Democracy Now!

We speak with Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna of California about the Trump administration's ongoing assault on the federal bureaucracy and the gutting of various agencies, led by the president's unelected billionaire adviser Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.No DOGE employee should have access to any of Americans' sensitive, confidential information, and they should not have access to be able to stop payments," he says. Khanna calls Musk's actions unconstitutional" and says the Trump administration must be held accountable. There is a movement now which is pushing back. We did not have that for a couple months, I acknowledge that. But the Democratic Party in this last week has had a new energy and a new resolve to stand up."Khanna also comments on the use of Guantanamo Bay to detain immigrants, Trump's colonial proposals to seize Gaza and other foreign territories and more.

Trump Sanctions ICC over War Crimes Investigations Against Israel, Trump Says Palestinians Will Be Happy, Safe and Free" After Mass Expulsion from Gaza, Senate Votes to Confirm Project 2025 Architect Russell Vought as White House Budget Chief, DOGE Staffer Marko Elez Resigns over Racist and Hateful Social Media Posts, Lawmakers Denied Access to EPA as Trump Admin Shutters Environmental Justice Office, Scott Turner Confirmed as HUD Secretary as DOGE Prepares to Slash Billions from Housing Department, First Female Coast Guard Commandant, Linda Fagan, Evicted from Home After 3-Hour Notice, Rights Groups Condemn NCAA over Ban on Trans Women in Sports, January 2025 Was Hottest on Record, Hitting 1.75 Degrees Above Preindustrial Levels, Trump Nominates Sharpiegate" Scientist to Reprise Role at NOAA, Mourners at Memorial for Altadena Fire Victims Demand Equity in Rebuilding Process, Trump Administration Shackled Indians for 40 Hours Aboard Deportation Flight

As the Trump administration, led in part by his unelected adviser Elon Musk, sets its sights on cutting the Department of Education, we speak to longtime educator Jesse Hagopian about what he calls an extremist, authoritarian power grab to dismantle public education and enforce ideological conformity." Hagopian, whose new book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education, traces the history of racist educational censorship, adds, This isn't about protecting children. We know that dismantling the Department of Education is really about imposing ... the violence of organized forgetting."

We speak to Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart about his new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, which is addressed to my fellow Jews" and criticizes what he characterizes as the increasing privileging of Zionism as a part of Jewish identity. The Jewish community is structured to basically make the existence of a Jewish state, a state that privileges Jews over Palestinians, sacred, ... elevat[ing] ethnonationalism - a Jewish state - over Judaism itself," Beinart says. In response, he challenges the erasure of Zionism's explicitly colonial roots and political myths about majoritarian rule, arguing for the acceptance of more critical stances toward the state of Israel within Jewish communities.

World leaders are rebuking Donald Trump's proposal for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip, ethnically cleansing the region of Palestinians. There's no question that even though the entire region would reject it ... the fundamental reality is that we are heading to the complete destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza as a matter of status quo," says our guest Omar Baddar. Baddar, a Palestinian American political analyst and member of the National Policy Council of the Arab American Institute, also discusses Trump's recent statements signaling a potential breakdown of the official ceasefire in Gaza.

Protests Erupt Against Trump and Musk Takeover of Gov't Agencies, NOAA Receives Order to Halt International Engagements"; HHS Workers Placed on DEI Hit List", Sen. Brian Schatz Warns Against Creeping Fascism" as He Leads Filibuster Against OMB Nominee Vought, Unions Sue to Prevent DOGE from Accessing Labor Dept. Data, CIA Sends White House Email with Names of Recent Hires; DOJ Official Accuses FBI of Insubordination", Trump Signs Order Banning Trans Women and Girls from School Sports, Judge Blocks Trump's Cruel and Unusual" Order to Move Trans Women Prisoners to Men's Wards, Federal Court Puts Indefinite Hold on Trump's Order Ending Birthright Citizenship, Texas Empowers National Guard Soldiers to Arrest Asylum Seekers at U.S. Border, ICE Agents in Colorado Go Door to Door Demanding IDs and Asking People to Turn In Their Neighbors, Protests Nationwide Denounce Trump Administration's Immigration Raids, First Deportation Flight Carrying Immigrant Prisoners Arrives at Guantanamo, Guatemala Agrees to U.S. Demands to Accept Deportees from Other Countries, Israeli Defense Minister Orders Plans for Voluntary Departure" of Palestinians from Gaza, Swedish Gunman Kills 10 at Adult Education Center That Serves Immigrants, Panama Canal Authority Denies Trump's Claim of Free Passage for U.S. Ships, Javier Milei Withdraws Argentina from World Health Organization, Blasts Social Justice Groups, Ecuador's President Slaps Tariffs on Mexican Goods, Mirroring Trump's Authoritarian Moves, Trump's Release of Water from California Dams Won't Help Farms or L.A. Firefighters

We speak with Karla Gilbride, the former general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, who was fired by President Trump in late January along with two commissioners at the federal agency that enforces civil rights law in the workplace. The EEOC was created as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is tasked with investigating discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sex and other characteristics, but the Trump administration is gutting the agency as part of its larger assault on DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion. The EEOC says it will no longer focus on anti-trans discrimination and vows to uphold a binary view of sex and gender.

