WEBVTT - S12, Ep2: The Trial Begins 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:11.120 And it's freaking early. It's six thirty eight. I wanted 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:15.640 to leave at six thirty, but that's fine, and I 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:20.479 am headed to the Martin County Courthouse. It's day one 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:24.360 of the Energy Transfer versus Greenpeace trial in Mandan, North Dakota. 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:27.640 The courthouse won't open until seven thirty, but I heard 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:29.800 there was very limited seating in the courtroom, and I 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:31.600 want to be sure to get in, even if it 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.720 means waiting outside the door until it opens. Last week 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:39.840 it was thirty below. Luckily, right now it's about thirty 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:45.080 six degrees, so if I'm standing around outside, I will survive. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.800 It's important that I'm there to listen because no one's 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.960 going to get to record anything inside the trial. You know, 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.240 we had some pretty unfavorable rulings from the judge about 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:02.280 press access. I'm pretty irritated that I'm not going to 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.720 be able to bring anything except a pen and paper 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:11.600 in there. The judge is worried about witness contamination and 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:19.600 jury contamination, so he ruled that. So he ruled that 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:26.199 we can't even record on our cell phones for note 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:31.240 taking purposes. Drilled In several other media organizations filed a 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:33.960 request for a live stream of the trial. When the 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.600 judge said no, we asked to just be able to 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:38.880 record so we could get the quotes right. That was 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.160 a node too. Now we're waiting on the North Dakota 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.120 Supreme Court to respond to our appeal, but I'm not 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.800 feeling optimistic. I pull up to the courthouse. The parking 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.279 spots in front of the brick building are empty. Okay, 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:53.560 the sheriff's the only one here. 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:54.400 Me and the sheriff. 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.280 I parked the car and head in, leaving my recorder behind. 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:03.800 I did not need to get here this early, but 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.480 it gives me time to take in the scene. The 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.280 courtroom is humble. It could be an office space if 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.080 it wasn't for all the wood furniture. I sit on 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.680 a light colored wood bench that looks like a church pew. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.560 In front of me, dark wood paneling frames the judges bench, 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.080 and the door to his chambers. Everything is laid out 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.799 exactly like you'd expect, with a jury box to the 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.680 judges left. A law enforcement officer wearing a tactical vest 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.880 observes from a corner of the room. Other observers sit 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.640 down around me. They're mostly green peace people. The judge 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.040 enters from behind the stand and we all stand up. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.800 Judge James Gien is around seventy, with white hair and 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.520 a white beard and tired lines down his face. When 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:49.400 I look him up later, I'll learn that in his 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.839 spare time he plays guitar and harmonica. Used to play 0:02:52.840 --> 0:03:01.480 in a country band called Dakota Gold. Welcome the potential jurors. 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.440 Around thirty file into the room, filling the reserved audience piece. 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.480 They're every day mid Westerners, dressed casually. Almost all of 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:17.880 them are life. Judge Gean greets the jurors with a 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.360 notable North Dakota accent. I want to congratulate you on 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.200 being chosen for jury duty because it is one of 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:32.280 the highest obligations and privileges of our democratic system. Only 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.960 eleven people will actually sit on the jury for this trial. 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:37.960 The lawyers for Energy Transfer in green Peace will spend 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.120 the next two days selecting them. Greenpeace has been trying 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.160 for years now to move this trial to a different county. 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.840 They say that Morton County residents are so biased against 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.480 the anti pipeline protesters that there's no way Greenpeace could 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.280 get a fair trial. Every judge in this district recused 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.920 themselves from the case because of conflicts. The court had 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.120 to pull judge Gean from rural western North Dakota for this, 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.360 but Green Piece is stuck with Morton County jurors. I'm 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.680 not even sure there will be any jurors left. After 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:13.200 Greenpeace weeds out the biased ones. The curtain is raised 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.120 and the trial is set to begin. It's scheduled to 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.479 last five weeks, but the next two days of jury 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:24.400 selection will be what decides Greenpiece's fate. In fact, maybe 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:28.320 it's already decided. This season of Drilled, we bring you 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:32.039 Slapped the story of an indigenous nation fighting for its water, 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:37.320 an environmental nonprofit facing extinction, and an energy giant using 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:56.880 the courts to punish protesters. I'm Ellen Brown. Jury selection begins. 