((sot)) ben rhodes, assistant to the president "this is the first president to visit cuba since calvin coolidge." it's a first.. for a sitting president since 1928.. and the first trip to cuba for president obama since he made history.. shaking hands with raul castro.. and restoring diplomatic ties with the cuban government.. back in december of 2014. ((sot)) ben rhodes, assistant to the president "given the choice between going in december when frankly it would just kind of be a vacation down to cuba, or going now and trying to get some business done, we believe that the time is right to go." this trip.. the main event.. among several huge us/cuba events in the works.. including a major league baseball pre- season game.. and big entertainers like beyonce, elton john and the rolling stone negotiating concerts.. president obama.. tweeting in part.. he's traveling to cuba ((his tweet here??)) "to advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the cuban people." his decision.. disappointing for gop presidential contenders with cuban roots.. senators ((sot)) sen. marco rubi

ben rhodes, assistant to the president: "this is the first president to visit cuba since calvin coolidge." it's a first.. for a sitting president since 1928.. and the first trip to cuba for president obama since he made history.. shaking hands with raul castro.. and restoring diplomatic ties with the cuban government.. back in december of 2014. ben rhodes, assistant to the president: "given the choice between going in december when frankly it would just kind of be a vacation down to cuba, or going now and trying to get some business done, we believe that the time is right to go." this trip.. the main event.. among several huge us/cuba events in the works.. including a major league baseball pre- season game.. and big the rolling stone negotiating concerts.. president obama.. tweeting in part.. he's traveling to cuba "to advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the cuban people." his decision.. disappointing for gop presidential contenders with cuban roots.. senators ted cruz and marco rubio last night on cnn. sen. marco rubio: "there are no elections in cuba, there a

that's ben rhodes. kid from louisville will ride the truck series at daytona. repaving the big track in sparta just part of the big changes the g-m says will be ready by june. mark simendinger: "it's going to be one of the biggest stories in racing because we're track that is changing the race part of it. changing the competition part of it on the race track. that is cup weekend in kentucky is in july. this is tonight. you can't watch - we can. we'll show you these games at 10. when we go off air, the news here's a look at what's trending... a florida man is facing charges for throwing an alligator at someone in a drive- through! see the bizarre story.... and did you see peyton manning mention "budweiser" a bunch of times during his post game speech? we'll tell you why he did it. and we've got a list of the best sledding spots in the tri-state! you can find all those stories on fox19 now dot com. and steve, what are we looking at for the rest of the night? winter weather advisory for all counties in the fox19 now viewing next!!! most of us can't imagine not hav

ben rhodes / white house deputy national security advisor - "our objective here is to do as much as we can with the time we have remaining to make this a irreversal policy and frankly, i think the indicators to date are that the american people support that. cuba agreed to restore regular air service for the first time in nearly half a century. while there are several loopholes ... general tourism to cuba is still banned under u-s law. donald trump responds after pope francis suggests he's not a christian. yesterday ... pope francis answered a reporter's question about trump by saying "a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not christian." during a rally in south carolina y...to tdarump said pope francis would wish fhm bo e president "if and when" isis attacks the vatican. donald trump, r presidential candidate - "if and when the vatican is attacked by isis, which as everyone knows is isis's ultimate trophy, i can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that donald trump would have been president because, it

((sot)) ben rhodes, assistant to the president "given the choice between going in december when frankly it would just kind of be a vacation down to cuba, or going now and trying to get some business done, we believe that the time is right to go." but this announcement is not sitting well with republican presidential contenders, senators ted cruz and marco rubio...who both have cuban roots. obama will be there march 21st and 22nd. president obama has signed into effect new sanctions against north korea... for refusing to stop its nuclear weapons program. the sanctions will deny north korea the money it needs to make mini nuclear warheads and long-range missiles. breaking news -- the university of massachusetts, amherst is on lockdown. this after reports of at least one suspicious person with a gun in a residence hall! students are asked to take shelter. there's also been reports of a second gunman. we don't know if anyone has been hurt, or anyone has been arrested. a legal battle over your privacy.. and national security is heating up. now.. relatives of the victims in the san bernardino

