i'm tamron hall. this is "news nation." want to take you to chattanooga, tennessee, where president obama is giving his remarks. we're expecting details on a grand bargain tied to middle class jobs. let's listen in. >> you've got the mayor of chattanoochat chattanooga. and you've got one of the finest gentlemen i know, your congressman, jim cooper. so thank you, all, for being here. so i've come here today to talk a little more about something that i was discussing last week, and that's what we need to do as a country to secure a better bargain for the middle class. a national strategy to make sure that every single person who's willing to work hard in this country has a chance to succeed in the 21st century economy.

now, you heard from lydia, so you know because many of you went through it. over the past 4 1/2 years, we've been fighting our way back from the worst recession since the great depression. it cost millions of americans their jobs and their homes and their savings. part of what it did was it laid bare the long-term erosion that's been happening when it comes to middle-class security. but because the american people are resilient, we bounce back. together we've righted the ship. we took on a broken health care system. we invested in new american technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil, changed a tax code that had been tilted too far in favor of the wealthy at the expense of working families, saved an auto industry. thanks to gm and the uaw working together, we're bringing jobs back here to america, including

1800 auto workers in spring hills. 1800 workers in spring hills are on the job today where a plant was once closed. today our businesses have created 7.2 million new jobs over the last 40 months. this year we're off to our best private sector jobs growth since 1999. we now sell more products made in america to the rest of the world than ever before. we produce more renewable energy than ever before. we produce more natural gas than anybody else in the world. health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years. so thanks to hard working folks like you, thanks to the grit and resilience of the american

people, we've been able to clear away some of the rubble from the financial crisis. we started to lay a new foundation for a stronger, more durable america. the kind of economic growth that's broad based, the foundation required to make this century another american century. but as i said last week and as every middle-class family will tell you, we're not there yet. even before the financial crisis hit, we were going through a decade where a few at the top were doing better and better, but most families were working harder and harder just to get by. and reversing that trend should be washington's highest priority. [ applause ] it's my highest priority, but so far for most of this year, we've seen an endless parade of

distractions and political posturing and phoney scandals. we keep on shifting our way -- shifting our attention away from what we should be focused on, which is how do we strengthen the middle class and grow the economy for everybody? as washington heads towards yet another budget debate, the stakes couldn't be higher. and that's why i'm visiting cities and towns like this one, to lay out my ideas for how we can build on the corner stone of what it means to be middle class in america. a good job with good wages, a good education, a home to call your own, affordable health care that's there for you when you get sick, a secure retirement even if you're not rich, more

chances for folks to earn their way into the middle class as long as they're willing to work for it. most importantly, the chance to pass on a better future for our kids. so i'm doing a series of speeches over the next several weeks, but i came to chattanooga today to talk about the first and most important corner stone of middle class security, and that's a good job in a durable, growing industry. it's hard to get the other stuff going if you don't have a good job. and the truth is, everything i'm going to be talking about over the next several weeks really is about jobs. because preparing our children, our workers for the global competition they'll face, that's all about jobs. a housing finance system that makes it easier and safer to buy and build new homes.

that's about jobs in the construction industry. health care that frees you from the fear of losing everything after you've worked so hard and then having the freedom to maybe start your own business because you know you'll be able to get health care. that's about jobs. and obviously, retirement benefits speak to the quality of our jobs. and let me say this, so everybody here understands, jobs are about more than just paying the bills. jobs are about more than just statistics. we've never just defined having a job as having a paycheck here in america. a job is a source of pride. it's a source of dignity. it's the way you look after your family. it's proof that you're doing the right things and meeting your responsibilities and contributing to the fabric of

your community and helping to build the country. that's what a job is all about. it's not just about a paycheck. it's not just about paying the bills. it's also about knowing that what you're doing is important, that it counts. so we should be doing everything we can as a country to create more good jobs that pay good wages, period. now, here's the thing, chattanoo chattanooga. the problem is not that we don't have ideas about how we could create even more jobs. we've got a lot of ideas out there. there are plenty of independent economists, plenty of business owners, people from both parties agree on some of the ingredients we need for creating good jobs. you've heard them debate it again and again over these past few years. i've proposed a lot of these ideas myself. just two years ago i announced the american jobs act.

