tv News Nation MSNBC May 30, 2012 11:00am-12:00pm PDT
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news nation is following decision 2012 and president obama's call to mitt romney a short time ago. team obama says the president called governor romney to congratulate him on securing the republican nomination and said he looked forward to an important and healthy debate. meanwhile, romney heads to california where a high priced fundraiser with billionaire ceo meg whitman tonight and comes as a politico report shows republican super pacs and outside groups planned to spend about a billion dollars to win the white house and control of congress. this is in addition to the 800 plus million the romney campaign and rnc plan to raise together. a lot of big numbers there. donald trump, he is at it again as if he ever stopped. after the fundraiser with romney trump tweeted just a couple of hours ago i want to see barack obama's college records to see how he listed his place of birth in the application. it is a busy day and bizarre. let's bring in the political
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panel for wednesday, ann from the "washington post" and susan and republican strategist and susan, i will start with you. thank you so much. we were talking in the break about this campaign cash. i want to hit on that for a second. a billion dollars from the coke brothers, carl rove, the super pacs, that is an astannishing amount of money. >> it is an astonishing amount of money and after everyone thought the president would raise about a billion dollars, so it is a lot of money on both sides and a lot of money not controlled by the campaigns. >> the super pac money. >> the super pac money which can be problematic for both sides if they start having donors who say i think this is the better way to go and spend 5 or $10 million on an ad campaign they don't like. >> let me bring in the campaign numbers we're showing, 400 million from the coke brothers, 300 million to restore our future, 100 million, staggering and we have seen in the primary the influence these -- i don't know if you call them a handful
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of billionaires. how many does it take to fill a hand. nonetheless, some very powerful people, ann, who are in many ways right now directing the ads that those who are tuned in are seeing. >> well, that's right. this is why you see democrats in the white house so worried. not that they're going to have any shortage of donations but not in quite the same format, certainly not to super pac. it is really uncharted territory. this is the result of supreme court decision. no one quite knew where it would lead and here it is. every four years we seem to see things change a little bit and we sometimes see congress place regulations on it and for now it is the norm. i think you are seeing both parties really adjust to that. it is really democrats in particular. >> let me talk about this fundraiser tonight with governor romney mentioned the president rang him congratulating him on securing the nomination. he is with meg whitman. we say the second controversial supporter that he will be seen alongside, obviously the donald
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trump controversy and a whole other what we in the south call a hot mess category. this is different. you have this powerful ceo and a business background, romney's former employee and has this hewlett-packard dilemma, 25,000 people being laid off there while romney says he wants to talk about the economy. >> well, look, she inherited a tough job when she went to hp. >> the counter is that president obama says he inherited a tough job, too. we know only to a point does that argument ever sail. >> absolutely true, but, look, you heard from mitt romney he is not going to be in the business of endorsing people who endorse him or vetting the people who are endorsing him. obviously meg whitman and donald trump are in completely different categories, but this is the dilemma when he appears with so many people and obviously we'll be scrutinizing both sides. i think we have seen the white house and the obama campaign be more cautious who they put him up on stage with at this point.
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it will be interesting now that romney has the nomination and it is official and game on for the general whether they continue to take risks along the lines. it is important for their fundraising. >> let me read this quote from one of the berkeley institute for research and labor employment economists with that university. it says democrats should be hitting this hard meaning this appearance with meg whitman. basically saying that running the country and running a company are not the same thing and these two individuals meaning governor romney and meg whitman have run companies not always with success and that doesn't again what the president says equate the job of the president of this country, whom ever it is. >> the fact is that raising money has to be done by both sides. president obama found himself in a very difficult situation just a couple of weeks ago when he was trashing private equity and then raised money from the largest private equity fund in the country. so both sides of the aisle have these problems. >> the obama campaign says that he is not trashing private
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equity, he has separated what happened with bain capital and the role that mitt romney played as the head of that company, at least that's their counter that the republicans will say this is one umbrella all private equity is back, that is not what the administration is saying. >> with both of these cases it is about the optics, and that's really what matters. it is the news story. it is the optics. at the end of the day once we move past this story there is going to be another one. i don't think it will matter unless there is too many on either side. >> absolutely, which moves me to the next situation, this event last night with donald trump. we had not heard from him on twitter all morning long. then a couple of hours ago he sent out this tweet saying he wants to see that the president put on his school records. if optics matter, what does that say and that it keeps going, that even after -- and i have to be honest with you, ann e, when we have not seen a tweet or interview from donald trump, we thought maybe they muzzled him, the kabosh, got the big event, basque in the glory, and then we wake up this morning and he has
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tweeted again, susan. >> they had the celebrity apprentice finale last week and i guess he is off the air and needs something else to get national attention with. he is out there on his own doing this. >> if optics matter what does this say in the end about mitt romney that 24 hours after trump got his event, got this shot, look at him walking in front of the trump plane, he got it all, the chips are cashed in and, he wakes up this morning and back at it with the birth certificate. what does that say about romney? >> romney has said he believes there is no issue with the president and where he is born. there are only so many times he can do it. >> if you you say optics matter, after bashing, what does it say in this situation. >> this isn't a good situation for mitt romney. i am sure he would prefer not to be in it and i am sure his campaign would prefer not to be in it as well. that's part of it. you have to take the good with the bad.
