Democracy Now!

We speak with Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, about the Trump administration’s tightening restrictions on the country. Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has reinstated Cuba’s designation as a so-called state sponsor of terrorism, recommitted to upholding the decadeslong economic embargo and targeted Cuban immigrants for deportation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now going after Cuba’s medical program that sends Cuban doctors and healthcare workers to assist other countries. The island nation was also among the cou

Federal and state officials in Minnesota have announced murder and stalking charges against Vance Boelter, the man accused of assassinating Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in their home, as well as for shooting state Senator John Hoffman and his wife. Authorities say Boelter visited the homes of two other lawmakers on the night of the killings and had a hit list that included Planned Parenthood centers and the names of more Democratic politicians. One of the names on that list was Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who joins Democracy Now! to discuss how the sh

Israel is intensifying its war on Iran, bombing the headquarters of the country’s national TV network on Monday and assassinating another top military leader. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also suggested killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran has responded with barrages of long-range missiles targeting Israel. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has shown little interest in containing Israel’s assault, posting on social media that “everyone should immediately evacuate” the capital Tehran. “How can a city, a metropolis of 10 million people, suddenly evacu

Israel Bombs Iranian State TV Headquarters, Killing 3 in Latest Attack on Press, Tehran Faces Ongoing Attacks as Netanyahu Refuses to Rule Out Assassinating Supreme Leader, Trump Leaves G7 Early, Says He Is Not Seeking Ceasefire in Iran, Israeli Tank Fire Kills Dozens of Palestinian Aid Seekers in Latest Gaza Massacre, European Parliamentarian Rima Hassan Speaks Out After Being Abducted by Israel Aboard Aid Boat, Russian Missile & Drone Attack on Kyiv Kills 14, Injures 100+, Murder & Stalking Charges Filed Against Suspect in Minnesota Lawmaker Assassinations, ICE to Resume Raids on Farms, Hote

After the biggest manhunt in Minnesota history, authorities have detained 57-year-old Vance Boelter, who is accused of fatally shooting Democratic lawmaker and former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in their Minnesota home early on Saturday in what authorities say were politically motivated assassinations. He is also accused of wounding state Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette at their home in a separate shooting. “Melissa Hortman was an outstanding leader that was very loved and respected by many people, and what this means for us is that we lost a leader that was ver

More than 5 million people joined No Kings Day protests Saturday in the largest day of action against President Trump since his return to office. Protests were held in over 2,100 cities and towns across the country. The protests coincided with a poorly attended, multimillion-dollar military parade on President Trump’s birthday, June 14. Democracy Now! spoke with anti-Trump protesters at the Washington, D.C., military parade and at New York City’s No Kings protest.

Fighting between Israel and Iran has entered a fourth day, after Israel launched a sweeping, unprovoked attack. Iran’s Health Ministry reports a total of 224 people have been killed, with 1,277 people hospitalized, by Israeli attacks. Iran has responded by launching a wave of missile attacks on Tel Aviv, Haifa and other Israeli cities, killing at least 24 people and injuring more than 500. We speak with Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, who says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “basically bombed away President Trump’s only possibility for a diplomatic

Tehran Accuses U.S. and Israel of Coordinated Attack as Conflict Between Israel and Iran Continues, Suspect Detained in Assassination of Minnesota Dem. Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband, No Kings Day Protests Draw Over 5 Million Across the U.S., Salt Lake City Fashion Designer Shot Dead at No Kings Protest, Trump’s $45 Million Birthday & Military Parade Draws Small Crowd Amid Massive Nationwide Protests, Israel Has Killed Over 300 Palestinians Seeking Aid in Gaza, Egypt Arrests, Deports and Attacks Global March for Gaza Convoy, U.S. Judge Keeps Mahmoud Khalil Behind Bars over Trump “Immigra

