02/09/17 02/09/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! , between 2011 and 2015. to,000 men, according information we have. amy: as president trump attempts to block all syrians from entering the united states, a shocking new report by amnesty international accuses the assad government of running a deliberate policy of extermination by hanging thousands of civilians at a prison near damascus. then trump lashes out again at

the judges hearing challenges to his muslim travel ban. pres. trump: i listened to a bunch of stuff last night on television that was disgraceful. amy: we will speak to aclu attorney hina shamsi, who was recently questioned by border agents about her pakistani citizenship and her work with the american civil liberties union. she says the agents asked her why a person with different organization with american in its name would have a pakistani passport. jeff sessions is confirmed as attorney general we look at how , republicans silenced senator elizabeth warren for reading a letter coretta scott king once exhibited to the senate judiciary committee 30 years ago opposing sessions for a federal judgeship. >> she was warned. she was given an explanation.

nevertheless, she persisted. >> mr. president, i'm surprised the words of coretta scott king are not suitable for debate in the united states senate. amy: we will hear elizabeth warren in her own words and speak to barbara reynolds, who wrote coretta scott king's memoir, "my life, my love, my legacy." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the senate has confirmed alabama senator jeff sessions as the attorney general after a 52 to 47 vote wednesday evening. sessions' confirmation has faced widespread protests over his opposition to the voting rights act and his history of making racist comments. 24 vote capped a contentious hours. on tuesday night, elizabeth

warren was silenced and rebuked by the senate for reading a 1986 letter written by coretta scott king denouncing sessions, who at the time was begins at it for a federal judgeship. the letter reads in part -- "the irony of mr. sessions' nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given a life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished 20 years ago with clubs and cattle prods." following senator warren's silencing, a number of democratic senators urged their colleagues to vote against sessions by reading the same letter. senator warren's reading marks the first time coretta scott king's testimony was included in the congressional record, even though king had some edited years ago. at the time, the senate judiciary chair, strom thurmond, a fierce segregationist, did not enter kings testimony to the record. we will have more on sessions'

confirmation as well as the rebuke of senator warren after the headlines. president trump lashed out at the appeals court judges who were presiding over the lawsuit challenging his executive order banning people from seven majority muslim nations from entering the united states. pres. trump: if you were a good student in high school or a bad student in high school, you can understand this. it is really incredible to me that we have a court case that is going on so long -- and it could not have been written any more precisely. it is not like, oh, gee, we wish it were written better. it was written beautiful he. amy: that's president trump, speaking in washington, d.c., wednesday to a conference of law enforcement officials. during his comments he also called the deliberations disgraceful. trump's attack comes after he also went on a twitter rant over the weekend against federal judge james robart, calling him a "so-called judge" after robart issued a nationwide injunction halting trump's muslim ban on friday. this rant sparked widespread

criticism, including from supreme court nominee neil gorsuch who called trump's , tweets "disheartening and demoralizing" during a meeting with connecticut senator richard blumenthal. this morning, trump attacked senator blumenthal on twitter, claiming he was misrepresenting gorsuch's words even though a , spokesperson for gorsuch himself told cnn the judge had voiced concern about trump's comments during the meeting. the mother of a young british woman killed by a mentally ill man in australia in august has written a furious open letter to president trump after her daughter's killing was included in the white house's list of 78 terrorist attacks. rosie ayliffe wrote -- "my daughter's death will not be used to further this insane persecution of innocent people." her daughter, 21-year-old mia ayliffe-chung, was stabbed to death in a hostel by a frenchman who had a preliminary diagnosis of schizophrenia. after the attack, the media originally reported the

attacker, smail ayad, may have been an islamic extremist, but australian police quickly ruled out terrorism in its investigation. senator jackson, the mother of a second backpacker who was killed during the attack, has also criticized donald trump, tweeting -- "@realdonaldtrump wake up this morning to see you've used my son murder to further your campaign of hate, how dare you. you are a disgrace." president is facing increasing criticism for not including cases of massacres carried out list of 78 terrorist attacks. among the attacks not included was the recent massacre in quebec city, canada, where a trump-supporting white nationalist killed six worshipers at a mosque on january 29. also not included was the charleston, south carolina, massacre, where nine black worshipers were killed by white supremacist dylann roof in 2015. on tuesday, wisconsin republican

