tv Lockup MSNBC November 23, 2013 7:00pm-8:01pm PST
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due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. i can be your best friend, at the same time, if you cross me and doing me wrong, i can be your worst enemy. >> he comes to terms with his past and present. >> i'm sure i heard that last time. >> beat up bloody and beat up on grandville avenue, thrown down the stairs with my bra and
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underwear in the snow. >> she was once a teacher and mother. >> every time i lay down and fall asleep, i dream about crack. >> another inmate caught off guard. he's bleeding, then explains white. >> most cake is dry, you know, and not very moist like that at the bottom. i know something didn't go right with the cake. i said i have to do something about this. ♪ straddling the grand river in west michigan, grand rapids combined the amenities of a
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sophisticated city with small town charm. forbes magazine calls it the best city to raise a family. even the best families face problems. a few miles from downtown is the kent county jail. >> people ask me all the time out there in the world, who you got in jail. i always tell them, we have your family members, we have your neighbors, your co-workers. >> any given day, 1,000 men and women are incourse rated here. >> i want you on your bunks. time for head count. i need your id. >> some are convicted, most are only accused of crimes and awaiting trial and the resolution of their cases. >> we have the people standing behind you in the line at the grocery store, the people handing you food at the window at the drive up. they are the people we have in jail. >> my life is in this sack. >> a few years earlier, it would be a surprise to see brandee nyp
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in jail. she's a popular secretary at a nearby elementary school. >> many people that knew me from school, if they see me now, they would know something is seriously wrong. two years ago, i started smoking crack and i resigned from my job and lost both of my daughters and started living on the streets using crack. >> nyp is charged with possession of narcotics, pled not guilty and awaiting trial. her problems began with a pain pill addiction and escalated when her youngest daughter chose to live with her father and girlfriend. i said you can go live with your dad. from that point on, it became empty. my older daughter was involved
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in high school sports and wasn't home. i would work and my little one was gone. it just didn't have any purpose and so i hit that pipe and i sat down and i really never left again. i never left that life. >> that life led nyp to a street in grand rapids with a rep tagts. >> division is the main street for prostitution. i did walk the streets prostitution wise. there's a lot of money. it's basically what a lot of girls make their money. they make $1200 in a day. i spent everything i got on drugs. it was different than anything i imagined my life would be. >> nyp's crack addiction led to multiple arrested in grand rapids and one prior conviction for possession. >> somebody asked me the question one time, do you love your daughters or do you love crack more? i sat there and i had to think about it.
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i mean i didn't have to think about it, i know, but i said i would have to say i love crack more. as horrible as that is, i said i would be home and have a daughter beside me and having popcorn watching a movie. instead, i'm in a ratty hotel in a bathroom smoking crack in front of the mirror. there isn't anywhere else i would rather be. >> while brandee nyp might have once blended in in family friendly grand rapids, brian is the first to admit he doesn't. >> i can be your best friend at the same time, if you cross me or do me wrong, i could be your worst enemy. >> looking at the tattoos, you don't see many people with tattoos like that. >> he looks ak centric. it's hard to tell what this person might be like. >> never in a million years if i saw him walking down the street on the outside would i approach
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him for any reason under the sun. >> usually when people meet me, they look and are like there's something wrong with that guy. really, i'm just, i love tattoos. i just love tattoos. i think they're awesome. >> he wasn't smiling when he got his most prominent tattoo, a crown that encircles his head and turns into a bandana on the back of his head. >> it hit over here and my leg started twitching because of all the nerves. >> he says his criminal career began at age 14 selling crack, got the crown and many other tattoos during his prison turn for assault and battery.
