This comes as u. S. Intelligence officials are now reportedly withholdlding Sensitive Information from the Trump Administration because they arae concernened it could be l leaker compromised. His donanald trump at t war wits own intelligigence agencies . The intelliligence commununity,heyy have e x ways frfrom sunday and getting backct yoyou. So eveven for a praractical supposedly hardnosed businessman, he is being really dumb to do this. Amy we will speak with Glenn Greenwald of the intercept. His most recent hes isis headlined, the leakers who exposed gen. Flynns lie committed serious and wholly justified felonies. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President donald trump on wednesday ended a longstanding u. S. Commitment to the establishment of a palestinian state, saying he had no preference for either a onestate or twostate solution to the israeaelipalestinian conflict. Trumps comment came during a joint News Conference at the white house with israeli prime ministster benjamin netanyahu. Pres. Trump looking at a two state and one state, and i like the one ththat both parties lik. Im very happy with h the one tt bothth parties like. I can live witith eithther one. I i thought for a while thethe o state looks like i it might be e easier of the two, but honestly, ifb and the p Palestinians Israel and the palestinians are happy, i am happy with the one they like the best. Amy israel continues to annex palestinian lands to construct jewishonly settlements, leading many observers, including former secretary of state john kerry, to say a twostate solution may no longer be viable. But trumps remarks represented a break from twenty years of official u. S. Support for a palestinian state. Alongsgside isisrael. In the west bank, chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat responded to President Trumps comments. Those who believe that they can undermine the twostate solution and replace it with what i call one state, two systems, maintaining the status quo now, i dont thinknk in the 21st century they will get away with it. Amy in a statement, the group jewish voice for peace said today trump and netanyahu spoke of their shared values of democracy and respect for human rights. These are alternative facts. Their shared values are in reality a shared agenda of walls, militarism, xenophobia, racism, antimuslim bigotry, and borders closed to refugees. On capitol hill, lawmakers are ratcheting up their demands for an investigation into alleged ties between senior aides to donald trump and russian officials. Republican senator Chuck Grassley of iowa joined California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein wednesday in a letter to the Justice Department askiking for transcrcripts of fr national securitity advisor miMichael Flynns calls with the Russian Ambassador last before trumps inauguration. December the call broke u. S. Law and led to flynns resignation on monday. At wednesdays press conference, President Trump defended flynn. Pres. Trump Michael Flynn, general flynn, is s a wonderful man. I thihink he hass been treated very, very unfairly by the media. As i called it, the fake media, in many caseses. Sad thing is a really that he was treated so badly. Amy trumps comments came a day after his press Secretary Sean Spicer said the level of trust between the president and flynn had eroded to the point where trump had to demand flynns resignation. The wall street journal is reporting u. S. Intelligence officials are withholding sensitive intelligence from President Trump because they are concerned it could be leaked or compromised. The New York Times is reporting trump is considering ordering a review of the nations intelligence agencies led by stephen feinberg, a billionaire private equity executive who is close to Stephen Bannon and jared kushner. The turmoil surrounding flynns firing through an alarming, from the head of u. S. Special Operations Command general raymond thomas, told military conference in maryland our inernment continues to be unbelievable turmoil. I hope they sort it out soon because we are a nation at war. In moscow, kremlin officials denied any contacts with the Trump Campaign in the runup to novembers election. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is meeting trumps newly minted secretary of state, former exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson, during talks in bonn today. Tillerson is expected to confront lavrov over russias annexation of the ukrainian province of crimea in 2014. Meanwhile, russias military has deployed a secret new group capable Cruise Missile violates a landmark 1987 arms reduction treaty the between the u. S. And russia. That is according to t t new yorkrk times, whwhich reports te new weapapon threatens to derail any future Arms Treaties with russia and has the pentagon considering g whether toto devep mediumrange Cruise Missiles of its own. Meanwhile, the u. S. Navy says it is tracking a russian intelligence vessel that has come within 30 miles of the coast of connecticut. The ship appears to be spying on u. S. Submarine base. Fast food ceo Andrew Puzder has withdrawn his nomination as labor secretary one day before his confirmation hearing was set to begin. Puzder was facing increasing criticism for reports of widespread Sexual Harassment at his chain restaurants, as well as labor and safety violations. Hes also under fire for allegations of Domestic Violence against his exwife, who even appeared on the the Oprah Winfrey show in disguise in 1990 to speak about being abused. The website politico published video of the a appearance on wedndnesday. The most frightening thing was leaving