congressman sean duffy tried to defend the exclusion of these massacres from the list during an interview with cnn's alisyn camerota. >> congressman, what isn't the president talking about the white terrorists who mowed down six muslims who were praying at their mosque? >> i don't know. i would just you, there is a death and -- again, murder on both sides is wrong. and if you want to take the dozens of scenarios where isis -inspired attacks have taken innocents -- there was an example in canada -- >> how about the charleston shooting? it was a what extremist. >> yeah, he was. >> that doesn't matter? >> it does matter. look at the good things that came from it. nikki haley took on the confederate flag. that was great. amy: congressman duffy also refused during this interview to acknowledge that in his home state of wisconsin, a white supremacist killed six people in

2012 during a massacre at a sikh temple. meanwhile, the white house is also considering officially designating more groups as a foreign terrorist organization, including the muslim brotherhood -- one of the middle east's oldest and most influential islamic groups. protesters rallied at demonstrations nationwide wednesday to protest the army corps of engineers' announcement it will be greenlighting the construction of the contested $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline. the company behind the pipeline, energy transfer partners, says it will start work immediately upon being granted the final permit. hundreds of people gathered outside the white house in washington, d.c., to protest the project, which many fear could contaminate the missouri river, which serves as a drinking source for over 10 million people. crowds also gathered in los angeles, manhattan, denver, and san francisco, where about a dozen people were arrested blockading the doors of the federal building. more protesters rallied in ithaca, new york, columbus, ohio, and in chicago, where four people were arrested after locking themselves to each other

to shut down a citibank to protest its investments in the pipeline. many of the protesters were furious not only about the , pipeline but also about , trump's recent claims that no one had called the white house to express opposition to the project. pres. trump: as you are no, -- as you know, i proved to pipelines that were stuck in limbo forever. i don't even think it was controversial. i have not had one call from anyone saying, oh, that was a terrible thing you did. i have not had one call. amy: as multiple news outlets have reported, the white house shut down it's public comments phone line, following trump's inauguration. however, hundreds of thousands of people have written statements denouncing the project since the army corps of engineers opened up the public comment period in late january. on wednesday, a group of veterans and indigenous water protectors delivered electronic versions of more than 200,000 of these comments to the army

corps' office in manhattan. meanwhile, the city council of davis, california, has voted to unanimously divest $124 million in city banking services from wells fargo over concerns about the bank's backing of the pipeline. in phoenix, arizona at least six , protesters were arrested last night blockading an immigrations and customs enforcement van, in efforts to stop the deportation of 35-year-old guadalupe garcia de rayos, a mother who has been living in the united states for the last 21 years. rayos was arrested and detained wednesday by immigration agents during one of her routine, required check-ins with immigration officials. advocates say her arrest signals a clear shift toward the ramping up of deportations under the trump administration, even of people like rayos, who had been deemed a low-priority for deportation under president obama. rayos' lawyer said --

"we're living in a new era now, an era of war on immigrants." in protest, hundreds of people surrounded the ice van carrying rayos. one man locked himself to the wheels of the van while others , blockaded it with their bodies. >> we are here [indiscernible] therrow maybe my mom in next they might be your mom. we need to stop the deportations. they are millions of people at risk. [indiscernible] we have to stop it. wherever you are, you can do this, too. amy: president trump is facing potential conflict of interest after he attacked the department store nordstrom in a tweet from his official government account, saying -- "my daughter ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @nordstrom. she is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! terrible!"

