amy: thank you ravi ragbir and amy gottlieb. ravi ragbibir well-known immigrt righghts advocate, and execucute director of the new sanctuary coalition of new york city. he faces deportation when he goes to his ice check-in this morning after our broadcast. first, there will be a news conference and we will be covering that at 9:00 at federal plaza, right outside 26 federal plaza. right at fully square. i know hundreds of people are planning to go. would we come back, immigrants rights, the muslim ban, reproductive rights -- all of these issues werere raised yesterday him and not only in the united states, but around the world in the united states it was called a day without a woman. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: that was music c recorded last night at judson memorial church in new york city at a gathering for ravi ahead of his check-in with ice today. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. women rallied around the world wednesday to mark international women's day. here in the un

i'm amy goodman. in his first presidential address to a joint session of congress, president donald trump vowed to expand the united states' military budget, end the affordable care act and sharply , restrict immigration into the united states. "the washington post" reports the 60-minute speech included multiple factual inaccuracies, which include trump taking credit for jobs that were actually created under the previous administration and misrepresenting statistics to make unemployment and crime rates appear significantly worse than they are. trump also repeated his claim that he is draining the swamp of government corruption -- a statement that caused some democratic lawmakers to laugh, given trump's cabinet largely consists of millionaires and billionaires with unprecedented conflicts of interest. many democratic congress women wore white to trump's speech. throughout the dress, he reiterated his extreme proposals, although he sought to soften his language and delivery. trump opened his speech by c

i'm amy goodman. wikileaks has published what it says is the largest leak of secret cia documents in history. the thousands of documents, dubbed "vault 7," describe cia programs and tools thahat are capable of hacking into both apple and android cell phones. by hacking into entire phones, the cia is then reportedly able to bypass encrypted message programs such as signal, telegram, and whatsapp, although, contrary to many news reports, the documents do not show the cia has developed tools to hack these encrypted services themselves. the documents also outline a cia and brititish intelllligence prm called "weeping angel," through which the spy agency can hack into a samsung smart television and turn it into a surveillance device that records audio conversations, even when it appears to be off. other documents describe ways to hack into skype, wi-fi networks, pdf's, and commercial antivirus programs. the leak also shows the cia has reportedly looked for ways to hack into cars and trucks, which wikileaks

i'm amy goodman. 24 million americans will losose healalth insurance within n ten years under a plan by house republicans to repeal and replace the affordable care act. that was the conclusion of the congressional budget office in a highly anticipated report released monday. the cbo estimates the legislation would shave about a third of when julian dollars -- a trillion dollars from budget deficits by 2026, largely by ending a program to expand medicaid with tax cuts for the rich. republican lawmakers and the trump administration quickly dismissed the findings. this is health and human services secretary tom price. >> we disagree strenuously with a report that was put out. we believe our plan will cover more individuals at a lower cost and give them the choices that they want for the coverage they want for themsmselves and d ther family, not that the government forces them to buy. amy: democrats seized on the cbo's findings to argue against repealing the affordable care act. this is house minority lea

i'm amy goodman. the justice department said wednesday attorney general jeff sessions met twice last year with russia's ambassador to the united states contradicting , sworn testimony by sessions to congress. the disclosure renewed calls for a special prosecutor to investigate ties between the trump campaign and russia's government, and prompted calls from senior democrats for sessions to resign. during his confirmation hearing in january to become attorney general, then-senator sessions was asked by minnesota senator al franken whether he knew of contacts between trump campaign officials and russia's government. that there is any evidence anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? , i am not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. amy: "the washington post" reported wednesday that sessions twice met w

i'm amy goodman. calls are growing for president trump to release his full tax returnrns after r part of his 25 return was made public tuesday. two pages from trump's tax return were obtained by pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnston of dcreport who appeared last night on the rachel maddow show on msnbc. the 2005 tax return shows trump earned $153 million -- or more than $400,000 a day. trump paid out $36.6 million in federal income taxes, much of it in the form of what's known as the alternative minimum tax, which trump now wants to eliminate. the document also shows trump wrote off more than $100 million in business losses to reduce h s federal taxes. this morning, presidenent trump tweeted -- "does anyone really believe a reporter who nobody heard of which was mailbox and found my tax returns?" that is despite the fact the white house confirmed the authenticity of the documents tuesday after maddow teased the scoop. the white house continues to refuse to release any other tax returns

amy: the u.s. currently has 8400 troops deployed in afghanistan, alongside roughly three times as many contractors. general votel said he believes a few thousand more troops were needed but did not commit to an , exact number. the testimony y cames s the pentagon began deploying 400 additional marines to syria. former national security adviser michael flynn worked as a foreign agent for the turkish government last fall even as he served as a top adviser to to donald trump's campaign and failed to disclose his lobbying efforts as required by law. the revelation came in a retroactive filing by flynn with the justice department on tuesday. it reveals he was paid more than to lobby on behalf of a firm $500,000 linked to the turkish government. by failing to register with the federal government, flynn violated the foreign agent registration act. on election day, flynn authored an op-ed in the newspaper the hill calling for the extradition , to turkey of a prominent opponent of president reccep erdogan w

i'm amy goodman. supreme court nominee neil gorsuch is heading to capitol hill today for his third day of confirmation hearings. on tuesday, he was questioned for over 10 hours by members of the senate judiciary committee. gorsuch faced intense scrutiny over his decision to rule against a truck driver whose employer illegally fired him for deserting a trailer so he wouldn't freeze to death. this is minnesota democratic senator al franken. >> it is absurd. to say this company is in its because heire him made the choice of possibly dying from freezing to death or causing other people to die possibly by driving an unsafe vehicle. that is absurd. now i had a career in identifying absurdity. [laughter] and i know it when i see it. and it makes me, you know, it makes me question your judgment. amy: senate minority leader chuck schumer is calling on the senate to delay a vote on gorsuch for as long as trump's -- as long as the fbi is investigating the trump campaign. what's to be moving so forward on fast on

i'm amy goodman. surrounded by cocoal minerers, presesident trump p signed an executive order tuesday to dismantle a slew of climate rules established by president obama. if carried out, the executive order will nearly virtually guarantee that the united states will fail to meet its 2015 paris agreement pledge to reduce emissions in order to curb the effects of climate change. the executive order marks the first step to undo obama's clean power plan to limit power plant emissions and replace coal-fired power plants with new solar and wind farms. the clean power plan is considered to be a critical element of the u.s. plan to meet the targets established in the paris accord. environmental and civil rights groups have vowed to fight the executive order. on tuesday afternoon, protesters gathered in the freezing rain outside trump tower in manhattan to denounce the executive order. other demonstrators gathered outside the epa's headquarters in washington, d.c., with signs reading, "get this toxic dump out

i'm amy goodman. donald trump's former nationall security advisor michael flynn is seeking immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony to the fbi and congressional investigators probing the trump campaign's alleged ties to russia. that's according to the "wall street journal." nine in a statement flynn's lawyer , thursday saying -- "general flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit." general flynn was fired from his cabinet post in february for failing to disclose talks with russia's ambassador before trump took office. he's also accused of being paid $65,000 by companies linked to russia in 2015. flynn's bid for immunity follows his remarks last september blasting clinton campaign staffers for accepting immunity in exchange for their testimony to the fbi about clinton's use -- hillary clintonon's use of a private email server. >> five people around her have been given immunity, to include her former chief of staff. when you're

i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives is set to vote today on a republican bill to repeal and replace the affordable care act, a plan the congressional budget office says would add 24 million people to the ranks of the uninsured. president donald trump and vice president mike pence spent wednesday on capitol hill in a final pitch to republicans wary of the legislation. north carolina congress member mark meadows, chair of the right-wing house freedom caucus, said more than 20 republicans said more than 20 members were prepared to defeat the bill because it does not go far enough to dismantle the affordable care act. at the white house, press secretary sean spicer rejected calls by some republicans to postpone tonight's vote. >> this bill represents the best chance of repealing and replacing obamacare and instilling a patient centric health care system that increases choice and lowers cost and this is the only train leaving the station. amy: today's vote comes as americans for prosperity and fr

i'm amy goodman. attorney general jeff sessions said thursday he will recuse himselelf from any investigation into last year's presidential campaign following reports he met twice with russia's ambassador to thehe u.s. while serving as a campaign surrogate for donald trump. the revelation directly contradicts sessions' sworn testimony to congress in january that he did not meet with any russian officials in the run-up to november's election. in a hastily assembled news conference thursday, sessions called charges he lied under oath totally false and said he failed to mention the meetings with ambassadodor sergey kislyak because the two did not discuss the campaign. i was taken aback a little bit about this brand-newew information, this allegation -- i have been called a surrogate for trump -- had been meetingng continuoususly with rurussian is whahatand that struck m me very hard and that s what i focused my swswer o in that respect, i should have slowed down and said, that i did meet one russian offi

amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i don't know what i will say other than obamacare is a law of the land and it will replace -- it will remain the log line until it is replaced. amy: first major legislative defeat as house republicans pull a bill to repeal the affordable care act. the white house is now vowing to let obamacare explode. meanwhile, advocates of single payer say now is the time to push for a system where all americans have health care. then did the keystone xl pipeline. >> i am pleased to announce the official approval of the presidential permits for the keystone xl pipeline. amy: we will speak to bill mckibben of 350.org who helped organize a massive resistance against the project leading president obama to reject the keystone xl. he is involved with a major march on washington april 29. then we look at the soaring number of civilians being killed in u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria, including over 200 civilians in a strike in the iraqi city of mosul in us all day -- in a single day. >> i came to th

i'm amy goodman. fbi director james comey is asking the justicece departmento publicly refute president trump's unsubstantiated claims that former president obama ordered trump's phones be wiretapped during the 2016 presidential campaign. fbi director james comey president obama, and others have , all rejected trump's allegations, which he first made during a tweet storm on saturday morning. trump began by tweeting -- "terrible! just found out that obama had my "wires tapped" in trump tower just before the victory. nothing found. this is mccarthyism!" he then went on to tweet -- "how low has president obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. this is nixon/watergate. bad or sick guy!" trump has called for a congressional investigatation ad the white house is standing by the allegations, even though it has not been provided evidence to back them up. this is trump spokesperson sarah huckabee sanders speaking to martha raddatz on abc's "t"this week" on sunday. >> look, i i thin

i'm amy goodman. on wednesday, only hours before the trump administration's new travel ban was set to go into effect, a federal judge in hawaii issued a nationwide halt to the executive order, which would have temporarily suspended refugees and people from six majority muslim nations from entering the united states. this morning, a federal judge in maryland also blocked part of the travel ban dealing a second , legal blow to the trump's executive order. on wednesday, hawaii attorney general doug chin celebrated the ruling by hawaiian federal judge derrick watson. >> that is a big reason why hawaii brought this case, is because it is really something that hits us to the core. if you have an order that is coming out there that is taking us back half a century to a time when there was discrimination by nations of origin or by religion, that is something we have to speak up against. amy: this is now the second time president trump's executive orders banning refugees and travelers from majority-muslim coun

i'm amy goodman. attorney general jeff sessions asked for the resignations of 46 u.s. attorneys on friday, angering the prosecutors who say they were not warned in advance. although the dismissal of u.s. attorneys is common during presidential transitions, those affected say the trump administration bungled the layoffs with many u.s. attorneys , learning only through the media that they had to clear out their desks by the end of the day. one of the most high-profile prosecutors asked to resign, u.s. attorney in manhattan preet bharara, refused to step down and was quickly fired. friday bharara's termination came as a surprise since donald trump met personally with bharara at trump tower last november and assured him he could remain at his post. bharara says his office received a voicemail thursday from the white house, but that he declined to speak with the president citing department of justice rules. the unusual circumstances of bharara's dismissal prompted democrats to suggest it was politically mo

i'm amy goodman. on his first trip to asia, secretary of state rex tillerson said the united states will consider taking military action against north korea. >> let me be very clear. the policy of strategic patience has ended. we are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, and economic measures. all options are on the table. amy: this morning, tillerson also visited the demilitarized zone on the bordrder between noh and south korea. this week, the u.s., japan, and south korea carried out a massive military traraining exercise the same area where , north korea fired four missiles a week earlier. the u.s.'s elite seal team 6 took part in the war games for the first time. the war games coincide with a u.s. military build up in the region. overer the lasast few weeks, t t u.s. has beeeen deploying a missile defense system known as thaad, the terminal high altitude area defense system to south korea. the u.s. has now also announced it will be deploying unmanned attack drones to south korea. during t

i'm amy goodman.turn now to the confirmation hearin for supre court nonee neil gsuch, which wrapped up thursday on capitol hill as senate democrats vowed to filibuster his nomination this is senate minority leader chuck schumer. >> the supreme court matters a great, great deal. it matters for workers who want to protect both their lives and their jobs, for employees who need to be able to seek redress for discrimination, for parents who want their kids to get a fair shake in the education system. it is with all of this in mind that i have come to a decision about the current nominee. after careful deliberation, i have concluded that i cant support judge neil gorsuch's nomination to the supreme court. his nomination will have a culture vote. he will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. my vote will be no, and i urge i colleagues to do the same. amy: senate rules require 60 votes to break a filibuster, meaning gorsuch would have to earn the support of eight democrats to overcome the democratic effort