Democracy Now!

On Tuesday night, President Trump suggested the United States should transition to a merit-based immigration system. He also vowed to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico and to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the name of national security. We speak with historian Kelly Lytle Hernández of UCLA.

President Trump has proposed increasing the military budget to just over $600 billion—a 10 percent increase—while deeply slashing the budgets of other agencies, likely including the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department. Speaking to a joint session of Congress, Trump said, "I am sending the Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history."

Are you Muslim? Where did you get your name from? Those were the questions posed by immigration officials to the son of the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali earlier this month when he flew into Florida from Jamaica after attending a Black History Month event. When Muhammad Ali Jr. said he was a Muslim, authorities reportedly held him and questioned him for over two hours. Ali was traveling with his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the boxing great's second wife and mother of his four oldest children. She was also detained. We speak to them and their attorney, Chris Mancini.

President Donald Trump is slated to give his first presidential address to Congress today. Democratic lawmakers have begun giving their tickets away to immigrants as a protest against Trump's push to increase deportations and to block residents from some Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Well, this is not the first time people of Mexican descent have been demonized, accused of stealing jobs, and forced to leave the country. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, more than a million people residing in the United States were deported to Mexico—about 60 percent of them were U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. We speak to the preeminent scholar on this often overlooked chapter of American history: Francisco Balderrama, professor of American history and Chicano studies at California State University, Los Angeles. He is co-author of "Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s."

President Trump is heading to Capitol Hill tonight and is expected to outline part of his budget plan before a joint session of Congress. On Monday, Trump proposed increasing the military budget to just over $600 billion—a 10 percent increase—while deeply slashing the budgets of other agencies, likely including the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department. Trump said he wanted a historic increase in military spending. Democratic Congressmember Barbara Lee of California responded on Twitter by writing, "[President] Trump's morally bankrupt budget will funnel more money to the Pentagon at the expense of the poor [and] our planet. This is an awful idea." We speak to Neta Crawford, co-director of the Costs of War Project and a professor of political science at Boston University. In September, she released a report that found the United States has spent nearly $5 trillion since the September 11, 2001, attacks on homeland security and the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan.

Trump Proposes Increasing Military Budget by $54 Billion, Senate Confirms Billionaire Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary, Trump Sparks Ridicule After Saying "Nobody Knew" Healthcare is "So Complicated", Trump Accuses Obama of Being Behind White House Leaks & Protests, President George W. Bush Criticizes President Trump, 5th Wave of Bomb Threats Hit Jewish Community Centers Nationwide, Justice Department Drops Objection to Discriminatory Texas Voter ID Law, Republicans Split over Investigation into Trump Ties to Russia, The Guardian: Suspects in Berta Cáceres's Murder Received Training in U.S., U.S.-Backed Iraqi Army Recaptures Bridge in Western Mosul, Reports: Top al-Qaeda Leader Killed in Airstrike in Syria, Kansas: Adam Purinton in Court on Murder Charges for Killing Indian Man, Multiple Black Transgender Women Murdered in February , ImeIme Umana Becomes First Black Woman President of Harvard Law Review

Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez has been elected to lead the Democratic National Committee, beating out Minnesota Congressmember Keith Ellison in a contentious second-round vote that is seen as determining the future of the Democratic Party. Congressmember Ellison is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the first Muslim elected to Congress. He was widely backed by supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party's more progressive wing. Perez was backed by the party's establishment, including President Obama. He becomes the first Latino head of the Democratic Party. After Saturday's contentious vote—which marked the first time in more than 30 years that the outcome was not known ahead of balloting—Ellison's supporters erupted in protest, chanting "Party for the people, not big money." We speak to Zaid Jilani, staff reporter at The Intercept. His latest article is "Keith Ellison Loses DNC Race After Heated Campaign Targeting Him for His Views on Palestine."

The Southern Poverty Law Center recently revealed the number of hate groups in the United States has tripled in the past year in part due to Donald Trump's candidacy and election. Rev. William Barber of the NAACP in North Carolina responds to the rising hate across the country.

