tv Andrea Mitchell Reports MSNBC May 14, 2014 9:00am-10:01am PDT
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turkey's history. one month since the nigerian school girls were kidnapped. they were divided into three groups. what is the u.s. government doing? >> what i can guarantee you is that we will make every effort possible in order to help free those young women. we are committed to this effort. together with, i think, decent civilized people all around the world, who think this is a barbaric, horrendous act against the conscience of people everywhere. >> the women of the senate today joining social media on a campaign to get them back. i will speak with one of the leading lawmakers about the international effort. power couple, bill and hillary, back on stage today in separate appearances. did karl rove's name come up? rove is under fire, even from some in his own party, for attacking hillary clinton's health. >> i didn't say she had brain
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damage. she had a serious health episode. this will be an issue in the 2016 race. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. they're increasing u.s. efforts now to find the missing any jer kran girls. it's one thing that both parties in washington are agreeing on. they sent a letter to the president last week demanding more u.s. action. 11 of the 16 democratic women senators took this picture on monday, holding up a bring back our girls hash tag sign. it's become the rallying cry across the globe. michigan senator debbie stabno joins me now. you demanded that they permit al qaeda-like sanctions.
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what more can be done? what hasn't the administration done that it should be doing? >> andrea, first of all, thank you for focusing on this. we know that the add m, offered help immediately. it wasn't immediately accepted. it now has been. which is incredibly important. i'm proud of the fact that on a bipartisan basis, we've really lived this up with the early press reports coming with our letter to the president, with a resolution that unanimously passed the senate. last night we all met at the state department with secretary kerry, and i will just say it was one of our dinners, i won't go into the specifics, but just to say this was a topic of a lot of discussion. and it was very, very clear they're focused on doing whatever they can. we have a secure briefing this afternoon at 4:00. and we're going to keep the pressure on. as you know, there's been movement now of our troops into southern italy to be in a better position if needed to be able to
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help with a rescue. and our message is very simple, this is absolutely intolerable. and we need to do whatever we can, working with those around the world, to bring these girls home. and to focus on this. as a long-term problem. >> now, i get that the nigerian government has its own factions, and wasn't either welcoming or accepting western aid. it was very controversial. they were in denial. they didn't even want to acknowledge this it happened. at the highest levels, president jonathan's wife. but at the same time, we have satellites. they can be redirected anywhere in the world. and there's no indication to me that they were redirected to try to increase the overhead surveillance in a timely way, until almost a month after this had taken place. >> i can tell you that everything is being done now. we're not clear, we'll know more this afternoon, exactly when things began to happen. but i can tell you that it is
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all hands on deck now, and has been for the last couple of weeks, to be able to focus on this. it is very concerning that they have split the girls up now, so that as we look at moving forward, and trying to rescue one group, we certainly don't want to put the other girls in jeopardy. so it's a -- you know, this is challenging. but incredibly important. and the entire world is looking at this in terms of our basic values, as human beings, standing up for girls. girls have the right to go to school, not to have to worry about being kidnapped and stolen as slaves, as sex slaves. and that may also underscore, again, this is the moment. but it is not the only place it's happening, including the united states of america. we need to value our girls, and we need to make this a long-term focus. >> and senator, i know you are aware of this, but i just want to bring our viewers into this conversation. i'm hoping that you and senator
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feinstein and all the other senators, senator makulski, in afghanistan, as we withdraw our troops, because girls who are trying to go to school in the same way, and as our american troops are withdrawing, they are really exposed. and the election is coming up in afghanistan. we really need to hold people to the fire as this pressure against women's education continues globally. >> i coast agree with you more. this is really about how our country, the world, the other countries, the radical factions that are trying to take over country after country, value girls. and we know that the economy improves when girls and women are involved. i can tell you as chair of the agriculture committee, it's the women that are going into farming, that are feeding families in communities, taking
