01/17/17 01/17/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! sticks.ng us with i had a concussion. me.egs went out from under i felt like i was going to die. lewisongressman john describing bloody sunday in 1965. on friday, he said donald trump is not a legitimate president. over this martin luther king weekend, trump attacked lewis on twitter, calling him all talk,

talk, talk -- no action. now at least 42 democrats and counting claim to boycott trump's inauguration. then award-winning rolling stone journalist matt taibbi on his new book "insane clown president: dispatches from the 2016 circus." the overthrew the republican party with his ridiculous candidate donald trump. i think you cannot leave these problems unaddressed. you cannot continuously kick the can down the road and not punish the offenders. sooner or later, people are going to get upset. they do understand people are getting away with it will stop it makes people angry. anger eventually surfaces somewhere. amy: as immigration right protests rocked across the country, we look at one of the most controversial policies donald -- president obama passes on the donald trump. family detention. >> everyone thought this was a temporary thing.

unfortunately, it looks like it is going to turn into some kind of protracted thing that is here to stay. similar to adult attention, similar to the attention of unaccompanied minors, this looks like there is now this new space carved into the detention world for moms and kids. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. donald trump faced a national outcry and plans by at least 42 members of congress to boycott his inauguration this week after trump used the martin luther king holiday weekend to attack civil rights icon john lewis. on friday, democratic congressmember lewis questioned the legitimacy of trump's election while speaking to nbc news' chuck todd. >> i don't see this president-elect as a legitimate

president. >> you do not consider him a legitimate president? why is that? >> i think the russians participated in helping this man get elected. and they helped destroy the candidacy of hillary clinton. i don't plan to attend the inauguration. it will be the first one that i have missed since i have been in congress. -- yould not be at home feel is wrong. amy: on saturday, donald trump hit back at lewis on twitter, calling his district crime infested and saying commerce member lewis is "all talk, talk, talk -- no action." trump's attacks sparked a torrent of criticism, with dozens of lawmakers denouncing trump for attacking a living civil rights legend, especially on the weekend before the martin luther king junior federal holiday. in 1965, lewis was nearly beaten to death marching for civil rights in selma, alabama.

as of tuesday morning, 42 democratic congress members had pledged to boycott friday's inauguration. among them yvette clarke of new , york. >> look at the cabinet selections of the incoming president. i thought it was important that i not lend credibility, if you will, to a process that would marginalize, in many ways, harm the people that i represent. so i will not be attending the inauguration of donald trump. amy: the "washington post" reports trump will take the oath of office friday as the least popular incoming president in at least 40 years with more than , half of all americans viewing him unfavorably. meanwhile, donald trump's inaugural committee said it has raised more than $100 million from private donors and corporations, nearly doubling the previous record set by president obama. among major contributors are oil

giant chevron with $250,000, -- with weapons and aerospace $500,000, company boeing with a $1 million donation, and casino magnate sheldon adelson, who reportedly cut a check for $5 million. big donors will have a chance to meet privately with top trump administration officials, with a black-tie chairman's global dinner planned for this evening, a thursday candlelight dinner with the trump family, and special vip tickets at friday's swearing-in ceremony and inaugural balls. in washington, d.c., thousands of activists chanting "no justice, no peace" kicked off a week of resistance to the inauguration with a march to the capitol building on saturday. the protest took aim at trump's plans for a nationwide stop-and-frisk program, the planned repeal of the affordable care act, and police brutality. the protest was the first of a series of actions being organized under the hashtag #inauguratetheresistance. in brooklyn, new york, hundreds packed a weekend propaganda party to create fliers and protest art ahead of the inauguration. >> i may volunteer.

this is our inaugurating resistance propaganda party. we did one in the summer around mass incarceration, and the all and thelimate justice pipeline struggles, and this one is obviously around the inauguration. this is by far the most successful. i think we have had at least 500 people in both days. the role of art is to support -- and often cases, movements that have already been happening. i think we need to give the pressure on and the energy on in the places we have already been organized. there is already a massive movement around immigration in trying to change immigration in this country. that should not just we orient towards trump. we just need to keep fighting. amy: meanwhile, thousands of protesters rallied in 50 u.s. cities on saturday, calling for mass resistance to donald trump's plan to detain and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. in chicago, more than rallied at 1000 a union hall under the banner "we are here to stay," calling on local officials to give sanctuary to the undocumented.

