partners including israel and the gulf states and we have vigorously reaffirmed our enduring commitment to their security. no one should mistake that. we will continue to stand by that commitment in the years and days ahead. obviously we remain deeply concerned about iran's destabilizing -- >> breaking news leads the hour. you've just been listening to secretary of state john kerry detailing the framework of a nuclear deal just reached with iran. i'm abby huntsman. the president also reacted just moments ago. >> today after many months of tough principled diplomacy, we have achieved the framework for that deal. and it is a good deal a deal that meets our core objectives. this framework would cut off every pathway that iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon. as president and commander in chief, i have no greater

responsibility than the security of the american people. and i'm convinced that if this framework leads to a final comprehensive deal, it will make our country, our allies and our world safer. >> a historic understanding and, quote, good deal but there's of course still much work to be done. the agreement between five major world powers the u.s. and iran will be used as a guide for a comprehensive agreement potentially by the end of june. iran's foreign minister called the deal good for everyone involved. >> when we implement our measures, there will be no sanctions against the islamic republic of iran and that i think, would be a major step forward. we have stopped a cycle that was not in the interest of anybody. >> let's debtget right to it. nbc foreign correspondent richard engeln istanbul.

walk us through this framework. >> there was a lot of talk the framework wouldn't happen, that the two sides were too far apart. the deal that has just been laid out by the president, by secretary of state kerry is quite comprehensive. it still needs to be finalized. it still needs to be approved by the respective governments. but this is the outline of the deal. and the core element here is that iran agrees to very intrusive inspections for many years in exchange for these inspections and reducing its capacity to build a bomb the united states will in phases lift sanctions. those are primarily banking sanctions that prevent iran from sending money overseas from doing business with the rest of the world community, and sanctions on its oil and gas sector. one key thing, i think, that's at the core of this whole

argument, the president and the secretary of state talked about breakout time. they said that under the current situation, if nothing were to be done, that iran has a breakout time of two to three months. that means with the material that it has on hand it could put together a crude nuclear device within two to three months. according to the president, according to this framework agreement, under the new framework agreement if it gets implemented, iran would have at least a year -- so changing it from two to three months to at least a year -- with an extensive layer of -- or layer upon layer of inspections to prevent iran from cheating on the deal. it is a historic agreement, frankly, and when you listen to the president describe it he was rernsing kennedy. he was talking about negotiations with the soviet union. he clearly sees this as a corner stone of his presidency, how he

reached out to an adversary and through a series of tough negotiations reached a deal that would potentially, if not end the long standing cold war between the united states and iran but certainly take steps to decrease it. but there are many obstacles to come. we're going to hear critics, i expect quite soon describing this as a bad deal. until the ink is dry, right now it is a framework agreement. >> all right. richard engel in istanbul for us. thank you very much for that. nbc's ann curry is in switzerland where these meetings have been going on. as richard is saying this could be an end to the long cold war between iran and the united states. what's the mood there now? >> well it doesn't establish -- re-establish diplomatic relations or anything like that but it does for the first time in more than 30 years represent the probability of an agreement, a deal between the united states

and iran. and it is definitely an historic moment. it is rare to see nations who have for decades threatened each other with war step back from the brink and give peace a try. for secretary of state kerry, it is a momentous announcement. this is potentially going to be one of his greatest triumphs if in fact the deal -- if it is signed at the end of june, does yield a period of peace. i should probably also give you more perspective about this. that is that this secretary of state has spent more time on the road working on this deal than any other secretary of state since the signing of the treaty of versailles ending world war i. so this talks about the dedication of this secretary of state to this one particular

cause. one particular struggle that he was trying to accomplish this deal. secretary of state kerry and iran's foreign minister have spent more time together talking about this subject than either of them have been talking to other counterparts. you know the u.s. and iran don't even have diplomatic relations. yet secretary kerry has spent more time with him than even his counterparts who are among our closest allies. so this has been a major focus for his time in office. it will be a legacy. it's a legacy moment for him. there is even some discussion that it is possible depending on how this goes whether or not it is finally signed at the end of june beginning of july and whether or not it is actually deemed an effective document, a good deal that it could actually portend the possible

