They dont know yet how far with this. But people are were tired already of this not having a relationship with america and now they will see an opportunity to increase business and things will come from america that will create jobs. People in cuba believe that we have so much in common with america. And with americans. And so this is certainly good for both partners we believe. Cuba plays a very Important Role and now they are expressing how happy they are and they see america with different eyes. So it opens a new market for american producers is good for the American Business with the
congressman, your thoughts as alan gross comes home and the possibility of normalization with cuba. First of all, were always elated when an american gets to come home, so i congratulate alan gross. He got his freedom, he got to spend hannukah with his family. Thats wonderful news. What is not wonderful news is that the families of the brothers to the rescue shootdown, those four wonderful american patriots, they are spending yet one more christmas without their loved ones and they died at the Hands Of Fidel and raul castro. What is sad is that tomorrow the cuban people will wake up and they will still have no political freedom. They will have no human rights to be expected. There are no Political Parties that exist in cuba, that has not changed. Obama has given away the store. Has given everything to the Castro Regime. Of course the regime is happy. We got nothing in return. Congressmanelect carbello,
you are a new generation of cuban american. Your generation, does it feel in South Florida, does it feel the same way as the older generation or are they looking forward to some sort of normalization . We all wanting the same thing for the cuban people. We all want the same thing for the United States and thats a Strong America that leads and a free cuba. Nothing that happened today gets us closer to those goals. The president of the United States has made every american serving abroad less safe today. Hes provided a blueprint for dictators throughout the world. If you want to extract unilateral concessions from the United States, all you have to do is hold an american hostage and be patient. We have given cuba everything at the president s disposal for alan gross. Were happy that hes back. Were happy that hes back. But alan gross wins today, thats a good thing. The cuban government wins. But u. S. National security loses. Freedom and democracy throughout
the world lose. Congresswoman, was our Foreign Policy with cuba working . We have this 1996 act where we have this embargo and i guess the president is trying to sort of soften up some aspects of it. Im not even sure if the law allows him to do it but thats a wh whole other debate. Was our Foreign Policy working . You bring up a good point about him possibly breaking the law. I believe he has broken the law. There are three laws that he has violated. Were going to do an investigation about the clarity of how he got the mission to do this. But what it shows, greta, when you ask a key question, has our policy been working. Well, the policy of 190 other countries who have been wheeling and dealing and going to Tourist Trips and doing everything with castro, they have not brought cuba any closer to freedom or democracy. So its not that the United States policy has not worked, the other policy of engagement
has not worked. And in fact what President Obama has done today, normalizing relations, that will not bring the cuban people any closer to democracy either. The one that will not change is the cuban communist dictatorial regime. These guys are not going to change. Congressmanelect, i started to ask you before about men and women ine. Youre in your early 30s if i remember from the last time we talked. Do they feel the same way you do about it or is that more of an older generation thing as we look towards cuba . Yeah, greta, i told you our generation wants the same thing that all generations living in this country want. We want to see the cuban people free. My parents were born in cuba. They had to leave. My grandfather served a political sentence, Prison Sentence in cuba. So we feel it in our hearts. And today we are very sad because we feel that for the
first time in this 56yearlong drama that the cuban people have lived, for the first time the person in the white house is on the wrong side of history. We want the president of the United States to stand with the cuban people. We want the president of the United States to stand with those heroes that are sitting in castros jail today, and we want the president of the United States to stand for a strong United States that leads with a clear voice and with moral authority, and that is not what happened today. And we shouldnt be surprised, greta, because this is the same president thats at the table with the iranians. This is the same president that draws red lines and ignores them. So what happened today is alarming, but its not surprising. Thank you to both of you for joining us. Thank you, greta. Thank you, carlos. Congressman Chris Van Hollen has more on the Government Plane that lifted Alan Gross Out of cuba after a very tough five years in prison and landed back on u. S. Soil. He joins us. Nice to see you, congressman. Before i get to the question about how the flight was, what did we gain out of this . What we gained is a change in policy that might finally have a chance might finally. To enpower the cuban people. What we know the policy has been a failure. What was the failure at spent of it . The failure was that by isolating and punishing cuba, you were somehow going to get a change in regime from the castros or have an opening in cuba clearly failed. What it did help do is sustain the Castro Regime. The castro brothers have survived eight president s. Except that were sort of getting to the end of this biological clock with the two castros. I mean they cant last forever. Theyre both getting to be pretty elderly gentlemen. And cuba isnt a threat to us in any way. But we now have an opportunity to empower the cuban
