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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  January 22, 2015 9:00am-10:01am PST

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new england patriots' footballs as the team coach is shocked as anyone else. >> learned a lot more about the process in the last three days than i knew or talked about it in the last 40 years i've coached in this league. >> and meeting of the minds, governor's jeb bushes and mitt romney plan to meet in utah in the next few day. is this just a talk among friends or something more? ♪ good day, everyone i'm andrea mitchell live in havana where historic talks are underway between the u.s. and cuba. this morning the focus has been establishing full diplomatic relations. later today they move to a wide range of disputed issues conflicts that emerged over immigration policy.
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u.s. attempts to get cuban doctors to defect and how to establish banking and credit and regular air travel and the all important internet access. joining me now here along the famous scenic harbor are gabe gutierrez and cnbc's ayman. gabe you even got to go to the famous beaches on the other side of the island rarely seen byny tourists and not usually american tourists because they've been banned. >> yes, it is about a two-hour drive from havana 90 miles east. few americans have seen it because of the longstanding trade embargo. some could go through exchanges as we know but as for the most part visited by canadian and european tourists an they seem to have a great one. one person said they chose to come to the beach because it is more inexpensive than other places through the caribbean.
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a canadian tourist told me had airfare for $888 all inclusive. there is a hope if the embargo were to be lifted that there might be a huge influx of american tourists. it's a long way away but amazing to see how much development is happening there. hotels ha rival some of the development you would see on miami beach there. it's due to these joint ventures with european companies that are putting up a lot of investment into this. >> and a lot of those kinds of investments are still con trained by the u.s. embargo because it does affect third countries, their ability to do more business more directly with cuba secondary boycotts, not as opposed as string ently but it is still tough. the embargo itself has not been
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lifted. how far can american business go? >> they see this as an untapped market despite what you see on the streets of havana they think there's a market for tourism and agriculture. but then the question is how much business does the cuban government want to do with the united states, particularly as you were talking about with internet access and communications devices a lot we've been talking to on the street, want to buy access to the outside world and text people in miami and talk freely but will they be allowed by the government to buy that equipment and will the u.s. be allowed to sell it or look for third party vendors instead of the united states. >> the big question is, the castro regime looks at this investment, if this comes in will this money really help the ordinary cuban, the poor poor people in this country or will it do nothing to change some of the poverty you see here.
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>> bottom line is when we talk about cuban television and cuban banks, any of these industries they are government-run industries. this is still the communist/socialist system. eamon, the criticism of the argument is that this will pop up the regime. the counter argument is that we haven't taken down the regime in 60 years, let's try something different and see -- >> that's what the president said on state of the union. let's try something else might be time to do that. there's so much eningenuity, you see the old cars cruising up and down they have them jury rigged with old soviet and american parts. on the american side you see the ingenuity of american business. there's one company in alabama exporting telephone lighting poles under the agriculture exemption to the embargo because those are wooden and grew as
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trees so therefore they are agriculture. they are finding ways to get around. >> it's going to take a while. the infrastructure not just the tourism infrastructure but communications infrastructure. it's so difficult to communicate with internet and phones it's going to take a while. >> i was talking to a cuban economist yesterday and he said the ingenuity of the cuban people -- we've seen it over the years, it's extraordinary. but that said they don't have a managerial class. they need that kind of class which can quickly develop and most educated society, part of the legacy of fidel castro. >> i'm told one of the developments slated to gowise a big chinese development, they wanted to bring in their own workers and managers cubans says no you have to have cube
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bans benefit from the jobs and they couldn't agree and that fell apart. you can see that happen with american companies coming here. they want to run things their way. the cubans might object to that. not used to being pushed around by big american companies. >> politically, i've seen this over the years, you have the chamber of commerce highly republican influenced group, business groups from the midwest, number of senators from the grain states they want to go through. does that mean there's any possibility that this could get through congress lifting the embargo? >> politically controlled by republicans and in miami, there's still opposition and marco rubio and others this is for many cuban americans this is personal. while this is a -- this embargo
quote quote quote
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been pronounced more than 50 years, this a communist government and should not be awarded for the record on human rights. there may be some practical reasons to lift embargo but you can't ignore that it can be very difficult to ignore that among many people especially in miami. -- >> that older generation in particular? >> certainly. >> such a pleasure to be with you. thank you both so very much. just hours before the u.s. delegation, the diplomatic dell kbags arrived with us president obama addressed historic changes happening in cuba during his state of the union address. >> what you're doing doesn't work for 50 years, it's time to try something new. [ applause ] and our shift in cuba policy has the potential to end, a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere and removes a phony excuse for restrictions in cuba stands up
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for democratic values and extends the hand of friendship to the cuban people. this year congress should begin the work of ending the embargo. >> joining me now is a former cuban diplomat a professor at the center for hemispheric and u.s. studies at the university of havana. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we've been talking about all of this change and how quickly it can come. how resistant will some parts of the cuban government be to opening the doors to american investment, american ideas, global ideas, the internet? >> well ideas, we're more aware of ideas than you would think. we have not been closed completely closed. but i think we have in general the problem of the mentality, we have been under siege, that maybe under siege by our big closed neighbors.
