tv Andrea Mitchell Reports MSNBC November 7, 2013 1:00pm-2:00pm EST
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>> did new jersey marry chris christie last night? why are you looking directly into our souls. it's okay, chris. you had us at hello. >> three more years of that coming. behind enemy lines, president obama takes his health care pitch deep into the heart of texas right into senator cruz country. >> as challenging as it may seem sometimes, as frustrating at healthcare.gov may be sometimes, we are going to get this done. >> but from capitol hill all the way to the country music awards, the health care hits just keep coming. ♪ obama care by morning ♪ why is this taking so long >> leading the charge kirsten gillibrand joining us live as she makes the final push to
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change the way military changes assault cases this as one heartbreaking testimony of his wife's ordeal shines a bright onlight on the uphill battle they face. >> it takes incredible strength to pull out of that nightmare. i'm lucky i married -- i'm lucky i married someone so strong she could do it, even if she still suffers and has never been the same. >> good day to you. i'm peter alexander. today for my friend andrea mitchell, the political pressure to get healthcare.gov running smoothly isn't just felt by the
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president, many senate democrats staring down tough 2014 re-election sites they don't want it to sink their own re-election. senator gillibrand joining us. we appreciate your time. want to start with the white house meeting your colleagues attended yesterday. voer, there's a lot of frustration among your caucus and constituents about the website. why isn't there value extending the enrollment for a limited period of time to make up for the two months lost by the problems with the site? >> well, what's important to all of america is they get access to affordable health care. we don't want to delay the access. we want to make sure the computer system gets up and running. people can buy a plan affordable and covers things. we want to make sure covered up to 2026, don't get coverage dropped because of pre-existing conditions. that's why we wan to push ahead to make sure they get the
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coverage they need. >> are you satisfied with the way they handled thing since the rollout? we know the rollout has been handled since the disaster. have they been upfront with people about the failures? >> i think so. the president said yesterday these are huge challenges. we will overcome them and when we do they will get the preventive coverage they need, cover their families in an affordable way. that's the goal of all this onwork. >> i want to come to sexual combat in the military, removing from the chain of command. there's a moment many americans missed, took place on the hill. ben clay, husband of a victim, former marine himself, describing how unbelievably difficult the entire process, trial process was for their family. i want to play that and get your thoughts. >> it is unfair to expect commanders to be able to maintain good order as long as
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their justice system incentivizes the worst disciplinary failures happened. when arianna reported her assault i learned how this denial works. i read her commanders conclusion she deserved ill treatment for wearing running shorts and makeup. i read the opinion of the command a pointed investigator who compared rape to prostitution or marrying a rich man. as for the assault trial, it put arianna through 15 hours of degrading testimony after a year of retaliation and intimidation. when i arrived to testify, i was seated in a waiting room with one of the rapists whom the marine corps granted immunity so he could testify he and his accomplice were innocent. when i finally got to testify, not a single question was asked that would have helped prosecute. >> senator, this really does put a spotlight on a topic so few americans are really even familiar with.
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i just want to get your personal sense having known ben clay and his wife. these are the stories that need to be told. >> arianna and ben are two of our greatest leaders in this fight. they are two of our greatest advocates. what you didn't hear in this press conference is what actually happened to arianna. as a married woman she lived on base, a stone's throw from the capital of the united states, marine barracks. some guy in her unit started hitting on her. she said no. she went home, started to get ready for bed. at 5:00 in the morning, her perpetrator broke into her house with a friend. they both brutally raped her, called her terrible language. at the end. day her rapist was prosecuted for calling her a dirty word. that's the only reprimand he received. he was not convicted for rape, breaking and entering, he was convicted for using the word slut. >> help me move this forward. this still an uphill ballots. you need to convince a dozen,
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maybe 14 senators on board. you called senator booker hours after he was sworn in. how do you get this done? >> when democracy is based upon is when regular people like arianna and ben come forward to tell their stories what happened to them, what the injustice is. today in the military men and women sexually assaulted do not have a hope for justice, because unfortunately the only decisionmaker in their cases is a commander who may be biased, who may like the perpetrator more, be friends with the perpetrator, the victim. have a view the rape shouldn't be reported because it makes him look bad. those are the biases we want to get arrived, take it out of the command to give to a trained military prosecutor. my job is to talk to senators about arianna and ben's stoerks the other victims that suffered these in dignities. you have to remember these are men and women who will die for this country being treated so badly and not protected.
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>> i'm sorry to interrupt. the pentagon sees this differently. they put out a new report yesterday showing reports of sexual assaults in the military increased sharply in the last year. i think the number was something like 3,553, something in that range from october 2012 to june 2013. they framed that, actually, as a positive because it means more victims are getting necessary health care. is that how you view it. >> we don't know the facts. i haven't seen the report. but what that numbers tells us is there are 3500 sexual assaults and rapes and increase from last year being reported. we don't know if the total number increased as well, same percentage reported. we don't know if it's increased markedly and percentage of reporting gone down. without all the numbers we don't know. what i do know is that's a big number and it's too much. we have to change how these cases are handled. we need to make sure the other victims who weren't able to come forward because command climate was toxic, they were fearing
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retaliation or would end their career. we need objective review and transparency and accountability or those victims will never come forward. we have to make sure justice is done for all of these men and women in the armed forces subjected to this criminal treatment. >> we didn't even get into unusual coalition you formed with rand paul and ted cruz among others. senator gillibrand, we very much appreciate your time. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. >> joining us now for our daily fix is chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and host of post tv "in play." editorial columnist. chris, want to start with you. want to focus on democrats feeling heat over midterms and we focus on health care. they had a chance to vent their anger at the white house, to kind of clear the air a little bit, let steam out. how bad does this get for democrats? what really is at stake here? >> peter, i think what's important to remember, a lot of these folks mark begich in
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alaska, mary rlandrieu in louisiana, they are dealing with states, everyone votes for president obama votes for them they lose and lose pretty badly. the issue is they need to be able to show their constituents, yes, i'm a democrat but i don't agree with everything president obama does and i'm willing to tell him i don't agree. i think in many ways this meeting yesterday was really the white house giving them a chance to publicly say i told the president this is unacceptable. so i think it's laying the groundwork for a campaign where they are going to need to distance themselves from this president on obama care and other things in order to win. >> ruth, the white house has had messaging issues with the media. they have had messaging issues with republicans. we know the rollout was a disaster. everything since, what have they done well or have they done anything well handling it since then? >> i'm kind of just tempted to say no. >> what can they do better?
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>> it's very difficult because they have two problems they are dealing with simultaneously. one is the disastrous rollout when you have hhs secretary herself using the word debacle to describe it, you know you've got a problem. then you have another problem, easy to anticipate, a bunch of people getting their notices saying unlike what the president seemed to have promised you, unless you listened very, very carefully and looked at that little tiny asterisk you actually can't keep your plan. they knew this was coming and they didn't figure out either a way to hedge their bets and advance or figure out how to message it problemly now. to say, yes, don't panic. if you are getting these messages, don't panic. there is insurance that is better, that might be a little pricier but you're going to get way more for it, probably going to get a subsidy right around the corner. >> i think we'll be mitigating
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this through 2014 and 2016. >> done with litigating. >> speaking of 2016, any other republican who is eyeing 2016 seems pretty eager to squeeze in a not so subtle shot of chris christie after his big win. quickly, rand paul at a senate hearing. we don't need rand paul to talk about what he said -- >> put their mug all over these ads while in the middle of a political campaign. in new jersey $25 million spent on ads that included somebody running for political i've. you think there might be a conflict of interest there. >> got that sound bite going. it's the play button, slow to hit it. ready for the website like ready for hillary. the presumptive favorite? >> you take most of the slings and arrows. it does go on a roller coaster,
