their votes next week. we will speak with california elector christine pelosi, who is leading the effort. then investigative reporter greg palast goes to michigan n aftea jujudge shuts down a r recount f the presididential vote in the state. and this is trumpvillee is their hero, the man who shut down the recount. your republican attorney general ofof michigan. he issued an order saying no one would be allowed to look at the ballots and over half the precincts, 59%, and the detroit ararea. the very place that most of the vote had gone missing. amy: and we will look at john kelly who has been tapped by trump to have the department of homeland security as commander of southern command, he oversaw u.s. military prison at guantanamo. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. it is official. donald trump has chosen the ceo of the world's largest oil company and a man with no political experience for the top cabinet position. this morning, trump tweeted -- "i have chosen one of the truly greaeat busineness leaders of te world, rex tillerson, chairman and ceo of exxonmobil, to be secretary of state." environmental groups have e widy condemned the nomination. exxon is facing multiple lawsuits over its role in covering up the science behind climate change. tillerson is also known to have close ties to russian president vladimir putin who awarded , tillerson the country's order of friendship decoration in 2013. both senate democrats and republicans have expressed concern and opposition to tillerson's nomination, which comes only days after president obama ordered a review of russia's role influencing the presidential election. the cia has reportedly already concluded russia intervened in the election to help trump win. one of the focuses of the senate confirmation hearings will be exxon's $500 billion oil exploration partnership with the russian government's oil company, rosneft. considered the largest oil deal in history, the partnership can only go through if the u.s. lifts sanctions against russia, which the obama administration imposed over russia's intervention in ukraine. to hear our full interview about rex tillerson with 350.org co-founder bill mckibben, friends of the earth president erich pica, and president of the center for international environmental law carroll muffett, go to democracynow.org. in more news on cabinet picks, donald trump has officially asked goldman sachs president gary cohn to be director of the national economic council. cohn will become the third goldman sachs-linked memember of trump's cabinet. steven mnuchin, trump's pick for treasury secretary, was a second-generation goldman sachs executive. stephen bannon, trump's chief strategist, is also a former goldman sachs executive. the trump transition team also officially announced monday that retired four-star marine general john kelly is trump's pick for secretary of homeland security. and "the new york times" has reported trump is considering former hewlett-packard ceo carly fiorina for director of national intelligence. senate majority leader republican mitch mcconnell of kentucky and house speaker republican paul ryan of wisconsin have both announced their support for an investigation into whether russia intervened in u.s. presidential election to help trump win. chairman of the intelligence committee republican richard burr of north carolina and the chair of the armed services committee republican senator john mccain of arizona are leading the inquiry. on monday, white house spokesman josh earnest said the obama administration also supports the congressional investigation. 10 electoral college electors -- nine democrats and one republican -- have sent a letter to cia director james clapper demanding an intelligence briefing on russian efforts to elect donald trump before the electoral college meets on december 19. hillary clinton's campaign has backed their request. donald trump has called the cia's conclusions of russian interference ridiculous. we will have more on t the possibility of russian interference in the election with democratic california elector christine pelosi, the lead author of the letter to intelligence director james clapper. in syria, aleppo is on the b brk of full into the syriaian government. on monday, syrian government forces backed by russian airstrikes and fighters from other regional allies, including lebanon's hezbollah militia, continue to advance on the remaining rebel held neighborhoods. in government held sections of aleppo, some people poured into the streetsts tcelebrate e whats expepected to be the most decise battle in the five-year civil war. antigovernment rebels report syrian government troops carrying out summary killings during the ongoing offensive. the united nationsns says at let 82 civilians, including women and children, have been shot on site by syrian government troops in recent days. in more news on syria, u.s. defense secretary ash carter has annonounced the pentntagon wille sending 200 additional u.s. soldiers to fight isis militants in syria. the new troops will join at least 300 u.s. soldiers already fighting in n syria. on monday, defense secretary ash carter also visited israel for a ceremony marking the united states' delivery to isrsrael of twtwo u.s.