because once i made that break and once i madede it public remember, my exhusbandnd was a a public fig. Everyone knew him and knew what he was doing. Once i made that public, he vowed revenge. He said, i will see you in the gutter. You will pay for this. I wound up losing everything. Amy vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders praised puzders decision to step down, saying we need a secretary of labor who is going to fight to raise the minimum wage to a living wage of 15 an hour and pay equity for women. We dont need a labor secretary who makes millions while his workers are paid starvation wages. Cnn is reporting the pentagon is considering a plan toto deploloy ground t troops s to syria. The u. S. Hasas already authorird up to 50500 special Operation Forces in syria, but the pentagon plan under consideration would allow for a large conventional force. The presesident trump has given defense secretary james mattis until the end of the month to come u up with a plan to fight isis. In yemen, a pair of u. S. Backed Saudiled Coalition airstrikes ripped through a funeral reception overnight, killing eight women and a child. Witnesses say a second airstrike targeted emergency workers responding to the initial attack. This is survivor hameed aly. The people are still looking under the rubble, like you see. Each one is looking for their child or s sister. Thisis all happened from the bombing. There are nine victims and theyre still searching for more. There are dozens of injured in the hospital. Amy the Saudiled Coalition battling Yemens Houthi rebels has the support of the United States. The united natioions wararns the Bombing Campaign and naval blblockade has devastad d yemes ininfrastrucucture and has left2 Million People facing the threat of famine. In iraq, a suicide bomber in a pickup truck detonated in baghdads sadr city wednesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 50 others. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but isis has claimed similar attacks targeting shiite communities in recent months. In malaysia, police have arrested a third suspect in the apparent assassination of the estranged halfbrother of north Korean Leader kim jong in. Kim jong nam said he was sprayed in the face at the airport. He became disoriented from the poisoning and suffered a seizure before dying en route to a nearby hospital. Kim jong nam was the eldest son of former ruler kim jongil. He became estranged from north koreas ruling dynasty in 2001 after he was caught using a forged passport to enter japan, where he told officials he hoped he became estranged from north south korean officials believe the north korean regime long sought to assassinate kim. In texas, agents with immigration and customs enforcement, or ice, entered the El Paso County courthouse last week in ordeder to arrest an undocumented woman who had gone to court seeking a protective order against her alleged domestic abuser. County attorney Jo Anne Bernal said wednesday she fears the move sets a precedent that will see undocumented survivors of domesticic assault stay with thr abusers, rather than risk deportation and separation from their families. Meanwhile, in denver, colorado an undocumented mother of four , sought refuge in a church after ice officials denied her wednesday request to remain in the country. Jeanette vizguerra skipped a scheduled checkin with ice officials and instead brought her family to the First Unitarian Society church where , she addressed supporters. Is the system thinks it can break me, this system is wrong because you can see the reason behind me, why i am fifighting o hard to win my case. And i know that i am m not alon. There are many peoe e in the community and in immigrant communitys who share my anger and my passion for justice. Amy vizguerra came to the u. S. From mexico in 1997. She previously won five postponements of deportation, but said wednesday she doubts she could win a similar reprieve under the Trump Administration. In washington, d. C. , the senate is expected to narrowly confirm congressman Mick Mulvaney as head of the white house budget office. Mulvaney is a Tea Party Republican from South Carolina who is opposed by the entire Senate Democratic caucus. After mulvaneys confirmation vote, the senate is scheduled to take up the nomination of oklahomama attorney general scot pruitt to head the Environmental Protection agency. Democrats are calling for a delay on the vote while a Court Decides whether to force pruitts office to turn over email communications with coal, oil and gas companies. , meanwhile, republican senator Susan Collins of maine said wednesday shell vote against pruitt. But the defection wont be enough to derail his confirmation, and senator joe manchin of West Virginia has said hell become the lone democrat to vote in favor of pruitt. The front runner to become science advisor to President Trump called climate scientists a glassyeyed cult and falsely accused the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration of manipulating climate data. Princeton university physicist William Happer made the remarks in an interview published wednesday by the guardian, saying theres a whole area of climate socalled science that is really more like a cult. Its like hare krishna or Something Like that. Theyre glassyeyed and they chant. Happer supports prohibiting federallyfunded scientists from communicating their findings to the public. The Standing Rock sioux tribe has filed a fresh legal challenge to the Dakota Access pipeline, asking a federal judge in washington, d. C. , to block an easement allowing construction on the final leg of the 3. 