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if you asked me the front-runner at the start of 2013 i would have said marco rubio, marco rubio tied for sixth in a recent new hampshire case. it does go on a roller coaster. there are caveats, not corollary to iowa or new hampshire. what he did tuesday with the latino vote, women's vote, even african-american vote and winning some democrats, that's an impressive accomplishment that will and should be a pillar when i expect he runs for president. >> if he can win 35, 36% of the latino vote in 2016 he's the next president of the united states. on a lighter vote, marty walsh. vice president joe biden. i want your sense of this one. joe biden calls to congratulate marty walsh, something like you've done it. >> you sun of a gun you done it. >> are we laughing with him or at him, is joe biden the outsider in all this chris
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christie talk. >> the previous question, the dangers of being front-runner. seriously would you rather are hillary clinton or joe biden in the democratic race? you've got to love the vice president. poor guy. he's not dialing his own phone calls. somebody else is doing it for him. but it's that kind of loveable goof ball piece of him that resonates, because that's a little how we look at him. vice president's office do not call and yell at me for this. this is a tiny flash in the pan. >> ruth, thank you. there may be eight marty walshes, only one chris cillizza. thanks for joining us. >> sure. >> miami dolphins as we move to another topic making news. they are trying to focus on next game monday night. the team remains on defense with new questions about how it responded to allegations that lineman richie incognito bullied jonathan martin, pro
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footballtalk.com reporting martin's agent contacted the dolphins general manager raising concerns after the alleged bullying caused martin to leave the team. mike florio suggested martin should fight back. he should, quote, punch incognito. the dolphins have not yet responded to that report. nfl has appointed special prosecutor for the claims. as for dolphins players, they say they never expected anything like this. >> i've been around this guy for four years. i know he don't mean it in the way people saying it. >> jonathan like richie's little brother. the first one there to have his back in any situation. it's a big surprise what's going on. [ male announcer ] every day, millions of people
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with what's happening. moments ago in his daily briefing white house secretary jay carney commented on the current p5 plus 1 talks with iran. here is a little bit about what he had to say. >> in exchange for concrete verifiable measures to address p5 plus 1 concerns during the first step p5 plus 1 would consider limited, targeted, reversible relief that does not affect core sanctions architecture. that core sanctions actexture would remain um there's comprehensive ver viable agreement that addresses concerns. if iran does not live up to its commitments, the temporary modest relief would be terminated and we'd be in a position to rampette up the pressure by adding new sanctions. >> very simply the white house looking at potential sang relief for iran. another headline talked about
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during that briefing, botched rollout of health care website that continues to plague the obama administration. in the latest senate hearing on obama care, the criticism didn't let up. >> let me say right off the bat, this is unacceptable. it has been dispointing to hear members of the administration say they didn't see the problems coming. >> the only thing i can conclude is it's impossible to do something in this administration that gets you fired. it's impossible. >> joining me now is former governor of utah and former health and human services secretary in the bush administration. governor, thank you for your time. someone presented the idea that someone should be fired. i guess i pose that to you. you used to run hhs, should someone be fired? >> that's a decision the president will make. obviously he's got a problem and he'll have to decide how he deals with it. >> how would you deal with it?
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you were formerly the head of hhs, worked with your president at the time, what should they be doing differently? >> i think the problem they have started a year ago. the dilemma is it's not just something that happened recently. this happened because things that needed to be done a year ago weren't. in many respects they weren't done because they were in a very delicate political time and it threw them behind. the consequence was they get to the point where they are going to have opening night, and they end up with dress rehearsal. they should have had dress rehearsal long before to work out problems. the big question is can they fix it? this will be an interesting chapter in somebody's book. if they don't, it's going to be a chapter of history. it will begin to move the needle of change and momentum of change politically and structurally. >> politics aside, when you were hhs secretary, medicare part d rolled out pointed to as video
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cassette plenty of its own glitches initially at the time. so understanding they need to get this thing fixed, should they shut this thing down? would they be better served stop and doing a second rollout? what do you suggest specifically? what guidance with your managerial skills in this? >> in may i wrote a piece published fairly widely saying you need to learn from our lessons. we made some mistakes. you should not make the same mistakes. one of the mistakes was that we learned from, you've got to have metrics that you can measure progress by that are fully transparent. the first thing is here are the ways you can judge making progress. there ought to be regular reports on it. it's a little like being in an airliner when they are stuck on the tarmac. if the pilot comes on and says we're going to be taking off in 30 minutes. we're going to give you a drink,
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relax and get you there, then we feel better about it. that's one of the lessons to learn from. >> ask you about politic, looking ahead to 2016, looking back in the new book 'n' double down" evening monday romney's advisers you were one of the advisers. we spoke along the campaign. governor romney had discussions about a vp choice. i'll put up one of the screens, the dossier on the garden state governor's background was littered with potential land mines, referring to chris christie, between that and the pay to play snag, there was no point thinking about christie further. what did you find in the vetting process of chris christie that was so disqualifying? >> well, frankly, i was not part of the vetting process and i can't respond to that because i was not. i was asked my opinion about various people, and i have a
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very high regard for chris christie as i know governor romney does. i mentioned in the book because governor romney did, in fact, ask my advice and i gave it to him. it's reported in the book. >> so your advice right now as americans look at who they will consider in 2016, do you think chris christie would make a satisfactory presidential candidate? >> first of all, i think the whole conversation is too early. we're three years away, a year and a half away from any serious campaigns. i frankly haven't started to think about it much and i don't think most americans have either. >> fair enough. let me pose a different question. fda announced the agency made a preliminary determination trans fats are not safe for food. seen as a major step towards removing them from processed foods, frozen pizzas, cakes, you name it. what's the significant, impact of that new finding?
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>> the impact is we're beginning to have more and more information available to people that allows them to make decisions about the way they live their lives and the way they can live it more healthily and happily. it is an issue that should be of great concern to the country. it's at the heart of the health care dilemma. the health care dilemma at the heart of the economic problem, able to bring the american equation back to balance. i think it's an appropriate thing for fda to come out with good science saying this is what we know and let people begin to make those decisions. they will. i don't think you can walk into a restaurant these days without being struck by the difference in the menu. my wife and i actually last evening stopped by one and said look at these salads, the things there, how different it is from a few years ago. >> governor leavitt, we very much appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. >> it was a royal mob scene in london a little bit earlier
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today when unsuspecting commuters ran into a surprise appearance from prince william and duchess kate. it happened at the busy kensington high street tube station, the prince and duchess made the trip to sign with poppy vendors, selling the flowers this month in the uk to honor war veterans, a tradition that goes fwook world war i. before they made that subway stop they took a ride on a vintage double-decker bush raising funds for british armed services.
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if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira , your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region
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where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your doctor if humira can work for you. this is humira at work. have hail damage to both their cars. ted ted is trying to get a hold of his insurance agent. maxwell is not. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company. maxwell is not and just confirmed a 5:30 time for tuesday. ted, is still waiting. yes! maxwell is out and about... with ted's now ex-girlfriend. wheeeee! whoo! later ted! online claims appointments. just a click away on geico.com. delicious, but say i press a few out flat, add some beef, sloppy joe sauce and cheese, fold it all up and boom! delicious unsloppy joes perfect for a school night.
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pillsbury grands biscuits. make dinner pop. it's not the "fumbling around with rotating categories" card. it's not the "getting blindsided by limits" card. it's the no-game-playing, no-earning-limit-having, deep-bomb-throwing, give-me-the-ball-and-i'll-take- it-to-the-house, cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so let me ask you... what's in your wallet? we're back with "andrea mitchell reports." chris christie establishment darling, national celebrity and once again "time" magazine coverage treatment. the executive editor at "time." their issue takes multiple looks at the new jersey governor and future prospects.
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right out of the gates, let me ask you about what's sort of the elephant in the room here, governor christie has publicly battled with weight issues. right there alongside his silhouette that headline, "the elephant in the room." does this make fun of the issue? >> not in our minds. it's a figure of speech and that's really how we mean it to be interpreted. as you were just saying chris christie is now the presumptive front-runner in a republican race. it's kind of wild that's the case. that is someone mitt romney passed over as a vice presidential candidate just last year. he's someone who is a larger than life presence, doesn't toe the party line on issues, very outspokenly friendly across the aisle. in a way the elephant in the room in our consideration is the idea that the party generally has to confront this idea of chris christie as their potential standard bearer. >> let me ask you specifically
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about michael's piece. we'll put it up, tvs for christie aren't in washington but farmhouses west of des moines iowa, commuter, towns of southern new hampshire. david axelrod, the strategist who launched obama on the national stage, tweeted on the sidelines before christie spoke taunting the clear threat to the future. ever see a large man shot from a cannon, he wrote, but will he have place to land in the gop. that referencing the large man, christie's weight has nothing to do with policy or issues but do you think it will still be a critical factor if he rans in 2016? >> his appeal in iowa are you asking? >> i think his weight. the fact axelrod referred to him as being a large man. is that doing to be an issue americans focus on. >> i think it's something christie himself referred to. he's been open about lap-band surgery. he makes jokes about his
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appearance. i think voters are often interested in candidate's health. they want a hale and hardy president. i think to the extent weight is a factor in that, it would interest voters. >> this week's election pretty big win for chris christie, anointed him as the republican front-runner. joe scarboroughboro's pie piece about what he will becomes. will they give him a chance. is that the biggest problem he faces as he tries to coral or gain favor in tea party community. >> that's the existential crisis of the party. christie's success -- the election is a long way from now. his success would rely on the party moving, as it has done in the past, toward a more center right nominee. it wasn't successful, romney didn't win the white house. but yes, for christie to be the nominee, there would have to be a lot of calming of tea party
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factions. it's not clear at this point that that will happen. >> i've got my copy here. i'll be reading it in its entirety. i appreciate you spending time with us. >> thank you. >> governor christie will join david gregory on "meet the press" to talk about his big win and what it could mean for his future plans. politics is becoming more and more of a family business in georgia. president jimmy carter's grandson has announced his plans to run for governor of that state. jason carter was first elected to the georgia senate in may 2010. you can see him on the shoulders of then president jimmy carter. he was only 2 years old back then. carter could share the democratic ticket with senator sam nunn's daughter michelle. she's running for senate. these are recent editions to famous names and relatives running in 204 or up for re-election. here, as you see, a list of other famous names and relatives running a year electric now.
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they are up as well courtesy of our friends from that first read. cheney, bush, cuomo, all of them keeping it in the family. ♪ those were the days . [ mom ] over the years, i've learned how to stretch my party budget. but when my so-called bargain brand towel made a mess of things, i switched to bounty basic. look! one sheet of bounty basic is 50% stronger
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senate expected to take a vote on the employment nondiscrimination act referred to as enda, workplace based on age, religion, despite last two decades similar legislation for sexual orientation and gender identity never successful. is congress ready to take that step? senator tammy baldwin of wisconsin, first openly gay member of the senate. senator, we appreciate joining
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us. i want to ask you, final vote to pass this legislation. obviously this seems at this point to remain an uphill climb specifically in the house. so what do you say directly to speaker boehner whose own spokesperson says, and here are the exact words, the speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost american jobs, especially small business jobs. >> what i would say to speaker boehner is this is about america's core and fundamental values, freedom, fairness and opportunity. it's so much in the american tradition that people be judged by their work ethic, by their talents, by the skills that qualify them for a job rather than sexual orientation or gender identity. that's what i would say on the substantive side. on the procedural, i would say what we said during the shutdown, just bring it up for a vote. i feel the house, if given the opportunity to vote up or down
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against discrimination and employment against lgtb community, that we would win that vote, we would win that day. that's what i would say to speaker boehner, just give it an up or down vote. >> ralph reed wrote an editorial a couple of days ago he called it a, quote, unnecessary disruption in the workplace. is it that? >> absolutely not. you know, this is about opportunity. every american wants to be judged on their skills when they seek a job or seek a promotion. we should put an end to the discrimination that has plagued our country. we've done so in other realms, in race discrimination and gender discrimination, age discrimination, religious background. it is high time and long overdue we now take the step with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity. >> give me from a personal perspective, you as the first
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openly gay senator in the u.s. senate, just how significant, how meaningful this moment is for you personally? >> well, it's meaningful in so many different ways. i know we have limited time. but i know from so many about the bitterness of facing discrimination. and to see our country take the step of saying this is wrong is so important symbolically but also to give people the tools to fight discrimination. i also know we've gotten to this day because so many americans have told their stories and courageously come out and helped move congress along on this issue. will an area where the corporations are actually leading. most of them have policies addressing this, most of the fortune 500 companies, it's high time for congress to come along, too. >> the vote scheduled for 1:45, why do you think it has taken so long to get to this point? you say americans are ready for
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it. what took us so long? >> i really think it is the issue of people coming to understand what this means in the lives of their family, in the lives of their neighbors, their co-workers. and the story has been unfolding for many years. people didn't understand this discrimination existed years ago, now they do. people want to stand up and give every american a fair opportunity for a job. >> senator baldwin, we very much appreciate your time. we know have you a vote to join. thank you. we'll visit again soon. >> thank you. >> another story you've just got to see if you didn't. marines returning home from afghanistan received a first class welcome at o'hare in chicago. it happened earlier this week. they were making the stop on the way home to camp pendleton. after landing firefighters issued a water salute, an honor they usually reserve for "air force one," maybe the space shuttle. as they walked through the terminal, here is the moment who really got to us, the marines
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were greeted by a cheering crowd of uso volunteers, police officers, airport workers, fellow passengers and even better, when they boarded their flight at american airlines has a policy they upgrade when they can. they had six empty seats in first class. when the other passengers in first class saw what's up, they got up and went to the back. they gave their seats up so the final squad could make the leg of their trip home in first class. the organizers said he wanted kids coming home to realize they haven't been forgotten.
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i -- rocket. >> it happened from kazakhstan ahead of the soichi games. the first olympic flame in history to make the trip to outerspace. it's not lit. don't worry. along with excitement and anticipation questions continue to exist about how gay athletes will be greeted in a country that certainly hasn't been a champion for human rights. this morning "today" show matt lauer spoke to the organizer and spoke about that very topic. >> if an athlete marches in the opening ceremony with rainbow pin or athlete stands up at a press conference and speaks out in favor of gay rights, will that athlete be arrested? >> absolutely not. what else can i add. when my president already several times expressed the gequality no matter what country they hail from but it certainly was a direct message to any spectator, lgtb organization or allies that might be traveling to russia and try to demonstrate in support of equality. i think, peter, what i've learned from being here in a very brief period of time and having an opportunity to speak with people who have been directly affected by this law, basically it seems a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. i was really enamered and interested in the conversation you had with senator baldwin. what she's experiencing is the first openly gay senator. we have elected members of congress now. we see the transition it's taken in america to get where we are, the conversation of equality. that is strong leaders coming out, speaking their truth and also have the support of straight allies. russia is behind the times when it dos that. that's why a law like this was able to get into place to allow
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this social distinction of making a community basically a second class citizen by saying there really is no such thing as an lgtb person that you can actually even talk about. what i've experienced from talking to people one-on-one is they understand the vagueness of this law and the problem that it creates. i think now with the international dialogue and international attention that's been paid to russia, it only contributes to more problems to get vladimir putin and his elected leaders to answer. what it means not just for the olympics but beyond that international -- that international microscope that will be focused on russia, what it means of a the olympics leaves. that's the big question. >> thomas, you interviewed a russian journalist fired after coming out on facebook. i want to hear what you learned about that area of the country which has not embraced those with a wide range of desires to express themselves, that includes the band, the pussy
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riot band whose band member is still feared missing in sibera. what have you learned from that conversation? >> so you reference a journalist i spoke to who was let go from his job after coming out publicly on facebook. he wasn't brought back. his contract was a few days from expiring and he was dismissed from his job. he was inspired by another journalist who was on a pro kremlin cable station by the name of anton who came out in january. anton came out publicly on the air. oleg was inspired by that later on. in the conversations that i've had with both these gentlemen, anton has been out of work for an entire year. he's 38 years old and a had a very high achieving career in journalism. oleg 33 years old, recently left the country of russia to come to the u.s. just married his
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partner about a week and a half ago in new york. i'm not sure exactly what their plans are. certainly it makes it difficult to return to russia as a legally married couple in the united states. but for anton specifically, he hasn't worked in almost a year. it seems as if his professional journalism career is over. he said hopes to do something with an international or global equality type of group, but it remains to be seen how he's going to pick up his career and move on, other than saying he's 100% not leaving russia. >> thomas, quickly. you're hosting the miss universe pageant this weekend. you're a married gay man. you've been there 24 hours now. give us the sense how you're feeling about this experience you've made the decision to do. >> reporter: you know, i think it's a really fantastic experience, peter, for me. not just as a broadcaster. me being openly gay, that's an interesting fact, certainly not something i'm embarrassed by.
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but yes, patrick and i are both here. i thought this was too big, too visible of an opportunity for an lgbt person to relinquish and give up, especially on soil that may not be so comfortable for somebody that is like me that's considered an other. so i came here not just to prove a point but also for any other country around the world, for a kid that's growing up thinking they can't have an integrated personal and professional life. they can. it can be achieved. >> thomas, we love you and patrick. good luck. we will certainly be watching. enjoy this trip. >> reporter: thanks, peter. thanks, peter. >> this is how you learn to swim the hard way. sumatran tiger cubs at the national zoo took a swim test yesterday to prove they're fit to go on exhibit. they passed the test but not sure if you would really call it passing with flying colors. neither of the cubs actually looked like they enjoyed this
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i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. healthcare starting under $40 a month. i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart. you get your coffee here. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here,
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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris cillizza back with us right now. chris, i think we got to go back to where we started today. paging all marty walshs. the vice president must be watching our show today, "andrea mitchell reports" just put out a tweet within this last hour. he called the wrong marty walsh up in boston. well, he just put out this tweet. any other marty walshes out there? we want to hear from you.
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chris, get on that. >> here's the thing about biden. you know, we were talking about this earlier, but he has this kind of fun side that is endearing, but is that presidential? that's sort of the fundamental question if joe biden decides to run. people like him, but do they see him as a president? >> good question. hey, anybody, any marty walshes watching right now. we want to talk to you. that's going to do it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we'll see you back here tomorrow. tamron hall takes things over. she's up next. >> thank you, marty. i mean, peter. so cute. in our next hour, we're watching closely as an effort to repeal the controversial stand your ground law in florida is underway. but the leading republican at today's hearing says he does not intend to change, quote, one damn comma. plus, after seven years of altering the way we communicate, twitter has finally gone public and the price is already
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starting to soar. we're going to go live to wall street to see the twitter impact. and later -- >> in new jersey, $25 million was spent on ads that included somebody running for political office. you think there maybe a conflict of interest there? >> gop rivals are lining up to take shots at, yes, chris christie on this friday. nbc's senior editor mark murray will join us with the latest on what's happening inside the beltway and what will be on the sunday morning programs. the day my doctor told me i had diabetes, i remember thinking there's a lot i have to do...
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