South koreas yuna kim unscathed flawless l flawlessly but loss the gold star to a russian skater, Adelina Sotnikova. Good afternoon, everyone. Im jake tapper. Welcome to the lead. Well begin with breaking news in the world lead. The ukrainian president , the ukrainian opposition leaders and European Union came to the table and made an agreement to hopefully end the bloodshed that weve seen this week in the ukraine but there are two parties i did not mention. The u. S. And russia. And yet the deal was the topic of discussion when president obama called his counterpart, russian president , Vladimir Putin just a few minutes ago. Yes, the u. S. Denounced the violence and, yes, russias influence is deeply woven into the conflict in the ukraine but neither country played a public role in this mediation. The white house says everyone benefits from an end to the clashes in the ukraine between the u. S. And an try government protesters which has left scores of people dead. It is in russias interests for the violence to end in the ukraine as it is in the interest of the United States and our european friends and, most importantly, the ukrainian people. As you recall, the protests in the ukraine began and demonstrators want to see their future aligned with the u. S. , not with similar Vladimir Putin. Our goal is not to see some cold war where were awarding competition with russia. Our goal is to make sure that the people of the ukraine are able to make decisions for themselves about their future. Not a chess board. Maybe more like a board from the game of risk . Under the peace deal in the ukraine, the constitution has been changed to curtail the president s powers and he could be tossed out in elections that will be moved up from next year to this year. The last time president obama and Vladimir Putin spoke was january 21st where the topic was syria, security for the olympics and, quote, how best to advance shared u. S. russian interests. I have a feeling that the conversation was a little different this time around. Joining me is tony. Good to see you, as always. What is the president s message to putin . What is he trying to accomplish with this call . First of all, the ukraine was on the brink of a political implosion and now theres a way forward and that is a significant progress. The president spoke a short while ago to the president and thats the critical thing now, making sure what is agreed gets implemented. How much did the u. S. Have to do with this agreement at all . Oh, a lot. I think this was a very good example of the United States and europe working very closely together in tight coordination to help get this done. You had the president coordinating with chancellor merkel yesterday, the Vice President on the phone repeatedly with president yanukovych and yesterday they were trying to negotiate this deal. I dont think this would have happened without the coordinated efforts of the United States and europe. When the ukraine was in crisis on wednesday, president obama was in mexico meeting with leaders of canada and mexico. I want to play what he said. Well be monitoring very carefully the situation, recognizing that along with our European Partners and the International Community there will be consequences if people go over the line. The idea of sanctions, the administration has not been clear to the press or the public what those consequences might be. Have you been clearer to yanukovych and the ukrainians and, if so, what are the tools in this tool kit . Yes, we have been very clear and i think that had an important impact in getting people to move. First of all, weve already issued some visa restrictions on those who were responsible for the violence and repression and under the law we cant reveal the names of the people on that list but they are aware of it and that had an impact. We also told them that other steps could be forthcoming and i think that had a real impact on their thinking. Not just folks in the government but some of the strong guards who support the government and also didnt like the idea of possibly not being able to travel here to europe to do business in both places. So i think the possibility of those consequences was a real motivating factor. I have to say, i was a little surprised when president obama used the term people stepping over the line just because the red line with syria has been such a controversy because the United States threatened action if chemical weapons were used against people and then stepped back from that. I know theres this chemical weapons deal. Theoretically, are you not at all concerned that when the president talks about lines being crossed, because of what happened in syria and the threat of use of force not being carried out, are you not concerned at all in the white house that that may ring hollow when the president makes a threat . Ive got to admit, i dont really understand the criticism. When it comes to syria, we made it very clear we were prepared to act to deal with the chemical weapons. And what resulted was an agreement with russia and with us that syria adhere to to give up the chemical weapons. And had we acted militarily, we would not have been able to remove all of the chemical weapons. The targets largely would not have been the chemical weapons. Because we were prepared to use force, syria has now destroyed all of its capacity to produce chemical weapons and the weapons themselves are moving out of the country. So that, to me, is a tremendous success success and it was done without having to fire a shot. Obviously the relations with russia have not exactly been incredibly strong in recent years because we have the problem with syria, the problem with the ukraine, human rights issues, edward snowden. President obama and Vladimir Putin are on the same page when it comes to the ukraine now . Jake, i can tell you this. President putin said he supported the agreement reached in the ukraine. He said he wanted to work cooperatively with us, with the europeans, the International Monetary fund to help with a package going forward. It was a very positive conversation. They also talked about iran and the cooperation that our teams are having together in working with iran to try and get a nuclear agreement. Indeed, we just had a session, as you know, this week where the russians played a very positive role. We obviously have our differences over syria but well see you tomorrow. There will be a vote in the u. N. Security council on humanitarian access on syria. Hopefully that will come out in a positive way. Look, we obviously have our differences. But what weve demonstrated is when were able to Work Together we can get things done that benefit rush sharks the United States, and the International Community. Tony, lets quickly turn to venezuela. Were often seeing bloody violence and nicholas maduro. Why isnt the u. S. Being as aggressive with Nicolas Maduro . Jake, when it comes to venezuela, weve been very clear in our views but we also dont want to give maduro the execution of making the United States look like the problem. This is a problem that is of his own making and they need to resolve it. Putting the United States in the middle of the story just creates an easy distraction and an ability for him to point pictures at something that is not the problem. Tony blinken, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for having me. Coming up on the lead, a controversial bill sitting on the arizona governors desk. 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Lets say a gay couple walks into a business and the owner refuses to serve them. The couple sues and the owner loses, that is violates his religious beliefs. Which party in this hypothetical was actually discriminated against . Now, it may not be much of a quandary in arizona if jan brewer signs a bill passed by state lawmakers. It would allow individuals and businesses to cite their religious beliefs against lawsuits claiming discrimination. Supporters of the bill, like the republicans who passed it in the state legislature, say that their beliefs are being substantially burdened. A photographer was sued for refusing to i can wedding pictu a samesex college. Opponents say its discrimination. Gays and lesbians could be denied, say, medical treatment as a result of the law. Lets bring in one of the republicans who voted in favor of the bill Arizona State representative john cavanaugh. Theres a lot of discussion about what this bill would allow and not allow. Theres obviously some tension in this country between religious liberty and discrimination. This bill would protect Business Owners from lawsuit against discrimination if those actions were part of the Business Owners religious views. So give me an example of where this might be applied. Youre saying it wouldnt be applied for somebody refusing to serve a samesex couple at a restaurant. So where would it apply . Well, it would only apply where a person had sincerely held religious beliefs. So, for example, if you were to go after a physician or orthodox against abortion and you were suing them because they wouldnt perform abortion, thats where it would apply. For instance, if there was somebody religious observant and believed homosexuality to be a sin, owned a hotel that was opened to the public and are they allowed to not let a samesex couple get a room at that hotel . This law would not shield that particular hotel owner or a waiter in a restaurant because were not talking here about substantial burdens. Lets take the case of a photographer. One of the reasons why this bill came to light was you had a photographer who was being sued because the photographer would not officiate or take pictures at a gay wedding. Being involved in an action, a gay marriage that your religion says it wrong, thats a substantial burden because youre deeply involved in the ceremony. If that same gay couple came in for a passport photo, there is not a substantial burden upon your religion and you could not use this law to do that. But it is in the eye of the beholder, i suppose, where the substantial burden is, for example, disapproved because of his religious beliefs, he could refuse to treat a sexually transmitted disease of a gay man . Is that would that be part of the significant burden . No, not under this law. Treating a sexual disease with anybody is not a burden on ones religion. I think what you have to understand is that these laws, this protection, they came about the federal government in the 1990s. Arizona passed a certain law. And what the law says is the government cant substantially burden a persons free exercise of religion unless theres a compelling reason and even then only in the least restrictive manner. All we did was put two changes to that law. The first change was, we clarified that the definition of a earn approximate, tperson, no but corporations and associations and the hobby lobby case was the reason for that. The second thing we did was expand what it protects against. The original federal and state law says it only protects you against a government action. We said, hey, this should also cover a private person using a Government Law and as a concession representative calf havevana a lot of gay and lesbian couples, it sounds as though youre saying businesses now, if somebody has a religious objection to what they do, it sounds as though youre saying they now have an ability to discriminate. I dont yet understand exactly where this burden is. The examples i gave you say they dont meet the burden. Where is the line . They are incorrect. The law about the substantial burden has been in effect federally and at the state level since the 1990s. We simply changed who it protects and included associations and said it also cover covers somebody when they are being sued on a you la. We increase legislation against discrimination. It has to be a sincerely held belief and then we said the burden cant be any burden on the religion, it has to be a substantial one. We made it harder for somebody to hide behind this law. I dont understand why now since the 1990s, theres been no concern or demonstrations about this. We passed a law that does minor clarifications and makes it harder to discriminate and they are taking advantage of it to get publicity. The governor has not said, whether shes going to veto it or allow it to become law. Do you think shes going to allow it to become law . I think she will. The main objection last year was that the terminology was too vague. And it would be too easy for people to gain this law and she required a tightening of the language and thats exactly what we did. We tightened the language. We took in Arizona Supreme Court tests to make sure that its a true burden. So i think all of her problems have been met. State representative cavanaugh, thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Thank you. In other national news, they are distinguished in the wars of the 20th century but now long after they left, four died on the field. They will finally receive the highest military decoration in the land, the medal of honor. Most of them were minorities who may have been overlooked in the past. 21 of the honorees will receive the medal of model postumustously. Congratulations to them all and thank you for your service. Coming up on the lead, Michelle Obama hits the late night to make a push for obamacare and shes no longer afraid from her daughters to get a laugh. And a life of purpose and meaning was infused into a corporate culture. There was a commitment to creating new jobs out of recycled metals, right here in america. And a bank that helped carolyn rafaelians business grow from a rhode island storefront into a global sensation. Thats the beauty of connecting a vision to an enterprise. Thats bank of america. Could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. S Everybody Knows that. Well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no ones around, it does make a sound . Ohhh. Ugh. Geico. 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