Julian assange inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in london, where he has lived for almost three years. Ecuador granted him political asylum. If he steps foot outside the embassy, hell be arrested. Well talk about the u. S. And swedish legal cases against him and discuss how wikileaks has continued to publish leaked documents from secret drafts of the Transpacific Partnership to europes secret plans to use military force in libya to prevent migrants from leaving the country. It calls for military intervention in libya. To destroy the refugee boats before they leave port from libya coming to europe and also for other attacks on the people who provide the services of the boats. Amy and Julian Assange will respond to the congressional debate over n. S. A. Spying and the patriot act, sparked by the disclosures of Edward Snowden. Julian how can you debate them . Theyre secret. Similarly, what are the actual actions that are occurring not just in policy but what is actually happening. What are they actually doing . If you dont know, how can you possibly have a debate . Amy today wikileaks founder Julian Assange for the hour, all that and more coming up. Amy welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report, im amy goodman. A Suicide Attack by the selfproclaimed is tam i can state has reportedly killed dozens near the iraqi city of fallujah. The bombing hit an iraqi army convoy involved in the ongoing offensive to retake the capital of an barprove isil. At the white house, the brett secretary stood by comments from defense secretary ash carter that Israeli Forces will lack the will to fight. That certainly has been a problem that weve seen in the past. Thats what allowed isil to make such significant gains last summer, and so what the United States and our coalition has been focused on is making sure that we can enhance the capacity of the Iraqi Security forces in supporting the iraqi Central Government as they try to unite that country and build a multisectarian Security Force to face the threat that is posed by isil. Amy shiite militias have given the offensive to recapture ramadi a sectarian code name in honor of an ancient figure killed in a war that helped set off the shiitesunni divide. On tuesday, the pentagon called the code name unhelpful. Top officials with the worlds governing soccer body, fifa, have been detained in a sweeping corruption investigation that could see them tried in the United States. The suspects were arrested while gathering for fifas annual meeting at a luxury hotel in the swiss city of zurich. The Justice Department has requested their extradition on charges related to accepting bribes on world cup bids and Television Broadcast deals. The f. B. I. Says, undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks and bribes became a way of doing business at fifa. Cleveland has agreed to some of the nations toughest limits on the use of police force under a settlement with the federal government. Officers are now barred from firing warning shots and pistolwhipping suspects and can no longer use force against those who talk back or run away. The police force will also undergo increased training on racial bias and will be tracked by an independent monitor. U. S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said the terms could be a model for other Police Forces nationwide. We have signed and are filing this 105page, comprehensive Consent Decree that, once approved by a federal judge, will not only serve as a road map for reform in cleveland but as a National Model for any Police Department that is ready to escort a great city to the forefront of the 21st century. And even though we are speaking , what we are announcing here today is way more than just talk. Amy the consent agreement was reached after the Justice Department sued cleveland over a pattern of unlawful abuses uncovered in a probe last year. It comes just days after an officer was acquitted in the fatal shootings of two unarmed africanamericans in their car, sparking protests that continued on tuesday. Mayor Frank Johnson called it a defining moment for cleveland. I want to say that this is really a defining moment for the city of cleveland and for the citizens in the city of cleveland. It will define who we are as a people and who we are as a city. Over the last several days, the general peaceful response to the officer brelo verdict has reinforced my belief that cleveland is a community where Peaceful Demonstrations and dialogue will and can provide for change and will make a lasting difference for the people of the city of cleveland. Amy a federal Appeals Court has refused to restore president obamas executive actions protecting millions of undocumented immigrants in deportation. A rightwing judge blocked obamas deportation reprieve earlier this year after a motion filed by texas and 25 other states. The federal government had asked for the injunction to be lifted while the original ruling is appealed, but a divided 21 panel of the fifth Circuit Court of appeals rejected that bid. Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts has vetoed a landmark measure that calls for abolishing the states Death Penalty. Nebraska lawmakers passed the bill last week and appear to have enough votes to override ricketts veto. If the override prevails, nebraska would be the first conservative state to ban the Death Penalty in more than four decades. Recordsetting floods continue to inundate texas and oklahoma, leaving 17 people dead. Houston was brought to a near standstill tuesday as surging floodwaters stranded motorists across houston. The houston mayor urged residents to stay in their homes. We all have to remember that were the point of a really big funnel that kind of extends up into Central Texas and a lot of water that flows upstream flows through houston. Its still a dangerous situation along the bios. Theyre full of water. The water is moving very very rapidly, and a lot of folks want to come down and look. A lot of kids particularly want to come and toss something in the bio. See what they can see. Its exciting. Still a very dangerous place to be. So i would urge caution. If you can stay home, please stay home today. Amy the death toll from a scorching heat wave in india has topped 1,100. Temperatures have reached as high as 50 degrees celsius, or 122 degrees fahrenheit. An american journalist is on trial in iran nearly one year after he was detained. Jason rezaian the washington posts bureau chief in tehran is accused of espionage and passing information to hostile governments. He phase up to 20 years behind bars. In washington, state Department Spokesperson jeff rathke called for rezaians release. We continue to monitor this as closely as possible, and we continue to call for all of the absurd charges to be dropped and for Jason Rezaian to be released immediately. We always raise the cases of detained and missing u. S. Citizens with iranian officials on the sidelines of the p5 plus one talks and the other interactions that happened in that context and we will continue to do that until all of them are home. Amy israel has carried out bombings on the gaza strip after a rocket landed in the israeli city of ashdod. Palestinian militants say the rocket crossed into israel by mistake as they fired test rockets into the sea. Its at least the fourth time palestinians have launched rockets and israelis conducted air strikes since the ceasefire ending last summers 50day israeli assault. But Israeli Forces have also fired into gaza more than 400 times, including on farmers and fishermen. A new report, meanwhile, from dozens of aid agencies is calling for pressure on israel to lift the blockade and allow gazas reconstruction. The groups including oxfam and save the children endorse measures such as suspending arms transfers that could be used to violate international law. Amnesty International Says hamas used last summers israeli assault to kill 23 palestinians and torture dozens of others accused of collaborating with israel. In a new report, amnesty alleges hamas gave its Security Forces free rein to carry out horrific abuses. Hamas has denied responsibility for the killing of alleged collaborators and has blamed israel for sowing chaos with attacks on the gaza security apparatus. Independent senator Bernie Sanders has formally kicked off his campaign for the democratic president ial nomination. Addressing a rally in his home state of vermont, sanders vowed to tackle income inequality and the political power of the one percent. I am proud to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of america. Today, with your support and the support of millions of people throughout our country we begin a Political Revolution to transform our country economically politically socially, and environmentally. Today we stand here and say loudly and clearly enough is enough, this great nation and its government belong to all of the people and not to a handful of billionaires. Amy vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders is the only challenger to democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton so far, but former Maryland GovernorMartin Omalley could declare later this week. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to a democracy now exclusive with wicks i leaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent nearly three years inside Ecuadors Embassy in london where he has political asylum. Assange faces investigations both in swede and not United States. Here in the u. S. A secret grand jury is investigating wikileaks for its role in publishing a trove of leaked documents in the iraq and afghanistan wars, as well as state Department Cables. In sweden, hes wanted for questioning on allegations of sexual misconduct, though no charges have been filed. Earlier this month Swedens Supreme Court rejected his appeal to lift his arrest warrant. Swedish prirs are reportedly preparing to travel to london to interview assange after refusing to do so for years. While assange has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian Embassy wikileaks has continued to publish documents from the leaked draft of the t. P. P. , the Transpacific Partnership to the recent disclosures of the British Nuclear submariner whistle blower William Mcneilly, to secret details of a European Union plan to use military force to curb the influx of migrants from libya. I spoke to Julian Assange about these issues and more when i sat down with him inside the embassy on monday. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Were broadcasting inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in london. Thats right. Here is where Julian Assange has been holed up, granted political asylum by ecuador, holed up here for almost three years. June 19 will mark the date that he came to this embassy in 2012. Welcome to democracy now , julian. It has been three years since you came here. How are you doing . Julian im not doing too badly, given the situation. And i think thats really because i have something significant to focus on other than just my personal circumstance. Its the same for all people who are in a situation of detainment. Its been almost five years now im detained in one form or another without charge here in the United Kingdom. Within the United Kingdom im an australian. Its quite difficult for my family but for me, wikileaks worked and the verse cases that we have, defensive and offensive, is enough to keep my mind out of the situation that im in. Thats very important. Amy which brings us to Edward Snowden, a man who you helped to secure his freedom, at least for now, though hes not in the United States as he would like to be. He has political asylum in russia. And what the revelations have led to well so many things all over the world, but in the United States, congressional action just in the last week, the challenges to the u. S. A. Patriot act. Can you talk about whats taken place . This is an absolutely critical week. June 1, the u. S. A. Patriot act sections of it sunset unless they are continued. The administration has not appealed applied for an automatic extension. And a number of senators, republican and democrat, have now bucked the corporate republicandemocratic establishment and said they dont want the overall surveillance of americans. Explain more specifically whats taken place. Julian the snowden revelations documented various forms of National Security agency spying and secret interpretations. Its been constructed by the Justice Department and fisa courts. Now, some of those hinged on section 215 of the u. S. Patriot act, a secret interpretation that has been found just this month to be unlawful in the u. S. Federal court of appeals. Now that has dove tailed with the electrical process in the United States, and so theres now increasing push to be increasing push for popularism. Rand paul and ron widen have tapped into that. The u. S. Patriot act has been on rolling sunset quotas since 2001. The sunset clause is june 1 and so ron widen and rand paul engage in a filibuster pushing the passage of the renewal of the patriot act off to a week where congress is scheduled to be away, all the way leading up to june 1. So unless theres an emergency recall of enough of the congress, the sunset clause will hit, and that means there will have to be a new patriot act reintroduced. We have to be resuscitated, as opposed to having a roll over, and thats more involved process. However, sources say that the n. S. S. Is not too concerned that it has secret interpretations of other authorities that give it much the same power that it would have had under the secret interpretation and other areas of the u. S. Patriot act. What Edward Snowden revealed about the secret interpretation of section 215 on the patriot act was the National Security agency was using it to bulk collect the calling records every day of essentially every american in the United States. The majority of the big companies. However, thats only a very small part of the National Security agencys mass interpretation system. On one hand, it can suck information out of the and on the other hand, even more data is collected as a result of information flowing across the border of the United States or across borders of the United Kingdom, within a sharing agreement of the National Security agency. But it is a type of at least political victory, showing that you can rand paul believes that you can garnish a type of political power by having a filibuster on this issue. I think thats quite an important thing leading up to the 2016 president ial election. Its safe now to have this as part of the political debate. Amy the administration has said, well, well put the information in the control of the telecoms, the telephone companies, but thats also something that rand paul has challenged. Why should the Telecommunications Companies why should private enterprise have this Information Holding it to be sought by the government . Julian thats right. The alternative proposal, which is something that was in the u. S. A. Freedom act, which is pretty misnamed. It is a sort of mild version of the u. S. A. Patriot act in some ways. Instead it relies on at t, other big telcos withholding information, ready for the National Security agency. You know, it doesnt make much of a difference if thats an automated system. 80 of the National Security agency is outsourced anyway in terms of the management, in this case, if it has automatic connections to at t and verizon, theres no difference in terms of its searching ability. Now, in terms of whether theres warrants that are used for searches it is perhaps an aid, because the companies could be made legally liable. To congress for not insisting on taxes for that informatio