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micro loans and turning them into businesses to support economic development. we don't have educated girls, if we don't have women involved equally in the economy, we will not see this standard of living improve around the world. >> senator debby stabenow, thank you. >> thank you. it is exactly a month since the 276 girls were abducted. they were taken from their school violently in the middle of the night by the terror group boko haram in northern nigeria. the government stepped up their search after they accepted the assistance now, adding an unmanned drone to a manned surveillance plane already scouring the country for any sign of the missing girls. joining me from cameroon, right across the border, stephanie goss. stephanie, i know there are efforts in cameroon as well. is there any indication from the government there some of these girls have been taken across the
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border? >> reporter: officials here bristle at the notion they crossed the border. because the suggestion is that they either tacitly allowed that happened or they turned a bly eye to it. they insist it did not happen. they say the groups have been broken up into three groups, but kept within the northeast part of nigeria by the group boko haram. the area they're concerned about, where they're searching for them is the size of new england. andrea? >> and it's also dense forest. it's really very difficult for, i guess, this unmanned drone that is now searching, the global hawk, is scouring the forest, but the question is, what are the chances that they are a month later going to find these girls? we did see the pictures, of course, of as many as 100 in one group. >> reporter: well, andrea, this tool, the global hawk, is unmanned, long-range,
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high-altitude drone, could be very useful in this. early on u.s. officials said the nigerian government had not asked for drones. one official told nbc news it was -- he was very concerned that they had. it's really one of the best tools they had. so the global hawk can be up in the air for 28 hours. it is nearly undetectable when it is up at the highest altitudes. it uses tools like infrared. if they're talking about this forest, which you'll hear a lot of people suggest is where the girls might be, it's a reserve, a dense forest reserve, that infrared could come in very handy. and this global hawk, like i said, 28 hours, it can fly, has a range of 8,700 miles. it can certainly come from europe to do this task. andrea? >> stephanie gosk in cameroon, neighboring nigeria. now to abuja, where bill nealy has arrived. bill, i understand that family members have screened the video of the girls, and they have identified a number of the girls
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who were taken by boko haram. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, with the screening last night in the state capital, there were very touching scenes as relatives and parents, and friends of the missing girls, and indeed, some girls who themselves had escaped from the kidnapping all watched this video. you can only imagine what was going through their minds. we saw girls walking up to the screen and pointing out various friends. a father pointing at his daughter. a mother wiping away her tears. they described their feelings, which were a mixture, of course, of relief that their children were still alive, but anger. and also, bewilderment at the clothes they were dressed in. there was a lot of people just saying, i almost didn't recognize my daughter. and indeed, some people there couldn't recognize their children because they're dressed in these hijabs with only a small amount of their faces
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showing. and of course, there were probably in this video, which is purported to show the girls, there were only perhaps just over 100 girls. there are more than double that missing. so very, very touching scenes, those parents, agonizingly, after four weeks, watched that video. >> and bill, what can you tell us about the government? because there's a lot of criticism around the world about the government's resistance to accepting offers from the uk, from here, from france, from italy, of any kind of military assistance or surveillance, intelligence even. >> reporter: there's no question, andrea, they've been stung by criticism, that they're not doing enough. it's a very defensive government. today the military spokesman was insisting that the air force has flown over 300 sorti. we saw the first pictures of the nigerian army searching on the ground. that was almost offered as some kind of proof that they are
