juan: you also write about michelle flournoy's involvement with the center on new american security,he thing take that she helped to create. could you talk about what that has produced and what she did there? >> that is seen as one of the most hawkish think tanks. it is one of the most well-funded by precisely government and military contractors, as well as oil companies. it is an example she started herself of leaving the administration from the pentagon, creating using her rolodex to create this think tank, and get it funded by the very companies that she dealt with when she was inside the pentagon. amy: we're going to go to break. we want to thank you, medea benjamin, cofounder of the peace organization codepink, author of many books, including "kingdom of the unjust: behind the u.s.-saudi connection." we will be joined by david and professor barbara ransby to look at who was on the stage in wilmington, delaware. the choices that president-elect biden has made so far. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "faster than the truth" by neneh cherry. this is democracy now!, democracynow.o

i want to ask you about michele flournoy.ersation with her a few months ago about global threats. she is a very informed person as it relates to things and she's the first one we're talking about after the appointment of ron klain. do you know of her and have you had a chance to work with her? >> i have worked very closely with michelle and think highly of her. joe biden will have great choices but about michele, i have the highest regard for her. she is a military spouse and a military mom. and on the armed services committee, ali, we deal with an awful lot of issues that affect military families. the word in the military is you attract and recruit by going to the recruit. when you get them to re-up by making the case to the family and michele is a spouse and a military mom would bring a tremendous understanding of not just those in active service but the families that need to be there to support them and what policies we should have to back them up. >> senator, good to see you as always. thank you for taking the time to joi

over at the pentagon, one name often mentioned as a possible defense secretary is michele flournoy. she was a top obama defense official, and if confirmed, would be the first woman to hold the role. >> o'donnell: and, ed, what can you tell us about that call that the president-elect got from the pope today? >> reporter: that's right. they spoke this morning. the pontiff extended congratulations to the president-elect. a pretty personally important call for mr. biden, who would be the second roman catholic president. the first, of course, was john f. kennedy. in the statement, the office says the president-elect looks forward to working with the pontiff on issues like helping the poor and immigrants. >> o'donnell: tonight, a deadly military helicopter crash in egypt appears to have been caused by an equipment problem, not an attack. five americans on a peacekeeping mission were among those killed. cbs' david martin has new information on the crash. >> reporter: one american service member was pulled from the wreckage, but five others died when their black hawk helicopter went down in

in fact, michele flournoy actually criticized obama for not being enough of a war hawk in syria. so if that's what you want, if you want more dead u.s. troops and dead people overseas, if you want more trillions of dollars being run up in debt to continue this empire imperial system going, then this would be the ideal pick for us as a libertarian. i'm certainly against it. let's stay on that subject. biden also said his team is ready to confront america's adversaries and not reject its allies . i mean, i guess we can assume that he's referencing to trump's. for example, the request for nato countries to pay their way in the military alliance. but what do you think we can read into that in terms of what foreign policy we're going to see is this global leadership or some sort of war hawk agenda? do you think? well again, if i think if i leadership, you mean the continued expansion of u.s. war posture, policy perpetual war policy then? yeah, i guess that's the leadership that just got elected into office. now to be clear, donald trump gave his america 1st rhetoric to his voter base,

nick: michelle flournoy is very much still be secretary of defense.the leading candidate t secretary of defense. sheie rd widespread praise especially for her men of young women. she was most recently number three in the pentagon under the obama administration. but there is criticismen in r days over policy by people on both sides of the aisle who believe1, since 9he u.s. has become too, interventionio reliant on the military. these critics want to see military withdrawals and removal of support to the saudi led war in yemen. they are concerned about her previous support for military intervention. take a listen to winslow hill leader.g time capitol >> hsia bc has experience, but she has been wrong almost every time. it doesn't look like she has changed her views vy much. we have had disasters imghanistan, iraq, libya, syria based on this rchange disaster for our country.real nick: flournoy's defenders say her record as a hawk is more mixed, and that she has bipartisan support. consider kori schake, foer nsc, state, and defense department department of

