in fact, there have not been any court ordered returns ever recorded to the state department. zero. he current court orders in place in my case, lebanon could for the first time, return an abducted child to the united states. it would be a timely and welcome gesture of cooperation between lebanon and the united states as we seek justice for children abductor, wrongfully obtained in either country, it goes both ways. the state department and law enforcement have been so helpful in my case and i'm thankful that they had even more so at their resource. if lebanon fails to enforce the return orders they have issued. almost $200 million is been provided in aid to keep lebanon safe and strong. so much is at stake. isn't it time for lebanon to enforce the return orders they have already acknowledged this in my children home? i call in the state department use every tool at its disposal to bring these american citizen children home immediately. and i appeal to lebanon to please quickly and forcibly return orders lebanon has justly upheld. set the example so that any parent now considering th

according to the state department january report on international child abductions, for 2018, the state department's prevention team has been working with the department of homeland security, as directed by the goldman act, to protect vulnerable children from abduction. last year, 210 very high risk children were enrolled in the dhs prevention program, an increase of 60% over 2016. we have also seen some high profile federal criminal prosecutions of taking parents, and their accomplices, such as the prosecution and conviction of carlos and his wife, gwenna assisting in the kidnapping of their grandson , niko brown, to brazil years ago. these efforts of the d.o.j. and fbi are incredibly important, not only for the holding, perpetrators, holding the perpetrators accountable and for driving home the seriousness of international child abduction, but also for deterring future abductions. ask everyone who works in the field or any left behind parent and they will tell you that international child abduction is abductions are very difficult to resolve, even with the 77 countries that have partn

according to the state department january report on international child abduction for 2018 the state department prevention team has been working with the department of homeland security as directed by the goldman act to protect vulnerable children from adduction. last year 210 a high risk children were enrolled in the dhs prevention program, an increase of 60% over 2016. we have also seen some high- profile criminal prosecutions of taking parents and their accomplices. such as the prosecution and conviction of carlos and his wife who were assisting in the kidnapping of the grandson to brazil five years ago. these prosecution efforts are incredibly important not only for the holding the perpetrators accountable and for driving home the seriousness of international child abduction, but also deterring future abductions. ask anyone who works in the field or left behind parents and they will tell you that international child abduction is difficult to resolve. even with the 77 countries that have partnered with united states in the hague convention on the civil aspects of international chil

. >> this is barbara glenn, the ceo of the national association of state departments of agriculture, joining us to talk about our culture policy . >> tell us a little about your organization, what it does and your role in it. >> i am the ceo of the national association of the state department of agriculture, our mission is to really create consensus around sound agricultural policy. we do that between the state department, the federal government and stakeholders but, our members are the commissioners, secretaries and directors of state departments of agriculture in all 50 states and four territories. in that role, i am uniquely the chief egg co-regulator with the federal government and also an agricultural ambassador . >> is this farm bill a sound policy decision? >> we need a farm bill. yes. this is good to have, we have to get this past next week. here is the story about agriculture, we provide, economic viability, $1 trillion to the u.s. gdp, even million dollars so agriculture is important to the u.s. economy. all of us eat and we all enjoyed the sustainability and affordability

well, one of the state department?f the north korean officials who faced the north korean officials who faced the sanctions, and you'll want to remember his name because he is the number to buy a north korea and the right—hand man to kim jong—un and the fact that the sanctions included him, the north koreans obviously had to react. i think it would not have made sense as they did not react, and also the fact that donald trump had said a couple of days ago that everything is fine, many people have said that there is nothing totally unexpected in this. obviously, both leaders want denuclearisation, however, the matter is how bad they wanted. this thinking to note is that he also appeared on state tv because today marks the anniversary of the death of kim —— kimjong il, the father of kim jong—un. of the death of kim —— kimjong il, the father of kim jong-un. given what you are telling us, that this statement is not as strong as it habs was in past times, what is tell us habs was in past times, what is tell us about relatio

