Hostage were evacuated alive but they died of their wounds en route to a u. S. Navy ship. Defense secretary chuck hagel in afghanistan today addressed the rescue missions difficulties. This mission, which there will be more detail forthcoming, was extremely wellexecuted. It was a very dangerous and complicated mission. But like always in these efforts, there is risk. Somers, a photojournalist, was abducted in yemens capital back in 2013. South african teacher who was also killed was seized in may of 2013. Nbcs Kristen Welker is at the white house for us with the very latest on this. What are you hearing from there at 1600 pennsylvania . Reporter alex, ive been talking to Senior Administration officials and they tell me once that video of luke somers was released on thursday in which aqap terrorists threatened to kill him, officials determined based on that and other intelligence, that he would be killed on saturday. So that set off a chain of highlevel meetings at the department of defense, at the white house. Then on friday, defense secretary chuck hagel signed off on a plan to rescue somers and any other hostages who were with him, based on incredible intelligence of his whereabouts. On friday, president obama also signed off on the rescue attempt and the operation took place late afternoon, early evening, friday, east coast time, im told. The hostages were being held in a compound in a remote area that is called schwabwa governant in yemen. A firefight ensued. Its believed at that point, one individual ran back into the compound where the hostages were being held and attempted to execute them. They didnt die at the scene but after they had been evacuated as they were en route to being evacuated. Senior Administration Officials wont confirm how they were killed specifically. But they also dont wave me off of reports that they were shot. Senior Administration Officials say they dont believe that any civilians were killed at this point in time. These details are just coming in. So theyre still assessing the situation. They think several terrorists were killed in this rescue attempt. And they underscore that the president felt it was the right decision to try to rescue somers because again the administration said it has credible intelligence to suggest that he would have been executed today. They call it a whole of government approach and say that right now everyone here is just grieving and is heartbroken. Ill read you more of what we heard from president obama who released a statement earlier today. He said, quote, earlier this week, a video released by his terrorist captors announced that luke would be killed within 72 hours. Other information also indicated that lukes life was in imminent danger. Based on this assessment and as soon as there was reliable intelligence and an operational plan, i authorized a rescue attempt yesterday. I also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as luke. Now, im told they didnt know the identity of the other hostages at the time. But today they are confirming that it was that South African teacher that you just mentioned, alex. So a lot of disappointment and grief here at the white house that they werent able to rescue luke somers. Terrible day. Thank you very much, Kristen Welker. I appreciate that. Lets get military insight and perspective from general barry mccaffrey. General, i welcome you. Is there any way at this point to know what went wrong . No. I think what happened kristen covered it quite adequately. They felt their hands were forced. So to some extent, they had to put this Mission Together on the fly. They probably lost the element of surprise since the al qaeda operatives knew they would try something. Its a tragedy. Fortunately there was adequate intelligence to at least try and locate this american. Hes from out here in the seattle area, and to go in and try to rescue him alive. Too bad. Yeah. General, this was the second attempt to rescue him. We had a special forces operation that happened around thanksgiving. They did not find him at the location. So how unusual is it that you have something two operations like this so quickly back to back . Its very unusual. I think the second one once they got this videotape where they essentially believed he was on the verge of being brutally murdered anyway, it forced their hand and they went right back in. As you point out, alex, these operations are extremely dangerous. Its astonishing to me. Ive watched jasock in iran and other places, they are sheer magic. No one else on the face of the earth that could even attempt this kind of thing. But as you indicate, youre going into an armed compound of trying to get helpless people from the midst of al qaeda operatives. Tough mission. Too bad both these hostages lost their lives. Fortunately apparently they nailed a bunch of the al qaeda people in the process. Yeah. General, im sure you will concur with Richard Engels reporting earlier in which he said the likelihood of success in these operations is very, very slim because of all the factors that go into it. But with regard to the planning and the intelligence, can you just give us an idea how difficult that is, when youre not 100 certain of what youre going to encounter . Well, i think thats it. We can obviously take pictures of things from above. We have human operatives, particularly through the Yemeni Government on the ground. They try and monitor communications as effectively as they can. But when it comes to the tactical scene of, what do the rooms look like, where are the doors, are the hostages tied up, none of that could be possibly known. By the way, a lot of these operations do succeed. If you get the element of surprise, if you know hostages are on an aircraft or in a hotel and youre able to study it and rehearse it, then they have a very high likelihood of succeeding. So, again, i dont think the government had an option. I think president obama did the right thing. He went in and tried to save this poor fellows life. General, thank you very much for giving us the details as we know them. I mentioned richard. A bit later on, Richard Engel will reflect on his own hostage ordeal. Hell talk about whether a rescue attempt is always worth the risk. Thats coming your way at the bottom of the hour. Other breaking news to share right now, a short time ago, an extremely large typhoon made its first landfall in the philippines. The wind gusts of the typhoon are estimated to be about 130 miles an hour right now. More than 650,000 evacuated their homes headed to shelters. Jim maceda is tracking the typhoon for us and joins us by phone. Jim, what are the conditions like where you are . Reporter well, conditions arent so bad for us here, alex, because were due north in a separate in a different province. Thats the good news. The bad news is we are in the province that is going to take the brunt of the storm tomorrow. It is on that path between samar and where it landfalled a few hours ago and manila where its going to probably end up or close to manila by sunday. You mentioned up to 130mileanhour winds, that wasnt as strong as a super typhoon strength but it certainly was Strong Enough to create a hell of a lot of havoc and damage. Whats interesting is where we are here, people are not fleeing. Theyre staying inside their homes. They say theyre protecting their properties. They say they managed to escape the wrath of haiyan last year and hope the same thing will happen. So a lot of us journalists who are here are quite concerned that whats going to happen tomorrow when this town of legazpi is in fact confronted by a very, very powerful storm. In terms of the difference between last year and this year, seems to me the most important difference is how much more the government has been preparing itself for this attack, for this event. The government has the Philippine Government has spent billions of pesos since last years haiyan disaster on various programs, providing for sturdier shelter, at least putting roofs over families heads and not just tents, prepositioning of food and supplies for easy access and perhaps most of all, the Philippine Military on high alert to take over the relief and rescue operations if necessary. Youll recall that last year in haiyan, you couldnt find a philippine soldier for three or four days after that. So its been an education process. And people are just, generally speaking, more prepared than they were a year ago. Dont want to see anything close to the 7,300 killed or missing since that horrible super typhoon of last year. Jim maceda, many thanks. Lets go to another developing story were following, the massive protests around a new york grand jurys decision not to indict a white Police Officer in the death of eric garner. New protests are expected today in the form of a diein in new york. Protesters went to the macys and this is their message its wrong. This is a flawed system within the Justice System. We need to change it. With our voices being heard and us being united, we believe we can make a difference and letting these people know that this has to stop, it has to stop today, no more police brutality. 