1:00 on the east coast 10:00 on the west. north korea is behind the cyber attacks on sony entertainment. of course attacks that led sewn tow take the enprecedented step of scrapping the release of their film, the interview. they believe it was state responseored. retaliation on a plot to kill north korea's leader. president obama said he is not taking the attack lightly. >> we will be vigilant and if we see something that is serious and credible, we will alert the public. my recommendation is that people go to the movies. >> they call it a win for the terrorists. we will have much more on who is behind this attack in a few

minutes. the surviving report of the marathon momings. this was the first time since the summer that had been seen in public. that makes seating an impartial jury impossible. he could get the death penalty if convicted. jury selection begins on january 5th. we will be keeping tabs. no love from russia. vladamir putin lashed out in a marathon news conference.

he accused the west of causing his economic crisis and used what else? a bear analogy. they think maybe let the bear eat berries and honey they will leave it in peace. they will always try to put him on a chain. chaining the bear and hoping to ask putin questions before the news conference. oh, those fire side chats. over to nigeria, boko haram struck on sunday. it killed 43 people. kidnapped at least 100 including young men, women, and children. the kidnappings were discovered days later because of village survivors who managed to reach a nearby city. let's go down on the sony tacking attack. celebrities have been taking to stwiter for the decision to pull the plug after threats to movie theaters. this is really part to believe

this is the response to the threat of freedom of expression. they said everyone caved and the hackers won, an utter and victory for them. joining me here on set, the writer for gawker has been breaking the story down. walk us through what led up to this decision. a lot of movie theater chains have been saying hey, sony was backing off from supporting the proje project. >> no one wants to say we are scrapping the release of the film. what led up to this was anonymous. from there within a very, very short amount of time, the movie was done. >> are we going to see no projects for a long, long time? >> we may not see any. what it takes to get a movie canceled, it's a semi credible

vague threat on the internet. this gives a lot of ammunition for anyone with any impenting release. it's pretty dangerous. >> sony said we stand by our filmmakers and the right to freedom of expression. for those that are similarly disappointed, should they be pointing the finger at sony? >> i think sony handled this poorly. this was the most recent misstep on their part. it's a debacle and the humiliation. >> it's about the bottom line. this is to be frightened away from theater. >> it will be easy to frighten those away from theaters based on so little. >> what is next for sony? >> they needed to start putting their passwords into files.

sony is from the very beginning. the fundamentals. >> have you moved as somebody who is at the heart of reporting. whether it's ethical. >> it's a major -- president obama is talking about it. i would say it's news worthy, giant publicly traded corporation. we stand by our reporting. >> thanks for your time. >> my pleasure. >> what are led officials to believe it was north korea. it was state sponsored and launched outside of north korea. they are not sure how it was done. here's jay johnson this past hour on andrea mitchell. >> the u.s. government is considering a range of options that will take in response to this attack. we do regard the attack on sony as very serious. >> as it would happen, josh is talking about this attack. take a listen.

>> as we would be in any scenario, strategic scenario like this, they would be mindful of the fact that we need a proportional response and also mindful of the fact that sophisticated actors when they carry out actions like this are often times, not always, but seeking to provoke a response from the united states of america. they made believe that a response from us in one fashion or another would be advantageous to them. so we want to be mindful of that too and the national security team is mindful of those two important strategic considerations as they consider the range of response. >> there is a big debate over someone cancelling the interview. is he expressing the interview with the head of state? >> i haven't talked to him about that.

what i can say as a general matter is that the president and the administration strands squarely on the aside of artists and other private citizens who seek to freely express their views. sometimes the views can be laced with criticism or are sometimes intended to provoke either some kind of comedic sponsor one that is intended to be some element of pretty biting social commentary. all of that is appropriate well within the rights of private citizens to express their views. the president has been on the-ing end of some expressions

like that. and while we may not agree with the content of everything produced, we stand squarely on the side of the right of private individuals to express themselves. that is a view that is strongly held by this administration as it has been throughout the history of our country. >> the eu announced a ban on businesses doing investments in crimea. are they planning to take a similar action and can you give us the similar action while you are at it. >> and stay with us. we will keep you posted on any news that comes out of this. after this break, another big story dominating the headlines. the other side of this cuba debate. we talked to the family member of one of the pilots shot down by the cuban five. she calls it a slap in the face and we will look at why. later in today's program, the

very first of a special investigative series that we are launching. we will take you inside the va with a look at that health care system so under fire throughout the past year and how the va continued to in the eyes of some veterans mistreat those in the scandal. stay with us. my name's louis, and i quit smoking with chantix. i had tried to do it in the past. i hadn't been successful. quitting smoking this time was different because

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>> the cold war may be thawing, but not everyone is lighting a cigar at this point. the price was just too high. the u.s. returned to cuba the last three members of the so-called cuban five. five cuban intelligence agents

jailed in the late 90s. here's the chilling moments from the air. >> those crews were not heart from again. maggie is the sister of the victims. a cuban-american and a vietnam veteran. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> what was your reaction to hearing the news about this prisoner exchange? >> at the beginning, we could not believe it. i thought there was a mix up and even with an exchange, he would

not be included. we could not believe that someone who has gone through the opportunity to defend himself and has american blood in his hands could return to cuba. could not believe it. we concerned about the american who is might be the target of imprisonment. we did a deal to get one of our guys back here. >> they did not mention the guy. he was a member of the wrong government. i don't have details. >> when they said they were

risking a lot for american security. isn't that worth a sacrifice? >> it is a real american. i don't know who he is. my brother and a vietnam veteran and put his on the line. what you call cuban americans of the four killed, two were born in theus. we are americans and human rights were not protected. they were violated when they were killed. the rights of the family were returning by this guy and i'm not at all convinced that the rights are going to improve at all. >> take a listen to this past

hour. >> the spies who were convicted for experience to commit murder of americans for an innocent civilian is a dangerous precedent. it said to others in the world. what message would you want sent by our leaders? >> the problem is what negotiations did they make with cuba? definitely his government is not going to change. all he wants are economic rights that come at a high price. we have been optimizing relations gradually is and did not have to give up. it sends the wrong message.

when you mentioned the cuban five, there were 14 members of this by the west network. a lot of them pleaded guilty and we forget about them. it's not only these five. >> obviously a strong reaction and i'm sorry for your family's loss. thank you for sharing your story. >> the topic of cuba is the battle. we want to get your opinion. do you think this shift is the right move for the u.s. and it's worth the sacrifices? you can weigh in with rfd yes if you think it'sa a good nuf and mfd no if not. just ahead, close, but actually yes cigar. the single word taking the

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get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on select new volkswagen models. >> when the cia was this close to taking down fidel castro with the did deadliest weapon of all. time. >> getting a lot of play online as he prepares for his final show tonight. here are the other stories that caught our eye. when you think of cube a what's the first word that comes to mind? obviously cigars. >> america has for too long held on to policies, 1950s. we needed to make sure in the future. we need to think about all our partners around the world in mexico and cuba and canada and let go of some of this stuff. plus i love cuban cigars. >> everybody is on the same page

and that was one of the pop trending words. look at that spike with the use of the word cigar. all americans want to know when can we start buying them. the east trade restrictions should mean they can bring home up to $100 of cigars. sometimes it's just a cigar and sometimes a shift of international relations. next up, a theater in texas deciding to stick it to the terrorists and replace screenings of the interview. everything you need to know about diplomacy. in case you forgot the lyrics, they said they will have american flags. streamers. watching the friend be lonely or you know how they pronounce it in the film. finally, that's no moon. you are watching a you tube

video of a house in san francisco with christmas lights set to the "star wars" theme song. look at that. its 100,000 bulbs. pretty cool. just ahead, was it an unavoidable business decision or did sony pictures cave, letting them win with someone with a lot at stake who teles it like it is? next.

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"morning joe." the plenty of politicians are saying it's the wrong move that includes marco rubio saying this is an a front to democracy. saying it sends a dangerous message to foreign policy. former senator from florida has an interesting personal attachment. he fled cube and became the first cuban-american senator. it's a pleasure to have you here. >> it's good to be with you. >> what is your reaction to the deal on both a personal and political level? >> it's incredibly emotional. yesterday was tumultuous. the more i heard, the more the extend of the shift. it wasn't just a bad swap of a criminal for the aid worker, it was a sweeping change in policy. it was emotional to me as a child about the time of the

embargo into place. the trade sanction which is what it is. i sort of tend to agree with some of the other guests you had on and what the senator's comments were. this is a bipartisan issue. it's about human rights and respect for the rule of law. it's about just making a bad deal with a dictatorship that has to be ones it waning days. i tend to agree with some who would say the biological solution if nothing else was upon us. these were aging dictators without a clear cut path to a transition and think the policy has been in place for so long and should have been only changed in exchange for measures that the cuban government was taken to improve the lives of their own people. >> was it worth the trade of getting the last of the cuban five back into cuban hands in exchange for that asset that the

president described as a heroic individual. they helped intelligence very much. >> you and i until yesterday. >> i value the work anyone would do to the dictatorship for 56 years. this is all about alan gross. for the years he was in prison. i remember being back in the senate. being outraged at the arrest of someone who was there with folks correcting to the internet. he had a trumped up trial outside the light of day. he was wrong low imprisoned. to compare him to the people released, i would quote the words of saying there was no moral equivalency between the two. boy the way, i don't dispute that. they end up in harsh prison

conditions even to this day. it doesn't seem to me to be what was behind this. when you pair that with an enormous policy shift, it's just a little too much. >> of course all of us very happy for the return of two americans and a lot of questions about this deal. thank you so much for your time. >> thanks. >> another vestage of the cold war, north korea having an impact on our lives and the lives of sony entertainment executives. the executives caving in response to hackers reported by that communist country. the studio is cancelling the release of the interview that involved a plot to kill the leader. that is getting a lot of criticism. did they get let the hackers win. the writer's guild of america east. the a big 50 amendment question. >> freedom of expression.

they represent screen writers and news writers and public writers and comedy writers. writers should be free to address it without intimidation. >> the theater owners were intimidated. it's a bad day. >> it's a domino effect of this project in development with steve carrel and unflattering views of that country. now canned apparently. how much of an impact do you see this having on any projects that touch on north korea. >> why stop? anyone in power who wants to make a threat theoretically could shut down whatever movie they want. that's the scary part about this. i'm hoping that the entertainment industry learned a little bit from this. who knows what we would have done in sony's shoes on crist mat day. that's horrible. if there is going to be a narrowing of the range of issues that hollywood and new york and the other entertainment capitals

are willing to tackle, the range of expression that writers and directors and others are able to engage in, it's going to be a bad day. >> a lot of questions about where to point the finger. people in hollywood and we had the reactions saying this is sony's fault. the theaters are trying to punt blame saying they didn't back this adequately. >> the main blame lies with the people who issued the threats. no question. they shouldn't have done it. they share blame. they should have stood up. they should have allowed safety officers and the federal government to assess the threats and protect the american people. any time someone makes a threat. i would say the number one blame are the ones who did it. they should have had more backbone. we need to learn a lesson from this and make sure it doesn't happen again. >> a lot of questions about

motivation. how much is it about protecting the bottom line. >> it's like christmas for the retail stores for the main season. i'm sure the theater owners said look, people are not going to see the others either if you release it. it's bad. clever on the part of the hackers. we could have shown more. >> whatever aside of this issue with sewny and other parties involved, it is a dark day for freedom of expression. >> it certainly is. >> thank you for your direction. >> right now developing news from massachusetts we wanted to bring you. we have new video of suspect returning to prison in the fort. today is the first time we have seen him in public. he was in federal court in boston for a pretrial hearing, the last before jury selection begins january 5th.

upon next, a big one. the investigation into the heart breaking untold stories in the va medical system. the fate of vet rals not taken care of by that system. stay with us. you don't want to miss this one. >> how does it make you feel to hear that legal language in response to your human situation? >> well, i heard it before, but i don't like it at all. >> they should have come to each affected soldier and told them this is what happened to you and we acknowledge it happened. it's our fault. we did it. we caused it. o) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need.

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yoplait. smooth, creamy, and craved by the whole family. the department of veterans affairs is under fire again. a new report made public from the inspector general find the department misled congress about how many veterans died or

suffered waiting for care at va hospitals. that caps a bruising year for the va. this past allegation from whistle blowers and about manipulated patient data to cover up the problem and the departure of top officials including the secretary. in recent weeks, the new secretary has been out in force, insisting they are moving on from the problems. for some veterans, moving on is much harder. that includes thousands who learned that a common medical procedure could have gone terribly wrong. changing their lives forever. that's the story the unit first reported five years ago. we followed up and found after their medical scares, many of the veterans facesd a new struggle. >> he served in the army as an artillery surveyor in vietnam. >> rocking the tanks and -- >> phillip wayne bell saw combat

as a sergeant major and the army reserves. >> vietnam, korea, bosnia, first rotation into bosnia and iraq for the invasion of 2003. >> five years ago, both got a bombshell from the va. this letter warning them of a potential danger. when they had colonoscopies in murr frees borrow, tennessee, they could have been exposed toly fluid from a previous patient's procedure. they had an incorrect valve and a tube may not have been properly cleaned between patients. the va could not rule out the possibility that one or more patients were exposed to infection. infection with another patient's virus such as hepatitis or hiv. more than 10,000 veterans who

had procedures in the facility got letters like that. >> disturbing reports about what happened when thousands of americans who had already proudly served their country went to va hospitals for tests designed to keep them healthy. >> the va offered precautionary blood tests to check for viruses. some veterans who said they understand themselves to be virus-free took the tests. they tested positive. john and phillip tested positive. we visited them and asked them about what happened. >> hello. >> ronan farrow. it's a pleasure to meet you. >> the va said he tested positive for a virus transmitted through bodily fluids that affects the liver and cause permanent damage and a higher risk of failure or liver cancer.

>> i can't explain it. i was mad, i was upset, aggravat aggravated. about everything you could be at the same time. and i wanted to strangle somebody. then you have to go home and tell your family something like that, that's hard. >> the va said he tested positive for hepatitis b too. >> how did it feel when you heard that? >> it's devastating not only to you, but to your family. you don't know what you are passing along to your family members as a result of someone else's miscare. >> both had procedures at the alvin c. york medical center in tennessee near nashville. they acknowledged the serious lapses in cleaning as reported

in 2009. >> how did this happen? it came down to these valves. one with two loops and the other with one loop used for cleaning the equipment. a va doctor noticed the problem. the cleaning involve was being used during a colon os copy. >> whether or not they contracted illness from these procedures, it's outrageous that they have to worry about that possibility. >> the investigation that confirmed the problems and the risk of infection. the va reported it conducted retraining and changed the cleaning procedures. this couldn't happen again. overtime, the story faded from the headlines. some praised them for doing the right thing and telling them about the problem. in an investigation this year, they found some of the veteran who is tested positive including bell and ren ger think the va

has done the wrong thing since. ignoring their concerns, denying claims and fighting them in court and leaving them abandoned. in a statement to nbc news, the va said it is unacceptable that veterans were exposed to harm. it reiterated it had taken steps to prevent the problems from happening again. they did not answer questions about what they are doing. for though who testeds positive and declined requests for an interview. after the test results, bell and ren ger said the va gave them guidance about what to do. both men said they decided to abstain from sexual relations with their wives, fearing they could infect them. bell married 25 years to janine. >> that must have been difficult for you and your wife. >> yes. yes. >> ren ger married 43 years. >> she loves me and i love her,

but we don't seem to have the real closeness we used to have before that. >> the va reported a small number of the more than 10,000 veterans potentially exposed later tested positive for virus infections. 92 overall. eight for hiv and 13 for hepatitis b. 71 for hepatitis c. this year in response to a freedom of information act request, the va gave the nbc news yund a dunk and claims filed against it. they noted it is a tiny percentage of visits and there were 107 million patient visits and 453 of those paid. the nbc news unit found and the records related to the exposures

from colon os copies. they cited for infections. the others claimed injuries and the stresses of knowing about the potential risks, but the records revealed the va denied most of the exposure claims and even for veteran who is have tested positive. our investigation did not disclose negligent acts or omissions by employees of the department of veterans affairs acting within the scope of employment for which the va would be liable. accordingly this claim is denied. mike shepherd is a self described army brat.

he filed claims for both bell and ren ger as well as more than 40 others who had the procedure at the same va in tennessee. the va denied them all. >> after sending a letter stating they had done something wrong and exposed them to contaminants, they send a letter out after receiving the claims that they did nothing wrong. >> is there any other way you could have contracted this? >> no. >> no possibility? >> not at all. >> you know you live a clean life and hadn't done any kind of drugs or i haven't been running around on my wife or anything. she knows that. that's where i think i got it. i don't know where else i could have got it.

>> when we come back, we will talk about the va's records to set things right. some feel those efforts went terribly wrong. stay with us.