is a very specific attack on the us state department. that say about relations between the us and north korea? i think this is a normal reaction by north korea, whatever they are sanctioned, in particular human rights. focus on human rights is really a direct threat to kim jong—un, to his legitimacy. so these are very serious sanctions because they are very serious crimes, crimes about humanity that united nations enquiry into the 14 found in north korea. these are very serious sanctions and very serious allegations. it is a reminder that north korea still has these issues with human rights, but does it also show us that the us government is working at two very different levels here. kim jong-un has said that he now wa nts here. kim jong-un has said that he now wants to shift to pursue economic development. it is really important to keep in mind that actually, human rights are a very important part of economic development because of unease, the international community thomas cannot invest in north korea if north korea continues to conduc

we do that between the state departments of ag, the federal government, and stakeholders. so pedro, our nmembers are the commissioners, secretaries, and directors of agriculture in all 50 states and four tear tors. in that role, they're the chief ag negotiator, a co-regulator with the federal government, also an agrucultural ambassador. >> you deal with policy decisions. does this farm bill being debated in congress in your mind a sound policy decision? >> we need a farm bill. yeah, this is good to have. we have to get this passed next week. here's the story about agriculture. agriculture in our affiliated industries, we provide economic viability. $1 trillion to the u.s. gdp, 21 million jobs. and agriculture is very important to the u.s. economy. all of us eat. we all enjoy the sustainability and the affordability of foods that are our choice. so we need a farm bill. this is right now, ag is struggling, and farm income is down. the usda recently said this week farm income may be down 12% this year. so the bottom line is we need that farm bill. we're looking forward to its

donald trump has named the state department's heather nauert as his nominee for u.s. ambassador to the united nations president said she's i'm quoting here she's smart she's nice she's all other things which make a good candidate heather nauert will be nominated. you go work with nikki haley to. replace the united they can still be ambassador to the united nations very talented very hard very quick and i think she's going to be respected by also head there now or will be nominated for the ambassador to the united states so we've got heather nauert slated to replace nikki haley nikki haley trump's ambassador to the united nations is stepping down now heather nauert has been at the state department and it was highlighted when she was confirmed for that position as the spokesperson for the state department that she had no previous foreign policy experience now she's been holding that post for a little while here's some of the highlights of heather nauert at the u.s. state department briefings i don't know if you all are working for today or what but i. didn't mind it so

they've play off the state department versus the us president.ve credited donald trump for reaching out and trying to improve relations, but said the state department seems to be trying to turn back the clock to a time when there was an "exchange of fire", referring to the regular missile tests that were happening untill about a year ago. there was supposed to be a meeting between the secretary of state and a senior north korean diplomat last month. that has been delayed. the north koreans have been angered by the us military restarting exercises with the south korean military. and there are questions about how this now proceeds into the new year, whether there will be further progress. things seemed to have slowed down since donald trump met kim jong—un in singapore, six months ago. but the president is referring to the north korean negotiations on twitter, just a few days ago, said, there was no hurry and that things were going fine. bruce bennett is a senior defence analyst with the think tank rand corporation and hejoins me now from just outs

state department says it has credible evidence of the syrian army using tear gas on civilians stating that rebels did not commit a chlorine attack russia has their claims. the russian military considers that hysterical claims by the us state department that the gas attack on civilians by terror groups in aleppo or november the twenty fourth was fate as an attempt to pressure the o.p.c. w. and prevent an objective investigation the statement is nothing more than an attempt to whitewash the international terrorists operating in the lip along with the white helmet suter rescuers who with their provocative behavior reflect badly on their western backers. around one hundred people were reportedly injured in the alleged chemical attack on government controlled aleppo which syrian officials claim was carried out by terrorists in neighboring is live province russia says it has evidence supporting the use of chlorine so mask is has formally requested that the un's chemical watchdog send investigators to the site. the u.k. has also weighed in on the dispute the foreign and commonwealth office h

is newest ambassador to the united nations she's currently spokeswoman for the state departments andher nomination would need to be endorsed by the republican controlled senate so replace nikki haley who announced her resignation in october and who leaves her post at the end of the. this month james warren is the executive editor of news gods and was the washington bureau chief for the chicago tribune he joins us by skype from chicago thanks for being with us james had the new issue is an unorthodox choice by all accounts fox news correspondent and anchor to the state department and now potentially the u.n. tell us about her foreign policy experience. take about five seconds not much it's really been primarily the last year and i have as spokesman of the united states state department where she was a rather unconventional pick to begin with having been preceded by john kirby a retired former rear admiral in a larger context on one level it's it's rather astonishing when one looks at the history of u.n. ambassadors going back in one nine hundred fifty s. you have people like adly stev

the election year not that we timed them that was the result of eight or nine months to the state department so this is a very tricky time. i can imagine the pressure of the fbi. >> what is the reason they try to protect the clinton foundation crack. >> the justice department working with the clinton campaign to target president trump. one of the key folks involved was peter's truck as an fbi official against mister trump and for mrs. clinton. the irony of the situation is mccabe is accused of leaking with pushback to say we are investigating hillary clinton which was accurate but not what he was supposed to be telling people so that is why he lied. but some in the fbi wanted to do this. >> where do you say that it causes some red flags for the justice department cracks it sounds like they were actively involved to influence the election. >> it sure does. this is an area that needs to be explored i wish it was by this congress. it was not sufficiently. there was pushback from the doj and pushback from foreign interference in the elections but with bureaucracy putting their thumbs on the scal

we concluded with the hearing on may 15, 2018 between state department and department of defense officials. on june 21, secretary pompeo and secretary matus formally endorsed a letter to the committee. they passed the committee unanimously on september 26, 2018 and i'm hopeful it will be signed into law before the end of the year. in the subcommittee we have held two hearings on north korea examining the shift from strategic patients from the last administration of maximum pressure and engagement policy of this one. we have a great much more work needs to be done to achieve complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the north korean regime as required by u.s. law. we held an important hearing on cyber security, examining state- sponsored threats is a vital national security's concern that needs to be seriously and immediately addressed. 's hearing today will be the final hearing in a three-part series of hearings titled the china challenge. examines how the united states should respond to the challenge that seeks to upend and supplant the us-led liberal world order. the first

the state department initially balked at doing that. my mother got a call about 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning in milwaukee were she was living. she was surprised, heard i was all right. at 7:00, if she had turned on the "today" show and seen the devastation of the embassies, hundreds killed, she would have had a heart attack. it was important to alert family members of the living. 11 people died, 85 were injured, of those 11 who died there were nine or 10 among them, one kenyan who was married to susan hirsch -- i really believe the only reason we did not have many more deaths, two reasons, one was the way the building was constructed. like a bunker. the other thing was, the were in different locations. you were in the middle of this big city with a lot of high-rise buildings and the shockwave went back-and-forth. said, house collapsed. for us it was spread out, it was not in the center, it was in the outskirts, no building was higher than three stories, so the bomb went that way instead of going back-and-forth between buildings. i think

state department officials have been withdrawn almost immediately they use the current evacuation we sounded quite alarming but how quickly is this like the. well when the military is given an order they usually have contingency plans in place so they can evacuate it's not a huge force it's two thousand troops we believe although it's not really been officially said and we are not clear on how many of them state department but when the u.s. military is given an order they have the contingency plans in place you can see a pretty rapid withdrawal of all u.s. personnel both state department and military in syria in just the next couple of days you know interesting michael who live there in washington d.c. thanks for that i just want to bring all of us up to date if i were just seeing another snap of the wire service saying the timeframe for u.s. troop pullout from syria is expected to be between sixty to one hundred days quoting a u.s. official so a u.s. official saying that the the u.s. troop pullout from syria expected to be between sixty to one hundred days let's take you now to the

may 15, 2015on with the state department and department of defense officials. secretary pompeo and secretary mattis formally endorsed aria in a letter to this committee. aria passed this committee unanimously on such over 26, 2018, and i am hope will it will be signed into law by the end of the year. in this subcommittee, we also held to could -- two hearings on north korea on our strategy of maximum pressure and engagement policy. clearly much more work needs to be done to complete verifiable -- irreversible deification denuclearization of the north korean regime is wired by u.s. law. we also held an important meeting on cyber security policy , which is a national security for the united states that needs to be seriously and immediately addressed. this will be the final hearing a three-part series of hearings titled "the china challenge, that examines how the united dates should respond to the challenge of a china that seeks to up and dance when the u.s. liberal world order. our first two hearings focused on security and economic aspects. today will focus on d

the state department money is accounted for in our occ budgets. that state department money, of course, for the war on terror and related expenses goes to many countries besides iraq, afghanistan, pakistan. it goes to other recipients. so that's in our costs. and the -- there are special operations forces in 80 to 90 countries in the mostly operati outside of our purview. we don't really know what their doing, but that's included in our costs. the special assistance that pakistan got to allow u.s. military forces to transit to afghanistan is included in our costs of these wars. so we've included many of these costs. i think you're getting to a larger question, how has the united states focused on terrorism sort of pushed most of our foreign policy in effect increased our military budget in ways that are sort of unseen? and that we were sort of focused on these threats and, in fact, as i said earlier, overinsuring by trying to make sure that folks are with us all over the world but it costs us a lot of money to do that. we are buying a lot of frien

yes actually after the force of december the tuesday state department of. testimony in capitol hill and a lot of the news media pick up to eight hundred paul then we were actually it's more than two million because we were is a major population over there and shouldn't. because what are you hearing from your friends and family back home in india in about what's going on inside those camps because the chinese government say there have been violent attacks by weakest separatists so they are just the radicalizing the terrorists there they say the chinese foreign ministry says these policies are about improving livelihoods and preserving stability what do you say in response. to that we have a lot of testimony witness testimony and also we have the firsthand information from the chinese government's web site and their information and i will ask them what president in young university was a medical university president and a customer university's president the need of from this work ational education there in the council there in the electorate as well and the w

iran's ballistic missile testing is actually on the increase and the state department is asking iran to halt all ballistic missile tests immediately this is all part of washington's increased rhetoric in recent weeks against iran we've seen this over the past couple weeks and this is also part of a big reason why the united states has not punish saudi arabia more forcefully for its role role in the killing of jamal khashoggi and also the war in yemen is because washington is saying they need saudi arabia to counter what they call is the iran threat of course iran is saying they're not any threat at all but this is again is all part of the increased rhetoric we've seen out of washington against iran in recent weeks an egyptian court has ordered high profile blogger and activist be released on probation he was detained six months ago to use the broadcasting false news to prominence for his criticism of the mubarak government in the early two thousand and his campaigns against the use of torture his role in the arab spring saw him interviewed by media across the worlds. the new presiden

aid funds work closely with the state department. worked to drop homicide rates and interestingly enough, with the drop of homicide rates is we're seeing less sell have a doorens coming into the border while that may not be replicated in the western eyelands of hondurans, there are some best practices, i agree with you on the need to go to the root causes. >> thank you for the courtesy. >> thank you all for being here, i'm going to ask you one question and the rest of them i'll do in writing to make it easier for you and those who are with us. but to ms. perez, section 404 of the department of state authority's act 2017 required the secretary of state to establish a three-year pilot program for lateral entry into the foreign service that targets mid career individuals from civil service and the private sector, this was something we pushed for and we think can enhance the department. and in a very positive wag. this is months overdue. as the statute requires and i just want to have your commitment that you'll implement this program as

ambassador has always been subordinate to the secretary of state and the flow chart of the department of state. when nikki haley took the position, she insisted on it being a cabinet level position, and the president does have discretion to decide which positions are cabinet or sub cabinet. but now they want to return it back to sub cabinet level so that when you get those big days at the united nations security council, that mike pompeo, the secretary of state would be there sitting across from sergey lavrov of russia, and having the u.n. ambassador do it. that's a way that it has always been done. nikki haley changed it up. so it's not being reduced. it's going back to the way that it has always been. >> harris: i knew that you would know. and the downgrade, now clearing it up for us. and we have the facts, john roberts, that's why ask you. good to see you, my friend. thank you. for more on the president's big personnel moves, we are joined by congressman andy diggs of the great state of arizona. serving on the house judiciary committee. let's start out with william barr, serving in

when this alleged missile launch took place and exactly where however the state department is saying that it was a medium range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads with a range where it could reach parts of europe and all of the middle east according to the state department that would be in violation of u.n. security council ban two two three one which you bans iran from undertaking any activity related to ballistic missiles designated to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons including launches using such ballistic missile technology and now according to the state department iran's ballistic missile testing is actually on the increase and the state department is asking iran to halt all ballistic missile tests immediately this is all part of washington's increased rhetoric in recent weeks against iran we've seen this over the past couple weeks and this is also part of a big reason why the united states has not punish saudi arabia more forcefully for its role in role in the killing of jamal khashoggi and also the war in yemen is because washington is saying they

iran's ballistic missile testing is actually on the increase and the state department is asking iran to halt all ballistic missile tests immediately this is all part of washington's increased rhetoric in recent weeks against iran we've seen this over the past couple weeks and this is also part of a big reason why the united states has not punish saudi arabia more forcefully for its role and role in the killing of jamal khashoggi and also the war in yemen is because washington is saying they need saudi arabia to counter what they call is the iran threat of course iran is saying they're not any threat at all but this is again is all part of the increased rhetoric we've seen out of washington against iran in recent weeks still ahead on al-jazeera. the radical change promised by mexico's first left us presidents in decades coming up in a moment. by the skyline of an asian harbor or off the coast of the italian riviera. how the weather remains basically cold across many parts of eastern europe subzero temperatures still very much in place a little more cloud just pushing its way up toward

the state department leading efforts to review a u.s. government strategy to address the campaign of repression in xi jan. preventing china's use of u.s. goods and services to perpetuate its egregious activities and strengthen our public policy efforts throughout the world to attract like-minded individuals. department officials continue to meet with members of the uighur diaspora and coordinate to prevent the harassment of uighurs in the united states. the department has conducted outregion to u.s. and china companies to draw attention to the risks to their exposure of chinese abuses and to underscore. u.s. memberses around the world are providing assistance to survivors of xi jan camps. whose lives or freedom would be threatened. if we are to fundamentally change china's behavior in xi jan, the international community must act together. department of state officials i and others have met with the wives and family members of those who have been detained. we press for the release both publicly and privately of all political prisoners. ma

has named the state department's heather now as his nominee for u.s. ambassador to the united nations the president said she's smart she's nice she's all other things which make a good candidate. heather nauert will be nominated. go work with nikki haley to. replace vicki at united age and she'll be ambassador to the united nations very talented very hard very quick and i think she's going to be respected by all so that they're now or will be nominated for the bigger says the united nations. more details we cross to caleb more pain is this a surprising and choice do you think. well it's one of two announcements we heard recently from donald trump about filling cabinet positions so we've got heather nauert slated to replace nikki haley nikki haley trump's ambassador to the united nations is stepping down now heather nauert has been at the state department and it was highlighted when she was confirmed for that position as the spokesperson for the state department that she had no previous foreign policy experience now she's been holding that post for a li

i am pleased to announce that heather nauert, spokeswoman for the united states department of state, will be nominated to serve as u.n. ambassador. i want to congratulate heather and thank ambassador nikki haley

leadership lesson is that the leaders of this country and the white house and the congress and in the state department have a responsibility to maintain and even flow of resources for the people around the world representing the united states who conduct our defense in our interest and do so without guns. >> yes, i think people often estimate underestimate the risk that we go through. and these were to horrific bombings but there been other instances of course and other industries throughout the years especially since 9/11 and the difficulties in iraq and afghanistan and etc. but we does have to maintain that us presidents and it has to be done in a way that protects as best they can the employees that are putting their lives at risk. the other thing that for me i have to say is that those of us who went through the bombing in dar es salaam and i'm sure it's true for nairobi we just cannot forget it and will not forget it, it's something that comes up and you see in newspaper references to the east africa bombings and you know you were there, at times i have watched the video on cable news, which will

fitton: we asked the state department. hat did mrs. clinton do in exchange for that money but that was blocked out. mr. blum: another donated between $10 million to $25 million to the clinton foundation. was offered priority access to the state department. mr. fitton, would you say that's a quid pro quo? mr. fitton: certainly seems that way. mr. blum: then lastly -- i know your organization has done some work on this, mr. fitton. the uranium one deal. those interests involvement eal contributed more than $140 million to the clinton foundation. mr. fitton, could you fill this organization in on what happened in return for that $140 million in contributions? mr. fitton: well, the state department and other agencies approved the goal of those entities which was sue -- get the stake in uranium one. again, the f.b.i. was looking into it. the allegation is the f.b.i. investigation was curtailed and silenced, or at least aspects of it were silenced from public disclosure, to protect the clintons and the obama administration generally from con

a spokesperson says the state department makes every effort to facilitate travel by legitimate travelers. now the father is hoping that state and local officials hear his story and put the pressure on the state department as well as the u.s. embassy in cairo to make some kind of exception for his wife. that's the latest here in oakland, melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. >>> the stanford volleyball team won the championship overt the weekend but are apologizing to the team they beat. this stems from a draw on the whiteboard in the locker room. it shows a gun shooting the opponent's mascot. >> reporter: it was so controversial and impacted so many people that the athletic director issued an apology to the university of nebraska. it took five sets for stanford women to beat the university of nebraska volleyball team and five seconds to tarnish the victory. right after they celebrated in the locker room, someone took this photo and posted it on social media. on the whiteboard to the side, you clearly see a drawing of the stanford tree pointing a gun at the university of nebraska's ma masc

to miss perez, section 404, the department of state authorities act, 2017, requires a secretary of stateto establish a three your pilot program for lateral entry into the foreign service that targets midcareer and the private sector. this was something that we push for, and we can enhance the department in a very positive way. this is months overdue, as the statute requires, and i want to have your commitment that -- is required by law. >> think you, senator. yes. my understanding is that because of the hiring freeze, this program is that has not been implement it, i do look forward to working with you and the committee about what this program might look like, we need to get the best people we can find it's a very complex world we live in, and we need to work creatively and innovatively, at how we staff. i look forward for the discussions on this. >> think you. we will keep the record open until the close of business on thursday i would hope that there would be some miraculous way to have a markup before we leave here, i don't know how her leaving here, but hopefully the process that you

as a whole i understand the nuance differences between the state department between the pentagon between the white house but the trump lead white house is approach to the region has it fanned the flames of divisions that are feeling and that time was that. some partners in the region thought that they have something like a blanco shekh that they could do whatever they want and when we discussed with them and we said look we are of the same opinion like the state department the u.s. the answer to us we only that's interesting but we're only listening to the white house you wouldn't mind telling me which partners that was that told you that we're talking saudi arabia let's call a spade a spade i don't want to blame and want to finger point if you we want to come to solutions i think it's not a good idea to blame somebody i mean i saw it was mr gergen it with me i don't want to do it in the other way in the same way we are not to blame but just for viewers to understand what was this a process where you found yourself in the middle of trying to deescalate a situation which saudi arabia or t

she has been at the state department for the past couple of years as the state department %-p.she was skilled in that role. there were times she was going a bit beyond what trump will say, standing up for journalists and their rights and their values. there were other times there were some pretty embarrassing gasps. and certainly this is highly unusual situation to see nauert about to be appointed. >> some of the former ambassadors to the united nations were? >> well, john bolton which ironically is an interesting point to note in light of the fact of john bolton from what we're reading in the press is trying to downgrade this position from a cabinet level position which it currently is to something that would report to the secretary of state, for example. >> interesting timing. for a downgrade. >> interesting indeed. i worked with ambassador susan rice, who was ambassador to the united nations, and ambassador samantha power. both of those women as well as nikki haley fought really hard for various initiatives that perhaps took a lot, a lot, a lot of diplomatic coordination wit

a state department spokeswoman urnds president obama.ng what your reaction is to this reporting, given her background is she was at abc as a correspondent for a while, but mostly at fox news. >> well, she looks like she has a fine resume as a journalist. she distinguished herself at abc, and then a co-anchor for "fox and friends." so she has big credentials at fox. in terms of what we look for at the united nations, her resume is very thin. her experience in dmoem si is non-existent as far as i can tell. she is a spokesperson for the trump white house, but tradition ally, we have had people with a lot of experience in international affairs or academics. you think of adalay stevenson as an ambassador under john kennedy, or daniel moynihan there under nixon, or madeiline albright. jeane kirkpatrick there under reagan. you know, normally from a white house standpoint, from a state department standpoint, you're not looking at the u.n. job as a communications job, it's a place where we conduct active diplomacy with nations around the world, a

department officials continue to meet with the members of the uighur diaspra and coordinate to prevent the harassment of uighurs in the united states. the department has conducted outreach to u.s. and chinese companies with business to draw attention to the risks to their exposure of chinese abuses and underscore the u.s. commitment to avoid complicity. u.s. embassies around the world are providing assistance to survives of the camps. we've engauged dozens of foreign governments to help those whose lives or freedom would be threatened. if we would fundamentally change behavior, the international community must act together. the department of state officials regularly attending the trials and sentencing of chinese human rights lawyers and activists and i and others have met with the wives and family members of those detained. we press for their release both publicly and privately of all political prisoners and many of their names appear in my written testimony. though we were unsuccessful in our efforts to secure the freedom of leo, we secured the long-sought release of his widow in july of this year. ambassador brandsted has been a

at the state department richardson, fox news. >> california wants to tax text messaging. california public utilities commission is considering a commission to tax text messages, to help low income californians, losing money so the proposed tax could be retroactive, taxing californians text messages going back five years. illegal immigrants in second until got $300,000 to fight deportation last year. reporting is to be funded program helps provide legal assistance and applied for citizenship to 6000 families. music streaming service spotify breaking its lease over safety concerns. one employee telling the san francisco chronicle, this response to a homeless person and workers felt unsafe because of open drug dealers and visible poverty. the company relocated to the city's financial district, the u.s. navy and missile defense agency shot down intermediate-range ballistic missile tuesday off hawaii, the second consecutive successful intercept of the land-based missile defense system. the city of oakland filing suit on damages from the raiders for the moved to las vegas sets

kiss and hug her son for the one last time timebecause yemen is one of the countries on the state department's travel ban list, abdullah's mother was denied entry to the u=s. "this is a united states citizen ... who's going to die, separated from his mother his father ali says he drives from stockton to oakland every day to visit his little boy. "my son abdullah is only 2 years old. we celebrate his birthday just two days ago. so i am here today for your support and help bring my family together for the one last time."ali says he never expected that he and his wife would be separated during their son's final days.he's about to die soon. his mother is not able to touch him, see him, give him a kiss before he go.how's your wife holding up? crying, crying every single day. family members say the state department has told them the mother's application for a waiver is being processed.the council on american islamic relations says it plants to file suit to speed up the process.we are ready to fly her out at a moment's notice as soon as we receive the waiver, hopefully today. now to a somber night in

but it was also a situation where we were duped in part by the state department. the state department gave us the impression that it was everything was great down there. that people were very happy. even though there had been defectors that had left and told their stories to the embassy officials in georgetown, guyana . they still had this message that would suggest that even though there was no reason for us to go down there at all so i still point the finger at the lack of duty to warn, duty to investigate, duty to protectby the state department as it related to those american citizens abroad . >> thank you so much for coming and thank you so much to jackie. we have copies of her book in the back and she also would be more than happy to stay and talk to you guys a little bit and decide them for you. thank you guys. >> c-span: where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy ev