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>> if that's true and he would prefer not be to with donald trump and he did it anyway and this man wants to be the leader of this country, to me that falls right into the hands of what the democrats are saying that you need to show leadership if you can't say no to donald trump and if susan is right, he doesn't want to be there, what -- >> he didn't do it yesterday at the event. i am saying that when donald trump does go forward on his own is not in the -- >> you said romney didn't want to be there. >> i am sure he doesn't want to be caught up in the controversy. >> if he wants to be the president of the united states and doesn't want to be caught in this game if that's what it is with donald trump, then pull the chips off the table. >> there is nothing to pull off the table at this point. he simply is saying, yes, he had a fundraiser with him. yes, it is public. he doesn't want the news cycle to be dedicated to donald trump. he would much rather be talking about the economy. >> the easy counter to that is if you don't want that to be the news cycle, don't appear with
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donald trump. >> yeah, it seems like this has not gone away and probably won't. >> don't you have enough clout to tell donald trump to zip it. >> makes you wonder what was said behind closed doors. you have to imagine what he would have said in whatever private moments they had, layoff for now and let's talk about the economy. either he said that and it didn't resonate or he didn't say it. i think there is still the possibility we're going to see romney distance himself from trump before this is all over. >> it is a possibility right now. that's not the reality. let me switch to bain. as governor romney tried to pivot back to issues he thinks are important, he has brought up the bain capital versus sil lin dra. let me play what joe scarborough said whether or not he thinks voters care about the silindra scandal.
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>> americans don't care any more than they care about what mitt romney did 87 years ago at bain capital. they care about getting back to work. >> what we do no is that for both president obama and governor romney bain and solyndra what they plan at least for the next few weeks focus on. >> >> absolutely. they both have the attack ads and you can question the facts on either side but this is what they believe is going to work best. the obama folks are trying to get romney in a difficult position and they're not happy with his business credentials and they poll too well and the same goes for romney. he is trying to portray the president as being weak on the economy. >> do you think joe has a point that no one cares or maybe just perhaps people at his circle don't care about it? >> i think people care about a variety of things. obviously the economy trumps everything else. at the margins and when people are thinking about who they're talking about as people because of course like ability and whether you can trust a candidate matters, these are the
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issues, what kind of president has obama been. what kind of leader has romney been in the past and you're seeing the obama campaign say 24e will talk yes, siringly about romney's record as dwof inner so it will be a multi-pronged attack for the next six months. >> thank you very much. we want to see you again. greatly appreciate you joining news nation. we're following developing news. what is the next mover for the white house as more execution style deaths are reported in syria. we're expected to hear from jay carney. he is holding his briefing now. we'll have news after the break. 90 days until the gop convention. the boston globe notes that governor romney is on track to become the first mormon nominee from a major party, something neither his father or or an hatch could ever do. we'll tell you what politico has uncovered here, the conversation behind it, and can of course you
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can join our conversation. my twitter page is @tamronhall. sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering so, i'm walking down the street, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering and i found myself in the middle of this parade honoring america's troops. which is actually quite fitting because geico has been serving the military for over 75 years. aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. right, but i don't look like that. who can i write a letter to about this? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.