in washington, d.c., thousands of immigrants and supporters packed metropolitan ame church in support of president obama's deferred action for childhood arrivals program, or daca, which has so far shielded 750,000 young people from deportation. trump has promised to rapidly deport up to three million undocumented immigrants. elsewhere, thousands rallied in cities across the country this weekend to protest the planned repeal of the affordable care act. in boston, more than 6000 people braved frigid temperatures to hear massachusetts senator elizabeth warren and others defend president obama's signature healthcare law. outside of detroit, michigan, more than 10,000 people packed a rally outdoor in the cold featuring senate minority leader chuck schumer, the rally headlined by vermont senator bernie sanders. sen. sanders: very few americans believe that we should repeal

the affordable care act without a replacement program to make it better. [cheers] we are saying to our republican colleagues, we to pull up to you 30 million americans off health insurance. amy: on friday, house republicans approved legislation that begins the process of dismantling the affordable care act. donald trump told the "washington post" he soon plans to present a replacement bill that would provide insurance for everyone. trump did not provide specifics. donald trump's nominee for health and human services secretary, georgia congressman tom price, invested thousands of dollars in a medical device maker shortly before introducing a bill to benefit the company. that's according to cnn, which reported monday congressman price purchased shares of zimmer biomet last march -- less than a week before introducing the hip act. the legislation would have

delayed regulations sure to cut into the company's profits. senate minority leader chuck schumer this week called for the office of congressional ethics to investigate whether price violated the stock act, which restricts insider trading by members of congress. donald trump's pick to head a senior communications job, monica crowley, has stepped down after a cnn investigation uncovered repeated incidents of plagiarism. the radio talk show host and fox news contributor said she would relinquish her appointment at -- and would rain in new york. her announcement came after cnn reported incidents of plagiarism in her 2012 book, her columns for the "washington times," and her 2000 phd dissertation for columbia university. treasury secretary nominee steven mnuchin is far richer than previously believed, with a net worth as high as $400 million. "fortune" magazine reviewed financial disclosures by mnuchin ahead of his senate confirmation hearings, reporting the former goldman sachs banker is as much as 10 times richer than

previously thought. a new study finds the world's eight richest men control as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity, some 3.6 billion people. the report by the charity oxfam came as government and business leaders met in davos, switzerland for the opening of , the world economic forum. this is oxfam campaigns director michael spencer. >> we have an economic system that is warped out of shape, which means the 1% benefits -- for this benefit designed to help the 1% rather than the 99%, which is why you get the number of billionaires that have the same wealth as have the rest of the world on one golf buggy. amy: six of the world's eight wealthiest billionaires are americans. oxfam said it's concerned that wealth inequality will continue to grow following the election of donald trump, whose cabinet members have a combined wealth of nearly $11 billion. in chicago, the justice department said friday that chicago police officers routinely violate civil rights,

target communities of color with excessive force, and maintain a code of silence to stymie investigations into abuses. attorney general loretta lynch summarized the findings of a 13-month investigation of the chicago police department. review,e basis of this the department of justice has concluded there is reasonable cause to believe the chicago police department engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force in violation of the fourth a moment to the constitution. amy: the investigation began in december 2015 after the release of a video showing the death of 17-year-old african american laquan mcdonald, who was shot 16 times in by white police officer jason van dyke. chicago mayor rahm emanuel on friday agreed in principle to negotiate a consent decree for a federal monitor to oversee chicago's police department. in cleveland, three police officers will face disciplinary charges in the 2014 shooting death of tamir rice. a 14-year-old african american boy -- a 12-year-old african

american boy who was fatally shot by police while playing with a toy telephone in a park. in late 2015, in ohio grand jury decided there would be no criminal charges against the office or. in international news in yemen, the united nations said monday that the number of people killed by fighting in yemen has topped 10,000, as the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition continues a naval blockade and bombing campaign targeting houthi rebels. the u.n. reports another 40,000 have been injured in the war, with growing levels of malnutrition. yemen's top u.n. humanitarian official also warned of growing malnutrition and food insecurity, saying up to 10 million people need urgent assistance. in iraq, u.s.-allied forces pushed deeper into mosul over the weekend, seeking to recapture the city from isis. iraq's army said it was poised to capture all isis-controlled territory east of the tigris river. residents of the city said the fighting had forced them to bury the dead at a neighborhood rather than a proper cemetery.