the tweet came after nordstrom announced it is dropping ivanka's clothing line, a business decision they said was based on performance. sean spicer claims nordstrom's decision was an attack on trump's daughter. but multiple reporters have questioned how this is an attack on ivanka given she claimed she accept away from her clothing line after trump's election. pennsylvania senator bob casey has referred the tweet to the u.s. government, the u.s. office of government ethics. ivanka has no official government role, but she frequently sits in on top meetings with her father and her husband, jared kushner, a senior adviser in the white house. meanwhile, in another potential conflict of interest, the pentagon is looking to rent office space in trump tower in manhattan, which means the government might end up funneling money directly to one of trump's businesses. cnn reports that renting a floor

in the tower cost about $1.5 million every year. in northern afghanistan, six red cross workers were killed wednesday after their cars were ambushed. two more are still missing. taliban has denied involvement, and local officials have blamed the attack on isis. on wednesday, isis claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack outside the supreme court building in kabul on tuesday, which killed at least 22 people. in romania, thousands of people braved the snow for a ninth straight day of anti-government and anti-corruption protests. the massive nightly mobilizations have been the largest in romania since 1989. they were sparked by the passage of an emergency ordinance that decriminalized misconduct by officials, but have continued even after the government rescinded that decree. this is one of the protesters. >> we are keeping our position strong. we won our government to resign.

you cannot trust this government. their passing laws for corrupt politician in the middle of the night. we cannot trust this government anymore. billy thing that can satisfy us right now is the resignation of the prime minister and the government itself. amy: at least three players on the new england patriots say they won't visit the white house for the traditional super bowl celebration as a protest against president trump. linebacker dont'a hightower and safety devin mccourty have joined tight end martellus bennett in boycotting the visit. mccourty said -- "i don't feel accepted in the white house. with the president having so many strong opinions and prejudices, i believe certain people might feel accepted there while others won't." the patriots won the super bowl 34-28 sunday night after a historic comeback over the atlanta falcons. and a pennsylvania state senator has issued an unusually strong denouncement of president trump, calling him a "fascist, loofa-faced, [bleep]-gibbon!"

senator daylin leach's tweet was a response to trump's threat that he would destroy the career of a texas state senator who was proposing legislation to require police to obtain a conviction before seizing one's property in a process known as asset forfeiture. currently, asset forfeiture allows police to seize people's property even if they are never even charged with a crime. after trump's threat, daylin tweeted -- "hey @realdonaldtrump i oppose civil asset forfeiture too! why don't you try to destroy my career you fascist, loofa-faced, [bleep]-gibbon!" and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amnesty international has released a shocking report claiming as many as 13,000 people, mostly civilians, have

been hanged in a syrian government military prison in recent years. amnesty accuses the al-assad government of running a human ater house and engaging in deliberate policy of extermination by hanging thousands of prison there's -- listeners in damascus. amnesty says the killing amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. earlier this week, amnesty released a video describing how they uncovered the mass killings. correct when he 11, tens of thousands of people have disappeared into a vast network of detention centers run by the syrian government. many have been taken to a notorious and terrifying prison where detainees are incarcerated in horrific conditions, systematically and brutally tortured. thousands have died in confinement. inaccessible to journalists and

independent monitoring groups, the prison is a blackhole of which no recent images exist. the memories of those who survive it are the only available resource with which to understand what happens within the prison. in april 2016, amnesty international and forensic architecture travel to turkey to meet a group of saydnaya survivs. we used architectural and acoustic modeling to reconstruct the prison and there expresses of detention. -- and their experiences of detention. because the prisoners were held in darkness and silence, their memories depend on sound. footsteps, doors opening and locking, water dripping. all of these sounds shook should detainees experiences of space and time and for boat what was to come.

testimonies, we have constructed a model of the entire prison and located the witness testimonies and the sounds they recall within it. these testimonies are traumatic recollections and are rarely released descriptions of event. the architecture of the present emerges and only as a location of torture, but itself as an instrument in the perpetration. nermeen: the syrian justice ministry has rejected amnesty's findings issuing a statement that read -- "the justice ministry denies and condemns in the strongest terms what was reported because it is not based on correct evidence but on personal emotions that aim to achieve well-known political goals." amnesty's report was published on tuesday, less than two weeks after president trump signed an executive order banning refugees indefinitely and temporarily barring entry to all citizens

muslimria and six other majority nations. it also comes as fox news is reporting russia has just sent syria the largest shipment of missiles between the two countries to date. amy: we go now to london where we are joined by nicolette waldman, amnesty international researcher specializing in detention issues. she is the co-author of the new report. the title is chilling, the information inside, even more so. human slaughterhouse. tell us what you found. >> over the course of a year of thearch, we found that syrian authorities are carrying out a calculated campaign of mass hangings and extermination at saydnaya prison. every week, and often twice a week, prisoners are taken out of their cells and brought to another prison, another building on the grounds of the prison, where they are hanged to death.