-built lockheeeed marn f-35 fighter jets, regarded as the e most advanced lilitary aircraft i in the world.d. israel now becomes the o only country outside the united states to have opererational f-5 fighter jets. this is s secretary carter speaking mondaday at the n nevam air base in the southern negev desert. isisrael'ss desert. >> t the stealth fighters are te first t 50 aircraft that will hp bubuild the future of the israei air force. and thatat is thanks t to and sd memomorandum of understanding we signed this year in which the u.s. pledged an unprerecedentedd $38 million in security assistance over r the next deca. and asas of tododay, israel is r first anand only friend in the reonon that is flylying f-35.. it is my honoror to be here marking g the delivery o of thee plplanes to america's closest friend and ally in the region. amamy: each lockheed martin f-35 jet costs more than $100 million, a price tag donald trump recently criticized, twtweeting -- "the f-35 program and cost is out of control. billions of dollars can and will be saved on military purchases after january 20th." more than $5 trillion worth of investments are now pledged to be divested from fossil fuels. the analysis, issued monday, details how nearly 700 institutions and nearly 60,000 individuals from across 76 nations have committed to divest their assesets from the fossil fuel industry. this is mark ruffalo speaking at a news conference in new york city. >> if you keep your money in the fossil fuel industry, you're hurting your children, you're hurting the future generations, and you are hurting your selves. you can't say that you care about your children or your grandchildren and keep pouring moneyy into this system. amy: that is actor markgraf alone. -- mark ruffalo. at standing rock in north dakota, native american elders fighting the dakota access pipeline have extinguished the seven council fires, which has been burning for months at the main resistance camp, and young native water protectors have relit a new fire, the all nations fire, as part of the continued resistance to the $3.8 billion pipeline. this is standing rock sioux tribe member chase iron eyes. >> it was probably 1000 people still here who are committed to staying until the pipeline is dead. they are committed to staying to protect our treaty rights and to create a new existence for our people. they're committed to even protecting american constitutional, civil and human rights. we approach the elders. they told us how to conduct ourselves and to build a new fire. it is all young people whoho cae up. amy: the water protectors are fighting the pipeline over concerns a leak could contaminate the missouri river, which serves as a drinking source for millions. on monday, north dakota officials confirmed that another pipeline leak earlier this month has spilled more than 176,000 gallons of crude oil into the ash coulee creek about 150 miles west of standing rock. meanwhile, in more news from standing rock, the water protector legal collective reports a north dakota court has convened a federal grand jury and issueded at least one subpoa agaiainst a water prprotector rt sacred stone camp. angela bibbens of f the collecee says it appears the grand jury is focused on the injuries of sophia wilansky, whose left arm wass brutally hurt. an account which the police deny. this is s angela bibbens. o the convening of thehe federal grand jury, the water protector legal collective has put t together a comommittef experienced a attorneys who can represent water p protectors who have b been served with a subpoa . if you are a water protector out there who has been served, please cocontact our hotline e t 605-519-8180. amy: the seattle city council has vote unanimously to advance to discussion a piece of legislation that would see the city break ties with wells fargo over its financing of the dakota access pipeline. wells fargo currently manages $3 billion worth of depository services for seattle. the legislation was proposed by socialist city councilwoman kshama sawant, who spoke about the water protectors at standing rock during a city council meeting monday. repression and attackss on pririte militarized securitiy forces. they have been bitten by attackk dogs, pepper spray, , subjectedo mass a arrest incluluding for prayaying. but they h have courageoeously d ststrong and shohown will we boh organize movovents willlg to fight, we cacan win. electeted officiss nationwide aa way toto the actctivists to stsd wiwith them. one clcleaway the cicity council can do that is by divestingng te cicity of seattltle from wells o , which also hapappens to be one of the p principal financial backers of the dakota access pipeline. amy: that was seattle city councilwoman kshama sawant. the minneapolis city council is also currently studying ways break financial ties with wells fargo and other banks financing the dakota access pipeline and other energy projects. minneapolis actitivists locked shut the doors of a new wells fargo branch, which was slated to open monday, demanding the bank divest from the dakota access pipeline. pipeline protesters spreading across united states over the weekend. a military veteran was arrested in live oak, florida, missed a series of protests against the $3.2 billion natural gas pipeline that is slated to run from alabama through georgia into florida. meanwhile on monday, two people were arrested after chaining themselves to construction equipment in arkansas in efforts to stop the construction of the proposed 440 mile diamond pipeline slated to carry oil from oklahoma to arkansas. land conflicts are growing increasingly deadly worldwide, with triple the number of land rights defenders murdered this year compared to 2015. this according to a new report by pan asia pacific, which details how an average of almost 16 indigenous land defenders, farmers and activists were , killed each month from january until nonovember of this year. in bahrain, an appeals court has upheld a nine-year prison sentence against bahraini opposition leader, sheikh ali salman. he is the secretary general of a main bahraini opposition party. his arrest in december 2015 sparked protests and international condemnation. bahrain is a close u.s. ally in the gulf, home to the navy's fiftfth fleet.t. in brazil, president michel temer is facing accusations of soliciting nearly $3 million in illegal campaign contributions in 2014. the revelations come only one day after a poll showed the majority of brazilians, 63%, want temer to resign. michel temer rose to power earlier this year after the impeachment of dilma rousseff in a process she and others have called a coup. back in the e united states, the suprpreme court has denied requt national football league settlement with former players who say the leak intentionally concealed the dangers of concussions. say they will begin receiving settlements of up to $5 million. a new york times investigation earlier this year revealed the nfl it more than 100 diagnosed concussions that published studies based on flawed data. the investigation also exposes how the nfl shared lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants with the tobacco industry. the free alabama movement reports incarcerated organizer kinetic justice was physically attacked and maced while handcuffed by two prison guards at limestone correctional facility in alabama on december 2. justice was a key organizer in the nationwide prison strike this fall. since then, he says he's faced multiple transfers between different prisons, as well as retaliation from prison guards, including being denied water by prison officials at the kilby correctional facility. to see our full interview with kinetic justice on the nationwide prison strikes, to go democracynow.org. a new report by the committee to prototect journalists reveals at least 257 journalists have been jailed worldwide this year -- the most since the committee began record-keeping in 1990. nearly one-third of the joururnalists are imprprisoned y turkey alone.. since the failed military coup this summer, turkish authorities have executed a widespread crackdown against the press, particularly against kurdish nenewspapers and journalists. on monday,y, turkish authoririts also rounded up and arrested as many a as 200 members of thehe pro-o-kurdish people's s democrc party, known as the hdp, after raiding the parties offices in ankara and istanbul. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in less than one week, on december 19, members of the electoral college will meet in their respective state capitols to cast ballots to determine who will be the next president. in recent history, the vote of the electoral college has largely been a formality. but this year, electors in states won by donald trump are facing mounting pressure to reject his presidency. last week christopher suprun of texas became the first republican member of the electoral college to come out saying he will not vote for trump. he appeared on democracy now! >> this is what the electoral college is for, so we do not elect a demagogue, somebody who cannot practice the foreign-policy and national defense of the country appropriately, and one who has played fast and loose with the rules of conflicts of i interes. amy: will on monday, christopher supran made headlines again when he joined with nine democratic members of the electoral college to ask james clapper, the u.s. director of national intelligence, to brief electors before the 19th on how russia may have interfered with the election. the cia has concluded russia intervened in the election to help trump win but the agency , has not released its findings. reuters is reporting there is yet to be an endorsement because of lack of conclusive evidence that moscow intended to boost trump over hillary clinton. trump rejected the conclusion saying it is ridiculous that president obama ordered a review of russia's role in influencing the presidential election. on monday, top republicans in congress senate majority leader , mitch mcconnell and house speaker paul ryan, also backed an investigation. hillary clinton's campaign manager john podesta has backed the request by the electors for an intelligence briefing. he said -- "the bipartisan electors' letter raises very grave issues involving our national security. electors have a solemn responsibility under the constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addrdressed." well, joining us now from san francisco is christine pelelosia democratic california elector. she is the lead a author of a letter to intelligence director james clapper. her mother's house minority leader nancy pelosi. welcome to democracy now! explain what you are asking for now. >> good morning, amy. and joining with members of the electoral college to ask director clapper to give us a briefing on the newly discovered evidence that the american people first learned about last week when we read in the paper that the russians had hacked both democrats and republicans, but only chose to do a daily drip, drip, drip of information against democrats in order to try to swing the election to trump. our concern is that finding out this information after the election, that it is a very alarming charge so we would like to see the evidence. we would also like to enter clapper to declassify as much of the information as possible so that all of the american people can take a look and decide for ourselves and to the extent that we have to protect our intelligence agents come assets, sources, and methods, we would like him to lower the pacification to where we the electors to get what they call a day pass, go to one of this secure classified information .acilities they have the met military bases and fbi offices where members of the military and members of congress can go to receive classified briefings without having to go to washington. we would like to go to the local secure areas in our community and receive this information before we performemed our consnstitutional duty on dececer 19. amy: has james clapper responded? >> he has not responded. we're hoping to reinforce our request today. since we released the letter yesterday morning with 10 people, we have heard from thousands of people across the country, including dozens more electors who are interested in what we're doing and who would like to find out more about how they could get some of the information that somebody in the cia saw fit to share with the media. we would like them to share it with as directly so that as alexander hamilton said and as the founders have predicted, we can assure that the president was not elected with undue foreign influence. amy: of course, donald trump is denying any russian involvement in his victory. he tweeted -- your response? >> well, this was discussed at one of the presidential debates. the role of russia was long alleged so this is not necessarily news to donald trump and the fact that he doesn't believe it does not make it less true. unlike him, we would like an intelligence briefing and we would like to know what the details are. amy, if you were involved in an election and 70 said, oh, the russians are the ones that helped amy when, wouldn't you want the truth to come out to show you won fair and square? it is our constitutional duty as members of the electoral college to make an assessment that we had a free and fair election without undue foreign influence. we would like to see the data that the cia has. amy: in july, then republican presidential nominee donald trump called on russia to hack hillary clinton's email. mr. trump: russia, if you're listening, i hope you are able to find the emails that are missing. i think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. amy: at the time, retired navy rear admiral john hutson said trump's call to hack clinton's email was "criminal intent." christine pelosi, what do you say? >> i think it was outrageous comment for any public servant to make to invite a foreign power to commit espionage. it wasn't the press who was going to reward russia mightily, it actually has been donald trump rewarding russia mightily for the work they did do in skewing the election to him. when you look at his appointments, when you look at the closeness to russia of some of these appointees come a most notably his potential secretary of state former head of exxon mobil, these are deeply concerning allegations. again, the role of the intelligence community is to collect the information and give it to government officials to make important decisions. well, members of the electoral college are about to make the most important decision for our country, the election, the formal election of our president, and we need to get that information. publicot just the statement of donald trump, it is whatever private actions may have occurred that the cia may have under. amy: last week, democracy now! interviewed chris suprun who explained why he won't be casting hihis vote for donald trump. >> i intended to support the nominee, but importantly, mr. trump has proven again and again he is not qualified for the office. he is a complete demagogue, as we've seen for the past 18 months. up until last night where he picked on a steelworker who at is say something about his jobs plan for carrier. that is a scary thought when you're a simple steelworker, union boss, there in a factory in indiana, you question the president and he comes after you 30 minutes later. i'm not sure what the president is going to do when north korea says something even worse about him in international relations, which rings of the second reason he is not qualified. 50 of time republican colleagues for national security and foreign-policy experts said mr. trump would be a danger if he were president. we have already seen that where he is exacerbated situations in taiwan and china with his change in the one china policy, or what appears to be a change, and beyond that, part of the issue with taiwan was it appeared to be a sales call. esther trump cannot profit off the office of the president. it is expressly for bitten. it appears every time he callsls anotheher country, it is to sesa trump property. amy: that is christopher suprun, republican elector from texas who says he will not be voting for donald trump. he joined your letter, christine pelosi, as the one republican with nine democrats calling for this briefing. are there other republicans who have gotten n in touch with you, either to join you on the letter or to say they are not voting for donald trump -- other electors? >> i have heard from democratic and republican electors since we put the letter out. some of them are interested in joining the letter. others having seen the politics of personal destruction directed at me, directed at mr. suprun and others, have said, look, i support what you're doing. i don't want to expose myself to that kind of social media attack, but know that you have my support and i absolutely want to find out if there is a possibility of getting that information at a local briefing, added fbi were military base. i am very cognizant as a pelosi what it is like when you put yourself out in the public sphere in the personal attacks that come with it. a lot of my fellow at sister electors are living lives of quiet public service and i'm not asking for a look them to sign on to the kind of treatment that i am getting, that i take as part of the price of leadership, but i'm heartened by their support in by their communications that indicate, yes -- director clapper to receive our request and respond to our request by declassifying the information for the public and for lowering the classification to give us a day pass. there will be electors, but democratic and republican, who will be ready to receive that information. amy: how many republicans have gotten in touch with you? republican electors? >> three directly and others saying they have talked to more of them. so i'm not quite sure what those numbers actually look like in terms of how many people, the other people say they have spoken to and reflect, but the basic message was, you have got bipartisan support for this and others may be making their own statements soon. they have also seen, again, what is happening to mr. superintendent a said, look, if clapper is not going to do this, if we are one to be tonight's information, i do not want to step out there are be completely attacked by my own party by asking for something i did not ultimately get. i do not mind taking the lead and doing that. i think it is interesting there are republicans who want to make -- they're to are support their party's nominee, they want to make sure their party's nominee is a -- the won karens one square. that is there oath they take as an elector. we take this very seriously. our goal right now is to get as much of that information out to the public as possible. amy: how did you become an elector in the electoral college, christine? >> as you know, there are different rules in different states. in california, we get appointed by our local members of f congrs and by our senators. i chair the caliphate democratic party women's caucus and i was thoroughly convinced this would be my opportunity to cast a vote for the first woman president of the united states. i petition my congresswoman and said, you know, i have never asked to be an elector. this is a wonderful honor, but i would like to have this opportunity, so i asked and i was appointed. amy: you are representing california, which voted for hillary clinton. so why would this make a difference to you, this briefing? >> i would like to know the truth before i cast my vote. i'm a former prosecutor, amy. there used to be a closing argument in san francisco that when something like "you could go race onto the field at the giants ballpark and knock over the picture in front of 50,000 fans and millions of people watching on tv. you know what? you still get to go to court and say, prosecutor, prove it. is theot t a formality, itt american way that you get a jury of your peers in a chance to make the prosecutor prove what everybody saw you did." when it comes to being a member of the electoral college, similarly, we have agency. the founders wanted to make sure that we did. that is why they did not just have an election, but also the electoral college to meet to make sure we did not have a demagogue, make sure there was a free and fair election, and to make sure there was an undue foreign influence. so we have newly discovered evidence that we would like to see. frankly, i am disappointed we did not know this before the general election, amy, but we are reading about it now. rather than just read about it in the paper and have it shape our view of mr. trump, we feel it is incumbent upon us to look at that newly discovered evidence in whatever classified setting that director feels is appropriate to defend and protect the intelligence sources. trumpn 2012, donaldld incorrectly thought mitt romney had won the popular vote over president obama. he tweeted -- "the electoral college is a disaster for democracy." you are also opposed to the electoral college? >> that is right. it is been a strange political year for me and ththat i am a democratic n national committee woman, superdelegate working to -- i'm a member of the electoral college who would like to see the end of the electoral college. i guess i'm organizing myself out of two jobs. my idea is more democracy, the better, and i think as a longtime supporter of the national popular vote, which actually governor schwarzenegger signed into law in california, many of us have been moving to try to eliminate electoral college for years. at a donald trump was correct in 2012. i would hope that we would move to eliminate the electoral college or reduce the p power tt small states have over large states like mine in california. but now, this is a system we have. these are the rules of engagement that the foununders have set forward. and absent a change to them, we have to take our role seriously and do our job. if we are just window dressing, then join me and get rid of us. as long as you charge me to do a job as an elector, i'm going to with with agency and attetention. and right now, i would like to pay attention to the evidence. amy: on another issue, your thoughts on keep the load to desk eat allison? goodve hadad some conversations with congressman ellison about the kinds of reforms i would like to's the at the dnc. i am running for executive committee on a platform of, among other things, fulfilling the unity commission goal of not allowing superdelegates to trump the will of the voters and eliminating corporate money into the dnc and eliminating the use of at large appoints to put corporate lobbyists on to the dnc. you just and report on the water protectors. there are only three members of the native american community are on the democratic national committee, but there's a lot of corporate representation. if you had, say, 10 members of the native american community of the democratic national committee and seven or fewer corporate lobbyists, who knows what the p policy might have ben and what the engagement might have been at the national party level when it came to protecting the water and ending eminent domain for private gain? personnel is policy. i know that keith ellison has a lot of great i ideas. i loveve tom perez was looking t the race. he was a big support to me when i passed the fight for 15 revolution at the dnc in the summer of 2015. i worked closely with ray ,uckley and jamie harrison stagers from new hampshire and south carolina respectively. i think we're going to have a really good debate. i think keith ellison is a very good communicator and a very good galvanize her. i respect he wants to do the job full-time like we asked. and that he came to that decision. i look forward to a very spirited debate about this in january, but it is exciting that grassroots democrats and progressives want to get involved and want to help refurbish our party and bring back our 50 state strategy. amy: christine pelosi, thank you for being with us, democratic california elector, the lead author on a letter to intelligence director james clapper urging him to release the facts on outside interference in u.s. presidential election. so far, the letter has been signed by 10 members of the electoral college -- nine democrats anand one republican. thank you, christine. when we come back, greg palast investigates the recouount in michigan. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our update on the presidential election with the results of the recount effort in wisconsin and pennnnsylvania. wisconsin's election commission announced on mononday that after its recount, republican donald trump's margin of victory widened by about 162 votes. in pennsylvania, a federal judge on monday rejected a request to recount paper ballots and scan some counties' election systems for signs s of hacking. hours later, state officials certified the results of the election, with trump winning by less than 1% of the vote. former green party presidential candidate jill stein had requested recounts in wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvania. three states where donald trump narrowly beat the clinton. a federal judge had already ordered michigan's board of elections to stop the state's electoral recount. trump one michigan -- won michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes out of nearly 4.8 mimillin votes cast.. we turn to "rolling stone" investigative reporter greg ellis. quick he won by 10,700 votes, bubut the record 75,000 335 vots were never counted. most of these votes that went missing were in d detroit and flinint, michiganan, majority bk cicity's. how coululd this hapappen? to the russianans do it? nyet. you don't need russians to help the michigan g gop. how do you disappear 75,000 votes? they called them spoil vootes. how do you spoil them? not by leaving them out of f the frfridge. momost are losost by the bubble. thousands cannote e read by thte opoptical scanningng machines.s. > i saw a lot of checkmarks. quick sioux is s a systetems ant who took part in the recouount. >> we e saw a lot of ballots tht were not originally counted because they do not skin into the machine. >> machines in michigan and wisconsin cannot read these bubbles but a much better machine, the human eyeball, can easily read what the voter intended. both michigan and wisconsin, you have to pay the state millions of d dollars too have humans red the ballotots. this woman, , ll stein, , raise the momoney fofothe huhuman couf these uncounted ballolot. accordingg t to jill steinin, te human reviview was findiding a e lot o of -- >> v votes which were blank, may in committeeees of color, thatt were dememocratic. obviously, this s is a concern.. >> e enough thatat mr. trump wod lose in a gop pololitician came to m. trump'ss rescue. , and this isville their hero, the man who shut down the recount. the republican attorney general of michigan. he issued an order saying no one would be allowed to lookt the ballot andver half the precincts -- 59% in the detroit area will s step the very place that most of the votes had gonoe missining. >> it is shockcking to thinknk e missss counting of bit vototes y be making the critical difference in the outcome of the election. >> we went to speak with the secretary of s state whose spokesman said the missing votes detroit were simply people who waited inn line but did not wawt to vote forr president. the andhink w we look at favorability ratings that were reported for both major party candidates, probably not that surprising. >> in detroit, another explanation. machinessng, 87 responsiblble for ununting thouousas of b ballots, brokoken . carlos garcia is a media specialilist at michigan's s the ununiversity.. he witnessed the b breakdown. a.m..rted pulliling at 7:00 the machinine did not t work. at nine: 15 a.m., they brought in replacement and it was replaced by 9:30. ththe p pple who dodo not wait, they'rere ballots were e in thee bottom of ththe ballllot. > they were not scanned. >> at the time thehey started having anyone who wawas w waitig scan their ballolots, thosose ballotots were not t taken out f ththe machine.e. so any new scanned b ballots wee falling in on top of the old ones. >> they were not counted. activistst anita belell. >> only 50 ballots in the ballot box. how didid detroit end u up in a hot mess with these baballot destroying m machines? pupublic and o officials t tookt control of the government spending in flint. flyswatter was detroit and the vovoting system of detroit was poisoned as well.l. >> whether your voting in a wealththy white suburban precin, no sweat, yourur vote will be validated d and you cacan have assurance e and confidence in yr vote. if you're afrfric-a-amerin, ththese quesestions cannot be a. >> a and there arere voters whwo never r got to vote in the first place. >> whether it is s because ofofe chaos in some polling centers are closed and ththen some are moved and - -- there arare all s of mixups will stepep so a lot f people are filliling out provovisionall ballots i in thet placace or they were being toppd off the voter rolls by interstate crosscheck. >> crosscheck is a list created by donald trump's operative to hunt down and imprisoned voters who illegagally vototed or reregistered in two statates ine electionon. >> michihigan dissipates, like a number of other states, so we do match vovoters who may be reregistered in anotheher state. quite you know how many names? >> there are a lot. >> here is michigan. michiganders on ththe suspect list. is it to illlluminate fraud or vovoters? >> it is to clean our v voter list. make sure there's no vulnererability for fraud. we beeeen very aggressive in closing vulnerabilities and loopholes. but i see the aggression here. michael bernard brown. supposed to be the same as michaeael anthony brown. michael timothy brbrown is listd in the same as m michael j johny brown.n. >> youou' c correct, , i'm sure there are some. but t we go through i it thohory and we're not j just canceleling peoplele. >> statatistical e experts say s heavily y overweight agastst minoritities because it is using it basically a lisist of common names. michaeael browown. jose garcia. can you imagagine that would bea probm?m? >> i didid not know b brown -- >> that brown is a common name in america? is very, black name. >> i've known a lot of white brown. >> donald trump supports the crcrosscheck c crusade. stein dodoesn't buy it. >> if he thinks michael lewis brown is the same person as mimichael jamess brown, he is confused. ththe american people should not be dupuped intoto believing himr a mininute will l stop it is the oppoposite of what he is s sayi. nono people werere voting frauaudulently and illegally, bt were actually legititimate votes who had their right to vote taken away fromm them by kriss kobach and donald trump and there is no lelegitimacy t to hs claiaim that there e are fraudut vovoters that have distotorted e outcome of this e election. and it jim crow system all needs s to be fixed. it is not rocket science.e. this is