8 billion project. Tuesdays lalawsuit came a day after a judge threw out a separate legal challenge calling for a temporary restraining order against construction. The legal fight came as a Top Executive with the Company Building the Dakota Access pipeline on wednesday compared his opponents to terrorists. In a written statement submitted to congress, Energy Transfer partners executive vice presidident joey mahmoud accused water protectors of violence, and blasted them for shutting down pipeline pumping stations. Mahmoud wrote had these actions been undertaken by foreign nationals, they could only be described as acts of terrorism. In medical news patients , advocates have launched legal challenges to patents on hepatitis c drugs in india and argentina, saying pharmaceutical companies are profiting from monopoly prices that leave millions unable to afford lifesaving medications. In a statement, medicines sans frontiers, or doctors without borders, said there are 80 Million People worldwide living with hepatitis c, and we need a wide range of combination treatments available at an affordable price. With patents blocking generic competition, treatment remains prohibitively expensive in many countries. And investigative joururnalist Jeremy Scahill has canceled a his appearance on real time with bill maher after the hbo program scheduled White Nationalist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos to appear on the same episode. In a statement, scahill said there is no value in debating him. Appearing on real time will provide yiannopoulos with a large, important platform to openly advocate his racist, antiimmigrant campaign. Yiannopouloss appearance could also be used to incite violence against immigrants, transgender people, and others at a time when the Trump Administration is already seeking to formalize a war against some of the most Vulnerable People in o our society. Jeremy scahill is cofounder of the intercept and a former producer and correspondedent wih democracy now and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nenermeen welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We turn now to look at the growing scandal over the Trump Administrations alleged dealings with russia before and after the november election. There have been a number of developments in the past 24 hours. The wall street journal is reporting u. S. Intelligence officials are withholding sensitive intelligence from President Trump because they are concerned it could be leaked or compromised. The New York Times is reporting trump is considering ordering a review of the nations intelligence agencies led by stephen feinberg, a billionaire private equity executive who is close to Stephen Bannon and jared kushner. Meanwhile, trump has publicly defended Michael Flynn who resigned monday as National Security advisor after admitting he gave Vice President mike pence and others incomplete information about his calls with the Russian Ambassador in december. Trump spoke about flynn during his press conference with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. Pres. Trump Michael Flynn gegeneral flynn is a w wonderful man. I think he is been treated very, very unfairly by the media. As i call it, the fake media in many cases. I think it is really a sad thing that he was treated so badly will stop i think in addition to , papersomom intelligence are being leaked. Itit is criminal action. A criminal a act. It is been going on for a longtime before me. But nonow it is reallyly going. And d people are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the democrats had u under hilillary clinton. I think it is very very unfair what has happened to general flynn, the way he was treated, and the documents and papers that were illegally i stress that illegally leaked. Very, very unfair. Amy trumps comments came just a day after whwhite housuse pres Secretary Sean Spicer said trump had lost faith in flynn. This was an act of trust. Whether or not he actually misled the Vice President was the issue. That was ultimately what led to the president asking for and acceptptg the resisignation of gegeneral flynn. That is it. It was a matter of trust. Nermeen while Congressional Democrats and some republicans are pushing for probes into trumps ties to russia, trump has focused largely on going after those who have leaked information to the press. In a tweet this morning trump , wrote the spotlight has finally been put on the lowlife leakers they will be caught on wednesday, trump indirectly accused the nsa and fbi of being behind the leaks. He wrote information is being illegally given to the failing nytimes washingtonpost by the Intelligence Community. Nsa and fbi . Just like russia. Amy some supporters of trump, including Breitbart News, have accused the intelligence agencies of waging a deep state coup against the president. Meanwhile some critics of trump are openly embracing such activity. Bill kristol, the prominent republican analyst who founded the Weekly Standard wrote on twitter obviously strongly prefer normal democratic and constitutional politics. But if it comes to it, prefer the deep state to the trump state. To help make sense of whats happening, we are joinined by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, cofounder of the intercept. His most recent piece is headlined, the leakers who exposed gen. Flynns lie committed serious and wholly justified felonies. Glenn, welelcome to democracy n explain what you mean. There is no question that whoever leaked the contents of general flynns telephone calls with the Russian Ambassador another russian diplomat committed what the law regards as extremely serious