WEBVTT - S12, Ep3: The Charge 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:04.080 I'm sitting in the courtroom in Morton County, North Dakota. 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.800 Jury selection wrapped up yesterday and today the Energy Transfer 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:14.440 versus Greenpeace trial has officially begun. Energy Transfer's lawyer, Trey 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.959 Cox delivers his opening statement. Energy Transfer did everything bright 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.720 as it prepared to build the Dakota Access Pipeline. Trey 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:27.120 assures the jury there were protests, they were small, they 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:34.159 were quiet. He says, now enter green Peace. Several photos 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.520 pop up on screens throughout the courtroom. Here they are, 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:42.120 Trey explains, these are the Green Piece six. Not a 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.680 single one of them lives in this community. These people 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:50.680 are professionals. They embed in a location, then they escalate. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.120 They are trained in how to teach people how to protest. 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.280 Trey says he's going to prove that the environmental nonprofit 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:04.039 secretly planned, organized, and funded a game plan to stop 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:08.880 construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Greenpeace attempted to make 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:14.480 Energy Transfer look like Satan himself, he says. Shame on them. 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.800 He exclaims, they thought they could do it in secret. 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:20.639 They thought that we wouldn't be smart enough to figure 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:25.640 out what they did. He concludes. Today starts the day 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:31.480 of reckoning. I'll admit it. The vibes are fiery, and 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.880 I say let's go. If Energy Transfer is finally about 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:36.920 to show us the dirt they say they have on 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.480 this huge nonprofit, my pen and notebook are ready. This 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.560 season of Drilled, we bring you Slapped, the story of 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.760 an indigenous nation fighting for its water, an environmental nonprofit 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.760 facing extinction, and an energy giant using the courts to 0:01:52.840 --> 0:02:14.320 punish protesters. I'm Ellen Brown. The idea of Greenpeace as 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:18.079 a radical boogeyman is something oil companies and their lawyers 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:19.399 trot out a lot. 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.840 If I were an evil corporate lawyer, I too would 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:23.760 go after green Peace. 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.480 Frank Zelko is a historian at the University of Hawaii. 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.040 He wrote a big book on green Peace. It's called 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.560 Make It a Green Peace. He says Greenpeace has a 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.720 very particular history. It was founded just as the contemporary 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.680 environmental movement was taking off in the nineteen seventies. They 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.000 started out finding nuclear testing and then moved on to 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.640 protecting marine life. But what set them apart from any 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.799 other environmental organization at the time were these dramatic protest 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:54.800 actions at sea. 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.240 They were discussing what they would do. Once they found 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.920 some wiling ships in the Pacific, they decided they needed 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.200 to put their bodies on the line in some way. 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.320 That evolved into well, let's like, you know, put ourselves 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.120 between the whales and the harpoon boat. 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:18.119 They started off conducted a series of very grueling zodiac exercises. 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:23.880 Sensational direct action became green Piece's brand, and green Peace 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.720 was media savvy. In fact, the original group included journalists. 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.040 These were people that knew how to tell a story. Also, 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.600 they weren't just a North American organization, they were international. 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.880 They became, probably by the eighties, the most well known 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.360 environmental organization in the world. Not the richest or the biggest, 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:45.840 but certainly the one that grew the most headlines. 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.240 For the purposes of our story, it's also helpful to 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:54.400 know that green pieces relationships with Indigenous people were spotty. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.600 Green Piece's efforts to save sea cretures sometimes took aim 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:06.320 at indigenous practices. For example, an anti seal hunting campaign 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.080 Greenpeace launched in the nineteen seventies destroyed a major income 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.240 stream for Indigenous nations. 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.440 First of all, harvest is the only economic source that 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:20.719 we have here on Saint Paul, it's the way that 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.080 people earn their money. But I'm not sure that's good 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.240 enough argument anymore with all the environmental that's attacking the 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:29.760 differicueal harvest. 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.279 But in recent years the nonprofit has really tried to 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.919 make amends. They made working closely with indigenous people a 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.240 big part of their strategy. But one thing Greenpeace has 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:45.240 done all along is commit to avoiding violence or property damage. 