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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  January 20, 2014 10:00am-11:01am PST

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any reason is wholly and completely false. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," it's a case of she said she said in new jersey where christie's team is fighting back. today the lieutenant governor kim gaudagno emphatically denied the accusations that christie's administration withheld relief money because dawn zimmer would not support a private development project that the governor wanted. >> the fact is that the lieutenant governor came to hoboken, she pulled me aside in the parking lot and said, i know it's not right and this thing should not be connected but they are. if you tell anyone, i'll deny it. >> who's telling the truth? as the scandal grows beyond lane closures on the george washington bridge, can christie's political future survive this expanding investigation. charlie cook and chuck todd are weighing in. sochi surprise as olympic
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torch arrived in the city of volgograd. a chilling video and warning of a new threat at the olympics next month. we'll have the latest from richard engel in moscow. >> russian security forces are searching for one woman in particular who's gone missing whom they worry could be involved in an attack on the games. >> no nukes and what officials are calling a major breakthrough, iran today lived up to its pledge halting the enrichment of high grade uran m uranium. we'll have a live report where the moves had an immediate impact with sanction relief. the dream lives on. on this dr. dr. martin luther king day, 50 years after his i
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have a dream speech, i'll talk to congressman john lewis and alma powell on the new fight on voting rights and education. >> our opponents know, they know the single most dangerous thing to give us is the right to vote. they know what that is. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. 17 days before the opening ceremonies, sochi is already in a security lockdown. u.s. and russian sources are telling nbc news that russian security forces may be searching for as many as four women reportedly set to carry out terror attacks on sochi olympic games next month. one of those women seen here in this russian wanted poster is thought to be already in the sochi area.
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joining me from moscow, chief foreign correspondent richard engel of the tell me about the search for this woman from d dagestan and the significance of the suicide bombers also from there. >> reporter: we've been told this hunt is under way for four different people. one of them being the woman who was put out in those wanted posters, but that there are four different women, four so-called black widows that not just the police but russian troops and intelligence services are act e actively searching for. one woman we've been able to obtain the wanted poster. she is known as tzalema, may have entered sochi on the 11th or 12th of this month. she hads distinctive characteristics, walks with a
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limp and damaged arm and scar on her face. but even with those characteristics she might be able to change her hair color, change her appearance and make it difficult for her to -- make it difficult for russian security forces to pick her out in a crowd. a ring of steel is underway, but this woman seems to have entered that ring of steel and there are three others at least that russian security forces are looking for. >> there was also an allegation this weekend from mike rogers, the head of the house intelligence committee, that there aren't as many american security experts in the field as there have been at previous games. and the suggestion that the russians were not cooperating enough. what are you hearing about that? >> reporter: we've heard quite a bit about that, that the russians are not being as cooperative as the americans would like. as you know in previous olympic games, the u.s. delegation and u.s. security forces have had
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tremendous cooperation, the greek government, i was in athens at the time, effectively opened up the military and gave the united states full access to control centers. here that's not happening. the russian approach has been we will take care of it. don't worry about it. we have everything under control. and i've been told that u.s. officials are particularly concerned about the what if scenario. they don't think that the russian forces are taking enough precautions to deal with the potential aftermath, that it will be difficult to evacuate people because of the limited number of roads in the area, the fact that it is a cold and the areas could be closed because of snow. they are worried there may not be enough hospitals as well. the russians are taken it serious by estsds of the fact they put up the notices of this these four different suspects. there is a concern that not enough precautions have been taken to deal with an aftermath and that the russian approach
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has been stand back, don't ask too many questions, we'll take care of things. >> and that remarkable video, the suicide video from the two men who said they were involved. talk to me about that. >> reporter: that video obviously was recorded before the suicide attack. we don't know exactly when it was recorded but in this video, these two quite young, calm men, describe what they are about to do. they say they are going to carry out attacks in volgograd and these will be the opening blows in a campaign of attacks they went on to say will involve attacks against the olympics and putin and attacks against tourists. they are from dagessstan and represented the leader of the islamic republic of the caulk k caucasus. it's really controlled by the