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hunting for the girls. but of course, there's no way of judging what those pictures really show. are they in the right place, are these track troops. this area is 25,000 to 40,000 square miles. it's absolutely huge. we're also seeing a government that's slightly trapped between their instinct to go after boko haram and probably what they feel they should do is to talk to them. and the government is saying they are willing to talk. but all of their options are open. the talk in this time, in the capital of abuja, that the channels are now being established between the government and the boko haram group that has the girls, that the channel has been there for a couple of years, and they're trying to edge toward possibly some kind of a deal. in other words, that boko haram prisoners, or at least their families who are in jail might
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be free in return for the freedom of some of the daughters. so that's the talk here. but of course, all options, including the military one, remain open. >> we were talking to michael lighter about this in recent days, and he said while they don't, quote, negotiate with terrorists, that there would be back channel negotiations, and that this could be an ongoing process. thank you very much, bill neely. joining me now, california's diane feinstein, chair of the senate intelligence committee, who, of course, has been working on this. senator, you've been talking to the state department. we just staukd to senator stabenow of the efforts, belated some say to nigeria's government accepting help. with the satellite coverage, where we can redirect our satellites, you don't have to ask for nigeria's acceptance and agreement. why didn't we have overhead surveillance sooner? this is only now being organized
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almost a month in. >> i honestly can't answer that. i think you're right, though. i think this is one thing that we need to prepare, that it is so dominantly evil, is a terrorist group. and they do something like this, they burn 200 schools, and they've now kidnapped nearly 300 of these girls. it seems to me we ought to be prepared and move. and we do do a good deal of sig int. >> satellite intelligence. >> yes. assuming it is good sig int, that action happens. i need to look more closely at this. so does the committee. >> do you think that -- i know
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there's a lot you can't say about signals intelligence, because it's classified, but we assume certainly from a lot of the things that have been disclosed so far, that overhead surveillance is very, very accurate, that improvements in surveillance, not only from the global hawk drones which we now know have been deployed, but also from the satellites, that we have technical means to penetrate this dense forest and look for these girls. >> i'm not going to go into detail, but i would say that our technical means are improving day by day, and year by year. there's no question about that. the question that i have is synchronizing what the technical means finds, and what the proper action to take really is. >> the analysis and the follow-up? >> the analysis and the action, and under what premise would our nation put in a special forces unit to go in and carry out what is essentially a military
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activity, whether it's the recovery of these young girls, or anything else. so, you know, we're in a different day and age. i think much more thought needs to be given to this. i think the women of the senate are totally united. and this is a very, very big issue for women. how far are we prepared to go to save these girls, even if the head of government does not invite the nation to -- our nation to do so. >> it really calls into question whether the men in charge of our government, frankly, would have been responding more quickly, despite goodluck jonathan, the president of nigeria's opposition. whether they would have been responding more rapidly if it hadn't been school girls. if it hadn't been some other premise. >> you mean if it had been school boys? >> well, some other military --
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i guess some other cause. because it just seems it took forever to mobilize the u.s. government, even against the opposition of the nigerian government. >> i'm not going to speculate on that. i am to say that i think this kind of thing opens up a whole new venue for america's technical means of seeing from the sky. and then when you see what you do, if it's a terrorist training camp, what you do, how quickly you do it, if it's a targeted individual, what you do, how quickly you do it, because this all takes time and patience. the cia has become very good at this. from the air. but in this kind of instance, it took weeks. and we even had the president of nigeria's wife saying, this isn't true. this didn't happen. they're doing it to embarrass my
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husband. and of course, it was very much true. and nigeria has been very reluctant to take action, which i find very surprising. >> surprising and upsetting, frankly. >> that's right. >> senator, thank you very much. >> thank you. a global health advisory today. 18 people in florida are awaiting test results for possible exposure to middle east respiratory syndrome, or mers. two confirmed cases in the virus have been reported over the last few weeks. there are 538 confirmed cases of mers worldwide right now. there is no specific treatment or vaccination for this virus. this really is a global issue. today in saudi arabia, secretary hagel and everyone else who were attending defense ministers meetings, gulf cooperation council, were all screened by a fever meter. thermal technology to detect any traces of increased temperature, which could reveal the mers