nomination of not only secretary kerry but possibly even the iranian foreign minister for a nobel peace prize. >> it is a remarkable day indeed, ann curry. thank you so much. now to the white house, where we just heard from the president. nbc's kristen welker is there. based on the details that we do have the ddid the white house get what they wanted here? >> you heard president obama said this was a good deal. he wasn't in switzerland with secretary of state john kerry negotiating this deal but senior administration officials say he was updated on the minute-by-minute tick tock of these negotiations. deeply engaged in every detail. this is something that president obama sees as a legacy issue. this is something he campaigned on. his challenge now is to sell it to the american people and also to sell it to a very skeptical congress. you will recall that 47 republican senators wrote that letter to iran's supreme leader essentially criticizing the deal before it had even come

together. so he's got a big challenge ahead. that's part of the reason you heard him defend this deal in such a robust way. he called it a good deal. he said this is not a deal that is based on trust but rather verification, almost anticipating some of the criticism that you might get. and he highlighted some of the key points that you heard richard map out. namely that the breakout period now for iran to acquire a nuclear weapon has increased from two to three months to a year. the other key sticking point for negotiators was the issue of sanctions. iran wanted the sanctions to be lifted immediately. the united states and its european counterparts said, no way, they weren't going to agree to that. president obama today said the sanctions are going to be phased out over time. and only once it's clear that iran is adhering to the terms of this agreement. so that is going to be key to selling this deal to congress. congress back in just a few weeks. you also heard president obama try to sell this to some of his

allies abroad namely israel. of course prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been very critical of this deal. you heard president obama say he's going to call the prime minister later today to reaffirm the united states' commitment to israel's security. he's also going to be speaking to the leader of saudi arabia. the concern in that region is not only about this deal but more broadly the mere fact that iran had struck this agreement with the west that it could essentially expand iran's influence in that area. president obama arguing that look the alternative is essentially few and far between, and the only real alternative would be to go to war. so president obama defending this deal, really making his first overture as he begins what is going to undoubtedly be a long sell with congress still on recess. i would make one more final point, going back to what i said about this being a legacy issue. you'll recall president obama campaigned on this back in 2007 and 2008.

his critics mocked him for saying he was going to sit down and talk to the enemies of the united states. if, in fact the deal does essentially prove to be successful, of course the final deal will only go into place after june 30th beginning of july. that is something that president obama will be able to out to as one of his major legacy issues. secretary of state john kerry also touting the parameters of this deal. let's take a listen to what he had to say. >> it is the foundation for a deal that will see iran reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98% for 15 years. it is a deal in which iran will cut its installed centrifuges by more than two-thirds for ten years. it is a deal that will increase iran's breakout time. >> and you heard president obama thank secretary of state john

kerry, calling him tireless. reporters on the ground say that he has been pulling essentially night after night of all-nighters trying to get this deal done. you heard ann curry map out just how dedicated he has been to seeing this through. and now, of course the difficult job begins selling it here to congress and to skeptical allies abroad. >> indeed kristen. that will be difficult. but it does appear to be a legacy moment for this presidency. thank you for that. let's go to the capitol hill reporter for nbc, one luke russert. luke, 47 senators tried to squash this thing before it was even done. so i can only imagine what the response is right now on the capitol hill. >> well, it's going to be a very interesting next few weeks. i'll say it's going to be an interesting next few months all the way to when the real deadline is at the end of june. we're starting to see responses trickle in. the chairman of the foreign relations committee, bob corker of tennessee, is saying quote, there's a growing bipartisan

support of the congressional view of the nuclear deal and i'm confident of a strong vote on april 14th. that's very important because from my calculations, there are 64 senators that say that congress should be able to review any nuclear deal with iran and have a vote on it. that's the corker-menendez bill. if, in fact there's 64 there's a possibility they could get up to 66 and be veto proof. that way congress would really exercise its legislative branch might in the confines of this deal. in terms of other reaction harry reid said he was cautiously optimistic. he said people shouldn't jump to any conclusions just quite yet, sort of save the rhetorical bomb throwing. let the deal play out. co-chair of the house israel caucus was a lot more critical of the deal, essentially saying this is full of empty promises and it putting minimal restrictions on prif rabble aspects of iran's nuclear

program. i'm going to be fascinated to see what president obama can do regarding democrats in congress and trying to work them over to his side on moving forward with this deal. there have been a lot of democrats that have been critical. you have near veto proof majorities for congressional imprint and review of this deal. he has a lot of work to do within his own party to make sure this can go forward if in fact, all the fine print is agreed to by june 30th. republicans are going to come out against it, most of them. as we saw when their strong support of benjamin netanyahu's speech here. but president obama is going to have to work democrats. it remains to be seen whether or not he'll be able to do that i goes. >> all right. luke russert, thank you very much. we're going to squeeze in a quick break and be back with reaction from inside iran. ttle bit tired ♪ ♪ of craving something that i can't have ♪ ♪ turn around barbara ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪ ♪

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iran will face strict limitations on its program, and iran has also agreed to the most robust and intrusive inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for any nuclear program in history. so this deal is not based on trust. it's based on unprecedented verification. >> we're back reporting on the big breaking news this hour. this new nuclear agreement reached between the u.s. the p-5, and iran. what is the reaction from iran? >> well for the most part i think iranian people are very happy about this deal. they wanted their economy to be restored. they think this deal is going to do just that. iranian social media lit up with comments of congratulations for foreign minister zarif, calling

him the man of the moment and he was soaking up the limelight. but there are also comments on social media by hard liner rouhani rouhani rouhanians who aren't happy about the deal. there are big detractors here. what's going to be interesting going ahead is that i don't think you're going to see a lot of criticism from hard liners in power here. but once the deal is finally inked, if it is inked on the 30th of june and these inspections become very intrusive, it's going to be interesting to see how the revolutionary guard here react to that. they haven't had to live with americans here. but if the americans are going to come here on send people on their behalf to have intrusive inspections here, i don't think that's going to make the revolutionary guard very comfortable. there's a very famous site here which the iaea wanted to visit on many times, saying that nuke

nuclear testing had been made there. the revolutionary guards simply did not let them in, and they haven't been in here to inspect that site. and they may be on city nant about other things like that going on into the future. there's still a lot of moving parts going on here. two countries that haven't had a good relationship are going to try and forge one now. it's going to be interesting. back to you. >> ali, thank you for that reporting. joining us now to help put this all in perspective, we have the vice president for scholars and director of international security studies at the wilson center. good day to you. >> good afternoon. >> you know, president johnson used to talk about whether you could have guns and butter. there are a lot of details in this, but it seems to be very clearly a trade of guns for butter. these economic sanctions have had a huge impact on iran. they appear to have brought them to the negotiating table. is today also a big win for multilateral sanctions and their power to achieve diplomacy that

was once thought impossible? >> yes. the quote that comes to mind is einstein einstein's observation that politics is more difficult than physics. i think these drawn-out negotiations in switzerland bear that out. i think what the agreement, this technical agreement offers both sides a winning narrative. the obama administration can make the case in washington to our skeptics that this agreement buys time extends the period iran would need to acquire nuclear weapons. the iranians can claim that it affirms their rights to having a bounded nuclear program, and they claim they have no interest in acquiring a nuclear weapon. so there's -- there are winning narratives on both sides that will hopefully allow the parties to make the case in capitals about the efficacy of this agreement. >> as you know there's a heated debate going on back here in the united states about whether or not this is a good deal longer term. you'll have republicans saying the president had to cave on this. this is all about his legacy. democrats will say this will go

down as one of the greatest accomplishments for president obama. the president made it clear just moments ago, he said this should not be political, this is about war and peace. i'm curious about where you fall on this? did he have a point there? should this be political? should we have a debate about this? or do you think the president was right there? >> president obama inherited an iranian nuclear program that was quite mature. thousands of centrifuges were spinning. so one can't hold this agreement up to what would be a perfect agreement. critics have claimed that the united states should have held out for zero uranium enrichment which was never a realistic objective. the president made the best of a situation he was dealt with. i think he can claim it as a vindication of his policy of reaching out to adversarial states. i think on both sides, the nuclear issue has become a proxy, a surrogate, a symbol. in iran, it's a symbol for the more fundamental debate about iran's relationship with the outside world where there's a

revolutionary state. on the american side it feeds into the post-9/11 debate about how we deal with rogue states whether changing their conduct, their behavior is adequate, or whether the threatening behavior is tied up in the character of the regimes themselves and hence one has to deal with the regime. that opened the door in washington to criticism that this agreement, while dealing with the nuclear question didn't address other areas of iranian concerns such as its support of terrorism and now most recently its military activities in the middle east region. >> yeah let's dig into this a little bit more deeply from the iranian side. something you wrote that jumped out at me quote, the issue is not one of a simple trade-off between nuclear technology and transparency. nuclear diplomacy with america, the great sayn to as they call us, goes to the heart of iran's unresolved identity crisis. is the islam a revolutionary state or an ordinary country.

so hearing the framework we're talking about now, what sort of nation do you think iran has decided to be? >> well that really stimulated my reference to the einstein quip at the beginning. revolutionary state or ordinary country. rouhani and his reformists want iran to re-enter the global community, to integrate into the system. the revolutionary hard liners view that process as a threat to regime survival. the dynamic in lausanne was that the ordinary state officials, so to speak, those that favor integration, were the ones we were dealing with and they were on the phone back in tehran dealing with the hard liners who were worried that any nuclear deal could become a slippery slope that would lead to additional american demands that would undermine the state. it's an unresolved identity crisis. this is an important marker decision point for iran. but it's a work in progress because this persisting struggle between hard liners and those who would favor integration will

continue. >> indeed. robert, thank you so much for your expertise on this momentous day. and here with us at the table is nbc's ayman mohyeldin. glad to have you with us. >> my pleasure. >> and the president in defending this deal asked his critics a pretty provocative question today. take a listen. >> so when you hear the inevitable critics of the deal sound off, ask them a simple question. do you really think that this verifyiable deal if fully implemented, backed by the world's major powers is a worse option than the risk of another war in the middle east? is it worse than doing what we've done for almost two decades with iran moving forward with its nuclear program and without robust inspections? >> president clearly laying out a very stark choice there. is the choice actually that simple? >> well, you know, i think from a u.s. foreign policy perspective it is given the fact that over the past several years the u.s. has had some blunders

in iraq afghanistan, and elsewhere. it's going to be seen from an american perspective that we can't afford to have a military action that we act upon and brings the middle east into more violence in a time when we're seeing state after state continue to essentially break apart. i think one of the interesting points that the president made was he quickly shifted to the offensive in terms of selling the agreement to some of the key players in the region including saudi arabia and israel. in fact, he announced he's inviting members of the gcc, the gulf cooperation council, to camp david this spring. he said he'd already spoken to the saudi king. he was going to speak to the israeli prime minister. it gives you a sense of how much pressure the administration was under among its closest allies in the region to be very cautious about this deal. it's going to be a tough sell for him regionally. >> it is but now iran seems to be poised to become a larger force in the middle east, changing somgchange ing some of the dynamics of that

region. how might that look? >> iran definitely certainly has more influence in yemen, more influence in iraq tremendous amount of influence in syria already, more influence in southern lebanon. there's no doubt that this deal the fact they were able to negotiate this and in their own eyes come out victorious come out on top, come out not having to concede any of its own national interests, is going to position iran to continue to be forceful in some of its dealings across the region. and i think it's a major cause of concern for some of the gulf-arab allies. >> indeed. an historic day. ayman mohyeldin, thank you so much for your time. more on this breaking news next.

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throughout this negotiation, we have made a diligent effort to consult with our allies our partners including israel and the gulf states and we have vigorously reaffirmed our enduring commitment to their security. >> that was secretary of state john kerry just moments ago in

switzerland. for more on today's nuclear agreement with iran let's bring in mark ginsburg white house middle east adviser. always great to see you. big day today. just to put this in perspective, something ann curry reported earlier, she said it's taken 19 rounds over 18 months to get to where we are today. obviously incredible amount of focus and dedication on john kerry's part. i want to get your reaction to what we heard today but also something that stuck out from what president obama said, that this deal is not based on trust. what is your response to that? is it possible to have any sort of deal if it's not based on trust? >> well, there's got to be a certain amount of trust and got a -- good faith that goes into this agreement. clearly we expected far less over the last 24 hours. we thought at best they were going to issue some sort of statement. there's been far more detail.

also these negotiations clearly are setting the stage for this final agreement on june 30th. insofar as your question about trust, let's understand here. i wrote a piece in "the huffington post" a few days ago about the importance of verification by the international atomic energy agency and its general director. the iaea is going to be the canary in the coal mine here. the key will be -- and lest give the benefit of the doubt to the president and to the p5+1 countries. the verification is going to be the key here not trust. if the inspectors are not convinced that iran is complying, then what is going to be the penalty? and that's going to be where congress and where the skeptics are going to step in and want to know, what are going to be the penalties if the inspectors are denied the access and entry that they need? >> yeah you mentioned, ambassador, the difference between some kind of broad statement that some were expecting and something more detailed. just this afternoon, we have some of these parameters.

and they have details. they refer to completely destroying the core of the reactor at the arak facility. they refer to taking continuous surveillance and conducting that on uranium mills for 25 years. that's long-term surveillance if i've ever heard of it. the regular access of the iaea as you talk about. they refer to another facility and takeing two-thirds of the centrifuges and infrastructure and removing it presumably out of the country. all of this those details add up to something that's not a deal ambassador, but is more than a broad understanding. it seems to be the outlines of how to contain their nuclear potential. >> indeed. that's why, ari, i'm urging all our viewers to not rush to judgment here. there's far more meat on the bones than anyone expected. but also as you mentioned those lists of nuclear facilities, let's also remind you that there are other facilities that were secret. there was to reference, for

example, to parchan. it's not a nuclear facility but it's been identified by the iaea as the emporium for iran's nuclear missile technology and bomb making development. now, the iaea has demanded that it have access. i'll be very interested whether or not there's anything in the fine print here about that. so let's not get too carried away with one, two, or three facilities. there are other facilities that probably were not -- the iranians were not willing to agree to as part of this agreement, which is why i think there was such trouble reaching this agreement today. >> so helpful to have your perspective on what we're not hearing today and obviously the devil is always in the details. but i was hoping that you could just give us a bit of a broader context on this potential deal that we have here. it was not so long ago iran was being labeled as part of the

axis of evil. then today to see our top diplomats and their top diplomats on stage together announcing this framework is pretty remarkable moment. >> indeed. and as i said i've been very skeptical, and i'm going to remain skeptical, but i believe in the end this agreement had nothing to do so much with the negotiators on iran's side. but interestingly enough with the ayatollah. he was the 800-pound gorilla in the negotiating room. secretary kerry had his own 800-pound gorilla. that's congress. so we had two ghosts hovering over these negotiations that could kill this. now, the ayatollah himself is ill. he may be dead within the next year or two. who's going to succeed him? there's going to be a question whether congress rushes too much to judgment. i'll be very interested to see what members of the democrat senate say about this agreement. i'm urging people to look at the fine print and remember we're still about four months away from reaching the fine print

final agreement here but it's a good start. now, will it in the end result in what you and i want? let's agree with one thing. the president and his secretary of state deserve a lot of credit because 48 hours ago we thought this was dead in the water. >> ambassador mark ginsburg always appreciate your insights. thanks so much. next lots of other fast-moving news today, including a fix for indiana's controversial so-called religious freedom law. the latest on that deadly attack on a college in kenya. much more ahead in "the cycle." - children start noticing physical differences as early as age two. so teach them it's okay to not only notice our differences, but to celebrate them. that's a lesson they're never too young to learn. the more you know.

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an update on other big stories we're following. leaders in the indiana state house now saying they have enough votes to pass a fix to that state's controversial so-called religious freedom bill. republican lawmakers are working with business leaders and civic leaders. together they announced the new language. that was earlier today. they say it makes clear that businesses will now not be able

to discriminate against any member of the public and they also say it rejects a legal defense for any denial of service if you were out trying to go to a business. the bill could be on governor pence's desk by the end of today. msnbc's adam reese in indianapolis. i want to get right to it. legislators saying hey, they have progress. is this actual change in its substance enough to address the concerns of critics? >> definitely not. democrats still want the entire law thrown out ari. what we do know is that the republicans believe they have enough votes to get this passed. they want to change the perception that indiana has become a national embarrassment. they want to bring people together and let the healing begin, they say. now, the law itself would be changed in a way that business owners cannot discriminate against gay and lesbian customers here in the state of indiana and, in fact can't discriminate against anyone, anywhere, any time. now, the bill is being debated

in conference right now. from there it will go to rules committee. on to the full senate and house. as you said it could be on the governor's desk by the end of today. ari? >> all right. adam reiss, thank you very much from indianapolis. let's jump to arkansas, where lawmakers are also revising their religious freedom bill after governor hutchinson said he would not sign it in the state it was in yesterday. republicans in north carolina just announced they're putting their version on hold. the backlash over these religious freedom measures has put conservative lawmakers everywhere on the defense, but not everyone's backing down. "time's" new cover story "freedom fight" looks at both sides of the debate and why it's coming to a head now. alex altman is "time's" washington correspondent. i read the conservative defense you published. this jumped out at me. is it necessary for the new majority, which has won the culture war, to drive religious dissenters out of the public square as pariahs? in there, i think you see the

sort of bedrock sentiment on that other side. folks saying hey, we want religious freedom. we lost the culture war. but we don't want to be in that world that you guys have created now. we want to create a bubble for ourselves where if we don't want to deal with gay people in our businesses, then we don't have to. >> well, you know, without commenting on the merits of their position i would say their view is tolerance is a two-way street. if you are a member of the religious right, you probably feel as though you are being swept up sort of boats against the tide in a very sort of fast-moving cultural change that some ways violates their personal dictates. they want people to respect their views in the same way -- >> yeah no one is going into their churches though. i know you're not here to argue that position. but when i hear you say tolerance is a two-way street, we've been working through these issues for hundreds of years in

america. a lot of people feel we found a nice balance. no one is asking a synagogue or a church to change their religion, their religious services or what they want to recognize under their religious rules. the problem is the public square is for the public and we have to have some protections for people regardless of their identity. >> let me jump in there, alex. ari makes a good point. a state that you mentioned that needs to be talked about more arguably one of the reddest states in the nation. utah, with the help of the mormon church, has figured out the right balance here. they've done it, you say, they've shown a better way to protect liberty. they're not yelling and shouting. both parties come out happy in the end. talk to us about how utah did this and what other states like indiana and arkansas might be able to learn from them. >> well you're right. what heavily mormon utah has done is try to find a compromise, try to find a middle ground wherein there are specific exceptions that

religious groups receive that allows them not to compromise the dictates of their faith. at the same token, they support legal statutes that prohibit discrimination in areas such as employment, such as housing. so that's one way of compromise. it's the direction that indiana's now going. however, i would say, you know, they haven't quite figured it out because as indiana or arkansas makes clear, it's not enough for the groups on the left, who believe that this is still a thin cover for bigotry, and it's not really working for the religious right groups on right who still feel as though their rights, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, are being infringed upon. >> alex, thank you so much. turning to the other big political headline today. bob menendez appeared in federal court just this afternoon. menendez was indicted yesterday on federal charges of bribery, corruption and false statements charges that he fiercely denies. >> i'm angry because prosecutors at the justice department don't know the difference between

friendship and corruption and have chosen to twist my duties as a senator and my friendship into something that is improper. they are dead wrong, and i am confident that they will be proven so. >> nbc news capitol hill correspondent luke russert is back with us. luke, as you see there menendez is not backing down defending himself quite strongly. he's gotten backing in particular from other democrats there in new jersey although he has stepped down from his position, leadership position on the senate foreign relations committee. does the fact that he has support of some local politicians there in new jersey, is that going to help him out? >> well i think menendez has given every indication krystal, that he's going to fight and fight this to the bitter end. he pled not guilty today to 14 counts of corruption bribery, and exchanging favors with a shadowy character in florida, essentially saying he was just friends with him, that he did not do anything improper. there are charges that he did such things as perhaps get the

doctor's girlfriends visas to the u.s. that he lobbied for the doctor on a medicare issue, that he took advantage of the doctor's private jet hotel stay, other luxury items. menendez was saying this was just a friendship and he's going to fight that. the political ramifications are interesting. back in the day, a lot of members of congress would perhaps maybe speak up and say menendez should, in fact resign or should in fact take a leave or something of that nature. but in 2008 when ted stevens ran into his own problems with boj, people like john mccain called for his resignation. doj took a step back and it was a whole hoopla saying you should be really innocent until you're proven guilty. so you're not hearing a lot of those national calls for menendez's resignation. you're hearing it from the editorial board of the i know star ledger newspaper. if it gets to be worse, perhaps

you'll hear some calls. but the trial is not until the summer. expect menendez to keep a profile, probably not as large of one as he had before on capitol hill. he just released a statement on the latest on the iran talks. he wants to be a player. >> absolutely. thanks so much. next an update on developments in that deadly university attack in kenya. and in france crews have found the second black box among the germanwings wreckage. what new clues might that hold? nice morning, scott? aye, or... a mornin' of tiny voices crying out, "feed us"! i don't understand... your grass, man! it's a living, breathing thing. it's hungry, and you've got to feed it with scotts turf builder. that a boy, mikey! two feedings now in the springtime strengthens and helps protect your lawn from future problems. get scotts turf builder lawn food. it's guaranteed. feed your lawn. feed it! and to keep crabgrass away all season long, get scotts turf builder with halts crabgrass preventer.

