co-founder of the intercept. his most recent article is headlined, "mike pence will be the most powerful christian supremacist in u.s. history." but that is just the beginning. is like a cabinet team of rivals. neocons and war criminals, radical right-wing christian supremacists the anti-immigrant activists. juan: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm juan gonzalez, in for amy goodman. amy is on assignment. president-elect donald trump held meetings with finalists for high-level cabinet positions at his golf resort clubhouse in new jersey over the weekend. among those who were paraded in front of reporters were retired marine general james mattis, who is considered a contender for defense secretary, former new york city mayor rudolph giuliani, and former massachusetts governor and 2012 republican presidential nominee mitt romney, who are both considered to be finalists for the secretary of state position. mattis is a former commander of united states central command. giuliani was the architect of new york city's stop-and-frisk program, which disproportionately targeted people of color and was later ruled unconstitutional. giuliani has also called for measures to force muslims on the government's terrorism watch list to wear electronic tracking bracelets, and boasted about how he sent undercover nypd officers to infiltrate mosques. he's been a major supporter of donald trump. romney, meanwhile, has been a critic of trump. he, along with other republican party leaders, skipped the republican national convention this summer. this comes after donald trump announced he'd picked three far right white men for top level positions on friday. alabama senator jeff sessions was picked to be attorney general. lt. general michael flynn is to be trump's national security adviser. and kansas congressman mike pompeo is to be cia director. we'll have more on trump's cabinet after headlines with the intercept's jeremy scahill. donald trump and his vice president-elect mike pence faced criticism from celebrities and artists over the weekend starting with the cast of the , award-winning broadway musical "hamilton." on friday, pence attended the broadway hit in new york city. at the end of the show, actor brandon victor dixon, who plays aaron burr in the rap musical about america's founding fathers, had a message for pence. >> vice president elect pence, we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us here at "hamilton." we, sir, we are the diverse america who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us. our families, our children, our peearents. we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our american values and work on the half of all americans. juan: donald trump later took to twitter to demand an apology from the cast of "hamilton," saying -- "our wonderful future v.p. mike pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of hamilton, cameras blazing. this should not happen!" meanwhile, trump was also criticized on sunday night at the american music awards by the band green day, who chanted on stage "no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa." >> trump, no kkk, no fascist no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa. juan: trump was also skewered in a "saturday night live" skit, in which comedian alec baldwin could trade -- portrayed trump as overwhelmed and unable to complete his series of campaign promises. in response, trump again took to twitter to complain, writing "one-sided, biased show -- nothing funny at all." in washington, d.c. hundreds of protested to express outrage at a gathering of white nationalists celebrating u.s. president-elect donald trump's victory. inside, what supremacist richard spencer, leader of the alt right movement, recited nazi propaganda in original german and said "america was, until this last generation, a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity." multiple people performed the nazi salute after his speech and counted "heil the people! heil when questioned, mr. spencer said -- "i do think we have a psychic connection, or you can say a deeper connection, with donald trump in a way that we simply do not have with most republicans." on friday, donald trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that he and his defunct for-profit trump university had defrauded thousands of students. the settlement comes after trump tried to postpone the lawsuit until after is a not eurasian and excluded as evidence everything he had said, including in speeches and in tweets. the deal reached friday means trump avoids having to testify in the case. in north dakota, more than 100 native americans and allies fighting the the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline have been injured by police, who attacked them with rubber bullets, tear gas, mace canisters, and water cannons in freezing temperatures sunday night. the attack was on a bridge near the main oceti sakowin resistance camp. it began after the water protectors attempted to clear access to the public bridge, which has been blocked by authorities using military equipment chained to concrete barriers. medics on scene say multiple people were shot by rubber bullets. >> i am a medic. we have seen at least four gunshot wounds, three of them i know to the face and head. rubber bullets. right now we are trying to keep people warm all step we're trying to get them decontaminated and treating all kinds of wins. people have been hit with canisters in the chest and leg and that sort of thing full top juan: water protectors say the police also fired rubber bullets at journalists, shot down multiple drones being used to document the attack, and fired flares which ignited grass fires. legal observers with the national lawyers guild said multiple people temporarily lost consciousness after being shot. witnesses say one elder also went into cardiac arrest and was revived on scene by medics. both the