crimes. As we all know from the last eight years under president obama, the u. S. Government treats it as a criminal act, a felony, to leak information that is deemed classified. In the scheme of what is regarded as criminal in terms of leaks, the most serious or one of the most serious bits of information that can be leaked is what is called signals intelligence, or information gathered by the nsa or cia or other intelligence agencies in terms of eavesdropping on foreign governments. That is exactly what got leaked, information at the nsa and the ia say they gathered as a result of targeting russian officials with eavesdropping. And along the course of that use dropping, they happened here general flynns conversations with those russian officials. That is what they claim. Are claiming is true, immense a leaking of this information is considered a very serious felony. In fact, the losses it is not just whoever leaks signals intelligence is guilty of a felony, but anyone who publishes it, too. There radically, makes the thengton post and times guilty of a felony. Is a the statute, it crime. The question becomes, if it is criminal, is it justified . Hady view, the same view i for the eight years under president obama and for the years before that under president bush, which is that people inside the government who leak classified information that the public has a right to know quite even if they are breaking the law, are acting commendably and justifiably and heroically and those people ought to be celebrated and treated as people defending democracy and transparency and not be treated as criminals. Unfortunately, democrats have had a completely different view of people who leak classified information. The tweet you just read from President Trump saying, whoever leaked this information are lowlife leakers who deserve to be punished that sounds very, very, very similar to everything i have heard from most democrats over the last eight years as they call for the imprisonment of Chelsea Manning and thomas straight and Edward Snowden in the long list of other whistleblowers and leakers that president obama so aggressively convicted fairly vindictively prosecuted. But when an official a senior is general flynn lies to the public , which is what he did, denied publicly that he discussed the issue of sanctions with the Russian Ambassador in his december phone call, information that shows he lied, information the public has the right to know. Even though i think the are grave concerns that i hope we will discuss in terms of what the deep state is doing in trying to destroy the Trump Administration that was elected, in this particular case, whoever leaked this information helped the public to understand and to learn exactly how general flynn lied. Therefore, this fighting a legal highly illegal i think it is also wholly justified. Tomeen i want to turn something nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden said to you nearly three years ago when he fit spoke out a against nsa abuses. Any analyst at ananytime can target anyonone. Whe those communicatations will bebe picked up depends on the range of the s Sensor Networks d the authorities s at that analyt is empowered with, which not a l have t the ability to target everytything. But i sisitting at my d desk certainlnly have the authoririts to wetap anynyone fromom you or yourccountant toto a federal judge to even the president if i had a personal email. Nermeen glenn, can you talk about that in the response was received to the leaks of Edward Snowden compared to now, the leaks of intelligence officials now . Of then the question eavesdropping powers of the nsa ofrevealed by the intercept general flynns communications, we dont actually know for certain what the methodology was that was used to eavesdrop on him. To the nsa legally pursuant a pfizer award targeting general flynn as part of an investigation, either in a new challenges investigation or Law Enforcement investigation conducted by the fbi . Were they, as they claim, only doing routine surveillance on officials of it never sorry country in this case, russia and c coincidentally and by accident happen to catch the conversation that general flynn was having with those target of the surveillance in moscow . We dont know. But what this does illustrate is, lets assume for the moment the nsa and the cia for once are telling the truth and the way they eavesdropped on general flynn was not by targeting him, but targeting the russians with him he was to mitigating. With this revealed something when the Edward Snowden story first broke in the debate around the world was triggered, the u. S. Government kept saying over and over, if you are an american citizen, we cannot listen in on your calls unless we first get a warrant from the court. Therefore, theres nothing after worry about. That was a very warped sort of thing to say because that meant for 95 of the world were called nonamericans, the government was saying, oh, for you, you have no protections. We can listen in on your calls at any time without getting a judge to approve which is true. That is one of the reasons people all over the world outside of u. S. Were so horrified to learn of what the nsa was doing. But the more important point is, when the u. S. Government was saying, it is false. The u. S. Government constantly use jobs on the telephone calls of american citizens without getting a warrant of any kind, despite with the constitution requires and that is because the law that was enacted in 2008 called the fisa Amendment Act with president obamas approval that she was a senator at the time and voted for it authorizes u. S. Government