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i think we have to work on that and stop thinking that our relationship with the united states can be very very useful for -- take the case of the internet -- >> you've been writing and you've gone on cuban television calling for internet access. >> yeah i have done that. universal access to internet. and if possible free. i'm not sure that's doable but people are changing. really there are parts of cuban government that might have the mentality that the united states is the enemy and you have to start thinking in different ways. by the way, i am also part of a very significant cuban journal, we organize every last thursday of every month a public debate on public issues and we bring government officials and bring the people -- sometimes government officials don't want to come. that's normal. >> i was talking to you and you
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said that barack obama and raul castro might not be that different fundamentally. they may meet in april in panama the first time they would meet officially. how can you compare this youthful american president and different generations and philosophies. >> i think they have some things in common. they both face a very difficult critical situation in their countries when they assumed power. at the same time, i notice at the time when obama was yes, we can, raul castro was saying yes, we can. he spoke about change. he spoke about change. obama spoke about change. it seems to me that they are both good family men. from what i have seen of obama for what i know of raul castro i haven't met him personally but
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i know his children. they are both family men. they understand that. they are -- i think they both have the ability to know what more people suffer and how to change that. i think in both cases that happens. raul is very very down to earth guy. he wants results. he wants to see results. maybe there are some differences. raul is not -- he speaks very little. gives speeches every two months doesn't talk every week. he doesn't talk as long as his brother. obama on the other hand is a great speaker, no doubt about it. wonderful speaker. but i think they face the same challenge, they have to introduce transformation to their countries without changing basically what the countries mean and raul has been very
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successful. i hope so obama is successful. i think he's not given all of the credit he should be given by fixing and changing the united states. >> can this happen in a year, two years? >> well we have two years of obama. raul will be the next four years. he has already said he's going to retire in 2018. i think what is going to happen my prediction is that both governments are going to work very hard to reach as many agreements on issues we can have. for example, counter narcotics. >> they've been working behind the scenes. >> now we can sign an agreement, a formal agreement. that's good. environmental protection. very interesting, for example, american marine biologists are working protecting marine life in the coral reefs surrounding cuba. >> we're going to have to leave it there.
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so much to talk about. it's a pleasure. thank you so much for being with us. >> you're welcome. >> and fidel castro's legacy still looms large in cuba. huge bill boards in the streets as soon as you land. you see a young fidel castro image, reminding us of the revolution he started more than 50 years ago. a dozen years ago on one of my visits though fidel took me on a rare tour of the country. during the two days with castro his energy seemed boundless, one lasting past 2:00 in the morning. only hours later he took us to a controversial biological laboratory denying u.s. charges they may be producing germ warfare and a mill grinding kansas wheat, the first food exports they are permitted. we visited the rusting top secret satellite spy station. castro is converting it into a
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computer college, so secret most cubans don't know it exists. castro still refuses to concede he's on the wrong side of economic issue. >> translator: we have conducted a number of reforms but we're not headed toward capitalism. >> critics say he see kretly fears an end of embargo because cuba could be flooded with goods and ideas. >> translator: let me know in advance so i can move away because invasion of hundreds of thousands of american citizens is enough to make us move away. i say this is a joke. to respond to your question i will say that we are not afraid. >> well we'll have much more from cuba today, cuba tomorrow coming up. three days ago an american delegation was here trying to paf the way towards the full
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diplomatic relations and debbie stab nou will join me live next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. earning unlimited cash back on purchases. that's a win. but imagine earning it twice. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back twice, once when you buy and again as you pay. it's cash back. then cash back again. and that's a cash back win-win . the citi double cash card. the only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay. with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided.
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stabenow. welcome back, we're here in havana and i'm joined now from washington by senator debbie stabenow in michigan who took part in talks with cuban officials here part of a congressional delegation led by patrick leahy. already in the first day of talks yesterday on immigration issues, before they even got to talking about establishing embassies and diplomatic relations which began today, they already mixed it up.
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there was cuban complaints about the immigration policy the fact that cubans who land here are given special preference to stay if they are trying to get away from the island. they claim there's a policy of trying to lure cuban doctors to defect. are these the kind of obstacles we should expect as we try to normalize relations? >> yes, andrea in fact i would say this is all part of the process. i first went down almost two years ago with senator leahy and senator flake and congressman van hollen and we went down to press for the release of alan kbros and other prisoners but went as chair of the agriculture committee because they are interesting opening trade around agriculture. i gave a strong message directly to president castro if we are going to do that they had to release alan gross and begin to
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make change. now going back what we heard first of all, much more optimistic view i'm sure you're hearing that. very specifics we've had. but we've heard what you are talking about in terms of the very specific knit tinitty-gritty they are now dealing in the specifics. and i think as more -- frankly, responsibility goes on cuban government to really step up and open things up now and work with us i think we're going to see a lot of push and pull. i think both presidents want to move forward, certainly the cuban people -- i don't know the reaction you've gotten but everywhere we went cubans on the street were coming up and saying tell thank you president obama thank you. we need change. that's all good. but i think the tough part and i saw that in specific conversations, really is now getting down to the specifics.
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>> there's a lot of support in the agriculture work and agri business, there any way you can imagine that the embargo itself being lifted which would open the flood gates of tourism and investment? >> andrea i really can see that. i expect us to have a look on that. i think there's a real chance in the senate that we could put together the 60 vote super majority to make that happen. there's a very strong agricultural coalition, not just with commodity groups but farm equipment and so on that understand that this is about opening opportunities for jobs and economic opportunities for us in the united states as well as cuba. it was interesting when i first met with the minister of agriculture, they wanted to talk about tractors.
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80% of their land is owned by the government and then they turn it over to farmers that form co-operatives and they were saying that most of them don't even have one tractor. so they are very interested in all of these things. but, again, very different forms of government. this is where it gets tough. they purchase everything through their government entity. when i ask about the 20% not on government land being able to purchase tractors directly from companies in the u.s. no it has to go through the government. so we have different systems and it's going to be i think a step by step process trying to figure out how to do this. >> senator stabenow thank you very much for being with us today. >> my pleasure. >> appreciate it. a fomer senator and former secretary of state hillary clinton showed a canadian audience that all of her
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dust-ups with vladimir putin did not kill hillary clinton's sense of humor. in fact it helped her channel her inner vladimir putin. let's watch. >> if for some reason you decided to be leader of the united states or run for that there is a process. >> and you were elected and people said -- >> you could imagine the conversation with putin, he was prime minister after he was president and one day says vladimir, you think you would like to be president again? i think i would actually. why don't we go announce it and we'll tell dmi tri he can be prime minister? >> excellent, excellent idea. >> we have a process. yes. >> and we'll have a lot more from warm and sunny havana coming up next. but first we go to the deep freeze in boston. where new england patriots' head coach bill belichick has faced the press about the deflate-gate
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i came in monday morning, i was shocked to learn of the news reports about the footballs. i had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until monday morning. i had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and the process and i've told you all i know about the subject from my perspective. so that's where we are. >> new england patriots' head coach bill belichick on defense facing questions for the first time on the deflate-gate controversy. nbc's stephanie gosk is live
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outside gillette stadium in foxbore ro mass. where does this go from here. >> reporter: there's going to be a press conference with quarterback tom brady at 4:00. this was a previously unscheduled press conversation he was supposed to talk tomorrow and instead coming out today. a lot of way coach belichick teed him up. i didn't know anything about it and have no explanation of it. and when he was asked by the press in the room if any players had a preference, specifically tom brady had a preference, well you'll have to ask tom brady that question. the press will have an opportunity to do that later this afternoon. it will be interesting to see how he addresses that very specific question. >> stephanie, what are the ramifications here? because first round draft choice is not an issue certainly for the patriots. is anything going to happen before the super bowl? and is there some way this
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could -- whatever the results of the super bowl are, ten days from now? >> reporter: we're waiting for the report to come out and the nfl to say what the final conclusion is. this is really based on a record out of espn that nbc news has yet to personally verify that says 11 out of 12 of these balls were 2 pounds under inflated at halftime. the conclusion by the nfl, if that actually is the case who's to blame and who will be punished for it? it could be any spectrum of things and could have something to do with the patriots getting trouble for spy-gate 2007. spying on their opponent. >> indeed. we should point out, the whole point of deflating the ball some quarterbacks including in the past apparently said so, tom brady in a radio interview a couple of years ago preferred to have the ball slightly deflated gives a better grip and helps receivers especially in rainy
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conditions which was in the case in the playoff game against the colts. thank you. we have another word from the world of sports. after 23 years spectacular career on the nascar circuit, wildly popular four-time champ jeff gordon will retire after the 2015 season. the 43-year-old is coming off one of the best seasons in years after winning dozens of victories, many before his 30th birthday. he brought the sport of nascar to madison avenue and even hosted "saturday night live." and as u.s. and cuban diplomats are negotiating closer ties american students are already studying here. i melt with a group from brown university last night and even though they are going through severe withdrawal for not having access to social media, because of lack of internet access the experience of being here at this historic moment incomparable. >> i'm intrigued by the political history it has with
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the u.s. and i don't know -- we don't collectively know much about it because we only know the u.s. perspective. and i thought going to -- going to this program in cuba is going to be really eye opening and like i've -- my goal is to really understand the world because you know -- >> why not start here. >> why not start in cuba? >> and your timing is perfect. you're coming just as these talks are trying to negotiate a real relationship. >> it's been astonishing for me and really thrilling, none of us could have known we were timing it like this. but of course i had been watching the news up until i came here. i don't have wi-fi but i'm thrilled to be seeing cuba before it will change dramatically. >> a lot more from cuba coming up. next, 2016 politics actually
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cuban politics and plus a utah summit for two potential republican primary competitors. what are jeb and mitt cooking up? stay tuned. this is "andrea mitchell reports" coming to you live from havana only on msnbc. rma. checking your credit score is for chumps. i have great credit. how do you know? duh. you know those change, right? tattoos don't change. try credit karma.
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if you're running a business legalzoom has your back. over the last 10 years we've helped over one million business owners get started. visit us today for legal help you can count on to start and run your business. legalzoom. legal help is here. you're looking at live pictures from lawrence kansas where president obama is speaking at the second stop on the post state of the union tour. the president will be heading back to the white house later today ahead of a quick turnaround because he has a long flight to india for a summit this weekend. and more news from the white house. president obama is pointedly not going to be meeting with israel prime minister netanyahu who will be coming to washington in march. joining me now for the daily fix, senior political editor mark murray and bloomberg editor
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gene cummings. this is a real political tap dance because john boehner, republicans in the house have been very close to the netanyahu government as well invited netanyahu to come and speak about the iran sanctions issue, which is of course the subject of a big veto threat the iran negotiations that the president says could be blown up if congress goes ahead and imposes new sanctions. so netanyahu is invited. today he said yes, he will come and address a joint meeting of congress. and the white house is letting it be known he won't get an oval office meeting because this is only a month before israel's elections and oval office meeting on top of a congressional speech would be very useful to the israeli prime minister a month before elections. a lot going on there.
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>> a lot going on there, both politics on both ends. it really is unusual for the speaker to step in and independently send out this invitation without working in coordination with the white house, but the politics are very dicey for netanyahu as well because it's a month before his election. if you're going to leave the country, the united states is a place you probably would want to go to. that would be the ideal destination, but certainly he would want all of the bells and whistles so it would look -- it would be very impressive for the people back at home. and now it's going to be a split decision for him about how well it goes here in the states. that could affect the outcome of his race as well. lots of politics. >> and mark murray speaking of politics 2016 so jeb bush gets on a plane and acknowledges he's heading to utah. he's going to meet with mitt romney with whom he has had not
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the best relations, bush was pretty late to endorse romney. what is going on here? they are dividing the same establishment space in the republican primary, potential republican primaries, are they working out which one runs and how they proceed going forward? >> andrea, this meeting was scheduled before mitt romney started to make his overtour suggesting a presidential bid. one, that jeb bush and mitt romney decide one of us is better prepared to run for the presidency, we decent want conservatives to win the republican nomination. if one of us should be the establish the person and have an inside track on getting the nomination. the other way is both men saying they are going to go their own separate ways and both end up running campaign bids because as you suggested, neither guy is really close. neither actually thinks that the other one is a potential winner
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in either the primary or the general election. and so it does make for a fascinating meeting that's going to occur as well as what we end up hearing after it. >> and the nbc news/wall street journal poll they both have name recognition so at this stage they are both well positioned but there's a big sentiment against somebody who has already run and somebody named bush. >> andrea, our nbc/wall street journal poll found mitt romney is more popular among republicans than bush and a lot has to do with romney was the 2012 nominee, still getting support from the republican rank in file and the polls suggested that jeb bush has room to grow. it depends on the poll you're reading. either guy actually probably thinks they have the inside track. >> okay mark murray and jean cummings thanks very much. trouble down at guantanamo the
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u.s. base at guantanamo has been a big sticking point whenever the cuban and u.s. officials meet. now there's a scandal brewing that can only embarrass american officials about what's happening at guantanamo and this is not the prison, the naval base. the top commander was fired and now being investigated in connection to an alleged affair as well as the death of that woman's husband. nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins me now. what do we know? >> this is very embarrassing for the navy. it began nearly two weeks ago when the body of christopher turn a civilian employee at the u.s. naval air base his body was found floating in guantanamo bay. they launched an investigation into how this could have happened and ordered an autopsy as well. in the meantime those investigators discovered that the dead man's wife --
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information was made available to the navy he was fired from his job. let's be clear about this. even if it was just a groundless accusation, the navy is so tough on their commanders that he probably would have been pulled from his command anyway. so nobody is making any direct formal accusations, no charges have been filed. the investigation is under way. not only into the affair but if there was any wrong doing, foul play in the death of that civilian employee andrea. >> really fascinating stuff. thanks very much jim miklaszewski. on wednesday brian williams talked to a young cuban woman hoping that history being made now will happen quickly. >> when my mom left i was over
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21 she couldn't take me with her. but i was also finishing my study and didn't want to quit. i think i always knew that what's happening now had to be there at some point and i wanted to stay for it. i know it's going to be so good so rich and i really love being in my country. >> and we'll have a lot more from havana coming up next as high level conversations, talks continue between the u.s. and cuban diplomats. we'll talk to one of the u.s. senators who helped laid the groundwork for today's big meeting. dick durbin joining me now and you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" coming to you live from havana, cuba. hey! guess what day it is?? >>hump day! hummmp daaay! it's hump day! >>yeah! >>hey mike! mike mike mike mike mike! >>mike mike mike mike mike. hey! he knows! hey! guess what day it is! hey! camel! guess what day it is! >>it's not even wednesday. let it go, phil. if you're a camel, you put up with
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and while his assistant secretary robert ta jacobson is here hosting talks, secretary of state john kerry is in london at
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a summit on isis joining 21 members of a u.s.-led coalition to discuss the strategy in the fight against isis. kerry spoke about some of the specific gains made by the coalition. >> we are taking out fighters in the thousands thus far. their commanders on 50% of the top command has been eliminated. hundreds of vehicles and tanks, which they captured have been destroyed. near will 200 oil and gas facilities have been eliminated from their capacity to sell and get revenue from them. that's the infrastructure that funds their terror as well as more than 1,000 fighting positions, check points, buildings and barracks in iraq and syria. >> and back here in havana the
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spokesperson for the top cuban diplomat in charge of the talks on north american relations had this to say about the break in talks and how they are going. >> we both agreed that their establishment of relations of diplomatic relations should be based on the principles of international relations and also on the conventions in vienna on diplomatic relations. we also have been exchanging about the steps that we should make in order to a realty decision that has been already stated by both president, president raul castro and president barack obama last year. and the talks has been carried out in a very respectful flexible environment and way. i would foresee we would continue to work in the same
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spirit. >> i'm joined by dick durbin from illinois who was part of the congressional delegation that had the important meetings with top officials here in cuba a few days ago. thank you very much. what do you think is going to be the toughest obstacle to overcome as we move towards normalization and beyond? >> there are congressional obstacles that are revery real. there are members of congress in the united states senate who have strong feelings about the castro regime. that's a reality. overwhelmingly the american people and the members of congress believe it's time for a change. our foreign policy of 50 years has not succeeded. i think president obama is on pt right path. >> there's going to be a meeting with dissidents and the american diplomat roberta jacobson tomorrow. do the cuban government officials have to realize this
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is part of an american agenda or is this another hurdle? >> this is a hard thing for the current regime in cuba to accept, but americans by their nature visit countries and try to hear both sides. when we visited and met with what they call the reformers, there was pushback they didn't like the idea. i said if they want to come to washington, d.c. and meet with fox news we won't take it personally. so it's the way we do business. >> when you say there was pushback, how upset do you think they were? were they really offended? >> i can't tell you, andrea. we're at the earliest stages of a new relationship and i don't want to exaggerate it. we met with bruno rodriguez for a very lengthy and positive meeting.