since 2011, as many as 13,000 people have been hanged. as the fact opted this, detainees are held in horrific conditions. the syrian authorities have been deliberately inflicting repeated torture as well as systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine, and medical care, has caused a massive number of deaths. nermeen: can you give us a sense of how many people are detained in saydnaya and how many similar prisons there are across syria? >> what we have been told is and 20,000n 10000 detainees are held in saydnaya at any given time. but i want to point out that it is very difficult to know exactly how many because the evidence, releases no no information, on the whereabouts of the people that they arrest. in fact, almost every detainee

arrested by the syrian authorities has disappeared, meaning they are cut off from their friends, their families, and outside world. in terms of the other detention facilities in syria, there is a vast network of centers that we know about in centers that we do not know about. so this is a very large system that has processed tens of thousands of people since 2011, in particular, and since that time, as many as 17,700 people have died as a result of this -- these extermination policies, which is the result of repeated torture and terrible conditions. so the 17,700 deaths is even in addition to these as many as 13,000 people who have been hanged at saydnaya prison. to a short to turn

animated video produced by amnesty international. the script is extrapolated from the experiences of prisoners interviewed by amnesty. -- whyare we leaving aren't we be leaving? stop it isamped will ok. soon, we will be in a better place. can't take these new beatings. it has never been so bad. are we really being transferred or is this our last punishment? we are on the move. we stopped. why? we are in another building. they grab my finger.

they are taking my fingerprints. what? i can't believe it. they tell me i have been condemned to death and ask if i have any last wish. i have done nothing wrong. they said i was being transferred. i am to be transferred. dear god, protect my family. amy: the animation ins with the hanging of the man. that video ins with the words -- "as many as 13,000 people have been executed in saydnaya since 2011." our guest, nicolette waldman, co-author of the amnesty report. can you tell us how you got this information, how you collected this information from prisoners and also from guards? report we did for this

is that we carried out the research over the course of 12 months. tofrom december 2015 december 2016, and in that time, we interviewed 84 witnesses. these witnesses included former detainees who had witnessed different steps of the execution process. and we also identified former guards and officials at the prison, as well we interviewed former judges and. lawyers. -- and syrian lawyers. with all of the information we received, which was oftentimes collected after two or three or more interviews with each witness to evaluate the veracity and consistency of what they were saying, we were able to corroborate, crosscheck, and finally build up a step-by-step picture of what is happening at saydnaya. most of these interviews were carried out in southern turkey and in other areas in turkey, as

well as remotely with witnesses in lebanon, jordan, the u.s., and europe. we were forced to actually conduct this research outside of syria because we have been barred from entering government controlled areas since 2011. we have also been barred, along with almost every international monitoring group, from entering the prisons in syria. so it was in poor and remember, these are really black holes of war crimes and crimes against humanity where crimes have been taking place on a widespread, systematic and continual basis since 2011. in the main crimes against human entity that are being committed -- again, these are crimes against humanity, some of the most serious international crimes you could ever imagine -- but just at saydnaya, the crimes against humanity that are being carried out since 2011 are murder, disappearance, torture,

and extermination. so these are massive violations that we are really pushing the world to take notice of and to take action. nermeen: as you mentioned, you also spoke to prison guards, former prison guards. now that prison was run by a syrian military personnel. how did you get them to speak to you, and what did they say about why they were working at this prison? >> so to identify the guards, we ended up taking -- again, a very long and arduous process of , civilocal contacts society organizations, our own contacts. basically, a network of people to help us identify these people because we felt these findings were so significant and so weighty, that we needed to have not only the witness testimony, but also people from the inside. and what they told us about why they conducted these crimes is