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in western turkey, rescuers are working around the clock searching for miners still trapped after a massive explosion and fire at a coal mine. it occurred yesterday. more than 230 miners are now believed to have been killed. the fate of more than 100 others is unclear. there's a steady stream of bodies continuing to be removed from the mine today. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us from turkey with the latest. what are you hearing there, richard? >> reporter: we are hearing they are not pulling out at this stage. every couple of hours they're pulling out more bodies,
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however. the death toll now is over 245. they still believe over 110 people were trapped inside, and remain unaccounted for. as you mentioned, it's already 24 hours since this fire erupted in this very deep coal mine, over a mile deep. and then it flattened out and branches out for several more miles of shafts. once the fire broke out, those shafts quickly filled with toxic fumes. medical officials in this country said that autopsies that they have conducted on some of the bodies that have been recovered showed that they died from inhaling these poisonous gases. this is also turning into an angry political problem for the prime minister. the prime minister was at the mine a short while ago, and he's been addressing the live television almost all day. and as he was leaving, he was
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booed and jeered by supporters of the miners, some of the victims' relatives. at one stage, the prime minister's security vehicle got quite nervous. several protesters were briefly detained by police. and now the political opposition in this country is calling for protests, clashes have already begun ankara. they were confronted with tear gas and water cannon. more demonstrations, which could also become clashes, are organized for tonight in istanbul. so this tragedy is now becoming a larger political issue in this country. >> and richard, as you were reporting earlier today, i noticed there was an issue of lax rel lagss for these mines. and they were already in some political difficulty. it was completely unrelated
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political difficulties for him. this is a critical challenge for him and his government. >> reporter: it certainly is. and also, members of parliament from the opposition here against the prime minister, just three weeks ago had filed a petition calling for a safety inspection of this particular mine. the mine in somo, which is one of the biggest coal mines in the entire country. the government, however, refused to carry out that inspection saying that everything was in order. that only infuriates people more, as particularly -- as the prime minister is facing repeated allegations of corruption. his police forces face accusations of police brutality. i've just been told, while you were speaking, that several thousand demonstrators are starting to gather in the square in istanbul, and rows of riot police are lining up. so that could become a violent
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confrontation in the next few minutes, or few hours. >> richard engel on the scene right there. thank you so much, richard. in san diego today, firefighters in san diego county struggling to control raging wildfires outside the city triggered by a new wave of el nino winds. nearly 2,000 acres have burned. 20,000 residents were contacted tuesday for evacuations. the fire danger across the area is still very high. >> we have elevated danger levels for fire from los angeles to san diego. but extreme critical conditions over the next 12 hours, because of low relative humidity, sustained winds at 30 miles per hour. the high temperatures which will go right on into tomorrow.
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the lob goblin of little minds. first he said she faked her concussion, now they say she's auditioning for a part on the walking dead. she's strong. she's doing great. as far as i can tell, she's in better shape than i am. she certainly seems to have more stamina now. >> bill clinton, of course, that was moments ago. obviously talking about karl rove. i'm going to go right to you so i can clear my throat. and both of you have been watching this. karl rove against hillary clinton. give us the back drop here. because this happened with karl rove giving a speech. and saying something that apparently he's been saying, according to your reporting, quite a bit. >> well, you know, you get the sense at least listening to it, he goes around the country with robert gibbs. and they're kind of a tag team on the lecture circuit. this was to a private audience that had paid for them to speak.