michele flournoy pretty on acceptable to a lot of progressives. maybe stepping away in part because of that, but also because he doesn't have that personal relationship that he has with the others. and these, you know, he's fought with florida in the past. illinois was all for the afghan surge. biden was against it, but they have a long, long record of not being as interventionist as fluent. the other name being mentioned. he's defended torture, post 911 torture in the past and other objectionable figure. so there is that balancing act with the transition team says all of the cabinet will look like america. the subtext of that is it will look like america from both left to right. but the concern is that if they get extreme right wingers in the cabinet extreme, always neo conservative hawks in the cabinet. the progressives are going to stand by. they're going to take to the streets to be interesting. definitely see how that plays out. so much. iran has agreed to release british australian academic kylee more gilberts, in exchange for 3. uranium is

about, for example, the afghan surge under obama biden was against that biden was against libya, michele flournoy all for that. michelle and i also has like lincoln, but what i mean, they've been working together at the same consulting firm and have been taking in lots and lots of money from weapons manufacturers. so not get all the rest of choice. so progressives, again saying look, we're getting a bit concerned, especially also with the cia director possibility mike morrell is being mentioned. he's defended cia torture in the past, and we're seeing the progressive base now say look, we're reaching a limit now, because biden has been talking about getting republicans in the cabinet, but not having progressive figures like elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. and the press is saying, look, you called us, keep saying to us that these appointments are as bad as they could have been while you then give the establishment everything that they want. so there's a bit of tension developing. definitely. thanks so much. you have a tendency that now north central and south america have together reports of m

michelle flournoy, general lloyd austin and others, what's your take?all names, these are people that have been tested, these are people that know how to make a decision, these are people that understand what is at stake and that is what i see across the board with what the biden team has put together is this is a team that understands what is at stake and what has to happen for the american people entrusting us to do, save lives. whether it's responding to the covid crisis or all the other crises around the world, here in new jersey, one out of every 582 people in new jersey has died of the coronavirus. over one out of every 1,250 americans in this country has died of the coronavirus crisis. this is a national security crisis, and the biden team is positioned to be able to come in and understand that and recognize that and respond with the urgency that's needed. >> congressman, good to see you. thank you for joining us, democratic congressman andy kim from new jersey's third district. have yourself a great weekend. >> thank you. >>> coming up in the ne

. >> my administration could make new grounds right now, the name michelle flournoy is being floated the pentagon. would you support that choice? >> i like and respect michelle. she's well-known. she served as an undersecretary in the pentagon. and she has kept her eyes and ears open to the key policy issues at play. so, i think she would be a great choice. i think the key for any cabinet selection is that cabinet secretary has a very good relationship with the president. clear lines of communication. and they're on the same page with respect to policy. one of the fair criticisms of the trump administration is there's been lack of cohesionen of leadership. and a lot of acting leaders in different positions. often discord between the president and the cabinet secretaries. you're not going to see that with michelle flournoy working with president biden. >> she would be the first woman to lead that department if chosen. juan, it was great to talk to you. >> thank you. >>> public health officials are issuing a stern warning against large gatherings this thanksgiving. some are taking extre

reminds who she is and what the thinking was about her potential to be named. >> yeah, michele flournoydy, is still very much the leading candidate to be secretary of defense. she would be the first female secretary of defense. she receives widespread praises special for mentoring of young women. she has extensive pentagon experience, number three under the obama adinistration. but there is criticism we've heard in recent days of her over policy by people on both sides of the aisle, who thi th.s. has been too reliant on the military. these critics want to see military withdrawals, removal of support for the saudi-led war in prmen, and they are concerned about flournoy'vious support for military intervention. so take a listen to wisp low wheeler, a long-time former capitol hill aide. >> she obviously has a lot of experience inside the pentagon and knows how the building operates, buwrshe's been ong almost every time, and it doesn't look like sh's changed her views very much. we've had disasters in afghanistan, iraq, libya, syria, based on this regime change agenda, andeth been a realst d

a top pentagon official in the obama administration michelle flournoy is under consideration. jeh johnson is also under consideration and retired general lloyd austin who served under the head of central command under the obama administration and he would need a waiver to take on this position. jeh johnson and lieutenant austin would be the first black picks to be pentagon secretary if they were picked and michelle flournoy would the first woman if she were picked. >> let's talk about tanden. she has been attacked by some progressives but seems to be shoring up support of members in congress. some republicans are going at her. the communication center for john cornyn in texas tweeted the following. so am i to understand that mean tweets are now important to republican senators? >> i think we can add to that the list of what we will see the next months or so. but yeah. neera tanden sits in an unusual place i think safe to say in the political conversation. she is broadly disliked by people on the left wing of the party for being too centrist but also vocal of her criticism in r