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russian security services but they don't have full control. there's an active insurgency under way and weekly, certainly every couple of weeks, bombings and shootings and militants might want to use or one of the other republics might want to use this opportunity to carry out an attack, embarrass the government and bring their cause to the world. >> richard engel on duty in moscow. now to the political circus in new jersey. in a sharp rebuttal to comments made by dawn zimmer here on msnbc, tieing aid to zimmer's support of a real estate plan favored by the government, kim gaudagno defended herself by taking the fight to dawn zimmer in a bruising statement. >> you need to hear me say this
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out load and i will, mayor zimmer's version of our conversation in may of 2013, is not only false, but is illogical and does not withstand scrutiny with all of the facts are examined. any suggestion. any suggestion that sandy funds were tied to the approval of any project in new jersey, is completely false. >> yes, i am very surprised by the mayor's allegations and i deny wholeheartedly those allegations. >> the lieutenant governor did not take any questions. dawn zimmer responded, i'm generally disappointed that lieutenant governor gaudagno has rather lived up to her promise that she would deny linking hoboken's application for sandy
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hazard mitigation funding with expediting a private development project. i stand by my word and remain willing to testify under oath and continue to answer any questions asked of me. this after she did testify to them yesterday for several hours. chuck todd, nbc news political director and charlie cook, msnbc political analyst and editor of the cook political report. let's get to some of the specifics, michael isikoff has reported that dawn zimmer reiterated all she got from state provided sandy relief money and flood mitigation money was the $342,000 that there was other federal money. so they are going to keep arguing back and forth over how much money did or did not reach the city of hoboken and whether it was disadvantaged. to the point of the larger political picture, where does christie stand today? >> let's remember, right now we're in a she said, she said, there's going to be an ar bitter
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to who's right or who's wrong. by bringing sandy funding into this, you suddenly -- it base beingal ically opens the doors to the fed to start investigating. they started an inquiry -- >> but not really a federal issue. >> this is a federal issue, federal tax dollars, whole different ball game. and look, when you look at -- i sort of think this is now proof that this is going to be at best a lost year for chris christie as governor of new jersey. i am not -- i don't see how he apparently told an audience down in florida, ask any any questions about 2016 in a year. think he's fully -- that's a case where he's telling the truth. he needs to be in full pause mode about his national ambitions, at some point it's about saving his job.
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>> republicans had mixed responses not only his funders, still supporting him, but there has been a muted response, if you will, of backers. one is rudy giuliani and on "meet the press," we had rudy giuliani and newt gingrich. take a look at this. >> he hold a press conference and held people accountable who were responsible for it. something the president failed to do with benghazi and with the irs. he's given an example of a leader taking responsibility for something that was no question about it, david, wrong. >> christie has to understand, this is a marathon. this could go on for three to six to nine months and he's not going to get rid of it easily. >> charlie, that is the point that chuck is making and i think you as well. that this is not going away now. >> i think that's right. what's interesting to me about newt saying that, during the campaign, he often times went to
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the defense of his rivals when they were attacked. and he sort of doing that again, i don't think anybody expects newt to run. to me what troubles me is the story line that governor christie was the front-runner. i think it would be very smart for the republicans to go to a center right candidate, the heart and soul of the republican party or the people that nominate presidents, they are closer to michelle bachmann or rick santorum or hermann cain than to a crihris christie. they look at centrist republicans, call them rhinos like that's the lowest form of life to them. to them democrats are stupid or crazy but that moderate republicans are traders and i would argue that the hug of president obama hurt christie's chances of winning a nomination more than this bridge thing will. >> christie has talked to matt
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bye yahoo! news and said i don't think anybody knows what it feels like to have the kind of attention i've had in the last nine days, until you go through it. it's awful. i can explain as vividly as you like but you wont get it. that does ring true -- >> you live by the new york media market and die by it. the whole reason why he was being taken seriously as a presidential contender is simply the same rules as real estate, location, location, location. he came from -- he was the most interesting republican closest to the new york city media market -- zblen. >> and so colorful. >> quotable. >> all of those things. he arguably got a speed pass into the top tier being treated as a top tier candidate when maybe he hadn't earned it. now he's feeling like something scott walker won't feel for some
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time, the full weight of what happens when there's a scandal -- >> we shouldn't forget, some of the criticism that's been focused on him by political analysts and not by enemies is that there's too much me in chris christie's self-defense. >> that answer right there is all about me. not about the state of new jersey. >> that was the same criticism of his speech at the convention. he failed the romney expectations and media expectations for what he would deliver because he was not speaking really about why romney would be the best president -- >> shocked that politicians are nacis narcicisstic. >> the affairs commissioner also today strongly denied dawn zimmer's accusations saying mayor zimmer's allegations are patently false and absurd on their face. i welcome a full and thorough law enforcement review. but charlie, where now does the rest of the field stand?
