Democracy Now!

*UPDATE: Ravi Ragbir was released after his ICE check-in after arriving at the meeting surrounded by hundreds of supporters. Watch live coverage on our "Facebook":https://www.facebook.com/democracynow/videos/10155067024968279/ page.*One of New York's best-known immigrant rights advocates joins us on what might be his last day as a free man in the United States. Ravi Ragbir is executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City. This morning, right after our broadcast, Ravi heads for a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He plans to go to the meeting, even though he may not be released. Ravi legally immigrated to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago more than 25 years ago, but a 2001 wire fraud conviction made his green card subject to review. Even though he is married to a U.S. citizen and has a U.S-born daughter, the government refuses to normalize his status. Just last month, Ravi was recognized with the Immigrant Excellence Award by the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, given to those who show "deep commitment to the enhancement of their community."

A Day Without a Woman: U.S. Strikes Mark International Women's Day, Protests and Marches Mark International Women's Day Worldwide, Republicans Push Bill to Repeal and Replace Affordable Care Act, Report: Trump Campaign Sent Carter Page to Russia in July, Rep. Schiff: Congress Should Interview British Spy Who Wrote Dossier on Trump-Russia Ties, White House Says Trump is Not Target of Any Investigation, Jon Huntsman Reportedly Offered Russian Ambassadorship, Hawaii Challenges Trump's Refugee & Muslim Ban, U.N.: Migrants Fleeing War Will Suffer from Trump's Refugee Ban, U.S. Deploys Hundreds of Marines to Syria, Save the Children Warns Syrian Children Suffering from "Toxic Stress", U.N.: Worsening Drought Could Push Millions of Somalis into Famine, Israeli Lawmakers Vote to Silence Muslim Call in Residential Areas, Guatemala: 21 Die in Massive Fire at Shelter for Abused Teens, Brazilian Men Seen on Video Assaulting Transgender Woman Before She Was Found Dead, No Charges for NC Police Officer Who Slammed High School Student onto Floor

When she was just 17, Alynda Segarra, the leader of the critically acclaimed band Hurray for the Riff Raff, left her home in the Bronx and began hopping freight trains. She eventually landed in New Orleans, where she learned to play banjo. Over the past decade, her band Hurray for the Riff Raff has become one of the most celebrated bands in modern folk music. In 2014, the publication American Songwriter named her tune "The Body Electric" the song of the year. NPR declared the same tune to be the political folk song of 2014. Hurray for the Riff Raff's new record, "The Navigator," is out this week. For more, we speak with Alynda Segarra.

When President Trump signed his first executive order in January to temporarily ban refugees and people from seven majority-Muslim nations, he said it was needed, in part, to protect women. A little-noticed part of the executive order reads, "The United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred, including 'honor' killings, other forms of violence against women." Some observers have noticed the irony in the executive order. Both the man who signed the order, Donald Trump, and the man who drafted the order, his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, have in the past been accused of committing violence against women. During the presidential campaign, Trump famously boasted about sexually assaulting women and grabbing them "by the pussy," in a leaked video recorded by NBC's "Access Hollywood." Eight women have now come forward and accused Donald Trump of sexual assault and harassment. And Trump is not alone. Stephen Bannon was charged with domestic violence and battery in 1996. Trump's first pick to be labor secretary, fast-food giant CEO Andrew Puzder, was accused of domestic abuse by his ex-wife, who even went on "Oprah" in disguise to speak about domestic violence. For more, we turn to a recent Democracy Now! interview with Eve Ensler, playwright, author of "The Vagina Monologues," and Christine Schuler Deschryver, director of V-Day Congo.

Today is International Women's Day, and thousands of women are staging a one-day strike in what's been dubbed a Day Without a Woman. The impact of the strike is already being felt in the United States. In Virginia, the entire public school system of Alexandria is closed today after 300 women requested the day off. Some schools are also closing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and in New York City. The U.S. Women's Strike was called by organizers of the Women's March on Washington, the largest nationwide day of protest after an inauguration in U.S. history. And women in the United States are not alone. Women in more than 50 countries are expected to take part in their own strikes. The International Women's Strike effort was launched in October 2016 after women in Poland, South Korea, Argentina and Sweden organized strikes to fight issues from the criminalization of abortion to femicide. For more, we speak with Tithi Bhattacharya, associate professor of South Asian history at Purdue University. She is one of the national organizers of today's Women's Strike.

WikiLeaks Publishes Thousands of Alleged Secret CIA Documents, U.S. Deploys Missile System Amid Rising Tensions with N. Korea, Republican Party Divided over Plan to Repeal Affordable Care Act, Rod Rosenstein Faces Confirmation Hearing for Deputy Attorney General, Germany: Trial Begins for Right-Wing Group Who Attacked Refugee Homes, Hungary Passes Law to Imprison Asylum Seekers, SC Police Investigating Murder of Indian Man Harnish Patel, New Wave of Bomb Threats Hit Jewish Centers in NY, WI, IL & FL, Afghanistan: Dozens Killed in ISIS Attack on Military Hospital in Kabul, Women Around the World Protest & Strike on International Women's Day, Radical Civil Rights Lawyer Lynne Stewart Dies at 77

In a setback for the transgender rights movement, the U.S. Supreme Court has announced it is sending a landmark transgender case back to a lower court. The suit was brought by Virginia transgender high school student Gavin Grimm, who sued his local school district over its policy forcing him to use a separate, single-stall restroom that no other student was required to use. In a one-sentence order, the Supreme Court vacated an appeals court decision that had ruled in Grimm's favor. The ruling comes less than two weeks after President Trump rescinded President Obama's directive telling public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms matching their gender identity. For more, we speak with Gavin Grimm and ACLU attorney Chase Strangio.

House Republicans have unveiled long-awaited legislation to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare—including its expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor. The proposal includes a large tax break for insurance companies that pay their CEOs over $500,000 per year. It also defunds Planned Parenthood and eliminates abortion coverage. The Republican proposal does retain Obamacare's requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions. However, it scraps the revenue-generating mechanism that makes this possible: the individual mandate, which required all Americans to sign up for health insurance or pay a fee. President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans have repeatedly promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but their efforts have faced internal divisions as well as sustained outcry from constituents at town hall meetings across the country. For more, we speak with John McDonough, professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is the former executive director of Health Care for All in Massachusetts, which played a key role in the passage of the 2006 Massachusetts health reform law.

President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order temporarily banning all refugees, as well as people from six majority-Muslim countries, from entering the United States. In contrast to the fanfare that accompanied Trump's rollout of January's ill-fated travel ban, Monday's signing was a decidedly more low-key event. Trump signed the executive order out of public view. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later outlined the details. The new ban applies to people from Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, but, unlike the original ban, not those from Iraq. Trump's first Muslim travel ban was blocked by the courts in February amid massive nationwide protests. Unlike the first ban, the new executive order will not apply to people from the six countries with green cards or who already have a visa. Immigration and human rights advocates say the new ban still discriminates against Muslims and fails to address some of their concerns with the previous order. For more, we speak with Faiza Patel, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center.

Trump Issues New Version of Muslim Travel Ban, Israel Bans Supporters of Boycott Movement from Entering Country, House Republicans Unveil Plan to Repeal the Affordable Care Act, Supreme Court Deals Blow to Transgender Rights Case, Ben Carson Sparks Outrage by Referring to Slaves as "Immigrants", Sean Spicer Refuses to Hold Televised Press Briefing for 7 Straight Days, Travel Privileges of Khizr Khan Reportedly Under Review, Planned Parenthood Rejects Trump's Proposal to Stop Abortions, Afghan Family Released Days After Being Detained at L.A. Airport, White House Statement Lifts Paragraph from ExxonMobil Press Release, Male Marines Sharing Naked Photos of Female Soldiers in Secret Facebook Group, Some Schools Planning to Close for "Day Without a Woman" Strike, Thousands of Women March in Poland & London Ahead of Women's Day

The ongoing mystery of Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election took an unexpected turn early Saturday morning when President Trump took to Twitter, writing: "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" Trump offered no evidence, but within 24 hours he called on lawmakers to probe Obama’s actions. The New York Times is reporting F.B.I. director James B. Comey has asked the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump’s assertion that Obama ordered the tapping of Trump’s phones. The Times described Comey’s request as a “remarkable rebuke of a sitting president.” For more we host a debate between attorney Scott Horton, lecturer at Columbia Law School and a contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine, and Robert Parry, veteran investigative journalist and editor of the website Consortiumnews.com."Watch Part 2":https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/6/part_2_are_trump_s_ties

On Tuesday morning, Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez and his wife were driving their 13-year-old daughter Fatima to her school in the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park just after dropping off their younger daughter. Then, two black, unmarked vehicles approached the family's car. Fatima captured part of the arrest on her cellphone, in which she can be heard sobbing as ICE agents arrest and detain her father. He has lived in the United States for more than two decades and is the father of four. In a statement, ICE defended its actions, saying Avelica-Gonzalez had a DUI in 2009 and an outstanding order of removal from 2014. For more we speak with Jocelyn Avelica, daughter of Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez. We also speak with Emi MacLean, an immigration attorney for National Day Laborer Organizing Network who is assisting the Avelica-Gonzalez family.

President Trump is expected to issue a new executive order temporarily banning all refugees, as well as people from six majority Muslim countries, from entering the United States. The New York Times reports the new ban would apply to people from Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, but not people from Iraq. Iraqis were included in Trump's first Muslim travel ban, which was blocked by the courts in February amid massive nationwide protests. Unlike the first ban, the new executive order is also not expected to apply to people from these countries with green cards or who already have a visa.

The Department of Homeland Security is considering a proposal to radically shift how federal agents treat undocumented families—including asylum seekers—who attempt to enter the country. Reuters is reporting DHS is considering a proposal to separate mothers from their children if they are caught trying to cross the border together. Under the plan, mothers would be held in custody while children would initially be placed in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services. Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar criticized the new proposal. He said, "Bottom line: separating mothers and children is wrong. That type of thing is where we depart from border security and get into violating human rights." For more we speak with Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

Trump Claims Without Evidence Obama Tapped His Phones During Campaign, White House Under Continued Scrutiny over Communications with Russian Officials, Reuters: DHS Considering Plan to Separate Mothers from Children at Border, Lawsuit: GEO Group Violated Anti-Slavery Laws by Forcing Imprisoned Immigrants to Work for $1 a Day, Trump Expected to Issue Revised Travel Ban Today, Lawyers: Afghan Family with Visas Detained Illegally at L.A. Airport, Sikh Man Shot & Injured by Man Yelling "Go Home to Your Country", At Oklahoma Capitol, Muslim Students Asked if They Beat Their Wives, NYT: Trump Admin Has Rolled Back 90 Regulations over Last 6 Weeks, Clashes in Berkeley as Some Pro-Trump Protesters Arrive at Rally with Knives & Batons, U.S. Military Carries Out 30 Airstrikes in Yemen, U.N. Report: Mexican Police Routinely Use Torture to Gain Confessions, Arkansas Planning to Execute 8 Men over 10 Days, U.N. Report Criticizes U.S. Government over Handling of Dakota Access Pipeline

We discuss a new investigation that reveals further ties between the killing of renowned environmental activist Berta Cáceres, Honduran military intelligence and the United States. Cáceres was assassinated one year ago in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras, just before midnight on March 2, 2016. She was the co-founder of COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras. In 2015, she won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her decade-long fight against the Agua Zarca Dam, a project planned along a river sacred to the indigenous Lenca people. Eight men have been arrested as suspects in Cáceres's killing -- including one active army major and two retired military members. Two of these suspects reportedly received military training in the United States. We are joined by Nina Lakhani, a freelance journalist who has been based in Mexico and Central America for the last four years. Her recent piece for The Guardian is, "Berta Cáceres court papers show murder suspects' links to US-trained elite troops."