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he was on the street four mornts before he was arrested again as part of a crime ring. he says he's innocent but pled guilty to larceny from a vehicle. >> if i go to trial with my tattoos and past crimes being on parole, if i lose, then i'm going back to prison. >> instead, he was sentenced to one year at the kent county jail. he says now, he's finally motivated to go straight. >> it's nice to see your wife first thing in the morning, even if it is a picture. it helps with the day. >> prior to the latest arrest, he married a friend from childhood. >> no one makes me feel like elena does. i want to do more with myself. she makes me want to be better. she makes me want to be a man and take care of her and her parents were kind of iffy about me. they know of me and my friends when i was younger. one of my friends stole her parent's car and sold it for
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crack. >> he says things got better when they saw how he cared for elena's 2-year-old daughter. >> i took care of her, changed here, feed her, get her dressed, they were shocked. they were like your whole persona changes when you are with her. a lot of people are amazed. they look at me and expect me to be a complete [ bleep ]. i'm not. >> he writes regularly to elena who lives two hours away in detroit. >> i do little things like that. she likes to get pictures from me. anything makes her happy. >> it's love. >> it is, right? >> coming up, elena pays a visit and delivers a message. >> i don't want to deal with this all the time. it's not the life i want for me or my daughter. >> a piece of cake leads to a bloody assault. brandee nyp's life on the
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streets hits home for the family she left behind. >> if i saw her, i could wind one up and pop her. you get your coffee here. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great. the money you spend here, stays here. in this place you call your neighborhood. small business saturday is november 30th. get out and shop small. medicare open enrollment. of year again. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. open enrollment ends december 7th.
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inside grand rapids kent county jail, technology is just one tool deputies use to maintain the peace. like neighborhood beat cops, they employ old fashioned leg work called block checks. >> we are looking to see if anybody is up to no good, basically, see if there's contraband being messed with, that kind of thing. we are looking at everything, make sure inmates aren't bunching up into a certain area. something going on in that area. >> guys, step back. >> normally, an area is really loud and it's really quiet all of a sudden, something is going
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on. they are sending signals. >> sometimes there is no warning. surveillance cameras captured an inmate-on-inmate attack. a deputy takes control of the situation and separates the men. >> should be all locked down. yep. that inmate is a little bit bloody there. it kicked off during the meal time. >> zachary and antoine. >> we responded to a fight. he was punched numerous times with a cut inside his lip. >> they are going to clean him up and evaluate his injuries. if he requires internal stitching, they can't do it here. he will have to be taken to the hospital. the other was taken to the desegregation unit. >> the deputy up there talked to other inmates, reviewed the camera to see what all happened.
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>> one of the witnesses was a trustee, an inmate maintenance worker. >> the dude was grabbing water. he walked up behind him, don't touch my food. don't touch my food. [ bleep ] [ bleep ] dude never hit him back, though. he just stood there. blood there. blood there. i have to get bleach and clean this up and scrub. every day you get something like this. it's entertaining. i have to deal with the aftermath. >> after their initial treatment, jail medical staff decide to send harvey to the hospital. >> he's going to get checked out by a doctor and probably get a couple stitches in his lip. >> as for the fight, harvey says he doesn't know what prompted it. >> came out of my cell, sat down, made a cup of coffee. came back and he started hitting
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me. i don't know what i did. >> do you know him? >> i traded him a piece of cake. i don't even talk to him. >> inmates often trade food. the small dessert is one of the more popular items. harvey chose the wrong person to trade with. >> i believe there was urine at the bottom. most cake is dry, not very moist like that at the bottom. so i believe there was urine. i know something wasn't right with the cake. i said, you know, i think i have to do something about this. >> i think mr. gill is possibly a little pair noud -- good evening from washington. i'm david gregory. breaking news tonight. a big development in the administrations efforts to freeze iran's nuclear program. an agreement has been reached with the western powers to achieve that freeze in exchange for temporary sanctions relief
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on the part of western powers. andrea mitchell, with me. luke russert with me from the white house. the president will speak about this in a short period of time. we are seeing the leaders meeting in geneva. andrea, that is the headline. bring us the headlines. >> this was brokered and agreed to 3:00 geneva time, 9:00 eastern standard time. the deal is to freeze iran's nuclear program in place but not to force iran to destroy its advanced -- that is one of the reasons why there's a lot of democratic opposition to this on the hill as well as israeli, saudi persian golf opposition to it. iran will be able to, six months from now, could potentially breakout and create something that would approach a nuclear
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weapon. iran would have to stop construction on a separate plutonium reactor. they would get some sanction relief, $3.5 billion of their own assets that have been frozen. some additional gradual release over six months. the u.n. atomic agency would control and patrol the deal. again, the criticism will be that iran will have the nuclear equipment and could build up very quickly, if it decides to break out of the deal. the administrations posture is it is important to negotiate now while there is, what they believe, a more reliable or approachable iranian regime. the foreign minister known to the west that this is a short window before hard liners in iran, would again crack down and begin to build what is expected by the west, at least, to be a