the likely nominee for pentagon chief is michelle flournoy obama's former undersecretary of defense who helped persuade the president at the time towards a military intervention in libya on humanitarian grounds. you know, we supported the intervention in libya on humanitarian grounds. i think we were right to do a supporter of the u.s. troop surge in afghanistan and escalation of u.s. involvement in syria. she's also a hard liner on both russia and china flown oil said that future warfare may come in many flavors and with advocates of big bets on new weapons. at the head of the pentagon, america can expect a full menu of delicacies. it's no secret. the cia has historically been a pillar of u.s. foreign policy, and one of the picks for cia boss is michael morrell, rose to prominence during the obama years. he's already familiar with the job serving twice as acting director, a man steeped in the cia's longest standing traditions. moral would no doubt be successful, bringing his plans to fruition in the new biden administration. we need to make iranians pay a price in syria. we need to mak

consultancy for raking in millions of dollars from, from the defense industry and big tech, michele flournoy is someone who would tussle with joe biden. in the past. joe biden been against the obama afghans, for example, flournoy always in for intervention in libya and syria and afghanistan. so it seems like he's backing away from that a little bit. maybe because he does have a personal relationship with her. but also because progressives are members of congress because some members of congress are saying, wait a 2nd here. this will be one hawk too many specifically, because in recent weeks, she spoke out against a possible arms embargo, all means penalties for saudi arabia because of that war. in yemen, she said that shouldn't be an arms embargo, but maybe just selective, you know, case by case basis view of to saudi arabia. the other stuff that you get a lot of obama administration officials. one of the many regrets on foreign policy, is green lighting effectively of yemen by saudi arabia and the u.a.e., which led to the biggest humanitarian crisis of the world. so that's one issue. anothe

we got tony blinken, we got michelle flournoy, avril haynes and others who served under the obama administration. and while they were there, they were the main cheerleaders for the expansion of the war in iraq, the involvement and expansion of the war in syria. the continuation of the u.s. sponsored genocide in yemen and the involvement and invasion of libya by the us military. if you want more dead u.s. troops and dead people overseas, if you want more trillions of dollars being run up in debt to continue this empire imperial system going, then this would be they ideal pick for you in general. if you just talk about the subject of us foreign policy, the average american wants the wars to end, the average american wants the troops to come home. the average american doesn't think that the u.s. military should be used as the world's police or that it's done a good job at it, or that it done anything other than lead to an increasing number of veterans coming home with, you know, p.t.s.d. and other chronic health problems and not to mention the measurable suffering and harm that's being done oversea

and one person being talked about is michelle flournoy. famously of the center for a new security which is funded by weapons manufacturers to congress people. barbara, lead them across from california and mark corn for a democrat from wisconsin. have written to biden seemingly begging the neo cons. are not promoted to biden's cabinet. and you know, by his record on, from i don't know, grenada and panama to the death squads of central america right to libya. why this serb belief that he can be persuaded to be progressive? biden is a conventional politician. yet we hold him to big money for years rolled into the defense industry and he has it in paper or there is no reason to think of him as a certain sure, green president. on the other hand, he has got to pay some of time. neither. you or i know how much the term free will, nor what will do well, but there is 00 on the side of the, the green movement. well, you know, i don't know, what do you talk to your brother meant, and many people around the world think he might very well begin bombing

while a likely pick for pentagon, michelle flournoy stresses the need for the usa to become a force to be reckoned with. coming up on the show, there will be a smooth transition to a 2nd trumpet ministration. right. took his $37.00 plus days, you know, watching back in 2000, conducted a successful transition then, did the corporate funded networks call it too early? as u.s. attorney general bill barr authorizes federal prosecutors to investigate allegations of voting irregularities in last week's presidential election. we speak to barry richard, the moire who helped win george bush's legal fight against al gore in 2000 and his coronavirus lockdowns on the robot to revolution. force us to ask questions about the very ways we live and work, and the apologists, james suzman, his groundbreaking, new book, and work, the history of how we spend our time examines the history of the universe and humanity to ask if the key to tackling, not just the future of work, but everything from pandemics to wars, to inequality, lies in our affluent hunter gatherer a past all the more coming up in today's

while the likely pick for pentagon, michele flournoy stresses the need for the usa to become a force to be reckoned with. coming up on the show, there will be a smooth transition to a 2nd trumpet ministration. right. took us $37.00 plus days, you know, watching back in 2000 conducted a successful transition then did the corporate funded networks call it too early? as u.s. attorney general bill barr authorizes federal prosecutors to investigate allegations of voting irregularities in last week's presidential election. we speak to barry richard, the more who helped win george bush's legal fight against al gore in 2000. and there's coronavirus lockdowns in the robot revolution force us to ask questions about the very ways we live in.