>> civilians are buried here after being liberated, isis targeted this area. any civilians in locations outside their rule is deemed an apostate, so isis papers would target civilians as they walk down the streets, resulting in deaths. there are no cemeteries. we cannot go to the cemetery's so we had to bury people in the school. amy: the u.n. said monday that fighting in mosul has left nearly 150,000 homeless, with more than 12,000 iraqis forced to flee their homes in the last week alone. the obama administration said monday it has released another 10 prisoners from the guantanamo prison to the gulf nation of oman. many of those released were held for about 15 years without trial and had been cleared for release awaiting a nation that would accept them. it is expected the prison will house about 40 prisoners when president obama leaves office later this week. president-elect trump has vowed to expand the number of prisoners held in guantanamo.

in north dakota, police opened fire with tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets to disperse water protectors holding a prayer march against the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline. police said they arrested at least three people after they cut through a section of razor wire surrounding the site. the obama administration signaled friday it might be open to commuting the sentence of u.s. army whistleblower chelsea manning, while appearing to close the door to a pardon for nsa whistleblower edward snowden. white house press secretary josh earnest told reporters there was a stark difference between the two cases. >> there are some important scaleences, including the of the crimes that were committed and the consequences of their crimes. obviously, as chelsea manning has no alleged and we have said many -- acknowledged and we're

said many times, the release of information she provided to wikileaks was damaging to national security. but the disclosures by edward seriouswere far more and far more dangerous. amy: on friday, a campaign supporting edward snowden delivered a petition of more than one million signatures to the white house demanding a pardon. meanwhile, nbc news reported last week that chelsea manning is on a short-list for a commutation. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. at least 42 democrats plan to boycott donald trump's presidential inauguration this friday after president-elect trump used the weekend to attack civil rights icon john lewis. on friday, democratic congressmember lewis questioned the legitimacy of trump's election while speaking to nbc news' chuck todd. >> i don't see this resident

elect as a legitimate president. >> you do not consider him a legitimate president? why is that? >> i think the russians participated in helping this man get elected. they helped destroy the candidacy of hillary clinton. i don't plan to attend the inauguration. it will be the first one that i have missed since i have been in the congress. you cannot be at home with something that you feel is wrong. >> that is going to send a big message to a lot of people in this country, that you do not believe he is a legitimate president. >> i think there was a conspiracy on the part of the russians and others. to help them get elected. that is not right. that is not fair.

that is that the open, democratic process. juan: early on saturday morning, donald trump hit back at lewis on twitter saying he was "all talk, talk, talk -- no action or ." amy: trump's comments sparked a massive national backlash over the martin luther king jr. holiday. john lewis is a civil rights legend. in 1965, he was beaten almost to death by alabama state troopers as he attempted to lead a voting rights march from selma to montgomery, alabama. the images from what came to be known as bloody sunday helped galvanize support for the voting rights act signed into law by president johnson months later. new york congressmember yvette clarke tweeted -- "when you insult rep. john lewis, you insult america." congressmember jerrold nadler tweeted -- "trump stands with v. putin. i stand with rep. john lewis." in 2012, we interviewed democratic congress member john lewis and i asked him to

describe what happened on bloody sunday in selma, alabama. >> on march 7, 1965, a group of us attempted to march from selma to montgomery, alabama, to dramatize to the nation that people wanted to register to vote will stop one young african-american man had been shot and killed a few days journey -- and adjourning county. -- whole county and because of what happened to him, we made a decision to march. in selma, alabama, 1965, only 2.1% of blacks were registered to vote. tilde place you could attempt to register was to go down to the courthouse. you had to pay for so-called literacy test. they told people over and over

again they could not pass the literacy test. on one occasion one man was asked -- a bar of soap. on another occasion, together number of jellybeans in a jar. there were african-american lawyers, doctors, teachers, housewives, college professors. so-called literacy test. we had a change that. to march. we got to the top of the bridge, we saw alabama state troopers. we continued to walk. we came within hearing distance of the state troopers. a man identified himself and said, i am major john cloud of the alabama state troopers. this is an unlawful march and you will not be able to continue . i will give you three minutes to disperse and return your church. and one of the young people walking with me, leading the march, a man named by the name of hosea williams, who was on the staff of dr. martin luther

king jr., said, major, give us a moment to kneel and pray. and the major said, troopers, advance. and you saw these guys putting on their gas masks. they came toward us, beating us with nightsticks and bullwhips, trampling us with horses. i was hit in the head by a state trooper with a nightstick. i had a concussion at the bridge. my legs went out from under me. i felt like i was going to die. i thought i saw death. many years later, i don't recall how i made it back across that bridge to the church. but after i got back to the church, the church was full to capacity, more than 2000 people on the outside trying to get in to protest what had happened on the bridge. and someone asked me to say something to the audience. and i stood up and said something like, i don't understand it, how president johnson can send troops to vietnam but cannot send troops to selma, alabama, to protect people whose only desire is to