to listen in on americans calls with no warrant as long as they are talking to someone outside the United States for the government says they are targeting. That is what the episode shows. They were able to listen in on general flynns calls with no warrant because they say they were targeting someone with whom he was communicating. As far as the reaction is concern in terms of how Edward Snowdens leaks were received versus this leak, it is like night and day. I have not yet heard not one democrat condemn the leakers inside the cia were intelelligee community who leaked signals intelligence and in the process, alerted these russian officials to the fact their communications have in been. They told these russian officials, we have successfully penetrated your Communication Systems and you can be sure they are now in response, fortifying the cucubic a show and that thty used in blocking out the nsa and cia. There was probably harm done by whoever did this leak. I have not heard one democrat condemn it as criminal or say there should be an investigation to find these leakers and put them in prison for violating the law. Yet all i heard from democrats not all i heard because there were many who supported manning and snowden anand drake, but certainly democratic officials in d. C. Were almost unanimouss under obama in saying that leaks, leakers should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, that they are traitors. Chelsea manning spent seven years in prison under harsh conditions for leaking Information Way less sensitive than what these leakers about general flynn just leaked. Yes, president obama q muted person its, but not only after she was imprisoned under conditions the u. N. Said was basically torture a capture in prison for seven years, even though there was no harm demonstrated from anything she leaked. What democrats seem to think its, leaks under president if it shows highlevel people are corrupt, the leakers should be thrown until. Leaks under President Trump, by contrast, are you wrote and noble and we should celebrate the people who are doing that. And oppose any effort to hunt them down and investigate them and find them and punish them as President Trump is vowing to do. The reality is, whistleblowers are very valuable part of our democracy. They should be cherished and protected, regardless of which Party Controls the white house. Nermeen what about the republican response . Youve talked about the Democratic Party response, but how did the Republican Party, for the most part, respond to the stone leaks versus snowden leaks versus what has happened now . Ironically, the republican response has been consistent. Consistently heinous, but consistent. ,here were a few republicans usually some outliers of the Republican Party like rand paul, people from the libertarian wing, who were somewhat supportive of the snowden leaks. It overall, the republican establishment was contemptuous of stone. Mike pompeo, the former republican congressman who is now Donald Trumps chief at the cia, called for Edward Snowdens execution. Donald trump himself called for snow ands execution. Lindsey graham and john mccain, marco rubio come all c called Edward Snowden a traitor. So in some sense, theyre consistent because they are saying the same thing, which is whoever leaked this information ought to be investigated, hunted down, and punished to the fullest extent of the law which is more or less what they said about whistleblowers under president obama. It is the democrats who have completely switched their position, as they so often do, the minute the Party Controlling the white house changed. Amy were going to go to break. We will come back to this discussion and also talk about what happened at the white house yesterday with the netanyahu trump meeting and so much more. Were speaking with journalist Glenn Greenwald, one of the intercept. His piece, the leakers who exposed gen. Flynns lie committed serious and wholly justified felonies. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. We are looking at the growing scandal over the Trump Administrations alleged dealings with russia before and after the november election. In early january, democratic senator Chuck Schumer appeared on the Rachel Maddow show and suggested the Intelligence Community may try to geget backt donald t trump. Youou take on t the intelligc community, thehey have six wayss from sundaday and getttting bact yoyou. So even for r a practicalal supppposedly hardnonosed businenessman comining he is beg really dumb to do this. Any code that was Chuck Schumer in january. Some supporters of trump including Breitbart News, are accusing the intelligence agencies of attempting to wait a deep state to againstst the president. Meanwhile, some critics of trump are openly embracing such activity, like bill kristol, the prominent republican analyst. He wrote on twitter still with us, kill its are prizewinning journalist Glenn Greenwald of the intercept eking to us from rio de janeiro, brazil. Explain what the deep state is an respond. The deep state, although there is no precise or scientific definition, generally refers to the agencies in washington that are permanent power factions. They say an exercise power even as president s who are elected come and go. They typically exercise their power in secret, in the dark. So they are barely subject to democratic accountability if there subject to it at all. It is asians like the nsa and other intelligence it is agents like the cia and nsa and other intelligence agencies that are centrally designed to disseminate disinformation and deceit of propaganda and avalon history of doing not only