In Philadelphia, some 500 headstones at a Jewish cemetery were toppled or damaged in the second apparent incident of vandalism at a Jewish cemetery in about a week. On Sunday, in a show of solidarity, members from the local Muslim and Quaker community joined Jewish Philadelphians at the Mount Carmel Cemetery to restore the burial grounds. The apparent vandalism in Philadelphia and at a Jewish cemetery last week in St. Louis comes after a surge of bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the country. We speak to Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari of Kol Tzedek Synagogue in West Philadelphia.

The NAACP has announced it would not hold its convention in North Carolina and urged an international boycott of the state to protest North Carolina's anti-trans bathroom bill and a series of anti-democratic actions taken by the state's Republican Legislature. The civil rights group described the move as the first step in an economic boycott that could be expanded in North Carolina and replicated in other states that enact laws limiting voting rights and protections for gay and transgender people. North Carolina's House Bill 2, known as the "bathroom bill," bars transgender people from using the bathrooms that match their gender identity. The NAACP has also accused Republican legislators of committing voter suppression and racial gerrymandering. We are joined in Raleigh, North Carolina, by the Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP. He's the author of "Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement."

On Friday, the White House took the unprecedented act of barring The New York Times, CNN, Politico, the Los Angeles Times, the BBC and several other news organizations from an off-camera briefing known as a gaggle. Meanwhile, several right-wing news outlets were allowed to attend, including Breitbart, The Washington Times and One America News Network. Just hours earlier, Trump repeatedly attacked the media, describing it as an "enemy of the people." Then, on Saturday, Donald Trump announced he would not attend this year's White House correspondents' dinner. The last president to skip the dinner was Ronald Reagan in 1981. At the time, Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt. We speak to Robert Mahoney, deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Tom Perez Beats Out Keith Ellison in DNC Chair Race, Trump Again Attacks Media as White House Bars NYT, CNN & BBC from Gaggle, Trump to Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner, Sean Spicer Tries to Crack Down on Leaks by Randomly Checking Staffers' Phones, Trump to Give First Address to Congress Tuesday, Son of Muhammad Ali Was Detained, Questioned at Florida Airport, Caitlyn Jenner to Trump on Rollback of Trans Protections: "This is a Disaster", Trump's Pick to Head Navy Withdraws over Business Interests, Father of Slain Navy SEAL Refuses to Meet with Trump, Trump to Order Budget with Increase in Military Spending, Cuts to Domestic Programs, Israel Rejects Work Visa to HRW's Israel and Palestine Director, As Many As 500 Headstones Desecrated at Jewish Cemetery in Philly, Florida Mosque Set on Fire in Intentional Act , "Moonlight" Wins Oscar for Best Picture, Oscars: Best Actress Winner Emma Stone Wears Planned Parenthood Pin, Oscars: Mexican Actor Gael García Bernal Denounces Trump Border Wall, Best Foreign Film Winner Asghar Farhadi Boycotts Oscars over Muslim Ban, Oscars Host Jimmy Kimmel Repeatedly Ridicules President Trump

In a Democracy Now! exclusive, we speak with Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, who made headlines when he pulled out of an Israeli government-sponsored trip to Israel for NFL players. We are also joined by Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation magazine. The two discuss the role of sports in politics, including Olympian John Carlos, as well as Colin Kaepernick's support for the Black Lives Matter movement that inspired players throughout the country at all levels to take similar actions.

We compare President Donald Trump's attitude toward the media to that of President Richard Nixon with Nixon’s former counsel, John Dean. "The big difference is, Trump is doing this right out and challenging the First Amendment, one of our most important because it involves freedom of the press and freedom of speech," Dean says. "Anything that he doesn't like, any reporting, he calls being an enemy of the people … It's just ludicrous. And it's troublesome that he would try to sway the press by using the bully pulpit of his office to intimidate them."