register to vote. the next thing i knew, i had been committed to the local hospital in selma. amy: explain that moment where you decided to move forward, because i don't think the history we learn records those small acts that are actually gargantuan acts of bravery. talk about -- i mean, you saw the weapons the police arrayed against you. what propelled you forward, covers member lewis? commerce member lewis? >> well, my mother, my father, my grandparents, muggles and and and people all around me had never registered to vote. i have been working all across the south. the state of mississippi had a black voting age population of more than 450 thousand criminally 16,000 were registered to vote. on that day, we did not have a choice. i think we had been tracked down by what i call a spirit of

history. we could not turn back. we had to move forward. planted byike trees the rivers of water. we were anchored. and i thought we would die. i first thought we would be arrested and go to jail, but i thought it was a real possibility that some of us would die on that bridge that day after the confrontation occurred. i thought it was the last protest for me. , youomehow and someway have to keep going. you go to a hospital, you go to a dr.'s office, you get mended, and you get up and try it again. amy: that is civil rights icon 14 term congressmember john lewis eking on democracy now! in 2012. not long after the release of his book "across that bridge." over this martin luther king weekend, sales of his book of the civil-rights movements have

soared after donald trump attacked him. as a monday morning, a box of his national book award-winning memoir "march google and number one. the naacp has demanded trump apologize in addition to trump tweeting that lewis is all talk and no action, trump called crime infested. many of lewis his constituents recoiled at the stereotyping of their majority black community by trump. residents who actually live in georgia's 5th congressional district responded by tweeting out photos of their community with the hashtag #defendthe5th, which includes atlanta. the atlanta journal constitution ran a headline across the top of its sunday front page that read, "atlanta to trump: wrong." war is democracy now!, the

and peace report. we come back from break, matt taibbi joins us to talk about his new book "insane clown president." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: as a new study finds the world's eight richest men control as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity -- and six of the eight billionaires are americans, including michael bloomberg, bill gates, warren buffett, and jeff b's those. oxfam said it is concerned wealth inequality will continue to grow following the election of donald trump's cabinet members of a combined wealth of nearly $11 billion. amy: for more we're joined by ward winning rolling stone journalist matt taibbi, who has been chronicling the rise of donald trump during the 2016 election campaign. in his new book just out today, he writes -- "it's an alice in wonderland story, in which a billionaire hedonist jumps down the rabbit

hole of american politics and discovers a surreal world where each successive barrier to power collapses before him like magic." matt taibbi's book is titled "insane clown president: dispatches from the 2016 circus." friday, the inauguration of the 45th president, donald trump, is set. your thoughts, matt taibbi? >> i mean, it is unbelievable. i think this is unprecedented crisis heading into an inauguration week. this last twist at the end of what was already the craziest election season in history with this russia controversy and this unparalleled intelligence crisis, in a way it is the perfect anti-ending to this incredible tragic comedy of the last couple of years. juan: on the title, as we are hearing in the news, the real

circus ringling brothers circus is about to close down after 146 years, how did you get the title for the book? >> i was going for something subtle, actually. [laughter] no, honestly, it is funny. if the president-elect and his followers have complaint about the title, they should blame trump himself because i learned a lot about marketing watching donald trump over the last couple of years. there's no reason to be subtle at all in the current environment. i thought the title kind of reflected how -- what happened the last couple of years with a mix of the extremely horrible and extremely ridiculous. and it had that clown car theme i wanted to reference. amy cozad more than 40 years ago, your magazine rolling stone chronicled next in. there are parallels. you now have an inauguration where just at this point, 42

congressmember -- democratic congress members, like one in five, will not be attending. and that number may certainly go up. the only thing -- the only time we saw anything like this was in 1972, nixon come in the midst of the war. when theo a time "washington post" reports that donald trump's popularity rating, more than 50% of the people, are not happy with what he is doing. it is a 40 year low. so talk about what you have found in this year, particularly now in this rush of cabinet members confirmation hearings, who these cabinet members are representing the wealthiest cabinet in u.s. history, what, $11 billion their combined wealth? >> just to go back to the

sort ofg, obviously, one of the iconic jobs on earth to mckenna like being the for roberts, and this is a tradition that goes back to hunter thompson when he covered richard nixon eventually compiled it into a book. that was the gold standard and always will be for campaign writing. i think what made that series of articles and that book art as opposed to just snappy magazine writing was that thompson was personally obsessed with how horrible and disgusting nixon was in a way no other politician really touched them. a the rest of his life, no matter who he wrote about whether it was carter or even george bush, it wasn't the same thing. he almost had like the opposite of a love relationship with nixon. ist kind of obsession

