk about barney frank. >> sure. greg becker, the silicon valley bank president, cemented testimony when congress was looking at whether to weaken the then current dodd-frank law. what he was particularly pushing for was to raise the thresholds by which banks were subject to stricter scrutiny. there was a $50 billion threshold if a bank was bigger, had more assets and $50 billion from a faced higher capital requirements and work granular and more stringent stress tests to make sure the bank would not fail. ultimate, greg becker -- and he was not alone -- he and the banking industry got their way, raising that threshold for silicon valley bank and other similarly sized banks. greg becker, as one example, just to use him as an example,

he held a fundraiser at his home for democratic senator mark warner of virginia. and soon after, mark warner was one of those democrats who in that vote that elizabeth warren was talking about, joined with 50 republicans to pass that bill that raised those thresholds, that ultimately meant a bank like silicon valley bank was not subjected by law, by rule, by federal reserve regulatory authority, was not subject to to the kinds of risk management and risk assessment that it would have been subjected to under the existing dodd-frank law. amy: let me interrupt for second because he have senator mark warner. he was questioned by abc "this week" host martha raddatz asked if he regretted his 2018 vote to repeal the dodd-frank act. >> do you regret that vote?

>> martha, i still think we put in place dodd-frank, proer to be one of the key authors of that bill. they strengthened the banking system. i think these midsized banks needed some regulatory relief. at the end of the day, no matter what the capital had been on it is bank come if you don't give banking 101 strength come if you don't manage your interest rate risk, if you then have a run at $42 billion in a single day, unprecedented. >> senator, you don't regret that vote? >> listen, i think it was call the 2155 bill. i think it put in place an appropriate level of regulation on midsized banks. amy: david sirota, your response to mark warner, who joined with the republicans come along with a thinks 16 other democratic senators, in weakening the frank-dodd will? >> what you're saying is the power of the banking industry,

wall street. a u.s. senator who voted to deregulate silicon valley bank goes on television and continues defending it, defending the regulation that his donors wanted. defending it even in the face of a bank failure, a bank that push for that deregulation that got itself exempted. that is what we're talking about we talk about the power of the baking industry in congress. it is so powerful even a democratic senator will go on television after a bank failure from a bank that was exempted from those more stricter stringent rules, go on television and defend that bill. i am glad to see katie porter and others have said they're going to put forward legislation to reverse what happened, what mark warner as aexample supported. and that is a good thing. as we talked about before, there is talk of extending deposit insurance. but the thing that has to happen in my view is if you're going to

extend deposit insurance and you need to, one, make sure the banks put up the money from more that insurance and, two, that that insurance has to, with stronger regulations on these banks so they cannot gamble with depositors insurance and that regulators can know that there aren't going to be bank failures as this proceeds. amy: barney frank, if you can answer that question, the author of the frank-dodd bill? >> that is an incredible story. you have the author of the dodd-frank bill who then gets on the board of a bank come a bank that was this weekend shuttered. so it shows, in my view, the revolving door between the policymakers and the banks that are trying to weaken policy. it is almost -- if you put it into a movie about corruption, your screenwriter would say, you can't put that income it is to ridiculous for the author of the

bill to be on the board of a bank that was just shuttered. juan: david sirota mentioned greg becker, the ceo of the failed bank. he was also a member of a federal reserve bank of san francisco until this weekend. could you talk about the role of the federal reserve bank? some people are claiming the repetitious rate -- rapid interest rate hikes is leading to some of the stress in these banks. >> one of the things this the monetary policy that the interest rate hikes -- that is just the bank's fault. everyone on the market new rates were going up and they screwed up. who is any explanation? the bonds they held on for way too long. that is a bad mistake but as far as the feds supervisory role --

