1965. On friday, he said donald trump is not a legitimate president. Over this Martin Luther king weekend, trump attacked lewis on twitter, calling him all talk, talk, talk no action. Now at least 42 democrats and counting claim to boycott trumps inauguration. Then awardwinning Rolling Stone journalist matt taibbi on his new book insane clown president dispatches from the 2016 circus. The overthrew the Republican Party with his ridiculous candidate donald trump. I thihink you cannot leave e the problemsms unaddressed. You cannot continuously kick the can down the road and not punish the offenders. Sooner or later, people are going to get upset. They do understand people are getting away with it will stop it makes people angry. Anger eventually surfaces somewhere. Amy as immigration right protests rocked across the country, we look at one of the most controversial policies donald presidedent obama p ps onon the donald trump. Family detetention. Everyryone thought this wasaa tempororary thing. Unfortunately, it looks like it is going to turn into some kind of protracted thing that is here to stay. Similar to adult attention, similar too the attention of unaccompanied minors, thihis los like there is s now this new spe carved ininto the detention word for moms and kids. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Donald trump faced a national ououtcry and plans by at least 2 members of congress to boycott his inauguration this week after trump used the Martin Luther king Holiday Weekend to attack civil rights icon john lewis. On friday, democratic Congressmember Lewis questioiond the legitimacy of trumps election while speaking to nbc news chuck todd. I dont see this president elect as a legitimate president. You do not consider him a legitimate president . Why is that . I think the russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. I dont plan to attend the inauguration. It will be the first one that i hahave missed since i have beenn congress. Yould not be at home feel is wrong. Amy on saturday, donald trump hit back at lewis on twitter, calling his district crime infested and saying commerce member lewis is all talk, talk, talk no action. Trumps attacks sparked a torrent of criticism, with dozens of lawmakers denouncing trump for attacking a living civil rights legend, especially on the weekend before the Martin Luther king junior federal holiday. In 1965, l lewis was nearly bean to death marching for civil rights in selma, alabama. As of tuesday morning, 42 Democratic Congress membersrs hd pledged to boycott fridays inauguration. Among them Yvette Clarke of new , york. Look at the cabinet seselections of the e incoming president. I thought it was important that i notot lenend credibility, i iu will, to a process that would mamarginalize, in many ways, ham the people that i represent. So i will not t be attending the inauguraration of donald trump. Amy the Washington Post reports trump will take the oath of Office Friday as the least popular incoming president in at least 40 years with more than , half of all americans viewing him unfavorably. Meanwhile, Donald Trumps inaugural Committee Said it has raised more than 100 million from private donors and corporations, nearly doubling the previous record set by president obama. Among major contributors are Oil Giant Chevron with 250,000, with weapons and aerospace 500,000, Company Boeing with a 1 million donation, and casino magnate sheldon adelson, who reportedly cut a check for 5 million. Big donors will have a chance to meet privately with Top Trump Administration officials, with a blacktie chairmans global dinner planned for this evening, a thursday candlelight dinner with the trump family, and special vip tickets at fridayss swearingin ceremony and inaugural balls. In washington, d. C. , thousands of activists chanting no justice, no peace kicked off a week of resistance to the inauguration with a march to the Capitol Building on saturday. The protest took aim at trumps plans for a nationwide stopandfrisk program, the planned repeal of the Affordable Care act, and police brutality. The protest was the first of a series of actions being organized under the hashtag inauguratetheresistance. In brooklyn, new york, hundreds packed a weekend Propaganda Party to creatate fliers and protesest art ahead of t the inauguration. I may volunteer. This i is our inauguratining resistance proropaganda party. We did one in the summer a aroud mass incarceration, and the all and thelimate justice pipeliline struggles, and this e is obviously around the inauguration. This is by far the most successful. I think we have had at least 500 people in both days. The role of art is to support and often cases, movements that have already been happening. I think we need to give the pressure on and the energy on in the places we have already been organized. There is already a Massive Movement around immigration in trying to change immigration in this country. That should not just we orient towards trump. We just need to keep fighting. Amy meanwhile, thousands of protesters rallied in 50 u. S. Cities on saturday, calling g fr mass r resistance to Donald Trumps plan to detain and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. In chicago, more than rallied at 1000 a union hall under the banner we are here to stay, calling on local officials to give sanctuary to the undocumented. In washington, d. C. , thousands of immigrants and supporters packed metropolitan ame church in support of president obamas deferred action for childhood arrivals program, or daca, which has so far shielded 750,000 young people from deportation. Trump has promised to rapidly deport up to three million unundocumented immigrants. Elsewhere, thousands rallied in cities across the country this weekend to protest the planned repeal of the Affordable Care act. In boston, more than 6000 people braved frigid temperatures to hear massachusetts senator elizabeteth warren and oththers defend