standing rock sioux tribe and the cheyenne river sioux tribe sent medical first responders. this is angela bibbens, a lawyer with the red owl legal collective, speaking in a telephone interview recorded by dallas goldtooth sunday. >> right now we have seen people who have beenmaced. they deployed 20 mace canisters in a small area in less than five minutes, to the point where people have lost bowel function. at least one seizure has been witnessed at the front lines by our leaguer -- legal observation team. there have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. has been mixedn with the mace, so even her legal observers have an exposed and are trying to deal with that while they are dealing up their notes. canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. there is at least one woman who has a broken kneecap. at least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through cpr at the front lines by medics. juan: in new york state, four people were arrested saturday protesting the construction of spectra energy's aim pipeline . the pipeline is slated to carry fracked gas only hundreds of feet from the aging indian point nuclear power plant north of -- then under the hudson river. at least activists rallied at a 100 construction site in verplanck, new york. the pipeline has faced years of resistance from residents in new york state and in rhode island. in afghanistan, at least 27 people have died in a suicide bomb attack today inside a shia mosque in kabul. dozens more were injured. no one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, and taliban leaders have said they were not behind the attack. the world health organization says the syrian government's intense bombing campaign against eastern aleppo has damaged and shut down the area's only remaining hospitals, leaving 250,000 people trapped without access to medical care. humanitarian aid organizations say the strikes against the hospitals were deliberate, which is a war crime. doctors warn the damaged hospitals may not be able to reopen. this comes as syrian government forces have surrounded eastern aleppo, which is rapidly running out of food, fuel and water. , in india, as many as 142 people have died after a train derailed sunday in the northern state of uttar pradesh. 200 more people were injured. it's the deadliest train accident in india in six years. in yemen, residents say a 48-hour ceasefire declared saturday by the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition has been broken by airstrikes on villages east of the capital sanaa, as well as by fighting between the saudi-backed government forces and houthi rebels in the city of taiz. this is waleed ahmed in sanaa. >> we hope for a cease-fire and calm. how is it the cease-fire was announced on thursday, november 17, but the airstrikes are still ongoing? juan: german chancellor angela merkel announced sunday she'll seek a fourth term in elections next fall. merkel has already served 11 years as germany's chancellor. she faces increasing pressure from both the left and the right wing in germany, which has been emboldened by the anti-european union brexit vote in britain, the rise of far right-wing politician marine le pen in france, and donald trump's presidential victory in the united states. and in haiti, residents are awaiting the results of the presidential elections, which were held sunday after being delayed in october amid haiti's efforts to recover from the devastating category-4 hurricane matthew. the hurricane killed 1000 people and destroyed key infrastructure. this is a voter in port-au-prince. morningt my house this at 4:00. i came here walking because there were no cars. i came here because i really wanted to vote. juan: and in la paz, bolivia, government officials have declared the system of water rationing is now permanent amid a worsening drought. scientists say the drought is caused by the rapid retreat of glaciers due to global warming. over the last three decades, bolivian glaciers have shrunk more than 40%, affecting 2 million people in the region who rely on glacier melt as their water supply. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm juan gonzalez, in for amy goodman. amy is on assignment. today we spend the hour looking at the incoming administration of president-elect donald trump , a candidate who ran on a platform of open bigotry, threats against immigrants and muslims come and blatant misogyny. over the weekend, finalists for high level cabinet positions at his golf resort clubhouse in new jersey. james mattis. mr. trump: we are seeing tremendous talent. people, as i say, will make america great again. these are really great people. these are really, really talented people. >> [inaudible] trump: we are doing it again tomorrow. we think he is a great guy. he is some great man. >> [inaudible] mr. trump: we will years some things tomorrow. >> what are your thoughts [indiscernible] chris a lot. like juan: james mattis, a former commander of united states central command, is one of several names being floated for secretary of defense. other possible nominees include arkansas senator tom cotton, who saw combat in iraq and afghanistan as an army infantry officer, and national security adviser under george w. bush, stephen hadley. later in the broadcast we'll examine other potential nominees to trump's cabinet. but first, we turn to his incoming vice president, mike pence, who is often portrayed as a counterbalance to trump and called a "bridge to the establishment." but our guest today says there is every reason to consider him even more terrifying than president-elect trump. the intercept's jeremy scahill writes that pence ascendance to the second most powerful position in the u.s. government is a "tremendous coup for the radical religious right. pence and his fellow christian supremacist militants would not have been able to win the white house on their own. for them, donald