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered the termination of all remaining overseas employees of USAID to complete the dismantling of the six-decade-old agency. USAID was an early target of Elon Musk and DOGE. We look at the dismantling of USAID and what it means for people around the world to lose this lifeline, as detailed in a new Amnesty International report. “We talked to somebody who actually saw IVs being ripped out of arms when the stop-work order came down,” says Amnesty’s Amanda Klasing, who describes the consequences of the U.S.'s retraction of critical aid to countries in the Glob

Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota joins Democracy Now! to discuss the increasing authoritarianism of the Trump administration, including its crackdown on anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles, targeting of pro-Palestine students on college campuses and plans for a massive military parade coinciding with Trump’s birthday on June 14. “We are in the midst of the creation of a police state,” says Omar. “It will be a dark day if we do not stand up for ourselves, for our Constitution and for our republic.”

Israel has launched a large-scale military attack on Iran, killing top military officials, nuclear scientists and civilians in the deadliest attack on the country in decades. Iran has launched drones at Israel in response. The unprovoked attack, which Israel described as a “preemptive strike,” comes just days before scheduled nuclear talks between Iran and the United States. Iranian-born analyst Trita Parsi says the Trump administration appears to have been coordinating with Israel for “negotiating leverage” in an attempt to force Iran to “capitulate” on nuc

Israel Launches Major Unprovoked Attack on Iran, Stoking Fears of All-Out War, UNGA Adopts Gaza Ceasefire Resolution; Internet Blackout Adds to Misery in Gaza, “The World Must Rise”: Freedom Flotilla Activist Implores Int’l Community to Help Stop Gaza Genocide, Appeals Court Keeps Nat’l Guard Under Trump’s Control in L.A. Amid Ongoing ICE Raids and Protests, “We Will Kill You”: Florida Sheriff Threatens Protesters Ahead of Nationwide Anti-Trump Demos, Federal Agents Handcuff, Forcibly Remove CA Sen. Alex Padilla from Kristi Noem Presser, DHS Orders 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Ven

We go to Los Angeles, where immigrant workers and families are feeling the impact of ICE raids on worksites like Home Depot. While hundreds have been detained, countless others are left to wonder whether they can safely go to work or school, fearing for their families. “The life of an immigrant in Los Angeles and across this country … is full of uncertainties,” says Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “Families don’t know whether they’re going to see their parents when they leave in the morning to go to work.”

As immigrant rights protests spread to Chicago, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez, who is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants and married to a DACA recipient and recently called on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign. She responds to President Trump’s threat to deploy troops in more major cities to quell protests. “What you are seeing is the beginning of fascism,” says Ramirez, who represents parts of Chicago. “For fascists, they select a public enemy. And today, it’s an immigrant. … Tomorrow, it’s anyone they find undesirable.”

Nearly two dozen congressmembers are backing legislation, the Block the Bombs Act, that would withhold offensive weapons from Israel that violate international law and humanitarian norms. “What Bibi Netanyahu wants is to continue to escalate this ground invasion and starvation of Palestinians, to absolutely take over Gaza and destroy Palestinian life,” says Congressmember Delia Ramirez, one of the co-sponsors.

Activists from around the world are arriving in Egypt ahead of the Global March to Gaza, set to launch June 15, when thousands plan to march to the Rafah border to call for an end to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians and its blockade of the territory. Dozens who flew to Cairo for the march have reportedly been detained, interrogated and deported by Egyptian security forces, but organizers say the event will proceed as planned. Former U.S. diplomat Hala Rharrit, who is taking part in the march, spoke with Democracy Now! earlier this week and said she could not turn a “blind eye” to the suf

Air India Aircraft Carrying at Least 242 People Crashes, U.S. Pulls Iraq Embassy Personnel Amid Mounting Fears of Israeli Attack on Iran, More Gazans Seeking Aid Amid the 120 Palestinians Killed by Israel Over Past Day, 11-Year-Old Adam al-Najjar Evacuated to Italy for Treatment After Israel Killed Father and 9 Siblings, Israeli Forces Continue Raids on Occupied West Bank, Killing 3 Palestinians Over Past 2 Days, California Seeks to Limit Marine and Nat’l Guard Authority in L.A. Amid Ongoing ICE Protests and Raids, Anguished Families Have Not Heard from Loved Ones Since Abductions by ICE, Pros