The Trump administration claims an order to withhold funds from hospitals that offer gender-affirming care to transgender youth is already having its intended effect" as hospitals announce a halt to gender-affirming care for trans patients. The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and others filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of transgender youth who say the order is depriving them of medical care solely on the basis of their sex and transgender status." ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio says the situation is catastrophic for transgender people of all ages, particularly transgender youth," and notes Trump's near-daily attacks are targeting a community that makes up less than 1% of the U.S. population. We need to see people standing up." We are also joined by pediatrician Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, who has vowed to keep working with transgender youth patients in New York. Keep politics out of science," says Dr. Birnbaum.

As President Trump continues to sign new executive orders attacking transgender people and their rights, we hear voices of protest from New York, where hundreds of people rallied Monday outside NYU Langone Hospital in Manhattan to demand it continue providing gender-affirming care for trans patients, after news that some patients had been dropped by the hospital. This comes after the Trump administration signed an order withholding federal research and education grants from hospitals that offer gender-affirming care to transgender people under 19.

President Donald Trump met at the White House Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where Trump again suggested ethnically cleansing Gaza of its Palestinian population. Trump has already mused about moving Gaza's population to Jordan and Egypt, which those countries have flatly rejected, but on Tuesday he went even further and said the United States should own" Gaza and develop it into a seaside tourist destination. Nothing has been more destabilizing for the region over the last eight decades than the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel, and nobody at any level is going to sign up for a continuation of that," says Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer, who calls Trump's plan ethically and morally repugnant." We also speak with former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy, who says Israeli society is currently giddy with excitement" over Trump's presidency. But he adds that perhaps Israel's greatest Achilles' heel is if it actually falls for the idea that America is all-powerful."

Trump Calls for Ethnic Cleansing of Entire Gaza Strip and for U.S. to Take Over", U.S. Ignores ICC Arrest Warrant Seeking Netanyahu's Arrest for Crimes Against Humanity, A Serious Violation of International Law": Palestinians Reject Trump's Gaza Takeover Bid, Palestinian Poet Refaat Alareer, Killed in 2023 Israeli Strike, Finally Laid to Rest in Gaza City, Trump Places 10,000 USAID Workers on Leave and Orders Them to Return to U.S., Trump Orders U.S. Withdrawal from U.N. Human Rights Council and U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, Federal Workers Sue DOGE, Alleging Musk Illegally Compromised Personal Information, Democratic Lawmakers Protest Elon Musk's Hostile Takeover" of U.S. Government, Ukraine's Zelensky Accepts Trump's Bid to Trade U.S. Arms for Rare Earth Minerals, Senate Confirms Trump Loyalist Pam Bondi as Attorney General, Proud Boys Lose Trademark Rights to Historic Black Church It Attacked in 2020, ACLU Sues to Block Trump's Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth, Senators Advance Nominations of RFK Jr. for Health Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for Intelligence Chief, Hundreds of Women Raped and Burned to Death as M23 Rebels Seize Eastern DRC's Goma, Philippine Congress Impeaches Vice President Sara Duterte over Corruption, Assassination Threats

An executive order that purports to combat antisemitism on university campuses is likely to chill free speech and target students for pro-Palestine, antiwar and anti-racist views. The order, signed by President Trump, threatens to deport noncitizen college students and other international visitors who take part in protests considered antisemitic under a broad and contested definition of the term. Though the order gives them new teeth, these threats of deportation are not new, as our guest Momodou Taal, a doctoral student at Cornell University who was threatened with deportation last year, can attest. While public outcry forced Cornell to lift Taal's suspension and allow him a limited return to campus, he is still effectively banned from campus life and blocked from teaching positions. There's somewhat of a great irony that students who were protesting apartheid are now subject to forms of exclusion bordering on apartheid," says Taal about his ongoing exclusion.Rights groups and legal scholars say the new executive order violates constitutional free speech rights and would likely draw legal challenges if implemented. This is basically a textbook authoritarian playbook meant to stifle any criticism of what's going on in Israel," explains our other guest, Etan Nechin, a New York correspondent for Haaretz. Students like Taal, however, say they will not allow the government and their administrations to prevent them from speaking out. Taal says his pro-Palestine activism comes out of his obligations as a human being" and that when fascism is at the door, what we do is come together and unite even stronger."

