Transcripts For MSNBCW For The Record With Greta 20170419 :

This deal represents the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from north korea. Secretary tillerson stating that the Iran Nuclear Deal negotiated under president obamas, quote, failed approach. But his own state Department Just confirmed that iran is complying with the terms of the obama negotiated deal. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell asked the secretary about that today. Mr. Secretary, by your own letter to the speaker of the house, iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear deal. If you break out of that deal, wont that send a signal to north korea and other rogue nations that the u. S. Cant be trusted to keep its end of the bargain . I think its important in any conversation on jcpoa and i think this was one of the mistakes in how that agreement was put together, is that it completely ignored all of the other serious threats that iran poses. It is another example of buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions. We buy them off for a short period of time and then someone has to deal with it later. We just dont we just dont see that thats a prudent way to be dealing with iran. Certainly not in the context of all of their other disruptive activities. And overseas in london today, Speaker Paul Ryan confirming that he thinks a nuclear deal with iran is here to stay. You said the iran deal will probably stay in place back in february. Given the announcement, do you stand by what you said . Absolutely. The law requires that, by the way. I got a letter from rex today, our secretary of state. The law requires these reviews. What i said in february and ill say today is we have to make sure that we hold them to the letter of this law. So, what was secretary tillersons statement all about . Was it anything more than a repeat of his back in february . Instead of being thankful to the United States in these agreements, iran is now feeling emboldened. As of today we are officially putting iran on notice. That, of course, is now exNational Security advisor general flynn. One goal secretary tillerson seems to be a warning to iran to stop meddling in iraq and syria. In iraq, iran provides support to some iraqi militant glupz which has been undermining security in iraq for dwreeyears. Iran continues to support the brutal assad regime in syria. It has killed approximately half a million syrians and displaced millions more. Iran supports the assad regime even as it commits atrocities against its own people, including with chemical weapons. Nbcs ali arouzi is on the phone in tehran. Wendy sherman, former secretary of state for political affairs, she was the lead negotiator of iran nurk leer deal. And eugene from the washington post. Welcome to you. Ali, has there been a response, what are people saying in iran to what secretary tillerson said or is it too soon to get anything from them . Well, greta, it is evening here. When america talks tough to iran, it doesnt usually go down very well here. Secretary tillerson certainly had strong words. Also any talk of sanctions or renegotiating the jcpoa, especially with elections here next month is going to deeply disturb the regime and speak directly to the hard narrative that the nuclear deal was a bad one, being a deal with america isnt a good idea because its going to backfire and america cant be trusted. Also very doubtful iran would ever embark on any type of negotiation. None of it bodes well for the president , a moderate with successor relations with the west and seeking a second term in office. He has invested all of his Political Capital in this nuclear deal. If its in trouble, hesn trouble. Now he faces the possibility of becoming a oneterm president. If hes replaced by staunch hard liner, then most of the weve seen in iran since the deal will probably be rolled back making the negotiating process with iran very difficult again. But the man who holds all the cards in the country, irans supreme leader, he reluctantly endorsed this deal. He continued to criticize the lack of benefits it brings. He endured with america and he wants to harm iran and could never be trusted. Hes warned the consequences if the u. S. Violates the terms of the deal, his reaction would be furious if any sort of sanctions were imposed related to jcpoa and or anything else which is human rights or the missile program. The question is if america keeps pressuring iran, does he pull out of the deal and fire off the program again . Does he try different strategy of trying to put a wedge between america and the people who want the deal to stay in place. Its all still in play, greta. Ali, thank you very much. Ambassador, to you. First the simple question, do you believe that iran is a state sponsor of terrorism . Absolutely. Its the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. And i think from listening to secretary tillerson that he was trying to reconcile the fact that they may be complying, he admits there complying with the nuclear de, yet theyre still doing horrible things around the world whether its in iraq or syria. So, what do we do . So, this was in front of president obama when we went down the path of trying to make a deal. We thought, and the world thought, that if iran had a Nuclear Weapon and was able to project that power into the region, it would deter our actions, the actions of our allies and friends, and make things even more difficult. So, the first step was to make sure they couldnt obtain a Nuclear Weapon. And then work with our allies and partners in the region to take on terrorism. We have terrorism sanctions. They are still in place. The congress is looking at whether there should be additional sanctions iran for the terrorism