i'm amy goodman. president obama has commuted the sentences of army whistleblower chelsea manning and puerto rican independence activist oscar lopez rivera as part of more than 200 commutations he issued tuesday. chelsea manning now set to be freed after obama shortened her may 17 sentence from 35 years to seven. say shes for manning has ready been the longest held whistleblower in u.s. history. she has been in military custody since may 2010. manning leaked more than 700,000 classified files and videos to wikileaks about the wars in iraq and afghanistan and u.s. foreign policy. she has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement and denied medical treatment related to her gender identity. she attempted to commit suicide twice last year. puerto rican independence activist oscar lopez rivera has been imprisoned for about 35 years, much of the time in solitary confinement. in 1981, lopez rivera was convicted on federal charges, including seditious conspiracy -- conspiring to oppose u.s. aut

amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! amy: let them in. that was the chant around the country this week and as tens of thousands protested against president trump's executive order barring entry to refugees muslimidents of seven majority nations. we will go to jfk airport were thousands gathered to demand the release of immigrants detained after flying in. >> i am here as a jewish-american who is very aware of what we did just a couple of generations ago, and i don't want us to do it again. muslims are my brothers. they deserve to be here as much as i do. amy: we will speak with a sudanese graduate student at stanford university who was detained at jfk. a lawyer from the aclu, whose lawsuit let a judge to stay deportations from airports for now. and to members of congress, and.le' highly inflammatory survey investigating views on islam. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in canada, police have arrested two gunmen charged with opening fire at the islamic c

i'm amy goodman. on tuesday, president trump signed a series of executive memorandums to revive the keystone xl and dakota access oil pipelines -- two major projects halted by the obama administration following massive resistanance from indigenous and environmental groups. the dakota access project would carry up to 570,000 barrels of oil a day from north dakota to illinois. the keystone pipeline would transport 830,000 barrels of crude every day from alberta's oil sands to refineries on the u.s. gulf coast for export. trump's move sparked a number of emergency protests last night. thousands rally near fifth avenue near trump tower in new york city and outside the white house in washington, d.c. there were more rallies in seattle, chicago, and los angeles. this is actress jane fonda speaking in new york city. >> when there is a catastrophe, we have to be out in the street. i call on the predator in chief -- and i say we must never normalize him, we must never legitimize him. he did not win the majorit

i'm amy goodman. president trump has begun a sweeping crackdown on immigration and against undocumented immigrants currently living in the united states. on wednesday at the department of homeland security, president trump signed two executive orders to immediately begin construction to expand the border wall between the u.s. and mexico. the construction of the expanded wall is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. over the last decade, the u.s. has already installed 700 miles of fencing and tens of thousands of motion sensors, as well as spy towers, radar systems, predator surveillance drones and thousands of law enforcement agents along the u.s.-mexico border. trump has vowed to force mexico to pay for the wall, a pledge widely rejected by mexico's leaders. this is mexican president enrique peÑa nieto who is threatening to cancel his visit to the united states next week. >> today, the president of the united states signed two directives related to our country. want to implement migration mea

i'm amy goodman. today marks president obama's last full day in office. on friday at noon supreme court , chief justice john roberts will swear in donald trump as the country's 45th president. on wednesday, obama gave his last press conference as president, during which he warned trump he will not stay silent if he sees what he called the nation's core values at risk. obama also thanked the press and spoke about the role they've played during his presidency. pres. obama: having you in this placeng has made this work better. it keeps us honest. it makes us work harder. howhave made us think about we're doing what we do, and whether or not we're able to deliver on what has been requested by our constituents. amy: the incoming trump administration had proposed moving the press corps out of the white house and instead relocating them nearby to the old executive office building. trump had to back away from the proposal wednesday, after outrage among members of the press and those concerned about press free

i'm amy goodman.president-elect donald trump has named his son-in-law jared kushner to be a senior adviser in the white house. kushner is married to trump's daughter ivanka. the appointment may violate federal anti-nepotism laws. kushner says he won't draw a salary from his white house position. he is a wealthy real estate investor. he says he'll sell some of his assets in efforts to avoid a slew of conflicts of interests. however, ethics lawyers say his divestment plans will not avoid this conflicts, as he says he'll simply sell his assets to his brother joshua or a family trust controlled by his mother seryl. ethics lawyer matthew sanderson, who served as general counsel to senator rand paul's presidential campaign, told the "new york times" -- "it sounds like a shell game to me." kushner was one of trump's most trusted advisers during the 2016 campaign and now during the trump transition. he has defended trump's chief strategist stephen bannon amid widespread charges of his racism and anti-semitism