Before Guantanamo became what it's known for - the forever prison in the war on terror" - its ambiguous sovereignty" as a U.S. military base was long utilized to incarcerate Caribbean asylum seekers to the U.S. We speak to scholar Miriam Pensack, who researches the history of Guantanamo, in light of President Trump's recent proposal to once again imprison asylum seekers at the base's prison complex. Pensack says that existing racist anti-migration policies in the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic's detention and deportations of people with Haitian ancestry, suggest a likely collaboration with Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits Latin America on his first foreign trip in his new post, we look at the Trump administration's policy orientation toward the right-wing government of El Salvador and the left-wing government of Guatemala with journalist Roman Gressier. Rubio is visiting both countries during his trip, which is expected to cement Trump's ties to Salvadoran strongman enthusiast Nayib Bukele and to the conservative opposition in Guatemala. Rubio's top agenda items are anti-immigration enforcement and U.S. competition with China.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is visiting Latin America on his first foreign trip in his new post. One of his stops is Panama, where President Trump has threatened to invade and take over control of the critical trade route of the Panama Canal in response to its growing ties to China. It is a deeply unpopular proposition in Panama, seen as a reversion to the mid-20th century imperial encroachment that Panama so intentionally confronted over the course of the Canal transition." It is also, on a logistical level," essentially impossible," according to Panama City-based scholar Miriam Pensack. In what Pensack calls a troubling" development, Panama has announced it will more closely cooperate with Trump's policing of migration from Central America to the United States as a diplomatic concession to his threats.

Trump Suspends Trade War with Canada & Mexico; China Hits U.S. with Retaliatory Tariffs, Democrats Protest Outside USAID Headquarters as Trump Seeks to Dismantle Agency, Federal Judge Extends Injunction on Federal Spending Freeze, Trump Administration Freezes Work of Consumer Protection Agency as Elon Musk Deletes" Free IRS Tax Preparation Software, Trump Administration Deactivates Famine Early Warning System Network, M23 Insurgents Declare Humanitarian" Ceasefire in Eastern DRC After Bloody Seizure of Goma, Israeli PM Netanyahu Says No Guarantees" Gaza Ceasefire Will Hold Ahead of White House Visit, Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, Including Oscar-Nominated Director Basel Adra, Israel Builds Military Bases in Syria After Ouster of Bashar al-Assad, Three Students Sue Columbia After Their Suspension for Palestinian Rights Activism, Senate Confirms Climate Change-Denying Fracking Exec. Chris Wright as Energy Secretary, Bukele Agrees to Lock Up U.S. Citizens, Deportees in Mega-Prison Rife with Abuse, U.S. Businesses Close Doors for A Day Without Immigrants" Amid Trump Crackdown, Competent White Men Must Be in Charge": White Supremacist Darren Beattie Gets State Department Role, German Protesters Condemn Chancellor Front-Runner Merz for Working with Neo-Nazi Party

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and unelected adviser to President Donald Trump, is asserting control over much of the federal bureaucracy and sensitive government computer systems despite lacking clear authority. The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department was pushed out after refusing to hand Musk's team the keys to the government's entire payment system and the $6 trillion in payments the system processes annually, including Social Security checks, tax refunds and Medicare benefits. Musk and his team have also seized control at the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration, key institutions that function as the central nervous system of the U.S. government. In any other situation, this would be called state capture, and people around the world would be condemning it," says Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, who writes in a new blog post that Elon Musk is staging a coup. We also speak with Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, who warns that Musk could be laying the groundwork for major tax cuts Republicans have promised that will disproportionately benefit corporations and wealthy people like him. Elon Musk is going to pay for his tax cut with your Social Security," says Owens.

The future of USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development, is uncertain after Elon Musk said President Trump had agreed to shut it down. The Tesla billionaire and presidential adviser has inserted himself into the inner workings of the federal government, gaining access to sensitive computer systems and making sweeping changes for which he has no clear authority. Over the weekend, the USAID website and social media channels were taken offline, and two top security officials at the aid agency were placed on administrative leave after attempting to block members of Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing USAID's classified systems, including personnel files. Musk claimed in a series of posts on his website X that USAID is a viper's nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America," and staff were instructed to stay away from the agency's Washington headquarters on Monday. What we are seeing ... are attacks against it as a corrupt and illegal organization by people who know nothing about it. They are manufacturing these things out of whole cloth," says former senior USAID staffer Jeremy Konyndyk, now president of Refugees International. It's really important to understand that a lot of what USAID does saves lives every single day."