full of ideas that every independent economist said would create more jobs. some were passed by congress, but i got to admit, most of them weren't. sometimes there were ideas that historically had republican support and for some reason suddenly republicans are didn't want to support them anymore. putting people back to work rebuilding america's infrastructure, equipping our kid and our workers with the best skills, leading the world in scientific research that helps to pave the way for new jobs and new industries. accelerating our clean energy and natural gas. fixing a broken immigration system. so that american workers aren't undercut, undermined because some businesses are unscrupulous in hiring folks and not paying them decent wages. [ applause ]

independent economists say immigration reform would boost our economy by more than $1 trillion. so we've got ideas out there we know can work. if we don't make these investments and don't make these reforms, then we might as well be waving the white flag to the rest of the world because they're moving forward. they're not slowing down. china, germany, india, they're going. and we can't just sit by and do nothing. doing nothing doesn't help the middle class. so today i came here to offer a framework that might help breakthrough some of the political log jam in washington, try to get congress to start moving on some of these proven ideas. but let me briefly outline some of the areas i think we need to focus on if we want to create

good jobs with good wages in durable industries, areas that will fuel our future growth. number one, jobs in american manufacturing. you know, over the past -- over the past four years for the first time since the 1990s, the number of manufacturing jobs in america hasn't gone down. it's actually gone up. so the trend lines are good. now we've got to build on that progress. i want to offer new incentives for manufacturers not to ship jobs overseas but to bring them back here to america. [ applause ] i want new tax credits so communities hit hardest by plant closures can attract new investment. in my state of the union address, i asked congress to build on a successful pilot program we've set up. we want to create not just 15

manufacturing innovation institutes that connect businesses and universities and federal agencies to help communities left behind by global competition to become centerings of high-tech jobs. today i'm asking congress to build on this bipartisan support and triple that number from 15 to 45. these hubs where we're getting businesses, universities, communities all to work together to develop centers of high-tech industries all throughout the united states that allow us to be at the forefront of the next revolution of manufacturing. i want it made here in the united states of america. i don't want that happening overseas. [ applause ] number two, i talked about this last week. jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. you know, i look at this amazing facility, and you guys -- you don't miss a beat. you've got these packages coming out. you've got dog food and kindles,

beard trimmers. i mean, there's all kinds of stuff around here. but once it's packed up, it's got to get to the customer. and how quickly and how dependably it gets to the customer depends on do we have good roads, do we have good bridges, do we have state of the art airports? we've got about $2 trillion of deferred maintenance here in this country, so let's put more construction workers back on the job doing the work america needs done. these are vital projects that amazon needs, businesses all across the country need. like widening route 27 here in chattanooga. deepening the jacksonville port that i visited last week. these are projects vital to our

national pride. we're going to be breaking ground this week at the st. louis arch. congress should pass what i've called my fix-it-first plan, to put people to work immediately on our most urgent repairs like the 100,000 bridges that are old enough to qualify for medicare. that will create good middle-class jobs right now. right now. and we should partner with the private sector. what businesses like amazon need most. we should have a modern air-traffic control system to keep planes running on time. we should have modern power grids and pipelines to survive a storm. we should have modern schools to prepare our kids for the jobs of tomorrow.

number three, we need to keep creating good jobs and energy in wind and solar and natural gas. those new energy sources are reducing energy costs. they're reducing dangerous carbon pollution. they're reducing our dependence on foreign oil. so now's not the time to gut investments in american technology. now is the time to double down on renewable energy and biofuels and electric vehicles and shift money into research that will keep our cars on the road for good. let me tell you, cheaper costs of natural gas is a huge boost to our businesses here in america. so we should develop it even more. we've got to do it in a way that protects our air and our water for our children and future generations, but we can do that. we've got the technology to do it. number four, we've got to export more. we want to send american goods all around the world.