not something that we talked about. instead, we were trying to get the information. however, what is clear to me is this is not a system that is carried out by one person or another. this is a top-down system where it is very much controlled through the highest levels of the syrian government and the syrian political establishment. and what we found about these policies of mass hangings and extermination, is they come from the very top. and actually, the very death sentences issued to the prisoners are signed by the minister of defense who is deputized to act for president assad and the hangings themselves that take place in total secrecy in the middle of the night, are overseen by pedal -- panel of men, which include top secured officers and top

officials from the prison and as well from the military hospital where the prisoners are taken by the truckload after they are hanged to be registered before they are taken on to mass graves. nermeen: the assad regime, as you have pointed out, does not talk about this prison. it is more or less concealed from view. but the assad regime has been accused of some of the worst atrocities against its civilian population. and that occurs mostly in broad daylight. you say what is going on in this prison is more sinister. why is that? >> it is absolutely sinister. that is the exact right word to use. because not only are these hangings takinplace on a routine basis, weekly or twice a week, but the conditions in which these prisoners are held are just very difficult to comprehend. but we have to try.

basically, what we have been told through very consistent testimony -- i heard the same things again and again -- is that prisoners are actually routinely beaten. they're not allowed to make any sound. so even when they are tortured, they cannot make a sound. they are punished if they do, with further beatings. they are also forced to pick some of the in the cell who then must dole out the punishment or torture each day. and what we have been told, they are forced to rate each other. the prisoners, especially the older prisoners, will be forced to rate sometimes the younger prisoners. what we were told by one witness, after these rapes, the men are so traumatized, they even stop eating and they cannot carry on. in these various is due -- sadistic and horrible rules, the prisoners are off so he subjected to the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine, and medical care. so they are dying horrific

deaths of thirst, of hunger, diseases, and then treatable infections. all of what they are going through is treatable. this is why we are calling this the crime against humanity of extermination, which is a particular crime in the roman statute which refers to when a state actually inflicts conditions in a certain sector of a population with the intent of destroying that population. and what we found is the syrian authorities aim to destroy the people that had -- they have another custody. i want to point out that these people, the vast to geordie of them, are civilians. some of the most common profiles are long-term political dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, humanitarian aid activists. sometimes they have people that just went to one or two protest. these are people who went out and basically spoke and demanded

a freer and fairer syria and for that, there came the ultimate price. amy: nicolette waldman, i want to ask about the president himself here in the united states, president trump, calling a muslim ban. chris murphy tweeted -- "we bond or country, creating a humanitarian nightmare, then lock you inside. that is a horror movie, not a foreign policy." he was talking about syria. you are an american. we are speaking to you in london. can you talk about the ban on muslims, on all syrians, right now? at least, if trump had his way. judges are interfering with that plan. against syrian refugees i think has to be understood in the context of what syrians are going through.

they are going through systematic starvation sieges. they are being bombed in their homes, in their schools and illegal attacks on civilians and civilian targets such as hospitals, which are rampant. and in the jails in syria, civilians are being systematically targeted -- civilians who didn't show any sign of dissent. this is a systematic policy that has happened since 2011. this is widespread and a calculator policy by the syrian authorities. i want to be very clear that while we at amnesty have documented abuses on every side -- actually, it also helps create the picture of how much civilians are suffering in syria -- but in the context of detention in particular, the syrian authorities are carrying out the vast majority of violations. so if you think about a

population that has been terrorized, they have been arrested, disappeared, tortured, and killed, on the scale of tens of thousands of people, and all of those people have family members, it does make sense to me that you might want to flee your country in that kind of circumstance. in many people do not want to go. they end up going because they feel they have to. they are running for their lives. and then to have that answered with a strict ban, it just does not make any sense to me. and at amnesty, we're very concerned about this ban for people who are refugees deserving of protection, not of being blocked and sent back into circumstances where they and their families can be treated in this monstrous way. amy: nicolette waldman, thank you for being with us, and missed international researcher specializing in detention issues. she is the co-author of the new "human report,

slaughterhouse secret campaign : of mass hangings and extermination at saydnaya prison." we will link to it on democracynow.org. when we come back, we will speak to an aclu lawyer and talk to her about coming into this country, as she a step so many times, speaking to people around the world, and being stopped. she did not have a u.s. passport and asked how she worked for an organization, the aclu, that has the word "american" in it. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: the 9th circuit court of appeals is expected to rule as early as today on president trump's temporary travel ban on refugees and people from seven muslim-majority countries.

