Less than a week away, many president ial candidate are accusing all you know Michael Bloomberg of buying his way into the election and spreading his wealth to keep critics silent. The New York Times has some are calling bloomberg a wallett too big to happen. We will speak with a lawyer who would you work for the bloomberg bundy, said she was told remove or revise a chapter on antimuslim bias and surveillance of muslim communities in new york that mentioned bloomberg by name a times. Then to yemen, where 31 people were killed in u. S. Backed saudi airstrikes, including women and children. The United Nations called the atta shockinin here. We are this is one of the cars that were targeted by the saudi americanan air force l last n nt and ththey also tarted vilges in residential areas, causing tens of thousands of martyrsnd ininjuries. This is s a civilians cacar. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The number of Coronavirus Infections continues to mount, with 71,000 confirmed cases globally and nearly 1800 deaths a all but five ofof the deats were in maininland china. However,r, chise offfficials sad at sundaday marked thehe third straraight day whehen there wasa drop in nenew cases. A a chinese man n who was visitg france has died from the disease, marking the first fatality in europe and outside of asia. Over americans were repatriated 300 after being evacuated from the diamond princess cruise ship ththat has been dodocked at a pt in yokohama, japan, fofor two weeks. 14 of the passengers that are being sent to the United States are infected with coronavirus. The passengers, who have now landed in texas and california, will be quarantined on bases in the United States for two weeks. Over 450 passengers on the cruise ship contracted coronavirus. Around 3600 people were quarantined on diamond princess. Meananwhile, chihinese state mea leased a a speech h by president xi jinpiping indicating he was aware of the sereriousness of te outbreak weeks before alerting the chinese public. Over 1100 former justice departmentnt officials are callg for attorney Geneneral William barr to step down after he intervened to reduce the justice departments sentencing recommendation for President Trumps longtime friend and former Campaign Adviser roger stone. In an open letter published sunday, the former officials write governments that use the enormous power of Law Enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics. They are autocracies. Barr intervened in stones case after trump called his sentence of seven to nine years a miscarriage of justice. Four federal prosecutors withdrew from the case and one resigned from his job over barrs actions. On friday, trump claimed he has the power to intervene in criminal cases. In response to barrs Statement Last week that trump has never asked him to do anything in a criminal case, trump tweeted this doesnt mean that i do not have, as president , the legal right to do so, i do, but i have so far chosen not to a group of nine democratic senators, including president ial candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, also called for barrs resignation in an open letter friday. Meanwhile, attorney general barr has reportedly assigned an outside prosecutor to review the criminal case against trumps former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to federal investigators about conversasations he had wih russias ambassador to the u. S. In nevada, early voters have been lining up at polling stations ahead of next saturdays caucuses. The Nevada Democratic party reported some 18,000 people took part in early voting on saturday, the first of four days for early voting. Some election volunteers have expressed concern that they have not received sufficient training or information about the google forms that will be used to report results of the caucuses. Meanwhile, the iowa Democratic Party says it has started a partial canvas of iowas caucus results that was requested by the sanders and buttigieg campaigns. Candidates are campaigning in nevada and across states set to vote on super tuesday, march 3. On sunday, senator Bernie Sanders held a rally in denver, colorado, where he addressed an estimated 11,000 people. A and we are going to end corrupt political system in which billionaires buy elections democracy, to me, means one person, one vote. [cheers] not bloomberg or anybody else spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to buy an election. Amy coloradans will vote on super tuesday, as will residents of alabama, arkansas, california, maine, massachusetts, minnesota, north carolina, oklahoma, tennessee, texas, utah, vermont, and virginia. In more news about the Democratic Candidates, senator Amy Klobuchar has come under after she did not know the name of the president of mexico during an interview on telemundo and was unable to speak about any of his policies. The mexican president is Andres Manuel lopez obrador. Billionaire tom steyer also could not name him. In other news about the e 2020 elections, facebook has reversed does come under scrutiny for allowing certain kinds of political ads which allows billionaire and former new york city mayor Mike Bloomberg to post socalled branded content for his campaign via the social media accounts of popular influencers. Bloomberg is paying to have the accounts post memes and videos of bloomberg to raise his