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nuclear weapon. >> stand by. we are looking at a live picture. we'll hear from the president momentarily when he is prepared to speak. we want to check in with ann curry who is reporting on this, including the foreign prime minister. they have been charting it as it comes into motion. ann thrks is something that has been developing throughout the night and the last couple days. we were here a couple weeks ago. you were there. they got very close only to have it derailed by objections. tonight, it appears they have it. >> reporter: in fact, they do have it. there's a deal that is now, i understand, being signed. a news conference is expected at any moment which is deal will be officially announced. essentially, the deal would be a first step, david, to
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essentially pave the groundwork for a comprehensive deal settled at a later deal. this deal, however, is very important. as andrea mentioned, it has a significant role in rolling back iran's capability in building any nuclear weapons. so, it's a very important deal. as you talked about the french, i'm sorry, i'm having feedback so i'm taking this out of my ear. the issues on the table, up until the 11th hour were what to do about the arak heavy water facility, a faster way of having plutonium and also the idea that iran had that it wanted to have the right to enrich. these two issues, up to the very last moment, david, were debated heavily at the table. it was a clearly very difficult to reach a deal at the last moment. they were not going to leave until they had a deal. the deal is being signed.
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it will be announced officially in a matter of moments. >> ann, stay with us. we are looking at a live picture. that is the iranian foreign minister meeting with counter parts including secretary of state kerry and some of the others including the foreign minister of russia. we'll stay with this picture for a moment. they were the representatives of the major powers negotiating this. foreign minister representing that openness from iran. again, we'll monitor this picture to see if we hear from secretary kerry. it's important for those watching this. there are several recipes for making a bomb. when you mention the arak, it's a plutonium based way to make a bomb. other sites throughout iran, they can reach up to a certain level without crossing a certain
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line. that's what they have been doing. ann, the president will be criticized here at home and in israel and other parts of the persian gulf for essentially institutionalizing a certain level of weapons program that iran already has and for in effect, trusting a regime a lotd of people think should not be trusted. you have seen it up close. the president and foreign minister. what light can you shed on that? >> well, certainly, the question about trust is one that is unresolved. but, president rojasny, the president of iran are both indicating strongly they want a new relationship with the world and saying they will be trustworthy. they have said they will allow greater monitoring, including spontaneous inspections something the iaea has been wanting. in terms of political fallout,
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there will be tremendous political fallout inside iran for the president. even though the majority of the people who voted for them wanted to have some kind of deal ending sanctions against iran, there is going to be a tremendous push back from the hard liners inside iran, david. i think it's fair to say it will be political fallout, not only for the president but the u.s. relationship with israel and also for the leaders, current leaders of iran and going back to iran saying they have the deal. the argument there will be they have given away too much. david? >> again, i want to under line it's great to have ann curry with us reporting from geneva. you had a front row seat with the negotiations. we'll continue to check in with you. let me check base at the white house with luke russert who is there with us tonight. when he's not there, he's on capitol hill covering the
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debate. luke has been getting more intense because there are republican who is said, look, the only reason iran came to the table to deal is because of tough economic sanctions that this administration continued to advance. therefore, why take our foot off the pedal? there's a move to increase the sanctions. this is a temporary deal. we want to get to a final stage where iran no longer has a nuclear capacity. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, david. it's not just republicans. there's a lot of pro-israel hawkish democrats saying the sanctions work. let's take it up a notch. there's a committee that would make the sanctions more severe. a lot of republicans and democrats wanted that to move through the committee, come up for a vote. harry reid said he was going to bring it to a vote after this two-week senate recess. itis why john kerry went to
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geneva with pressure. let us have longer negotiations and try to work out a deal that could be historic like the one we see tonight. that seems to have worked. the tougher sanctions that harry reid and a coalition of republicans and democrats wanted to see will be on the back burner. the point that ann made that the president of iran is going to take a lot of heat for this deal in his own country, it will happen to president obama as well. republican senators are taking to twitter. lindsey graham the senator from south carolina says this deal does not do enough. it doesn't make sure their ability is decimated. you are going to have a lot of outcry from the right and democrats saying the president went too far here. you are going to see it within iran. interesting to see how they are going to take heat from inside the countries and how it makes the deal look moving forward.
