Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20161202

Talk about trumps conflict of interest, which he says are unprecedented in americas history. Then profit years of the great foreclosure machine go to washington. We look at Donald Trumps check up Steven Mnuchin for treasury secretary, his deep ties to wall street including working as a partner for Goldman Sachs or his father also worked. Nine e indymac during the financial crisis, we bought it in a highly competitive sixmonth auction. We save a lot of jobs and we created a lot of opportunities for corporate loans. Amy and promises by president elect donald trump to deport millions of immigrants has drawn new attention to whether they can be detained indefinitely as they fight their cases as the Supreme Court considers a case that could give immigrants the same rights. We will be quit a man detained for three years before he won his case and became a u. S. Citizen. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Donald trump has chosen retired marine general james mattis to be defense secretary. Trump made the announcement during a rally in cincinnati on thursday night. Retired general mattis by his nickname mad dog, which he reportedly received after leading u. S. Troops during the 2004 b battlef fallujah in iraq. Mattis listed in the marines at 19. He fought he served as a major general. In may 2004, he ordered an airstrike in a small iraqi village that hit a wedding, killing about 42 people who were attending the wedding ceremony. He went on to lead United States 201020 13,and from but the Obama Administration cut short his tour over concerns mattis was too hawkish on iran, reportedly calling for a series of covert actions there. Mattis has drawn criticism over his apparent celebration of killing, including saying in 2005 about the taliban, its a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. General mattis only retired from the military in 2013, meaning he will need congress to waive rules requiring defense secretaries to be civilians for seven or more years after leaving the military. The rules are in place to ensure civilian control over the u. S. Armed forces. Already new york senator kirsten , gillibrand has said shell vote against the waiver for general mattis, saying civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of american democracy, and i will not vote for an exception to this rule. Donald trumps announcement came amid a speech in a halffilled hockey stadium downtown cincinnati, during which his supporters renewed campaign chants, including build the wall and lock her up a reference to trumps former opponent, Hillary Clinton. Trump repeatedly attacked the media as being dishonest. He also claimed he won the election in a landslide, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton is now ahead in the popular vote by over 2. 5 million. The speech in cincinnati came after trump spoke in indianapolis, where he celebrated his involvement in carriers decision to keep about keep hundreds of jobs at its indianapolis air conditioner factory, instead of moving them to mexico. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has criticized the deal to keep the jobs in the United States as setting a dangerous precedent, since trump used a 7 million Corporate Tax break to convince the company not to ship the jobs overseas. This is precisely the type of tax break trump said he was against during his campaign. Meanwhile, local reporter, rafael sanchez, who has spent nearly a year investigating the carrier plant and the proposed job relocation, said carrier denied press c credentials foror trtrumps speech yesterday. This is sanchez. So many stories to tell. Unlike my colleague katie hines, i was unable to be at the conference. That is because my present resident pressss credential s the night, which meant i cannot be inside the carrier plant. It appears after 10 months of telling the workers story, going toto monterrey, mexico, and askg tough questions of the company, that all came with a price today. Amy sanchez, who works for the indianapolis station wrtv, also said that trump did not save a full 1000 jobs and that at least 600 more carrier jobs are still at risk of being shipped to mexico. Are20 of those jobs production workers. Those are the folks who make the gas furnaces. About 300 of those jobs were the corporate jobs that were never going to leave anyway. That is where we get to the 1100 or close to the 1100. Heres the bad news in the short term unless something gets done, some 600 jobs are still scheduled to go to monterrey, mexicoco. Amamy donald d trump has stillt chosen his secretatary of state, but new media reports say he is considering two additional candidates, exxon mobil Ceo Rex Tillerson and former exxon mobil ceo lee raymond. Exxon mobil is the United States largest oil company. Its currently being investigated by a handful of attorneys gegeneral, followingng revelations that for decades the Company Covered up its own scientific findings linking rising Carbon Emissions to dangerous climate change. Donaldrurump has expressedisis support for the completion of the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock sioux, representatives from more than 200 indigenous nations from across the americasas, and thousands s of nonnative allie. In a communications s briefing, trumps Transition Team said his support for the pipeline has nothing to do with his personal investments. As of 2015, trump had between 500,000 and 1 million invested in the pipeline company, Energy Transfer partners, although trump spokesperson hope hicks recently claimed trump has sold off his shares in the company. This comes as north dakota governor Jack Dalrymple continues to back away from attempts to force water protectors to leave the main resistance camp, now saying authorities will not stop and fine people carrying supplies to the site. The governor says his recent executive order declaring the land an evacuation area sought only to warn people about the cold. In response, the Standing Rock sioux said the governor of