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developing news out of syria right now. reuters is reporting syrian rebels are giving president a shad 48 hours to abide by the peace plan or face consequences. this came just a short time ago off the u.n. security council met behind closed doors in new york where they were briefed by kofi annan who said the uprising is unlikely to stop without negotiations between the government and the rebels. u.s. ambassador to the united nations told andrea mitchell in the last hour why the u.s. is reluctant to use military force to reach a solution here. >> the best way to resolve this
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if at all possible is not through intensifying the mill tarization or providing further arms into what is already a hot conflict. for this to become a proxy war with countries all over the region and beyond funneling weapons in there is basically conceding a massive fire burning in that region. >> in the meantime syrian activists say they found the bodies of 13 people shot to death execution style, that they were army defectors and joining me is general barry mccafferty and joe ruben and bobbie goech. bobby, i will start with you. ambassador rice went on to say part of the problem with the notion that you would arm the rebels in syria is that unlike libya, they're not quite clear who the rebels are and even with libya they were not given arms to fight against the regime there. >> we may not be very clear who these people are but we have
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allies who know them well, the turks and very close contact with the rebels and have a decent idea who the good guys are and who the bad guys are and we need to be able to trust them and the libya situation doesn't really work here because nobody at this point is suggesting that nato should be flaing over the syrian skies and landing bombs on asad's tanks. >> they're suggesting they should be armed which is a part of, for example, governor romney's criticism of the president and the administration's decision here. >> i think that ship has already left port. they are already being armed. they're being armed as i said by the turks, the saudis, and so on and the question is whether the u.s. is going to get involved in that process or whether it is going to allow the allies with the wink and nod to continue to do that. the rebels have already shown they have access to weapons and they are beginning to use them. there are some elements within that are taking advantage of this confusion and allowing al qaeda to come in and conduct the
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suicide bombing operations. if the u.s. does not have a seat at the table, then it has no control over the situation. >> joel, let me bring you in. i will read part of the headline from the "new york times" regarding this. it says ahud praised the country tries for ousting diplomats but was not sufficient. the massacre in hula compelled the word to take action, not just talk, but action. we're hearing a lot of that. there is no clear line leading to what action is appropriate or that would do the most good at this point which is obviously saving lives. that is the ultimate good here. >> that's right. thank you, tamron. the ultimate good is saving lives. the approach the administration is taking which is racheting up the pressure, working with the allies in the region, working to bring the u.n. along, russia and china as well, who have key leverage inside of assad's
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regime, this is the best approach and an approach that will take time and as bobby just mentioned, there are weapons flowing to the rebel groups and it is unclear who they are and how they're operating, so we needs to make sure that any steps we take going forward helps to squeeze the assad regime and build international pressure and isolation against them and force a change there inside of damascus but military action by the u.s. is very undesirable and frankly not at all clear how it could be effective. >> general mckafry, a little dust up after the joint chiefs of staff martin dempsey was on air and said it may come to a point referring to military intervention and the administration came out and said, whoa, we're not at that point. nevertheless, we know that this is always, it seems, in these situations where the road leads for some. >> no question. i assume the administration found the comments helpful because in the background you
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have to remind yourself damascus is barely more than 50 miles in the mediterranean and the u.s. naval carrier battle group, so the military option is there. i would assume in six months or less with a modest application of air power, special ops, covert action, we could probably accelerate bringing this murder down. the real questions, however, are political, what would become of it. by the way, what are we going to tell the american people since there is clearly no vital national security interest at stake with an unknown outcome, so the administration i think is probably doing all they can to rachet it up and unilateral military intervention, perhaps with the turks taking part and ill-advised at this point. >> you take issue with some of the what the general just said. >> not really. i think i agree with his basic point which is military intervention is not an option at