trump was a godsend." on friday, pence attended a performance of the broadway hit "hamilton" in new york city. at the end of the show, actor brandon victor dixon, who plays aaron burr in the rap musical about america's founding fathers, had a message for pence. >> we had a guest in the audience this evening. feist president-elect pence, i see walking out, but i hope you will hear just a few more moments. we have a message for you, sir. we hope you will hear us out. i encourage everyone [indiscernible] trulycome you and we thank you for joining us here at "hamilton." we, sir, we are the diverse america who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us. our families, children, our parents, our inalienable rights. we hope the show has inspired you to uphold our american values and work on behalf of all of us. all of us. [cheers] wonderful american story by diverse group of men and women, colors, creeds. juan: donald trump later took to twitter to demand an apology from the cast of "hamilton," and saying -- "our wonderful future v.p. mike pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of hamilton, cameras blazing. this should not happen!" in pence's first round of sunday show interviews since the election, he said he wasn't offended by the remarks and that trump would be a president "for all americans." later in an interview on cbs "face the nation," pence was asked whether trump would reinstate waterboarding as an interrogation technique during his administration. this was his response. mr. pence: we will have a president again who will never say what we will never do. i think in president-elect donald trump am you have someone who believes we should not be telling the enemy what our tactics or our strategies are. and i know that in conversations with some leading americans about playing roles in our administration, we are excited role congressman pompeo's at the cia and excited to see general michael flynn stepping into his leadership position. the team that we a symbol and the president-elect's doubles of the department of defense will all advice and but the american people should know that this is a president who on day one january 20 will focus on defeating and destroying isis at its source and confronting radical islamic terrorism so we can no longer threaten our people or inspire violence here in the homeland. juan: that was vice-president elect mike pence speaking sunday on "face the nation." well, for more we are joined by jeremy scahill, co-founder of the intercept, where his most recent article is headlined, "mike pence will be the most powerful christian supremacist in u.s. history." his latest book is "the assassination complex: inside the government's secret drone warfare program." welcome back to democracy now! let's start with mike pence. extensive articles you have been doing on him, particularly your main concern about him as the new vice president. >> i have been covering mike pence promised a decade. minas shall gain weight into covering pence is because he was one of the candidates that received the most funding from erik prince, the founder of blackwater, who during the bush-cheney years cooperated what amounted to a christian supremacist carreño crusader crusader militia. invited and welcomed after a party for erik prince and the aftermath of the new source square massacre in baghdad in 2007 1 blackwater operatives killed a dozen and a half iraqi civilians, including small children. pence was on my radar because of looking at who erik prince and his family were funding -- you evolution as a political figure. in many ways it is the story of how the radical religious right then such prominent and now is in an unprecedented position to wield power. some say, wasn't george w. bush the same mentality? these guys are more extreme than george bush on issues of religion, on issues of women's right to choose, on immigrant rights, on gay marriage -- a slew of issues. i mean, they really make dick cheney look like a reasonable guy on some of these policies. in fact, mike pence has cheney is one of his mentors and examples whose footsteps he wants to follow in as vice president, combined, though, with a really radical christian agenda. juan: when you say christian supremacist as a poster christian fundamentalist -- >> part of the article was playing with the way so many people have used these terms to describe people that are perverting the religion of islam in the name of isis or al qaeda, etc., and i sort of did it as a social experiment. i got inundated with people demanding i retract these labels. some of those people in those enough is used the same terms to describe the religion of islam. what i'm getting at is mike pence is not just against gay people being together in a relationship. he wants to legislate a ban on those issues. he wants to repeal roe v wade. he wants to put it in the ash heap of history. their primary agenda on a social level is basically taking us back to medieval times when it comes to the rights of women, the rights of immigrants, the rights of the poor, the human hood of all of these sort of vulnerable targeted groups. mike pence, his personal history is interesting. he was raised in an irish catholic kennedy democrat household and converted on the spot at a christian music festival in kentucky while he was in college. he sort of now describes himself as an evangelical catholic. his sort of intellectual role models within what i call a christian supremacist world of people like the famed radical right-wing catholic priest richard neuhaus who converted to being a catholic list of gerry bauer and james thompson, you know, ferocious right-wing anti-woman activist. these are the people that sort of populated the world mike pence comes out of. pence has been viewed as one of the prized warriors of the radical religious right. in indiana, his state was one of the most -- had one of the most restrictive