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.360 Energy Transfers lawyer Trey Cox stands behind a little podium 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.720 facing the potential jurors. He's blonde and looks like a 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.159 high school football coach. He's got an intense energy, like 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.680 he's about to unleash something. Neither side is using their 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.880 staff attorneys for this case. An Energy transfer has hired 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.599 a real doozy of a law firm. Trey and most 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.880 of the other lawyers for the company come from Gibson, 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.839 Dunn and Crutcher. Maybe you don't know their name, but 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:26.320 you know their work. The firm argued the landmark Supreme 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.320 Court case Citizens United. That's the one that used the 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:32.880 First Amendment to get rid of limits on certain types 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:38.640 of political donations. Trey introduces himself with the subtle Southern accent. 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.080 He weaves in personal details I guess to sound relatable. 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.960 I'm originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, he says. I ended up 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:53.240 following not a girl, but the girl to Dallas, Texas. 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:55.880 When I look it up later, I'll see that Trey 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.120 is married to Aaron neely Cox, a former US prosecutor 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:04.400 appointed by Donald Trump. Trey begins asking the potential jurors questions. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.480 Is there anyone uncomfortable or feel like they will struggle 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.400 to award a pipeline company like my client something in 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.800 the neighborhood of three hundred million dollars if the evidence 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:20.039 and law supported it. No one raises their hand. Greenpeace's lawyer, 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:24.159 Everett Jack takes his turn. He wears a tomato red 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.920 striped tie and parts his hair to the side. He's 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.400 lanky and his face looks a little warm. He tells 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.720 the potential jurors that his hometown is Portland, Oregon, and 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.440 that he's married with two daughters and three grandkids. Feel 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.280 like Everett Jack could be cast in the role of 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.560 Atticus Finch, the lawyer in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.279 In real life, he's married to Fay Resnik, a recurring 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.279 guest star on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Chris Jenner, 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:55.680 the matriarch of the Kardashian family, officiated their wedding. As 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.359 Everett begins to question the group of jurors, a pattern 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:02.600 emerges Dure after jur says that hearing about the standing 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.920 Route protests reminds them of what they call the disruption 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.280 in our community. One woman puts it plainly, I think 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.560 you'll have a tough time finding people completely unbiased on 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:18.120 that because it affected everyone. Everett Jack follows up, how 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.760 many of you feel the same way? All but a 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.880 handful of people raise their hands. Everett asks another question, 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.000 is there anybody that hurt a rumor that there were 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:31.760 paid protesters out at the protest site? Nearly all the 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.120 hands in the room go up. My mind wanders back 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.520 to those internal documents that had been leaked to me 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.000 years back by someone who worked with Energy Transfer's private 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:45.000 security contractor, Tiger Swan, back when I'd been interested in 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.360 what kind of spying Tiger Swan was doing for the 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:51.760 oil company. But going through the documents, I realized that 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.800 they were doing more than just surveillance. The files referenced 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.760 a social media campaign carried out by a guy named 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:00.720 Rob Rice. Here's Rob. 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.520 There's a new trend among anti pipeline protesters online. It's PayPal. 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.760 Last year Standing Rock, we saw one of twenty million 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.880 dollars raised by protesters who set up thousands of gofund 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:12.560 me accounts. 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.280 Tigerswan was paying Rob Rice to develop Facebook pages aimed 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.360 at local community members, like the ones in the jury pool. Now, 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.840 Rob posted videos where he posed as a news anchor 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.200 reporting on the protesters. He said that they were paid 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:30.040 outside agitators. He also said that they were working to 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.000 hide how they raised money. Ironically, Rob failed to share 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.800 in these videos that he himself was being paid by 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:37.600 Tiger Swan. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.480 Now, paid protesters are switching their tactics. They're beginning to 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.439 use PayPal as their main method of raising money. Why 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.120 because you can't tell how much they've raised or what 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:47.880 they're using it for. 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.439 The paid protester will come up again and again as 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.640 the boogeyman of this trial. It's an old trope that 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.560 says that protests do not come from local communities with 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:02.720 serious grievances. Instead, they're driven by professional outsiders and people 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.480 making money off of disruption. Back in nineteen fourteen, the 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:09.640 Rockefellers and Standard Oil used this claim against a coal 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.240 miner strike. In recent years, the idea of the professional 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.199 protester has popped up more and more as mass protest 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.600 movements have grabbed headlines. And it turns out Energy Transfer 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:22.760 started pushing that narrative in Morton County nearly a decade ago. 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.160 Neither Rob Rice nor Tiger Swan responded to my requests 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.480 for comment, and I found no evidence that Tiger Swan 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.120 was specifically trying to influence a jury pool back then. 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.880 But what I do know is that Energy Transfer continued 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:45.520 to aim messaging at the local community. Before I flew 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.200 into town, I was looking through a website energy Transfer 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.640 had recently launched, called Taking Back the Truth. It's dedicated 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.600 to quote setting the record straight, not only on oil 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.240 and gas, the lifeblood of our modern society, but our 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.920 projects and our company. The pipeline company had also posted 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.200 photos on Twitter of North Dakodin's holding giant checks the 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:13.319 company donated to community groups. Even more bizarrely, last fall, 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.520 these weird newspapers started appearing at the doors of Warren 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:21.880 County residents. Sandwiched in between articles criticizing Kamala Harris or 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:26.520 analyzing the dangers of quote unquote illegal aliens were stories 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.520 describing negative things that happened related to the Standing Rock protests. 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.840 Those protests were a long time ago. These weren't articles 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:39.040 of normal newspaper would publish. According to their court filings, 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.839 Greenpeace uncovered a murky trail of funds that connects these 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:47.360 weird newspapers to Energy Transfer's board chair, Kelsey Warren. The 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:51.480 newspaper's publisher, Metric Media, didn't respond to our request for comment. 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.480 When Greenpeace's lawyer asks about the weird newspapers, one guy 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.720 pulls out a copy he brought with him. I thought 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:01.280 it was it's kind of weird that I got that. 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.440 He says, it brought back memories. I agree with it 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:10.280 that what happened down there wasn't good. As jury selection continues, 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.160 another potential jur tells the lawyers that she knows that 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:17.400 Energy Transfer donated money three million dollars actually to build 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:24.200 this shiny new library a few blocks from the courtroom. 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.840 From what I could tell, energy Transfers propaganda efforts haven't 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.720 slowed down much since the protests, and here in the 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:35.559 courtroom they're paying off. Before today, I would have thought 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.480 naked bias would be enough to make you ineligible for 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.920 a jury, but Greenpeace's lawyers are having a hell of 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.760 a time getting the judge to disqualify people. It turns 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:47.920 out a bunch of people in the jury pool have 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:52.320 financial ties to the fossil fuel industry. There's a guy 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.680 who works maintenance at the local refinery. A woman whose 0:11:55.720 --> 0:12:00.440 family collects royalties from oil extracted on their landon works 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:05.960 at Dakota Gasification. Another works for Cool Creek Station. Everett 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.960 Jack asks the potential jurors to raise their hands if 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:12.200 this isn't the right case for them. Five people's hands 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:16.320 go up. One hand raiser explains, I work in the 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:21.240 petroleum industry. Juror fourteen says he would be uncomfortable ruling 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.080 against his industry, and he would be less likely to 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:28.679 believe green pieces witnesses than energy transfers. He's even got 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.440 a second layer of bias. He has a family member 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:36.959 in law enforcement who policed the protests. Energy Transfer's attorney, 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.640 Trey Cox, hits back with the question of his own, 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:43.000 one that he will repeat throughout the day. If the 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:46.360 judge instructs you that the law requires you to only 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.800 consider the evidence in this courtroom and to treat all 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:55.200 the parties fairly, are you able to follow the judge's instruction. Yes, 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.960 the man replies, it's funny that Trey asks that question. 