the fed has the monetary policy -- the fed is the entity that is supposed to look at these -- it is not just the fdic. the fdic manages just insurance, which is a very tiny portion of what causes a bank run. none of the banks in 2008 there were in the shadow banking system had -- citigroup maybe have a little bit lehman and goldman, they were not even bank holding companies at the time. the fdic is kind of a very small fish in a big pond of banking regulators, especially since the financial crisis. since the financial says, one of the things decided -- you have these companies like aig and these nonbanks that are causing these crisis, doing banking. systemically and [indiscernible] everyone has to do systemic risk. even at the time i have written about these laws -- even at the time i think -- very meager

responses to the financial crisis. they did not do it. but this bank got an exception from those laws. the systemic risk, stress testing things, supposed to be above $50 billion or something you gecertain different requirements. the bill in 2018 that warren was talking about, saying this would be unprecedented -- which is exactly what this president said. that bill essentially took a carved out exception for some of these banks, including this one for the reasons, you know, better for communities, right? better for small loans and things like that. now using -- in a very cynical way, unfortunately -- it is true that we have a glut of community banks. it is true that we have five major banks and they are not lending small and midsized accounts. so we do need revelatory relief, whatever that means, in that language to help these small

banks but that is not what this was. this was a loophole, an exception for not community banks. they need the money. silicon valley -- these companies need someone to service their finances, but that is just a symptom of a broken financial system. j.p. morgan will probably by the bank. amy: on a different subject, david sirota, as founder of lever news, which has been doing so much on east palestine and there might be some parallels, you looked at the last month's toxic train derailment. do you see a link between the rollback of railway safety regulations and banking regulations? talk specifically about the rail lobbyist should senator who could block the safety bill. >> plenty of parallels here. the crisis happens. there's a push for regulation

and that people forget or politicians hope people forget and there is a push. on the real situation, there was a spate of derailments in 2014, 2013 that prompted a push for more regulation. with a push for regulation happened, chemical industry lobbyists essentially weakened the rules to make sure that trains like the ones in ohio were not classified as high hazard flammable trains, make sure they were not subjected to those tougher rules. you can see the parallel with the banks. a push not subject the bank to rules, to not subject railway industry to tougher bulls. there's a bipartisan bill in the house and senate but already an effort to slow walk them. that effort to slow walk them has been led, as we reported,

spearheaded by republican senator john thune, the number two ranking senate republican who was literally a registered lobbyist for a railroad company and has spearheaded in the past the effort to stop these regulations. we have been doing this reporting -- it is important to hold his politicians, hold their feet to the fire whether it is mark warner or john thune. we hope democracy now! viewers will help us. you can find all of our work at levernews.com/democracynow. i guarantee whether it is on real issues or whether it is on banking issues, there will be even -- you saw mark warner on financial stuff. you will see john thune on rail stuff. even in the aftermath of a

disaster, these lobbies are so powerful that they have people in places like the u.s. senate to stop anything from happening. the only way anything will happen, whether it is on rail safety or regulating the banks, will be if enough people actually respond and demand their lawmakers take action. amy: david sirota, thank you for being with us, founder of the lever. we will link to it at democracynow.org. and mehrsa baradaran, banking law professor at the university of california-irvine. next up, in an independent autopsy of the activist shot dead while protesting the construction of cop city and atlanta suggests they were sitting crosslegged with their hands in the air when police shot tortuguita 14 times, killing him. we will speak to the family's

attorney and hear from their parents. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we turn to georgia, where new details from an independent autopsy of the activist fatally shot by atlanta police in january concludes their hands were raised up and in front of their body when they were killed. georgia state patrol shot manuel esteban terán, who was known as tortuguita and used they/them pronouns, during a law enforcement raid on an encampment of forest protectors who oppose the construction of atlanta's $90 million police training center dubbed cop city. an independent autopsy released monday also shows 26-year-old tortuguita was likely seated cross-legged when they were shot