to akoni and rules on abortion and the criminalizing of abortion. he tried to ram through a law that would have required fetal tissue or fetuses that were aborted to receive a proper burial. a judge intervenes, a federal judge intervened the day before this was to take hold and said this is quite likely unconstitutional will stop he held up hiv medication and treatment funding trying to put on a requirement that it come with fair be that would preach against the evils of gay sex. he sex is no sex and he chided former secretary of state colin powell for suggesting that people should use condoms when having sex. juan: i want to turn to indiana governor mike pence cut funding to planned parenthood resulting in the closing of clinics. pence has also called for ending all federal funding to the organization. this is him's beginning in 2011. correct the time has come to deny all plan funding. the act would deny title x funds to planned parenthood or any other abortion provider in congress must act and act now to move this important legislation. pro-life americans at all americans should not be forced to subsidize america's largest abortion provider or to continue to -- cork time is expired. was 2011. plan comes as called mike pence "the anti-women's health crusader" noting pence has already passed extreme antiabortion, anti-planned parenthood, anti-lgbtq laws. since the election, the group says it has received 20,000 donations made from its supporters in the name of mike pence. this is planned parenthood president cecile richards speaking to msnbc after the election. >> our door stay open and they will and it has been kind of extraordinary, as you said, we have supporters, thousands of supporters from around the country to social media last night immediately. folks have been dropping off baked goods at our centers. it also one of the interesting things, the number of women who have called and made up limits for birth control. iud, things that are now covered by the affordable care act by no cost because they're concerned donald trump will follow through on his pledge to overturn the affordable care act. we are seeing lots of new patients coming into our clinics. juan: that was cecile richards, responding to some of the positions of pence. jeremy, very little of this made its way to the public discussion during the campaign season of his stance on these issues. he was portrayed as the more reasonable, more established -- establishment figure. pundits andral newspapers have referred to him as the adult in the room and this will be the reasonable guy who will be about a conversation with the democrats. mike pence is anything but reasonable. this is a guy who has a militant agenda against women, against the poor, against immigrants -- remember, he is going to be running both domestic and foreign-policy according to donald trump, junior. the trump campaign says, we do not say that. i think it is likely they did say that. that becomes extremely important when you look at the composition of the supreme court right now. you through public is have effectively stopped obama for putting merrick garland in as a supreme court justice. we have the potential for these guys to be putting into or more supreme court justices. the court will tilt a shock to the right as it is big, certainly in our lifetime, and could raise the prospect of a full attempt to criminalize abortion. quickly come on foreign policy, mike pence is an extremely hawkish neocon when it comes to rejoin maps in the middle east. with now coming to terms the fact he loves torture. he was one of those republicans who was saying john mccain is right on this. now he is walking that back. the strategy that said they will employ against isis just bomb the blank out of them, as donald trump put it -- mike pence is interesting. the few areas where i think he has decent policy ideas, he is slowly backing away from them. one, mike and is one of billy members of congress to support a shield law for journalists to protect confidential sources. mike pence had a strong position on that. the language of the bill that they ended up putting for that did not pass was week in its exceptions for national security, which is what they used against the intercept another places to conduct surveillance on journalists. but it was there. he also has walked back his opposition to wireless wiretapping. in the state of indiana, he tried to require probable cause in order for local law enforcement use stingray surveillance devices against people, but he wants a permanent patriot act and he doesn't want federal law enforcement to have a warrant. on these issues where he may , sanead some logical policy ideas, trump has all but destroyed that. pence is not a foot soldier in this lunatic agenda that joins his own lunatic agenda. it is, like the worst of both worlds. juan: on israel-palestine, because trump at least in the debates seemed to be offering a more balanced approach to israel-palestine. thatke pence has suggested the united states should pass a law or pass a resolution, rather, supporting israeli attack on iran should they decide to do that. , on climate change, i call him climate change curious. he wants said it was a fraud and wrote that -- that was part of his political campaign to say climate change is a total myth and a fraud. now you sort of saying, well, i guess human actions and pollution contributed to this but i don't want us to do anything about this because jobs. this whole thing about trump restarting coal. first of all, they are aligned to those workers that their one to be reopening this booming coal industry. but to have two people running this country who have either dog whistled or blatantly said that climate change is a hoax bodes very dim for the prospects of our environment and the world we are going to leave our children and grandchildren. it is a frightening administration on a number of levels because it