profile among younger voters. Meanwhile, Mike Bloomberg continues to come under renewed scrutiny as for his past comments and positions, including promoting stop and frisk and support for redlining. On saturday, the Washington Post reported multiple lawsuits have been filed over the years alleging that women were discriminated against at bloombergs company, including one case filed by a former employee who blamed bloomberg for creating a culture of Sexual Harassment and degradation. Bloomberg and his organizations have been n defendndants in almt 40 s sexual haharassment and discrimination lawsuits. We will have more on this and the e candidacy of Mike Bloombeg after headlines. Lgbtq activists of color disrupted a speech by Pete Buttigieg friday at san franciscos national lgbtq center for the arts. A buttigieg supporter responded by calling the protesters homophobes, to which protesters responded, were all gagay the two protesters were taken out of the event after they were booed by attendees to the fundraiser. Outside the fundraiser, activists from the group queers against pete and other groups gathered to call out buttigiegs ties to wall street anand his policies that they say do not reflect the progressive views of many queueeridentifyiying peope and people of color. These include his lack of support for medicare for all, free college, and his track record on race issues during his time as mayor of south bend, indiana. In yemen, 31 people were killed in u. S. Babacked saudi airstriks over the weekend, including women and children. The strikes in the northern Aljawf Province came just hours after the houthis said they had shot down a saudi fighter jet in the same area. On sunday, the United Nations said the houthis and u. S. Backed saudi and uae coalition had agreed to a major prisoner swap, the first of its kind in the longrunning war. More than 100,000 have died and far more have been displaced since the conflilict began in 2015. In syria, fighting is intensifying between Government Forces and opposition groups, displacing more civilians who have had to flee towards the northern border. This is a displaced civilian speakingng from a refugee cacam. We fled five days ago from the western province. We escaped airstrikes in the shelling. The journey was very difficult. It was cold. We could not find a car. We kept walking until we found a car to take us here. The past three days have been cold on the road and in the streets. Amy 800,000 people have been displaced since december and the u. N. Is warning of a humanitarian disaster. Syrian government officials said they seized most of the rebelheld aleppo province sunday amid their ongoing offensive. Turkish and russian officials are holding talks in moscow today. In afghahanistan, an airstrike killed at least eight civilians, including a child in the Eastern Province of nangarhar, according to local reports. The latest c civilian deataths e as the u. S. Declared a sevenday partial truce with the taliban and President Trump said there is a good chance of reaching an agreement with the taliban to reduce u. S. Military presence in afghanistan. At the Munich Security Conference this weekend, afghan president ashraf ghani said a peace deal could come wiwithin days. In mexico city, valentines day protests called out the Mexican Government and media for its inaction, and in some cases, its complicity in the high rates of femicide. The friday protests were sparked by the publication of graphic images of the murdered 25yearold ingrid escamillas mutilated body in a tabloid, accompanied by the headline it was cupids fault. Escamilla was murdered by her boyfriend. This is Lilia Florencio guerrero, whose daughter Diana Velasquez flororencio was raped and killed in 2017. S us with rage and anger how president obrador mixtape is about material things and how an airplane raffle is more important to him than the 10 women who a are murdered evey day in this country, so it fills us with rage and anger and that is why we are here because they are murdering us and this government and the last what are not interested in us. Amy the Trump Administration began deploying specially trained tactical c customs and Border Protection units over the weekend to sanctuary cities across the country in the latest attempt to crack down on cities that refuse to cooperate with the Trump Administration on immigration enforcement. The cbp swat teams will reportedly help ice, thats immigration and customs enforcement, carrie out raids against suspected undocumented people. They are being relocated from the southern border to cities like new york, chicago, detroit, and new orleans in an ongoing deployment that will last through may. In more immigration news, a new report by the Washington Post says that confidential notes taken in mandatory therapy sessions for immigrant minors be sessions for immigrant minors be passed onto ice, which can then use those notes against the children and teens in court. A memo from the Trump Administration about the u. S. Targeted assassination of iranian general Qassem Soleimani last month does not refer to an imminent threat, which was President Trump justification for assassinating him. The memo was released the day after the senate voted to pass a resolution limiting trumps authority to attack iran without congressional approval. In new york, Attorney Michael Avenatti was