you know, a year ago i signed a new trade agreement with korea because they were selling a lot of hyundais here, but we weren't selling a lot of, you know, gm cars over there. since we signed that deal, our big three automakers are selling 18% more cars in korea than they were. so now we got to help more of our businesses do the same thing. i'm asking congress for the authority to negotiate the best trade deals possible for our workers and combine it with robust training and assistance measures to make sure our workers have the support and the skills they need for this new global competition. we're going to have to sharpen our competitive edge in the global job marketplace. you know, two years ago we created something called select usa. this is a coordinated effort to

attract foreign companies looking to invest and create jobs here in the united states. and today i'm directing my cabinet to expand these efforts. this october i'm going to bring business leaders from around the world, and i'm going to connect them to state leaders and local leaders like your mayor who are ready to prove there's no better place to do business than right here in the united states of america. [ applause ] number five, let's help more than -- let's do more to help the more than 4 million long-term unemployed americans that are out there. you know, one of the problems that happens is a lot of folks, they lose their jobs during this really bad recession through no fault of their own. they've got what it takes to fill that job opening, but because they've been out of work so long, employers won't even give their application a fair

look. so i'm challenging ceos to do more to get these americans back on their feet. i'm going to bring together the ceos and companies that are putting in place some of the best practices for recruiting and training and hiring workers who have been out of work for a long time but want the chance to show that they're ready to go back to work. and, you know, at the same time i'm calling on our businesses to do more for their workers. amazon is a great example of what's possible. what you're doing here at amazon with your career choice program pays 95% of the tuition for employees who want to earn skills in fields with high demand. not just, by the way, jobs can here at amazon, but jobs anywhere. computer-aided design or nursing. i talked to jeff basos

yesterday. he was so proud of the fact that he wants to see every employee at amazon continually upgrade their skills and improve. if they've got a dream they want to pursue, amazon wants to help them pursue it. that's the kind of approach that we need from america's businesses. you know, offering training programs, health care, retirement plans, paying better wages, that's not just the right thing to do. it's actually good for your bottom line. a recent study shows that when a company makes the list of the 100 best companies to work for in america, its share price outperforms its competitors because, you know, the stock market and investors, they know if a company has employees that are motivated and happy, that business is more likely to succeed. that business is more likely to

succeed. and because nobody who works full time in america should have to live in poverty, i'm going to keep making the case and fighting for the fact that we need to raise our minimum wage because right now it's lower than when ronald reagan took office. you know, when folks have more money in their pockets, that's good for amazon. it means your customers have a little more money. they can order a little more of that protein powder. i notice a lot of folks were ordering protein powder. everybody's trying to get bulked up. so here's -- those are some of the ideas that were out there we're promoting.

we're not lacking ideas. we're just lacking action, especially out of washington. for most of the past two years, washington has just taken its eye off the ball when it comes to the middle class. and i'll tell you, there are a growing number of -- the good news is there are a growing number of republican senators who are trying to work with democrats to get some stuff done. that's good news. the bad news is that rather than keep our focus on what should be our priority, which is growing our economy and creating good middle-class jobs, we've seen a certain faction of republicans in congress hurt a fragile recovery by saying they wouldn't pay the very bills that congress racked up in if the first place, threatening to shut down the people's government if they can't get rid of obama care,

instead of reducing our deficits with a scalpel to get rid of programs we don't need but keep vital investments we do. this same group has kept in place this meat cleaver called the sequester that is just slashing all kinds of important investments in education and research and our military. all the things that are needed to make this country a magnet for good middle-class jobs, those things are being cut. and these moves don't just hurt our economy in the long term. they hurt our middle class right now. the independent congressional budget office estimates that the cuts that are being made right now in washington will cost our economy 750,000 jobs this year, 900,000 fewer jobs next year. and a lot of the jobs at risk are at small businesses that contract with our military or our federal agencies. over the past four years,