combines the buffoonery of trump's public persona with nuclear weapons and being the most powerful economic force in the world right now, second maybe to china, with this radical right-wing christian supremacist agenda. they want to wipe out muslims. that is the clear definition of a religious supremacy. is in good company in the emerging cabinet in terms of viewing islam as an ideology that needs to be exterminated along with its followers. juan: we are talking with jeremy scahill, cofounder of the intercept where his most recent articles is, "mike pence will be the most powerful christian supremacist in u.s. history." we are going to be going to the rest of that after we come back from this break. ♪ [music break] juan: sharon jones died this friday after an extended battle with cancer. she returned to performing in 2015 after treatment, but the cancer went into remission. late last year she revealed she had been told it had returned. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm juan gonzalez, in for amy goodman. amy is on assignment. we turn now to look at the rest of the incoming administration of president-elect donald trump. last week, trump made three key announcements to his cabinet. he offered lt. general michael flynn the position of national security adviser. flynn is well-known for his anti-muslim worldview, having called islam a cancer and saying "fear of muslims is rational." the position of national security adviser does not require senate confirmation. flynn served as the director of the defense intelligence agency under president obama, during which time some of his subordinates invented the term "flynn facts" to refer to the false claims flynn frequently made including claiming sharia , law was spreading in the united states. on friday, kansas congressmember mike pompeo was named as cia director. pompeo has opposed closing guantanamo bay prison. in 2013, he visited the notorious u.s. prison and said of the prisoners who were on hunger strike -- "it looked to me like a lot of them had put on weight." he's also a vocal opponent of the iran nuclear deal. and in one of his first appointments, trump selected alabama senator jeff sessions to be attorney general. sessions is a former prosecutor who was elected to the senate in 1996. as a senator, he's consistently supported anti-immigration legislation. in 2010, he was a leading proponent of the efforts to repeal the 14th amendment, which grants citizenship to everyone born in the united states. sessions has also been a vocal opponent of the voting rights act. in 1986, president ronald reagan nominated sessions for a federal judgeship but he was denied , confirmation because of his history of racist comments, including reportedly saying he thought the ku klux klan "was ok until i found out they smoked pot." well, for more, we're still joined by jeremy scahill, cofounder of the intercept. talk about the three key appointments. >> first of all, one thing i think that is interesting is that trump is putting together his own version of a team of rivals. they are rivals of president obama when it comes to some of these military people. you general flynn, general mattis, former marine corps general who very well-made be the secretary of defense. then you have admiral mike rogers, current head of the nsa that may end up being the director of national intelligence. all of these people ended up in direct conflict with president obama over key issues that trump and pence of sort of touted. with the issue, starting with general michael flynn, i followed his career for a very long time. flynn is a fascinating character. his social media presence i think it's the impression he is just a hateful buffoon. flynn actually is a very important figure in the evolution of dirty wars post 9/11. flynn was the intelligence chief for general stanley mcchrystal when mcchrystal was the commander of the joint special operations command -- which effectively operated as a kind of guard for the most sensitive operations being ordered by the white house under bush and cheney. they killed their way through iraq. they had set up a notorious .rison in baghdad later when flynn and mcchrystal were rolling your sleeves up, they moved it. flynn and mcchrystal were credited with taking the strategy that in order to fight a force like al qaeda, you have to think like them. so they started doing a lot more house raids. this intelligence leads to that intelligence. primitive strikes. flynn would personally sit in on the interrogations that were being conducted a prisoners, and there were white allegations of abuse and torture at the camp in baghdad and later at the base -- mcchrystals was. they implemented the same kind of sort of systematic mathematical kill operation that they had built up in iraq. flynn ended up being a nightmare of a footnote for flynn's career in his own eyes. you did have this business about him looking with a radical anti-islam ideology at intelligence, which defeats the whole purpose of having people head of intelligence agency. the defense intelligence agency is the military's equivalent of the cia. under donald rumsfeld, when he was defense secretary, rumsfeld started encroaching on areas that were typically the sovereign realm of the cia. that started this battle that we still see to this day where the cia and the pentagon are diving into each other's -- dipping into each other's territory. what i think we will see with someone like mike pompeo, he ends up being cia director -- on a side note that relates to the work we do the intercept, a has said he thinks edward snowden should be killed and that is a treasonous traitor. domestiche supports surveillance operations, quitting against american citizens. he is a very strong anti-civil liberties background, and that is why he is getting praised from people like general michael hayden and others. democrats also are speaking positively about him. he is