Transcripts For KGO This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20130804

Talking about bacon. And the russian olympics on thin ice. All that ahead this sunday morning. Announcer from abc news, this week with George Stephanopoulos starts now. Good morning. Im martha raddatz. George has the morning off. Its great to have you with us. And we begin with breaking news as more than 20 embassies and consulates are closing around the world right now. And here at home, increased security measures are now in place. Abc news has learned this morning that the intercepted communications that led to the alert indicate terrorists are planning an attack that is going to be big and, quote, strategically significant. Yesterday the white house held an hours long meeting, highlevel meeting with the countrys Top National Security officials to discuss the response to the threat, and weve just learned what went on at that meeting, so lets go straight to jon karl, who is at the white house, and, jon, it sounds like the National Security community is really spooked by this. Reporter no doubt about that, martha. The highlevel meetings here at the white house over the weekend are a sign of just how seriously the u. S. Is taking this threat. In fact, officials tell us they believe that there are al qaeda operatives already in place for this attack in yemen and possibly in other countries, as well. The cause for concern are those intercepted communications from the leadership of the al qaeda affiliate in yemen. One u. S. Official telling us, quote, the part that is alarming is the confidence they showed while communicating and the air of certainty about their plans. The official tells us they even talked about their media plan for after the attacks take place. Now, one of the things that is especially concerning about the al qaeda affiliate in yemen is that they have developed techniques to evade western security measures. Specifically officials are concerned about terrorists carrying surgically implanted bombs. As one u. S. Official told us, quote, these are guys who have developed the techniques to defeat our detection methods. Jon, people ive talked to said they dont know exactly what the target, even if its an embassy or consulate. What do you know about that . Reporter that is exactly right. Theyve closed those embassies and consulates, martha, because they are strategically significant and would fit that description, but there is no guarantee that this would be an embassy or a consulate. As a u. S. Official told us, we do not know whether they mean an embassy, an air base, an aircraft or trains. Now, we saw last year with attack on the consulate in benghazi, the diplomatic outposts are a possible target but, martha, there is no guarantee this time around that the target list is confined to embassies or consulates. Very frightening, jon, and thank you to you. And while the nsa helped uncover this latest Terror Threat, there are also new revelations this morning in the controversy over its secret surveillance programs. Glenn greenwald from the Guardian Newspaper has been at the center of all this breaking the story with his interview with Edward Snowden, and he joins us now from brazil. Good morning, glenn. Youre reporting there are new frustrations, frustrations in congress about being thwarted in attempts to exercise oversight. What does that mean, and who is stopping them . Members of congress, members from both Political Parties actually came to us and showed us all kinds of letters and emails that theyve been exchanging in which theyre trying to get the most basic information about what the nsa is doing and spying on american citizens and what the fisa court has been doing in terms of declaring some of this illegal, some of it legal. Remember, we keep hearing that theres all kinds of robust oversight by congress and we need not worry and yet these members of congress, one who is Morgan Griffith and alan grayson from florida showed us and were publishing this morning very detailed letters trying to get this information and theyre being blocked from getting it and theyve said and other members have said that they are forced to learn about what the nsa is doing from what theyre reading in our reporting. And when you say theyre being blocked, how are they being blocked . People are refusing to give it to them in congress . Correct. I think the most amazing thing, one of the most Amazing Things in this whole episode, martha, is that there is a 2011 opinion, 86 pages long from the fisa court that ruled, that much of what the nsa is doing which is spying on american citizens is both unconstitutional in violation of the Fourth Amendment and illegal, a violation of the statute. This opinion remains a complete secret. The fisa court has said they have no objection to having it released, but the Obama Administration insists it has to be secret. Both members of congress and others have been simply requesting to read that and Intelligence Committee who is led by mike rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger who receives all things from the industry and have refused to allow them access. Thats extraordinary to have a Court Opinion ruling that the government violated the constitution and the law and not only cant we read it, but our representatives in congress. Edward snowden, do you think hed ever accept a deal to come back to the United States . I think the concern is whistleblowers in the United States have become the number one enemy of the United States government, which is incredibly disturbing. Mcclatchey is reporting great things about how the Obama Administration, how they equate it with treason and all kinds of program. The New York Times has, as well, so unless that culture which investigative journalists in the United States have been warning about for several years changes fundamentally, he doesnt believe he can get a fair trial. Whistleblowers in the United States are put in prison for decades and basically disappeared as we just saw with bradley manning. Until that happens, i dont think he is willing to come back. Hes going to instead exercise his well established right to seek asylum from political persecution. Okay, glenn, thanks