another 700,000 workers at the federal, state, and local levels of the government have lost their jobs. these are cops and firefighters. about half of them are people who work in our schools. those are real jobs. it doesn't help a company like amazon when a teacher or a cop or a firefighter loses their job. they don't have money to place an order. that's hundreds of thousands of customers who have less money to spend. if those layoffs had not happened, if public sector employees grew like they did the past two recessions, the unemployment rate would be 6.5 instead of 7.5. our economy would be much better off, and the deficit would still be going down because we'd be getting more tax revenue. so the point is, if washington spent as much time and energy these past two years figuring out how to grow our economy and grow our kmid l class as it spent manufacturing crises in pursuit of a cut at all cost

approach to deficits, we'd be much better off. and it's not like we don't have to cut our deficits. we've cut our deficits by nearly half since i took office. they're projected to go down even further. but there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. we should do it in a way that actually helps middle class families instead of hurts them. i've told republicans, if they're serious about a balanced, long-term fiscal plan that replaced harmful budget cuts that would get serious about a long-term plan that prevents those 900,000 jobs from being lost, that helps grow the economy, that helps grow the middle class, i'm ready to go. but we can't lose sight of our north star. we can't allow an impasse over

long-term fiscal challenges to distract us from what the middle class needs right now. so here's the bottom line. if folks in washington really want want a grand bargain, how about a grand bargain for middle-class jobs? how about a grand bargain for middle-class jobs? i don't want to go through the same old arguments where i propose an idea and the republicans just say no because it's my idea. [ cheers and applause ] so i'm going to try offering something that serious people in both parties should be able to support. a deal that simplifies the tax code for our businesses and creates good jobs with good wages for middle-class folks who work at those businesses.

right now everybody knows this, our tax code is so riddled with loopholes and special interest tax breaks that a lot of companies who are doing the right thing in investing in america pay 35% in their taxes. corporations who have got fancy accountants and stash their money overseas, they pay little or nothing in taxes. that's not fair. it's not good for the economy here. so i'm willing to simplify our tax code, close those loopholes, end incentives to ship jobs overseas, lower the rate for businesses that are creating jobs here in america, provide tax incentives for manufacturers that bring jobs home to the united states. let's simplify taxes for small business owners. give them incentives to invest to they can spend less time filling out complicated forms,

more time expanding and hiring. i'm willing to do all that, that should help businesses and help them grow, but if we're going to give businesses a better deal, we're also going to have to give workers a better deal, too. i want to use some of the money that we save by closing these loopholes to create more good construction jobs with infrastructure initiatives i already talked about. we can build a broader network of high-tech manufacturing hubs that leaders from both parties can support. we can help our community colleges arm our workers with the skills that a global economy demands. all these things would benefit the middle class right now and benefit our economy in the years to come. so again, here's the bottom line. i'm willing to work with republicans on reforming our

corporate tax code as long as we use the money from transitioning to a simpler tax system for a significant investment in creating middle-class jobs. that's the deal. and, you know, i'm just going to keep on throwing ideas out there to see if something takes. i'm going to lay out my ideas to give the middle class a better shot, but now it's time for republicans to lay out their ideas. if they've got a better plan to bring back more manufacturing jobs here to tennessee and around the country, then let them know -- let me know. i want to hear them. if they've got a better plan to create jobs rebuilding our infrastructure or to help workers earn the high-tech skills they need, then they should offer up these ideas. but i've got to tell you, just gutting our environmental protection, that's not a jobs

plan. gutting investments in education, that's not a jobs plan. you know, they keep on talking about an oil pipeline coming down from canada that's estimated to create about 50 permanent jobs. that's not a jobs plan. wasting the country's time by taking something like 40 meaningless votes to repeal obama care is not a jobs plan. that's not a jobs plan. [ cheers and applause ] so let's get serious. look, i want to tell everybody here the truth. and, you know, look, i know that the politics for obama aren't always great in tennessee.