another adult in the room. mike pompeo, ok, he is an acceptable guy, one of us, we know we can do business with them. in the business these guys are going to do is bring back a full-blown torture operation. it is not that under obama the cia wasn't engaged in horrifyingly -- horrifying activities of question will legality, it is like with bush and cheney, they ward on their sleeves. cheney's obsession with we have to use forces on the dark side. that is coming back in the power right now. juan: i want to ask you, kansas congressmember mike pompeo has a closed closing one-time obey. in 2013, he said the prisoners who were on hunger strike "it looked to me like a lot of them have put on weight." is also a vocal opponent of the iran nuclear deal. this whole issue of guantanamo, which obama has been trying to close -- at least whittling down to a small number, but still not closing it. >> it is one of the great failures of the obama presidency. the republicans outplayed obama on the issue of guantanamo. i think their game plan was as long as there is at least one theyner there by the time get out, we can go back to game on. there are several trump's appointees or people he is considering that said the only problem with want to know is there are not enough bodies there. what is interesting about flynn, mike pompeo, and guantanamo, flynn has been an interesting critic of the president's drone strike roseann -- program. strikesves in primitive and targeted killings, assassinations. but flynn has said by killing these people, we're losing an opportunity to get valuable intelligence. what we need to do is ship them to black sites, bring them to guantanamo. big supporters of the military tribunal system. i think what we're going to see is obama has blessed these men -- and it is all men right now -- with the gift of legitimizing drone strikes and making a legal argument as to why it is ok to assassinate american citizens, combined with his failure to close guantanamo, means these guys are going to combine the worst aspects of what obama has toe in using his credibility legitimize it would liberals, and the worst aspects of the bush-cheney doctrine. it is unprecedented that this muchof a cabal of this power controlling both houses of congress, the white house, and the ability to run the deck and making the supreme court that is extraordinarily almost unprecedented in its right-wing nature. juan: on saturday, former governor of massachusetts mitt romney reportedly met with donald trump as well to discuss foreign-policy amidst speculation that trump is considering him as a possible pick for secretary of state. trump is reportedly also considering former new york mayor rudolph giuliani and former u.s. ambassador to the united nations john bolton as his secretary of state. that is quite a trio. can you talk about these three and the possibility of one of them being secretary of state? >> you know things are bad when you're in -- you are rooting for mitt romney to be secretary of state. i do not know which would be a worse disaster. rudy giuliani -- first of all, he is a lot of questions to answer. one in front of the senate and having to talk about money -- talking about the fact he gave paid speeches in front of a designated terror organization, which howard dean and others are connected to. it is a bipartisan lovefest with this particular cult. giuliani's record in new york, he is thought of as america's mayor because of 9/11. we remember what it was like in new york. this was a guy who developed a close relationship with the a ei in the cia targeting muslim communities. his police force was in power to shoot at will against black people on the streets of new york. i don't know how else to say it. you look at what happened to alo.ted yellow -- amadou di these people have to understand the tone giuliani set in new york city is not about america's mayor. this was a guy who believed police forces should be agents of war come of urban war. f or all of the writing he will do about how he cleaned up new york, you look at the tactics that giuliani used and think of those in the emerging landscape we see with the paramilitary of law enforcement, giuliani is either as secretary of state or homeland security director is a terrifying prospect. who sort of cut his teeth as an assistant attorney general under ronald reagan, was most known for trying to stifle the iran-contra investigation into all of the north, arms for hostages, the funding of contra death squads in nicaragua. you look at that and you say, how that could mitt romney be? mike pence is the leading candidate. trump is running this basically like "the apprentice." obama met hillary clinton in secret in the fire house annex of the airport and washington, d.c., and they kept it on the down low. trump is telegraphing all of this stuff and picking the most -- i think he is floating a balloon, naming people he knows will never pass senate confirmation. it is sort of like messaging with the ku klux klan and white nationalist groups, sort of like these are the kind of people i like. we will have romney here, but bolton really is our kind of guy. i think there are some of that happening with the way trump is running this. juan: if you did name romney as his secretary of state, there would be really she's as to whether they could be on the same game plan, isn't it? >> when it comes to the military figures, trump is sort of in all the generals and i think he is going to be a very malleable figure when it comes to people like general flynn, general mattis, admiral rogers. the wisell praised military man. when it comes as secretary of state, he is basically doing it almost as a throwaway ambassadorship of sorts. i think it is meant to be a chit thrown to the republican establishment. if you have a disempowered secretary of they basically you're just running everything trumpt, which is seems will do, then it really is just