i'm amy goodman. a barrage of senate confirmation hearings is set to begin tuesday for what would be the wealthiest cabinet in modern american history. this comes despite concerns that ethics clearances and background checks are incomplete for a number of president-elect donald trump's cabinet picks. facesr jeff sessions questions on tuesday for his nomination as attorney general come along with trump's pick john kelly. on wednesday, hearings are set for former exxon ceo rex tillerson as secretary of state come along with education secretary pick betsy devos. transportation secretary nominee elaine chao and cia director mark pompeo. tillerson's net worth is at least $300 million. several other nominees have assets will do more than $1 billion, whose confirmation hearing is on thursday. as cabinet appointees, the nominees are required to submit a financial disclosure report that is used by the agencies they are to take over, along with the office of government ethics. "the new york times" reports about

i'm amy goodman. president trump with true the united states from the sweeping transpacific partnership trade deal known as the tpp monday. it would having constants for 12ific best encompassed pacific rim nations. the tpp faced years of global public resistance i those who say free trade deals benefit corporations at the expense of health and environment all regulation. the tpp became a major issue during the 2016 presidential campaign. bernie sanders, and eventually secretary of state hillary clinton all said they would withdraw from the deal if elected. trump'slach said executive order monday "will bury the moldering corpse of a deal that could not gain majority support in congress, but the question is going forward, will president trump's you trade policies create american jobs and reduce our damaging trade deficit while raising wages and protecting the environment and public health, not just here, but also in trade partner nations alsonday, president trump reinstated the controversial global gag

amy: u.s. army whistleblower chelsea landing -- chelsea manning is reportedly on a short-list of names for a possible presidential commutation. nbc news reports a senior justice department official said a decision could come this week. in 2013, manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking more than 700,000 classified files and videos to wikileaks about the wars in iraq and afghanistan and u.s. foreign policy. manning has been held since 2010. she has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement and denied medicical treatment related to her gender identityty. she has attempted suicide several times. and the national parks service said wednesday it will honor slain civil rights leader medgar evers by naming his former home a national historic landmark. on june 12, 1963, evers was assassinated in the driveway outside his home in jackson, mississippi. he had served as the naacp's first field secretary in mississippi, working to end segregation and racist violence. and those a

i'm amy goodman. president donald trump fired acting attorney general sally yates on monday night just hours after she announced the justice department would not defend trump's executive order banning temporarily all refugees as well as citizens from seven muslim-majority nations. iran, iraq, libya, somalia, sudan, syria, and yemen. yates had written a memo saying -- "i'm not convinced the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am i convinced that the executive order is lawful." yates had served in the justice department for 27 years. trump had asked her to serve as acting attorney general until the senate confirmed senator jeff sessions who is a close , ally of trump. on monday, richard blumenthal praised sally yates for speaking out. >> i want to salute sally yates, who has taken a stand based on moral and legal principle in the highest tradition of the department of justice, saying that these orders cannot be the rule of law and morality is more important than

i'm amy goodman. on capitol hill, republican senators backeked down tuesday from a platoto gut thehe officef congressional ethics following widespread outcry among the publblic. if the rule change had gone through, it would have been the first movove enacted by the new republican-controlled congress. but the effort quickly fell apart tuesday as lawmakers' offices were inundated by calls from an angry public and president-elect donald trump took to twitter, calling the ethics office unfair, but encouraging republicans to "focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far , greater importance!" today, republicans are now slated to begin debating legislation to dismantle parts of president obama's affordable care act. with the 115th congress now sworn in, republicans outnumber democrats 52 to 48 in the senate and 241 to 194 in the house. this is house speaker republican paul ryan of wisconsin, speaking tuesday about congress's republican majority. speaker ryan: to the majority, especially t

amy: the u.s.lready has 700 miles of fencing, tens of thousands of motion sensors, law enforcement agents along the u.s.-mexico border. on thursday, sean spicer said the u.s. would impose a 20% tax on all goods imported from mexico and use the proceeds to pay for the expanded wall. this was after the mexican president canceled the presidential visit to see trump. after widespread outrage at what spicer announced, he walked back his statements only hours later saying the import tax was just one idea. the proposal would require new legislation. republican senator lindsey graham criticized the suggestion, saying on twitter mexico could retaliate with its own tariff and that it could be a "huge barrier" to economic growth. in a national address wednesday night, president enrique pena nieto said mexico will not pay for trump's wall. >> i regret and is approved the decision by the unite states to continue with the construction of the wall, which has for years, far from uniting us, divided us. mexico does

i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting live from howard university and washington, d.c., on this inauguration day a donald trump as 45th president of the united states. hundreds of thousands of people have descended on washington, d.c., either to support or to protest donald trump's inauguration. late thursday night, police deployed pepper spray against activists protesting outside the pro-trump "deploraball" at the national press club. protesters held signs reading, "no alt reich" and "no nazi usa." at least one person was arrested. pro-trump demonstrators have also arrived in washington including members of multiple , biker gangs including the group bikers for trump, whose members have vowed to serve as a "wall of meat" between protesters and trump during the inauguration events. up to 25,000 people also rallied against donald trump in new york city thursday evening at a massive protest in front of trump international hotel and tower, where filmmaker michael moore, actors mark ruffalo, robert de niro,

