tv Disrupt With Karen Finney MSNBC November 10, 2013 4:00pm-5:00pm EST
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follow me! keep up, keep up, keep up. ♪ look he's right there! follow me! [ male announcer ] the nissan pathfinder. wow! follow me! [ male announcer ] nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $279 per month lease on a 2014 nissan pathfinder. ♪ hello, disrupters. i'm karen finney. and we have a lot on our plate this afternoon. an alleged bully breaks his silence. a nuclear showdown intensifies. and has a leader emerged? >> big story this morning for the broadcast is iran. >> hopes are high for a deal. >> i think we've got to be very careful. we've got to be very skeptical. >> iran will still be under enormous pressure. >> iran is a country that has promoted terrorism. >> we are absolutely determined that this will be a good deal or there'll be no deal. >> how interested are you in running for president in 2016?
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>> is it too early for people to be asking the 2016 question? >> i don't think it's too early. i think it's part of a process. >> this isn't an issue about bullying. this is an issue of mine and jon's relationship where i may -- i've taken stuff too far. all right. we've got a lot to get to this afternoon from chris christie, the newly crowned prince of the gop, to failed talks with iran, to the explosive story unfolding this week in the nfl. and, yes, the gop's benghazi obsession. but, first, we want to give you an update from the philippines where officials say 10,000 people could be dead from friday's devastating typhoon. characterized as a state of calamity. last night u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel announced u.s. forces are headed to the pacific islands to aid in search and rescue efforts.
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among the organizations that you can contact for information on how to help, you can reach out to the red cross, unicef, save the children. and we will be posting a additional information on our facebook page. we're now going to turn back to politics. coming off his re-election win tuesday, new jersey governor chris christie took a victory lap on the sunday talk show circuit this morning. again his message at championing his record as a state leader. not surprisingly, dipping his toe in the 201 wa6 waters. >> at the end of the day what did we see in new jersey on tuesday? 61% of the votes statewide. people voted on the record of what we've done. i'm proud of it. how that plays any place else is for all the washington pundits to figure out. i'm the governor of new jersey. that's my job. that's what i asked for, for four more years. >> all four years? >> listen, who knows? i don't know. >> not so fast on the 2016 talk. there's still a lot of work to
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do before the mid-terms in 2014. budget takes will continue this week. we know there'll be more headlines on the affordable care act. potential votes on enda and the minimum wage. sunday forecasters today, jonathan capehart. jackie kucinich. thanks to you both for joining me today. >> thanks, karen. >> i want to start with you, jonathan. you've got chris christie. he's looking to 2016 even if he won't admit he's talking to 2016. it seems as though there's this dynamic if you listen to what he said and others said. there's this inside/outside washington, i'm not of washington. then you've got the sort of sarah palin, ted cruz sort of establishment, nonestablishment dynamic. what's going on with the gop? >> i wish i knew. i think a lot of people within the gop wish they knew what was going on. look, chris christie is -- he is an outsider by washington
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standards. he's governor. he's clearly outside of washington. he's actually getting things done. they're not getting anything done in washington. yet he's also someone who is -- he is a conservative. but by the republican party standards right now, he can be viewed as a moderate. and someone as we saw by his landslide election in new jersey, a republican who democrats feel comfortable voting for. that makes him, i think, to the gop establishment that's trying to wrest the party back from the tea party, an inside player who could, i think, republican mainstreamers are hoping he can pull the party back to the middle and regain the white house. if he can get the nomination. >> you know, jackie, it certainly seems like the talking point for republicans since tuesday has been to refer -- they have, like, chris christie now to sort of refer to the sane wing of the gop. i think they're grateful to not just have ted cruz in their face. they actually have someone else they can point to. to some degree it feels like it's a little bit overblown.