president obamas signaturure healthcare law. Outside of detroit, michigan, more than 10,000 people packed a rally outdoor in the cold featuring Senate Minority leader chuck schchumer, the rally headlined by vermont senator Bernie Sandersrs. Sen. Sanders very few americans believe that we should repeal the Affordable Care act without a Replacement Program to make it better. [cheers] we are saying to our republican colleagues, we to pull up to you 30 million americans off Health Insurance. Amy on friday, House Republicans approved legislation that begins the process of dismantling the Affordable Care act. Donald trump told the Washington Post he soon plans to present a replacement bill that would provide insurance for everyone. Trump did not provide specifics. Donald trumps nominee for health and Human Services secretary, georgia congressman tom price, invested thousands of dollars in a medical device maker shortly before introducing a bill to benefit the company. Thats according to cnn, which reported monday congressman price purchased shares of Zimmer Biomet last march less than a week before introducing the hip act. The legislation would have delayed regulations sure to cut into the companys profits. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer this week called for the office of congressional ethics to investigate whether price violated the stock act, which restricts Insider Trading by members of congress. Donald trumps pick to head a Senior Communications job, monica crowley, has stepped down after a cnn investigation uncovered repeated incidents of plagiarism. The radio talk show host and Fox News Contributor said she would relinquish her appointment at and would remain in new york. Her announcement came after cnn reported incidents of plagiarism in her 2012 book, her columns for the washington times, and her 2000 phd dissertation for columbia university. Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin is far richer than previously believed, with a net worth as high as 400 million. Fortune magazine reviewed Financial Disclosures by mnuchin ahead of his Senate Confirmation hearings, reporting the formerer Goldman Sachs banker is as much as 10 times richer than previously thoughtht. A new study finds the worlds eight richest men control as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity, some 3. 6 billion people. The report by the Charity Oxfam came a as government and businis leaders met in davos, switzerland for the opening of , the world econonomic forum. This is oxfam campaigns director michael spencer. We have an Economic System that is warped out of shape, which means the 1 benefits for this benesigefit dd to help the 1 rather than the e 9, which h is whyhy you get the nur of billionaires that have the same wealth as have the rest of the world on one golf buggy. Amy six of the worlds eight wealthiest billionaires are americans. Oxfam said its concerned that wealth inequality will continue to grow following the election of donald trump, whose cabinet members have a combined wealth of nearly 11 billion. In chicacago, the Justice Department said friday that Chicago Police officers routinely violate civil rights, target communities of color with Excessive Force, and maintaiaina code of silence to stymie investigatations i into abuses. Attorney general Loretta Lynch summarizized the finindings of a 13month investitigation of the Chicago Police department. Review,e basis of this the department of justice has concluded there is reasonable cause to believe the Chicago Police department engages in a a pattern or practice of use of Excessive Force in violation of the fourth a moment to the constitution. Amy the investigation began in december 2015 after the release of a video showing the death of 17yearold African American laquan mcdonald, who was shot 16 times in by white Police Officer jason van dyke. Chicago mayor rahm emanuel on fridayay agreed d in principle o negotitiate a consent dedecree a fedederal monitor toto oversee Chicagos Police department. In cleveland, three Police Officers will face disciplinary charges in the 2014 shooting death of tamir rice. A 14yearold African American boy a 12yearold African American boy who was fatally shot by police while playing with a toy telephone in a park. In late 2015, in ohio grand jury decided there would be no criminal charges against the office or. In International News in yemen, the United Nations said monday that the number of People Killed by fighting in yemen has topped 10,000, as the u. S. Backed Saudiled Coalition continues a naval blockade and Bombing Campaign targeting houthi rebels. The e u. N. Reports another 40,00 have been n injured in the war, with growing levels of malnutrirition. Yemens top u. N. Humanitarian official also warned of growing malnutrition and food insecurity, saying up to 10 Million People need urgent assisistance. In iraq, u. S. Allied forces pushed deeper into mosul over the weekend, seeking to recapture the city from isis. Iraqs army said d it was psesed to capture all isiscontrolled territory y east of thtitigris river. Residents of the e city said the fighting had forced themem to by the dead at a neighborhood rather than a proper cemetery. Civilians are buried here after being liberated, isis targeted this area. Any civilians in locations outside their rule is deemed an apostate, so isis papers would target civilians as they walk down the streets, resulting in deaths. There are no cemeteries. We cannot go to the cemeterys so we had to bury people in the school. Amy the u. N. Said monday that fighghting in mosul has left nearly 150,000 homeless, with more than 12,000 iraqis forced to flee their homes in the last week alone. The Obama Administration said monday it has released another 10 prisoners from the guantanamo prison to the gulf nation of oman. Many of thosose released were hd for about 15 years without trial and had been cleared for release awaiting a nation that would accept them. It is