plane basic democracy.. i think ththe people of detroitt are so inspired and principal and passionate, they are a model for this struggle around the nation. >> the recount slogs through, uncocovering missing voteses and missssing voters that coululd ce through the presidedency. republicans rushed inin to shut down the recouount c completely. wisconsin, pennsylvania, here in michigigan. we may be way north of the north and it's in line, but the elecections s are still run by m crowow. for r democracy y now!, this isg palast. amy: joining us from washington, d.c., "rolling stone" reporter greg palast. what mosost surprised you in ths latest research in michigan? >> people looking for russians, but what we had was real jim crow election. less and michigan won by than 11,000 votes. it looked like we had 55,000 voters, mostly minorities, removed by this racist system called crosscheck. in addition, you had -- even before the courts order to complete stop of the vote in michigan, you had the republican state officials completely sabotage the recount. they said, in detroit where there were 75,335 supposedly ,lank ballots for president they said, you cannot count 59% of the precincts were most of the votes were missing. there were 87 machines in detroit that did not function. they were supposed to count about 1000 ballots each. you're talking about a massive blockade of the black vote in detroit and flint, enough votes and deadly to overturn that election. and new saw a mirror of this in wisconsin, where, for example, there were many, many votes, thousands of votes lost in the milwaukee area and other african-american heavy areas. and instead of allowing the eyeball count of the votes that are supposed to be supposedly blank, just run them back to the machines. it is like betting on an instant replay of the same game. just put them through the same bad machines again. this is not just a bad way to count the ballots, it is a way to not count african-american ballots. i want to emphasize that, amy, which is that when we use the term "recount," we're talking about ballots that were never counted in the first place. we over 75,000 in michigan. there are enough ballots uncounted that if you look at them with the human eye, because these are terrible machines i cannot read your bible marks next to the candidate's name on a piece of paper, if the human eye looks at these does it is easy to tell someone voted for presidential candidate. a lot of the machine said they voted for two candidates. not many people do that. the human eye can do that. the question is, where these ballots not counted? they're not counted in african american areas, in dearborn, heavy arabic community, and latino committees. while we're discussing hacking the machines, a lot of this was old-fashioned jim crow tactics from way back. either way, a lot of this is the result of the destruction and the gutting of the 1965 voting rights act, which is the first election post the voting rights act. we saw a jill stein said it correct, she suspected there to be a lot of hacking. what she found, as she said, was a jim crow election. amy: finally, we just have a minutete, but what d do you thik needs to happen now? >> we need to have kind of a standing rock for voting. we need to restart the voting rights movement because with jeff sessions coming in as attorney general, we have to start investigations now. i am in washington because an asian-american group and the congressional black caucus representative hastings, they have presented 50,000 signatures to the justice department begging justice, please, open an investigation of this racist crosscheck system created by donald trumps operative operating in 30 states, knocking off asian americans, african-americans, latinos voters, please open the investigation now before it becomes a new justice department or maybe it is in a justice department. amy: i want to thank you, greg for your report. stone."asast of "rolling when we come back, we will talk about another trump appointment. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. donald trump has officially announced he will nominate four-star marine general john kelly to be secretary of homeland security. kelly was formerly the head of united states southern command, where he oversaw the military jail at guantanamo bay, cuba. kelly becomes the general tapped third for a top position so far. the head of united states southern command, kelly promoted the alliance for prosperity, program that provides hundreds of millions of dollars in popole military funding. he has repeatedly called u.s.-mexico border a threat to national security, leading many to worry he will escalate the militarization of the border and u.s. immigration policy overall. to talk more about kelly's nomination, we're joined now by two guests. in los angeles, roberto lovato is an independent journalist working out of the san francisco writiters' grotto. baherre we are joined by azmy, legal director of the center for constitutional rights, which has been representing guantanamo detaininees since 2002.. roberto, let's begin with youou. what is your understanding of general kelly's record? amy, and everybody, general kelly is a 40 year veteran of the marines. i think he embodies the military values that have been instilled, not just in the marines, air force, army, but also within the homeland itself. ishink you have somebody who very clear in terms of what his mission is as a general. and that is a communications function more than anything else, oddly enough. he has this one quote, this op-ed in "the miami herald," were he says, "columbia showed us the way. he sees columbia as the way to instill peace and bring prosperity into a country, where -- don't know anybody knows anything about columbia, but that he million people are just laced, massacre military and death squad operation. massive impunity on the part of the policing and security and military with police functions. one of the good things about i think kelly is that he makes obvious the militarization of not just immigration, but of