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.400 He actually wrote a book on how to pick a 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:06.800 sympathetic jury. It's called Mastering Las Deer. That's a lawyer 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:10.120 word for jury selection. Trey and as co authors note 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.600 that people are often unaware of their biases. His book 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.720 says this may lead the juror to being dishonest with 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.280 herself as well as the court. A notable and common 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.400 example occurs when a potential juror says they can be 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:28.440 fair and impartial to both sides after revealing a predisposed 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:33.959 belief or opinion that renders them incapable of impartiality. Trey's 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.360 own book says questions like the one he's asking today 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:43.280 hide biases judge. Gian rules that Juror fourteen will remain 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:49.680 in the jury pool. Versions of this happen over and over. 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.920 A woman whose father works in oil and gas says 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.000 she got lost driving once around the time of the 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.400 protests and found herself in an area where pipeline opponents 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:03.199 were gathered, banging their hands on her car. Gian rules 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.880 that she remains in the pool. Another man says he 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:09.600 heard negative stories about the Standing Rock movement from a 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.000 friend who serves in the National Guard and was called 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.559 to respond to the protests. When Green pieces ever at, 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.040 Jack asks if he'd be able to disregard what his 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.680 friend told him. He replies, how can I erase or 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:26.040 ignore what was said? He adds, wouldn't that be impossible? 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:32.760 Gian rules that he stays in the pool. Midway through 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.680 day two of this, the moment arrives for the lawyers 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:41.200 to make their selections. They silently pass papers back and forth. 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:46.400 Those of us in the gallery observe anxiously, and the 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.160 jurors are announced that guy who said his work in 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.840 the fossil fuel industry means Green Piace would have a disadvantage. 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:58.480 He's on the jury. Another juror works at a gasification company. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:04.080 A third oversees two power facilities. My job depends on 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:08.720 fossil fuels, he'd said during jury selection. The woman whose 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.080 family receives royalties for oil on their land, she's on 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:15.520 it too, And three others have had husbands with ties 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.240 to the oil and gas industry. One woman's husband also 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.000 worked for a security company hired by the pipeline, as 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.160 well as for the contractor that drilled under the river 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.520 for energy transfer. She said she didn't think he worked 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:32.440 at those places during pipeline construction, but still, by my count, 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.360 a total of seven out of eleven jurors and alternates 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:39.000 have economic ties to the fossil fuel industry, and no 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.720 one on the jury has identified themselves as indigenous. This 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:47.400 was the best green Peace could do. The organization's lawyer, 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.080 Everett Jack, makes one last motion to relocate the trial. 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:57.320 Judge Gian denies it. This doesn't seem fair, But maybe 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.440 I shouldn't be surprised, because there's something else I noticed 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.640 in those tiger Swan private security documents I mentioned earlier. 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:10.400 In addition to spreading propaganda about paid protesters, Tigerswan was 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.640 also helping energy transfer look into the money behind the 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.880 Standing Rock movement. They put together spreadsheets listing dozens of 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:22.040 crowdfunding pages and how much each raised. They were identifying 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.320 which cars showed up at certain protests, and they were 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:29.240 using an infiltrator to figure out what group's protesters belonged to. 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.080 They didn't seem to mention Greenpeace, although there are several 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.880 pages missing. Their emails showed that they were clear about 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.840 what all of this was for. As early as twenty seventeen, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:46.560 Tigerswan was specifically helping energy transfer lawyers develop a racketeering 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.480 case a Rico. It was a different law firm that 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.280 actually filed Energy Transfers first RICO suit. Pips and Dunn 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.320 took over the case in twenty twenty three, but it 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.920 turns out they first got involved almost a decade ago. 