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this point. i think it is probably not an option at any point for the united states but we're not without friends here. we have friends in the region. turkey has a big role to play. the arab league has a big role to play and it is not simply about applying pressure on assad. there is other places to apply pressure, to russia, and he will speak to them and he will tell them what washington wants to hear you can't keep backing this guy. you have to cut him loose. the stakes are high. the u.s. can't afford to sit back and say, well, military option isn't in the cards and therefore there is nothing else we can do and we're going to outsource this to the u.n. there are many other things that can be done. >> joel, the stakes are high but the complexity, you cannot even describe adequately to most people. i want to read this tweet of all things that went out a short time ago. russia's ministry of foreign affairs says given international
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efforts towards a settlement in syria, some western countries decision to expel syrian ambassadors is counter productive. we know the importance of russia in all of this, but we cannot yet again look at a country and look at it in terms of do we intervene with the military or don't we? the complexities of syria again are beyond what i believe most people could ever understand there. >> this goes to the point of diplomatic sensitivities. russia is a key player in ensuring that assad will go and up the slaughter, so we need to reign in russia and work with them to get that accomplish and had clearly they're sensitive to past military intervention on libya which was the right call but nonetheless raised russian concerns. the administration isn't standing by idly. they're continually meeting with the regional neighbors and supporting the outside activities of the friends of syria, and they are designing ways for diplomatic program that actually facilitates not only
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assad's departure but the day after. we have to remember there will be a day after if asad goes and we need to make sure the country does not implode into a further fall apart civil war. that's key. >> i want to read mitt romney was on fox today and said the world looks to america to lead. we have been sitting on the back burner hoping something would happen to make it attractive to the world. what's happening in syria is unacceptable. i think they will continue a posture of leading from behind. does that help at all the situation when you hear not just a presidential candidate certainly but anyone at this point in leadership describing the situation in those terms? >> clearly it is a time for restrained voices. look, at the end of the day the key to this whole issue isn't iran or russia or china. it is assad and 12% of the population fighting for their survival and wondering what will happen to them if they lose power. it is going to get played out inside syria in a very ugly
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manner. we should be supportive. we should not take unilateral action mill taerl or otherwise. >> thank you very much. thank you, joel, bobby, always a pleasure to have you with us. coming up, new details in the bizarre story out of miami. police say they believe the man behind a gruesome and horrific attack on another man was high on the drug known as bath salts. plus -- >> when mitt romney says -- >> planned parenthood, we'll get rid of that. >> romney is saying he will deny women the birth control and cancer screening they depend on. >> planned parenthood is out with a $1 million ad buy. they're against romney in key states and a mystery note from a juror in the john edwards trial prompts another closed door meeting, this just coming down in the last hour. we'll have more details for you. first, in today's money minute here is a look at wall street. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,
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former liberian president charles taylor has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for war crimes. the 65-year-old is the first former head of state to be convicted by an international war crimes court since world war ii. he was convicted for supporting rebels in sierra leone during the civil war in exchange for blood diamonds. more than 50,000 people were killed during the ten-year war in the 90s. coming up, is president obama trying to strike a balance when it comes to so-called negative campaigning? >> we have an obligation to ensure that what mitt romney says, he's held accountable for. >> details on a new report about what's going on behind the scenes in the obama campaign and the white house says the president misspoke when he talked about poland during the medal of freedom ceremony yesterday. we'll tell you what he said and the correction that's been made today. i'm freaking out man.
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welcome back. we begin this half hour with concerns raised by some democrats that president obama is going too negative too early with attacks on mitt romney. politico cites several top democrats in an article today saying the president may be damaging his, quote, hope and change persona. here is what stephanie cutter had to say on the daily rundown. >> this is a presidential race. they're about cloiss. we have an obligation to ensure what mitt romney says he is held accountable for. >> joining me, jimmy williams. were you one of these democrats saying the -- they weren't named. they were all sources saying this. i am curious if you were one of the ones who believe that the president is going too negative too early. >> tamron, have you ever know me to not take credit for what i have said? >> true indeed. what do you think of the democrats who have gone on in this article, not necessarily being identified by name who believe this is the case?
