i think the framers really expected the executive branch to be devoted to foreign affairs. and here i think we have seen in the last ten years of presidency. despite george w. bush's presidency, trying to actually buying themselves in foreign policy. so dmesic affairs, there's not a long discussion about the role of the president in domestic affairs. the framers would be surprised to see the kind of president we have today in this area. they thought the president would be a check on congress. some federalist number 70, alexander hamilton says a vigorous executive is necessary to protect against the irregular and high handed combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice, which emanate, from, quote, unquote, the humors of the legislature. tom and i worked in the legislature, and there's not a lot of humors there and that's why they rectified that andand it's not talked about this sort by the president to convince a congress to enact his or her program and it calls furnace an aadditional security against laws that would be unfriendly to the public good.

foreign affairs is one that the government under the statute can disseminate. americans talk about foreign affairs all the time over the phone and e-mails. i think it's unacceptable to say to american that is when you are communicating about foreign affairs in an e-mail, that is something that the government can have access to even if you have never done anything wrong and even if they are not believed to have done anything wrong. if i could say one more thing about the transparency point that you raised. there is precedent for the release of the republican opinions with redactionses. they released an opinion about the significant purpose reamendment and the same amendment. in 2008 the review released another opinion about the protect america act. there is precedent for the release of legal reasoning in these opinions with the redactions of legitimate sources and methods. everybody is in agreement that some of the opinions are likely to be sensitive and the government has interest in keeping that secret. it's a different story than what they are keeping street

if the president is interested in foreign affairs. and wants to run foreign affairs. the national security advisor just overshadows the secretary of state. because that is the guy, or woman on whom the president relies. and sees just like that. i would walk into the president's office without knocking any time i wanted to. now obviously i wasn't running in there all the time because i'd be kicked out at some point. i literally could walk into his office any time i wanted to and indicate there was something i need to talk to you about. i would see him x number of times a day. he would call me in the morning or in the evening. the day started between a meeting between him and me the very first meeting and very often the day ended that way. that places a person in that office at a tremendous advantage vis-a-vis is secretary of state who is sitting somewhere over there in the department of state. last but not least just a little point, but not irrelevant, if you want to sort of create a situation in which you also have some upper hand on policy issues, it helps if you can

if had not happened, that fdr would be considered a mediocre president, i don't think that -- foreign affairs and the coming of world war ii and did violate congressional statutes to try to get us involved in the conflict earlier than congress wanted, that's when we began to consider him a great president. >> this is great stuff. i'm going to be brief because i want to get to the questions. but this gives me a lot of great material to talk to my kids about. i'm still a little crazy here. so the main point i want to make is i'm intrigued by the interest in rethinking what a constitution looks like, should look like. but i would urge us to approach that task with much caution. there is a lot we don't know about how bureaucracies, how governments and how people respond to changes in structure. and even when we do know something, i think it's important to recognize that in part the institutions we have are probably to some degree adapted to what we are as a people, as a structure and to our history. the -- there's always a question of whether you -- when you observe the behavior of the executive

questions my guest today is he going to give on the former russian foreign minister and he's also the president of the russian international affairs council a man who's very active today in building informal bridges between russian and foreign experts and the next. igor ivanov a prominent russian diplomat since joining the foreign ministry in the seventy's in spain saudia trade and diplomatic missions two decades later he was appointed the russian ambassador there mr bernanke reached the top of his diplomatic career in the late ninety's when he was appointed foreign minister despite several cabinet reshuffle it's kept the procession for six years after leaving the diplomatic service we've driven off the head of the russian security council for three years and now here lectures in the russian foreign affairs university and has the international scales. meet. me. hello mr one of and welcome to our program hello. let's start with this is the u.s. in nero press on with their plans in europe they keep saying russia is not an enemy we do not see it is search our steps do not target russia but russia does not buy this why so why this is

named head of the department and he went on to serve as the spokesman for the administrative of foreign affairs. he served as ambassador to israel and before coming back here as ambassador of the united states he was deputy undersecretary for political affairs and public diplomacy at the turkish ministry of foreign affairs. perhaps one -- factor that has been contributed to tan's his ancestors are from turkey, greece, bulgaria, syria, ossetia, and in that sense he shares many of the qualities of americans, multicultural and a fierce belief in entrepreneurship. so, i would like to give a warm welcome to ambassador tan and respect to his team at the embassy and welcome him to the podium. thank you. >> thank you, wendy. you read a long resume because i believe everybody looks at the program, doesn't seem to get my name there. so, ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, it is a distinct pleasure for me to address this gathering on the occasion of the middle east institute's third annual conference on turkey. i would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the institute of turkish studies for the o

certainly of foreign affairs and maybe even domestic affairs they thought. and in some ways he was a good president. apparently he didn't like me because i told you i mentioned a book he spoke -- this was years later after i was in the white house with bill clinton he made some derogatory comments about me after my deputy vince foster committed suicide and said in his book that he thought, to use his language, a tough shit and consequently maybe i drove my deputy vince foster to suicide which is of course not truth. vince foster was a wonderful man. unfortunately he had a breakdown. but president nixon was a very able guy but he did what he did and we did what we had to do and the congress reached the decision it had to reach. >> sam garrison's office was it close to yours? >> yeah, yeah. we were all -- we work out of the congressional hotel. it was a very small place. and we were constantly together. garrison was a good advocate. i have, you know, for -- i don't believe he's alive anymore. he died, didn't he? he was young. he was not old. certainly no older

back here onset, cnn foreign affairs correspondent jill doherty.nthal, what does the u.s. do now? there's been this giant power grab we've been talking about by the egyptian military. yet we're still giving them north of a billion dollars every year. is that money safe? >> keeping it in context, let's remember that this election marks progress on the path toward democracy, and in the midst of the polarization which hopefully will ease and the confusion which you can see on your screen, what we really need to do is pay attention to what this new president as well as the military council, what they do, not only what they say. in three critical areas. number one, are they going to undertake real economic reform and restore the economy which is ally on the brink of collapse. number two, are they going to honor their peace agreements particularly with israel, the camp david accord? number three, will the brotherhood continue to reach out and continue to work with the more secular advocates of democracy? let's not jump to conclusions either as to cutting

senior foreign affairs correspondent greg palkot is live in damascus.lo, greg. >> the news from turkish prime minister office confirmed what we have been hearing for past couple of hours. that a jet flying from southern turkey was taken out bay syrian coastal air defense battery. turkey is critic of the regime of president bashar assad. this came after a day that saw fighting from both sides. >> it was held in the center of damascus today those attending stayed on message. >> everything is okay. there is one president. there is no opposition. >> more telling perhaps was a heavy security around syria's capitol city. policeman, military and plained clothes militia were out in force. there were protest and clashes and recent days here. the fighting which is now raging across the country appears to be hitting home. according to the long-time syrian opposition figure, the government is getting desperate. >> the government here, the regime here dreams of consorting with the country by military power. >> caught in the crossfire, syria zillians. the u.n. said t

i want to bring in our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty.itting here wondering if there's some reason to drag this out or if this is fairly typical. >> they are trying to defend themselves against any allegations that they have had any back room dealings. that's important. because if it's perceived, and it could be either way, that they have, you know, changed the results from an election that was perceived to be pretty well run, that would be a problem. but it is a long introduction. it might be politically important, candy. >> isn't it sort of -- isn't it kind of running against the current? because it seems to me that no matter who wins this, there are going to be questions. because the military has taken such control over there since mubarak was ousted that any kind of result is going to come into question. >> that is definitely true. in effect, the military has emasculated whoever is going to be the president. they are the ones who are going to be in charge of the budget. after all, they disbanded the parliament. they have taken control

joining me is cnn's foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty as we watch these continuing live picturesm what could have been a very different scene had the former prime minister won. the question is, how does the administration take this? we haven't heard from them yet. >> not yet. there's likely, we believe, to be some type of statement coming from the white house. but i think you'd have to say, if it had been shafiq who was the former prime minister, you would have had probably a much more guarded reaction. after all, right before that election, the military had -- had taken over again. they had dissolved the parliament. they had taken things back into their hands. if shafiq had won, you would have been going down that direction of the military still controls things. where did democracy go? so with morsi, the voice of the people is there. so it's easier for the administration to say, democracy continues, we hope. of course, they're not going to jump on a band wagon -- >> isn't that the big question now? isn't the big question, does democracy continue? will the military cede control t

the president is trying to form a new government but the three major ministries, defense, foreign affairs, and the interior, remain unchanged. >> just ahead, it's like something out of a movie. a teen tries to steal a soda and gets stuck. the rescue and what is next for that teenager. >> alan: summer is here but what can you expect for your work week? leigh glaser knows she is coming up with her forecast. >> coming up in sports. we show you who wound up in the inner's circle in sonoma and another fantastic finish at the coliseum where the a's and giants wrapped up the bay bridge series w >> ama: jeopardy host alex trebek is recovering from a heart attack in a los angeles hospital. the 71-year-old was admitted to cedar sinai medical centerend. according to statement today, trebek is in good spirits and doctors expect him to fully recover and be back on jeopardy when production begins in july for the next season. >> alan: now to the most personal crime, peeping toms taking advantage of cell phone cameras cameras and snapping pictures of unsuspecting women. >> it's disturbing to even watch.

have the best sense about the ways in which foreign affairs work in the world. >> susan, that bringss point. this is not a gotcha question. has mitt romney really explained to the american people who his foreign policy is and what he would do? >> i think he's shown what he believes need to be done in the broad strokes. he hasn't gotten specific. president obama was an anti-war against everything the bush administration was going and yet the most successful policies that he's touted were previous bush policies. >> what about that james? >> until you're behind that seat, you don't know what the job is. >> one thing i think the obama administration has been more transparent than the bush administration. it shows his courage as strength as a politician. there's so many people within his own party and people to the left that support him, who do not support this aggressive foreign policy. >> it should be what he's doing that's best for the country first and then political. >> clearly, he's doing it. we have to go back to what is romney going to do. what would he have done? he's not let us

the problem is if you you do based on what obama said we would be doing in terms of foreign affairs,failure because we failed to do that in iran, north carolina. and i agree she would be a great candidate in 2016. >> i do, too. right on. >> i blame canadian. frankly, you should be running for president. >> now you're just-- [laughing] >> let's talk about twin states. politico published a story about romney's polls are going to be the swing states are going to be for him. it's a must-win, arizona colorado, florida, iowa, nevada ohio, and virginia. those are his send. must-win. now the president doesn't have to win all of them but mitt romney has to win all of them. duf, is this possible? >> the electoral map still favors obama. no with with standing the tough week, the horrible jobs numbers. >> his increasing approval rating, get. [laughing] >> just fill in the list. >> yes. >> i still think he's a challenger, and if you're going to beat the king, you have to beat the king. >> romney could do well in the west if he an appeals to lds voters. >> a lot of them are voting edge for obama i

this is one of the reasons why the defense department has been a strong advocate of a robust foreign affairs budget in the united states. beyond the national security imperative, i strongly believe that no global superpower that claims to possess the moral high ground can afford to relinquish itsline in preventing global disease, hunger and ignorance. more than any other nation, the united states possesses a traditional moral identity and that identity is clearly associated with religious tolerance. democratic governance, freedom of the individual, promotion of economic opportunity andry si y resistance to oppression. this set of ideals was reaffirmed through the sacrifice of our civil war. it was amplified during two world wars in which the united states opposed the forces of aggression and conquest. it was reinvigorated through the struggle of our own civil rights movement. our moral identity glows from thomas jefferson and abraham lincoln through wilson and ronald reagan to the present day. and rarely do we take a major foreign policy initiative without some attempt to justify it on moral

a foreign military interference into syria's affairs and strong arming air regime change there is unacceptable that's the message coming from central asia six pioneering powers at a shell high cooperation organization summit in beijing wrapped up all eyes now are on his friends as where rainy and advantages are brought to the forefront always here cesky explains. well the shanghai cooperation organization summit which last two days now has come to an end with some very important security agreements have been signed between the parties involved but definitely the most interesting events of today are the meetings. the leaders of iran mahmoud ahmadinejad and afghanistan first of all. china for him it's just the place to be because it is probably one of the few places in the world where he is not being threatened by sanctions where you can all feel relaxed and smiling we saw on the cameras as he was walking inside the building how children relaxed he was definitely putting on him have a lot to talk about because russia plays a very important role in mediating the conflict between iran and the west

now foreign military interference into syria's affairs and strong arming regime change there is unacceptable that's the message from central asia regional security summit in beijing spearheaded by russia and china the fringes of the event russian president vladimir putin met with a divisive leaders of afghanistan and iran reports. china for him it's just the place to be because it is probably one of the few places in the world where he is not being threatened by sanctions where you can all feel relaxed and smiling we saw on the cameras as he was walking inside the building how children relaxed he was definitely pushing and him have a lot to talk about because russia plays a very important role in mediating the conflict between iran and the west moreover the timing of this particular meeting in beijing is very important as well because in the middle of june we're expecting a five plus one group of negotiators to meet in moscow to discuss the iranian issue certainly this happens i mean the time when washington does not rule out military action against tehran and constantly keeps slapping iran

earlier sheri ahn spoke with someone who specializes in foreign affairs at the canon institute for global studies. >> what's behind the u.s. decision to increase its forces in the pacific? >> you know, when obama announced this new policy, january, i think many here were skeptical about what the real intention would be. but i think by referring to specific number like 60% or something, i think leon panetta had successfully reassured the ally friends and asia that the united states is serious about the rebalancing toward east asia. >> now china has been rather reserved with its response to the shift. why is that? >> well, you know, it may not be the best comfortable place for china to start, because the united states is very serious about it and probably the asean countries may wish to gang up against china because of the military rise of china in that part of the world. so probably together with the united states and maybe japan and korea could gang up against china. so they don't want to be seen as being scorched in singapore. i think that's one of the reasons. the second reason could be

>> i think kesinger said, foreign affairs, domestic situation. i can say about the rest of the world the domestic situation is a result of the outside world. we cannot separate ourselves from the global oil, from the changes. it's moving. it's moving. and i think between us and the palestinians, there are some positive moves. for example, i would outline two. one is the economic development. because in order to make peace, you have to build a nation. and the palestinians started to build a nation. with the american help, with the israeli support. secondly, the palestinians have never had a force of their own. and i wouldn't like to generalize, but in the middle eastern towns, little forces. palestine has a force of 15,000 youngsters that are loyal to him. and i think that abbas is a serious man. i've known him for a long time. actually he and myself signed agreement here on the lawn. >> just over there. >> yes. and it was presided by bill clinton. shall not forget it. 19 years passed since then. i wish it would be faster. but in all, you cannot m

program to assist needy families, after that, a senate banking committee meeting and later, a house foreign affairs committee hearing on u.s. aid to afghanistan. >> just talking about reform doesn't solve anything. you've got to get specific about it and like i said, if anybody in this room designed a plan, i could sign on to 90% of them. >> from berkshire hathaway way chairman, warren buffett, saturday night at 8:00 eastern on cspan. >> the american bankers association today offered its economic forecast for the next year. the group is expecting a moderate cov moderate recovery, but is somewhat uncertain because of spending cuts scheduled to take effect next year, the advisory committee chairman's remarks are almost half an hour. >>> good morning, everyone. the committee's forecast continued moderate economic growth of 2.2% in 2012, followed by a relatively modest, moderate economic growth in 2013. 2013 will likely be way weighed down by fiscal uncertainties and that as a result, our forecast is probably a bit more modest. certainly if we were not encountering this fiscal cliff in 2013 and maybe t

there were people who came over, hamilton, fish, armstrong, the editor of foreign affairs, came over and met hitler and wrote a book about the early days of the reicht, that was perceptionive, he was the head of the foreign policy association here in new york. later on, soon became the commissioner for reguges for the league of nations. he was a remarkable figure. he just came back and said, he is aiming too exterminate the jewish race, and nobody wanted to listen to him. he worked on the reguge board, and then after the war was the first u.s. ambassador to israel. yes? >> where hitler get the funds to outfit that elaborate army. the flags and so forth? >> the question is where did hitler get the funds in the beginning, i'm assuming, to outfit the brown shirts and all of that. it's interesting, if you read the accounts of his early rallies, he took the nazi party, which was nothing, a tiny, tiny group in munich and started these beer hall rallies and uniformly, whether it's his financial supporters often were older women at these rallies. he seemed to have a particular way of reaching

we're back with dan henninger and mary o'grady and wall street foreign affairs columnist bret stevenswant to start with you, bret. am i right you say let them crash, are you saying that? >> well, the europeans have been bailing out successive governments, hundreds of billions of dollars for greece and all the countries bailed ut are on the verge of total catastrophe and you saw spain, and immediately the yields on spanish funds went up. the bailout strategy is a failure. >> stuart: you're saying let them crash, really? >> look, in the case of greece, greece is essentially, it's in debt. we shouldn't even be having a conversation about greece. there are things that might be done to prevent a run on the banks in spain and italy and it is important to prevent a, a panic, a panic in europe, on the other hand, the only thing that's going to save the european countries is returning to a real growth strategy, which is not government-led. private sector led, which means low taxes and less regulation and-- >> and i know you disagree. >> no, i actually don't disagree entirely. the only thing i

they don't have a stance on foreign affairs or the financial crisis. senior member comparing their success with the first years of hitler's nazis though he quickly apologized we don't take ourselves so seriously. as other politicians are we we know that we're human and we make mistakes and make mistakes and therefore we have no problems with saying ok sorry i was wrong germany's national election is planned for next year and the pirates are ready for battle just like organizations the pirate party of germany is going through its own growing pains but its popularity and flyers are on the rise and it could be time for mainstream politicians to watch out for the new kids on the block. germany. the business. thanks kerry well not seen many drastic movements on the markets today let's start with europe and see what's happening there it's the only market at the moment where we're seeing. positive. is out of three quarters of a percent. half a percent and investors are reacting to the bond auction that's a place and spend to have more on that in just a second

our chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell, in our d.c. newsroom starts us off tonight. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. that battle in syria is fought in a diplomatic showdown between the united states and russia. it does feel like a return to the cold war, only days before president obama is having his first summit with president putin. the blood shed is unrelenting. the u.n. now calls it a civil war. even u.n. monitors are under attack. massacres of civilians by government tanks and artillery and government-backed thugs. reports of children tortured and used as human shields. now a war of words between u.s. and russia, syria's longtime military supplier. secretary of state accusing syria again today accusing the assad regime of contributing to the violence by sending the assad machine attack helicopters. >> they continue to deliver. we believe that the situation is spiraling towards civil war. it's now time for everyone in the international community, including russia, and all security council members to speak to assad w

andrea mitchell is nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent. how is all this sitting in washington? >> just now the white house announced the president called mohammed morsi and wished him well. congratulated him and said he wants to work together with him on egypt's transition to democracy. u.s. officials are watching events, lester. they're saying so far, so good. they're impressed that dr. morsi promised tonight to abide by international treaties, that means not breaking egypt's important historic treaty with israel. he also committed to observe women's rights and minorities right, as richard said. and said he plans to be the president of all the people. will he honor those commitments? administration officials say their greatest leverage is, egypt's economy collapsed after the revolution. morsi needs us, they need billions of dollars in u.s. aid and imf loans if his government is going to have any chance of surviving. today, john kerry, who's done a number of delegate missions for the white house, revealed he recently went to cairo, he had

our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is in our d.c. newsroom. and andrea, let's go through the exposure for the united states. >> well, this is very messy. and what officials are saying is, democracy is messy. look at what happened. they will not say this publicly, they're not going to declare a victor until it is declared in egypt. they believe also that the muslim brotherhood, that mohammed morsi, did win this election. and they are warning the military publicly and privately do not steal this election. they are very worried, though, that the military is going to try to steal back power. the only leverage they have is money, a lot of it, 1.3 billion, which is now in a federal reserve account. it will be dolled out only if the military does cede power to whoever really wins this, and u.s. officials think it is the muslim brotherhood, which presents other problems. but they're willing to deal with that, because they think that is what democracy is all about. also, just briefly, chuck todd is reporting from mexico, this did come up between vladim

earlier shery ahn spoke to a kuni miyake who specializes in foreign affairs at the cannon institute for global studies. >> so what's behind the u.s. decision to increase its forces in the pacific? >> you know, when obama announced this new policy this january, i think many here were a bit skeptical about what the real intention would be. but i think by referring to specific number like 60% or something, i think panetta had successfully reassured the ally friends in asia that the united states is serious about the rebalancing towards east asia. >> now china has been rather reserved with its response to this shift. why is that? >> well, you know, it may not be the best, comfortable place for china this time, because the united states is very serious about it and probably asean countries may wish to gang up against china because of the military rise of china in that part of the world. so, probably together with the united states and maybe japan and korea could gang up against china. so they don't want to be seen as being scorched in singapore. i think that's one of the reasons. the second

earlier, our shery ahn spoke with kuni miyak whoi specializes in foreign affairs at the canon institute for global studies. >> what's behind the u.s. decision to increase its forces in the pacific? >> you know whenbama announced this new policy this january, i think many here were a bit skeptical about what the real intention would be. but i think by referring to specific number like 60% or something, i think the panetta had successfully reassured the friends in asia that the united states is serious about the rebalancing towards east asia. >> now china has been rather reserved with its respons to thisift. why is that? >> well, you know may not be the best comfortable place for china to start because the united states is very serious about it and probably the asean countries may wish to gang up against china because of the rise of military -- military rise of china in that part of the world. so probably together with the united states and maybe japan and korea could gang up against china. so they don't want to be seen as being scohed in singape. i think that's one of the reasons. the se

he was a good president in foreign affairs, did very important things. he did the opening to china. he was hugely enchanted in 1973. don't you have to make a amount about that as well? and the answer is yes. you really sort of do. but on the other hand, he did do all of these things that he really did abuse his powers as president, and against his political opponent and is contrary to our system of government. the answer to that is others have done similar things. to some extent. you know. but the fact is he sort of put it all together in a way nobody did it before. and you can't do that any more. you know, that was a debate. garrison made interesting arguments and i think this was reflected in the agony of the republicans when i watched this. many of them thought he was a good overall good present. not only a president of their party but a good president. in some ways he was a good president. apparently didn't like me because i told you i mentioned a smk that he spoke. this is years later after i was in the white house with bill clinton he made some comments about me and my deputy

there were people who came over, hamilton, fish, armstrong, the editor of foreign affairs, came over and met hitler and wrote a book about the early days of the reicht, that was perceptionive, perceptive right after hitler took power. there was someone called james g. mcdonald who came over and met hitler in 1933. he was the head of the foreign policy association here in new york. later on, soon became the commissioner for refugees for the league of nations. he was a remarkable figure. he just came back and said, he is aiming too exterminate the jewish race, and nobody wanted to listen to him. he worked on the refugee board during the war. and later on became the first u.s. ambassador to israel. there are are remarkable stories there. remarkable stories of blindness, but of real perceptive and courage in many cases. yes? >> where did get the funds to outfit that very elaborate flag. >> the question was, where did hitler get the funds in the beginning, i assume you're asking, to outfit his brown shirts and all of that. it's interesting. if you read the accounts of his early rallies, h