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the v.a. is facing new questions about its credibility this week in the wake of a scathing inspector general report and a year of allegations of mistreatment within the v.a. health system. as well as cover-ups of that behavior. before the break, we exposed one of those stories. horrifying infections suffered by some veterans while under the care of v.a. hospitals. now, meet valerie herman, another veteran who worked at the v.a. facility where this all happened. she says the revelations were no shock to those working there. >> valerie herman, who served in the middle east, worked as a

physician's assistant in primary care at the v.a. facility where both men had their colonoscopies. she didn't witness the problems herself, but she says they were common knowledge there. >> what were you told by people who would have firsthand experience of that colonoscopy equipment that was being used? >> just that the blood and the saline -- into another. hello. and they were disturbed. >> why didn't people speak up? >> fear. she says she tried to meet with the v.a. to decide how they could do the right thing. >> how did v.a. respond ever respond to those efforts of dialogue? >> no response whatsoever. >> no response? >> no.

i called. i wrote letters, let's sit down across the table from each other and figure out what needs to be done. >> he also wrote letters to congress and visited washington to try to get more answers. >> this was an effort to find out what went wrong how to correct it and compensate our veterans for the injuries that they sustained. >> after the v.a. denied their injury claims, shepherd filed negligence lawsuits in federal court in tennessee on behalf of nine veterans who had comes of colonoscopies. they asked for significant financial awards. >> it didn't have to be that way. >> the v.a., shepherd and the veterans say, responded with a legal defense. through its lawyers, the v.a. said prove it. shepherd says the v.a. took the

position no one would be able to definitively determine whether any veterans got infected through their colonoscopies. in the case, the v.a. submitted a schedule of exams which indicated the patients getting colonoscopies before him on the same day were negative for hepatitis. but shepherd says the v.a. refused to provide the full medical records, which could've provided other evidence. >> they were not interested in looking at it from a chronological perspective or a cumulative negligence perspective. >> we read both bell and reneger legal arguments used against their cases. >> how does it make you feel to hear that legal language in response to your human situation that you're telling them about? >> well, i don't like it at all. makes me mad. >> they should have come to each of these soldiers and told them, this is what has happened to

you. and we acknowledge it's happened. and it's our fault. we did it. we caused it. >> in the end, the federal court in tennessee dismissed all the lawsuits filed by veterans there, including bell's and reneger's, dismissed largely on the technical grounds of the arguments and the state's required burden of proof for such cases. both bell and reneger receive monthly payments for other medical conditions unrelated to the infection. conditions v.a. has rated connected to their military service. both still get medical care from the v.a. feeling they've earned it through their service. reneger has chronic hepatitis. the v.a. is monitoring him for liver damage and will for the rest of his life. bell's hepatitis is not active. he credits to an -- he's a carrier that could infect others.

both men say what's been most devastating to them, they're feeling the v.a. hasn't taken full responsibility for a problem it acknowledged. treating veterans as legal opponents instead of patients, offering no apologies, they say. not even expressions of human concern. >> how does that make you feel? given all that you have given for this country? >> well, you feel like you're discarded. and you feel like it's all a matter of money. >> just makes you think -- he served a country, but you don't mean anything to him. >> what's the v.a.'s side of the story? well, the new v.a. secretary robert mcdonald has been speaking out in recent weeks about the steps he and the department are taking to address some of the v.a.'s issues head on. the v.a. didn't want to discuss this one with us. the v.a. regional counsel referencing the injury claims, the signature at the bottom of

the denial letters for veterans in tennessee an attorney promoted to acting general counsel. she's now the top lawyer for the entire v.a. we asked the v.a. repeatedly for an interview with her or another representative. they declined to grant us an interview. all right. before we go, we wanted to update you on the hash tag battle. we wanted you to weigh in. is it the right move for the u.s.? and the results, 100% of you said it is the right move. tell us how you really feel. and some breaking news coming out of the pentagon this moment that we wanted to bring you. senior defense officials confirming now that the u.s. has killed three mid to high-level isis leaders in air strikes in iraq over the past six weeks. that includes a top leader. keep you posted on that. all right. thank you, all, for your time today. really appreciate your joining. that wraps up "rfd," joy reid is

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hello, everyone, i'm joy reid, and we begin with breaking news. defense officials confirm the u.s. air strike has killed three mid to high-level isis leaders in iraq over the last six weeks. nbc pentagon correspondent joining me now. what do we know? >> well, joy, u.s. military officials and defense officials here in the pentagon are describing this at least as a temporary victory. based on intelligence, these three mid to high-level isis leaders were, in fact, targeted by u.s. air strikes. from the middle of november until the first week of december. they've been identified as, one, mutas, the deputy to the bakar al baghdadi, he is the top leader of isis, impor