President Trump has been in office for only 36 days, and there is already a growing chorus of voices calling for his impeachment. This comes as CNN and The New York Times report White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus sought unsuccessfully to have the FBI refute news reports that Donald Trump's campaign advisers were in frequent contact with Russian intelligence agents ahead of November's election. The allegations have drawn comparisons to former President Richard Nixon's 1972 discussion with aides who used the CIA to push the FBI away from investigating the Watergate burglary that later led to his resignation. We speak to someone who has been at the center of the unraveling of a presidency and a vote for impeachment: President Richard Nixon's White House counsel, John Dean. He is the author of several books, including "The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It," "Conservatives Without Conscience" and "Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches."

North Dakota: Police Raid Pipeline Resistance Camps, Arresting 33, DHS Secretary Denies Deportations are a Military Operation, Contradicting Trump, Trump Suggests He Will Seek to Expand U.S. Nuclear Arsenal, Justice Department to Reverse Obama's Hands-Off Policy on Marijuana, DOJ Will Reverse Obama Plan to Phase Out Private Prison Contracts, Top Trump Adviser Steve Bannon Makes Rare Appearance at CPAC, Kansas: Indian Man Shot Dead by Man Shouting Racial Slurs, Customs Agents Demand IDs from Passengers on Domestic Flight, Malaysia: Banned Nerve Agent VX Used in Assassination of Kim Jong-nam, CNN: Reince Priebus Sought FBI's Refutation of Russia Report, Pentagon Plan Would Extend U.S. Troop Deployment in Iraq Indefinitely, Chief Digital Officer Gerrit Lansing Dismissed After Failing FBI Check, Philippines Police Arrest Senator Critical of Bloody Drug War, Former CIA Officer Arrested in Portugal for Kidnapping Cleric, Japan: Okinawan Activist Opposed to U.S. Military Base Denied Bail, Puerto Rican Students Strike Ahead of Looming Cuts to Education

In Madison, Wisconsin, attorneys for the family of an American-American teenager who was shot dead by a city police officer have reached a $3.35 million settlement. Nineteen-year-old Tony Robinson was unarmed when officer Matt Kenny forced his way into an apartment following a "disturbance" in 2015. He was shot seven times. Prosecutors declined to charge Kenny, and he was cleared by the Madison Police Department's Internal Affairs unit. This week's settlement is the largest ever for an officer-involved killing in Wisconsin.

Thousands of pages of newly released emails reveal how EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt closely collaborated with oil, coal and gas companies backed by the Koch brothers to roll back environmental regulations during his time as Oklahoma attorney general. The documents were released just days after Pruitt was sworn in as the new head of the EPA, the agency tasked with curtailing pollution and safeguarding public health. Last week, Senate Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to postpone Pruitt's final confirmation until the emails were released, but Republicans pressed forward and confirmed him in a 52-46 vote, largely along party lines. As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA 14 times. The trove of new documents shows how energy companies drafted language for Pruitt's Attorney General's Office to use to sue the EPA over environmental regulations. We speak to Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which successfully sued for the emails to be released.

In North Dakota, the main resistance camp set up by Lakota water protectors fighting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline has been largely vacated after protesters were ordered to leave the camp on Wednesday. Police arrested around 10 people. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the North Dakota governor had imposed a noon eviction deadline for the hundreds of water protectors still living at the resistance camp. Prayers ceremonies were held on Wednesday, and part of the camp was set on fire before the eviction began. Water protectors say the resistance camp sits on unceded Sioux territory under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie and that they have a right to remain on their ancestral land. A couple dozen people remain at the camp. The ongoing encampments in North Dakota were the largest gathering of Native Americans in decades. At its peak, more than 10,000 people were at the resistance camp. Earlier this month, construction crews resumed work on the final section of the pipeline, after the Trump administration granted an easement to allow Energy Transfer Partners to drill beneath the Missouri River. We go to Standing Rock to speak with LaDonna Brave Bull Allard and Linda Black Elk.

The Trump administration has rescinded key protections for transgender students in public schools. The move reverses President Obama’s landmark decision last May to order public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity. The Obama administration had threatened to withhold funding for schools that did not comply. According to press accounts, there was a split in the Trump administration over the issue between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The New York Times reports Devos initially resisted signing off and told Trump that she was uncomfortable because of the potential harm that rescinding the protections could cause transgender students. At a meeting on Tuesday in the White House, the president sided with Sessions and pushed DeVos to drop her opposition, which she did. We speak to Chase Strangio, staff attorney with the ACLU's LGBT & AIDS Project.