14 times. this is tortuguita's father joel paez speaking monday at press conference in decatur, georgia. >> my child was standing where gave hilife for others. they gave his life for ideas. they defended the environment. they convinced others with conviction and also with understanding and never with violence. my child is a hero. amy: tortuguita's family has sued the city of atlanta after the release of more video evidence of the shooting of their child was blocked. the georgia bureau of investigation, or gbi, alleges tortuguita fired on an officer first during the raid and was killed by return fire. it says there's nobody can footage of t shooting.

at monday's news conference, tortuguita's mother called on the gbi to relee its investigative report into the killing. >> my child manuel esteban terán was killed on the 18th of january, 2023. we still do not know anything. he wasilled, our mos beloved mily member and the most caring person that any group of people could have. and there is only silence. mael loved the force. gave them peace. they meditate there. the force to connect them with

god. -- the forest connect them with god. i never thought manuel could be killed in this position. my heart is destroyed. i invest so much time, care, and dedication to educate my children, to become active numbers of society. i gave them love and compassion to make the world a better place. but now there is no answers. i tried to be strong, to continue his legacy. for the love of my family and for all those who loved manuel, i went answers for my chi's

homicide. i am asking for answers to my child's homicide. i am suffering for my rights to these answers and that i have not given, and i deserve. i deserve answers. thank you. amy: that is the mother of tortuguita speaking. just the day before, she and other family members joined activists to spread tortuguita's ashes in memorial ceremony in weelaunee people's park. for more, we go to atlanta to speak with jeff filipovits, the civil rights attorney representing terán's family.

jeff, if you could talk about what you understand happened at this point in the meditation position that tortuguita's mom was talking about? how is that the autopsy showed that tortuguita was sitting in a crosslegged position with arms up? the police say that tortuguita shot them. >> i want to be clear about what the autopsy shows and what it does not show because the autopsy does not give us a conclusive answers that all of his hopes it does. the autopsy shows exit wounds on the palms of both manuel terán's hands and shows wounds to their legs that are consistent with him being seated in a crosslegged position when that shot was fired. at the autopsy does not answer the question about what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting.

when we are talking about police use of force, especially police use of deadly force, those moments can be determinative -- a fraction of a second coming all the difference in the world. while we are trying to shed light on it and bring public knowledge to everything that has happened as much as we can, ultimately until the gbi explains to us what happened, releases their witness interviews and releases any other evidence that they have, we're not going to be able to piece it together. juan: what about the issue of the georgia bureau of investigatn asking the city to hold off on releasing or video footage? what is the reason they are giving for that? >> the georgia bureau of investigation is invoking the pending investigation exception to the georgia open records act. the city of atlanta makes its own independent decision as to

whether to release videos. and so the city began releasing videos, promised to release videos on an ongoing basis and only after the gbi contacted this city did the city changed its mind and decide not to release those videos. it is part of a pattern of locking down information so that we cannot figure out what happened. the gbi certainly has the duty to interview witnesses without disclosing to each of those witnesses what other evidence there is. that is standard in all investigations. but they have had plenty of time to do that. at this point, there is no reason to withhold this evidence. the public deserves and the family more portly deserves to know. any shred of evidence or explanation of the only thing we got was the immediate and selective narrative that was released by the gbi and then

silence. we're doing everything we can to get the evidence that is available. juan: that narrative is supposedly that manuel had a smith & wesson gun that shot a trooper with an there is a ballistics match between the injured trooper and that gun? has a family received any actual evidence or seen any actual evidence to back this up? >> no. amy: and what about activists leaving friendly fire caused the trooper's injuries? one of the bodycam video's lease by the apd fiber six supports the assessment. and it, a police officer, apd officer, can be heard remarking, "you effed your own guy up" a few minutes after the shooting.