that's ben rhodes. kid from louisville will ride the truck series at daytona. the g-m of the big track in sparta says the repaving and the new banking in first tire test on the new surface is june 13th. happy mardi gras! right now - thousands have taken to the streets of new orleans ...to celebrate the last hour of the mardi gras season. its fat tuesday ... tomorrow ... ash wednesday ... and the beginning of the period of lent for catholics around the world. on bourbon street ... the party will likely be going all night... tricia 4-shot steve's tracking the next 24 hours.. tricia cam don't forget we're always tracking the weather on fox19.com. goodnight. kara 2 shot (phone ringing) you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise) hey candidates, we live in a pick and choose world. choose, choose, choose. but at bedtime? ...why settle for this? enter sle

. >> is this about what deputy national security ben rhodes said today, making normalization with cuba irreversible. >> i think that's part of it, he wants to set the policy part of what you saw, that would make it also very difficult for the president to roll it back. i mean, talking and going back to the airports. a large part of this is trying to basically, to say there'll be a change in cuba i think he's trying to be a little more forward leaning. >> he was criticized when he normalized relations because he didn't get a guarantee of improving human rights. will it be a repeat now. if he goes and doesn't come out with commit: we have seen arrests of disgents are almost at highs. >> supposedly there are some elements opinion the deal. a visit by the international committee from the red cross. certainly the red cross - why he's going out now, i don't know. maybe there's something in the works. i find it hard to believe that they anows it in the middle of a presidential meeting. >> and critics are pounce, senator rubio saying you'll send a message to oppressed cuban people that you wil

deputy national security advisor ben rhodes will make the announcement at tomorrow's briefing. last and only u.s. president to visit cuba was calvin coolage in 1921. he bought gec in 2013. the company services the president's jet as a contractor for boeing. the air force told usa today that it considers the security of air force one a top priority and that there are stringent security protocols in place. also they say the contractor does not have unsupervised access to the claim. the white house declined to comment. >> now to pope francis and his historic visit to mexico. he held a mass at the border with the united states. he was on one side and el paso on the other. the visit is making headlines here in the u.s. terry was with the pope in mexico. >> he stood on the rio grand and head bowed in silent prayer. across the river a few feet away in the united states americans including undocumented immigrants prayed with francis remembering the thousands that died in the desert trying to get to the u.s. spiritually there was no border here today. joyous crowds on both sides. a huge

ben rhodes who is in favor of lifting the trade embargo with cuba saying quote we want to open up more opportunities for u.s. businesses and travelers to engage with ca and we want the cuban government to open up more opportunities for its people to end quote. to put historical significance in perspective, the last presidential visit to cuba was nearly 90 years ago. the president calvincoolige. he was asked about the topics on the table during president o obama's visit. this is what she had to say. >> cuba is open to talking to the united states government about any topic, encolluding human rights. but, of course, we have different conceptions and different points of views. this includes otherer things like democracy and other political sls l as for now, there have been talks over human rights with the united states. >> and the president stop in cuba will be part of a broader trip. from cuba, mr. obama will travel to argentina where they will meet with the country oos new president. >> christine: and team coverage moves to miami international airpt. >> diana: alex de armas is there liv

royals fans that have opening day circled on their calendar because they're squaring off against ben rhodes new york mets in kansas city. nice world series rematch there. ben, do you want to do a topper and then we'll take questions? >> josh, i'd point out that reporting to the mets at spring training so -- >> that's good. that's good. >> keeping with the cuban theme here. okay. so i'll just make a few opening comments. you saw the announcement that the president will be going to cuba with the first lady on march 21st and 22nd. this is the first president to visit cuba since calvin coolidge. as we noted he traveled there on a battleship so the optic will be quite different from the get-go here. but i just wanted to step back and put this in a little bit of context. clearly this has been a sea change in terms of u.s. policy towards cuba and u.s.-cuban relations over the last year and a half since president obama and president castro announced on december 17th, 2014, that we would have a process of normalizing relations. to date since we've made that announcement there have been a number of s

most recently, ben rhodes, the deputy national security adviser.hout going into details, because i know these are all private interviews. are you learning new information that's going to be useful to the american public? >> no. it's the same rehashing of information we already know. period. i think the republicans are trying to draw this out into the election. i think they'll try to go probably until august or november if they can. this has been dragged out too long. again, $6 million we spent already and counting. it needs to be set down and we need to move on. >> strong words. what about the key issue right now for african-american voters? they make up more than half of the likely democratic primary voters in south carolina. what's the biggest issue you think right now on their minds? >> i think african-american voters are looking for authenticity and looking for somebody they can truly believe in. you know, we have had a phenomenal jobless rate with regard to criminal reform, criminal justice reform. that's a very big issue for us. miss clinton,

. >>> and it was confirm that ben rhodes, and national security adviser susan rice went before the committee this week. it wrongly blamed the video for the 2012 attacks. >> thank you. >>> jeb bush concedes, he needs to make a move here in new hampshire on tuesday. i talked with him earlier aboard his campaign bus about how he man's to do that. that interview when we come back. ...as a combination of see products.. and customers. every on-time arrival is backed by thousands of od employees, ...who make sure the millions of products we ship arrive without damages. because od employees treat customer service... ...like our most important delivery. od. helping the world keep promises. and i quit smoking with i'm chantix. i had a lot of doubts going in. i was a smoker. hands down, it was, that's who i was. after one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts o

national security adviser ben rhodes said he expects the u.s. and argentina to have a closer economic relationship moving forward. >> with respect to argentina, we definitely anticipate there will be a closer partner on a range of issues, in fact, president macri has been a strong voice for democracy and human rights in latin america. he signaled he would like to have closer economic and diplomatic cooperation with the united states. we believe this is a new beginning and a new era in our relations with argentina. massives comes amidst -- the dismissal of nearly unionized public sector workers, 20,000 and the elimination of taxes for mining corporations. macri's has also proposed a desk a crackdown on press freedoms, including repealing a law outlawing monopolies by media companies. maryland, the trials of six officers charged in the death of african-american man freddie gray have been put on hold. a family attorney says graze five -- spine was 80% severed from fatal injuries last april. the six officers were supposed to go to court this winter,

from ben rodes, his deputy nation security advisor where i'm sorry, we don't have a sound bite, ben rhodes said yeah, we understand, human rights is a huge issue and the president was-- is going to tell raul castro, your people need freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, free elections. and i am sure that at some point the president who knows the tone in which that conversation will take place. but i mean, isn't it at least positive for our president to look eye-to-eye with raul castro and say those things? >> it is positive to say those things. bubu i don't think president obama has any illusion thatuba is going to change under the castros. in fact,t, grandma, the official communist paper of cuba where they don't have a free press, you don't have a michael putney this week in south florida there. >> la messa. >> all the favorite cuts of the castro government sit around and talk. >> so their editorial yesterday proof that there are no human rights vlations in cuba. so you already see that there is no opening. >> that is absurd. >> they are not going to change. since secretary of state ker

. >> victor: and that was deputy national security adviser ben rhodes speaking about president obama's visit t t cuba next month. >> janine: he will to be first u.s. president to visit the island since 1928, and that news is the riling up many in the cuban and i'll community right here in south florida. exile community right here in south florida. hatz vela has more. >> hatzel: you talk to members of the cuban exile community and actually tell you they're not to happy that the president is going to cuba next month. but they do say when he goes, he should take the chance to take a pro-dem ski message and also moses importantly to talk to dissidents. >> castro regime still controls the inlet. >> all that stuff is in the past. new generation now. i think it's great. >> hatzel: reactions differ depending on age and political beliefs or if you live in cuba. >> meet goehrke, a cuban mew suggtion hoe has been highly critical of castro governmenty and said it's#important the president knows what's happening when it comes to human rights violations on the island. ladies in white leader berea so

gave up negotiating with e elijah and went straight to the white house to talk to susan rice and ben rhodes. no other committee of congress talked to them. they're both very, very critical witnesses, and no other committee of congress bothered to talk to them. i can't help the fact that elijah closed his mind two years ago. my fellow citizens have not closed their mind and we're going to produce a good report. >> and when will that report come up? >> we have about a dozen more witnesses to interview and we're waiting on two documents. but i would love to have that report out in april, and it would have been sooner if we'd get just a little bit of help from elijah, if he would spend as much time asking the department of state to give us e-mails as he did talking to you, that's all i'm asking. you don't have to show up for the hearings. you don't have to show up for the interviews, just -- your party is in power. help us get the documents we need to finish our job. >> trey gowdy is the chairman of that select committee on the benghazi investigation. congressman, thanks very much for joining u

and deputy national security advisor ben rhodes outlined the goals. >> we see it as a means of pushing forward this normalization process trying to achieve greater opening between the united states and cuba commercially but also supporting and advancing the values that we care about. >> warner: the visit, including talks with cuban leader raul castro, follows more than a year of work to thaw relations. embassies reopened in both countries and the two nations this week agreed to start daily commercial flights. but normalization hasn't produced results as quickly as hoped. commerce secretary penny pritzker, meeting cuba's trade minister in washington this week, complained that despite washington easing restrictions on u.s. companies wanting to do business there, havana hasn't done the same. rhodes echoed that today. >> what we would like to see is that they are taking the types of steps that allow those regulatory changes to take hold that allow us business to be able to operate in cuba in ways that benefit the cuban people. >> warner: cuba argues the u.s. is to blame for lack of progres

. >> coming up shortly, national security advisor susan rice and security advisor ben rhodes will be at today's white house briefing, that will 3:30 eastern, we'll have it live for you here on gets under way. we have more road to the white house coverage coming up later today at 6:00 eastern, it's a rally in charleston, south carolina, jeb bush will be joined by his brother, former president george w. bush and get under way at 6:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. of his last public appearances before the death of supreme court gets under way. we justice antonin over the weekend, committee just says john roberts engages in a wide ranging discussion about the nation's highest court, that's tonight at 8:00 eastern. here is a look at some of the made about the confirmation process. the process is not functioning very well. you look at two of my colleagues, justice scalia aand justice ginsburg, for example, i they were confirmed, maybe there were two or three dissenting votes between the two of them. and now you look at my more colleagues, all extremely well qualified for the court, i thinkv

charlie in 2014 ben rhodes basically the same question, could h you think of any instane in which thema administration had not done something that it wanted to do because the obama lawyers said that it would be illegal? he could think of only one example, the exultation of an iraqi prisoner without the iraqi governors consent. i myself read "power wars" with the same question in mind. i looked page after page for one additional instance in which is most lowly of american president was told no, you can't legally do something that you want to do. i could not find a single example. this sobering record seems to belie the claim of obama's defenders that they were merely misunderstood. their idea of the rule of law turns out to be more in the nature of an adornment or decoration than a set of actual restraint, something added after the fact rather than a fixed existing framework within which policy is actually going. of course, there's always the possibility given the number of lawyers doing these jobs in the obama administration that legal consideration somehow discipline of the internal

much of today's briefing with national security advisor ben rhodes with information about the president'srip to cuba next month. more on that from abc news' website. the trip, the first by a u.s. president in more than 80 years, is planned for march 21st and 22nd before of the president flies to argentina on march 23rd. during the trip to cuba, president obama is set to meet with cuban president raul castro. the two men first met face to face during a summit in panama last year. first lady michelle obama will travel with the president to cuba and the first family will join him in argentina. the move comes roughly 15 months following the president's pledge with raul castro to re-open diplomatic channels following a prisoner exchange and the humanitarian release of u.s. contractor allan gross in december 2014. read more at abcnews.com. >>> more road to the white house coverage coming up tonight. hillary clinton will be in nevada at a get out the vote rally at the laborers international union in las vegas. live coverage on c-span starting at 11:30 p.m. eastern. nevada holds its democratic ca

the problem is, this seems to have rhode island up ben carson, ben carson may be, we're not sure howgoing to stay in the race before this. it looks like now he wants to stick around. he is angry about this. if he sticks around, he doesn't have to win. if he gets 5, 6, 7% of the vote, that could cost him. >> hillary clinton was asked by our colleague chuck todd, whether she would release transcripts of her paid speeches before goodman sax and ups being one of them. >> in full disclosure would you release all of them? >> i don't know the status him i can look into it. i can only repeat what is the fact that i spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents. a lot of different kind of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. >> and as you know nbc's andrea mitchell pressed her again on the campaign trail yesterday about this. do you think we would see these transcripts, would they be an issue for mrs. clinton down the line? >> reporter: yes, look, this is her biggest vel nurability, her ties to wall street. the idea she took those speaking fees. th

rhodes street. that is right in front of ben's chili bowl. the water main broke yesterday afternoon and it's worse than they thought it was. the right northbound lane is blocked. you are urged to avoid the area if you need to go north on wilson boulevard. maureen: there was a lot of water around here today. coming out of the skies, coming out of the ground. leon: for sure. everywhere. doug: the good news is it moved and it behaved. the front moved like we expected. it is out of the immediate metro area. southeastern suburbs have rains but it will improve quickly tonight. leon: it could still be out of here completely. doug: in a lot of areas. the big piles in the parking lots are there. six of it is six to eight feet tall. that takes a while. most people's yards will be snow-free before long indeed. look at flood update. flood threat is this. the flood watch remains in effect in jurisdiction in dark green. that is running through later tonight. specific whether i the areas in the lighter green. these are the areas where floods occur or floodi

we hear that at about 12:30 this afternoon, the president's deputy national security adviser, ben rhodeshis cause, will make the announcement and provide more details about why now, why the president is going to cuban in march. craig, back to you. >> ron allen from 1600 pennsylvania this morning, ron, thanks, as always. >>> a big meeting about to get under way for bernie sanders in his push to connect with black voters. he'll be meeting with civil rights leaders with the national league in washington, d.c., and we expect to hear from bernie sanders before and after that meeting. all of this before he heads out for the las vegas showdown tonight with hillary clinton. both trying to break the dead heat ahead of the nevada caucus. don't miss the democratic town hall tonight at 9:00 eastern only on msnbc. parking is hard to find. seems like everyone drives. and those who do should switch to geico because you could save hundreds on car insurance. ah, perfect. valet parking. evening, sir. hello! here's the keys. and, uh, go easy on my ride, mate. hm, wouldn't mind some of that beef wellington.

ben... i'm sitting in back from now on... lovelock comes out firing.... from way outside... the banks open for william gattrell... he just deposited three points... gattrell sets up ethan rhodes this time... lovelock up 20-9 at the end of the first quarter... again... outside to gattrell... he hit three 3-pointers... points... here's the move of the game.. marcus nester... fade-away... he scored 13 points... but the meadows scored 43 points in the second half alone... they elimnate lovelock 63-54... they play yerington in the title game we have a long way to go... six more state semifinal games on the schedule.. including whittell, going for their 24th win in a row! plus...the division three girls semifinals... incline riding an eight the incline girls won the northern weekend... tonight they began their quest for their second state title in the last three seasons. and when there's no seats...you've got to get creative!... you think that's hard...wait until she orders a soda!... some great team ball by the highlanders... the give-and-go with taylor redfern... incline having no trouble with the press defense... great passing -- harden suter with the hoop and the foul... inclin

rhodes street. one lane is getting by on wilson. leon: it will take real commitment to get to ben's chili bowl from there. right now the search is on for flint michigan emergency manager after he failed to appear on congressional hearing on the water crisis. michelle marsh has the new developments in the investigation. michelle: darnell early was on the list of those to testify at the house oversight committee but his attorney refused the subpoena saying there is no way his client could make it in time. >> we are calling on the u.s. marshals to hunt him down and give him that subpoena. michelle: other state and federal officials at the hearing played the blame game. >> they urged them to address the lack of corrosion control but encountered resistance. michelle: few members of the house panel had any patience for. >> i'm disappointed at the response from the local level and the state level. >> we must get all the facts and get them right. there has to be accountability where it needs to be taken. the children and the families deserve nothing less. michelle: outside the u.s. capitol

ben. any time that cuba will let american businesses hire from the cuban labor pool? mr. rhodes we have continually raised that with them. we would like there to be increasing opportunities or american businesses to hire cubans. and foreign businesses to hire cubans. sometimes that is very easy, if airbnb contracts with a cuban home, that is one thing. but if it is a u.s. company hiring workers, that is another issue. and emanating an ambassador to cuba? mr. rhodes: that is something we are still working through. why we hadreasons been comfortable where we are is because we have been excellent chief down there. very well thought of in cuba and the united states. we are comfortable with jeff, but we will certainly be addressing the question in a couple months. u.s., vietnam relations were normalized, we heard a lot about how the previous approach had failed and this would lead to greater openness. you read report now and it is just ghastly. -- say twoy to critics who say you are in effect putting american businesses in the service of an authoritarian regime and will prop itself u

ben wine. i love it. all right, ladies, thank you very much. you get a buckeye for that one. say hello to rhode island. >> all of us. the four of us have birthdays today. >> oh, happy birthday. >> well, i got you ben. [ laughter ] >> w wait -- who is this? >> oh, my gosh. it's the cast of "teachers," lacey. lacey, who do we havehere? >> you have the entire cast of "teachers." these ladadies areo funny. i was so lucky to play with them for an episode. the show is so funny. you have to check it out. they're the best. >> i like the dresses. the women on the show, we're prepared to be sister wives. >> we'll talk about it. >> what do you have to say to ben tonight? >> ben, i mean -- this was a pretty dramatic episode. we're really proud of you for getting through it and handling things withh as gentlemanly as yodid. >> we have a question for ben. >> yes. >> we want to know if you still think a woman is ready for marriage if she kws how to cook, because we fee like there are a lot of women with microwave meals out there that might be really mad. >> i thought that was a very aggressive statementyy the

ben. [ applause ] >> i didn't expect that. >> are you paying for this by the minute? i love it. ladies, thank you very much.h. you get a buckeye for that one. >> say hello to rhode island. whose birthday is it? >> the four of us.s. >> well, happy birthday. >> i got you ben. [ screams ] >> wait. who is this? >> oh, my d. lacey. [ applause ] >> lacey, who do we have here? >> you have the entire cast of "teachers." these ladies are so funny and i was so lucky to get to play with them for an episode. the show is so funny, you have to check it out. they're the best. >> i like the dresses. >> we are prepared to be sistete wiwives. >> we'll talk about it. >> what do you have to say to ben tonight? >> she reminds me of olivia. >> this was a pretty dramatic episode. we're really proud of you for things as gentlemanly as you did. we have a question for ben. >> yes. >> do you still think k ere a woman who knows how to cook. cause there's a lot of w women with microwave meals that might be really pissssed. >> i thought that was a a very chefs in mexico to say that. i like a woman who cooks. i don't think it means she's ready for marriage. i think it was fun to cook together

coming up this afternoon at 12:30 eastern here on c-span, susan wright will be joined by ben rhodes atte house briefing. we will have live coverage. donald trump holds a news conference in south carolina here the latest polls show him with about a 17 point lead peer and we will have the news conference live again starting at 2:00 a.m. eastern. >> our road to the white house coverage continues today with former president george w. bush joining jeb bush in a campaign rally in charleston, s.c.. live coverage is beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> in one of his last public appearances before the death of supreme court justice antonin scully, chief justice roberts engages in a discussion about the highest court. here are a few comments on the confirmation process. >> i think the process is not functioning well. you look at two of my colleagues, justice scalia and ginsburg. threethere were two or the twong votes between of them. you look at my more recent colleagues, all extremely well-qualified for the court. the votes were strictly along party lines for the last three of them or c