on tuesday, a three-judge panel heard arguments from lawyers representing the justice department and the state of washington which sued president , trump over the order. on wednesday morning, trump accused the judges of being "so political" and described the legal process as "disgraceful." pres. trump: i listened to a bunch of stuff last night on television that was disgraceful. it was disgraceful. so i think it is sad. i think it is a sad day. i think our security is at risk today. and it will be at risk until such time as we are entitled and get what we are entitled to as citizens of this country, as chiefs, as sheriff's of this country. amy: to talk more about the executive order, we are joined by hina shamsi. in addition to being the director of the american civil liberties union's national security project, she has also been personally impacted by

trump's executive order. although she is legal permanent resident, hamsi was stopped and questioned about her pakistani citizenship and her work with aclu when she recently tried to fly back into the country. let's start there. what happened you? what were you asked? >> i was in the island nation of dominica for meetings and depositions in a lawsuit on behalf of torture victims seeking accountability from the two cia contractors that are behind the torture program there. jessen.chell and >> yes. i was coming back from that set of meetings and the depositions and transiting through san juan, puerto rico, when i was going through immigration. it seems like an immediate flag went up. i was pulled into what is called secondary screening by a customs

and border protection agent. i want to emphasize something, which is what happened to me is nothing compared to the suffering and hardship that people impacted by the executive order and muslim ban are going through and have gone through. to me, this was -- actually do not write about things that are so personal -- but it said something to me about the -- in theseis times times and the kinds of questions that were raised are ones that i overnever experienced in 25 years of travel into and out of this country over 10 years of work for the aclu and other rights groups and travel in that context. amy: you would to college here. where did you go? >> massachusetts. i worked here. school. all of that. never have i experienced anything like this.

it started out with something absolutely legitimate, which is, where were you and what were you doing? then as soon as i said that i work for the americans civil liberties union and a was traveling for work, there was an entire series of questions that began with, why would someone working for an organization or this organization with "american" in its name have this passport? the agent had my pakistani passport in hand. or, why would someone working for an organization with "american" in its name be representing people who are not citizens? when i was explaining my work is and has been as a u.s. trained lawyer, sworn to uphold the u.s. constitution -- which is what i work to do at the aclu -- one response was, well, if you're working for organization with "american" in your name and your focus is the u.s. constitution, why are you traveling abroad so much? over and over, i tried to

explain my work, my focus on u.s. constitution and treaties, and the fact i was traveling for this work. and amongst the responses were, well, you are at meetings and talks abroad, do you talk about u.s. law or do you talk about the laws of other countries? none of this is remotely relevant to what might be the legitimate question that they can ask, which is, what were you doing and what is your status and can you legitimately come into the united states? it really was a tenor of suspicion, of emphasis on american and what hostage to its american -- and what constitutes an american in a way that i had not seen before. nermeen: you are taken a secondary screening, as you said. there were a large number of people who work subjected to

second or screening from pakistan and other countries right after 9/11. you say this has never happened to you. in your view, how does what is happening now compare to what happened immediately following 9/11, and went on for some time, for people who were legal, permanent resident but have passports from muslim majority countries? >> immediately after 9/11, there was a whole series of questioning for people with legal permanent residents with pakistani -- a nationality of other majority muslim countries as well. i certainly represented people who have been unjustifiably workioned based on their or citizenship or their studies. remarkable i have not been questioned before. i sometimes inc. that. -- i sometimes think that.

but it is also true in all of the years of my travel when i was traveling bush and administration policies of torture and guantanamo and other human rights abuses are travel during the obama administration when i had been challenging unlawful targeted killing, illegal spying, people had not questioned me about -- in this manner, which seem to convey a evenioning of identity and a sense of loyalty here. that just had not happened before. and i'mrd to generalize reluctant to do that based on my single experience, but we surly heard of other people, citizens and lpr's of pakistan and other majority muslim countries being questioned even recently. i worry deeply about the message that has been sent from the top, this anti-muslim animist.

and the way it is being heard by government officials and government agents exercise thisr in other places. amy: let me ask you if they asked you to give up your social media passwords or anything like that? >> they did not. they did not ask me that them although, there is concern they have been asking other people that. amy: cnn is reporting visitors to the us might be asked to release their social media orderrts -- passwords in to tighten security checks. home entegris secretary john kelly was being questioned by the homeland security committee on tuesday. he said, we want to get other social media with passwords. what do do, what you say, they asked him. he responded, if they do not want to cooperate, then you don't come in. what are your rights? citizens,erican

permanent residents like you, and as people with visas who are coming into this country? >> this is a hotly contested area right now. all, as a citizen, there is a right to reenter the country. resident, permanent you can get questioned and we generally advise people to answer questions and to know if their not responding to questions or providing information, they might face delays. this is a situation in which people can be very vulnerable at the border. when there were proposals during the obama administration to ask people for their social media handles and passwords and so on, we and other organizations wrote in common to question these proposals. how specifically are you going to implement this? for what purpose? what are you going to do about it?

we have not really received any satisfactory responses yet. so this is something we are watching very, very closely indeed. nermeen: do you know if there are human rights lawyers or organizations who have already issued this inquiry to the trump administration? there are reports it is are ready happening. >> yes, nothing people are questioning what is going on and what they're planning on doing, questions we have had previously and are even more acute now. nermeen: i want to ask about another issue, which is the trump administration is now ,eportedly discussing in order another executive order, to designate the muslim brotherhood, a terrorist organization, some of trump's advisors have long viewed the muslim brotherod as a radical faction coming into the united states to promote sharia law most among its most vocal critics has been breitbart news, which was princely headed by steve bannon, now trump's chief

white house strategist. frank gaffney spoke to breitbart news last week urging trump to designate the muslim brotherhood a terrorist organization. >> i hope you will do it and do it soon. the reason simply being the muslim brotherhood in many ways is the leading-edge of the global jihadist movement worldwide. the president seemingly has taken stock of this outfit, recognizes that they are a sharia premises program that in fact has provided sort of the ideological impetus behind all of the other jihadist enterprises around the world. nermeen: hina shamsi, canoe comment on that? what are the implications of this goes through and the muslim brotherhood is designated as a test organization? and also the plants to designate iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps as a terrorist

organization? >> i think it is important understand what we are french anti-muslim views that have existed for a long time now are now in the white house. this has long been an endeavor of those with these fringe views, where they have sought designation of the muslim brotherhood -- which is an entity founded in 1928 in egypt, has effectively independent chapters that are political parties in different places. it is a complicated thing. but they have sought designation in order then to target american muslim civil society and its guilt byith association. facts that quite simply do not exist in terms of alleged wrongdoing. i think the real concern here is , with respect to what is going to happen domestically, is that

this move may then open the door for the use of dangerous and overbroad material support investigation, or prosecution, and the use of overbroad, vague, and unfair terrorism designation or investigation schemes that are so broad, as i said, that they can sweep in innocents, individuals and organizations, and place them at risk of having their assets frozen, even while they are under suspicion. and investigation. and really one of the worst things that exists in our society today, which is suspected terrorist. nermeen: how would the trump administration make a link between the muslim brotherhood and american muslims? because it is not obvious there is any connection at all will stop as you pointed out, it was founded in egypt in the early 20th century. what is the connection?

what with the muslim brotherhood in particular produce greater suspicion of american muslims and that thousands of other things that already do? >> it is an excellent question. it relates to a series of documents or allegations, when a particular, that go back to 1991 that have been discredited with respect to allegations of connections between the muslim brotherhood and u.s.-muslim organizations. at a time when there was nothing wrong with any of this, right? when you look at the facts, there is nothing there. but that does not stop these extreme conspiracy theories. they have addressed these theories for a while now, during the bush demonstration and the obama administration, and both administrations rejected these approaches based on bigotry and guilt by association again.