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let's assume that chris christie is going to be on ice for about ayear and that the rga lead areship, if he is able to continue it, is not going to be a launch pad for him as a candidate. >> i think you're going to see, there's eight or ten people that will be going around the country and doing events for candidates and getting to meet donors. this is all the pregame show. it won't be any different from any other time. usually there's sort of an artificial front-runner the way rudy giuliani was. you don't know until you get in the game. and i think it would probably be someone considerably more conservative than chris christie, even though i would argue the most electable place for a republican is somewhere near him. >> the establishment money was getting ready -- they were excited about christie and you do wonder, does that mean more go to jeb bush and say we want you to reconsider? they want to go somewhere else. maybe they'll be satisfied with scott walker. we'll see. there they don't want to go down
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the path of nominating somebody too conservative and losing. i think they -- i know -- i agree with charlie's take but the fact of the matter, christie was being taken seriously. this entire bridge scandal was about trying to get democratic support, which is all about him running for president and showing off credentials to run for president. this is all connected to his national ambition. >> you have this conflict where the money people want to win. they want to win. and the base, they want to be -- >> true to their principles and where there's a fundamental conflict, it's always there a little bit but this time probably a lot more than normal. >> in a word, seahawks or broncos? >> you know, i don't -- tell me what the weather report is. i assume seattle opens as a favorite. if it's cold, i think manning is trouble. but tell me what the weather is going to be like. >> when i can do that i'll have a different job. >> the seahawks should be
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favorite but something about peyton manning. >> andrea knows not to ask me. >> i'm fully afraid to bet. >> the early line is 41 degrees. >> that's good news for peyton. >> right. >> thank you, chuck todd. thank you, charlie cook. meanwhile, a korean american who led tour groups to north korea appeared on camera today in public there appealing in pyongyang to the u.s. government to help secure his relief. kenneth bae appeared before reporters under guard and said he committed anti-government acts whatever that means. it is not unusual for prisoners in north korea to say after they are released they had spoken in similar situations under duress. bae has been detained for more than a year which qualifies as dur res. [ male announcer ] welcome back all the sweet things your family loves
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u.n. nuclear inspectors confirmed that iran is complying with the ground breaking commitment to stop enriching high grade air rain yum. the european union and u.s. have relaxed $7 billion in phases worth of sanctions. a huge benefit for the economically strapped country. ali, this is a big deal for tehran. what is the reaction there? some hardliners are still critical of even negotiating with the u.s. and west. >> well, andrea, it's been a mixed bag of reaction. people are hoping the economy will be revived, that as the sanctions dwindle and dwindle, the economy will revive and people's fortunes will get better. that's what everybody here has been desperate about. the hardliners are very except
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skeptical about this deal. thaz been fairly quiet because the supreme leader supported this deal so far. behind the scenes there's been a lot of rumble, they feel they sold iran's right down the require. they talk about something between 5 and $7 billion worth of frozen assets being given back to iran as a sort of a joke. they are saying this is iran's own money being given back to us and we shouldn't be jumping in the air about that. the relief that's being given, the sanctions relief that's been given by americans own admission has been modest. but nonetheless, sanctions relief comes as a great relief for many of the people here because times have been very tough. having said that, i don't think we'll see anything change overnight here. the currency is slightly strengthened here over the last few days, but nothing drastic. the next six months will be crucial to see if iran can
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recover from these economic sanctions. and also the government here played down the sanctions quite a lot. the deputy foreign minister here has said that the sanctions -- the structure of the sanctions will suffer a serious uprooting. again, they've down played it. andrea. >> thank you so much. for more on all of this, i'm joined now by nicholas burns, ambassador burns, former undersecretary of state who served as lead negotiator for iran in the clinton and bush administrations and lee hamilton, member of the president's homeland security vitzry council. welcome to both. nick burns, first to you. you've been involved in negotiations like this. the next six months are critical. i talked to david al bright earlier who has been advising congress on what comes next. and iran is going to have to agree that it had a weapons program and agree as to everything it did in the past in order to meet the standard to have all of the sanctions lifted
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and have a real deal put in place. do you contemplate that that is going -- at any point be acceptable to the iranian regime? >> well, that's the key question, andrea. we don't know the answer to that question. but i think president obama has been right to get us to this point. i served as the iran negotiator for president bush but not president clinton. they have tried very hard to try to think about getting iranians to give up the ambition for nuclear weapons and ensure the rest of the world they are going to content themselves with a very limited con strained civil nuclear program. this next round of negotiations in the next several months will be extremely difficult because iran is going to be asked to deconstruct some of the their existing facilities and to make sure, for instance, that they can't produce plutonium, that there are very strict safeguards at the enrichment plants and i think it's going to be difficult for the hardliners in rain.