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.800 Before the court clears for the day, I rush outside 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:09.640 to try to get people to talk to me about 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:14.000 what's happening. I wait at the courtroom doorway. Who My 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:18.520 fingers are very cold? Tree Cox and Energy Transfers other 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.800 lawyers exit. I shoot my shot, mister Cox, Can I 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.119 ask you a quick question? Okay, they don't want to 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.560 talk to me. Hey, are you guys able to share 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:29.359 a quick comment. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:31.720 Nope, sorry, okay, neither. 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.960 Do people from Greenpeace, at least not with the trial 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.480 just starting, I'm going to have my work cut out 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:42.080 for me. I finally find someone who is down to talk. 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.520 Scott Badendock. He's a lawyer with the Environmental Law Institute 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.720 and he's part of a group called the Energy Transfer 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.800 Versus Greenpeace Trial Monitoring Committee. There are a group of 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.119 lawyers that came together specifically to watch this trial. 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:01.520 Trial monitors don't monitor trials because they want to. They 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.400 monitor trials because they feel they need to. And Bismarck 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:10.320 in end of February is definitely not my first choice. 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.280 Scott and the other trial monitors called us a slap 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:20.240 suit slap spelled slapp meaning strategic lawsuit against public participation. 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.720 The point of a slapsuit is not necessarily to win, 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.480 but to drain opponents of resources and discourage them from 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.879 speaking out. Slaps are meant to set an example. What's 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:33.800 in your notes? What really stood out to you? 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.880 It seemed like virtually every single juror was directly or 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.000 one step removed from the oil and gas industry. Then 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.000 when you combine that with the fact that they have 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.680 negative opinions about what happened there. Those two together sort 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:49.520 of combined to be a real problem. 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.640 Some of these trial monitors have run into Gibson Done 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:56.600 and Crutcher before. Gibson Dunn represented Chevron in a notorious 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:01.080 reco case against an environmental lawyer named Stephen Don. It 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.680 turns out Stephen is also in North Dakota. He's one 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:11.199 of the people who organize the trial monitoring committee. Steven 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.760 is tough to catch outside the courtroom. He's constantly belining 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:16.600 it to his car to look at his phone and 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.400 post updates on social media about what's happening inside the courtroom. 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.040 I make arrangements to meet him for an interview at 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.480 his hotel. For Stephen, this case is personal. 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.240 I really wanted to come and look those Gibson Done 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:31.480 lawyers in the eye and let them know of sitting 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:34.440 right there on the front row watching them, and I'm 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.720 posting about it, We're putting out statements about it, and 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:40.040 we're going to do a report about it. 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.880 To understand the trial here in North Dakota, you have 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.320 to understand energy transfers law firm Gibson, Dune and Crutcher. 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.240 They have a history of helping big corporations avoid accountability 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.439 for harming the environment or undermining indigenous people's rights. At 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:58.920 the end of Steven's clash with Gibson, Done and Crutcher, 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.600 he lost his law license and even his freedom. The 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:08.480 case harmed Stephen's clients too, indigenous Ecuadorians fighting oil contamination 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:12.040 in the Amazon. To really get to the bottom of it, 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:13.560 we have to go back to a case from the 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.920 early two thousands and a legal strategy that Gibson Dunn 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:21.720 developed back then. In two thousand and seven, banana workers 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:25.520 in Nicaragua won a multimillion dollar lawsuit in the US 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.600 against the fruit company Dole, for poisoning them with a 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:34.199 pesticide called DCBP. Dole hit back. They hired Gibson, Dun 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.440 and Krutcher to launch a full fledged attack against everyone involved. 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.560 Dole's general counsel at the time gave their strategy cute 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:48.320 name The Kill step Dole and the lawyers alleged a 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:52.840 vast conspiracy where the worker's attorney recruited fake banana workers 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:55.600 to use to go after the fruit company. There were 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.080 all kinds of holes in this story, but to the 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.520 American judge, it didn't really matter. The money that had 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:05.240 been awarded to the workers was taken back, and Dolan 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:09.040 Gibson Dunn didn't just go after the lawyers and the plaintiffs. 