We speak with longtime trade policy expert Lori Wallach about President Donald Trump's move to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China - the three largest trading partners of the United States. It has sent global stocks tumbling and raised fears of more inflation. Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on most imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% on goods from China, set to take effect Tuesday (After our broadcast, Mexico announced Trump had paused the new tariffs on Mexico for a month). Energy resources from Canada will carry a lower 10% tariff. Canada and Mexico have vowed to enforce retaliatory tariffs on the U.S., upending decades of economic integration under free trade agreements. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on the European Union. Wallach says that while tariffs can be an effective tool as part of a larger economic package, Trump's approach is likely to do more harm than good, even on his own stated goals of curbing immigration and drugs. We certainly don't want to hold on to the old, devastating neoliberal trade agenda, but the random tariffs on Mexico and Canada ... aren't going to get you the outcome you want," says Wallach, director of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project and board member of the Citizens Trade Campaign.

Trump Launches Trade War Against Canada, Mexico & China, Time for It To Die": Musk Pushes for Trump to Shut Down USAID, Musk & Associates Gain Access to Treasury's Federal Payment System, Over 30 Jan. 6 Prosecutors Fired; FBI Agents Questioned over Ties to Insurrection Probes, Trump Doubles Down on Threat to Illegally Seize Panama Canal over China Ties, South African Official Floats Cutting U.S. Off from Minerals After Trump Aid Threat, Trump Hosts Netanyahu in D.C.; Arab Leaders Reject U.S. Call to Force Palestinians into Egypt and Jordan, Israel Escalates Attack on Jenin, Blows Up 23 Homes on Residential Block, RSF Air Attack on Omdurman Market Kills 54 People, Fighting in Eastern DRC's Goma Kills 733 in One Week; Hospitals and Morgues Overwhelmed, U.S. Warplanes Strike Northern Somalia, Northwest Syria in Separate Attacks, Trump to End TPS for 300,000 Venezuelans as Caracas Agrees to Start Receiving Deportation Flights, Hegseth Visits Southern Border; ICE Seeks Access to Database of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, Protesters Take to the Streets in U.S. Cities in Defense of Immigrants' Rights, Hospitals in NY, D.C., VA and CO Cancel Young Trans Patients' Care After Trump Order, 8,000+ Pages from Gov't Websites Taken Offline, Including Crucial Info for Trans and Queer People, Louisiana Seeks Arrest of New York Doctor Who Prescribed Abortion Pill Online, DNC Elects Moderate Ken Martin as New Chair, Shunning Calls from Progressive Base

President Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congressmember from Hawaii, is facing major qualms from her former colleagues. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Democrats grilled her over her refusal to label whistleblower Edward Snowden a traitor." We discuss Snowden's case and what it revealed about government surveillance of the American public with Chip Gibbons.

President Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who has promoted right-wing conspiracy theories, is one of Donald Trump's most disturbing picks" who seems poised to use the office to go after journalists and other Trump critics, says Chip Gibbons of the civil liberties organization Defending Rights & Dissent.

Author and investigative journalist Brian Deer, who debunked disgraced ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent claims that vaccines were linked to autism, says that Wakefield and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of health and human services, are major leaders of the anti-vaccine movement. They basically run this movement together," he says.

The second day of confirmation hearings for Trump's secretary of health and human services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. again focused on his long record of vaccine skepticism, his shifting position on abortion and his professional inexperience in public health. Kennedy was questioned about his role in a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019. Dr. Alec Ekeroma, the director general of Samoa's Health Ministry, says Kennedy promoted anti-vaccine misinformation in the country, leading to the deaths of 83 people, the majority of whom were young children. He is the preeminent anti-vax campaigner in the world," adds investigative journalist Brian Deer, who has been following the anti-vaccine movement for years. Kennedy has no medical or scientific qualifications at all."

Donald Trump is blaming DEI for the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than two decades, when a regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided over a Washington, D.C. airport, killing 67 people. We have a long list of problems that need to be addressed. ... Instead, we're talking about a nonsensical issue that is not based in fact," says FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher Bill McGee, who says criticisms of DEI distract from and work against a critical staffing shortage at the FAA. McGee also discusses the dangerous politicization of the FAA and the increasing influence of Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, over the aviation industry.