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again, chris christie is more conservative than i think we are talking about. sort of more broadly. and he's certainly, if he runs for president in 2016, will have to pay homage and get through a republican primary. >> the idea of christie kind of paying homage to a faction that disagrees with him is kind of -- it'll be interesting. it'll be interesting to see. but, yeah. i think the republican establishment is acutely aware of the issues that they have. you saw that when you look at ken cuccinelli's race. i think there were some in the republican party on the establishment side who wish he would have lost by a little more. it showed maybe the tea party didn't have as much of a grasp as they do on the party. you also saw that in the alabama special. they are acutely aware. they are watching. they are trying to figure out a way out of this. for the time being they're looking at 2014. trying to figure out a way to
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keep their candidates from being primaried, a whole range of thing. >> quickly, jonathan, you wrote this week about the comparison between chris christie and rudy giuliani that's being made. talk about that. >> the headline is president christie, meet president giuliani. as you have right there. they're both former prosecutors. they're both chief executives of northeastern cities. both two termers now. but they're also both thin skinned. they both have reputations. i write in the piece that, you know, that whole thing christie has of being in people's faces. remember, gail, the one who questioned whether he sent his kids to public or private schools. i got into a fight with chris christie on this air, msnbc. that plays well here in the northeast media market. it plays well to people around the country who are looking for someone who's a fighter. but they don't want to see that in a president. they don't want to see a mean, nasty president. i don't think it's going to play well in iowa.
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in those early states that he's going to need. r rudy giuliani's was america's mayor. he was a big, big hero when he ran for president. look what happened to him. >> right. jackie, i want to switch gears a little bit. i guess, what is it, 13 more working days, i should say, for congress. i think the rest of us have quite a few more than that till the end of the year. still a lot of big things, big ticket items. it was interesting. looking at this through the lens of the implications of 2014, one of the things that really gained some momentum last week is the minimum wage. he was suggesting particularly the closer we get to 2014, the actual election, the easier they think it will be to get a deal and get republicans on board with that. because it's clearly so popular within the country. >> i think if i get through the senate -- again, you're going to have trouble getting it through the house. the house republicans in particular have already ticked
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off the business community. this isn't something -- the minimum wage increase isn't something particularly popular with the business community. i just don't see that coming up. i don't think it'll get through the gop house because of how it's made up right now. >> do you think, jackie, does that mean democrats have sort of -- there's this question of whether or not they've got leverage kind of, you know, the republicans, they shut the government down. although you could say that the obama care conversation has kind of distracted from that. and that democrats want to use that sort of leverage against the gop to kind of put the pressure on, to get the minimum wage done, to maybe even get enda done which i think that's going to be even tougher. it sounds like you're saying there's not going to be any kind of leverage. >> it's hard to have leverage if you can't even get it to the floor. >> there's that. and john boehner has got no problem saying, i'm not even going to put it on the floor. and blaming other people. the other thing jonathan, we've got going next week, we've got the second round of the budget
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talks. a great quote from patty murray, who is leading the efforts for democrats from the senate side. she said in a piece this weekend, quote, i taught preschool. you don't walk into a class with 4-year-olds without a direction of where you're going to go. so she clearly is walking in like she's got her plan of what she's going to do. but paul ryan has a plan, too. it does not sound very much like her plan. >> no. i would add sort of corollary to her great quote, which is, yeah, it's great to have a plan. but when you walk into a classroom filled with pyromaniacs, your plan goes awry. >> goes poof? >> yes. we saw in 2011 with the debt ceiling crisis that the republican party in the house had no problem bringing the nation to the brink. we saw with the government shutdown of just a month ago that this is a party that was really -- they shut down the government and they were willing to destroy the full faith and credit of the united states. so patty murray might have a plan.
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and she might even be able to get it through the senate. but once it goes to the house, the pyromaniacs will blow it up. >> i couldn't say it better myself. we will leave it there. thanks so much, jonathan capehart and jackie kucinich. >> thanks, karen. next, miami dolphins guard richie cincognito broke his silence earlier today characterizing his relationship with teammate jonathan martin which he allegedly bullied as a close friendship. later, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me live onset to discuss the proposed deal with iran and the u.s. role in the region. you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪
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bullying. this is an issue of my and jon's relationship where i may -- i've taken stuff too far. and i didn't know it was hurting it. >> did jonathan martin overreact? or jonathan was hurting that much? >> i can't sit here and tell you who overreacted, who did what. i can just sit here and be accountable for my actions. and my actions were coming from a place of love. >> after a week of being a media target over accusations of bullying teammate jonathan martin, embattled miami dolphins defensive lineman richie incognito broke his silence earlier today. he reframed the relationship saying he's not a bully, not a racist, but a friend to martin. a good friend. he tried to paint the entire episode as a misunderstanding fumed by those unfamiliar with the culture inside nfl locker rooms. for example, he explained a vulgar voice mail he left his fellow teammate in this way. >> i'm embarrassed by it.
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i'm embarrassed by my actions. but what i want people to know is the way jonathan and the rest of the offensive line and how our teammates, how we communicate, it's vulgar. it's not right. when the words are put in the context, i understand why a lot of eyebrows get raised. but people don't know how jon and i communicate to one another. >> that's the explanation. this is just the vulgar world he and martin worked side by side in. those who don't know the culture, don't know the whole story. he also said martin knew and participated in that culture, using the "n" word himself and even once leaving incognito a text message that most of us would also find shocking. now, that's his side. we still haven't heard from martin himself on what led to his leaving the miami dolphins. his lawyer has said that in addition to enduring racist insults and threats from incognito martin was also the victim of a malicious physical attack from a teammate. we also have not heard from the nfl and the team, both of whom are investigating. but this episode gives new insight behind the curtain of
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the nation's most popular sport. joining me now, cynthia lohan, producer and writer of the acclaimed documentary "bully." and a football coach at anacostia high school in washington, d.c. i want to start with you. one of the things in listening and watching the interview earlier today, it struck me, incognito, his goal was clearly to kind of clean this up a bit, obviously. but the sort of conversation around the nfl locker room culture, which even if you agree, i again, that this is part of that culture, i think some of us would still find elements of that culture disturbing and certainly could see how it leads to the kinds -- you know, a place where it can easily cross the line. >> well, yeah. you know, the locker room is just that. you know, most of the time you have -- it's a situation for the players where, you know, the coaches really don't come around. you really have your veterans or
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in a collegiate situation, your seniors, other leaders in that locker room. every locker room has its own personality, and it's different. but it is a place that's different than most people would ever, you know, understand or experience. and it is -- things happen. and things go on in the locker room that are different than your normal workplace. so i think it's really -- you know, to sum it up, you have to look at it from outside looking in, but from a person who's been in numerous locker rooms with different personalities and different people, i think it's just kind of been the way of life in terms of certain behaviors taking place. >> but, i mean, like you say, you've been in this locker room culture. now as a coach, i assume you see at the high school level, i mean, do you have concerns about it going too far? i mean, one of the things i thought was interesting in the interview is after the fact, there was this conversation with terry bradshaw and howie long
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and they were feeling like, you know, this is a little different than when they were in the locker room. >> i can imagine, you know, over time things have changed. i would imagine that before we had all the media outlets, you know, then, in their time, i would imagine some of the other things that, you know, that were acceptable behavior. i've talked to some old players that said, hey, you know, after practice there was beer sitting in the locker room. that was part of the culture. you look at even, say, baseball. where back in the day they used to smoke cigarettes in between the innings. you know, that was the culture of the game then. i think things have evolve and things have changed. but i do think it is the responsibility of the veterans and of the leaders of the team to control it. you don't want -- you never want things to get out of hand. even in my situation where as the head coach, i told my guys, hey, you know, the locker room is your place. you guys need to control it, keep it clean.
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make sure everybody feels comfortable. but at the same time, it's your place. do what you guys do away from the coaches, away from the school. but, hey, let's keep it, you know, still a safe environment. >> but, you know, cynthia, i guess what struck me when this story, you know, we've learned more throughout the week, i should say. but as this story was coming out, you know, and people were sort of shocked and surprised, i sort of thought, well, wait a second. we've just spent as a country having this conversation about bullying. your film was out. we've been talking about it. why should we be surprised to see it's happening in football of all places, a confrontational sport. a lot of testosterone. when we know at the lower grades we see that behavior starting and we have also learned, incognito, this is a behavior that apparently he's had -- he was bullied himself, but also he bullied others as a younger person. >> yeah. i mean, i think these are patterns that we establish early on in life.
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i think there are places we find in our communities and our schools where bullying is allowed to foster. it's no surprise that kids are being bullied on the bus. why? there are certain elements. there's a lack of supervision. there's a way in which it's kind of a "lord of the flies" situation. the powerful reign. now that we threw the film is one of those ways in which we pulled a curtain back on a place in our country which everyone knows, everyone has experienced. looking at it through that lens saying, wait a minute. what's going on here? this is an opportunity. we're having this moment. wait a minute, this is something we took as a norm. for a long time bullying was a norm. kids being kids. it took a lot of tragedies, young people hurting other people, hurting themselves for us to say, how can we say this is normal? that's what we're seeing. i think it's a real moment of opportunity. >> cato, to that point, again, i feel like these behaviors, we see them starting at younger ages. you're obviously working with high school students. do you feel like with what you're seeing, you have the opportunity to, as you said, you
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kind of let your guys do what they have to do. but how do you kind of make sure it doesn't cross the line and step in and sort of make sure people understand when it's gone too far? >> in the high school setting, it's a little different because you're dealing with, you know, teenagers that, you know, that's kind of been part of the culture for them. >> isn't that -- i guess my question is, like, should it still be? if we now see that, like, potentially those kids could grow up and be confronting this kind of situation, does that maybe say to us, hey, maybe we ought to take a step back and take a look at this? >> i think there is something to say about -- you know, i don't want to say bullying is a part of the culture. i'm saying that certain rights of passages for, you know, to go from, you know, hey, i'm a freshman. now when i get to a senior, i have a little more power and authority. and to walk those -- you know, that ladder and earn your keep.
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those are slightly different than saying, hey, this guy is just getting bullied. one could look at it, say, hey, the freshman got to carry the shoulder pads and bring all the stuff in every day. you know, that could be seen as bullying. or it could be seen as, hey, these people are earning -- you know, earning a right to be a part of the team and earning their keep and growing. i think there is a place for, you know, earning your keep. but to get bullied or to get abused, i think, is something completely different. i don't think anything is wrong with that. >> cynthia, i guess, what i think your film showed so elegantly and so painfully is there is a point at which it feels like what we kind of say, well, boys will be boys. this is a right of passage can be very dangerous. particularly in the culture that we're living in now. certainly at the younger ages,
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frankly eve n in this case, the bullying is happening everywhere. it's on your cell phone, online, in person. one of the things i don't unfortunately have time to play the sound. but i thought it was interesting to hear incognito describing himself as a friend when in your -- when in your film, you talk about the fact that, in fact, the victim certainly tries to befriend the bully as a strategy. >> absolutely. this is something that we see among teenagers. it's something we see in the film with alex. i think it's painful to have to admit that what is going on is bullying. we all want acceptance. we all want to be supported. and, you know, supported by our communities. i think it can take a long time for someone who's a victim of bullying to stop and say, wait a minute, this goes beyond what i'm comfortable with. what i think is acceptable. and, you know, what i think i want to promote and be part of. and to -- to say that bullying somehow makes someone stronger i think is a total fallacy. i think the things that make people stronger are figuring out how do we use power responsibly? how do we teach young people,
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especially those with power, especially those with a lot of social cache, to stick up for the ones around them. the real act of courage in the situation is not taking part in beating audiota ining up a coll teammate, in high school another student, but having the courage to stand up and say this isn't right. this isn't how we want to use our power. >> cato, final question to you. the other element to this was there is a racial element to this. there have been a couple of people who pointed out, you had african-american players on the team actually defending incognito. a lot of people on the team saying they were so surprised that this was jonathan martin's reaction. but a lot of eyes raising and even incognito admitted today he probably shouldn't be using the "n" word. that's not something he should be throwing around. what to you make of the sort of racial dynamic. i think it made me very uncomfortable. it certainly seemed like a locker room where you have that kind of tension going on and that kind of confrontation, the
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racial element added into it just adds a whole other dimension. >> i think the locker room can be a very crass and vulgar environment. to some. because you have -- you have -- you have the whole spectrum. you know, you have people from east coast, west coast, south, north. you have muslims, christians, mormons. i mean, you have a -- it's a melting pot of people and personalities. and, you know, things will happen. things will be said. but i don't think the racial piece here is -- i don't want to say that's the big thing. because i think anybody will say, hey, there's no place for, you know, racial slurs. >> right. >> or abusing anyone's religion or, you know, ethnicity. there's no place for that in any -- anywhere. locker room or not. >> all right. cato, unfortunately. i'm sorry. we're going to have to leave it there. we are out of time. thank you so much for your
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insights. cynthia lowen, thank you. next, the most respected news magazine in america disgraced anoth e disgraced. another benghazi hoax bites the dust. it hasn't stopped the republican witch hunt. that's coming up. but still serving... on the job and in our communities... whose dedication and commitment to excellence continues... in every mission, whatever it may be... affecting our lives every day... for your continued service, we salute you. this message of appreciation to our nations' veterans is brought to you by paralyzed veterans of america and unitedhealth group. [ female announcer ] feed a man a cookie and he eats a cookie. ♪ feed him a fresh baked cookie and he eats a much, much better cookie. bake the world a better place with nestle toll house.
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i see criticism from the left where they go you guys are covering a phony scandal. "60 minutes" doesn't cover phony scandals. >> when i watched this report last night i thought, about time. >> he comes forward with a different vrgs of the reality on the ground. >> he really does destroy the narrative. >> can you imagine if we knew both these things before the election. can you only imagine. >> can you only imagine. that's exactly what dylan davies, the man featured in the "60 minutes" piece actually did. republicans and their friends at fox news were quick to hype the report and story of dylan davies, a british security
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contractor who told correspondent laura logan his harrowing tale of being at the benghazi compound as it came under attack. it's the same story he tells in a book published by cbs owned sh simon and schuster. a book since pulled from the shelves. the story was a harrowing tale that turned out not to be true at "the new york times" reported this week. forcing reporter laura logan to appear on "cbs this morning" friday to retract davis's part in the report. we are just hours away from more damage control tonight on their esteemed sunday night broadcast. obviously fox news and the right wing were quick to jump on -- they're always quick to jump on president obama's mistakes. they've been relatively silent about the news of the retracted report. again this morning senator lindsey graham cited it as a reason to block all future obama nominees including jay johnson's nomination for secretary of homeland security. here's what senator graham said this morning. >> my request has been going on for a year to talk to the five
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survivors of the state department. i never asked for the british contractor. i didn't know he existed. oversight is important. i want to perform oversight. i'm not trying to prosecute a crime. i'm not trying to defend the british contractor. >> so all of a sudden the contractor's story is irrelevant. how convenient. as for fox, you'd think that after devoting 13 segments across 11 shows on the "60 minutes" report the day after it aired, they'd extensively cover the retraction. because they're fair and balanced, right? wrong. the day of the retraction fox news devoted a whopping 26 seconds to the real scandal. i'm sure it probably got lost amid all the obama care bashing that day. joining me now to discuss the benghazi backtrack is someone who was on the story from the very beginning. david brock, founder of media matters. and co-author of "the benghazi hoax." david, thank you so much for joining me. >> thanks for having me on.
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>> i want to start with sort of how things unfolded this week. as i noted, you guys, media matters, was on this story from the beginning. and yet it wasn't until "the new york times" reported that people started to take a look and say, hmm, maybe there's something here. >> sure. yeah. well, the day after the "60 minutes" report aired, we monitored the fox news channel. one of the hosts there disclosed they had been working with this source on a number of stories. but that they stopped when he demanded money. and so that was -- that was the first flag. then, of course, you have the issue of a right wing publisher. the author does a deal with the publisher. this is a publisher that publishes the likes of glenn beck. and then starts to work with "60 minutes" on the story. so that was the second flag. then, of course, "the washington post" broke the story that showed that "60 minutes" put a liar on the air. >> you know, david, here's one of the things that strikes me.
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some folks in the last couple of days have pointed out that, perhaps, cbs was trying to appeal to conservatives. but it also, i have to say, it feels to me like there's a false equivalency that underlines all of this. that is, you know, because there were real scandals in the bush administration, i am talking about outing a cia agent. i am talking about lying our way into war. they're going to create a scandal under a democratic president where there really is not one. where they're sort of creating it out of hole cloth. it feels like at times some in the media feel like they have to cover it with a kind of equivalency. >> oh, yeah. i definitely think that there's a game that's played to lay some blame on both sides. find some skacandals on both sides. in this case we've done a book in media matters, the benghazi hoax, we've looked carefully at the record here, and everybody who's known about this story and followed this story for the last 13 months knows that there's nothing there. that the idea that this is a scandal is a hoax.
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"60 minutes," i guess, didn't know that. they spent a year, supposedly, on this investigation. i think the next question is what are they going to do tonight? we need an independent investigation to ensure cbs viewers of accountability and standards. we cannot trust the people who were involved in this. after "the washington post" story ran that i mentioned, they covered up, they stone walled for a week. laura logan blamed partisan critics. i guess she might have been referring to media matters. yeah, we're a progressive organization. but we've had this story right for 13 months. they had it wrong. i'm going to send a copy of "the benghazi hoax" to laura logan for bedtime reading. >> i think you should. i want you to come back afterwards so we can talk about how we think cbs continues to clean this one up. because we know the story is not going away. darrell issa will still be on it. thank you, david brock. >> thanks a lot. coming up, no deal. talks with iran on nuclear weapons fizzle as events around the region spiral out of control. having just returned from the
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dashed hopes this afternoon as high level negotiations to curb iran's nuclear weapons program have fallen apart. secretary of state john terry made an unexpected trip to geneva this week to engage in the first direct talks between the united states and iran in 36 years all in an effort to broker an agreement which would eliminate iran's nuclear -- ability to create nuclear weapons. after marathon talks, amid strong pushback from both israel and france, the likelihood of a deal seems further and further away. meetings are set to resume in ten days and secretary kerry remains hopeful that an agreement can be reached. but not everyone else is so sure. >> this is a broad feeling here. broad feeling. that iran is, you know, might hit the jackpot here. and it's not good. it's not good for us. it's not good for america. it's not good for the middle east. it's not good for europe,
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either. >> i think we've got to be very careful. we've got to be very skeptical. iran is a country that has promoted terrorism. >> with past as prologue, we have to be very wide eyed about what these negotiations are. and what we accept. >> we are not blind. and i don't think we're stupid. we are absolutely determined that this would be a good deal or there'll be no deal. >> joining me now, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel who spends his career reporting from the front lines of some of the most dangerous regions in the world. just this week richard was honored with the excellence in international reporting award from the international center for journalists. richard, congratulations. >> good to be in your studio. >> let's start with iran. it seemed like in part the dynamics there, he's able to be very gregarious. some have suggested because they know kerry, aka president obama,
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have kind of a wacky congress to deal with at home which would make a deal more complicated on our end. he can enter these talks and look gregarious, look like he's trying to do a deal knowing he may not end up having to do one at all. >> i think there is more to it than just an attempt to placate the domestic politics here. you have what appears to be an opening from iran. you have a new administration. you have rouhani in power. apparently with the blessing of the country's supreme leader reaching out to the united states. making a phone call. in this case receiving a phone call. but being on the phone with president obama. and then now talks that were a couple of days ago very promising. cover of all the newspapers. headlines on nbc news. that a deal, tentative deal, between the u.s. and iran was going to happen. now, this deal, if it had happened, would have seen iran taking some measures to slow back its nuclear program. to dial it back.
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in exchange for easing of some core sanctions. basically, banking sanctions. making it more difficult for -- or making it easier for iran to engage in international commerce, to trade some of its oil. and there would be a watch and wait and see period, perhaps, for six months. this deal could still happen. it didn't happen this weekend. but it could still happen. >> even the framework that was being talked about a couple days ago as we saw president netanyahu, the israelis, not supportive at all. >> absolutely not. the israelis don't like this. the saudis don't like this. some of the key u.s. allies in the middle east are very skeptical of iran. you played some clips of people in this country skeptical as well. >> we've also seen some of the gop leaders were using that to sort of raise -- i think across the spectrum fair concerns about can we really trust a deal with iran. >> let's take a look at what we're dealing with here. for the last couple of years, iran has been squeezed almost to
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the breaking point. iran has been under incredibly tight sanctions. if you live in tehran, you basically can't do business with anyone else. you can't trade. when you want to transfer money right now, you, karen, want to send some money to a foreign bank, you enter in a swift code or aba code. the recipient's bank account number. you send the money and pay a small transaction fee and it takes a day or two if it's overseas. you can't do that in iran. not if you're a business. not if you're an individual. you can't use credit cards. so it's very difficult to live. you have a situation with almost hyperinflation going on in iran right now. that's been for the last several years. israel thinks this is working. and the united states thought for a while, this is working. the question is, if iran is now coming to the table and saying, we want out. we are willing to take some steps to change the dynamics that maybe you should at least engage. but you have to go in with your
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eyes wide open. >> also very quickly, iran, this is also connected to what's happening in syria. because, i mean, iran has been a part -- which is a whole sort of proxy war mess. so the broader regional concerns about what does this deal actually mean for the region, i think is something we haven't quite started to look at yet. >> well, if you're smart. if iran really is coming to the table and iran says, listen, we were in a box. we have a real problem here. we have a new administration. perhaps there's a way to get things going. if you're smart, you don't just focus on the nuclear program. and iran, by the way, doesn't call it a nuclear program. >> of course. >> iran calls ate nuclear -- not a nuclear weapons program. they call it a nuclear energy program. >> of course. >> israel doesn't believe that. they say, no, they are trying to allow themselves to be ready to make a nuclear weapon. that they want to put all the pieces together so that in the last minute, you could quickly throw them all together and have a nuclear weapon. as if what they're trying to do is build all the motorcycle parts and have them all out on a
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blanket in front of them so that if push came to shove, they could put it together and build a motorcycle. >> yeah. >> what this deal would try and do would slow that process down. make it more difficult for them to make that final assembly process work. but if you're smart, you don't just look at that. you also say, listen. we want some other things from you. >> mm-hmm. >> iran is the only regime right now along with russia, but iran even more so in a tactical point of view. russia is providing syria with the political cover. the weapons as well. but iran is on the ground with advisers, people involved in day-to-day battles. so if you're smart and you see an opening and some leverage from iran you say, listen, okay. we can talk about these parts that you have here. we want to slow this process down. or even make it impossible so that you could ever assemble something. we'd also like you to -- >> let's take a look over here at what you're doing. >> take a look at syria and see what else you can get out of them for the absolute atrocities
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that are continuing in syria. >> richard engel, i wish we had more time. there's so many more questions i want to ask you. >> i'm ready. i'm here. >> they're telling me i'm running out of time. >> i don't charge by the minute. i'm available. >> unfortunately they tell us we have to pay some bills and go to commercials once in a while. thank you to richard engel. coming up, a loss so crazy you would not believe it's true. [ female announcer ] make every smile a 3d white smile with crest 3d white toothpaste. it removes up to 90% of surface stains in just 5 days. unleash your smile with crest 3d white toothpaste.
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it seems to be first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> uh-huh. you remember that bit of crazy with that one ignorant comment last summer? former missouri congressman todd aiken lost himself a senate bid.
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he also brought attention to another important issue. it's so crazy, though, wroyou'r not going to believe it's true. one of his constituents rebutted his legitimate rape fiasco by sharing her story. as a senior in college she was raped and became pregnant. nothing legitimate about it. it was rape. shawna made the tough decision to keep the baby. she gave birth to a baby girl. tried to move on and raised her child in an environment of love and safety. imagine her shock, then, when just a few months after her daughter's birth shawna was hit with a custody suit from the man who has raped her. the man who had took so much from shawna wanted to take her child, too. he wanted full custody. shawna said, quote, i was struck with terror not only with the idea of letting my child be around him, but also having to spend the next 18 years tied to him. but guess what? in pruitt's home state of missouri it was perfectly legal for her rapist to demand
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custody. and in 30 other states it is also perfectly legal. every year there are between 25 and 32,000 women in this country who get pregnant from rape. at least a third of them choose to keep and raise the children. but only 19 states have laws addressing parental rights for children conceived through rape. and even those come with major caveats. in idaho, for example, the state will only restrict visitation rights if the victim was a minor at the time of the rape. 13 states require a rape conviction before they'll even step in on custody issues at all. and just six states allow victims to petition for full termination of a rapist's parental rights. ohio is one of the states with no law on the books about parental rights for rapists. think of it this way. when ariel castro made a plea for visitation with his young daughter, the daughter who was a result of the repeated rape of her mother, amanda berry, you know, of the three women castro imprisoned and abused for a
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decade, that was totally legal. now, that, to me, is crazy. joining me now are two people who've seen firsthand the insanity of these laws and are fighting to change them. angela brog's daughter, piper, was raped at 14 and became pregnant. they're now embroiled in a custody battle with piper's attacker. kyle cargas is a film maker whose new documentary "31 states" focuses on this very topic. angela and kyle, thank you so much for joining me. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you. >> angela, i want to start with you. just tell your story and piper's experience. because i know it's an ongoing case. >> yes, it is. our daughter was 14. and it was christmas 2010. and some young men who a friend of hers went to school with came over to have christmas game night. and we were making pizzas and such. getting ready for the holidays. along with them came a young man who was in the military.
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home on christmas exodus. and came to our home. met us. and then he proceeded to rape our daughter that night. we would not find out about it for another 5 1/2 months. we found out on mother's day weekend of 2011. and the first thing i thought about when she told me was that very night with that young man shaking my husband's hand in our kitchen saying thank you. i became physically ill. and stayed that way for some time. i was very conflicted what to do. of course, she was a child. i didn't want to go forward with this pregnancy. >> just tell me where in terms of where you are now in relation to what's happening with piper and this man? >> well, we obviously -- we continued the pregnancy. i'm so grateful to the lord that we did. noah is a blessing to our family. and we went through -- we had a criminal trial. we had a court martial this past
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december. he was found not guilty. the military only has a not guilty/guilty. now we are in a battle for custody of my grandson. he has petitioned the court for full custody. >> kyle, that just sounds crazy to me. that's part of why you're doing this film. quickly, tell us why "31 states" how you got involved in this project and what your goal is with it. >> sure. this all started from an interview with shawna pruitt on cnn which you talked about earlier. and i saw that interview. and i had just done a psa on stopping sexual violence with -- that was directed by mark medoff. for the coalition here. and it got off really good. and i saw that the premise, silence is the enemy, really is the enemy in all these cases. and no one's talking about this. the more and more you look this up on google, that's -- it is out there. and it is so much so that it's overwhelming. >> thank you both. i'm sorry we don't have more time. it's such an important issue.
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i hope people will check out the website for "31 states" and learn more information. angela, good luck to you and your daughter. >> thank you very much. that does it for me. thanks so much for joining us. we will see you next saturday. road closed? there's a guy... excuse me? glacier point? follow me! ♪ follow me! keep up, keep up, keep up. ♪ look he's right there! follow me! [ male announcer ] the nissan pathfinder. wow! follow me! [ male announcer ] nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $279 per month lease on a 2014 nissan pathfinder. ♪ so i deserve a small business credit card with amazing rewards. with the spark cash card from capital one, i get 2% cash back on every purchase, every day.
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