SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
December, 09 2014, 12:45pm EDT
Contact:
press@sanders.senate.gov
Sanders Statement on CIA Report
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today issued the following statement on a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation which found that the Central Intelligence Agency misled the White House and Congress about the brutal interrogation of terrorism suspects:
WASHINGTON
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today issued the following statement on a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation which found that the Central Intelligence Agency misled the White House and Congress about the brutal interrogation of terrorism suspects:
"A great nation must be prepared to acknowledge its errors. This report details an ugly chapter in American history during which our leaders and the intelligence community dishonored our nation's proud traditions. Of course we must aggressively pursue international terrorists who would do us harm, but we must do so in a way that is consistent with the basic respect for human rights which makes us proud to be Americans.
"The United States must not engage in torture. If we do, in an increasingly brutal world we lose our moral standing to condemn other nations or groups that engage in uncivilized behavior."
LATEST NEWS
As US Ramps Up Attacks in Civilian Areas in Iran, 'Barbaric' Strikes Near Hospital Force Children to Evacuate
Iran's foreign ministry called the attack, which led to the evacuation of pediatric cancer patients, a "war crime."
Jul 16, 2026
A doctor at Shahid Baqaei Hospital in Ahvaz in Iran's southern Khuzestan province emphasized that the children being treated at the facility when the US military attacked the area on Wednesday were suffering serious illnesses, and had to be urgently evacuated while on ventilators and receiving chemotherapy.
"There have been patients with various illnesses, cancer patients and special illnesses, who are fragile," the doctor told Al Jazeera. "People are not here by accident, they have particular illnesses. The blast wave was intense. It was so close we said they had hit the hospital, the upper floors of the hospital."
Hospital director Majid Bouadhar said 211 children had to be urgently taken to nearby facilities after, as Drop Site News reported, "multiple projectiles landed in the immediate surroundings" of the hospital.
The specialized pediatric center "sustained severe shockwaves that shattered windows, triggered intense vibrations, and sparked widespread panic," reported Drop Site.
Iranians are inspecting the damage from days of US strikes on key cities in the country’s south and west. Residents say attacks have damaged ports and at least one hospital. pic.twitter.com/LDOBmbENDd
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 16, 2026
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement that the "barbaric attack" was "reminiscent of Israel’s atrocities against healthcare facilities, [and] caused severe suffering and anxiety upon the hospitalized children."
"This constitutes a cowardly war crime against the most innocent of human beings—children who are bravely fighting for their lives," said Baqaei. "Those who ceaselessly preach human rights, yet deliberately turn a blind eye to the targeting of hospitals and health centers, have forfeited every shred of moral credibility."
Assal Rad of the Arab Center Washington, DC said, "Imagine the coverage in Western media if it was a children’s hospital in Israel."
The strikes came days after President Donald Trump notified Congress that he had ordered "defensive strikes" in Iran, claiming the War Powers Resolution of 1973 gave him the authority to do so. The US strikes were renewed despite a negotiated memorandum of understanding to end hostilities that was agreed to in mid-June.
The president this week also renewed his previous threat to attack civilian infrastructure unless there is a new deal by next week—a war crime under international law—as the Iranian military attacked US military assets in Kuwait and Jordan.
The attack near the hospital was just one sign that the US has already begun striking civilian infrastructure, particularly in port cities and towns across Iran's southern coast.
The war that was started by Israel and the US in late February, which Trump said would last a few weeks, is now in its fifth month as the president aims to take control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian Embassy in Kenya noted that days before the US forced the evacuation of hundreds of children in Ahvaz, Trump said the military was being "very careful with civilians."
The war has killed more than 3,400 people in Iran, including hundreds of children in attacks on schools and other civilian infrastructure.
Al Jazeera reported Thursday that the US also struck the main building of a civilian airport and a storage facility in Semnan, near Tehran. The outlet also reported on US strikes across the southern port city of Bushehr, where Iran's only civilian nuclear plant is located.