i understand that. but i want everybody to just hear the honest truth. i've run my last campaign. so i don't need to spin. and here's the truth. there are no gimmicks that create jobs. there are no simple tricks to grow the economy. you know, growing the economy, making sure that the middle class is strong is like getting in shape. you know, you can't just go on the, you know, muffin and donut diet and the latest fad and lose weight. you got to work out and eat better, right? well, the same is true for our economy. the same is true for helping the middle class. we've got to have a serious,

steady, long-term, american strategy to reverse the long-term erosion of middle-class security and give everybody a fair shot. we know what we have to do. it involves education. it involves infrastructure. it involves research. it involves good energy policy. and we just have to stay at it. more good jobs that pay decent wages, a better bargain for the middle class, an economy that grows from the middle out. that's got to be our focus. we can't be getting into a whole bunch of fads and pretend like, you know, you roll back obama care and suddenly all these jobs are going to be created. the middle class was struggling before i came into office. the middle class was losing ground before i came into office.

jobs were getting shipped overseas before obama care was in place. so we got to be honest. we got to be honest about the challenges we face but also the opportunities that are out there. that's what i'm going to be focused on not just for the next few months. i'm going to be focused for every one of the 1270 days i've got left in my presidency on how to make sure that we've got more opportunity and more security for everybody who's willing to work hard in this country. that's where i believe america needs to go, and we can do it if we work together, chattanooga. let's get to work! thank you very much, everybody! god bless. god bless the united states of america. >> again, we're listening or were listening to president obama in chattanooga, tennessee, where he revealed more details in this so-called grand bargain

as he put it. a grand bargain for middle-class jobs. this is the fourth stop on a tour of the president discussing jobs and his strategy to move forward. joining me now, michael fletcher, carrie brown, domenico montanaro. it's not a one-tiered offer. it was a list, including an attempt to block old complaints as it relates to corporate tax and tax reform. >> well, we brought in that old "godfather" line there. before the president made the speech, republicans had refused to accept the offer. we've already seen that on the hill that a lot of republicans are feeling like this is a non-starter because what supposedly is the carrot in corporate taxes being reduced to

28% with loopholes being cut out is something that republicans don't want to do because they know that's popular with the president but they also want to do individual tax reform. if they can't get that done, they don't want to budge on any of these other items. certainly a very long laundry list of things. at least five points he laid out. it's not clear that congress will take up any of them. >> to your point, john boehner through his spokesperson made a statement before this speech. it said in part, this grand bargain allows president obama to support president obama's position on taxes and president obama's position on spending while leaving some small businesses and american families behind. peter, listening to the president's strategy here, i can't tell you how many times he noted independent economists and noted, listen, if the republicans have an idea, he is willing to work with them. none of the responses, including from eric cantor and mitch mcconnell, uttered any words regarding let's get to the table, which is what the president is using as his

strategy perhaps to put pressure on republicans. >> yeah, tamron, let's put this very plainly. in many ways, this is part of that public relations game the white house is now playing, acknowledging that congress is going to be in recess for the coming month of august. a lot of this is laying the ground work for the budget battles, the fights over spending priorities. i mean, they have to fund the government by october 1st. you can imagine what a challenge that is, given all the dysfunction that exists in washington, d.c., right now. the president made it clear about how he crviews the situation. one of the items he said during the speech that was not in the prepared remarks, was he said i'm going to keep on throwing out ideas to see if something takes. his hope is americans will view this administration, this white house as the one offering up idea, offering up concessions that republicans are refusing. republicans insist the president is getting his way on both sides in this so-called grand bargain. >> carrie, let me bring you in.

the president saying the strategy of cut at all costs approach to deficits is not the way to move the economy forward. he points out that they've cut the deficit by nearly half since he took office here. but you have to hear -- and obviously many of those people there are supporters of the president, but when you hear an applause of a grand bargain for middle-class jobs and a laundry list of ideas, whether people support them or not, what kind of position does this put republicans who by many accounts and especially looking at congress in the lower than believable approval rating, how do you counter this? >> well, you know, he's trying to redefine what a grand bargain means in washington parlance. it's always involved something much broader and bigger, entitlement cuts, increased tax revenue, other spending cuts. he's trying to narrow it and make it simpler. there's a reason why smaller plans don't really make it through congress when they're