Trump Blames DEI for D.C. Crash Amid Reports of Understaffing, Recent Patterns of Landing Troubles, RFK Jr. Denies COVID Vaccine Saved Millions; Errs on Basic Info About Medicaid, Medicare, Kash Patel Refuses to Rule Out Targeting Trump Critics as Head of FBI, Senators Press Tulsi Gabbard on Ed Snowden Comments, Russia, Syria, Paramount Could Settle in 60 Minutes" Lawsuit as Major Networks Bow to Trump, Meta Agrees to $25 Million Settlement over Suspending Trump's Accounts, Trump's New FCC Chair Launches Probe into NPR & PBS, Judge Lifts D.C. Travel Ban for Oath Keepers Leader After Trump's Mass Clemency for Jan. 6 Convicts, Trump Withdraws Security for Gen. Mark Milley, Trump's Education EOs Target Transgender Rights, Critical Race Theory and Public School Funding, Israel Frees Palestinian Captives, Completing Third Round of Prisoner Swaps, M23 Rebels Prepare to March on Bukavu After Seizing Eastern Regional Capital, New Ebola Outbreaks Confirmed in Uganda, Suspected in DRC, Protests Erupt as German Mainstream Parties Join Far-Right AfD to Pass Anti-Immigrant Bill, Russia Seizes More Territory in Ukraine's Donbas, Kills 9 Civilians in Attack on Sumy, Rebel Commander Ahmed al-Sharaa Named Interim President of Syria, Trump Promises 25% Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican Imports Beginning Saturday, Quakers Sue to Block ICE Raids on Schools, Hospitals and Houses of Worship, Democratic National Committee Gathers to Elect New Chair

We speak with Palestinian writer and analyst Muhammad Shehada about the ceasefire in Gaza, which has allowed half a million displaced people to return to what's left of their homes in the north of the territory, as Israel's ban on UNRWA goes into effect. Hamas militants released another three Israeli captives Thursday, as well as five Thai nationals, all of whom were taken to Gaza during the October 7, 2023, attack. In exchange, Israel will release another 110 imprisoned Palestinians, including 30 children. But while the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire continues to hold, Israeli forces are ramping up attacks on the occupied West Bank, particularly in the Jenin refugee camp. Israel is trying to turn [Jenin] into a clone of Gaza - ethnic cleansing, pushing people out and destroying homes systematically, one after the other. All of it is to explode the West Bank, to use it as a pretext for a major war to push Palestinians out," says Shehada.

Rescue workers in Washington, D.C., have launched a massive recovery operation in the Potomac River after a regional passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair late Wednesday, with both aircraft crashing into the water. American Airlines Flight 5342 had 60 passengers and four crew members on board and was en route to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from Wichita, Kansas. The Black Hawk helicopter had three soldiers on board conducting a training flight. Officials believe there are no survivors. The deadly crash comes amid upheaval and staffing changes in the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration due to President Donald Trump's ongoing purge across federal government agencies. Journalist David Sirota of The Lever says the airport also recently had its air traffic increased by lawmakers despite objections. There is a very deep safety concern at this airport because there had been a series of near misses," says Sirota. These warnings about expanding the flight traffic at this airport came just a few months ago." He also discusses the first 10 days of the Trump administration.

We continue our conversation with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who responds to President Donald Trump's freezing of trillions in federal funding this week, which the White House walked back just a day later. Wyden helped pressure the administration to abandon the plan after publicizing how it disrupted Medicaid payments in states across the country. The credit deserves to go to the whistleblowers who brought it to us," he says. Wyden also discusses the confirmation hearings for former Democratic Congressmember Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, as well as the growing influence of Big Tech oligarchs and the deadly air crash in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, was questioned by lawmakers Tuesday in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, which largely focused on his decades of anti-vaccine activism, as well as his views on abortion and other healthcare issues. We play excerpts from the contentious hearing and speak with the ranking Democrat on the committee, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who says Democrats successfully highlighted his controversial views, potentially putting his confirmation at risk despite the Republican majority in the Senate. This is one of the most important positions in the world as it relates to healthcare," says Wyden. He cannot be trusted, ... and he's unprepared." Kennedy faces a second day of questioning today before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

67 Feared Dead After American Airlines Jet Collides with Army Helicopter Near Washington, D.C., Trump Says D.C. Crash Should Have Been Prevented," Days After Gutting Airline Safety Committee, White House Rescinds Memo Freezing Trillions of Dollars of Federal Grants and Loans, Trump Tells Pentagon to Prepare Mass Detention Camp for 30,000 Immigrants at Guantanamo, Guatemalans Deported by Trump Administration Recount Fear and Family Separations, Trump Cancels Protected Status for Hundreds of Thousands of Venezuelan Immigrants, Senate Confirms Fossil Fuel Ally, Anti-Regulation Advocate Lee Zeldin as Head of EPA, Confirmation Proceedings for AG Nom Pam Bondi, Small Business Nom Kelly Loeffler Advance in Senate, Hamas Frees 3 Hostages, Israel Set to Free 110 Palestinian Prisoners After Brief Delay, Trump Issues EO Targeting Noncitizens for Deportation over Pro-Palestine Protests, Israeli Airstrikes Kill Two Palestinians in Gaza as Israel Continues to Violate Ceasefire, Israeli's Escalation in Occupied West Bank Kills at Least Another 10 Palestinians, A Nightmare Scenario": Israel's Ban on UNRWA Takes Effect, Disgraced Ex-Senator Bob Menendez Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison for Corruption, Reports: DOJ in Talks to Dismiss Corruption Charges Against NYC Mayor Eric Adams