u.s. society since before obama and bush, even. homeland security's budget has gone from, like, $4.3 billion to now $34 billion. look at standing r rock. people -- a lot of people did not realize, but there were standingtrol agent at rock. what was the border patrol doing at standing rock? i think major kelly makes that really clear in a way that barack obama and telling us in the cadences of martin luther king, homeland security was a good thing, does not do so. again, responding with fear is useless when you have the most militarized cabinet in u.s. history, right? it is three people. it doesn't help us to respond with fear. i think we need to be clear. the beauty, i guess if there are beauty and this, is that it is very clear what your government is doing with your tax dollars. amy: general kelly said, responding to his nomination -- "the american people voted in this election to stop terrorism, take back sovereignty at our borders, and put a stop to political correct this. the to long has dictated our approach to national security." roberta, your response? >> i would at what happened under obama with occupy, with black lives matter, and standing rock. the role of homeland security is very clear as far as occupy a black lives matter. massive surveillance and other sorts of interventions we will find out as those papers get released. although now, we have reached the point where the privacy of the popopulation has been diminished, while the privacy and secrecy of the government has been expanded to record-breaking levels. so that said, i think when kelly talks like that, you have -- you always have foreign wars and domestic suppression being siamese twins. having such a militarized cabinet, i think -- they're getting ready to do what many people fear, you know, it can't happen here. it is happening here, amy. it is happening through the back door of, say, immigration where a lot of people thought homeland security was primarily about repressing immigrants. i have written about this. it is not just about immigrants. it is about immigrants being used to normalize the militarization within the borders. going around what is known as the posse, titus act. but respondingg, with fear is not going to help. responding with clarity is. amy: i want to bring in baher azmy. you have long been dealing with guantanamo, representing prisoners there since 2002. what did general -- whatever general kelly's position? >> in general, i think the have someone in charge of the largest civilian agency in the united states who not only defended by further distorted one of the most grotesque extralegal practices in american history in guantanamo is really, frankly, chilling. once more, during his time there, it is fairly well-documented on record that he attempteded to undermine his officials in guantanamo, sabotage president obama's efforts to transfer detainees forced of amy: what evidence do you have? >> there's a compelling reuters report that demonstrates open hostility to state department efforts to match detainees with foreign countries in a case involving one of our own clients, a longtime hunger striker, at a foreign delegation was interested in meeting with him. our client, his officials said that our client had not released -- had not consent to release his medical records. that was a lie. in charge of a massive hunger strike in 2013, and he responded through brutally solitary confinement, fast -- force feedings. he called these math hunger strikes, change the term, called them long-term nonreligious fasting. mapping perfectly with the kind of orwellian cast of mind in guantanamo that he would want to internalize inside t the united states. amy: do you think the fact he lost his son in afghanistan in 2010, making general kelly the highest-ranking military officer to lose a son or daughter in iraq or afghanistan, has had an impact on his policies? >> some of the reporting suggest that it has. of defense department officials felt that way in terms of the population there. there is a way of running national policy from based on personal experience -- as sad as that may have been -- it should not interfere with a mandate from the president and his obligation to treat detainees humanely. amy: overall, your response to the fact that kelly's the third general name to trump's cabinet yet the flynn heading nsa and mag. mattis as defense sesecretary. and overall, the trump picked so far? >> it is remarkablbly worrying. after my academic hat on. the commander-in-chief powers given to the president of the united states not as many people think to magnify his warmaking power. it was done because the framers were worried about military running civilian government so we would have civilian control. because the military generals, think what you might about how necessary they are, it is not a democratic institution. they are not responsive to democratic politics or democratic accountability. there is a separate system of justice. they do not have the same obligations to things like deliberation.nd so i think -- it is very worrying. his statement, i had not realized that he wants to end political correctness and national security policies. just a really worrying dog whistle to the alt-right who once more torturere and more profiling. torture is not problematic becaususe it is politically incorrect. it is problematic because it is illegal and immoral. registration and surveillance of muslims is illegal and immoral. this is ad think that problem and national practice is incredibly concerning. amy: and the possibility that kris kobach, the 10th of secretary of state, though he was considered for homeland security, could be his deputy? >> even more worrying. kris kobach is the architetect f ,lection will godfather numerous laws designed to exclude and criminalize immigrants. he was the author of sb 1070 and a number of other laws. i think what is worrying, he would basically empower nationalize arpaio's policy of the federal government. amy: we have to leave it there, baher azmy ofccr, and roberto lovato, thank you for joining ñññññññññ