very complex. everybody needs a ton of things they like and a ton of things they don't like. certainly in this case, you know, he's trying to go on the offense and put republicans on defense. by narrowing it down as he did, he's trying to make it a clearer choice. certainly republicans are coming up with their reasons why they don't want to do it, and it gets back to the fact they want it coupled with other programs, other attempts to overhaul the tax code. so it will be interesting to see whether and how long republicans can just say they don't want this. i think, you know, we've seen this sort of play happen before in washington where the president goes on offense. he gets democrats or republicans back on their heels and they come up with something else. we see this play out until a deadline. >> and the president referred to when i think some people believed that republicans are at least a part of the party back on its heels as it relates to obama care. i want to the play what ted cruz said in an interview, i believe it was yesterday, as the

president noted 40 attempts, but it's more than that, to repeal obama care. let's play ted cruz. >> this is our last and best chance to defund it. stand up, use the constitutional power of the purse, and defund obama care now. >> so there you have it. i'm going to get to michael in a second. domenico, it's almost like a priority pull within the republican party. i guess i shouldn't say it's almost like it is, it is. >> well, look, obama care is definitely something that all of the tea party, whether in the house or in the senate, they want to repeal obama care. the president took a shot at that saying, you know, you don't want to try and defund this now for the 40th time when in his opinion it doesn't have anything to do with jobs. he's saying that's not a jobs plan, saying get off of keystone, get off of, you know, all of the rest of these things, tax cuts, spending cuts, when there are some other ideas he'd like to see done. it's interesting to me because i kind of feel like keystone, for example, maybe he's using it as

a bargaining chip as well as the corporate tax to say, look, you want that done? then you got to give me a little something too. >> he also noted the keystone would create just 50 permanent jobs. it's not as if he's touting that project, as some believe he may be leading towards supporting. let me bring you on, michael. you were on with us yesterday. we were talking about minimum wage as we watched thousands of fast food workers walk off their jobs. you heard the response of the president, hitting on minimum wage and the reaction from the people who work at that amazon warehouse was, i think, what we've been seeing throughout. >> yeah, i agree. i think you get that kind of across the board. where you don't get that kind of support for raising the minimum wage is among many so-called job creators. many business owners do not like it and their representatives do not like that idea. it's the kind of thing that only happens in washington when you have a bigger deal. you can latch it on to a broader agreement.

in terms of selling that idea to republicans, they don't like that. they say it hurts job creation. what you see in a lot of this is just kind of the difference between the two parties and how they view economic growth and job creation. >> peter, let me bring you back in. i'm curious of what we know is happening behind the scenes as the president said he's willing to break free of the same old arguments and that is why he's proposing this tax cut for corporations from 35% to 28%. do we know or have any headway on republican support? is there some murmur behind the scenes? >> well, we really don't know. it was even early this morning when senator corker, one of the president's better friends in the senate, saying he didn't have any specific details on this yet so he couldn't weigh in right now. the white house is insisting that it reached out yesterday to a bipartisan group of lawmakers and both the house and the senate even as speaker boehner's office says they didn't receive

any information from the white house. the white house says nobody called them back from speaker boehner's office. the president at one point in the conversation today when he was greeting the people in chattanooga said to them this amazon distribution center was sort of like the north pole in the south. the challenge that exists in real legting and real law making is that the president doesn't have the so-called elves in the house of representatives. he doesn't have anybody helping him build these infrastructure and manufacturing jobs he's hoping to do. >> carrie, your thoughts on what's next. are people wrong to say, here we go again? even when you look at what the president is proposing at this point. >> i actually don't think that they are. i think that this is -- you know, this is a lot about creating, you know, setting a foundation for this fight that's coming up in september where the battle lines are the same as they've always been. spending, needing to renew government spending, a looming debt limit increase that's needed, and, you know, both