can you explain that? >> i can't. after that video was produced, the city stopped producing additional evidence. our question is, what to the officer know, what was the source of the iormation, what was communiced over the radio, what was said by other officers? we need all of that information so we can put it in context. every time we get a bit of information, raises more questions. those questions continue to go unanswered. amy: i want to go to tortuguita 's brother daniel speaking at monday's news conference. >> i can't even attend a vigil for manny without 10 cup car showing up or low-flying helicopt showing up to intimidate us. in atlanta, i feel hated. the current narrative is my voice is valued less for being out of state, despite my 10 years of military service.

it is ironic i am trusted with nuclear secrets but i am not trusted with the evidence of my sibling's murder . amy: that is daniel paez, the brother of tortuguita. jeff filipovits, if you can talk about what is happening at this protest? dozens of the forest defenders -- they're all different groupings of people who are opposed to if it is built will be the largest training -- police training facility. dozens have been charged with domestic terrorism. >> yes. it is really a troubling development. what i can speak to specifically is the arrest warrants that were taken out against each of these demonstrators, charging them with domestic terrorism -- when an arrest warrant is issued, there has to be a factual basis for it.

they have to set forth facts in an affidavit that establishes probable cause. what we see in each of these affidavits is there is no specific allegation of any one of these individuals engaging in an act of violence, no specific allegation that any of these individuals conspired to engage in violence. and so was the rubberstamp of these charges. as a result, a seemingly automatic denial of bond for all of those arrested. but what appears to be happening is that people are being swept up with this label regardless of whether they have committed any crime beyond criminal trespass. it is an obvious show of force. it is an obvious escalation. it is a precedent that having been set will be applied to other groups, will be applied to the next protest should someone at a protest commit an act of vandalism, are those who stand

around that person now also domestic terrorists? if nothing more than property damage is what is required to support that charge, then we are living in a vastly different set of laws, set of rules that i think any of us really realize. it is contrary to so many core values of this country. juan: at a press conference in february, you said many of those who were present at the raid where manuel was killed were even afraid to speak to you due to the mounting police targeting. could you talk about that? >> anyone who was in the forest does not want to come forward. now, as far as we know right now, there was no other direct witness to manuel's death aside from law enforcement. there were other people in the forest, many of those people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism.

would someone who is not arrested but in the forest want to come forward and put their name on a statement to anyone? of course not. because look what has happened to every other person charged with domestic terrorism. they are facing an intense criminal charge, most have been denied bond, and that is a way to silence people. i. . don't know it also could be amy: i want to read from an arrest affidavit. for someone charged with domestic terrorism, "occupying a treehouse while wearing a gas mask in camouflage clothing, rested while sleeping in a hammock with another defendant, said accused is also known as a known member of a prison abolitionist movement domestic terrorist? >> yeah. that is exactly what i'm talking about. they either have evidence that

these people are engaged in the conspiracy to commit violence that is such a frightening display of coordination and for whatever reason simply has not come to fruition or these are charges that are not supported, that will not hold up, charges that are being used even though they know it won't hold up ultimately because they can use it now to stifle dissent, so they can build the training center that they want to build. amy: can you tell us about the lawsuit that the family filed on behalf of the family of tortuguita? >> it is open record lawsuit under georgia law seeking for the release of the evidence that the city of atlanta promised to release. the city of atlanta said they would do so. there's no provision in the act that allows them to civilly

change its mind. previously, the logic provide unlimited number of days in which an entity could change its sponse to an open records reest. that provision was removed and the most recent version of the law. regardless, they've had plenty of time -- the fact another government agency disagrees with their decision is not sufficient reason -- it is not a justification to refrain from making public records public. remember, these are public records. the default is that they belong to the people and should be released to the people. once his government starts to release these piecemeal and promises to do so, they have an obligation to continue. amy: they say they carefully orchestrated the raid that ultimately killed tortuguita. how is it then that there isn't police cam video? >> i don't know. it is inexcusable. they were forming firing squads,

shooting pepper balls. they were prepared for this. they knew things could go catastrophically wrong. and for some reason, they decided not to put on the body cams. amy: jeff filipovits, thank you for been with us, civil rights torney r

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