20 people were arrested. Similar protests erupted in other parts of the country as well where protesters protested the death of eric garner, tamir rice and michael brown. Other news to report, the Pakistani Military says a top al qaeda leader was killed this morning in a raid in south waziristan. Adnan El Shukrijumah was killed. A 44yearold man is in Police Custody today after police say he went on a stabbing spree while on an amtrak train. Passengers say the man stabbed four people including the conductor on friday night near niles, michigan. I was like, oh, my god, hes punching the guy. I noticed there was something in his fist resembling a knife blade or something. I saw him bring it back down. He stopped stabbing the guy in front and he lurched forwards towards these to other women sitting probably two rows back from the conductor. One person ri mains in serious condition. Federal authorities are investigating whether this killing was a hate crime. Investigators say the suspect ran down a 15yearold muslim boy outside of a Somali Community center on thursday evening. Witnesses say he was caring a machete as he ran from his vehicle after the collision. Community leaders say the driver threatened the teens family and other area somali muslims for months, even writing, the koran is worse than ebola, on his truck. Lets go to weather now and the rain hitting both coasts today. San jose has some misting rain a bit earlier in the week, Northern California saw about 3 inches, all pretty badly needed. Here in new york, the wet weather is hitting tourists in the big apple, all of us alike, just look at all the umbrellas in times square. Paul goodloe has more. Theres going to be a much bigger storm heading towards california as we head towards wednesday, thursday, friday and this time next week. Definitely watch that. Flooding will be an issue with that next big storm. The current storm continues to press eastward across the southeast. A lot of Football Games going on. Acc championship in charlotte, rain will be a factor. Well have snow in the midatlantic. Good news for some of the ski resorts. As we head towards tomorrow, the rain, gone from the eastern seaboard. Definitely a great day to get out there and enjoy the tree or anything outside in terms of shopping. Temperatures colder all across the eastern seaboard. The rest of the nation starting to quiet down. Dry weather in the midwest. But were also watching the potential for another winter storm maker in the east coast develop across the upper midwest. A wintry mess as this clipper system comes across the western great lakes. Eventually this system will energize a bigger storm for the east as we head towards monday night into tuesday and wednesday. Talking about rain and snow as well. Snow into the higher terrain in the interior. Rain across the i95 corridor. Outside of that, we look for and enjoy a nice, quiet weekend across much of the nation to end the weekend on sunday. Alex . We havent had any rainy, damped spirits here, lots of tourists outside looking at the tree. Thank you so much, paul. Threeterm louisiana senator Mary Landrieu fighting to keep her seat today. What are the chances she will hang on in the beat red south . Well take a look next. Ring ring . Progresso you soup people have my kids loving vegetables. Well vegetables. Shh taste better in our savory broth. Vegetables . No. Soup oh soup loaded with vegetables. Packed with taste. I wish. Please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all. Is health. So we quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. Expanded minuteclinic, for walkin medical care. And created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. Introducing cvs health. A new purpose. A new promise. To help all those wishes come true. Cvs health. Because health is everything. Cvs health. Introducing. A pm pain reliever that dares to work all the way until. The am. New aleve pm the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. I am an electric crew foreman out of the cupertino service center. I was born and raised in the cupertino area. Its a fantastic area to work. The new technology that we are installing out in the field is important for the customers because system reliability i believe is number one. Pg e is always trying to plan for the future and we are always trying to build something stronger and bigger and more reliable. I love living here and i love the community i serve. Nobody wants to be without power. I dont want my family to be without power. Its much more personal to me for that reason. I dont think theres any place i really would rather be. Giving you a somewhat dreary look at the capitol dome there which is under renovation there in washington, d. C. But we know its going to be beautiful as soon as its all done. Meantime, in louisiana, the polls are open in the Senate Runoff between democratic senator Mary Landrieu and republican congressman bill cassidy. Landrieu is in a fight for her life, hoping to pull out another win. Kasey hunt is joining me now. Kasey, with a good day to you, everybodys saying its a foregone conclusion that senator landrieu is going to lose. Is that the case . You never want to make foregone conclusions until the voters have their say. But i think wed all be surprised to see senator landrieu pull this out. This has been a situation where essentially everyones abandoned her. As soon as she lost in that jungle primary, thats what louisiana had. On election day in november, it was her and two other candidates. And she ended up in the runoff with bill cassidy, whos a congressman. National democrats pulled their ads down off the air immediately. They havent gone back in for her. Shes been fighting sort of tooth and nail from capitol hill to try to do what she can to help herself. She pushed for a vote on the keystone pipeline. She got the vote but she didnt get enough to pass it through the senate. Ever since then, its been a slow march towards whats looking like the end of her political career in the senate. Isnt that going to leave the south without a democratic senator . You have florida, bill nelson, one. But florida doesnt really count when you look at the deep south. You have florida and also virginia but as you point out, thats not really the historic deep south. Those states have a demographic makeup and changes that make them different from the rest where democrats in the south were really the dominant Political Party for decades in the wake of reconstruction, everything that went on in the civil war it goes back as far as the civil war. So it really is a pretty remarkab remarkable point that she is still standing. Landrieu has really done everything she possibly could to hang on as a southern democrat. She really focused on her state, always pushing through legislation and being very careful to tell the public about what she was doing for the state. She had very strong ties to the business community. She pushed for Energy Legislation at the expense of environmentalists or more liberal democrats in her party. But at the end of the day, it just doesnt look like its going to be enough. Were going to let the Voters Decide certainly. Well say, though, that polling suggests shes down by 20 points. Polling suggests she is in for it. Good to see you, thank you. Demands for change, more protests expected in cities across this country for the fourth day following a new york grand jurys decision not to indict a Police Officer involved in the death of eric garner. Activists issued demands at a protest in new york yesterday. Deadly force has been used too much. Theres never a special prosecutor in the case of police killings. We want to push for a special prosecutor. Joining me now, Dorian Warren and eugene odonnell. Previously served in the nypd and was also a prosecutor in the brooklyn and queens districts. We want to say that eugene was a member of the new york city mayor de blasios Public Safety transition team. Welcome to you both. Dorian, ill start with you first. Protests have been massive in scale. But how big of an impact are they going to have . I think it remains to be seen. One interesting thing about the protest this is week in new york city and chicago and other places is if you look at the difference in the Police Response, especially here in new york city to the Police Response in ferguson and the st. Louis area, this is actually showing you that there are multiple ways to do policing, that theres a way to Police Protesters that allows them to express themselves, to express their anger, their frustration, the demands, without being overmilitarized, without cracking down in a way that is brutal and stifles protests. It remains to be seen. I would encourage the protests to continue until we see systematic changes in Police Departments across the country. That said, eugene, the new york city protesters have given a list of specific bans they want. They include the firing of all officers involved in garners death, an investigation by a special prosecutor and very stiff penalties for using a chokehold. Are those demands reasonable . The reform needs to start at the top. I think theres way too much time spent at the bottom. The root of many of these issues are political failures, prosecutorial failures. People that should have led havent led. Some of the worst events in new york city are the byproduct of complete collapse of political leadership. The cops will do whatever theyre told. We had a Police Officer deployed to arrest a man for a whitecollar crime, a few pennies of cigarette tax. Im still not hearing the administration say that should end. That should end. Of course it should. But, eugene, what, then, happened . Was it lack of training, was it instinct, was it somebody whose blood got boiling too much . Its an adversarial interaction. We need to find ways to make it less adversarial. Were deluding ourselves if we think there cant be a bad ending. Every arrest is fraught with potential danger. That he should do more retraining. Nobody can guarantee you cant have a repeat of this because of the nature of custodial arrests. Interestingly, dorian, the Justice Department says were going to launch a civil rights investigation into this incident. 