parties are going to be asking for a lot in exchange for swallowing some really tough pills. you know, i don't think that just corporate tax reform in exchange for funding projects will break the log jam. >> and quickly, michael, i want your thoughts on it. the president noted that businesses have created 7.2 million jobs over the last 40 months. he says this year we're off to our best private sector job growth since 1999. we know so many people are still hurting. >> yeah, we sure do. we know we're coming off a very low base. he talking about manufacturing job growth. this is the first sort of continued growth in manufacturing jobs we've had since the late '90s. again, that's coming off an implosion of manufacturing work. there's a long, long way to go. 7.5% unemployment rate is unacceptable, i think, to most people. that's going to hurt job leverage. that's going to hurt the kind of wages people can get. that's really hurting the middle class at the end of the day. >> michael, peter, carrie, and

domenico, thank you. we're also following breaking news in the largest leak of classified information in this country's history. a judge finds bradley manning not guilty of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. he could still spend over 100 years in prison for other charges. we'll talk with one of manning's most vocal supporters who visited him in prison. plus, could one of the most secelebrated baseball players i modern times be banned for life? we'll talk about a new report that the league will use a labor agreement to go after a-rod and not for possible drug violations. we'll talk about what's happening there. join our conversation on twitter. you can find us @tamronhall. my team is @newsnation.

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guilty of multiple lesser charges, including illegally leaking documents and violating military code. manning faced 21 counts in all for the largest leak of classified information in u.s. history. investigators say he leaked 700,000 documents to the website wikileaks. manning, who was branded a whistleblower and a traitor, depending on the perspective, already pled guilty to a number of lesser charges, including unauthorized possession of information related to national defense. joining me now, jane hamshire, an outspoken supporter of manning, even visiting him in jail. thank you so much for joining us. it's good to see you. it's interesting. i'm looking at some of the reaction, jane. you have, for example, mike rogers, the ranking member as well of the intelligence committee saying justice was served today. meanwhile, the defense attorney for bradley manning is saying today is a good day, referring to the fact his client was found not guilty of giving information to it the enemy. he still faces a maximum of 136

years in prison. what's your reaccidetion, jane? >> i think it was good he wasn't found guilty of aiding the enemy. if he was, it would have turned the espionage act into a state's secret act and called into question the ability of anyone to do foreign war reporting. obviously, everyone is really pleased. i don't think the defense expected he would be found innocent of aiding the enemy. it's still quite serious that he has been found guilty of five charges under the espionage act, which is an outdated act that was meant to suppress anti-war sentiment after world war i. people are very concerned that he's going to be eligible for 136 years in prison, as you said. >> which is why it's intriguing that some progressives see this as a victory. i understand the argument of aiding an enemy, which was always controversial. many people felt that would go nowhere. but he is facing 136 years. as i've pointed out, for some he was simply being a whistleblower

to a wrong. he did not follow chain of command and certainly admits to taking the wrong approach, if you will -- i don't want to paraphrase his words, but he still faces 136 years here. >> well, and that is itself an injustice. i mean, it's ironic because in 1778 on this day the continental congress passed a law saying that it was the responsibility of people who worked for the government to report malfeasance, fraud, and misdeed. it really places the government and the military above the law in order to be able to classify its misdeeds and then criminalize anybody who reports it. you know, a cia agent said that the cia's official policy was torture. ironically, he's in jail right now, but none of the torturers are. the same thing with bradley manning. >> and apparently wikileaks reacted to the verdict in two tweets. i'm sure you've read them. i'll share. bradley manning's convictions today include five counts of

espionage, a new serious precedent for supplying information. the second says, manning faces 136 years on charges, which we already reported. what do you believe is the next step here, at least what progressives like yourself would like to see? >> well, the sentencing phase will begin tomorrow. the prosecution, it's a little different than a civilian court. the prosecution will present about two dozen witnesses that will testify about what -- how they believe manning should be sentenced. so it's not over. we've had a reporter who's been there every day. he'll be there again tomorrow. and we would like to see, you know, certainly not 136 years for bradley manning. hopefully there will be an appeal. there were some really sketchy things that happened in the final days of the trial. the judge allowing the prosecution actually to change the charges that manning's attorney had absolutely no ability to challenge or cross-examine witnesses for. so i don't think this is going to be the end of it. >> certainly not with wikileaks calling this a dangerous national security extremism from

the obama administration. jane, thank you so much for your time. i appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead, more on reports of the pending suspension against alex rodriguez. they say it is imminent. it could bring his career to an end. and how the league plans to pursue this. we'll have the latest. es fast-fh but also wants to save. a lunch like this from walmart is less than $1.50. whoa! if you switch out fast-food lunch just twice a week you can save over $470.00 bucks a year. $470 bucks. that's a ton of money. yeah. save on hot pockets sandwiches backed by the low price guarantee. walmart.

