i'll stand by that decision. i signed off on the decision. the president made the ultimate decision. >> they didn't notify congress. i think they violated the law in two different places here. >> freedom and controversy. bowe bergdahl is no longer a prisoner, but the deal making this possible is coming under fire. the rush of war. a new film captures moments in afghanistan that could help explain why u.s. soldiers have so much trouble coming home. the president is expected to roll out a historic plan that could change the planet. i've done absolutely nothing wrong. >> the latest word from pro golfer phil mickelson. new details on why he feels the need to say exactly what you just heard him say. hello, everyone, high noon

in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. we have new details from chuck hagel about the release of u.s. soldier bowe bergdahl after he was held for nearly five years by the taliban in afghanistan. >> he did walk to the extraction helicopter. he did perform the basic duties and responsibilities when that process took place. he is in landstuhl, germany, at our medical facility there. our health care professionals are now with him. and they will be giving him complete checkups. >> officials say bergdahl was first taken to bagram airfield in afghanistan, before being transferred to the medical center in landstuhl, germany, where he's scheduled to go to the san antonio medical center where he will be reunited with his family.

his parents joined the president at the white house late yesterday expressing their gratitude. >> i just want to say, thank you to everyone who has supported bowe. he's had a wonderful team everywhere. we will continue to stay strong for bowe while he recovers. >> we look forward to continuing the recovery of our son, which is going to be a considerable task for our family. >> meantime, two republicans on the senate and house armed services committees are accusing president obama of breaking the law by approving the release of five afghan detainees at guantanamo bay, in exchange for bergdahl. they say that the president is required by law to notify congress 30 days before any detainees are transferred from gitmo. in a joint statement, the two said, quote, our adversaries have a strong incentive to capture americans. that incentive will put our forces in afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk.

let's go to the white house and kristen welker. good sunday to you, kristen. what are you hearing from the white house in response to that republican criticism about weighing the cost/benefit for this fight for one exchange? >> reporter: alex, good afternoon. the white house is saying that bowe bergdahl was a prisoner of war and the united states doesn't leave a soldier on the battlefield. that is the framework in which they were approaching trying to get him back on u.s. soil. remember, these negotiations started years ago. and then there was an opening about a week ago. the united states said they wanted to seize on that opening. the other big criticism, alex, is you have some republicans saying, wait a minute, this violates the u.s. policy, that it doesn't negotiate with terrorists. u.s. officials pushing back on that as well saying there were no direct negotiations between the united states and the taliban, instead the qatari served as intermediaries.

but they say bergdahl's health was deteriorating and there wasn't any more time. >> this was essentially, in our opinion, to save the life of sergeant bergdahl. as i said before, we had information that his health could be deteriorating rapidly. there was a question about his safety. we found an opportunity. we took that opportunity. i'll stand by that decision. i signed off on the decision. the president made the ultimate decision. we did spend time looking at this. >> reporter: so those five detainees, by the way, they're described as afghan leadership, they have arrived in qatar. that is where they will spend the next year. the question is, what happens next with those five detainees. president obama saying that qatari officials have given the united states assurances that they will put steps in place to make sure that u.s. national security interests are

protected. >> okay. kristen, i'm curious about the white house's response to this, what they're telling congress about carrying this out. we should note when the president signed this law last year, he did have a notification that -- he said, look, this is going to sort of tie my hands if i need to do this. this will challenge my executive authority to do this, if need be. we saw a preview that he didn't want to have his hands tied by this. >> reporter: that's exactly right. president obama has been opposed to this idea that he needs to give congress 30 days notice before releasing detainees from guantanamo. the white house acknowledges they did have to break that in order to get sergeant bergdahl out essentially to save his life. reiterating that point. that it is also u.s. policy not to leave a soldier on the battlefield. alex, the big question moving forward for this administration,

though, is what happens after a year. because, of course, those detainees are going to be held in qatar for a year. what happens next. i anticipate that those will be some of the questions that lawmakers will be focusing on, demanding answers to in the coming days from the white house. >> absolutely they will be. thank you so much, kristen welker from the white house. i'm joined by one of the few people who knows some of what sergeant bergdahl went through. he was captured by taliban militants in 2009, along with an afghan colleague while reporting in northern afghanistan. four days later he was rescued during a raid by british commandos. steven, i'm glad you're here to talk about this. what was your initial reaction when you heard about sergeant bergdahl's release yesterday? >> after seeing what his father has been saying over the months and years, you first think of the family. what a relief for him. what a poor situation for his son to be in for so many years. and politics will play out.

inevitably, it always does. there are always these discussions, was it wrong, was it right, should the tradeoff been done in principle at all. the reaction for me, imagining the feelings going through his mother's and father's minds. >> let's talk about those four days for you. what do you remember about it most and what were they like? >> obviously it doesn't compare with the number of years this gentleman's been through. but the sense of precariousness is the same. from second one, as soon as you're grabbed, as soon as you're brought to a house, and then put behind walls, you're at the mercy of basically the strongest personality in the room at any given time. you can get some sort of bond going with your captors. you can get friendly with them. but somebody walks in the room after an hour, two hours or two days, the whole dynamic changes, and you have to start working on that person to make them less

likely to kill you on the spot. then you figure out a sense of the dynamics, is this a disciplined group or are we just dealing with bandits. is there an agenda here. but you're constantly aware that they kind of -- they feed you dribs and drabs of information, we're looking for money, or we're looking for prisoner exchange. you don't know whether you can believe them. but you're getting that information back from them. but you're constantly aware, right from, somebody in the room decides to break that deal, or change in leadership 500 miles away could change that reasoning. it's always precarious. >> in your four days, which i'm sure were excruciatingly long, was there anything that you heard or saw or felt? >> i could hear the drones overhead, literally hear more than one over the house. i mean, they were -- taliban could hear them and pointing up and saying, your friends, ha ha

ha. they weren't even really trying to hide from them. the drones, the -- no doubt the electronic surveillance going on was just a fact of life that they operated with. the people i was with were just talking about me openly on their are nokia cell phones. anyone could have eavesdropped. >> so let's talk about the raid that released you. i mean, because it was -- there was a loss of life certainly. >> there was, yeah, a british soldier was killed. my afghan colleague was killed. the -- i can understand the difficulty of any decision to launch any raid for anyone in these circumstances. >> this was a residential area, correct is this. >> in my particular case we were in a village in northern afghanistan. we would move four or five times a day. again, after three days, a raid was launched to free us. but it either went to the wrong house or for whatever reason, we

heard the helicopters fly overhead and go elsewhere. the taliban immediately bundled us out of the house and took us to a children's school and literally put us on the floor surrounded by young children. >> so they would be the cover. >> so they would be the cover. these were a remote group. a long way away from taliban heartland, operating with very few resources. i mean, this is in the heartland of the taliban. they would have no doubt, anybody trying to rescue them, or thinking about trying to rescue the sergeant, would have been thinking, you know, this is going to be perilous and very, very, very risky. >> so you have your return. i imagine you have thought about this in the ensuing days. it comes back to haunt you, i should think. when you think about what bowe bergdahl faces, what kind of an uphill climb does he have? >> i can't even imagine what it's like after years in captivity. but what i do know is, the first few days of it, probably weeks in his case, is very processed.