Israel continues to detain eight individuals who were captured Monday when Israeli Navy commandos intercepted a Gaza-bound boat carrying humanitarian aid. Four other passengers on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla have been deported, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. We get an update from Sergio Toribio, one of the 12 on board the Madleen, who has just been deported back to his home country of Spain. He describes how Israeli commandos boarded the ship in international waters and held them on the boat for over 24 hours while towing them to Israel. “They kidnapped us,” he says.

Condemnation is growing of President Trump’s travel ban that went into effect Monday, banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and the Republic of Congo. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. President Trump is “destroying what this nation stands for,” says Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition. “Immigration in the U.S. is an American value.” Guerline Jozef,

A nationwide “No Kings” movement plans to hold over 1,800 anti-Trump rallies across the United States on June 14, the same day as President Trump’s military parade in Washington, D.C., as he celebrates his 79th birthday. Organizers are protesting President Trump’s mass deportations, militarized crackdown against protesters, defiance of court orders, and attacks on civil rights. “We’re going to show him on June 14 that real power lies in the people,” says Leah Greenberg⁠, co-founder and co-executive director of ⁠Indivisible. Tanks and other armored vehicles a

Newsom Slams Trump for Sending Troops to L.A.: “Democracy Is Under Assault Before Our Eyes”, Trump Claims Anti-ICE Protests in L.A. Are Part of “Foreign Invasion”, Curfew Enacted in Downtown L.A. as Protests Continue, Pentagon: Troop Deployment to L.A. Will Cost $134 Million, Texas Gov. Abbott Deploys National Guard as Anti-ICE Protests Grow, As Tanks Arrive in D.C., Trump Says “Very Heavy Force” Will Be Used on Protesters at Military Parade, 31 More Palestinians Killed Near Aid Distribution Site in Gaza, U.K. & Allies Impose Sanctions on Israeli Officials Smotrich & Ben-Gvir for Inciting Viol

Activists from around the world are planning a Global March to Gaza on June 15 in support of Palestinians enduring the Israeli blockade. The first Biden State Department diplomat to publicly resign over Gaza policy, Hala Rharrit, plans to attend the march along with thousands of others who will walk from Cairo to the Rafah border. “Silence does not ensure that we will be OK,” says Rharrit. “It’s quite the opposite. Silence ensures the injustice spreads.” Rharrit had served as the Arabic-language spokesperson for the State Department. She joins us from Dubai as she

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who was wrongfully sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March, is now in federal custody in Tennessee after being returned to the United States over the weekend. He now faces federal criminal charges that he was illegally transporting undocumented immigrants within the U.S. “He’s still far away from what we want, which is for him to be freed and returned to his family,” says Chris Newman, a lawyer for Abrego Garcia’s family and legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Newman draws connections between the L.A. anti-I

The Trump administration is sending 700 Marines and an additional 2,000 members of the National Guard into Los Angeles following four days of protests against militarized immigration raids. Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, sued to block the use of National Guard troops on Monday. “Unfortunately, I think [Trump] wants conflict,” said Bonta. “He wants something to erupt so that that provides the basis for him to try to grasp and seize additional power.” Bonta’s office is pursuing more than two dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration.

President Trump has inflamed tensions over immigration raids in Los Angeles, which his top adviser Stephen Miller described as an insurrection. “They want protesters to react violently to distract from what is really happening, which is that families are being separated, our communities are being devastated, and the people of Los Angeles are standing up to say, 'We will not stand for this,'” says Jean Guerrero, New York Times contributing opinion writer and author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. Meanwhile, she notes Trump’s budget bill would fund