something you cannot force. you either have it or you don't have it. i would never compare myself to hunter thompson. not flattering comparison for any writer, but i think i understand what he was going through with nixon. i feel a little bit the same way about trump. hate at first sight when i first saw him on the campaign trail. repellent,cinating, awful come epically horrible character. in a way, it makes for this incredibly engrossing story to follow him. to me i think that is was stood about this last year, trump himself is a unique figure. he is kind of the perfect foil to reflect everything that is excessive and volcker and disgusting and tasteless and cheap and greedy about in a culture. he is the perfect mirror to reflect everything about our society. juan: and yet the reality is, he

did yet such a huge number of votes. one of the thing you have talked about, not only him, but the crowds he gathered in the relationship to you and reporters as well. talk about that. that did not get much coverage by the press of how they themselves were treated at these trump rallies. >> i think that is coming a big oversight by a lot of the media. trump -- how do politicians get elected? there's a simple formula that both sides of followed for ages. they tell people that things are bad and we will give you some of you to blame. on the right, they traditionally point the fingers that minorities and foreigners. on the left, we point at corporations, insurance companies, etc. trump did all of those things. theppropriated all of bogeyman, both liberal and conservative, but he also made the campaign process is self a villain. he said to me these people, these reporters, these donors,

these twou. unfortunately for us reporters, we were the only people from that particular group who were actually in the room journeys events. so what he would do is he would say, look at these people. look at these bloodsuckers. they have never come so far for an event. they all said i was going to the crowds etc., the car ♪ would start hissing and booing. in a way, it was brilliant theater. i think the people on the campaign plane did not understand the significance of what he was doing. he was bill -- villa knifing the process and it was effective. juan: in terms of your ability -- you had a lot of difficulty? >> to be fair, this is something that have been happening gradually for a while now. the reporters had been

increasingly unpopular with people. foras always been hard coastal media types to interview people in red state america, but this time around i had the success rate of about one and five indicating people to talk to me. ,hen they heard where i worked it was worse than that at times. there was a lot of abuse, lot of anger. to be fair, some of it was justified. a lot of these people felt betrayed by the media, not just the liberal media, but all of the media, even from the conservative publications and tv stations had difficulty connecting trump's voters. amy: that anger represented at bernie sanders outside of detroit. 10,000 people at the rally demanding that the aca, the affordable, not be repealed and a number of them actually were trump supporters, now getting extremely scared. >> there are -- obviously, there is some crossover between the

anger on the trump side and the anger that fueled the sender's campaign. i think that was something that everybody was following in the campaign recognize from very early on. we were slow to recognize that some of that anger was directed toward us. amy: during a presidential debate in october, hillary clinton was asked about the content of a trove of evil's released by wikileaks that were allegedly hacked from the account of her campaign chair john podesta. the mills include from paid speeches to goldman sachs and other wall street firms. during the debate, donald trump weighed in on the leaked clinton speeches. mr. trump: she got caught in the life. to herers when out friends at goldman sachs and everybody else and she said things come a wikileaks, that just came out. she lied. amy: so there you have donald trump. talk about the significance of this. >> trump made goldman sachs a villain very early in the campaign.

he was extremely explicit about it throughout the entire campaign season, dating back to january and february when he used it as a club to beat on ted cruz because both ted cruz wife and himself at a financial relationship to goldman sachs. he said ted cruz is totally controlled by goldman sachs. hillary is totally controlled by: sex. of not going to be a puppet goldman. d that a campaign aide specifically mention goldman and wall street banks the something new turns around after the election and he brings five people from goldman sachs work four -- or four into the white house. your immediate obvious hundred action in his campaign rhetoric. he talked about draining the swamp and the first thing he did was fill it with people who are from the very company. that.alk about

yesterday mnuchin, who we now know his wealth may be over $400 million. treasury secretary. steve bannon, comes from breitbart, the white nationalist, white supremacist website, news website. also was a goldman banker. some people are starting to talk about, what is it, government sachs, not goldman sachs. >> goldman is owes had a major presence in government all over the world, not just in america. they have been presidents of the world bank, the ec bank, bank of had a lot of the federal reserve branches, etc., etc. now it is not just mnuchin or abandon, there is also gary cohn, the number two at goldman sachs behind lloyd blankfein. they were sort of co-heads of goldman sachs for a lot of the relevant crisis years. he is now the chief economic advisor to donald trump, the head of the nec. jay clayton, goldman's lawyer.