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 d

i'm amy goodman. house speaker paul ryan said thursday republicans are preparing to strip federal funding for planned parenthood as part their effort to repeal the affordable care act. the move would end about $400 million in annual medicaid reimbursements to planned parenthood. republicans framed the move as an effort to halt abortions, though federal law already bars federal funds from paying for abortions except to save the life of the woman. in washington, planned parenthood legislative director jacqueline ayers said the attack was aimed at women's health care. >> this republican leadership has made a priority quite clear. with the speaker ryan's announcement today to defund planned parenthood, we know the real goal is about taking away health care access. we cannot let that happen. we know they're not going to only define planned parenthood, but rollback coverage under the affordable care act and take away health care for the 20 million people who now have access for the first time. in the 55 mil

i'm amy goodman. a new republican-led congress meets today. in one of their first moves, house republicans have voted to gut the office of congressional ethics, dismantling reforms adapted after a previous republican ethics scandal. the vote reportedly came as a surprise and without the support of house speaker paul ryan or majority leader kevin mccarthy. the full house is scheduled to vote later today. under the measure, the office of congressional ethics will be renamed the office of congressional complaint review and placed under the oversight of the house ethics committee. the move will take away authority and independence from the investigative body and give more power to lawmakers over internal inquiries. according to "the washington post," under new rules the office will not be able to employ a spokesperson, investigate anonymous tips, or refer criminal wrongdoing to prosecutors without the express consent of the ethics committee, which would also gain the power to end any of the office's inves

i'm amy goodman. republicans in the newly sworn in 115th congress moved swiftly on wednesday to repeal the affordable care act, president obama's signature heath care law. by a vote of 51 to 48, the senate approved a procedural measure clearing a way for a budget resolution that could repeal major sections of the law. the charge was led by vice president-elect mike pence, who admitted republicans have not yet decided how to replace the affordable care act. gov. pence: the architecture of the replacement of pres. obama care will come in the weeks and months ahead. the american people voted for change in november and the present-elect and i working with the leaders of the house and senate are determined to keep our promise to the american people, and it all begins with repealing and replacing the failed policy of obamacare. amy: president obama made a rare trip to capitol hill yesterday where told minority democrats , not to help republicans pass replacement measures he called, "trumpcare." at the white

amy: dr. carson also drew fire from civil rights groups over his response to a question about protections for lgbtq tenants in public housing. carson said he would enforce federal anti-discrimination laws but said, "i don't think anyone , should get 'extra rights'." donald trump's nominee for cia director on thursday reversed his position on torture, telling senators at his confirmation hearing waterboarding is illegal. mike pompeo previously claimed such so-called enhanced interrogation tactics were constitutional. this is pompeo being questioned by california democrat dianne feinstein. >> if you were ordered by the president to restart the cia's use of enhanced interrogation tech weeks that fall outside of the army field manual, w would u comply? >> absolutely not. moreover, i cannot imagine that i would be asked that by the president-elect or ththen-president. promised in aump debate last february to "bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." during his confirmation hearing thur

i'm amy goodman. potentially explosive news surfaced yesterday of unsubstantiated reports which have already been presented to president-elect donald trump, president obama, and the nation's top lawmakers, and have now been published online by buzzfeed that claim russia has compromising information onn trump p and that trump's the new about alleged leaking of democratic party emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. the allegations were summarized in a two-page appendix to a report on russian interference in the election, which trump was briefed on last week. the summaryry is babased on thes compileded by a former british intelligence operative. the information,hich is nonot been independently verified by the f ei, nor any major media alleged, includes claims that trump representatives met multiple times with russian officials during the 2016 campaign and discuss the hacking of the dnc. the memos allege russia has a sex tape of trump from 2013 involving sex workers. cncnn is reportiting some of t

i'm amy goodman. on saturday, millions of people worldwide poured into the streets toto protest the presidency of donald trump. in washington, d.c., more than half a million people flooded the national mall for the women's march on washington, many wearing pink hats dubbed "pussyhats." so many people turned out that by midday, the entire planned march route was filled with people. this is one of the protesters. am from the new mexico delegation. it took us 39 hours. we are very proud to be here. voice our opinions. our presence as one community, once in -- sisterhood to say no and to stand for justice for everyone of us. everyone of us no matter our gender, color, or raise. >> what is your group's name? >> intended uprising. amy: the "new york times" reports saturday's protest in d.c. drew three times more people than donald trump's inauguration on in new york friday. city, 400,000 protesters poured into the streets around trump tower. 250 thousand gathered in chicago. hundreds of thousands took to th