Trump Sends U.S. Marines into L.A., Doubles National Guard Presence Amid Anti-ICE Protests, Union Leader David Huerta Charged and Released on Bond After ICE Arrest, Australia Condemns LAPD Shooting of Reporter, One of Many Attacks on Reporters Covering L.A. Protests, Democratic Reps. Barred from Visiting ICE Detention Facilities, Israeli Attacks Kill 60+ People in Gaza, Including More Palestinians Awaiting Aid, Israeli Attack Kills 3 Paramedics, Another Journalist During Gaza Rescue Operation, Israel Launches Strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah, Israel Deports 4 Freedom Flotilla Activists; Another 8 R

Eleven peace activists and one journalist on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship, the Madleen, were detained by Israeli soldiers as their ship carrying vital humanitarian aid for starving Palestinians approached Gaza. The ship was intercepted by Israeli forces in the middle of the night in international waters. Its supplies were seized and communications jammed. The unarmed activists will likely be transported to Israeli detention or “immediately deported,” says Ann Wright, a U.S. military veteran who has participated in four Freedom Flotilla journeys and now serves on the steering committee

As protests against ICE raids spread across the city, President Trump has deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles, the first time in decades that a president has deployed the National Guard without a governor’s request. Trump’s border “czar” Tom Homan threatened to arrest California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, while Newsom says he plans to sue. “This is absolutely unprecedented. It’s extremely dangerous,” says legal expert Elizabeth Goitein. “It’s going to escalate tensions rather than deescalating them.”

In Los Angeles, mass street protests have broken out in response to immigration raids. Local police and Border Patrol are cracking down on protesters, while the Trump administration has called in the California National Guard. “They shot thousands of rounds of tear gas, flashbang grenades, all kinds of repressive instruments,” says Ron Gochez, community organizer with Unión del Barrio who helped organize some of the protests. He notes many of the protests have also been successful at turning back immigration agents, preventing ICE arrests and detention. “If we organize ourselves, if we resist,

Trump Deploys National Guard to L.A. as Protests Continue over Militarized ICE Raids, Officers in L.A. Fire Rubber Bullets, Flashbang Grenades & Tear Gas at ICE Protesters & Journalists, Federal Agents Detain SEIU Labor Leader David Huerta in Los Angeles, Israel Intercepts Gaza-Bound Flotilla Carrying Greta Thunberg & Other Activists, More Palestinians Fatally Shot Attempting to Get Aid in Gaza, Russia Escalates Attacks on Ukraine After Trump Likened War to Playground Fight, New Trump Travel Ban Goes into Effect, Bars Citizens from 12 Nations, Kilmar Abrego Garcia Back Brought Back to U.S. to

We speak with Dr. Rupa Marya, a physician, activist, author and composer, who this week filed two free speech complaints against her former employer, the University of California, San Francisco. The school fired her last month after a lengthy suspension over her criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza and its impact on healthcare in the Palestinian territory. “I didn’t expect that my career-ending move would be to say 'stop bombing hospitals,' for expressing support for Palestinian liberation and for criticizing the U.S.-backed genocide,” says Marya. She was named one of the top 20 most influential

We get an update from the Madleen, the Freedom Flotilla ship sailing to Gaza with vital humanitarian aid for Palestinians. Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of 12 people on the ship, says “spirits are high” despite the constant presence of drones overhead and threats from the Israeli government. “Palestine is now the strategic place for all peoples to unite and fight against oppression, exploitation and the destruction of nature,” says Ávila. “People’s power is the ultimate power, and love and solidarity can beat any hateful, racist and supremacist ideology, like Zionism.” Earlier this week

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has filed a federal lawsuit, after he was arrested by masked federal agents outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail in Newark. “They arrested me without any evidence,” says Baraka of his decision to sue. “They humiliated me. They cuffed me. They dragged me in the car, took me to the cell. … It was completely unwarranted.” President Trump’s Justice Department is also suing Newark over its sanctuary policies, along with three other New Jersey cities, including Jersey City, where the mayor, Steve Fulop, is running for governor. Bar