2k0 y do you expect anything to come out of that . I think so. We know from civil rights investigations of the Justice Department, the bar is much higher. However, i think there will probably be enough evidence for the Justice Department to find violations of eric garners civil rights. But the Justice Department can do broader things than that. This case is important in getting justice. But the Justice Department this week came out and talked about clevelands police department. So it also has the power to monitor, to investigate and then institute systemic reforms in Police Departments across the country. And i hope that the Justice Department and it looks like it is is taking action not just in cleveland but in the range of other cities. Interestingly, erica garner, eric garners daughter, was interviewed this week and was asked if she thought it was a black white, racial issue. And she said, no, i really dont. It was about the officers pride, it was about my father being 64 and 350 pounds and he wants to be the top cop that brings down a big man. What both of you what do you think of her take on that . I see bungling, i see incompetence. Hes not attended to at the end, i hope thats about them worrying about theyre probably saying, good grief, we didnt think this would end this way. I hope thats what happened. But i hope theres no malice. Its incompetence. And the department once the mans on the ground, the risk is over. Hes a 400pound person. But i dont think the cops should be dem demonized. This is a junk event. But the idea of demonizing an individual officer in this situation without some reason to believe theres malice is not really fair. Your reaction to ericas words . I think we have the social science concept about bias. There are prejudices and biases we all have in this society. I think shes right in some ways in terms of, look, it doesnt necessarily have to be about race because, frankly, there are black and latino and asian cops that respond the same way to black people. On the other hand, yes, we have to actually come to grips with whats happening in terms of the disproportionate amount of black people who are confronted by Police Officers and then come out of those confrontations without their lives. But its really important to say, the cops dont pick these situations. These are leadership issues. The architects of this kind of enforcement are elected officials. They can rein it in. They can choose to do it. The prosecutors and they dont. They send the cops out on their own. There needs to be a rightsizing of enforcement in the city. I dont disagree with you. But you have to also add that the cops have to have some sense of personal responsibility. Taking these orders and understanding when theyre implementing them, whats right and whats wrong, whats too much and whats too little. Absolutely. But its not that easy. On a video, you can easily assess mistakes. But when youre doing this in real time, anybody whos done even if you do a show in real time, somebody says, what did you say on the show . I dont even remember. Much less in a lifeanddeath situation with perceived firearms. Im sure officers sometimes dont even remember themselves on videos the way its depicted. Its an issue of policing broadly. And on top of that, theres an issue of racial bias as well. Dorian and eugene, thank you so much. Rolling stone magazine is walking back details of a devastating report of a Sexual Assault on campus. Does that mean the attack did not happen . Your pocket right now . I have 40, 21. Could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement . I dont think so. Well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. Hard it can be. How. To breathe with copd . It can feel like this. Copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Spiriva is a oncedaily inhaled. Copd maintenance treatment. That helps open my airways for a full 24 hours. You know, spiriva helps me breathe easier. Spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms. Tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. These may worsen with spiriva. 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Fifty omaha set hut losing feeling in my toes nothing beats that new car smell chicken parm you taste so good nationwide is on your side mmm mmm mmm mm mmm mm mmmmmm we givecold symptoms. Om your you give them the giggles. Tylenol® cold helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. Tylenol® according to a new study, teens who start school earlier have an increased risk of having a weekday car accident. Data out of virginia showed teens who started school at 7 20 in the morning had a 20 higher crash rate than teens who started school at 8 45 a. M. Welcome back. Breaking news to share with you. American photojournalist luke somers held hostage by al qaeda for over a year was killed in yemen yesterday during a rescue attempt by u. S. Commandos. Two dozen navy s. E. A. L. S and two helicopters were involved in the operation. Somers and South African hostage pierre corky were evacuated alive but died of gunshots believed to be from their captors. Joining me now is eric schmidt whos been covering this story. Eric, with a welcome to you, i understand that you today spoke with the chief of yemens National Security bureau. What exactly did this mission look like . Well, what he and u. S. Military officials said was he mentioned three dozen navy s. E. A. L. S came in off a ship off the yemeni coast to try to rescue luke somers and another South African man who had been held hostage for a little over a year. They came in in a cover of darkness early this morning here in yemen. As they approached the compound, apparently the element of surprise was lost. Gunshots rang out. Turned out, the captors shot their hostages as they fled. There was a gun battle that ensued. As the commandos went into this compound, they were able to [ inaudible ]. Eric, im going to ask you to stand by there as youre coming to me via skype. Were getting a little bit of interference and ambient noise making it hard to hear you. Were going to come back to you. Thanks for that. Related here, i spoke this morning with nbc news chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel who himself was held hostage by militants in syria for five terrifying days. But first, richard and i discussed the difficulty of pulling off a rescue mission like this. Its incredibly difficult. This part of yemen is very remote. This is central yemen. You can hear vehicles or helicopters coming from miles away. Theres not a lot of sound other ambient noise. They are expecting that youre coming. You have the hostage in a secure location of your choosing, of the hostagetakers choosing. Theyre a armed. Theres already been a failed rescue attempt. So you know they have to expect another one. So, yes, the chances are incredibly low. Think about how difficult this would be. You have a group of armed men, one single hostage whos defenseless. Theyre ready. Its a location that they know well. And any little thing they hear thats suspicious, theyre going to kill the hostage. So you have to get there quickly. You have to overpower them. You have to get to the hostage. You have to get him out and you have to do this without losing any of the American Special operators who are trying to do this. Incredibly hard. But do you not do it . What are you going to do . You could say, were not going to do it and he was facing a deadline to be killed this weekend, so you could do nothing and let him die, which would be the risk averse choice and would be a choice that puts no american lives at risk. Or you can give it a shot knowing he might not survive it. Very hard choice. Its a moral choice, really. I actually just got a chill because i remember that you yourself were a hostage, richard. Did you i thought about this. I thought about it. I was there. And i remember being blindfolded and sitting in a dark room and thinking, are they coming, are they not coming . If they do come and anyone hears the slightest sound, were all dead. But ill take that risk, better than getting killed in a horrible, atrocious way. At least theres a chance. Wow. You should know about the cheer that went up when we all heard about your rescue. Unfortunately there are other hostages and these groups these special operators arent just in the business of rescuing americans who get into trouble. They do that. They do it at great risk themselves. And they do do it. But unfortunately it doesnt always work. Richard went on to say the big question now is whether the u. S. Special operators captured any al qaeda members in that raid. But that is not likely information that will go public. We have our audio cleared up with eric schmidt. How much do we know right now about what went wrong . Well, i think what happened here was the s. E. A. L. S, as your commentator said, faced pretty steep odds going in. The militants holding the hostage knew there was probably going to be another rescue attempt. They were in a compound which they were able to defend. As soon as they heard the approaching commandos, they took action against the hostages. So it had to have been a perfect mission. And in this case, you had a couple of things go wrong. But the point has been made that the element of surprise may have been taken away because of the failed attempt to find the hostages about a week ago or so around thanksgiving time. But the white house we didnt have any choice but to try to do this, right . Theyd been told that they were going to be executed. There was a ticking time bomb, if you will. So youve got to try. Absolutely. That was the point that senior u. S. Military officials made to me today, was they had a very narrow window of opportunity where they knew exactly where the hostages were. Since that last raid a couple of weeks ago, the al qaeda militants had been moving these hostages around. And they dared not wait for that to happen again, particularly the deadline looming over luke somers. Yeah, which we know those deadlines have come and gone. What else did you learn from your conversations, eric, that we may not know yet . I think whats happened here is you have the two hostages here, the american and South African. There were other western hostages split up from this group. We dont know the outcome of them. I think the other thing, of course, that was tragic was the South Africans organization had arranged for his release tomorrow, sunday. That information apparently was not distributed around. So its not clear right now whether the commandos knew that was happening on sunday. Had they known, that certainly would have been taken into consideration. Eric schmidt, thank you so much for reporting from the New York Times and joining us. I appreciate that. 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Last night, protesters entered macyss Flagship Store here in manhattan chanting i cant breathe. 