he's immediately in a process. i got off the helicopter and a phone was thrust into my hand with my wife's cell phone number in it. straight from there to the medical center for a full medical checkup. in his case, i would imagine it would take a lot longer. >> they have not indicated when he will leave landstuhl to come back to the united states. >> and a very, very thorough e debriefing. >> when you think about the five prisoners for whom he was exchanged, what are your concerns about them? these are hardened, hard-core taliban members that have been in gitmo since 2002, is it, for some of them? quite some time. >> we've heard arguments already. these arguments will go on. it is obviously the case that a prisoner exchange, you don't exchange prisoners with your friends or allies, you exchange prisoners with your enemies. i'm not going to second-guess

the decisions taken here. clearly these are people who have been in gitmo for a very long time. who knows what they will do if they're released again. that is clearly a risk the americans have taken. the calculation, on the other hand, is, do we leave somebody behind on the field. do we leave somebody behind on the field at a point where our armed forces are about to be withdrawn, considerably making it much less likely he would ever be found again. >> steven farrell, thank you for your insights into these circumstances. i appreciate it. >> thank you. joining me right now is an iraq war veteran and professor of history. earl, with a welcome to you, i'd like to have a listen with you to defense secretary chuck hagel today. >> sergeant bergdahl is a member of the united states army. this was a prisoner exchange. after five years, he's been a prisoner of war. >> okay. the secretary is calling this a

prisoner exchange. the men held at gaughuantanamo listed as detainees. >> this is unprecedented. one, it is -- the first thing that president obama did when he came into office is declare there was no global war on terrorism. so we're not in a state of war, we're in contingency operations. he's playing the doubleheaded -- the double-hatted game here. at the same time, this was a well thoughtout move on the president's part to accept this. i do not think it started with him. i think it started at a very junior level, work with diplomats and the cia, special forces as well. and that they worked hard to get this to go through. the problem, i think, across the board is the way it was handled and the information domain. when he was released, the president should have classified this on what the actual stipulations were.

this is done all the time classifying negotiations, not allowing them to happen. if the president wanted to make it clear on what happened, they could do it through a system of leaks to different reporters. but this really complicates the relationship in the region, especially with the afghan leadership, when we're going to negotiate a status of forces agreement with them in the coming months. we just said that we support you, but now we released the five most senior taliban commanders from gitmo. we don't know what these five taliban commanders, how they were processed in gitmo. what is the intelligence that was gleaned from them, how they may have been turned, whether or not they're even going to be accepted back into the fold of the taliban. we don't know. i would guess that they're not. i would be very surprised if they were allowed to be brought in. that's by the internal organization itself. the qataris, again, they're

going to make sure that this is limited. this is a big coup for them to win support with the americans. i know they're reaching out strategically, both economically and defense for our support. so being able to negotiate this, this is very good for them. >> so, once they are in qatari hands, how much leverage does the u.s. have during this year ahead? >> well, that's the problem. it's a stated year. the president said that in afghanistan, that we were going to be completely out, and it was a troop withdrawal in a year or two. the 2016 is the max. this just said to the afghanistan leadership, hey, we don't care about you after this year. we're going to let them come back and we don't care what they do as long as our -- it's not going to hurt our national security. again, if all of these details would have been classified, would have been pushed down, it could have been leaked to reporters, this would have uncomplicated the whole thing. and let the republican

leadership -- i'm surprised they're going to try to go after the president with the legality of this. if i were the president, i would turn and say, please charge me, because i will stand and take and stand and face those charges because this is something that an executive leader should do. >> yeah. well, former iraq war veteran, professor of history, earl, thank you so much. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. the president's historic new battle plan for climate change. what this could mean for the economy and your power bill. blown away, a bounce house pushed across a field with children inside. plus, the celebration plans as bowe bergdahl's hometown gets set to welcome him home. >> everybody has tried so hard to get him back. and there's been huge support. it touched my heart. made me want to cry. ake things r a living i take pride in them. so when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis was also on display, i'd had it. i finally had a serious talk with my dermatologist.

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here's what's topping the news now. a private plane became a fireball after crashing with seven passengers and crew onboard. all are dead. the gulf stream 4 plane was leaving massachusetts. the philadelphia enquirerer was one of the people onboard. he just bought the paper with a business partner last week with an $88 million bid. the crash happened about 20 miles or so from boston. the ntsb is now investigating that crash. six mountain climbers are believed to be dead after a massive fall from mount ranier in washington state. they saw no sign of the climbers. they also picked up pings from several avalanche beacons. >> those beacons and the climbing gear and everything else came down over 3,300 feet, down almost a shear cliff.

it's inconceivable someone could have survived a fall like that. all indications are that basically this search has come to a very tragic end. >> the climbers were scheduled to reach the mountain summit on thursday. take a look at the weather. powerful winds in denver blew away a bouncy house at a party. check this out. there were two kids inside, as the strong gust of wind picked up the house and blew it several hundred feet. one child was taken to an urgent care center for treatment. today marks the first day of the atlantic hurricane season. forecasters say we should expect a near normal or below normal season with two major hurricanes. as for the rest of this weekend, how is it looking? dr. greg postel with the weather channel has more. greg? >> thanks, alex. we have the unsettled weather really in the middle of the country. let's have a look at the map and see anywhere from chicago down to the gulf coast can expect showers and thunderstorms today. and we do have the chance of severe weather in this area

shaded in red, all the way from the northern plains down through parts of kansas. the coast looks pretty good. new york, 77 and sunny. san francisco, partly cloudy and 73 today. here's where the severe weather we expect this afternoon and evening, from rapid city down through dodge city, kansas, and including places as far east as des moines, iowa. the type of severe weather we expect today is hail and high winds. but you can't rule out the possibility of a tornado. tomorrow, everything shifts a little farther to the east. the severe weather threat includes chicago tomorrow. highs in the low 80s. severe weather threat will extend to the southwest. new york, sunny, 81 and really hot in the southwest. with phoenix with a high 110 degrees. that's hot enough for anybody. severe weather tomorrow, chicago to wichita. a small chance of a tornado. >> dr. greg postel, thank you. now to the big developing

story as the nation celebrates the release of bowe bergdahl. the u.s. freeing five high taliban members in exchange. susan rice was asked if the u.s. now negotiates with terrorists. >> what we did was ensure that, as always, the united states doesn't leave a man or woman on the battlefield. >> right. >> in order to do this, it's very important for folks to understand, if we got into a situation where we said, you know, because of who has captured an american soldier on the battlefield, we will leave that person behind, we would be in a whole new era for the safety of our personnel and for the nature of our commitment to our men and women in uniform. >> joining me now, democratic congressman steven horseford. thank you for being here from nevada. i appreciate that. >> thank you, alex. good to be on. >> you heard ambassador rice here. she did not say if the u.s. changed its policy. i'll put that same question to you, sir, did the u.s. negotiate with terrorists? >> first, let me say the release

of this u.s. soldier, which was the sole and remaining soldier in captivity in afghanistan, the fact that he's now released ond his way back to his family is a great victory. i, for one, am a bit appalled by the republicans in congress who would criticize the president at this moment, when our solemn responsibility should never be to leave a soldier behind on the battlefield, and it is within the authority of the president to act as the commander in chief, to make sure our soldiers return home safe. >> you say that, sir, despite the fact there is a legal question being raised here about the release of the taliban prisoners here. by law, as you know, congress is supposed to be notified 30 days before a detainee in gitmo is transferred. in this case, the president invoked the executive powers to get around notifying you and your colleagues. are you comfortable with that? >> well, first, this is not the first time that prisoners were

released from gitmo. under the prior administration, president bush, they released many more prisoners, and under this particular situation, the president did consult with the department of defense as well as the department of justice. this was not something that he did alone. but he did do in the interest of bringing our soldier home safe. so we did not leave him on the battlefield. we can debate the process going forward. but see, republicans are always more concerned about the process. what i think they should be criticizing is why speaker boehner has us on recess this week instead of in congress doing our job. why aren't we fixing what's wrong at the va this week in congress rather than being on recess? why aren't we extending unemployment insurance benefits for 200,000 veterans who need them? that's what congress should be focused on. but instead, they're focused on criticizing this president for doing his job, for returning a

u.s. soldier home safely to our country. >> i actually want to focus on the va hospital scandal right now, sir. i understand you visited the hospital there in north las vegas this past week. so what did you hear from the veterans there? >> well, i had an opportunity, as i often do, to just drop by and meet with the veterans at our local va hospital which is located in nevada's fourth congressional district. and what i heard from many of our veterans, are that they are frustrated with the fact that they have to wait an hour or more when they have a scheduled appointment for their medical care. that they do have very long wait times in order to receive their benefits. and while there are plans in place to fix it, it's not happening fast enough. and so while we may have a resignation now by the secretary, and that is one step, now it's incumbent upon congress to fix what is systematically

wrong with the va. and one of the things that's wrong is a lack of funding and resources for our va hospitals and our benefits offices. >> you bring up secretary shinseki. are you -- were you supportive of his resignation or do you think the president should have fired him sooner? >> i don't think releasing any one person is going to fix the syst systematic problems with the va. i'm meeting with my veterans advisory council later this week in anticipation of a meeting that i'm going to have with the assistant secretary joe mooney, along with senate majority leader harry reid to discuss the systematic problems, including the fact that we have a va clinic that we've been waiting on for two years to be built in a community that has more than 40% veterans here in nevada, who

desperately need services. >> i would like to ask you about the proposals out there. there's privatizing the entire system. there's letting vets go to civilian hospitals, or active duty hospitals. do you see one scenario that can rectify the problem quickly and effectively? >> well, there is probably no one solution. but what we should start is with senator sanders' legislation to reform the va. there are systematic problems with the va that have been occurring for years. and getting rid of the secretary isn't going to fix those problems. what needs to be done is for congress to do its job and to act. and we need to be in session to do that. so speaker boehner and the house republicans, rather than playing party politics, maybe now they can come together and work with us to fix what is sis tech atticly wrong with the va. >> i know you'd like to get on a plane back to washington and get to work. thank you so much. >> thank you, alex. good to be on your show.

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just past the half hour. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." in exchange for bowe bergdahl's freedom five high-level taliban have been released. >> i understand the great joy and happiness of the bergdahl family and friends, and we're all grateful that he has returned. i think there are legitimate questions about these individuals who are being released, and the conditions under which they will be released. >> joining me now is "washington post" intelligence reporter greg miller. greg, always good to see you. >> thanks, alex. >> you spend a lot of time covering a lot in afghanistan and pakistan. what do you know about these five taliban members who were released? >> these are -- this is a collection of some pretty senior

and important figures. at least in the previous version of the taliban. so you have two whose guantanamo case files were released. michael span was killed in 2001. one of them was the chief of staff for the taliban army. one was the deputy leader of the taliban intelligence service. so these guys have had some senior and high-ranking roles in that organization. >> from what i've read as well, most of them, if not all, have connections to omar, and one direct connections with osama bin laden. and they've been in gitmo since 2002. something we were told by sergeant bergdahl reportedly in all the intelligence that was gathered, he was specifically being held by the haqqani network. what do you know about them? >> it's a very powerful network that straddles the border with afghanistan and pakistan. they are sort of linked to the taliban and al qaeda. but not directly part of those

organizations. and they have been responsible for a lot of the most deadly attacks on u.s. forces over the last six or seven years. it's a very powerful organization. they're mainly regionally focused. their agenda is largely about trying to assert control of this -- of their territory in afghanistan and pakistan. but it's a lethal group. >> i'm curious what happens next, after this one year in qatar, where presumably they will be kept under some sort of house arrest and the like. what happens? do they return to the fields and try to go after u.s. soldiers and continue the fight, or do members of the taliban, as it's associated now, do they worry about them having been indoctrinated with western philosophies while they've been in gitmo? is there press tense for this? >> first, it's not clear what happens after a year in qatar, if they'll be allowed to go back to pakistan and afghanistan. there's nothing in place to keep them from doing so. on the second question, there's

a track record that shows that even those who have come out of guantanamo, and spent years there, and been released, have been able to return to the fight with relative ease. we have a case in the last significant afghan who was released was in 2007 and it wasn't that long before he was back in the fight in that country. >> greg, i also want to pick up on what you've been reporting on, the story about the accidently leaked name last weekend of the cia station chief in afghanistan. how did that happen? >> right. that was about a week ago. well, this looks like a case, as far as we know, of just a bad mishap, an accident, an embarrassing one for the white house. because obama had made a secret trip to afghanistan as part of memorial day weekend. while he's there, he's holding meetings. one is a senior sort of military strategy meeting. and of course, there's some press who's accompanying the president on this trip. so the white house press office wants to give them -- those reporters a list of who's in the meeting with obama. and they include the name of the

cia station chief in kabul, which is a huge, huge no-no. >> yeah. from the "washington post," greg miller. thank you. >> thank you. the president about to announce a new aggressive push to combat climate change. what will it mean for jobs in this country? mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. [ bottle ] ensure®. don't just visit rome. visit tripadvisor rome. with millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase i make a lot of purchases for my business. like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores.

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total your car and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? this past week, president obama announced combat operations in afghanistan are coming to an end after 13 years of war. now a new documentary from the makers of the acclaimed movie brings us into the longest war. >> anything about this you're going to miss? >> shooting people. it's always fun shooting. >> is there anything you miss about astrepo? >> the fire fights. fire fights. we miss the fire fights in aleppo. >> i think a lot of us miss the adrenaline. >> i don't personally talk to

astronauts, or in i kind of extremists, but until you hear the snap of a bullet go by your head, or hit your head, there's nothing else like it. >> all right. we're getting engaged again because our guys are moving. [ bleep ]! we're having a blast. >> oh! >> your turn! >> i'm on fire! >> pretty extraordinary there. joining me is sebastien younger, the director and producer. it's good to see you again, my friend. this is interesting watching this, because these guys are clearly adrenaline junkies. you spent a year making this. do you see what they have? did you get any of that? >> absolutely. combat is incredibly intense.

a lot of things happen in combat. it's very, very frightening, it's very meaningful and it can be very exciting. obviously you see that in those guys. what struck me after the deployment was how many of them missed the war and wanted to go back. it's partly the adrenaline, of course, but also the incredible closeness that they experience while they're out there. they're sleeping shoulder to shoulder at a small outpost for a year, totally interrelying on each other. i think that's a profound human experience they miss a lot. >> what's interesting, in another scene you have them going from the high of combat, and then they seem to get depressed when they're sitting around afterwards. i mean, the extremes that they have to experience. talk about that. >> you know, a lot of jobs like firefighters, soldiers, police, i think, you're trained to deal with moments of crisis, but of course, crisis isn't continual. so there's long lulls between when you have to really do your job in an intense way.

those lulls were very hard on the them. there's no tvs, no running water, no girls, no cars, no sports. nothing that young men like. the boredom was devastating. they were actively wishing for more combat. >> the soldiers in the movie say they miss being there. i think after seeing the film, that is-onsable. war has an obvious allure. especially talking about 19 to 0 20-year-old men. you say you miss it as well. you said it was the highlight of your life. >> in a lot of ways. my professional life, absolutely. i became very, very close to those guys. and that experience of real intimacy and closeness with a small group in a hostile environment is very potent for people. i think it duplicates human evolution. i think we lived exactly like a platoon in combat. when those of us get the chance

to reexperience that, really respond to it. i certainly know that i did. >> what's interesting is these soldiers, they have these incredibly strong bonds with each other of the they live literally on top of each other for months at a time. then the deployment ends and they're out on their end. do you think that's part of the problem of recovering from war from the trauma on its own? >> there's trauma and then the good things they miss about it. there are ways of recovering from trauma. we all have trauma, car accidents, deaths of loved ones. there are ways to recover from that. i think what's very tough is giving up that closeness. we live in a very alienated society. we have the highest rates of suicide, depression, child abuse and mass killings in our communities of any period in history. so the society these guys are coming back from is a tough one, actually. i don't think we quite notice it because we've always been here. the soldiers experience the opposite and it's very, very hard on them.

>> those of us who have followed your career, know you lost your best friend during the filming process. you did the first one together, then you went on to do this one. how tough was that? or had you two plotted out what this film would be about is this. >> we really hntd. we talked about going back in getting the material because there was so much great material we couldn't put in our first film. tim was killed a few weeks after the film. i made a film about his life and work and legacy. and then a couple of years after his death, i went back into the original footage that he and i shot in the valley and put together the movie. it was okay. it had been a couple years since tim had died. it was a pleasure to be back in that material again, actually. >> quickly, i know we've got the last patrol which will come out on hbo in the fall. that's where you're really looking at, i guess the healing

process when you come home from the war? is that a fair assessment? >> among other things, yes. >> good to see you, sebastien. >> thank you. new doubts, new questions about brazil and whether it can handle the crowds for the world cup. miles doesn't need to wander into the wild for the hunt. and even though this isn't real hunting, kelly knows miles craves meat, which is why she only feeds him iams. iams has 2x the meat as other leading brands. to help give miles the strong body he needs to keep up with his daily appetite for the hunt. iams keep love strong with 2x the meat. love the iams difference or your money back.

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(whispering) o! sorry! yes yes! (whispering) we'll take it. i miss them. and i'm afraid that i might never see them again. >> that was army sergeant bowe bergdahl in a video made by the taliban during his captivity, worrying about his family back home. the news of his release quickly went through his hometown of hailey, idaho. joining me now on the phone is sue martin. sue owns the coffee shop called zany's river street coffee house in the town where bowe bergdahl worked on and off. sue, i'm sure your along with

everyone else are glad to have him home. but i want to talk to you about bowe and having him work for you. tell us about bowe. >> bowe is a very personable young man. although quiet. introspective. very kind, very generous towards his fellow employees here. and really made good connections with all the other employees and the staff. and with the customers as well. >> i understand that he was a skier, or is a skier. also a ballet dancer. i many, many different things. of course, you have a ski resort at sun valley close to where you are, so that's not surprising. is he a typical kid from hailey, or does he have something unique about him that stands out to you? >> i would say he's typical-plus. how is that? >> what's the plus? >> he takes it to the extreme. he's a mountain biker, a hiker, a bike rider, he doesn't drive a car. he's an adventurer.

he's a seeker. he enjoys meeting people. he really loved meeting the public here. and i have nothing but great compliments about bowe while he was working here. >> certainly hailey isn't just a gorgeous part of the country there. i know his family, big readers. i've read somewhere they have like 5,000 books inside their home and no television. this is a young man who spent a great deal of growing up outdoors. would you say that reflects typically how bowe would spend his time when he wasn't working there at zany's? >> oh, yes. he's much an outdoorsman. and he had actually spent a lot of time honing his survival skills on his own, ever since he was a young man around the foothills and surrounding mountains of hailey. and he created his own adventures here in hailey. and loves this area. and it will be a good place for him to come back and heal in nature. >> maybe he'll pick up a couple

shifts there at zany's coffee house. sue martin, thank you very much for talking to us. we're glad to get a little behind-the-scenes on bowe bergdahl. in the season of pomp, pageantry and perchment, the college degrees and those schooled in math and science will do well. hear what forbes said are the highest paying college degrees. computer science is at the top of the list, commanding a salary of nearly $90,000. cal tech at almost $84,000. rounding out the top three, stanford school of engineering. the state of massachusetts is tops in smarts, thanks to harvard. a new list by streets.com, the brightest have the highest percentage of people with bachelor's degrees. just 38% hold a degree, though. massachusetts also has an average s.a.t. score of 1553. not bad. almost 36%, colorado is second.

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tomorrow the epa will attack carbon emissions from power plants. they'll be forced to reduce carbon emissions. president obama talked about it in his weekly address. >> in the first year these standards go into effect, up to 100,000 asthma attacks and 2,100 heart attacks will be avoided. and those numbers will go up from there. these standards were created in an open and transparent way, with input from the business communities. >> joining me is kate shepherd of the "huffington post." welcome back to the broadcast. my first question to you, how radical are these changes? how dramatic? >> well, i don't think they're

going to be that dramatic. we're already seeing a downward trend in u.s. emissions anyway, because of cheap natural gas and part of it is due to the recession we've had in the last few years. this will go beyond that. and i think it will build upon existing rules that a lot of states have in place to cut emissions. i don't think it will be as radical as depicted in some places so far. >> how much will this benefit the environment? >> well, our expectation right now is the cut will be about 20% by 2020. we're all waiting to see what the rules actually look like. that does go a significant way cutting the overall emissions in the u.s. coal fired plants will have a significant change. i think it will just further trends already occurring. >> the u.s.'s responsibility, in terms of how much the u.s. can do, and the rest of the planet as well contributing, can you put it in perspective? it doesn't just stay over our

geographical domain. >> it's actually true that we will also see china and india cut emissions as well. what this does is make the u.s. a leader on that front. we've been a lag erd in cutting emissions and this sets a tone that we're serious about it and taking action to do something. >> are scientists all in agreement that we can effect climate change, that we can slow it down or make a significant difference? >> i think that the large majority of climate scientists think that we can make a pretty big department by cutting emissions here in the u.s. and that that will have an impact on future emissions. it would be a lot worse if we went to a lower emixes pact. we're starting that by putting these rules in place. >> there are critics who say this will kill a lot of jobs. give me an economic perspective on the effect of this. >> traditionally in the past we've seen grim predictions

about what the regulations will do to the economy and that doesn't pan out. we're able to make the cuts at a lot lower costs than we expect, because americans are good at innovations. we come up with ways to address the problems. states have seen the costs far lower than predicted initially. i am optimistic that will be the case here as well. >> okay. kate shepherd of the "huffington post," come back and see us again. thank you [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪

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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. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. . he's coming home. >> it touched my heart and made me want to cry. >> we need bow woe back here. he is part of our community. >> hometown hailey awaits when bowe bergdahl is on his way home. >> this whole exchange is shocking to me. and i'm very disappointed. >> this was essentially, in our opinion, to save the life of

sergeant bergdahl. >> also, the firestorm over the va. one whistleblower said the worst may be yet to come. one insider talks to me about that. why is the fbi talking to golfer phil mickelson about a wall street legend. hey there, everyone, welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening right now. first up, secretary defense chuck hagel is revealing new details about the release of bowe bergdahl after held for nearly five years by the taliban in afghanistan. the deal was brokered with the country of qatar. now part of the arrangement, these five afghan detainees were released from gitmo in cuba, and here's defense secretary on "meet the press." >> this is a guy who probably went through hell the last five years. let's focus on getting him well,

and getting him back with his family. our priority now is to give him all the care he needs, so that he can be integrated back into society. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. kristen, i'm curious on the details. have you learned anything about how this deal began and who the point people were? >> reporter: a little bit of background first, alex. these negotiations have been going on to some extent since about 2011. there have been starts and stops along the way. and then u.s. officials say there was an opening about a week ago. so they seized upon that opening in large part because they said there were serious concerns about sergeant bergdahl's health. the u.s. feared his health. quite frankly, that his life were in jeopardy. in terms of who the point people were, for this deal, alex, u.s. officials say the qataris operated as intermediaries. a lot of republicans are saying this administration violated a

long-standing u.s. policy not to negotiate with terrorists. white house officials pushing back against that criticism, saying, look, we weren't negotiating directly with the taliban, instead the qataris were serving as intermediaries between the u.s. and the taliban. the other big concern is what happens to those five gitmo detainees who were released. take a listen to what senator john mccain said earlier today. >> i think the big issue is, what's going to happen to these five individuals. if they reenter the fight, then it is going to put american lives at risk and none of us want that to happen. not secretary hagel or anybody. but if they're able to have, after a year in qatar, to do whatever they want to do, there's no doubt they'll reenter the fight. >> now, u.s. officials, president obama himself said they had gotten assurances from the qataris that they will take

steps to make sure that u.s. national security interests are protected. but again, the big question is, what happens after that year. that is undoubtedly going to be the focus of debate in the coming days, as lawmakers begin to really dig into what this means. one more point that i'll make, alex, is that the white house said that they hoped this will have an impact on the reconciliation process. although some foreign policy experts are skeptical about how much of an impact this prisoner swap will actually have. >> in terms of the reentry process, i know sergeant bergdahl is at landstuhl regional medical center right now. do we have any idea when he will be heading back to the united states? >> reporter: that's still a big question mark, alex. i'm told it really depends on him. right now you have medical professionals evaluating his health, his emotional status, and once they do that, they will make a determination about when it makes sense to bring him back to his family when he does come

back to the u.s. soil. he'll go to the brooke army medical center in texas. that is where we are told he will meet his parents. but again, this all depends on him, when medical professionals believe he is ready to make that final part of his journey home. undoubtedly they want that to happen as quickly as possible. >> understandably so. kristen welker, thank you from the white house. >> reporter: thanks. president obama said while bowe bergdahl was out of sight for five years, he was not out of mind. >> sergeant bergdahl has missed birthdays and holidays that all of us take for granted. while bowe was gone, he was never forgotten. >> meanwhile, bergdahl's hometown of hailey, in southern idaho, is celebrating his release. here's the idaho statesman this morning. hailley's hurrah. the release of bowe bergdahl said he was never forgotten by his country.

bowe is coming home. they couldn't be more excited making plans for a major homecoming event. deck raorating the streets with yellow ribbons and balloons and signs. >> everyone is ecstatic. we're all hugging, even if we don't know each other. >> tears of anguish now replaced by tears of joy. >> a great sense of relief. and very, very happy. tremendously good news. >> bowe bergdahl worked at this coffee shop on and off for two years. >> he has a great personality. he likes people. he likes people, and that comes across. >> when she learned of bergdahl's capture in afghanistan in 2009, she turned on this light. >> it's a ray of hope. >> reporter: and kept it on ever since. >> i'll let bowe turn it off. >> reporter: it's a support center for bergdahl's release. >> there's a constant flow of support. >> reporter: last year the town organized its first "bring bowe

back event." >> we were in the process this week of obtaining the fifth tree and getting it planted. now we don't need the tree. >> reporter: stephanie o'neill quickly renamed the event "bowe is back." >> they knew their son would come home safe to them. they didn't give up hope. >> reporter: neither did anyone in this town. >> i saved it for years. i bought it specifically for when bowe was released and ready to come home. >> reporter: she will be waiting for him with open arms. >> i'm going to congratulate him for his perseverance himself. >> that was sandra reporting from our salt lake city affiliate. no doubt the release of the only u.s. soldier held in captivity is news for celebration. but the deal it took to happen is raising serious questions. one of them, whether or not the u.s. has changed its long-standing policy of not negotiating with terrorists. just who are these five senior taliban commanders released from guantanamo bay in exchange for

sergeant bergdahl. joining me now, senior correspondent for "the daily beast," josh rogan. in the article we read, you say that these are considered some of the worst of the worst. explain who they are. >> these were the taliban's five most wanted guantanamo prisoners. they represent some of the senior leadership of the taliban government that existed before 9/11. deputy defense ministers wanted by the u.n. for war crimes and massacres. a former intelligence minister. a notorious heroin trafficker. these guys were all considered by the u.s. intelligence community to be high risk for attacks against the united states and its interests if they were ever released. the only assurance we have is that they will have a one-year travel ban in qatar. after that, the assurances are totally unclear. the national security adviser susan rice declined to specify what protections there would be that they wouldn't reenter the fight. that position will ultimately be politically untenable and eventually the administration

will need to tell us why we're assured they won't return to the fight against the u.s. >> former director of the national counterterrorism center offered this explanation on why this kind of a deal could happen now, and not have happened a couple years ago. let's take a listen to what he said. >> the war is coming to an end. the president's announcement, it's couincidental it happened the same week. the fact is, we are winding things down. we're leaving afghanistan. >> do you agree with his assessment, that it happened now? >> we reported for two years, that means negotiations were on again, off again, the taliban pulled out, we pulled out, there is a connection to the sense that we have now agreed to leave afghanistan, which was the taliban's main concern. there's also added incentive on the u.s. side. because once we no longer have troops there, the chances of getting bowe bergdahl back was slim. >> there is no direct interaction with the taliban,

and this deal was handled through qatar. can you explain how that happened? >> that's not exactly true, because the u.s. state department and white house officials met with the taliban directly in berlin in 2011 and 2012. the final negotiations were done through the amir of qatar. we are negotiating with the taliban. it's not the first time we've negotiated with terrorists. the u.s. has negotiated with terrorists many times over the years. ronald reagan negotiated with the iranian terrorists over the release of hostages in 1980. we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking we didn't negotiate with them. but that's what happens in the real world. the u.s. government does do what it thinks is in our interests. the whole idea that we don't negotiate with terrorists is really a catch phrase, not a policy. >> you said they were beginning back in 2011. can you give me reasons why the talks would fall apart in the interim? >> the u.s. side always saw the negotiations over prisoner swap to lead to a broader reconciliation between the afghan government and the

taliban with the u.s. help. the taliban just wanted the prisoner swap and returned to the fighting. eventually the u.s. realized that was going to be the case. when we realized we no longer wanted to fight in afghanistan, all of a sudden our interests for the taliban merged. it took three years. there were delicate secret negotiations. and sometimes these things take that amount of time. that's fine. but we should not fool ourselves into thinking that this is some sort of broker reconciliation with the taliban. this is a prisoner swap. it is what it is, nothing more, nothing less. >> josh, i'm curious, how did we get the information as stated by defense secretary hagel, that bowe bergdahl's health was in jeopardy? how did we get that information from somebody that we're not even sure necessarily where he is? and was that really the catalyst for getting it done now? >> there were two things going on here. the taliban, the haqqani network, an ultimate branch of

the taliban holding bowe bergdahl put out a series of bergdahl in declining health over the years. that was one thing. there was a behind-the-scenes effort to see if we could pick him up off the battlefield. we basically knew where he was. that doesn't mean it was really possible to go in and get him. but there was a lot of intelligence reporting going on. we had a lot of information about bowe bergdahl that helped the u.s. government get to where they got this week. >> i believe the direct quote is that his life was at risk, his safety, and his health. is there an indication that the taliban was not necessarily going to continue beyond this path of trying to use him in an exchange and they had done it and they were going to do something more sinister with them? >> no, they wanted their five guys for years. they said give us our five guys and that's it. what changed is our position. we finally got to the point we could give them the five guys. last year congress actually

changed the law to make it easier for the president to remove prisoners from guantanamo bay. so that's what changed. the taliban have always had the same line. so they probably would have held him forever. the problem is, we wouldn't have had the resources and the impetus to get him after we had left afghanistan. so the pressure was really on our side. they always say we have the watches, but the taliban has the time. >> great reporting, josh. i appreciate your time. thanks so much. >> anytime. >> yeah. there's fear that dealing with the taliban for sergeant bergdahl's release will fuel more kidnappings. a former hostage negotiator offers his opinions. possibly saving the lives of veterans in need of health care. [ male announcer ] schlepping kids around can be a lot of work.

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to the va hospital scandal now, with secretary shinseki's resignation on friday, veterans

and their families are calling for a swift solution so no one else is at risk. i spoke with two people whose family members died while waiting for care at the phoenix va. >> the attempt to get an appointment with the phoenix va starting in august, was told that the wait to see a primary care physician, and subsequently a referral to an oncologist would be seven months. >> they told me they were going to give him an appointment in a week for urgency. urgency, a doctor. and they didn't call until he died december 6th is when they called. >> that man passed in november. joining me now is democratic congresswoman from arizona, kirsten cinema, where the va abuses were first reported. with the welcome to you. your reaction to secretary shinseki's resignation? i believe you were calling for it, weren't you? >> that's right, alex. i called for secretary shinseki's resignation immediately after reading that interim internal investigation

report. you know, alex, like most people across the country i was shocked when i learned of the depth of the mismanagement. and frankly, the fraud and abuse that occurred at the phoenix va. as you know, alex, i represent the phoenix va hospital and many of the veterans who have been seeking care at that hospital for years. >> i'm curious, did the veterans' families, before this all became such a public firestorm, did any of them reach out to you and say we are having problems with our va system? >> absolutely, alex. my office in phoenix is staffed with msws, masters of social workers, and our job is to help resolve the issues that our constituents face. our caseload is made up primarily of veterans who have been battling with the va system since i entered office in january of 2013. in fact, when i called secretary shinseki several weeks ago, i said to him, i know this investigation is going on. but i am ready to give you the names and share with you

specific cases of veterans who are facing very serious delays here in phoenix, in my district. i know this evidence is accurate. something must be done. >> that being 18 months ago. >> that's right. >> we need solutions now. i'm sure that if you had the answer to this question, you know, you wouldn't have to work any longer. but the va fixing these problems, how do we go about doing it? where do we start? >> well, alex, i think there's both a short-term and long-term solution. in the short term, and i've been calling for this for several weeks, the va can contract with private companies in the communities that can provide short-term care through primary care physicians, specialists and behavioral health specialists in the community. in arizona that community already exists. we can expand and modify that contract to include primary care physicians and behavioral health specialists like social workers and psychologists. in fact, i've recommended to

both rob nabors, the deputy chief of staff to the white house, and steve young, the interim director here at the phoenix va, that we do almost like a fair, a health fair, where over the course of two to three days we bring in health care specialists, so that every single one of those 3,100 veterans who are waiting to get care in phoenix can see a primary care doctor. >> see -- >> and get triage. >> that is the first time i'm hearing something that has a timeliness to it. do a health fair for three days. my question was going to be, this is a behemoth problem. taking a huge system like the va, i mean, just the infrastructure to try to change it around, to implement the private care facilities, and the billing and referrals and everything, it's a huge proposition. this health care fair, though, could those be potentially held at each different va hospital and get these people seen immediately? >> i think that we could. in fact, we've done things

similar to this in the past. during hurricane katrina, many individuals flew to arizona, and at our local coliseum, we provided health care and shelter for those individuals in the short term. each year we do a big dental clinic, where literally thousands of people see dentists over the course of two days. it can be done, alex. the question is, is the political will there to make it happen. but i've made this my primary mission. my opinion is we've got to treat this as if -- what it is, an emergency. every single veteran waiting for care should get a face-to-face appointment with a doctor, and then leave with a plan of care that they can take into the future. at that point, the va can determine whether or not they can meet the needs. if they can, great. if they can't meet the needs of a specific veteran, we've got to partner with local community agencies to get them the care they need immediately. >> representative, you're clearly at the forefront of leading the charge to get this happening. i applaud you for that, but is it going to be up to congress, up to the veterans affairs administration, up to the white

house, i mean, who's ultimately going to push the ball forward and get this fixed? >> alex, it's my hope that the vaflt and the white house will partner with me on this idea. it's best to keep the veterans in the system so they get long-term care and don't get dropped or fallen to the side like already has happened. if they choose not to do it, we'll do it ourselves. >> representative kirsten cinema from arizona. good talking to you. >> thank you so much. one is predicting a firestorm. we'll explore that in about 15 minutes. it was nothing but shear chaos in brazil. that is just one of our worries for the world cup, next. peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business.

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mass chaos at a sao paulo station, sparking concerns about brazil's ability to handle the influx of about 4 million fans or so. the infrastructure just one of the worries. now 11 days before one of the biggest sports spectacles in the world begins, police say muggings are on the rise and the tensions surrounding the world cup have political implications. joining me now is george, author of "eight world cups." george, welcome to you. >> nice to be here. >> so big sporting events can certainly cause big problems. will brazil be ready? >> it's very hard to tell right now. i've covered eight of these things as the title of my book will indicate. a lot of them were fun, a lot of them were more compact nations. brazil has taken on an awful lot for an emerging nation. i have never seen the political awareness being added to the question of preparedness for any country. >> how are your concerns? how is this going to play out?

we've got 11 days. >> some people like to cut it close. i think brazil was always in trouble anyway because it's a huge country. it's the size of the united states. they have put world cup stadiums, even built a few in places where it doesn't make sense to have them although you want to cover the whole country. more important is the will of the people. logistics are one thing. but the will of the people, the battle has been joined, where the brazilian population has become aware of the imposition of all this hardship, if you will, by fifa, by bringing in the world cup. and it's the most political atmosphere that i've ever seen before a world cup. >> political, because in poverty, there are these huge protests, brazil spending billions of dollars and yet so much poverty in that country. that's what stirred up these major protests. do you think that will bubble over when the world cup comes to brazil in 11 days?

>> absolutely. this is the day of social media. you've seen that, of course, in tahrir square and all the squares around the world. so the whole world is an electronic square where people are making each other aware of it. and it doesn't take much. when someone from fifa comes in and makes stupid comments or old football player says, the game is more important, we've got to be nice, there are people -- when their bus fare was raised by a few centavos or whatever it was back a year ago, those people are well smarter. that's a very capable nation. people know, and they were able to make the link between having this party for the multinationals, for the rich tourists, having this thing superimposed on them and then having all the problems of their own in that country, the result of the boom that they've had for the last generation, they're very wise and politically smart. and it makes perfect sense, if you want to -- i use the word

ajutate, here's the made for world consumption, normally a good part of it. a nation that loves the sport. >> yeah. i want to get to your book. you start with one of america's greatest moments, the epic goal back in 2010. interestingly, donovan just got cut from the team. what's your read on that? >> my read is, they've not been comfortable with donovan in the beginning. he's had an opinion of donovan all along. donovan played well most of the time, even in the last year. he took over a gold cup last year. and i just don't think he was ever wanted around. >> but may i ask, he's one of america's greatest. he may be america's greatest soccer player ever. i know in figure skating this year, when you have the qualifyi

qualifying, some of the athletes didn't perform to their expected capabilities, but one girl went on to compete in sochi. keeping landon donovan off the team, does that make sense to you? >> it does in a football sense. you don't bring a player on to be a talisman. i personally think he should be on the team. i totally think he should. however, you don't bring someone if you don't think he can contribute. it's not like figure skating. i sat katarina vit, she wasn't going to get a medal. this is not figure skating. you want to bring someone who you think might help the team. i think he would have. but i give clingsman credit. he's a smart guy. he's won a world cup as a player. he scored against the united states in world cups and finished third as a coach in the world cup for his homeland. he knows what he's doing, until proven otherwise. he also has a four-year contract after this. he's going to the next world cup in 2018.

and does that give him a little bit of security to bring in players who have a future? yes. still, you've got to win today. >> speaking of that, i'd like to get a little prediction, who do you think has the best shot at it? do you think the u.s. will make it to the second round? >> absolutely not. i think the u.s. was hurt by the draw. it was nothing personal. they're in a group of debt. i think that the demonstrations, and there will be demonstrations in brazil, are going to hurt the home team. we saw it in france. >> six times it helped. >> i tell the story about being there and hearing people being geared up. brazil, they're already great fans. i think for the players, that they are going to be in their training, they're going to be going about business, and somebody's wife or mother or aunt is going to call in and say, your cousin just got cracked on the head by the police. your sister got tear gassed. i think it's going to affect the players in a negative way.

probably more than any time we've seen in a world cup. >> we shall see what happens. george, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. the fbi questions golfer phil mickelson in an insider trading probe and he talks about it coming up. one of the whistleblowers in the va scandal says there's more ahead. i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. i'm a messy person. i don't like cleaning. i love my son, but he never cleans up. always leaves a trail of crumbs behind. you're gonna have a problem with getting a wife. uh...yeah, i guess. [ laughs ]

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt" at 36 past the hour. the surprising release of sergeant bowe bergdahl. the taliban granted his freedom in exchange for those five quaub prisoners you see on your screen. here's what susan rice said about why they made the deal after he was held by the taliban for nearly five years. >> sergeant bergdahl is the last of the americans that have been held in afghanistan. and we felt that as the war is winding down, it was our sacred obligation, given the opportunity, to get him back, that we do so. and we did so in a way that has brought him back safely into

american hands. >> msnbc analyst and former hostage negotiator for the atf joins me now. jim, your reaction to the deal? >> i think it's a good deal, alex. very good deal. well thought out, risk and reward weighed by the commander in chief and secretary of defense. i think it was very appropriate. >> let's focus on the word risk. there's differing on the consequences of the u.s./taliban peace talks. do you think it's going to pave the way for more dialogue or not, be counterproductive? >> i don't think it will be counterproductive. there's always a real concern that a terrorist may want to kidnap someone. but it doesn't really increase their desire or ability to kill us now. they all want to kill us now. these five taliban leaders that are released, you know, they're very bad guys and they'll probably get back in the fight with the taliban, but they're not super heroes. they're mortal men. >> jim, you don't worry about

the likelihood of more kidnappings? we get one, they get five? >> no, i think they weighed that in their decision to make that release of our soldier. we have competing ideas. we never leave a man on the battlefield or soldier on the battlefield, man or woman. and we want to get the last one back. that has to be weighed against how valuable are these five leaders to the taliban. i would say they're not that much. the sergeant is much more valuable to america in our fight, because the message to all of our military is, we'll do anything to get you back. we're going to get you back. we're behind you. it's actions, not speeches at graduations and so forth, it's actions. it's a very powerful, there strong message to our military. >> you make a good point there. jim, thank you. >> thanks, alex. more whistleblowers are describing the problems they've witnessed firsthand at va hospitals. one describes ghost clinics in jackson, mississippi, where officials made it appear patient

care was given when in fact no care was given. let me bring in the whistleblower, dr. phyllis hallenbeck who worked at the va hospital in jackson, mississippi. you testified at a house hearing in november, and you described the primary care there as, quote, a sad and serious self-perpetuating state of ugly chaos. talk to me about your experience there. >> well, i worked four years in primary care at jackson. and i was astonished soon after i came there that we were expected to see a very full schedule of very complex patients back to back, and then all the walk-ins, and others were overbooked. double booking all the time meant that you can only do one at a time and you can't give good care to the veterans when you schedule them and make them wait all day.