people because the one thing that theyre probably most afraid of is more engagement, more travel from americans, more trade, more communication, opening up the world to the cuban people. No one is talking about the Castro Regime changing their mind, thats not the issue. They didnt change their mind with 54 years of the failed policy we have. More engagement with the cuban people, a little more taste of free market and free ideas will, i think, encourage more demand for change from the cuban people. What was that plane ride like . Did alan gross when did you first see him . We first saw him when we walked off the plane and the tarmac into a build in havana. As you can see from the pictures hes lost a lot of weight, hes very fragile. Where was his wife at that time . She was the first to come in the room. Thats why his face lit up. Judy has been fighting for five years to bring alan home. You see that picture . Its a great picture. I can tell you he was in great spirits. Obviously even greater spirits when he got on the plane and it lifted off. Hes maintained some strength, even though hes wiry and gave everybody a big bear hug. This is not new to you. He campaigned for you years ago. Alan was one of the people who helped go door to door in my first campaign. After he was taken prisoner, i worked very closely with his wife, judy, and his entire team to try and make this day come about. But there were lots of ups and lots of downs you got a good phone call the night before this election, i hear. One of the things that happened is as we got over the years we were ail to get alan more privileges, including calling. It used to be once a week and then he got to be on the phone so, yes, i got a call from him in october saying best wishes in the election. So he did bring me luck. It mmhmm been amazing after you left cuba airspace. When they leave that airspace and enter the u. S. Airspace, what a thrill that is. It was. You can see a great weight lifted. Did they announce that . And he kind of said yeah, you know. So it was a great moment. Its always great to have an American Home who was held overseas. Congressman, thank you. I imagine it was a great trip and lots of fun. It was fun, but everyone was very, you know, on edge until we actually got alan on the plane. I dont doubt that. Congressman, nice to see you. Thanks. Thank you. While alan gross finally got his freedom today, so did three cubans. Many republicans and some democrats are calling it Prisoner Swap. The white house denies its a Prisoner Swap. Ed henry joins us live. Ed, what difference if we call this a Prisoner Swap or not . I know the white house denies it, but whats the big deal about this . Well, the deal, greta, is the white house is saying getting Alan Gross Out was separate from the swap. They dont want to be tied up and look like there was a trade there. Theyre saying that cuba on a
humanitarian basis let Alan Gross Out, then the u. S. Was able to make this swap of three cuban spies, as you say, let out of american prison and then there was an intelligence asset to the u. S. Government, we believe a cuban man, who was helping the u. S. From cuba thrown he was caught by the cuban authorities at some point and thrown in prison, been there for some 20 years. So that was the swap. Look, that might be a distinction without a difference. All of this was happening around the same time. It was a deal between the president of the United States, the dictator from cuba. I think the big question moving forward, youve got democrats, not just republicans but democrats like bob menendez saying they think it was a direct swap and how that might matter moving forward. Will someone like bob menendez go along with formally lifting the embargo with cuba. Hes saying no. While there are republicans not normally aligned with the
president , Congressman Plake wants to see the embargo lifted so this is scrambling the parties a little bit. Ed, thank you. While some are jumping for joy, some are blasting President Obama for the plans to normalize economic and diplomatic things with cuba. Lindsey graham said i will do all that i can to block the use of funts to open an embassy in cuba. Even senator Robert Menendez is not wild about President Obamas plan. He said trading mr. Gross for three convicted criminals sets an extremely dangerous press denting. And joining us john, what did we get out of this . We got a chance, an opportunity to turn the page. For what, though . Hes talked about this going
back to 20072008. Hed wanted to say lets get rid of the old policy and start a new policy. That wasnt possible as long as alan gross was held captive. Releasing him gives you the chance for the new page but there are limits to what he can do. Senator graham is going to try to hold up funding. The idea of full normalization, a lot of lift has to happen and thats where the give and take has to happen with the Castro Regime. You wouldnt see that at all without these first steps. Susan, im all for making friends with everybody and i think its important everybody be friends, but the fact is that this regime, theyre monsters. I mean were not talking about the Human Rights Violations going on in cuba right now. Id love to have a great place and everything. But they have the worst record for freedom of the press, they lock people up for political opponents. So im not quite sure is the idea that maybe if were a little bit nicer theyre going to release prisoners and theyre going to stop locking people up and all of a sudden let newspapers flourish . I think the point congressman
van hollen made is a good one. No one is expecting the Castro Regime to change. But no rights are going to be added to peoples lives because of what happened today. But they are getting near the end of their biological clock as you said and there may be an opening in the future where people will want freedom and a freer society will evolve. But the points made today by rubio and menendez and others who are opposed to this are that this is not going to change anything. People arent going to get more rights. Theyre still going to be Human Rights Violations. Whatever freedoms are provided by the u. S. , the internet or travel, the cuban government will control tightly. Thats a really important thing to be aware of. So essentially, john, susan is saying were trying to get our foot in the door for when the castros die. Were trying to get ahead of the game. Thats the theory, but i mean what the people who support the embargo have always said is this is our last and always leverage
point for when theyre gone. That is when we want to negotiate with their successors and say you want normalization, you want greater economic interaction, then give some more freedom to your people. Let them speak freely, worship freely, move freely. You got none of those things today. I dont really see theres the theory if we engage a little more, they will be inspired. I hope thats right, i fear its not and i fear the cuban people will be owe pressed longer than they would have. I think they think the cuban people themselves will force change in the government by having more exposure. Weve had some bad luck with the arab spring where we have the expectation. Its really hard to predict what people are going to do. Panel, stay with us. Straight ahead, former florida governor, jeb bush, and hes a potential president ial candidate. He says the Obama Administrations decision to restore diplomatic ties with cuba undermines americas credibility. Youll hear more from him. Plus a longtime friend of governor bush goes on the record
next. Also theres developing news. Sony cancelling the release of the film the interview. Thats coming up too. Patented Sonic Technology with up to 27 more brush movements. Get healthier gums in two weeks. Innovation and you Philips Sonicare save when you give Philips Sonicare this holiday season. Thats all i crave. E thats where this comes in. Only Nicorette Gum has patented dualcoated technology for great taste. Plus Nicorette Gum gives you intense craving relief. And that helps put my craving in its place. Thats why i only choose nicorette. Dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future. You. Thank you for being my hero and my dad. Military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa Auto Insurance could be one of them. If youre a current or former Military Member or their family, get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. You dont need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible. Because we do. Were exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. Because boiling an egg. Isnt as simple as just boiling an egg. Life takes energy. Energy lives here. Governor coming out one day out of the gate and skewering the president . Well, jeb bush just a few weeks ago said the problem with the restrictions on cuba is that theyre not tight enough and we should be tightening the screws, not loosening them. With this, this goes back to a feeling hes had for a very long time that we cannot give an inch. We cannot give anything to cuba until castro gives freedom to the people of cuba. Keep in mind jeb bushs background. He moved to South Florida in the early 1980s, established connections, friendships, worked closely with cuban exiles who have very strong feelings about this. Oppose the Castro Regime. Later when he got into politics he worked very hard to bring them into the gop fold in florida and hes succeeded to great extent. This became a very important part of his Political Base and later the gop political machine
after he left office. That said, the Political Climate here in florida, polls do show a shift of opinion in favor, more people wanting to see us improve relations with cuba. But you have to keep in mind those who oppose the direction that we saw the president take today are very fervent and very passionate about this. They tend to be very loyal voters and often can be single issue voters when it comes to this. We only have 20 seconds left. What does this mean having if governor bush gets in, what does that mean for senator marco rubio . Its going to be a problem for marco rubio. If this Debate Advances to the senate, it can elevate his profile. But keep in mind theyre very much aligned in terms of how they believe with respect to this issue and in terms of donors and support with jeb bush out front. This continues to be a problem for marco rubio if he chooses to run for president. Craig, thanks. All eyes on florida, of course, as always as we approach 2016 in two years now. Thank you, craig. Sure thing, thank you. Our next guest is the chairman of the American Conservative Union and