20 were arrested. Many say their complaints go beyond garner or fergusons michael brown. We can talk about d. J. Henry that was shot. Theres never a special prosecutor in the case of police killings. Similar protests were held in cities across the country. Joining me now is the host of judge faith, faith jenkins. With a welcome to you, you heard the protesters saying thats what they want. They want to have a special prosecutor to be assigned to investigate complaints of Excessive Force. Do you see that happening . I do. I see us moving in that direction. As of now what happened this week with this grand jury, it appears we have to deal with the fact that we dont have a system in place that deals with when Police Officers use Excessive Force because when you have a process like this and something happens because what we saw on that tape, thats not okay. No. That is Excessive Force. Thats an unjustifiable use of Excessive Force and it was also inhumane. We cant look at that and have a grand jury say that thats okay. So we have to deal with the fact that we have a system in place right now thats flawed because a lot of times when youre looking at local Police Officers, the people who are prosecuting the cases are the local prosecutors who deal with these Police Officers and rely on them every day for their cases. So one of the things we have to do Going Forward in these cases is look at having a special prosecutor come in so you dont have that conflict of interest. What about the federal civil rights investigation under way . Is it more difficult now, given what happened and with no indictment . Is it more difficult for that to get an indictment . Usually the feds will wait to see what happens with a state prosecution before they step in. Thats what they did in this case. In terms of the federal case, i think that you are likely to see some charges here. One, theres a precedent for it. The case when the chokehold was banned in new york city, it was because of an incident that happened back in 1993, a case very similar to this one, where a Police Officer used a banned chokehold against a civilian and that civilian died. That officer was indicted and acquitted on the state level. But the feds came in, he was prosecuted and went to prison under a federal case. Can officer pantaleo be charged with a crime even though there wasnt an indictment by the grand jury . Yes, on the federal level, absolutely. Thats what the federal investigators are doing now. They are interviewing witnesses, conducting their investigation to see if he can be charged under federal civil rights violations. It is a higher burden, a higher standard of proof. But it has been done. In a case like this where you had a Police Officer who used a banned chokehold against a civilian who was unarmed, didnt have a weapon, wasnt fighting the Police Officers and then after mr. Garner was subdued and lying on the ground, this officer continued to use the chokehold and mr. Garner said 11 times he couldnt breathe. Faith, thank you very much for interpreting all this for us. The changing face of poverty. My conversation with a pulitzer prizewinning journalist on his difficult story next. Into my own hands where it belongs. Olay regenerist instantly changes the look of skin. It regenerates surface cells new skin is revealed in only 5 days without drastic measures. Stunningly youthful, awardwinning skin. Never settle for anything less. The regenerist collection, from the worlds number 1 olay, your best beautiful ring ring . Progresso you soup people have my kids loving vegetables. Well vegetables. Shh taste better in our savory broth. Vegetables . No. Soup oh soup loaded with vegetables. Packed with taste. vo rescued. Ed. Protected. Given new hope. During the subaru share the love event, subaru owners feel it, too. Because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. Well have given 50 Million Dollars over seven years. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Ii like to think of myself as more of a control. Enthusiast. Mmm, a perfect 177degrees. And thats why this road warrior rents from national. I can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. And i dont have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. And i dont. And national lets me choose any car in the aisle. Control. Its so, whats the word . Sexy. Go national. Go like a pro. Startling new numbers today about the problem of poverty in american cities. A new study by city observatory found more cities live in poverty than this 1970. The number has jumped to more than 3,100 by 2010. This fall, the Census Bureau found more than 48 million americans living in poverty. Anyone can be a victim. William mcpherson shared his heartwrenching story about plunging from the middle class to being poor in a new essay. Hes also a former writer for the Washington Post and joins me now. William, your story is an amazing one. How did it happen . How did it happen . Well, it was easy. I was stupid, for one thing. Id always had enough money and i assumed there always would be enough money. So i kept spending until finally i spent it all. I mean, i realized what was happening before it happened. But it was too late by that point. Heres part of what you wrote in the piece. Id fallen under the spell of magical thinking, in my opinion i didnt squander the money either. I just spent it a little too enthusiastically on exploring the aftermath of the fall in communism in eastern europe, i dont regret it. Given your situation, that still the same case, you dont regret it . No, i dont regret it because it changed my life. Except for the financial part, it changed my life for the better. It was a fantastic experience. I traveled a lot in the world. But id never been in a communist country. Id never been behind the iron curtain before. And when i arrived, i was in berlin at christmas in 1990. And new years eve was when the wall really came down. When i arrived in berlin, it was still very much there. There were only two places you could enter east berlin, et cetera. And i went to romania by chance. I hadnt intended to go there. But i went there when the revolution was dying down. And id never seen anything like it. And i thought if i stayed a few more days, id understand whats going on here. And i ended up spending most of the next six years in romania. Well, they cant take that away from you. And that is remarkable that you have that experience. And thats what lifes all about is stringing together extraordinary experiences if you can. But one question i will ask you about now is, a lot of the essay that i read is about compensation and the challenges in the journalism profession. Are you concerned that other writers or aspiring journalists may fall into a similar situation . Trying to get that story, trying to get the incredible angle . Yes. You see, id love the Washington Post because i thought i could make a living writing books, which was a mistake. But i think judging from the mail ive gotten and the reaction to that essay, i think a lot of journalists are afraid that theyll end up in the same boat. Its real easy. Most americans are one paycheck away from poverty. As poverty is defined in this country im above the poverty line, although im certainly i dont have any money. And my income is really Social Security. Yeah. And a small pension, a very small pension from the Washington Post. At least its enough for you to live on. But, again, no one can take away from you the fact that we identify you as william mcpherson, the pulitzer prizewinning journalist. Thank you for your time with us. Well, thank you. New developments on the shocking allegations of Sexual Assault at the university of virginia. The president of the school just released a statement moments ago. Well share it with you. Alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours, but aleve can last 12 hours. And aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. So why am i still thinking about this . How are you . Aleve, proven better on pain. Ensure active heart health. I maximize good stuff, like my potassium and phytosterols which may help lower cholesterol. New ensure active heart Health Supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. Ensure, take life in. We are about to make more gooddeliveriesverybody. To more places than anybody on earth. We have the speed. We have the technology. And we have the team. We made over 15 billion successful deliveries last year. 15 billion football has a season. Baseball has a season. This is our season. Were for an opens you internet for all. Sing. Were for creating more innovation and competition. Were for Net Neutrality protection. Now, heres some news you may find even more surprising. Were comcast. The only isp legally bound by full Net Neutrality rules. New reaction this hour from the president of the university of virginia. Teresa sullivan released a letter saying, over the past two weeks, our communitys been more focused than ever on one of the most difficult and Critical Issues facing Higher Education today, Sexual Violence on college campuses. Todays news must not alter this focus, we will continue to take a hard look at our practices, policies and procedures. Rolling stone backed away from his article alleging a gang rape at the university of virginia back in 2012 against a woman named jackie. Lets bring in paul farr, media writer for the Washington Post. President sullivans statement, shes not backing down at all or trying to say, oh, look, nothing happened. Shes saying, we still have to press on with that. Thats the right approach, dont you agree . I absolutely agree. The unfortunate part of this story is that rape and Sexual Assault on campus is a problem and the fact that this story turns out to be a myth shouldnt dissuade people from continuing to press on that issue. It would be very unfortunate if they did take their eye off that issue and ignored it. Absolutely. You wrote, paul, about the problems with the Rolling Stone journalism in with the the post earlier in the week. What do you think happened over there . As far as the actual assault . Event. I dont know. Frankly, neither does Rolling Stone. Neither does anybody who wasnt there and wasnt involved with it. But i dont think thats necessarily the standard by which the story should have been reported or published. The question is, could they corroborate beyond a reasonable doubt whether something had happened. And it turns out they did not. On the Rolling Stone end of things, the Washington Post spoke with the author of that article, Sabrina Ruben erdely. What did she say . She said well, she kind of deflected the question which i asked her which