For a fraction of the cost, Chinese startup DeepSeek's free, open-source artificial intelligence is outcompeting the world's previous leading AI model, OpenAI's ChatGPT, upending the financial predictions of Silicon Valley and causing major turmoil in the U.S. stock market. This comes just after President Trump announced a $500 billion private sector investment plan to boost AI infrastructure in the United States and amid the threat of a major trade war between the U.S. and China. For more, we're joined by information studies scholar Ramesh Srinivasan, who says DeepSeek's success is a major disruption to the dominant Silicon Valley model" of technological development, which has heavily relied on proprietary data and private investment - and contributed to the rise of a tech oligarchy with increasing influence over the state.

We take a look at Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's first 100 days in office with Edwin Ackerman, an expert on Mexican politics. Sheinbaum has proved enormously popular with the Mexican public, championing populist reforms and issuing forceful rebukes of Donald Trump's scapegoating and demonization of Latin America, including his attempt to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America" and his threat to enact crushing tariffs on Mexico, the U.S.'s second-largest trading partner. Sheinbaum may be at the forefront of a renewed pink tide," says Ackerman, referencing a wave of progressive, left-wing Latin American governments that first took shape at the beginning of the 21st century.

As Senate confirmation hearings begin Wednesday for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, his cousin Caroline Kennedy has published a video slamming him as holding dangerous and willfully misinformed" views on vaccines and other public health issues. Caroline Kennedy is the former U.S. ambassador to Japan and Australia and daughter of President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s uncle.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has temporarily halted President Trump's attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans, including university and nonprofit funding, food assistance, Medicaid, veterans' benefits and more. The Trump administration said the shocking move was a part of its assessment of whether various government programs align with its agenda. Since assuming office, Trump and his allies have launched a highly publicized purge of initiatives aimed at tackling historical and structural inequality within the federal government. It's just been complete chaos" and completely illegal," says our guest Sam Bagenstos, who explains that the policy is an attempt to raise a challenge to Congress's power of the purse and nullify all the limitations that have been placed on the president's power." Bagenstos previously served as general counsel to the Office of Management and Budget, the agency that announced the freeze Monday night.

Federal Judge Temporarily Halts Trump's Radical Plan to Freeze Federal Grants and Loans, Unions Condemn Trump's Deferred Resignation" Offer to Buy Out 2.3 Million Federal Workers, Trump Ousts National Labor Relations Board Leaders Who Support Workers' Rights, Immigration Raids Accelerate as Trump Sets Quota of at Least 1,200 Arrests Per Day, Senate Confirms Climate Denier Sean Duffy as Transportation Secretary, Senate Confirms Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary, Caroline Kennedy Calls HHS Nominee RFK Jr. a Predator" Ahead of Senate Confirmation Hearings, Trump Admin Freeze on HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Creates Chaos, Threatens Lives, As Palestinians Return to Northern Gaza, Israel Launches Fresh Attacks on West Bank and Lebanon, Senate Democrats Block Bill to Sanction ICC over Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders, Protesters in DRC's Capital Storm Embassies to Protest Escalating Violence in Eastern Congo

Holocaust survivors on Monday marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where Nazi Germany exterminated over 1 million Jews and other minority groups between 1940 and 1945. The commemoration comes as the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles worldwide and far-right forces gain strength across Europe and the United States. For more, we speak with Israeli American historian Raz Segal, who says the academic field of Holocaust studies has a blind spot when it comes to Israel and its actions in Palestine, from the 1948 Nakba to the genocidal assault on Gaza. Since October 2023, so many Holocaust scholars have gone out of their way to protect Israel," says Segal. It's very grotesque."

As U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renews his call for an immediate halt to fighting in Sudan between the country's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, we speak with New York Times correspondent Declan Walsh about how the conflict is being fueled by the illicit gold trade. He reports that Sudan's gold riches are being smuggled out of the country by both sides in order to pay for the drones, guns and missiles that have killed tens of thousands of people since the start of the civil war in April 2023. Much of that wealth is ending up in the United Arab Emirates, which backs the RSF despite mounting evidence of the group's war crimes and crimes against humanity. Gold is really at the heart of the RSF's ascent to power," says Walsh.

