Transferred where President Trump says duterte is doing an unbelievable job on the drug program. We will speak also with Glenn Greenwald about how the Media Coverage of the Manchester Bombing victims should be a model for all young victims of war from yemen to afghanistan. Plus, we will speak to toronto activist and journalist desmond cole. I think what was revealed is a certain naivete where we ignore very obvious problems of racial discrimination. We want to tell ourselves that it is not happening here and we especially want to tell ourselves we are not the United States of america. Amy up until recently, desmond cole was a columnist at the toronto star. Its editors told him he had to choose between being a journalist or a black lives matter activist. He decided to stop writing his column. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from toronto, canada. In new revelations about possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and alleged russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, the New York Times is reporting that u. S. Sponsored senior russian political and intelligence discussing ways to use thenTrump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort and trump adviser Michael Flynn in order to exert influence over donald trump himself. In the alleged conversations last summer, the russian officials reportedly bragged about their close ties to Michael Flynn, as well as to former ukrainian president viktor yanukovych, who has worked closely with manafort. It is not known whether russian officials ever actually tried to influence manafort or flynn or, if so, whether they were successful. Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting former fbi director james comey may have been influenced by a fake russian intelligence document when he decided to publicly denounce Hillary Clintons handling of emails as extremely careless in july. Officials say the secret russian intelligence document claimed thenattorney general Loretta Lynch had assured the Clinton Campaign the fbi would not probe too deeply into clintons use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The post reports comey relied on that document when he took the extraordinary step of announcing without Justice Department involvement that, although the fbi investigation was over, he found clintons conduct to be extremely careless. Officials now say the fbi itself had suspected the document was was bad intelligence or even fake. Cnn is reporting Jeff Sessions did not reveal his two meetings last with Russian AmbassadorSergey Kislyak when he applied for security glances as attorney general. These are the same meanings he failed to disclose in his confirmation hearing. The Congressional Budget Office says the new Republican Health care plan would cause 23 Million People to lose their health care by 2026. The plan narrowly passed the house early this month. Its not clear whether the bill will pass the senate. This is new York Democratic senator chuck schumer. The report makes clear trumpcare would be a cancer on the American Health care system, causing costs to skyrocket, making coverage unaffordable for those with preexisting , and many seniors, and kicking millions off their health insurance. Unless you are a healthy millionaire, trumpcare is a nightmare. Amy President Trump was greeted , and manyby 9000 angry proteste arrived in belgium wednesday, as part of his first foreign trip as president. Last year, trump sparked outrage when he described brussels as a hellhole because it had welcomed so many immigrants and refugees. This is protester anne tonglet. Trump is a great example he was to destroy the planet and destroy people. We are not insignificant. Where not enough percent of the planet against one person billionaires, the only ones that trump represents. Amy in brussels, trump will be attending his first nato summit today. In news on yemen, the Human Rights Group reprieve says u. S. Navy seals killed five civilians during a raid tuesday night on a village in marib governorate. The pentagon says the raid targeted al qaeda, and that seven militants were killed. But residents of the village say the navy seals actually shot and a 70yearold civilian, a partially blind civilian who had come out of his house during the raid to see what was going on. At the sound of gunfire, four more civilians reportedly came out of their houses, only to be gunned down by the seals. Reprieve says another six civilians were injured, including an elderly man. This comes after navy seals killed up to 25 civilians, including nine children, during a botched raid in yemen in january that also left one navy seal dead. Meanwhile, in more news on yemen, nearly 400 people have now died in a spiraling cholera outbreak as the u. S. Backed, saudiled Bombing Campaign has devastated the countrys health, water, sewage and sanitation , systems. In brazil, president michel temer has authorized the deployment of the army to the capital brasilia amid growing protests demanding the president s ouster. On wednesday, tens of thousands of protesters marched to congress to demand temers resignation. Some demonstrators also torched a ministry building. Multiple protesters were injured as Police Attacked them with