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david? >> thank you. stand by at the white house. we expect to hear from the president momentarily. the chief negotiators have been in geneva. we expect to hear from him as well. meanwhile, as ann curry is in geneva, i have andrea mitchell with me here. let me do the overview again, because i think it's important. the agreement is iran freezes what it's doing, freezes the nuclear program that means enrichment, the production of centrifuges and work being done at a heavy water reactor in exchange for limited relief to help its economy. the israelis would say it's president rue wa any doing what he has done, getting addition nol time. as you look at the percentages and the announcements of this,
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that is the suspicious that will hang over this. >> that is the strong suspicion. luke is right, there are democrats and republicans on the hill. in fact, i have been told one of the reasons for the timing of the so-called nuclear option biharry reid in the senate was to make sure they got it in place before the defense authorization bill came up because they expected sanctions, amendments would easily pass with democratic and republican support. this deal specifically says if the united states will not impose new sanctions between now and six months from now while iran is trying to prove itself during this period. iran will get the sanctions relief. one of the things economists are going to look at is the iranian currency tanked. it's gone down so far that the iranian economy was in shambles. that was creating huge political pressure for the regime. now, around the world with this. you are going to see the iranian
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currency go up. the bet is going to be by those in germany, japan and those in europe that wanted to deal with iran and did until the tougher sanctions went in place 12 or 18 months ago. they are going to want to get back into business with iran. the betting is going to be internationally, globally. iran is going to be reaccepted into the world community as it was for many, many years until the tough sanctions crumbled the economy. i wanted to share john kerry's tweet. this is personal. agreement in geneva makes world safer, more work now. that's the issue, does it make the world safer or is the israeli, saudi argument more correct. if they put their foot on the accelerator, not the brake, the increased sanction threat is what got iran serious and knowing they had to do something about the economy made iran come to the table in the first place.
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it's the argument we don't know the answer to, yet. >> it is worth taking a step back and underlining the importance of this historically. not only have there not been direct negotiations with iran since the hostage crisis in 1979, it was thought in 2003 when our intelligence after the invasion of iraq showed a slowing down of the nuclear program in iran, they would only respond to force or the threat of force. here you have diplomacy, theeth ka si of economic sanctions creating a tremendous breakthrough. we don't know the end game. to get this far is a triumph of diplomacy. >> in 2003, you were covering the bush white house. when 9/11 happened, iran was actually helping us.
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iran was offering help after 9/11. because iran and iraq had been enemies, of course for so many years, iran was looking at us as we were moving toward iraq and looking for possibilities. at the time, there was even a more moderate, not as moderate some say as this one, but the possibility of a different regime there. at that point, of course, george w. bush declared iran access of evil. many people feel there had been letters not answered. that was a missed opportunity, another missed opportunity was what happened in 2009 when the students took to the streets and president obama did not decided against going with those who were against the regime, did not give them open american support. that was another possibility for regime change. then we have had the hardening
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under ahmadinejad. >> we are just about at 10:30 on the east coast, 7:30 on the west coast. there's a big development tonight. the obama administration is trying to get iran to dismantle. there is an agreement for a temporary freeze. that is that iran will temporarily freeze the nuclear program. a nuclear weapons program that has been years in the making now, in exchange for some economic relief. some relief from the tough, economic sanctions imposed by western countries, including the united states. on your screen, you can see a live picture with the presidential podium and seal at the dining room at the white house. we expect to hear from president obama momentarily to talk about what is in the deal, why it's important and how it's a temporary step in his estimation and hope.
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it would in fact lead to a final deal, a permanent rule to get iran to give up its nuclear program. the president in the oval office this evening preparing to address the nation and the world. this picture from earlier on meeting with ben rhodes, dennis left in the green sweater. among the aids briefing the president as the talks were going on in geneva. it's where ann curry is. she's been reporting on this process that's been dragged on for weeks. ann brought in the secretary for key moments. they thought they had a deal, now it's the real thing. give us the top few elements of this and why they are so satisfied with it. >> reporter: well, you know, i think the devil is going to be in the details. we don't know all the details,
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yet. clearly, it's brought in the secretary of state and five other world foreign ministers, not including -- not counting iran's foreign minister. it's a lot of heavyweight here making the deal. there was a lot of calls, david, back and forth to the capitols. the most astonishing part is the speed at which this first step deal was made. think about it. three months ago, the new president of iran saying he wanted to reach out, change the relationship iran had with the outside world, three months ago. there were three rounds of talks. in the three rounds of talks, now, today, we are announcing, tonight, a first step deal with the intention these negotiators want to lead to a final deal. >> ann, let me jump in here. i'm going to jump in. we are going to hear from the president in a moment. i want to pause to allow our nbc stations to join our coverage as
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well. i'm david gregory in washington with breaking news tonight. there is a deal between western powers including the united states and iran that would force iran to temporarily abandon the nuclear program. this is a big development. we will hear from the president in just a couple moments. first, however, in geneva, ann curry has been following this exclusively for several weeks with up front access to the key players. ann, tell us the major developments as we await the president. >> reporter: the major element is iran will have agreed to roll back or at least freeze its
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enrichment capabilities so it would cause it to be less capable of creating a nuclear bomb. this is, of course, something the united states wanted. another key element is some of the sanctions against iran would be slowed down, be held back. this is a deal, first step deal that would help both countries, leading to a final deal accomplished with astonishing speed. david? >> we are waiting to hear from the president. a halt to the program in exchange for easing sanctions on iran. it's why iran came to the negotiating table to begin with. it will be criticized here in washington and israel. it will be difficult to verify. it is making a deal with an untrustworthy partner. here's the president. >> today, the united states, together with our close allies and partners took an important
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first step toward a comprehensive solution that addresses our concerns with the islamic republic of iran's nuclear program. since i took office, i made clear my determination to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. as i said many times, my strong preference is to resolve this issue peacefully. we have extended the hand of diplomacy. iran has not been willing. my work with congress, the ewe knighted security council to impose sanctions on the iranian government. the sanctions have had a substantial impact on their economy. with the election of a new iranian president earlier this year, an opening for diplomacy emerged. i spoke with the president of iran earlier this fall. secretary kerry met multiple
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times with iran's foreign minister. we have pursued intensive diplomacy, by laterally and together with the partners, united kingdom, france, germany, russia and china as well as the european union. today, that diplomacy opened up a path toward a world that is more secure, a future in which we can verify iran's nuclear program is peaceful and cannot build a nuclear weapon. today's announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. for the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the process of the iranian nuclear program. key parts rolled back. iran committed to halting certain levels of enrichment and a neutralizing part of stockpiles. iran cannot use the central fuses used for enriching
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uranium. they cannot start up new ones and production is limited. iran will halt work at the plutonium reactor. new inspections provide access to the nuclear facilities and allow the international community to verify whether iran is keeping its commitments. these are substantial limitations that will prevent them from building a nuclear weapon. they cut off the most likely paths to a bomb. meanwhile, this will create time and space over six months for more negotiations to address concerns about the program. because of this agreement, iran cannot use negotiations as cover to advance its program. on our side, the united states and our friends and allies provided modest relief. we will refrain from imposing
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new sanctions and allow the iranian government access to a portion of the revenue that they have been denied through sanctions. but, the broader architecture of sanctions will remain in place and we will continue to enforce them vigorously. if they do not meet their commitments, we will turn off the relief and ratchet up the pressure. over the next six months, we will work to negotiate a comprehensive solution. we approach the negotiations with a basic understanding. iran, like any nation, should be able to access peaceful energy. because of its record of violating obligations, iran must accept strict limitations that make it impossible to develop a nuclear weapon. in these negotiations, nothing will be agreed to unless everything is agreed to. the burden is on iran to prove to the world its nuclear program
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will be exclusively for peaceful purposes. if iran seizes this opportunity, the iranian people will benefit from rejoining the international community and we can begin to chip away at the mistrust between the two nations. this would provide iran with a dignified path to forge a new beginning based on mutual respect. if, on the other hand, iran refuses, they will face growing pressure and isolation. over the last few years, congress has been a key partner on the iranian government. that effort made possible the progress made possible today. going forward, we will work closely with congress. however, now is not the time to move forward on new sanctions. doing so would derail the first step. they alienate us and enabled the sanctions to be enforced in the first place.
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that unity is on display today. the world is united in support of our determination to prevent them from developing a nuclear weapon. they must know security will not come through the pursuit of nuclear weapons. it must be reached through agreements that make the pursuit of nuclear weapons impossible. as we go forward, the resolve of the united states will remain firm as will our commitments to friends and allies, particularly israel who is skeptical about iran's intentions. ultimately, only diplomacy can bring it about. as president and commander in chief, i will do what is necessary to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. i have a profound responsibility to resolve our differences peacefully rather than rush toward conflict. today, we have an opportunity to
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achieve a peaceful settlement and we must test it. the first step we have taken marks tangible progress we have made. now we must use the months ahead to pursue a comprehensive settlement that resolves an issue that threatens our security for deck saids. it won't be easy and huge challenges remain ahead. through strong and principle diplomacy, we will do our part. thank you very much. >> the president at the white house tonight unveiling a major diplomatic breakthrough. an agreement to temporarily freeze iran's nuclear program with the sole goal to make it impossible for iran to build a
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nuclear weapon. a president em battled at home as a diplomatic breakthrough. it's temporary and comes in exchange for economic relief to iran and questions. andrea mitchell is here with me in washington. underline the significance of this tonight. >> it's huge. as you know, this is the first diplomatic breakthrough with iran since the fall of the shaw since 1979 with the hostage taking. this is such a major step. the white house released a six-page fact sheet with the details they are putting out tonight. they are briefing and explaining and emphasizing this is limited relief on sanctions and the sanctions can be reimposed. they are going to face opposition from israel and capitol hill. david? >> chuck todd is at the white house. the president made a point of saying because you have a temporary freeze, iran cannot use this freeze period or
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negotiations to keep the nuclear program going. they get a freeze and verification from that. that's what critics have been saying the president would use this time to keep building the weapons. >> reporter: that's an important part of the deal to watch and as far as israel is concerned. the big political fallout is this could be the time where president obama has to veto a piece of legislation that comes to him from congress. i can tell you, there's bipartisan support and going to be concern about the deal. you can see a house and senate bill getting to the president's desk. if it happens in these six months, the president has to veto it. >> chuck todd at the white house. we want to go to geneva. ann curry has exclusive access to the talks. she interviewed the president of iran exclusively. as you have taken his measure, a
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self-described reformer, someone who opened a twitter account and tweeting to folks in the west, what is your sense of what it takes to get to a final deal? >> reporter: well, quite a lot, as you can imagine, david. it was difficult for them. it was two months and three rounds of talks to get to this step. it will be difficult to get to a final comprehensive agreement. in fact, this agreement was an attempt to buy time on the clock to get to the final agreement. we heard chuck talk about the political fallout for the president and how difficult it will be in the dais, months and weeks ahead. it will be true for iran's president. many supported the move as a move to ease sanctions they have been difficult for iran's economy. there will be many hard liners saying iran has given away too much. david? >> ann curry in geneva tonight along with andrea mitchell and
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chuck todd. more on the late local news and tomorrow morning on "today." for now, i'm david gregory in washington. have a good night. we resume our breaking news on msnbc. a deal between the west and the united states and iran to freeze the nuclear program. the president said it's the best way to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon down the line in exchange for relief. now, work begins toward a final deal. we'll hear from the secretary of state, john kerry momentarily now that president obama has spoken. chuck todd is with us at the white house. some of these additional details are important here because what iran is agreeing to is essentially step away from the program.
