With us this morning, best selling authors all with new bos, Joe Scarborough, historian doris kerns goodwin, plus, Donna Edwards of maryland. And harry smith with his video essay on th meaning of gettysburg on the anniverry of liolns celebrated speech. Im david egory, a that ahead on ts edition of meet the pressor sunday, novber 10th. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the worlds longest running television program, this is meet the pre. Good sunday morning. Deal, thr days of negotiations in geneva failed to producen agreement to freez iran nuclear proam in exchange for relief from crippling international sancons. Although all ses pointedo progress, rouhani ts morng insisted his countryill not give up the right to enrich uranium. That is the critical step in the pruction of Nuclear Weapons. Prior rouhanis coents, i spoke exclusively to secretary of state john ker ments after t talks had ded. Secretary kerr welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. Good to be wh you, david. The btom line goalere is to preve iran from producing or acquiring a nuclear bomb. You have said that in the interim you want aomplete halt on their weapons program. Clearly, theres not a dl yet. They are not in a position givento that demand. Is that a fr statement . No. I think its a question, david, of working out the modalities by which it will be done, byhich it can beverified, the ways in which you have a set of guarantees that make absutely certain thathe goal of the esident, to make certain iran neve has a nucle weapon can achieved. The first effort is to tryo achieveit, obvisly, acefully, and you tryo use an exhaust dipmacy in order t do that,ut the predent has taken no option off the table. It sounds like something broke down re, you were ver close to a deal. The rorting is the french thought it wasn tough enough on the iranians, andou know the history. As the iaeli pri minister call rouhani a wolf in sheeps clothing, they doue play, pla for time whi they tryo win the confidence of the west and th can play games. Is that what theres fear around the table theareoing now . No, thats not the fear around the table, i think a number of nationsanted to me sure we had the tou language necessary, the clari in the language cessary, to be absoluly certain that we were doing the job and not gnting more or doing something sloppily that could wind up with a mistake. This is Serious Business and i think ery country came ere. This is e first time that the p5 had come togethewith this kind of a seriouset of possible options in front oft, wi a new iranian goverent. Remember that this has changed since the election. This is a new overture, and it has to be put to the test very, very carefully. So i think there was unity there, davidwith respect to getting it right. And we always said, president obama has been cstal clear. Dont rush, were not in a rh, we need toet the right deal, no deal is better than a bad deal. And were certaiy adhering to that concept. Let me pl you a comment that i think gets to the ultimate question what does it mean to get it right . What is the bottom line dend of t United States . The israeli ime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been out spoken aut this this week. He w on this program late last month, and ts is what he said about the prospect of a deal with iran. I want you to listen and ill t your reaction on t other side. I think the pressure has to be maintained iran, even increased iran until it actually stops the Nuclear Program, that is, dismantles it. I think any partial deal could end up dissolving the sanctions. A lot of countries are just waiting for a signal to get rid of their sanctions rime. So a couple opoints there. You want them totop their weapons program. Others, like the israeli Prime Minister saying, no, theyve got to dismantle their inastructure before they get the kind of ecomic relief that is part of this deal. Well, im not sure that the Prime Minister, who i have Great Respect for, knowsxactly what the amount or the termare going to be, because we havent arrived them all yet. Thats what were negotiating. D it is not a partial deal. Let me make that Crystal Clear as i have tohe Prime Minister directly. It is a first step in an effort that will lock the program in where it is today, ifact, set it back while one negotiat the ll deal. And there will not be relaxation of the pressure. U know, nobody has talked about getting rid of the current architectu of sanctions. The pressure will remain. The will be, hopefully, if this is arrived at, a means of absoluly guaranteeing that while the negoation on the real end game takes place, irans pgram is not going to contue, is not going to grow. It seems to me that israel is far safer if you make certain that iran nnot continue the ogram. Now, every day that we dont have it, theyre continuing it. I think the american people, and most people in the world, nt the president of the United States wh the awesome power that we have to exhaust all the diplomat remedies before we resort to the use of military forcif we have to. That option is n off the table. Thing is off the table, david. But heres the question. Ifhe only reason they comingo the table now is because they feel the econom pain of sanctions, its not just the israelis, its the saudi its republicans in coress who have said if thatshe only reason theyre coming the tae, whats the rush . Why not increa that economic pressure so you genot just a halt but actlly get a dismantlement of the aritecture which is the goal the presidt seeks . Because the president believ, as i do, that the pressure existtoday, which is why theyre willing to negotiate. I mean, look, i was there and i voted for these sanctions. We voted for theseanctions in order to bring arounto the negotiating table. Now that theyre there, you have to act in some good faith in an effort to be able to mov towardthe goal you want to achieve. If, as their a of good faith, they freeze their program an allow us absolutely precedented access t inspection a do other things im not going to go into the list. But if they do the things we beeve is necessary so that we can guarantee we know what is happening anwe can move it back wle we negotiate the end game, it seems to me youve got to do mething that indicates your good faith. Now, the presint has made it clear,e will not reduce or changehe overall core architecture of the oil sancons, banking sanctions. Iran wilstill be under enormousressure precisely to complete the task. I think there is a lot of hy and an awful lot of speculation about what is going here when all that is happening is an effort through the sanctions congress put in place to get negotiations when thos negotiations hopefully proce an actual result. That what we want to have happen. As americas chief diplomat, are you beg skeptical enough about a man who has been called a wo in sheeps clothing, who wrote a book in which healked about how they can ctinue work on their Nuclear Program wle theyain confidence of the west, basically played games with the west . Are you beg skeptical enough . David, some of the most serious and capable expe people in our government who spent a lifetimeealing both with iran well as with Nuclear Weapons annuclear armament and proliferation are engaged in our negotiati. We are not blind, ani dont think were stupid. I think we have a pretty strong sense of how to measure whether or not we are acting in the interests ofur country and of thglobe, and particulay of ouallies, like israel and gulf states and oths in the region. We are absoluty determined that this uld be a good deal or the will be no deal. Now, thats why its hard. That why we didnt closehe deal here in the last couple of days. Becae we are together, unified, pushing for things that weelieve provide the guarantees that rael and the rest of the wod demand here. But one thing is clearis that, you ow, were not going into a full deal and giving away somethg. Were talking about stopping their program where it is wi enough guarantees to knothat it is, in fact, stopped where it is while we then negotiate the full measure of e deal with our allies, wi our friends, with all of the interested parties, advising athe table, consulting, and thr interests well represented. There is a broader criticism that goes beyond this that no doubt youve confronted in your exteive travels throughout that region. Let me sum it up this way. Itmounts to this criticism that the president appears reluctant to exercise power on the wod stage. Its not just israelits egypt, itsaudi arabia. There a feeling that the s. Has abandoned Critical Friends in that region, in pt because youre moving towa a deal with iran which cou provide them tremdous economic reliefhen at the samtime critics would say their major client, syria, has tten a pass to murder thr own people as long as they dont use chemical weapons. So that all ofhis is amounting to this reluctance to really exercise u. Power. That is my description of that criticism, and please respond to it. Well, let me spond very direly to it, david. I couldnt disagree with it more. The president of the United States me his decision. He decided to use military for inyria. Helso made a decision to respect the quests of many members of congresto come to them. And guess what . When he did, it was the members of coness, as you know better th anybody, who boughtery significantly with the excepti of the Foreign Relations committeof the United States senate which tk the lead, but the house early indicated a very, very strong reluctance to engaged. The president , beforhe had to make a decision of wther or t he would use forceanyway, succeed in getting an rangement with russito remove the chemical weapons altogeer. That would never have happened, that deawould never have come about if the preside had not made his decision to use force. Thpresident used force in libya. The president has been willing and madet clear that he is prepared to use forcwith respect to irans apon, and he has deployed theorces and the apons necessary to achieve that goal if it has to be achieved. Let me just finish. The president has continued afghanistan. He has sought a securi reement in afghanian that is in the throes ofeing agreed on. It will continue american presence to complete theask in afghanistan. We cant let mytholo and politics start to cloud reality here. This president has made it clear. Hes also the president who has prosecuted al qaeda with an intensity and terrorists genelly with an intensit unprecedted and way beyond the la administration. Mr. Secreta, final question before you go. You ga some comments in lit ofhe 50th anniversary the assassinion of president kennedy to nbc news at have now been widely broadcast and repoed on. And in those comments, youaid this. To this day, iave serious doubts that lee haey oswald acted ale. That cerinly would be surprising to a lot of people that those were ur views. Would you care to elaborate . No. I just hava point of view. And im not gointo get into that. Its not something that i think needs to be commted on and certainly not at this time. Do you think the Conspiracy Theory is his involvemenwith russia a motivation from the soviet union or cubare valid at se level . David, im not going to go into it. Its inappropriate and im not going to do more than say its a point of view that i have, b its not ripe or worthy or apprriate for me to commt further. All right, mr. Secretary. We thank you for yr time very much. Thanks. Joining me now, the rankin member of the senate forgn relations committee, bob corker of tenness. Senator, its good to have you here because the subjects iran, and e president of iran theres no volume. Saying this morning we might have some dio difficulties. Senator, can y hear me okay . Senator, are you able to hear me . Wel work on that as i set up the prise here, which is t question owhat the senate is ultimately going tdo on sations. Senator, are you with me one last time . Im not heang david for some reason. Were going to take a break, get this ironed out, be back, we hope, with senator cker right after this. I was ready to ser. I just gotten married. I was ght out of school. My filys all military. You dont know what to expect. Then suddenly youre there. In another world. I did my job. You do youbest. I rememberhe faces. How evything mattered. So much more. My buddies. Myountry. Everything. And everyone loved. Back home. [ male announcer ] for all whve served and all who serve, we can never tnk them enough. We figured o our technical problems. Joining me now is the nking member of the senate forgn relaons committee, senator bob corker of tennessee. Goodorning. Good morning. Iran refuses to stop enrichinuranium, a critical step to making Nuclear Weapons. Is this a netiation or is this actually a dead end . Well see. The secuty Council Resolutions call for a cplete stoppage, so ll see. I think the concerns that we have, david, many of us, is, look, on these partial kinds o arrangemts, exactly the kind that we have in nortkorea, you begin this dance we seeing right now, so unless u do the whole deal onhe front end, you, in essence, begin this series of steps that may well lead to iran getting to exactly the place th wish to get to while we relve sanctions. So therere a lot of concerns some of the same peoe that were involved in the netiations with north korea are inlved in these, and s you can imagine that congress that put these sanctns in place with the ainistration kicking and scaming all the way, pushingack against these sanctions, areery concerned that were going to deal away the verage that we have where we finally have iran willing to sit down and talk about the issues so, senator, in the interim, there is going to be another meeting. These gotiations will continue on a freeze, just temporary step before u get to a real netiation. What are you and your colleaes going to do . Do you think its important to actually impose more sanctio, to impose re economic pain on iran beforthinking about relieving those sanctions . Well, you know, there is gog to be a banking markup this weewhere sanctions are going to be looked at. That meeting has been calledff by the demratic leadership. And senator kerry going to be coming up this week and briefing. But i do want to s, david, when youse semantics like freezing, iran is stl going to be enriching urani based on what we see. So when they say freeze,hat means theyre not going to be gaining but theyre still going to be riching, so there are a lot of concerns. Are they going to ntinue buildi the facility in ira which produces plutonium . What are we going to do wi the enriched uranium on the grou there . So there a a lot of details to look at sternly before we decide were mong ahead. I donow on both sides ofhe capital, on both sides of the aisle right now, people are really looking at what the next steps ought to be. All of us want to see diplomacy, we do. We thank the secretary for the efforts hes puttingorth. That is the best way to resolve th issue. T were also concerned about an administration that sms really rdy always to jump into tharms of folks and potentlly deal away some o the leveragee have. So well be watching this. We want toee a good outcome. Do you predt more sanctions before theres any kind of deal with iran . I dont know. You know, new sations, david, would not kick in for several mohs, and i think you already seen that the adnistration has dialed back the rheostat since rouhanis election on the exisng sanctions we have. They have a lot of ws to dial down these sanctio in different ways. I thinthis week sitting do and taing with secretary kerry ll be an important element of at we do. I do think, again, there a concerns, eecially again, david, a partial agreent leads us down the same path tha we went down with rth korea. Where just to get ople to act right as you move rough these things, you continue to redu sanctions. So, agn, a lot of concerns about thapproach. A lot of us want to see resolved diplomatically. We know the sancons got us here and were worried were dealing away our leverage. Senator corr, we will be watcng. Thank you very much. Thank you. Joininme now republican governor of new rsey, Chris Christie. Governor, welcome back to meet the press. Congratulations on your reelection. Hank you, david, very much. Ppy to be back. A lot of speculation and a lot excitement througho the country with your reelection in termof what it means. Heres the cover otime magazine. E elephant in the room is whats othe cover. Even, four more yearsr two more years . As its crossed out, and saying youre getting ready to run for the white house. Unless you want to announcen thehow this morning, and i suspect you dont. Let me ask you this question. How do you think, even as governor of new jersey, thatou can afct, that you can impact thRepublican Party witthis reelection . I think the best way to impact my party is just to do my job in the same way at ive impaed my state. And i thk, david, what you saw from the electioresults on tuesday is pretty simple. People want the folks they elect to get the job don to do their job, get it done for the people who elt you. And thats why, you know, when you look at what happened on tuesday, is about whats happened over the last four years. 143,000 new private ctor jobs, cutting business taxes, controlling property taxes, reforming teacher tenure forhe first timen 100 years and reformg a pension and benets system to save 120 billion for the next 30 years for taxpayers. Its that kind of record that people were supporting on tuesday ght, and im thrilled to get their support, and im ready to getack to work. B whether you like it o not, youve en thrust into a position where theace of the establisent wing of the party, ted cruz is the face of the conservative wing the party. Who wins this argument . Mittomney said you couldave the republican pty. Does it need sing and are you the guy to save it . It was very nice of goverr romney. I watched him on your progm last week ani appreciate his ki words. I was a proud, pud supporter of governor romney and i consider mitt and ann very good friends. I not focused on that, david. Im focused on doing mjob in the statof nurchds. New rsey. Thats what i ran for, thats what i want to do. I think what the electioshowed is if yowant to attract a majority of e hispanic vote, if you want to nearly triple ur africanamerican ters as a republican, whatou need to do is show up. You need to show up in tse places. David, i did a town hall in the city of irvington iny state aboua year an