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.359 They went after the story that was being told. They 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.879 sued filmmaker Frederick Curtin, who made a documentary about the 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:17.879 banana workers called Bananas. 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:22.359 They create an angle and then everybody has to follow. 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:26.040 If he goes against the angle they created, you are 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:27.320 the radical, you know. 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.960 Eventually, Frederick forcetle to drop the lawsuit, and he even 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:35.320 won a countersuit. A court in California said that this 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:39.760 was a slap suit, that strategic lawsuit against public participation thing. 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:44.040 But Dolan Gibson Dunn had damaged Frederick's ability to tell 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.880 the banana workers story. He couldn't get his film distributed 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:48.480 in the US. 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.840 We had sold the US TV rights to ITVS, which 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.359 was a part of PBS, and they didn't dare to 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:57.120 broadcast it. 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:00.919 A few years later, Chevron hired Gibson Dunn Crutcher to 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:05.600 go after another lawyer, Stephen Donziger. Drill did a whole 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.320 season on Stephen's case, and I re listened to it. 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.440 The heart of the story was another horrible case of contamination, 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.679 this time in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The homeland of indigenous 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:20.720 Ecuadorians was destroyed, and Stephen helped them win a big 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.840 case against the oil giant Chevron Gears from Drilled Season five, 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:28.480 hosted by My Boss investigative reporter and editor Amy. 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:32.240 Westervelt, Chevron was ordered to pay more than nine billion 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.520 dollars to clean up waste pits of oil and refining 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:39.760 fluids left in the Ecuadorian Amazon by Texaco, the company 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:43.800 Chevron acquired in two thousand. But the case didn't end there. 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.760 Back in the US, Chevron took Donziger and the other 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:50.720 lawyers to civil court, filing a racketeering case against them, 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:54.360 otherwise known as a Rico case, and accusing them of fraud. 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:59.160 It was the kill step all over again. Stephen lost 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:02.440 the Rico case, and over the next few years Chevron 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:05.959 and Gibson Dunn kept going after him. He ended up 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:08.320 on house arrest for two years and in jail for 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:11.040 forty five days for a contempt of court charge. 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.240 The impact on me was profound, on my life, life 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.240 of my family. Chevron is still after me. I cannot 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:20.520 travel out of the country. They have taken most of 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:25.280 my money I live off basically philanthropy. People giving money 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:28.480 to my legal defense fund and helps pay my household expenses. 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:30.560 I mean, it's a crazy way to live. I'm sixty 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:34.000 three years old. I have nothing other than half of 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:35.919 my house, which Chevron has a lean on. 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:41.200 Perhaps even more troubling is that the indigenous Ecuadorians couldn't 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:44.520 collect the settlement awarded to them. Chevron had pulled its 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:47.480 assets out of Ecuador, and now a US judge had 0:23:47.480 --> 0:23:51.000 said they couldn't collect in the US either. Just like 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:54.400 with the banana workers in Nicaragua, the victims of contamination 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:58.520 were left with no justice in this case too. They 0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:01.680 went after a journalist, a guy named Joe Berlinger, who 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:05.840 directed a film about the contamination called Crude. Chevron and 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:09.119 Gibson Dunn forced him to hand over his unused footage 0:24:09.160 --> 0:24:11.440 so they could use it as evidence against Stephen and 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:15.280 the others. Gibson Dun was effective at using the courtroom 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:19.760 to weaponize Stephen Donziger's missteps, and the legal drama also 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:24.760 distracted from the oil oozing through the Amazon rainforest. At 0:24:24.760 --> 0:24:27.120 the heart of the kill step strategy is an attempt 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:32.000 to discredit the client's legal adversaries. But the kill step 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:36.080 is more than that. The bananas filmmaker Frederick Gerton calls 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:41.480 it the double kill, extreme legal aggression combined with strategic communication. 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:44.920 So they tried to take down my character. They tried 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.360 to take down the lawyer who represented the banana workers. 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:51.520 You can see that with the crew. They tried to 0:24:51.520 --> 0:24:54.479 go after Joe Berlinger, and then they went after his lawyer, 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:59.080 and they with the lawyer of Steve Donziger. They were 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:03.960 really very successful taking down his figure, his public figure. 0:25:04.840 --> 0:25:07.800 And I think that's what you are up against. That's 0:25:07.800 --> 0:25:10.960 the that's the double kill in some ways, and it's 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:15.160 it's not a new thing, you know, because every whistle 0:25:15.200 --> 0:25:18.560