that, but also have a long history of the worlds worst war crimes, atrocities, and death squads. This is not just people like bill kristol, but a lot of democrats are placing their faith in, trying to empower, are cheering for as they exert power separate and apart from in fact, in opposition to the political officials to whom theyre supposed to be subordinate. This is not just about russia. You go all the way back to the campaign and what you saw was leading members of the Intelligence Community, including mike merle who was the acting cia chief under president obama, and Michael Hayden who ran both the cia and the nsa under george w. Bush, were very outspoken supporters of Hillary Clinton. In fact, michael morel went to the New York Times and uncle hayden went to the Washington Post during the campaign to praise Hillary Clinton and say donald trump had become a recruit of russia. The Intelligence Community work in support of Hillary Clinton and opposed to try from the beginning because they liked Hillary Clintons policies better than they like Donald Trumps. One of the main priorities of the cia for the last five years has been a proxy or in syria designed to achieve regime change with the alassad regime. Hillary clinton was not only for that, she was critical of obama for not allowing it to go further and wanted to impose a nofly zone in syria and confront the russians. Donald trump took the opposite view. He said, we should not care who rules syria. We should allow the russians and even help the russians kill isis and al qaeda and other people in syria. Trumps agenda that he ran on was completely antithetical to what the cia wanted. Clintons is what the cia wanted, so they were behind her. They have been trying to undermine trump for many months throughout the election. Now that he won, theyre not just undermining him with leaks, but actively subverting him. There are claims they are withholding information from him on the grounds they do not think you should have it and to be trusted with it. They are empowering themselves to enact policy. I happen to think the Trump Presidency is extremely dangerous. You just listed off in your newscast that led the show, many reasons. They want to eliminate the safety net, empower billionaires, and act bigoted policies against muslims and so many others. It is important to resist them and there are lots of really ways great ways to resist them. Having the Democratic Party engage to ask itself how to be a more effective Political Force in the United States after his collapse at all levels. That is not what is resistance is now doing. What theyre doing is trying to take maybe the only faction worse than donald trump, which is the deep state, the cia with its histories of atrocities, and say that almost ought to engage in a soft coup with a prevent the elected president from enacting his policies. I think that is extremely dangerous. Even if youre someone who believes both the cia and the deep state on the one hand in the Trump Presidency on the other hand are extremely dangerous, as i do, there is a huge difference between the two, which is that trump was democratically elected. On the other hand, the cia was elected by nobody. They are barely subject to democratic controls at all. So to urge the cia and the Intelligence Community and power is self to undermine the elected branches of government is insanity. That is a prescription for destroying democracy overnight in the name of saving it and that is what so many, not just neocons, but the neocons allies of the Democratic Party are urging and cheering and it is incredibly worked in dangerous to watch them do that. The wall street jojournal forcing intelligence officials are not getting President Trump all of the information because theyre concerned about what he will do with it, not to mention intelligence agencies of other countries deeply concerned about what trump will do with it, particularly, concerned about what he might share with russia . , there is immediate issue here which is in you look at the wall street journal report it is pretty much exactly the same as any other significant report about russia over the last six months, many which have been proven to be completely false. It is based on anonymous officials making extremely vague claims. Even the paper says, we do not know who is withholding information or how much is being withheld. Secondly, the idea that donald trump is some kind of an agent or spy of russia or that he is being blackmailed by russia and is going to pass secret information to the kremlin and in danger american agents on purpose is an incredibly crazy claim that has nowhere been proven to be true. It reminds me of the kind of things glenn beck used to say about obama while he stood at his chalkboard andrew those unstable charts that he true. These wild conspiracy theories that are without evidence. We ought to have a serious, sober a structured investigation of the claims that russia hacked the dnc and john podesta z mills and that there were improper ties between donald trump in the russians and that ought to be made public so that we can see the information. But his Constant Media obsession of leaking whatever someone whispers to them about donald trump and russia because they know it will get the reporters huge numbers of retweets on twitter and tons of traffic by people who are being fed by what they want to hear is really feeding into the worst kind of hysteria and even the fake news that the media says theyre trying to combat. These are serious claims that merit serious investigation. Intercept, one of your colleagues writes if in fact all of this is nonsense, trump has