was, did you speak with the perpetrators or the alleged perpetrators and she said, i cant talk about that. And i said, thats awfully strange, why cant you talk about that . And she said, well, i had an agreement with jackie, the person who alleged this crime, not to talk about my contacts with them. Now, that statement is a bit of a dodge because as it turns out, they never had any contact with them. They later admitted to us that they had tried to contact these perpetrators alleged perpetrators and were unsuccessful in doing so. Regarding the fraternity that was named in the Rolling Stone story, they issued this statement yesterday, our initial doubts as to the accuracy of the article have only been strengthened as alumni and undergraduate members have delved deeper. So the phi psi fraternity, hows this going to affect them . I think the fraternity believes that the story is untrue and its hard to prove that something is didnt happen. And thats the position theyre in now. But theres lots of details that dont stack up and dont add up. And give the fraternity and everybody else who read this story cause to doubt that it happened the way it was reported. So theyre attempting to reclaim their reputation as it turns out. Paul, im sure well talk again. Thank you so much. Thank you. The promising new economic numbers from the Unemployment Rate to higher hourly wages to plunging gas prices, should president obama be getting credit for this . [ inhales deeply ] [ sighs ] [ inhales ] [ male announcer ] at cvs health, we took a deep breath. [ inhales, exhales ] [ male announcer ] and made the decision to quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. Now we invite smokers to quit, too, with our comprehensive program. 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Puffs plus lotion is gentle on sensitive skin. They help soothe irritation by locking in moisture better. So you can always put your best face forward. A face in need deserves puffs indeed. Try puffs softpack today. Its the flexible pack that fits anywhere. Welcome to weekends with alex witt. We have breaking news. New details in the attempted rescue of the american hostage luke somers in yemen. Somers and one other hostage died during the rescue attempt. Senior u. S. Military officials telling nbc news that two dozen navy s. E. A. L. S in two helicopters were involved in this operation. The s. E. A. L. S exchanged gunfire with a small group of al qaeda fighters. Somers and a South African hostage were evacuated alive, however, later died of their wounds while en route to a u. S. Navy ship. Defense secretary chuck hagel in afghanistan today addressed the rescue missions difficulties. This mission, which there will be more detail forthcoming, was extremely wellexecuted. It was a very dangerous and complicated mission, but like always in these efforts, theres risk. Somers, a photojournalist, was abducted in yemens capital of sanaa back in 2013. The South African hostage was pierre korkie. Kristen welker is at the white house and joins us now. Reporter the white house tells me video of luke somers was released late thursday night into thursday in which aqap terrorists threatened to kill him. U. S. Officials determined based on that and other intelligence that he would be killed on saturday. So that set off a chain of highlevel meetings at the defense of department, the ncs, the white house. Then on friday, the defense secretary signed off on a plan to rescue somers. Im told the nsc unanimously believed that was the right move. They also signed off on a plan to rescue any other hostages who were with him based on credible intelligence about their whereabouts. So later in the day friday, president obama also signed off on the rescue attempt. And the operation took place late afternoon, early evening on friday, east coast time. Im also told the hostages were being held in a compound in a remote area of what is called the shabwa governorate, which is in central yemen. Im told roughly 40 special u. S. Forces arrived at the compound. Thats when a firefight ensued. It is believed at that time an individual ran into the compound and attempted to execute the hostages. They didnt die at the scene but after they had been evacuated. Senior Administration Officials wont confirm how they were killed but they also dont waive me off of reports that they were shot. It appears at this point that is what happened. Senior Administration Officials also say they dont believe any civilians were killed. Thats still being assessed. They say several terrorists were killed, reports as many as nine terrorists were killed. They wont confirm that number. They underscore that president obama felt it was the right decision to try to rescue somers because the administration believes that it had reliable and credible intelligence to suggest that he would have been executed today. They call this a whole of government approach. They say right now everyone here within this administration is grieving. Im going to read you a little bit of the statement that president obama released earlier today once we learned about the tragic killing of somers. He said, quote, earlier this week a video released by his terrorist captors announced that luke would be killed within 72 hours. Other information also indicated that lukes life was in imminent danger. Based on this assessment and as soon as there was reliable intelligence and an operational plan, i authorized a rescue attempt yesterday. I also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as luke. Significant because we usually dont hear the president talk about his decisionmaking process so quickly after Something Like this. Again, the administration saying theyre just devastated that they werent able to bring luke somers back. Understandably so. Kristen, thank you so much. Joining me right now with more is democratic senator robert casey of pennsylvania. Lets talk about the situation here. This is the fourth american hostage killed in the past four months. This harkens back to the worst days of the iraq war. Your reaction to the news this morning . How did you take it . Well, alex, i think like most americans, heartbroken when a rescue attempt isnt successful. But i still believe its something we have to continue to pursue. When you have credible intelligence and your special forces can take action, i think we have to continue to pursue every possible avenue to rescue an american. Mr. Somers lost his life and others did as well. But i think the president made the right decision based upon the information he had. We have to let the enemy know that no matter what, were going to pursue the rescue of americans when we have the information and have the operational capacity to take this step. And ive been speaking with people both on the military side and reporting side. I have colonel jack jacobs sitting here to address some questions in just a moment. But also Richard Engel reported with me earlier saying these rescue operations are incredibly difficult. Statistically they have a greater likelihood of not working than working. That said, is there anything that makes you secondguess whether they are worth the risk . Well, i certainly wouldnt secondguess in this instance. Of course, im not armed with nor is anyone commenting today with the kind of intelligence that the president had and others. So theres a limitation to what we can say in terms of our analysis. But i think it was the right decision because if we send the message that america is going to back off and we may not pursue the rescue of our hostages, that sends a very bad message. So i think every case is going to be different in the calculus of the analysis, its going to be different. But i think its the right policy to pursue. The u. S. Government has said for some time now that al qaeda in yemen is the gravest threat here to the u. S. Homeland. But it seems all the attention of late has been on isis. Is there a bigger threat thats being left behind . No, i think we have to be focused on both. Obviously isis presents a threat in the region and that obviously ultimately not with the degree of proximate threat that maybe some other organizations present. But we have to make sure that we pursue both. We dont have the luxury of simply focusing on isis. We have to focus on terrorism at large. And whenever theres a direct threat to the American People or our homeland, we have to take action against it. Senator casey, i ask you to stand by. I want to ask you about a new development on american troops in afghanistan. But i want to further this conversation right now with our msnbc military analyst colonel jack jacobs. Have you learned anything about this operation that we dont know yet and what happened . Well, it was difficult to tell exactly whhow they got the. But we know they came in helicopters. But in a typical operation like this, you do not land on the objective because you lose the element of surprise. They landed about two miles away from the objective and infiltrated to keep the element of surprise. But once the firefights started, it would appear that al qaeda then shot the two hostages. Some of al qaeda escaped and between six and nine al qaeda were killed in the ensuing firefight. We know there was a failed rescue attempt around a week ago or so, thanksgiving time. Is that part of the problem of what may have gone wrong because there was a headsup like, weve tried this once, it didnt happen and people anticipate americans will come back and try to rescue their brothers. I think they would anticipate that in any case. The previous attempt failed because intelligence was not perfect and they spirited the hostages away. So when we got there, there were some hostages but somers wasnt there. Hed been moved. This time, we didnt have we had much better intelligence. We had a high degree of confidence that somers was there. And the raid itself was not the proximate cause of somers death. It points out the big difference between conducting the raid of the type where we got osama bin laden, where we kill or capture the enemy, which is much, much easier than trying to rescue people, very difficult to do. Colonel, thank you very much, as always. How or where was luaware wa danger he faced . Well talk about the dangers that somers and all journalists face trying to get the story. The fallout continues after a new york grand jurys decision not to indict a white Police Officer in the death of eric garner. More protests are expected around the country today. This was the scene last night across new york city as people took to the streets calling for justice and demanding change in the wake of several actions of Law Enforcement against africanamerican men. At one point, protesters filled macys in manhattan performing a diein. Msnbcs trymaine lee is joining me now. Whats expected to happen today . Reporter after days and days of mass protests and also those socalled dieins weve seen, we should expect more of the same. Theres still such a will to get out there and make folks voices heard. I spoke with some protesters who flew in from ferguson saying they came to support demonstrators here the same way demonstrators supported them in ferguson. And reverend al sharpton will join benjamin crump, the attorney for Trayvon Martins and Michael Browns family, in joining with eric garners mother and widow to place a wreath at the scene of the killing of where eric garner died. You have all these protests, some that may pop up spontane s spontaneously but also this Family Gathering ahead of next weeks planned march rally in d. C. Is there a plan to turn this into planned action . Reporter after one or two days of these kinds of protests weve been talking about, it caught the attention of city hall. The mayor came out and said not only does he empathize with the plight of so many in the community but talking about retraining the new York City Police department, the Largest Police department in the country, with 35,000 members. Thats larger than the entire town of ferguson, missouri, where so much of this has sparked up. Folks are hoping by continuing to get out there and demonstrate that legislators and local lawmakers will take heed. A lot of this comes down to training and police policy. Thats where a set of demands by protesters revolves around. What can Police Departments do to ensure when the officers go out there, they are abiding by the guidelines. Theres been a change in plans for u. S. Troops in afghanistan. Ill talk again with senator casey about what it means for American Armed force there is. And a rare united cause on capitol hill thats shifted now to the white house. Its now up to president obama to halt Social Security payments to suspected nazi criminals. Thats next. How much money do you have in your pocket right now . I have 40, 21. Could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement . I dont think so. Well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. Its not about how many miles you can get out of the cmax hybrid. Its about how much life you can fit into it. The ford cmax hybrid. With an epaestimated range of 540 miles on a tank of gas. And all the room you need to enjoy the trip. Go stretch out. Go further. Ring ring . Progresso you soup people have my kids loving vegetables. Well vegetables. Shh taste better in our savory broth. Vegetables . No. Soup oh soup loaded with vegetables. Packed with taste. That getssons got filthy. Ankie but hes got such sensitive skin that you worry about what you use in the laundry my tide pods, downy and bounce all come in free gentle so we get a cleaner, softer blankie. Gasp hypoallergenic tide, downy and bounce free here we go, here we go, here we go. Fifty omaha set hut losing feeling in my toes nothing beats that new car smell chicken parm you taste so good nationwide is on your side mmm mmm mmm mm mmm mm mmmmmm were for an opens you internet for all. Sing. Were for creating more innovation and competition. Were for Net Neutrality protection. Now, heres some news you may find even more surprising. Were comcast. The only isp legally bound by full Net Neutrality rules. We are following some breaking news out of the philippines where typhoon hagupit has slammed into one of the coastal areas today. About 650,000 people have fled to safety. The typhoon has knocked out power and toppled trees. The storms winds have reached about 109 miles an hour. A typhoon in the philippines last year left more than 7,300 dead or missing. Defense secretary chuck hagel is in kabul, afghanistan, today for his final visit to americas longest war as his tenure at the pentagon comes to an end. In his statement today, secretary hagel said delays in signing the bilateral security and status of forces agreement means that it appears many troops will not be coming home on schedule. This will mean a delayed withdrawal of up to 1,000 u. S. Troops so that up to 10,800 troops rather than 9,800 could remain in afghanistan through the end of this year and for the first few months next year. And joining me once again, democratic senator robert casey. Senator, as youre well aware, a few weeks ago, it was announced the u. S. Would continue to go on raids and conduct air strikes after the 2014 deadline to end combat operations. Now theyre delaying the withdrawal of additional 1,000 troops. The question has to be asked, is this drawdown for real . Well, alex, we all hope that it can proceed in the manner that we expected. We are at the end, there would be virtually no troops in afghanistan. I do think you have to assess both the security environment as well as the status of forces agreement or any other mutual agreement that would have an impact on the strategy. What we dont want to have happen is that things become so fragile in afghanistan after all of our soldiers are out that you have kind of a breakdown. So i think this transition, even though its difficult, has to be managed as it proceeds, not in a way that meets some arbitrary deadline. What we dont want to have happen here is what happened in iraq where theres kind of a breakdown after we leave. We want to make sure theres continuity. And in part, i know youve recently added an amendment to the National Defense bill because you want to boost the investment for women and girls issues. Do you think those gains can hold after the International Community is gone . Well, they wont hold unless we pressure the Afghan Government and use every possible means at our disposal to make sure that theyre doing Everything Possible to protect women and girls, that goes from making sure that they can participate in political life and thats improved. But we have to make sure that any kind of engagement with the taliban or any other entity within afghanistan doesnt undermine what has been gained already on behalf of women and girls. We know in the National Security forces, either the army or the police, that number is still low. But its better. But we have to keep pressuring mr. Ghani and his government to do Everything Possible to protect those gains for women and girls. Speaking of the new government, in terms of these new rules of engagement, the raids and the air strikes, they were perhaps the biggest Sticking Point for the karzai administration. But now theyre back on. Are they that scared for the future . I would hope its a better relationship because i had the opportunity i guess three or four times to meet president karzai. I often came away with the sense that we werent always on the same page. So i think thats improved. I hope it can be sustained because all of the effort thats been made in afghanistan by our soldiers and the investment by our taxpayers has to be maintained. I believe that the gains made by women and girls are a big part of that. If women and girls are doing better in terms of millions of girls in school and women having rights and protections, that will lessen the chance that terrorism will be on the rise. I want to switch gears and ask you this question. This week, we saw two of those completely bipartisan votes. Both the house and the Senate Passed the no Social Security for nazis act, of which youre a cosponsor. It sounds obvious but it wasnt on the books. And an Associated Press investigation found that dozens of nazi war criminals had received millions in Social Security benefits even after they were forced out of the u. S. Turns out the Justice Department had a major role here. What happened . Well, over many years going back to the 90s, there was a disconnect not just in terms of a lack of focus on this problem where nazi war criminals are getting taxpayerpaid benefits but there was a disconnect between sometimes folks in the agencies wanted to wait until that person was deported before removing the benefits. What this will do is make sure that that time lag isnt there, that they will be cut off at a period of time much earlier than they used to be. So this is a rare bipartisan and bicamera, meaning house and senate, coming together and quickly moving to correct a problem. Thank you so much, senator casey. Good to see you. Thanks, alex. Its not over. The 2014 Midterm Election continues today and when its over tonight, a member of one prominent political family may be on the outs. Thats next. [prof. Burke] its easy to buy insurance and forget about it. But the more you learn about your coverage, the more gaps you might find. Like how you thought you were covered for this. [boy] check it out,mom [prof. Burke]when youre really only covered for this. Or how you figured you were covered for this. When youre actually paying for this. You might be surprised at whats hiding in your coverage. Talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. We are farmers bumpadum, bumbumbumbum [announcer] call 1800farmers and see how much you could save. Ii like to think of myself as more of a control. Enthusiast. Mmm, a perfect 177degrees. And thats why this road warrior rents from national. I can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. And i dont have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. And i dont. 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My baby drove up in a brand new cadillac. Look here, daddy, im never coming back. Discover the new spirit of cadillac and the best offers of the season. Lease this 2015 standard collection ats for around 329 a month. Louisiana voters heading to the polls right now to vote in the runoff between democratic senator Mary Landrieu and her republican opponent, congressman bill cassidy. Landrieu is fighting for her senate life. The republican congressman could potentially run away with a win tonight. If landrieu loses, next years Republican Senate majority is posed to grow to 54 seats. He risked his life working in yemen. How aware was luke somers of the dangers he faced . What are you doing . The dishes are clean. I just gotta scrape the rest of the food off them. Ew. Dish issues . Cascade platinum powers through your toughest messes better than the competition the first time. Cascade. Now thats clean. Welcome back to weekends with alex witt. Were approaching half past the hour right now. Time for your fast five headlines beginning with this. Funeral services being held today for former washington, d. C. Mayor marion barry at the citys convention center. Barry will be buried later today in a private service at the Congressional Cemetery on capitol hill. The woman who sued bill cosby met with los angeles detectives for 90 minutes last night. Judy huth claims that cosby sexually assaulted her at the playboy mansion years ago. In utah, 6yearold boy is recovering from a broken arm after disappearing into an open manhole. The boy was found last night sitting in the manhole four hours after he was last seen. An appeal of oscar pistoriuss conviction will be filed next week. And in the philippines, a swiss hostage escaped from two years in captivity today when he grabbed a long knife and attacked a commander f. He made his break when forces opened fire on the hideout. Those are your fast five headlines. Breaking news today, american photojournalist luke somers held captive by al qaeda in yemen for over a years was killed. Just moments ago, Vice President joe biden spoke about somers and vowed justice. This is a despicable crime and we mean what we say when we say, speaking for the intelligence community, military and u. S. Government as a whole, we will be relentless in our effort to bring to justice those who have [ inaudible ]. Joining me now is a freelance journalist and colleague of luke somers who was based in yemen. Before we go any further, im sorry for your loss. I know he was your friend and a fellow journalist. Can you tell us a little bit about luke . I knew luke as a fellow freelancer when i was there starting in the fall of 2012. Luke was very passionate and thoughtful individual, extremely kind as well. Thats good to know. You were in yemen at the time luke was kidnapped last september. Talk about the security situation on the ground there at that time. I think its a country thats very much in transition. I think theres a lot of elements going on from the political to the security to global terrorism. Theres definitely issues with stability to be certain. But when youre going about your daily business just trying to not only get through your day, eating, getting supplies, doing what you need, but also trying to get information, how much is the issue of security foremost in your mind . I think its something thats always there. Even with ordinary yemenis but foreigners as well. We know that kidnapping is certainly a possibility. And you have to take as many precautions as you can whether it be varying your routine, limiting the amount of information you give out about your whereabouts, your movements. You do the best you can. Everyone knows that it is a possibility. When you say everyone, does that include luke . Do you have a sense that he was conscious as well of the risks that he was taking . I think all of us are aware of the possibilities living in yemen. How active is aqap outside of the desolate areas there in northern yemen . They have been known to target Yemeni Security apparatuses and yemeni citizens as well. Yesterday was the oneyear anniversary of a militant attack on a Military Hospital which killed over 50 people and resulted in a huge public backlash against militants there. Is reporting from yemen something that you will consider doing again . Definitely. I think despite the risk, despite the dangers, i think most people who have reported from there can vouch for the extreme generosity and kindness of the yemeni people. Al qaeda is an aberration in every sense of the word. Theyre a minority among a population that is among the most kind ive ever experienced. Well, then we wish you safe travels when you do ultimately return to that area. Thank you very much for your time today. Thank you very much. The relationship between police and the communities they are sworn to protect may never have been more strained than in recent times. Thousands of protesters have clogged city streets across the nation, many protesting the failure of the new york city grand jury to indict anyone in the death of eric garner. Those protests come on the heels of the protests that began in ferguson, missouri, after a grand jury there returned no indictment against officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of michael brown. Ben jealous is the former president of the naacp. And richard berry, the president of the International Association of the chiefs of police is joining me as well. Gentlemen, with a welcome to you both, ben, ill ask you first here. Why have these two case, you think, raised such an outcry across the country . Anything specific to them or perhaps the timing, one on the heels of the other . We watched a man be strangled by a cop on tv over and over again as that man called out saying i cant breathe, i cant breathe. If that doesnt stir your soul, i dont know what would. Its very similar to the rodney king case. And unfortunately it strikes a chord because this happens too often. Unarmed black men get killed at a rate that should shock all of us. And in a country that was really whose revolution was sparked by a case of really a young black man being killed by the red coats, this is a problem we have wrestled with for so long, people are finally ready for it to just be over. Richard, you attended the president s meeting monday with the community and Law Enforcement leaders on how to bring the community and Law Enforcement together on this. What was your biggest takeaway from that meeting . Well, i think the biggest takeaway is a commitment on behalf of the president and his administration to move forward with this commission. The International Association of chiefs of police, weve been calling for a commission for about 20 years now. We realize that the mission of Law Enforcement has changed, our relationship has changed. Its time we move into the 21st century and upgrade the training and upgrade a lot of things in the way that we administer the criminal Justice System. We were hoping the commission would go a little bit further and look at the entire criminal Justice System because Law Enforcement is only one segment. What youre seeing in ferguson and a lot of places around the country, its not just a Law Enforcement issue. Its the job market. Its the social services. Its a lot of things. Unfortunately being the most visible form of government, usually ends up being the police that are the ones front and center. So we hope that in the future, well keep this dialogue going and well look at the entire system and how we can make improvements to society in whole and not just the criminal justice segment of it. Ben, your response . Is there anything about this well, theres a whole lot that needs to be done with our criminal Justice System. First of all, its just too big. Right now, a black man in this country is more likely to be incarcerated than a black man in south africa 20 years ago when that country was the worlds leading incarcerator. At the same time, were pretty much the only major western country that has no National Standards for use of force and no National Standards for use of force training. Simply put, we have very different standards across this country and our cops relative to their peers in countries like the uk and france are poorly trained when it comes to actually deploying their use of force. Some of the big cities do a good job. Most of you aour towns dont. We have to get to the place where were not just talking about but were taking action. New yorks mayor bill de blasio said this is a National Moment of grief. His comments were met with derision. What Police Officers felt yesterday after that press conference is that they were thrown under the bus, that they were out there doing a difficult job in the middle of the night protecting the rights of those to protest, protecting our sons and daughters and the mayor was behind microphones like this throwing them under the bus. Thats not surprising. To both of you, ill let you answer first, ben, how hard is it going to be to bring real change about . This mayor is in place, quite frankly, in the city because he was very clear that he would end the most notorious racial profiling program in the country known as stopandfrisk. They were stopping and frisking ten times more people than the cops were under giuliani in the last years of the bloomberg administration. And bill de blasio made himself the candidate who was most vocal and most clear about the need to end that program. At the same time, that union has done everything that they could to possibly defend what was an indefensibly large racial profiling program that was needlessly humiliating hundreds of thousands of young people in the city every year. So respectfully, that union needs to reform itself and it needs to push out its leaders if were going to build trust in that city. Richard, i was going to ask you about new york. But i want to definitely get to cleveland with you because in that city, new questions have been raised over the actions of the Police Officer who shot and killed that 12yearold boy. Now there are questions raised about the qualifications of the officer who filed that fatal shot. Heres the quote, the cleveland Police Officer who shot and 12yearold tamir rice last month resigned from his previous Small Town Police job after less than five months when he was deemed emotionally unstable and unfit for duty, especially in his handling of firearms. Richard, how did this officer get through the hiring process in cleveland . Well, theres a couple of points i think that need to be made in general in response to this whole