tear gas, stun grenades and , rubbercoated steel bullets. Temer is facing mounting calls to resign or be impeached following explosive testimony released by the Supreme Court accusing him of accepting millions of dollars in bribes since 2010. Well have more on brazil later in the broadcast with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist glenn in rio de who lives janeiro. Shocking new details have come to light about how the u. S. Drug Enforcement Administration tried to cover up its role in the killing of four civilians in honduras in 2012. For years, the dea claimed they were assisting honduran authorities in a raid that killed four drug smugglers near the village of ahuas. This was the story the dea told congress, the Justice Department , and the public. But a scathing new report by the inspectors general of the justice and state departments says the dea repeatedly lied about key aspects of the raid. The victims were not drug , and the public. Smugglers but civilians luding two pregnant women traveling on a water taxi. In addition the report says the dea falsely claimed that honduran Law Enforcement had led the operation, when in fact it was led by the dea. The agents were part of a nowshuttered task force known as the foreigndeployed advisory support team, or fast, which was trained in militarystyle antidrug raids. Vermont senator Patrick Leahy said the report unmasks egregious events and conduct, as well as the subsequent efforts to hide the truth about what happened. British officials are accusing the United States of leaking to the news media details about the investigation into mondays suicide bombing in manchester, which killed 22 people. The Officials Say theyll no longer share information with the u. S. After u. S. Law enforcement agencies released information and pictures about the investigation before british agencies did so. U. K. Prime minister theresa may says shell raise the issue when she meets with President Trump today during a nato summit in brussels. The leaks come as british authorities have arrested a total of eight men suspected of being connected to the attack, including suspected bomber Salman Abedis brother, ismail. Abedi was a 22yearold british man whose parents emigrated from libya. Abedis brother hashem and his father have also been arrested by special forces in libya. The Italian Coast Guard says at least 34 refugees, including many small toddlers, have died after their boat capsized off the coast of libya wednesday as the refugees were trying to reach europe. Their deaths come as a new report says as many as 6. 6 Million People are waiting in countries around the mediterranean hoping to emigrate to europe. Back in the United States and montana, republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte has been charged with assault after he body slammed a guardian reporter to the floor wednesday night only hours before polls open for the special election today. Gianforte, a tech millionaire who is backed by trump, attacked guardian reporter ben jacobs as jacobs was trying to ask about the Republican Healthcare plan. This is audio jacobs captured of the incident. I will talk to you about that later. Theres not going to be time i am sick and tired of you guys. The last guy who came in here to the same thing. Get the hell out of here. The last guy did the same thing. Are you with the guardian . Yes. You just broke my glasses. You just ought he slammed me and broke my glasses. Amy that was reporter ben jacobs being attacked by montana congressional candidate Greg Gianforte wednesday night. Voters are now heading to the polls to decide between gianforte and democratic candidate rob quist to fill montanas atlarge house seat, which was vacated by now interior secretary ryan zinke. The 10 million closely watched race is seen as a referendum on the trump administration. Close to 70 of the people in montana have already voted in the congressional race. And protests against corporate Shareholder Meetings continued wednesday. Inhicago, crowds of baggage handlers, janitors, cabin cleaners, and Security Officers rallied outside the United AirlinesShareholder Meeting demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Inside the meeting, united Ceo Oscar Munoz was grilled by shareholders over the violent removal of a doctor who suffered a concussion, broken nose and , lost teeth after he was dragged semiconscious off a refusing to be involuntarily rebooked from a flight. Meanwhile, in the chicago suburb of oak park, hundreds of fast food workers protested outside the mcdonalds Shareholder Meeting to demand the minimum wage be raised to 15 an hour. This is one of the protesters. We deserve dignity. We deserve 15 an hour. We deserve to take care of our kids. I cannot even by my son any shoes. He has not he deserves to be held have some shoes on his feet. Im sure the shareholders take care of their families. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show looking at the philippines where filipino president Rodrigo Duterte has been overseeing a bloody war on drugs. Since last more than 7000 people june, have been extrajudicially killed by police or vigilantes. Duterte has also suggested he might impose martial law across the country after first declaring it this week in his Native Island of mindanao. While Human Rights Groups have condemned duterte, he has received backing from President Trump who recently invited him to visit the white house. Human rights watch slammed the invitation saying by effectively endorsing dutertes murderous war on drugs, trump has made himself morally complicit in future killings. Well, earlier this week, a transcript of the call of Trump Inviting duterte to the white house was leaked and published by the intercept. According to the leaked transcript, trump said i just wanted to congratulate you because i am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and i just wanted to call and tell you that. Duterte responded thank you mr. President. This is the scourge of my nation now and i have to do something to preserve the filipino nation. Trump then responded i understand that, and fully understand that, and i think we had a previous president who did not understand that, but i understand that and we have spoken about this before. On may 1, White House PressSecretary Sean Spicer was asked about trumps decision to invite duterte to the white house. Ischris coons the president giving his stamp of approval to human rights abuses. A governor said, this is part of the unpleasant things that president s have to do. What is the white houses perspective on duterte . I think it is an opportunity for us to work with countries in that region that can help play a role and diplomatically isolating north korea. The National Interest of the u. S. Is the safety of our people and people in the region are the number one priorities of the president. Amy the leaked transcript of the trumpduterte call does confirm north korea came up but only after trump praised the filipino president on waging his war on drugs. During the call trump said , we have a lot of firepower over there. We have two submarines the best in the world we have two Nuclear Submarines not that we want to use them at all. Trump went on to say ive never seen anything like they are, but we dont have to use this, but he could be crazy so we will see what happens. Well, to talk more about president s trump and duterte, we are joined by Jeremy Scahill, cofounder of the intercept and host of the new weekly podcast, intercepted. Jeremys recently cowrote a threepart article on the leaked call for the intercept. Jeremy, it is great to have you with us here at the skydome where the blue jays play in toronto, canada. We all participated in a forum on journalm last night. But talk about this really explosive expose that you did for the intercept around trumps phone call with duterte. First of all, to establish what this is that we published, this was a transcript from a phone call that took place april 29 between trump and duterte. Trump initiated the call. What we published was a Philippine Government document, classified Philippine Government document. So this was the transcript that es people made of his call with trump. The reason i emphasize that is because after we published this, matt drudge put it at the top of drudge report. We had an enormous surge in traffic from many people who are supporters of donald trump. Drudge gotarded in bombarded with a Boycott Campaign from Trump Supporters who are saying, whoever leaked this should be prosecuted for treason. In the journalist who published this should be put in prison, which echoes what we know trump has sort of suggested in meetings most recently to james comey right before he fired him. This was not a u. S. Government document. People were saying, this is proof that obama left the white house bugged. It is like they dont understand the basic fact of went to foreign leaders are speaking, there are two sides of the conversation, so there we have it, the phone conversation amy how did you get it . Were not going to talk about sources or methods as the us the government likes to talk about. We will say we obtained it and the Philippine Government the Philippine Government validated it is legitimate document. The white house said the transcript was accurate. That leaves us with the fact that donald trump begins a phone call with Rodrigo Duterte openly bragging about how he will get a pardon or immunity to people who extrajudicially kill anyone involved with the drug war. In the dominant perception and the way this is portrayed by people, theyre just going after narcotraffickers. In reality, many drug users have been assassinated as part of this campaign. Duterte enjoys a pretty wide base of support in the philippines and kind of mixes in antiimperialist, anticolonialist rhetoric with these very harsh policies. He also is one of the few heads of state in the world he regularly swears that she called barack obama things that i cant even say on this program, the son of a rush than referenced as though obamas mother had been a sex worker. He is calling the president and saying im going to orient myself toward china and russia. He said that under obama because obama is a administration criticized the tactic that duterte was using, the paramilitary gangster tactics they were using. Not astonishing, but the most relevant part of this is that trump knows all of that. In fact, views that as a positive thi