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:50.120 Early on in Greenpeace's history they made it very clear that, 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.400 you know, nonviolence was key, and they've you know, drown 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:58.080 the line ever since that we will never endanger people 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:03.240 in our protests and we won't deliberately destroy property. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.960 Still, companies and governments began to label their actions as 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:08.120 eco terrorism. 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:13.280 I don't think there's any credible examples of anything remotely 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.960 like something you could describe as eco terrorism in green 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.440 peaces past, unless you know, you reframe eco terrorism as 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.960 a bunch of people just blocking bulldozers or hanging a 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.400 banner between you know, a couple of chimneys or under 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:29.600 a bridge or something like that. 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:34.200 But criminalizing environmental activism has long been a corporate strategy 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:39.200 to get critics off companies backs, so have lawsuits can 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:41.159 you kind of just take me back to when you 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.560 first heard about, you know, the federal RICO suit that 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:46.880 Energy Transfer filed. 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:48.560 Yeah, I remember it well. 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:53.200 Deepa Padmanaba is a senior legal advisor for Greenpeace. I 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:54.960 talked with her before the trial began. 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.880 I was about six and a half months pregnant with 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:04.520 my first child, so my memory is a little hazy 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.960 from that point. This one came at a very big surprise, 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:14.000 just because the Greenpeace entities had such little involvement with 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:19.479 anything associated with Standing Rock, from communications to on the 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:22.000 ground presence. So this one perplexed us. 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.719 But as DIPA tried to figure out why Energy Transfer 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:27.960 had targeted them, one thing stood out. 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:33.520 At that time, we were already dealing with another massive 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.640 slapsuit filed in federal court. 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:43.120 Against slap stance for strategic lawsuit against public participation. Slapsuits 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.200 are about using the court system to silence powerful people's critics. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.960 Just before the Standing Rock movement took off in twenty sixteen, 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.920 a law firm called casswitzpenceon Torres had filed a separate 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.520 RICO suit against Greenpeace. It's a firm that Donald Trump 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.520 is higher. Repeatedly this RICO suit was on behalf of 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.279 a timber company called Resolute Forest Products. They claimed that 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:12.480 green Peace Canada's anti logging campaign, which targeted Resolute, amounted 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:17.600 to racketeering, defamation, and tortuous interference, which is just what 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.800 Energy Transfer would accuse Greenpeace of. About a year later, and. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.680 As we forward to August of twenty seventeen, the complaints 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.520 looked very similar. It was the same attorneys, it was 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:32.840 the same allegations of a RICO conspiracy, and it was 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:37.440 the same attempt to just scare us into silence and bankrupt. 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.880 Us energy transfers. Arguments seemed to be cut from a 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:45.600 pattern created by Cassowits. The Gibson dun firm was involved 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.720 in developing the lawsuit early on and then took over 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:53.240 the suit again years later. These two firms, with histories 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.160 of using RICO to go after environmental defenders, apparently tag 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:02.119 teamed the lawsuit against green Peace. Cassowitz spokesperson Email Drilled 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:07.000 a statement. It read, the firm spearheaded energy transfer suits 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.560 against those who wrongfully targeted these projects, and we are 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:15.560 gratified that energy Transfer ultimately achieved such a successful result. 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.560 I tried to get energy Transfer in their lawyers at 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.520 Gibson done on the phone to talk me through their 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.840 legal fight. They all said no to multiple interview requests. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.200 So deepa walk me through the claims in detail. Remember, 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.160 Energy Transfer's initial federal RICO suit against Greenpeace was dismissed 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.920 in twenty nineteen because the pipeline company didn't have the 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:39.160 evidence to prove racketeering. The case was refiled in North 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.480 Dakota State court. This new case alleged a conspiracy rather 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:47.240 than RICO. North Dakota is a major oil and gas state, 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:52.520 experienced some of the Standing Rock protests firsthand, and happens 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.720 to be one of the fifteen states in the country 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.640 that does not have an anti slap law on the books. 