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it was one of our challenges but i think we worked our way through it. >> what do you think the advantages are for american business and particularly agriculture, you're from the midwest, from illinois if this actually works and if exports can be begin flowing in these areas? >> there are opportunities. it's not a huge nation but it's an important nation. in the fact that powdered milk in cuba today comes from new zealand instead of the united states because of the embargo, one single product you can point to. there are opportunities there but you can't visit havana cuba today which i did for several days and not come away with the belief that the opportunity is there. not only for economic development but also for tourism and i'm hoping we can work together to achieve that. >> and what about the internet? american companies and global companies going in and trying to build the infrastructure? is the cuban government ready to accept that and make internet
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access available and available to the people beyond the elites who have it now? >> andrea that is a key question. haven't we learned in recent modern history that technology is an accelerant when it comes to political thinking and change? the question is whether castro -- the castro brothers in cuba who have kept a closed society for a long time are prepared to accept the 21st century technology that is part of this conversation. they tell us that they are. i hope they are. >> the president's opening is very popular according to our recent poll 60 to 30%. will that move the needle at all on capitol hill? >> i think it will. but remember back not so far ago -- not so long ago when we were talking about establishing diplomatic relations with vietnam and a lot of people said after losing 40,000 brave americans in a war, how could we possibly do that? it's a repressive regime.
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we worked our way through it and established diplomatic relations. we don't agree with all of the policies in vietnam, but i think both nations are better off because we have diplomatic relationships that have led to more understanding. >> thank you very much senator dick durbin thanks for being with us today. >> thanks andrea. >> we'll have more coming up from havana you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" live on msnbc from havana, cuba. y house... it's a full day for me, and i love it. but when i started having back pain my sister had to come help. i don't like asking for help. i took tylenol but i had to take six pills to get through the day. so my daughter brought over some aleve. it's just two pills, all day! and now, i'm back! aleve. two pills. all day strong, all day long. and now introducing aleve pm for a better am.
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can we come back in 10 or 15 years and see how much it changed. a lot of people have good thoughts and bad thoughts. it will be nice to see how it actually works out. >> and a british tourist on the beautiful beach. that does it for this very special edition of quts andrea
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mitchell reports. we're be back talking to roberta jacobson after she wraps up historic talks. for more updates follow the show online. . natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more. >> bingo! >> darn it! i was one square away from winning that game. >> it's a shame sadie isn't here today she always wins. coulda won the big prize. >> you know, that could have helped her with some of jim's funeral expenses. >> there wasn't any life insurance?
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ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the program today. 1:00 p.m. in new york and washington where we're awaiting a briefing from defense secretary chuck hagel. we're looking at the live shot the briefing room. he'll face questions on whether the u.s. embassy in yemen will be evacuated. we'll bring you update shortly. the reason shrinkage has been trending all day on twitter, deflate-gate. we heard from new england patriots' coach bill belichick
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and responded for first time and it appears to be tough question after tough question that the team used underinflated footballs in the championship game on sunday. belichick said he was shocked to learn of these allegations. >> i had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until monday morning. i learned a lot more in this process in the last three days than i knew or talked about it in the last 40 years. >> the always impeccable stephanie gosk is following this one for us. to be blunt, what are sources telling you about how convincing belichick was today? >> reporter: sources in the league aren't saying much. they only say the investigation is ongoing and when it's concluded they'll let everybody know how they feel whether or not the balls were inflated enough or not and certainly what they think about bill belichick. you might taking it into the wider public