north dakota and sheriff of Morton County are relative newcomers here. It is understandable they would be concerned about severe winter weather. The first of a group of as many as 2000 veterans have begun to arrive at Standing Rock in north dakota, where they say theyll serve to form a human shield around the water protectors to protect them from the increasingly Violent Police crackdown. Meanwhile, protesters gathered in dozens of cities across the world thursday in opposition to the dakota accesess pipeline, including in tokyo, london, vancouver, calgary, and cities across the u. S. In minneapolis, six protesters locked themselves to each other inside a Wells Fargo Office building, blocking the elevators for hours. They left only after receiving a letter saying wells fargo would meet with tribal elders before january 1 to hear their concerns about the banks investments in the pipeline. In canada, members of the mohawk nation have begun blockading freight trains carrying oil by rail from crossing their teterritory, which lies along te st. Lawrence river near montreal. They say the blockade is in solidarity with Standing Rock. Meanwhile, the chippewas of the thames first nation have sued the canadian government in canadas Supreme Court in order to challenge the permitting process for enbridges line 9 tar sands pipeline, saying their treaty rights to consultation were not met before the pipeline was approved. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the chippewas, it could set a precedent requiring formal nationtonation consultations between the canadian government and First Nations for all future Energy Projects that would affect native land. Backck in the united statetes, studentsts at campuses across te country protested thursday, demanding their university or college become a sanctuary campus. In the wake of Donald Trumps promises to deport millions of people immediately upon taking office, students are demanding University Administrators refuse to share information with immigration authorities, refuse to allow ice agents on campus and support equal access to , instate tuition and Financial Aid and scholarships for undocumented students. This is Thais Marques in new york city. I am undocumented. This matters to me because it directly affects my life but also, ive seen what deportations due to families. Ive seen the pain of my community is so deep. This is just to show our community it is ok to come out as unafrfraid and unapologetic d really show ourur resilience tht we are going to fight and this is only the first step. Amy the pentagon has acknowledged killing two dozen civilians in u. S. Airstrike in area in july, although some organizations say the death toll was considerably higher. The strike in a village near manbij. Died inas 200 civilians a series of u. S. S. Airstrikes in jujuly. Frenchch p president holland has said he wiwill not seek another term in next years election. Hes extremely popular in france. His Approval Ratings plummeted in part due to h his backiking a deepeply unpopopular laboror low refoform which sparked protests and strikes. On thursday, he said he would not compete in the Upcoming Elections because he does not want the only choice for voters to be between t the c conservate right and the far right. Human rights activity advocates, burma militarys ongoing violence against muslim in the north, which has sent more than 10,000 fleeing into neighboring areas. The reportedly have burned whole villages and used helicopter gunships to open fire against the civilians. The entire area has been sealed by a military order in order to keep out aid workers and journalists. The u. N. Human rights agencies has pilots may amamount to crcrs againsnst humanity. The Obama Administration has challenged a federal judges decision to block the implementation of a new rule that would have made 4 million more americans eligible for overtime pay. And cuba continues its nine days of mourning following the death of revolutionary leader fidel castro. A caravan n carrying castros ashes has been traversing thee country, wherere its s been mey thousands of mourners. This is Angel Santiesteban in santa clara the town where castros decisive revolutionary battle was won in december 1958. Within only hours of the citys capture by castros forces, the u. S. Backed dictator general lgenencio batitista fled cuba and castro claimed victory. F fidel is and will bebe the guiding examplple for all l of e rerevolutions inin the world. Hehe will b be the examample, te guide and beacon of light that shines a path for the restless in every couountry and e every contntinent. Fidel will always be there and we will follow hisis example. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Presidenentelect donald trump kicked off his victory tour thursday at a rally in indiana, where he celebrated his involvement in c carriers decision to keep some jobs in the u. S. Instead of moving them to mexico. Mr. Trump so many jobs are leaving and going to other countries. Not just mexico, many, many other countries. China is making so much of o our product that we are clclosing oa lolot of plans. I wrote down some numbers that are incredible. The numbers of manufacacturing jobs that are lolost, especially in the rest built. The rest dealt is so incredible. Were losing compapanies it is unbelievable. One after another. Unitited technologies s and carr stepped it up and now theyre keeping the nunumber is over 1100 people, which is so great. So great. Amy carrier is a multibillion Dollar Company that makes air conditioners. The single largest customer of its Parent Company, united technologies, is the pentagon. Trump said the deal for carrier to keep the jobs in state reportedly includes a 7 million incentive package with tax breaks and reduced regulations. Mr. Trump one o of the things were doing to keep them as we will be e lowering o our busines tax from 35 , hopefully, down to 15 which would take us from the highest tax nation virtually in the world this is terrible for business to one of the lower tax. Not the lowest yet, but one of the lower tax. The other thing we are doing is regulations. About six years ago, 260 new had passed. Gulations 53 of which affect this claim. 53 new regegulations masassively expensive, probably none of them amount to anything in terms of safety or the things you would have regulations for. Amy meanwhile, it is believed more than 1000 workers for the company in indiana will reportedly still lose their jobs. Carrier employees at the plant in nearby huntington, indiana, were handed letters under the header, Company Update on indianapolis operations. The announcement read while this announcement is good news for many, we recognize it is not good news for everyone. We are moving forward with previously announced plans to relocate the fan coil manufacturing lines, with the expected completion by the end of 2017. That are closing the huntington plant. This comes as donald trump announced plans to leave his businesses. In a series of tweets wednesday morning, he tweeted i will be holding a major News Conference in new york city with my children on december 15 to discuss the fact that i will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to make America Great again while i am not mandated to do this under the law, i feel it is visually important, as president , to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses. Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The presidency is a far more important task after trumps twitter announcement, the office of government ethics responded with a tweet storm of its own, writing realdonaldtrump bravo only way to resolve these conflicts of interest is to divest. Good call and realdonaldtrump this divestiture does what handing over control could never have done. Ethics experts say trump must divest from his business interests to avoid conflicts of interest. Well for more, we are joined by two guests. We are starting with Robert Wiseman president of public , citizen, and has b been following what he calls trumps corporate takeover of federal agencies and has written that trumps conflicts of interest are unprecedented in american history. But i want to start, rob, by talking about carrier and what exactly is understood at this point. Now, it sounds like about 800 jobs are going to be saved while about 1100 jobs will be lost with the closing of one of the carrier plant. But this is all, as a result of a 7 million tax break for carrier . That seems to be right. Trump yesterday in his speech said companies that leave the United States to take jobs that will be punished one way or the other. That in fact, what this deal is about is paying a bribe to carrier to stay. As you were saying in the lead up, not really stay, some jobs state, not the numbers he said. On terms that are unknown for a time that is unknown. We do know that in the past, these kinds of deals to pay subsidies to retain jobs or get new jobs typically dont work in the jobs that are promised to materialize in the jobs that are supposed to stay dont stay for a long. It is also interesting that he said in a clip you played, part of the way he allegedly convinced carrier to keep these hundreds of jobs in indiana is through his promise of tax cuts and wiping away regulation. Well, those tax cuts, if they are able to be delivered on which we surely hope we can block actually would have nothing to do with where carrier locates itself. It will have the same tax rate whether or not it does production in mexico or indiana. The regulations he talks about, you know, yes and aggregate number but he does not name a single regulation he thinks is unfair to carrier or does the wrong thing for the american people. So those kinds of regulations he is talking about wiping away include things like establishing that people who work long hours will be paid proper overtime compensation. Amy i want to talk i want to turn to donald trump speaking last march. Mr. Trump i wilill call the hed of carrier and i will say, i hope you enjoy your new building. I hope you enjoy y your stay in mexico. Here is the story, folks. Every single airconditioning unit that you build and send across our border, youre going to pay a 35 tax on that unit. Amy in that same speech, he decried giving tax breaks and said we will just tax every of mr. That you sent up from mexico. Exactly the opposite ofof what s happening now, rob. R right. There are a lot of things that can be done. In this particular case without paying bribes. As you point out, the Parent Company basically feeds from the defense department. This is a governmentdependent company, one of which the u. S. Government has the most leverage without paying bribes if it chooses to exerted him and t trp did not do that. Amy and the issue of exactly what are the promimises that w e made to these companies. Again, promises that donald trump himself has decried over and over again saying companies should be not just should not be rewarded by tax breaks with a leave the country. Carrier, on by one of the most harmful weapons manufacturers in the United States, united technologies, if there were any promises of f military contracts to come. How will we find these things out, rob weissman . Ande will investigate reporters will dig in. We dont know if we will ever really know. It is not plausible the ceo of the company made an Investment Decision to move production and was talked out of it by the president. It is just not how things work. Either there is some deal on the side which were going to try really hard to ferret out or it is an illusionary promise. You have a big press conference, wait a few months were a year, and do what youre going to do anyway. You dont take Investment Decisions basedd on being whispered to by the president. Amy when we come back from break, we will talk about, well, you blogged about this, robert, saying the president elect has the most serious conflicts of interest in u. S. History. We will talk about one by one, whatat are those conflicts and wh y you feel needs to be done. Were talking to rob weissman, whose recent piece for the Huffington Post trumps , corporate takeover of federal agencies. His rececent piecece trumps , conflicts of interest are unprecedented in american history. Stay with us. [music break] amy fidel castro died on november 25 at the age of 90. His ashes will be buried in a funeral ceremony on sunday morning next to is a marquee. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. During his visit to carrier thursday, donald trump spoke about seeing a supporter on the news who believes Trumps Campaign promise to keep t the plant in indiana. Mr. Trump he said something to the effect, no, were not leaving because donald trump promised us that we are not leaving. And i never thought i made that promise. Not with carrier. I made it for everybody else. E. I did not t make it t really for carrier. I said, what is he saying . Such a believer. He was such a great guy. He said i have been with donald trump from the beginning. He made the statement that carrier is not goioing anywhere, theyre not leaving. Im saying to myself, man. Then they played my statatement. I said, carrier will never leave but that was the from is him. I wawas talking about carrier, like all other companies from here on in, because they made thee decision a year and half ago. That he believed that that was and i could understand it actually said, i did not i did not mean it quite that way. And go ethics experts say donald trump must divest from his business interest to avoid conflicts of interest. For more, were joined by two guests. And washington, d. C. , rob weissman is with us, president of public citizen. As recentlys, his recent piece trumps corporate , takeover of federal agencies. Aaron glantz is a Senior Reporter at reveal from the center for investigative reporting, where his latest investigation is headlined trumps Indonesia Hotel deals , hint at his form of foreign relations. We welcome you both to democracy now robert weieissman, layout your concerns. It is unprecedented in american history. It pointed out the president elect doesnt really care about it. He has a Global Business empire, a lot of properties and businesses in the United States, as we know from the campaign, involving everything from hotels to resorts to golf courses to and fakeies, steaks universities. And he also has properties either directly or license in about two dozen countries around the world. He does not show any sign of really separating himself from the business or his children from the business, not with standing the tweets he put out a couple of days ago. Were looking at a president who is going to have a business interests in all caps a policy decisions that he is going to face and all kinds of policy decisions that he is what a face from workers rights to organize, safety, terms for wall street and taxbankruptcy rules law, and especially the conduct of foreignpolicy where the decisions he makes will have impact on the properties that he owns or is associated with around the world. We are unprecedented and no sign of him trying to remove himself meshed in this disaster. It is part of the reason we say that we are now looking at what is going to be the most corrupt administration in history of the United States. Amy members of Donald Trumps Incoming Administration have had to defend the president elect against criticism of the conflicts his business interests present. This is fox news sundays mike wallace questioning Vice President elect mike pence, i may ask a queuestion, sir, briefly, if his kids are r runng the business, and talking about buildings, a few does not divest himself of the business, a lot of people are saying turn it into cash, he is going to know who the kids are doing business with. In fact, there was a meeting in the last few days with some of his is as partners from india. Doesnt that create a tremendous danger of a conflict of interest . Well, i can tell you, in a recent interview after the election, the president elect summmmed up his view of his interest in his Business Life with two words. You said, who cares . Amy who cares . We turn now to look at the president elects potential conflicts of interest. Talk more about the significance of pence saying, w who cares . Theyre not potential conflict of interest, not possible c cflict of i interest, not future c conflicts of interest, not the appearance of conflict of interest, they are conflicts of interest. It will be with all most every thing he does as president. He is a hotel in las vegas, for example. There is an ongoing labor dispute. The National Labor Relations Board said he ought to let his workers unionize and he is trying to fight it. Now he is going to be boss of the nlrb a and will have a profound role in making decisions about labor law. He has a selfinterest in the issue. He was involved in the lawsuit revolving around the Trump University. The reason that people who were victimized by Trump University our able to sue him is that Consumer Protections in this country. They had a right to band together in a classaction to sue the perpetrator of wrong against them. Now as president , he will have a key role in deciding whether or not people have a right to join together in class actions and what the standards are of consumer protection. His biggest lender is Deutsche Bank. Deutsche bank is involved in negotiations with the Justice Department now for the wrongs it did leading up to the financial crash, the Justice Department wants about 14 billion of Deutsche Bank and the bank and the German Government are fighting hard against that. Is that not going to be influenced by President Donald Trump . The markets think it will be because Deutsche Banks stock went up 20 as soon as he was elected. Amy i want to turn to aaron glantz, who looked deeply into one story for reveal, the center for investigative reporting. Lay out what you fouound. The important thing for me, amy, not only does donald trump have these vast business interests all over the world, but he was expanding them even as he was running for president. So we looked at his business interests in indonesia because he signed deals for