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.400 The claims in that lawsuit fall into three what I 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.520 called three major buckets. So one is a set of 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.880 defamation claims, you know, claims that they said, we spread 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:09.959 these false statements that cause them harm. 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.160 Energy transfers as green Peace committed defamation by accusing them 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.959 of deliberately desecrating sacred sites, by accusing them of putting 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.040 the pipeline on the Standing Rocks tribe's land, and by 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.880 accusing police and private security of being violent toward nonviolent protesters. 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:31.079 I can tell you these statements have been repeated far 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.240 and wide over the past decade, and no evidence I've 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:38.680 seen indicates they originated with green Peace. But Energy Transfer 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.720 is saying that green Peace used these statements to convince 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:45.720 people to go to Standing Rock and protest the pipeline. 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.440 The second big bucket are tortious interference claims. 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.840 This is a money thing. The Standing Rock movement included 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.000 a big effort to get banks that were funding the 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.199 Dakota Access Pipeline to divest. 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.960 So they claimed we made all these statements to banks, 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.760 and those statements cause banks to either pull out of 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.640 the decode Access pipeline project, cause them you know, refine 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.200 it huge refinancing costs, things like that. And then the 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.000 third bucket of claims are on the ground claim So 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.880 those are things like conversion and trespass where they allege 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.280 huge amounts of damages for delays and for you know, 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.400 direct damages related to construction equipment and things like that. 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.520 The Standing Rock movement is best known for protests that 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:34.560 attempted to physically block construction. Energy Transfer is arguing in 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:39.400 that those actions were orchestrated by Greenpeace. The conspiracy charges 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:43.439 tiele this together. To prove a conspiracy, you need people 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.920 or groups to be plotting together to do something unlawful. 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.720 It's boring but important to understand that Green Piece is 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:55.320 actually a network of independently run organizations based around the world. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.880 I'm going to spare you all the details, but you 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.760 should know that the green Peace organizations and Transfer is 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.320 targeting are green Peace International, which coordinates some of the 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:08.600 things green Peace national and regional organizations do, green Peace Inc. 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.880 Which does activism in the US, and green Peace Fund, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.880 also based in the US, but exists to fund certain 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:19.360 green Peace activities. Energy Transfer by now already dropped half 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.679 of the supposed conspirators from the case. That's Cody Hall, 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.079 Crystal Tubles, and Red Warrior Society. The conspiracy theory they're 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.000 going with at this point involved just the different green 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:36.640 Peace organizations conspiring with each other. Energy Transfer calls their 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.400 first witness and Lucky me. He is a celebrity of 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.800 my imagination, Mike Futch. This dude's name has come up 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.240 about a bazillion times as I've investigated the pipeline company's 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:52.360 activities during the Standing Rock movement. He's a towering bald 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.600 man with broad shoulders and an American flag pin on 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.559 the lapel of his suit. Mike was the project manager 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.520 for the north the CODA section of the Dakota Access Pipeline. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:10.839 Remember that incident where the private security dogs attacked water protectors. 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:11.520 Man protester. 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:13.640 Protesters. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.560 Are you telling the dogs to bite the protester? 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:23.640 Mike says it was the protesters, not private security in 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.760 their dogs, that were violent. The only violence was when 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.800 protesters came on to private property and attacked us. We 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:36.280 were always in retreat, he says. He counts property damage 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.000 as part of that violence. He talks about how the 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:44.040 pipeline opponents cut hydraulicoses, booby trapped equipment, filled gas tanks 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.800 with sand and gravel, spray painted cabin windows, and busted 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.560 up equipment gages. And in the trial days that follow 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.360 five law enforcement officers take the stand and back him up. 