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big developments today in the search to understand the final moments of germanwings flight 9525. french salvage teams have found the second black box, which should contain crucial flight data. while german investigators say the copilot researched how to commit suicide in the days before flying that plane into the french alps. nbc's claudia levonga is back for us near the crash site. let's start with the second black box. any word on if the information on it is salvageable. >> reporter: well, the investigators said it took some time to find it because it was really in bad condition. it was blackened because of fire aboard the plane after the crash. it was the same color of the rocks and the mud, and therefore it took ten days to find them. we're positive we get some of the data out of it.

this is about all the technical information of the flight. from tangkeoff to point of impact. especially what the pilots in the particular case was left in the cockpit. especially in the last eight minutes of the flight. which buttons the id he push and what did it do in terms of the changing of the course of that flight? now it is widely believed that when he locked the pilot off the outside of the cockpit, he did set the auto pilot from an altitude of 38,000 feet to 100 feet, which is the minimum you can set it up to. therefore sending the plane into a downward path that eventually led into the mountain. it will probably take a few days, if not weeks. eventually it will clear the doubts. >> claudio, thank you so much for that report. also overseas. the university siege in kenya is now over.

all four terrorists are dead after targeting christian students. 147 students and university staff are dead. at least 79 others are injured. and just like the 2013 attack in nairobi, the al qaeda linked terror group al shabaab says they were behind this. their spokesman telling we sorted people out and released the muslims. if you were a christian, you were shot on the spot. for more on all of this let's bring in bp of global intelligence and advisory firm. thank you so much for being here. such a terrible story. were there warnings for this and if so why only handful of guards on campus when this happened? >> well that specific area has been hit very hard by al shabaab. the u.s. embassy in nairobi indicated additional attacks throughout en ya were highly

probably, which indicates clearly there was intelligence to indicate that al- shabaab was planning these attacks. when you look at the target set, a university it's very very difficult to protect that and in essence, there's too many soft targets in the area and just not enough military or police to protect them all. >> talk to us, fred, about the strategic importance, the symbol symbolic importance of them staging this attack at a university. the only university in fact in that region. >> well it certainly resonates around the world. as evidence of the news coverage of the attack. when you look at the separation of the muslims and the christians, this shows you how the group is a little bit different than the islamic state. in essence, the islamic state would simply have killed everybody. but al shabaab is making a concerted effort to spare innocent muslims, and that's

been part of their psychology and part of their targeting profile for quite some time here. >> fred are people right to think that perhaps africa is becoming something of a hot bed for terrorism, and the countries there where government is weak and not really in control of the country. not in control of large swaths of the country, becoming a strong locust for terrorists? >> the area certainly has been a hot bed of insurgent and terrorist activity. u.s. forces are operating to try to get a handle of it. when you look at kenya and somalia, and this was close to the border between the two countries. they can fade back into somalia. you look at this area and then you go up north to libya, which is just as bad from a launch point for terrorist attacks. >> fred one thing quite

terrifying about the attack is we're talking about four terrorists able to inflict mass casualties. 147 dead is now the count and many more injured. we have seen some of these lone wolf attacks. but to be able to reek this kind of havoc with just a small number of people is really quite frightening. >> it certainly is. it shows the brilliance and simplicity in many ways with a small arms commando team that is disciplined. if you don't have any kind of security or react plan in place, or safe havens or the ability to notify students in these kinds of environments, it doesn't make too much of a tactical training plan to be able to pull this off. >> fred burton thank you so much for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and we are back with a final word after a very very busy

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before we go a quick update yesterday i took the ed crack challenge to benefit juvenile diabetes research. crack an egg on your head donate and nominate three other people to do the same thing. so i challenged luke russert and mario lopez. mario was quick to accept the challenge, and we've also just received a late word that luke has also accepted. they'll both probably do it tomorrow. alicia, we are waiting on you. everyone stay tuned for updates. that does it for this cycle. "now" with alex wagner starts right now. >> we have breaking news this

hour on the nuclear talks with iran. nearly 48 hours after a self-imposed deadline passed the u.s. iran and five world powers have finally reached an agreement on an outline for a nuclear deal. they put limits on the nuclear program in exchange for nuclear relief. moments after it was announced, president obama announced his praise, but he also voiced caution. >> i am convinced if this framework leads to a final deal it will make our countries, our allies and our world safer. so this deal is not based on tr u.s., it's based on unverified predication. if iran cheats the world will know it. while it is always a possibility that iran may try to cheat on a deal in the future the framework of transparency makes it far more likely that we'll