sanctions and iran for this . There are current terrorism sanctions against iran. And everybody has to remember that at the beginning of the negotiation, all of our allies and partners in the region said only make it about the Nuclear Weapon. Because were not in the room, and we dont want you deciding our interests would you tell us there. And as you know, this was a Multi Lateral agreement. This wasnt just a u. S. Agreement. It was all the permanent members of the Security Council plus the European Union and germany. So, this was a very serious undertaking. There werent great choices here, but keeping iran from getting a Nuclear Weapon is certainly in our National Security interest. Eugene, it does seem you cant miss sort of the oddity of the fact there is admission that iran is complying with the agreement. Right. On the other hand, you know, we do have this catastrophic issue and i even just took a trip to iraq last week. We have this catastrophic issue with iran being a sponsor of terrorism. So, what do we do . Well, as the ambassador said, the agreement, the negotiation that led to the agreement was strictly limited to the issue of a Nuclear Weapon. And there is no up side that i can see from abrogating that agreement because in fact, iran kind of got a lot of its benefits at the beginning of the time period because they got sanctions lifted. They got a bunch of money freed. Whereas we get our benefits over time. We get to inspect the nucle program really minutely, we g to learn much more about it. We get to make sure they dont have a bomb in ten years. So, why would you cut that off . After theyve gotten their goodies, we havent gotten ours. Thats the complex part, they did get money out of this. There are no Good Solutions but they have taken some of that money, i assume, because they are still sponsoring terrorism doing horrible things around the world. Right. We said to everybody and we said to capitol hill, they will undoubtsedly take some of the money though it is not the billions everybody said it is. Most of it was frozen iranian money in foreign accounts that then got freed up, though a lot of that was chinese loans. They got some money into their hands and some of it will go to the iranian guard corps. They were doing nefarious things with little money. It doesnt take a lot to be a terrorist as we have unfortunately seen in this world. Everybody has to remember, greta, if you look at the north korea situation which were all looking at these days as well, you want to make sure that people dont have a Nuclear Weapon. But nobody is suggesting were going to solve all of the irans problems and all of north koreas problems unless you want to go all the way to a regime change, which means war and no one has the appetite, nor wants the consequences of the catastrophe of war. You bring up north korea. There is another policy question playing in the Trump Administration today. Trump administration now stating that the United States Aircraft Carrier was not actually heading towards north korea. The administration had previously said it was. Heres what the president said last week. We are sending an armada, very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the Aircraft Carrier. That i can tell you. Now, that same day i repeated that point what the administration had said in an interview with sean spicer, and spicer did not correct the record. The uss carl vinson is steaming its way towards the coast of north korea. Were just waiting for saturday to see if kim jongun does something, has another Missile Launch on the birth date of kim ill sun his grandfather. Whats the program . We need to get the World Community in agreement, particularly china today sean spicer tried to clear up the confusion. The president said we have an armada going towards the peninsula. Thats a fact. It happened it is happening, rather. It is headed to the korean peninsula. It will arrive there. What is tlap . Its headed there now. It wasnt thats not what we ever said. It was heading there. It was heading there, it is heading there so that remains the allies have if there is an impression then thats not there should have been clarification from people who were seeking it. Eugene, okay. Before we get to the substance of it, it appears that the pentagon and the white house are not speaking to each other because what the white house says, this came out of the pentagon essentially. And this is just across the river. Right. Its just across the river. There has to be a lot of communication. The white house has to know where our Aircraft Carriers are and it doesnt. So, i mean, there is no sort of rational explanation for this. But but its disturbing. Were talking about north korea and were telling north korea that were sending them there and who knows what theyre going to do. And were not. So, look, you cant the white house, the president cant just say random stuff thats not true over and over and over again. No one will believe what he says. I dont know if he said it was true if thats what he was told. I mean, that was there was some statement that came out that i think misled the president. Well, i think, you know, gene is making the important point here which is the credibility of the president of the United States. If we get to a very tough place with north korea and we have to take real military action, will anybody believe us if our allies constantly dont believe and cant believe what the president of the United States says . Thats whats really at stake here. I share your incredulity. We could send a carrier pigeon across the river. Were talking about a president who says he delegated authority to the commanders which means he trusts them to know what theyre doing. They have to tell we do believe in control. Yes, we have to tell them. Thats what i find look, mistakes can be made, but something as big as this, you know, and i dont know why we dont know where our ships are going or not going. For a week nobody raised their hand. Anyway. Youve been on a carrier. Thank you both. Thank you both. And as you have probably heard, there is a major shake up today in tv news. Bill oreilly is officially out at fox news as he faces multiple claims of Sexual Harassment. 21st cenry faid, quote, after a thorough and careful review of the allegations the company and bill oreiy have agreed that bill oreilly will not be returning to the fox news channel. And late today, bill oreilly releasing a statement saying in part, it is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. Now Everyone Wants to know what i have to say since i worked there. All i can say is this. What a difference a year can make for a lot of us. Thats all im going to say. Still ahead, congressman Jason Chaffetz and why he is not seeking reelection and whether its anything to do with President Trump. Also the special election in georgia heading to a runoff, but will President Trump hit the campaign trail, could that actually hurt the republican in the race . Plus isis fighters wiping out homes and churches in the middle east. New information from my easter trip to iraq. I never miss an Early Morning market. But with my back pain i couldnt sleep or get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. And now. Im back aleve pm for a better am. Now to political news. It is rocking capitol hill, House Oversight Committee Chairman utah congressman Jason Chaffetz dropping the bomb he is not going to run for reelection come 2018. Meanwhile, as chairman of the oversight committee, he has been in the hot seat with complaints about President Trump and he has been critical of President Trump in the past. The president said that he thought there was widespread, you know, voter fraud. I dont see any evidence of that. Were not doing an investigation of that. Thus far, i have not seen anything directly that would support what the president has said. Youre recusing yourself . I do think he needs to clarify and i think he should recuse himself absolutely. Joining me, utah congressman and chairman of the House Oversight committee Jason Chaffetz making news today announcing he wont run for reelection. Nice to see you, mr. Chairman. Hi, greta. So, why . Why are you walking away from all this power . Well, you know what, i just turned 50. Im sleeping on a cot in my office. Ive spent more than 1500 nights away from my family and, you know what, i happen to love my wife and adore our kids. My life has changed over the last year. Two of three of my kids are married. Were soon going to be empty nesters. I really, really like the work in congress, i really do, but i love my family more. People may try to make it more than that, but its really that simple. Have you spoken to speaker ryan about it . I did. I called him last night and he said, boy, i didnt see that coming. And then he said, please dont do that yet. And i said, well, i didnt call to ask permission. I called to inform you that jul julie and i have made that decision. He was very nice. Im very good friends with the speaker. I like paul ryan as a person and i listened to him, but i let him know where i was at. All right. The chairman of the House Oversight committee is a very powerful position. You have taken President Trump to task a bit. Does that have any bearing on your decision . No, no. Look, the contention that is the tension that is between the executive branch, the legislative branch, i thrive on that. I like it. You know, were very contentious with the obama administration, we have been with the Trump Administration and, no, i worry that im going to miss that a little bit. You know, i was a place kicker once upon a time in college and i dont mind being in the fire storm. In fact, i kind of thrive to. Im kind of attracted to it. But, you know, stepping back and saying, hey, theres more to life than being a member of congress, im doing what i said i was going to do, serve, and then get out. One of the controversies is President Trumps tax returns. Everyone is clamoring for them. Whats your position on that . M position is its not against e law, you know. I disagreed with the president. When donald trump was campaigning, i said very clearly, if youre going to run for president , you should have to open up your kimono and show everybody everything, including your tax returns. So, i was very critical of him. But it is not required by law. And ive had democrats and others who want to have me issue a subpoena to get those tax reforms. Its just not going to the country isnt going to operate based on what Jason Chaffetz believes. They should actually be a law to do that. And im actually working on that and i think they should have to disclose their medical background and i think they should also have to disclose their taxes. But given that its not in the code, i dont think its right to just force somebody to have to do that. So, what about your future . Is politics over . Well, im just saying im not going to be a candidate for the senate seat thats up in 2018 nor am i going to run for the house again. I very well may come back into politics at some point. Im not going to close the door on that. Id like to be a vocal voice in politics. But ive got to find the right balance in my life, and that balance has gotten a little out of whack. Ive got to get a bit more with my family. A lot of people are addicted to this. Its hard to walk away from this. Ive known you a number of years. I believe you. I believe its your family and its time, i got that. But a lot of people, its hard to walk away from washington. Well, they cal