Despite his early support for the Bush administration’s use of Guantánamo Bay prison and the denial of prisoner-of-war status to detainees, Joe Biden voted with a majority of Senate Democrats against the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The law, which passed and was signed by President George W. Bush, provided legal cover for the continued use of military tribunals and detention at Guantánamo Bay. Since then, Biden has publicly opposed the use of Guantánamo Bay prison to house detainees.
With no mention that he originally supported both sending prisoners to Guantánamo and the invasion of Iraq, Biden blasted Bush in 2007, saying that “the president’s policy has provided fodder to Al Qaeda’s propagandists and recruiters, who have broadcast images of the atrocities at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib around the world.” In 2007, as Biden ran for president, he co-sponsored legislation to close the prison. He has suggested that all prisoners officially charged with crimes should be moved to secure federal facilities inside the U.S., including the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, to await trial. Despite this position and campaign pledges to close it, Guantánamo remained open during eight years of the Obama-Biden administration and remains open in Biden’s presidency.
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
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