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and there's no evidence that karl rove knew that these comments were going to become public, but he was clearly rehearsing what i think he believes the republicans are going to be using as an attack line, which is basically hillary clinton has had a series health episode and she needs to come forward and basically divulge a lot of personal medical information, frankly. >> amy, this is, to my mind, part of an effort, sort of a brushback pitch, to try to let her know if she runs, and the republicans think she would probably be the strongest democratic nominee, that she will face a lot of questions, whether it's benghazi, or her health, or trying to connect her to the failure to indict boko haram, the terror group. they're throwing everything at her to say, think this over very carefully because it's going to be rough over there. >> as if she doesn't already know what it's like to run for president. i had no idea it was going to be
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tough running for president. but the second piece is, i was struck by the response from clinton world on this. they came out very hard yesterday. it could have been just a ha ha, sort of how president clinton did in that response, the walking dead. instead, it was a very strong pushback, which suggests, of course, that this is a team that knows what it's up against, and knows that they are going to come to the table with these sorts of comments. >> hillary herself did not respond. this was hillary joking about her book title and how she came at the title today. did not mention karl rove. let's watch. >> along the way, i considered a number of possible titles. about a year ago, the "washington post" asked its readers to send in suggestions for me. my personal favorite was the scrunchy chronicles, 112 countries, and it's still all
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about my hair. >> i think we can all relate to that. but the fact is, hillary clinton is sort of staying above the fray. giving a speech largely on iran, on the middle east talks, you know, to an interest group that would have keen interest in that. but the issue is, she's still deciding whether to run. there are people very close to her i'm told who think she should not run, that there is just too much stuff out there that she'd have to deal with. we saw what happened when "vanity fair" published an essay by monica lewinsky, and everybody starts throwing all that up. >> and she also has a book tour about to start. her book is coming out now. it will be interesting to see, you know, how she handles those interviews. who gets the first interview with her. you know, they're clearly teeing up for something very big. this is a very, very important season for them coming up.
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she does keep saying she's not going to make up her mind until after the midterm elections. >> the fact is, hillary clinton, still a very dominant presence. but a lot of questions are going to be asked. and it's not just a coincidence there's a select committee organized by house republicans on benghazi. >> that's right. even her health is going to be an issue. like it is for every candidate that runs for president. the issue of age is going to be an issue, like it is for every candidate that runs for president. so what karl rove was saying was not something that is new, or is outrageous, to think about, it was the way he said it that got the attention. and the fact that it's karl rove. which there's nothing that gets partisans as riled up on the democratic side as karl rove. and there's nothing that republicans love to use to rile their side up like hillary clinton. so we're back to the proxy wars once again. >> this may be a favor to her that this is happening two and a
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half years in advance. >> thank you so much, karen and chris. clippers owner donald sterli sterling. >> you don't want me to come to your games. i won't come to your games. you don't have to worry about that. but also, i was upset because he threw minorities in it, african-americans, latinos, into this situation. so i had to speak up. look, i'm one of the leaders in the black community so i can't let anybody attack our people and not respond. so that's why i responded. ♪
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community will be able to preview the museum before it opens to the general public a week from today. ron allen got a special tour. >> reporter: at the september 11th memorial, deep below the plaza, the museum rests on bedrock, seven stories down, where the foundations of the twin towers once stood. reminders everywhere of that fateful day. taking us along for a very personal first look, patricia reilly, who lost her sister, lorraine lee. you really feel like you're in the place where this happened, don't you? >> yeah, you do. >> reporter: some exhibits reilly could not bring herself to look at. >> i really don't ever watch that. i always turn my head. >> reporter: that's the south tower collapsing. >> right. >> reporter: her sister worked in the south tower on the 101st floor. the museum has thousands of artifacts, photographs, testimonials, audio and video clips. reilly was searching for something very specific. >> oh, there it is.