the power as president to make that clear immediately by declassifying all government intercepts of communications between russian nationals and anyone in his orbit. Do you think that trump p oughto be doing that . I mean, it is an interesting point because, for example, there have been lots of claims made about the communications that general flynn had with russian diplomat and what these transcripts supposedly reflect, yet no one has seen the transcripts. We assume bits and pieces, but not the whole transcript. We ought to see the whole transcript. My colleagues who wrote that peace is right. It is within President Trumps power to order it instantly declassified. There is no review of that decision. Then it could be made public. On the other hand, it is really bizarre, just as a reporter who is been in the middle of a controversy for the last four years about the leaking of classified information, to hear people suggest that the president now ought to take the most sensitive intercepts that the government is capable of obtaining, which is how they eavesdrop on russian officials inside the kremlin, and just toss them to the public like there is no problem at all with doing that. I think what you are seeing is this really disturbing double standard that all we have heard since the war on terror is that classified information is sacred and anyone who leaks it is treasonous and satanic and belongs in jail for a really long time. Now classified information seems to be something that is just a plaything, something we toss around for fun. If it serves a certain agenda. I think that is one of the issues that is bothering me about the way this discourse is on unfolding. Amy were going to go to break and ask about the trumpnetanyahus conference and we want to talk about yemen and the news the pentagon is consididering u. S. Ground troops in syria. This is democracy now where talking to journalist Glenn Greenwald. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. On wednesday, President Donald Trump ended a longstanding u. S. Commitment to the establishment of a palestinian state saying he had no preference for either a one state or two state solution to the israelipalestinian conflict. Trumps comments came during the News Conference at the white house with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. Trump that we have a two state and one state, and i like the one that both parties like. Im very happy with the one of both parties like. I can live with either white. I thought for a while the two statate lookedd like it may be e easier of the twtwo, but honest, if bb and the palestitinians, f israel and the palestinianans ae happy, i and happy with the one they like the best. As far a as the embassy m movino jerusalem, i would love to o see that happen. We are looking at a a very, very strongly. We a are looking at it with gret care. Great care, believe me. We will see what happens. Ok . Nermeen that is President Trump speaking yesterday at a joint News Conference with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. Glenn, could you respond to that and what the significance is of trump suggesting significant massive change to many, many years of a u. S. Policy on this . So i guess my question first the extent to which it really is such a massive change in u. S. Policy. It is a huge departure rhetorically from what the u. S. Government has had for decades, which is that their policies, there ought to be a two state solution. The reality though, as any honest person involved in this conflict or who watches it admits, is that the two s state solution has been dying in effect, probably dead for many years. It is just that nobody wants to admit it. If you look k at a map, itit is honest impossible to see where a separate palestinian statete in the west banank can n be created heaven the g growth of settlemes under Prime Minister netanyahu. Growth, which, by the way, the u. S. Not only did not stop, but as added by shoveling israel with money, with weapons, with all kinds of diplomatic support as they were expanding those settlements. Yes, they objected occasionally and rhetoric, but in action, never did. I think a two state solution is something we are all eager not to give up on because the alternatives are both so bad. But the reality is that in israel, there is an erosion of support for the two state solution. There are highlevel members of Prime Minister netanyahus cabinet who explicitly oppose it. The reality is that because of the course israel has taken, the only heat up options that are real essentially, what donald trump in his own kind of stumbling, inept, ignorant way was getting at the only two options are, have israel become an apartheid state where a minority of jews have Political Rights and control a country in which a majority of citizens have no Political Rights, exexactly like was te of apartheid soututh africa, have one state in which all citizens have little right in which case israel would no longer exist as a jewish state. Neither of those options are good ones, but that is the course israel is taking and what trump is saying is essentially andhe u. N. Israelis palestinians what a certain solution, we of the United States are not going to prevent them from doing that. What is worrying is donald trump is empowering some of the worst extremists in the world when it comes to is really policy. His soninlaw who is in charge of it is a supporter of some of the hardest settlement in the west bank and congress is taking up this weeks nomination of a hardcore prosettlement lunatic to be the u. S. Ambassador to israel. Justice warning, five ambassadors, former ambassadors to