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not past a certain percentage, to stop work on heavy water reactor that is provide a different path to a bomb. step away from the capability to negotiate a long term deal. chuck? >> reporter: david, i have been thinking about this. this six-month deal, i know israel doesn't like it at all. if this deal goes through the way it looks like it's going to go through as far as the inspection process, this is an incredible six-month test. if iran fails, then imagine the pressure that is on the president that's on these international allies to then do something else about iran and sooner rather than later. as much as israel doesn't like the deal one thing about it is they get a date certain. they have a six-month test period. if it doesn't work, then it could escalate some timetables on military actions or something else. >> one of the things andrea
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mitchell says is israel sounded at various times, they can't do anything in the middle of a six month negotiating window. the big question will be, how does iran get to a final deal? we keep talking about the president of iran, he may be a reformer, but he doesn't control the state. what's going on inside iran as best as you can tell? >> i think what's going on inside iran is there are very hard lined groups that are alive with the revolutionary guard. they surround them. they are giving a very short breathing space. he told kerry and the other foreign ministers, i have a short window here. i have six months to do this. that put the pressure on the timetable of the negotiations. two weeks ago, it didn't come together. there was blame the french walked away. u.s. officials say iran walked
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away from it. the fact they were back two weeks later and kerry flew there overnight, they see that timetable. it is the iranian timetable. >> that is the question, ann curry who recollects has been watching this so closely, a lot of critics say what's the rush? they began negotiating because of the pressure. it's getting some relief and the president says they can ratchet up that pressure economically very, very quickly. it does seem like iran achieved something of dictating the schedule here. >> reporter: well, in part, david, i think the obama administration knew about this. the president had a short window in addition to the problems andrea was mentioning with the economic sanctions. politically, it's difficult for iran to negotiate with the united states. imagine everyone's surprise when president obama spoke just
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september on the tell foen with iran's president and how everyone was shocked the two world leader who is speak together on the telephone when they have a diplomatic freeze for 35 years. in fact, these conversations, the negotiations have been accomplished with astonishing speed. think about it, three months ago, we spoke to him. he said he wanted to begin a new phase and chapter for reaching out to the west and the entire world and forging new relations. no one at that time would have been inconceivable at that time we are at the position we are today. we are looking at a first step of a nuclear deal, a final deal. this has been accomplished, this first step with astonishing speed. three rounds of talks in two months. clearly, just as you say, david, there was a lot of pressure to meet the demands of this clock. this clock, the reasons the clock was set was in part
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because of the political fallout not just for the president of iran, but president obama in the united states. >> ann curry, thank you very much. andrea mitchell, the president talks about verification and inspectors being able to go in and see these facilities. americans will remember in other countries like iraq how the inspectors can be duped and evaded and messed with. to be deterred from doing their job. you have to wonder why it is iran is getting rewarded for having disobeyed the iaea -- iaea, the international atomic energy inspectors for years. resolutions to stop their enrichment and development of what most in the west believe is a nuclear weapons program. how they are getting to this
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point. >> points on this white house checklist is that iran will recognize all of those u.n. resolutions it has not that they said were illegal. what we have to look at are the details. how do they get around iran's insis tans that the united states and allies recognize iran's right to enrich uranium. the u.s. and allies insist they would not specifically recognize that right. the nuclear nonproliferation treaty is silent on that. other countries do enrich uranium. iran was insisting on that. that was one of the last details that had to be worked out in geneva today to come up with language to get around that. we have to read that as well. these inspections, as you point out, the u.n. inspectors are supposed to have immediate access to the facilities. as we discovered with iran, they had, without disclosing it,
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built a secret nuclear reactor in the side of a mountain and acknowledged it when american intelligence came upon it. this is the argument by critics of the deal. the iranians have been able to hide things before. it's a secret society. that will have to change according to the deal. >> it's important to point out, you are looking at a press conference in geneva about to get going. we are going to hear from secretary of state kerry who will brief reporters. worth reminding you, the president spoke a few minutes ago. he called the agreement reached in geneva, an important first step on iran's nuclear program. the goal, of course, is to get iran to abandon its nuclear program, give up designs toward production of a nuclear weapon or weapons. or a weapons system in effect. the iranians claimed they are
