stagnation has become the new normal for the obama administration. in addition to the lack of economic opportunity, families have had to show renewed burdens thanks to the obamacare administration. chief among these is obamacare, the president's health care law that failed to reduce the cost and ripped away millions of americans preferred plans and forced families on to insurance plans they don't want and can't afford, gives patients access to doctors and hospitals, increased taxes, and wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. then there are the burdensome regulations the obama administration imposed that made it more challenges for businesses large and small to grow and create jobs. the environmental agency p-- environmental protection agencies has implemented one damaging rule after another. from backdoor energy tax that hurts poor and working families the most to a new rule that would subject puddles in american's backyards to a complex array of burdensome and regulatory requirements. again and again, i have heard from south dakota ranch owners about t

never heard of, i just mentioned it, but it is important because it is telling about the obama administration's attitude right from the beginning. april 2015 less than three months after inauguration day the administration decides to grant voting rights in the house of representatives. the constitution limits voting rights in congress to representatives of the states. especially designated federal district, not a state. fair or just, not my concern. don't like it, change the law. so you can support this law. we have years of precedent, the administration all agree they are mostly civil servants and political appointees. mostly their own political appointments with means they bend over backward. therefore one of the very few checks on presidential authority, they tell me i can do something i shouldn't do. the attorney general went to the office and how they did not ask the office the solicitor general's office in court and they will defend any law in favor of legality. is so absurd you could not defend it in court? always a stake? nothing. if there was an occasion it would almost certainly have

one interesting thing about the obama administration is despite all the legal controversies, julie theremust be someone in the administration who says we should be doing this. i have scoured the literature, i cannot find an example that if you go ahead and do this, bomb libya in violation of the war powers act, i'm going to resign. no one has done that because the rule of law is less important than the politics. admittedly, government officials stretching their powers as far as they can without lately violating the law is hardly news. what i mentioned at the beginning of my talk is obama's the first president to my knowledge to brag about going around congress asking unilaterally. one of the telling moments of the obama administration was in 2013 after he won reelection at the state of the union address. he gave a speech where he said i'm going to go around congress and do whatever i can do with just my piece of paper signing executive orders. not only did the democrats not object to the power, all democrats give him a standing ovation. you think that -- you would it turns out partisan i

the obama administration is sitting on all these documents.weuc have this gun that we could take down a helicopter, found with a guy just picked up after escaping for the second time from prison who has poisoned so many people on the streets of the united states and killing some. so, what are you going to do about this? >> well, look, brian terry one of our border patrol agents was killed with one of these weapons. we know hundreds of mexican police have taken fire from these guns from the obama administration. there is no doubt about why the obama administration wants to put a lid on this and not allow the american people or congress to look at these documents. darrell issa led our charge. we issued a subpoena. they refused to give them to us. the administration simultaneously claimed executive privilege but said the president wasn't involved. well, show us the documents. that's why you have been in court. we won an important ruling just in the last day. but still they are probably going to appeal it we still don't have those documents in our

>>you want swift justice -- the obama administration has put no one in guantanamo, correct? karen: bush also did. >> there has been zero under obama. they have all gone into the district of your mark -- new york for the trial? karen: the eastern district of virginia in alexandria. some have gone to the d.c. court. but many of them have gone either to brooklyn or manhattan. >> and what has the outcome been? karen: they often get convicted. they are usually sentenced averaged around 18 years. many of them are put away for 25 years or more. many for life. >> the problem with military commissions in guantanamo is material support, which is a common indictment, is not a war crime. that is why some of these prosecutions fail completely. they were vacated. karen: right, some were vacated. others who would have been charged expected that would be charged, cannot be charged. now, they raise the same issue -- another guantanamo detainee has been through the system for how many years? now it is on appeal for the question of conspiracy. >> he was an bin laden bodyguard? karen: we think.

the promise to close gitmo has been the alpha and omega of ththe obama administration. president obama declared his intention in his first address to the nation as commander-in-chief and in his last. the question is -- can he? pres. obama: i will keep working to shut down the prison at guanta. namo. it is expensive, it is unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies. sen. graham:here will be a bipartisan backlash, a constitutional crisis, if he tries to do this. sharyl: republican senator of efforts to close guantanamo sen. graham: his campaign promise will not be fulfilled. the problem with president obama, he doesn't understand that his campaign promises have to yield to reality. sharyl: are you saying it won't be closed down? sen. graham: no. sharyl: how can it be stopped? senator graham: congress won't let it. sharyl: the debate has gone on since almost the start. the gitmo prison was opened during the george w. bush administration after the september 11 terrorist attacks on the u.s. >> two planes apparently crashed into each tower. shary

that led tnew controversies with the obama administration leasing detainees to other countries. president obama: i told bob and jannie that their son bowe is as part of this transfer, the united states is transferring five detainees from guantanamo. sharar: in 2014, the white house made a secret deal to trade so-called high value taliban prisoners for alleged u.s. military deserter sgt. bowe bergdahl. the obama administration failed to provide c cgress the required notice, saying it had to act quickly. part of the argument to close guantanamo bay is its enormous co. the prison facilities built to hold hundreds is nearly empty. with the current population around 90 and an annual budget of nearly $400 million tax dollars, it works out to $4.4 million dollars per detainee per year. that's about 62 times the $70,000 cost for a prisoner at a maximum-security federal prison in the u.s. carol: we called it the most pensive prison on earth. it's a v vy redundant operatioio on the fly, over time, and at this point there's very few people. sharyl: the administration moved more detainees in

we had three former officials in the obama administration all testify. all said isis is a strategic and lethal threat to the united states, not hot air, and we need to be doing much more, especially to reduce their caliphate because towns will come and go in iraq and syria, but they are growing in other countries, libya, afghanistan among them. so we do have to have special operations people much more restrictive -- i mean much more vigorous air campaign. one note came out in our testimony yesterday. the early days of the afghanistan campaign after 9/11 had roughly eight times the number of aircraft that we have in iraq and syria now. just to kind of give you a femafeel for the different level of effort. we need to clearly be more serious about it. all the rules of engagement are handicapping the efforts we are making and as a result of that, many of our allies, who want to do more, who are able to do more, don't trust that the u.s. is going to lead, so they're holding back. as you know, king abdull ah has been in town for the past few days and met with

the obama administration lost in lower courts in this lawsuit that ended up with 26 states now against the president, and just this week, the u.s. supreme court said it would hear the obama appeal. the arguments will likely be in april, and then as i say, a very momentus decision in june. gwen: the obama administration doesn't seem very upset that the court has decided to take this matter. in fact, they seem like they're rolling the dice for the outcome. joan: yes. because they lost in the lower courts. they said, please intervene here. you're right, gwen. usually it's not the obama administration saying -- gwen: please. joan: courts, listen to us, but the president's initiative lost, as i say, in lower courts. so the only thing to do would be to go to the u.s. supreme court. it even filed early and said put this on a fast track because, look at the compressed time we have. this program, if it is allowed to go forward, would only have a couple months before the president leaves office. and as i say, a lot rides on it on the ground politically. could be a big wedge issue. hispanics, a k

if the obama administration is the most heavily lawyered in history, the nixon administration is surelylose runner-up. the watergate tapes do not seem to reveal an oval office in which the dialogue was disciplined by a desire to comply with the rule of law. as a lawyer, i'll close by simply noting i understand that dynamic. all lawyers like to make their clients happy, and obama's lawyers are no exception. sometimes, however, a lawyer simply has to be an abominable no man. you don't see many abomb abominable no man leaping out of the pages of "power wars." what does leap out is the deep and enduring influence of the permanent security state. thank you. [applause] >> before we open it up for questions, let's -- i was going to give charlie a chance to respond, and not to pile on, but, you you know, i've never ft worse about going to law school than this morning. [laugher] and just to amplify one of michael's points, in addition to the end run around the office of legal counsel to continue the war in libya beyond the war powers resolution's time limits, more broadly, you know, the definiti

government, as we found after the snowden revelations, that we have been told by both bush d obama administration officials we're not checking people's phone calls, we're not getting that information. turned out that in the fisa court, both administrations had been seeking and getting blanket orders, not consistent with the constitution that requires specificity. you have to specifically name what it is being searched for and specifically the reason you have for searching it. there's no specificity. they just say, we want every list of everybody's phone call in your phone company, and the judge said, oh, sure, that's specific enough. every phone call without reason. so you have emails, you got phone calls. and then of course under obamacare, the federal government's going to have everybody's medical records. it sounds like crony capitalism involved in having a deal with a private entity to gather everybody's medical records so that you'll have the federal government and a private company gathering everybody's medical records. and then we have the consumer finance protection bureau that under the

the move by commissioners would urge the obama administration against establishing a consulate here. i asked the m mor about the temperament of this community and consulate coming here? >> i think it's a lot less years ago. if you even mentioned that 10 years ago, there would be a lot more reaction to it. i think the attitudes are change changing. >> county commissione sally hey man started this discussion and so far she has been the only one to speak in favor of it. she said put politics aside and having a consulate here may be a good w to accomodate cuban migrants who are new arrivals here. as we said, the discussion is happening as we speak. we'll have the results for you on the news tonight at 11:00. live in miami, nbc6 news. >>> sarah palin is back on the campaign trail blasting the establishment and obama administration. she joined donald trump a dayy after endorseing him for president. he's not t only one gaining extra support. edward lawrence has the decision on 2016. >> reporter: inn oklahoma today sarah palin stressed donald trump's anti-establishment campaign andis strengt

you've put coal out of business under the obama administration. how does that help? >> it doesn't. those numbers, they're just flat wrong. corporate profits are down. this is the weakest recovery from history. the average has been a gdp growth of 20%. if you want to cherry pick your numbers, you can have your own opinion and you can't have your own facts. the facts are we have too much regulation right now and we have three times the amount of that president bush put into place. barany frank was the one that said lower standards. early 2000, let's roll the dice on mortgages and all of a sudden he's showing to fix it. and they don't deal with the market. it's just silly regulation for absolutely no reason. >> joe, are you pro regulation? >> first of all, let's put in in context. your global ceos they're talking about global in other countries. you've got other people in europe that don't have to deal with obama care. it is an issue. global ceos are dealing with much more global conditions. they are also very high on the series of global warnings. but i'm sure he doesn't like the reg

the obama administration has acknowledged agents detained 121 people, including children, in raids over the new year's weekend as part of an operation to deport families fleeing violence in central america. the raids took place mainly in georgia, north carolina, and texas. the number of mothers with children and unaccompanied minors arriving at the u.s. border reportedly rose late last year amid a spike in violence in el salvador and honduras. new data shows killings in el salvador increased by nearly 70% last year, meaning it could overtake honduras as the world's most violent country. republican presidential frontrunner donald trump has released his first campaign ad. the ad vows trump will impose a temporary ban on muslims entering the united states, "cut the head of isis" and "stop illegal immigration by building a wall on southern border." >> he will stop illegal immigration by building a wall and our southern border that mexico will pay for. amy: over that section describing the u.s.-mexico border, video footage shows scores of people streaming over a border. but politifact reveal

but the obama administration never sought approval for their planes to fly into libya. sharyl: the upcoming film "13 hours: the secret soldiers of benghazi" recounts the story of cia agents who say they were prevented from going to the immediate rescue of the americans under attack a mile away. and no outside military came to help. but now, an internal government email shows u.s. special forces t far away had "spun up" during the attack. and sources say, they were headed to benghazi but were stopped. the new details may help explain why congress had so much trouble getting direct answers from obama officials who insisted a rescue attempt was impossible. when questioned in 2013, general martin dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and secretary leon panetta of the department of defense or dod gave no hint that special forces had actually "spun up." graham: was any dod asset ever deployed to help these people before the end of the attack? dempsey: would you rephrase, graham: was any dod asset , aircraft or individual soldier, ever sent put in motion to help thes

if you want swift justice, you know -- >> we have had -- the obama administration has put no one into guantanamo, correct? >> that is very significant. >> bush stopped it. >> but there's been zero under obama, and they've all gone into the southern district of new york, mostly, for trial? >> some to gba. some here. sorry. eastern district of virginia in alexandria. some have gone to the d.c. court. but many have gone to either brooklyn or manhattan. >> what has the outcome been? >> they get convicted often of material support. their sentences average around 18 years. many of them are put away for 25 years or more. many for life. >> the problem with the military commission in guantanamo is material support, which is a very common kind of indictment, is not a war crime, right? that's why some of these prosecutions fail completely because they were vacated. >> some were va indicacated and ones expected they would be charged couldn't be charged. >> what case? >> the all case, which is the guantanamo detainee has been through the system how many years now? how many attempts have they been

agents on this case, the obama administration has been pushing it. valley jared has been pushing it. they areletting it move ahead. >> they have to -- they are letting it move ahead. they have to look as the it, vet to it see if charges are relevant and i don't see them. charles: i want to bring in ed henry, a fox news chief white house correspondent. he's been covering hillary clinton. this news is comingnonstop. >> you are right, charles. there is two different pieces to it obviously. and they are perhaps related which is you are talking about this f.b.i. investigation that's been out there for a long time. it's still pending and hillary clinton has that hanging over her head barely a week away from iowa, then new hampshire quickly after that as well. i think what catherine herridge has been reporting on fox suggests there was top secret information, not just some of the lower classified information, lower levels of classification in that email server. that is damaging, number one. number two, it contradicts what hillary clinton said at the beginni

nathan: i think the obama administration is trying to save a law that they know is failing everybody. first and foremost, the obama administration has always put the emphasis on their metrics of success, which is putting an insurance e card in everyone's hand. the premium increases was less important to them. sharyl: in round numbers, 10 million have gotten expanded medicaid, 4 million people have picked up insurance buying their own policies, and 3-4 million are young adults covered on their parents' plans. but nobody's counting how many previously-insured are now going without, like janet hill. she's paying a price -- a $325 $695 this year. and so you're doing without insurance. janet: exactly. sharyl: there's a penalty that comes with that. janet: i'm aware of that. sharyl: you're just gonna have to pay the penal? janet: that's all i can do. i cannot afford insurance. sharyl: there's another downside. she broke her shoulder and says she just has to live with it because doctors won't see her without insurance. and meantime you have a broken shoulder? janet: yes, this was fractured.

as if the obama administration is the only administration that has promulgated rules of conduct. certainly we have had rules associated with the unveiling of the very successful affordable care act. a lot of rules put into place to prevent insurance companies from taking advantage of people. pre-existing conditions are outlawed. all of these are lady bulldog igses -- regulations that are associated with the affordable care act. parents being able to keep their kids on insurance up to the age of 26. no discrimination between men and women. those were rules that have stimulated jobs in america because 22 million people who did not have access to the health care system now have access to it. more jobs have arisen because of that. and that's a direct result of regulations. same thing with dodd frank which protects people from wall street overreach. those rules have created opportunities for small businesses to come in and start creating real jobs in america. so rules are good for our society. this legislation cuts that ability to create wealth for everyone else. so i would ask that t

and we know the recent history with the obama administration -- i'm sorry, with the bush and administration which north korea landed on the list of axis of evil. north korea then watched how the u.s. militarily invaded and occupied iraq, what it did in afghanistan, and what it did to libya. and so i think -- you know, to say that north korea is pursuing a nuclear weapons program for self-defense is in a far cry. there are experts all over washington, d.c. and also of aul, including the ceo group that is the largest media conglomerate in south korea that says, let's d-link regime change with the nuclear talks. and i think we will get a genuine response from north korea if we can do that. amy: i want to bring joe cirincione into this discussion, had of ploughshares fund, a global security foundation. author of, "nuclear nightmares: securing the world before it is oo late." you have north korea saying they tested a hydrogen bomb, that the significance of that is how much more powerful a hydrogen bomb is than the plutonium uranium bombs. the u.s. says they don't think they tested a successful o

there is not one obama administration. i think today about when president obama wisely and mainly his executive power to bend solitary confinement in federal prisons. in the last couple of years, president obama has seemed more liberated from his mantra of finding common ground with republicans to widely use to enact a set of really progressive and independent and effective measures. the problem with president obama in the first couple of years was he went in trying to find common ground because he was essentially elevated as a public and the figure democratic convention in 2004, speaking about there is no red state, ground, fine, let's find where you can. give it a couple of weeks and when mitch mcconnell says the day you are inaugurated that republicans first by already or second priority is to take you down, i think you give it a couple of weeks and then you find a different governing strategy, but i think the president in these last couple of years has found a strong areasg and there are where he has not been as bold an

yet the email indicates special forces were ready and high-ranking obama administration officials, or "princals," were to weigh in. "assuming principals agree to deploy these elements, we will ask state to secure the proval tells the state department. "pleas convey that approval to us." libya's approval for thehe.s. forces to fly in to help. the availability of special forces is news to greg hicks, the top u.s. diplomat in tripoli during t in 2013, hicks testified he repeatedly told there was no military help available. mr. hicks: i asked the defense attache who'd been talking with africom and with the joint staff -- is anything coming? will they be sending us any help? is there something out there? sharyl: responding to the newly public email, hicks tells "full measure" -- "an aggressive interpretation" of the military options presented "would have tasked me with obtaining flight and landing clearances from the libyan government. i have no doubt they would have been granted." sharyl: the significan of this memo, would you say? significant, and you would understand why the administrat

we certainly know less than we did at the beginning of the obama administration. now, part of the reason is the evolution of technology. part of the reason is the leaks that have told everybody, including our adversaries what we do and how we do it. but part of the reason is because of the ways we tie our own hands at collecting the information we need for the country's security. for example, ppd 28, presidential decision 28, gives foreign intelligence targets basically the same rights that american citizens have, overriding the instructions that the ic has gotten from every other president since ronald reagan. now, we are asking more of our intelligence professionals than we have ever asked of them before, and yet we ask them to operate with one hand tied behind their back. that makes the country more vulnerable. finally, i mentioned earlier that it's unlikely, in my opinion, that the obama administration will do anything over this coming year that will significantly improve the perilous situation we find around the world. i do not mean to disparage the many good

sharyl: yet as recently as october, the obama administration quoted a 7.5% would "find plans for less than $100 a month." premium hikes are only half of the burden. deductibles are up, too. 7.8% this year on average for silver plans -- worse in places like mississippi, with an out to $1,473 extra for the year and washington state, averaging a 47.6% increase or $1090 more in that state. no matter how much it costs or how little it covers having insurance is now the law and more have gotten insured. pres. obama: as the affordable care act has taken effect, nearly 18 million americans have gained coverage. in fact, for the first time ever, more than 90 percent of americans are covered. nathan: i think the obama administration is trying to save a law that they know is failing everybody. first and foremost, the obama administration has always put the emphasis on their metrics of success, which is putting an insurance e card in everyone' s hand. the premium increases was less important to them. sharyl: in round numbers, 10 million have gotten expanded medicaid, 4 million people have picked

well, it just so happens the obama administration had another negotiation with iran last week. on tuesday, two u.s. ships and entering iranian waters due to what defense secretary ash carter called a, quote, navigational error. should be noted, there was one female sailor on the boat who i'm assuming was the one saying, "just admit we're lost and ask for directions." [ laughter ] either way, no one is disputing that the error was with the u.s. navy. so what do you have to trade for ten sailors, and how long will the they negotiations take? >> ten american sailors held by iran are safe tonight, freed earlier today. quickly sparing another major international crisis. >> the sailors were released less than a day than after they were captured. >> seth: less than a day. so the obama administration basically amazon primed home ten sailors without giving up anything. surely republicans weren't upset with that. well unfortunately, the iranians took a photo of the sailors on their knees and to ted cruz, that photo was an act of war. >> if i am elected president, no serviceman or service

okay but they're afraid to open the door if someone shows up. >> reporter: according to the obama administration, the raids are aimed at those who cross the border illegally in 2014 and 15. many after fleeing violence in central america. >> we are seeking to deport felons not break apart families. >> the administration says it is rounding up people who are already rounded up by immigration court and found ineligible to stay. the obama administration has long faced criticism from the republican party for being too easy on illegal yaitio immigrat. now the president is getting it from democrats as el who call him the deporter in chief. city will no longer cooperate with federal enforcement immigration officials. mayor jim kenny says the raids are unsuccessful. >> we are not safe in any city when the people who live here whether they're documented or not are fearful of the police. >> immigration advocates are now lobbying democratic members of congress. >> i think the democratic party absolutely has lost faith from the latino community when they are going after women and children and then they say t

it is to the credit of the obama administration that we were able to knowledge -- a publish something -- accomplish something, the cuba sanctions. it is also to the credit of this administration that it set out with russia sanctions to do it with europe in a way, to a degree that was unprecedented. to the credit of the bush administration, it started the debt -- the diplomatic process, which ended up with the jcpoa could bring across the finish line. am forsense that i bipartisan issues, you're right. i have served with george w. bush, i have worked on many administrations, there is such thing as american national interest, that transcends parties. there is such a thing as a common set of american values. fashionableis not to say so in this season, all of my friends from the bush administration, the foreign-policy team, i am still in touch with them. we all know each other. there is more community of interest then one would think if you read the newspapers, the op-ed, and much of tv. >> please. clerks thank you very -- >> thank you for speaking with us. i am an sis graduate. i have a