The long-simmering conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo escalated this week when Rwandan-backed M23 rebels captured at least part of the eastern city of Goma. The fighting between the militia and Congolese forces has killed at least 17 with over 370 people injured, and hospitals are overwhelmed. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has called on Rwandan forces to withdraw immediately from the DRC and end support for M23, as fears grow of a wider regional war, but Maurice Carney, co-founder and executive director of Friends of the Congo, says Rwanda's actions in the DRC will continue unless Western countries stop rewarding President Paul Kagame with development aid, trade deals and military funding. This lack of accountability, this rampant impunity, lack of justice has enabled this to continue to this day," says Carney, calling Rwanda's involvement in the DRC a war of plunder" aimed at securing the country's mineral wealth.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ramping up raids across the United States, arresting more than 1,000 people in operations Monday after detaining a similar number on Sunday. Immigrant communities and their allies say the raids violate human rights, the Constitution, and are being carried out in retaliation against sanctuary cities that have policies aimed at protecting undocumented residents. In Chicago, immigrant rights organizer Dulce Guzman says there is palpable fear and anxiety among families," but she lauds elected officials, including Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor J.B. Pritzker, for pushing back against what she says is the Trump administration's white supremacist agenda." Meanwhile, in Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka has condemned an ICE raid last week at a seafood depot where federal agents took three people into custody, including a U.S. military veteran. Simply being in proximity to their target, which is immigrant communities, is enough to arrest and detain you, too," says Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. She encourages people to know their rights, such as the ability to record ICE agents and to refuse orders without a warrant. One of their most effective tools is fear and panic," Torres says.

DOJ Fires Slew of Officials Involved in Special Counsel's Probes into Trump, D.C.'s Acting AG to Investigate Prosecutors Who Charged Jan. 6 Rioters with Obstruction, CDC Orders Employees to Immediately Cease Collaboration with WHO, Trump's Pentagon EOs Take Aim at DEI, Trans Military Members; Order Iron Dome"-Like Defense System, This Will Have Devastating Consequences": OMB Orders Workers to Pause Most Federal Aid, Navajo Nation Says Immigration Agents Targeting Indigenous People Amid Crackdown, Mexico Confirms It Has Received Non-Mexican Deportees from the U.S., DHS Halts Temporary Resettlement Programs Affecting Refugees from Ukraine, Haiti, Venezuela, Residents Flee Goma as M23 Rebel Assault Deepens Humanitarian Crisis in DRC, Israel Violates Gaza Ceasefire, Killing 2 Palestinians, Including 5-Year-Old Girl, Mexican Journalist Alejandro Gallegos Found Murdered in Tabasco, Target Faces Boycott After Becoming Latest U.S. Company to Ban DEI Initiatives, Costco Won't End DEI Initiatives, Faces Friday Strike Deadline by 18,000 Union Workers, Philadelphia Grocery Workers Vote to Form First Union at Amazon-Owned Whole Foods, U.S. Tech and Energy Stocks Plummet as Chinese Startup Launches DeepSeek" AI Model, My 'Crime'? Being a Journalist Who Speaks Up for Palestine": Ali Abunimah Speaks Out After Swiss Arrest

The Senate has confirmed former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Trump's defense secretary by just one vote. Hegseth has very clear" ties to extreme Christian nationalism, as well as a history of alleged sexual assault and abuse. Logan Davis, a reporter in Denver, Colorado, who grew up in the same classical Christian educational movement that Hegseth is raising his family in, explains the problematic ideology that shapes it. Hegseth has endorsed leaders in the community and their beliefs that the church possesses supremacy over worldly affairs, antebellum slavery was a beneficent American institution" and the U.S.'s global war on terror is a modern-day iteration of the medieval Crusades. Davis says Hegseth's lack of qualifications for his new role means he will likely be leaning on these controversial faith leaders in his life more than someone with adequate experience" would be - bringing this extremist Christian nationalism into the mainstream.

We look at the impact of President Trump's halting of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program with Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, a faith-based nonprofit that helps place and resource refugees upon their arrival in the U.S. as part of the program. Some 100,000 refugees were settled in the United States last year under the highly selective program, which has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades. Now thousands of people already approved to come to the United States are stranded in unstable situations, with uncertain legal status in the U.S., or unable to leave dangerous conditions of war or persecution in their home countries. Vignarajah says the Refugee Admissions Program reflects the spirit of American generosity," and highlights the plight of approved Afghan refugees who now risk retribution from the Taliban as evidence of the importance of refugee resettlement to U.S. foreign policy.

A dramatic standoff between the U.S. and Colombia unfolded Sunday with Colombian President Gustavo Petro turning back two U.S. military planes that were carrying deported migrants in shackles, saying immigrants should be treated with dignity. The two countries then traded tariff threats before announcing a deal in which Colombia would begin accepting flights of deported migrants. Meanwhile, Trump has sent 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, further militarizing the region. We're very, very concerned," says immigration activist Fernando Garcia of the El Paso, Texas-based Border Network for Human Rights, whose organization is among those providing resources like Know Your Rights training to immigrants now living under a regime of anxiety and fear."