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merely pursuing domestic energy, nuclear energy. if that were the case, they wouldn't need to enrich to the degree they have done and continue to do. they have deep water reactors to produce plutonium. this is a goal, by the way, of deterring iran that goes back quite a ways, certainly to the bush administration and israeli governments before netanyahu was contemplating. chuck todd at the white house, while we wait for secretary kerry, having to take military action that has been so daunting to administrations going back to president bush who did invade iraq and didn't find great options worth pursuing in iran. >> reporter: this is something i think two years ago there were a lot of people inside the
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administration that thought iran was going to push them to the point where the u.s. was going to be forced to take military action. they were that pessimistic about things two years ago. one other aspect to the idea of whether this thing doesn't work and in six months there's all sorts of pressure, perhaps on the president and israel and others. is that going to be something that the public is going to be okay with? is that something congress will support? we saw the way the public and congress turned on the president when it came to syria. so, i actually think that's why you saw such an effort by this administration now to try really hard to get this deal because there's no political will to fulfill military action. >> here is secretary of state john kerry speaking in geneva in the early morning. >> good very early morning to all of you. it's been a long day, long night
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and i'm delighted to be here to share thoughts with you about this negotiation. i particularly want to thank the swiss government. i want to thank the united nations, and we are honored to be here, even at this very early hour of the morning. i particularly want to thank my colleagues from the united kingdom, germany, france, russia, china and especially lady cathy ashton who is not only a good friend, but persistent and dogged negotiator and somebody staying at this a long time. we are grateful for her stewardship of the negotiations. if i could take a moment, i really want to thank the team from the united states. they have been a great many people involved in this effort
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for a long period of time now both here in switzerland with us now and back in the united states. they know who they are. i will single out our secretary of state wendy sherman who has been a dogged, unbelievably patient hand and a skillful hand. she has helped through a long and argueious months and years within the p-5 plus one. we are grateful to her long efforts and all of her team. at the united nations general assembly in september, president obama asked me and our team to work with our partners in order to pursue a negotiated settlement or solution with respect to the international communities. concerns about iran's nuclear
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program. last month, the p5 plus one entered into a more accelerated negotiation after a number of years of meetings and various parts of the world and efforts to engage iran in serious negotiations. the purpose of this is very simple, to require iran to prove the peaceful nature of their nuclear program and ensure it cannot acquire a nuclear weapon. the reason for this is clear. the united nations security council found they were not in compliance with mpt or other iaea and other standards and obviously activities such as a secret multicentrifuge, mountain hide away, which is being used for enrichment raised many people's questions which is why,
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ultimately sanctions were put in place. today, we are taking a serious step toward answering all of those important questions raised through the council, the iaea and individual countries. we are taking the steps with that agreement that it peeves the progress in a dramatic way of the enrichment facilities and parts of the program and ensures it cannot advance in a way that will threaten our friends in the region, threaten other countries, threaten the world. the fact is that if this step, first step leads to what is our
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ultimate goal, a comprehensive agreement, that will make the world safer. this first step, i want to emphasize, actually rolls back the program from where it is today enlarges the breakout time, which would not have occurred unless this agreement existed. it will make our partners in the region safer. it will make our ally israel safer. this has been a difficult and prolonged process. it's been difficult for us, it's been difficult for our allies and obviously difficult for the government of iran. the next phase, let me be clear, will be more difficult and we need to be honest about it. it will also be even more consequence shl. while we obviously have profound
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differences with iran, yet to be resolved, the fact is that this agreement could not have been reached without the decision of the iranian government to come to the table and negotiation. i want to say tonight that foreign minister zarif worked hard, deliberated hard and we are obviously, we believe better that a decision was made to come here than not to. and to work hard and reach an agreement. we thank the foreign minister for those efforts. together now, we need to set about the critical task of proving to the world what iran has said many times. that it's program is, in fact, peaceful. now, with t
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