"This port is used completely for tourism and commercial business such as for oil," one man said in a video posted by the outlet. "It has nothing to do with the military."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Go Out and Buy a Dell': Trump Touted 20+ Corporations Days After Buying Their Stock
A CNN analysis shows that President Donald Trump used his social media platform to praise companies in which he recently invested.
Jul 16, 2026
US President Donald Trump used his social media platform—which has nearly 13 million followers—to tout more than 20 different corporations without disclosing at the time that he had purchased the companies' stock just days earlier.
That's according to an analysis published Thursday by CNN, which found that "Trump made at least 44 stock purchases of 21 different companies within a week before he posted a complimentary Truth Social message about the firms, their executives, or their products." The list of companies includes Nvidia, GE Aerospace, Eli Lilly, Apple, American Eagle, and Boeing.
One example cited by CNN was Trump's purchase of between $200,000 and $500,000 worth of Nvidia shares days before announcing in an April 15, 2025 Truth Social post that "all necessary permits" for the chip giant to "build AI supercomputers" in the US would be "expedited and quickly delivered."
Last year, according to the president's latest financial disclosure, Trump made more than 21,000 stock trades totaling around $1 billion. Trump has supported legislative efforts to ban members of Congress from trading stock but has voiced opposition to extending the proposed ban to the executive branch.
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, the interim vice president of policy and government affairs at the Project on Government Oversight, told CNN that Trump's stock trades and subsequent complimentary posts about the same companies "represent a case study in presidential conflicts of interest."
“This is why we’ve long said government officials should not be able to trade stock while they’re in office,” said Hedtler-Gaudette. “That definitely applies to the president and the disproportionate power of that office.”
Trump's trades and promotion of companies in which he's invested have continued this year.
On February 10, according to financial disclosures, Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares in Dell. Just over a week later, during a speech in Rome, Georgia, Trump urged Americans to "go out and buy a Dell computer." In late May, Dell scored a five-year Pentagon contract worth nearly $10 billion.
Year to date, Dell's stock price is up roughly 215%.
“This is an ethics disaster,” Dan Greenberg, a senior legal fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, told CNN.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Ralph Nader’s Advice on How to Counter Trump’s Lie-Filled Primetime Speech
"There should be a huge peaceful crowd in front of the White House, watching the speech tomorrow night... and every time he lies, they can roar out, YOU LIED! YOU LIED! YOU LIED!"
Jul 16, 2026
Renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader called for a large demonstration in front of the White House Thursday night to protest President Donald Trump's primetime speech, during which he is expected to rehash his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen amid fears that he is working to sabotage the upcoming midterms.
“There should be a huge peaceful crowd in front of the White House, watching the speech tomorrow night at 9 pm,” Nader wrote in a Wednesday social media post, “and every time he lies, they can roar out, YOU LIED! YOU LIED! YOU LIED!”
Nader added that “there are already ground-level groups in Washington, DC who can turn out 200 to 300 people” each to protest Trump’s speech.
“If you’re listening, ground-level activists,” Nader emphasized, “this is a great opportunity for you at 9 pm, Thursday.”
After former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede, lied incessantly to sow doubt about the results, tried to enlist officials including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Vice President Mike Pence to illegally overturn it, and then incited a violent riot at the US Capitol when those efforts failed.
According to a Tuesday report from NBC News, Trump during his speech is expected to "highlight findings that his administration says show foreign interference in the 2020 election," even though there has never been any proof that actions taken by foreign actors at all affected the outcome.
A Wednesday report from Reuters claimed that the White House was "deciding whether the president's remarks would include the disclosure of sensitive intelligence related to China's intention or ability to interfere in the 2020 US election," as some administration officials "worried the information could be misleading."
Axios reported on Thursday that many TV networks are "in a bind" over whether they want to air Trump's speech.
"The networks face pressure from both sides," Axios reported. "They've spent years trying to avoid amplifying Trump's false claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Yet they also must contend with an FCC that, under chairman and Trump ally Brendan Carr, has opened a series of investigations into broadcast networks.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular