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tv   NOW With Alex Wagner  MSNBC  August 13, 2014 1:00pm-2:01pm PDT

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comparing assad to china. that does it for "the cycle." "now with alex wagner" starts right now. >> t-minus three hours until the great vineyard hug-out. it's wednesday, august 13th and this is "now." >> this so awkward. ♪ ♪ >> the president indeed appreciated secretary clinton's call. >> president obama and his former secretary of state. >> the party in martha's vineyard. >> the chance to hack out their foreign policy differences. >> going to be hugging it out. >> the president and hillary clinton have had many hugs over the year. >> clinton using the word failure to describe the president's syria strategy. >> i reviewed her memoir and one theme is that she got foreign
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policy issues right earlier than the president. >> i could not be more grateful to hillary. >> people forget how much hatred, animosity, rage there was between these two families. >> i think we'll probably see some notification there they've in fact hugged it out. >> the bitterness runs deep. >> he appreciates her friendship and is looking forward to seeing her this evening. >> barack obama and hillary may be many things. friends, i would not put that on the list. >> i could not be more grateful to hillary. >> in just a few hours, the clinton/obama drama of the last week comes to a head when the former secretary of state joins president obama in martha's vineyard. at this very hour clinton is signing copies of "hard choices" at the local bunch of grapes book store. following that she's set to attend a party this evening and hug it out with the president in an attempt to put an end to the latest skirmish over the foreign
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policy don't do stupid stuff. was clinton's criticism a preplanned assault? another criticism in a line of conscious uncouplings or the latest slip from a politician some describe as a little rusty. >> i was fighting against those ideas when you were practicing laws and you were you were contributing your buddy, rezko in his slum landlord business. >> did president obama during his first term ever seriously disappoint you in any way? >> we had disagreements. >> not policy disagreements. did he serious live disappoint you? >> no, he did not. i have known several presidents quite well, including my
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husband, and i worked closely with president george w. bush and i worked with the white house quite closely and i served with president obama a. i disagreed with all of those presidents about certain things, i can tell you right now. >> particularly her putdown of the administration's don't do stupid stuff approach to international affairs sparked a response from david axelrod. "just to clarify, don't do stupid stuff means don't okay pay iraq in the first place, which was a tragic decision." wait, who wanted to occupy iraq in the first place? realizing she hit a nerve, she quickly called the president to apologize. according to politico, clinton has never been a natural politician, remains far more gaffe-prone than many believe
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and has a rail thin political operation with no master strategist. don't do stupid stuff actually seems like pretty good advice. joining me now is the managing editor of bloomberg politics mark halperin and michael steele. what do you make of maggie's assessment that clinton herself is not a great politician, she is gaffe-prone. was this a calculated comment or was this an aside that went horribly wrong? >> i don't think it was calculated. it was a little buiit of her violating the role don't say stupid stuff. president obama's a record on foreign policy, is his syria policy a success? he faced his own hard choices in syria. he can't call the policy a success. i think she was speaking what a lot of foreign policy elites
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think about that policy and i think the other critique she made and i'm going to the substance of what she said because i think she was talking to a serious reporter like je jeffrey goldberg just speaking what she believes. she said this current administration does not seem to have a big strategic vision on how to deal with all these hot spots. you can to a -- >> council on foreign relations did not collectively serve as the president's secretary of state not that long ago and was presumably involved in this decision-making process. >> as a matter of politics and her stage managing her relationship with the president, ridiculous things to say. but i don't think she planned it and i don't think it will matter for '16. i think what matters right now is the relationship between the two of them in august. the press couldn't be more interested in it and it puts her now in a position of again where
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i go back to don't say stupid things. when she says stupid things, she pays a price. rand paul says 20 things as stupid as what she says every day. it just doesn't have the same impact in the media. >> that's because perhaps we're used to rand paul saying stupid thing. i'd love to get the view across the aisle here. republicans are keen to discuss clinton and her involvement in certain crises, including benghazi. but when it comes down to hillary the candidate, what is your assessment of her? on one hand you could say the gaffes of the last few months, including the bill and i were dead broke, the don't do stupid stuff criticism against the administration, not wise, prudent choices. at the same time i think there is a real shared sense that hillary clinton could be a formidable candidate against any republican. how do you agreed their performance of the last few weeks? >> i think the performance has been rocky, to be kind.
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coming out of the game, clearly there were issues with getting back in the saddle politically. we saw the same thing with john huntsman when he left the diplomatic core and that whole land of diplomacy and how they speak and how their body moves and it was awkward in the land of politics. i think you see that here with hillary clinton in the early stages. i think she'll settle down and i think ultimately there is some concern and there should be some concern about hillary in a potential presidential run in 2016. if we want to run against the hillary the 1990s, we're going to be sorely disabused of that notion this starts to engage. it's not just about benghazi, it's about a complete package, about a total vision she may have about america about what the republican nominee may have and that's going to ultimately be with this debate is. but right now, a could couple of things. one is august so who cares.
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and, two, people in this town say you make a gaffe like that, it's not a gaffe because it's the truth. mark was saying this was a stupid thing to say but went on to describe how she was right in saying it. that's kind of where we are in this mix. that's where she finds herself where she has to thread this needle very carefully and, you know, we'll see how well she does with it. i thought her statements were truthful, impactful obviously. got the white house's attention. >> to be clear, this is hillary clinton assessing the president's foreign policy strategy at a moment where he is facing multiple crises and probably doesn't need criticism from his former secretary of state, who, by the way, needs stuff from him. let's be clear, hillary clinton is going to be very dependent on the obama campaign infrastructure to win a campaign of her own if she decides to run. >> well, for sure. and also clear the field for her to give her a much easier path
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to nomination. the president has tilted dramatically towards her and as opposed to joe biden. when michael steele was chairman of the republican national committee, he often said true things that were politically stupid. michael's an expert in that category. >> i'm an expert, absolutely. i know of what i speak. >> she needs a good relationship with the president and the white house, but the statement they put out yesterday, like the former secretary of state speaking about the president of the united states and hugging it out, there's something weird going on within both these circles. the axelrod tweet -- >> let's talk about that. the axelrod tweet was an angry tweet and -- it wasn't just pushing back on what the president has done. it was going back to 2007 -- >> that's like from a time capsule. >> yes. it was a rewind to the democratic nomination, which was a bruising, bloody fight that both sides said we've put this in the lock box, we're not going back to this. it is clear that those scars have not entirely healed.
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>> the president has a ton of international problems to deal with right now. you talk about syria and iraq. but look at pakistan and israel and north korea. i mean -- and iran. there's so much going on. it is the last thing he needs. but again, i don't think the white house foreign policy people care as much about this as like the political people like a david axelrod because politically, as you pointed out before, for her to say these things, it's not the wall street journal editori iaial page, it't dick cheney, it's his former secretary of state that can make news whatever she wants. i think they're going to try to end it tonight. maybe they're going to play twister, parcheesi, maybe a game of clue. >> a trust fall? i'll stop. >> something that shows closeness in their relationship. there's a best selling book right now about how these families don't like each other. i think it's overstated. i think both the clintons and
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obamas are capable of like and less than like at the same time, but for both their sakes, they'd be smart to try to end it tonight. >> michael steele, the rnc has wasted no time sending out an e-mail blast about this. could there be a better metaphor for hillary's biggest problem heading into 2016? she's literally hugging the president, hugging his flagging pole numbers, his failed foreign policy and his abysmal legislative record. the more the rnc and republicans in general focus on foreign policy, the more there is the sort of impetus or there is the pressure for republicans to actually take a position things like iraq and syria. and as you know and as we have discussed, there is a great debate in republican circles about interventionism versus isolationism. and i am of the mind that this is not a particularly good area for republicans. >> i disagree. i think for the political arm of the party, it's an absolutely
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sweet space to be in. and because you do a number of things. you get to drive a narrative, you get to drive your base, you get to drive your fund-raising, all with the face of hillary clinton and barack obama. so politically it makes sense. now, with respect to the broader question on foreign policy and where republicans -- congressional republicans versus candidates for the office of the president will end, that's still to be sorted out. and i think right now the upper hand in that debate goes to rand paul, who is defining the space with a great deal more clarity than potential opponents are, whether it's marco rubio or others. that's going to work itself out. the rnc doing what they're doing, absolutely, you do that all day long, baby, come on. >> to speak more of base politics, there's a question of the democratic base and how they
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respond. there's the obama white house, obama staffers who formerly worked in the white house and the actual voters. moved on, was not happy with hillary's statements, warned her about bad votes on iraq and bad decisions on iraq and the reality that most of the american public is not enthoous about american intervention in the middle east. how much do you think she may have lost about confidence or excitement -- >> she's never going to have the whole party. this does not keep her from the big chunk of the party she already has. i don't think that's a factor at all unless some magical unicorn candidate emerges on her left. >> if you had to make up with someone, would the hug be your method of choice? >> yeah, i probably would not, no. >> that's a noncommittal answer, yes, probably no.
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i think bill clinton and barack obama during the campaign referred to her as likable enough. i think that's always been the tenor between the two of them. a recent picture on the front page of the "politico" showed them hugging and the face on president obama said, yeah, you're likable enough. >> think is more about -- >> i thought you were going to say it would be a freshly baked pie. >> strudel. >> strudel. >> or cobbler. >> i'll keep it in mind for future conversations. >> another round of shootings keep a community on edge. the latest coming up next on "now." wondering what that is? that, my friends, is everything. and with the quicksilver card from capital one, you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase. not just "everything at the hardware store." not "everything, until you hit your cash back limit." quicksilver can earn you unlimited 1.5% cash back
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just four days after a missouri policeman called michael brown, another police shooting in ferguson county. it happened in the early hours of the morning after protests over the brown shooting grew violent. tear gas was fired on protesters, amid reports of men with ski masks and shotguns. according to police, around 1:00 in the morning, an officer shot and critically wounded a man who had pulled out a handgun. police say it's unrelated to earlier protests but the police department and other city leaders are urging protesters to assemble peacefully and protest only during daylight hours and in an organized and respectful manner. >> i think it's a really good idea because although all the people that are marching and protesting are -- most of them are very peaceful, they have a very strong message they want to get out, they're looking for
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answers. i staunderstand that, i underst the anger. but there are some people that come out and after dark is does get a little dangerous. so we think it's better for peaceful demonstrations to occur during the daylight. >> local church leaders have scheduled a peaceful protest for later today at 5:00 p.m. eastern. last night's violence came just hours after president obama urged everyone in ferguson to remain calm and after the justice department launched a federal investigation into brown's killing. >> coming up, leaker/whistle blow, edward snowden reveals what he took. the story next. you're cleaner than i thought. charmin ultra strong cleans so much better it meets even his highest standards of clean. with a soft duraclean texture, charmin ultra strong is 4 times stronger. and you can use up to 4x less. are you good to go hun?
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yes you do. but it's good for you, too. [announcer] healthful. flavorful. beneful. from purina. we have some breaking news to report. the latest three-day cease-fire between israel and hamas is set to expire minutes from now at the top of the hour. there are reports that the truce may have already been violated. israeli police claim a rocket
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landed in israel two hours before the cease-fire was scheduled to end. according to reuters, hamas is denying the firing of any rockets towards israel. negotiators in cairo are still trying to secure a long-term cease-fire agreement. a source from the palestinian delegation told nbc news the u.s. state department has intervened, trying to ensure the negotiations do not end in failure. we will continue to follow the stories and bring you all the latest developments. just ahead, boots on the ground in iraq. a new report about the next phase of the u.s. operation. former cia director james woolsey and woodrow wilson center's jane harmon join me coming up next.
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before you begin a
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we're changing the way we do business, with startup ny. we've created tax free zones throughout the state. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. no property tax. no business tax. and no sales tax. which means more growth for your business, and more jobs. it's not just business as usual. see how new york can help your business grow, at startup.ny.gov the objectives of the latest u.s. mission in iraq now in its sixth day have been somewhat vague, an operation limited in scope with no specific timeline. but there is one thing president
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obama and his administration have been very clear about -- no mission creep. >> as commander in chief, i will not allow the united states be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. american combat troops will not be returning to fight in iraq. >> there will be no reintroduction of american combat forces into iraq. >> this is not a combat boots on the ground operation. we're not going to have that kind of operation. >> despite these assurances, there are reports today that the u.s. is currently weighing a rescue mission for those trapped in the sinjar mountains. it would mean boots on the ground, maybe just not combat boots. it hasn't been approved by president obama. u.s. officials say the rescue mission is one of many options the u.s. is wearing. ben rhodes clarified exactly how these troops would be different. >> the president's one limiting
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factor that he's communicated repeatedly in public and to the military is we don't want to be reintroducing u.s. forces into a combat role on the ground. he's open to recommendations in which the united states is helping to facilitate the removal from these people on the mountain on a humanitarian mission, which we believe is separate from saying u.s. forces are going to be redeployed in iraq in a combat roll to take the fight to isil. >> the report came hours after the pentagon announced it spent ma roorines and special forces. france announced it, too, would begin supplying weapons to the kurds. in baghdad, iraq's new prime minister -- nouri al-maliki
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announced he filed an objection in court to his successor's nomination and holding on to his position was his, quote, patriotic duty. joining me, join harmon and former director of central intelligence, r. james woolsey. we have breaking news to report that u.s. military forces have continued to engage isis terrorists in iraq today, conducting another attack on an isil truck going into sinjar. it seems increasingly like dismantling or incapacitating is isis in a fundamental sense is the goal. administration here. >> following george bush who said the same thing, that basically we were ending the iraq war, we were getting out, we were not going to be there anymore. then circumstances come up in
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which you want to be there briefly for a bit in order to save refugees who are trapped or to use fighter aircraft to bomb infrastructure. and if they wouldn't state things so boldly, they wouldn't have so much trouble looking so crazy as they keep dancing around. but i'm afraid they're sort of trapped in their narrative and we're all likely to get a good deal of unfortunate entertainment out of their verbal logistics. >> well, jane, let me get your thoughts on that. has the administration put itself in an awkward position given the assurances that no combat troops would be engaged in this and then reports that there may be ground troops involved in a humanitarian mission. do you think we are conplaflati two different things? >> no, i don't. by the way, hi, jim.
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it's good to be on a program with you. we did it in haiti, we did it in thailand, we've done it in pakistan several times. the mills is very good at stajing humanitarian relief. and what we're trying to do is save hundreds of thousands of desperate people trapped on a mountaintop at the request of the iraqi government. it's not like we just picked this as a hobby for a weekend. i think the way we're going about it is very carefully. and these military folks on the ground are facilitating the humanitarian effort. the other this evening we're doing that i think also makes sense is we're protecting our personnel in irbil. this is a protection of persons issue. i do favor a public debate about this. i think that's something that's
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long overdue. a couple of senators, tim kaine and ted cruz, not exactly roommates, have called for this. the authorization to use military force in iraq was a long time ago. i voted for it because the believed the intelligence. it was wrong and i've said i was wrong. we then had a mission that was not prosecuted particularly well, i think jim might agree with that. and now if we're going to do more in iraq, yes, we should have a public debate and consider whether we should provide for specific authorization from congress beyond the humanitarian mission and the protection of u.s. personnel. >> jane, let me follow on that. i was going to ask you that question about tim kaine suggesting the president needs to seek congressional approval for any increased action in iraq. you think that's a good idea? >> i think it's a good idea to have a discussion when whether we should do that. i'm not saying we necessarily should do it but we certainly had programming at the wilson center about the need to renew the amof.
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i voted for the one that was almost unanimously approved but i never believed it would be the basis for most of our actions against al qaeda and terror organizations 12 years after it passed. >> in terms of launching successful humanitarian operations using military troops, there is also the question of whether if something goes wrong as things have and things do, what this means for the american military and having an american military service person involved in any kind of conflict on the ground with isis. given where the american public is on the question of iraq and the question of american soldiers over there, i mean, how loaded do you think this territory is? >> well, i mean -- are you asking jim? >> i'm asking james. >> okay. >> jim, go ahead. >> you don't get to pick your enemy that you want to carry out humanitarian operations against.
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you don't get to say, well, gee, if it weren't isis, if it were just somebody else, then it would be easier for me to pull it off. that's not real. if we're going to undertake humanitarian operations, and i think on the whole for the last decade or two we've undertaken too few, not too many, we stood aside while there was a huge massacre in rwanda, mainly because i think president clinton didn't want a replay of blackhawk down and what had happened previously in somalia. he has said in many ways it was his biggest mistake, not helping the rwandans. we have to stand ready in circumstances to help people be fed and have water and be moved to someplace where they're not in danger and a number of times in the past, those steps have led to larger involvements. but nobody is going to save us
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from being grown-ups and having to make those decisions step by step as we go. it goes with being in the government, whether you're in a position in the executive branch like i was or in congress like jane. >> jane, what about the news that america may be supplying the kurds with weapons and now france may also be supplying the kurds with weapons. this administration and a lot of folks have said the answer to this broader problem is a political conclusion and it's an inclusive government in iraq. i wonder how feasible you think that's possible if we are potentially arming one of the sectarian groups that may not want to be a part of an inclusive government in iraq? >> i've been part of some high-level conversations with kurdish leaders in the last several days and they have made explicitly clear they want to be part of an inclusive government in iraq and they support this new candidate to replace maliki.
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and maliki has to go. whether he goes with dignity or not is his choice. they have said they will protect the other secretaries in iraq within kurdistan to the extent they want that and they're helping these tragic refugees. so i think this is the correct thing to do. i'm glad we're doing it early. i think when you roll back the videotape and think of things we might have done in syria, we might not be in the mess in syria we are if we had taken other steps. isis is not just a problem in iraq. it's a problem in syria, could easily be a problem in turkey, lebanon, jordan, et cetera. we need a broad, regional strategy against isis. the region needs to step up here, too. where are the saudis? this is a major threat, an extremist sunni group that is threatening a huge part of real
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estate and seeks to acquire real estate in the middle east. >> just before we go, the "guardian" reports that the saudis are likely to arm those to fight isis. it goes to the serious national security threat to america's national interest. do you think it's a wise idea? >> i think we have to do everything we can to stop isis. a caliphate operating under the kill everybody, crucify some, behead others, unless they convert philosophy that isis demonstrates is a real threat to stability throughout the middle east. it's a threat to us because they are not like al qaeda, only going to sort of lay back and occasionally hit us in the west. isis has as its doctrine that it's going to move against us
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relatively soon. so nothing could be i think more irresponsible than standing back and saying, well, this might be something that would lead to a problem later on, i'm not sure i want to do that, let's think about it some more. we've got a real deadly enemy on our hands that wants to kill us and dominate the middle east and we got to deal with it. >> real quick, jane. >> david ignatius wrote an op-ed in the "washington post" today talking about how isis may have overreached just as al qaeda in iraq overreached in 2007 and was defeated in part because of our surge of troops but also because of the sunni awakening. that could easily happen here. and let's give a shout out to the iraqis who are trying to take their government back and promote inclusiveness, which sadly maliki squandered in the last six or seven years as leader. >> bravo. >> jane harman, ambassador r.j.
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woolsey, thank you so much for your thoughts. >> thank you. >> mitt romney may be a fan of a can-do entrepreneurial spirit but for pliiemployees at jimmy john's? not so much. take 4 advil in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. peanuts! peanuts! crowd cheers! a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function
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today the deadly general motor safety crisis multiplied by an order of five. back in 2001, gm, the largest car manufacturer in the country and future recipient of nearly $50 billion in taxpayer assistance, gm received a preproduction memo about a new car they were getting ready to roll out. according to that report titled "electrical concern," the ignition on the forthcoming saturn scion with suddenly shut off, disabling the engine, cutting off the steering, brakes. the memo diagnosed the problem and said it had been resolved.
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it hadn't. 13 years and 13 deadly accidents later, gm finally started recalling cars. they found ways to avoid questions from federal safety regulators about the cause of the crashes. in one case they simply wrote "gm opts not to respond." the car company has since recalled 29 million cars and trucks for a variety of safety concerns, most of them in the u.s. just this friday gm announced the recall of an additional 270,000 cars and suvs. the department of justice has opened a criminal probe against the country and a federal class action lawsuit was filed last month on behalf of 658 people who were even killed or injured. gm has launched its own victim compensation fund. the man hired for the task is
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kenneth feinberg, the same lawyer that oversaw compensation for the bp oil spill, the boston marathon bombings and attacks on september 11th. feinberg testified before the senate last month. >> we will compensate the innocent victims of this tragedy. that's the purpose of the protocol and i am confident that it will succeed. >> as of today, over 150 victim claims have been filed. 68 or nearly half of them are for alleged deaths. it is a number that far exceeds the deaths that gm has attributed to its faulty switch. joining me is the administrator of the gm ignition switch compensation program, kenneth feinberg. it's always good to see you and talk to you about how this process works. first your thoughts on the sort of number of claims that have been filed in relation to the number that we've been given thus far, which is 13 in terms of deaths. is there any connection there and how concerned are you about
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the sort of five-fold number of claims at this point? >> all those numbers that you're referring to, those numbers involve claims that have been filed. now, we are in the process of reviewing each and every one of those claims to determine, a, whether they're eligible and, b, if they are eligible, what the appropriate compensation should be. i don't want to imply this early in this program that simply filing a claim automatically assumes eligibility and compensation. that will play out over the next few weeks and months. >> let me ask, in terms of the percentage of claims that could be settled through the fund, gm has the optimistic figure of 90%. they think 90% of those who file claims will find compensation or will be settled through this process. do you think that is? what is your read on that? is that an overly optimistic figure? >> it may be optimistic.
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that's the goal. 91% in 9/11 filed. 92% in bp oil spill filed. we shall see. now remember, this program that i'm administering only covers the initial recall of 2.6 million saturns and cobalts, et cetera. it does not include all of the subsequent recalls that you've referenced involving thousands and thousands of other vehicles where those vehicles simply aren't part of this program. so you have to -- when you file a claim, you have to spell out exactly whether and to what extent your claim involves an eligible vehicle. >> sure, but given the numbers -- again, the number that we've been working on is 13 lives were lost, that's what the national highway traffic safety administration actually said. we believe it's likely that more
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than 13 lives were lost. given where we are today, if we're working on 90% of just the claims filed thus far, that would represent a dramatic increase in the number of people who were killed through all of this. >> you don't even know if those claims are eligible. again, don't draw the conclusion that simply filing a claim is an eligible claim. we're going to have to look at the documentation and see, you know, what did the police report say, what did the warranty and maintenance records show? is it an eligible vehicle? did the air bag fail to deploy? these are all questions that i'm asked in my sole discretion to review and render a conclusion as to whether the filing of a claim equals an eligible claim. >> let's talk a little bit about proving one's case here. clarence ditlow, the director of the center for auto safety says
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it will be difficult if not impossible for a consumer to prove ignition switch failure caused the crash if all they have is the statement that the ignition switch cut off. do you think this process is somehow unfairly burdening those who were affected with providing evidence that may be very, very difficult, if not impossible to obtain in. >> let me tell you, if the program i'm administering won't pay the claim, nobody's going to pay the claim. we will look at all of the circumstantial evidence, is the car available, what does the black box data show? what do the photographs show? did the air bag fail to deploy despite the fact that it's a front end collision? that's very, very circumstantial evidence of ignition switch failure. what do the insurance companies say at the time of the crash? what do the medical records show? there is a variety of circumstantial evidence that points in the direction of
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ignition switch failure, which we will look at in every single case. and depending on what that evidence shows, we will find the c car eligible or not and we will compensate in some cases in the millions of dollars on the claim. >> once you make a decision on these settlements, that's what it is. likewise victims -- i mean, gm can't -- victims cannot sue gm after reaching a settlement. but to the point of you having sole discretion on it must be noted an uncapped fund, how unusual is that? >> it's very unusual. now remember, when i render a decision about eligibility and dollars, no claimant has to take that money. any claimant, any family members who lost a loved one can reject my finding and go to court. this is a free opportunity, a
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free preview. now, it's very rare. you don't see see programs like this very often. 9/11 was such a program. the b.p. oil spill was such a program. that's about it. and i think that the test of the success of this program is going to be, as you have implied, how many claimants enter the program and find it just and fair and reasonable and generous. we shall see about that. >> those are words to remember, "we shall see." thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> a member of the delegation in cairo tells nbc news a cease-fire with israel has been extended for another 72 hours. the deal comes just minutes before the last three-day cease-fire was set to expire. israeli officials have not commented on the reported
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jim leahtone. weep s he set tables in a garage and started making food. it's known as jimmy john's in now he employs 60,000 people. one person making a difference. >> if you suffered through mitt romney's 2012 stump speech any number of times, you surely heard about jimmy john's, held up as the model of american entrepreneurship and, yes, you did build that individualism. now jimmy john's is in the spotlight again, this time for alleged systemic wage theft. in a lawsuit filed friday in federal court, two former employees of accuse jimmy john's of willfully committing widespread spry laviolations, f to pay all employees for all
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hours worked and knowingly requiring them to work off the clock. the lawsuit is a proposed class action, alleging tens of thousands of workers affected at over 1,900 shops. and the wage theft lawsuit is not the only action by jimmy john's employees, who are joining a growing campaign for fast food workers' rights. this weekend, jimmy john's workers in baltimore announced they're joining a union, part of the industrial workers of the world, to organize for fair pay and sick leave. the organizer -- owners think of us as machines, and that's exactly how they treat us. quote, their hustle is part of how they live their daily lives." here's to hoping the latest action by those workers means they will no longer be getting hustled for their paychecks. that's all for now. i'll see you back here tomorrow
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at 4:00 p.m. eastern. the "ed show" is up next. good evening, americans. welcome to the "ed show" live from new york city. let's get ready to rumble. >> in suburbanan st. louis, the scenes the photographers first captured looked like a police state. >> protesters march with their hands up. >> the officer is approaching us and as he pull up on the side of us, he didn't say freeze, halt. >> i want the truth and i want justice. >> the naacp officials saying they have witnesses, witnesses who say there was no confrontation. >> there's a lot of conflicting stories because the police here won't tell you nothing. >> an old wound that has been torn open to fresh. >> we call