he worked for sullivan and cromwell, but he represented goldman. anthony scaramucci, another x goldman-ite for now a principal trump adviser. there are at least five high-ranking people in the white house whoever relationship with coleman sachs. this is a company who he specifically denounced during the campaign. juan: i want to ask about russia. the the weekend, we had controversy with john lewis saying he does not believe donald trump is legitimate president part because of the russian meddling. you raise the issue that americans are forgetting the u.s. role in meddling in internal russian politics in the past. >> people might want to look back at july 1996 at the cover of "time" magazine that said "yanks to the rescue." it was about how we sent american advisers over to save force yields and -- or seals

and's campaign. i was there throughout that time in 1993. i know we had an enormous influence on russian politics, not just during election campaign, but us in terms of in governmentyelts of privatizing the economy. there were a lot of people in russia, drove the country, when a think about things about how i do not have health insurance anymore or free education, they point the finger at us for that because some of that was due to policies that we recommended. it is a subtext that probably a lot of americans are not conscious of because it was not heavily publicized here, but it is certainly something to think about. juan: and your reaction to the allegations a russian meddling here? >> i have talked to people who have a pretty higher degree of confidence that russia did hack the dnc and they do think it is

probable that they also passed it to wikileaks. the beyond that, i think is where we get into this gray area where it is very, very dangerous for reporters to start making statements and insinuations about what may or may not have happened. russia hacking and trying to influence the election and donald trump being in on it, there is an order of magnitude of difference between those two things. i think they're being conflated a little bit in the media, and we have to be careful about saying that before we know what the facts are. they could very turn -- very will turn out to be true, but we need a full investigation to know why people are saying they believe that. amy: you recently ripped "the washington post" for what you considered one of the worst best to get of jobs ever. >> they ran the story about a group called proper not, which ,s sort of a private cyber team i guess. they claim to have identified 200 dependent new sources who they called useful idiots in

support of the russian state. coincidentally, or maybe not coincidently, almost all of are pretty well-known alternative media organizations. it was a very sloppy piece of reporting that "the post" did and their excuse was they did not openly recommend these or endorse them, but they linked to them and anyone can look at them. that is an end run around the usual factual standards we have in the media. that is the kind of thing i'm worried about with a lot of this russia talk, is that we have excesses when people believe things that maybe are not true. amy: i went to go to donald trump speaking at a news conference saying it was probably russia that broke into the dnc's servers and also hacked john podesta's emails. mr. trump: as far as hacking, i think was russia. but i think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. i can say, you know, when we

names andllion everything else that was hacked recently, they did not make a big deal out of that. that is something that was extraordinary, that was probably much will stop we had hacking going on. amy cozad trump later insisted he had no loans or business dealings with russia. of course, the real question is the amount of russian money in his develop projects even here in the united states from trump thanks, he owes something like $1.5 billion to 150 financial institutions as it has been reported. when he could not get lines of credit, russian oligarchs were a good place to turn. at this issue, and the last few days, he is announced perhaps nato should not be around. he has said -- talked about lifting the sanctions against russia. talk about all of this.

>> i mean, i think we have to get to the bottom of it. amy: do you think he will be leading an investigation? >> i would not hold my breath for that to happen. tillerson, theex ceo of exxon, whose company has huge amount to gain if the sanctions against russia -- >> of course. it is an oil company. the subterranean dealings between exxonmobil and whatever the russian oligarchy, i am sure that is a tangled web that we need to get to the bottom up. somehow, someway, there has to be an independent investigation whether some people in the senate can be prevailed upon -- we do have this joint intelligence committee in the senate that is allegedly going to have subpoena power and allegedly going to be able to interview people about what went is ant, you know, it urgent question. one of the things that has been clear in the last couple of weeks is our intelligence services in their believe -- either believe trump has some,

relationship and are some kind of quid pro quo in the last year . they either believe that is true or they're putting that out for some reason. we have to get to the bottom of it one way or the other. if it is a this information campaign, we need to know. if it is true, we need to know that. there's nothing more serious than a copper mice person becoming president of the united states. juan: your book basically is a chronicle of your time on the campaign trail. you were surprised by the victory of donald trump. can you talk about that and how so many people got it wrong? >> it is kind of the big flaw in the book, the second half. i actually saw from the beginning -- i had been waiting for something like trump to happen for a long, long time. there is a next up from a book i wrote 10 years ago in this book talking about people were tuning out the mainstream media and turning to more conspiratorial directions. there was going to come a time when they would shut us out

