Transcripts For CNNW Smerconish 20150314

Questions about whether aspects of it are true. Lets start at the beginning. This week the Washington Post reported on the troubling incident involving two senior agents who allegedly went out drinking and then drove a government car into an investigation of a suspicious package right in front of the white house. All of this was particularly frightening since one of the men is the numbertwo agent who directly guards president obama. But now two Law Enforcement sources tell cnn that story was overblown. Officials tell cnn that the agents simply drove up to the investigation scene, not into it and theres not clear evidence that they were drinking. Nor is it clear that there was any discussion of giving them a sobriety test. Still, there are serious questions about the incident. Lets go to cnns erin mcpike stand big at the white house with the latest. Erin . Michael, we should point out there has been no Public Accounting from this the secret service about what actually happened. It has all been background information. The only thing that we do know from the secret service from their spokesman is that there is an investigation into this incident. Now, the incident occurred on march 4th and what happened is that there was a Retirement Party at a bar in chinatown that is seven blocks due east of the white house. And these two Senior Secret Service agents were at this party for their colleague. They came back at the end of the night in a government car so that the other agent could get his car, which was located here and at the time there was an area blocked off by the barricade at the white house because there was some suspicious activity, there had been a bomb threat and there were secret Service Agents investigating that. The two men in this car drove up to the edge of that activity and their car tapped an orange barrel that was outside the area. There was no collision. There was no damage. There may not even have been an ask for a sobriety test. Thats what we still have to figure out. But the problem here is that the incident wasnt reported to joe clancy who is the director of secret service, until five days later, and thats whats raising a lot of questions about the culture at the secret service and has clancy really restored credibility to this agency since he took over several months ago. But erin, if the incident was overblown, and youre making it clear we dont know at this stage, but if, in fact, it was overblown in the presentation in the Washington Post, that might explain why it wasnt brought to the atengts of the director for those five days. That is exactly right. What is clear is that there was potentially some sort of misconduct but because it made it into the Washington Post, it is clear that joe clancy needed to be involved in some way. It also has made its way to the white house, but theyre looking for some answers so joe clancy will be giving those answers to capitol hill in a series of private and public briefings on monday and tuesday. And we have already heard from the House Republican who leads the committee on government oversight and reform and he has been very concerned about what joe clancy knew and when he knew it. And those questions will come out in the coming days michael. But there are some details we just cant know because obviously at this point there cannot be a sobriety test because its ten dais later. The image that was created at least in my mind by the initial reporting of this incident is these individuals had had way too much came barreling out of play the white house, smashed into a barricade and interrupted what was then an active crime scene. That might not be the case. Thats the takeaway. Right . Absolutely the takeaway, that they may not have been drinking at all, they may have had one drink or two, much earlier in the night, and may not have been drunk at all, and just came back and were around the area where this investigation was going. But nothing may have hammed. There could have been a lot of misleading information give on the Washington Post. Erin thanks for that report. Joining me now is ron kessler. Hes a New York Times bestselling author of several books about the secret service. Hes also an awardwinning investigative reporter. Ron, what do you make of this latest development . I think this is a typical coverup by the secret service, and im very used to seeing that because theyve tried to cover up revelations in my book the first family detail. The Washington Post reporting on the secret Service Problems has been very accurate and why is it that these two very highranking individuals were removed from their posts and put in nonoperational positions . Obviously something very serious happened there. And this socalled you used the word coverup and perhaps thats what the evidence will show. Im far more concerned that their reputations these men are innocent until Proven Guilty that their representations have been besmirched with a rush to judgment. Well you know, the socalled pushback is all anonymous. If really there was a factual basis, the secret service would issue an on the record statement about it. And the fact they removed these individuals tems you that in fact they were involved in wrongdoing. And joe clancy, the new director appointed by president obama despite all the recommendations of his own panel that he get an outside director to shakeup the secret service, is very good at covering up. Ill give you one example, there are many at a hearing on the house in the house he was asked why is that the secret service issued false information about the intrusion by mr. Gonzalez at the white house . Why is it that the secret service said hed been apprehended at the door . That was not true. He went all the way into the white house. Why did they say he was not armed . That was not true. He was armed. And is anybody going to be held accountable . And the answer from clancy was, oh there was no problem there. But, ron, respectfully in this case he wasnt told for five days. The criticism is that he was out the of the loop so how can you possibly say that hes been involved in some degree of coverup . May i share with you what most troubles me about this incident that hasnt been reported on in the media because i think our attention has become diverted to what happened at that quote, unquote, crash scene, which apparently wasnt even a crash, its this a woman shows up at the white house, comes to the perimeter and she you know, as initially reported drove a government car into the White House Security barricades after drinking late at night at that party last week. But the underlying incident was that a woman comes up to the white house and says i think this is an fing bomb and throws an object later revealed to be a book has some kind of a skirmish with an officer outside the white house, and gets away. And wasnt apprehended for two full days. I hate the idea that someone can come up to the perimeter of the white house, pose a bomb threat and be able to escape without being apprehended. Whats your thought on that . I dont see that is necessarily a problem. You know Law Enforcement doesnt have supernatural powers to apprehend everybody. At the white house . At the perimeter of the white house . What if she were a radical islamist and she was a member of isis or some Affiliate Group and, in fact it were a bomb and thank god they were able to stop it before it detonated . Wed all be talking about that. Thats what concerns me is that the white house is vulnerable. Thats certainly something that should be looked into. There are not very clear examples of secret service screwups that are very scary and agents tell me that its a miracle there has not already been an assassination given all the problems that are coming out. In my book the first family detail, i go into dozens of other examples. For example, agents will let people into events without magnetometer screening or metal detector screening. Thats outrageous. Let me ask you this question and i can put up on the screen there have been a number of highprofile incidents recently involving the secret service. Lets just remind our viewers of some of the things the prostitution issue in columbia drunkenness in amsterdam, the white house fence jumper the guy who was armed and on an elevator with the president , and now this more recent incident that were discussing. In your book you write that the obamas have been very considerate of the United States secret service, that they have treated the United States secret service with dignity and with respect, which i think is a wonderful thing. But might that be to their detriment . In other words, might the president be too reluctant to put the hammer down to protect his own security because he is so respectful of the secret service and the role they play . I think thats a very good point. He is mesmerized by those agents who are very impressive and he thinks well the whole secret service must be like that. But somehow the rest of the world knows that this agency has become an embarrassment. And really at this point, theres one person responsible for the problems at the secret service and that is obama, because over and goempb going back to the intrusion at the state dinner at the white house by the salahis, the party crasher, obama keeps saying i have full confidence in the secret service, and over and over again he ease said that. The fact is he needs to bring an outsider for example a former highranking inging fbi official who could shake up the agency not be beholden to the interest within the agency. Whenever any organization is in trouble you bring in someone from the outside to shake it up. Ron kessler, thanks for your expertise and for being here. . Thank you. Ferguson missouri is unraveling under the question of which official may be the next to go . Ill tell you about one possible solution to fergusons problem, truly a radical idea. And more fallout from that racist video that took down the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at o. U. The chatter is fighting back with the help of a highpowered lawyer. The first black member of that fraternity tells me why he thinks thats a terrible decision. Why do we do it . Why do we spend every waking moment, thinking about people . Why are we so committed to keeping you connected . Why combine performance with a conscience . Why innovate for a future without accidents . Why do any of it . Why do all of it . Because if it matters to you its everything to us. The s60 sedan. From volvo. This month, get these exceptional offers on a new volvo. Visit your volvo showroom for details. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. So i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. Ive lived my whole life here in fairbanks, alaska. I love the outdoors, spending time with my family. I have a Family History of prostate cancer. I had the test done and that was when i got the news. My wife and i looked at treatment options. Cancer Treatment Centers of america kept coming up on the radar. So we flew to phoenix. Greg progressed excellently. We proceeded to treat him with hormonal therapy, concurrent with intensity modulated Radiation Therapy to the prostate gland. Go to cancercenter. Com to learn more about our integrative therapies and how theyre specifically designed to keep you strong mentally, physically and spiritually throughout your treatment. I feel great today im healthy, i have never been in a happier place, i cant imagine being treated anyplace else. Fighting cancer has given me opportunities to live. I think i chose extremely well. Call or go to cancercenter. Com. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Care that never quits. Appointments available now. Welcome back. Ferguson missouri is unraveling. The city manager has stepped down, the police chief has stepped down now protesters are calling for the head of the last man standing, the mayor of the city james noles. But the mayor tells cnn hes not going anywhere. I think its important to recognize that theres a lot of people who may be angry at the situation, a lot of people who are frustrated in this community with the way things have gone down but theres a lot of people who still expressed it to me expressed confidence in both my willingness and members of the councils willingness to listen to be responsive and to make changes as necessary. People in the community recognize this. Not everybody. I didnt win every time 100 of the vote but i can tell you there are ways to remove me if that is the will of the people. This as a massive manhunt continues for the person who shot two Police Officers after a fresh round of protests this week. So how to fix fergusons deep systemic problems. One man says ferguson is so bad that it simply cannot be fixed, get rid of it he says abolish the town. Jarvis debary has put forward that idea a columnist for the new Orleans Timespicayune and he joins me now. You quoted James Baldwin this week who 55 years ago wrote a ghetto can be improved only one way out of existence. Is that how you see ferguson . Yeah. It pretty much is how i see ferguson. You know st. Louis county which isnt a large Geographic Area at all, has 89 municipalities which is just jaw dropping to me that a place of such a compact size would have that many municipalities. And reading the Justice Department report about all the things that have happened in ferguson there is clearly a despicable philosophy guiding that government which is basically that we are going to go after anybody and everybody we can, grab them by the ankles turn them upside down and shake all their pockets out just so our government can keep existing. And i think that a government that is doing that to its people routinely and as a matter of philosophy has lost all legitimacy and ought to be abolished. I understand the argument that says 89 municipalities youve got to feed the beast, youve got to be able to fund that apparatus. Yes. Heres what worries me about the solution. Let me show my viewers and read to you what the New York Times reported last sunday on its front page about the surrounding area. If the shooting of Michael Brown had take nl place about 500 yards to the southeast he would have died not if ferguson but in the neighboring city of jennings. The court system which is overseen by a white judge but has almost exclusively black defendants routinely sends peel to jail for failure to pay minor traffic fines, a new lawsuit alleges. Had the shooting occurred 3 1 2 miles to the north, the world might turn to a city where police stop black motorists at a rate nearly three times the share of the population. Court fines and fees accounted for over 40 of the citys general operating revenue last year. So perhaps i guess what im saying is there would be a cost savings if you were to go through consolidation, but the netnet would be the same result as it applies to minorities. I cant dispute that report. But the problem is much bigger than ferguson. The problem is st. Louis county as a whole and i think ferguson just happens to be the place that Michael Brown was shot and it just happens to be one of the worst offenders. The Justice Department report which to me everybody ought to read is required reading for i think an american citizen these days talks about how not only were the ferguson officials bragging and boasting about the amount of money they were taking in but they were also boasting about the amount of money they were taking in relative to other municipalities in the county. So they saw themselves as kind of i guess the dubious leader in an amount of money that they were getting out of their citizens. No i dont say that other municipalities in st. Louis county are better. But i think a message has to be sent that you cant have all of these little municipalities competing against one another and then competing against one another to see how much money they can extract from obviously poor people. Mr. Deberry thanks for your comments. We appreciate it. Thank you. Now for a different point of view. For many who protect and serve in this country, our Police Officers the deep tensions in ferguson have a whole different meaning. Many in Law Enforcement believe events in ferguson have sparked a war on them fueled by anticop hatred and rhetoric. Joining me now Milwaukee County sheriff david clark. Sheriff, welcome, and respond to what you just heard about this notion of consolidation. Would that change anything . I dont know. You know we have to look at what has led to the rise of the american ghetto in the United States to begin with and i think its failed liberal Government Policies that have torn a black family apart, created a lot of dysfunction. Some of this is selfinflicted. When you have kids out of wedlock, you dont embrace education, involve yourselves in drug and alcohol abuse. Youre not going to do very well in life. However, some of what was mentioned about whats going on in ferguson and other cities across america is also happening at the federal level with the irs, and i dont hear too many calls for abolishing the irs. So what we need to do is take a look at i understand the comment about the breakdown of the family being a contributing factor to crime. I happen to share that. But i dont understand what that has to do with the irs. It has a lot to do with the irs. Picking peoples pocket turning people upside down and shaking their pockets out to create revenue to spend on these failed liberal Government Policies. If we want to straighten this out and we really want to get to the heart of this matter were going to have to eliminate the dysfunction that happens in many of these american ghetto where is people cant find meaningful work. They have to send their kids to failing k12 public schools. Theres chronic unemployment high unemployment in these areas, and theyre crime riddled. Those are the things that i think we need to have the discussion about instead of laying this at the foot of the American Police officer. Im tired of these twobit politicians and bureaucrats taking all of the pathologies and maladies of the american ghetto and laying i at the feet of our nations finest our communitys finest. We have to go in to save other good lawabiding people. The overwhelming majority of people that live in these areas are good lawabiding citizens and we have to keep them separated from the criminal element which involve assort of policing. When things go wrong in our world, and they can, and they often do like what happened in ferguson then what we need is for responsible people to use their heads and not inflame the situation, not rush to judgment and then apply the facts and the evidence to the rule of law, and we have to accept the decision. We dont have to like the decision that comes out of these grand juries but we have to accept it. And until we start to do that youre going to continue to see this assault on our nations finest, the American Police officer. It happened in l. A. It happened in san francisco. It happened in new york. This is happening all across america. And thats why i say they need to stop laying this stuff at the foot of the American Police officer. If we dont go who else is going to do it . Who else is going into these crimeridden areas, these american ghettos, trying to save other black people . Is there a benign nondiscriminatory explanation for the data that has made so many headlines . You know the data that africanamericans comprise 67 of the ferguson population but account for 85 of the car stops . Thats just one of many data points. Is there a nondiscrimination explanation behind that that you could offer . Sure. You could cherrypick data all you want. That wasnt an objective report by attorney general eric holder. He came to the conclusion first and went out and found information and found data to support his claim. You know he finds a couple of distasteful, disgusting emails. Out of how many that he looked at . We found the same thing at sony picture, yet i didnt hear anybody indicting the entire Motion Picture industry as being racist. What eric holder did not mention in his report was that blacks the astonishingly disparate rate of criminal involvement by young black males and the astonishing rate of victimization of other black people as well. In milwaukee, for instance, in 2014 72 of the homicide victims were black people. 80 of the known or named suspects were black as well. Those are astonishingly disparate figures that we have to add to this report as well but eric holder chose to dismiss that. You anticipated my next question which is to say would we, if we looked at the data points for your area come to a similar conclusion. I wish i had more time because i enjoy what you have to say. Well do it again. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up Sigma Alpha Epsilon is fighting back and lawyering up. The highprofile attorney for the disbanded sae chapter at the university of oklahoma says hes not ruling out suing the school. Welcome back. Two students have been expelled from the university of oklahoma for singing that racist song. And the schools president says more expulsions could be coming. Steven jones, the lawyer hired by the fraternity is hoping that the issues can be resolved out of court. Heres what he said at a press conference yesterday. We are not here because we are interested in a legal solution. We hope and i hope my statement will make it clear, that we seek to have some other resolution of this matter. Lets bring in a professor at ucla law school. Hes also the author of a great blog. Professor, is the reason that he says he is seeking a nonlegal solution because he doesnt have a legal leg to stand on . I think when he says nonlegal solution he means they dont want to have to go to court. And theres a good reason not to want to go to court because thats going to be more bad publicity for them. But hes a lawyer. If hes going to be asking the university to do something, it will be because he has a legal argument and his legal argument is strong. The fist amendment protects all sorts of view points including racist viewpoints. There is no exception for racist heat or hate speech or for speech by university students. So you think that the claim on behalf of the fraternity against the university if it were to go to litigation, is a strong claim. Let me now talk about those two individuals who have either withdrawn or been expelled depending on whom you ask. Does the president of the university of oklahoma dave boren, does he have legal standing to expel them for their racist speech . No. In fact the First Amendment protection for those students i think is Even Stronger than for the fraternity. As to the fraternity one could argue that the fraternity is being punished not just because of the speech but because the fraternity may have acted in a racist way and excluding, for example, black applicants and the like. Its an interesting question and the university seemed to stress just the speech. But you could say the fraternity would be liable there. But the students are being punished solely because of their expression of these awful ideas, but, indeed expression of racist views, and thats something that the First Amendment does not allow. What if those students are actually acting on their racist views . What if in fact there havent been bids offered during the pledge process for africanamericans interested in joining that fraternity . Would that strengthen the hand of the University President in expelling them if thats what he chooses to do . Well the University President actually stressed that it was the racist speech of the students that was the reason for the expulsion. Its not like there was any factfinding that well there were particular students excluded by the fraternity and such. But if indeed there was discrimination by the fraternity not just speech but conduct, then indeed the kind of punishment that is normally meted out for violation of these kinds of rules could, indeed, be applied, so longs as its not a pretext for expelling the students based on their views. I highly doubt that the university regularly expels students for violations of, for example, fraternity admissions rules. As i understand it, for example, theres been at least one incident in which it hasnt expelled a student even though the student was guilty of a violent attack. I believe his girlfriend, in my recollection. So if the University President says oh we think you may have been involved in a discriminatory action as a member of the fraternity thats going to get you expelled thats not something that a court is going to take very seriously pip think the court is going to see through that and say, well this is actual lay pretext for expelling the students based on the viewpoints theyre expressing. Professor, final question. I lived in a fraternity for three years, and at the university that i attended as an undergraduate, there was a house for every personality, a house for every ethnic or racial stripe. And it makes me wonder, dont all fraternities to a certain extent discriminate . There was a stoner house. There was a jock house. There was a wasp house. There was a jewish house. Hopefully you get my point. Well many universities have rules that say that fraternities may not discriminate based on race religion and similar characteristics. They could discriminate based on other things obviously any selected fraternity necessarily selects those whom it likes, but they can discriminate based on those criteria. I should say even if they discriminate naturally often birds of a feather flock together so maybe even without discrimination there may be houses identified more with a particular religious group or ethnic group precisely because even without discrimination that kind of social sorting takes place. Professor Eugene Volokh the volokh conspiracy. Thank you. Thank you. Join meganow is jonathan davis. He was the first africanamerican member of sae at the university of oklahoma. Jonathan, what do you make of the news that your old house has now lawyered up . I think initially when i read the headline it was that, you know there was a planned lawsuit and i certainly disagreed with that. And then as i watched the statement that was given, i actually do believe that theyre not looking for, you know, to go to a lawsuit. From what i understand, you know and what i would say is that, you know there are a lot of guys who werent involved in this incident specifically. Im ip credibly upset about the whole thing as an africanamerican nicheof that fraternity to sing that song. I could do go off on a tandem. I wont. I believe fully in my heart not every member of that fraternity is racist or engaged in that type of behavior. And i think that for those people who werent involved they have again, theyre getting threats of physical violence and are they deserve to be treated fairly the ones that were not involved with this incident and i dont think that you can say that every single essay on that campus, you know you cant pay them in the exact same light. You lived in that house in 2002. How many people of color were then members, residents of the sae house . Do you mean specifically africanamericans or do you mean minorities overall . All diversity. Explain it in whatever terms would be accurate. I would say that gosh, you know, we had i would say maybe dozens of guys that were, you know of a different ethnic background not just strictly caucasian. The song. Had you ever heard the song before before it all came to light in this video . I actually was a song chairman at sae, you know, during my active period there, and i had never heard that song. And talking with my good friends and Fraternity Brothers none of them had ever heard the song. And so we were all floored and so hurt and disgusted when we heard it. And to know that it was our chapter you know, our fraternity our chapter at our university was i mean we were all just completely bewildered. Wed never heard that. You know, there have been reports of other sae chapters and im wondering if more shoes will drop to the extent that they do ill be asking whether theres something particular about this fraternity. Well i dont know the whole story. I dont know where this the impression that i get from this song is that someone did, in fact hear it from another chapter of the fraternity. I have no doubt that the National Organization had no idea this song was being sung again. I was a member song chairman. I had no idea. Id never heard of this song. Had i known of this song, i would have never affiliated myself with the house. I would have turned in my membership. So we really had no idea that this was out here. You know clearly this country has a very interesting and i think unfortunate history with, you know racial relations and racial tolerance. And its possible that this song may have been sung and, you know a far by gone era in the United States and specifically with the fraternity. It could have been kept alive somehow by word of mouth. It certainly was not sanctioned by our chapter, our house, or the National Organization whatsoever. Jonathon davis, thank you. Appreciate your being here. Thank you. Benjamin netanyahu is ramping up efforts in his latest reelection bid. But polls show hes falling behind a key opponent. Did his trip to the u. S. Backfire on him politically . Well go live to jerusalem with the latest. At ally bank no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like mute buttons equal danger. That sound good . Not being on this phone call sounds good. Its not muted. Was that you jason . It was geoffrey it was jason. It couldve been brenda. When it comes to good nutrition. Im no expert. That would be my daughter hi dad. Shes a dietitian. And back when i wasnt eating right, she got me drinking boost. Its got a great taste and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. Helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. All with a delicious taste. 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Kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping. Welcome back. Its possible in a matter of days israel may have a new Prime Minister. Tuesday israelis will vote and polls show they may not reelect Benjamin Netanyahu. The controversial trip that he made to our congress hoping to help his reelection may have backfired. Cnns Oren Lieberman is stand big in jerusalem with the latest. What did the final polls taken before the election show . According to this last round of polling which came out yesterday, Benjamin Netanyahus party is falling behind. In the upcoming knesset hell take 22 seats and his rival will take 26 seats. Thats not a huge margin. Hes not fall beg hind by some great margin. But its important to notice that only a few weeks ago, this was neck and neck. They were each right around 24 seats, maybe 25 23 one way or the other. In these last few days these critical days before israelis head to the polls Benjamin Netanyahu is falling behind. So four seats not a huge gap but a very significant one this close to the elections. Or ren, even if netanyahus party, the likud party, doesnt garner the most votes, he could still keep his position right . And that of course is the complexities of israeli politics and how the knesset works. Its not just about winning the election. According to the polls, the polls suggest the Zionist Union will win the election and take the most seats. The real question is block put together a Coalition Government put together a team of at least 61 seat half the knesset. This is where netanyahu may have an advantage if the rightwing parties dont fall too far behind in this election. He is the an expert deal maker, a master politician and ideologically his likud party lines up with a few other parties on the right naturally. There are some natural alliances there. If those parties do well it could be netanyahu whos pinned to make the next coalition and to be once again israels Prime Minister michael. And is the belief that the trip was a negative in israel the trip of course i referred to is speaking to congress . Whether it was negative or not is a good question. It didnt seem to have any effect here though. It certainly wasnt a positive at least in terms of the polls. We saw the polls before the speech. We saw them right afterwards and there was no difference. Israelis who liked him before still like him. Those who didnt like him still didnt like him. No net effect of his speech. I note that he used the footage from that speech in his final wrapup campaign commercial. By the way, something i think our own rules would not permit a member of congress to do. Sure. And whether it was or wasnt political, he of course, the whole time claimed it wasnt. He has since used the speech to hype up his strongest issue, security and the issue of a nuclear iran. If israelis voted on only that issue, then sure netanyahu is your next Prime Minister and thats the issue hes playing up. Of course israeli voters have a number of reasons, not just security and its the economy seen as his weaker issue and thats where hertzog and his Zionist Union rivals are hitting hard the last few days. Or ren liebermann thank you. Absolutely. A strong progressive fire brand emerging as a potential 2016 president ial candidate. Bernie sanders joins me for a candid talk. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, were not just insuring our lives. Were helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. Transform tomorrow. Meet the worlds newest Energy Superpower. Surprised . In fact, america is now the worlds number one natural gas producer. And we could soon become number one in oil. Because Hydraulic Fracturing Technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. Supporting millions of new jobs. Billions in tax revenue. And a new century of American Energy security. The new Energy Superpower . Its red, white and blue. Log on to learn more. My tempurpedic made me fall in love with mornings again. I love how it conforms to my body. With tempurpedic the whole bed is comfortable. Its the best thing we ever did for ourselves. Its helping to keep us young. vo visit your local retailer and feel the tempurpedic difference for yourself. The field of potential 2016 candidates is taking place. We know those on the right and those on the left but with all the focus on Hillary Clintons email flap some democrat are talking about another name vermont Bernie Sanders, a selfdescribed democratic social socialist whose fourdecade political career has been all about championing causes for the working class. His recent forays into states like iowa and New Hampshire have positioned him to emerge as a leading progressive challenger. Senator Bernie Sanders joins me now. Have the odds of your running increased due to secretary clintons email troubles . No. I think that is an issue that the inside the beltway punditry is very interested in. But i could tell you that in vermont that i think around the rest of the country that is not an issue of major interest. People are worried about how we create millions of job, how we deal with income and wealth inequality how we deal with Climate Change how we deal with this disastrous Citizens United a Supreme Court decision, i think hillarys email issue is not a major issue. I would think Bernie Sanders as a champion of openness would be bothered by the lack of transparency that seems apparent with her email account. Well i could tell you in the last week weve gotten maybe five seven calls from our vermont offices. Look, hillary hatz her problems. I have my problems. Jeb bush has his. Everybody has their problems. But i think its imperative that we focus on why the middle class in this country for 40 years is disappearing why the top onetenth of 1 owns more wealth almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 . Those are the issues that concern the american people. How do you make College Affordable . How do we transform our Energy System in order to reverse Climate Change . Yeah hillarys emails to my mind not much of an issue. Senator, maybe your time has come with regard to the issues you champion. The issue of minimum wage seems right. The issue of problems for the middle class seems right. Problems of health care and infrastructure repair. Do you worry that voters wont be able to get past the sword with regard to you, they wont listen to what Bernie Sanders has to say because they get hung on on what does it mean to be a selfdescribed socialist . No i really dont. But i do think what does worry me is that at a time when we need more serious discussion about how we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of jobs legislation that ive introduced how were drawing the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to old people how we end this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision which allows billionaires to buy elections, those are the issues that we need discussion. And what does bother me is that i think media too often gets into gossip and personality stuff and does not allow us to focus on those issues. If we could focus on those issues i think youre going to have a lot of people nodding their heads and say, you know what Bernie Sanders is right and maybe we can learn something from some of these social democratic countries in scandinavia and elsewhere, which guarantee health care to all their people, provide free college education. Can someone such as yourself who is an antagonist to corporate interests raise the amount of money thats necessary to wage a successful president ial campaign . Well michael, that is an excellent question. As americans, we should all be concerned about the imply kayications and we should all be concerned. When we have to be dependent on big Campaign Contributors who are very wealthy or be rich themselves, can an ordinary people who dont have a lot of money, which is me iran Serious Campaign . Thats one of the issues we are exploring. On the other hand i can tell you that we have done pretty well on the internet. The average contribution when i ran for the senate was Something Like 45. So you need a lot of those types of contributions to add up. But do i think we could do it . Yeah i think we could raise a reasonable amount of money. If you take a shot, are you going as a dor or as an i . There are advantages and disadvantages of both. I think theres a lot of unhappiness with the twoparty system. More and more people are moving outside of it. On the other hand if you run as an independent, as i have my whole political life in vermont its hard and it takes a lot of energy and money to get on the ballot in all 50 states. Those are the pros and the con snoops 47 republicans sent a letter to iran. Sit possible they actually did a favor to the administration and to secretary kerry because they set up a good copbad cop routine . It gives secretary kerr tri ability to say to the iranians look at what im dealing with back at home you better make some concessions here. You know michael, i was thinking about that the other day. I think this letter signed by 47 republicans is an outrage, insulting, not just to barack obama, to the presidency of the United States. In many ways it does give john kerry and our negotiators the opportunity to say to their iranian counterparts look what ive got to deal with back home. Lets see if we can reach an agreement. And the goal which i strongly sup sport to make sure that iran does not get a Nuclear Weapon but to do it in a way which prevents us from going to war, which is something that i think many of my republican friends may actually be looking forward to. Okay. Youre making news now because i think im hearing Bernie Sanders say the republicans helped the negotiation with the iranians. Thats a good thing. Maybe they did. I dont think that was their intention. But who knows. The point is we have been in two wars terrible wars in afghanistan and iraq cost us just so many good young people in life injury 3 troll 6 trillion in cost. I dont think we need another war in iran. Frankly, i dont think so. And i would hope that these negotiations are successful and that we achieve the goal of stopping iran from getting a Nuclear Weapon but that we can do it without war. Why . My republican colleagues do not want that same result is more than i can understand. Teach all of us something about dealing with rejection. I just read a profile of Bernie Sanders from politico and i learned that you began your career in 1971. You ran four times in five years and never got more than 6 of the vote and look at you now. How did you put up with the initial rejection . Thats a great funny question. I think the answer may be that i may not be the brightest guy in the world but im fairly persistent persistent. In those days i was running on a third party, didnt have any money. It was an opportunity to speak to the people. It go 1 2 4 6 before i finally won as mayor of burlington in 1981 by all of ten votes. Whatever my opponents say, im a fairly persistent guy. Saernld base a razorthin margin in 2016. Thank you, senator. We appreciate your time. Thank you, michael. Thank you so much for joining me. Follow me on twitter. See you next week. Know your numbers, and stay focused. I was determined to create new york citys first selfserve frozen yogurt franchise. 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This comes one day after another american aid worker diagnosed with the ebola virus arrived in the u. S. For treatment. This brings the total number of people treated in the u. S. Up to 11. Lets bring in dr. Alexander garvey on the