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>> reporter: her sister's office i.d. card, one of the only personal items the family ever recovered. >> i succeeded in having her remembered. that was something that was so important to me. >> reporter: every victim's portrait and personal story will be in a memorial hall. something we weren't able to see. it's open to families first. >> we invited every family to contribute something. the vast majority did. it is a museum about people and about stories. >> reporter: it tells the story of the attacks in new york, in shanksville, the pentagon and here in 1993. after her first brief look, reilly seemed overwhelmed, yet satisfied, because she found her sister. >> long after we're gone, i wanted people to see her name and think about her as a person. along with all the people who died that day. >> reporte >> ron allen joins me now from lower manhattan. ron, i think you just answered my question. as i was watching the tape, i
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was thinking, why do we want to go through this again, why do we want to see it. it's too upsetting. and then i realize that for families, and for all the rest of us thinking about the people who were lost, it does keep their spirit and presence alive. >> reporter: there's that, andrea, and i think overwhelmingly it's about trying to remember so that it never happens again. and part of the museum is instructive, with information about the time and what happened, what caused this, and what the response has been to it. there's that as well. but yes, the essence of it are the stories. everywhere you turn in this very dense museum, with tens of thousands of artifacts, pictures, audio clips like 911 calls, video clips like the tv coverage from that time, it's just overwhelming. and there are so many individual stories of the rescuers, of the survivors, and of course, the thousands of people who lost their lives. we walked through it and spent a
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brief time there. it's hard to put into words. it's so large, you're down seven stories beneath ground, at the bedrock where the twin towers were. you really feel like you're a part of what that was. i urge people, go with caution. i'm sure a lot of family members won't want to go there. some will go in their own time. but ultimately, it's about remembering, it's about honoring these people, and it's about saying to the nation, please, never forget this. let's be vigilant about these kinds of things and never forget the people who we lost. and also a significant amount of museum is about the rescue, the recovery efforts. it honors so many heroes who were there. so on the one hand, it can be very upsetting. on the other hand, it can be very uplifting. and so i think the whole experience will be quite amazing for anyone who goes there. >> ron allen, thank you so much. thanks for giving us a window
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into this. very emotional place. and the president will be speaking at the museum tomorrow. we will carry the ceremony live right here on msnbc. we'll be right back. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small.
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(anncr vo) innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. ten years ago, tim russert, our friend and colleague, wrote a very personal book about something more dear to him than politics. a memoir some see as a blueprint for fatherhood. the story tim told about his dad. affectionately known as big russ. those stories resonated with readers, including this story about his work ethic, and retirement. >> i said, mr. russert, you have 200 sick days. i said, dad, 200 sick days? why didn't you take your sick days? he said, because i wasn't sick. keep working. never look back. always show up. always do your job. always be prepared. >> tim's son, luke, a member of
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our nbc family said it was his father and grandfather who continued to inspire him today. on this anniversary of big russ and me, luke has written a new preface for his book. luke joins me now. luke, congratulations. >> thank you so much for having me. i really appreciate it. >> it's very, very special. >> it is. >> for all of us. and you and i have known each other a long time. >> oh, yeah. >> let's talk about some of the lessons. in reading about fatherhood, and about his job, you write in the preface, he viewed his job as an opportunity to serve, to instruct, and to hold those with so much power to the highest standards. he didn't do it for money or accolades. he did it because through faith he carried the conviction that he must ask the important questions on behalf of the american people that his voice must rise above the petty politics that so often killed reason in washington and provide an outlet for the truth.
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i think about how he would look at congress today. >> right. >> when i went to congress, from the white house, he told me, this is going to be your favorite assignment. and it was. i loved covering congress, from 1989 to 1992. and every morning, he and i would talk about, you know, what's the big story of the day, and who's got the action, where's the budget debate in the white house, on the hill. he was so engaged in teaching us how to cover the institutions that he loved so much. >> and i think especially back then, there is a real sense of purpose in the job that politicians did. and there was a real sense that, okay, they would have their skirmishes and their fights, but the end of the day they would try to come together, because that's what voters inherently were elected to do. that's what the vast of americans want congress to do is work together and get something done. i think what he really saw as a journalist, what i wrote there, that in order to help the american people make the best