i think there is real concern is administration dust on amy: on the issue of the judges to liberating on the muslim ban and trump going on this rant against the judges, once again, calling the former judge that ruled originally a so-called judge and now talking about these deliberations as disgraceful. >> what is truly disgraceful and dangerous is these attacks on one of the pillars of our democracy, the judicial branch, which is necessary to serve as a check on executive abuses. and that is what is at stake. amy: hina shamsi, thank you for being with us director of the , american civil liberties union's national security project. she published an article this week headlined "flying home from abroad, a border agent stopped and questioned me about my work for the aclu." we will link to it. when we come back, what happened yesterday on the floor of the senate when senator elizabeth warren was silenced for reading

the words of coretta scott king that she wrote to the senate judiciary committee 30 years ago, opposing jeff sessions, at the time, to be a federal judge. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: that version here on this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: the senate has confirmed jeff sessions as the united states attorney general after a 52 to 47 vote wednesday evening. sessions confirmation has faced widespread protests over his opposition to the voting rights act and his history of making racist comments. the vote capped contentious 24 hours. on tuesday night, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren was silenced and rebuked by the senate for reading a 1986 letter

written by coretta scott king, denouncing sessions, who at the time was being considered for a federal judgeship. presiding officer montana republican senator steve daines first interrupted warren. >> it has been a long uphill struggle to keep alive the vital legislation that protects the most fundamental right to vote. a person who has exhibited so much hostility to the enforcement of those laws -- isthe senator is reminded it a violation of rule 19 of the standing rules of the senate to impute to another senator or senators any conduct or motive unworthy or becoming a senator. don't thinkdent, i i quite understand. i am reading a letter from karen is not king to the judiciary 1986 that was admitted into the record.

i instantly reading what she wrote. amy: that is senator elizabeth warren. she was allowed to continue reading the letter and speak further about her opposition to sessions will stop after 20 minutes, she was again interrupted. this time is in a majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> mr. president, the senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from alabama as warned by the chair. senator warren "said senator sessions has used awesome power of his office to chill free exercise of the vote by black citizens." i call the senator to order under the provisions of rule 19. ?> mr. president >> senator from massachusetts. >> mr. president, i'm surprised the words of coretta scott king are not suitable for debate in the united states senate. amy: senator mcconnell when on to defend his decision to silence elizabeth warren. >> she was warned.

she was given a nation. -- she was given a nation. persisted.s, she a senator warren was prohibited from speaking for the remainder of the debate over sessions confirmation. after the senate passed a partyline rebuke against her. severalg her silencing, male democratic senators urged their colleagues to vote against sessions by reading the same letter. they were not rebuked. in the letter, coretta scott king cites sessions' civil black rights for voter fraud. we're joined by dr. barbara reynolds. she worked with coretta scott "corettaer memoir scott king: my life, my love, my legacy."

this may be the first time the coretta scott king's testimony against sessions was ashley put into the congressional record. she had sent it in 30 years ago. but at the time, the judiciary chair, senate judiciary chair strom thurmond, a fierce segregationist, did not put her testimony into the record. so 30 years later, senator warren got it put in by reading it. is that right? >> yes -- that when you look at the spectacle of a female u.s. senator trying to read testimony of an american hero, coretta scott king, who was a witness to what happened in alabama -- what she stood up for -- and both were silenced, this made me feel we were back to the 1950's. it was an appalling sight. i want to say this about who she was because she was not talking

their radically. i mean, she grew up in marion, alabama, where this whole case, the marian three, took place. these were civil rights leaders who were trying to register blacks to vote. sessions prosecuted them. this is important because of who she is and why she should have been heard, because she knew what most of us do not know because she lived it. when she was 15 years old, her home that she grew up in was burned to the ground. her father had two businesses. one was a sawmill. that was burned to the ground. but they had no vote. they had no voice. they were considered nobody's, that the police did not have to protect.

this is what the civil rights movement that she was a copartner in with dr. martin luther king corrected that. and we go into the 80's. now black had more voting power in places like marion, alabama. and she wanted people to know what had happened. thousands and thousands of people who could not vote, had no power to protect themselves. and shee come to 1986 is reporting in her testimony of that had the progress been made, and how she never wanted america to go back to that. reverend dr. barbara reynolds, we're going to continue this conversation and post it online at democracynow.org. the memoir is called, "coretta scott king."

thank you for joining us. [captionin

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