Critical Hour Discussion of DOJ Acting as Trump's Personal Lawyer (9/9/2020)

 Assange Extradition Hearing Seems to Focus on His Political Motivations, Not Legality of His Actions

According to a Wednesday report from Consortium News, "defense witness Prof. Paul Rogers, political scientist at Bradford University, established that Assange is motivated by a political viewpoint that places him as a political opponent of his accusers. On cross examination, the prosecutor, James Lewis QC, hammered Rogers to try to get him to admit he has no basis to testify that the prosecution of Julian Assange is politically motivated. Lewis tried to destroy the witness’ credibility as an expert by saying he did not include a statement by the US prosecutor saying that the charges against Assange are motivated by criminal justice, and not politics." What is going on here?

"Coronavirus deaths in the United States topped 190,000 Wednesday along with a spike in new cases in the US Midwest with states like Iowa and South Dakota emerging as the new hotspots in the past few weeks," Reuters reported Wednesday. What are the ramifications?

"The writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Donald J. Trump of raping her in the 1990s and is suing him for defamation, asked on Thursday that he provide a DNA sample to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she says she had on at the time of the incident," the New York Times reported in January. In August, the Washington Post reported, "Verna L. Saunders, a New York Supreme Court Justice, wrote that the lawsuit filed by journalist E. Jean Carroll could move forward and need not wait for an appeals court decision in a similar suit brought by former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos, who also alleges Trump sexually assaulted her." Finally, the Post reported on Tuesday, "The Justice Department on Tuesday intervened in the defamation lawsuit" brought by Carroll, "moving the matter to federal court and signaling it wants to make the US government — rather than Trump himself — the defendant in the case." How does this happen?

"Upon returning from summer recess on Tuesday, Senate Republicans introduced a 78-page piece of legislation that party leaders have called a 'skinny' coronavirus relief plan," Common Dreams reported Tuesday. Is it skinny or emaciated?

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her economy minister on Tuesday played down the possibility of halting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany as part of any sanctions imposed on Moscow due to the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny," Reuters reported Tuesday. Are there some very fine lines being walked here?

"Analysts with TankerTrackers.com have tentatively identified a new round of Iranian gasoline shipments to Venezuela," the Maritime Executive reported Monday. "According to the firm, the product tankers Forest, Faxon and Fortune appear to have taken on about 825,000 barrels of gasoline at Port Shahid Rajaee, then turned off their AIS transponders. None have broadcast an AIS position since the end of August, according to consultancy Dryad Global." Are Iran and Venezuela thumbing their noses at US sanctions?

"Shares of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s biggest contract chipmaker, plunged over 23% on Monday, after the US government said it was considering putting export restrictions on the company," CNBC reported Monday.

"Over 100 organizations that work on issues related to Latin America and the Caribbean sent a letter calling for the next administration to adopt a new Good Neighbor Policy toward the region based on non-intervention, cooperation and mutual respect," MintPress News reported Tuesday. Will this letter have any influence?

Guests:
Steve Poikonen - National organizer for Action4Assange
Dr. Jehan "Gigi" El-Bayoumi - Professor of medicine and founding director of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences' Rodman Institute
Jim Kavanagh - Writer at The Polemicist and CounterPunch and the author of the article "Over the Rainbow: Paths of Resistance After George Floyd"
Dr. Colin Campbell - Washington, DC, senior news correspondent
Daniel Lazare - Investigative journalist and author of "The Velvet Coup"
Scott Ritter - Former UN weapons inspector in Iraq
Caleb Maupin - Journalist and political analyst
Medea Benjamin - Co-founder of Code Pink

My segment starts ~29:15
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The Critical Hour is a daily news analysis and talk radio program on Radio Sputnik hosted by Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon.