anchor's special report? sawyer's last special was about women in prison. it only merited one hour. abc's coverage of the state of the union address only lasted 90 minutes. i asked abc for comment and they declined this morning. that's all for this televised edition of "reliable sources," but our "state of the union" starts right now. the white house blinks in the standoff with congress over iran. and is same-sex marriage the gop's achilles heel? this is "state of the union." senators bob corker and ben cardin on what congress wants in the iran nuclear deal. former senator jim webb on whether he will run for president. and the fight to free an american journalist jason rezayan, from prison in iran. good morning from washington. i'm jim sciutto. republicans and democrats in congress have been demanding a say on the details in the iran nuclear deal, and now they are going to get it. the senate is set to pass a bill that gives congress oversight of any final agreement.

president obama, who fought congressional involvement aggressively for months, now says he will support the measure. fact is with a vetoproof majority in the senate he likely had will little choice. joining me the lawmakers that crafted that compromise senate foreign committee relations chair bob corker and senator ben cardin. thanks for taking the time this sunday morning. in his press conference on friday the president, we were listening very closely, at a minimum did not give an explicit commitment to the phased removal of sanctions on iran. and this had been to this point a commitment from the president. he used the language lessened but didn't talk about it being phased in. is the president in your view capitulating to iran on this issue? >> well, jim, it's hard to know. one of the things that people may not know is that four times over the course of the last -- since 2010, congress has put in

sanctions. we put them in place. but with that we gave the president what's called a national security waiver. and so today unilaterally he has the ability to negotiate any deal that he wishes and go straight to the u.n. security council to have it implemented. what senator cardin and myself and so many others have said is we want to understand jim, whether what he just said is the way that it is or not. so before he's able to lift the sanctions that we put in place we passed a piece of legislation out of the committee and hopefully across the floor and to the house, we passed a piece of legislation that allows us first to see all of those details, to stop the president from just lifting those sanctions without us having time to go through them. to give us the opportunity -- >> are you saying that you would stop him from lifting those sanctions if it was not phased in over time? and this is a key issue for our

viewers because the issue here is if they're not phased in then in effect the u.s. loses its leverage with iran to keep them honest on honoring the deal. >> well jim, again, unless we have this piece of legislation that becomes law, there is no ability to do that and there's no ability even for congress to understand what the real arrangement is. as you know at present right now the leadership in iran is telling their citizens one thing. our president and others are telling us another. the only way we will ever know what are the details, understand what is in the classified annexes is for us to pass the pieces of legislation before us, because otherwise we may never know until way after the fact exactly what the agreement is. so look, i think it's very important, yes, that the sanctions be phased so that we see how iran is behaving and whether they're actually living up to the arrangement that we're

building trust but to alleviate those on the front end obviously just gives them immediately more money to conduct terrorist acts throughout the middle east and to continue the hegemony that they've been involved in for the last several years. >> so let me ask you this. your compromise bill passed committee 19-0. our reporting is that it has a vetoproof majority in the broader senate. so assuming that becomes a reality and it passes you then have this oversight, without a firm commitment to one, a phased relief of sanctions but also the other remaining issue here is access to the most sensitive nuclear sites. military sites such as parchin as well as fessing up in effect to past weaponization work past military work on a nuclear weapons program. without those commitments in a final deal will the senate reject the final nuclear agreement? >> well again, jim, we'll see. this first piece that senator cardin and i are working on at

least gives the senate and the house of representatives an ability to have a say, to see the deal in advance, to pause the sanctions lifting until we have the opportunity to do that and to make sure that if there's a deal it's complied with. that's what's before us now. the actual content of an agreement will come before us later, and we'll have the opportunity to discern these things that you're asking right now. all of those things. one of the biggest concerns that people have is that iran today has the ability through covert action to do anything they wish, and there's a lot of questions when you start teasing out the details from secretary kerry and others what are our abilities to on an instance to get into these facilities, to know what's happening? are we going to go back to exactly what happened under saddam hussein where they kept moving the ball where for months and months and months we didn't have the ability to get in? and we're very concerned that that may be where we're going. not to speak of the immediate sanctions relief that you just

mentioned. but none of this will matter unless we pass this piece of legislation that actually allows us to know. again, the public will never see, never see the classified annexes. and i think on their behalf they want someone, they want senator cardin myself our colleagues the 98 others who'll have the opportunity to do this to actually see those details prior to the sanctions being relieved to be able to debate those and certainly to be able to make sure that they comply. so look the first step is a process that puts congress back in place. and again, congress has given that away already. four times since 2010 we have given the president the unilateral ability to put in this in place through the u.n. security council, and now we are saying these details are important. these details concern us. these details could destabilize the middle east could threaten americans. and so now we're saying we want to reinsert ourselves back into this process. and without this legislation

that senator cardin and myself senator menendez senator kaine, so many members of our committee have put in place, without this legislation we will never have that opportunity. >> let me ask but this big picture. you've been involved in this from the beginning. i've been reporting on the negotiations for the last two years. big picture issues beyond the details. in 2012 during his campaign president obama said his demand would be that iran end its nuclear program. in the current agreement they keep all their nuclear sites. they're modified but they keep all the sites, even sites that were secretly manufactured to avoid western knowledge of those sites. those are all going to remain no matter how these final details are worked out in the next couple of months. do you believe that the obama administration wants this agreement more than tehran? and because of that it's giving up too much. >> so look jim, there has been a concern all the way that iran has kept its position and we have continued to move towards it. and i think that's why you saw the overwhelming vote this week

in the foreign relations committee. so look i'm concerned about iraq but i think we can deal with it. i'm concerned about fordo, but i think we can possibly deal with that. i'm concerned about natanz. i think we can deal with that. even though in every one of those cases we said that those were going to be very different than they've ended up per the verbal talking points. again, we don't have anything in writing yet. what concerns all of us i think the most is the covert actions. we've been told that the negotiators on behalf of iran could pass a lie detector test that they never were past military dimensions, and what that means is even the negotiators in iran are unaware of the activities that iran has been dealing with because most of that happens through the irgc. it's a separate entity that has so much to do with the terrorist activities and the nuclear file. so we're concerned that if the negotiators don't even know on behalf of iran all the things

that iran has been doing what are we going to know? with senator cardin myself so many others on the committee, people like lindsey graham john mccain, kelly ayotte people have been pushing for for some time is our ability on behalf of the american to make sure that this is transparent, that we see it that iran is accountable, and that we have the ability to enforce this. >> senator corker i want to turn to domestic politics. the president on friday was his most forthright you might even say angry, when discussing the continuing delays in approving the nomination of loretta lynch, nomination for attorney general. i just want to play a brief clip of the president's sound on friday. have a listen. >> it's gone too far. enough. enough. call loretta lynch for a vote and get her confirmed and put her in place. let her do her job. this is embarrassing. >> we have seen its senate at its most bipartisan this week

with regards to the iran bill. in your view is the president right? is this embarrassing? >> and i'm having difficulty hearing you. you're talking about loretta lynch? >> talking about loretta lynch. we were quoting the president, who called tem barrosing. he demanded congress put her to a vote. what i was going to say is we've seen the senate at its most bipartisan on the iran bill. this is arguably the worst of washington partisanship. do you agree with the president that this is embarrassing it's taken taken so long to get this vote? >> well we have a couple things that are happening on the floor, and i think this is going to be resolved in the early part of this week. there's a human trafficking bill that passed almost unanimously out of committee. i would think every american would want to make sure we're doing everything we can domestically to deal with human trafficking. it's a huge issue here in tennessee and i know it is in every other state across the country. so over a detail, a detail that was found after it passed out of committee, it has been held up.

and so what's happened is that and loretta lynch are being held together. my sense is over the next 48 to 72 hours that is going to be resolved, and we'll move on to this iran issue. there are so many other things. senator alexander passed unanimously out of committee this week an education bill, and we have trade promotion agreements that hatch and ron wyden dealt with. we have a number of things that i think are getting ready to hit the floor. the log jam we are talking about over this nominee likely will be worked out in the beginning part of this week once the human trafficking piece is worked out with it. >> senator bob corker thanks very much for joining us this sunday. >> thank you. i want to turn to senator ben cardin. he's the ranking democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, partnered with senator corker in that iran bill. but senator cardin if i can, just before we get to iran i want to touch on what senator corker ended with there. his belief that the loretta lynch nomination will be resolved in the early part of this week. do you believe the same thing?

is there a commitment from democratic and republican leadership to move this forward? >> well, i agree with president obama. loretta lynch should have been on the floor for a vote well before now. this is the longest any attorney general nominee has had to wait and it's outrageous. she should be confirmed. this is a critically important position to have a confirmed attorney general that the president has nominated. so i think it's outrageous. it should have been done well before now. shouldn't be connected to any other issue. >> senator harry reid has threatened to force a vote using parliamentary procedure. will he have to do that? or do you sense the republican side finally wavering on this and it's going to move forward? >> as you pointed out, jim, we had a good week on bipartisanship with the senate foreign relations committee vote. we are hopeful that the loretta lynch nomination will be brought to the floor. there's been absolutely no reason about her qualifications that would prevent this nomination from going forward. so i am hopeful it will be up this week.