so i'm somewhat uneasy, you know, when i hear that michele flournoy, a specialist in russia, is probably going to have their defense team william burroughs. well, has a job is from putin, because i know that during his tenure us and i'm best of the in russia, he said, man, you're right towards bob. his book is terrible and he's out. it also are all false . so unfortunately, also, you know, the problem we have now what he pretty boy ideology is the same as with all of it that it did in one year were just people at the pool. some of them supported out of conviction. some of them supported out of pure pragmatism, i'm sorry, just you know, to sustain their family and become rich. and sometimes you have, you can be nation, you know, in order to make, you'll live better and secure. these people kind of absorption the norm so far, bro. to tell you terry, and i go with that epps all of these things into their writings, into their thinking, just below, you know, much more comfortable. i mean, let's finish up with patrick here. here. it's a grift to, i mean, if you look at these, a list of people,

i'm talking about susan rice, michele flournoy. they are speculated to be considered for high positions of power in the by an administration, joe biden, by the way, i think, was one of the very few skeptics who opposed that decision. but obviously he is, vision was not heated. at that point of time. do you think this political establishment, or his believe or less than bluster and that is clearly coming back to power? it to washington hasn't had enough time to consider what it means by the american leadership in the world and how this american leadership should be advanced. do you think these people who spend last 4 years trying trying to oust, did they have enough time to consider how they're going to move forward and whether they're going to stick to the same rules into the same vision that they tried to endorse during the obama administration, i think he, i think president biden will have very seasoned, very experienced individuals helping him navigate the world stage and that what they will do is underpinned by respect for huma

and can i take people like tony blinken, or michelle flournoy who may be, you know, all occupy positions? somebody defense secretary national security adviser one day when, for instance, the biden team should revise what he sees was the major blunder of the obama admin to which a serial policies will lead a lot of syrian opposition groups down. and you know, when people in moscow hear this use, the question is, what do we make of it doesn't mean the united states is the went back to reinforce, it's not to do anything, anything constructive, but just to know, play game up, denial of national interest, the michael, michael, do you think that maybe the biden ministration is going to take another swing at regime change in syria because we're always told it because of the, of the russians. ok, i mean is this, are we just going to have to reset back to 2016? go ahead. max and you raise an interesting question, but i've heard tony blinken talk about this as well. and my interpretation of where tony is coming from. i've known tony for 20 some years. he's a very humble guy, and when i heard him t

and there's an enormous amount of rumbling about michelle flournoy, who was a former obama administration official, was the favorite to become defense secretary. but now we're hearing from various sources that biden is having perhaps 2nd thoughts, not just because she is. i think credible hole because she was someone who biden fought with what we disagreed with when it came to the obama's afghan surge, for example, which he even more interventionist. and some of the names we saw being rolled out, being rolled out yesterday. and she has even closer ties to the defense industry. she's noted in recent weeks for speaking out against an arms embargo against saudi arabia, for example, because of the yemen war. something that progressives and many members of congress are pushing heavily for, for right now, though it seems that biden is getting cold feet about her personally at the moment and he will. so there's not that sort of personal relationship that he has with other members of his cabinet, his hope for full confidence. another name that's being thrown rose michael morel, the cia that's als

while the likely pick for pentagon, michele flournoy stresses the need for the usa to become a force to be reckoned with. coming up on the show, there will be a smooth transition to a 2nd trumpet ministration. right. took us $37.00 plus days, you know, watching back in 2000 conducted a successful transition then did the corporate funded networks call it too early? as u.s. attorney general bill barr authorizes federal prosecutors to investigate allegations of voting irregularities in last week's presidential election. we speak to barry richard, the more who helped win george bush's legal fight against al gore in 2000. and this coronavirus lockdowns on the robot revolution forced us to ask questions about the very ways we live and work and apologist james suzman, whose groundbreaking new book and work a history of how we spend our time, examines the history of the universe and humanity to ask if the key to tackling not just the future of work, but everett saying from pandemics to wars, to inequality, lies in our affluent come together up honest colas, more coming up in today's going un