President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” now before the Senate could result in over 51,000 preventable deaths each year in the United States. That’s according to public health experts at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, who sent a letter warning about the bill’s impact to the Senate Finance Committee. An estimated 16 million people stand to lose their health coverage as a result of the changes in the bill, which “imposes onerous paperwork and fails to safeguard healthcare tax credits,” says Alison Galvani, director of the Center for Infec

Is the Donald Trump-Elon Musk bromance finally over? President Trump is threatening to cut off billions of dollars in federal contracts with Musk after the two billionaires engaged in a dramatic online feud just days after Musk called Trump’s budget bill a “disgusting abomination.” Musk appeared to back the impeachment of Trump and claimed the president is named in the Jeffrey Epstein files. “They are people who always have their eye on the bottom line, but they also are, obviously, titanically sized egos,” says author Quinn Slobodian, professor of international h

Trump and Musk Trade Threats and Insults as Deepening Rift Threatens Trump’s Signature Bill, Netanyahu Acknowledges Israel Armed Gangs Accused of Looting Humanitarian Aid , Israel Attacks Beirut’s Suburbs and Southern Lebanon in Latest Ceasefire Violation, French Stevedores Refuse to Move Military Cargo Bound for Israel, House Progressives’ “Block the Bombs Act” Would End Transfer of Offensive Arms to Israel, State Department Sanctions ICC Judges over War Crimes Investigations, Trump Withdraws Nomination of Elon Musk Ally to Lead NASA, Trump Administration Waives Environmental Laws to Speed Bo

We’re joined by award-winning investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr, who in 2018 exposed the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal and is now taking on what she terms the “broligarchy,” the billionaire Silicon Valley businessmen who now wield major influence in U.S. government and society. “This is a new type of power, and the world hasn’t seen this before, in which you have state power now with this enormous surveillance engine machine,” says Cadwalladr. She warns that the increasing authoritarianism of the Trump administration is being facilitated

We speak to political scientist Neve Gordon and medical anthropologist Guy Shalev about their new article, “The Shame of Israeli Medicine,” which looks at the “complicity of the Israeli medical establishment with Israel’s egregious violations of international law.” The article’s third author, Osama Tanous, is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and has not been able to make media appearances for fear of reprisal by the Israeli government. “The Israeli medical establishment in general identifies with Israel’s colonial project and puts the colonial pro

A group of veterans and their allies have entered their third week of a “Fast for Gaza” outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City. The group is calling for an end to arms sales to Israel and of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. We hear from multiple hunger strikers on their decisions to join the planned 40-day action and why they are pressuring the U.N. in particular. “We wake up each morning, and we don’t worry about whether or not our children have been buried under rubble overnight. We’re not drinking poisoned water. We’re not surr

We get an update on the case of former Columbia University student protest negotiator Mahmoud Khalil from Baher Azmy, a member of Khalil’s legal team at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Khalil has been detained in Louisiana for nearly three months, in what Azmy calls one of “our immigration gulags.” Khalil’s legal team is now challenging the State Department’s determination that his presence in the United States harms the country’s foreign policy interests.

President Trump has signed a new travel ban barring citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States. The ban applies to Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and the Republic of Congo. The Trump administration is calling some of the countries “terrorist safe havens” and citing high visa overstay rates for others. Compared to the first Trump administration’s sweeping travel bans, which targeted travelers from Muslim-majority countries, this latest iteration is more likely to withstand legal challenges, says Bah

Trump Signs Travel Ban Targeting Citizens of 12 Countries , United States Vetoes Another U.N. Security Council Resolution Calling for Gaza Ceasefire, Israel Attacks Al-Ahli Hospital, Killing at Least 3 Journalists, Protesters Demand U.S. and U.K. Lawmakers Act to Stop Genocide in Gaza, Deadly Russian Attacks on Ukraine Follow Putin’s Threat of Retaliation over Drone Strikes, Iran’s Supreme Leader Rejects Trump Administration Demand to End Uranium Enrichment, Human Rights Watch Says U.S. Committed Apparent War Crime in Yemen Port Attack, Trump Targets Columbia’s Accreditation and Harvard’s Inte