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not so much for minister zarif and rou hanny. that will be the key question. surely we're right to follow the negotiations forward and hopefully the obama administration can succeed. and we'll see once the deal is made whether it's acceptable or not in tehran. >> lee hamilton, your former colleagues in congress are threatening to impose sanctions that would kick in six months from now if iran is cheating or doesn't fully comply. and the president saying he would veto it because it would be a deal breaker, it could prompt iran to walk away. what role do you think congress should play in these ensuing months? >> i do not think congress should try to interfere with the negotiations. these negotiations are complex. there are a lot of moving parts to it. congress really does not know all of those moving parts. you cannot have 535 negotiators of an agreement.
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you have to leave that to the president, the congress obviously ought to exercise oversight, ought to keep themselves very well informed. but you cannot pass legislation with the specificity that it requires without interfering with our diplomats and with the president in negotiating. this is a promising moment in our recent history with iran. >> it is possible that we'll back them away from the prospect of developing a nuclear weapon. so far so good. let's keep the diplomacy moving and not interrupt it. let's not interfere with it. let's give the president an opportunity to negotiate the deal and then see if we like the deal or not. let's not interfere with the process and that's what the congress i fear is trying to do. >> and to both of you, there is an unrelated but related subject
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because the u.n. chief ban ki-moon invited raen in the last 24 hours to participate in syria peace talks. even though iran has not agreed to the precondition that the talks be based on a transition away from assad. and iran is rearming assad and propping him up with fighters and money. this is a deal breaker for some of the syrian opposition groups, they are threatening to boycott the talks. a lot is in play. john kerry has been working this so hard as you know, nick burns and trying to dissuade ban ki-moon, the u.n. from trying to persuade them to rescind the invitation to iran. should iran be at those talks? >> i think the u.s. is right to ask the following question, will the iranian government support the goal of the united nations which as you said is a transitional government, away from president assad, some new government that might represent all of the people of syria and have a chance of a cease fire
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and entering this terrible humanitarian catastrophe. the iranians have been on the ground. they have their own security forces fighting on behalf of the syrian government and invited hezbollah in and armed hezbollah and funded hezbollah. i think the skepticism is correct and iranians ought to make a public statement in the next 24 hours that they will agree on this transitional government as a goal. if they can't do that, it's hard to see how they can be constructive at these talks. they might even reinforce the position of the assad regime. >> and lee hamilton, what about the whole posture of the u.s. to try to separate the nuclear negotiations from all of the other things that iran is doing in the region, hezbollah and support of other terrorism and most prominently support of assad. is it possible to pursue two tracks with iran and not have
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these things somehow get confused? >> well, i think it is possible but you have to let the negotiations flow and see what becomes possible as you move along. i have the view that iran is a major player in the region, that somehow or other, their views and their power has to be taken into consideration. the united states deserves a lot of credit for pushing forward the idea of a peace conference. you're not going to have a military victory in syria today. it has to have a political settlement. however, for the united states to put a precondition and say, that we must have assad step aside, i think goes too far. i have the view that you don't make peace without talking to your adversaries. so i would prefer that the united states take a position of
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we're ready to negotiate or work to negotiate with all of the parties involved, friends as well as enemies, and that the agenda not be set beforehand. not try to resolve the result of the negotiation before you go to the negotiation. have an open system, including all of the parties. we cannot stick our head in the sand and say iran is not a big player in syria or in the region. they are. we have to account for that power. we don't like it. we don't like their positions but you don't make peace just talking to your friends. >> lee hamilton and nick burns, so great to see both of you. thank you both very much. we'll be right back. ♪
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afghanistan and several u.n. officials. three americans who worked at the american university of afghanistan, this is a project, school first launched with the help of laura bush and strongly supported by hillary clinton and secretary kerry who visited many of the students there in march. alexis kamerman, her family said she was fearless and devoted to her goal of helping young women in afghanistan improve their lives through education. petersen taught political science and served as energy expert. basra hassan came to michigan for higher education and became a u.s. citizen. a nutrition specialist for the united nations. american university was the first coed higher education institution in afghanistan. yesterday hundreds of afghans protested against violence and terrorism and placed flowers outside that popular restaurant.