a token appointment if it is romney. if you put the giuliani or bolton in there, then you're going to have someone who is a loose cannon, but really knows how to effectively be a bad person globally and in their cities. juan: we have not talked about mattis and the potential of mattis for secretary of defense. madhere was a move to draft dog mattis, as he is called, whose most recent holy was the commander of u.s. central command and was fired by president obama for speaking openly or critically about the grand deal and questioning some of the -- juan: he played a key role in the invasion of iraq in the battle of fallujah. >> mattis was the commander who encircled fallujah in the first season in march 24 that was then sparked by the killing of these blackwater -- blackwater seems to seep and everything. the killing of four blackwater guys in fallujah. mattis has said, speaking of his time commanding forces in iraq and afghanistan, sometimes it is on to shoot people. talking specifically about people that were resisting u.s. occupations. he has a very sort of golden reputation within the hawkish militarist world. there was a move to draft him to run for president. i think us defense secretary, i think he is less of in the o'connor and some of these other people, but he definitely believes in the iron fist of u.s. militarism. he would be one of the more sophisticated military figures that trump is speaking to. also issued be noted, mattis intervened and was able to get clemency or free a variety of people that were involved with the massacre in iraq were 20 something iraqis were massacred in haditha, and other war crimes. he intervened and got some of the soldiers out or got them cleared in the aftermath, including in the aftermath of their convictions. everyone says mattis is a general's general. what do they mean? in the military, that means there is no real crime when you kill civilians in war. that just means our mistakes in the moment. givens kind of disturbing the defense secretary will be responsible for overseeing all of the armed forces in a world that trump is committing to unleashing u.s. power with no regard for international law or even some u.s. laws. juan: we are talking with jeremy scahill, cofounder of the intercept. his most recent article is headlined, "mike pence will be the most powerful christian supremacist in u.s. history." his latest book is, "the assassination complex: inside the government's secret drone warfare program." we are going to take a short break and then we are come back and talk further with jeremy about what the trump administration holds for the future, what we can at least judge from these initial appointments. ♪ [music break] juan: sharon jones. sharon jones died this friday after next in a battle with pancreatic cancer. a shout out today to the class of the high school for arts and design that is visiting democracy now! studios. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm juan gonzalez, in for amy goodman. amy is on assignment. in north dakota, more than 100 native americans and allies fighting the ¥3.80 dollar dakota access pipeline had been injured by police attacked the with rubber bullets, tear gas, maize canisters, and water cannons in freezing temperatures sunday night. the attack began after the water protectors attempted to clear access to a public ridge which has been blocked by authorities using military equipment, change to concrete barriers. legal observers with the national lawyers guild is that multiple people temporarily lost consciousness after being shot stop witnesses say one elder also went into cardiac arrest and was revived on scene by medics. many people were treated for hypothermia after being hit by water cannons in freezing temperatures. water protectors say the police also fired rubber bullets a journalist,s, shot down drones used to be -- shot down drones being used to document the attack. the legallawyer with collective speaking in a telephone interview recorded by dallas goldtooth sunday. peoplet now we have seen who have been maced. the deployed 20 maize canisters in a small area in less than five minutes. to the point where people have lost bowel function. at least one seizure has been witnessed at the frontlines by our legal observation team. there have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. the water cannon has been mixed with the mace, so even our legal observers have been exposed and are trying to deal with that while they're doing up their notes. canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. there is at least one woman who .as a broken kneecap at least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through cpr at the frontlines by medics. asn: sunday's attack comes water protectors face an increasingly militarized crackdown against a movement to stop the dakota access pipeline over concerns the construction will destroy sacred tribal burial sites and that a pipeline spill could contaminate the missouri river, in the state of north dakota has approved 10 lane dollars -- $10 million. activated the has national guard. over 400 people are been arrested during the ongoing protest and many report being subjected to strip searches while in the jail in north dakota. the water protectors have also and surveillance from private security companies working for the dakota access pipeline company. on september 3, unlicensed private secured a guards unleashed attack dogs on native americans tried to protect the tribal burial site from destruction. the private security firm tigers won security is in charge of coordinating intelligence for the dakota access pipeline company. tiger's juan has links to a now defunct mercenary firm blackwater. for more we're joined by intercept reporter jeremy scahill who has been years reporting a private security contractors including tiger's juan. what about the situation in north dakota? >> first of all, let's remember