found guilty friday of wire fraud and extorting nike for up to 25 million. Prosecutors say avenatti threatened to reveal damaging information on improper payments made by nike to student athletes unless they either paid him off or retained his services. Avenatti is best known as Stormy Daniels former lawyer during her hush money case against President Trump. Avenatti faces a maximum prison sentence of 42 years and will be sentenced in june. He is also facing charges in los angeles of defrauding clients and a federal case in new york, in which he is accused of stealing money owed to Stormy Daniels from a book publisher. A federal Appeals Court struck down trumps attempt to impose medicaid work requirements friday, saying Health Secretary alex azars approval of the program in arkansas was arbitrary and capricious. The measure allowed arkansas to demand medicaid recipients work in order to receive their health benefits. And the case against activists who were arrested last april while they were stagaging a weekslong protest at the Venezuelan Embassy in washington, d. C. , ended in a mistrial friday after a hung jury. The four activists were staying at the embassy at the behest of the venezuelan government toto prevent its tatakeover by u. S. Backed supporteters of Opposition Leader juan guauaido. This is margararet flowers, onof the Embassy Protectors after the mistrial was declared. This are very happy with verdict. We would have been happier with an acquittal, but for today, we remainin innocent as we are ande appreciate the tremendous amount of support that we have received from people here, coming to the trial, as well as people around the world sending us messages of solidarity. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. With the nevada caucuses less than a week away, many Democratic Candidates are courting voters and increasingly targeting their attacks on billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who they are accusing of buying his way into the election. This is leading democratic president ial candidate senator Bernie Sanders speaking sunday at a rally in carson city, nevada. We will not create the energy and excitement we need to defeat donald trump if that candidatete pursued, advocated for, and enacted racist policicies like stop and frisk. Would cause communities of color in a city to live in fear. Amy in the leadup to super tuesday on march 3 when voters in 14 states go to the polls, bloomberg has spent an unprecedented 417 million of his own 60 billion fortune on advertising. Hes also paid meme influencers to share sponsored content on instagram and hired thousands of ontheground political operatives to work in more than 125 offices around the country. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports multiple lawsuits have been filed over the years alleging that women were discriminated against at bloombergs businessinformation company, including one case filed by a former employee who blamed bloomberg for creating a culture of Sexual Harassment and degradation. Bloomberg and his organizations have been defendants in almost 40 Sexual Harassment and discrimination lawsuits. But a Major Investigation in sundays New York Times headlined in bloomberg, liberals see a wallet too big to offend lays out how bloomberg established a to silence potential critics during his president ial bid by making major donations to progressive causes and advocacy groups around the country. The times estimates bloomberg has spent at least 10 billion on charitable pursuits related to his political ambitions. In 2019 alone, the year he declared his president ial candidacy, the times reports bloombergs Charitable Giving soared to 3. 3 billion more than in the previous five years combined. Well, for more, were joined in philadelphia by blake zeff, a journalist and documentary filmmaker who has covered new york politics and Michael Bloombergs three terms as mayor. Welcome to democracy now last week you had a fascinating kind of twitter thread about what bloombergs strategy is. And it is not just the unprececedented massive amounttf money he is spending, but also how he spends that money. And this has been going on for many years. Can you layout bloombergs strategy . Absolutely. I think there is this idea that spending so much money on ads that that enables him to get his message out a little bit more than other candidates. And that is kind of where the baggage advantage lies biggest advantage lies. But there is more to it than that. You talked a little bit about how much he spent in recent years supporting causes and leaders and things like that but lets talk about that a bit more. I think a lot of people might be surprised to see how many endorsements go bloomberg has been racking up in his president ial campaign is kind of a former local mayor. He is congressmembers out the country, mayors throughout the country. Well, he spent about 110 million last year sorry, last cycle alone in 2018 supporting house candidates. 24 w hom won. Some are getting to me and dollars. Some are getting 4 million. The new year later they say, boy, i would love it i if you could help me out. It i is hard for them to say no. Then yeah mayors. You might be surprised how many mayors he is getting. He has a philanthropy that gives out money for urban programs. It puts you in a tough spot. Then he has nonprofits and charities. In