on monday, white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough became the latest administration official to criticizenyahu's comments. speaking to the group j street mcdonough said the u.s. cannot ignore netanyahu's disavowal of a two-state solution. >> after the election, the prime minister said he is not changed his position. but for many in israel and the international committee, such contradictory comments call into question his commitment to a two state solution, as did his suggestion the construction of settlements has a strategic purpose of dividing palestinian communities and his claim that conditions in the larger middle east must be more stable before a palestinian state can be established. we cannot simply pretend that these comments were never made. aaron: mcdonough went on to say that israel's nearly 50-year occupation of palestinians must end. but whether the white house is prepared to drop its longstanding support for the occupation is the question that lies ahead. the obama administration has said it is considering not blocking, or maybe even backing, a u.n. security council resolutio

. >> judy, white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough is going to speak to jay street tomorrow.s is a democratic group that has been very critical of netanyahu and just seems to be one more indication, you know we don't know what mcdonagh is going to say, the fact he would speak to this group seems they're going to continue to ratchet this up. >> it looks that. but i think as bob said and as liz is suggesting there's so much at stake in the relationship between the united states and israel. it's hard to believe that people like dennis mcdonough and people making decisions in this administration aren't taking the long view. yes there clearly a short-term peak over what happened. and i think people are looking both at the politics of it because it's clear -- i mean, it's clear to me that republicans are going to do better with the jewish vote in the future given what's happened in the last few weeks with netanyahu. you know, one can assume there will be more votes more money from jewish people who thought they never would be voting republican are seriously considering doing that n

at the same time the white house is saying and dennis mcdonough does in the letter we're going to take this to the un and ask them if we get a deal to lift sanctions. so what do you think about this idea, yeah, we're going to put it to a vote at the un but congress, per secretary kerry will have to stay out? >> the president has certain powers as president of the united states, the congress has powers as the legislative branch. we respect both branchs. the president has every right to enter into agreements. every president has done that and major policy agreements with other countries and multi-national agreements. he has every right to do that. ultimately the congress is the policy arm of government. we have the right to pass legislation. we can counter what the president has done. we can support what the president has done. in regards to iran we have a common objective. that objective is to prevent iran from having the capacity for a nuclear weapon. >> when john kerry says, congress has no ability to change an executive agreement, you say -- >> i don't think that's exactly what the s

meanwhile chief of staff dennis mcdonough sent a let'ser to lawmakers saturday saying have a, quote profoundly . and later today, we expect learn the names of four army national gua members killed in a helicopter crash. seven marines were also killed last week. black hawk hr went town in thick fog during a training exercise. >>> a man died while hiking when a tree fell and crushed him in mary.n parish was hiking on the appalachian tra investigators say a gust of wind blew the tree over. a park ranger performed cpr, but could not save him. parish started his hike on friday. >>> th investigators are trying to figure out what led to a car hitting two children in montgomery county. this happened yesterday afternoon on regency drive in potomac. crews rushed the children to children's hospital. no word on their conditions this morning. >>> former basketball coach at georgetown recovering from a major surgnow. the university says john thompson jr. had surgery for a twisted intestine earlier this month. he led the ohio i can't say to the national championship 30 years ago. thompson jr.'s son now coach

problem that the administration created today by the statements on the white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough at a conference in washington d.c. in which he called for an end to the 50-year occupation of the palestinian territories by israel. this is inflammatory language. he called exclusively for a return to the 1967 borders which are urchb tenable for the security of israel and which the united states has heretofore refused to endorse and we have the administration and the newspapers and the media backgrounding and threatening not to support the israelis with our veto at the united nations. so, you know, this is part -- you know, the penalty went to the eavesdropping, but we ought to be looking at the sum and substance of the administration's approach. and for mcdonough to go out and to the applause of a bunch of liberals to call for the quote occupation to use language that is way beyond what's been acceptable to the united states before. >> beyond what is acceptable to the united states, but perhaps -- i was going to say secondly but primarily it's clear that the chief of the staff of th

problem that the administration created today by the statements on the white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough at a conference in washington d.c. in which he called for an end to the 50-year occupation of the palestinian territories by israel. this is inflammatory language. he called exclusively for a return to the 1967 borders which are urchb tenable for the security of israel and which the united states has heretofore refused to endorse and we have the administration and the newspapers and the media backgrounding and threatening not to support the israelis with our veto at the united nations. so, you know, this is part -- you know, the penalty went to the eavesdropping, but we ought to be looking at the sum and substance of the administration's approach. and for mcdonough to go out and to the applause of a bunch of liberals to call for the quote occupation to use language that is way beyond what's been acceptable to the united states before. >> beyond what is acceptable to the united states, but perhaps -- i was going to say secondly but primarily it's clear that the chief of the staff of th

white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough wrote an e-mail to the president's cabinet 2013 and one of addressees was this gmail account believed to belong to hagel, the 24th secretary of defense. the pentagon says any official government e-mail sent from any of hagel's accounts would be archived under agency policy at the george washington university national security archive, which specializes in the archiving of government documents. they said use of gmail by a cabinet leader carries risk. >> in general, the government's e-mail systems are going to have far more security encryption protection ability to track, ability to fend off hackers than would private systems, especially if you're the secretary of defense, where the national security agency is under your domain. >> we've asked the pentagon what steps it took to secure mr. hagel's private e-mail account and the agency said it's declining to comment on its security. wendy? >> scott mcfarlane. >>> new testimony today in the trial of the man who's accused of planting bombs at the boston marathon. today a carjacking victim took the

dennis mcdonough is the chief of staff. he didn't take on added responsibility since my confirmation. dennis mcclaren, i apologize. we are looking at ways that while we may need more time to explore the final cleanup, the record of decision on this that we will have sites ready and moving forward regardless of when that decision gets made so we will get that decision made as quickly as possible but we are also getting all the preliminary steps ready so that we can continue to move forward and not sequentially think about these issues. i think we are working really hard with oregon to make sure that is the case so don't lose any time in this process. >> with all due respect we have lost a lot of time. i'm not sure the current administrator shares your enthusiasm with getting this done in a timely manner and the biggest concern i have is you collaborative partnerships want to step up and they are getting beaten up on a regular basis. here's a group that should be a shining example of how the process could work and your contin

2013 until last month and on at least one occasion in october 2013 white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough wrote to a group of u.s. cabinet secretaries and copied this now defunct private address, the e-mail believed to have belonged to the 24th secretary of defense chuck hagel hagel. contacted by news4, a spokesman said of hagel, "he understood the need to keep two separate and to keep government business emails on his official e-mail and on some limited occasions an e-mail may have been sent to or from the wrong account." the pentagon spokesman also says ash karlter, chuck hagel's successor, also maintains separate personal and governmental e-mail accounts. we just put the white house spops to our story on nbcwashington.com.response to our story on nbcwashington. >>> iran's foreign minister says a letter from u.s. republican lawmakers suggest the united states is not trustworthy. 47 gop senators sent a letter warning that any nuclear deal with the obama administration could be scrapped once the president leaves office. the white house and senate democrats have denounced this letter accus

. >> reporter: dennis mcdonough sent a letter to bob corker assuring him that congress will have a role to play and will have to take a vote but the white house conceded that they would rather congress stay out of the process for months for a framework agreement. >> for all of the hyperventilating that we see on capitol hill there is no green that has been reached. >> and press secretary josh earnest said they may want congress to hold off even longer. that is not going to fly with republicans or perhaps even democrats. as for cotton's letter officials are calling it a distraction but one official told me it's not a helpful one and we should keep in mind that cotton went after the white house again after his first speech on the senate floor, he described the talks under way as quote, appeasement. erin? >> obviously a reference to world war ii. thank you jim acosta. john john barrasso is joining me. you were one of the senators that signed the letter. what do you say, senator, to the american people who think obviously there by a margin of 10 percentage points they think what you did is

. >> dennis mcdonough wrote to congress, to the senate on friday night saying please back off, not just to the 47 senators but also to democratic allies and this was tim kaine's response on "meet the press." >> the deal being negotiated with iran is about what will iran do to get out from under congressional sanctions. so it is unrealistic to think that congress is not going to be involved in looking at a final deal. i am a pro diplomacy senator and i have supported the negotiations to this point. but any deal that touches upon the congressional statutory sanctions is going to get a review of congress. >> they are going to have the final say one way or the other, this is a treaty farce the administration is concerned and executive agreement others have been negotiated. congress is going to have its say whether through appropriations or the unilateral sanctions, the phasing out of sanctions that will be part of the agreement. >> senator kaine is right, the issue is and there seems to have been some confusion in the minds of the 47 that somehow this kind of agreement requires a two-thirds

over the weekend white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough sending a letter to corker urging him to reconsider that. he wrote "we believe the legislation would likely have a profoundly negative impact on the ongoing negotiations emboldening iranian hardliners, differentiating the allies in the negotiations and once again calling into question our ability to negotiate this deal. the administration's request to the congress is simple, let us complete the negotiations before the congress acts on legislation. if we successfully negotiate a framework by the end of this month in a final deal by the end of june, we expect a robust debate in congress." let me ask you, what is the role in your mind, the proper role for congress here? because the case that the republicans are making, the democrats who signed on to the corker legislation make is, hey, look, any deal that's struck is going to involve easing sanctions that congress passed. so shouldn't congress get a vote on any deal? >> well, steve, first of all, bob corker is a dear friend of mine. he came and he asked me to look at the letter

white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough said yesterday that they cannot pretend these commence were never made and added that the occupation that has lasted more than 50 years must end. now these are very strong statements. clearly. talk to us about how this is also playing out and how it has really changed the relationship each more between the united states and israel. >> reporter: absolutely. we've seen netanyahu backtrack on both commence. first the commence about arab voters on election day. then the commence he made right before election day when he said there would be no two-state solution under him. he's tried to backtrack the two-state solution comments. the white house rejected that backtracking. he's apologized for the comments he made about arabs. the white house not the only one not accepting the apology. the joint arab list one of the strongest parties -- parties that made the strongest showing in the elections rejecting his apologies. again, comments that infuriated many here and in the united states certainly will not improve relations in any way. but at this point w

but it was dennis mcdonough speaking to the group found to disrupt the close relationship between u.sand israel, and he fired them up saying the occupation lasted almost 50 years must end, but it reminded me, oh yeah, i remember another speech he gave and this transcript is from the white house website, this was march 6 2011 and dennis mcdonough, the same guy who thinks we need to run israel out of the land of israel, he said this, and i'm quoting from the speech from the white house website. thank imam for your very kind introduction and welcome. i know that president obama was very grateful that you led the prayer at last summer's dinner at the white house, which as the president noted, is a tradition stretching back more than two centuries to when thomas jefferson hosted the first iftar at the white house. and let me interject here, glowing praise for the imam. this is the imam who was president of the islamic society of north america. islamic society of north america, background on them, they were named as a co-conspirator to fund terrorism in the largest prosecution in the united

the weekend that a top white house aide wrote the top republican white house chief of staff dennis mcdonoughwrote a letter in response to bob corker. it urged congress to hold off on legislation in the works that could hurt the deal. the exchange comes after a far more controversial letter addressed to iran's leaders authored by tom cotton signed by 47 gop senators and on sunday cotton and as secretary kerry debated criticism surrounding the letter. >> what we did was send a clear message to a did torial regime. >> it's wrong, unprecedented and i hope it hasn't made it very difficult here. >> luke russert is on capitol hill. luke, congress wants to have a more substantial role in the talks. are they going to get that opportunity? >> reporter: it's a good question. the legislation that is at hand which the white house says is potentially problematic to them getting a deal with iran would allow for the united states congress to in fact ratify any deal the administration would make as it goes right now the administration were to make a deal, they do not need the explicit support of congress. un

. >> reporter: over the weekend, white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough sent a letter to bob corker assuring him congress will have a role to play and will have to take a vote. but the white house conceded they would rather congress stay out of the process for months well beyond the march 31st deadline for a framework agreement. >> for all of the hyperventilating we see on capitol hill there is no agreement that has been reached. >> reporter: press secretary josh earnest says the white house may want congress to hold off even longer even after a deal is concluded. that is not going to fly with republicans and even some democrats. >> jim acosta thanks very much. joining us now, senator angus king the main independent, member of the armed services and intelligence committees. thanks very much for joining us. you think there's going to be a deal with iran? >> well i think it's 50/50 right now. i have heard 60/40, 50/50. i think it's not done at all. what i think is kind of amazing is the way people are lining up. you heard senator ted cruz a few minutes ago saying you got to say no to

mcdonough. he didn't take on added responsibility since my appointment. dennis mcclaren, i apologize. we have -- are looking at ways that while we may need more time to explore the final cleanup, the record of decision on this, that we will have sites ready and moving forward regardless of when that decision gets made. so we will get that decision made as quickly as possible, but we are also getting all the preliminary steps ready so that we can continue to move forward, and not sequentially think about these issues. i think we are working really hard with oregon to make sure that that's the case so that we don't lose any time in this process. >> with all due respect we've lost a lot of time. i'm not convinced the current region 10 administrator shares your enthusiasm for getting this thing done in a timely manner. ed biggest concern i have is here you have a collaborative partnership willing to step up and yet they're getting what i would perceive beaten up on a regular basis with unrealistic requirements and expectation. here's a group that could be a shining example of how the proc

mcdonough. the chief of staff of the president. he didn't take on added responsibility during -- dennis mcclarion. i apologize. are looking at ways that while we may need time to explore the final clean-up, the record of decision on this that we'll have sites ready and moving forward regardless of when that decision gets made. so we'll get that decision made as quickly as possible. but we are also getting all of the preliminary steps ready so that we can continue to move forward and not sequentially think about these issues and i think we're working really hard with oregon to make sure that is the case so that we don't lose any time in this process. >> with all due respect, we've lost a lot of time and i'm not sure the administrator shares your enthusiasm forgetting this done in a timely matter. and the biggest concern i have is you have a clib taf partnership -- collaborate partnership trying to step up and getting beaten up with requirements and regulations and i appreciate your cooperation. >> you have. >> it and we would like to be a big wood-producing state. and that doesn't seem possible any more. but th