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(announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. in a half century after the i have a dream speech, leaders in washington laid a wreath at the national mall this morning, commemorating dr. king's birthday. joe biden used the occasion to speak out about the nation's battle over voting rights. >> i have to admit, i never thought we would be fighting the fight again on voting rights. i never believed -- i didn't. >> this has been the ultimate fight because our opponents know, they know the single most dangerous thing to give us is the right to vote. they know what that is. >> joining me now are cherilyn counsel of the naccp fund and
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john lewis, of course, marched and fought with dr. king. thank you both very much. dr. king -- john lewis, this was not dr. king's birthday, this is the day we kmcommemorate the birthday. what do you think the big challenge? is it voting rights, is that the main focus? >> well, we should not only focus. it should be just one part of a large agenda to continue to fight and press for the right of all of our citizens to participate in a democratic process. dr. king has said it in the past, i've said it in the past and i continue to say it, the vote is precious. almost sacred. it is the most powerful nonviolent instrument that we have in a democratic society. and we must use it. people i knew, people that i
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work with and people that i marched with and dr. king worked with and marched with, some of those people died for the right to vote, the right to participate. and we have to continue to open up our society and let all of our citizens come in. >> and cherilyn, when congress is now looking at fixing the problems that were identified by the supreme court in the court's view and passing legislation, what is your posture on it? does it go far enough? it identifies other states but didn't even focus on places like north carolina, which have been a major problem that the legal defense fund has been addressing. >> the first thing to recognize is that it's incredibly exciting and important that a bill, a bipartisan bill actually was introduced when the supreme court decided the shelby county alabama case last june, all of the neysayers said it could never happen and it did happen largely due to the heroic efforts of john lewis and jim
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sen sen brener. what we see in the bill is not a perfect bill. i think even representative lewis admits that. it has interesting features, you identified one that many of the provisions are nationwide and so they provide the opportunity to prote pro minority voters in areas outside the south. it's hard to imagine a bill that doesn't cover places like alabama. obviously there are some pieces of bill that have to be worked on. but this is the beginning. this is how it begins. the bill comes out and now community groups and civil rights organizations and congress can really begin working together to get the best possible bill we can. we're incredibly encouraged because what we see is the will of republicans and democrats in congress to fix the problem and ensure that all voters have the right to participate equally in the political process. >> john lewis, do you think you'll be able to build on the bipartisan support and get legislation like this through the house? >> i am convinced that we're
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going to continue to move forward. we're going to build on the bipartisan support. and we will not be happy and not be satisfied as members of congress both democrats and republicans until we pass this bill this year. >> and i wanted to ask both of you, other than voting rights, what are the other things that you need to -- that you believe the country needs to do to fulfill dr. king's dream? >> dr. king was very focused, particularly in the last years of his life on the issue of economic injustice. and i think that since the economic crisis of 2008, that has become even more of an urgent need tore civil rights groups to focus on and address. it's not just employment, but providing a living wage and fut or for young people that they can see that will allow them to live out the american dream. >> and congressman lewis, as you know better than i, memphis and
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sanitation workers, that was the final mission of his life when he was killed. >> i would agree. when dr. king was planning not just to go to memphis, memphis was not really on the agenda, but he saw a need and responded to the cry to the needs and to the pain of the people in memphis. but he was coming to washington to put on the american agenda the issue of poverty and economic justice. but i'll tell you, the other great need is first in the congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. if dr. king was here today, he would be traveling and preaching all across america that more than 12 million people, that are living in a shadow and we need to bring them out and set them on a path to citizenship. dr. king would have said there's no such thing as i will illegal
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human beings. >> john lewis, thank you for everything you have done over the decades. it's great to have you both. coming up, more about this dr. martin luther king jr. day, a new calm to service. alma powell joining me next. spa. passenger: you've got to be kidding me. spa. driver: this is good. woman: vamanos. driver & passenger: vamanos. woman: gracias. driver & passenger: gracias. passenger: trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. driver: mira entra y comprame unas papitas. vo: get up to 795 miles per tank in the tdi clean diesel. the volkswagen passat. recipient of the j.d. power appeal award, two years in a row.