both parties came out in a posting on the grounds he is essentially insane. I think theres a dangerous tilting toward extremist in israel on the part of the Trump Administration, but the two state solution has really only existed in rhetoric for long time. On some level, a lot of supporters of the palestinian rights think it is a good thing to finally have that mission that a two state solution is not really possible anymore because of israeli behavior. Amy during wednesdays press conference, President Trump was asked about the antisemititic attacks and vandalism across the u. S. Trump p responded by boastingg abouout his election victory. Mr. President , even after your victory, we have seen a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across the United States. I wonder what use does he say across the jewish state and around the world who believe your administration is playing xenophobia and maybe racist tones . Pres. Trump were very honored by the victory that we hahad. 306 electoral l collegee votes. We were not t supposed to crack 220. You know that, right . But they said, there i is no way to 270. There is tremendous enthusiasm out there. I will say, we are going to have peace in this country. Were goioing too stop crime inn ththis country. We are going to do everything within our power to stotop long simmerering racism and evevery r thing that is gogoing on. There a lot of badadhings have been n taking place for a long period time. We have a very, very divided nation. Very divided. Hopefully, i will be able to do something about that. Something that was very important to me. As far as people jewish people, so many friendnds, a daughter w who happens to be hee right now, a soninlaw, and three beautiful grandchildren. I think youre going to see a lot different United States of america over the next 3, 4, or eight yeyears. I ththink a lot ofof good thinge happenening will stop youre gog to see a lot of love. A lolot of love. Ok . Thank you. Amy a lot of love said president tom will trump. This is netanyahu responding too the esestion as well. Ive known President Trump for many years. And to allude to him or to his people, his team, some of whom too,known for many years,s, can i reveal, jeered, how long ive known you . He was never small. He was always it. He was always tall. Ive known the president a and i have knownwn this family and his team for a long time. There is no greater supportererf the e jewish people e and the jh state than President Donald Trump. I think we should put that to rest. Amy after the News Conference, the Antidefamation League tweeted troubling that potus failed to condemn real issue of u. S. Today. In us your response . I was on your show back in the campaign back in march or april as it was increasingly toely that trump was going be the nominee. Remember saying, i thought one of the most dangerous parts of the trump rise and Trump Victory would not necessarily be on the policy level where there are functional checks on what he can do as we saw with the Court Unanimously striking down his muslim ban but what was more dangerous, potentially, worthy factions inside the United States that he was galvanizing and empowering namely, racist, antimuslim, antisemitic factions that have been more or less muted and almost embarrassed to be out in public who now feel as though they have been given license to express some of the worst sentiments that human beings are capable of creating. So whether or not people inside the white house like steve bannon or Stephen Miller or justs are over racists or trivialized and play with those scenes in order to gain advantage, i continue to think that is probably one of the greatest dangers, if not the greatest danger, that he is emboldening that kind of hatred and stoking it and encouraging resentments among people and targeting the most honorable groups, which it vulnerable groups, which in history is a dangerous thing to do. You see in his answer, how you jewish soninlaw and daughter and grandchildren and now is going to produce love, this complete contempt for this notion that this is a serious concern in the kind of rhetoric that he and his closest advisors bringn braced really does with it the serious danger of unleashing these kinds of forces. He is just in denial about that fact. Nermeen i want to ask about yemen. You have written recently on the attack by u. S. Command commandos on the yemeni village last month that left 25 civilians and one u. S. Soldier dead. Among those killed was anwar alawlakis daughter. The bureau of Investigative Journalism reports the assault killed nine children under the age of 13 with five other children wounded. Glenn, amy y we have the latatest is t just came out from the ap, the main figure killed in last month u. S. Raid in yemen targeting al qaeda was the tribe leader who u. S. Andd with the saudi backed president and had been enlisted to fight yemen shiite rebels. Durango right. Among this people critical of the raid in which so many were killed, including civilians, was Arizona Republican senator john mccain. You lose 75 million airplane, warm portly, and you wounded, i do and not believe you can call it a successfuls success. Out. Sean spicer lashed i think anyone who would suggest it is not a success is doing a disservice to the life of chief ryan owens. He fought doing what was as they what was atsion stake in that mission. [no audio] immigrant rights and black lives matter. Where dodo these two movements connect . Why is that connection so critical for progressss in te ususa . It is coming up on the laurara flanders show this week. Cant be done it take a backseat to the people who are doing