situation were talking about. Number one is, Law Enforcement officers, hundreds of thoughs of times a day are in contact with the public. The vast majority of them do not result in a use of force. And we cant lose sight of that. There are situations that happen and we need to address them. But you cant lose sight that every single day, men and women are doing their job and these situations dont happen. We know that and we applaud that because there are a lot of us who depend and appreciate very much what the police do. But this particular situation in cleveland, this was an officer who after five months resigns, hes deemed emotionally unfit, incapable of using a firearm properly. How did he get hired by cleveland p. D. . Well, thats a question for cleveland p. D. I can tell you this. Our association has always pushed forward good recruiting practices and good hiring practices. Some states like florida, we have a statewide database. And you cant hire officers that have left other places under investigation or that have Serious Problems with their background. So those are state by state. And i think thats been mentioned about before is part of the problem is its a statebystate process. But, again, that is specific to cleveland. I think youll see major changes in their hiring practices. We, again, in Law Enforcement recognize that its the quality of the people that make the quality officer, that provide quality service. And thats what we have to focus on. I think if we do that, well be in good shape. Last word, ben . One thing youll see in city after city, theres a small group of officers in each city who are a real problem. We need to have tests on the front end that weed out the sort of bully types who get in and cause problems. Bottom line. Gentlemen, i appreciate the bottom line from each of you. Thank you for your time. Shes helping to lead the charge in the fight for the u. S. Against the islamic state. But will pentagon budget cuts weaken americas military in the fight . He finish line. In life, its how you get there that matters most. Like when i found out i had a blood clot in my leg. My doctor said that it could travel to my lungs and become an even bigger problem. So he talked to me about xarelto®. Xarelto® is the first oral prescription blood thinner proven to treat and help prevent dvt and pe that doesnt require regular blood monitoring or changes to your diet. For a prior dvt i took warfarin, which required routine blood testing and dietary restrictions. 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Im so lucky to have with me at my side 690,000 active Duty National guard reserve and civilian airmen. Its a great team. It is a great team. I want to talk to you about first of all secretary hagel leaving office. Secretary hagel was seen as being a sort of drawdown secretary, if you will, drawing down these wars and yet it would seem that the exact opposite is happening right now. Well, we are, of course, living in constrained budgetary times. Just like you would in your own family if your income suddenly dropped, our income is projected to drop, so to speak, for the department of defense. So we have to make tough choices. We cant do it all. Therefore, what are we going to do less of, what do we need to do more of to secure our future . The air force is really at the tip of the spear in the fight against isis right now. Reporting on the ground would suggest that isis attacks have only increased since our air campaign began. Is it working . Our air campaign is working, alex. This is going to take time. Were in it for the long ball, not the short ball, so to speak. So what were doing is we are working to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. So were very much in the disrupt and degrade phase. So we have attacked their troop movements. We have caused them to change their tactics and their procedures. Theyve had to go into hiding a lot more. So there are a number of very important Success Stories in this severalmonth campaign. But the key thing is, we have to show some strategic patience. Its going to take time and ultimately a political solution will be very important as part of the framework. But on the heels of what we were just talking about, the resources, the funding for military activity, do we have what it takes to be engaged in a longterm engagement against isil . We will have to decide as a country are we prepared to fund this . Is this important to our National Security . Are we prepared to stay the course . And for now, of course, we have said, yes, this is in our national interest. Weve got to help the iraqis. Weve got to help the Free Syrian Forces hold the line against this threat. And so were going to have to find the money. I know another mission for the air force is fighting ebola in west africa. Talk about the mission there, what exactly is the u. S. Strategy and are you seeing its impact . The u. S. Strategy in ebola is we are going to as a total government effort, we are going to do our utmost to stop what could be a devastating pandemic across the globe. We have at any given time about 150 to 250 people on the ground. But then we have people who go in and out particularly for the mobility mission. Are you confident that the health of our u. S. Servicemen and women is being monitored well enough upon their departures, their comings and goings there in west africa . I am confident. Safety is our number one concern. We take it very, very seriously. And so were monitoring the health and welfare of all of our people very closely. Secretary of the air force, deborah james, what an honor to speak with you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you, alex. The odds of mitt romney running again could be higher than a lot of people suspect. Tt. Thats enough plastic bottles to stretch around the earth 230 times. Each brita filter can replace 300 of those. Clean. Clear. Brita water. Nothing is better. [ shutter clicks ] hi there [ laughs ] im flo i know im going to get you your rental car. This is so ridiculous. Were going to manage your entire repair process from paperwork to pickup, okay, little tiny baby . Your car is ready, and your repairs are guaranteed for as long as you own it. The Progressive Service center a real place, where we really manage your claim from start to finish. Really. Easy as easy can be bye emma, its simple, when you are in a place like this, the best way to capture the moment is to feel it, even if you cant see it. Wow [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbells chunky soup. Its new chunky beerncheese with beef and bacon soup. I love it. And mama loves you. Could three times be the charm for mitt rodney . This week brought more talk about a bid for the former gop president ial nominee. Business insider writes, a member of romneys circle said the former governor of massachusetts met with backers of his past campaign to lay groundwork for a 2016 bid. With me, a republican strategist. Mercedes, does mitt romney give republicans the best shot of taking the white house in 2016 . Not exactly. I do find it interesting that oh, jimmy, stop. I agree. I do find it interesting that he really is contemplating it. Hes going out there telling his folks, listen, if you cant commit to someone the first time around, keep your options open. Since its such a wide field right now, its a wide open field for the republicans, i mean, hes got to be seriously thinking about it. And hes been leading in some of the polls in the early states. Putting together all these different pieces of the puzzle, i could see him thinking seriously that there might be a third chance for him. I dont know if thats the right move. Jimmy, i want to play what my colleague said on hardball yesterday about a mitt romney and jeb bush match up. Its easy to do this but i shoot the moon. In this case, theyre dying for a middle of the road conservative. I think they want to win. Its not going to be possible. They begged jeb bush before they settle for romney. I think romney will beat jeb in the polls. Well see. Mark my words. Clearly, its chris show and shuts everyone down. Do you agree with that, jimmy . I think still jeb bush is the one to beat, if you will, if he runs. I think that, listen, theyre both putting out feelers. Theres a huge chance if mitt romney runs and loses for the third time, imagine the history books on that. If he doesnt run this time, the history, i think, will treat him better than if he does and loses a third time. That would be unprecedented in american history. Republicans need new blood. Give us somebody else. If his name is jeb bush, i accept that. Jimmy, the democrats need new blood, too. They want the new car smell. Youre right. I like secretary clinton and senator clinton and first lady clinton. What is the jeb bush influence on whether or not romney runs . I think mitt romney is going to be thinking about mitt romney. The way these candidates work, and i say probably with the exception of senator la rubio, if jeb bush goes into the race, i think the senator will step away. Their finance folks are similar. In this case, i really believe that it would be individual decision. I dont think romney feels jeb bush is a threat to him, quite frankly. I think that jeb bush is definitely putting his feelers out in key states. Talking to folks and seriously making this decision, which could come by the end of the year or early next year. Dont have much time yet. New jobs numbers, pretty good. Is the president getting enough credit for that, jimmy . Lets see, this point in Ronald Reagans president ial, it went down. If reagan, the great economic president gets the credit, why cant obama . The numbers are the same. Mercedes, ten seconds. I agree. I think the president is going out there. He got badly beaten in the Midterm Elections and now he has something he can help. We have Labor Participation rate of 62. 8 . I got to shut this down by crisis doe chris does. Thats a wrap, everyone. See you tomorrow at noon. Mpetit. Powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain Real Time Insights and instantly share information around the globe. When every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud. 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