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.760 All of them seemed to agree that the protesters were 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.280 the violent ones. But some of the things that they're 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.560 describing don't totally seem like violence to me. Here's Jason's 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.520 google Meyer, Deputy chief of the Bismarck Police Department. 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.720 It's not peaceful when you block a Highway whenever you 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.880 want and without warning, and they did that all the time. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.640 Jason declined my request for an interview, but he spoke 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.000 with Rob Rice, that propaganda guy hired by Energy Transfers 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:28.080 private security contractor Tiger Swan. The interview was included in 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.319 a documentary they posted on Facebook back when the protests 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:32.120 were still going on. 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.160 We didn't even want to rest anybody that day. We 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.600 just got in a line and systematically just pushed forward 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.679 and tried to be as nice as we could about it. 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.880 Then it turned into they started burning vehicles in our way. 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.600 They started throwing all top cocktails at us, that were 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.559 throwing logs, rocks, whatever they could at us. We had 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.680 no option other than to move forward, and we did 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.680 have to use some amount of force, but opinion there 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.200 was a minimum mode of force. 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.880 Jason and the other police officers did share some first 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.160 hand accounts of what I think falls under a more 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:12.560 typical definition of violence. Jason testifies that he and his 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:16.559 family received threats from pipeline opponents. They feared for their 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:18.920 lives and left their home for a few days at 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:24.200 the FBI's suggestion. Another officer, Lieutenant Brian Steele, says that 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.560 during one protest he got hit in the back with 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.760 a big rock. Cy Wagner was one of the Greenpeace 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.760 staffers who went to Standing Rock. He was called to 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.920 testify too, and her testimony from Energy Transfers public relations 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.240 executive who said she also dealt with threats during the 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:41.440 protests and. 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.360 It was powerful that they received threats. It's a real thing. 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:46.560 There were harm in this way. 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.600 He was sympathetic, but he felt the testimony was missing 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:54.120 a big part of the story, the tactics and tools 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.440 used against water Protectors, like rubber bullets. 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:01.240 We didn't even talk about the the dog bites, the 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.120 bullets that people took to the face. People all started 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.160 hearing from all the equipment that was brought, the military 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.080 equipment that was brought to there, and people were sprayed 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:13.880 in freezing temperatures, Like the trauma that people felt in 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:16.200 that space. We didn't talk about that. We didn't talk 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.520 about the harm that was done on people who were 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.400 there on the front line non violently. 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.560 After that night where police sprayed water hoses, at least 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.880 twenty six people were hospitalized, with dozens more injured. According 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:33.720 to the Water Protectors Medic Group. Multiple journalists were hit 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.760 with rubber bullets throughout the protests, and on a lot 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.280 of days police had guns loaded and ready to fire 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:41.280 on demonstrators. 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:45.040 They're all holding batons and guns, as you can tell. 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.920 And they started they stopped us up at the top 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.400 up there and started spraying and beating everybody on the 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:52.080 front line. 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.680 And that's what I remember. Energy Transfer says they're going 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.760 to prove that it was defamation for Greenpeace to say 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.880 that police in privates ccurity used violence against nonviolent protesters. 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.960 But I'm not seeing proof that no nonviolent people got 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:14.000 hurt by dogs, rubber bullets, or water hoses. Another Gibson 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:17.000 dun lawyer, whose name also happens to be Cox, comes 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.600 up to question Mike Footge and Cox number two carries 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:24.720 to the stand stack after stack of brown accordion folders. 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.240 Mike Fuotch confirms that each of these stacks are invoices 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.840 from a different security contractor. At one point, Cox number 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.040 two struggles to carry over one of the teetering piles. 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.080 Energy Transfer wants Greenpeace to pay them back for all 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.560 these invoices. When they tally it up later, it will 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.160 be over fifty million dollars. Some of the date to 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:51.760 early August, before Greenpeace employees arrived at Standing Rock, and 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.520 others date to twenty eighteen, literally years after they left. 