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>> it is a double edged sword and i can understand where some people would be concerned about it, but i am reminded, and i have not forgotten 2004 when john kerry, senator john kerry did not respond to what was said about him by the bush/cheney reelect and for all intents and purposes took a vietnam veteran, a war hero and smatherred his name through the dirt and he didn't respond. he chose to take the high road. by the way, there is another vietnam veteran, another war hero, john mccain, who also didn't take the low road if you will, took the high road, and by many accounts on the gop side people will say if mccain had attacked moore, he may have actually won that race. it is a double-edged sword. here is the problem. people don't want to know what you're against. they want to know what you're for. the obama campaign needs to absolutely, 1,000% expose mitt romney for being the big fat
quote
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liar that he is and he is and he has flip-flopped on every single issue out there in the public domain. they also want to know what barack obama is for and that's where he needs to start tacking and moving away from the negativity and towards what his vision for the country is. >> he is the incumbent. he has been the president. i think people know what he is ford. axelrod says romney is beating us up in a direct and personal way for a year. this is a guy offering himself to the country as an economic savior and we hooves us to pull the curtain back and that's what we're going to do. >> i get that. listen, it is like going to the doctor. you have to go to the doctor because you're sick and you don't like what he you have to hear, but you have to go to the doctor. you have to expose mitt romney for what he has done. you have to talk about his record. you also have to talk about what you are going to do for the country. how is he going to continue 26 straight months and do about our crumbling schools and raise taxes on millionaires to pay for
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schools over 70 years old? give us three concrete ideas. remember something. last week mitt romney tacked to the issue of education. he got rave reviews for that. why doesn't barack obama talk about education? why doesn't you talk about the things he has done with race to the top, et cetera, et cetera, and remind mothers, soccer moms, and soccer dads exactly what he has done and what he will continue to do and then by november, let me jump back. by september when we get to the debates he can go one-on-one with mitt romney and talk about his record and mitt romney's record. >> let me clearly understand you, then. do you believe just from the timeline of months you gave there that these so-called attacks are coming too early? >> i am not sure they're coming too early. i just don't think they're not being paired with a positive message. all we're talking about now is whether or not obama has gone negative. i want to talk about what the obama positive message is. you can walk and can chew gum at the same time. a campaign can issue ads that
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say this guy is bad, i am good, and here is why i am good and all right now everyone is talking about is donald trump and mitt romney and whether barack obama has gone negative. >> let me bring this up. bob schiffer was on with robert gibbs on the weekend and basically said whatever happened to hope and change? do you believe there is an attempt to handcuff the president to your point, you can have hope and change, but you can't swing back factually is your record is slammed and you need to challenge the record of the person that wants your job? >> sure, absolutely. again, the romney campaign, and you have seen the bumper sticker. i assume you have, you can keep the hope, i want the change. that's a bumper sticker the republicans have all over the cars all across the country. i see it where i live in the commonwealth of virginia. it is very simple. the hope and change mantra that barack obama ran on and won with, he can't run on that again. he didn't really deliver a hell of a lot of change.
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the building is still pretty stalemated back there. he has to come up with a different vision and it has to be a positive vision and expose romney for what he has done. >> i love you add in the bumper sticker because i don't go around reading them. i will let you have your on going twitter, jimmy's bumper stickers. >> any time. >> which states are the true battle ground states. the money being spent on advertising certainly could paint a clear picture in the next few weeks and nbc news mark murray joins us live from washington so, mark, the ad wars as you guys wrote really are painting a picture where clearly seeing at least the focus for the campaigns, where they really believe they need to win at this point. >> that's right, tamron. we're taking a look right now where all the campaign advertising is. we broke down the ten hottest tv markets where people are getting all of the ads from the obama campaign, the romney campaign, the outside groups trying to play in the presidential contest and what we found is that it is actually largely playing on
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republican turf, the states that george w. bush won in 2004, and of the top ten markets, six were in north carolina or virginia. you also have ohio and colorado and iowa. that is right now where people are getting the most ads and it just shows you where the race is right now, where the battle ground is. >> let's break it down with romney campaign. what are the priority states there? >> well, the priority states for the romney campaign, they actually confirmed this to the "new york times," that they need to be able to win virginia, florida, ohio, and north carolina and then get one other state and of course that pretty much sums up what we have all known about the romney strategy. they pretty much need to win all the bush states from 2004. there is very little margin of error. they need to win florida. they need to win ohio. they need to be able to perhaps if president obama does well out in the west to pick off in iowa and new hampshire and so that's
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their challenge as we have talked about before. barack obama right now has more pass, 270 votes than mitt romney does. >> talk about planned parenthood, $1.2 million ad campaign in iowa, florida, wisconsin, washington, d.c. as well. pretty tough ad, and we know that women yet again crucial block for whom ever is going to be in the white house. >> and, tamron, we got add buy on where near running. they're running in some of the big cities in the battle ground states. at play for suburban women, inner city women. this is a way they think that this planned apparent hood thinks this is an issue that would resonate. i will make this point, however. we're seeing planned parenthood and outside group leap into the fray and outside groups and outside money will end up dominating, so democrats are going to have to rely on a lot more planned parenthood to make up for the gap. >> mark murray, thank you very much. we'll see you tomorrow with first read.
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thanks, mark. with mitt romney securing the republican nomination, the boston globe notes he will not first mormon nominee ever from a major party. the globe says romney has succeeded where other mormon lawmakers have not including orrin hatch and even romney's own father george. statement a new article in politico is getting attention as it highlights romney's mormon faith and resurrects the conversation about an old prophecy once attributed to joseph smith, the founder of mormonism, the so-called white horse prophecy, it is important to note the prophecy was discounted by the mormon church nearly 100 years ago, but according to politico the prophecy predicted a white horse, a metaphor for wealthy mormons would rise up and lead america back to greatness after banks fail and can the constitution is near collapse. politico says romney has mentioned devine influence regarding the constitution several times on the campaign trail but the cam taken has not responded to the request to
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elaborate. i am joined by the deputy white house editor for politico. thank you for your time. he has not talked a lot about his faith and they have gone online and searching and trying to understand what it means to be mormon and what are the beliefs and this issue of this white horse. first of all, explain exactly what this is. >> well, the prophecy is as you said has been discounted by the church. it was supposedly said back in 1843 by joseph smith. the only person who heard it was a guy who didn't say anything about it until 50 years later, and then the church back in 1918 said that they didn't believe it and since have issued a number of declarations saying the prophecy isn't something that counts as official doctrine of the church. what it predicts is that there would be a time when the constitution is hanging by a thread and that at that point a wealthy mormon would rise up and come to save the republic, save the constitution, and sort of
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lead the united states and the rest of the world into an arnl get on style war against russia, so goen this prophecy has been discounted, but there is a connection out in the world of mormons who believe in a role that they have to preserve the constitution and to have a special place within the american story. >> and again, it has been discounted, but as you note in your article a number of mormon lawmakers say people have come to them and asked them about it. >> that's right. this is something that from the people that i spoke to tends to come up. people treat it as a folklore, mythology, in some respects, but what they do is talk about this idea of hanging by a thread and the role they have to play in preserving the constitution and saving the constitution. it is very much part of mainstream mormonism that the constitution is divinely inspired and the creators were
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divinely inspired, so that's something you will hear about from many mormons. the white horse prophecy they're not sure what to do with. they know the church doesn't believe it but they connect to it maybe in one way or another and usually just something echoing as a story that doesn't have a lot to do with the every day beliefs. >> you make a note that mitt romney has only touched upon this briefly in 2007 and pointed out it is not official doctrine. in referencing the constitution when the woman said that the president should be brought up on treason, romney responded i happen to believe the constitution was not just brilliant but probably inspired. you ask the campaign to elaborate on that and they did not. >> i sent them several e-mails about this story and didn't hear anything back from them. the church, the lds church did get back to say they don't support this as doctrine. i think what you're seeing is mormonism is such a mystery to so many americans that now that mitt romney as a presidential
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candidate, the lights will be shined on everything about his life and everything about his history and past and mormonism is one of those things and americans will get to learn a lot more about mormonism and find out things about the faith they didn't know existed and some of them are controversial and some of them are unknown. >> the downside as you point out, people do their own research and will go online and not every article that you pull up online is accurate. that enables misinformation, bad information, out right lies about anyone's faith to continue and become if not urban legends for some people it becomes their reality. >> i think that's definitely a possibility. remember in 2007 when mitt romney was running the first time he gave a big speech about faith and the role of it in his life and he didn't get much into what he personally believes, and ever since he hasn't said much either. when he spoke at liberty university, the evangelical college a couple weeks ago he
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said that there are faiths that people of different faiths like yours and mine and that's about as far as he went. >> thank you very much. very intriguing article. thank you for your time. mystery note from a juror prompted another closed door meeting between the judge and attorneys in the criminal trial of john edwards. just a short time ago jurors were told to leave the courtroom while the note was discussed and meanwhile jury deliberations expected to go on a half hour later today and tomorrow. jurors asked to leave early friday so they can attend family functions and the extra work comes amid a growing speculation the trial could end in a deadlock. nbc news senior correspondent lisa myers joins us from north carolina. do we know any more about this mysterious note? >> no, we don't. the judge historically has not been telling us what these closed door meetings have been about. this is the third one that involved a juror issue what we do know is the juror resumed deliberations after lunch and it is the same 12 yours, so the
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note seems not to be on anything so serious that it would cause a change in the makeup of the jury. they can be about anything from scheduling conflicts like someone has a family member who is graduating from something or it could be involving someone who is inadvertently been exposed to information about the trial or it could be something more serious, a juror who thinks they can't be fair or thinks one of their colleagues can't be fair. what we do know based on what we were told yesterday is, a, the jury itself does not seem to think it is close to a verdict, and b, there seems to be some serious divisions. the judge has expressed concern that small groups of jurors have discussed the case outside the greater deliberations of the jury, tamron. >> with the extra day off, lisa, on friday so they can attend family events and graduations and such, will it be business as usual on monday for this jury if they're not deadlocked. >> so far as we know, the
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deliberations are going to continue on a fairly regular routine. as you said, it is half an hour longer today, a half an hour longer on thursday and then they will knock off an hour earlier than usual on friday. it is not a tremendous change in the schedule. so far as we know we just stick with this routine until they either send a note saying they can't reach a verdict or that they have a verdict. >> lisa myers, another interesting day with that trial, mystery note and all. thank you very much. facebook stock today is still below $30. today ceo mark zuckerberg has been noblgd off the index of the 40 wealthiest people in the world. does zuckerberg need to come back from the honeymoon abroad to address the crisis? it is our news nation gut check. first, a lot going on today and here are things we thought you should know. poland's prime minister says he wants a stronger apology from the white house after president obama's reference to, quote, polish death camps during yesterday's medal of honor
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ceremony. president obama made the mistake while honoring a resistance fighter against the nazis in world war ii. >> before one trip across enemy lines resistance fighters told him that jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the warsaw ghetto and a polish death camp to see for himself. >> the white house says the president misspoke and was referring to nazi death camps in poland which were occupied by germany at the time. the country's prime minister tells the associated press he wanted a, stronger more pointed response. [ male announcer ] this is corporate caterers, miami, florida.
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but what makes us even prouder... is what our real dinners can do for your family. stouffer's. let's fix dinner. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. >> coming up at the top of the hour is politics is a game, the president is a sportsman calling mitt romney with congratulations. okay. enough of the pleasant tries. plus, a closer look at romney's sunshine state of mind and a new segment we like to call stirred, not shaken.
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get your martini glass ready. back to tamron. >> police say a synthetic drug known as bath salts are what may have made a man in miami go on a gruesome attack over the weekend. it tops our stories around the news nation. he was shot by police after they say he was found cannibalizing another man's face. the powerful drug is often sold in tobacco shops and there is by the way no federal ban regulating its use. a massive wildfire burning in southwest new mexico is the largest in the state's history. it is burning over more than 170,000 acres, low humidity and shifting winds are making it difficult for crews battling the blaze. so far about a dozen homes have been destroyed. today's news nation gut check. do you think mark zuckerberg should cut his honeymoon short to come home and address the company stock prices down again today? we'll tell you how to weigh in and check out the tumbler page. you will find behind the scenes
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pictures and news nation.com. we update it every day. . and i've been on a bayer aspirin regimen ever since. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i know if i take my bayer aspirin i have a better chance of living a healthy life. the best in nutrition... just got better. high in vitamins d, e, and b12. plus omega 3's. there's one important ingredient that hasn't changed: better taste.
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time for the news nation gut check. facebook stop dropped once again today and still mark zuckerberg is nowhere to be found. we know where he is, on his honeymoon. he has yet to comment on the crisis surrounding the company's ipo. the company trouble has knocked him off bloomburg's billionaire's list, the 40 wealthiest individuals in the world. facebook itself has lost nearly a quarter of the value since the debut and the share price is now below $30. many investors are actively betting against the stock. so here is the question, should he return from his money moon to address the stock crisis? what does your gut tell you?
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go to news nation to cast your vote. that does it for this addition. thank you for joining us. i am tamron hall. you mean next, martin bashir. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us.
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good afternoon. it is wednesday, may the 30th, and here is what's happening. make it stop, mitt, make it stop. >> thank you, thank you. what a welcome that is, a las vegas welcome. >> no, renounce the donald, mitt. renounce him. >> i think that it is more likely that he wasn't born here. >> just when i thought i was out, they pull me back in. >> i think donald trump said what he said because he thinks it is the right thing for him to say. >> i need to get 50.1% or more. >> he brought it up. i didn't bring it up. >> i didn't say that. you said that. >> mitt romney and the donald, profiles in courage. >> i have come to las vegas and i love it here. >> my twitter is very large. >> it is millions.
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