>> let's turn back to iran now. this was interesting. it was good bipartisanship to have the senate's democrats and republicans working on this. but this is something that frankly the president fought for months. he considered it an intrusion into his privilege here to negotiate what he called not a treaty but a political agreement with a foreign country. but we had democrats there, yourself included, voting 19-0 on this out of committee. do you believe you have undermined your president on this issue? >> no, not at all. in fact i think america's stronger today as a result of the vote in the senate foreign relations committee. we're on path to have much more unity between congress and the white house. i think the president is in a stronger position now to deliver the type of diplomatic solution that prevents iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state. that's our objective. a very simple objective. iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. and i think this week we're on a path with a stronger position

because we have a bipartisan support for how congress should oversight that agreement and the administration's in agreement. it's not unusual to have any administration disagree as to what role congress should play in any of the work they are doing, but i think we worked out the right way, the right way for a thoughtful review by congress to look at sanctions, since we imposed the sanctions, as to how those will be handled. >> i've got to tell you, senator, one of the difficulties covering this nuclear agreement is that it seems like the tale of two agreements. after the political agreement a couple weeks ago the iranians talk bay certain agreement back home. u.s. officials talk about another one here. and they seem to be at loggerheads. and on one of those key issues which senator corker talked about and i know you have a strong opinion about as well. and the president has said he has strong opinions about. and that is how sanctions relief is done. is it done immediately? is it done phased in? and the president frankly did not give a straight answer on

that on friday. he seems to be allowing for a lot of wiggle room there. i have to ask you the same question i asked the republican senator, corker will the senate reject a deal that gives immediate sanctions relief as opposed to phased-in sanctions relief on the sanctions that the senate and congress passed in recent years with regard to iran's nuclear program? >> well bob corker and i have worked very closely together to get the legislation that's moving through congress to the president and signed. it is not a vote on the merits of an agreement. we don't know what's in that agreement until we see it in june. what's been agreed to on april 2nd was a framework. we need to see whether we accomplish our purpose, and our purpose is to have ample time before iran can break out to a nuclear weapon, that we have full inspections so we can find out if they're cheating because we don't trust iran and be able to take effective action to prevent iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state. >> let me ask you this before i let you go.

because senator corker there said that over time he has watched the president move closer to iranian positions over the two years of these negotiations that the iranians in effect started here and the president's position has been moving closer including on the basic issue of its program remains. all these nuclear sites remain. modified but none of them dismantled. i wonder if you agree with that assessment. does the obama administration want this deal more than tehran and are they showing that? is tehran taking advantage of that in the negotiations? >> i would disagree with that. look at what's been accomplished over the last many months. we kept not only iran's program in check. there's actually been a reduction of their capacity to be able to produce nuclear materials for a weapon. the framework agreement's been adhered to by iran. many people thought that would not be the case. now we need to make sure that they cannot produce a nuclear weapon and we have the right to inspect to make sure that we know what they're doing. >> senator ben cardin thanks

for having -- taking the time this sunday morning. great to have you on. >> thank you. while the u.s. enters the final stages of these negotiations with iran on a landmark nuclear deal an american journalist remains in iran's most notorious prison on spying charges, which his employer, the warrant"washington post," calls absurd. i'll speak with his brother later this hour. but first form er former senator jim webb. when we come back. learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com. it's more than a network and the cloud. it's reliable uptime. and multi-layered security. it's how you stay connected to each other and to your customers. with centurylink you get advanced technology solutions, including an industry leading broadband network, and cloud and hosting services - all with dedicated responsive support. with centurylink as your trusted technology

partner you're free to focus on growing your business. centurylink. your link to what's next.

bring us your baffling. bring us your audacious. we want your sticky notes, sketchbooks, and scribbles. let's pin 'em to the wall. kick 'em around. kick 'em around, see what happens. because we're in the how-do-i-get-this-startup- off-the-ground business. the taking-your-business- global-business. we're in the problem-solving business. 400,000 people - ready to help you solve problems while they're still called opportunities. from figuring it out to getting it done we're here to help.

hillary clinton is heading to new hampshire after soaking up the spotlight during her first week on the campaign trail in iowa. but the democratic field is not complete and fact is there are members of her own party who are far from ready to crown her the democratic nominee. joining me now is one potential rival for the nomination decorated vietnam veteran, former secretary of the navy and former senator jim webb. senator webb thanks very much for coming on this morning. >> thanks for having me. good to be with you. >> we took note you've been in iowa and south carolina two states that hold very early presidential contests. no accident there. have you decided whether you're going to run for president? >> we're looking at it and looking at it hard. i think the reality obviously -- i've been independent all my political career is how i could work comfortably in the reagan administration and then comfortably serve as a democrat. but we're never going to have this financial leviathan machine that's going to pull in $2.5 billion as some people do. i'm never going to have a political consultant at my side

whispering what i should say or how i should dress or whether i ought to go to walmart or not. but what we do have is long experience on the issues in and out of government strong beliefs about where the country needs to go. and i think the kind of leadership where we can govern and we can pull in people who will have our country and try to develop some strong positions on fairness at home and common sense and foreign policy. >> that sounds to me like an election pitch. >> well, that's what we would be offering. we have a much different perspective. i think when you get the political commentators at a table one of the first things they talk about is can you raise a billion dollars? and i think what the average person in our country is looking at is can you lead? and how do you get to a position where you can connect your views in an environment where billions of dollars are coming in? particularly since citizens united. so that's what we're looking at and those are the evaluations we have to make. >> are you leaning towards running?

>> i had a good visit to iowa. i'll be going back in about a week. as you know it's a state with highly intelligent citizenry when it comes to politics. i have a cousin who lives in cedar rapids who told me he met four presidential candidates one day when he was out watering his yard. it's a good place to see whether the message can get -- >> four times that many on the republican side, so it's conceivable. you talk a lot about leadership, here but in past public statements. does hillary clinton have that leadership quality that you're talking about? >> i think her discussions with the voters people are going to decide -- you know they're looking really hard at everyone. we've got a lost incumbent fatigue in the country and i think people are looking for fresh approaches. in terms of how to solve the problems of the country. >> i wouldn't make that >> i don't believe she has that leadership? >> i wouldn't make that judgment. i think that's what the process is all about. >> would you support hillary clinton if she does win the nomination?

>> you know i'm focusing on what we will be trying to do here. i think secretary clinton has plenty of opportunity to sit here and give you her thoughts. by the way, before we get too far away from the moment here, i would like to give you a reaction to the interview you had with senator corker. >> this is on the iran deal. and just to summarize for our viewers, corker and cardin democrats, successfully passed a compromise bill giving congressional oversight. senator cardin said we don't trust iran. senator corker said he believes that the obama administration has given up too much although he hasn't seen the final details. do you agree with that assessment? >> when we look at the iran situation -- first, i worked with bob corker on a lot of issues when i was on the foreign relations committee. particularly during the arab spring when the administration was going into libya without coming to the congress. there are three things we need to look at with respect to the iran deal. the first is i do not believe that you can have a legally

binding international commitment without the full consent of the congress. not the oversight that they are offering in this bill although i would say i think he's made quite an accomplishment by getting this bill through the committee in the form it is -- >> you think it needs approval as if it were a treaty. >> specific approval. i said this when the bush administration was putting together the strategic framework agreement together in iraq in '08. i said it when president obama said he was going to have a binding legal arrangement with respect to climate change. you cannot do that without the specific consent of the congress. and secondly with respect to iran itself we need to look at this region. as you know there are three major power centers in the region. israel saudi arabia and iran. and since our invasion of iraq iran has gained a much stronger foothold in terms of that balance of power. so we don't want to be sending signals into this region that we are acquiescing to the situation where iran might become more

dominant. and thirdly, as they said over and over again in your interview, we don't know what is in this. the particulars. so it's vitally important that the congress come forward and examine this agreement in detail and get a vote. >> to be fair we don't know the final details, but we know a fair amount about this agreement. we know in the most basic terms that all the nuclear sites are going to remain. there are going to be modifications, fewer century fooujz. the military site the secret military site will no longer be spinning uranium but it will keep those centrifuges. these if we look back a couple of years are pretty significant concessions on the part of the obama administration. when you look at the basic outline of this agreement, is it a good deal? >> well again, we know our interpretation of the outline of the agreement -- >> well that's another problem. >> iran has given its interpretation which is another reason why we need to really scrub this whole idea. and the other thing that i keep coming back to is when he with go back to the time i was in the pentagon in the 1980s and we were talking about the salt agreements and the reduction of nuclear arms with the soviet