very much for joining us this morning. Now to respond to all of this, two key members of the house Intelligence Committee, Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger, democrat from maryland, and new york republican peter king. Thank you both for joining you us. I want to start and go back to the threat with the embassy. Ill let you talk about what Glenn Greenwald just said in just a moment. But i want to talk about that threat. I spoke to obamas top military adviser, general dempsey, about the Terror Threat, and this is what he said. Theres a significant threat stream, and were reacting to it. Is the threat to blow up an embassy, a consulate or Something Else . That part of it is unspecified, but the intent seems clear. And the intent is to what . The intent is to attack western, not just u. S. Interests. Representative ruppersberger, lets start with you. What specifics can you tell us . You heard what jon karl reported. This sounds like a very frightening, very credible threat. Yes, its a very credible threat, and its based on intelligence. You know, what we have to do now is most important is to protect americans throughout the world, whether the intelligence community, our military or people in the state department and citizens living throughout the world. We know that al qaeda and other people out there want to attack us and kill us and our allies. The good news is that we picked up intelligence, and thats what we do. Thats what nsa does. Nsas sole purpose is to get information intelligence to protect americans from attack. You heard jon report operatives are in place. Well, we can only say the intelligence that we get, and, by the way, intelligence is the best defense against terrorism. Those operatives are in place because weve received information that highlevel people from al qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula are talking about a major attack, and these are people at a high level. Now, whatever that intelligence is, we act upon it because our First Priority again is protect the americans that are in other parts of the world. Congressman king, this is also spread domestically. Were on a higher alert here in the country or at least beefed up security. I think americans dont really understand why this keeps growing in the last few days. First it was the embassy closing. Now domestically. Why the higher alert here in america . Well, quite frankly, martha, because this threat was so specific as to how enormous it was going to be and also theres certain dates given, but it didnt specify where its going to be and the assumption is that its probably most likely to happen in the middle east at or about one of the embassies but theres no guarantee of that at all. It basically could be in europe, it could be in the United States, it could be a series of combined attacks, the same concept as the 2006 liquid explosive planned attacks, whether there are going to be a series of attacks carried out almost simultaneously, so were ready for everything. This is what its about and the administration i think has tried to first with the embassies, then with the Global Travel advisory and also letting state and local governments know over the last several days of the nature of this threat that so we can be on guard so this is a wakeup call. Al qaeda is stronger than it was before 9 11 because its mutated and it spread and its spread in Different Directions and its the Arabian Peninsula that is probably the most deadly of all the al qaeda affiliates. Lets focus on these embassies for a moment. Congressman ruppersberger, if we can, is this more a reaction to benghazi because we dont know that the target is an embassy or a consulate. Look, we have to take all precautions, whatever, to protect american lives. It was unfortunate what happened with benghazi, and we need to learn about what happened to make sure that our highest priority will be to protect americans. So we need to make take every precaution necessary, and thats what were doing right now. Again, were relying on intelligence, but, you know, we get intelligence through singles intelligence, what nsa does and through human intelligence, but right now were concerned, and were attempting to prepare ourselves to protect americans. Thats the bottom line. I want your reaction to this. The New York Times reported this saturday that some analysts and congressional officials suggested friday that emphasizing a terrorist threat now is a good way to divert attention from the uproar over the nsas datacollection programs, and that if it showed the intercepts had uncovered a possible plot, even better. Whats your response to that . Well, i am glad you raised that issue because the bottom line is is that the nsas job is to do foreign intelligence. The whole purpose is to collect information to protect us. We have nsa people going to work every day that this whole purpose is to get information against terrorist attacks, and these people who work at nsa are hardworking people who follow the law. In fact, we have lost 20 members of the people working for nsa in iraq and afghanistan attempting to get information to help the troops. Now, this issue of metadata and that were violating the law is just not true. Thats absurd. We have checks and balances but what Edward Snowden leaked is very different than what were talking about here, tracking a terrorist. Representative king . Right. Yes, i mean as far as, you know, this being announced by the government, no, theres its absolutely crazy to say theres any conspiracy here. I mean, dutch has seen the intelligence. Ive seen it. The government would have been totally negligent if it did not take the actions taken. Whether there was any controversy over the nsa at all this would all these actions would have been taken. Im a republican. Im saying the administration ive had problems with the administration on different issues, well, what they are doing now is what has to be done. Theyd be derelict if they were not and, you know, we cant criticize them for doing too little with benghazi and now not criticize them for doing too much. Im giving them credit for what theyve learned from benghazi and thats why theyre firming up the