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area where i have an acknowledged kmit commitment to the organization. >> we're happy for your support. >> tell us about the goal and the real gap we continue to face in graduating students and in having students have the what they need to achieve and compete. >> well there's good news. we began this campaign in 2010 and with horrible statistics about high school dropouts. over this past few years, we have seen a big change through our grad nation campaign. high school graduation rate overall now is 78% in the united states. that's the highest it's been in many years. and we need to celebrate that. but we still -- our goal is to reach a 90% graduation rate by the year 2020. and at the rate we're going, we are on track to do that by raising the profile and talking about this, many people had no
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idea of the situation when we first began. i used to feel like i was ka sandra, saying if you don't do something about this, it is the fate of our nation. >> tom freedman had an op-ed that was stunning to me. when he talked about what parents need to do, the involvement of parents and other adults and mentors part of your mission. he wrote in yesterday's "new york times," are we falling behind not just because we fail to recruit the smartest college students to become teachers or reform resistant teachers unions but because of our culture today. too many parents and kids don't take education seriously enough and don't want to put in the work today to excel. >> i think he hit the nail on the head right there. we talk a lot about it. parents expect schools to do everything. that's not their job. the job -- it belongs to all of us and first of all, with those
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parents at home, laying the groundwork for learning and to have respect for learning. too often you hear parents say we don't really like school. school is out tomorrow. that's not a good attitude to have. school is our children's work, and they have to work hard at it in order to succeed. >> what about the various reforms and the focus on charter schools, public charters, as well as other initiatives. we've seen so much dispute. it's hard to sort through all of the statistics as to what works and what doesn't work. >> well, all of those things are very good, and we'll have a lot of confusion until we figure out what does work, but the thing that we understand at america's promise is that children need five basic things in order to succeed, and this doesn't have anything to do with school reform or charter schools or any laws that are made by states and so forth. they need five basic things in order to be able to compete and to learn correctly.
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and if i may, i'll tell you what they are. caring adult in every child's life. safe places to learn and grow after school. a healthy start. a markable skill through an effective education, and on this day of service, the most important one we think, is the opportunity to give back. giving them those things and surrounding them with supports that will allow them to be able to learn. a child who is hungry cannot learn, and too many of our children are hungry going to school. too many of our children don't have an adult in their lives who really cares about whether they succeed or not, and is there to provide that backup, the person who has their back all the time, that they can depend on. >> that's where all of us can step in. >> that's where all of us can step in. there are all kinds of opportunities to do this. we just have to look around. >> alma powell, someone doing more than looking around. you're leading. thank you for leading all the way with america's promise
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alliance. >> thank you. it's good to be here. >> to be continued. coming uch, the other big story, we'll be covering new jersey. it's super bowl time, almost. stay with us. before chantix, i tried to quit probably about five times. it was different than the other times i tried to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. it's a non-nicotine pill. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. that helped me quit smoking. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking, or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix, and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental-health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away, as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood-vessel problems or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping, and unusual dreams.
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and now we're looking forward to super bowl sunday, but it was a wild championship weekend. first in denver where peyton manning silenced some of his critics. he'll make his first trip back to the super bowl in five years. and then there were big fireworks in the 49ers/seahawks game in seattle. both teams going back and forth in the first quarter, but the big play was made by richard sherman, deflecting a pass indei intended for michael crabtrue, and making sure the world knew how he felt about how it played out. >> the final play, take me through it. >> well, i'm the best corner in the came. when you try me with a sorry receiver like crabtree, those are the result you're going to get. don't you ever talk about me. >> in a blog post today, sherman
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explains his behavior, saying in part, a lot of what i said to erin andrews was adrenaline talking. and somef othat was crabtree. i just don't like him. it was loud, in the moment, and it's a small part of who i am. i don't want to be a villain because i'm not a villains person. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." craig has a look at what's coming up next on news nation. >> it's always funny to me when people puts, i don't like him, in a written statement. >> yes, indeed. adrenaline. >> in our next hour, tough new words from both sides after a new jersey mayor accuses chris christie's lieutenant governor of playing politics with sandy relief money. what they're saying about the alleged shakedown, and democratic mayors, quote, coming out of the woodworks. and the latest on the search for at least four female
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terrorists who may be planning an attack against the olympic games. including one woman believed to be in the city of sochi. and the obama administration taking on the so-called school to prison pipeline, and findings that minority students get ha h harsher punishments for similar offenses. all that and more coming up next on "news nation." yeah? then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. silence. are you in good hands? anybody have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three types of good bacteria. i should probably take this. live the regular life. phillips'. to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty. but there's one that's so clever,
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neutrogena® cosmetics. progress-oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying "progress-oh!" share your progress-oh! story on progresso.com. i'm craig melvin, in for tamron hall. we're following new niegz from the christie administration from the latest allegations in the so-called bridge scandal. with less than 24 hours before he's set to take the oath of office for his second term, his administration is spending today, fighting allegation s frm the mayor of hoboken, new jersey, that sandy relief funds may have been tied to support of a