New details have emerged on the Trump administration’s plans to dramatically reduce the power of the Environmental Protection Agency. According to a leaked copy of the EPA's 2018 budget proposal, the agency's overall budget would be slashed by 25 percent. "The bottom line, if these cuts go through, we can almost guarantee with certainty that there will be more premature deaths and more sicknesses throughout the country," says Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. "The public should be outraged at that." This comes as the Trump administration has vowed to roll back Obama-era EPA actions, and the White House continues to grapple with its position on the Paris climate agreement. We are also joined by Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from any investigation into last year's presidential campaign, following reports he met twice with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. at a time when he was serving as both a senator and a campaign surrogate for Donald Trump. The revelation directly contradicts Sessions' sworn testimony to Congress in January that he did not meet with any Russian officials in the run-up to November's election. On Thursday, Sessions called charges he lied under oath "totally false" and said he failed to mention the meetings with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak because the two did not discuss the campaign. Meanwhile on Thursday _The New York Times_ revealed that Flynn and Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner held a meeting at Trump Tower with the Russian ambassador ahead of the presidential inauguration. "Do those relationships risk posing undue influence on him going forward, possibly, bribery or some kind of coercion on policy?" asks Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties at EmptyWheel.net.

AG Sessions Recuses Himself from Russia Probe Amid Calls to Resign, Two Top Trump Advisers Met Russian Ambassador in December 2016, Sen. Rand Paul Searches Unsuccessfully for Obamacare Replacement Bill, Top U.N. Climate Official Denied Meeting with U.S. Secretary of State, NYT: White House Split over Trump Pledge to Cancel Paris Climate Deal, Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry Sworn In as Secretary of Energy, Retired Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson Sworn in as HUD Secretary, Indianapolis Star: VP Mike Pence Used Private Email Account as Governor, President Trump Tours Aircraft Carrier, Vowing Huge Military Increase, Yemen: U.S. Warplanes and Drones in 20 Airstrikes, Syria: Pro-Government Forces Recapture Palmyra, Egypt: Former Dictator Hosni Mubarak Acquitted of Murdering Protesters, Honduras: Protests Mark One Year Anniversary of Berta Cáceres Killing, Rochester, New York: Vandals Desecrate Jewish Cemetery, Survivor of Priest Sexual Abuse Quits Vatican Commission, Leaked DHS Memo Shows Most Foreign-Born Terrorists Radicalized in U.S., ICE Releases Asylum Seeker in Texas to Seek Medical Treatment, Undocumented Woman in Texas Charged after Seeking Protection from Abuser, Mississippi: Undocumented DREAMer to be Deported without Hearing, Arkansas Bill Would Ban Howard Zinn Writings from Schools

*Update: Hours after our broadcast, Amnesty International announced Sara Beltran Hernandez will be released from detention today to be with her family and to seek treatment for a brain tumor.*As President Trump vows to deport "bad hombres," we look at the shocking case of an asylum seeker from El Salvador who is being detained as she battles a brain tumor. Sara Beltran Hernandez was shackled at her hands and wrists, removed from the hospital and taken back to the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas. We speak with her lawyer, Fatma Marouf, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Texas A&M University; bioethics expert Bryn Esplin, assistant professor in the Department of Humanities in Medicine at Texas A&M School of Medicine; and Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research for Amnesty International USA, which has a campaign to win the release of Sara Beltran Hernandez.

The New York Times reports that the Obama administration scrambled during its final days in office to preserve evidence of Russia's collusion with the Trump campaign. Citing unnamed former officials, the Times says Obama's aides left a "trail of evidence" across different government agencies to prevent the incoming Trump administration from covering up or destroying evidence. We speak to James Henry about his latest piece, "Wilbur Ross Comes to D.C. With an Unexamined History of Russian Connections."