We discuss the cases of two of Egypt's most prominent political activists, Hossam Bahgat and Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who have both been persecuted by the Egyptian government for exposing its human rights abuses. Bahgat is facing a new round of harassment from Egyptian security forces, while El-Fattah remains in prison past his expected release. El-Fattah's mother, the Cairo University professor Laila Soueif, has been on hunger strike for nearly four months in the U.K., where both she and her son have dual citizenship, demanding that the British government pressure Egypt for El-Fattah's freedom. Her collapse is imminent. She's probably going to be hospitalized soon," says journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who recently spoke to Soueif's family.

As survivors in Gaza begin to return to their homes during the first ceasefire in over a year, we speak to Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Drop Site News about the future of those who have been displaced. As Palestinians are returning to a devastated landscape ... determined not to leave their land" in defiance of plans of ethnic cleansing that have dated back to the 1950s for Israel," President Trump told reporters that he wants to clean out" Gaza, suggesting that Palestinian Arabs should be ethnically cleansed into Egypt and Jordan. Both countries have rejected this, and they've done so since the beginning of this genocidal assault," says Kouddous.

Trump Accused of Backing Ethnic Cleansing After Calling for Clean Out" of Gaza, Tens of Thousands of Palestinians Head Home to North Gaza, Hamas Releases 4 More Israeli Soldiers as Israel Frees 200 Palestinian Prisoners, Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill 2-Year-Old Palestinian Laila Muhammad Ayman al-Khatib in West Bank, Israel Fires on Displaced Lebanese Returning to Their Homes as It Continues to Violate Truce, U.S. Freezes All International Aid, Except Military Funding to Israel and Egypt, JD Vance Breaks Senate Tie to Confirm Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, Trump Fires Slew of Independent Federal Watchdogs in Likely Unlawful Move, Colombia, U.S. Agree to Deal on Tariffs and Immigration After Rapid Series of Tit-for-Tat Moves, Chicago School Bars Gov't Agents from Entry as Feds Escalate Immigration Crackdown Nationwide, DOJ to Stop Prosecuting Most People Who Unlawfully Block and Harass Abortion Clinics and Patients, Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Charged with Insurrection, DRC Urges UNSC to Intervene After M23 Rebels Seize Goma in Eastern Congo, Drone Strike on North Darfur Kills 70 Patients; Sudanese Army Blames Paramilitary RSF, Elon Musk Hypes Up Germany's Neo-Nazi AfD Party Ahead of February Election, U.S. Air Force to Continue Teaching Tuskegee Airmen History After Pulling Videos Amid Trump DEI Ban, Swiss Authorities Arrest Ali Abunimah, Journalist and Founder of Electronic Intifada News Site

The prominent British Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah remains imprisoned in Cairo even after he completed his five-year sentence last September. Fattah came to prominence during the Egyptian revolution as a blogger and political activist, and he has been jailed multiple times by the authoritarian government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for his advocacy. His family and supporters continue to demand his freedom and have pressed the U.K. government to pressure Egypt into releasing him. Fattah's mother Laila Soueif is now on her 117th day on hunger strike, standing on Downing Street for at least an hour every workday until her son is released. Now Australian journalist Peter Greste has launched his own hunger strike to pressure the British government, saying he owes his life to the Egyptian activist, who helped him survive when he was imprisoned in Egypt in 2013. I quite literally owe Alaa my life," says Greste. He is the most popular, the most recognized political prisoner in the system, and I think they fear his capacity to mobilize people. They fear his capacity to inspire."

As one of his last acts in office, President Joe Biden issued a posthumous pardon for Black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, who influenced Malcolm X and generations of civil rights leaders. Advocates and congressional leaders had pushed for Biden to pardon Garvey for years, with supporters arguing that Garvey's 1923 mail fraud conviction was politically motivated and an effort to silence the popular leader who spoke of racial pride and self-reliance. This electrified a people around the world that were in the midst of oppression," says Howard University law professor Justin Hansford. Garvey was deported to Jamaica, his birthplace, and died in 1940 in England. Hansford says his story is important to revisit amid Republican attacks on racial justice and Black history, saying the pardon is part of a larger reckoning with U.S. racial injustice. More of our institutions need to look back and acknowledge the harms of the past," he says.

As the Trump administration launches what it touts as the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history, we look at how immigrant communities and advocates are fighting back. The administration already faces some setbacks, including in its attempt to end birthright citizenship, which a federal judge halted Thursday from going into effect because it was blatantly unconstitutional." Thursday's ruling is the first in what's expected to be a long legal battle against Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. We're in a moment where there's a ton of fear in the community," says Harold Solis, legal director at Make the Road New York, which has filed its own lawsuit against the government. We also speak with Columbia University historian Mae Ngai, who says the fight over birthright citizenship is part of the long history of restrictionist immigration policies in the country. What we're seeing this week is shock and awe. It's meant to terrorize," she says. We have to fight on all levels."