embassies but as far as the worldwide alert, its absolutely warranted in this situation. I want a very Quick Reaction from both of you and i want to start with you, representative ruppersberger because Glenn Greenwald mentioned your name specifically. Are efforts being thwarted in trying to get information for members of congress . We have rules as far as the committee on what you can have and what you cannot have, however, based on that statement i just made is that since this incident occurred with snowden, weve had three different hearings for members of our Democratic Caucus and the Republican Caucus where general alexander has come with his deputy chris english to have any questions of people asked as it relates to this. And we will continue to do that because what were trying to do now is get the American Public to know more about whats going on, nsa is following the law and we have checks and balances. We have the courts. We have both the senate and house Intelligence Committee. We have the justice department. We have checks and balances here to make sure that nsa does not violate the law in what theyre doing and, you know, since these two programs have come into effect, especially the metadata theres not been one incident of the nsa breaking any law whatsoever but we can do better. I have to educate my caucus more, the Democratic Caucus and were trying to declassify as much as we can. We representative king, i want a very Quick Response from you, if you will. Thank you, representative ruppersberger. Okay, fine. Just a Quick Response. Over the last several weeks general alexander, all these top people have come in and subjected themselves to questioning from any member of congress at all including those most critical and found those who are most critical publicly ask the least amount of questions in private. But hes answered every question. They get the information, they sit there and they go they just so theyre just not telling the truth . With the members of congress. Ive never seen to me its unprecedented to have all of these top people from an administration during this time of crisis still come in and answer question after question after question, so anyone who says that congress is somehow being stonewalled is just wrong and is generally i think raised by people who are trying to make a name for themselves. Thank you very much for joining us. Good. Thank you, martha. And now for more on the Terror Threat and what it means, we welcome former secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Jeffrey Goldberg of bloomberg view. I want to start with you, secretary chertoff. Really alarming details this morning. Seems a very credible threat but not a specific target. Operatives in place at least in one place, thats believed to be yemen, but here at home, these beefedup security measures, what do you make of all this . Why at home . Well, first let me observe, as congressman ruppersberger did, that apparently the collection of this warning information came from the kinds of programs weve been discussing about, the ability to capture communications overseas. Now, that gives you very credible information. Its believable because youre hearing the bad guys themselves talking about doing something. The challenge is its not specific. They havent yet talked about a particular target or a particular location, and thats why you have a broad warning but one thats taken quite seriously. But it reminds me of those colorcoded days. That everybody gets used to it, so is this going to be the new normal once again . Are we going to have vague threats for the homeland, indeed, and undertake these measures all the time . Well, its actually quite rare to have this broad and yet so alarming and specific warning be publicly disseminated. Whats going to happen now, though, is theyre going to follow all the leads to see if theres any way to connect people here in the u. S. To some of the bad guys overseas and, by the way specific bad guys. Jeffrey, what does it mean overseas when we close all of these embassies . I mean the one thing that i notice is, they trumped the ambassadors on this. Thats sort of a callback to benghazi and ambassador chris stevens. They didnt care what the ambassador said. Were closing down these embassies. What does that do to diplomacy . Right, well, were in a probe benghazi environment, so theyre going to be hypercautious now. What it does is, i mean this is very problematic. Youre telling 21 countries, you know, we want them to believe that were a powerful country, an open country, a free country, and were preemptively closing our embassies because of a somewhat vague threat. It does signal that al qaeda is very effective at scaring us, and thats not necessarily a very good message for our allies in that region to hear. What do you take what do you make of the fact that the terrorists clearly broke Operational Security as its called. They were talking on cell phones or who knows what they were talking on. Could this all be a ruse . I mean, its always possible, but the reality is nobody is able to maintain 100 Operational Security all the time, and this does happen. They do make mistakes, and the ability to seize on those mistakes and get warnings is what all of this big intelligence apparatus is really about. This al qaeda splintered just as dangerous today as having a core al qaeda . In many way its more dangerous. Now we have 2. 0 or 3. 0 which is widely dispersed, a Younger Generation coming up with new ideas, not necessarily repeating what they have done in the past and see them from west africa into south asia and so theres a much broader battlefield. Jeffrey, i was going to say the same thing. The whole region, look at the whole region and this threat. Right, well, you know, this is whats interesting is that we might actually be in a more dangerous phase with al qaeda. Most of the al qaeda affiliates are al qaeda leaning groups have not formally targeted the United States. Theyre busy in syria. Theyre busy in iraq. Doesnt mean theyre not going to. The focus right now is this yemen affiliate, al asiri. He is the number one target. Which everybody by acclimation agrees is the most sophisticated bombmaker who is a specialist in that cartridge bomb, underwear bombs. These surgically implanted bombs and so he is the number one target. He is what the fear is about and i wouldnt be surprised if his name emerges in the coming days as the guy who were most worried about in this particular set of circumstances. And the idea that its so much more dangerous now in so many ways. Thats because we really dont we cant track all these people. I think we had three drone strikes in yemen just this week. Were still hitting pakistan, but if they splintered, they really are harder to track, correct . And thats why you see operations really in very many parts of the world because we now have to track more people and we have to incapacitate them and, unfortunately, this problem is not going to go away. Thanks very much. Thanks to both of you. Still to come, our powerhouse roundtable. Their take on the highprofile republican rift between Chris Christie and rand paul, plus our exclusive with joint chiefs chairman general martin dempsey. Does he know where Edward Snowden is . Could snowdens secret already be in the hands of the russians or chinese . Would that surprise you . No, it wouldnt surprise me. A quarter million tweeters musicare tweeting. Eamed. And 900 Million Dollars are changing hands online. Thats why the internet needs a new kind of server. One thats 80 smaller. Uses 89 less energy. And costs 77 less. Its called hp moonshot. And its giving the internet the room it needs to grow. This. Is going to be big. Its time to build a better enterprise. Together. Like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Its great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. At t mobile share for business. One bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. Now, everyones in the spirit of sharing. Hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend . No. [ male announcer ] share more. Save more. At t mobile share for business. Russia has stabbed us in the back and each day that snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist of the knife. Tough talk for senator Chuck Schumer after russia granted asylum to fugitive Edward Snowden this week. One of many challenges facing our next guest, general martin dempsey, president obamas top military adviser who is in the room for every National Security decision the commander in chief makes. Our exclusive interview happening as he enters his second term and perhaps most intense period as joint chiefs chairman with violence flaring across the mideast. But we started off with what the u. S. Should do about Edward Snowden. Do you know where he is . No, i dont. How serious is this that russia has done this . Well, you know, youve heard it characterized as disappointing, and, you know, that is the first word that comes to mind. Snowden is not a guy thats doing these things for honorable or noble purpose. You know, hes not doing this to make some kind of statement or spirited debate. He has caused us some considerable damage to our intelligence architecture. Our adversaries are changing the way that they communicate. My job is to protect the country, so i am very concerned about this. Do you know how much classified material he has right now . No, i do not. I do not, although its obviously significant. Is there a way for the russians or the chinese to get that information without physically grabbing his computer . Well, i dont know. I mean, thats one of those technical means that would exceed, you know, my knowledge, but id certainly be concerned about that. Would that surprise you . No, it wouldnt surprise me. It wouldnt surprise you that they might have already gotten that information. No, it wouldnt surprise me. Another challenge on dempseys radar, the growing crisis in egypt where we saw firsthand recently the passionate protesters determined to get ousted president Mohamed Morsi back into office. We wanted to see it in egypt. We went to the palace and we wanted democracy but we didnt see it. Reporter in a highly controversy statement this week, secretary of state john kerry described the overthrow of morsi this way to run the country there is a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy. Do you agree with that statement . Ive actually been asked what i feel it is at this point, and my answer has typically been, i dont know yet. This will only be apparent as we see what the Transitional Government intends to do. He was a democratically elected president. How can you call it restoring democracy . Well, thats why i didnt sign up for that characterization when you just asked me. I think i think, frankly, that we will know what it is soon, but it may not be apparent so kerry may have misspoken there. I dont know. Im not going to speak for the secretary of state. Hes the leading diplomat of our nation. I want to move on to syria. Uhhuh. This week we saw video of Bashar Al Assad just outside damascus, a place that was previously held by the rebels, now retaken by Syrian Government troops. Is he winning . This kind of conflict, an internal civil war insurgency, always ebbs and flows. He appears to be gaining momentum, but i dont think itll be sustainable. What happens next . Well, what happens next is the source of continuing discussions about our strategy and whether we should become directly involved or become involved through support to the opposition Building Partners in the region, humanitarian relief. Now, were doing were doing quite a bit. The one thing were not doing is becoming engaged directly. Let me talk about iraq. Sure. I have seen you, been with you numerous times in iraq and through the years. I think the first time we met was right after the initial invasion. How do you view iraq today . I think july was the most violent month in five years, about a thousand civilians killed. Was iraq a success . When i look back at the sacrifices we made in iraq, we did, in fact, provide them with an historic opportunity to be what they want to be. Now, im not suggesting theyre where they need where they want to be or where we would like them to be, because, again, this regional this kind of unleashing of what probably is centuriesold animosities is going to take a while for them to get through. How much of what you learned from iraq are you applying to syria . It has branded in me the idea that the use of military power must be part of an overall strategic solution that includes International Partners and the whole of government, and that simply the application of force rarely produces, in fact, maybe never produces the outcome we seek. Meanwhile, back home a serious challenge within the militarys own ranks. A disturbing increase in sexual assaults, an estimated 26,000 just last year. The debate, whether commanders should be involved in the decision to prosecute offenders. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wants to take it out of the chain of command. Why should it not be so if half of women do not want to go to their commanders to report this . Yeah, a victim doesnt have to go to the commander. There are at least nine other places where a victim can go, and, by the way, we are doing other things other than trying to help the senators that are interested in legislative changes to the uniform code of military justice. Theres things we can do ourselves. We can, as the air force has done, we can accept a program for special victims counsels. Theres youre looking at all sorts were looking at every possible way and openminded to every single option. Okay. Wrapping up right now, you had a grandchild, the eighth grandchild this week, right . I did. And your job was to do what . Well, my job was to babysit the newest grandsons 2yearold twin brothers, which actually was probably the most difficult thing ive done since ive been chairman. You were telling me that one of the things your grandsons and all your grandkids love is you singing the National Anthem at national parks. How did that come about . What so proudly we hail this is a true story. I had gone to throw out a pitch, and right before the pitch someone had performed the National Anthem, and it wasnt very good and i no, it wasnt. And i take the National Anthem really seriously, and that wont surprise you, and i said to one of the owners, you couldnt do any better than that . And he kiddingly said, you think you can do better . And i said yeah. He said, okay, well set a date, and we set the fourth of july. You chose that, right . I chose the fourth of july and youll also notice, lest you think im a brave man, i brought four of the best singers i could find from the army chorus. For the land of the free and together we sang the National Anthem. It was really moving actually. It was a beautiful performance, and ive seen many others of your performances of singing. Anything you want to sing right now . No. I knew you were going to say that. And i knew you were going to ask. Yes, you did. You were prepared for it, and i cant sing either, so thanks very much for joining us. Good to see you again. Coming up Soledad Obrien joins our powerhouse roundtable. So much to take on this morning including Anthony Weiners latest attempts at damage control. A possible boycott of the russian olympics and that republican family feud between Chris Christie and rand paul. Even called governor christie the king of bacon. Christie would have been offended, but in fairness that is what it says on his apron. Christie would have been offended, but in fairness that is what it says on his apron. Anthony weiner still in the spotlight showing no sign of dropping out of the new york city mayors race insisting this weekend he and his wife are having fun on the campaign trail. Our powerhouse roundtable is here to dive into all of that, but first abcs linsey davis joins us with the latest. Good morning, linsey. Reporter good morning, martha. Its been another rough week for Anthony Weiner, but he believes he can rebound. Its been nearly two weeks since his bombshell admission, but hes still answering more questions about his sexting than his citys ideas for new york. Anthony weiner finished out the week with a massive local media push. Ive got embarrassing things in my background. Reporter sitting down with interviews with the local new York Networks coming clean and insisting he is 100 not sexting right now. These things are behind me 100 . Theres not any kind of online relationship now . Nothing now. Reporter the embattled politician has slid from first place in the polls for mayor of new york mayor to fourth. Despite weiners efforts to get his campaign back on message, the former congressman continues to be confronted. You lied to the people of new york. Reporter to the pundits and politicians who insist he should drop out of the race, he responded with this online ad. You dont know new york. You certainly dont know me. Quit isnt the way we roll in new york city. Reporter friday weiner announced the Campaign Manager who quit in the wake of the sexting scandal would be replaced by this woman, camille joseph, formerly the campaigns political director. As for his communications director, barbara morgan, who went on a cursefilled rant to a reporter about a tellall article in a newspaper by a former weiner intern, she made headlines of her own with this tweet of a swear jar stuffed with hundred dollar bills. The photo captioned, should have known better. Been better, gotta pay up. His wife, huma, has taken extended vacation from her job with Hillary Clinton, but weiner promises we will see her back by his side again on the campaign trail between now and primary day, which is september 10th. Martha . Thanks to you, linsey. The roundtable is here now to weigh in. George will, ceo of starfish media, Soledad Obrien, abcs senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny, neera tanden from the center for American Progress and abcs own matthew dowd, and, george will, im going to start with you on Anthony Weiner. Why are we and maybe i shouldnt say we still following this so closely . And what i hope are the last words im ever required to utter about this man, say this, in his brief but not brief enough congressional career, he was 1 435 of 1 2 of one of our three branches of government during which tenure he made no discernible mark on the national life. Were doing this because hes peculiar and because its august. And because its like a car wreck i think you told me and cant take your eyes off. Its a guilty pleasure. Jeff zeleny, how does he stay in . We hear it over and over hes staying in. Its all behind him. Hes staying because he has nothing else to do. I mean, he is trying to sort of rehabilitate his career, trying to rehabilitate his public life here, but george is right. I mean we are not going to be talking about Anthony Weiner for that much longer. The primary is september 10th, so hell stay in till then probably, but hes out of money. That ad we saw is online, internet only. He is no longer or soon to be no longer a serious major candidate for the mayor of new york. The other people in the race actually have benefited from him. And huma is going on vacation. I know youre a friend of humas. What does that tell us, if anything . I dont think it tells us very much. I mean, huma is a friend of mine, but i think really jeff is right. This race is in a few weeks. Its going to be over soon. New yorkers are very discerning. Theyre going to be able to tell, you know, theyre going to kick the tires on the mayoral candidacy and i dont expect much to change over the next couple of weeks. Soledad, any help . The conversation is missing though,er right . Soledad, any help . Its missing, though. Were all talking about Anthony Weiner and sydney leathers and this conversation is here and all these issues that had not been debated in new york politics for a long time because bloomberg has been sort of the frontrunner in election after election. We could be talking about school choice. We could be talking about some of the Charter Schools that are actually failing new york city children. We could be talking about this massive income gap in new york city. We could be talking about the damage from sandy and the damage from irene, all those actually you and george will should get together and talk about all those issues. Well be the only two. Everyone else wants to hear what sydney leathers is tweeting and its unfortunate because its had an effect on those other candidates. Theyve had to talk about their personal lives instead of policy. As a voter in new york im kind of disappointed. None of this could be good for the clintons. Well, i think thats ultimately, ultimately where this falls back on. I think thats going to be somewhat problematic because people are going to get through this. The good news about this is Anthony Weiner is in fourth place falling fast, and however big of a narcissist he is and wants to stay in this race because of his own sense he needs to serve his own self, why he sexts, why he did what he did in congress, which is basically go on television all the time. I mean, Anthony Weiner was basically on tv or on the computer all the time during the course of this and i do actually think its a good thing that a narcissist of his level is not going to be mayor of new york anymore. Though politics has a tendency to draw them. I do think, and other people can speak to this, i do think it is problematic for a clinton emergence in 2016 because i think the country always doesnt it smells something. It may not attach to Hillary Clinton at all, but they dont like the smell of something, and if they think this is going to be a throwback to all the conversations and back in the 90s this is a problem. Lets go to the picture of Hillary Clinton. This is the week Hillary Clinton came to washington, d. C. And had a casual lunch this week with president obama. A lovely lunch outside. She met with Vice President biden. I think were creeping pretty fast to 2016. Yeah, and i would say, look, this election is three years away, and, you know, hillary has done a fantastic job. I did work for hillary. I should say that. Shes done a fantastic job. I dont think people are going to make any connection between the mayors race now and 2016, 2015. Thats a lifetime in politics, and i actually think this week demonstrated how much unity there is on the democratic side versus the republican side. She was able to come here. Theres strong support for her. Shes able to have lunch with the president , Vice President , colleagues of hers, you know, i think she has a lot of strength going forward. Do you think republicans will forget about the Anthony Weiner scandal and how Hillary Clinton may or may not tie into that with huma . I gather the theory is not that republicans might not forget but that this reminds the country i love the word reminds the country of the seamier side of the clinton presidency. America may have attention deficit disorder, but it does not have amnesia and doesnt need weiner to remind them. Nothing goes away in three years. I dont think. Nothing goes away. Lets turn to those republicans. This week we saw a rift forming between two pillars of the Republican Party, governor Chris Christie and senator rand paul. If he cared about protecting this country, maybe he wouldnt be in this gimme, gimme, gimme all the money you have this washington. Maybe he should start cutting the pork barrel spending that he brings home to kentucky, but i doubt he would because most washington politicians only care about bringing home the bacon. This is the king of bacon talking about bacon. If we can sit down, im inviting him for a beer. I dont really have time for that at the moment. Good for the Republican Party . Well, actually there is a rising libertarian stream that Chris Christie has said is a very dangerous thought. So lets be clear about what libertarianism is and what it is not. It is not anarchism. It has a role in government. What libertarian says, it comes in many flavors and degrees of severity and it basically says before the government, it bridges the freedom of an individual or several individuals contracting together. That government ought to have, a, a compelling reason and, b, a constitutional warrant for doing so. Now, if mr. Christie thinks thats a dangerous thought, a number of people are going to say that mr. Christie himself may be dangerous. Jeff zeleny. I think that governor christie actually emerges at least the shortterm winner of this fight. He is one of the few republicans willing to take on rand paul. Around capitol hill theres so many republicans who are afraid to say anything against senator paul or his father ron paul because theyre sort of worried about all these followers they have and they have a lot of supporters but governor christie first and foremost is running for reelection of the governor of new jersey. Hes likely to win in november, so this is good for him now. Longterm it gives him a brand that hes not afraid of rand paul. But george is right, theres this growing libertarian strain that will absolutely be front and center in the 2016 primary and it is going to define who republicans put forward. A fight over who won . Well, the republicans and rub leadership and the establishment has to be very careful about attacking libertarians i think in this country. Generally and republicans specifically. This is not just a Libertarian Movement in a country that started in the last ten years. I was out at walden this past week and reread thoreau and basically the father of libertarianism in this count in a time of great change. Ronald reagan described it as the heart of the conservative movement. I think you have to be careful, compassionate and have some sense of limited government but in the end who benefits the most is rand paul because he represents a very strong Rising Movement in the country and the republicans and i think he benefits. The democrats see, i think libertarianism this week has demonstrated a lot of problems. When youve seen the strain in congress, whats really happening is its realism. Its taking on the libertarian wing of the Republican Party is whats driving these debates which is ensuring that the congress cant act. Boehner is being defeated again and again within his party. The unique moment were in is that there are so many rupp trues, National Security issues, what the role of government is, food stamps, a whole slew of issues over the last weeks where weve seen republicans actually unable to govern because the basic form the basis of their party, the tea party is really driving them to be able to say no to everything. So in the end do the democrats win out of this . No, they both win. This is basically, hey, everybody, im running in 2016, and this is the kind of republican i will be, and theyre laying out the difference, and i think what youre going to see is this range, right, with Chris Christie on one side, rand paul on the other and whatever candidates are in between who are also taking their sides and thats the challenge i think is going to be when you look back at the gop autopsy, right, is which Republican Party are we going to be . Can you get through a primary and get through do we know, george . If the indictment of libertarianism is is that it prevented the passage of an execrable farm bill, the libertarians can live with that, right . Okay, it also said the position of the Republican Party now is that were going to double cut the people who are hungry. Were going to say well give double cuts on food stamps because we want to give more to ag subsidies. Challenge. Ink, is th senator mccain said all this is a moot point if republicans do not sort of go for it on immigration reform. It will not matter who they support. Thats another thing. That autopsy youre talking about. The huge benefit among republicans in my view is social issues arent part of the conversation right now, and i think in the end if republicans can keep social issues off the debate going into 2016, and its about finances, about the role of government, republicans will benefit from that. If social issues well [ all talking at once ] between rand paul and Chris Christie. It will be next week. At this moment. Everybody is all riled up about this rift. I want to ask you very quickly, jeff, this week we saw president obama make another attempt at a grand bargain this week. Where does that go . It is a tough thing. Its a good thing that congress is out for the month of august because they really think that a few constructive leaders can come together and work out some framework of something, but that is the key showdown in september. October 1st, you know, the new budget year is looming. I think on this issue what weve seen over the last week is that we have really poor growth. We have growth, but its pretty anemic, and whats really upsetting about where we are is that washington is inflicting it. Theres no economic mobility in this country, and everybody realizes that, and both parties are not addressing that issue. Okay. Thanks to all of you. Thanks, everyone. Coming up, russias controversial laws against homosexuality. Will they spark an olympic boycott . Plus, baseballs steroids scandal. The latest on yankee star Alex Rodriguez under suspicion and firing back. Theres more than one party that benefits from me not ever stepping back on the field, and thats not my teammates, and its not the yankee fans. Coming up, the cloud sti hanging over baseball, plus that touching tribute on twitter this week. Nprs scott simon says goodbye to his mom. He joins us next. He joins us next. Can save by sharing. , a s like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Its great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. At t mobile share for business. One bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. Now, everyones in the spirit of sharing. Hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend . No. [ male announcer ] share more. Save more. At t mobile share for business. Ill take proper precautions, but at the same time i wont stop being myself. I wont stop being johnny weir, the gay fabulous ice skater person walking down the street. That is openly gay american figure skater johnny weir who says he wont boycott the Olympic Games in russia despite that countrys controversial law against homosexuality. George is back to talk about that and more, and were joined by Christine Brennan from usa today and lz granderson from espn the magazine. Christine, i want to start with you. Do you think the Olympic Committee is really missing an opportunity here . I do, martha. I think the international Olympic Committee could basically say to the russian government, you must change this law, and heres why. It is a great gift, and its a great bargaining chip to have the Olympic Games given to a country. Russia, putin wanted these olympics more than anything. He himself lobbied for the Olympic Games several years ago, so just as the opportunity was missed in china with dissidents being thrown in jail because the olympics were held in china, the ioc missed an opportunity there to demand human rights change for generations. The same thing its really quite extraordinary whats going on in russia. Even if they say they wont arrest anybody, you have people attacking progay rallies, all sorts of things going on. Exactly, and the olympics at the end of the day, martha, the olympics is about inclusion. This is all about having athletes of the world show up and come, obviously theres commercialism, et cetera, but the bottom line is, this is a chance for the olympics to tell russia this is not acceptable for generations. Lz, is the Obama Administration missing an opportunity here . What do you think should happen . Well, absolutely. Not necessarily the Obama Administration but certainly the secretary of state. You know, in 2011 Hillary Clinton gave, you know, arguably one of her most historical speeches in u. N. History when she talked about gay rights being human rights, and this was john kerrys opportunity to follow up with that, to show some consistency. The fact that we havent really heard from him, from his office regarding this issue, the fact that we had to have 83 lawmakers send a letter to him asking him to come out and say something, his support of gay olympians i think is really, really a poor sign of consistency from the secretary of state about gay rights being human rights. And i will tell you one other thing, im more concerned about the gay people and lbgt people who are still going to be in russia once the olympics leave. Thats the importance of the secretary of state saying something. Because its not just about what happens to the people who visit, but its about the people who live there and call russia home. Thanks, lz. I want to move to baseball and steroids and arod and what happens this week, and hes basically said, im in. Im staying. George. The New York Times this morning reports that his lawyers are preparing for a lawsuit that could draw Major League Baseball into potentially embarrassing testimony. Who does he think is going to be embarrassed . The implication of that is arod is holding Major League Baseball hostage. Hes taken himself hostage and is threatening to shoot himself. All the evidence and theres a mountain of it that Major League Baseball has gathered is in the possession of the Players Association and arod himself. He knows what hes looking at and i think hell settle. Christine . Well, when you look at what happened with ryan braun last week, you know, he had been adamant that he had not done anything, and then he took the 65game suspension. This is mountains of evidence that bio that Major League Baseball has against all these baseball players, apparently ten of them in all. This is these are records, these are documents. This is not your grandmothers or grandfathers drug test anymore. This is as if you were trying to get evidence in a criminal trial. Major League Baseball has the goods on these guys and arod is in big trouble. Thank you very much and thanks to you, lz, for joining us. Now our sunday spotlight shining this week on popular npr host scott simon and his unique tribute to his mom patricia. A tribute in tweets sent from her hospital room before she died at age 84. Scott was by her side for five days with his blackberry sharing pain, charm and humor. For scotts over 1 million followers, the tweets touched a chord. Some thought it was a little too personal, but so many more were moved by his respect and adoration for his mom, all captured in no more than 140 characters. Some examples, i know and might be near as this is only day of my adulthood ive seen my mother and she hasnt asked, why that shirt . I tell my mother, youll never stop teaching me. She said, well, dont blame me for everything. I love holding my mothers hand. Havent held it like this since i was 9. Why did i stop . I thought it unmanly . What crap. I just felt there was something in there that needed to be shared. When i would sit there at her bedside, and i would hold her hand, things would occur to me, and it was also a way of me taking notes. It was also a way of me keeping this experience and honoring her. For me and honoring her. You had a record for the world. I couldnt stop reading them, and i think part of it was we could all relate to that. Yeah. Dying is really the one universal experience. Its something were all going to have. She said to me at one point, you know, you and i can get through this, baby. The hard part is going to be for you later, and shes right. That said, shes absolutely right. I think what struck me too and probably everybody else was the humor in your tweets. I think its a way of getting through. We were up continually i guess about 48 hours before she died, and i would tell her she needed to rest. She said at one point, no, i dont, stating the obvious, and just you know, and when she looked at me at one point and said, darling, i tell you, these great deathbed speeches, they all had to be written in advance. It was just utterly hilarious. I want to read the tweet that got to me the most. The heavens over chicago have opened and Patricia Lyons simon newman has stepped onstage. My mother is an old showgirl. She was the John James Harris spray girl, and it occurred to me at some point in the middle of all this, my mother was giving me one last great performance. She was making it easier for us to live with what was coming, and she didnt want to burden us with her pain, and im utterly convinced that when the heavens over chicago parted, and she stepped there, there was an enormous round of applause and an ovation from everyone from shakespeare to billy rose congratulating her. Our thanks to scott simon, and now we honor our fellow americans who serve and sacrifice. This week, the pentagon released the names of four soldiers killed in afghanistan. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news with david muir tonight. George is back next week and we hope you will be too. Good morning. George is back next week and we hope you will be too. Good morning