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.480 With all this paper stacking up, There's something I'm wondering. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.240 I'd looked through Energy transfers daily private security reports from 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.680 Standing Rock, where they were gathering intel on the movement's leaders. 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:10.720 Green Peace was hardly mentioned in those at all. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.800 What you'll see, your honor, is those situational reports, which 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:20.520 were done every single day, do not reference green Peace 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.360 involved in any activity at or around the protest sites 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:25.919 at all. 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.200 This is Greenpeace's lawyer, Everett Jack. 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:30.160 No. 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.280 I didn't secretly record him in the trial, but he 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.119 did say basically the same thing during a pre trial 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.400 hearing that I was actually allowed to record. 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:45.159 The only place where those reports reference green Peace is 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:52.080 that they also tracked what was happening online and traffic online. 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:54.720 Here in the courtroom, none of the people on the 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.520 stands seem to know much about Greenpeace being involved at 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.200 Standing Rock, which seems like a huge problem for Energy 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.960 Transfer's case against them. Everett Jack brings that up again 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.679 when he cross examines Energy Transfer's project manager Mike Butch. 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:11.760 He says, for any of the security reports that you 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.160 saw or had access to. None of them had any 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.040 reference to any of the Greenpeace entities being on the 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.520 ground in North Dakota and running the show in the 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:25.200 main camp. Do they? I don't recall seeing that, Mike replies, 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.719 and if I told you that none of those reports 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.639 from any of those contractors said that, you wouldn't have 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.160 any reason to dispute that, would you? Everrett Jack asks, 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:38.400 as I sit here right now today. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:38.879 No. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.360 He also says that it wasn't his job to keep 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.320 up with the daily reports. If Greenpeace was actually the 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:51.879 mastermind of Standing Rock, wouldn't security have been tracking them. 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.560 Here's Everett Jack again from the pre trial hearing. 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.520 They were filming and reporting, taking pictures of everything that 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:00.480 was going on, if there was something going on there 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:05.160 the tastimony of their witness They looked at web postings, 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.160 they looked at movements of people activities in the camp, 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.720 and that was doable in part because people were infiltrating 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:12.600 the camp to find out what was going on. 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.159 None of the police officers who testify seem to remember 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:21.000 much about Greenpeace either. Energy Transfer's lawyer Cox number two 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.119 is able to point to a single police record that 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.160 describes a group from Greenpeace headed to stage of protest 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:31.840 with gas masks, but Sheriff Kyle Kirkmeyer says he doesn't 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:36.320 remember it. Sheriff Kirkmeyer does remember the reasons he believed 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.600 thousands of people were showing up to protest. He says 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:42.320 it was because the Standing Rocks two Tribes chairman invited 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:44.600 them there, and because of the dog attacks and the 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:48.240 explosion of social media at the time. The sheriff says 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.640 people came because of the controversial nature of the pipeline itself, 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:56.280 and because they believed the area was the tribe's unseated territory. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:00.600 It's part of the treaty, the sheriff says, makes no 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:06.560 mention of a green Peace campaign. The next witnesses energy 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:09.600 transfers lawyers call up are Greenpieace people who couldn't be 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:13.520 at the trial in person. They're pre taped video depositions. 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:17.360 It's from them that we finally hear what Greenpeace actually 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:21.680 did do it. Standing Rock first is a green Peace 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:25.719 employee named Davy Cory. He's thin, with whitish hair and 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:30.199 icy blue eyes. Davey drove a trailer called the Rolling 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:35.040 Sunlight from Greenpiece's headquarters to Standing Rock. The Rolling Sunlight 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:38.359 was equipped with solar panels to provide electricity for media 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.960 and legal people. Davy says he spent many hours on 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.680 back roads in the country following the right of way 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:48.840 of the pipeline. He was scouting, he says, collecting information 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:51.840 about what was happening with construction and passing it along 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:53.679 to indigenous activists in the camp. 