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decisions about who should come to washington, it really does take the role of strong, tough journalism. i think that's something you do very well. and we try to do here at new york stock exchange news. >> right. >> and something he viewed as purpose on this earth. that he had a finite amount of time. outside of being a father, that was what was really special to him, to be able to provide people with the truth so they could make the best decisions for their own personal future and the country's future. >> let's talk about tim the father. when he came here from new york to be our washington bureau chief, one of the things that he gloried in is how close he could live to the office, and how quickly he could run out to baseball games, or soccer matches, or whatever else you were doing. >> it's so funny, the whole world tried to get him to move back to new york, and offered him all these high-paying jobs, and he said, no, i like washington for the simple fact that if i don't have to drive an hour and a half out to a suburb to see my kid play, i can really be a part of my child's life. he really made an effort to do
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that. i write in the book that it doesn't matter how much money you have, it doesn't matter what kind of degree you have, being a father is a great equalizer. some fathers have to work all day, and that's understood, but the ability to talk to your child, it really does make a difference, and it made a big difference with me. sometimes traveling with you all around the world, he would always phone in and let me know that he cared. >> and talked about you so much. we all felt that we were sort of part of the extended family, as you were growing up. >> without a doubt. >> you quote him as saying, when my life is over, there is nothing more i'll be judged on than what kind of father i was. and that really is so important. i'm very touched by the fact that you look forward to some day, down the road, eventually becoming a father, and the lessons you learned. there's a picture, he presented an award to me. i was so touched by everything that he said. >> the point that i'm hitting on there, and you do a great job of
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this, too, putting things in perspective, we live in this age now that it's narcissistic in a way, people have their facebook followings and twitter followings. i think he would followed the brian williams line on that. that stuff at the end of the day, that goes away. what you do as a parent, that sort of is passed on. and it can pass on for generations. it's so very important. >> can i say, yes, i can say. he is so proud of you, and what you have achieved, as all the rest of us are. the reporting instincts, the way you covered obama care and the passage of health care. the first tests for you on the hill. well done. >> well, thank you very much for all your tutelage, your role model to all of us. i hope to cover the next ten years with you, 20 years. you're getting it done. >> that's a great preface, tim russert, big russ and me, with luke russert's preface.
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>> thank you, andrea. appreciate it. speaking of great role models, she led the way, is leading the way for women journalists. because i don't think she's really retiring. honoring barbara walters. unlimited cash back. let that phrase sit with you for a second. unlimited. as in, no limits on your hard-earned cash back. as in no more dealing with those rotating categories. the quicksilver card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase, every day.
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she has interviewed every president, and first lady, since richard nixon. been on television for more than five decades. and claims she's retiring on friday. i don't believe it. i expect we'll be getting an interview request within weeks. but given that at least officially barbara walters is retiring and she's an institution, i would like to offer her the congratulations of everyone here at the white house, including president obama, and the first lady. >> and barbara walters is not really retiring. amy walter is back with us to talk about a legend, barbara walters. just what she means to all of us in journalism, all of us women.
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she was the first here at nbc for years on the "today" show, when the male anchor said she could not ask the first, second, third or fourth question, she had to wait with big interviews to ask questions. >> we can't even imagine that time, right? the ron burgundy store in real life happening, but a woman, how could that be? >> ron burgundy was modeled after one of the anchor men i worked with. so there are still tales to be told. but barbara, even last week, was involved in the sterling case, getting an exclusive interview. and she's going to be, of course, on "the view" wrapping it all up tomorrow. but such a celebration of a career. she would -- you know, begin and sadat, all the big interviews, from that to, as you mentioned, to kim kardashian. >> i had the pleasure to work with her at abc.
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and even then, it's amazing, her work ethic, and her stamina. where she could go and do a big interview with president obama, but she also was putting together her show about the most interesting people. and she had to know all the pop stars and these things. >> amy walter, and barbara walters, there is no one like her. congratulations, barbara, well done indeed. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online and on facebook and twitter. "ronan farrow daily" up next. we're moving our company to new york state.
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concussion, and now they say she's auditioning for a part on the walking dead. i'm still waiting for her to admit there's still nothing to whitewater. >> the problem is, he's living in the stone ages. what has magic johnson really done. >> i've got 150 kids on scholarships right now. developing news out of turkey right now, rescuers are racing to pull survivors out of a mine after an explosion yesterday. more than 230 people are dead. i do believe that karl rove was totally wrong. >> the "new york post" headline that claimed he openly questioned whether the former first lady may have brain damage. >> nothing drives decent people away from running for office more than this kind of attack. why would i put my family through this. karl rove better be careful what he's talking about, because karl rove saying somebody else has brain damage, take a look at this, and then we'll take a look at it.
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