union, both sides had nuclear weapons and we were talking about a reduction. and the end result of this could be our acquiescence in allowing iran to develop a nuclear weapon. we don't want that. i don't think the iranians really want that because if they look in this region they're going to see that you're going to have proliferation. >> i want to move across the border from iran to iraq. this was not a good week in the fight against isis. you have isis nearly taking over ramadi the largest city in western iraq sunni-dominated western iraq. assaulting the baiji refinery. this is a key piece of infrastructure there. and carrying out or claiming to carry out an attack on the coastal u.s. consulate in erbil, which we know is one of the most secure places in iraq. is the u.s. losing the war against ice snis. >> first, as you know my son fought in ramadi as a marine and enlisted rifleman. i was in afghanistan as an embed journalist in '04. >> a lot of americans died in ramadi. 75 any two-month period. >> my son was there '06-07 was

a lot of very heavy fighting. we have to look at the conflicts in iraq and elsewhere in the region through the sunni-shia eye as well as simply the american perspective eye. and we need to get the countries on the ground over there to step up and help sort this out. i wouldn't say the united states is losing over there, but you are seeing a continuation from the sectarian violence that began when we invaded and then from the arab spring which threw everything up in the air again. >> is the coalition losing? doesn't sound like they're winning based on that. >> i think clearly what you're seeing is the greater influence of iran. even if you look at what we call the iraqi military, the dominance of the shia in the iraqi military and of the other groups fighting alongside it in places like tikrit, which is another reason why we don't want to spend the wrong message into the region with the strategic

framework agreement we're looking at. >> senator webb when you make your decision on 2016 will you come back here and tell us yea or nay? >> you will know. >> thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. hillary clinton rolls out her presidential campaign in iowa while republican white house hopefuls slam her in new hampshire. our political panel on what this tells us about the race for 2016. right after this. the pursuit of healthier. it begins from the second we're born. after all, healthier doesn't happen all by itself. it needs to be earned... every day... using wellness to keep away illness... and believing that a single life can be made better by millions of others. healthier takes somebody who can power modern health care... by connecting every single part of it. for as the world keeps on searching for healthier... we're here to make healthier happen. optum. healthier is here. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer...

and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more. my tempur-pedic made me fall in love with mornings again. i love how it conforms to my body. with tempur-pedic the whole bed is comfortable. it's the best thing we ever did for ourselves. it's helping to keep us young. (vo) visit your local retailer and feel the tempur-pedic difference for yourself. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ... stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara®... ...your doctor should test for tuberculosis.

stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection, have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems- these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. in a medical study most stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin... ...and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® helps keep my skin clearer. ask your doctor about stelara®.

as i was coming up, i was a little startled because i could have sworn i saw hillary's scooby doo van outside. >> i'm starting to worry that when hillary clinton travels there's going to need to be two planes one for her and her entourage and one for her baggage. >> like hillary clinton i too have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. but unlike mrs. clinton, i know that flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. >> the reason she can't be here today is because she can ask questions. just listening to her is something out of north korea. would you like to meet the dear leader and ask him anything you would like? >> it was game on in new hampshire this weekend with nearly all of the republican presidential hopefuls courting voters in that state that will hold the first primary of 2016. joining me now, peter baker chief white house correspondent for the "new york times" and cnn political reporter sarah murray who just joined us this week. great to have you on board. >> happy to be here.

>> so we see the republican candidates. are they trying out their lines for 2016? is this sort of a testing theater for the best anti-hillary line? >> oh i definitely think this is where they start trying out their lines. especially with so many of them together too they can kind of judge up the competition, see who has the best zingers for the moment. >> is there a risk here peter though, that you make it all about hillary? you've got 16 potential candidates there. they have to find a way to burst through the fact as well. >> they're all going to agree on the hillary thing. that's not the complicated thing. it gets complicated when they start to differ awith each other. and where do they actually differ? where does the republican party fit when it comes to the political environment on foreign policy on domestic policy? what are they going to do on health care? what are they going to do on iran? that's when you start to see the rubber hit the road and we haven't gotten there yet. >> and it's early. new hampshire on the bush issue in particular because there's a disagreement even within that family. jeb bush asked about how he plans to deal with concerns about the family dynasty. he said he'd have to work hard

to shake that. but his own brother joshlg w. said he's going to be running against him or his legacy. that's a fact isn't it? >> i definitely think that's true. you see jeb bush trying to say look my brother's foreign policy is not my foreign policy my family's foreign policy is not my foreign policy. it is hard to get away from that. he is going to have to answer for the decisions that his family made whether he thinks that's fair or not. and i think the other thing that's notable is when you see what jeb bush did, the coverage of what jeb bush did in new hampshire you're not reading about his zingers against hillary, you're reading about him having to answer for the rest of his family and that puts him in a tough position. >> what's his answer to that question peter? >> his answer is i'm my own man. and he is obviously. he's not the same as his brother. i think it's important to remember that. but when he has a foreign policy team that includes a lot of sfrernts his brother's administration he invites questions about that. when he has his father's secretary of state and his father's secretary of state james baker makes comments publicly on israel or iran jeb bush has to answer for that. it's a complicated edd position for him to be in and one none of the other republican candidates has to deal with in the same way.

>> and i do think that's an excellent point, when you're surrounded by the same adviser your brother had it gets a bit more difficult to say there's a lot of daylight ten us and our policies. >> the other dynasty candidate is hillary clinton of course. not a brother but a husband in office. rate her first week. >> i think actually hillary clinton's first week went pretty well. i think when you are seeing these candidates make fun of her for going to chipotle that's a sign she didn't have any major mishaps on the campaign trail dp that's their biggest ammunition at this point. >> you hear carly fiorina there on the miles traveled argument here. and this is going to be a substantial one. what are her accomplishments as secretary of state? what's the answer to that question? >> it's a good line, actually. and one i think you'll hear more from the republicans because in fact a lot of times she talks about her time novice it is about process rather than results because the results are sort of muddied at best. obviously, things aren't great with russia right now. obviously, this iran deal is complicated and may or may not be something she wants to brag about or have any association with. the trade deal that the

president is negotiating she started in some way as a secretary of state, complicated inside her party where many liberals and progressives and unions aren't that happy with it. so it is in fact a large range. obviously come back to lybia and benghazi. obviously she wants to talk about a broader sense of we restored our place in the world after the disastrous bush administration. that's her line. the question is whether she can get away with that without having to sort of detail more concrete accomplishments. >> peter, stay with us. we're going to come back right after this break. when we come back will same-sex marriage be the flash-point of the republican presidential race? (dog) mmm, beneful healthy weight is so good... and low-calorie. keeps me looking good. hey, i get some looks, i hear the whistles. (vo) beneful healthy weight, a delicious, low-calorie meal your dog will love. with wholesome rice, real chicken, and accents of vegetables and apples. ♪ ♪ the beautiful sound of customers

making the most of their united flight. power, wi-fi and streaming entertainment. that's... seize the journey friendly.

man: you run a business. could be any kind of business. and every day you've got important decisions to make, like hiring. where are you gonna find those essential people you need? with ziprecruiter, it's simple. we post your job to over 100 job boards with just a single click, so you can reach millions of qualified candidates. then we'll give you the tools to help you manage, screen and rank your applicants all so you can find the right one. try zip recruiter for free today.

and we're back with peter baker and sarah murray. sarah, one question that seems to have gotten all the republican white house hopefuls is same-sex marriage. in particular would you go to a wedding or a same-sex marriage event? you were able to ask the ohio governor john kasich about this in south carolina. let's listen to his answer. >> i don't go to a lot of weddings. i go to weddings of people that i'm close to. and in fact i have a friend who's gay who asked me if i would go to his wedding. and i said, let me think about it. and i went home. and i said to my wife you know my friend's getting married, what do you i? do you want to go? she goes oh i'm absolutely going. i called him today and said hey, just let me know what time it is. >> so governor kasich's going to

go. we saw scott walker wisconsin governor said he would go to a reception. marco rubio said he would go. how are they threading this needle here? >> i think this is a good sign of who governor kasich is as he's running but also some of these other republicans saying look i can have my positions and i don't have to go around pushing them on other people necessarily, i can still respect my friends and love my friends and support my friends even though they know how i feel on this issue. and i think that governor kasich marco rubio and i would probably put jeb bush in this camp too, fall in this group of republicans who are hoping the court will just take care of this for them this summer and they won't have to deal with it. >> is that a consistent position to say, well i'm uncomfortable with it but i would go myself? how do they balance that for voters who -- they're a minority but there are voters who don't respect the issue of gay marriage. >> it's a great question. it reminds me of what republican candidates used to get tripped up on when they were asked what would you do if your daughter or your granddaughter had an abortion? and some of them would say well i would support them of course i love my daughter, i love my granddaughter and suddenly they were caught in