North Dakota: Eviction of Pipeline Resistance Camp Underway, Trump Administration Rescinds Protections for Transgender Students, White House Delays New Ban on Refugees and Muslim Travelers, Mexico's Foreign Minister Blasts U.S. Immigration Policy, Mexican Man Commits Suicide Minutes After His Deportation from U.S., Texas: ICE Removes Woman with Brain Tumor from Hospital, Republican Lawmakers Face More Angry Constituents at Town Halls, Emails Show Cozy Relationship Between EPA Head and Energy Executives, Supreme Court Halts Execution of Texas Prisoner, Citing Racism, Anaheim, California: Off-Duty Officer Fires Pistol Near 13-Year-Old, Iraq: U.S. Forces Join Fight to Capture Western Mosul from ISIS , U.N. Requests $5.6 Billion in Aid to Prevent Famine for 20 Million, White House Tries to Shield Top CIA Official from Torture Testimony, Thousands Evacuate Homes in San Jose, California, Amid Heavy Flooding, Richmond, California, Approves Trump Impeachment Resolution

As President Trump prepares to issue a new executive order barring all refugees and visitors from seven majority-Muslim nations, we speak to Steven Goldstein, the executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect. He reflects back on how FDR twice denied permission for the Frank family to come to the United States as refugees to escape Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has revealed the number of anti-Muslim groups in the United States tripled last year, from 34 in 2015 to 101 last year. The Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups have said hate groups have been energized by the candidacy and then election of Donald Trump. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer dodged a question about why Trump has not spoken out against anti-Muslim attacks. We speak to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Eleven Jewish community centers across the country were hit by another wave of bomb threats Monday. It was the fourth wave of nationwide bomb threats against JCCs in the last five weeks. In total, 69 threats have been reported against 54 JCCs. Meanwhile, at a cemetery in University City, Missouri, the gravesites of more than 100 Jews were vandalized over the weekend. For weeks, President Trump has faced increasing criticism for failing to denounce anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim threats. On Tuesday, Trump briefly addressed the recent wave of anti-Semitic threats. We speak to Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect. The group posted a statement on Facebook titled "Mr. President, Your Too Little, Too Late Acknowledgment of #Antisemitism Today is Not Enough."

The White House is moving to greatly expand the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and to increase the number of immigration and Border Patrol agents by 15,000. We look at how President Obama's deportation practices set the stage for today's new crackdown. During his time in office, Obama deported a record 2.7 million people. In 2014, the head of the National Council of La Raza, Janet Murguía, called Obama the nation’s "deporter-in-chief." We speak to former Department of Homeland Security attorney Margo Schlanger and attorney Cesar Vargas, co-director of DREAM Action Coalition.

The White House is moving to greatly expand the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and to increase the number of immigration and Border Patrol agents by 15,000. Under rules issued on Tuesday, almost any undocumented person in the country could be detained and deported, even if they have never committed a crime. A traffic violation or mere suspicion of committing a crime could now be grounds for deportation. Any immigrant who cannot prove they have been in the United States for over two years could be deported without a hearing. Any migrant, regardless of their nationality, who crosses the southern border will be deported to Mexico while they await deportation hearings. The memos also call for the prosecution of parents who seek to reunite their family by using smugglers to bring their children into the country. We speak to University of Michigan Law School professor Margo Schlanger, who served as the head of civil rights and civil liberties at the Department of Homeland Security, and Cesar Vargas, co-director of DREAM Action Coalition. He is New York state's first openly undocumented attorney.

White House Gives DHS Power to Execute Mass Deportations, Activists Unfurl "Refugees Welcome" Banner on Statue of Liberty, Dozens Fired for Participating in "Day Without Immigrants", After Criticism for His Silence, Trump Condemns Anti-Semitism, Standing Rock: Lakota Protectors Vow "Treaty Stand" to Resist Eviction Today, Angry Crowds Confront Republican Lawmakers at Town Halls, CIA Analyst Edward Price Resigns in Protest of Trump, Supreme Court Hearing Case of Mexican Teen Killed by U.S. Border Patrol, Israeli Soldier Who Killed Wounded Palestinian Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison, British Muslim School Teacher Blocked from Flying to U.S., Federal Judge Blocks Texas from Defunding Planned Parenthood, Milo Yiannopoulos Resigns from Breitbart Amid Controversy

Nearly 2 million Brits have signed a petition calling on President Trump's official state visit to be canceled. On Monday, thousands of protesters gathered outside Parliament in London as British lawmakers debated whether to deny Trump a formal state visit. We speak to Asad Rehman of Friends of the Earth International. He spoke at the protest in London yesterday.

President Trump is doubling down on his false claim that Sweden is struggling with immigration-related security problems, after he faced widespread criticism and ridicule for appearing to invent a terrorist attack in Sweden. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt responded to Trump's claim by tweeting, "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound." There has been one recent terror attack in Sweden: Three neo-Nazis attacked a Gothenburg asylum center in January with a homemade bomb. One person was seriously injured. According to The Independent, the suspects were members of the Nordic Resistance Movement, which opposes non-white immigration to Sweden. We speak to Mattias Gardell, professor of comparative religion and head of the Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism at Uppsala University in Sweden.

According to a Bloomberg investigation, the general counsel for Steven Cohen's infamous investment firm oversaw some of the Trump transition team's staff picks for the Justice Department in November. Cohen's firm, SAC Capital, was the subject of one of the biggest insider trading investigations in Wall Street's history. This fascinating history is chronicled in New Yorker staff writer Sheelah Kolhatkar's book "Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street."

As the Trump administration enters its second month, Republican lawmakers have begun a legislative attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created in response to the economic crisis a decade ago. The bureau was created under the Dodd-Frank legislation, which is also coming under attack by Republican lawmakers and the White House. Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to repeal a Dodd-Frank anti-corruption measure requiring oil and mining companies to disclose payments to governments. He has also vowed to chip away at other parts of the legislation. We speak to Sheelah Kolhatkar, a former hedge fund analyst who is now a staff writer at The New Yorker. She is the author of the new book "Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street."

"Not My President's Day": Thousands Rally Against Trump, Brits Protest Against Trump as Lawmakers Debate Canceling His State Visit, Trump Names General H.R. McMaster as National Security Adviser, Trump Doubles Down on Lies About Sweden, 4th Wave of Bomb Threats Hit 11 Jewish Community Centers Nationwide, Honduras: Indigenous Leader José Santos Sevilla Assassinated, Ecuador Presidential Race Likely Headed for Runoff, UNICEF Warns 1.4 Million Children in 4 Countries at Risk of Famine, Russia's Ambassador to U.N. Dies Unexpectedly in New York City, Standing Rock: Water Protectors Face Feb. 22 Evacuation Deadline, Uber Facing Allegations of Sexual Harassment from Former Engineer, Milo Yiannopoulos's Book and Speaking Invitation Canceled, Historian and Antiwar Activist Marilyn Young Dies at 79

There has been a wholesale corporate takeover of the government. That's the conclusion of a new report coming out today by the watchdog group Public Citizen. The report looks at how corporate America has benefited from Trump's first month in office. Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon, is now secretary of state. Goldman Sachs alum now serve several top posts: Steven Mnuchin as treasury secretary, Stephen Bannon as Trump's chief strategist and Gary Cohn as director of the United States National Economic Council. Trump has also signed executive orders to help undo the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law and repeal rules requiring financial advisers to give advice based on their customers' best interests. We speak to Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen.

Seventy-five years ago yesterday, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 men, women and children of Japanese descent into internment camps. This included nearly 70,000 American citizens. Over the weekend, "Day of Remembrance" events were held across the country to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the internment of Japanese Americans and legal residents. Many people are asking if history can repeat itself. In 2015, Trump defended his proposal for a total and complete ban on Muslims entering the United States and compared it to the actions of FDR. We speak to the legendary actor and activist George Takei, who grew up in an internment camp.

McClatchy is reporting the harsh new draft orders signed by the Department of Homeland Security were largely endorsed by then-Sen. Jeff Sessions months before he took office as attorney general. We speak to McClatchy reporter Franco Ordoñez.

On Friday, a Seattle judge ruled not to release 23-year-old Daniel Ramirez Medina from the Northwest Detention Center at Tacoma, even though Ramirez, who was arrested by ICE agents more than a week ago, has permission to live and work in the United States under President Obama's DACA program. Ramirez has been in the United States since he was seven years old. For more on his case, we speak with Tim Warden-Hertz, the directing attorney for the Tacoma office of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. We also speak with Franco Ordoñez, White House correspondent for the McClatchy Washington Bureau. His latest article is "DHS chief proposes prosecuting parents of children smuggled into U.S."

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has drafted and signed sweeping new guidelines to speed up the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States. The memos instruct federal agencies to begin hiring 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as well as 5,000 more Border Patrol agents. They also detail plans to accelerate deportation hearings and to expand the number of people prioritized for removal from the United States. McClatchy is reporting hundreds of thousands more undocumented immigrants in the United States would be subject to what’s known as expedited removal proceedings to get them quickly out of the country. According to McClatchy, children who arrived in the United States as "unaccompanied minors" would no longer be protected against deportation, and their parents would be subject to criminal prosecution if they had paid human traffickers to bring their children across the border. For more, we speak with Franco Ordoñez, White House correspondent for the McClatchy Washington Bureau. His latest article is "DHS chief proposes prosecuting parents of children smuggled into U.S."

DHS Head Signs New Mass Deportation Guidelines, Seattle: Judge Refuses to Order Release of DREAMer, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members Forced Out of Meeting with ICE, "What Has He Been Smoking?": Fmr. Swedish PM on Trump's Suggestion of Attack in Sweden, Trump Tweets Media is "Enemy of the People"; McCain Responds: "That's How Dictators Get Started", Anti-Trump Demonstrations Continue Nationwide, February 17 General Strike Sees Dozens of Protests Nationwide, Thousands to Rally in Britain as Lawmakers Debate Canceling Trump's State Visit, 160,000 Rally in Barcelona to Demand Spain Accept More Refugees, Scott Pruitt Confirmed as Head of Environmental Protection Agency, Trump Meets with 4 Candidates for National Security Adviser, NYT: Amid Concerns over Loyalty, Trump Struggles to Fill White House Posts, Trump's Sons Attend Opening of Trump Golf Club in Dubai, Somalia: Suicide Car Bomb Kills 39 in Mogadishu, Iraqi Army & U.S. Military Launch Fight to Retake Western Mosul, Iran Warns U.S. Not to Send More Troops to Syria, 1,500 Anti-NATO Activists Protest Outside Munich Security Conference

President Trump has named longtime Republican lawyer Alex Acosta to be his new nominee to head the Labor Department after his first pick, fast-food CEO Andrew Puzder, withdrew Wednesday. We look at Acosta's record with Alan Pyke, an editor with ThinkProgress, who argues Trump's backup choice "has skeletons in his closet, too." Acosta has drawn scrutiny for his time as a division leader at the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division under President George W. Bush, where he oversaw a senior official who hired conservative lawyers who were actively opposed to the division's mission, including the prosecution of voting rights violations and police abuse. In 2004, he played a key role in Bush's final push to win the state of Ohio by backing Republican election officials accused of seeking to suppress voter turnout among blacks and Latinos.

We go to Denver to speak with Reverend Mike Morran, senior minister at First Unitarian Society of Denver, where an immigrant mother of four has has taken sanctuary to avoid deportation. "We believe that we are not breaking any laws by having her in the church," Rev. Morran says. He describes how the church came to host Jeanette Vizguerra, and explains their protocol for how to respond to immigration agents if they come to arrest her.

We go inside the First Unitarian church in Denver to interview Jeanette Vizguerra, an immigrant mother of four children who has taken refuge there out of fear she would be arrested and deported to Mexico if she went to her scheduled check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Vizguerra came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1997 and is one of the founders of the Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition. She previously won five postponements of deportation, but said she doubts she could win a similar reprieve under the Trump administration.