an americaning on holiday, thanksgiving, and i think of the slaughter of the indigenous people in this country around this time of year and people like leonard peltier, the political prisoner who of forcefully seems yet another president is when a leave office without pardoning winter peltier. to watch what we're saying, out -- protectors,rs facing down against environmental destroying of companies, it really brings home the kind of utter progress see of the narrative about the united states of america. it also if you look at the way the indigenous people and their supporters are being treated ranchers, whody did not occupy their native land, they went and took over federal land with weapons and ended up getting acquitted, including of the charges they were very clearly guilty of -- which is all of these weapons --sess and charges possession charges. it makes you wonder if this is the state of affairs under obama who has visited native reservations and native territories, what is going to happen under trump? this firm tiger swan was founded by a delta force operative named james reese and has done for luminous amount of covert and overwork for the u.s. military in iraq and elsewhere around the realize that you have this convergence of all that has been so wrong in the post-9/11 world with ease big environment destroying companies stripping even further of indigenous rights, private security forces, the brutality against protesters, the pair militarization of law enforcement, and now our incoming president -- i still feel strange saying that -- donald trump also has business connections to the pipeline project? is he going to divest? like, this is going to go from the level of obama just being really bad on these policies to trump actively trying to make it worse for the environment. juan: in a recent interview, the pipeline says he is 100% confident that trump will support the completion of the dakota access pipeline. kelce warn has donated more than $100,000 to trump's campaign while trump himself as between $500,000 and $1 million invested in energy transfer partners according to his own disclosures. courts we were talking about this when cheney was coming in and we were talking about enron and talking about the people they put on the commission about who he trump's choice of is going to put in as energy secretary for secretary of the interior -- potentially talking about sarah palin, i don't know, was ronald mcdonald not available? putting mike huckabee in charge of health and human services? a guy who says an abortion is worse than the holocaust? it feels like we're watching a not so slowly moving train wreck in this country right now. juan: or floating the idea that joe arpaio, who is been voted out as the sheriff, would be head of homeland security. although, at 82 years old, i doubt he would want to come to washington. >> it would be an amusing senate confirmation hearing. in the same category, sheriff david clarke who has said call black lives matter -- is african-american himself -- but has called black lives matter subhuman, has said there is no such thing as police brutality, who led the chants of "blue lives matter" and is a regular on bill o'reilly's show and others on fox news. one thing i forgot to mention we were talking about the cabinet that trump is putting together on a national security level, national security advisor is not senate-confirmed. it is an extraordinarily powerful position that has definitions going back to 1947. basically, is a parallel unaccountable national security apparatus and it is very secretive how it operates and it is up to the winds of a particular administration. flynn and mattis would require waivers to be issued for them because you not allowed to go from uniform within the last seven years to a civilian position without a waiver from congress. why is that? because there has to be chain of command were civilians are directing the military. otherwise, you start to veered the territory of a military dictatorship were military state. it seems like that is part of what trump actually wants. it could be coincidence these guys were recent military people. but you do have to, because it is trump, take into account the possibility that he really does want what amounts to a dictatorship of the executive branch where these policies actually are dictated by the military and not necessarily the civilian chain of command outside of him and pence. juan: i want to ask you, in terms of -- you reached out to the morton county sheriff's office to try to get information on the private security firms. ,> they released documents internal documents, about their investigation into the dog handlers. what they inadvertently revealed was this company tiger swan was actually in charge of coordinating intelligence operations against the protesters. one word of advice to all protesters there, do not believe your cell phones or your computers are clean and a compromise. i guarantee you they are using the entire suite of surveillance devices. i know people have been complaining the internet and cell phones are down. that can because by surveillance weaponry targeting their devices. it could be because there are so many people using them. my guess would be there using people's devices, meaning law-enforcement and private security, as geo-tracking devices. people should be very aware that the full cia, nsa-developed suite of tools that now have made it into the hands of local law enforcement in this country are most certainly trained on those activists and the supporters. juan: i want to thank you for being with us jeremy scahill, , co-founder of the intercept where his most recent article is headlined, "mike pence will be the most powerful christian supremacist in u.s. history." that does it for 10 days show. we will be celebrating democracy 'sw! plus 20 -- democracy now! 20 the 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