this trap between the personal and the policy. and i think now this question's been out there. it's going to be the question all of them are going to have to find an answer to and see if they can distinguish themselves. senator santorum said he would not go to a same-sex wedding, he would be consistent with his policy preferences and we'll see how the others answer. >> are they out of step with the 2016 presidential electorate? >> they definitely are out of step with what the majority of americans feel. i think the majority of americans are over this and i think they say look this is my personal belief i personally believe it's wrong. i think it will be interesting to see how they thread the needle on the campaign. obviously, rick santorum has taken a harder stance than the rest of them. if they go out there and say this is how i personally feel about this and then the court decides it for them they might just say, hey, well the court made a decision same-sex marriage is legal, let's not talk about it anymore. >> 18 months to go. is this going to be a major issue november 2016 or do you think it will be settled by then and -- >> well are we going to see the court decision in june, and that may change things. i do think it will be something you can hear democrats using against a republican nominee if they seem to take too strong a

position against it for a general election audience. and you remember mitt romney he came out against same-sex marriage in the 2012 campaign and that was the last you heard him talk about it. it was not an issue he ran on because he did see there was a political down side to it. >> is the iran deal week, hearing about that now-s that going to be an issue getting closer to that day? of course a lot depends on what happens in the next two months but does that remain in the political consciousness? >> i absolutely think you'll hear candidates talk about this wp one of the things they talked about a lot in new hampshire was failures of president obama's foreign policy. this gives them a real anchor to go at the president and also to go at hillary clinton over this issue. >> does obama -- do they run against the obama foreign policy peter? >> republicans. >> yeah. >> certainly they do. the question is whether hillary clinton does. and that's the harder trick for her because obviously she o'has ownership over certainly the first term of it anyway even areas where she disagreed with him on syria and to some extent russia. she's going to have a harder time making the case to the

audience that i didn't agree with all the things the president did and i would have done things differently if i were president and republicans are going to jump all over that for obvious reasons. >> the russia reset button from 2009 -- >> you're going to see that a lot in the next 18 months. >> thanks very much. sarah murray welcome to cnn. peter baker, great to have you on. >> thanks jim. an american journalist arrested in iran last summer awaits trial now after being charged as a spy. his brother talks about the fight to free him when we come back. it's more than the cloud. it's security - and flexibility. it's where great ideas and vital data are stored. with centurylink you get advanced technology solutions from a trusted it partner. including cloud and hosting services - all backed by an industry leading broadband network and people committed to helping you grow your business. you get a company that's more than just the sum of it's parts. centurylink. your link to what's next. i am totally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night,

and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24. learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com.

big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. people ship all kinds of things. but what if that thing is a few hundred thousand doses of flu vaccine. that need to be kept at 41 degrees. while being shipped to a country where it's 90 degrees. in the shade. sound hard? yeah. does that mean people in laos shouldn't get their vaccine? we didn't think so. from figuring it out to getting it done, we're here to help.

"washington post" reporter jason rezaian has been in prison in iran since his arrest last summer. this past week he was charged with spying. although u.s. officials have condemned his imprisonment rezaian, a dual citizen, is subject to iranian law. as jason rezaian awaits trial his brother ali is fighting for his freedom. >> ali rezaian, thanks very much for joining us. before we get to your brother's case, i want to play a portion of a conversation that he and his wife had on anthony bourdain "parts unknown." this is just six weeks before he was imprisoned. they talked about their life in iran. >> as print journalists our job's difficult but it's also kind of easy because there's so much to write about. you know the difficult part is

convincing people on the other side of the world that what we're telling you we're seeing in front of our eyes is actually there. when you walk down the street you see a different side of things. people are proud. the culture is vibrant. people have a lot to say. >> jason rezaian is the "washington post" correspondent for iran. yageneh, his wife and a fellow journalist works for the uae-based newspaper "the national." jason is iranian-american. yaganeh is a full iranian citizen. this is their city tehran. >> of course now he's nowhere resembling home. he's in a prison iran's most notorious prison reserved for political prisoners, the worst criminals. what's the last contact you and your family have had with him, and what's your sense of his condition now? >> so last time i spoke to him was actually in july before he was taken. his wife was able to speak to him this week. they had a short conversation on the phone. i think right now he's

preparing. it's been such a long time with no information. we're expecting we might get some more information about the trial and the charges coming up. and i think it's really tough on him. >> physically he's having a lot of problems. >> you know he's had a lot of problems. he's had issues with his back issues with several infections that went untreated for months. in addition to that he's really depressed. he's been there for nine months. he knows it's twice as long as any previous western journalist. >> part of the torture -- and i've spoken to other prisoners there -- is the psychological torture of just not knowing how long you're going to be there or what even the legal process is. >> yeah. they'll set up a deadline, say this is going to happen, and then it doesn't happen. or there will be something in their laws that says within a week or within two months something should happen there should be a trial or a trial date should be set, and then that day just goes by. he knows what those are. he knows when they're supposed to happen. and it's just torture on him every single day. >> he's now going to be charged with spying. charges which you and the u.s.

government say are spurious at best. what's the basis of the charges? >> well, you know we really don't know yet. there was this article in an iranian newspaper which is claiming that he introduced some people nine years ago to each other. and you know communicated with them. that's about it. >> introduced -- we're talking about -- we're not talking about he introduced spies. we're talking about well-known iran analysts right? >> yeah. people here in the united states who have moved from iran. whether they're at think tanks or they're journalists. those kinds of things. and you know, there's no evidence they had any access to secret material anything like that. >> what do u.s. officials tell you about his case? do they keep in regular contact? do they make promises? do they give you hope in do they say we're fighting? how do they handle you when you ask what's happening with my brother? >> because of the diplomatic contact that's going on it's been much more frequent in the last say, three months four months. so what we hear from the state department is you know we've been able to communicate with

them there's a judicial process in iran it needs to go through. we try and remind them that there are laws over there and have them remind the iranians that they're just not following their own laws. >> i had the pleasure of meeting your brother in iran in 2009 covering the election protests. i even interviewed him at the time. and i've asked iranian officials about his case. and that's the answer that they will come back with saying that we have a judicial process, we have to follow the judicial process. but the fact is this is very much about politics. one of the reads here is that the hard-liners in iran are punishing or embarrassing the more moderate factions. do you feel that you and your family and your brother have been caught up not just between u.s. and iran but within iran a political conflict inside iran? >> you can't help but think that. i mean you know the uniqueness of the case the fact that it's gone on for so long it's so different than any other cases without any evidence against him, to hold him for nine months without a trial. there's got to be other things going on. but things he doesn't control.

it's just completely completely absurd. >> your brother, as you know co-wrote and was featured in a documentary about his second visit to iran to reconnect with his father's homeland. that's had i background that's his background. let's look at that documentary. >> the ride back to tehran. >> this is part of your brother's story, your family's story. your father from iran. this is part of your heritage. this is one of your home countries, right? do you feel conflicted emotions about that? >> you know i think we were growing up really influenced by the iranian culture. there were so many relatives

around. and it's difficult for me as half iranian to look at it and see what's happening. >> do you feel betrayed? >> i haven't put my trust in the country as much as jason did. jason certainly feels betrayed by the country, by the legal system there, which he believed should protect him with the rights of an iranian citizen. which is what we've asked for all along. >> how's your mother doing in all this? >> you know i don't know how she holds up. she lives overseas by herself since my father passed. >> in istanbul. >> yes, in istanbul. she wants some clarity too. she's waiting to hear when the trial will be and at that point i think she's going to want to go to iran to be there with him. >> an anniversary, should have been the second wedding anniversary of jason and his wife. difficult for his wife as well. >> oh absolutely. they petitioned the judge to have a special call or to be able to see each other on their anniversary. and it was denied.

so you know things like that keep on coming by. his birthday. my son's birthday. things he's missed for the last nine months. he spent almost half of his marriage in jail. >> ali rezaian, thanks very much. we wish you and your family the best and your brother the best. >> thank you very much. >> and we'll be right back. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ... stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara®... ...your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have

any sign of infection, have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems- these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. in a medical study most stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin... ...and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® helps keep my skin clearer. ask your doctor about stelara®. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue.

log on to learn more. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] he doesn't need your help. until he does. three cylinders, dual overhead cams and 50 horsepower. go bold. go powerful. go gator. get 2,500 dollars off select gators at a dealer near you.

thank you for watching "state of the union" this sunday. i'm jim sciutto in washington. and fareed zakaria "gps" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is "gps," the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria. we'll start the show with two former united states treasury secretaries, one from each side of the aisle. larry summers on the left and hank paulson from the right. on the u.s. economy growth is back but there's a problem and it gets wider every year. on china, is it a friend