completely. i kind of saw that coming. in theee early on campaign -- i never thought anyone else was going to be the nominee. i was fooled i think in the second half of the campaign like a lot of people were by the poll numbers and there was a little bit of a change in his strategy where he seemed to be moving that have beens successful for him during the primary season and he was trying this crazy new thing talking about how he was a rescuer of the african-american community and all of that. i thought that was a terrible disastrous move and it was going to lose him the election. it turned out it won him the election because it rehabilitated him with "mainstream republicans" who did not want to think of themselves as racists. it turned out to help build him a coalition which he himself would not have been capable of a loan. he needed steve bannon's have to do that. i never saw that result coming, like a lot of reporters did not. this is the main problem with

campaign reporting, we are not out there enough talking to people. we tend to spend all of our time with other reporters and other politicians and other pollsters. we're not out there physically taking the temperature of voters enough, and that is why things like the trump phenomenon can happen and take us by surprise. , final thoughts as you reflect back on all of your work of this past year, in this inauguration week. >> this is the most extraordinary political story i think in our history. i don't think anything on this scale has ever happened before. what people need to remember about trump, they're overwhelmed by the horror of it right now but they have to remember also that this was an extraordinary story about how democracy in a weird way does work. he penetrated all of these different layers, these barriers to power that have been thrown up to ordinary people. he was a true outsider who somehow made it past those barriers through all of these

loopholes we had left open. i think that is an amazing story we need to focus on, how that happened. amy: you covered occupy in your book "divide." we're seeing a mass movement developed. yesterday in new york, a major meeting planning the inauguration sendoff of donald trump on thursday night outside trump tower. we saw thousands of people rally around the country on all different issues, massive protest, women's march is planned for saturday, the day after the inauguration. >> i think this is a moment of people have to do that. this is an unparalleled crisis. if any of the stuff about russia is true, people need to do with they can to prevent him from becoming president or at least try to get him impeached as quickly as possible. you have to take the example of what trump supporters did. they defied the odds to get him in office. it is a demonstration that people are organized enough, then they cannot publish anything. people on the other side should

take that lesson. amy: matt taibbi, award-winning journalist with "rolling stone" magazine. his new book just published today is "insane clown president: dispatches from the 2016 circus." this is democracy now! back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: is immigration protests you rubbed in 50 cities across the country, we end today's show looking at one of the most controversial policies president obama passes on to donald trump -- family detention. since 2014, thousands of central american women and children seeking asylum have been held in private jails. amy: despite complaints of medical neglect and poor oversight, the obama administration resisted calls to end the practice. now advocates worry trump could expand it with even less oversight. we turn now to democracy now! correspondent renee feltz with this report. >> obama administration says its policy of detaining central american family seeking asylum is meant to deter others from following.

it thousands of women and china continue to come -- continue to come. i try to film the tent next to busy border crossing in el paso. security guard did not make it easy. >> they don't want nobody here. 1000e tent can hold people. this around by a chain-link fence topped with barb wire and border patrol jeeps are parked outside. immigration lawyer carlos garcia took a tour in december. >> basically, you walk in and it is tents, like a tent city. inside, to have chain-link fence and like cages. they call them temporary facilities, but their detention facilities nonetheless where babies and children and parents are sleeping are being jailed, while the government figures out what they're going to do with them. >> this is the first of and family detention.

customs and border patrol as 72 hours to interview the so-called family units, collect their biometric data, and send them to private prison near san antonio. in some cases, it gives them a notice to appear in immigration court and lets them go. agents coordinate the drop-offs at the mcallen bus station with the nearby sacred heart catholic church. about 100 between 9:30 and 10: 30, another 50 between 12:30 and 1:00, another 50 or 60 between 3:30 and 4:30, another 100 between 6:00 and 7:00. that is how it goes. >> she oversees the volunteer run respite center in the parish hall. >> here in the community of the rio grande valley, we started to see the families in a very devastating condition will stop they needed to regain the dignity because they have been through a difficult time.