President Trump said he would "show great heart" when considering whether to deport recipients of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. So why is Daniel Ramirez Medina sitting in jail? We look at the case of a 23-year-old father who was detained by ICE one week ago in Des Moines, Washington, even though he has permission to live and work in the United States under DACA. His supporters have maintained a vigil at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, where he is being held. It's a private detention center owned by the for-profit prison company GEO Group. We go to Seattle, Washington, to speak with Councilmember Lorena González, a civil rights attorney who is the city's first Latino councilmember.

On Thursday, Donald Trump held his first solo press conference as president. He began by announcing he had nominated Alexander Acosta to be labor secretary nominee, but then soon began an extended attack on the media, accusing CNN and other outlets of peddling fake news. We air excerpts of the press conference, which went on for 77 minutes.

President Trump Assails Media in Combative, Rambling News Conference, "Day Without Immigrants" Protests Target Trump Immigration Crackdown, President Trump to Issue New Order on Refugees, Muslim Travelers, Protesters Call for Release of DACA Recipient Daniel Ramirez Medina, Trump Opponents Stage Nationwide "Strike4Democracy", Trump Nominates GOP Lawyer Alex Acosta as Secretary of Labor, Protests at Hearing for Ambassador to Israel Nominee David Friedman, National Security Nominee Declines "S*** Sandwich" Cabinet Post, Oklahoma Judge Orders EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt to Make Emails Public, EPA Employees Campaign Against Scott Pruitt's Confirmation, Pakistan: Suicide Blast at Sufi Shrine Kills 77, Injures Hundreds, Pentagon Admits It Used Depleted Uranium Munitions in Syria, House of Representatives Moves to Defund Planned Parenthood, Florida Supreme Court Halts Law Requiring Abortion Waiting Period, Harlem Library Named for Civil Rights Icon Harry Belafonte

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has warned journalists and lawmakers against criticizing a botched raid by U.S. commandos on a Yemeni village last month that left 25 civilians and one U.S. Navy SEAL dead. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports the January 28 assault killed nine children under the age of 13, with five other children wounded. The attack came as the United Nations appealed for $2.1 billion in emergency aid to Yemen, warning 12 million people face the threat of famine brought on by a U.S.-supported, Saudi-led war and naval blockade.

During Wednesday's press conference, President Trump was asked about a rise in anti-Semitic attacks and vandalism across the U.S. An Israeli reporter asked, "What do you say to those among the Jewish community in the states and in Israel and maybe around the world who believe and feel that your administration is playing with xenophobia and maybe racist tones?" Trump responded by bragging about his election victory.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday ended a long-standing U.S. commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying he had no preference for either a one-state or two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The remarks came as Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, and represented a break from 20 years of official U.S. support for an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. We speak with Glenn Greenwald, who says, "Donald Trump is empowering some of the worst extremists in the world when it comes to Israeli policy."

Some supporters of Trump, including Breitbart News, have accused the intelligence agencies of attempting to wage a deep state coup against the president. Meanwhile, some critics of Trump are openly embracing such activity. Bill Kristol, the prominent Republican analyst who founded The Weekly Standard, wrote on Twitter, "Obviously strongly prefer normal democratic and constitutional politics. But if it comes to it, prefer the deep state to the Trump state." We talk about the deep state with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of The Intercept.

Over four years ago, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that he or other NSA analysts could spy on anyone, even the U.S. president. "I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant to a federal judge, to even the president, if I had a personal email," Snowden said in an interview with Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong. We talk to Greenwald about the difference between how Washington reacted to Snowden's leaks and today's leaks about Gen. Michael Flynn.

While congressional Democrats and some Republicans are pushing for probes into President Trump's ties to Russia, Trump has focused largely on going after those who have leaked information to the press. On Monday, Trump's national security adviser was forced to resign after The Washington Post reported on leaks of classified intelligence revealing that Flynn had engaged in talks with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the transition period, while Barack Obama was still president. In a tweet this morning, Trump wrote, "The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!" On Wednesday, he wrote, "Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia." We speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept.