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and i got my hero back. purina cat chow healthy weight. hi there, everyone. i'm tamron hall. following reaction to today's encouraging unemployment report or employment report. right now, the dow is up 50 points, continuing its climb in to record territory that started earlier this week and this morning the labor department reported employers added 236,000 jobs in february, by the way, that's more than expected. the nation's unemployment rate fell to 7.7%. that is the lowest level in more than four years. in a statement, the white house said, quote, while more work remains to be done, today's employment report provides evidence that the recovery that began in mid-2009 is gaining traction. but house speaker john boehner

issued his own statement saying in part any job creation is positive news but the fact is unemployment in america is still way above the levels the obama white house projected when the trillion-dollar stimulus spending bill was enacted. joining me now, zachary karabel. let's start where we ended that sentence. john boehner saying that this is lower level than the obama white house projected. not impressed, it seems with what we're seeing. >> he went on to say there's way too much public debt and we have to do something about it which strikes me if there's always a caveat to good news, there's no good news. he could have said the rate dropped but a civil war in syria and high childhood obesity. it's all true but there's very steady, very appreciable improvement in the u.s. employment picture and i think a few months ago where there's doubt about that, you remember the famous line of jack wol much before the election it's all

cooked to help the election. clearly it's not the case. >> i'm interested in the job growth. millions of people out of work and wondering where can i get in on the game if the game is improving. business services, 73%. >> 73,000. >> excuse me. 73,000. construction, 48,000. health care, 32,000. retail sales, 24,000. government, 10,000. that is interesting number with the government given what we're seeing now. >> yeah. i would say government will continue to shrink. there are a million fewer government jobs in the past two and a half years than before then and for those that think that government gets more blo t bloated, if government hiring at the levels of 2000s we would have a lower unemployment rate and coming from the private sector and there -- >> does that mean, let me ask you, coming from the private sector, the threat of some of the dire predictions we have heard regarding the sequester and does that mean it's overblown? >> yeah in the sense that government is shedding workers.

will continue to doing so regardless of sequester and 15%, 16% of the overall workforce including the states so you do have this robust growth in construction with the housing stuff we have been talking about. >> housing numbers up. >> one thing that's not so positive is that business and professional services and retail. these are not particularly high paying jobs. you could easily earn just barely more than the pofrly level working at one of these business services jobs. so we're not creating the best jobs in the world for people and their futures but better than no jobs or shedding them. >> what about those unemployed over -- >> diskournled. >> what is it? 27 weeks or so? >> that's not changing a whole lot and the real negative in the report was that the amount of people who dropped out of the workforce, meaning part of the reason why the rate went down is because fewer people technically working and just because they're not working doesn't mean they don't exist in the country and this i think is going to be a long-term structural issue in this economy, not one that's

amenable to short fixes. fwher a short transition of people making stuff to doing stuff. >> we have talked about the notion of the unemployment rate and what that means and getting some of those incredibly low numbers of the past. we are a different country now. >> it will be a long time and giving critics of current policy fodder but i'm not sure this is a government issue as much as this is a general issue. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> great pleasure. following the big decision of the vatican today. the cardinals decided when they'll begin selecting the next pope. the conclave will begin next tuesday, march 12th. that's the date but the secretive meeting begins amid petitions for some cardinals not to participate because of their roles in priest sex scandals and unanswered questions of a secret dossier only the pope will see and reportedly discusses problems and inappropriate dealings at the vatican bank and a secret, underground gay network impacting decisions

made. anne thompson live at the vatican. that cloud still holds over the conclave but give us the tick tock of what to expect with march 12th. >> reporter: well, tamron, certainly the scandals that you have mentioned are part of the discussion that is going on among all the cardinals here, but the big news today as you said is the fact that we have a start date for the conclave. it is tuesday, march 12th. what will happen is in the morning there will be a mass here at st. peter's basilica. all the cardinals will participate to pray for the election of a new pontiff and tuesday afternoon going in to the sistine chapel. they will leave their blackberries, their cell phones, their computers behind. there will be an electronic jamming devices around the sistine chapel to make sure no information gets in or out. and innocent, tuesday afternoon, they will vote for a new pope. now, the magic number is 77. that is what someone has to get in order to be elected.

it is basically two thirds plus one of the 115 elect terrors. if nobody reaches that mark on the first ballot they'll do it again on wednesday. two votes in the morning. two votes in the afternoon. they'll repeat that process thursday and friday. and if at the end of friday there is still no one who's gotten that 77-vote number, they will take a day off and then resume voting again on sunday. >> all right. anne thompson, thank you very much for your latest from the vatican and see what happens beginning on tuesday. thank you. new reaction from the white house today to the decision to bring a senior al qaeda leader and osama bin laden son-in-law to the u.s. to be tried in civil court. a decision that is drawn heavy criticism from republicans. >> article iii courts have shown that they're in many ways a more efficient way for us to deliver justice to those who seek to harm the united states of america. and that is the consensus view of the president's national security team and of agencies

all across the federal government. >> he pleaded not guilty to a charge of plotting to kill americans this morning before a new york city federal judge. according to law enforcement officials, he is the most senior al qaeda figure to face criminal trial in new york since the 9/11 attacks. now, key republican senators have lashed out at the administration arguing that he and other terror suspects should be sent to guantanamo bay to be tried as enemy combatants. pete williams is following it. as i understand, the government saying they've received or got an incredible amount of information from him. >> yes. i think i should first say what the white house spokesman meant saying article iii courts, that's civil courts. he meant of the constitution sets them up. but yes, in court today, the prosecutor said that he talked extensively enough to generate a 22-page statement so what i'm told is that when he was picked up by the fbi in jordan, they

say they picked him up february 28th, took him to new york the next day. that on the flight while he was enroute and when he got to new york he talked a lot after being given the miranda warning, so the question is whether this will change the potential criticism that the government made a mistake bringing him to civilian courts. some republicans saying today that, well, you never know what you would have gotten taking him to a military setting to beg guantanamo bay and continue to question him. you don't know what you would get and i think what the government is saying, well, it's not over yet and he won't be back in court for another month so there's ample time to continue to talk to him if he chooses to do so. he faces potential life in prison under the prison, whether all the talking he's done would make a difference there it's way too soon to tell. >> thank you for the latest there. really appreciate it. coming up, the battle over minimum wage. the president wants to raise it

to $9 saying people deserve a living wage. the ceo of costco says it should be more than $10 but subway ceo says an increase is a bad idea. we'll look at the battle of what the ceos are saying. plus, bill clinton now backing away from the defense of marriage act. doma. a bill he signed in to law in the '90s. the president says the law allows for discrimination. why is he saying it now? you can join our conversation on twitter. do we have a mower? no. a trimmer? no. we got nothing. we just got our first house, we're on a budget. we're not ready for spring. well let's get you ready. very nice. you see these various colors. we got workshops every saturday. maybe a little bit over here. this spring, take on more lawn for less. not bad for our first spring. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot.

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well, work on a possible grand bargain could be in the works next week as president obama continues the republican

outreach. on wednesday, meeting with the house republican conference and on thursday will attend the weekly gop senate policy lunch. the first time he'll do so in almost three years. a new report by "the hill" claims the president wants a bipartisan deficit deal done by the end of july and also coming up next week, paul ryan who talked of optimism after the lunch with the president expected to unveil a new budget plan. joining me now april ryan and chris kofonis. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, tamron. >> our first read team talks about this being a consequential week and a year from now we may look at rand paul, for example, on another issue, the budget saying it remains to be seen if the recalibration will pay dividends for obama but if a grand bargain or close to it occurs late they are year we'll look back on this week as consequential. the means and deals or whatever you call it may be something

more than breaking bread, april. >> tamron, i don't think so. >> hmm. >> i'm going back to something that happened this week. there was a poll that showed 51% of americans really don't know what sequestration is and then a grand bargain is still about cuts, as well. >> yeah. >> no win-win here. it's major. the white house, josh earnest, just said at the white house that the white house is going to face cuts, as well. they're going to have pay cuts. they're going to stop projects. some projects. their going to furlough. i mean, this is going to be not just the white house but this is going to be across the government. and it trickles down in to so many other places so -- and then you have the jobs numbers and months to come that will also wind up being affected. so this is not just consequential. this is something that's going to have a ripple effect and tentacles are going to be long. >> this report then from the hill claiming the president wants a bipartisan deficit deal done by the end of july, is there no there there and coming

out of thin air? >> well, i don't think it's c e coming out of thin air but you have to remember i talked to congresswoman fudge who is a democrat. she says the president needs to put democrats in the forefront to get some information to them first. they don't know what's going on. >> wow. >> he's talking about a bipartisan deal but you have democrats saying we don't know what's going on so they're waiting to hear what's going to happen. >> you have democrats, chris. we had maxine waters on earlier this week talking about entitlement reform and we know the line she has drawn and many other progressives and believes there should be closing of loopholes and not in her words helping those that need the help the most. chris, politico says there isn't an irrational exuberance in the white house that the big deal is back within reach. a senior administration official says changing circumstances has given the president some hope. so they're not irrational in the exuberance according to this

report but the president has some hope. do you see any of that? >> well, i mean, possibly. >> you and april are depressing me, by the way, right now. and the rest of america. >> i'm sorry. >> be realistic but you have to understand, most people at home even though i think they see the back and forth and sick and tired of being sick and tired, after the little luncheons and din ir meetings over the week, i believe that you have some folk who is wake up, seeing the unemployment rate down, and they're thinking maybe these people can get it together here. so now go back to depressing me, chris. >> well, you know, listen. if a dinner is able to turn washington around, i think we're going to need a lot more dinners. >> listen, nothing else has. polls show that most people are with the president. you see a tiny dip but for the most part seen as a winner in the early part of the sequester game and look at other things. polling with universal background checks, even in gop districts and overwhelming people support that. so, we're hoping that if polls don't change, if elections don't

change, folks in washington, that maybe a dinner might because we're throwing our hands up to the sky, chris. >> right. well, here's what i'll say. i think it's possible because what's going to happen this year is that both chambers are planning to pass a budget. now, in order for that budget to have a -- they have to compromise. you have different visions between the senate and the house and the president i think is smart to try to negotiate a bigger deal than one to get sequester out of the way and achieve some type of smarter spending cuts that don't impact the people we're trying to actually help as a country. >> yeah. >> that being said, you know, the challenge here's always in the details. when you have republicans who basically said -- some republicans have basically said no to revenues even if those revenues are going towards the deficit, let alone in terms of addressing other -- >> lindsey graham appeared to give wriggle room with revenue

or reform to the tax code. >> he did. and then speaker boehner does the opposite and so the challenge here is, who are you negotiating with? i think part of the smart strategy in terms of the white house and what they're doing is, listen, if we can't negotiate with the leadership and it's clearly not been very productive, let's try to negotiate with the rank and file members and see where there's common ground and then build momentum from the bottom up on the leaders. >> april, real quick. i want to read what john dickerson of "slate" and saying early in his first term, he, meaning the president, reached out to senators grassley, snowe, collins and specter in the negotiations and tried a back room deal to secure the support of nebraska senator ben nelson. while obama may not be very good at trying to work congress, he may only have done it in fits and starts but you can't say he hasn't tried. so that's the focus of trying with republicans. has he done the same with democrats, april? >> democrats are saying that

they are not, again, on the front end of this. they don't know what's going on. the president is doing right, though. reaching out to the other side of the aisle, to the republican party to find out exactly where they are and seeing if the charm offensive can work. breaking bread and whatever what have you but at the same time he has to bring the fellow democrats in and you remember, tamron, the last time in the briefing room, the president did say, he said, look, i'm going to make some hard decisions and he was telling the truth about that. he said i'm going to make decisions that my own party may not even like so he's doing that and going on straight ahead and leading the way he knows to lead. >> thank you so much. great to have you on. thank you both. up -- >> knocked on my door and came in and he says, did you vote in this last election? i said, yeah, i sure did. he said, you voted twice. i says, i did? >> this story has a lot of people fired up and may anger you. an 86-year-old woman with

dementia now charged with voter fraud after voting twice in the past election. she says she didn't remember voting the first time and given she has dementia should this woman be charged with a crime? it's the "gut check." and this friday from mitt romney's first postelection interview to rand paul's filibuster and the president's so-called charm offensive with republicans. why the first read team says we could look back on this week, mark your calendar, as quote, pretty significant week in american politics. we'll see if mark murray can pay that off. first, today, a look at how wall street is performing today. the dow up 44 points. ♪ [ construction sounds ] ♪ [ watch ticking ] [ engine revs ] come in. ♪

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this first full week in march as being a pretty significant week in american politics. from the rand stand to the president's charm offensive, here's a peek back at what we witnessed. >> i will speak today until the president responds and says, no, we won't kill americans in cafes. no we won't kill you in your bed at night. no, we won't drop bombs on restaurants. >> if mr. paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stupts that do more than fire you will kids in their college dorms. he needs to know what he's talking about. >> to my republican colleagues, i don't remember any of you coming down here suggesting that president bush was going to kill anyone with a dren. >> the government has no intention to carry out drone strikes in the united states. it's hard to imagine a situation in which that would occur. >> i think it was good for the president to have that dinner. >> interesting that this week we've gone 180.

now he's going to after being office now over four years sitting down to talk to members. i think it's a sign, a hopeful sign. >> i look at what's happening right now. i wish i were there. it kills me not to be there, not to be in the white house doing what needs to be done. >> joining me now live nbc news senior political editor mark murray. my dinner partner for the evening. if you want me to bring you on more often. apparently that's all it takes is a nice little dinner, mark. but seriously, let's talk about the aftereffects of rand paul's filibuster. he's referred to as wacko birds. it's serious but joking language. meaning john mccain is not holding back. >> it shows the divide in republican party where you see the libertarian minded folks like rand paul and his father when he was running for president in 2008 and 2012, versus some of the oldest hawks

on defense and national security represented by john mccain. tamron, a reason why this week could be very interesting if rand paul decides to make a bid for the presidency in 2016 and i know it's a very long time until then, you will continue to see this type of divide and these fights within the republican party. being a hawk on national security and defense or do you take the path that rand paul ended up taking with the filibuster on drones? >> there's a photograph in "the new york times" with john mccain and rand paul on the elevator ride after the blisters words of john mccain directed at rand paul. no warmth in that photograph to say the least but this is about several of these men who are looking at 2016 peeling away from the crowd and whatever way they can, mark. >> yeah. i mean, we have seen over the last three months now in 2013 some of these republicans running for president starting to dip their toes in to the presidential waters. we saw with rand paul and the filibuster and received a

tremendous amount of publicity and jeb bush with the book tour, the interviews with the new book on immigration and then rubio a month ago giving the state of the union response to president obama and put his mark on immigration reform so a lot of moving parts and long time to go and seeing the early movements, tamron, in the early republican presidential race. >> big picture is the budget and deficit and the fiscal issues we're facing and you say when we look at this week a year from now this may be a significant week. looking ahe, just to next week, how will a lot of these moving parts play a role in what we see? >> well, the president, again, meeting with republicans in the house and the senate addressing them. and he has started to embark on this charm offensive. of course, it comes after being unable to get a deal with republican tons so-called sequester budget cuts and there's been an inability now over the past two years to get this grand bar kin, almost been a holy grail for president obama, the latest movement to be able to get it and if he's able

to achieve something in the summer, if there is a movement, if you get very, very close, we will look back on this week. the wining and dining with republicans and a fancy restaurant in d.c. and the lunch with paul ryan on thursday. >> that's interestinging because you have others not as optimistic but moving ahead, cpac next week, as well. the president also i believe speaking on the day that mitt romney addressing the crowd at their conference. but how might or will we hear at cpac play a role? this is when the conservatives put down the hammer and hearing the heated rhetoric. >> well, it's going to be an interesting thing for political reporters like me as i mentioned earlier. people are starting to dip their toes in the presidential waters and almost all of the people who would maybe be running for president in 2016 speaking. one very big exception, of course, is chris krity who wasn't invited to speak and then tamron seeing members of

congress, the nra will have a very big focus and then there will be speeches by mitt romney and subpoena sarah palin, lots of headlines, i'm sure. >> thank you. have a great weekend. >> you too. coming up, 50 countries and 30 heads of state in venezuela to attend the funeral of hugo chavez. in a week the body will believe on display and then more for what's next for venezuela 2341 as they pick a new president. but first, some early jockeying in the 2016 presidential race. a tea party group launched an ad in iowa attacking potential republican candidate governor bob mcdonald of virginia criticizing him for raising taxes as part of the transportation package. >> sometimes soon virginia governor ben bernanke mcdon knell nay be in iowa to test the waters for 2016 but don't be fooled. as a candidate, mcdon knell promised to never raise taxes.

but as governor, mcdon knell pushed the largest tax increase in virginia history. and defense secretary chuck hagel arrived in afghanistan today for his first visit as defense secretary and meeting with afghan officials and u.s. commanders. the visit with 66,000 troops in the country and with all u.s. combat forces set to be withdrawn by the end of next year. and the white house confirms president obama and the first lady, well, they held a private dinner recently with former president clinton and former secretary of state hillary clinton. politico reported today that the obamas and clintons enjoyed a dinner in a private residence last friday to celebrate hillary clinton's retirement as secretary of state. the white house says the four enjoyed the dinner but didn't get further details. andrea mitchell reported that bill clinton did offer president some advice. those are the things we just thought you should know. you're crazy.

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the ceo of one of the country's biggest retailers costco joining president obama calling for an increase in the minimum wage. costco's ceo says instead of minimizing wages, it is profitable in the long term to minimize employee turnover and maximize employee productivities, commitment and loyalty. he's backing a bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016. state of the union address, president made a call on congress to act. >> let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on earth no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty. and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. >> but not all business leaders agree that it's a good idea. subway ceo fred deluca says it's a bad idea. joining me is co-founder and ceo of the u.s. women's chamber of

commerce. thank you for joining us, margo. >> thank you for having me, tamron. >> in this world it's difficult to get a consensus on anything but seeing two ceos, costco and subway, so different in the opinions on this, we thought we'd bring in an independent voice and get your thoughts at least on the debate over minimum wage here. both sides of the case. first, let's look at the case of it will cause prices to increase for consumers. what proof of that exists? >> well, tamron, i don't know that there is any proof of that. this is an argument over the years every time we tried to raise the man mum wage and we have done so we have not found that to be a fact. in fact, what we would see is increase in consumer spending which would be very beneficial for business owners. >> speaker boehner right after the state of the union said when you raise the price of employment, guess what happens.

you get less of it. at a time when the american people are asking when where's the jobs, why would we want to make it hader for small employers to hire people? is this the indication of the size of the company? we're talking about tremendously successful companies of costco and subway. is it a different dynamic looking at a smaller business? >> i believe it is. and i can speak for firms that we represent and women-owned firms tend to take a living wage to begin with so this bill and raising the minimum wage would not impact them. in fact, it would level the playing field so when they go out to compete against those firm that is are not paying fairly, everybody will have the same grounds for payment and that would help them access contracts. >> obviously, just by the numbers here, wanting to show people to remind them, yearly

income at the minimum wage is about $15,000 a year. and i think a lot of people one point in time when they thought about a minimum wage jobs, they would think of teenagers but we know in this economy with so many people out of work so long and taking jobs to make ends meet, these are adults caring for their families and themselves and trying to make it on $15,000 a year, margot. that's absolutely right. it impacts two thirds of the minimum wage worker who is are women. and additionally, i think the key thing that people aren't thinking about is flip side is as a taxpayer. as a taxpayer, i'm now asked to subsidize the corporations not paying a living wage by providing government assistance programs and thinking in those terms, it would be good for everyone to pay a living wage so that these workers would be able to self sustain and put money back in to the pocketbooks and

ultimately in to purchases within their communities. >> margot, we greatly appreciate you joining us. the president mentioned many things in the institution and we see how soon the conversation heats up over the minimum wage. thank you. >> thank you. well, a major reversal coming from former president bill clinton n. a new op-ed, clinton said the defense of marriage act he signed needs to go. marriage is a union of a man and a woman and now clinton says worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. it should be overturned. joining me now politico white house reporter, thank you so much for joining us. >> good to be here, tamron. >> start with the reason why. whenever you hear a huge decision like this, the president saying the decision was wrong, that's rare itself in

any of the leaders these days. why now do you believe? >> well now is because the case is coming before the supreme court and just a couple of weeks. the obama administration already gone further than any administration has in supporting an overturning of the defense of marriage act and now the person that signed the law in 1996 when there was a big call to stop the influx of gay marriage or the encrouchment of gay marriage around the country, president clinton signed the law ep though there's people at the time saying it's discrimination and clinton as he acknowledges in the op-ed was aware of that. he wanted to make sure and put a signing statement with the bill saying he didn't want it to be an excuse for discrimination and said today, now he sees the law as discriminatory itself. that's a strong statement from any politician to say. >> absolutely. >> a bill they signed is discriminatory. >> i want to hear what was written in "the new yorker" with the clinton administration. he says, the op-ed leaves a

political mystery intact. clinton though clearly unhappy with the law today, does not really explain why he signed it other than to say it was a very different time. perhaps that's explanation enough. still, how was it that bill clinton the first president the champion gay rights put his name on one of the most discriminatory gay marriage laws in the history? it ran ahead of public opinion. but there was another important factor. a failure to imagine how quickly gay rights would evolve and how difficult it would be to undo the damage that doma did. and when you look at the new numbers out, pew research, for example, gay marriage poll, 48% in favor now opposed to in 2001 before doma. 35% in favor. so as we say, times have changed. >> and changed very quickly on this issue. and extent i don't think anybody in the gay rights movement outside of the gay rights

movement could have anticipated. in 1996, bill clinton was running for re-election. he was thinking about this as one of the issues that maybe would come up in the campaign then but you go back, you go back even to 2004 and when howard dean was running for president and he was so far to the left on this issue because he was in favor of civil unions. that's 2004. by 2012, you have the president of the united states, the incumbent president of the united states saying that he supports gay marriage and big news but not as big news as it could have been because there was an assumption that he was going to get there, that he may have already been there himself but hadn't spoken about it publicly. there was then a big support of the administration for all sorts of gay rights issues, not only don't ask, don't tell repealed but going towards the cases that came to the supreme court, the justice department was in favor of overturning doma in lower courts and then made this what, again, seems like it is an extraordinary move because no

administration has gone so far it's become an expected move for the administration to be at this point and bill clinton was it seems trying to just catch up with where things have gotten to. >> thank you so much. we greatly appreciate you joinijoi joining me. >> thank you. new information on the lion attack that left a 24-year-old intern at an animal sanctuary dead. officials are now saying that the lion was able to open its own cage. reaction from the woman's family. plus, i'll talk with a wildlife expert to try to understand how something like this happened. al. at a hertz expressrent kiosk, you can rent a car without a reservation... and without a line. now that's a fast car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. exciting and would always come max and pto my rescue. bookstore but as time passed, i started to notice max just wasn't himself.

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surgeries than their male counterparts. researchers hope the data helps better manage patients and create better implants. welcome back. frightening new information of wednesday's lion attack in california that killed a 24-year-old intern. today authorities say the 350-pound lion used its paw to open the holding pen that was apparently left improperly secured. it then entered the larger cage where diana hanson was cleaning that area. authorities also say hanson was on her cell phone with a co-worker moments before she was killed. the co-worker became concerned with the conversation ended abruptly. she just started that internship in january. her father said she was living her dream. >> i've always had a premonition that i was going to get a call some day that one of the animals had killed her because that's just a risk in that business. but i didn't think it would be so soon.

i thought it would be later in life. that was her love, her dream. i said don't get in the cages with them, though. and she said, dad, it's okay. i can handle it. she was fearless. and she loved it so i wasn't going to try to stop her from her dream. >> joining me now nbc news wildlife and science expert jeff corwin. thank you so much for your time. >> oh, good to talk to you, tamron. >> this lion had been raised by hand with humans since it was 8 weeks old. and this bares reminding even though the animal was exposed its entire life to humans as you say these are still wild animals here. >> absolutely. you cannot take the wild nature out of an animal such as a lie yn or tiger. they're hard wived to be predators. we are talking about an animal that lives in a very competitive, challenging world. the african savannah. this is a creature through millions of years of evolution taking the position at the top

of the food chain. >> in the report at least right now the investigators believe that the cage area, that he describe it similar to a guillotine and somehow they believe the lion was able to reach its paw under and open the gate itself. what are the standards for these kinds of sanctuaries as far as how these animals are kept? you know, i hear -- i think that any lock would automatically have a trigger, a backup, talking about a 350-pound lion. >> a lot of these systems do have those sort of redundancy checks and balances in place. how this system works is a larger paddock of the cage and than holding area in back so when the animal goes through, that gate comes down and locks the creature in. if it doesn't seal and bolt, that animal could get a paw under and potentially lift it up. most skoos and other institutions especially ones that belong to the aza, official organization for groups like

this, have very strict measures and protocols in place to prevent tragedies like this. >> as mentioned, the young lady diana hanson, her father says this was the love of her life and dream of her life an i'm sure people approach you and want to be exposed to the great life you are trying to save our world's precious wildlife. but i mean, would an intern normally be exposed to such a dangerous animal in such a short period of time of internship? >> well, it's not necessarily improbable. especially if there's a safety system in place. you have to remember that the fuel that fires many of the zoos and aquariums especially in the nonprofit world are the volunteers, the do sents and the interns and most of the interns like in boston, for example, they go through a -- like a four to six-week training program before they even work w animals so just because you're an intern or volunteer doesn't mean that you haven't garnered

the experience to play an important role. with that said, you just don't wa walk in to a cage without a tremendous amount of awareness and experience and understanding of the power and potential danger that lies there. >> quickly, we're almost out of time but she was also on a cell phone and obviously she thought she was safe. do they not, you know, do they ban you from being on cell phones or any distraction, perhaps, while you're in that area? is that usual? >> well, i can tell you this. i work a lot with the georgia aquarium and other zoos and people aren't allowed to be on cell phones working with the animals and in fact most people are on radios so, for example, going in to one enclosure or out of the enclosure, you let people know that says, hey, i'm stepping in to the closure. you know, i'll be here for five minutes. this is when i step out. those systems are in place so there are no distractions and ultimately you and the animals you're there to protect are kept

safe. >> jeff, thank you so much. i really appreciate your insight on this thank you. >> you're welcome. the new york city man who allegedly fled a hit and run crash that killed a young couple and baby is charged and tops our look at the news. julio savada, if convicted, faces 25 years behind bars. he is held without bail. and funeral today for venezuelan president chavez attended by presidents, diplomats, actors and activists. reverend jesse jackson also on hand. after the funeral, chavez will be buried and instead lie in state for another seven days so more people can pay their respects. his body will be on permanent display. venezuela's acting president is the favorite to win in an upcoming election to be held in the next 30 days. coming up on "news nation," our "gut check" that has a lot

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time now for the "gut check." prosecutors in minnesota say an 86-year-old woman who suffers from dementia must be charged with voter fraud because she voted twice in a primary election last year. the county attorney says unlike other cases there's no discretion. should the 86-year-old woman with dementia have been charged with voter fraud? go to our website. read more on the story and then we want you to chime in. facebook.com/newsnation to cost your vote. i can't wait to read your thoughts and the results on monday. you have yourself a safe weekend. i'll see you on monday. morning,! love your passat! um. listen, gary. i bought the last one. nice try. says right here you can get one for $199 a month. you can't believe the lame-stream media, gary. they're all gone. maybe i'll get one. [ male announcer ] now everyone's going to want one. you can't have the same car as me, gary! i'm gettin' one. nope!

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