two different resort complexes in indonesia one in west java and another in bali while he was running for president in august and september of 2015. We looked especially at his Business Partner, who goes by a very controversial oligarch and media mogul, much like donald trump. Politically motivated person who ran for Vice President of indonesia on a ticket with a general who is indicted for war crimes by a u. N. Tribunal. He has a wife who owns a beauty pageant. He owns many Media Properties and is a purveyor of reality television. This is the person that donald trump went into business with for to resorts after he had already declared he was running for president of the United States. Amy interesting because he was also very much a supporter of the man who ran for president in 2014, responsible for mass killings w who said he thoughtht ababout becoming a fascist dictator but ultimately was defeated. He was supported by Donald Trumps indonesia and Business Partner. These are his friends. That is how i look at it. People like Robert Weissman are going to be asking, what are the conflicts of interest he faced and noting the conflicts like unionization of his hotels. In the foreignpolicy arena, i said, who are his friends . If there is a crisis in southeast asia, who does donald trump know . Who is he going to call . People all around the world that donald trump would call in the event of a crisis are the people who built his resorts, his hotels, and he was actively expanding these businesses, making these contacts both during the campaign and in the years leading up to the campaign. So examining who those people thetells us a lot about kinds of decisions he might make in a moment of international crisis. Harry you talk about he quickly tweeted his congratulations to his busineses partner donald t trump novememb9 a and he is also a real admir of bladder putin. Why does this matter . I think it matters because it gives us for people who are concerned about social justice, these,c rights, werent when you know theres some the on the other end of the war and peace, when you know theres someone on the other end of the phone, knowing donald trump is a friend of Vladimir Putin met when we know his Business Partners around the world share the same views, when we know that his Business Partners around the world are facilitating perhaps corruption one other thing we report in our story was this very bizarre moment on the campaign trail at trump tower in september 2015 when donald trump walks off the stage of the podium and goes and grabs the speaker of Indonesian Parliament and declares that he is a great man was going to do great things for america, and then shortly after that, the speaker is involved in a massive Corruption Scandal involving the Mining Company where he was caught on tape demanding a 20 stake in the company a sickly, a 4 billion kickback basically, a 4 billion kickback for stuff you resign in disgrace and recently is back as a speaker of indonesia parliament. To have a president who either is not aware of these massive Corruption Scandals overseas or simply does not care because it aligns well with his business thatests is something americans should be concerned about. Amy you also have done a great deal on veterans. Can you talk he is not yet chosen the head of the v. A. , names are being bandied about from scott brown, the foformer senator from massachusetts who Elizabeth Warren has said she would support, to sarah palin. Well, i think sarah palin would be a huge shock to the entire veterans community. We have never had a secretary Veterans Affairs who is not a veteran him or herself. I mean, donald trump received tremendous support from the military and veterans community. Exit polls show he beat Hillary Clinton two to one among veterans. If you look at the very now margin of victory in places like wisconsin and michigan and the High Percentage of veterans and those states coming, say that veterans delivered the presidency to donald trump. Now we have to see, well, what is donald trump going to do for these veterans . He spoke to them directly. He promised to honor our veterans. But he never made really explicit promises beyond the promise that if you could not get an appointment quickly from the v. A. , that you could go see a private doctor. This has a lot of people worried that he will dismantle the v. A. System, which was built up over nationalrations, a network of hospitals and many dedicated professionals who are in the needs of people wounded in war. Everyone, myself included, ive done many exposes about problems at the v. A. Over medication, longwave for disability long waits for disability compensation and health care, but there is a real concern amongst some that he might dismantle bba and it was made dismantle the v. A. The only Veterans Group he has met with since his election has been the former head of concern veterans of america, which is a very conservative Veterans Group funded in part by the koch brothers. He is not know the American Legion or the act of the work iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. This week, they demanded a meeting with him and it will be interested to see what happens. Amy and the koch brothersinterest in this . There is a huge debate about the role of Government Support of medicine in this country. You know, some people accused obamacare of being socialized medicine. But we really only have one major example of socialized medicine in this country right now, and it is the department of Veterans Affairs which is a Government Run Health Care system for 8 million american veterans. Dismantling it has long been a priority of people who think the government should d not be in te business of health care. Amy quickly, Robert Weissman, before we wrap up with you, i want to go back to a comment donald trump when he was responding to maria when shehe asked him hohow he would handle his assets if he was elected resident. Mr. Trump i would i dont know if it is a blind trust i it, but id don run would probably have my children run it with the active and i would not ever be involved because i would not care about anything but our country. Anything. Amy so that was donald trump earlier this year. As we wrap up, Robert Weissman, president elect trump says he will hold a News Conference with his children on december 15. Lay out what you want to hear and what the public letter is that you have written along with many other groups to president elelect trump. There are hard ethical questions in life, and this is not one of them. Theres only one solution to this problem, which is for them to completely sell off the businesses. He cannot give it over to the children. Neither he nor the children can have anything to do with the businesses. It is quite obvious the children are going to be centrally involved in policymaking. There is universal agreement around is very simple point from anybody who digs about government ethics, even including from the wall street journal editorial page. What we expect them to do, saying his handing over control but not ownership to the children, and he wont Pay Attention anymore. It will be great if he is not involved in picking out the tiles for the next bathroom hotel, but it will not make a bit of difference. Amy Robert Weissman, thank you for being with us, president of public citizen. We will link to the letter government to president elect donald trump. And we want to thank aaron glantz, Senior Reporter at trivia from the center of investigative reporting. First, i want to turn to a different issue, the issue of senator john mccain. I want to ask about your reporting on senator john mccain during an Armed Services committee hearing. You said mccain unloaded on you for your coverage of the university of phoenix deceptive recruiting practices. Before we hehear from mccain, ts is a clip from your original report that aired on the pbs news hour. Iraq war veteran wanted to be a social worker so he could help other veterans. University of phoenix gave him College Credit for his military service so he could graduate quickly. That is what convinced him to enroll. He even got credit for markrksmanship. For learning how to shoot and the army county that course credits for social work . When he went to apply fofor masters at a state univiversity, that s school would not recognie his bachelors degree. I was devastated. I cant use my degree. Amy that report for pbs was part of your investigation, aaron glantz, that prompted the pentagon to put the university of phoenix on probation for deceptive recruiting practices. The move welcomed by consumer advocates and Veterans Group, but this is senator mccain complaining about ththe investigatioion and its results duriring the Senate Hearing on wednesy. Y. In n 2009 befefore thee administrationon regulatorory assault onon forprprofit secto, thee companyny stock reportedldy dueed at 86. 54 per share to this tatargeted attacack and prior to t the relelease of thte reveal news hit piece, it was aaded around 16 per share reacachea low of a around six dollars per share sely y ter decision. Probation the purpose of this john amy aaron glantz, youre the reporter behind that investigation it was so critical of in these remarks. Your quick comment . It is a credible abbasid in United States senator Holding Hearings for the protection of one company, especially a company that was paper preferential access to military bases, was surreptitiously engaging and recruitment activities at resume workshops, was using the military seal and promotion and challenge point without permission from the military, and was justifiably kicked off of every military base in the world by the pentagon when it was put on probation so that these problems could be solved. Here you have senator mccain and i might add, the other republicans on the committee sticking up for this company and indicating, by the way, they expect under a trump administration, the pentagon and other Government Agencies will not take these kinds of regulatory enforcemement actions anymore. Amy aaron glantz, thank you for being with us Senior Reporter at , reveal from the center for investigative e reportining, whe his is democracy now stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn to look in m more detail at two of Donald Trumps cabinet kicks Steven Mnuchin for treasury secretary and wilbur ross for commerce secretary. Mnuchin has deep ties on wall street, including working as a partner for Goldman Sachs, where his father also worked. Mnuchins hedge fund also played a role in the housing crisis, after it scooped up the failing California Bank indymac in 2008. Under mnuchins ownership, indymac foreclosed on 36,000 families, particularly elderly residents trapped in reverse mortgages. Mnuchin was accused of running a foreclosure machine. People protested outside his home. The bank, which was renamed onewest, was also accused of racially discriminatory lending practices. In 2015, mnuchin sold the bank for 3. 4 billion 1. 8 billion more than he bought it for. Trumps commerce secretary pick wilbur ross is a billionaire private equity investor. Ross specializes in flipping bankrupt companies for profit, often buying the u. S. Companies at low prices and then selling them to overseas investors. He and his companies have sometimes shipped jobs and factories overseas practices donald trump has railed against. He, too had a role in the , foreclosure crisis. In 2007, he bought the secondlargest servicer of subprime loans in america, a Company Called American Home mortgage serervicing. To talk more about Steven Mnuchin and wilbur ross we are joined b by david dayen, authorf the award winnnning book, chain of t title how three ordinary americans uncovevered wall ststreets great foreclosure fraud. His most recent piece for the nation wilbur ross and steve , mnuchin profiteers of the great foreclosure machine go to washington. Talk about who mnuchin and ross are. I call them profiteers bankse they, like most and Mortgage Servicing companies, just profited from the lack of attention to the foreclosure crisis at the federal level. Mnuchin foreclosed on 36,000 people in california alone. He foreclosed on much more through one west bank where he was ceo. Wilbur ross, through American Mortgage from servicing, which became another company, also did so. They did so illegally. These were fraudulent foreclosures where fake documents s were used to prop up those foreclosures. There are depositions with individuals from onewest bank saying they spent 30 seconds looking at foreclosure files before signing affidavits that said they knew everything and that file and reviewed all the business practices. There were forged documents routinely from wilbur ross American Home ordered servicing done by thirdparty company known asdocx, where the ceo of the company is in prison right now. When to prison for five years for forging millions of mortgage assignments to be used as evidence in court cases all over the country. These were very normal practices, but it is very ironic that the Obama Administration kind of lost track and did not Pay Attention to this crisis that was going on. And now after trumps election, he brings into people who profited almost the most from run his cabinet. Amy w what does it mean to bebd of treasury and commererce . How does it relate to whether history is around the issue of foreclclosure . Certainly, the Treasury Department is a regulatory position now. Steve mnuchin will be the head of the Financial Stability oversight council, which is a super regulator that monitors systemic risk. There was a lot of system risk from the financial isis and the foreclosure crisis and he can kind of shut it down. Steve mnuchin has said he will seek to privatize fannie mae and freddie mac, where nine out of 10 mortgages are owned or guaranteed right now. That will be a huge windfall for the hedge funds that bought fannie mae and freddie mac stock at a low point at one dollar a share. If that is spun out of privatize, it would be 30 to 40 a share. One of the biggest benefactors of that would be john paulson, who was a Business Partner to Steven Mnuchin in the onewest deal. Deregulation, through just the lack of attention to these matters, Steven Mnuchin is going to have a lot of control wilbur ross, maybe less so at the commerce department, but still, youre talking about Donald Trumps closest pfizers debt advisers and it is very likely that will take their eyes off the ball with respect to the practices of the mortgage industry. ,my mnuchin david dayen thank you for being with us, author of, chain of title how three ordinary americans uncovered wall streets greaeat foreclosure fraud. We turn now to our last segment. Promises by president elect donald trump to deport millions of immigrants have drawn new attention to whether they can be detained indefinitely as they fight their cases. Currently immigrants have no right to a bond hearing. This is different from u. S. Citizens who face trial in criminal court, and can have a judge examine their case and determine if they should remain in jail until it is resolved. On wednesdaay, the supupreme cot held a hearing on this issue in a case that could give immigrants the same right. In this video an immigrant named alex lora explains how he was detained before our next guest helped him win a bond hearing after he was held for six months. My mother brought me from the dominican r republic. I was seseven years old when i t my green card. Most of my family is here. I dont be going backandforth to the domininican republic. Right herere is home. I i have been here my whole lif. In 2009, i was working in a Grocery Store when the police ofofficers rusush in. They say, wewe got a search warrant and put cuffs on meme, started searching the store. They went toto the Cash Register area. The personon who was there had drugs on them. Because that person had drugs on them, everybody was arrested. Pled guiltymr. Lora to a drurug offense. The coururt agreed d he deserveo jail time angave him probation. My lawyer advised me was nothing, it would just be five years probation and a slap on the wrist. My lawyer advised me wrong. If i h had known the problem i s going to have todayay, i wowoult have pleaded guilty. When i started probation, i used to go every week, then every other week, once a month for about three years. Came to my houuse arounund 5 00 in the morning. They say, we h have a war f forr arrest. I said, i dont have no warrants. Im good. There were like five cars around me, 10 people everywhere. They grabbed me and put shackles on me. They putut chains on my waist right in the middle of the street with everybody looking in the morning. Said i was officer getting deported and theres nothing i could do. It was like youre going through hell. Like ifpeople a around you you killed someone. Then they took me to jersey, like the government kidnapped me. Kept me away from my family and friends, my lovove ones. L like jail, maybe woworse. Yoyoure always coldld. They never turn off f the a c. They give you a mattress that is maybe an inch thick. The type of food that they give you, i would not even get to my dog. Yoyou cant your sleep, canante the babathroom in peace. All you seee is people e crying every day. Some people are in there for years. Im lucky im just there for six months. Says youre not in jail. Ifif im not in n jail, where yu keeping me here for soong . They also tell yoou if you want to leave, sign, get deported. After 15 days of being in their, i just wanted to sign and get out. I think i would rather be free in the Dominican Republic than being locked up in jail. Amy so that was alex lora, who received f free legal representationon from a servic funded by new york city and won the right to have a bond hearing after six months. He is now out on bail. One of his lawyers was our guest alina das, a professor at the nyu school of law, where she codirects the immigrant rights clinic. Also with us is Hilarion Joseph, originally from trinidad. He was held for three years and two months in immigrant detention without a bond hearing when he faced deportation after his conviction for transporting weapons. He eventually won his case