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well, time is reportedly running out for alex rodriguez. the new york daily news is reporting a suspension that could lead to a lifetime ban for the yankees third baseman. according to the paper, major league baseball commissioner bud selig may try to invoke a clause in the player's collective bargaining agreement that would allow him to keep a-rod out of the game possibly forever. this all stems from the league's investigation into the now-closed clinic which is suspected of supplying players with performance enhancing drugs. the paper also reports that while rodriguez's attorney could attempt to work out a possible deal, league executives believe

they have enough evidence to warrant a lifetime ban. joining me now, the sports editor for "the nation" magazine. dave, your verdict? >> my verdict is that a-rod right now is a man without a team, a fan base, and a country. two words you don't necessarily put in the same sentence are bud selig and gangster, but this is a gangster move by bud selig right now. he's laying it out there for a-rod. he's saying take a suspension for life and get a cash settlement or appeal a suspension for life and walk away with nothing. those are your choices. i'm not offering you anything else. >> well, it's interesting. in the new article, profile of what's happening here, a-rod is quoted as saying, look, it's concerning. i have two daughters at home. i'm sensitive to that. above all, i want to be a role model, continue to be a role model, especially to my girls. so all the noise sometimes gets on my nerves, but that's it. i can't let it get any further than that. i have a job to do.

does he get what's happening? >> no, i think alex rodriguez lives in the land of unreality. that's pretty profound, even by the standards of 21st century celebrity. nobody wants this guy. the union doesn't want to defend him. the yankee organization duoes nt want him at this point. if anything, what the yankees want is for alex rodriguez to appeal his suspension so bud selig invokes the best interest of the game clause to suspend him. the yankees can then go to court and say he's doing irreparable harm to the yankees brand. >> i know you called it a michig gangster move by bud selig, but has this ever happened before? >> no, it hasn't really happened since pete rose was banned for life. this is the first time it's ever been used in conjunction with the new joint agreement with the union on performance enhancing drugs. what's so important about that is that that agreement has put the union in a position and it is perhaps the strongest union

in the united states, sports or otherwise, taking a step back and saying, we're not going to defend this guy. >> all right, dave. thank you so much. that does it for this edition of "news nation." thanks for joining us. i'm tamron hall. "the cycle" is up next. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] one day it will hit you. by replacing one sugared beverage a day with a bottle of nestle pure life water, you can cut 50,000 calories a year from his diet. choose the crisp, clean taste of america's #1 bottled water. nestle pure life. join the hydration movement. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now?

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i'm krystal ball. in the cycle today, the president proposes and the republicans, yeah, it's just another no. i'm toure. a decision in the bradley manning case. reaction from the pentagon. i'm abby huntsman. counting calories, do you do it? do you care? we'll keep it light. if all that isn't filling enough for you, how about the politics of the right and the politics of business. it's a battle royale on "the cycle" for tuesday, july 30th.

we lead off with the president, who kicked his summer economics road tour into high gear in tennessee today. he announced a proposal for a middle-class jobs grand bargain. among his major selling points to the gop is a corporate tax break that would cut taxes on most corporations from 35% to 28%. and what does he want in return? come on, mr. president. what's the catch? >> i want to use some of the money that we save by closing these loopholes to create more good construction jobs with infrastructure initiatives that i already talked about. we can build a broader network of high-tech manufacturing hubs that leaders from both parties can support. we can help our community colleges, arm our workers with the skills that a global economy demands. all these things would benefit the middle class right now and benefit our economy in the years to come. so again, here's the b