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.600 He then sent all of that information the diagram of 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:05.160 exactly along with a plan of how we could blockade. 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:08.520 That's energy transfers lawyer tray Cox. Again not a recording 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:10.520 from the trial, just the pre trial. 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:17.720 How we could blockade and attack and vandalize these toys, airplanes, bulldozers, 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:24.359 equipment to disrupt and prevent energy transfer from conducting the 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:26.160 Dapple pipeline. 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:29.560 He was referencing emails Davi sent, including one that now 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.720 flashes on the screen. It's from Davy to another Green 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:36.960 Pieace employee, dated October twenty sixteen. The company has a 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.240 place where all their toys are stored near the Bismarck area, 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:44.720 he writes. He suggests a protest strategy. If the entrances 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:46.840 were blocked, it would be very hard for them to 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:50.200 get to the job sites. Another Green Piace employee replies, 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:54.000 I just sent thirty straight boxes down, meaning lock boxes 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.239 plumbing pipes that protesters can use to lock themselves to 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:01.679 each other. As the video deposition plays, the jurors are 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.399 watching intently. Two of them have a hand to their mouths. 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.399 I imagine what they must be thinking. That this is 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.600 the guy, this is the outside agitator, the professional protester. 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:16.960 Trey Cox again from the pre trial hearing. 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:20.440 He was paid by green Peace to travel to Standing Rock. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:24.120 He was not on vacation. He received his salary, green 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:26.879 Peace reimbursed him for all of his expenses. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:29.960 Greenpeace lawyers point out that there's no evidence that this 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:34.440 protest Davy suggested ever, even happened, and Davy later told 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:36.520 me of her text that he did not supply a 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:40.000 diagram of how water protectors could do a blockade. He 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:43.560 also denied sharing ideas about how to attack and vandalize equipment. 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:47.560 He said doing so would not fit into a nonviolent campaign. 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.600 We learned that in total, six Green Piace employees visited 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:55.679 Standing Rock, some for a few days, others for a 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:59.600 few weeks. These are the guys trey Cox calls the 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:00.320 Green p. 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:01.000 Six. 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:03.800 For what it's worth, they all worked for Greenpeace, Inc. 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:08.200 No one from Greenfeace's fund or Greenpeace International visited Standing Rock. 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:13.280 Greenpeace Inc. Also donated some supplies. They provided about fifteen 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.680 thousand dollars to a group called Indigenous People's Power Project 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:20.160 or IP three, and some of the six Greenpeace employees 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:27.439 helped IP three run nonviolent direct action trainings. Nonviolent direct 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:32.080 action is basically civil disobedience protest actions meant to disrupt 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:36.520 an activity that the demonstrators view as unjust. At times, 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:42.200 those actions involved trespassing or disregarding police orders. But Energy 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:45.639 Transfer is saying that those training supported actions that caused 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:50.000 expensive construction delays and property damage. They're basing this in 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:53.920 part on internal emails where Greenpeace employees congratulate each other 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:57.159 for their role in the movement. Here's one of Energy 0:23:57.160 --> 0:24:00.360 Transfer's lawyers at a pre trial hearing describing a green 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:02.639 Piece email also displayed during the trial. 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:06.800 So, then, what Miss Lambert says is these trainings reached 0:24:06.800 --> 0:24:11.040 thousands of people and the peaceful and prayerful direct actions 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:14.320 that resulted in them were crucial for. 0:24:14.359 --> 0:24:17.040 The Army Corps of Engineers to reach. 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.239 To deny the permit to cod access to cross the 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:21.600 Missouri at Lagwai. 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:25.440 Green Pieces Everet Jack said in the pre trial hearings 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:28.119 and in the trial that emails like this are not 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:29.200 solid evidence. 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:33.040 If I put on my game Jersey and my team wins, 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:36.359 and I said, geez, I put on my game Jersey. 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:38.440 And my team won, that must be why they won. 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:40.800 That is not the reason why they won. 0:24:41.720 --> 0:24:44.960 Energy Transfer lawyers say that Green pieces total funding for 0:24:45.040 --> 0:24:48.480 Standing Rock amounted to fifty five thousand dollars, though it 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:51.600 isn't clear how they got that number. They also show 0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:55.200