and was released in 2007. This year, he became a u. S. Citizen. Welcome both of you to democracy now alina das, talk about alex and how this happened and what this means, how many people are in this similarar situation. Alex is an example of what is happening all across the country. He is a lawful permanent resident who has been here since he was seven years old. He lived his life as an american. Yet when it came down to immigration detention and deportation, he was not given his basic due process rights. He had to fight his way out of the system. Now we have to see whether or not the rule in his case that immigrants should get a bond hearing if there detained for six months will be applied across the country. Amamy he was held for six mont. Hilarion joseph, you are held for over three years in detention in different detention jails or just one . Different detentions, yes. In those three years i believe about two or three months the conditions were extremely uncomfortable. It was made where we would it was a form of intimidation so that we can be forced to sign out and be deported. Like myself and many other immigrants who have been detained, we have had to go to extreme uncomfortable conditions so that we can make a decision either to stay and suffer or go back to our country. We were told this by the correction officer. We were told even for like the veterans, why did you come to this country . What was her reason for coming in . Serving thisr time country telling amy explain that. For our radio audience, they are not seeing you right now. You are wearing or military uniform. You are a d decorated veteran of the gulf war. That is c correct. Amy you come back from serving in the gulf, you are imprisoned for three years. Initially, for the crime that was committed, i was given probation. During the probation period, i became ill, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, and i moved from where i lived to my mom where i could get better health. I was violated for that purpose and i was given six months imprisonment for that violation. After completing the violation of probation, immigration put a hold on me. Like i said telling amy six month in prison, three years in detention. How old was your son . The truth of the matter is, my son at the time, i did not have knowledge he existed. I had no knowledge he existed. I only found out about my son after being released from immigration attention. By that t time, he was e eight s old. Amy and now you have become an american citizen. Yes. I became an american citizen on the 21st of september. Amy what did that mean to you . Wow. I remember when i first joined the military and serving in my unit, it is called colorguard, where the soldiers would hoist the flag. I remember the first time i did it, i felt like i was a complete part of this country. When i received my citizenship, i felt the same way. Now i feel like i dont have the reason to fear. I dont feel like i have to be concerned if im going to have to leave my family again, my children again, or if ice is going to be knocking at my door at whatever time in the morning. Having my citizenship gives me the comfort that i believe every immigrant, especially the veterans, should have. I believe they should be able to be in their home and not worried or concerned whether ice is going to come you know, coming to pick them up. Amy alina das, talk about the significance of wednesdays hearing and what happens now under President Donald Trump. Sure. Well, the hearing on when they before the Supreme Court is for a case thahat is all aboutut ths ninightmare e situation that Hilarion Joseph has gone through, about preventing people ending mononths or years in detention without even ththe ability to ask a judge to hear out whether they should be released to their families. So we want to see the Supreme Court stand up and send a clear message that constitutional protections do apply to immigrants in detetention and de process does require this minimum right to be able to ask someone for your chance to be released. This is important now more than ever. Immigration attention was skyrocketingng even under the Obama Administration. A given president elect trumps comments, we expected to increase even more. He needs to know if hes going to be locking up people, it does not mean we are going to throw away the key, and that the kind of values that hililarion s sofe are for all immigrants. Amy the government argued maybe 20 years as a long time in detention, but not free. Absolutely. When i heard the attorney for the government may that statement, when he said three years would be just fine amy these are people who have not been convicted of a crime, jailed, for years. The statute applies both to people who are coming to the country as Asylum Seekers with no criminal rececord, just askig for our prototection, as well as people likehilarion who made had a crime of conviction in her past that theyve already done their time for. This is a second punishment. Amy you help a clinic on monday. How many people turned out . We had on the 700 people amy did you expect this . It was hard to know what to expect. Fear is running rampant throughout our communities and we wanted to turn it into action. Amy i went to thank you for being with us, Hilarion Joseph, detained three years and now u. S. Citizen, served in the gulf war. Alina das, lawyer and professor at the nyu school of law, where she codirects the immigrant rights clinic. That does it for todays broadcast. Join us for our december 5 20 anniversary celebration. Go to democracynow. Org for more information. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to announcer this is a production of China Central television america. Walter music is one of the greatest equalizers. It can bring together people from different social and cultural backgrounds. The result is a shared humuman experience that transcends all boundaries. This week on full framame, wellllt innovavators who arere connectig the world through their music. Im mike walter in los angeles. Lets take it full frame