>> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet. >> you could argue that was a michael kinsley definition of a gaffe, speaking the accidental truth. >> i think he was being very transparent. if you don't know what you're going to do the day after, if you could destroy isis, what do you do next? i'm krystal ball filling in for ronan farrow. first up, britain just raised its terror threat level to severe today. prime minister david cameron held a news conference to explain why. >> this is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore. the ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of iraq and syria is a threat to our own security here in the uk.

>> and there is a chilling new propaganda video out today from isis that blasts the u.s./kurdish alliance in iraq showing 15 captured peshmerga. then the beheading of one of them. we'll have much more an all of this coming up in just a few moments. to ukraine where earlier today, the ukrainian president declared a russian invasion was under way. in new york, the u.n. security council called an emergency session to discuss the latest crisis. ten ukrainian soldiers were killed after fighting with pro-russian separatists. that's in just the past 24 hours while russia continues to flatly deny that any of its troops are in eastern ukraine. yesterday, nato released what it says are satellite photos of russian artillery inside ukraine just last week. president obama has promised more russian sanctions, but has ruled out military intervention. meanwhile, vladimir putin said today that he hopes russia won't lose the right to hold the 2018

world cup. here at home, closing arguments are under way right now in the public corruption trial of former virginia governor bob mcdonnell and his wife maureen. the mcdonnells are accused of accepting more than $165,000 in money and gifts, including designer dresses, a rolex watch and vacations. sort of like a major shopping spree. all of that in exchange allegedly for promoting a dietary supplement company. this morning, prosecutors told the jury that mcdonnell and his wife have a, quote, corrupt understanding. the mcdonnells deny any wrongdoing, but if they are convicted, they could face decades in prison and millions of dollars in fines. a verdict could come as soon as today. arizona law enforcement officials say no criminal charges are spending in the case of a 9-year-old girl who accidentally shot and killed her instructor with an uzi. earlier this week, they are viewing the death as a, quote, industrial accident.

and for the first time, the family of the gun instructor is speaking out. nbc news spoke exclusively with charles vacca's ex-wife and the couple's four children. >> in the future, i personally hope to probably write a letter just to personally communicate with them he was a good person but he know they are as well and we just want to make sure that they understand that we know it was a tragic accident. and that it's something that we're all going to have to live with. >> vacca was teaching the girl to use that uzi at an arizona gun range when the gun was switched to automatic mode, the kickback caused the gun to lurch and she shot him in the head. amazon, facebook, now google. everybody wants to get into the drone delivery business. yesterday google unveiled project wing. a small flying device that is controlled remotely and can deliver goods to hard to reach places. they tested the drones in the australian outback delivering dog treats to this farmer that

you see here. the company whose motto famously is don't be evil, said the drones could be used to send medicine to stranded hikers or perhaps to farmers stuck in a field with sick animals. back to the developing news that we are following this hour. britain raising its terror threat level to severe. that in response to that isis threat. british home secretary teresa may said this earlier. >> the judgments that they make are based on the latest intelligence. the increasing threat level is related to developments in syria and iraq. >> and white house press secretary josh earnest addressed the u.s. threat level late this morning. >> this is a threat that we are monitoring. it's one we've been focused on for quite some time. it's been the focus of intensive discussions inside the administration. it's also been the focus of intensive discussions with governments in the region and around the world. >> nbc's keir simmons joins me

now live from london. we just heard british officials say that the threat level increase was based on intelligence. do we have any specific information on a particular threat here? >> there are quite focused in saying that there is not a specific threat. this threat level has been raised, i think, not surprisingly because of the drum beat of threats that we've heard from isis, both on social media, in interviews with the media and also, of course, the very fact that the alleged killer of james foley had a british accent. all of these things come together to leave british officials concluding that they need to raise the threat level. remember as well the large numbers or relatively large numbers of british nationals who are going to fight with isis. some 500 it's estimated, perhaps half of them having returned home. so that's the kind of basis on which they've made this assessment and decided they need

to ramp up security for the uk. the first time that's happened in three years. but as you mentioned, the british prime minister used it as an opportunity to lay out this really worrying vision of the threat from isis. he talked about them as extremist ideaologists. he said they are political and not religious. opposed by religions around the world, he said. and that's the way we need to see them in his view. he says he thinks it's a generational struggle against what's he calls a poisonous ideology and set out a vision in the middle east which is frankly terrifying where he says they are trying to build an extremist islamic state. that if they got their way would stretch all the way to the mediterranean n border a nato country. that's why the british prime minister says we need to fight isis at home because he wise talking, of course, to a domestic audience and abroad. the problem, of course, is that even the british are reticent to

get involved in military action against isis in syria. that is the issue that the british prime minister faces just the same as the president faces. >> all of us a bit war weary. keir simmons, thank you so much. in his news conference today, prime minister cameron acknowledged the presence of british citizens among the isis ranks. take a listen. >> we now believe that at least 500 people have traveled from britain to fight in syria and potentially iraq. >> it is believed that a british jihadist beheaded u.s. journalist james foley. and just this week, the white house confirmed the death of the first u.s. jihadist fighting with isis. that was douglas macarthur mccain. "the new york times" reporting today, u.s. intelligence agencies have identified at least a dozen americans who travelled to syria to fight with isis. joining me here in the studio is evan kohlmann and also via skype

from the uk, terror analyst raphael. the senior research fellow at the royal united services institute. thank you both for being with me. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> evan, let's talk first about the increased threat level in the uk. we did get a statement recently from u.s. homeland security secretary jeh johnson. he said at present the u.s. department of homeland security and the fbi are unaware any of specific, credible threat to the u.s. homeland from isil. also, of course, known as isis. it would seem given the geographic proximity that britain has versus the u.s. and also that they have a larger num are about of british citizens who have gone to fight with isis, it would seem that they face in a way a greater threat than the u.s. >> not to mention that there's 500 to 600 british nationals who have gone. there's upwards of 900 french nationals who have gone and it's just a channel right away. it should be troubling for us, too. we have to look at this lens of,

sure. once someone is inside the uk or france or another western country, it's not difficult to get here to the united states. and there are a number of americans, upwards of 100 americans who have gone to fight in syria. it's a problem that exists in europe primarily, but it exists equally here and we haven't seen these kind of numbers in a conflict zone in many, many years. even in afghanistan. the home of al qaeda, there was never this many westerners fighting in a jihadi conflict. certainly not for a group like isis. >> it's unsettling. raphael, how does the presence of foreign fighters, both u.s. and british and french as evan is pointing out, how does that change the calculus of how big a threat that western countries are facing right now? >> i think the calculus becomes a lot more dangerous when you are talking about western nationals being out there. this means they have passports which will enable them to travel back home and operate back at home with relative ease. if they have western european

passports they'll be able to travel to the united states with greater ease as well. so it does provide a direct umbilical link if you will, between the battle field in syria and iraq and western countries. history, these sorts of connections have been where we've seen a lot of terrorist plots emanate in the past. >> evan, let's trn to some new reporting in "the washington post" indicating that james foley as well as other hostages being held by isis were waterboarded. what does that tell you? >> this fits into a pattern of what we've seen in the past where not just al qaeda but al qaeda, isis, other jihadist groups have attempted to emulate the behavior they've seen meated out to prisoners at abu ghraib, at guantanamo to their own captives, trying to send that message backwards. i think unfortunately isis derives perverse enjoyment out of this. we shnts be surprised about this. that's the price of abu ghraib and that's the price of continuing the camp in

guantanamo. these folks will continue to try to use it as a propaganda issue and torture our hostages with that knowledge. >> that's an important distinction. these are brutal, murdering terrorists. whether we waterboarded or not, they would be engaging in horrific acts. but when we do things like waterboarding, that the president has called torture, when we do things that are against our own principles, we hand them an easy piece of propaganda. >> yeah, because look. how can they justify this otherwise. they can easily justify it now because if anyone questions them they point to abu ghraib photos or gitmo. if they didn't have these issues to point to it would be difficult to justify treating hostages like this. >> raphael is there any sense in the uk of unhappiness with how the u.s. is handling the isis threat or feeling like we're not taking it seriously enough? >> well, i think certainly when we're looking at the threat of foreign fighters, it's something which has been heightened concern to european countries for some time.

i would argue for at least the past year if not more, this has been the top concern for european security agencies across the board. and i think there has been a sense of this level of concern isn't replicating in the united states. however, with the sort of spread of isis across that border to sort of -- what they repeatedly call the destructions of the line between iraq and syria and the growth of this group and then its increasing attention to the united states, there's been a sense that the u.s. is becoming a lot more engaging and folks on this problem. and this is something that i think western european security forces will be -- will appreciate because of the added sort of capacity this brings to the struggle. >> i think it's safe to say that the threat has become very real to us here indeed. evan kohlmann and raphael, thank you to both of you. up next, it's the obama remark that everyone is talking about. >> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet.

>> or maybe everyone is actually talking more about the color of his suit. the answer, i think, is both. they are talking about both. we'll have more an both when we come back. stay with us. narrator: summer. you know it can't last forever. but that's okay. because a fresh start awaits. with exciting worlds to explore, and challenges yet unmet, new friendships to forge, and old ones to renew. it's more than a job. and they're more than just our students. so welcome back, to the students, and to the educators. ready to teach. and ready to learn.

the president stands squarely behind the decision that he made yesterday to wear his summer suit at yesterday's news conference. thursday before labor day. he feels pretty good about it. >> i don't know about that call. the president's tan suit almost broke twitter, i think, yesterday. it was the president's strategy comment that the white house was really on the defensive about. here are those remarks that he made about strategy for dealing with isis in syria.

>> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet. i think what i've seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we're at than we currently are. there's no point of me asking for action on the part of congress before i know exactly what it is that is going to be required for us to get the job done. >> so how did that go over? the national journal took it to see that obama sees no rush on syria despite mounting pressure. and the reason why obama backed off more isis strikes was his own team couldn't agree on a syria strategy. and the hill notes that after the speech, white house does damage control, noting that the administration launched a full court media press to clarify the president's comments. joining me now is nbc news

senior political reporter harry bacon junior and josh greene, national correspondent at business week. thank you for being with me. you are both wearing something dangerously close to khaki suits. >> we're pulling it off. >> so josh, let's talk about the damage control element from the comments from the president about not having a strategy to deal with isis in syria in particular. we saw press secretary josh earnest. he did a lot of interviews in the wake of that comment. here he was on "morning joe" this morning. take a listen. >> what the president was talking about yesterday, he was responding to a question, specifically about whether or not he was going to seek congressional authorization to order military strikes inside of syria. and the president said we don't have a strategy yet. we don't have plans in place right now for what we want to do and what we can do militarily in syria. but when it comes to confronting isil, the president's made very clear that we have a comprehensive strategy for

confronting the threat posed by isil. >> judging by the amount of cleanup that's been done here, this was a misstatement. it was not a sort of intentional planned remark. >> a narrow point about attacking syria militarily. but i think it showed two problems obama has or two tendencies. he's not a guy who sticks to his talking points. he always feels that's a little beneath him. when you speak off the cuff, he can run into trouble, as he did. i think the other thing that drove this a little bit was his peak at the media. scolding reporters for saying you have gotten out ahead of where i am. >> another thing we've seen with the president before. >> when you combine those two tendencies you get a scolding president who is not saying specifically what he intends to say and you wind up with a quote/unquote gaffe. even if he does have at least the outlines of a strategy going forward. >> perry, what do you think? the other thing i would say is, we're coming off of a president, a previous president who was

all, you know, certainty and whether it was the right decision or not, he was often wrong but never in doubt. president obama seems to be the other extreme where he is deliberately very cautious the entire purpose of this press conference yesterday really seems to be putting the brakes an and saying we're not there yet. >> right. i thought his actual -- it wasn't a gaffe in the sense that, like josh earnest said, the president was asked, do we need congressional authorization to go to war with syria. and the president responded i don't know if i'm going to air strike syria so, therefore, the notion i need congressional authorization is ahead of the game. that was true. the moment it becomes significant is a lot of people feel like, even some democrats, even james jones, his national security adviser early an had been saying obama doesn't have a strategy. the fact that this -- compared isil to a jv team and i think that goes to the pont that people are nervous that maybe the president is not accurately

viewing this situation. has had to catch up to events rather than leading on this issue particularly well. >> to the sub stance of what is likely happening here, if the president is going to go forward with air strikes which is not clear at all in syria. obviously, we've already had air strikes in iraq. some members of congress, including congressman peter welsh and tim kaine have said we want to have a say here. we want to have accountability and want members of congress to take a vote. we saw the president previously go in that direction when he was plee previously thinking of going into syria with air strikes. do you think he would be susceptible to that sort of pressure to put a vote to congress? >> i think hige's going to get that pressure. part of the reason we don't have a strategy is that it's not just the u.s. it's not just the u.s. congress that needs to settle an what that strategy is going to be. there has to be a political, military, economic and diplomatic strategy that involves other countries. there were anonymously officials from a bunch of other currents

today in "the washington post" saying essentially, they haven't contacted us. we want to be involved. there's a lot to work out before we really know what the next move will be. >> one of the next pieces to work out is the public is pretty reticent about getting involved again overseas. even though the isis threat is quite real. although there were some new pew research numbers coming out showing that we are becoming less reticent. huge shift in the numbers who say we're playing too little of a role versus too much. now you have many more who are looking for the u.s. to get more involved in world affairs. it's a big shift from what we saw just a year ago. >> that poll i thought was striking. i was surprised by those numbers. there is a member of congress, adam smith, asked about a voting congress to authorize air strikes in syria. he said, quote that would not happen in a million years. i still think it's not likely to see this congress any time soon

authorize military forces in another arab country right now. >> and josh, how does all this play into the 2014 midterm elections? as perry was mention, the republicans are trying to use this to string together this message of presidential incompetence. does that stick with democratic candidates in places like arkansas? >> it doesn't. what they are hurt by more is obama's overall approval rating and that's being pulled down by foreign policy. when you are voting for a congressman or senator you are looking at the state of the economy, jobs, what's happening or not happening in washington. maybe not specifically the president's strategy or lack thereof in syria. >> i agree with that. i think the economy will still be the number one issue going into the fall. i can't let you go without a quick thumbs up or thumbs down on the tan suit. i've got to know. what did you think, perry? >> thumbs up. good style. it's surprising because he always wears the same boring suit. it was just shocking. >> it shocked me.

>> they should have leaked it to somebody. i thought it was terrible. somebody at esquire wrote he looked lu eed like a nursing ho security guard. he need someday color in the tie. >> i did not like the suit but found it refreshing to see a man subjected to the overwhelming amount of focus on their appearance that women of subjected to. josh greene, perry bacon, thanks. when we come back, nascar champion tony stewart is speaking for the very first time since that fatal accident on the track at watkins glen almost three weeks ago now. we'll bring you what he said right after the break. stay with us.

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almost three weeks ago he said ward's death will affect his life forever. >> this is a sadness and a pain that i hope no one ever has to experience in their life. that being said, i know that the pain and the mourning that kevin ward's family and friends are experiencing is something that i can't possibly imagine. >> stewart said he could not answer any questions about the incident and left shortly after reading the statement. stewart has not raced since the tragic accident but he is returning to the track this sunday. before we go to break, take a look at a few other stories trending across social media today that caught our eye.

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today the president of ukraine declared that a russian invasion is under way, and u.s. allies in europe also addressed the crisis in ukraine launching some of their toughest charges yet against vladimir putin. meeting in milan today, several european foreign ministers also accused russia of invading eastern ukraine. they added that moscow should be punished with additional sanctions. the move comes just one day after president obama issued this warning. >> russia has deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine and the new hy images of russian forces inside ukraine make that plain for the world to see. this russian incursion into ukraine will only bring more costs and consequences. >> we're joined from moscow. albina, we've got 7,000 ukrai ukrainian troops surrounded right now.

they're asking for a humanitarian corridor out of ukraine. what can you tell us about the latest on all that situation? >> well, good evening. that's right. this morning, vladimir putin issued an appeal to the pro-russian rebels calling them to create a corridor for the ukrainian army who are apparently surrounded to exit. and, in fact, the rebel leaders said they are ready to provide this corridor only if the ukrainians laid don their weapons. but later vladimir putin said that basically, this signs from kiev were that they were not going to abandon their positions, that they would stay and fight and that this would have very bad consequences. meanwhile, we have this new front that's opened up near mariopal. there are reports there's some 60 tanks on the way. but reports from the ground from

journalists say that the city is calm and that there is no one actually coming to the city yet. >> and russia denies they've invaded burr, of course, we've seen those nato pictures. what are we supposed to make of the foreign minister lavrov's statement denying that russia has invaded ukraine? >> well, in reference to the pictures, lavrov has actually said that they were, in fact, computer game. it's very much in keeping with russia's lying throughout this conflict that there's no proof of a russian incursion or involvement. vladimir putin said as much today as well. the only thing he did admit to was the ten soldiers that did cross the border and were -- the russian soldiers that crossed the border and were then taken into captivity by ukrainians. he said this was just an accident that they got lost. >> albina, thank you for your

report. what if any, options does the u.s. have and how far does the president need to actually go to stand up to putin? colonel jack jacobs is an msnbc military analyst and recipient of the congressional medal of honor. it's always a pleasure to have you. thanks for joining me. >> thank you. >> putin said something that was interesting. a word that was flagged when he was calling for that humanitarian corridor. he spoke of new russia. and he called the rebels there, the separatists, he called them the militia of new russia. is that significant? >> yeah, it is. it means he's going to continue to support them as long as necessary until at least that whole sloth that includes ethnic russian speakers in eastern ukraine become part of russia. he did it easily with crimea and there was a lot of -- there were a lot of people who acquiesced in that regard. now there's fighting but ultimately, putin will persist

until the eastern part of ukraine becomes wholly part of russia. >> we've levied sanctions, levied more sanctions. got the europeans on board. they also levied pretty decent sanctions, it would seem. they don't at least at this point seem to be acting as any sort of deterrence. did the u.s. need to do more to arm the ukrainian military? is that an avenue we should be exploring? >> we can do. i don't think that's going to have a significant impact on the outcome of what takes place on the battlefield. what they really need are more people, and to that extent, the ukrainians have instituted a draft. you can't snap your fingers and immediately have several hundred thousand new ukrainian soldiers in the field. they have to be recruited. they have to be trained. they have to be put into units and integrated into a battle plan. so just sending more arms ammunition supplies to ukrain n

ukrainians is not going to have the desired effect on the battlefield. russians are moving more tanks and artillery on to the battlefield and that's delet deleterious to the position. >> it would seem they were smart by, slowly, they obviously denied what they were doing. no, we're not involved. we just want peace. we want an end to the hostilities. meanwhile, they're doing whatever they want. but they've encroached sort of slowly. they've moved across sort of slowly and now it seems like there is less focus on what's going on in the situation and less willingness to deal aggressively with what i think has to be called a russian invasion of ukraine. >> certainly is. putin has done something even smarter than that. he's smart enough to figure out the west is not going to do anything to impede his progress. the sanctions you are talking about. we've had, i don't know, three or four rounds of

ever-increasing sanctions. for a long while the europeans didn't even get involved in sanctions for a wide variety of domestic political and economic reasons. and we didn't either. the sanctions that are currently being imposed on russia are really not very significant at all. if the united states and the west banded together, western europe banded together, we could very nearly paralyze russia but neither side wants to do that. so it's not going to happen. >> perhaps we should do all of that plus take away the 2018 world cup. maybe he'd respond to that. >> the latter definitely would change the world picture. >> colonel jack jacobs, thank you as always. and up next, are you ready for some football? the other kind of american football, not the soccer football. less than a week until the regular season kicks off? and then notoriously intransigent roger goodell signals a pretty major change in league policy on a very controversial issue. stay with us for all the details.

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it's the only one cats ask for by name. the nfl is tackling domestic abuse. but are they going far enough? in february, baltimore ravens running back ray rice was seen in this video obtained by tmz sports dragging his then fiance off an elevator in an atlantic city casino after allegedly knocking her unconscious. he was then suspended for just two games by the nfl for that incident. in a letter to nfl owners yesterday, commissioner roger goodell acknowledged making the wrong call in that case and anonced a change in policy. i didn't get it right, he said. simply put, we have to do better, and we will. under the new policy, players involved in a domestic violence incident will face a six-game suspension and then banishment

from the league with a second offense. the new edict does not change the punishment for ray rice. he'll miss the first two games of the season. roman is a 12-year veteran of the nfl and joins me now to discuss this. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to getti your reactio to the policy change. good on them for tackling it. i'm impressed he actually said we got it wrong, right? but others are saying, this doesn't really change anything because ultimately, the commissioner can do whatever he wants, right? he could have suspended ray rice for as many games as he wanted and the next person who engaged in a similar attack could also be suspended. >> under the personal conduct policy, the commissioner has the autonomy to give any type of punishment that the league seems fit. this didn't have to be negotiated by the nfl p.a. or

the players union but had ray rice gotten four games initially, obviously, i don't think we'd be here having this discussion. you wouldn't see this policy. unfortunately, you are living in retrospect. he did admit he was wrong. they didn't get it right. you haven't sign this in major league baseball, hockey or basketball. so the nfl is still a leader in that regard. and to institute this domestic violence policy because men and women's groups have asked for a specific domestic violence policy that wasn't previously there. >> even though the commissioner still has the ultimate authority, this sets a baseline. if you were to go below that there would be outrage about why that would be. how pervasive of a problem do you think domestic violence is with players in the nfl? >> i don't particularly subscribe to this theory that because of the vilent nature of the game football players are more predisposed to having violence or anger issues. i think most players won't fall under this category.

90% of players don't have domestic violence issues. but what this does, it educates people. and that education trickles down to college, high school level. you talk about the pipeline, the nfl, and a lot of the larger markets, how people deal with anger and problems. a lot of those issues are started at home and from what they see every day. by the time someone gets to be a professional, to be an adult, you have domestic violence issue. it's a little too late then. this definitely shows by the punishment itself, how serious the nfl is on this topic but it really comes back to the education. ever since the outburst, they were listening to domestic violence experts, doing the research. for the last three weeks after the ray rice incident they've been working on it. now they came out with this policy yesterday. >> ross tucker, a former nfl player and now with nbc sports, he got a response from a woman who said the new policy won't deter behavior but it will deter wives from reporting it. i know your wife counsels women

who have been victims of domestic violence. do you see any truth to that? >> there are a lot of domestic violence issues that aren't reported. in some cases, the wife or partner won't report domestic violences but they know someone getting arrested or losing work time or losing salary does affect the home life financially. but you justice hope from an educational standpoint you can see the signs of how anger is dealt with and be able to deal with it early. >> roman, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. up next, a sneak peek inside frat house culture. a former ivy league frat boy when we return. ups is a global company, but most of our employees

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in california, lawmakers have unanimously passed what could be a game changing bill that addresses campus sexual assault. the so-called yes, means yes bill requires universities to

adopt affirmative consent language marking a major shift from the ubiquitous phrase no, means no. if governor jerry brown signs that bill it would make make that change. he has not indicated his stance yet, and his office declined to comment. and now we're going to revisit one of our previous calls to action on hazing. you might remember andrew lows, whose 2012 profile in "rolling stone" magazine went viral. it chronicled sorted details inside alleged fraternity hazing at dartmouth university. ronan recently sat down with andrew, whose new book "confessions of an ivy league frat boy" is out now. he started by asking him, what made him want to come forward in even further detail? >> you know, it was a traumatic set of experiences. i watched the way it affected me deeply. you know, left me with a lot of depression, anxiety, you know, substance abuse that was really heavily involved in that experience. and i just started to thinking -- i started to get

some perspective. why does this have to happen, and why are so many people willing to defend this system? in schools like dartmouth and other great schools across the country. >> so what can you tell our viewers? obviously, it's tv, so avoid what you have to. but about why this experience was so terrible and left such a scar for you. >> in the book, i talk about excessive coerced binge drinking. times where some of the pledges had to chug vinegar, swimming in the kidie pool that contained bodily fluids. being vomited on, vomiting on others, psychological games that were being kind of played with the pledges. it's the kind of thing that we don't really talk about enough, but it can really have a big effect on people. >> and this is all to get into a fraternity? >> yeah, you have to become a full-time, you know, member, brother. >> what do you say to critics who are questioning the voracity of this account, saying it's exaggerated, to do with your aspirations as a novelist? quote, these may be the worst

and least trustworthy confessions in the 16 centuries since st. augustine. i find this story far fetched and anyone ought to question the testimony of an aspiring easton ellis. what's your response? >> i find that utterly ridiculous. i stand by 100% everything that i represent in the book. these are true events that happened -- >> corroborated by other people? >> they've been corroborated. done extensive fact check, so did "rolling stone" magazine. i had people present for 95% of all the hazing who read the book. read hundreds of pages and confirmed everything in its totality. i stand 100% behind my word. this is a true book. i can understand that people, you know, can have an extreme and often visceral reaction, but it's the truth. we have to, you know, deal with that truth. >> for people who don't know greek culture well, are certain people targeted for this kind of hazing? >> well, you know, i would only speak about my experience, but, you know, obviously it's a choice to enter the greek

system. i think that we need to talk about the kind of -- the structure of it, the psychology of it, and what we're really dealing with is young men at a fairly young age in their development. you go to college and you want to fit in, especially at a school like dartmouth. a lot of people are socially ambitious, upwardly mobile. there's a promise the frat would connect them with jobs, different professional opportunities, and that can be an overwhelming desire for some people. >> look, i don't want to be here to cry angry culture wholesale. i think there are many people that i've known that have benefitted from it. that's all fine. but you raise a really important point, that very often this ends up being a gateway into the kind of denigration and violence you're talking about. it can also be a gateway into sexual violence. that's been the subject of our call to action this week. we've been doing a week-long series on violence of a sexual nature on college campuses and what the country is trying to do to combat that. you know, we've been looking at how that actually plays into

this critique of greek life. you wrote about it yourself. for "cosmo" you wrote this column. you talked about the predatory conspiracy. >> absolutely. yeah, well, you know, i think that when we talk about our national problem with sexual assault on campus, we can't divorce that from our conversation about hazing and fraternities. the data shows, the research shows, you know, many books have been written on the subject of the way that fraternity culture drives that rape culture and how the two are really interwoven in a way that if we want to talk about one, we're going to have to talk about the other too. >> thank you for sharing this story. i know it's a tough one to talk about, but i think it sheds light on an important issue. >> thanks for having me, ronan. >> appreciate it. >> and with want to add that dartmouth told us that hazing is strictly prohibited by the school. quote, the fraternity in question was investigated and charged with violations of dartmouth's hazing policy, resulting in multiterm sanctions

in 2012. for our call to action this week on campus sexual assault, we've been asking you to share what's happening on your college campus. we got a whole lot of responses from 26 states and washington, d.c. here's what you told us. many of you had concerns over parties. and greek culture. uncertainty about how schools handle sexual assault. you acknowledged noticeable actions in some cases taken by schools. encouraging there. and some of you disagreed whether sexual assault is a problem at school. we have some statistics we could show you on that. head to ronandaily.msnbc.com and keep those responses coming. that wraps up things for this edition of "ronan farrow daily." i'll be back in an hour for "the cycle." stay tuned for that. right now, my colleague joy reid picks things up from here. >> all right, krystal. enjoy your hour break. i'll see you on the other side of the hour. coming up next on "the reid report," harsh criticism today for president obama's no-strategy comments as the u.k. raises its terror threat level

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a healthy, happy life. purina cat chow complete. share your rescue story and join us in building better lives. one rescue at a time. hello, everyone. i'm joy reid. this is "the reid report." we're watching developments on two fronts today. in missouri, where the community is still dealing with the fallout from the shooting death of michael brown that has now gone way beyond ferguson. then, great britain takes the extraordinary step of raising its terror threat level in response to a real and serious isis threat. >> what we're facing in iraq now with isil is a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before. that we cannot appease this ideology, we have to confront it at home and abroad.

>> it comes as the u.s. conducts four more air strikes in iraq today and as president obama is getting hammered for saying this about the militant extremists. >> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet. >> nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker is with me now. how is the white house responding to the immense fallout over one line in that press conference yesterday? >> well, joy, to some extent, the white house has been in damage control mode because the president's comments really played right into some of his republican critics' hands. senator mccain, mike rogers saying this is emblematic of the fact the president doesn't have a clear idea of how to deal with how to confront isis. so what we've seen over the past 24 hours, white house press secretary josh earnest sending out a number of tweets to clarify president obama's statements. also appearing on a number of cable news programs. then again today in the white house press