>> so you decided to be a whistleblower and bring this to the attention of whom? with whom did you speak and what was the reaction? >> well, the first place i went was the office of greg harper, our local congressman, and i was directed to the office of special counsel, which is the department of justice. and they gave me the federal whistleblower protection, and then they jumped right on all the documentation i had, and they've been great. >> okay. one of the whistleblowers from the va hospital in phoenix spoke after eric shinseki's resignation on friday, and here's what she said. >> i don't think the pandora's box has been opened yet. i think there's a firestorm coming. the only way it's going to come is if the employees who are allowed to speak up without retaliation? >> do you think pandora's box is yet to be opened? >> i think there's going to be even more revelations.

we currently have an ig investigation. we are also going to need everybody to feel comfortable, because there's a lot of wonderful people with a lot of important data. but we also are going to have the pandora's box of not enough physicians. and the proposed va policy changed nationwide to make all nurse practitioners totally independent, regardless of their state licensing laws. so that's not a good idea. we still need physicians at the center of care for the veterans. >> dr. hollenbeck, do you think that people died at your hospital as a result of not getting the care they needed in a timely fashion? >> absolutely. no question. we have people that can't get care, especially in subspecialties such as neurosurgery and orthopedics. but i know there are people who gave up, they didn't keep trying

to come in, or they never got to the outside facility. and many, many people suffered, and definitely some died. >> can you give me, put in context the many? are we talking singles, dozens, more? >> probably a percentage is a better way to put it. >> okay. >> i think -- i would say, honestly, 70%, 80% of the veterans that are currently in the patient panels and primary care easily suffer. when you can't get in, and you really literally can't get in for six to nine months, and you don't want to walk in, because you wait forever, then you suffer. >> 70% to 80%. >> that i think is a fair estimate. >> dr. phyllis hollenbeck, thank you very much for that assessment and the interview. i appreciate it. >> thank you. phil mickelson is talking about why the fbi is talking to him, next. ncer ] they say mr. clean was born

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golf icon phil mickelson is facing an off-the-court challenge requiring attorneys instead of caddies. he's under investigation by the fbi. joining me is msnbc's craig melvin. >> hello, alex. phil mickelson actually on the course right now in dublin, ohio. the fbi is investigating billionaire icon along with mickelson and this las vegas sports gambler as well. the investigation is looking at the timing of certain trades by the championship golfer. a name brand at the top of his game. one of the most popular and successful golfers on tour, phil mickelson has earned tens of millions of dollars swinging a club and millions more pitching products. but now he's facing questions about his play in the stock market. >> i have done absolutely nothing wrong. and that's why i've been fully cooperating with the fbi agents,

and i'm happy to do so in the future, too. until this gets resolved. >> so what's his connection to wall street legend carl icaan? he said he doesn't even know mickelson. and william walters is said to be known to both men. while none of the three is accused of any wrongdoing, the fbi and the s.e.c. are looking at trading activity after icahn's bid for clorox company. >> somebody made a very big, and very speculative bet that clorox stock was going to rise a lot in a very short period of time. and when that happened, they made a lot of money. >> icahn insists he's done nothing wrong and points to an unblemished 50 years. phil mickelson, for now his name is one of golf's good guys, may have landed in the rough.

mickelson says that the investigation will not affect his preparations for the u.s. open in two weeks. that is the only major title that he lacks for the grand slam, alex. >> good luck with that. this is certainly a big distraction for that. in golf, you need to stay focused. what do you have, 12 minutes for your show? >> an hour plus 12. republicans attack the white house over winning bowe bergdahl's freedom. ssive. over 400,000 new private sector jobs... making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation... with 10 regional development strategies to fit your business needs. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york... with the state creating dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. become the next business to discover the new new york. [ male announcer ] see if your business qualifies. but for cooper, giving chloe a ride again and again is all play.

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time for the big three in today's topics, five for one, educational intolerance and this week's must reads. with our big three panel. msnbc.com senior editor, beth fooey and joe watkins and editor of "source" magazine, jason johnson. let's go to five for one with some republicans criticizing president obama over how the release of sergeant bowe bergdahl was handled. specifically the release of the

five afghan detainees from guantanamo bay, here's gop congressman mike rodgers today. >> across northern africa, the number one way that al qaeda raises money is by ransom. we've now set a price, we have a changing footprint in afghanistan, which would put our soldiers at risk for this notion that if i can get one, i can get five taliban released. and the problem is the way we're changing our footprint means we get less intelligence. >> jason, does the congressman have a point? >> he does in the short-term. the reality is, al qaeda's going to do the taliban are going to do whatever it is they want to do anyway, the president wanted to get this guy back. apparently there's been lots of stories there were attempts to get bowe back, as long as two years ago. if it takes sending these five guys back, it's fine. we're going to be tracking them the whole time. we're talking about terrorists here, not lex luther, there's not much they with do once they

get back to qatar. >> here's defense secretary chuck hagel on "meet the press" this morning. >> we didn't negotiate with terrorists. i don't think what we did in getting our principler of war released in any way would somehow encourage terrorists. to take our american service men prisoner or hostage. >> is it fair for republicans to level this kind of criticism, when there's still so many details about how this was carried out, we don't know? >> i think secretary hagel make a great point. any time an american is released from captivity, that's a reason for all americans to rejoice. i think the president and his team handled it skillfully. think we need to have a conversation. we want to make sure that people who are released on the other

side don't come back to haunt us. we don't want to send a false message to terrorists that it's okay to take our people hostage or into captivity. they can get a price for it i think it's a good conversation to have, republicans and democrats to talk about this reasonably. i think because of the security of the country is what matters. >> beth, as more details come out, how do you see this playing out? >> there's a lot we need to find out. and i think the question about whether republicans are jumping to conclusions too soon is legitimate. there are many questions to be asked. and frankly republicans don't want to let the president have any sort of victory. they're criticizing the release of an american soldier. that's what we should be celebrating at this point. not necessarily the terms. let's learn more about that. but let's rejoice with what was accomplished here and what the president and his team did was quite significant. yet the republicans put themselves in the position of appearing to, to say it was a bad thing. and i think that's really probably not the way to go at

this point. >> okay, guys, we got two minutes to get through the next one. former new york mayor, michael bloomberg giving the acommencement address at harvard this past week. here's part of what he said. >> great universities must not become predictably partisan and a liberal arts education must not be an education in the art of liberalism. >> he also said that liberals try to repress conservative ideas on many college campuses and conservative faculty members are becoming an endangered species. >> i wish i was that influential with my students, okay? there are plenty of conservative faculty members on campus in every single area. so as far as i'm concerned, he's just promoting a republican myth. it's not true. there are plenty, there's a lot of diversity on most college campuses. whether or not students want to protest a graduation speaker is different. but in the faculty, it's still

very diverse ideologically. >> i think bloomberg is right on point. condi rice couldn't speak at rutgers, kelly got booed at brown. i think we want students, whether they're democrats or republicans, to hear what everybody has to say. that's the way you learn. you learn whether you like something or disagree with it by what you hear. everybody ought to be heard. >> embracing different ideals, learning, listening to others. final thoughts from you on this, beth? >> a university or college should embrace the marketplace of ideas, listen, understand and tolerate or disagree, if necessary, not ban people from speaking. >> never going to ban the three of you from speaking. i'm inviting you back. sorry this was short. we had so much news, my goodness, thank you, jason, joe and beth. that's a wrap of this sunday edition of "weekends with alex witt." up next, "meet the press." i love to eat. i love hanging out with my friends.

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next on "meet the press," the nightmare is over for america's last prisoner of the afghanistan war. bowe bergdahl, he's a free man after nearly five years in taliban captivity. but despite the obvious good news, there are concerns over the fact he was released in exchange for five taliban prisoners from the prison at guantanamo bay. has a dangerous precedent been set? i'll ask defense secretary chuck hagel who joins me exclusively from afghanistan. and following his exclusive interview with brian williams, edward snowden has been called a traitor and a coward by secretary of state john kerry, but after hearing him speak, does the american public agree? we'll bring you the results of a brand new nbc news poll. plus, recording the reality of war. ahead of the 70th anniversary of