as soon as they arrive, we welcome them. we clap our hands in welcome them as a way of letting them know we are here for them. we take them to the first stop with they sit down and we will register them. take down their name, where they are from, where they're going, and what time their bus leaves. they get a bad with all of the items they need to go shower and get cleaned up. we then move them to a section where they go and sit down at the table to have something to eat while the volunteers will look for them some clothing. once they finish eating and have their clothing collected, they showers, take a shower and get cleaned up. after that, they come and ask for a phone call so they can called her family and tell them what time they are arriving. >> even the women and children who are released can reunite with relatives, court records

show few find a lawyer and remain free. asylum claims in such cases are rejected 90% of the time. almost half are ordered up ordered at the first hearing and wind up in detention. >> i think everyone come advocates, the administration, and i think everyone sort of thought this was a temporary thing and we wouldn't this in the bud. refugee and immigrant center for education and legal services. >> unfortunately, it looks like it is going to turn into some kind of protracted thing that is here to stay, somewhat to adult attention, similar to the attention of unaccompanied minors. it looks like there is this new space carved into the tension world are moms and kids. >> ice is occupied that space with two family detention

centers run by private prison companies. it has a contract with geo group to run 1000 bed facility. it recently extended its contract with corecivic to hold another 2400 mothers and children until 2021, in a facility next to a state prison. >> when you combine the population of the state prison with a population of corecivic's facility, which is capacity 2400, potentially you have 3700 course rated people -- and cursor to people in the town, which is equivalent to the town's population. >> managing and on a body shop and opposes the family detention center, partly because it has failed to deliver promised economic and if it's. documents you requested dilley to get millions in bonds to upgrade water and sewer lines needed by corecivic. >> there are 600 employees at

corecivic detention center. this is a big deal when it came to pages to the city and oh, we will bring 600 jobs. still, the city -- it is great except most of the jobs did not go to people from the area. >> in october, ice renegotiated to $13ic's contract million of the company past the cut onto employees. >> a resident supervisor that was making $24 an hour was making $16 an hour after that contract renegotiation. they had a number of people quit. >> not long after corecivic cut wages, more than 400 mothers and children were suddenly released from dilley to about the same time a texas judge refused to issue childcare licenses to private prison operators. immigration authorities claim the mass release was part of normal operations, but it may have been linked to one or both of these events. the average stay in family detention is now 17 days before

a family is deported or released. whilewho are released asylum claims are pending in court are again dropped off at the bus station, this time in nearby san antonio. those not ready to travel can find housing and a good meal at the shelter. eyewear care. this is the kitchen. we have a fridge, stove. it is important because on the way here, a person does not eat the way a person really should be eating. i top of that and detention centers, the food is a total disaster. i understand because i went through the same thing and i know with the food and those detention centers is like. >> a department of homeland security advisory committee unfairly residential centers has urged the obama administration to discontinue the general use

of family detention. it noted allegations of medical neglect and retaliation against mothers who protested inadequate care. i met a woman named erica from honduras who experienced just that. she was detained in dilley after she requested asylum with her two young children. it was at corecivic's detention center where her then 14-month-old daughter got the. dilley,e third day in she started having fevers and coughing. i took her to the medic, to the hospital there. they told me there was nothing wrong with her. to the nurse to please give me some medicine because my daughter was having such a high fever. we finish the treatment, my daughter was still having very high fevers and coughing a lot. nothing was better. deportationsign my

because i wanted to get out of there. i told the other moms there, but they told me to not do that. >> erica says at one point the medical staff gave her daughter vaporub, which she had a hard time breathing. when she was released, they mentally took her to the emergency room -- they immediately took her to the emergency room. >> she was hospitalized for seven days. the doctor told me she was glad that i brought the child because she could have died. she had pneumonia and and affection in her -- and infection in her right lung. >> advocates worry it to become more common under trump, who has vowed to track down on immigrants and surrounded himself with policymakers who oppose oversight and regulation of private industry. for now, she is one of many voices calling for the obama administration to and family detention before he leaves office. children has of my

are ready been here before. these deserted children were treated much better and there was a lot of medical attention, but truly, he was wrong. texas, iing from south am renee feltz for democracy now! amy: that does it for today's show. tune in for a live special coverage of the presidential inauguration on friday, january 20, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. eastern. we will carry the official proceedings live as well as analysis and voices from the streets. on saturday, january 21, we will broadcast live from the women's march on washington from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. eastern, bringing you voices from the stage and the march. go to democracynow.org for details. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] laying)

♪ hi. i'm hubert keller with secrets of a chef. people very often are asking me what i cook at home when i entertain. well, here are some of my favorites. first it's a pate chaud, which means a "hot pie." it's as beautiful to look at as it is delicious to eat and has a wonderful filling made with veal, duck, chicken and ham and flavored with all sorts of wonderful aromatics. serve it just with a salad and you got yourself a meal. dessert is cookies and ice cream but the french style. i will show you the secrets to making a great pecan meringue that comes together in minutes. then with ice cream, whipped cream and berries, it's a spectacular dessert. it's all on this episode of secrets of a chef starting now. ♪