The Trump administration is facing a new scandal as the Justice Department has acknowledged Attorney General Jeff Sessions met twice last year with Russia's ambassador to the United States. This contradicts sworn testimony Sessions gave to Congress. During his confirmation hearing in January, then-Senator Sessions was asked by Minnesota Senator Al Franken whether he knew of contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russia's government. Sessions replied, "I did not have communications with the Russians." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday accused Sessions of "apparent perjury" and said in a statement, "Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign." Earlier today, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz called on Sessions to recuse himself from a Justice Department probe into alleged ties between Trump campaign officials and Russia's government. We speak to David Cay Johnston, the author of "The Making of Donald Trump."

AG Sessions Held Undisclosed Meetings with Russian Ambassador, Obama Admin Left "Trail of Evidence" on Alleged Russia-Trump Ties, White House Seeks Drastic Cuts to Environmental Protection Agency, Ryan Zinke Sworn In as Secretary of the Interior, Spring Arriving in Northern Hemisphere Far Earlier Than a Decade Ago, Undocumented DREAMer Daniela Vargas Arrested After News Conference, Police Chiefs Resist Trump Administration Immigration Plans, Trump to Allow Pentagon Raids Without Presidential Approval, Yemen: U.N. Official Warns of Humanitarian Catastrophe, Iraq: Mosul Air Raid Levels Mosque, Killing ISIS Fighters and Civilians, Afghanistan: Taliban Attacks Kill 16 and Wound Dozens, Syria: Russian Warplanes Mistakenly Bomb U.S.-Backed Rebel Fighters, Trump Organization Opens High-Rise in Vancouver Amid Protests, Georgia: Final Sentences Handed Down in White Supremacist Terror Case, Oprah Winfrey Hints She May Run for President in 2020

Following President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, many media outlets began to cast his presidency in a new, more moderate light. However, activists and organizers say Trump's presidency will not be normalized simply because he has learned to read from a teleprompter. For more, we speak with Linda Sarsour, the director of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPower Change, and co-chair of the Women's March on Washington, the largest protest after a presidential inauguration in U.S. history.

During President Trump's speech to Congress last night, he also honored Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who was killed in a botched raid on a Yemeni village that also left 25 civilians dead, including nine children under the age of 13. Last night, Trump referred to the raid as being "highly successful" and spoke directly to Ryan's widow, Carryn Owens. After a two-minute standing ovation, Trump said, "And Ryan is looking down right now. You know that. And he's very happy, because I think he just broke a record." Trump made no reference to the 25 civilians killed in the raid, nor to the criticisms leveled by Owens's father, who has questioned why the raid was ever approved.

Following President Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Vermont senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders responded forcefully to Trump's speech. We air part of Sanders' response last night and speak to his former advisor, economist Jeffrey Sachs.

During his speech before Congress on Tuesday night, Donald Trump called on Congress to address the "imploding Obamacare disaster." "Tonight, I am also calling on this Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs and at the same time provide better healthcare," Trump said. "Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for America." We speak to Ola Ojewumi, a disabled 26-year-old community activist who attended Trump's speech as a guest of Maryland Congressmember Steny Hoyer, as someone affected by the Affordable Care Act. She is a cancer survivor who has also had a kidney and heart transplant.

During President Trump's speech to the joint session of Congress last night, he announced plans to create a new office called VOICE—that's Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. Trump has previously directed the Department of Homeland Security to publish a list of crimes committed by immigrants—which some historians have compared to Germany's Nazi-era policy of publishing lists of crimes committed by Jews. We air Trump's comment and hear from Andrea Pitzer, author of the upcoming book, "One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps."

President Trump opened his speech to Congress by condemning the five nationwide waves of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers, the desecration of hundreds of gravesites at two Jewish cemeteries and the murder of an Indian man in Kansas by a white man who reportedly yelled "Get out of my country!" before opening fire. But he made no mention of recent attacks targeting mosques. His speech came just hours after he suggested the anti-Semitic incidents may be false-flag attacks. We speak to Muslim American organizer Linda Sarsour, who has helped raise over $125,000 for vandalized Jewish cemeteries.

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