expected the prison will house about 40 prisoners when president Obama Leaves Office later this week. President elect trump has vowed to expand the number of prisoners held in guantanamo. In north dakota, police opened fire with tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets to disperse water protectors holding a prayer march against the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Police said they arrested at least three people after they cut through a section of razor wire surrounding the site. The Obama Administration signaled friday it might be open to commuting the sentence of u. S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, while appearing to close the door to a pardon for nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden. White House Press Secretary josh earnest told reporters there was a stark difference between the two cases. There are some important scaleences, including the of the crimes that were committed and the consequences of their crimes. Obviously, as Chelsea Manning has no alleged and we have said many acknowledged and were said many times, the release of information she provided to wikileaks was damaging to national security. But the disclosures by edward seriouswere far more and far more dangerous. Amy on friday, a campaign supporting Edward Snowden delivered a petition of more than one million signatures to the white house demanding a pardon. Meanwhile, nbc news reported last week that Chelsea Manning is on a shortlist for a commutation. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. At least 42 democrats plan to boycott Donald Trumps president ial inauguration this friday after president elect trump used the weekend to attack civil rights icon john l lewis. On f friday, demococratic Congressmember Lewis questioned the legitimacy of trumps election while speaking to nbc news chuck todd. I dont see this resident elect as a legitimate president. You dodo not consider him a legitimate president . Why is that . I think the russians participated in helping this man get elected. They helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. I dont plan to attend the inauguration. It will be the first one that i have missed since i havave beenn the congress. You cannot be at home with something that you feel is wrong. That is going to send a big message to a lot of people in this country, that you do not believe he is a legitimate president. I think there was a conspiracy on the part of the russians and others. To help them get elected. That is not right. That is not fair. That is that the open, democratic process. Jujuan earlrly on saturday mor, donald trump hit back at lewis on twitter saying he was all talk, talk, talk no action or. Amy trumps comments sparked a Massive National backlash over the Martin Luther king jr. Holiday. John lewis is a civil rights legend. In 1965, he was beaten almost to death by Alabama State troopers as he attempted to lead a Voting Rights march from selma to montgomery, alabama. The images from what came to be known as bloody sunday helped galvanize support for the Voting Rights act signed into law by president johnson months later. New york congressmember Yvette Clarke tweeted when you insult rep. John lewis, you insult america. Congressmember Jerrold Nadler tweeted trump stands with v. Putin. I stand with rep. John lewis. In 2012, we interviewed Democratic Congress member john lewis and i asked him to describe what happened on bloody sunday in selma, alabama. On march 7, 1965, a group of us attempted to march from selma to montgomery, alababama, to dramatize to the natation that people wanted to reregister too vote wiwill stop one young africanamerican man had been shot and killed a few days journey and adjourning county. Whole county and because of what happened d o him, we made a decision to march. In selma, alabama, 191965, only 2. 1 of blacks were registered to vote. Tilde place you could attempt to reregister was to go down to t e courthouse. U had to p pay for socalledd literacycy test. They told people over and over again they could not pass the literacy test. On one occasion one man was asked a bar of soap. On another o occasion, t togethr number of jellybeans in a jar. There were africanamerican lawyers, doctors, teachers, housewives, college profefessor. Soccalled literacyy test. Wewe had a change that. To march. We gotot to the top of the brid, we saw Alabama State troopers. We continued to walk. We came within hearing distance of the state troopers. A man identified himself and said, i am major john cloud of the Alabama State troopers. This is an unlawful march and you will not be able to continue. I will give you three minutes to disperse and return your church. And one of the young people walking with me, leading the march, a man named by the name of hosea williams, who was on the staff of dr. Martin luther king jr. , said, major, give us a momement to kneel and pray. And the majoror said, troopers, adadvance. And you saw these guys putting on their gas masks. They came toward us, beating us with nightsticks and bullwhips, trampling us with horses. I was hit in the head by a state trooper with a nightstick. I had a concussion at the bridge. My legs went out from under me. I felt like i was going to die. I thought i saw death. Many years later, i dont recall how i made it back across that bridge to the church. But after i got back to the church, the church was full to capacityty, more than 2000 peope on the outside trying to get in to protest what had happened onn the bridge. And someone asked me to Say Something to the audience. And i stood up and said Something Like, i dont understand it, how president johnson can send troops to vietnam but cannot send troops to selma, alabama, to protect people whose onlyy desire is to register to vote. The next thing i knew, i had been committed to the local hospital in selma. Amy explain that t moment w whe you decided to move forward, because i dont think the history we learn records those small acts that are actually gargantuan acts of bravery. Talk about i mean, you saw the weapons the police arrayed against you. What propelled you forward, covers member lewis . Commerce member lewis . Well, my mother, my father, my grandparents, muggles and and and people all around me had never registered to vote. I have been working all across the south. The state of mississippi had a black voting age population of more than 450 thousand criminally 16,000 were registered to vote. On that day, we did not have a choioice. I think we had been tracked down by what i call a spirit of history. We could not turn back. We had to move forward. Planted byike trees the rivers of water. We were anchored. And i thought we would die. I first thought we would be arrested and go to jail, but i thought it was a real possibility that some of us would die on that bridge that day after the confrontation occurred. I thought it was the last protest for me. , youomehow and someway have to keep going. You go to a hospital, you go to a dr. s office, you get mended, and you get up and try it again. Amy that is civil rights icon 14 term Congressmember John Lewis eking on democracy now in 2012. Not long after the release of his book across that bridge. Over this Martin Luther king weekend, sales of his book of the civilrights movements havae soared after donald trump attacked him. As a monday morning, a box of his National Book awardwinning memoir march google and number one. The naacp has demanded trump apologize in addition to trump tweeting that lewis is all talk and no action, trump called crime infested. Many of lewis his constituents recoiled at the stereotyping of their Majority Black Community by trump. Residents who actually live in georgias 5th Congressional District responded by tweeting out photos of their community with the hashtag defendthe5th, which includes atlanta. The Atlanta Journal constitution ran a headline across the top of its sunday front page that read, atlanta to trump wrong. War is democracy now , the and peace e report. We come baback from break, matt taibbi joins us to talk about his new book insane clown president. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan as a new study finds the worlds eight richest men control as much wealth as the poorest half of huhumanity ad six of the eight billionaires are americans, including michael bloomberg, bill gates, warren buffett, and jeff bs those. Oxfam said it is concernrned wealth inequality wiwill contine to grow following the election of Donald Trumps cabinet members of a combined wealth of nearly 11 billion. Amy for more were joined by ward winning Rolling Stone journalist matt taibbi, who has been chronicling the rise of donald trump during the 2016 election campaign. In his new book just out today, he writes its an alice in wonderland story, in which a billionaire hedonist jumps down the rabbit hole of american politics and discovers a surreal world where each successive barrier to power collapses before him like magic. Matt taibbis book is titled insane clown president dispatches from the 2016 circus. Friday, the inauguration of the 45th president , donald trump, is set. Your thoughts, matt taibbi . I mean, it is unbelievable. I think this is unprecedented crisis heading into an inauguration week. This last twist at the end of what was already the craziest election season in history with this rusussia controversy and ts unparalleled intelligence crisis, in a way it is the perfect antiending to this incredible traragic comedy of te last couple of years. Juan on the title, as we are hearing in the news, the real circus ringlining brothers circs is about to close d down after 6 yeyears, how did y you get the e for the book . I was going for something subtle, actually. [laughter] no, honestly, it is funny. If the president elect and his followers have complaint about the title, they should blame trump himself because i learned a lot about marketing watching donald trump over the last couple of years. Theres no reason to be subtle at all in the current environment. I thought the title kind of reflected how what happened the last couple of years with a mix of the extremely horrible and extremely ridiculous. And it had t that clown car thee i wanted to reference. Amy cozad more than 40 years ago, your magazine Rolling Stone chronicled next in. There are parallels. You now have an inauguration where just at this point, 42 congressmember Democratic Congress members, like one in five, will not be attending. And that number may certainly go up. The only thing the only time we saw anything like this was in 1972, nixon come in the midst of the war. When theo a time Washington Post reports that Donald Trumps popularity rating, more than 50 of the people, are not happy with what he is doing. It is a 40 year low. So talk about what you have found in this year, particularly now in this rush of cabinet members confirmation hearingngs, who these cabinet members are representing the wealthiest cabinet in u. S. History, what, 11 billion their combined wealth . Just to go back to the sort ofg, obviously, one of the iconic jobs on earth to mckenna like being the for roberts, and this is a tradition that goes back to Hunter Thompson when he covered Richard Nixon eventually compiled it into a book. That was the Gold Standard and always will be for campaign writing. I think what made that series of articles and that book art as opposed to just snappy magazine writing was that thompson was personally obsessed with how horrible and disgusting nixon was in a way no other politician really touched them. A the rest of his life, no matter who he wrote about whether it was carter or even george bush, it wasnt the same thing. He almost had like the opposite of a love relationship with nixon. Ist kind of obsession something you cannot force. You either have it or you dont have it. I would never compare myself to Hunter Thompson. Not flattering comparison for any writer, but i think i understand what he was going through with nixon. I feel a little bit the same way about trump. Hate at first sight when i first saw him on the campaign trail. Repellent,cinating, awful come epically horrible character. In a way, it makes for this incredibly engrossing story to follow him. To me i think that is was stood about this last year, trump himself is a unique figure. He is kind of the perfect foil to reflect everything that i is exexcessive and volcker and disgusting and tasteless and cheap and greedy about in a culture. He is the perfect mirror to reflect everything about our society. Juan and yet the reality is, he did yet such a huge number of votes. One of the thing you have talked about, not only him, but the crowds he gathered in the relationship to you and reporters as well. Talk about that. That did not get much coverage by the press of how they themselves were treated at these trump rallies. I think that is coming a big oversight by a lot of the media. Trump how do politicians get elected . Theres a simple formula that both sides of followed for ages. They tell people that things are bad and we will give you some of you to blame. On the right, they traditionally point the fingers that minorities and foreigners. On the left, we point at corporations, insurance companies, etc. Trump did all of those things. Theppropriated all of bogeyman, both liberal and conservative, but he also made the campaign process is self a villain. He said to me these people, these reporters, these donors, these two entrenched Political Parties are against you. Unfortunately for us reporters, we were the only p people e from that particular group who were actually in the room journeys events. So what he would do is he would say, look at these people. Look at these bloodsuckers. They have never come so far for an event. They all said i was going to the crowds etc. , the car would start hissing and booing. In a way, it was brilliant theater. I think the people on the Campaign Plane did not understand the significance of what he was doing. He was bill villa knifing the process and it was effective. Juan in terms of your ability you had a lot of difficulty . To be fair, this is something that have been happening gradually fofor a while now. The reporters had been increasingly unpopular with people. Foras always been hard coastal media types to interview people in red state america, but this time around i had the success rate of about one and five indicating people to talk to me. ,hen they heard where i worked it was worse than that at times. There was a lot of abuse, lot of anger. To be fair, sosome of it was jujustifieied. A lot of these peoeople felt betrayed by the memedia, not jut the liberal media, but all of the media, even from thehe conservavative publicatitions av stations had difficulty connecting trumps voters. Amy that anger represented at Bernie Sanders outside of detroit. 10,000 people at the rally demanding that the aca, the affordable, not be repealed and a number of them actually were Trump Supporters, now getting extremely scared. There are obobviously, the is some crossover between the anger on the trump side and the anger that fueled the senders campaign. I think that was something that everybody was following in the campaign recognize from very early on. We were slow to recognize that some of that anger was directed toward us. Amy during a president ntial debabate in october, Hillary Clinton was asked about the content of a trove of evils released by wikileaks that were allegedly hacked from the account of her Campaign Chair john podesta. The mills include from paiaid speeches to Goldman Sachs and other wall strtreet firms. During the debate, Donald Trumpp weighed in on the leaked clinton speeches. Mr. Trump she got caught in the life. To herers when out friends at Goldman Sachs and everybody else and she s said things come a wikileaks, that just came out. She lied. Amy so there you have donald trump. Talk about the significance of this. Trump made Goldman Sachs a villain very early in the campaign. He was extremely explicit about it throughout the entire campaign season, dating back to january and february when he used it as a club to beat on ted cruz because both ted cruz wife and himself at a financial relationship to Goldman Sachs. He said ted cruz is totally controlled by Goldman Sachs. Hillary is totally controlled by sex. Of not going to be a puppet goldman. D that a Campaign Aide specifically mention goldman and wall street banks the something new turns around after the election and he brings five people from Goldman Sachs work four or four into the white house. Your immediate obvious hundred action in his campaign rhetoric. He talked about draining the swamp and the first thing he did was fill it with peoeople who ae from the very company. That. Alk about yesterday mnuchin, who we now know his wealth may be over 400 million. Treasury secretary. Steve bannon, comes from breitbart, the white nationalist, white supremacist website,e, news website. Also was a goldman banker. Some people are starting to talk about, what is itit, govovernt sachs, not Goldman Sachs. Goldman is owes had a major presence in government all over the world, not just in america. They have been president s of the world bank, the ec bank, bank of had a lot of the Federal Reserve branches, etc. , etc. Now it is not just mnuchin or abandon, there is also gary cohn, the number two at Goldman Sachs behind lloyd blankfein. They were sort of coheads of Goldman Sachs for a lot of the relevant crisis years. He is now the chief Economic Advisor to donald trump, the head of the nec. Jay clayton, goldmans lawyer. He worked for sullivan and cromwell, but he represented goldman. Anthony scaramucci, another x goldmanite for now a principal trump adviser. There are at least five highranking people in the white house whoever relationship with coleman sachs. This is a company who he specifically denounced during the campaign. Juan i want to ask about russia. The the weekend, we had controversy wiwith john lewis saying he does not believe donald trump is legitimate president part because of the russian meddling. You raise the issue that americans are forgetting the u. S. Role in meddling in internal russian politics in the past. People might want to look back at july 1996 at the cover of Time Magazine that said yanks to the rescue. It was about how we sent american advisers over to save force yields and or seals ands campaign. I was there throughout that time in 1993. I know we had an enormous influence on russian politics, not just during election campaign, but us in terms of in governmentyelts of privatizing the economy. There were a lot of people in russia, drove the country, when a think about things about how i do not have Health Insurance anymore or free education, they point the finger at us for that because some of that was due to policies that we recommended. It is a subtext t that probablya lot of americans are not conscious of because it was not heavily publicized here, but it isis certainlyly something to tk about. Juan and your reaction to the allegations a russian meddling here . I have talked to people who have a pretty higher degree of confidence that russia did hack the dnc and they do think it is probable that they also passed it to wikileaks. The beyond that, i think is where we get into this gray area where it is very, very dangerous for reporters to start making statements and insinuations about what may or may not have happened. Russia hacking and trying to influence the election and donald trump being in on it, there is an order of magnitude of difference between those two things. I think theyre being conflated a little bit in the media, and we have to be careful about saying that before we know what the facts are. They could very turn very will turn out to be true, but we need a full investigation to know why people are saying they believe that. Amy you recently ripped the Washington Post for what you considered one of the worst best to get of jobs ever. They ran the story about a group called proper not, which ,s sort of a private cyber team i guess. They claim to have identified 200 dependent new sources who they called useful idiots in support of the russian state. Coincidentally, or maybe not coincidently, almost all of are pretty wellknown alternative media organizations. It was a very sloppy piece of reporting that the post did and their excuse was they did not openly recommend these or endorse them, but they linked to them and anyone can look at them. That is an endnd run around the usual factual standards we have in the media. That is the kind of thing im worried about with a lot of this russia talk, is that we have excesses when people believe things that maybe are not true. Amy i i went to go to donald trump spspeaking at a News Conference saying it was probably russia that broke into the dncs servers and also hacked John Podestas emails. Mr. Trump as far as hacking, i think was russia. But i think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. I can say, you know, when we names andllion Everything Else that was hacked recently, they did not make a big deal out of that. That is something that was extraordinary, that was probably much will stop we had hacking going on. Amy cozad trumump later insisted he had no loans or business dealings with russia. Of course, the real question is the amount of russian money in his develop projects even here in the United States from trump thanks, he owes Something Like 1. 5 billion to 150 Financial Institutions as it has been reported. When he could not get lines of credit, russian oligarchs were a good place to turn. At this issue, and the last few days, he is announced perhaps nato should not be around. He has said talked about lifting the sanctions against russia. Talk about all of this. I mean, i think we have t to geget to the bottom of it. Am do you think he will be leadining an investigation . I would not hold my breath for that to happen. Tillerson, theex ceo of exxon, whose company has huge amount to gain if the sanctions against russia of course. It is an oil company. The subterranean dealings between exxonmobil and whatever the russian oligarchy, i am sure that is a tangled web that we need to get to the bottom up. Somehow, someway, there has to be an independent investigation whether some people in the senate can be prevailed upon we do have this joint Intelligence Committee in the senate that is allegedly going to have subpoena power and allegedly going to be able to interview people about what went is ant, you know, it urgent question. One of the things that has been clear in the last couple of weeks is our Intelligence Services in their believe either believe trump has some, relationship and are some kind of quid pro quo in the last year. They either believe that is true or theyre putting that out for some reason. We have to get to the bottom of it one way or the other. If it is a this information campaign, we need to know. If it is true, we need to know that. Theres nothing more serious than a copper mice person becoming president of the United States. Juan your book babasically is a chronicle of your time on the campaign trail. You were surprised by the victory of donald trump. Can you talk about that and how so many people got it wrong . It is kind of the big flaw in the book, the second half. I actually saw from the beginning i had been waiting for Something Like trump to happen for a l long, long time. There is a next up from a book i wrote 10 years ago in this book talking about people were tuning out the Mainstream Media and turning to more conspiratorial directions. There was going to come a time when they would shut us out completely. I kind of saw that coming. In theee early on campaign i never thought anyone else was going to be the nominee. I was fooled i think in the second half of the Campaign Like a lot of people were by the poll numbers and there wawas a little bit of a change in his strategy where he seemed to be moving that haveve been successful for him during the primary season and he was trying this crazy new thing talking about how he was a rescuer of the Africanamerican Community and all of that. I thought that was a terrible disastrous move and it was going to losose him the e election. It turned out it won him the election because it rehabilitated him with mainstream republicans who did not want to think of themselves as racists. It turned out to help build him a coalition which he himself would not have been capable of a loan. He needed Steve Bannons have to do that. I never saw that result coming, like a lot of reporters did not. This is the main problem with campaign reporting, we are not out there enough talking to people. We tend to spend all of our time with other reporters and other politicians and other pollsters. Were not out there physically taking the temperature of voters enough, and that is why things like the trump phenomenon can happen and take us by surprise. , final thoughts as you reflect back on all of your work of this past year, in this inauguration week. This is the most extraordinary political story i think in our history. I dont think anything on this scale has ever happened before. Whatat people need to remember about trump, theyre overwhelmed by the horror of it right now but they have to remember also that this was an extraordinary story about how democracy in a weird way does work. He penetrated all of these different layers, these barriers to power that have been thrown up to ordinary people. He was a true outsider who somehow made it past those barriers through all of these loopholes we had left open. I think that is an amazing story we need to focus on, how that happened. Amy you covered occupy in your book divide. Were seeing a mass movemement developed. Yesterday in new york, a major meeting planning the inauguration sendoff of donald trump on thursday night outside trump tower. We saw thousands of people rally around the country on all different issues, massive protest, womens march is planned for saturday, the day after the inauguration. I think this is a moment of people have to do that. This is an unparalleled crisis. If any of the stuff about russia is true, people need to do with they can to prevent him from becoming president or at least try to get him impeached as quickly as possible. You have to take the example of what Trump Supporters did. They defied the odds to get him in office. It is a demonstration that people are organized enough, then they cannot publish anything. People on the other side should take that lesson. Amy matt taibbi, awardwinning journalist with Rolling Stone magazine. His new book just published today is insane clown president dispatches from the 2016 circus. This is democracy now back in a moment. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan is immigration protests you rubbed in 50 cities across the country, we end todays show looking at one of the most controversial policies president obama passes on to donald trump family detention. Since 2014, thousands of Central American women and children seeking asylum have been held in private jails. Amy despite complplaints of medidical neglect and poor oversight, the Obama Administration resisted calls to end the practice. Now advocates worry trump could expand it with even less oversight. We turn now to dedemocracy now correspondent renee feltz with this report. Obama administration n says s policy of f detaining g Central American f family seeking asylum is meant to deter others f from following it thousanands of women and c ca continue to come continue to come. I try to film the tent next to busy Border Crossing in el paso. Security guard did not make it easy. They dont want nobody h her. 1000the tent can holold peop. This aroround by a a chainlink fence toppeped with barb wire ad Border Patrol jeeps are parked outside. Immigration lawywyer carlos g ga totook a tour in dececember. Basically, you walk in and it is tents, like a tent city. Inside, to have chainlink fence and like cages. They call them temporary facilities, but their detention facitities nonetetheless where babies and childldren and papars are sleeping are bein j jailed, whwhile the gogovernment f figut what theyre goingng to do witih them. T this is thehe first of f ad famimily detention. Customanand Border Patrol as 72 hours to intnterview the e socd family units, collect their biometric data, and send them to private prison near san antonio. In some cases, it gives them a notice to appear in immigration coururt and letets them go. Agents coordinate e the dropofs at the mcallen bus station with the nearby sacred heart catholic church. About 1 100 betweeeen 9 30 and 10 30, another 50 betweenen 0 anand 1 00, ananother 50 o or 60 between 3 30 and 4 30, another 100 between 6 00 and 7 00. That is how it goes. She oversees the vovolunteer run respite cenenter in thehe ph hall. Here e in the c community o e ririo grande v valley, we e stao see ththe famamilies in a very devastatingg condition wilill sp ththey n needed to regain the dignity because they have been through a difficult time. As soon as they arrive, we welcome them. We clap our h hands in welcome them as a way of letting them know we are here for them. We take them to the first stop with they sit down and we will register t them. Takeke down theieir name,e, whey are from, where theyre going, and what time ththeir bus lelea. They get a badad with all l of e ititems they n need to go showed get cleaned d up we thehen move them to a section where they go and sit down at the table to have something to eat while the volunteers will look for them some clothing. Ononce they fifinish eating ande their cloththing collected, they showewers, take a a shower a and get cleaneded up. After that, they come and ask for a phone call so they can called her family and tell them what time ththey are arriving. Even the women and chihildren who are released can reunitee with relatives, court recocords show few finind a l lawyer andd remain free. E. Asylum claims in such cases are rejected 90 of the time. Almost half are ordered up ordered at the first hearing and wind up in detention. I think everyone come advocates, the administratation, and d i think everyone sort of thought this w was a temporary thing and we e wouldnt this in the bud. R refugee and immigrantnt centr for education and lelegal servrvices. Unfortunately, it looks like it is going to turn into some kind of protracted thing that is here to stay, somewhat to adult attention, similar to the attentioion of unaccompanied minors. It looks l like there e is thisw space carved i into the tension woworld are m moms and kids. Ice is occupied that space with two Family Detention Centers run by private prison companies. It has a contract witith geo grp to runun 1000 bed facility. It recently exextended its contract with corecivic to hold another 2400 mothers and children until 2021, in a facility next to a state prison. Whehen you combine the population of the statate prison th a populatation of corecivics facility, which is capacity 2400, potentially you have 3700 course rated people and cursor to people in the town, which is equivalent to the towns population. Managing and on a body shop and opposes the family detention center, partrtly because it has failed to o deliver promised economic and iff its. Documements youu reqequested diy to get millions in bonds to upgrade water and sewer lines needed by corecivic. There are 600 employees at corecivic detention center. This is a big deal when it came to pages to the city and oh, we will bring 600 jobs. Still, the city it is great except m most of the jobs s didt go to people from m the area. In october, ice renegototiatd to 13ics contract million of the company past the cut onto employees. A resident supervisisor that was making 24 a ahour wasas making 1616 an hour after that contract renegotiation. They had a number of people quit. Not long after corecivic cut wages, more than 400 mothers and children were suddenly releasedd from dilley to about the same time a texas judge refused t to issue childcdcare licicens toto private prison operators. Immigration authorities claim the mass release was part of normal operations, but it may have been linked to one or both of these events. The average stay in family detention is now 17 dadays befoe a family is deporteded or released. Whilee who are releleased asylum claims are pending in court are again dropped off at the bus statation, this time i n near sanan antononio. Those nont ready to travel can findnd housg and a a good meal at t the shel. Eyewear care. This is the kitchen. We have a fridge, stove. It is important because on the way here, a person does not eat the way a persrson really should be eating. I top of that and d Detention Centers, the food isis a total disasterer. I undersrstand becauause i wenet through the same thing and i know with the food and those Detention Centers is like. A depepartment ofof homelandd security a advisory c committee unfairly r residentialal centers urged the Obama Administration to discontinueue the general use of family detention. It noted allegations of medical neglect and d retaliatiion agait mothers who protested inadequate care. I met a woman named erica from honduras who experienced just that. She was detatained in d dilley r she requested a asylum with her two young chilildren. It w was at corececivics detenn center where herer then 1414monthold daughter got the. D dilley,third day in she started having fevers and cocoughing. I took her to the medic, to the hospital there. They told me there was nothing wrong with her. To the nurse to please give me some medicine because my daughter was having such a high fever. We finishheer treatment, my y daughter wasas l having very high fevers and coughing a lotot. Nothing was better. Deportatationgn my because i wantnted to get ououtf therere. I told the otherer moms thereret they told d me to not do that. Erica sayays at one point the medical staff gave her daughter vaporub, which she had a hard time breathing. When she was released, thehey mentallyook her toto the emergency roooom ththey immediately took her to o the emergency room. M. She was hospitalilized f for seven days. Ththe doctor told me shshe was d that i b brought thehe child bee she could have died. She had pneumonia and and affection in her and infection in her right lung. Advocates worry it to become more common under trump, who has vowed to track down on immigrants and surrounded himself with policymakerers who oppose oversight a and regulatin of pririvate indndustry. For r now, she i is one o of may voices calliling for thehe obama administstration to o and family detentioion before e he leavess office. Childreren hasf my arare ready bebeen here before. These deseserted children w wee treaeated much b better and t te wawas a lot of medicical attent, but truly, he was wrong. Texas, iing from south am renee feltz for democracy now amy that does it for todays show. Tune in for a live special coverage of the president ial inauguration on friday, january 20, from 8 00 a. M. To 3 00 p. M. Eastern. We will carry the official proceedingngs live as well as analysis and voices from the streets. On saturday, january 21, we will broadcast live from the womens march on washington from 10 00 a. M. To 3 00 p. M. Eastern, bringing you voices from the stage and the march. Go to democracynow. Org for details. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] cnwwnyw0p announcereaearthtk is madpossible by the suorort ofhilolo is. Withwesterunitedtates. Th servicg over 2 destinaons worldwid americanirlines a proro sees. Joni Southeast Asia and her many waterways have long held a certain fascination for the west and perhaps nowhere more than thailand